What Adam Curry is reading

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  "Establishment Of A Free & Independent State Of Palestine Is The Sacred Right Of Palestinian People"
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    Sat, 29 Sep 2012 16:18
  Police Drug Lab Scientist Arrested For Purposely Producing False Positives On Drug Test
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    Sat, 29 Sep 2012 16:18
  FOX News Apologizes For Broadcasting Man Committing Suicide With A Gun On Live TV
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    Sat, 29 Sep 2012 16:17
  "We're Moving In The Right Direction But We're Not There Yet" President Obama Weekly Address
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    Sat, 29 Sep 2012 16:12
  "If ONE Bomb Were Dropped On Israel... Israel Might Retaliate And Kill 10 Or 20 MILLION Muslims"
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    Sat, 29 Sep 2012 16:12
  Obama Blocks Chinese Purchase Of Oregon Wind Farm For National Security Reasons
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    Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:53
  "Bagel Head" Saline Forehead Injections: Japan's Hot New Beauty Trend
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    Sat, 29 Sep 2012 02:22
  Evacuation At JFK Airport After Grenade Shaped Paper Weight Found On Flight From Israel
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    Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:33
  "THEY WANT TO END THE MODERN WORLD!" Netanyahu UN General Assembly Address
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    Fri, 28 Sep 2012 12:04
  Warden Put On Indefinite Leave After Prison Riot
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    Fri, 28 Sep 2012 12:03
  US Beef E Coli Alert Spreads To 32 States
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    Fri, 28 Sep 2012 12:03
  Major Ruling By Canadian Supreme Court On Cyber Bullying
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    Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:59
  US Army General Charged With Multiple Counts Of Forcible Sodomy
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    Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:59
  Maker Of Anti Muslim Video Arrested
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    Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:58
  Filmmaker Test Police Response Time By Staging Fake Terrorist Attack Using Toy Grenade Launcher
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    Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:57
  CBS: How Close Is Iran To Having A Nuclear Weapon?
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    Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:56
  BRAINWASHING UPDATE! Never Forget The Anthrax Attacks That Happened Weeks After 9/11
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    Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:55
Ronduit racistische reacties op video Samuel L. Jackson ter promotie Obama
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  Source: ZapLog - externe links
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:13
  Het kinderboek 'Go the Fok to Sleep' dat werd voorgelezen door Samuel L. Jackson was een tijd terug een grote hit. Nu maakte de acteur een video om Obama te ondersteunen: 'Wake the fuck up.' Daarin richt hij zich op degenen die in 2008 op Obama stemden, maar nu opnieuw wakker geschud moeten worden. Op rijm herinnert hij hen eraan wat Obama heeft gedaan '' zoals Bin Laden uit de weg ruimen- en welk kwaad Romney kan aanrichten.
  Het is niet ongewoon dat Hollywoodsterren zich uitspreken voor een kandidaat. Clint Eastwood gaf onlangs nog een speech om Romney te steunen.
  Op Twitter zijn de reacties van de tegen/voorstanders nooit mals, maar Jackson ontving tweets die ronduit racistisch zijn: 'Het zijn nikkers als jij waardoor ik denk dat Lincoln's besluit om de slaven NIET terug naar Afrika te repatriren een enorme vergissing was.'
  De video
OP 4 OKTOBER IS HET EINDE DEMMINK EN VVD
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  Source: Klokkenluideronline
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:04
  BREAKING * BREAKING * BREAKING * BREAKING * BREAKING * BREAKING * BREAKING
  LEES HIER HET PERSBERICHT [Helsinki] OVER HET DEMMINK-TRIBUNAAL IN WASHINGTON * NEDERLANDSE MSM BLIJVEN KINDERVERKRACHTERS DEKKEN EN BESCHERMEN * VVD ZAL DONDEREND IN ELKAAR STORTEN WEGENS BESCHERMING VAN DEMMINK EN ANDERE KINDERVERKRACHTERS ZOALS ED NIJPELS * EINDE CARRIERE MARK RUTTE IN ZICHT * KABINETSFORMATIE ZAL STIL KOMEN TE LIGGEN WEGENS DEMMINK-GATE NA PATHETISCHE POGINGEN VAN OPSTELTEN ZIJN MINISTERIE TE BEHOUDEN VOOR ZIJN COLLEGA-KINDERVERKRACHTERS * HENK KROL VAN 50+ HEEFT REEDS TOEGEZEGD KAMERVRAGEN TE GAAN STELLEN * OOK DE TELEGRAAF DREIGT TE WORDEN MEEGESLEURD IN PEDO-TSUNAMI * HOE REAGEREN DE PVDA EN SAMSOM? * HAAGSE PEDOFIELEN ZULLEN ALS RATTEN HET ZINKENDE SCHIP VERLATEN
Papers Please: FSB to create massive domestic passenger database
  Link to Article
  Source: StratRisks
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:03
  S ource: Gazeta
  Editor's Note: We have been watching the moves of Russian policy makers for some time. Crackdowns on foreign NGO's, politicians with foreign bank accounts, and the assaults on free speech and free assembly. Their visible attempt at a anti-color revolution council back in April was foolish but it is obvious that it didn't end there. Kicking out USAID and eventually kicking out NED shows they have no trust in their intelligence apparatus, will Russia go the way of East Germany and fall prey to hyper paranoia? ''Michael Vail
  According to a new Transportation Ministry order, starting July 1, 2013 data about every passenger who enters or exits any region in Russia will be added to a new FSB/Interior Ministry database. The Transport Ministry has published the text of the new rules in the 'Russian Gazette.' The FSB and Interior Ministry are ordering this new database in order to track the route of any person that law enforcement on the ground deems suspicious.
  For the Ministry of Transport, the new centralized automated passenger identity database will be part of a united government transportation safety system.
  According to the order, the Transport Ministry will only get involved when passengers cross between regions. ''If a commuter train travels within a region then this rule will not come into effect. But, for example, if a train goes from Moscow to the Moscow Region, then the new laws will apply,'' explained a Transport Ministry representative.
  Transportation companies will be required to have the name, surname, passport number, DOB, and proof of registration for every passenger on board. In addition, the company must show the route taken for each passenger, and the date and location where every ticket was purchased.
  If a transportation company fails to hand over this data, they could face both misdemeanor and felony charges.
  Despite of the fact that the order will not take effect until July 1, 2013, a trial run of the new passenger tracking system may take place before the end of this year.
  Tags: DOB, East Germany, FSB, government, intelligence, Interior Ministry, law, Michael Vail, Moscow, NED, NGO, Papers Please, revolution, russia, Russian Gazette, Transport Ministry, Transportation Ministry, USAID
Cyber Attack on US Banks is an Obvious False Flag
  Link to Article
  Source: Infowars » Featured Stories
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:51
  Eric BlairInfowars.comSept 30, 2012
  Over a month ago we featured an article titled The NWO Agenda Would Move Forward with This One Simple Act, which stated the one event that could accomplish all of the agenda's goals in one shot would be ''a false flag cyber attack on Western banking institutions that they can pin on Iran.''
  Please watch this exact scenario unfold in this short ABC news clip from a few days ago:
  With President Obama ready to sign an executive order to control the Internet in the name of cyber security, could it be more obvious that this ''cyber attack'' is a total set up? Especially since all versions of Internet control legislation have failed to pass in normal government channels bothdomestically and internationally.
  Are we expected to believe that sophisticated Muslim hacktivists attacked US banks because they were angry about a movie that was produced in America? That'd be like attacking Afghanistan or Iraq after 15 Saudis supposedly attacked us, ohh wait'...that did happen.
  Is this really the best story they can come up with? It was so predictable that it makes it that much more laughable. But the motive being pinned on the pathetic anti-Muslim movie is the real kicker.
  It's sad to see Richard Clark in the video above actually take this seriously. Talk about an establishment sellout.
  I call major bullshit on this story. It stinks to high heaven. What do you think?
  Tags: economics, government corruption
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'Succesvolle Nederlandse film staat onder druk'
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  Source: VK: Home
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:49
  30/09/12, 14:21 '' bron: ANP
  (C) anp. Hoofdrolspeler Daan Schuurmans samen met zijn vrouw en actrice Bracha van Doesburg op de rode loper bij de premiere van de film Bellicher : Cel tijdens het Nederlands filmfestival.
  De Nederlandse filmindustrie is een succesvolle en economisch waardevolle industrie. De sector staat echter wel onder grote druk. Het productievolume moet op peil blijven en daar zijn maatregelen voor nodig. Dat staat in een zondag verschenen onderzoek van het SEO Economisch Onderzoek.
  Vorig jaar stond de Nederlandse filmindustrie er goed voor: 8000 bedrijven bieden werk aan 20.000 mensen. In de afgelopen 4 jaar is de bioscoopomzet van de Nederlandse film met 80 procent gestegen. De onderzoekers concluderen dat er een positief verband bestaat tussen de vertoning van Nederlandse films en de hoogte van het totale bioscoopbezoek. Veel Nederlandse films in de bioscoop betekent dat meer mensen naar de film gaan. De stijging van het bioscoopbezoek is deels toe te schrijven aan investeringen in digitalisering, kwaliteit en uitbreiding van de vertoning.
  De bezuinigingen bij onder meer het Nederlands Filmfonds en de Publieke Omroep zullen echter vanaf 2013 een groot gat slaan in de Nederlandse filmproductie. Alleen al door het snijden in het budget van het Nederlands Filmfonds zal het productievolume in 2013 met (C)(C)n derde dalen, aldus het rapport.
Sunday Morning Bobblehead Thread
  Link to Article
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:46
  Amazing.
  I promise you, every single one of these lies will be repeated on the Sunday shows over and over. And no one will point out that they are lies. Welcome to post-fact America.
  ABC's "This Week" -- Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J.; White House adviser David Plouffe; Panel: former Mississippi governor and RNC chair Haley Barbour; former Vermont governor and DNC chair Howard Dean, founder of Democracy for America; Democratic strategist and ABC News contributor Donna Brazile; political strategist and ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd; and POLITICO senior political reporter Maggie Haberman.
  NBC's "Meet the Press" -- Christie; Plouffe; former Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa. Panel: Conservative activist and founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Ralph Reed; Fmr. Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA); the BBC's Katty Kay; and NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd.
  NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" -- Bob Woodward, Washington Post; Katty Kay, BBC; Joe Klein, Time; Kelly O'Donnell, NBC
  CBS' "Face the Nation" -- Christie; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., University of Virginia's Larry Sabato and Democratic strategist Robert Shrum; The Washington Post's Bob Woodward, Moody Analytics' Mark Zandi, former DC Chancellor of Schools Michelle Rhee and Hedrick Smith, author of Who Stole the American Dream.
  MSNBC's "Up with Chris Hayes" -- Nan Aron, President of the Alliance for Justice; Barbara Arnwine, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Akhil Amar, Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School, Author of ''America's Constitution: A Biography;'' Jeffrey Toobin, Author, ''The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court" and Staff Writer at The New Yorker.
  MSNBC's "Melissa Harris-Perry" -- Jamal Simmons, Democratic Strategist; Katon Dawson, National Republican Consultant; Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, Contributor to NBC Latino; Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post Columnist; Amy Jo Martin, Founder and CEO of Digital Royalty; Andrea Powell, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Fair Girls, Asia Graves, Survivor of human trafficking .
  CNN's "State of the Union" -- Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Md.; David Axelrod, adviser to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign. Panel: Republican Consultant Alex Castellanos, Pollster and Democratic Strategist Celinda Lake, and CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash.
  CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bain Capital Managing Director Steve Pagliuca.
  CNN's "Reliable Sources" -- The Guardian's Ana Marie Cox, National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru and Thomson Reuters' Chrystia Freeland, SNL alum Darrell Hammond, Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports.
  "Fox News Sunday" -- Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan. Panel: Bill Kristol, The Weekly Standard/Fox News Contributor; Liz Marlantes, The Christian Science Monitor; Laura Ingraham, The Laura Ingraham Show/Fox News Contributor; Juan Williams, Fox News Political Analyst.
CYBER WARRIORS AND WORRIERS FACE A PANDORA'S BOX!
  Link to Article
  Source: VENITISM
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:42
  CIA and Mossad have developed Flame, Stuxnet, Gauss, and three additional malware toconduct clandestine cyberwar and espionage, targeting computer systems in Iran.USA has attacked many foreign computer systems, having the ability to attack,degrade or destroy the e-grids of adversaries. The heavy encryption and natureof the newest malware fits the profile of military intelligence operations.Uncontrolled security threats on the Internet could return much of the planet toan era without electricity or automated transportation. The United States hadyet to resolve basic questions about how to police the Internet, let alone howto defend critical infrastructure such as electric generation plants. The pastthree years have seen an escalation of an unprecedented theft of trade secretsand mounting threats to infrastructure.
  Using malware, USA not only has delayed the Iranian nuclear bomb, but it canalso explode the bomb once it's developed! Let the Iranians hide the bomb deepinside a mountain, and the Americans will detonate it like a piece of cakeinside the mountain! Iranians are in for a big surprise!
  Extremely sophisticated malware have infiltrated computers and energy facilitiesin the Middle East. Researchers are now dissecting heavily encrypted malware,such as Stuxnet, Flame, and Gauss, designed by American and Israel intelligence.But these malware would become templates. They were written by cautiousprofessionals who minimized collateral damage. The knock-off versions by otherswill be much less discriminating. An electronic assault that disabled thousandsof computers at Saudi Arabia's Aramco had followed a separate infection reportedby an Iranian oil company.
  Governments and gangs realize malware is much cheaper than mainstream warfare.Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming designed todisrupt operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy orexploitation, gain unauthorized access to system resources, and other abusivebehavior. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware,dishonest adware, scareware, crimeware, rootkits, and other malicious andunwanted software or program. In law, malware is sometimes known as computercontaminant.
  Mounting a defense against nation-sponsored attacks will be extraordinarilydifficult, as it requires new operating systems designed to manage equipment atcrucial facilities. Stopping criminals and terrorists who will adopt the sametechniques would take strong international cooperation and deeper monitoring ofthe Internet, which many oppose on privacy grounds.
  Malware makers can hide their tracks using spoofing, VPNs, proxy services, andother means to make it look like they are based in any number of countries -when in truth they are somewhere completely different.
  The US Defense Department has defined cyberspace as a warfare domain that itmust dominate. Governments and companies recognize that they have all beenhacked and focus more on limiting the damage from breaches.
  The freakish Pasok government of Greece in 2010 was so stupid that it hoodwinkedall media that I conspired to trigger a war between Greece and Turkey and blameMariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece,for it! Accusing dissident bloggers of treason, Graecokleptocrats havemanufactured a blood libel in cyberspace, which in turn incites hatred andviolence. The government of Greece gave my head on plate to Erdogan. BrutalGraecokleptocrats have destroyed my life. My life is stolen. Now I demand mylife back!
  Occident has developed electronic weapons that could be used to defend the Westagainst cyber attacks or prevent them. Occident is prepared to strike first in acyber conflict. Cyber arms grow out of control. No government can guarantee itcan protect a country or entity against cyber attack. In future wars, there willbe a cyber element. Countries hope that if they threaten to use missiles toretaliate against a cyber attack, others will think twice about launching one.
  Internet security firms make more money when people are more scared of malware,and Eugene Kaspersky declares that cyber terrorism can bring the end ofcivilization! A global Internet blackout and crippling attacks against keyinfrastructure are among two possible cyber-pandemics. Kaspersky is afraid cyberterrorism is just beginning. Very soon, many countries around the world willknow it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Kaspersky hoodwinks it will be the end ofthe world as we know it!
  Kaspersky hoodwinks the evolution from cyber war to cyber terrorism comes fromthe indiscriminate nature of cyber weapons. Very much like a modern-dayPandora's Box, Flame and other forms of malware cannot be controlled uponrelease. Faced with a replicating threat that knows no national boundaries,cyber weapons can take down infrastructure around the world, hurting scores ofinnocent victims along the way.
Prime Minister of Curacao says attempt to boot him out of office before elections is unconstitutional
  Link to Article
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:34
  The prime minister of Curacao says the attempt by the island's governor to kick him out of office 21 days before new elections is ''unconstitutional'' and a coup.
  "There is no democratic answer," Gerrit Schotte told The Miami Herald by telephone at 11 p.m. Saturday from within the walls of his office compound on the Dutch-speaking Caribbean island.
  Schotte said he was locked inside the compound with about 20 other individuals, including members of his Cabinet, senators and others. He did not know how long they would remain but said the "the guy who says he is PM" had given orders to the police to go in.
  Police, he said, had refused.
  The drama unfolded 4:30 p.m. Saturday when an interim government was sworn in by the Holland-appointed governor. Elections have been scheduled for Oct. 19.
  "Why are they trying to get in power?" Schotte said. "Everything indicates they are trying to stop the elections."
  Interim Prime Minister Stanley Bertrain was sworn in at the Governor's Palace by acting Gov. Adeerl van der Plujim-Vrede.
  Schotte, 38, has been in office for 23 months. But after his government lost its majority and was forced to resign, the country has been in a parliamentary crisis.
  On Sept. 13, a majority of parliamentarians asked the governor to name an interim government. The legality of the move has been questioned, with Schotte saying it's an "unconstitutional act."
  Non-Schotte supporters have denied in the press that there is a coup.
  Schotte has urged the island's 150,000 citizens including those protesting outside the walls to remain calm, he said.
  "I don't need this," he said. "But I want to get a message out. He doesn't have the authority to make a new government."
Elsevier.nl - Nederland - Rutte: Gedrag premier Cura§ao is onbehoorlijk
  Link to Article
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:29
  Nederlanddonderdag 6 oktober 2011 23:23
  Premier Mark Rutte (VVD) maakt zich zorgen over de situatie op Cura§ao en het kabinet suggereert een ingreep op het eiland. De premier van Cura§ao ruziet openlijk met de centrale bank en politici zijn niet voldoende integer.
  Cura§ao hekelt de 'bemoeizucht' van Nederland
  Dat blijkt uit een uitgelekt verslag van de ministerraad, waaruit het Antilliaans Dagblad heeft geciteerd en dat nu in handen is van RTL Nieuws. Een commissie onder leiding van voormalig GroenLinks-leider Paul Rosenm¶ller concludeerde onlangs dat de integriteit van ministers op het eiland niet in orde is.
  BoycotIn een conceptbrief (pdf) aan Cura§ao, dat sinds oktober vorig jaar een zelfstandig land is, schrijft minister Piet Hein Donner (CDA, Binnenlandse Zaken) over de 'agressieve toon in het publieke debat, de verbale intimidatie van personen, inbreuken op de persoonlijke levenssfeer en boycot van de media'.
  In een verslag (pdf) van de ministerraad staat dat het kabinet zich zorgen maakt over wat zich afspeelt op Cura§ao. Rutte noemt het gedrag van premier Gerrit Schotte van het eiland 'onbehoorlijk'. De Cura§aose premier weigerde een onderzoekscommissie te ontvangen. Minister Henk Kamp (VVD, Sociale Zaken) noemt de situatie 'ernstig'.
  Het kabinet-Rutte suggereert een ingreep in de politieke situatie in de voormalige kolonie van Nederland. Het kabinet is bereid om artikel 43 in te zetten. Hierin staat dat Cura§ao fatsoenlijk moet worden bestuurd, anders grijpt het koninkrijk in.
