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NA-359-2011-11-24 Credits
  First Buddy
  Executive Producers: Gerald Lenski, Sir Robert Goshko, Adam Johnson
  Executive Producer and 359 Club members:
  Associate Executive Producers: Sir Mike Miller, Sir Dean Betram, Tom Wilson, Jonathan Dalrymple
  Become a member of the 360 Club, support the show here
  PR
    Some more drone domains
      From: Michael Voss
      Date: Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 12:54 PM
      Subject: New Domain Forwards
      To: noagendadomains@gmail.com
      A few more domains forwarding to noagendashow.com
      dronekillnation.com
      dronesercurityservices.com
      ilovedrones.com
    whitealqaeda.com
      Now forwarding to noagendashow.com:
      www.WhiteAlQaeda.com
      $5 monthly donor (Project Xenos)
      Kenneth Weir
      Gitmo Nation Tornado? (Oklahoma)
    NoAgendaNation.com - November 2011
      The store has received some software upgrades and has moved to-https://store.noagendanation.com. You're --once again-- able to see inventory levels, have additional shipping options, and you will receive email order confirmations and shipping notifications.
      Note: NoAgendaNation.com and the store have seperate account systems, so you will need to setup a new login for the store. Order status information from the original store will still be available on-NoAgendaNation.com-until the end of the year.
      We will also be making changes and updates to the main-NoAgendaNation.com-site over the coming weeks.
      Enter the coupon code 'BOGATIVE' to save 15% off your next T-Shirt.
  Knighthoods: Steven E. Taft, William Mason Gerlach
  Art By: Nick the Rat
  ShowNotes Archive of links and Assets (clips etc) 359.nashownotes.com
  New: Directory Archive of Shownotes (includes all audio and video assets used) nashownotes.com
  The No Agenda News Network- noagendanewsnetwork.com
NA-359-2011-11-24 Shownotes
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    Fake Holiday
      JCD's Bogative Holiday Story
      Michelle Obama email
        Good morning,
        Every Thanksgiving, Barack sits down to call some of our troops and thank them for their service.
        When he tells me about these conversations, it always reminds me of how blessed we are to live in a country where men and women will stand up to protect our freedoms and preserve our way of life. And whenever I've had the chance to meet with these heroes and their families, I've always walked away inspired by their courage and in awe of their strength.
        I can't think of any better way to spend Thanksgiving than letting our servicemembers know how grateful we are for everything that they do. So this year, we're making it easy to do just that.
        We've partnered with the USO to create a program called Thanks From Everywhere. To get involved, simply visit JoiningForces.gov/Thanks and write a quick note that troops and veterans all over the world will be able to see.
        Add your message to Thanks From Everywhere.
        Your note will be added to a map with messages from people all over the country, showing our troops and their families just how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice.
        If we all do our part, we'll help to build a wave of support to honor our veterans and their families -- and ensure they get the recognition they deserve this holiday season.
        At a time when we are sitting down to share the blessings we've received this past year, please take a moment to be a part of this effort to thank America's heroes and their families.
        Send a message to Thanks From Everywhere today:
        http://www.JoiningForces.gov/Thanks
        Happy Thanksgiving,
        Michelle Obama
    Shadow Puppet Theatre
      Hillary Clinton aide at the helm of Amnesty International USA [Voltaire Network]
        Suzanne Nossel, former assistant to Richard Holbrooke in his capacity as UN Ambassador and currently Hillary Clinton's Deputy Assistant for International Organization Affairs, has been selected as the new Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. In the discharge of her duties at the State Department, she diligently exploited human rights to benefit imperial ambitions.
        Ms. Nossel has launched several campaigns against Iran, Libya and Syria. In recent months she made a name for herself by misinforming the Human Rights Council in Geneva with a view to getting the resolution authorizing the war on Libya adopted by the Security Council. Ms. Nossel's allegations have since been debunked.
        Ms. Nossel had previously worked for Human Rights Watch, as well as for Bertelsmann Media Worldwide and the Wall Street Journal as Vice President of Strategy and Operations.
        The AI-USA Board of Directors deemed that Suzanne Nossel's commitment to the Clinton and Obama administrations was sufficient proof of her competence and decided not to hold a grudge against her for the crimes committed in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, etc.
      Edwin Meese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
        On May 21, 1984, Reagan announced his intention to appoint the Attorney General to study the effect of pornography on society.[18] The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, often called the Meese Commission, convened in the spring of 1985 and published its findings in July 1986. The Meese Report advised that pornography was in varying degrees harmful.[19]
    Ministry of Truth
      DutchNews.nl - Trouble over rent and visas between ICC and the Netherlands
        The relationship between the Netherlands and the International Criminal Court in The Hague has cooled, Trouw reports on Thursday.
        The paper says the ICC's rent-free accommodation contract with the Dutch government is due to expire in July 2012 and the Netherlands is sticking to the deadline.
        'We had expected a little more flexibility with the host country about continuing to pay the rent,' Marc Dubuisson, one of the court's directors, is quoted as saying. 'They are being really Dutch.'
        10 years
        The Netherlands agreed to pay the rent on the court's offices for a 10-year period after its foundation. From that date, the court's founding partners are supposed to share the cost.
        The ICC is currently housed in a building formerly used by telecoms group KPN. The building now too small but a new court complex, close to the high security Scheveningen prison, will not be completed until 2015.
        The paper says the accommodation issue is on the agenda for a meeting of founders in December, and if the budget is not increased from the current ’Ç¨104m, large savings will be necessary.
        Visas
        The Netherlands has also become more difficult about granting visas for some witnesses, Dubuisson told Trouw.
        This particularly affects people who have to leave their home country immediately because they and their families would be in danger.
    Red Book prediction: 40 day reality show then executive order
      "We've got a lot of work left to do this year," Obama said. "If we don't act, taxes will go up for every single American starting next year. And I'm not about to let that happen. Middle-class Americans can't afford to lose $1,000 next year because Congress won't act."
    Libya
      BBC News - Libya's interim PM unveils new government line-up
        Other key appointments include Abdurrahim Bin Yazza - a former executive with the Italian oil giant ENI - as head of the oil and gas ministry and Ashour Bin Khayal, as interim foreign minister.
    Syria
      France calls for 'secured' humanitarian intervention in Syria - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
        France has called for a "secured zone to protect civilians" in Syria, the first time a major Western power has suggested international intervention on the ground in the eight-month uprising against President Bashar Assad.
        Foreign Minister Alain Juppe also described Syria's exiled opposition National Council as "the legitimate partner with which we want to work," the biggest international endorsement yet for the nascent opposition body.
      AFP: Death toll in new Syria violence hits 33: NGO
        The death toll from a new surge of violence in Syrian flashpoints has risen to at least 33, activists said Wednesday, adding that among the dead are six children and teenagers and five army defectors.
      Aircraft Carrier CVN-77 Parks Next Door To Syria Just As US Urges Americans To Leave Country "Immediately" | ZeroHedge
        Yesterday we reported that the Arab League (with European and US support) are preparing to institute a no fly zone over Syria. Today, we get an escalation which confirms we may be on the edge. Just out from CBS: "The U.S. Embassy in Damascus urged its citizens in Syria to depart "immediately," and Turkey's foreign ministry urged Turkish pilgrims to opt for flights to return home from Saudi Arabia to avoid traveling through Syria." But probably the most damning evidence that the "western world" is about to do the unthinkable and invade Syria, and in the process force Iran to retaliate, is the weekly naval update from Stratfor, which always has some very interesting if always controversial view on geopolitics, where we find that for the first time in many months, CVN 77 George H.W. Bush has left its traditional theater of operations just off the Straits of Hormuz, a critical choke point, where it traditionally accompanies the Stennis, and has parked... right next to Syria.
      BBC News - Syria: UN human rights panel hears resolution proposal
        The vote on the resolution is due to take place at the UN in New York between 10:00 and 13:00 local time (15:00-18:00 GMT). The European nations hope this will be a first step to bringing the issue back to the UN Security Council.
    Biodiversitée
      Christiana Figueres - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
        She won the Hero for the Planet award in 2001.
        Her father, José Figueres Ferrer, was President of Costa Rica three times: 1948-49, 1953­1958, and 1970-1974. José Figueres Ferrer was the leader of the 1948 Revolution and is considered the founder of modern democracy in Costa Rica. He is most well known for having abolished the army in 1948 and established a broad system of checks and balances that are at the root of Costa Rica¹s stable development to this day. Active in her own right, Christiana¹s mother, Karen Olsen Beck, served as Costa Rican Ambassador to Israel in 1982 and was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the 1990-1994 period. The couple had four children. Christiana¹s older brother José Figueres Olsen, was also President of Costa Rica (1994­1998), and is credited with having initiated the country onto a path of sustainable development which continues to this day. Younger brother Mariano Figueres Olsen is currently active in politics and manages the family firm, together with younger sister Kirsten Figueres Olsen.
      BBC News - Global warming 'confirmed' by independent study
        The Berkeley Earth Project has used new methods and some new data, but finds the same warming trend seen by groups such as the UK Met Office and Nasa.
        The project received funds from sources that back organisations lobbying against action on climate change.
        "Climategate", in 2009, involved claims global warming had been exaggerated.
        Emails of University of East Anglia (UEA) climate scientists were hacked, posted online and used by critics to allege manipulation of climate change data.
      Climategate 2.0 emails -- They're real and they're spectacular! | Watts Up With That?
      Climate panel says prepare for weird weather : Nature News & Comment
        It is "virtually certain" -- meaning 99--100% probability in IPCC terminology -- that the twenty-first century will see an increase in the frequency and magnitude of warm temperature extremes and a decrease in cold extremes.
      HACKGATE DAY 314: Sod the Levesonathon, what about nailing somebody? | The Slog
        In fact, what Rebekah Brooks is doing is preparing her character reference. You may think this an insurmountable task on a par with revamping Pol Pot's image, but she's a game girl Rebekah. She's on the case, but mainly she's been on the nest. The nesting has not been with long-suffering hubby-buffoon Charlie 'can I have my pc back' Brooks, but rather with her cousin's bloke. For Brooks is carrying a surrogate child for her barren relative. In a bizarre, ironic and near-obscene twist, the former tabloid topper persuaded the press corps not to print the story for some weeks, "because it was a private and sensitive family matter". I have, from that moment on, heard it all. Happily, sense has prevailed, and several titles have since carried the story.
    Pedo Bear
      Charity chief resigns amid Penn State scandal -- USATODAY.com
        Second Mile CEO Jack Raykovitz is the latest person to be ousted in the aftermath of charges by a Pennsylvania grand jury that former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky had sexually abused eight boys over the past 15 years. The grand jury alleged that Sandusky met each of those boys through his work with Second Mile, a charity he founded in 1977.