  IntegerOp Cura§ao groeit intussen de aversie tegen de 'bemoeizucht' van Nederland. Parlementsvoorzitter Ivar Asjes zegt in reactie op het onderzoek van Rosenm¶ller dat Nederland eens moet bekijken hoe integer ministers Hans Hillen (CDA, Defensie), Gerd Leers (CDA, Immigratie en Asiel) en premier Mark Rutte zijn.
  Rosenm¶ller concludeerde dat Cura§ao een onderzoek moet instellen om de integriteit van Schotte en twee ministers te onderzoeken. Als dat niet gebeurt, moet Nederland ingrijpen.
  Door Shari Deira
  Rapporteer hier een fout in het artikel aan de redactie
Demissionair kabinet Cura§ao weigert vertrek
  Link to Article
  Source: VK: Home
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:25
  30/09/12, 04:31 '' bron: ANP
  (C) anp. Premier Mark Rutte in gesprek met Gerrit Schotte, 19 oktober 2010.
  Demissionair premier Gerrit Schotte van Cura§ao verzet zich tegen de 'staatsgreep' die volgens hem momenteel wordt uitgevoerd. Hoewel er een nieuwe minister-president is benoemd, blijft Schotte zitten.
  Hij heeft voor de loop van zaterdagavond een ministerraad bijeen geroepen. Zijn ministers steunen Schotte en willen niet opstappen, maar aanblijven tot 19 oktober als er parlementsverkiezingen zijn.
  Het plein in Fort Amsterdam waar Schotte kantoor houdt is afgesloten voor publiek. Er zijn nog ruim honderd demonstranten en pers, maar de politie wil dat iedereen van het plein vertrekt.
  Schotte heeft vanuit zijn werkkamer een interview gegeven aan de Venezolaanse tv-zender TeleSur. Daarin stelt hij dat Nederland wellicht achter de 'staatsgreep' zit.
  Leider van coalitiepartij Pueblo Soberano Helmin Wiels zegt zeker te weten dat Nederland haar invloed wil vergroten op Cura§ao en daarom een nieuwe regering 'heeft laten installeren'. Hij wil de nieuwe minister-president Stanley Betrian laten arresteren.
Jill Meagher's disappearance shows the need for greater CCTV coverage in Melbourne (Editorial From: Herald Sun)
  Link to Article
  Source: no corn syrup's feed
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 06:03
  THE disturbing disappearance of Jill Meagher shows the need for greater CCTV coverage on Melbourne's streets.
  The footage of the 29-year-old Irishwoman as she was approached by a man in a blue hoodie in Sydney Rd led police to the arrest of a man last night.
  As well as this sudden breakthrough in a baffling case, it has coincided with new state government funding for the cameras.
  Suburban and regional councils will almost certainly follow the lead of Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle in working with police to install the cameras where they can best protect the public.
  Some councils have already put cameras along their streets after receiving more than $2.5 million in government grants. Yesterday, Premier Ted Baillieu indicated he would support more cameras around the state.
  The cameras have been shown to work in providing surveillance in known trouble spots. As well as fixed cameras around the CBD, Melbourne City Council has two vans ready to patrol city streets from November under its Safe City program.
  The 360-degree cameras are a direct link to police and can provide an instant response to assaults and robberies.
  The cameras captured almost 600 incidents during a six-month trial.
  Security cameras are not an excuse for lazy policing although they can provide irrefutable evidence of a crime as well as discouraging potential offenders.
  The CCTV footage of the man in a blue hoodie, who is seen with Ms Meagher in Sydney Rd before she disappeared, brought responses from the tens of thousands of people who have seen it in the media and on social networks.
  Footage from another Sydney Rd camera shows the same man running towards the missing woman and a car doing a sudden U-turn towards her. Police are hoping several men will now come forward.
  These are chance images from cameras installed by shop owners. What is urgently needed is a wider, metropolitan network of CCTV cameras along city and suburban streets.
  It is ridiculous to say the cameras are an intrusion into people's privacy. They should be looked on as safety cameras that provide greater public protection.
Josh Kilbourn: US Banks Under Minor Cyber-Attack '' Probable Israeli False Flag '-- Meanwhile US Cyber-Security Largely Vaporware + Meta-RECAP
  Link to Article
  Source: Public Intelligence Blog
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:45
  Josh Kilbourn
  High Alert! Millions Of Bankers Cant Bank Online. BofA Blames Hackers From Middle East. Bank Cyber Attacks By Iran? Black Monday October 1, 2012?
  The financial and banking industries are on high alert tonight as a massive cyberattack continues, with potentially millions of customers of Bank of America, PNC and Wells Fargo finding themselves blocked from banking online.
  ''There is an elevated level of threat,'' said Doug Johnson, a vice president and senior adviser of the American Bankers Association. ''The threat level is now high.''
  ''This is twice as large as any flood we have ever seen,'' said Dick Clarke, an ABC News consultant and former cybersecurity czar.
  Sources told ABC News that the so-called denial of service attacks had been caused by hackers from the Middle East who had secretly transmitted signals commandeering thousands of computers worldwide.
  Hackers, Possibly From Middle East, Block U.S. Banks' Websites
  A group of purported hackers in the Middle East has claimed credit for problems at the websites of both banks, citing the online video mocking the founder of Islam. One security source called that statement ''a cover'' for the Iranian government's operations.
  The attack is described by one source, a former U.S. official familiar with the attacks, as being ''significant and ongoing'' and looking to cause ''functional and significant damage.'' Also, one source suggested the attacks were in response to U.S. sanctions on Iranian banks.
  Senior U.S. officials acknowledge that Iranian attacks have been the subject of intense interest by U.S. intelligence for several weeks. Last week, the Joint Chiefs of Staff's Intelligence Directorate, known as J-2, confirmed continuing Iranian cyber attacks against U.S. financial institutions in a report described as ''highly classified.''
  Officials see Iran, not outrage over film, behind cyber attacks on US banks
  Phi Beta Iota: This is almost certainly an Israeli false flag attack, NOT an attack by Iran. The US abuse of the SWIFT banking system has already inspired the Chinese to replace the SWIFT banking system (and the US dollar) for all interested parties including Iran. The damage done to banks has not been serious, more of an inconvenience. It is certainly true that financial systems are vulnerable (so are all network systems including power); a number of us '-- including students at the Air War College '-- were telling the US Government this from 1990-1994, only to be blown off. NSA has consistently neglected its assigned responsibilities for helping commercial enterprises achieve cyber-security and cyber-stability, and today, while there are 67 or so actual code-level cyber-security experts in the USA (only about 12 focused on defensive code), NSA/Cyber Command is spending over $15 billion on corporate vapor ware. DHS is theoretically responsible, but far removed from being relevant.
  See Also:
  1994 Sounding the Alarm on Cyber-Security
  2010 Homeland Security Today America's Cyberscam
  2011 Cyber-Command or IO 21 + IO Roots
  DefDog: $15 Billion for Cyber-Command, Zero for Actual Needs + Meta-RECAP
  DefDog: Cyber-Command Can't Find Ball'...
  DefDog: Cyberwar is the New Yellow Cake
  DefDog: Feds Hype Cyber-Threat, Seek DHS Mandates & Money
  DefDog: Is DHS Stupid, Dishonest, or Both? + RECAP
  DefDog: The infamous 'take down the Internet in 30 minutes' hearing from 1998 '-- Tens of Billions Later, NSA and OMB Have Not Done Their Jobs, US Cyber is Wide Open and Unsafe at Any Speed + Meta-RECAP
  Gold Master: SWIFT Against Iran '' Huge Mistake, Now SWIFT At Risk
  John Robb: USG '' Corporate Cyber Scam II
  Journal: Army Industrial-Era Network Security + Cyber-Security RECAP (Links to Past Posts)
  Owl: The DHS Cybersecurity Logjam [aka Goat-Fest Scam]
  Reference: Bruce Schneier on Cyber War & Cyber Crime
  Robert Steele: Iranian Plot or False Flag Fraud?
11 Year Old Boy Attacked In Grocery Story Restroom
  Link to Article
  Source: Uploads by MOXNEWSd0tC0M
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:44
Libyans transfer weapons to army
  Link to Article
  Source: BBC News - Middle East
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:42
  29 September 2012Last updated at23:41 ETHundreds of Libyans have handed in weapons in Benghazi and Tripoli as part of a disarmament drive organised by the army to target militia groups.
  Assault rifles, anti-aircraft guns, rocket launchers and even tanks were among military hardware handed in.
  The call to transfer weapons to Libya's army was promoted through a private television station.
  It apparently gained momentum after the US ambassador was killed in Benghazi, sparking resentment of armed militias.
  The groups that emerged during the fight to topple Col Muammar Gaddafi last year remain a powerful force in the country.
  Need for stabilityLibya's interim leader, Mohammed Magarief, vowed to disband all illegal militias in the aftermath of Ambassador Christopher Stevens' death on 11 September.
  In Benghazi, one of the organisers, Ahmed Salem, said that over 800 citizens had handed in weapons at the main collection point, the Associated Press reports.
  Over 600 different types of arms were collected.
  In Tripoli, two tanks were among the weapons handed in by at least 200 former fighters at Martyrs' Square.
  The television station which collaborated on the arms drive, Libya al-Hurra or Free Libya, broadcast live footage of the collection and transfer of weapons to military barracks on Saturday.
  The army's chief-of-staff said Libyans needed stability.
  "They are handing over weapons to the military so that they are kept in the right place and not on the streets," Yussef al-Mangoush said, according to Reuters.
  He said he hoped the collection would also expand to other Libyan cities.
  The government has estimated that over 200,000 people in Libya are armed. Previous attempts to disarm people have had little support.
  Former anti-Gaddafi fighters were among those who gave their weapons to the army.
  "When I saw the announcement on television I came to Benghazi with my wife and son to hand over my weapon to the national army because I want to move from the stage of the revolution to state building," Moussa Omr told AP.
  "I don't need this weapon after today, the militias have been expelled from Benghazi and the national army will protect us."
VIDEO: Bahrain riot police fire on Shias
  Link to Article
  Source: BBC News - Middle East
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:42
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ATLAS SHRUGGED IN FRANCE! LAISSEZ-NOUS FAIRE, MONSIEUR HOLLANDE!
  Link to Article
  Source: VENITISM
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:32
  Hollande raises taxes rather than cutting spending. The French budget includes anew 75% tax on the richest earning more than a million euros, a 45% income taxrate on incomes over 150,000 euros a year, a freeze in government spending,excluding debt repayments and pensions, assets of more than 1.3 million euroswill be taxed at 1.5%, the reduction of tax exemptions for loan payments bylarge corporations, and capital gains and dividends will now be subject to theincome tax regime.Laissez-nous faire, Monsieur Hollande! Let us do! Leave us alone! Buzz off!According to Arthur Laffer, the low-tax states belong to a different genusentirely. It's like comparing Hong Kong with Greece or King Kong with fleas!Occident must minimize taxes to single digits and abolish sales taxes and VAT.Starve the beast by fighting taxes.
  Hollande has understood that the increase in the public debt has got to behalted but penalizing the producers is not the right way. It amounts to stronglyincreasing the tax burden on companies, their shareholders and executives, thosewho create added value. It will lead to an even bigger loss of competitivenessand a reduction in long-term growth.
  Kim Holmes points out a new economic buzzword is on the loose. Austerity ismeant to describe the spending cuts by governments in Europe. Such austerity ismuch reviled by Hollande and by the radical parties elected in Greece. Americanliberals don't like it either. Eugene Robinson calls austerity a dangerous,self-defeating intellectual fad. Paul Krugman claims austerity is to blame forEurope's economic problems.
  French Atlas upon seeing that the greater his effort, the heavier the worldbores down on his shoulders, he simply shrugs. We have a dystopian France, wherecapitalists refuse to be exploited by increasing taxation and regulations anddisappear offshore. Yes, French capitalists are on strike! They are stoppingthe motor of France by withdrawing their minds that drive growth andproductivity. French capitalists demonstrate that a world in which theindividual is not free to create is doomed, civilization cannot exist wherecapitalists are slaves of kleptocrats, and the destruction of the profit motiveleads to the collapse of society. Atlas shrugged in France!
  The French public debt had hit 95% of GDP. Hollande's targets are very stupid,because they assume too much growth for the coming years. In reality, there willnot be any growth, as most producers will escape abroad aand underground. Mosttop earners leave France as a result of the planned tax rises.
  Holmes muses the critics of austerity have it backward. What has broughtEurope's economies to the brink is not fiscal responsibility; it is high taxesand out-of-control spending. These critics are playing a dishonest game, settingup false straw men, hiding data, and using misleading rhetoric to confuse thepublic.
  Taxes, especially VAT, feed the underground economy. It is your patriotic dutyto evade taxes, especially VAT, all the way! Taxation causes an enormous andunnecessary dead-weight loss to the economic system. The sheer cost and timeburden of businesses and individuals trying to comply with the tax system, letalone the cost of myriad bureaucrats who claim to be administrating it, wastehundreds of billions of euros. This waste of resources unnecessarily reduceseconomic growth and job creation. A major reason this obscenity persists is thatfew kleptocrats think seriously about the consequences of what they have doneand are doing, or just don't care.
  Holmes notes that while spending has been reduced marginally in Greece andSpain, it has not been cut in France. Nor has it dropped in Britain. Even in thecases where it has come down, we are talking about getting to what spending wasin 2008. Holmes doesn't recall any massive social dislocation back whengovernment spending was controlled by the socially minded Labor government inBritain. Despite all the supposed spending cuts, these countries still spendmore today than they did during pre-recession times.
  More savings should have been found from cutting public spending so no tax riseswould have been necessary. Never have households and companies been subjected tosuch a fiscal shock. It's a very bad choice. More savings should have been made.The goal of 3% isn't tenable, because there isn't enough basic growth to getthere.
  The French economy suffers from erectile dysfunction, and via-grab will notwork, but only via-cut. The via recommended is to cut taxes, not grab moretaxes. There are limits to how much government can tax before it kills the host.Even worse, when government attempts to subsidize prices, it has the net effect of inflatingthem instead. The economic reality is that you cannot distort natural market.
  Holmes says there is an austerity program in Europe, but it is not what youthink. Most of the governments in Europe have raised taxes. Britain, forexample, raised the top tax rate to 50 percent in 2010, while Italy has raisedsales taxes. From 2011 to 2012, 40 percent of the fiscal consolidation in Europecame from new taxes. As any economist worth his or her salt knows, taking moneyout of the economy through higher taxes during a recession is a growth killer.
  The anti-austerity fad is driven by the same evidence-dismissing mindset thathas beset Keynesian economics for decades. Obama's stimulus program failed togrow the American economy out of the recession. And yet Keynesians like Krugmansay the reason is that the government did not spend enough money, despite the$3.9 trillion added to the debt since Obama took office.
  In a counterfactual assertion that befits the ideologue more than the economist,Krugman cleverly sets up an argument he thinks is not disprovable. If failurecan always be explained away by claiming that not enough money was spent, thenhe can never be proven wrong. There's always some mythical amount of spendingthat will save the day. The evidence of failure doesn't matter.
  Holmes muses we have seen this old movie many times. It's the worn-out matineefeature where supposed austerity caused the Great Depression. The only problemis that's not what happened. Under Herbert Hoover, government spending expanded,and then rose sharply in 1932. The Great Depression was driven not by spendingausterity, but by the Fed's reaction and lack of foresight as well as tradeprotectionism. The massive spending of World War II temporarily turned Americainto a war economy, but its demobilization unleashed the best run of freeeconomic growth in human history.
  The austerity argument is a sleight of hand. It is intended to deflect attentionfrom the high-spending, debt-producing, and high-taxing policies that causedEurope's economic weakness in the first place. It's the old trick of accusingyour opponents of causing what you have caused. Europe's economic crisis camefrom decades-long high spending policies of European welfare states, yet nowthey want to pretend that the only cure - fiscal responsibility - is theculprit.
  Holmes wishes you good luck, because that trick won't work! There actually is achoice between austerity and growth, but it's not what the critics think. Thereal choice is between more government spending and higher taxes that slowgrowth, or lower taxes, debt reduction, and structural reforms that stimulateprosperity.
Flash Flood In Southern Spain Kills At Least 10
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  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:31
Tens Of Thousands Of March Protestants Peacefully Through Belfast
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  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:31
E Coli Beef Recall Scare Spreads To Wal-mart. Co-op & Metro Grocery Stores
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  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 05:30
Rick Ross vs. Jeezy: Shots Fired at 2012 BET Awards
  Link to Article
  Source: Jacky Jasper's Diary of a Hollywood Street King
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 01:48
  by Jacky Jasper
  Rick Ross and Young Jeezy were reportedly involved in an altercation backstage at the BET Hip-Hop Awards.
  According to sources, Rick Ross and Jeezy exchanged words backstage and started pushing and shoving each other. We're told BET security and bodyguards for each of the rappers eventually separated the two.
  FagMaster Flex confirmed an altercation; tweeting ''pushing and shoving'' going on backstage.. Shortly thereafter, shots were fired in the parking lot.
  Here's the drop:
  ''After the fight had been broken up, a member of Rick Ross' entourage pulled out a gun while in the parking lot and shots were fired. The gunman was reportedly apprehended by the Atlanta Police Department.''
  Please Share This Article -Other HSK Articles:
Ontslagen premier Cura§ao zondert zich af | nu.nl/buitenland | Het laatste nieuws het eerst op nu.nl
  Link to Article
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 01:27
  WILLEMSTAD - De benoeming van een interim-kabinet heeft op Cura§ao geleid tot een chaotische situatie. De ontslagen premier Gerrit Schotte heeft zich zaterdagavond (lokale tijd) opgesloten in zijn werkkamer en weigert met zijn opvolger te praten.Voor de deuren van het gebouw staan verschillende aanhangers van de partij van Schotte te demonstreren. Zij staan niet toe dat de nieuwe minister-president Stanley Betrian zijn voorganger bezoekt. De demonstranten verklaarden dat ''niemand naar buiten gaat of naar binnen komt''.
  De adjudant van de gouverneur van Cura§ao maakte zaterdagmiddag bekend dat Betrian leiding gaat geven aan een interim-regering, maar volgens de partij van de gewezen premier is de benoeming illegaal.
  Schotte verzet zich al langere tijd tegen de installatie van een interim-kabinet. Minister van Onderwijs Carlos Monk zei onlangs niet vrijwillig op te stappen.
  Nieuwe regeringBetrian geldt op het eiland als een ervaren bestuurder. Hij was eerder gezaghebber van Cura§ao en gedeputeerde van Financin. Net als de andere ministers is Betrian niet uitgekozen als partijpoliticus, maar als deskundige.
  Sinds 2 augustus is het kabinet van Schotte demissionair. Op 19 oktober zijn er nieuwe parlementsverkiezingen. Maar een meerderheid van het parlement wilde toch een interim-kabinet. Naast de minister-president zijn er maar drie andere ministers benoemd. Deze tussenregering moet onder meer de banden met Nederland en de financile situatie op het eiland verbeteren.
  Door: ANP
Apple's iOS 6 stumbles on basic connectivity: Wi-Fi
  Link to Article
  Source: CNET News
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:44
  Apple is struggling with a number of issues after the release of iOS 6 and the iPhone 5, not least of which is Wi-Fi connectivity.
  Apple's speed claims regarding wireless have proved elusive for some iOS 6 device owners.