      Ouders: Beslissing over Drent onbegrijpelijk - Kindermisbruik - VK
        Het merendeel van de ouders dat aangifte heeft gedaan tegen Albert Drent, oud-directeur van kinderdagverblijf 't Hofnarretje, begrijpt niet dat het Openbaar Ministerie (OM) hem niet gaat vervolgen. Dat staat in een verklaring op de website van hun advocaat Richard Korver.
        'Wat hen betreft is de onderbouwing van dit besluit grotendeels een uitgewerkte herhaling van het standpunt dat het OM reeds voordat de aangifte werd gedaan, heeft ingenomen.' Ze zijn volgens Korver dan ook niet verbaasd over deze beslissing.
    Techno Experts
      'Minister Egypte wil uitstel verkiezingen' - Buitenland - VK
        Het is al de hele week zeer onrustig in Egypte. Geweld bij betogingen tegen de militaire raad die het land bestuurt, heeft sinds zaterdag al enkele tientallen mensenlevens geˆ´ist.
        De betogers zijn het vertrouwen in de militaire machthebbers verloren, omdat die in hun ogen weinig haast maken met de hervormingen die zij hebben beloofd. Daarom hebben demonstranten opnieuw massaal bezit genomen van het centrale Tahrirplein in de hoofdstad CaˆØro, dat in januari en februari al het middelpunt was van de opstand tegen Mubarak. Leger en politie treden de laatste dagen hard op.
      Land Destroyer: "Second Revolution" Rocks Egypt
        Waiting in the wings for this eventual collapse and the expedited presidential elections April 6 is "fighting for," is US-backed Mohammed ElBaradei, another "Nobel Peace Prize" carrying imposter, along side President Barack Obama, and Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, bent in perpetual servitude to the corporate-fascist agenda of Wall Street and London. ElBaradei has faced severe PR challenges as Egyptians and indeed people around the world learned of his deep ties to Washington despite his attempt at portraying himself as "at odds" with the West. At one point, ElBaradei, after leading the US-engineered "Arab Spring" through his native home of Egypt, had rocks hurdled at him months later, with angry mobs calling him "an American agent."
      Death toll hits 33 on third day of Egypt clashes - Africa - World - The Independent
        Cairo police fought protesters demanding an end to army rule for a third day today and morgue officials said the death toll had risen to 33, with many victims shot in the worst violence since the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
      AFP: Death toll in new Syria violence hits 33: NGO
        The death toll from a new surge of violence in Syrian flashpoints has risen to at least 33, activists said Wednesday, adding that among the dead are six children and teenagers and five army defectors.
      Yemen leader to depart after 33-year rule
        Bowing to months of massive street protest and spiralling violence, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is finally to sign a Gulf plan that will end his 33-year hardline rule.
      Power Utility Smart Meters Causing Router Interference - Maine Public Advocate Says Users Not Being Educated | DSLReports.com, ISP Information
        Central Maine Power (CMP) has been deploying smart electric meters, allowing the company to detect problems remotely and bill users without home readings. Unfortunately, the 440,000 smart meters installed so far (with around 180,000 more planned) operate in the 2.4 Ghz frequency, and as a result are interfering with home electronics including home wireless routers. With many people lacking the technical expertise to even set a router password, not too surprisingly the sudden interference is causing some problems for local customers, according to the Portland Press Herald:
      The Government's $200,000 Useless Android Application - Gun.io
        After a few weeks of waiting (which is exceptionally short in the FOIA world, and OSHA should be commended for that), I received a response. The application cost $106,467 for the Android version, and an additional $96,000 for the iPhone and (non-existent) BlackBerry version. That's more than $200,000 for less than $2,000 worth of non-functional temperature converters.
    Nukes!
      Crackdown on Sanction Violations: What It Means for Iranian Americans - Tehran Bureau | FRONTLINE | PBS
        If my grandmother wants to send me pistachios, is this still okay?
        Can you describe what havaleh and saraaf are and how they relate to sanctions laws?
        Havaleh (Hawala) is an informal money exchange system which utilizes brokers to transmit money between parties. For example, if someone were to provide funds to a havaleh broker in Iran for a remittance to someone in the U.S., that havaleh broker would call his counterpart in the U.S. and have the counterpart provide the funds to the beneficiary. The two brokers would keep a tab of how much is owed. Because these activities do not utilize a U.S. depository institution, they do not fall under the general license found at 31 C.F.R. 560.516, therefore these activities are prohibited by Iran sanctions.
        That answer will be based on the facts, however, due to the revocation of the general license for Iranian-origin food stuffs last year, I would be careful as it may be deemed a violation of the importation ban. At a minimum you should contact OFAC prior to her sending the pistachios.
      Obama pardons 5, commutes 1 sentence for convictions including selling drugs, gambling - The Washington Post
        None of those pardoned was well-known, as was the case with the president's previous orders. The cases date back to 1984, when Martin Kaprelian of Park Ridge, Ill., was sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiracy to transport stolen property in interstate commerce, and other related charges.
      Executive Order -- Iran Sanctions | The White House
        Section 1. The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, and with the President of the Export-Import Bank, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and other agencies and officials as appropriate, is hereby authorized to impose on a person any of the sanctions described in section 2 or 3 of this order upon determining that the person:
      U.S. Announces Iran Sanctions | C-SPAN
        Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced additional sanctions against Iran that would identify that country's entire banking system "a threat." The new sanctions fall under Section 311 of the PATRIOT Act, which means that any person or entity that does business with Iran could be determined a supporter of Iran's "illicit activities," Secretary Geithner said.
      USA Patriot Act: Section 311
    Squirrel!
      Hacker says he breached Texas water plant - Technology & science - Security - msnbc.com
        "No damage was done to any of the machinery; I don't like mindless vandalism," he wrote. "It's stupid and silly. On the other hand, so is connecting interfaces to your SCADA machinery to the Internet."
        He added, "I wouldn't even call this a hack, either, just to say. This required almost no skill and could be reproduced by a two year old with a basic knowledge of [Siemens-made SCADA software] Simatic."
        The City of South Houston did not respond to a call for comment.
    Gitmo Nation
      Senator presses TSA chief on X-ray scanner safety - USATODAY.com
        Sen. Susan Collins repeated her call Wednesday for an independent study of the radiation from new X-ray airport scanners.
        The Maine Republican reminded John Pistole, head of the Transportation Security Administration, that he committed to having an independent study during testimony Nov. 2 at the Homeland Security Committee.
        RELATED: Europe bans X-ray scanners (London Daily Mail)
        She was "disappointed" that he told another committee a week later that he would rely on an inspector general's study, rather than conducting another study. One of her constituent's daughters suffered a miscarriage two weeks after passing through a full-body "backscatter" machine using advanced-imaging technology.
      Israeli Gitmo Jewelry
        Net cafe "Cafe Cafe" has launched a pilot in which waiters vibrating bracelet worn when clients want to obtain service. Labor law lawyers: "The method is valid, but harms the dignity waiters and pervasive privacy"
      New Obama Law Warned Will Jail 500,000 Americans | Pakalert Press
        Sparking the concern of Russian diplomats over the growing totalitarian bent of the Obama government is the planned reintroduction of what these reports call one of the most draconian laws ever introduced in a free society that is titled "The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act".
    EUROLand
      CRASH 2: Evidence piles up to show just how vulnerable most of the banks are. | The Slog
        Greece suspected of 'not trying' when it comes to living up to bailout terms >>> Italian bond yields spiking up to Greek levels >>> Spanish bond yields approaching those of Italy >>> French borrowing costs widening versus Germany >>> German intransigence in the face of changing events >>>the requirement for a solution (controlled debt forgiveness) being the very last thing that any of the players in the drama want >>> America's top financial bureaucrat orders a tough US bank stress test >>> a German bond auction being woefully undersold.
      Fed to test six big banks for Euro stress | Reuters
        In the Fed's hypothetical stress scenario, unemployment would spike as high as 13 percent while U.S. gross domestic product would fall by as much as 8 percent.
        The heightened stress tests are part of a larger supervisory test the Fed will conduct on the capital plans of 31 firms with at least $50 billion in assets.
      'Nederland, Duitsland en Finland voeren heimelijk 'triple-A-overleg' - Schuldencrisis - VK
        Daar zal met name worden gesproken over de Griekse schuld. De Jager dreigde in het gesprek met RTL nogmaals de Griekse noodhulp tegen te houden. De Griekse leider van de conservatieven Antonis Samaras weigert vooralsnog zijn handtekening te zetten onder het in Brussel bereikte akkoord en dat is onacceptabel, vindt De Jager.
      German memo shows secret slide towards a super-state - Telegraph
        The six-page memo, by the German foreign office, argues that Europe's economic powerhouses should be able to intervene in how beleaguered eurozone countries are run.
        The confidential blueprint sets out Germany's plan to tackle the eurozone debt crisis by creating a "stability union" that will be "immediately followed by moves "on the way towards a political union".
        It will prompt fears that Germany's euro crisis plans could result in a European super-state with spending and tax plans set in Brussels.
      Dewinter pleit voor 'boedelscheiding' - De Standaard
        Nu formteur Elio Di Rupo zijn ontslag heeft aangeboden, moeten Vlaanderen en Walloniˆ´ onderhandelen over de splitsing van het land. Dat heeft Vlaams Belang-kopstuk Filip Dewinter gezegd op de VRT-radio.
          'Vlaams minister-president Kris Peeters moet dringend het initiatief nemen om onderhandelingen op te starten met Waals minister-president Rudy Demotte om de boedelscheiding te organiseren', zei hij dinsdag op de VRT-radio.
        Verder onderhandelen heeft volgens Dewinter geen zin meer. 'Rien ne va plus in Belgiˆ´. Nu ook Di Rupo de Belgische constructie niet overeind kan houden, is het duidelijk geworden dat binnen het Belgische referentiekader niets nog mogelijk is', meent Dewinter.
      Mutualization Definition - Investopedia
        What Does Mutualization Mean?
        The process of changing a firm's business structure so the owners of the company are eligible to receive cash distributions from the company in direct proportion to the amount of revenue the company earns from each member. This form of business structure is also known as a cooperative in some jurisdictions.
        Investopedia Says
        Investopedia explains Mutualization
        The mutual business structure can be very beneficial to a member, as each member will receive a dividend for doing business with the company, but this distribution may be a tax-free distribution depending on the laws of the jurisdiction in which the member lives. An examples of a mutualized company is a grocery chain in which each shopper can become a member and receive money each year for shopping at that grocery chain.
      Mutualization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
        Mutualization or mutualisation is the process by which a joint stock company changes legal form to a mutual organization or a cooperative.
      CRASH 2: US PREPARES FOR EU MELTDOWN ONSLAUGHT | The Slog
        The Federal Reserve has ordered all the largest US banks to test their loan portfolios and trading books against a severe recession and a European market shock.
    We Can't Wait!
      By the Numbers: 160 Million | The White House
        For a typical family earning $50,000 a year, this cut would translate to an extra $1500 a year in their pockets. That's more than $125 a month for households to pay for gas, food, and other expenses. On the other hand, if Republicans block passage of the President's payroll tax cut, the typical family making $50,000 a year would see their taxes rise by $1,000 next year.
      Email from Joe O'Biden!
        Good afternoon,
        I'll cut to the chase: If Congress doesn't act soon, middle-class Americans will see their taxes go up starting on January 1st, taking almost $1,000 out of the pockets of a typical family next year.
        Last year, President Obama and members of both parties in Congress cut the payroll tax for 155 million workers, putting money in your pockets. Now, that tax cut is expiring. So in September, the President and I proposed extending that tax cut and cutting your taxes even further: giving the typical family a $1,500 tax cut. Steps like this won't just help families feel more secure in their budgets, it'll give them more money to spend at local businesses that will hire more people and make investments in new equipment too.
        We thought the extension would win bipartisan support again. How could Republicans in Congress, some of whom have pledged not to raise taxes by a penny, oppose extending the same tax cuts they just passed? But after years of protecting expensive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, many Republicans now say we should let this middle-class tax cut expire.
        There's a lot at stake here for you and your family, and the better folks understand how much more they may have to pay, the easier it will be to get Congress to do the right thing. We've put together a calculator to show how much of your money hangs in the balance.
        Try it out.
        Last week, we finally got some good news from Capitol Hill. Congress passed another measure from our American Jobs Act, creating tax credits for companies that hire veterans ­ and yesterday President Obama signed the bill into law.
        But folks, as important as that is, it's not nearly enough.
        There is not a single good reason ­ not one ­ why Congress should stop there. Just like that tax credit will help ensure returning service members can find a job, the American Jobs Act helps put Americans back to work by jump starting the private sector and creating an economy that's built to last. Congress ought to pass the rest of our proposals, too.
        And Congress should start with protecting your paycheck.
        Let me lay out the facts: Today, because of our tax cuts, everyone who collects a paycheck contributes 4.2 percent of their wages in payroll taxes. But if Congress doesn't act, that tax will go up two percentage points, to 6.2 percent. That might not sound like much, but to an average family, that's a difference of almost $1,000 a year.
        President Obama and I have proposed cutting the rate even further ­ down to 3.1 percent. That would give a tax cut to 160 million workers next year, providing a $1,500 cut to the typical middle class family.
        We have 40 days for Congress to take action. That's 40 days for Republicans in Congress to do the right thing for the country ­ or 40 days before they force middle-class families to pay almost $1,000 more.
        Take a minute to calculate what's at stake for you:
        http://www.whitehouse.gov/economy/jobsact/calculator
        Sincerely,
        Vice President Joe Biden
    Vaccines
      George W. Bush to raise cancer awareness in Africa
        Former President George W. Bush will travel to Africa next month to raise awareness about cervical and breast cancer, an effort he calls a "natural extension" of a program launched during his presidency that helps fight AIDS on the continent.
      Army limiting use of anti-malaria drug - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times
        Almost four decades after inventing a potent anti-malarial drug, the Army has pushed it to the back of its medicine cabinet.
        The dramatic about-face follows years of complaints and concerns that mefloquine caused psychiatric and physical side effects even as it was used around the globe as a front-line defense against the mosquito-borne disease that kills about 800,000 people a year.
        "Mefloquine is a zombie drug. It's dangerous, and it should have been killed off years ago," said Dr. Remington Nevin, an epidemiologist and Army major who has published research that he said showed the drug can be potentially toxic to the brain. He believes the drop in prescriptions is a tacit acknowledgement of the drug's serious problems.
      Medicate ADHD kids or else, parents told | The Australian
        EXPERTS have warned that parents who don't medicate children with ADHD could be referred to child protection authorities under controversial draft guidelines being considered by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
    CIA Wars
      CIA intelligence fiasco in Lebanon
        Hezbollah has dealt a heavy blow to CIA operations in Lebanon, forcing the intelligence agency to curtail its espionage activities in the country, US officials say.
        According to current and former US officials, CIA operations in Lebanon have been badly damaged after the resistance movement identified and captured a number of US spies this year, AP reported.
        They have also said that CIA officials have secretly been scrambling in recent months to protect their remaining spies, foreign assets or agents working for the agency, before Hezbollah finds them.
        Giving credit to Hezbollah for uncovering the espionage rings, the US officials blamed negligence by CIA managers and sloppy practices used by the spies for their networks being discovered in Lebanon, which is considered a key watching post for collecting crucial intelligence on Middle East countries including Syria and Iran.
    OWS
      Occupy Student Debt
        A number of student organizers in the US have unveiled what they call an 'Occupy Student Debt' campaign, urging borrowers across the country to default on their college loans.
        The campaign was made public Monday afternoon in New York's Zuccotti Park, where the national Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement emerged, the Huffington Post reported.
        "Since the first days of the Occupy movement, the agony of student debt has been a constant refrain," said Andrew Ross, a professor at New York University and an active OWS member, while addressing a crowd in the park
      99% Concert! - Red Book Prediction
      M. Moore Letter on OWS
        Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here? ...a proposal from Michael Moore
        Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
        Friends,
        This past weekend I participated in a four-hour meeting of Occupy Wall Street activists whose job it is to come up with the vision and goals of the movement. It was attended by 40+ people and the discussion was both inspiring and invigorating. Here is what we ended up proposing as the movement's "vision statement" to the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street:
        We Envision: [1] a truly free, democratic, and just society; [2] where we, the people, come together and solve our problems by consensus; [3] where people are encouraged to take personal and collective responsibility and participate in decision making; [4] where we learn to live in harmony and embrace principles of toleration and respect for diversity and the differing views of others; [5] where we secure the civil and human rights of all from violation by tyrannical forces and unjust governments; [6] where political and economic institutions work to benefit all, not just the privileged few; [7] where we provide full and free education to everyone, not merely to get jobs but to grow and flourish as human beings; [8] where we value human needs over monetary gain, to ensure decent standards of living without which effective democracy is impossible; [9] where we work together to protect the global environment to ensure that future generations will have safe and clean air, water and food supplies, and will be able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature that past generations have enjoyed.
        The next step will be to develop a specific list of goals and demands. As one of the millions of people who are participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement, I would like to respectfully offer my suggestions of what we can all get behind now to wrestle the control of our country out of the hands of the 1% and place it squarely with the 99% majority.
        Here is what I will propose to the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street:
        10 Things We Want
        A Proposal for Occupy Wall Street
        Submitted by Michael Moore
        1. Eradicate the Bush tax cuts for the rich and institute new taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on corporations, including a tax on all trading on Wall Street (where they currently pay 0%).
        2. Assess a penalty tax on any corporation that moves American jobs to other countries when that company is already making profits in America. Our jobs are the most important national treasure and they cannot be removed from the country simply because someone wants to make more money.
        3. Require that all Americans pay the same Social Security tax on all of their earnings (normally, the middle class pays about 6% of their income to Social Security; someone making $1 million a year pays about 0.6% (or 90% less than the average person). This law would simply make the rich pay what everyone else pays.
        4. Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, placing serious regulations on how business is conducted by Wall Street and the banks.
        5. Investigate the Crash of 2008, and bring to justice those who committed any crimes.
        6. Reorder our nation's spending priorities (including the ending of all foreign wars and their cost of over $2 billion a week). This will re-open libraries, reinstate band and art and civics classes in our schools, fix our roads and bridges and infrastructure, wire the entire country for 21st century internet, and support scientific research that improves our lives.
        7. Join the rest of the free world and create a single-payer, free and universal health care system that covers all Americans all of the time.
        8. Immediately reduce carbon emissions that are destroying the planet and discover ways to live without the oil that will be depleted and gone by the end of this century.
        9. Require corporations with more than 10,000 employees to restructure their board of directors so that 50% of its members are elected by the company's workers. We can never have a real democracy as long as most people have no say in what happens at the place they spend most of their time: their job. (For any U.S. businesspeople freaking out at this idea because you think workers can't run a successful company: Germany has a law like this and it has helped to make Germany the world's leading manufacturing exporter.)
        10. We, the people, must pass three constitutional amendments that will go a long way toward fixing the core problems we now have. These include:
        a) A constitutional amendment that fixes our broken electoral system by 1) completely removing campaign contributions from the political process; 2) requiring all elections to be publicly financed; 3) moving election day to the weekend to increase voter turnout; 4) making all Americans registered voters at the moment of their birth; 5) banning computerized voting and requiring that all elections take place on paper ballots.
        b) A constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not people and do not have the constitutional rights of citizens. This amendment should also state that the interests of the general public and society must always come before the interests of corporations.
        c) A constitutional amendment that will act as a "second bill of rights" as proposed by President Frankin D. Roosevelt: that every American has a human right to employment, to health care, to a free and full education, to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat safe food, and to be cared for with dignity and respect in their old age.
        Let me know what you think. Occupy Wall Street enjoys the support of millions. It is a movement that cannot be stopped. Become part of it by sharing your thoughts with me or online (at OccupyWallSt.org). Get involved in (or start!) your own local Occupy movement. Make some noise. You don't have to pitch a tent in lower Manhattan to be an Occupier. You are one just by saying you are. This movement has no singular leader or spokesperson; every participant is a leader in their neighborhood, their school, their place of work. Each of you is a spokesperson to those whom you encounter. There are no dues to pay, no permission to seek in order to create an action.
        We are but ten weeks old, yet we have already changed the national conversation. This is our moment, the one we've been hoping for, waiting for. If it's going to happen it has to happen now. Don't sit this one out. This is the real deal. This is it.
        Have a happy Thanksgiving!
        Yours,
        Michael Moore
      Weary, blistered Wall Street protesters reach DC
        Drenched, blistered and weary, a few dozen Occupy Wall Street protesters arrived Tuesday in the nation's capital after a two-week, 240-mile march from Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan.
        The marchers, many wearing hooded ponchos in a steady rain, walked into the Occupy D.C. encampment, where fellow protesters lined up outside their tents and greeted them with cheers, applause and hugs. Organizers said the march, which they called Occupy the Highway, accomplished their goal of taking their concerns about income equality and corporate influence in politics on the road, including to rural communities that previously had little exposure to the movement.
    2TTH
      Red arrows pilot
        The main parachute did not deploy and the pilot did not become separated from his seat, the hearing was told. He landed on the ground still strapped into his seat.
    Drone Nation
      Pakistan Drone Strikes Aided by Covert Emitters? | Aviation International News
        The targeting by American Predator and Reaper UAVs of terrorists along the Afghan-Pakistan border is being aided by GPS tracking devices placed covertly in the suspects' vehicles, according to media reports. Earlier this month, Pakistan and Western media reported that car mechanics in the tribal areas suspected of fitting the devices had been murdered by a Taleban counter-intelligence unit.
    Trains Good, Planes Bad (WhooWhoo!)
      Bodemloze put | nu.nl/column woensdag | Het laatste nieuws het eerst op nu.nl
        Zoals Melanie Schultz van Haegen een dikke 400 miljoen euro aan inkomsten alvast inboekt. Om te verhullen dat er niet 390 miljoen, maar bijna 1 miljard bij moet...