  (Credit: Apple )PHILADELPHIA -- Apple's iOS 6 has not fared well with Wi-Fi.
  Though this isn't the first time a new Apple operating system or device has had Wi-Fi issues, the situation this time around has been exacerbated by the release of the iPhone 5, putting an iOS 6 device immediately into millions of consumers' hands.
  Not to mention all of the upgrades. Reports cite 60 percent of iPhone and roughly 40 percent of iPad owners upgrading to the new OS so far.
  The fallout is numerous forum discussions on Wi-Fi connectivity problems. For example, there are currently two major Wi-Fi threads (at least) in the Apple Support Communities -- here and here. Together, those two threads total, so far, more than 150 pages.
  And count me in as an affected user in the two groups cited above. My iPhone 5 and Retina iPad (now with iOS 6) work on some Wi-Fi networks and not others.
  Which brings us to yet another thread related to iOS 6 and Netgear routers. The only way I could quickly get my iPhone 5 and Retina iPad working on a Netgear Wi-Fi router was to downgrade the firmware. That worked but seemed like an odd solution. (And, it's safe to say, one a lot of consumers would not be aware of.)
  And other kinds of Wi-Fi issues are popping up in forums, such as a persistently slow Wi-Fi speeds, which is different than the plain-old-doesn't-connect snafu. (I had the latter issue only.)
  As usual, Apple is officially mum on the issue, i.e., the company hasn't made an official statement, though Apple's technical support is aware of the problem. The person I contacted said Apple knows about the Wi-Fi problem and that it was tech support's job to "document everything" so Apple can eventually come up with a fix.
  And while we're on the subject, the 4G LTE on my iPhone 5 and Retina iPad can be spotty (I had been forced to use LTE when I would normally connect to Wi-Fi, but couldn't). Even in dense metropolitan areas (for example, Los Angeles and Philadelphia) connectivity can bounce back and forth between 3G and LTE like a pinball. But that's another topic for another day.
  Of course, this hasn't been Apple's only problem with the rollout of iOS 6. Apple Maps has been slammed, eliciting an apology from CEO Tim Cook.
  Looks like Apple has its damage-control work cut out for it.
Kirsty MacColl: the great British songwriter who never got her due
  Link to Article
  Source: Culture | guardian.co.uk
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:40
  Next Sunday in Soho Square, central London, a group of people will gather around a park bench. On that bench is a metal plaque with the words: Kirsty MacColl 1959-2000 "One Day I'll be Waiting There/ No Empty Bench in Soho Square". Assembled will be MacColl's family, friends and fans, come '' as they do every year '' to celebrate her birthday on the nearest Sunday.
  MacColl would have been 53 on 10 October, and who knows what she would have been doing now ("You could see her writing a musical," says the actor and comedian Tracey Ullman, "or a play at the Royal Court with music.") had she not been killed in December 2000, run over by a speeding motorboat while diving with her sons in Mexico.
  "She was a great writer, with warmth and humour and a keen ear and eye for humans and their foibles," says Jem Finer of the Pogues, who wrote the music for the timeless Fairytale of New York, on which MacColl duetted with Shane MacGowan. "No bullshit or pretensions or posturing. A great singer and a genius with harmony."
  "You know what I think she is?" says Billy Bragg, whose song A New England she took to No 7 in 1984. "I think she's the missing link between Sandie Shaw and Lily Allen. A couple of Christmases ago someone bought me one of those encyclopedias of rock. It was a real doorstep of a book. Kirsty wasn't in there, and I was really shocked by that. She was a huge talent who made brilliant records and wrote brilliant songs and deserves to be cherished among British songwriters."
  The reasons to cherish MacColl lie in the music she recorded, from her first single They Don't Know '' a beautiful three-minute confection of 60s girl group and folk rock, as if the Byrds had been writing for the Shangri-Las in 1979 '' to her final album, 2000's Tropical Brainstorm, on which she vigorously celebrated Latin American music.
  The common thread throughout was a withering and regretful eye for men and their defects, from the bad boy of the first single to the serial liar committing seduction against the background of a 1998 World Cup match on England 2 Colombia 0 from Tropical Brainstorm.
  Mark Nevin, who wrote and performed with MacColl in the late 80s and early 90s says: "If you took most songwriters, put all their lyrics into a computer and pressed 'equals' you'd get two lines that sum up everything [they'd written] in a nutshell. Kirsty's would be: 'All blokes are gonna lie, cheat and let you down'."
  So why, despite those glorious songs, is she not in Bragg's encyclopedia? MacColl's was the model of a stop-start career. She suffered from stage fright, which discouraged her from touring for much of her career. "I said to her: 'If you get so worried, Kirsty, why don't you go and do something else?'" remembers her mother, the dancer and choreographer Jean Newlove. "Her eyes filled with tears and she said, 'But I love this. I can't think of anything I'd rather do.'"
  She also insisted on making her own decisions '' something she determined to do from an early age, her mother says '' consistently refusing to have her career directed by the men of the record industry. So she switched between labels, never building up the momentum to lift her unassailably into the public consciousness. "She didn't suffer fools," says her ex-husband Steve Lillywhite, who produced two of her albums, "and to be honest, to make it in the business '' especially if you're a woman '' you have to suffer fools."
  And so we're left with a smattering of singles and only five albums, recorded between 1981 and 2000. The first four '' Desperate Character, Kite, Electric Landlady and Titanic Days '' are being reissued the day after the birthday celebration, and listening to them afresh, one after the other, provides a vivid reminder of MacColl's talent. She could capture the world in songs that seamlessly interweave heartbreak and humour ("There's a guy works down the chip shop swears he's Elvis/ Just like you swore to me that you'd be true," she sang on her breakthrough hit) set against a constantly evolving musical background.
  Breakthrough single There's A Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis.MacColl immersed herself in music as a child. Not the music of her father, the folk singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl, but pop. Though he had left Newlove for Peggy Seeger, his will was known to his daughter. "I was very aware of the fact that he disapproved completely of anything he regarded as commercial," she later said. "Her dad was very scornful of pop music," Bragg says. "He really didn't like it at all. Not just her doing it, but anyone doing it."
  Nevin believes her father exerted an influence in one way, though, through his having left: "She didn't talk about her dad much, but it was an underlying thing that coloured the way she saw the world '' men would let you down and mess you about."
  Since her dad was absent, MacColl could sing along to her brother Hamish's singles, apparently teaching herself the vocal harmony parts to the Beach Boys's Good Vibrations when she was seven. Newlove remembers her daughter waiting for the musical interludes in Andy Williams' TV show: "Kirsty would take her violin out of the case and accompany him. I would have a quiet laugh to myself, but she took it very seriously. Then she'd put the violin away until Andy Williams came out for another song, and out would come the violin." Newlove thinks MacColl started writing songs after she passed her English O-level early, at 14, leaving her with free periods to while away in the teacher's office. She'd been a prodigious writer since early childhood '' a piece she wrote when she was seven for a competition run by the Observer was published in a Penguin book edited by the educationalist Edward Blishen, The School That I'd Like '' but now her thoughts turned to writing pop. In her late teens she joined a punk band called the Drug Addix.
  "This was a far cry from what I expected," Newlove says. "'What's your daughter doing?' 'Oh, she's one of the Drug Addix!' I went to pick her up when she did her first gig. I stood downstairs waiting and a man said to me: 'Cor, listen to those kids. I can't stand it, can you?' I didn't want to say, 'No, it's dreadful,' so I just weakly smiled."
  Still, the Drug Addix were enough to get MacColl signed in her own right to Stiff, and so came They Don't Know. It had "hit" stamped all over it: great song, great arrangement, great musicians. It was all over the radio '' the second most played song in the UK one week. But a strike at Stiff's distributors meant the single didn't reach the shops, and it didn't even enter the singles chart.
  One of the many joys contained in They Don't Know is MacColl's voice. The time spent practising the vocal parts in Good Vibrations was echoed down her career. She adored Brian Wilson, and used to layer her own voice to create distinctive velvet harmonies like the Beach Boys had done, which became a trademark. "She would sing like a keyboard," Lillywhite remembers. "She sang without vibrato and when you don't have vibrato you have this wonderful glassy sound, which is how you can get that Beach Boys thing."
  "She knew how to use her voice," Bragg says. "She'd tell the engineer where to put the mics, and she'd tell the producer what she was going to do next. She did this amazing thing where she'd do a take, then go round into a different position and do another take to layer up this amazing sound, then: 'That's all. Let's go to the pub." Though eight years elapsed between MacColl's first album in 1981 and its follow-up, Kite '' arguably her best '' MacColl wasn't idle. She brought up the two sons she and Lillywhite had after getting married in 1984; sang on plenty of sessions, notably Fairytale of New York; and two other artists got significant boosts thanks to her.
  One was Tracey Ullman, then an up-and-coming comedian on the TV shows A Kick Up the Eighties and Three of a Kind. "I got obsessed with They Don't Know," she says. "I used to play it and play it and play it." When Ullman started recording for Stiff in 1983 she had a big hit with the song '' accompanied by a video starring Paul McCartney '' and recorded several other MacColl numbers. Ullman has been in America for 30 years now, winning Emmys along the way, "but my entry to America was getting into the Billboard top 10 with Kirsty's song '' they got me over to be one of the first MTV veejays".
  A New England - Billy Bragg's song recorded by Kirsty.Billy Bragg, meanwhile, says he owes her for the push that made him a crossover pop star of sorts. "I was indie No 1 '' the Smiths' first album pushed me off No 1 '' that's where I was," he says of his position in the early 80s before MacColl had a hit with A New England in December 1984. "Life's a Riot [his debut album, featuring his original of the song] had already gone silver; within two weeks of her getting in the charts it went gold." These days, when he plays A New England live, he always adds the extra verse from her version. "I shout, 'Let's the sing the last verse for Kirsty!', and everyone cheers. There's still a great deal of love for her."
  By the time Kite was released in 1989, MacColl's writing had changed '' it was still personal, witty and engaged but now it was in her own voice. "I know the reason why," Mark Nevin says of the change in tone. "It was Morrissey. She said: 'I heard the Smiths and realised, I get it '' I can write about anything.' She didn't have to write songs that sounded like they'd been written by songwriters. That was the thing that transformed her writing." Where before there had been what Bragg calls "Play for Today songs", now the eye for a bitter truth was combined with a weightless touch for the right phrase: "What else is there to do/ But turn and wet the baby's head/ And pray he will be happier than you and me?" she sings, devastatingly, on Tread Lightly.
  In These Shoes, a hit from her Latin-tinged album Tropical Brainstorm."She always said, and I believed her, that the songs were pretty much not about one specific person," says Lillywhite, who produced Kite and its successor, Electric Landlady. "But later on, after we'd made our amends, she said they were probably more about me than she had realised at the time."
  Titanic Days, released in 1993, was not a happy time. First, MacColl's marriage was ending. Then there was another new label. Then the album was all but ignored by the world. MacColl resolved not to make another record until she was happy '' and so it was seven years before Tropical Brainstorm was released in 2000, to a delighted reception, before her return was ended abruptly by the tragedy in Mexico.
  Like most re-releases, the four MacColl albums will probably slip by, barely noticed. Dedicated fans might update their copies, scouting for previously unissued bonus tracks. If any DJs pick up the albums, some new listeners might hear a singer they don't know on the radio. Maybe one or two people will read a review or an article like this, investigate further and discover one of English music's most vivid songwriting personalities. Fame will be as distant as it was when she was still making records.
  "Being a pop star is a bit daft," Bragg says. "If you go for that you have to give up your personality. Jessie J would be a good example '' what's she like offstage? Who knows? Or Cheryl Cole? What's she like when she's kicked back in front of the telly, having a fag and a beer? I don't think Kirsty could ever have been that kind of pop star."
  Kirsty MacColl's first four albums will be reissued on Salvo on 8 October
Hillary: 'Loosen Regulation' Because 'Too Many People Still Can't Find Jobs'-In Tunisia, Egypt, Libya. (video)
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:35
  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
  (CNSNews.com) - Speaking to a group of foreign ministers from Arab nations at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York on Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed support for loosening regulations, particularly on small businesses, because ''too many people still can't find jobs''--in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
  In Libya, according to an estimate published in May by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development [OECD], real Gross Domestic Product is expected to grow this year at a rate of 20.1 percent'--or about 15 times the 1.3 percent annualized rate at which real GDP grew in the United States in the second quarter of this year. The OECD further estimated that Libya's real GDP would grow by another 9.5 percent next year.
  Libya, the OECD estimated, will have budget surplus equal to 13.6 percent of GDP this year. So far, this fiscal year, the debt of the U.S. government has increased by more than $1.2 trillion.
  ''In Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, people rose up against their dictators because they were fed up with governments that served the interests of a few at the expense of everyone else,'' said Clinton. ''But economic and social challenges did not disappear with the dictators. Too many people still can't find jobs, and young and growing populations crave a sense of opportunity and self-determination.
  ''On the economic front, we are zeroing in on small and medium-sized enterprises because they are the growth engines in any economy,'' Clinton said. ''They create the bulk of new jobs and they spread wealth more broadly through more communities. And when people have the opportunity to unleash their talents and create something of their own, they are more invested in their communities, their countries, and their new democracies.
  ''So the OECD is helping emerging democracies find ways they can loosen regulations and make it easier to start or expand a small business,'' she said. ''Several partners are setting up funds to help small businesses gain access to loans and financing. People of the region need to see that their governments can be fair and just. So we are stepping up our efforts to return billions of dollars that were stolen or siphoned away over decades of cronyism and corruption.''
  As a result of its civil war, Libya went through a dramatic economic contraction in 2011. But, according to the OECD, it is bouncing back from that.
  "Libya's civil war hugely disrupted the economy by cutting oil output, the primary source of revenue, to virtually zero," said an OECD analysis of Libya's economy published in May. "As a result, the economy contracted 41.8 percent in 2011 but as oil production recovers, it should expand 20.1 percent in 2012 as reconstruction takes hold, followed by a gain of 9.5 percent in 2013."
  According to the OECD report, Libya had a 17.1 percent budget deficit in 2011, while going through its civil war. However, according to the report, Libya ran budget surpluses in each of the six years before that and is expected to run a 13.6 percent surplus in 2012 and a 12.2 percent surplus in 2013.
Bad Loans in Greece Hit $73.2 Billion.
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:19
  Many customers of Greek banks have been unable to repay loans because of pay cuts and tax hikes. (Reuters)
  Buried under big pay cuts, tax hikes, and slashed pensions but pressed by banks to cover mortgages, loans and credit cards in full, 25 percent of Greeks have given up and stopped paying, driving the total of Non-Performing Loans (NPL's) to 57 billion euros ($73.2 billion,) nearly one-fourth of the country's 232.32 billion euros ($298.73 billion) Gross Domestic Product, or GDP.
  The startling figure puts additional pressure on Greece's reeling banks which are expecting a second re-capitalization, this one for about $64.29 billion and with two state banks already being pushed into private hands because of near-insolvency.
  With Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' uneasy coalition government ready to impose another $14.6 billion in austerity measures, the numbers of Greeks who can't pay loans and likely to default outright is expected to rise sharply.
  Most of the bad loans come from the business community, which is 33 billion euros ($42.43 billion) behind, followed closely by mortgages at 15 billion euros ($19.28 billion) while consumer loans and credit card bills more than three months behind account for some 30 percent of the NPL's, despite pressure being applied on customers by banks and collection agencies.
  A worrying factor is that Greeks have been unable to pay even though banks have arranged more favorable terms for some 665,000 loans in the batch, which total 20 billion euros ($25.71 billion.) The major opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) party has been pressing the government to mandate better terms for overwhelmed consumers and the Development Ministry is reportedly working on regulations to help over-indebted households.
  Another change planned is for the extension of the repayment period of housing loans concerning main residences, which currently stands at 20 years. This could be stretched to up to 40 years, based also on the age of the borrower.
  The Development Ministry is also promoting a regulation for a 30 percent reduction in the monthly installment borrowers have to pay to coincide with the average rate of pay cuts and to force banks to remove the names of debtors from lists showing them as deadbeats to create an amnesty if the customers can repay a part of their loans.
Spain reels at violent tactics by riot police
  Link to Article
  Source: The Guardian World News
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 21:21
  Riot police struggle with protesters during demonstrations in Madrid against austerity cutbacks. Photograph: Chema Moya/EPA
  The middle-aged man sitting on a railway station bench protects a younger man by wrapping his arms around him as he shouts desperately at the helmeted, baton-wielding police officers running up and down the platforms at Madrid's Atocha station.
  "Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!" he bellows repeatedly in a video that shows how police charged into the station during violent demonstrations that shook Madrid last week.
  On the other side of the ticket barrier a younger man is whacked with truncheons by two policemen. "I don't know whether he is a passenger or a protester," one of them admits. A third man who was waiting for a train is bundled down the platform by police officers as he asks: "And what have I done?" A youth points to blood running down his face. "What the hell is this?" he asks.
  On Friday, police told a judge they had needed to chase a group of violent protesters across the railway tracks and had later arrested some in a nearby bar. They, too, had suffered injuries. "People who had been hurling stones at police tried to hide in the station, passing themselves off as normal passengers," a spokesman said. "We had to go in."
  As Spaniards respond with dismay to the violence shown by demonstrators, who launched attacks on police, and the response of some riot police, during scuffles in the area around Madrid's parliament building last week, the long-running drama of the country's deflating economy has lurched into a newly confrontational stage, amid fears that there will be more violence to come.
  While police and the conservative government of prime minister Mariano Rajoy were accused of authoritarian behaviour, radical protesters from both the far left and the far right were putting a hard, street-fighting edge on to the once peaceful protests of the civilised but ineffectual indignados.
  Cristina Cifuentes, the government delegate in Madrid, had warned before the protests that they were being infiltrated by violent members of Spain's far right and were attracting the country's most radical leftwingers. But protesters later pointed to a group of undercover policemen who, they claimed, had been at the front of the protest waving red flags and encouraging others to violence.
  Other police certainly thought their undercover colleagues were troublemakers, and there is also film of one of them being dragged out of the crowd to be arrested and shouting: "I am a colleague! I am a colleague!"
  On Saturday, a 72-year-old man was among some 30 demonstrators who had been accused of attacking police and given bail. "But I was sitting down when they arrested me," he said.
  The radicalisation came amid worries that the ratings agency Moodys would downgrade Spain's creditworthiness, reigniting the pressure on its debt and sending the interest rates that it must pay spiralling up again.
  Ministers have said that '‚¬10bn (£8bn) of cuts and tax increases must come in next year's budget just to cover a leap in interest payments. On Friday night, they said a coming round of bank bailouts, paid for by the eurozone rescue fund, would send the country's debts soaring by some '‚¬50bn. Spending is to be cut by 7% next year, bringing another wave of cuts in health, education and other welfare services. Yesterday, Spain's civil servants heard that, for the third year running, their wages were being frozen.
  A period of calm in Europe's more troubled economies created by the European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, when he announced plans to buy the debt of countries who asked for bailouts in the future, also seemed to have come to an end. And with the threat of Catalan separatism adding to worries about Rajoy's ability to control events in Spain, many now expect him to ask for a full bailout for the country '' placing it in the hands of those who have forced Greece, Portugal and Ireland into round after round of spending cuts.