      Bad Economy Clobbers High-Speed Rail - SmarterTravel.com
        Two big high-speed rail projects have fallen victim to the lousy state of the world economy. The latest U.S. budget removes funding for high-speed rail projects, most notably the nation's largest in California, and the Portuguese government just announced it was canceling work on its portion of the cross-border Lisbon--Madrid link. Political maneuvering may well restore at least some of this funding, but the outlook isn't good. Proponents hope that the halt is temporary; opponents hope that the projects die forever. Whatever the politics, don't start standing in line for a ticket just yet.
    Food!
      Got a Butterball turkey for Thanksgiving? You're eating halal - Jihad Watch
        Did you know that the turkey you're going to enjoy on Thanksgiving Day this Thursday is probably halal? If it's a Butterball turkey, then it certainly is -- whether you like it or not.
        In my book Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance, I report at length on the meat industry's halal scandal: its established practice of not separating halal meat from non-halal meat, and not labeling halal meat as such. And back in October 2010, I reported more little-noted but explosive new revelations: that much of the meat in Europe and the United States is being processed as halal without the knowledge of the non-Muslim consumers who buy it.
    Shut Up Slave!
      UC Davis News & Information :: Dateline :: Chancellor apologizes for pepper spraying
        "And I know you may not believe anything that I'm telling you today, and you don't have to. It is my responsibility to earn your trust."
        Katehi noted a sign in the crowd, referring to Nov. 17, 1973, the day a tank rammed through the main gate at Athens Polytechnic, where a student uprising had begun three days earlier against the military junta that ruled Greece at the time. The incident ended in bloodshed.
        "And I was there," said Katehi, her voice cracking with emotion, as she recalled the incident from her undergraduate years at Athens Polytechnic. "And I don't want to forget that."
    Hollywood PR
      Robert Wagner Responds to Natalie Wood Investigation - The Hollywood Reporter
        A spokesperson tells The Hollywood Reporter the actress' former husband and her family supports the decision to reopen the case but hopes the new information comes "from a credible source."
      Robert Wagner: Murder Suspect On 'NCIS'
        In a serendipitous publicity coup for CBS -- and a seriously tough coincidence for the star -- Robert Wagner will guest star Tuesday night on the crime drama "NCIS," playing, of all things, a murder suspect.
      Ratings: Dancing's Grand Finale Trips Up, NCIS Down, Parenthood Steady - TVLine
    Elite$
      About | Phil Kerpen
        Phil Kerpen is vice president for policy at Americans for Prosperity, a columnist on Fox News Opinion, chairman of the Internet Freedom Coalition, and author of the 2011 book Democracy Denied.
    Bank$ters
      MF Global - 1.2 BILLION Missing from Clients accounts - yet NO One has been arrested or accused of Stealing!? - BlackListedNews.com
        The amount of customer money missing from the collapsed trading firm MF Global may be more than $1.2 billion -- double previous estimates -- the trustee dismantling the firm's brokerage unit said on Monday.
        Regulators currently suspect that MF Global -- at the time run by Jon S. Corzine, the former Democratic governor of New Jersey -- improperly used customer money for its own purposes in the days before filing for Chapter 11 protection on Oct. 31.
        Investigators are considering two possible situations. One is that MF Global used the money to meet trading partners' demands for extra cash, which could come back. The other is that it was used to cover trading losses, which would mean that the money cannot be recovered.
    Haiti
      Haitian legislators get new $1.9 million temproary parliament building financed by US - The Washington Post
        The new $1.9 million building was paid for by the U.S. Agency for International Development and built by a Haitian construction firm. It is only temporary. It will house Haiti's bicameral legislature until a permanent place is built in several years.
    VIDEO
      VIDEO: What if 'The X Factor' held a GOP debate? | Video | TheBlaze.com
        Enter, The X Factor Republican Presidential Debate!
      [VIDEO] Ron Paul Town Hall Gets Occupied
        "The problem is nobody in this Occupy group bothered to check into Ron Paul's positions. He voted against TARP and the bank bailouts they are fired up about. He has led the fight to audit the Federal Reserve and literally wrote the book on ending the fed. A lone voice in most cases, Paul frequently rails against corporate and lobby influence over Washington. So why, exactly, were these occupiers "mic checking" at a Paul event?"
      [VIDEO] James Murdoch Steps Down at News Corp. | Crooks and Liars
        James Murdoch has left the boards of operating companies overseeing News Corp.'s U.K. newspapers the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times, according to British regulatory filings, which registered the changes in September.
        Mr. Murdoch, News Corp.'s deputy chief operating officer, resigned from the boards of a number of subsidiary companies of News International, the media conglomerate's U.K. newspaper unit. But he remains the News International chairman and a director of the holding company for the Times and the Sunday Times.
      [VIDEO] Obama Gets Mic Checked, Tells Protesters: 'You're The Reason I Ran For Office' | ThinkProgress
        The crowd quickly drowned the protesters out with chants of "Obama," but a few minutes later, Obama said "families like yours, young people like the ones here today -- including the ones who were just chanting at me -- you're the reason that I ran for office in the first place."
      [VIDEO] Meeting with Prime Minister of Italy, Mario MONTI - the President's Videos
        Press statement by Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of the European Council, following his meeting with Mario MONTI, Prime Minister of Italy.
      [VIDEO] Dr. Paul Offit: Debunking the Vaccine-Autism Link - The Daily Beast
        But today, frustrations and fears about a mysterious brain disorder that strikes up to one in 150 kids have given rise to the most angry and divisive debate in medicine: do vaccines trigger autism? Offit, a vaccine inventor, says "no." His critics, who vilify him routinely on autism Web sites, say the question is still very much open. They think he's arrogant and a mouthpiece for Big Pharma.
      [VIDEO] First Lady Michelle Obama Booed At NASCAR Race | Mediaite
      [VIDEO] Obama To Sharpton: 'My Religious Faith' Makes Me Believe Republicans Will Agree To Raise Taxes | NewsBusters.org
        On his MSNBC show this evening, Al Sharpton played the audio of his radio-show interview of President Obama in which the president, commenting on the failure of the Super Committee, said "my religious faith" makes him believe at some point Republicans will agree to raise taxes.
      [VIDEO] Douglas Brinkley vs. Don Young "I Pay Your Salary" Heated Exchange
        At a Natural Resources Committee hearing Friday on oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) mistakenly addressed the professor as "Dr. Rice" while calling his testimony "garbage."
        Brinkley interrupted, saying: "It's Dr. Brinkley, Rice is a university," and "I know you went to Yuba [Community College in California] and couldn't graduate -- "
      [VIDEO] Computer hacker reveals plan to occupy airwaves | abc7news.com
        The ABC7 News I-Team has discovered that some of the same people who launched the Occupy movement are now considering a plan to occupy the airwaves. By hijacking radio and television stations, they could create a nationwide panic.
      [VIDEO] UN Climate Chief calls for EU leadership - interview
        After delivering the 2011 Robert Schuman lecture at the Lisbon Council in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), talks to EUXTV's Raymond Frenken about the upcoming COP17 climate talks in Durban, South Africa. Mrs Figueres was in Brussels on Wednesday also to meet with EU officials and to take part at a conference on cliimate change in the European Parliament.
      [AUDIO] Pilot's toilet break trapping leads to terror scare
        The pilot of a plane headed to New York inadvertently caused a terror scare overnight when he became trapped in the bathroom and recruited a man with a "thick foreign accent" to alert the co-pilot.
      [VIDEO] Propaganda Assault kids - The FACTS about Climate Change according to Newsround
        The BBC children's new program Newsround discusses the recent IPCC report and pushes out a number of false statements, clever twists of language and downright lies.
      [VIDEO] Presidential Bodyman Reggie Love Is Leaving the White House: Exclusive Interview with Rachel Nichols - ABC News
        "If he had it his way, I think he'd floss in private," Love said, noting how little time the president spends away from his closest aides. "I think the fact that he was comfortable with me is probably a product of, you know, he's beaten down. I've been around for so long."
      [VIDEO] Extract on mutualisation of public debt - the President's Videos
        xtract on the mutualisation of public debt, from the press statement by Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of the European Council, following his meeting with Mario MONTI, Prime Minister of Italy.
      [VIDEO] Fox News On UC Davis Pepper Spraying: 'It's A Food Product, Essentially' | TPMDC
        "Pepper spray, that just burns your eyes, right?" O'Reilly asked Kelly.
        "Right," Kelly said. "I mean, its like a derivative of actual pepper. It's a food product, essentially."
      [VIDEO] Obama heckled in New Hampshire-Mic Check!
        This time, followers of the Occupy Wall Street movement began yelling at the president today as began his speech in Manchester, N.H.
        As protesters shouted about the "over 4,000 people" arrested at Occupy movements across the country, the president's backers began countering with chants of "fired up, ready to go!" and "Obama! Obama!"
      [VIDEO] U.S. military building robotic ostrich for recon, search and rescue | VentureBeat
        While the long-necked flightless ostrich is a puzzling and often humorous creature, the Department of Defense's thinks it's the perfect design for a robotic "terror bird" that will help protect human soldiers in combat when it is completed, according to The Register.
      [VIDEO] Fukushima: "China Syndrome Is Inevitable" - BlackListedNews.com
        And nuclear expert Paul Gunter says that we face a "China Syndrome", where the fuel from the reactor cores at Fukushima have melted through the container vessels, into the ground, and are hitting groundwater and creating highly-radioactive steam:
      [VIDEO] - Newsnight - Rights campaigner on Egypt forces' 'outrageous crimes'
        There have been renewed clashes between Egyptian demonstrators and security forces in Cairo's Tahrir Square as demonstrators push for the military leadership to leave power.
        Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman spoke to Ghada Shahbandar from the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights about the situation in the square and the violence of recent days.
      [VIDEO] New footage of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi in captivity | Video | RIA Novosti
        New and exclusive footage obtained by The Associated Press of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi's first hours in captivity has emerged showing his well apparently disciplined Libyan revolutionary captors looking after the weary and in pain son of late dictator Colonel Moammar Gadhafi.
      [VIDEO] Exclusive: CIA Spies Caught, Fear Execution in Middle East
        In a significant failure for the United States in the Mideast, more than a dozen spies working for the CIA in Iran and Lebanon have been caught and the U.S. government fears they will be or have been executed, according to four current and former U.S. officials with connections to the intelligence community.
      [VIDEO] Former Intel Chief: Call Off The Drone War (And Maybe the Whole War on Terror) | Danger Room | Wired.com
        Starting with the drone attacks. Yes, they take out some mid-level terrorists, Blair said. But they're not strategically effective. If the drones stopped flying tomorrow, Blair told the audience at the Aspen Security Forum, "it's not going to lower the threat to the U.S." Al-Qaida and its allies have proven "it can sustain its level of resistance to an air-only campaign," he said.