  Budget minister Crist"bal Montoro presented an austerity budget to parliament on Saturday, with analysts widely seeing it as an attempt to pre-empt the conditions that Spain would have had imposed on it anyway for the bailout. "Reducing our budget deficit is essential," he said.
  With unemployment at 25%, however, and the economy already set to shrink for the next two years, Spaniards see no end to the tunnel of misery.
CNN Propaganda Machine Exposed!!! Interview with Former Reporter Amber Lyon
  Link to Article
  Source: Dprogram.net
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 20:33
  September 29th, 2012
  (AJC) '' Alex welcomes three-time Emmy award-winning journalist, photographer, and former CNN reporter Amber Lyon to discuss the brazenly false stories CNN forced her to report.
  No related posts.
  Tags: amber, cnn, former reporter, lyon, propagandaThis entry was posted on Saturday, September 29th, 2012 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Dictatorship, Education/Mind Control, Fascism, Film/Video, NWO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Money of the Future
  Link to Article
  Source: EconomicPolicyJournal.com
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 20:32
  nolmatt emails:Just saw the movie Looper which opened yesterday and stars Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Without going much into the premise, it is a time travel movie that takes place in the years 2042 and 2072. What is of interest is that in this future, Joseph-Gordon Levitt's character is paid in silver and gold for his services. He then stores a portion of the metals at home and a portion at a warehouse facility where he receives receipts/paper currency to use in everyday transactions. How bizarre a concept right?
  Awesome. It's the Ron Paul-Murray Rothbard impact on the film writers, right down to the warehouse receipts. I wonder exactly what year the Fed was ended?Lots of action and gold receipts as money, could be a good one.
Flash floods kill 10 in Spain as torrential rain causes havoc
  Link to Article
  Source: The Guardian World News
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 20:31
  Residents inspect the damage after torrential rains hit the city of Vera, in Almer­a. Photograph: Carlos Barba/EPA
  At least 10 people, three of them children, died after torrential rain triggered flash floods across a swath of southern Spain and another 35 were injured when a tornado swept through a fairground, knocking down a ferris wheel.
  The strength of the torrents washed away cars, turned roads to rivers, damaged houses, brought down a motorway bridge and forced thousands to abandon their homes. Many people had to be rescued by the emergency services using inflatable rafts to ferry them to safety.
  Among those reported missing in the stricken area in Almer­a was a 52-year-old British woman.
  The worst hit areas were in the provinces of Mlaga and Almer­a, and the Murcia region. Further north, a tornado hit the town of Gandia, causing severe damage to the fairground in the town square, knocking down the ferris wheel and cutting the electricity supply. Of those injured, 15 were said to be in a serious condition and were treated at the scene before being taken to hospital. The fair had been closed to the public, and local reports said the injured were all fairground workers.
  Spain's weather agency said that 9.6 inches of rain fell on Friday morning alone and torrential rainfall and violent thunderstorms were set to continue over the weekend, causing more flooding.
  An elderly woman died when a river broke its banks and floodwater hit her home in Alora, north of Mlaga. Three adults and a nine-year-old girl were killed in Murcia and another three lost their lives in Almer­a. Spanish national radio also reported that a young boy and a girl were found drowned in a car in the south-eastern town of Puerto Lumbreras. Caroline Zartash-Lloyd, who runs a small hotel in Alora, said that her neighbours had lost livestock, including pigs, hens, horses and donkeys, which could be seen floating in the flood waters.
  Local people would be hit particularly hard, she said, because it was a poor part of Spain with unemployment at 30% and few people could afford insurance.
  "Cars were washed away and we lost a large bridge in Alora and another sizeable bridge in [the village of] El Valle de Abadeljais," she said. "The farmland was completely washed away, just after the farmers had stopped ploughing. Thankfully, they had not started seeding. Many people have been left without electricity or phone lines."
  A regional government spokesman said: "In Mlaga province there are 800 staff working to return things to normal as quickly as possible."
  The heavy rains in parts of the south follow months of drought and high temperatures across Spain which triggered dozens of wildfires. The flooding disrupted high-speed train service between Madrid and Valencia and regional lines, while bridges and roads became impassible. Two motorways were closed and a plane heading for Mlaga was diverted to Seville. Heavy rains are expected to continue throughout the weekend, with the front moving north toward Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, according to a regional government spokesman in Mlaga.
Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Link to Article
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 20:12
  In United States security and intelligence parlance, a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF; pronounced "skiff") is an enclosed area within a building that is used to process Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) level classified information. SCI is classified information concerning or derived from intelligence sources, methods, or analytical processes, which is required to be handled within formal access control systems established by the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI). Some entire buildings are SCIFs where all but the front foyer is secure. Access to SCIFs is limited, and all of the activity and conversation inside is presumed restricted from public disclosure. A SCIF can also be located in a mobile configuration and can be deployed using air, ground or maritime resources.
  The physical construction, access control, and alarming of the facility is defined under Director of Central Intelligence Directive (DCID) 6/9, and was previously specified through DCID 1/21. On October 31, 2011, the Director of National Intelligence signed Intelligence Community Directive (ICD) 705, which fully rescinds both DCID 6/9 and DCID 1/21. ICD 705 is a three page capstone document that implements Intelligence Community Standard (ICS) 705.1, which has 90 days to become effective as the primary guidance on SCIF construction. The computers running within this facility must operate under rules set forth in ICD 503, which effectively replaced DCID 6/3 even though DCID 6/3 implementation is still in effect. Computers and telecommunication equipment within must fall within the TEMPEST emanations specification as directed by a Certified TEMPEST Technical Authority (CTTA).
  SCI is usually only briefed, discussed, and stored in an accredited SCIF. Moreover, programs handled under the SCI paradigm are normally not publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government.
  There are SCIFs in the United States Capitol in which members of Congress are routinely briefed on intelligence, counterintelligence and military operations. In U.S. nuclear labs, computers that store weapons data are housed inside SCIFs. Components of the United States Department of Homeland Security, such as the Science & Technology Directorate's new National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) at Fort Detrick, Maryland, and the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis have SCIFs. Many U.S. military installations in the United States and around the world are equipped with SCIFs.
  [edit]References"A sensitive compartmented information facility meets official government requirements for a secure area where classified information is handled. A SCIF can be a room, a building or even a trailer enclosed in special panels to prevent information from leaking and where jamming is used to prevent surveillance. Access is controlled." Trish Choate (January 15, 2009). "Air Force planning to train hundreds yearly in cyber warfare skills"."SCIF outlines stringent physical security requirements, such as the thickness of doors, the strength of concrete and the use of alarms and acoustical controls to prevent any eavesdropping within facilities, including by electronic means." Patrick Thibodeau (February 12, 2008). "Outsourcing helps spur data center land rush outside D.C."[edit]External links
Obama Phone
  Link to Article
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 19:29
  The State and Federal government has a program that provides free cellphones and free talk time to people with low income as well as senior citizens. This subsidized program is called Lifeline phones assistance program. But Obama hasn't initiated it; it started few decades back and got its current format after going through several changes within this time. Safelink Wireless, the largest cellphone provider of the Lifeline program and a subsidiary of Tracfone, was created under the administration of George William Bush which received grants from a company that was launched during the Bill Clinton's time and it was done because of an act passed by President Franklin Roosevelt which in turn was influenced because of an agreement between President Woodrow Wilson's administration and some telecom service providers. So you can realize that this free cellphone service has a pretty long history and the claim about the Obama phone is nothing but a false rumor.
  At present, free cellphone with 250 free minutes is provided to financially disabled people. It has been included during Bush's administration. Several telecom companies have been approved to provide cellphones to the qualified people living in the United States and within US territory. This service is not for everyone. You need to fulfill certain requirements to avail this facility provided by the government. These requirements are almost same in all the states as it has been set by the government.
  Currently, the government is thinking of providing free wireless internet service to the people under this program instead of old-fashioned land phones. It'll be a great effort if government includes this service in Lifeline program.
  Click here to find out how to qualify for a free cell phone.
  Posted inObama Phone Questions|The term ''the Obama Phone'' has been all around since the day Barack Obama became the president of the United States of America. Many people think that Obama is giving free cellphones to the poor in order to redistribute the wealth of rich people. Since then two groups are mudslinging at each other.
  It's true that government provides free cellphones to the poor and disabled people. But the Obama part is not true as Obama didn't initiate this program. It's on the run since the administration of Reagan. This program has two parts: one is called the 'Link-Up' which provided free landline connection to the poor and the other is called the 'Lifeline' which provides waiver on telephone bills. These two programs are simply called 'Lifeline' when lumped together.
  This service is provided by government approved companies. The three major companies are Safelink Wireless, Assurance Wireless and ReachOut Wireless.
  Today government provides waivers on landline phone bills for people with low income living inside US territory. This program began during Clinton's administration and still continuing under Obamas' administration.
  With the increasing use of mobile technologies cost came down. To low income individuals and senior citizens, cellphones were included under Lifeline. At present, government gives free cellphone with 250 minutes of free talk time to those people who are eligible and have signed up for this program. It started back in 2008 when Trafcone started their service under this program at Tennessee. At the same year Obama was elected President but Trafcone began their Safelink service three months before which means the program was discussed and approved by Obama's predecessor Bush. So now you know that there is nothing called ''the Obama Phone''.
  Over 8 million people have already signed up for the Lifeline program and up to 35% of Americans are qualified. Click here to see if you are qualified or click here to find out how to get a free cell phone.
  Posted inObama Phone Questions|If you are one of those people who have lost their jobs due to recession, then probably you're having hard time with your daily expenses. On top of that, paying telephone bills will add extra pressure on you. However, you can get rid of this extra burden if you apply for the Lifeline Assistance Program run by government. With the turmoil in the economy, more and more people are being eligible for this program and around eight million people have already signed up with this program up to now.
  In order to avail this facility you need to contact with the provider of this service. Government has approved many companies at national and regional level to provide this service to the eligible people. The leading providers of the Lifeline Assistance Program are: Qlink Wireless, Assurance Wireless, ReachOut Wireless, and Safelink Wireless. You can easily find a franchise of any of these companies in your locality. Besides, some smaller companies also provide this service to the financially disadvantaged people.
  The first step is to find out the company that provides this service in your area. With the help of internet you can easily accomplish this job. Learn about their eligibility criteria and determine whether or not you're eligible for this program.
  After determining your eligibility, visit the company's website to get detail of their offer. Most of the companies offer almost same features, but some smaller dealers sometimes don't provide 250 minutes of free talk time with the cellphone. So, you need to be careful about that. Besides, facilities offered by different providers may vary a bit which is why you should consider all these facts before selecting a particular company.
  Once you've found your best deal after detailed homework, fill-up the form provided by that company and you'll receive your cellphone with free talk time.
  Click here for more information on qualifying for a free cell phone. You can also start applying for a free cell phone directly. Click here to apply for a free cell phone.
  Posted inObama Phone Questions|Lifeline is a government sponsored program, but who is paying for it. Some people claim that the government is using taxpayer's money to run this program, however, the claim is false. Universal Service Fund (USF) which is administers by Federal Communication Commission along the Universal Service Administration Company (USAC), pays for the Lifeline phone assistance program.
  The Universal Service Fund (USF) was created back in 1997 by Federal Communication Commission in order to achieve the goals set by the Congress under the Telecommunication Act of 1996. According to the Act, telecommunication service providers are obliged to contribute a portion of their interstate and international telecommunications revenues. These companies include paging service providers, wireless telephone companies, wire-line telephone companies, and Voice over Internet Protocol service providers. Some of the paying customers might find a line item named 'Universal Service' on their telephone bills. This is because some telecom companies choose to collect the amount they need to contribute to Universal Service Fund, from their subscribers. Federal Communication Commissions doesn't require this charge to be passed to the customers. The telecom company decides how they will manage their USF contribution costs. But they can't charge an amount that is more than they need to contribute to the USF. These charges appear as a percentage of the original phone bill. They also can't collect any charges from the Lifeline customers. The percentage of contribution of the telecom companies is renewed every quarter depending on the demand of the Universal Service Fund.
  The word 'universal' means that telecom service providers should offer uninterrupted telecommunication service to all those people who can't afford it. It also includes libraries, schools, healthcare providers, and classrooms.
  The Universal Service Fund (USF) is the source of money on which the Lifeline phone assistance program runs. Click here to learn what is the ''Obama Phone''. You can also see if you are qualified to receive a free government cell phone. Click here to see if you qualify.
  Posted inObama Phone Questions|If you, or members in your household are, receiving the following benefits you automatically qualify for the Lifeline program. Those interested in the program must have an income of less than 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. (For example in the 48 Contiguous States and D.C the income level is $22,350 per year for a family of four.)
  Food Stamps or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)MedicaidSupplemental Security Income '' commonly known as SSIHealth Benefit Coverage under Child Health Insurance Plan (CHIP)The National School Lunch Program's Free Lunch Program.Low-Income Energy Assistance Program '' LIHEAPFederal Public Housing Assistance ( Section 8 )If you are a low-income Eligible Resident of Tribal LandsTemporary Assistance to Needy Families '' TANFQualifications can vary by state. The best way to know if you qualify is by filling out an application for a Lifeline provider in your state. Click here to get a free cell phone.Posted inObama Phone Questions|The ''Obama Phone'' program was actually instituted by congress during the Telecommunications Act of 1996 as a way to provide low income families with free phone service. The real name of the program is Lifeline. The name ''Obama Phone'' was a nickname that caught on because of its increased popularity over the last few years.
  The president actually has no real impact on the program so it shouldn't be called ''Obama Phones''. The Lifeline program for cell phones was actually started under President George Bush with grants from an independent company crated under presidentClinton.
  There are 3 plans available on the Lifeline program, each one offers different services. One plan offers more minutes with rollover, but limited texting. Another plan offers cheap texting with fewer minutes. The last option is a mix between the two. It is important to choose the plan that will work best for you. Many people rely on texting to communicate. If you are a heavy texter than be sure to choose a plan with lots of texting. If you use your phone mostly for calling, then the plan with more minutes and rollover may be right for you.
  It's easy to see if your qualified for the Obama Phone Program. If you recieve any government assistance like welfare or medicaid, then you will qualify. Currently there are millions of American that will qualify and don't even know it!
  Posted inObama Phone|
The US Gov Comes Full Circle on Cybersecurity
  Link to Article
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 19:09
  Words cannot contain my mirth. Today in a letter, Senator Lieberman called on the President to include mandatory cybersecurity standards in his potential executive order on the issue.
  Before we dig too far into exactly what this means, why it is funny, and how in fact we have come full circle on this issue, allow me to quote the honorable Senator. From his letter [Bold: TNW]:
  Even though [the failed Cybersecurity act proposed in the Senate], in the interest of finding compromise, did not contain new authority for existing regulators to require the implementation of cybersecurity standards, I have long believed that such requirements are reasonable and warranted in light of the urgent and grave nature of the threat. I urge you to explore any means at your disposal that would encourage regulators to make mandatory the standards developed by the Department of Homeland Security pursuant to your Executive Order so we can guarantee that our most critical infrastructure will be defended against attacks from our adversaries.
  A short coda of context: the paragraph references the Department of Homeland Security, an important point, as that is where the President's draft executive order shuttles much of the authority to that agency.
  Also, the mandate of the department is used as, in my estimation, an important tool for helping the order itself stand up to legal challenge. That's a bit of a longer argument, and an old one, so we'll leave it for now.
  HistoryWhy is today's news, while completely serious, funny? Let's go in order, if we may:
  The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) passed the House, but did not contain mandatory standards for critical infrastructure. This despite noise that such standards should be present. The House majority dismissed the idea as too regulatory.Following the leading Senate bill on cybersecurity, the so-called Lieberman-Collins bill, did contain such standards, rendering any pressure to emulate it essentially moot.This led to gridlock in the Senate, which was itself humorous as CISPA had a promised veto attached to it, courtesy of the President.Thus the Senate argued over whether its bill would contain mandatory standards, which would be impossible to reconcile with the House, and would not please the President.Predictably, the Senate failed to pass anything, even after watering down its bill away from mandatory standards to simple enticements for critical infrastructure to meet agreed upon standards.With the failure of the Senate, cybersecurity failed in Congress until 2013. Ironically, even if the Senate had managed to pass something, that it could have cleared the House is far from clear.Following all that, the President's Press Secretary noted that the President wasn't taking options off the table, in regards to the issue. This led to speculation that he may issue an executive order.Calls ensued for him to do so.A draft of the proposed cybersecurity executive order was distributed for comment in certain agencies, and subsequently leaked to the general media.During the brouhaha, several members of the Senate majority penned an op-ed, dinging the President for perhaps issuing the order and calling for a similarly bipartisan effort in the Senate as had occurred in the House. Naturally, that wasn't a true statement, as the final House vote was along party lines, and several Democratic co-sponsors dropped their endorsement as the bill was rammed through their chamber.The President's draft was quite vague, and did not appear to contain mandatory standards, instead calling for collaboration between the public and private sphere on things such as information sharing.And today, Lieberman, spearpoint of the Senate bill that had included mandatory standards but gave them up in hopes of passing, is now calling on the President to include them in his executive order.Stop! You want to get off? No such luck.
  If the President will heed the retiring Senator or not, the proposed executive order will spark a brawl over the issue. Things will become even more interesting once the elections are over and the next Congress is sworn in. For now, however, muddle is the rule of the day.
  For a full scroll on cybersecurity, hit this link. It will take you through all of TNW's coverage in reverse chronological order. Enjoy!
  Top Image Credit: hobvias sudoneighm
Fox News Car chase in Phoenix/Tonopah AZ ends in suicide 28 sept 2012. * WARNING * GRAPHIC VIOLENCE - YouTube
  Link to Article
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 19:01
Federal Register | Sulfoxaflor; Pesticide Tolerances for Emergency Exemptions
  Link to Article
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:56
  This regulation is effective September 28, 2012. Objections and requests for hearings must be received on or before November 27, 2012, and must be filed in accordance with the instructions provided in 40 CFR part 178 (see also Unit I.C. of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
  The docket for this action, identified by docket identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2012-0493, is available at http://www.regulations.gov or at the OPP Docket in the Environmental Protection Agency Docket Center (EPA/DC), located in EPA West, Rm. 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001. The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the OPP Docket is (703) 305-5805. Please review the visitor instructions and additional information about the docket available at http://www.epa.gov/dockets.
  Libby Pemberton, Registration Division (7505P), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: 703-308-9364; email address: pemberton.libby@epa.gov.
  A. Does this action apply to me?You may be potentially affected by this action if you are an agricultural producer, food manufacturer, or pesticide manufacturer. Potentially affected entities may include, but are not limited to:
  Crop production (NAICS code 111).Animal production (NAICS code 112).Food manufacturing (NAICS code 311).Pesticide manufacturing (NAICS code 32532).B. How can I get electronic access to other related information?You may access a frequently updated electronic version of 40 CFR part 180 through the Government Printing Office's e-CFR site at http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?&amp;c=ecfr&amp;tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title40/40tab_02.tpl.
  C. How can I file an objection or hearing request?Under section 408(g) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), 21 U.S.C. 346a, any person may file an objection to any aspect of this regulation and may also request a hearing on those objections. You must file your objection or request a hearing on this regulation in accordance with the instructions provided in 40 CFR part 178. To ensure proper receipt by EPA, you must identify docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2012-0493 in the subject line on the first page of your submission. All objections and requests for a hearing must be in writing, and must be received by the Hearing Clerk on or before November 27, 2012. Addresses for mail and hand delivery of objections and hearing requests are provided in 40 CFR 178.25(b).
  In addition to filing an objection or hearing request with the Hearing Clerk as described in 40 CFR part 178, please submit a copy of the filing that does not contain any CBI for inclusion in the public docket. Information not marked confidential pursuant to 40 CFR part 2 may be disclosed publicly by EPA without prior notice. Submit a copy of your non-CBI objection or hearing request, identified by docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2012-0493, by one of the following methods:
  Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statue.Mail: OPP Docket, Environmental Protection Agency Docket Center (EPA/DC), Mail Code: 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001.Hand Delivery: To make special arrangements for hand delivery or delivery of boxed information, please follow the instructions at http://www.epa.gov/dockets/contacts.htm.EPA, on its own initiative, in accordance with FFDCA sections 408(e) and 408(l ) (6) of, 21 U.S.C. 346a(e) and 346a(1)(6), is establishing time-limited tolerances for combined residues of sulfoxaflor, N-methyloxido [1-[6-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pyridinyl]ethyl] Î>> [4] -sulfanylidene] cyanamide, including its metabolites and degradates in or on cotton, undelinted seed at 0.2 parts per million (ppm); cotton, gin byproducts at 6.0 ppm; and cotton, hulls at 0.35 ppm. These time-limited tolerances expire on December 31, 2015.
  Section 408(l)(6) of FFDCA requires EPA to establish a time-limited tolerance or exemption from the requirement for a tolerance for pesticide chemical residues in food that will result from the use of a pesticide under an emergency exemption granted by EPA under section 18 of FIFRA. Such tolerances can be established without providing notice or period for public comment. EPA does not intend for its actions on FIFRA section 18 related time-limited tolerances to set binding precedents for the application of FFDCA section 408 and the safety standard to other tolerances and exemptions. Section 408(e) of FFDCA allows EPA to establish a tolerance or an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance on its own initiative, i.e., without having received any petition from an outside party.
  Section 408(b)(2)(A)(i) of FFDCA allows EPA to establish a tolerance (the legal limit for a pesticide chemical residue in or on a food) only if EPA determines that the tolerance is ''safe.'' Section 408(b)(2)(A)(ii) of FFDCA defines ''safe'' to mean that ''there is a reasonable certainty that no harm will result from aggregate exposure to the pesticide chemical residue, including all anticipated dietary exposures and all other exposures for which there is reliable information.'' This includes exposure through drinking water and in residential settings, but does not include occupational exposure. Section 408(b)(2)(C) of FFDCA requires EPA to give special consideration to exposure of infants and children to the pesticide chemical residue in establishing a tolerance and to ''ensure that there is a reasonable certainty that no harm will result to infants and children from aggregate exposure to the pesticide chemical residue * * *.''
  Section 18 of FIFRA authorizes EPA to exempt any Federal or State agency from any provision of FIFRA, if EPA determines that ''emergency conditions exist which require such exemption.'' EPA has established regulations governing such emergency exemptions in 40 CFR part 166.
  III. Emergency Exemption for Sulfoxaflor for Various Commodities and FFDCA Tolerances Back to TopThe states of Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana submitted emergency use requests for the use of the unregistered active ingredient, sulfoxaflor, on cotton to control the tarnished plant bug. The requests are a result of the resurgence of tarnished plant bug as a primary pest of cotton. The states assert growers are facing a longer control season for tarnished plant bug. In addition, tarnished plant bug has developed resistance to registered alternatives. After having reviewed the submissions, EPA determined that emergency conditions exist for these States, and that the criteria for emergency exemptions are met. EPA has authorized specific exemptions under FIFRA section 18 for the use of sulfoxaflor on cotton for control of tarnished plant bug in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana.
  As part of its evaluation of the emergency exemption application, EPA assessed the potential risks presented by residues of sulfoxaflor in or on cotton. In doing so, EPA considered the safety standard in FFDCA section 408(b)(2), and EPA decided that the necessary tolerance under FFDCA section 408(l)(6) would be consistent with the safety standard and with FIFRA section 18. Consistent with the need to move quickly on the emergency exemption in order to address an urgent non-routine situation and to ensure that the resulting food is safe and lawful, EPA is issuing this tolerance without notice and opportunity for public comment as provided in FFDCA section 408(l)(6). Although these time-limited tolerances expire on December 31, 2015, under FFDCA section 408(l)(5), residues of the pesticide not in excess of the amounts specified in the tolerance remaining in or on cotton, undelinted seed; cotton, ginbyproducts; and cotton, hulls after that date will not be unlawful, provided the pesticide was applied in a manner that was lawful under FIFRA, and the residues do not exceed a level that was authorized by these time-limited tolerances at the time of that application. EPA will take action to revoke these time-limited tolerances earlier if any experience with, scientific data on, or other relevant information on this pesticide indicate that the residues are not safe.
  Because these time-limited tolerances are being approved under emergency conditions, EPA has not made any decisions about whether sulfoxaflor meets FIFRA's registration requirements for use on cotton or whether permanent tolerances for this use would be appropriate. Under these circumstances, EPA does not believe that these time-limited tolerances decision serves as a basis for registration of sulfoxaflor by a State for special local needs under FIFRA section 24(c). Nor does this tolerance by itself serve as the authority for persons in any State other than Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana to use this pesticide on the applicable crops under FIFRA section 18 absent the issuance of an emergency exemption applicable within that State. For additional information regarding the emergency exemption for sulfoxaflor, contact the Agency's Registration Division at the address provided under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
  IV. Aggregate Risk Assessment and Determination of Safety Back to TopSection 408(b)(2)(A)(i) of FFDCA allows EPA to establish a tolerance (the legal limit for a pesticide chemical residue in or on a food) only if EPA determines that the tolerance is ''safe.'' Section 408(b)(2)(A)(ii) of FFDCA defines ''safe'' to mean that ''there is a reasonable certainty that no harm will result from aggregate exposure to the pesticide chemical residue, including all anticipated dietary exposures and all other exposures for which there is reliable information.'' This includes exposure through drinking water and in residential settings, but does not include occupational exposure. Section 408(b)(2)(C) of FFDCA requires EPA to give special consideration to exposure of infants and children to the pesticide chemical residue in establishing a tolerance and to ''ensure that there is a reasonable certainty that no harm will result to infants and children from aggregate exposure to the pesticide chemical residue. * * *''
  Consistent with the factors specified in FFDCA section 408(b)(2)(D), EPA has reviewed the available scientific data and other relevant information in support of this action. EPA has sufficient data to assess the hazards of and to make a determination on aggregate exposure expected as a result of these emergency exemption requests and the time-limited tolerances for combined residues of sulfoxaflor in or on cotton, undelinted seed at 0.2 parts per million (ppm); cotton, gin byproducts at 6.0 ppm; and cotton, hulls at 0.35 ppm. Use of cotton commodities conforming to these temporary tolerances as animal feed is not expected to produce sulfoxaflor residues in livestock commodities. EPA's assessment of exposures and risks associated with establishing these time-limited tolerances follows.
  A. Toxicological Points of Departure/Levels of ConcernOnce a pesticide's toxicological profile is determined, EPA identifies toxicological points of departure (POD) and levels of concern to use in evaluating the risk posed by human exposure to the pesticide. For hazards that have a threshold below which there is no appreciable risk, the toxicological POD is used as the basis for derivation of reference values for risk assessment. PODs are developed based on a careful analysis of the doses in each toxicological study to determine the dose at which no adverse effects are observed (the NOAEL) and the lowest dose at which adverse effects of concern are identified (the LOAEL). Uncertainty/safety factors are used in conjunction with the POD to calculate a safe exposure level'--generally referred to as a population-adjusted dose (PAD) or a reference dose (RfD)'--and a safe margin of exposure (MOE). For non-threshold risks, the Agency assumes that any amount of exposure will lead to some degree of risk. Thus, the Agency estimates risk in terms of the probability of an occurrence of the adverse effect during a lifetime. For more information on the general principles EPA uses in risk characterization and a complete description of the risk assessment process, see http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/riskassess.htm.
  A summary of the toxicological endpoints for sulfoxaflor used for human risk assessment is shown in the Table of this unit.
  Table'--Summary of Toxicological Doses and Endpoints for Sulfoxaflor for Use in Human Health Risk Assessment Back to TopExposure/scenarioPoint of departure and uncertainty/ safety factorsRfD, PAD, LOC for risk assessmentStudy and toxicological effectsUF A= extrapolation from animal to human (interspecies). UF H= potential variation in sensitivity among members of the human population (intraspecies). FQPA SF = Food Quality Protection Act Safety Factor. PAD = population adjusted dose (a = acute, c = chronic). RfD = reference dose. LOAEL = lowest observed adverse effect level. NOAEL = no observed adverse effect level.Acute dietary (Females 13-50 years of age)NOAEL = 1.8 mg/kg/day UF A= 3x >UF H= 10x >FQPA SF = 1xAcute RfD = 0.06 g/kg/day aPAD = 0.06 mg/kg/dayDevelopmental Neurotoxicity Study. LOAEL = 7.1 mg/kg/day based on decreased neonatal survival on postnatal day 0 through 4.Acute dietary (General population including infants and children)NOAEL = 25 mg/kg/day UF A= 10x UF H= 10x FQPA SF = 1xAcute RfD = 0.25 mg/kg/day aPAD = 0.25 mg/kg/dayAcute Neurotoxicity Study. LOAEL = 75 mg/kg/day based on decreased motor activity.Chronic dietary (All populations)NOAEL = 5.13 mg/kg/day UF A= 10x UF H= 10x FQPA SF = 1xChronic RfD = 0.05 mg/kg/day cPAD = 0.05 mg/kg/dayChronic/Carcinogenicity Study in the Rat. LOAEL = 21.3 mg/kg/day based on liver effects including increased blood cholesterol, liver weight, hypertrophy, fatty change, single cell necrosis and macrophages observed in the males and females.Cancer (Oral, dermal, inhalation)Sulfoxaflor is classified as ''Suggestive Evidence of Carcinogenic Potential.'' Quantification of risk using a non-linear approach (i.e., RfD) will adequately account for all chronic toxicity, including carcinogenicity.B. Exposure Assessment1. Dietary exposure from food and feed uses. In evaluating dietary exposure to sulfoxaflor, EPA considered exposure under the time-limited tolerances established by this action. EPA assessed dietary exposures from sulfoxaflor in food as follows:
  i. Acute and Chronic exposure. Acute and chronic effects were identified for sulfoxaflor. In estimating acute and chronic dietary exposure, EPA used food consumption information from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 1994-1996 and 1998 Nationwide Continuing Surveys of Food Intake by Individuals (CSFII). EPA's dietary exposure assessment assumed that all cotton in the U.S. is treated with sulfoxaflor (i.e., 100% crop treated); an empirical factor of 0.1X to account for the reduction in sulfoxaflor residues during the processing of cottonseed into oil (which is the only human food associated with cotton); and used health-protective models to estimate residues in drinking water.
  ii. Cancer. EPA determines whether quantitative cancer exposure and risk assessments are appropriate for a food-use pesticide based on the weight of the evidence from cancer studies and other relevant data. Cancer risk may be quantified using a linear or nonlinear approach. If sufficient information is available to determine the carcinogenic mode of action, and that mode of action has a threshold, then EPA will use a threshold or nonlinear approach and calculate a cancer RfD based on an earlier noncancer key event. If the mode of carcinogenic action is unknown, or if the mode of action appears to be mutagenic, a default linear cancer slope factor approach is utilized. Based on studies demonstrating key events of a hypothesized mode of action leading to the observed tumors and no mutagenicity concerns, EPA has concluded that a nonlinear RfD approach is appropriate for assessing cancer risk to sulfoxaflor. Cancer risk was assessed using the same exposure estimates as discussed in Unit IV.B.1.i., acute and chronic exposure.
  iii. Anticipated residue and percent crop treated (PCT) information. EPA did not use anticipated residue and/or PCT information in the dietary assessment for sulfoxaflor. For this risk assessment, EPA assumed that all cottonseed oil contains tolerance level residues (modified by an empirical processing factor) and that 100% of cotton is treated with sulfoxaflor.
  2. Dietary exposure from drinking water. The Agency used screening level water exposure models in the dietary exposure analysis and risk assessment for sulfoxaflor in drinking water. These simulation models take into account data on the physical, chemical, and fate/transport characteristics of sulfoxaflor. Further information regarding EPA drinking water models used in pesticide exposure assessment can be found at http://www.epa.gov/oppefed1/models/water/index.htm.
  Based on the Pesticide Root Zone Model/Exposure Analysis Modeling System (PRZM/EXAMS) and Screening Concentration in Ground Water (SCI-GROW) models, the estimated drinking water concentrations (EDWCs) of sulfoxaflor for acute exposures are estimated to be 2.76 parts per billion (ppb) for surface water and 45.1 ppb for ground water; for chronic exposures for non-cancer assessments are estimated to be 0.865 ppb for surface water and 45.1 ppb for ground water. Environmental fate data indicate that the predominant residue in surface water will be the parent compound and the predominant residue in groundwater will be the X11719474 metabolite (88% of the total residue) and X11519450 (12% of the total residue). For convenience, EPA's exposure assessment multiplies the relative toxicity of each metabolite by its proportion to express the residue concentration in terms of parent sulfoxaflor-equivalents.
  Modeled estimates of drinking water concentrations were directly entered into the dietary exposure model. For acute dietary risk assessment, the water concentration value of 0.045 ppm (0.0397 ppm X11719474 + 0.0054 ppm X11519450) was used to assess the contribution of drinking water to dietary exposure for the general population, except women of child-bearing age (13-49 years). For females 13-49 years old, the acute surface water EDWC (0.0028 ppm) was used to assess the contribution of drinking water. For chronic dietary risk assessment for the general population, including females 13-49 years old, the ground water concentration of value 0.066 ppm was used to assess the contribution of drinking water. The groundwater value of 0.066 ppm reflects individual concentrations of X11719474 and X11519540, adjusted for their relative potencies of 0.3X and 10X, respectively.
  3. From non-dietary exposure. The term ''residential exposure'' is used in this document to refer to non-occupational, non-dietary exposure (e.g., for lawn and garden pest control, indoor pest control, termiticides, and flea and tick control on pets). Sulfoxaflor is currently not registered for any use that will result in residential exposure. Further information regarding EPA standard assumptions and generic inputs for residential exposures may be found at: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/trac/science/trac6a05.pdf.
  4. Cumulative effects from substances with a common mechanism of toxicity. Section 408(b)(2)(D)(v) of FFDCA requires that, when considering whether to establish, modify, or revoke a tolerance, the Agency consider ''available information'' concerning the cumulative effects of a particular pesticide's residues and'' other substances that have a common mechanism of toxicity.''
  EPA has not found sulfoxaflor to share a common mechanism of toxicity with any other substances, and sulfoxaflor does not appear to produce a toxic metabolite produced by other substances. For the purposes of this tolerance action, therefore, EPA has assumed that sulfoxaflor does not have a common mechanism of toxicity with other substances. For information regarding EPA's efforts to determine which chemicals have a common mechanism of toxicity and to evaluate the cumulative effects of such chemicals, see EPA's Web site at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/cumulative.
  C. Safety Factor for Infants and Children1. In general. Section 408(b)(2)(C) of FFDCA provides that EPA shall apply an additional tenfold (10X) margin of safety for infants and children in the case of threshold effects to account for prenatal and postnatal toxicity and the completeness of the database on toxicity and exposure unless EPA determines based on reliable data that a different margin of safety will be safe for infants and children. This additional margin of safety is commonly referred to as the FQPA Safety Factor (SF). In applying this provision, EPA either retains the default value of 10X, or uses a different additional SF when reliable data available to EPA support the choice of a different factor.
  2. Prenatal and postnatal sensitivity. The prenatal and postnatal toxicity databases for sulfoxaflor are complete. Although adverse developmental effects were observed in rats, the mode of action is understood and does not appear relevant to humans. Data indicate that juvenile rats are uniquely sensitive to perturbation of the muscular nicotinic receptor by sulfoxaflor, leading to sustained muscle contraction and increased neonatal deaths. Supporting studies indicate that sulfoxaflor does not interact with nicotinic receptors in the adult rat, fetal human, or adult human. Furthermore, the observation that no neonatal deaths or neuromuscular/skeletal effects were noted in the rabbit developmental toxicity study supports the conclusion that rats are uniquely sensitive to developmental toxicity due to sulfoxaflor exposure. These differences suggest that to the extent that neonatal death in rats occurs as a result of sulfoxaflor binding to the fetal receptor, these effects would not be observed in humans.
  3. Conclusion. EPA has determined that reliable data show that the safety of infants and children would be adequately protected if the FQPA SF were reduced to 1X. That decision is based on the following findings: the level of concern for neurotoxicity is low because the effects are well characterized and clear NOAELs are established. Similarly, although there is increased quantitative susceptibility in the developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) study, the level of concern for the increased susceptibility is low because the effects are well characterized and the endpoints chosen for risk assessment are protective of potential in utero developmental effects. In addition, the exposure assessments are highly conservative and unlikely to underestimate exposure/risk.
  D. Aggregate Risks and Determination of SafetyEPA determines whether acute and chronic dietary pesticide exposures are safe by comparing aggregate exposure estimates to the acute PAD (aPAD) and chronic PAD (cPAD). Short-, intermediate-, and chronic-term risks are evaluated by comparing the estimated aggregate food, water, and residential exposure to the appropriate PODs to ensure that an adequate MOE exists.
  1 . Acute risk. Using the exposure assumptions discussed in this unit for acute exposure, the acute dietary exposure from food and water to sulfoxaflor will occupy 4% of the aPAD for infants (<1 year), the population group receiving the greatest exposure.
  2. Chronic risk. Using the exposure assumptions described in this unit for chronic exposure, EPA has concluded that chronic exposure to sulfoxaflor from food and water will utilize 9% of the cPAD for infants (<1 year)the population group receiving the greatest exposure. There are no residential uses for sulfoxaflor.
  3. Short-term risk. Short-term aggregate exposure takes into account short-term residential exposure plus chronic exposure to food and water (considered to be a background exposure level). A short-term adverse effect was identified; however, sulfoxaflor is not registered for any use patterns that would result in short-term residential exposure. Because there is no short-term residential exposure, sulfoxaflor poses no short-term risk.
  4. Intermediate-term risk. Intermediate-term aggregate exposure takes into account intermediate-term non-dietary, non-occupational exposure plus chronic exposure to food and water (considered to be a background exposure level).
  An intermediate-term adverse effect was identified; however, sulfoxaflor is not registered for any use patterns that would result in intermediate-term residential exposure. Intermediate-term risk is assessed based on intermediate-term residential exposure plus chronic dietary exposure. Because there is no intermediate-term residential exposure, sulfoxaflor poses no intermediate-term risk.
  5. Aggregate cancer risk for U.S. population. EPA determined that there is a ''Suggestive Evidence of Carcinogenic Potential'' for sulfoxaflor based on the preputial gland tumor response seen in rats. When there is suggestive evidence, the Agency does not attempt a dose-response assessment as the nature of the data generally would not support one. Rather, the Agency has determined that quantification of risk using a non-linear approach (i.e., reference dose (RfD) will adequately account for all chronic toxicity, including carcinogenicity, that could result from exposure to sulfoxaflor.