      [VIDEO] Goldman Sachs and Europe's "Inside Job" | Global Research TV
        Goldman Sachs has infiltrated senior positions of power across Europe, says Le Monde's London correspondent, Marc Roche. The Prime Ministers of Greece and Italy as well as the new head of the European Central Bank all have close ties to the bank.
      [VIDEO] - New York man arrested suspected of bomb plot
        The mayor also said police had constructed a duplicate of an explosive device he alleged the suspect had built, before showing a videotape of it blowing up an unidentified car.
      [VIDEO] 'Lone wolf' bomb plot suspect arrested in New York
        New York mayor Michael Bloomberg confirms the arrest of Jose Pimentel, a "lone wolf" islamic extremist planning deadly pipe bomb attacks targets including police cars and post offices.
      We Can't Wait! Yes We Can! - YouTube
        Uploaded by GlobalCop on Nov 22, 2011
  Fake Holiday
    JCD's Bogative Holiday Story
    Michelle Obama email
      Good morning,
      Every Thanksgiving, Barack sits down to call some of our troops and thank them for their service.
      When he tells me about these conversations, it always reminds me of how blessed we are to live in a country where men and women will stand up to protect our freedoms and preserve our way of life. And whenever I've had the chance to meet with these heroes and their families, I've always walked away inspired by their courage and in awe of their strength.
      I can't think of any better way to spend Thanksgiving than letting our servicemembers know how grateful we are for everything that they do. So this year, we're making it easy to do just that.
      We've partnered with the USO to create a program called Thanks From Everywhere. To get involved, simply visit JoiningForces.gov/Thanks and write a quick note that troops and veterans all over the world will be able to see.
      Add your message to Thanks From Everywhere.
      Your note will be added to a map with messages from people all over the country, showing our troops and their families just how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice.
      If we all do our part, we'll help to build a wave of support to honor our veterans and their families -- and ensure they get the recognition they deserve this holiday season.
      At a time when we are sitting down to share the blessings we've received this past year, please take a moment to be a part of this effort to thank America's heroes and their families.
      Send a message to Thanks From Everywhere today:
      http://www.JoiningForces.gov/Thanks
      Happy Thanksgiving,
      Michelle Obama
  Shadow Puppet Theatre
    Hillary Clinton aide at the helm of Amnesty International USA [Voltaire Network]
      Suzanne Nossel, former assistant to Richard Holbrooke in his capacity as UN Ambassador and currently Hillary Clinton's Deputy Assistant for International Organization Affairs, has been selected as the new Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. In the discharge of her duties at the State Department, she diligently exploited human rights to benefit imperial ambitions.
      Ms. Nossel has launched several campaigns against Iran, Libya and Syria. In recent months she made a name for herself by misinforming the Human Rights Council in Geneva with a view to getting the resolution authorizing the war on Libya adopted by the Security Council. Ms. Nossel's allegations have since been debunked.
      Ms. Nossel had previously worked for Human Rights Watch, as well as for Bertelsmann Media Worldwide and the Wall Street Journal as Vice President of Strategy and Operations.
      The AI-USA Board of Directors deemed that Suzanne Nossel's commitment to the Clinton and Obama administrations was sufficient proof of her competence and decided not to hold a grudge against her for the crimes committed in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, etc.
    Edwin Meese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
      On May 21, 1984, Reagan announced his intention to appoint the Attorney General to study the effect of pornography on society.[18] The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, often called the Meese Commission, convened in the spring of 1985 and published its findings in July 1986. The Meese Report advised that pornography was in varying degrees harmful.[19]
  Ministry of Truth
    DutchNews.nl - Trouble over rent and visas between ICC and the Netherlands
      The relationship between the Netherlands and the International Criminal Court in The Hague has cooled, Trouw reports on Thursday.
      The paper says the ICC's rent-free accommodation contract with the Dutch government is due to expire in July 2012 and the Netherlands is sticking to the deadline.
      'We had expected a little more flexibility with the host country about continuing to pay the rent,' Marc Dubuisson, one of the court's directors, is quoted as saying. 'They are being really Dutch.'
      10 years
      The Netherlands agreed to pay the rent on the court's offices for a 10-year period after its foundation. From that date, the court's founding partners are supposed to share the cost.
      The ICC is currently housed in a building formerly used by telecoms group KPN. The building now too small but a new court complex, close to the high security Scheveningen prison, will not be completed until 2015.
      The paper says the accommodation issue is on the agenda for a meeting of founders in December, and if the budget is not increased from the current ’Ç¨104m, large savings will be necessary.
      Visas
      The Netherlands has also become more difficult about granting visas for some witnesses, Dubuisson told Trouw.
      This particularly affects people who have to leave their home country immediately because they and their families would be in danger.
  Red Book prediction: 40 day reality show then executive order
    "We've got a lot of work left to do this year," Obama said. "If we don't act, taxes will go up for every single American starting next year. And I'm not about to let that happen. Middle-class Americans can't afford to lose $1,000 next year because Congress won't act."
  Libya
    BBC News - Libya's interim PM unveils new government line-up
      Other key appointments include Abdurrahim Bin Yazza - a former executive with the Italian oil giant ENI - as head of the oil and gas ministry and Ashour Bin Khayal, as interim foreign minister.
  Syria
    France calls for 'secured' humanitarian intervention in Syria - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
      France has called for a "secured zone to protect civilians" in Syria, the first time a major Western power has suggested international intervention on the ground in the eight-month uprising against President Bashar Assad.
      Foreign Minister Alain Juppe also described Syria's exiled opposition National Council as "the legitimate partner with which we want to work," the biggest international endorsement yet for the nascent opposition body.
    AFP: Death toll in new Syria violence hits 33: NGO
      The death toll from a new surge of violence in Syrian flashpoints has risen to at least 33, activists said Wednesday, adding that among the dead are six children and teenagers and five army defectors.
    Aircraft Carrier CVN-77 Parks Next Door To Syria Just As US Urges Americans To Leave Country "Immediately" | ZeroHedge
      Yesterday we reported that the Arab League (with European and US support) are preparing to institute a no fly zone over Syria. Today, we get an escalation which confirms we may be on the edge. Just out from CBS: "The U.S. Embassy in Damascus urged its citizens in Syria to depart "immediately," and Turkey's foreign ministry urged Turkish pilgrims to opt for flights to return home from Saudi Arabia to avoid traveling through Syria." But probably the most damning evidence that the "western world" is about to do the unthinkable and invade Syria, and in the process force Iran to retaliate, is the weekly naval update from Stratfor, which always has some very interesting if always controversial view on geopolitics, where we find that for the first time in many months, CVN 77 George H.W. Bush has left its traditional theater of operations just off the Straits of Hormuz, a critical choke point, where it traditionally accompanies the Stennis, and has parked... right next to Syria.
    BBC News - Syria: UN human rights panel hears resolution proposal
      The vote on the resolution is due to take place at the UN in New York between 10:00 and 13:00 local time (15:00-18:00 GMT). The European nations hope this will be a first step to bringing the issue back to the UN Security Council.
  Biodiversitée
    Christiana Figueres - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
      She won the Hero for the Planet award in 2001.
      Her father, José Figueres Ferrer, was President of Costa Rica three times: 1948-49, 1953­1958, and 1970-1974. José Figueres Ferrer was the leader of the 1948 Revolution and is considered the founder of modern democracy in Costa Rica. He is most well known for having abolished the army in 1948 and established a broad system of checks and balances that are at the root of Costa Rica¹s stable development to this day. Active in her own right, Christiana¹s mother, Karen Olsen Beck, served as Costa Rican Ambassador to Israel in 1982 and was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the 1990-1994 period. The couple had four children. Christiana¹s older brother José Figueres Olsen, was also President of Costa Rica (1994­1998), and is credited with having initiated the country onto a path of sustainable development which continues to this day. Younger brother Mariano Figueres Olsen is currently active in politics and manages the family firm, together with younger sister Kirsten Figueres Olsen.
    BBC News - Global warming 'confirmed' by independent study
      The Berkeley Earth Project has used new methods and some new data, but finds the same warming trend seen by groups such as the UK Met Office and Nasa.
      The project received funds from sources that back organisations lobbying against action on climate change.
      "Climategate", in 2009, involved claims global warming had been exaggerated.
      Emails of University of East Anglia (UEA) climate scientists were hacked, posted online and used by critics to allege manipulation of climate change data.
    Climategate 2.0 emails -- They're real and they're spectacular! | Watts Up With That?
    Climate panel says prepare for weird weather : Nature News & Comment
      It is "virtually certain" -- meaning 99--100% probability in IPCC terminology -- that the twenty-first century will see an increase in the frequency and magnitude of warm temperature extremes and a decrease in cold extremes.
    HACKGATE DAY 314: Sod the Levesonathon, what about nailing somebody? | The Slog
      In fact, what Rebekah Brooks is doing is preparing her character reference. You may think this an insurmountable task on a par with revamping Pol Pot's image, but she's a game girl Rebekah. She's on the case, but mainly she's been on the nest. The nesting has not been with long-suffering hubby-buffoon Charlie 'can I have my pc back' Brooks, but rather with her cousin's bloke. For Brooks is carrying a surrogate child for her barren relative. In a bizarre, ironic and near-obscene twist, the former tabloid topper persuaded the press corps not to print the story for some weeks, "because it was a private and sensitive family matter". I have, from that moment on, heard it all. Happily, sense has prevailed, and several titles have since carried the story.
  Pedo Bear
    Charity chief resigns amid Penn State scandal -- USATODAY.com
      Second Mile CEO Jack Raykovitz is the latest person to be ousted in the aftermath of charges by a Pennsylvania grand jury that former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky had sexually abused eight boys over the past 15 years. The grand jury alleged that Sandusky met each of those boys through his work with Second Mile, a charity he founded in 1977.
    Ouders: Beslissing over Drent onbegrijpelijk - Kindermisbruik - VK
      Het merendeel van de ouders dat aangifte heeft gedaan tegen Albert Drent, oud-directeur van kinderdagverblijf 't Hofnarretje, begrijpt niet dat het Openbaar Ministerie (OM) hem niet gaat vervolgen. Dat staat in een verklaring op de website van hun advocaat Richard Korver.
      'Wat hen betreft is de onderbouwing van dit besluit grotendeels een uitgewerkte herhaling van het standpunt dat het OM reeds voordat de aangifte werd gedaan, heeft ingenomen.' Ze zijn volgens Korver dan ook niet verbaasd over deze beslissing.
  Techno Experts
    'Minister Egypte wil uitstel verkiezingen' - Buitenland - VK
      Het is al de hele week zeer onrustig in Egypte. Geweld bij betogingen tegen de militaire raad die het land bestuurt, heeft sinds zaterdag al enkele tientallen mensenlevens geˆ´ist.
      De betogers zijn het vertrouwen in de militaire machthebbers verloren, omdat die in hun ogen weinig haast maken met de hervormingen die zij hebben beloofd. Daarom hebben demonstranten opnieuw massaal bezit genomen van het centrale Tahrirplein in de hoofdstad CaˆØro, dat in januari en februari al het middelpunt was van de opstand tegen Mubarak. Leger en politie treden de laatste dagen hard op.
    Land Destroyer: "Second Revolution" Rocks Egypt
      Waiting in the wings for this eventual collapse and the expedited presidential elections April 6 is "fighting for," is US-backed Mohammed ElBaradei, another "Nobel Peace Prize" carrying imposter, along side President Barack Obama, and Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, bent in perpetual servitude to the corporate-fascist agenda of Wall Street and London. ElBaradei has faced severe PR challenges as Egyptians and indeed people around the world learned of his deep ties to Washington despite his attempt at portraying himself as "at odds" with the West. At one point, ElBaradei, after leading the US-engineered "Arab Spring" through his native home of Egypt, had rocks hurdled at him months later, with angry mobs calling him "an American agent."
    Death toll hits 33 on third day of Egypt clashes - Africa - World - The Independent
      Cairo police fought protesters demanding an end to army rule for a third day today and morgue officials said the death toll had risen to 33, with many victims shot in the worst violence since the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
    AFP: Death toll in new Syria violence hits 33: NGO
      The death toll from a new surge of violence in Syrian flashpoints has risen to at least 33, activists said Wednesday, adding that among the dead are six children and teenagers and five army defectors.
    Yemen leader to depart after 33-year rule
      Bowing to months of massive street protest and spiralling violence, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is finally to sign a Gulf plan that will end his 33-year hardline rule.
    Power Utility Smart Meters Causing Router Interference - Maine Public Advocate Says Users Not Being Educated | DSLReports.com, ISP Information
      Central Maine Power (CMP) has been deploying smart electric meters, allowing the company to detect problems remotely and bill users without home readings. Unfortunately, the 440,000 smart meters installed so far (with around 180,000 more planned) operate in the 2.4 Ghz frequency, and as a result are interfering with home electronics including home wireless routers. With many people lacking the technical expertise to even set a router password, not too surprisingly the sudden interference is causing some problems for local customers, according to the Portland Press Herald:
    The Government's $200,000 Useless Android Application - Gun.io
      After a few weeks of waiting (which is exceptionally short in the FOIA world, and OSHA should be commended for that), I received a response. The application cost $106,467 for the Android version, and an additional $96,000 for the iPhone and (non-existent) BlackBerry version. That's more than $200,000 for less than $2,000 worth of non-functional temperature converters.
  Nukes!
    Crackdown on Sanction Violations: What It Means for Iranian Americans - Tehran Bureau | FRONTLINE | PBS
      If my grandmother wants to send me pistachios, is this still okay?
      Can you describe what havaleh and saraaf are and how they relate to sanctions laws?
      Havaleh (Hawala) is an informal money exchange system which utilizes brokers to transmit money between parties. For example, if someone were to provide funds to a havaleh broker in Iran for a remittance to someone in the U.S., that havaleh broker would call his counterpart in the U.S. and have the counterpart provide the funds to the beneficiary. The two brokers would keep a tab of how much is owed. Because these activities do not utilize a U.S. depository institution, they do not fall under the general license found at 31 C.F.R. 560.516, therefore these activities are prohibited by Iran sanctions.
      That answer will be based on the facts, however, due to the revocation of the general license for Iranian-origin food stuffs last year, I would be careful as it may be deemed a violation of the importation ban. At a minimum you should contact OFAC prior to her sending the pistachios.
    Obama pardons 5, commutes 1 sentence for convictions including selling drugs, gambling - The Washington Post
      None of those pardoned was well-known, as was the case with the president's previous orders. The cases date back to 1984, when Martin Kaprelian of Park Ridge, Ill., was sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiracy to transport stolen property in interstate commerce, and other related charges.
    Executive Order -- Iran Sanctions | The White House
      Section 1. The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, and with the President of the Export-Import Bank, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and other agencies and officials as appropriate, is hereby authorized to impose on a person any of the sanctions described in section 2 or 3 of this order upon determining that the person:
    U.S. Announces Iran Sanctions | C-SPAN
      Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced additional sanctions against Iran that would identify that country's entire banking system "a threat." The new sanctions fall under Section 311 of the PATRIOT Act, which means that any person or entity that does business with Iran could be determined a supporter of Iran's "illicit activities," Secretary Geithner said.
    USA Patriot Act: Section 311
  Squirrel!
    Hacker says he breached Texas water plant - Technology & science - Security - msnbc.com
      "No damage was done to any of the machinery; I don't like mindless vandalism," he wrote. "It's stupid and silly. On the other hand, so is connecting interfaces to your SCADA machinery to the Internet."
      He added, "I wouldn't even call this a hack, either, just to say. This required almost no skill and could be reproduced by a two year old with a basic knowledge of [Siemens-made SCADA software] Simatic."
      The City of South Houston did not respond to a call for comment.
  Gitmo Nation
    Senator presses TSA chief on X-ray scanner safety - USATODAY.com
      Sen. Susan Collins repeated her call Wednesday for an independent study of the radiation from new X-ray airport scanners.
      The Maine Republican reminded John Pistole, head of the Transportation Security Administration, that he committed to having an independent study during testimony Nov. 2 at the Homeland Security Committee.
      RELATED: Europe bans X-ray scanners (London Daily Mail)
      She was "disappointed" that he told another committee a week later that he would rely on an inspector general's study, rather than conducting another study. One of her constituent's daughters suffered a miscarriage two weeks after passing through a full-body "backscatter" machine using advanced-imaging technology.
    Israeli Gitmo Jewelry
      Net cafe "Cafe Cafe" has launched a pilot in which waiters vibrating bracelet worn when clients want to obtain service. Labor law lawyers: "The method is valid, but harms the dignity waiters and pervasive privacy"
    New Obama Law Warned Will Jail 500,000 Americans | Pakalert Press
      Sparking the concern of Russian diplomats over the growing totalitarian bent of the Obama government is the planned reintroduction of what these reports call one of the most draconian laws ever introduced in a free society that is titled "The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act".
  EUROLand
    CRASH 2: Evidence piles up to show just how vulnerable most of the banks are. | The Slog
      Greece suspected of 'not trying' when it comes to living up to bailout terms >>> Italian bond yields spiking up to Greek levels >>> Spanish bond yields approaching those of Italy >>> French borrowing costs widening versus Germany >>> German intransigence in the face of changing events >>>the requirement for a solution (controlled debt forgiveness) being the very last thing that any of the players in the drama want >>> America's top financial bureaucrat orders a tough US bank stress test >>> a German bond auction being woefully undersold.
    Fed to test six big banks for Euro stress | Reuters
      In the Fed's hypothetical stress scenario, unemployment would spike as high as 13 percent while U.S. gross domestic product would fall by as much as 8 percent.
      The heightened stress tests are part of a larger supervisory test the Fed will conduct on the capital plans of 31 firms with at least $50 billion in assets.
    'Nederland, Duitsland en Finland voeren heimelijk 'triple-A-overleg' - Schuldencrisis - VK
      Daar zal met name worden gesproken over de Griekse schuld. De Jager dreigde in het gesprek met RTL nogmaals de Griekse noodhulp tegen te houden. De Griekse leider van de conservatieven Antonis Samaras weigert vooralsnog zijn handtekening te zetten onder het in Brussel bereikte akkoord en dat is onacceptabel, vindt De Jager.
    German memo shows secret slide towards a super-state - Telegraph
      The six-page memo, by the German foreign office, argues that Europe's economic powerhouses should be able to intervene in how beleaguered eurozone countries are run.
      The confidential blueprint sets out Germany's plan to tackle the eurozone debt crisis by creating a "stability union" that will be "immediately followed by moves "on the way towards a political union".
      It will prompt fears that Germany's euro crisis plans could result in a European super-state with spending and tax plans set in Brussels.
    Dewinter pleit voor 'boedelscheiding' - De Standaard
      Nu formteur Elio Di Rupo zijn ontslag heeft aangeboden, moeten Vlaanderen en Walloniˆ´ onderhandelen over de splitsing van het land. Dat heeft Vlaams Belang-kopstuk Filip Dewinter gezegd op de VRT-radio.
        'Vlaams minister-president Kris Peeters moet dringend het initiatief nemen om onderhandelingen op te starten met Waals minister-president Rudy Demotte om de boedelscheiding te organiseren', zei hij dinsdag op de VRT-radio.
      Verder onderhandelen heeft volgens Dewinter geen zin meer. 'Rien ne va plus in Belgiˆ´. Nu ook Di Rupo de Belgische constructie niet overeind kan houden, is het duidelijk geworden dat binnen het Belgische referentiekader niets nog mogelijk is', meent Dewinter.
    Mutualization Definition - Investopedia
      What Does Mutualization Mean?
      The process of changing a firm's business structure so the owners of the company are eligible to receive cash distributions from the company in direct proportion to the amount of revenue the company earns from each member. This form of business structure is also known as a cooperative in some jurisdictions.
      Investopedia Says
      Investopedia explains Mutualization
      The mutual business structure can be very beneficial to a member, as each member will receive a dividend for doing business with the company, but this distribution may be a tax-free distribution depending on the laws of the jurisdiction in which the member lives. An examples of a mutualized company is a grocery chain in which each shopper can become a member and receive money each year for shopping at that grocery chain.
    Mutualization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
      Mutualization or mutualisation is the process by which a joint stock company changes legal form to a mutual organization or a cooperative.
    CRASH 2: US PREPARES FOR EU MELTDOWN ONSLAUGHT | The Slog
      The Federal Reserve has ordered all the largest US banks to test their loan portfolios and trading books against a severe recession and a European market shock.
  We Can't Wait!
    By the Numbers: 160 Million | The White House
      For a typical family earning $50,000 a year, this cut would translate to an extra $1500 a year in their pockets. That's more than $125 a month for households to pay for gas, food, and other expenses. On the other hand, if Republicans block passage of the President's payroll tax cut, the typical family making $50,000 a year would see their taxes rise by $1,000 next year.
    Email from Joe O'Biden!
      Good afternoon,
      I'll cut to the chase: If Congress doesn't act soon, middle-class Americans will see their taxes go up starting on January 1st, taking almost $1,000 out of the pockets of a typical family next year.
      Last year, President Obama and members of both parties in Congress cut the payroll tax for 155 million workers, putting money in your pockets. Now, that tax cut is expiring. So in September, the President and I proposed extending that tax cut and cutting your taxes even further: giving the typical family a $1,500 tax cut. Steps like this won't just help families feel more secure in their budgets, it'll give them more money to spend at local businesses that will hire more people and make investments in new equipment too.
      We thought the extension would win bipartisan support again. How could Republicans in Congress, some of whom have pledged not to raise taxes by a penny, oppose extending the same tax cuts they just passed? But after years of protecting expensive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, many Republicans now say we should let this middle-class tax cut expire.