  6. Determination of safety. Based on these risk assessments, EPA concludes that there is a reasonable certainty that no harm will result to the general population, or to infants and children, from aggregate exposure to sulfoxaflor residues.
  A. Analytical Enforcement MethodologyAdequate analytical methods have been submitted for both data collection and for enforcement purposes. In the submitted field trial and processing studies, residues of sulfoxaflor and its metabolites in crops were determined using 2 different Dow analytical methods (designated as 091031 or 091116). The proposed method for tolerance enforcement in plant commodities is method 091116: Enforcement Method for the Determination of Sulfoxaflor (XDE-208) and its Main Metabolites in Agricultural Commodities using Offline Solid-Phase Extraction and Liquid Chromatography with Tandem Mass Spectrometry Detection. Method 091116 extracts residues with acetonitrile/water and includes use of a deuterated internal standard, hydrolysis with NaOH to release base-labile conjugates, and clean up via solid-phase extraction. This method is applicable for the quantitative determination of residues of sulfoxaflor and its metabolites in agricultural commodities and processed products. The method was adequately validated, with a limit of quantitation (LOQ) of 0.010 mg/kg for all matrices. The method may be requested from: Chief, Analytical Chemistry Branch, Environmental Science Center, 701 Mapes Rd., Ft. Meade, MD 20755-5350; telephone number: (410) 305-2905; email address: residuemethods@epa.gov.
  B. International Residue LimitsIn making its tolerance decisions, EPA seeks to harmonize U.S. tolerances with international standards whenever possible, consistent with U.S. food safety standards and agricultural practices. EPA considers the international maximum residue limits (MRLs) established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), as required by FFDCA section 408(b)(4). The Codex Alimentarius is a joint United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization food standards program, and it is recognized as an international food safety standards-setting organization in trade agreements to which the United States is a party. EPA may establish a tolerance that is different from a Codex MRL; however, FFDCA section 408(b)(4) requires that EPA explain the reasons for departing from the Codex level.
  The Codex has not established a MRL for sulfoxaflor.
  Therefore, time-limited tolerances are established for residues of, sulfoxaflor, N-methyloxido [1-[6-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pyridinyl]ethyl] Î>> [4] -sulfanylidene] cyanamide including its metabolites and degradates, in or on cotton, undelinted seed at 0.2 parts per million (ppm); cotton, ginbyproducts at 6.0 ppm; and cotton, hulls at 0.35 ppm. These tolerances expire on December 31, 2015.
  This final rule establishes tolerances under FFDCA sections 408(e) and 408(l)(6). The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has exempted these types of actions from review under Executive Order 12866, entitled ''Regulatory Planning and Review'' (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993). Because this final rule has been exempted from review under Executive Order 12866, this final rule is not subject to Executive Order 13211, entitled ''Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001) or Executive Order 13045, entitled ''Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks'' (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997). This final rule does not contain any information collections subject to OMB approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), 44 U.S.C. 3501et seq., nor does it require any special considerations under Executive Order 12898, entitled ''Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations'' (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
  Since tolerances and exemptions that are established in accordance with FFDCA sections 408(e) and 408(l)(6), such as the tolerances in this final rule, do not require the issuance of a proposed rule, the requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) (5 U.S.C. 601et seq.) do not apply.
  This final rule directly regulates growers, food processors, food handlers, and food retailers, not States or tribes, nor does this action alter the relationships or distribution of power and responsibilities established by Congress in the preemption provisions of FFDCA section 408(n)(4). As such, the Agency has determined that this action will not have a substantial direct effect on States or tribal governments, on the relationship between the national government and the States or tribal governments, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government or between the Federal Government and Indian tribes. Thus, the Agency has determined that Executive Order 13132, entitled ''Federalism'' (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999) and Executive Order 13175, entitled ''Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments'' (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000) do not apply to this final rule. In addition, this final rule does not impose any enforceable duty or contain any unfunded mandate as described under Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA) (Pub. L. 104-4).
  This action does not involve any technical standards that would require Agency consideration of voluntary consensus standards pursuant to section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (NTTAA), Public Law 104-113, section 12(d) (15 U.S.C. 272 note).
  The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801et seq., generally provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating the rule must submit a rule report to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the United States. EPA will submit a report containing this rule and other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior to publication of this final rule in the Federal Register. This final rule is not a ''major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
  Dated: September 20, 2012.
  Steven Bradbury,
  Director, Office of Pesticide Programs.
  begin regulatory text
  Therefore, 40 CFR chapter I is amended as follows:
  1.The authority citation for part 180 continues to read as follows:
  Authority:21 U.S.C. 321(q), 346a and 371.
  2.Section 180.668 is added to subpart C to read as follows:
  § 180.668 Sulfoxaflor; tolerances for residues.(a) General.[Reserved]
  (b) Section 18 emergency exemptions. Time-limited tolerances specified in the following table are established for residues of the insecticide, sulfoxaflor, N-methyloxido [1-[6-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pyridinyl]ethyl] Î>> [4] -sulfanylidene] cyanamide, including its metabolites and degradates, in or on the commodities in the following table resulting from use of the pesticide pursuant to FIFRA section 18 emergency exemptions. Compliance with the tolerance levels specified in the following table is to be determined by measuring only sulfoxaflor in or on the commodity. The tolerances expire on the date specified in the table.
  CommodityParts per millionExpiration dateCotton, undelinted seed0.212/31/15Cotton, gin byproducts6.012/31/15Cotton, hulls0.3512/31/15(c) Tolerances with regional registrations.[Reserved]
  (d) Indirect or inadvertent residues.[Reserved]
  end regulatory text
  [FR Doc. 2012-23818 Filed 9-27-12; 8:45 am]
  BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
US drops Iran's MEK group from terror list - Americas - Al Jazeera English
  Link to Article
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:52
  The United States has removed the People's Mujahedeen of Iran, an Iranian opposition group, from its blacklist of designated terror groups after years of intense lobbying.
  Friday's move came just days ahead of a US appeals court October 1 deadline forcing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to decide the group's fate.
  The State Department said the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq had not committed terrorism for more than a decade and credited its 3,000 members for nearly completing the peaceful departure from their paramilitary base near Iraq's Iranian border.
  Effective immediately, any assets the MEK has in the United States are unblocked and Americans are permitted to do business with the organisation.
  The MEK, whose leadership is based in Paris, has invested much money and years of intense lobbying to be taken off the list.
  The cult-like leftwing group was founded in the 1960s to oppose the shah of Iran, and after the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted him it took up arms against Iran's clerical rulers.
  MEK leader Maryam Rajavi said in a statement from Paris that she "welcomed and appreciated" the decision to delist the movement.
  "This has been the correct decision, albeit long overdue, in order to remove a major obstacle in the path of the Iranian people's efforts for democracy," she said in the statement.
  The MEK says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the Islamic regime in Tehran through peaceful means.
  Concerns remain
  But in its note about delisting the MEK, the State Department stressed that it had not forgotten the group's militant past.
  "With today's actions, the Department does not overlook or forget the MEK's past acts of terrorism, including its involvement in the killing of US citizens in Iran in the 1970s and an attack on US soil in 1992," it said.
  "The department also has serious concerns about the MEK as an organisation, particularly with regard to allegations of abuse committed against its own members."
  Washington designated the MEK a "foreign terrorist organisation" in 1997, putting it in a category that includes al-Qaeda, the Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah.
  The MEK has no support in Iran, and no connection to domestic opposition groups.
  Britain struck the MEK off its terror list in June 2008, followed by the European Union in 2009.
  In June, the US Court of Appeals in Washington said that if Clinton did not decide whether to deny or grant the group's request to be delisted within four months, it would issue a special writ and remove the group itself.
  422
Federal Register | NIJ Evaluation of Through-Wall Sensor Devices
  Link to Article
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:47
  Notice Of Nij Evaluation Of Through Wall Sensor Devices.
  The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is soliciting interest in supplying through-wall sensor devices for participation in an evaluation by the NIJ Sensor, Surveillance, and Biometric Technologies Center of Excellence (SSBT CoE). The evaluation is focused on field operation in civilian law enforcement scenarios. Supplied through-wall sensor devices must be fully certified by the Federal Communications Commission for domestic civilian law enforcement operation. Manufacturers interested in participating in this evaluation will be asked to execute a Letter of Understanding. Participating manufacturers will receive a copy of the SSBT CoE Through-Wall Sensor Test & Evaluation Plan. Interested parties are invited to contact NIJ for information regarding participation, Letters of Understanding, and shipping. Letters of Understanding may be obtained from and should be submitted to Mark Greene, National Institute of Justice, Office of Science and Technology, 810 7th Street NW., Washington, DC 20531, emailed to mark.greene2@usdoj.gov, or faxed to (202) 307-9907.
  Manufacturers who wish to participate in the program must submit a request and an executed Letter of Understanding by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on October 29, 2012. Supplied devices are to be loaned to the SSBT CoE for a period of time no less than 60 days and must be received by the SSBT CoE by November 13, 2012.
  Mark Greene, by telephone at (202) 307-3384 [Note: this is not a toll-free telephone number], or by email at mark.greene2@usdoj.gov.
  John H. Laub,
  Director, National Institute of Justice.
  [FR Doc. 2012-23873 Filed 9-27-12; 8:45 am]
  BILLING CODE 4410-18-P
Minister wil taser voor alle agenten | nu.nl/algemeen | Het laatste nieuws het eerst op nu.nl
  Link to Article
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:46
  DEN HAAG - Alle politieagenten zouden uitgerust moeten worden met een stroomstootwapen. Volgens minister Ivo Opstelten (Veiligheid) hebben leden van speciale arrestatieteams positieve ervaringen met de zogenoemde taser opgedaan.Binnenkort start een proef om te bezien of het stroomstootwapen voor alle agenten bruikbaar is. Uit onderzoek van het ministerie blijkt dat veel agenten graag met de taser op pad willen.
  Door een stroomschok van een taser is een agressieve persoon in een keer uit te schakelen.
  Onomstreden is het wapen niet. De Nederlandse Politiebond heeft eerder twijfels geuit over het nut en het veilig gebruik van de taser.
  In het buitenland, met name de Verenigde Staten, zijn er volgens critici doden gevallen. Amnesty International heeft ook gewaarschuwd voor de risico's van het wapen en pleitte eerder voor meer onderzoek.
  ACPVoorzitter Gerrit van de Kamp van politiebond ACP zegt de taser als middel ''prima'' te vinden. Volgens hem moet er, als deze wordt toegevoegd aan de middelen die agenten bij zich dragen, dan wel worden gekeken naar het totale aantal.
  ''Het minst effectieve middel zou dan moeten verdwijnen'', aldus Van de Kamp. ''Anders wordt het wel heel erg veel, wat ze bij zich hebben. Ze dragen nu al dingen als een pistool, een lamp, mobilofoons, pistoolhouders, pepperspray en meer bij zich.''
  PeppersprayEen agent heeft nu een wapenstok en pepperspray in zijn standaarduitrusting. Onlangs is er wel gexperimenteerd met een langere wapenstok.
  De PVV pleitte eerder voor een taser in de vaste uitrusting omdat volgens de partij een agent nu te weinig middelen heeft en pepperspray vaak niet werkt.
  Door: ANP
Duitsers demonstreren voor extra belasting rijken
  Link to Article
  Source: VK: Home
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:44
  29/09/12, 20:17 '' bron: AP
  Duizenden mensen zijn zaterdag in een veertigtal Duitse steden de straat opgegaan om een eerlijker verdeling van de welvaart te eisen. De demonstranten bepleitten een belasting op rijkdom en op financile transacties.
  De betogingen in onder meer Berlijn, Frankfurt en Keulen waren georganiseerd door vakbonden, maatschappelijke organisaties en de antiglobalistenbeweging Attac. Op de demonstraties kwamen in totaal veertigduizend mensen af, schatten de organisatoren. De politie hield het op enige duizenden minder.
  De nieuwe belastingen zouden volgens de organisatoren slechts de rijkste 1 procent van de bevolking treffen.
UFO War: Chinese and US Navy off San Francisco | Veterans Today
  Link to Article
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:26
  Chinese Naval forces off California said to be on Joint UFO Suppression Mission
  '--'--
  '--'--
  This last week, reports of Chinese naval vessels off the US coast, Northern Californian in particular, have been reported but denied.
  Now an Asian intelligence agency reports that a combined fleet operation between the US and China has been going on, a full combat operation against what we are told is a ''highly unfriendly extra-terrestrial threat.''
  The verifications of the fleet operations have been many, there have been no confirmations from the US side though the ships have been seen by every vessel that makes it offshore. The true nature of both the threat and the extent of the multinational military force used is beyond any imaginable classification level.
  Rumors:
  Extraterrestrial craft are operating from underwater bases.Advanced US sub-orbital weapons platforms represented as ''tested'' have actually been deployed from Vandenburg Air Force Base. These are armed with energy weapons.UFO tracking has been moved from conventional to nano-technology with microscopic sensors being used to detect behaviors such as dimensional rifts and distortions in time, things only discussed in TV shows like Fringe and X Files. (all Fox oddly enough)The actual classified memo on very short distribution mentions only the following:
  Opposition is extraterrestrial and extremely aggressive and unfriendlyThe threat represents a ''clear and present danger'' and is isolated to the Pacific BasinChina is forced to carry US responsibility because our own naval capability is sitting in the Persian Gulf when America is under a very real threat.Attempts to seek confirmations or to directly verify these operations will lead to fatal consequences.Our confirmations limit us to this response which I have chosen to represent in a highly deniable form out of personal interest. Others in the US have better information and sources and have been silenced with warnings only.
  As to this being a total ''hose job,'' I don't see any advantage in it.
  For several months earlier this year, there had been disclosures tied to the UFO issue. One real sighting had been made over South Korea.
  After that, the internet had been flooded, yes, Google's ''YouTube'' with manufactured phony UFO videos, some of ''beyond next generation'' quality.
  All information given on how UFO video or photos are analyzed is totally false, childishly so, especially that from the UFO ''networks.'' They are professionally ''self discrediting.''
  About 6 weeks ago, a ''study group'' was appointed out of NATO and another one in Asia to look at the pattern of UFO videos. A decision was made to aggressively investigate one or more groups.
  Being aggressively investigated on such an issue is not recommended.
  I would love to be more entertaining, invent things, speculate or, perhaps, include some fascinating videos.
  I either have to give this a 70% or reclassify a reliable official source as purposefully leaking something that makes no sense. My suggestion is that readers follow other stories for verifications or information that would help in some way, add it to the comment section and see if we can get a better grip on what may well be an extremely dangerous situation.
  '--'--'--'--''
  I have had one implied threat, which is almost laughable as I am a board member of a multinational defense firm larger than most armies. I have also had several contact of a very suspicious nature, had one verified Homeland Security computer attack which the software the DOD supplied me with caught, quite embarrassing also.
  Then, yesterday, Press TV in Iran called on my wife's mobile. It flashed US Government for a second. It seems DHS's bugging capability crashed.
  If they hire us, I am sure we can fix that for them.
  Related Posts:Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=222994
  The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VT or any other VT authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors or partners. Legal NoticePosted by Gordon Duff on Sep 17 2012, With 0 Reads, Filed under Editors Picks, WarZone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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CBS Radio Reporter Cheers the State's Ability to 'Punish the Filmmaker' for Upsetting Muslims?
  Link to Article
  Source: Tim Graham's blog
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:13
  Conservative message boards are buzzing about a CBS Radio newscast on Friday in which CBS reporter Dan Raviv expresses relief that the Obama administration can look to the Muslim nations and suggest it can crack down on free speech. After the anchor noted the maker of the controversial "Innocence of Muslims" trailer Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is still in jail for a probation violation, Raviv said, "Now at least federal authorities might be able to punish the filmmaker."
  Is this the way CBS News reveres freedom of speech? Is Raviv unaware that he sounds like he supports punishing those who speak ill of Muhammad? (The MP3 is here. Transcript below)
  ANCHOR (Steve Kathan): The man behind the anti-Islam video that sparked outrage in the Muslim world is still in jail in Los Angeles. It's for a probation violation.
  RAVIV: I'm Dan Raviv in Washington. The short movie posted on YouTube has had a lot of diplomatic impact. It was *clearly* designed to insult the Prophet Mohammed, and a senior Obama administration official told CBS News last week that no one in the Middle East seems to believe that the US government could not stop the film from getting out. Now at least Federal authorities might be able to *punish* the filmmaker."
  ANCHOR The Dow is down 69. This is CBS News.
  The Los Angeles Times reported the probation violation, but it seems like lying about the film could easily be painted by Obama's diplomats as punshing Nakoula for the film:
  Nakoula was arrested Thursday on suspicion of violating the terms of his probation, including allegedly lying about his role in the film's production.
  Nakoula's attorney argued in court Thursday that his client would be in danger at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center because of what he said was a large Muslim population at the lockup. But prosecutors said he would be in protective custody, and the judge agreed to send him there...
  Magistrate Judge Suzanne H. Segal ordered Nakoula detained, citing a "lengthy pattern of deception" by the man, adding that he poses "some danger to the community." Nakoula could face up to three years behind bars.
  The hearing occurred amid high security, with the public allowed to watch only through a video feed in a separate courthouse blocks away. Before his arrest, Nakoula and his family had been in hiding, and his attorney said he had received threats to his safety.
  Nakoula, who was on supervised release from a 2010 conviction for bank fraud, faces eight charges of probation violation, including making false statements to authorities about the film. When probation officials questioned him about the video, Nakoula allegedly claimed his role was limited to writing the script, and he denied ever using the same "Sam Bacile" in connection with the film, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Robert Dugdale.
  Dugdale said there is evidence Nakoula's role in making "Innocence of Muslims" was "much more expansive" than penning the script. Prosecutors said Nakoula could face new criminal charges for lying to federal officials.
Now climate experts warn that every house in the UK is at risk of flooding
  Link to Article
  Source: bertb news feed
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:12
  The flood waters may finally be receding across parts of Britain lashed this week by the worst autumn storm in 30 years.But as home and business owners begin the long, demoralising task of clearing up the filth left in their wake, it has emerged that increasing numbers of flood victims are completely unaware that they were ever at risk from rising water levels.
  Click here to view our graphic of the Summer 2012 rainfall.
  Of the 5,000 properties damaged in the extreme weather events of this summer and autumn, more than half were hit not by overflowing rivers but by surface water.
  The sheer volume of rain '' sometimes up to 20mm in a single hour '' has overwhelmed ageing sewage and drainage systems resulting in unprecedented levels of flooding in communities previously considered immune. With the number of properties at risk of flooding expected to quadruple in the next 20 years, according to the Committee on Climate Change, experts warned this week that no home is now without risk.
  Charles Tucker, chairman of the National Flood Forum which represents 150 community flood action groups, said intensive rain storm events '' of which there have been seven since the beginning of June '' can strike at any time. "Anyone can be hit. That is a message that has to be got across to people without scaring the living daylights out of them," he said.
  The potential impact was disastrously demonstrated in 2007 in Hull which was hit by devastating flooding caused when road gullies, sewers and drainage ditches were overwhelmed by torrential rain. One person died and 10,000 homes and businesses were deluged. The disaster cost the city £20m and people were still living in emergency accommodation more than a year later
  Yet Hull is not alone. This year hundreds of homes were flooded from Bognor Regis to Newcastle upon Tyne in weather scenarios previously thought likely to occur only once every 30, 50 or even 100 years.
  Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire flooded first when the river Calder burst its banks in June and then equally disastrously three weeks later when surface water overwhelmed the drainage system.
  The Forum believes that educating people of the threat to their homes has become a priority, while new developments must include the capacity to cope with torrential rain storm events. "All the statutory agencies have to see flooding as one of the major critical challenges which can affect any community in any part of the country and to be prepared for that," said Mr Tucker.
  Malcolm Tarling of the Association of British Insurers said this summer had cost £400m and that compensation for surface water damage had become a major issue.
  "It means that in theory your property is vulnerable to flooding wherever you live," he said. "If you live near a river you know the state of the defences and what the risk is. But we are seeing an increase in the frequency of these large scale events. Some people are always going to get flooded and insurers expect that. But getting a month's worth of rain in 24 hours is becoming the norm."
  The Environment Agency has been tasked with overseeing local authorities' response to the growing threat of surface water. It has started mapping areas at risk and sharing the information nationally. But the agency is already facing cuts to the amount it can spend building traditional river defences.
  Government spending on flood prevention fell victim to the Coalition austerity budget. Spending on defences had soared by a third in the wake of the devastating effects of the 2007 summer floods which left homeowners with a £3bn clear-up bill but has subsequently plunged 27 per cent.
  It has been estimated the 294 local schemes submitted to the Environment Agency for consideration in 2010 are yet to be given the go-ahead.
  Defra insists the total reduction over the four -year period is only six per cent and that it is committed to spending £2.17bn up until 2015 to protect businesses.
  It has also sought to kick start new flood schemes by inviting partnerships with local developers or councils, although critics argue that with little money to spare there are few willing takers.
  A Defra spokeswoman said: "The new approach is expected to allow up to a third more schemes to go ahead and enable us to exceed our goal to better protect 145,000 homes by 2015."
  Yet one of the Government's "success stories" resulting from this partnership approach is Morpeth '' where 60 properties were inundated this week.
  Alan Bell, chairman of the Morpeth Flood Action Group, said the change of government had delayed a protection scheme designed to safeguard 1,000 homes in the historic market town by up to a year.
Portuguese protest against austerity, await more measures
  Link to Article
  Source: Reuters: World News
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:01
  TweetShare thisEmailPrint1 of 5. People gather to protest against austerity on Lisbon's main square Praca do Comercio, where most government cabinets are located, September 29, 2012.
  Credit: Reuters/Jose Manuel Ribeiro
  LISBON | Sat Sep 29, 2012 1:03pm EDT
  LISBON (Reuters) - Thousands of Portuguese protested on Saturday against austerity, stepping up their opposition to the country's 78-billion-euro bailout ahead of new spending cuts and tax hikes to be announced in the government's 2013 draft budget.
  The peaceful protest organized by the CGTP union came after the center-right government ignited widespread anger this month with a hike in social security taxes that threatened to end Portugal's so far high social acceptance for austerity.
  Facing criticism from unions, opposition politicians and businesses alike, the government reversed the tax hike. But it is now rushing to find alternative measures to adopt in its 2013 budget to ensure the country meets fiscal goals under its bailout from the European Union, European Central Bank and IMF, the so-called troika.
  Protesters marched through downtown Lisbon, shouting "Let the fight continue" and carried banners reading "Go to hell Troika, we want our lives back."
  "A year ago the prime minister told us the solution to the country's problems was the agreement with the troika," shouted CGTP head Armenio Carlos in a speech.
  "But we have already seen this film in Greece, this is a road without an exit, pushing us toward the precipice," Carlos told the marchers that crowded into Lisbon's main Praca de Comercio square on the banks of the Tagus River.
  The protest in Portugal came after a week of similar anti-austerity marches in Greece, Spain and Italy as southern Europeans face increasingly grim economic conditions under hardship sparked by the euro debt crisis.
  Carlos said the protest was one of the largest organized by the CGTP, Portugal's biggest union, in recent years but he gave no figure of the number of people present. Praca de Comercio square has a capacity of about 100,000 people but it was not completely full on Saturday.
  The protests were smaller than nationwide marches on September 15, immediately after the tax hike was announced, which prompted an estimated 500,000 people to take to the streets.
  Portugal's unemployment rate has hit record levels above 15 percent as the country descended this year into its worst recession since the 1970s under the weight of spending cuts and tax hikes.
  Anger by the Portuguese at austerity is likely to rise further as the government now expects the recession to extend into next year with few signs of economic growth emerging from the bailout plan.
  The government has to present its 2013 budget by the middle of October.
  (Reporting by Axel Bugge; editing by James Jukwey)
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Bernanke Sent Out 'Thank You for Supporting Federal Reserve Secrecy' Letters to Key Congressmen
  Link to Article
  Source: BlackListedNews.com
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:00
  In July, the Fed chairman sent thank you notes to five Democratic members of Congress after they delivered speeches on the House floor urging fellow lawmakers to reject Ron Paul's ''Audit the Fed'' bill, reports Politico.
  Dated July 26, the notes were written the day after the House voted 327-98 to pass Paul's bill, which would authorize the Government Accountability Office to audit how the central bank implements monetary policy.
  ''While the outcome of the vote was not in doubt, your willingness to stand up for the independence of the Federal Reserve is greatly appreciated,'' Bernanke wrote in the letters, which were obtained by Politico through a Freedom of Information Act request.
  He continued, ''Independence in monetary policy operations is now the norm for central banks around the world '-- and it would be a grave mistake were Congress to reverse the protection it provided to the Federal Reserve more than 30 years ago.''
  The letters were sent to Reps. Barney Frank, Elijah Cummings, Melvin Watt, Carolyn Maloney and Steny Hoyer.>>
  Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
Facebook Messenger gets chatty with iPhone 5
  Link to Article
  Source: CNET News
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:00
  New version of the app for iOS adds support for the latest version of Apple's iconic gadget, along with other tweaks.
  Bubblicious.
  (Credit: Facebook )Facebook has tweaked its Messenger app for iOS, adding support for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5, along with a swipe-left feature it had earlier brought to the Android app, and other changes.
  The updated app, released yesterday, lets users swipe left anywhere in the app to see who's signed in and send a message. That feature came to Android about a week ago, on September 20.
  Another change lets users pin the people they message with most to the top of their favorites list. The chat interface has also been given a makeover with speech bubbles; some bug fixes have been made; and, according to the iTunes Preview page for the app, the update brings "improved speed and reliability."
  Facebook recently said it's determined to update its mobile apps frequently, promising iOS updates every eight weeks and Android updates every four weeks.
  The update is available for the iPhone, the iPad, and the iPod Touch.
Georgia Opposition Holds Mass Rally Ahead of Crucial Polls
  Link to Article
  Source: RIA Novosti
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 17:58
  Georgia's main opposition movement flooded the centre of the capital, Tbilisi, with tens of thousands of its supporters on Saturday, less than 48 hours ahead of vital elections in this small, yet strategically important South Caucasus state with NATO aspirations.
  ''The people have already declared their verdict and we will legitimize this on October 1,'' tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the Georgian Dream coalition, told supporters waving flags bearing the blue and gold symbol of his opposition movement.
  The authorities did not give an official figure for crowd numbers, while opposition media said there were over 100,000 people present. RIA Novosti journalists at the scene estimated some 50,000 people attended the rally.
  The October 1 parliamentary elections see the ruling United National Movement (UNM), headed by President Mikheil Saakashvili '' who came to power as a result of a 2003 revolt against a pro-Moscow regime '' face its biggest ever challenge at the ballot box in the form of the newly emergent Georgian Dream.
  The polls have taken on particular importance in the light of a law passed in 2010 that transfers the majority of the president's executive powers to the prime minister in 2013, when Saakashvili's second term ends. Whoever wins Monday's polls will be able to appoint the prime minister.
  Saakashvili, 44, addressed tens of thousands of supporters at a football stadium in Tbilisi on Friday afternoon, urging them to ensure that the country did not return to what he has called the ''dark days'' of the 1990s, when Georgia was plagued by rampant crime and power cuts. Instead, he called on Georgians to press forward with the country's push for both NATO and EU membership.
  ''Europe has one request,'' he said. ''People, do not go back.''
  Ivanishvili, 56, dropped a bombshell into Georgia's political scene last October when he announced that he would use some of his vast fortune of $6.4 billion '' equivalent to around half of the country's GDP '' to create a viable alternative to the UNM, which has been in power for the past eight years.
  ''Saakashvili's system must be destroyed,'' Ivanishvili told supporters at Freedom Square on Saturday. ''The future of the country is being decided at these polls.''
  Policing was almost non-existent at Saturday's rally, which passed off peacefully. But fears of the kind of post-election disorder that has marred previous elections here have been stoked by increasingly sharp rhetoric from both sides.
  Georgian Dream has accused the authorities of preparing a ''massive falsification'' of the election results, while UNM has said the opposition is looking to purchase votes and will attempt to trigger ''mass destabilization'' after the polls with the aim of seizing power.
  ''Our enemy is preparing for what will happen the day after tomorrow in Tbilisi,'' Saakashvili said on Saturday.
  U.S. and European officials have called for fair and peaceful elections, and over 400 poll observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are in the country to monitor the vote. Monitors warned last week that the build-up to the crucial polls were ''confrontational and rough.''
  ''These elections are the first serious test of Georgia's capacity to hold a democratic election process which can lead to a peaceful transition of power at the ballot box.,'' Thomas De Waal, a Caucasus expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, told RIA Novosti.
  ''Few expect opposition leader Bidzina Ivanishvili to win outright, but if the country can manage to absorb a two-party system without open confrontation it will be a big step forward,'' he added.
  Kremlin Stooge?
  A poll conducted in August by the U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI) indicated 37 percent support for the UNM, and 12 percent for Georgian Dream. Twenty-one percent of respondents were unwilling to disclose who they would vote for, and a further 22 percent were undecided.
  But the leak of vivid video clips showing male inmates in a Tbilisi prison being beaten and sexually assaulted with the ends of broomsticks saw large protests across Georgia and has the potential to spell election-day woe for UNM.
  Saakashvili said the videos were part of a Russian campaign to destabilize the country and return it to Moscow's sphere of influence.
  And Saakashvili has also attempted to paint the once-reclusive billionaire Ivanishvili, who made his much of his money in Russia in the 1990s, as a Kremlin stooge seeking to ''return Georgia to Russia's imperial space.'' Ivanishvili has called the allegations ''laughable.'' Like the UNM, Georgian Dream also states NATO and EU membership among its priority policies, although the coalition pledges to improve ties with Russia.
  Georgia has had no diplomatic relations with Russia since 2008, when it fought and lost a five-day war with its vast neighbor over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia. And while Russia has not backed either side at the polls, there is great personal antipathy between Saakashvili and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said of his Georgian counterpart in the aftermath of the South Ossetia war that he would like to ''hang him by the balls.''
  And European Union military monitors said last week that Russian troops had been building up at the administrative border with South Ossetia and that a Russian helicopter had briefly landed on Georgian-controlled territory. Russia said the copter had touched down in Georgia ''by mistake.''
  A major military exercise carried out by Russia in its North Caucasus region also unsettled nerves in Tbilisi, although Moscow says the drills were planned well before the announcement of the October 1 elections.
Republicans accuse Obama of cover-up over death of Chris Stevens in Libya
  Link to Article
  Source: The Guardian World News
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 17:53
  The killing of the US ambassador to Libya is rapidly becoming election fodder, as Republicans seize on confusion over the circumstances of Chris Stevens' death in Benghazi three weeks ago and accuse the Obama administration of covering up an al-Qaeda connection.
  US officials reiterated on on Friday that they regard the killing of Stevens and three other Americans working for the state department at the US consulate in Benghazi as an assault by terrorists who planned the attack. But a dearth of real information about the exact circumstances of the assault has left open the question of whether such planning was merely the work of a few hours, to take advantage of a spontaneous anti-US protest over a short internet video that prompted demonstrations across the Middle East by offended Muslims, or weeks and months, to mark the 11th anniversary of al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks on the US.
  Disagreement over that question is dividing along political lines.
  Earlier this week, Republican senators wrote to the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, demanding that she explain her statement, five days after the killings, that they were part of a spontaneous anti-US protest. Four senators signed the letter, including John McCain, which said Rice made "several troubling statements that are inconsistent with the facts and require explanation".
  The former New York mayor Rudolf Giuliani, who sought the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2008, went further, accusing the White House of a cover-up.
  Speaking to Fox News, Giuliani said: "This is a deliberate attempt to cover up the truth, from an administration that claimed it wanted to be the most transparent in history. And it's the worst kind of cover-up: the kind of cover-up that involves our national security. This is a cover-up that involves the slaughter of four Americans."
  Rice's explanation of a spontaneous assault by a well-armed Libyan militia was maintained by the administration until 10 days ago when Matthew Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, called the killings a terrorist attack.
  Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, and the defence secretary, Leon Panetta, this week shifted away from the initial line. Clinton on Wednesday hinted that the al-Qaeda offshoot in North Africa may be tied up with the Benghazi assault.
  "Now with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to manoeuvre, terrorists are seeking to extend their reach and their networks in multiple directions," Clinton told a meeting of international leaders at the UN which discussed the crisis in North Africa, including the seizure of northern Mali by armed Islamist forces. "And they are working with other violent extremists to undermine the democratic transitions under way in North Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi."
  Administration officials were careful to say afterwards that Clinton was not claiming firm evidence of a link. Olsen was similarly cautious in speaking to senators this week.
  "The picture that is emerging is one where a number of different individuals were involved, so it's not necessarily an either/or proposition," he said.
  Officials say that while there is some evidence that individual members of the local militia responsible for the attack, Ansar al-Shariah, may have been in touch with extremist elements in other countries, no hard information has so far emerged of a direct foreign or al-Qaeda link to the attack in Benghazi.
  The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Martin Dempsey, on Thursday said there "was a thread of intelligence reporting that groups in the environment in eastern Libya were seeking to coalesce but there wasn't anything specific". He added that there was no intelligence indicating a looming attack.
  Officials say US intelligence picked up a call by a member of al-Qaeda in North Africa celebrating the attack, but that is not hard evidence of a link.
  Panetta said on Thursday that there was some preplanning involved in the assault.
  "As we determined the details of what took place [in Benghazi], and how that attack took place it became clear that there were terrorists who had planned that attack," he said.
  But whether that was over the proceeding hours, when the militia realised it could take advantage of the existing protest outside the consulate, or over the previous days and weeks remains a question investigators are struggling to answer. At present, the Americans are unable even to establish how large the protest was and how long it went on.
  Administration officials continue to maintain that if there was preplanning, it was not long term. But some Republicans argue that there is already evidence, circumstantial and otherwise, of a plot. For a start, they say it is no coincidence that the assault on the Benghazi consulate was on 11 September.
  The discovery in the wrecked consulate, by CNN, of Stevens' diary has also fed claims that the White House is underplaying a broader terrorist connection. Stevens wrote that he feared he was an al-Qaeda hit list and was alarmed by his lack of security after earlier attacks on US and British targets in Benghazi and amid what he described as a growing al-Qaeda presence in Libya.
  The state department's furious reaction to CNN's reporting of Stevens' fears '' calling the use of non-personal information from the diary without the family's approval "disgusting" '' suggested alarm in the administration at the potential damage to its denials of a conspiracy and that it will be open to criticism that it did not provide sufficient protection to the Benghazi consulate.
  There are also questions about the circumstances of Stevens death and whether Libyan militias knew he was at the consulate. However, given the large footprint American diplomats make as they move around the Middle East, it would not have been difficult to discern that an important US official had arrived in Benghazi.
  Giuliani said the White House was reluctant to admit al-Qaeda involvement because it wants to dismiss that threat following last year's killing of Osama Bin Laden.
  "I think it's because they have this narrative that they defeated al-Qaeda," he said. "They never say the words 'Islamic fundamentalist terrorism'. They want to wish it away. The president was moving on to Asia '' he was going to declare this a great victory for himself and unfortunately, this terrible act of terror intervened in their very convenient narrative."
  Libya's president, Mohamed Magariaf, has also made the link by blaming "al-Qaeda elements" hiding in his country for the death of Stevens and three other Americans working for the state department.
  "It was a preplanned act of terrorism directed against American citizens," Magariaf said this week.
  But claims of an al-Qaeda connection has been met with scepticism by others in Libya who say it is feasible for well armed militiamen to have taken advantage of the protests outside the US consulate to launch a substantial attack.
  The likelihood of a definitive explanation any time soon looks dim.
  The Obama administration has said an FBI investigation will establish the facts. But the New York Times on Friday reported that the FBI team remains in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, over 400 miles away, because of fears for its safety.
  Meanwhile the crime scene of the killings in Benghazi has been picked over by Libyans, who are assumed to have compromised what ever evidence there was that would have been of use to investigators.
  One US law enforcement official in Tripoli told the New York Times that they may never make it to Benghazi.
Top UK security chief's laptop theft sparks terror fears
  Link to Article
  Source: Set You Free News
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 17:40
  ANI
  A laptop belonging to the top security chief for Britain 's power network has reportedly been stolen, sparking off a major alert.
  UK National Grid's Vice President of Global Security and an ex-FBI agent, Warren Bamford's encrypted computer was stolen from his room in the Hilton Hotel in Warwick.
  ''There is a lot of concern about where this laptop is,'' The Sun quoted a source, as saying. There are now fears that Bamford, was being targeted by criminals or terrorists desperate for details of the nation's electricity and gas supplies, leading to the theft of his laptop, the paper said.
  An attack on UK's Grid would cause a major blackout, cutting power supplies to businesses, hospitals and other vital services, and crippling the economy, the paper said.
  However, a spokeswoman for the Grid said the laptop did not contain any information that could jeopardize the security of the nation. ''There is no sensitive information on this laptop that could pose any sort of security risk,'' she said.
THE SATURDAY ESSAY: Let's hope the death of an Ambassador leads to the death of denial.
  Link to Article
  Source: A diary of deception and distortion
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 16:27
  Western ignorance of the Arab mind, and denial of Islamist goals, must come to an end
  ''US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Steven is thought to have been killed in an attack on the US Embassy Compound in Benghazi''.
  That was an early newswire flash on September 11th this year. It is bald, calm and professional '' and thus gives no real hint at all of how Chris Steven died.
  After the initial shock of the event, I began to half-distractedly piece together some disturbing elements of the attack. A Washington contact told me that the Compound troops had been issued '' as a sign of the new rapport between the US and the Muslim Brotherhood '' with blank ammunition. The diplomat's mind is both oddly cynical and gullible at the same time, but my source was clear about the fact that Steven's minders were overwhelmed by ''a screaming mob'' while moving him out to a safe house. Whether his bodyguards were armed or not, I don't know: but I'm told the Ambassador could've been adequately defended within the compound had the State Department not quite consciously put his life at risk with a futile gesture.
  Another bizarre thing seems the almost total MSM silence about the date of the attack: September 11th. The assumption seemed to have been that this was pure coincidence given that (as one FCO official told me last week) ''this was a reaction to the anti-Islam film''. In short, it wasn't planned.
  US President Barack Obama concurred in this view when he spoke to the media. He accepted that the outrage had been milked by terrorist cells, still insisting however that the riots were the response to a clear insult aimed at the Prophet.