      There's a lot at stake here for you and your family, and the better folks understand how much more they may have to pay, the easier it will be to get Congress to do the right thing. We've put together a calculator to show how much of your money hangs in the balance.
      Try it out.
      Last week, we finally got some good news from Capitol Hill. Congress passed another measure from our American Jobs Act, creating tax credits for companies that hire veterans ­ and yesterday President Obama signed the bill into law.
      But folks, as important as that is, it's not nearly enough.
      There is not a single good reason ­ not one ­ why Congress should stop there. Just like that tax credit will help ensure returning service members can find a job, the American Jobs Act helps put Americans back to work by jump starting the private sector and creating an economy that's built to last. Congress ought to pass the rest of our proposals, too.
      And Congress should start with protecting your paycheck.
      Let me lay out the facts: Today, because of our tax cuts, everyone who collects a paycheck contributes 4.2 percent of their wages in payroll taxes. But if Congress doesn't act, that tax will go up two percentage points, to 6.2 percent. That might not sound like much, but to an average family, that's a difference of almost $1,000 a year.
      President Obama and I have proposed cutting the rate even further ­ down to 3.1 percent. That would give a tax cut to 160 million workers next year, providing a $1,500 cut to the typical middle class family.
      We have 40 days for Congress to take action. That's 40 days for Republicans in Congress to do the right thing for the country ­ or 40 days before they force middle-class families to pay almost $1,000 more.
      Take a minute to calculate what's at stake for you:
      http://www.whitehouse.gov/economy/jobsact/calculator
      Sincerely,
      Vice President Joe Biden
  Vaccines
    George W. Bush to raise cancer awareness in Africa
      Former President George W. Bush will travel to Africa next month to raise awareness about cervical and breast cancer, an effort he calls a "natural extension" of a program launched during his presidency that helps fight AIDS on the continent.
    Army limiting use of anti-malaria drug - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times
      Almost four decades after inventing a potent anti-malarial drug, the Army has pushed it to the back of its medicine cabinet.
      The dramatic about-face follows years of complaints and concerns that mefloquine caused psychiatric and physical side effects even as it was used around the globe as a front-line defense against the mosquito-borne disease that kills about 800,000 people a year.
      "Mefloquine is a zombie drug. It's dangerous, and it should have been killed off years ago," said Dr. Remington Nevin, an epidemiologist and Army major who has published research that he said showed the drug can be potentially toxic to the brain. He believes the drop in prescriptions is a tacit acknowledgement of the drug's serious problems.
    Medicate ADHD kids or else, parents told | The Australian
      EXPERTS have warned that parents who don't medicate children with ADHD could be referred to child protection authorities under controversial draft guidelines being considered by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
  CIA Wars
    CIA intelligence fiasco in Lebanon
      Hezbollah has dealt a heavy blow to CIA operations in Lebanon, forcing the intelligence agency to curtail its espionage activities in the country, US officials say.
      According to current and former US officials, CIA operations in Lebanon have been badly damaged after the resistance movement identified and captured a number of US spies this year, AP reported.
      They have also said that CIA officials have secretly been scrambling in recent months to protect their remaining spies, foreign assets or agents working for the agency, before Hezbollah finds them.
      Giving credit to Hezbollah for uncovering the espionage rings, the US officials blamed negligence by CIA managers and sloppy practices used by the spies for their networks being discovered in Lebanon, which is considered a key watching post for collecting crucial intelligence on Middle East countries including Syria and Iran.
  OWS
    Occupy Student Debt
      A number of student organizers in the US have unveiled what they call an 'Occupy Student Debt' campaign, urging borrowers across the country to default on their college loans.
      The campaign was made public Monday afternoon in New York's Zuccotti Park, where the national Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement emerged, the Huffington Post reported.
      "Since the first days of the Occupy movement, the agony of student debt has been a constant refrain," said Andrew Ross, a professor at New York University and an active OWS member, while addressing a crowd in the park
    99% Concert! - Red Book Prediction
    M. Moore Letter on OWS
      Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here? ...a proposal from Michael Moore
      Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
      Friends,
      This past weekend I participated in a four-hour meeting of Occupy Wall Street activists whose job it is to come up with the vision and goals of the movement. It was attended by 40+ people and the discussion was both inspiring and invigorating. Here is what we ended up proposing as the movement's "vision statement" to the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street:
      We Envision: [1] a truly free, democratic, and just society; [2] where we, the people, come together and solve our problems by consensus; [3] where people are encouraged to take personal and collective responsibility and participate in decision making; [4] where we learn to live in harmony and embrace principles of toleration and respect for diversity and the differing views of others; [5] where we secure the civil and human rights of all from violation by tyrannical forces and unjust governments; [6] where political and economic institutions work to benefit all, not just the privileged few; [7] where we provide full and free education to everyone, not merely to get jobs but to grow and flourish as human beings; [8] where we value human needs over monetary gain, to ensure decent standards of living without which effective democracy is impossible; [9] where we work together to protect the global environment to ensure that future generations will have safe and clean air, water and food supplies, and will be able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature that past generations have enjoyed.
      The next step will be to develop a specific list of goals and demands. As one of the millions of people who are participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement, I would like to respectfully offer my suggestions of what we can all get behind now to wrestle the control of our country out of the hands of the 1% and place it squarely with the 99% majority.
      Here is what I will propose to the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street:
      10 Things We Want
      A Proposal for Occupy Wall Street
      Submitted by Michael Moore
      1. Eradicate the Bush tax cuts for the rich and institute new taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on corporations, including a tax on all trading on Wall Street (where they currently pay 0%).
      2. Assess a penalty tax on any corporation that moves American jobs to other countries when that company is already making profits in America. Our jobs are the most important national treasure and they cannot be removed from the country simply because someone wants to make more money.
      3. Require that all Americans pay the same Social Security tax on all of their earnings (normally, the middle class pays about 6% of their income to Social Security; someone making $1 million a year pays about 0.6% (or 90% less than the average person). This law would simply make the rich pay what everyone else pays.
      4. Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, placing serious regulations on how business is conducted by Wall Street and the banks.
      5. Investigate the Crash of 2008, and bring to justice those who committed any crimes.
      6. Reorder our nation's spending priorities (including the ending of all foreign wars and their cost of over $2 billion a week). This will re-open libraries, reinstate band and art and civics classes in our schools, fix our roads and bridges and infrastructure, wire the entire country for 21st century internet, and support scientific research that improves our lives.
      7. Join the rest of the free world and create a single-payer, free and universal health care system that covers all Americans all of the time.
      8. Immediately reduce carbon emissions that are destroying the planet and discover ways to live without the oil that will be depleted and gone by the end of this century.
      9. Require corporations with more than 10,000 employees to restructure their board of directors so that 50% of its members are elected by the company's workers. We can never have a real democracy as long as most people have no say in what happens at the place they spend most of their time: their job. (For any U.S. businesspeople freaking out at this idea because you think workers can't run a successful company: Germany has a law like this and it has helped to make Germany the world's leading manufacturing exporter.)
      10. We, the people, must pass three constitutional amendments that will go a long way toward fixing the core problems we now have. These include:
      a) A constitutional amendment that fixes our broken electoral system by 1) completely removing campaign contributions from the political process; 2) requiring all elections to be publicly financed; 3) moving election day to the weekend to increase voter turnout; 4) making all Americans registered voters at the moment of their birth; 5) banning computerized voting and requiring that all elections take place on paper ballots.
      b) A constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not people and do not have the constitutional rights of citizens. This amendment should also state that the interests of the general public and society must always come before the interests of corporations.
      c) A constitutional amendment that will act as a "second bill of rights" as proposed by President Frankin D. Roosevelt: that every American has a human right to employment, to health care, to a free and full education, to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat safe food, and to be cared for with dignity and respect in their old age.
      Let me know what you think. Occupy Wall Street enjoys the support of millions. It is a movement that cannot be stopped. Become part of it by sharing your thoughts with me or online (at OccupyWallSt.org). Get involved in (or start!) your own local Occupy movement. Make some noise. You don't have to pitch a tent in lower Manhattan to be an Occupier. You are one just by saying you are. This movement has no singular leader or spokesperson; every participant is a leader in their neighborhood, their school, their place of work. Each of you is a spokesperson to those whom you encounter. There are no dues to pay, no permission to seek in order to create an action.
      We are but ten weeks old, yet we have already changed the national conversation. This is our moment, the one we've been hoping for, waiting for. If it's going to happen it has to happen now. Don't sit this one out. This is the real deal. This is it.
      Have a happy Thanksgiving!
      Yours,
      Michael Moore
    Weary, blistered Wall Street protesters reach DC
      Drenched, blistered and weary, a few dozen Occupy Wall Street protesters arrived Tuesday in the nation's capital after a two-week, 240-mile march from Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan.
      The marchers, many wearing hooded ponchos in a steady rain, walked into the Occupy D.C. encampment, where fellow protesters lined up outside their tents and greeted them with cheers, applause and hugs. Organizers said the march, which they called Occupy the Highway, accomplished their goal of taking their concerns about income equality and corporate influence in politics on the road, including to rural communities that previously had little exposure to the movement.
  2TTH
    Red arrows pilot
      The main parachute did not deploy and the pilot did not become separated from his seat, the hearing was told. He landed on the ground still strapped into his seat.
  Drone Nation
    Pakistan Drone Strikes Aided by Covert Emitters? | Aviation International News
      The targeting by American Predator and Reaper UAVs of terrorists along the Afghan-Pakistan border is being aided by GPS tracking devices placed covertly in the suspects' vehicles, according to media reports. Earlier this month, Pakistan and Western media reported that car mechanics in the tribal areas suspected of fitting the devices had been murdered by a Taleban counter-intelligence unit.
  Trains Good, Planes Bad (WhooWhoo!)
    Bodemloze put | nu.nl/column woensdag | Het laatste nieuws het eerst op nu.nl
      Zoals Melanie Schultz van Haegen een dikke 400 miljoen euro aan inkomsten alvast inboekt. Om te verhullen dat er niet 390 miljoen, maar bijna 1 miljard bij moet...
    Bad Economy Clobbers High-Speed Rail - SmarterTravel.com
      Two big high-speed rail projects have fallen victim to the lousy state of the world economy. The latest U.S. budget removes funding for high-speed rail projects, most notably the nation's largest in California, and the Portuguese government just announced it was canceling work on its portion of the cross-border Lisbon--Madrid link. Political maneuvering may well restore at least some of this funding, but the outlook isn't good. Proponents hope that the halt is temporary; opponents hope that the projects die forever. Whatever the politics, don't start standing in line for a ticket just yet.
  Food!
    Got a Butterball turkey for Thanksgiving? You're eating halal - Jihad Watch
      Did you know that the turkey you're going to enjoy on Thanksgiving Day this Thursday is probably halal? If it's a Butterball turkey, then it certainly is -- whether you like it or not.
      In my book Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance, I report at length on the meat industry's halal scandal: its established practice of not separating halal meat from non-halal meat, and not labeling halal meat as such. And back in October 2010, I reported more little-noted but explosive new revelations: that much of the meat in Europe and the United States is being processed as halal without the knowledge of the non-Muslim consumers who buy it.
  Shut Up Slave!
    UC Davis News & Information :: Dateline :: Chancellor apologizes for pepper spraying
      "And I know you may not believe anything that I'm telling you today, and you don't have to. It is my responsibility to earn your trust."
      Katehi noted a sign in the crowd, referring to Nov. 17, 1973, the day a tank rammed through the main gate at Athens Polytechnic, where a student uprising had begun three days earlier against the military junta that ruled Greece at the time. The incident ended in bloodshed.
      "And I was there," said Katehi, her voice cracking with emotion, as she recalled the incident from her undergraduate years at Athens Polytechnic. "And I don't want to forget that."
  Hollywood PR
    Robert Wagner Responds to Natalie Wood Investigation - The Hollywood Reporter
      A spokesperson tells The Hollywood Reporter the actress' former husband and her family supports the decision to reopen the case but hopes the new information comes "from a credible source."
    Robert Wagner: Murder Suspect On 'NCIS'
      In a serendipitous publicity coup for CBS -- and a seriously tough coincidence for the star -- Robert Wagner will guest star Tuesday night on the crime drama "NCIS," playing, of all things, a murder suspect.
    Ratings: Dancing's Grand Finale Trips Up, NCIS Down, Parenthood Steady - TVLine
  Elite$
    About | Phil Kerpen
      Phil Kerpen is vice president for policy at Americans for Prosperity, a columnist on Fox News Opinion, chairman of the Internet Freedom Coalition, and author of the 2011 book Democracy Denied.
  Bank$ters
    MF Global - 1.2 BILLION Missing from Clients accounts - yet NO One has been arrested or accused of Stealing!? - BlackListedNews.com
      The amount of customer money missing from the collapsed trading firm MF Global may be more than $1.2 billion -- double previous estimates -- the trustee dismantling the firm's brokerage unit said on Monday.
      Regulators currently suspect that MF Global -- at the time run by Jon S. Corzine, the former Democratic governor of New Jersey -- improperly used customer money for its own purposes in the days before filing for Chapter 11 protection on Oct. 31.
      Investigators are considering two possible situations. One is that MF Global used the money to meet trading partners' demands for extra cash, which could come back. The other is that it was used to cover trading losses, which would mean that the money cannot be recovered.
  Haiti
    Haitian legislators get new $1.9 million temproary parliament building financed by US - The Washington Post
      The new $1.9 million building was paid for by the U.S. Agency for International Development and built by a Haitian construction firm. It is only temporary. It will house Haiti's bicameral legislature until a permanent place is built in several years.
  VIDEO
    VIDEO: What if 'The X Factor' held a GOP debate? | Video | TheBlaze.com
      Enter, The X Factor Republican Presidential Debate!
    [VIDEO] Ron Paul Town Hall Gets Occupied
      "The problem is nobody in this Occupy group bothered to check into Ron Paul's positions. He voted against TARP and the bank bailouts they are fired up about. He has led the fight to audit the Federal Reserve and literally wrote the book on ending the fed. A lone voice in most cases, Paul frequently rails against corporate and lobby influence over Washington. So why, exactly, were these occupiers "mic checking" at a Paul event?"
    [VIDEO] James Murdoch Steps Down at News Corp. | Crooks and Liars
      James Murdoch has left the boards of operating companies overseeing News Corp.'s U.K. newspapers the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times, according to British regulatory filings, which registered the changes in September.
      Mr. Murdoch, News Corp.'s deputy chief operating officer, resigned from the boards of a number of subsidiary companies of News International, the media conglomerate's U.K. newspaper unit. But he remains the News International chairman and a director of the holding company for the Times and the Sunday Times.
    [VIDEO] Obama Gets Mic Checked, Tells Protesters: 'You're The Reason I Ran For Office' | ThinkProgress
      The crowd quickly drowned the protesters out with chants of "Obama," but a few minutes later, Obama said "families like yours, young people like the ones here today -- including the ones who were just chanting at me -- you're the reason that I ran for office in the first place."
    [VIDEO] Meeting with Prime Minister of Italy, Mario MONTI - the President's Videos
      Press statement by Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of the European Council, following his meeting with Mario MONTI, Prime Minister of Italy.
    [VIDEO] Dr. Paul Offit: Debunking the Vaccine-Autism Link - The Daily Beast
      But today, frustrations and fears about a mysterious brain disorder that strikes up to one in 150 kids have given rise to the most angry and divisive debate in medicine: do vaccines trigger autism? Offit, a vaccine inventor, says "no." His critics, who vilify him routinely on autism Web sites, say the question is still very much open. They think he's arrogant and a mouthpiece for Big Pharma.
    [VIDEO] First Lady Michelle Obama Booed At NASCAR Race | Mediaite
    [VIDEO] Obama To Sharpton: 'My Religious Faith' Makes Me Believe Republicans Will Agree To Raise Taxes | NewsBusters.org
      On his MSNBC show this evening, Al Sharpton played the audio of his radio-show interview of President Obama in which the president, commenting on the failure of the Super Committee, said "my religious faith" makes him believe at some point Republicans will agree to raise taxes.
    [VIDEO] Douglas Brinkley vs. Don Young "I Pay Your Salary" Heated Exchange
      At a Natural Resources Committee hearing Friday on oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) mistakenly addressed the professor as "Dr. Rice" while calling his testimony "garbage."
      Brinkley interrupted, saying: "It's Dr. Brinkley, Rice is a university," and "I know you went to Yuba [Community College in California] and couldn't graduate -- "
    [VIDEO] Computer hacker reveals plan to occupy airwaves | abc7news.com
      The ABC7 News I-Team has discovered that some of the same people who launched the Occupy movement are now considering a plan to occupy the airwaves. By hijacking radio and television stations, they could create a nationwide panic.
    [VIDEO] UN Climate Chief calls for EU leadership - interview
      After delivering the 2011 Robert Schuman lecture at the Lisbon Council in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), talks to EUXTV's Raymond Frenken about the upcoming COP17 climate talks in Durban, South Africa. Mrs Figueres was in Brussels on Wednesday also to meet with EU officials and to take part at a conference on cliimate change in the European Parliament.
    [AUDIO] Pilot's toilet break trapping leads to terror scare
      The pilot of a plane headed to New York inadvertently caused a terror scare overnight when he became trapped in the bathroom and recruited a man with a "thick foreign accent" to alert the co-pilot.
    [VIDEO] Propaganda Assault kids - The FACTS about Climate Change according to Newsround
      The BBC children's new program Newsround discusses the recent IPCC report and pushes out a number of false statements, clever twists of language and downright lies.
    [VIDEO] Presidential Bodyman Reggie Love Is Leaving the White House: Exclusive Interview with Rachel Nichols - ABC News
      "If he had it his way, I think he'd floss in private," Love said, noting how little time the president spends away from his closest aides. "I think the fact that he was comfortable with me is probably a product of, you know, he's beaten down. I've been around for so long."
    [VIDEO] Extract on mutualisation of public debt - the President's Videos
      xtract on the mutualisation of public debt, from the press statement by Herman VAN ROMPUY, President of the European Council, following his meeting with Mario MONTI, Prime Minister of Italy.
    [VIDEO] Fox News On UC Davis Pepper Spraying: 'It's A Food Product, Essentially' | TPMDC
      "Pepper spray, that just burns your eyes, right?" O'Reilly asked Kelly.
      "Right," Kelly said. "I mean, its like a derivative of actual pepper. It's a food product, essentially."
    [VIDEO] Obama heckled in New Hampshire-Mic Check!
      This time, followers of the Occupy Wall Street movement began yelling at the president today as began his speech in Manchester, N.H.
      As protesters shouted about the "over 4,000 people" arrested at Occupy movements across the country, the president's backers began countering with chants of "fired up, ready to go!" and "Obama! Obama!"
    [VIDEO] U.S. military building robotic ostrich for recon, search and rescue | VentureBeat
      While the long-necked flightless ostrich is a puzzling and often humorous creature, the Department of Defense's thinks it's the perfect design for a robotic "terror bird" that will help protect human soldiers in combat when it is completed, according to The Register.
    [VIDEO] Fukushima: "China Syndrome Is Inevitable" - BlackListedNews.com
      And nuclear expert Paul Gunter says that we face a "China Syndrome", where the fuel from the reactor cores at Fukushima have melted through the container vessels, into the ground, and are hitting groundwater and creating highly-radioactive steam:
    [VIDEO] - Newsnight - Rights campaigner on Egypt forces' 'outrageous crimes'
      There have been renewed clashes between Egyptian demonstrators and security forces in Cairo's Tahrir Square as demonstrators push for the military leadership to leave power.
      Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman spoke to Ghada Shahbandar from the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights about the situation in the square and the violence of recent days.
    [VIDEO] New footage of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi in captivity | Video | RIA Novosti
      New and exclusive footage obtained by The Associated Press of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi's first hours in captivity has emerged showing his well apparently disciplined Libyan revolutionary captors looking after the weary and in pain son of late dictator Colonel Moammar Gadhafi.
    [VIDEO] Exclusive: CIA Spies Caught, Fear Execution in Middle East
      In a significant failure for the United States in the Mideast, more than a dozen spies working for the CIA in Iran and Lebanon have been caught and the U.S. government fears they will be or have been executed, according to four current and former U.S. officials with connections to the intelligence community.
    [VIDEO] Former Intel Chief: Call Off The Drone War (And Maybe the Whole War on Terror) | Danger Room | Wired.com
      Starting with the drone attacks. Yes, they take out some mid-level terrorists, Blair said. But they're not strategically effective. If the drones stopped flying tomorrow, Blair told the audience at the Aspen Security Forum, "it's not going to lower the threat to the U.S." Al-Qaida and its allies have proven "it can sustain its level of resistance to an air-only campaign," he said.
    [VIDEO] Goldman Sachs and Europe's "Inside Job" | Global Research TV
      Goldman Sachs has infiltrated senior positions of power across Europe, says Le Monde's London correspondent, Marc Roche. The Prime Ministers of Greece and Italy as well as the new head of the European Central Bank all have close ties to the bank.
    [VIDEO] - New York man arrested suspected of bomb plot
      The mayor also said police had constructed a duplicate of an explosive device he alleged the suspect had built, before showing a videotape of it blowing up an unidentified car.
    [VIDEO] 'Lone wolf' bomb plot suspect arrested in New York
      New York mayor Michael Bloomberg confirms the arrest of Jose Pimentel, a "lone wolf" islamic extremist planning deadly pipe bomb attacks targets including police cars and post offices.
    We Can't Wait! Yes We Can! - YouTube
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