  But a diplomat in Paris with a long history of dealings in Arabist affairs disagrees.
  ''We are quite clear here that the entire action was coordinated, '' he told me last week, ''The film had been around for months apparently. The Shi'ite organisers needed an an excuse to make a point, and this was it. I am sure that the average, ignorant fundamentalist was genuinely angry about the film, but it is nonsense to suggest that this was spontaneous. It was concerted, and it was a spectacular propaganda coup from almost every angle.''
  Up until yesterday morning, I felt this was a story whose main potential lay in the Obama White House and its controlling penchant for censorship. A New York contact agreed, and had been supplying me with odd tidbits about preparations in the Romney Camp to blow the lid off why Chris Steven had died: 'Obama soft on Islam and leaving Americans to die' would be dynamite in the Presidential election campaign.
  But as so often with the GOP candidate, his staff seemed to be fumbling the opportunity. I was about to drop the project in favour of a developing Westminster story when an email (from someone of whom I'm aware as an occasional Slog threader, but have never used as a source) arrived at jawslog@gmail.com.
  It concerned the death of Chris Stephen. And it attached a photograph taken during the last minutes of Ambassador Steven's life. I've had the validity of it checked out: the source remains a mystery, but the content is not photoshopped in any way, and the individual featured is '' I'm 99% certain '' Chris Steven.
  The shot isn't any kind of 'scoop': it has been doing the internet rounds for some days now, and is being used pretty overtly by the US Superpatriot tendency to suggest that the American Ambassador's death was both cruel and depraved. That said, there are some things in the photo that would appall anyone considering themselves civilised.
  Because I'm not in the business of hate-blogging, and because the pc cadres would say I was if I showed it '' Catch 22 '' I have no intention of reproducing the image here on the site. But if rubber-necking someone else's death-throes does it for you, then I'm more than happy to send it to anyone who writes to me at the above mail address.
  I must, however, tell you what I find repulsive in the photograph. And then I must share with you a frank and pc-free opinion about its ramifications.
  Dragging Chris Steven along by his armpits in the shot is some psycho with a mobile phone in his mouth, recording Mr Steven's terror in extreme close-up. Clearly visible on the assailant's teeshirt is a Manchester United logo in the official away-strip colours. Ambassador Steven is barely conscious: his shirt has been pulled almost entirely off, and he's obviously already been beaten half to death. You can't see any further faces in this tableau, just several hands also eager to grab this symbol of their hatred and mania.
  One thing is for certain as you regard the image: this man is not going to be allowed to have a dignified death. Even the Nazis '' when purging the SA in 1934, for example '' shot people against a wall in some kind of military attempt at rough 'justice'. But Christopher Steven died horribly, brutally, and at the hands of a cowardly mob hell-bent on mindless vengeance.
  It is alleged by some media in the US that Christopher Steven was multiply sodomised before his death. There is no suggestion at all of that in the picture, but ritual humilation (by the supposed removal of masculine anal virginity) is not uncommon in Arab thinking: as TE Lawrence found out to his cost in 1916. However, it remains a potentially inflammatory rumour, and '' in the absence of any more grotesque evidence '' should remain just that. Perhaps Mr Psycho's phone video could establish the truth one way or another.
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  Now let me tell you what truly disturbs me about this picture. I've seen it many times before.
  Not this specific one, obviously. I mean, I've seen this sort of thing a hundred times over the last half-century of Arab turbulence in the context of the West's mania for energy security. From Iraqi leader Colonel Kassem's body in a pool of blood in 1963, via Sadam Hussein's utterly undiginified execution (while being taunted) at the hands of his jailers in the newly 'democratic' Iraq of 2006, right the way through to Muammar Gadaffi being dragged through the streets of his regime's last redoubt Sirte.
  I have three things to say about this, and predictably they will annoy the knee-jerk Left , Right, and Left again respectively. So I must be getting pretty close to the truth here.
  First, the Arabs in the Middle East are not like us. Their culture is, like the past, a foreign country where most Westerners have never been. It is Hobbesian, deriving as it does from the harsh dictates of life in the desert: vicious, vengeful, unforgiving, hugely misogynist, strict and proud. No deviation is allowed. In the mindset of Arabia, the leadership doesn't practice political correctness, it demands cultural rigidity. It executes thousands, hacks off limbs, cuts out tongues, censors all media, stones women who commit adultery, and '' above all '' despises the West.
  The Arabs despise us for two reasons: because we keep on interfering in their affairs, preaching to them about democracy, and organising covert operations on their territory; and because we are seen as weak, decadent, effeminate, inglorious and generally untrustworthy. Until more influential people in the foreign offices and State departments of our culture study the Arab (male) mind, take an objective view of history, and wake up to the harsh reality outside their fluffy world of fanciful pc, then the violence will continue'...and radical Islam will make more gains in terms of both converts and political takeovers.
  Second, I think somebody '' and very soon, before we're all blown up '' needs to cut the American commerce-to-geopolitics axis of delusion down to size. Many historians, for example, now accept that Kassem was removed because he told the Americans where to stick it as he embarked on a series of reforms in the 1962/3 period. We know the Americans got rid of Saddam, because we all had a ringside seat for Dubya's Shokkanorr Festival. We know they propped up the Shah for decades in Iran. And we can trace how, since Autumn 2011, they have used their financial transmission clout to destroy the Iranian currency's value. Their latest ploy is to back the Sunni schism of Islam in general, and the Muslim Brotherhood in particular, as ''less extremist'' than the Shi-ites who dominate in Iran'...and who back Bashar Assad's minority Alawhite regime in Syria. Before the year is out '' probably '' Assad to will be dragged along a thoroughfare somewhere for the mediaeval execution performance. That too will be down to the Americans. In 2010 they took out the washed-up and half-dead Al Q'eida guru Osama Bin Laden on Pakistan's sovereign territory '' without consultation.
  From Hillary Clinton's point of view, US foreign policy has thus been a massive success: Saddam, Bin Laden, and Gadaffi are history, Assad is on the way out, and Ahmadinnejhad's empty rhetoric has pushed him away from the centre of power in Tehran. From the extremist Arab viewpoint however, things look diametrically different: from Lahore to Benghazi, Islamists are in power, and fundamentalist recruits are being attracted in ever growing numbers. Want to know why? Because It's very easy to demonise the US: the US elite is pretty damn demonic, and displays this side of its nature non-stop.
  Further, Islamists have been able to show their (largely thick chav) following that Obama may look and sound different to George W Bush, but he's just the same old same old messenger from Satan really: gutless, devious, pulling the strings '' and ready to dump on any Arab regime unwilling to play things The American Way.
  The truth is that, when it comes to US influence in the Middle East, the overwhelming proportion of Arabs have got the measure of American agents, can see them coming '' and know they are hopelessly wedded to oil as a form of industrial energy plus citizen propulsion. They will use the Clinton Plan '' and then spit in her face once the time is right.
  Third and finally, Europeans (and here I mean the culture, not the directionless political entity run from Berlin-am-Brussels) need to divest themselves of denial about the true nature of Arab culture and fundamentalist Islam. While the two things are, much of the time, mutually exclusive '' real Islam has acted as a sensible social brake on the worst elements of the Arab nature '' in the Middle East they are increasingly interdependent.
  I say again: we cannot negotiate with these people, and we cannot patronise them any more. Apparent acceptance of negotiation and nefarious strategy are ploys, nothing more. When a half-baked twerp like David Cameron shouts the odds in favour of Recep Erdogan one minute '' and then bombs Benghazi the next '' the Libyan victors and Islamist Turkish elite will make purring sounds. But they both follow a religious creed dedicated to the destruction of Christian culture: and along that road, there are no U-turns '' only occasional delays before moving the tank divisions forward once more.
  The only State likely to be a reliable ally for Britain in the Middle East is Israel. There are simple reasons for this: a sizeable proportion of Israelis originated in Europe and America, they have a decent democracy and the Rule of Law, they don't behead their leaders and then roger them up the backside in public, they're highly intelligent, very industrious '' and the obvious link between the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. They feel this too, and are forging ahead with Greek and Cypriot alliances.
  Islamists would like Israel wiped from the surface of the planet, and Israeli Jews either sent somewhere else, or slaughtered in their own backyard. The location of The Promised Land was a mistake from the moment it was envisaged, and grossly unfair to the Palestinians. But the idea propogated by Islamism (and its ragbag of fellow-travellers) that Israel's existence is the thin end of a global Zionist wedge is deranged.
  The barabarians are close to a complete takeover of Islam now. The very antithesis of ecumenical belief, they are trouble wherever they spread this vile spray of anti-Infidel bigotry. Get real: this problem is our generation's Nazism. It isn't going to go away. Christopher Steven paid with his life for the illusions of Clintonite grandeur. The rest of us should learn from that, and honour the ordeal of this likeable man.
NYT and Professor Netanyahu
  Link to Article
  Source: NYTimes eXaminer
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:55
  September 29, 2012 · 0 Comments
  Source: FAIR
  By Peter Hart:
  At his United Nations address yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held up a cartoonish drawing of a bomb, an odd way to illustrate the supposed existential threat posed by Iran's nuclear program.
  People quickly posted parody versions of the bomb. But not everyone joined in the fun. Take a look at the New York Times(9/28/12), where Rick Gladstone and David Sanger wrote this:
  With an almost professorial air, Mr. Netanyahu held up a diagram of a bomb with a fuse to show the Israeli view of Iran's progress in achieving the ability to make a nuclear weapon. He drew a red line through the point at which Iran would have amassed enough medium-enriched uranium to make a bomb''which he said would be in the spring or summer of 2013.
  Umm, what kind of professor would do that?
  Even stranger is the Times going on to point out that, according to the latest International Atomic Energy Agency reporting, Iran's uranium stockpile that could even be used for a weapon is getting smaller:
  His calculus turned on a stockpile of medium-enriched uranium ''uranium enriched to the level of 20 percent''that Iran has produced, ostensibly to fuel a research reactor, provided to the country by the United States in the days of the shah. Right now, Iran does not possess enough of that fuel to make a single weapon. In fact, its stockpile of it has declined in recent months, as it has converted some for the research reactor.
  Has the meaning of ''professorial'' changed?
  By admin
FAIL: Merck's Statin Drug Found No Better Than Coconut Water.
  Link to Article
  Source: DaDenMan news feed
  Sat, 29 Sep 2012 05:54
  In a 2008 study published in the journal Food Chemistry & Toxicology titled, "Comparative evaluation of the hypolipidemic effects of coconut water and lovastatin in rats fed fat-cholesterol enriched diet,"1 the beverage coconut water was found as effective as a popular cholesterol-lowering drug in positively modulating blood lipid levels in rats.
  Coconut water has lipid lowering effect similar to the drug lovastatin in rats fed fat-cholesterol enriched diet.
  Studies like this, of course, will never make it to the level of the multi-phased human clinical trials necessary to gain FDA drug approval, owing to one simple fact: coconut water is not patentable, and therefore will not provide market exclusivity or the return on investment necessary to capitalize such a venture. Consider that, on average, over 800 million dollars is spent upfront on developing and testing each new drug intended for FDA approval.
  When the water of a coconut is at least as effective as the drug that started the "statin revolution" in 1987 - Merck's branded lovastatin extract known as Mevacor - you know that the 30 billion dollar statin drug industry is based on a fundamentally erroneous premise: namely, that synthetic patentable chemicals are superior to natural ones, and therefore can be sold for usuriously high mark-ups.
  Unfortunately the statin drug industry is not only defrauding people of their money, but also their health. As we reported in a previous post, the Journal of Clinical Cardiology in 2009 confirmed that these drugs weaken the heart muscle. Newer research indicates that statins may also be accelerating arterial calcification in susceptible individuals.
  Moreover, we have identified over 300 unintended, adverse effects of statin drug use, with the top 20 listed below:
  While lowering cholesterol is not a priority for me, as I am not a "lipid hypothesis" convert -- to the contrary, I see the clear harms associated with low cholesterol -- people who are convinced that lowering cholesterol and/or lipoproteins reduces cardiovascular disease progression and/or cardiac mortality should at least be well informed as to the natural evidence-based alternatives that exist to drugs.
  After all, anything would be more reasonable than taking a metabolic poison to inhibit the production of cholesterol and/or lipoproteins on a cellular level. If we feel we must abide by largely drug industry-determined lipid guidelines, e.g. keeping LDL below 100 mg/dl, natural substances like policosanol or red yeast rice can "do the job" quite effectively. In fact, we have collected research on over 100 natural substances with lipid lowering properties.
  I am far more interested in the broad range of factors that contribute to atherosclerosis than simply suppressing cholesterol/lipoprotein levels through the "by any chemical means necessary" approach. To view all the sections on our database relevant to cardiovascular health in one place, along with plenty of research on natural substances and therapies which contribute to preventing these factors from adversely affecting our health, visit our Heart Health Research Center.
  1 V G Sandhya, T Rajamohan. Comparative evaluation of the hypolipidemic effects of coconut water and lovastatin in rats fed fat-cholesterol enriched diet. Food Chem Toxicol.2008 Dec;46(12):3586-92. Epub 2008 Sep 3 PMID: 18809454
  Sayer Ji is the founder and chair of GreenMedInfo.com. His writings have been published in the Wellbeing Journal, the Journal of Gluten Sensitivity, and have been featured on numerous websites, including Mercola.com, NaturalNews.com, Infowars.com, Care2.com. His critically acclaimed essay series The Dark Side of Wheat opens up a new perspective on the universal, human-species specific toxicity of wheat, and is now available for PDF download.
  Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of GreenMedInfo or its staff.
Hillary Clinton's UN Doodles Clearly a Window Into Her Innermost Thoughts
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 23:05
  Birds do it. Bees do it. Secretaries of State hearing UN pleas do it. Yesterday, a photographer caught Hillary Clinton aimlessly drawing on her speech notes during a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East peace process. The situation is grim, shooting, suffering etc., but all of that starts to run together after awhile. Let's get to the more interesting water cooler conversation-y stuff that doesn't bum everyone out: what do Hillary Clinton's doodles tell us about her personality?
  As breathlessly reported by The Daily Mail (which helpfully included an unflattering picture of Hillary Clinton's face contorting mid-wink with their coverage, you know, for added clarity), Clinton appeared to space out during remarks given by other diplomats, drawing an organized series of interlocking circles and a star on a copy of her prepared speech.
  The Mail also hinted that doodles can prove a window into a person's subconscious, since they're made when a person is not fully mentally present in the moment. Intrigued, we did a little digging and found that indeed doodles can be fodder for quizzes in magazines that ask what (INSERT INANE THING) says about Y-O-U (my dishwashing style shows that I hate washing dishes and never do it, for example).
  Clinton's geometric doodles, it seems, show that she has an "organized and efficient mind," according to this random About.com guide to sketch interpretation. The star means that Hillary Clinton is ambitious, with "a desire for self-promotion." Which is pretty expected from a politician. However, the meaning of her use of circles is more esoteric:
  The circle appears in every culture as an archetypal form representative of the eternal whole. With no ending or beginning, it revolves in an eternal cycle and is linked to the sun-disk and the attendant concepts of the yearly cycle, the moon, and the wheel. In some symbol systems it also represents the universe.
  Ho-ly shit. Sun-disk? Universe? Hillary Clinton is basically a wisdom priestess, according to her aimless drawing.
  Doodle interpretation! It's one part dream interpretation, one part astrology, 100% pseudoscience fun!
  [Daily Mail]
Google Secrets: Extra Terrestrial Beacons, And 23 Other Places Google Doesn't Want You To See
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 23:03
  Baker Lake, NU, the Inuit nation in northern CanadaA man indentified as ''Dr. Boylan'' believes that the blacked out area seen above and those found in several other locations are blocking the locations of extraterrestrial beacons.
  Ramstein Air Force Base, GermanyThis NATO air force hub is a retreat for the Operation Iraqi Freedom forces, and as such could definitely be considered a terrorist target. That could explain why the facility is partially blanked out on Google Maps.
  Pacific Northwest, USAHere's one that gives us chills. What exactly are we not seeing here? The site is close to the Washington-Oregon border and is rumored to have something to do with FEMA, HAARP or, really, anything at all. Prison Planet readers inspected the site in person and could find no identifying details other than an ominous fence and unmarked entrance.
  Szazhalombatta Oil Refinery, HungaryOne of the strangest acts of alleged ''censorship'' is this Hungarian oil facility, which is simply rendered green. That's right '-- the grounds are deleted, the buildings are missing, and what you have left is flat grass.
  Huis Ten Bosch Palace, NetherlandsYou wouldn't think the Dutch Royal Family would be a prime target for madmen, but the Huis Ten Bosch Palace remains heavily pixilated on Google Maps no matter the angle. (The surrounding area and trees therein, on the other hand, come in crystal clear at close range.)
  Unknown area, RussiaAnother one that is so mysterious, no one has a clue what it is. One commenter on the website Siberian Light speculates it's either ''a radar station or missile interceptor,'' while another notes that the image of the surrounding area appears to have been copy-pasted from another part of the country.
  Mobil Oil Corporation, Buffalo, NY, USASome have criticized Mobil of Buffalo, NY for blurring their facilities, saying the oil corporation doesn't have much of a case for being a terrorist target (terrorists hate snow, you know.) On the other hand, we can't be sure what their reasoning is.
  North KoreaYou've no doubt heard about this country, one of the members of the supposed ''Axis of Evil,'' but few have ever visited. You won't see it on Google Maps, either, as the entire country exists in images but without highway markers, street names, or any other identifying details.
  Reims Airbase, FranceWhy is the Reims Airbase in France blocked out? Perhaps it emits a particularly foul body odor. (Just kidding, we love the French.)
  Indian Point Power Plant, New York, USAEveryone from Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo to former Republican Congresswoman Sue Kelly has called for the Indian Point Power Plant to be shut down. On top of environmental concerns, the upstate New York structure is, according to experts in the energy field, not strong enough to withstand an earthquake like the one that recently devastated Japan.
  Volkel Airbase, NetherlandsIt's pretty ridiculous how blatantly blurred this one is, but then again, WikiLeaks did publish a diplomatic cable that confirmed the presence of nuclear warheads at this base.
  HAARP Site, Gakona, Alaska, USAHAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is one of the most controversial operations currently active in the United States. The Gakona, AK site and its ionospheric testing is believed by some conspiracy theorists to be the cause of everything from floods to earthquakes, although the evidence of this is very minimal.
  Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Salinas, CA, USAHere's the strangest bit of censorship on Google Maps: the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, California. It's heavily whited out, in fact, as if an angry hand did the trick. The weirdest part is the facility is just what it sounds like: a seemingly-harmless racetrack
  Babylon, IraqWhile the surrounding area (including its surprisingly rich farmland) is visible, the city of Babylon, Iraq itself is all blurry. You can bet it has something to do with the insurgents there'...
  Tantauco National Park in ChileWhy is this refuge for Endangered Species completely washed over on Google? Mashable, which seems to have discovered the strange censorship, doesn't have a clue.
  ''The Hill'' aka Elmira Correctional FacilityThis maximum security prison in upstate New York is understandably blacked out'... we guess. After the Attica Prison Riots and several incidents worldwide of uprisings and mass escapes, officials could be worried about a possible helicopter-led breakout.
  This Russian Guy's HouseWhat? Some rich guy's personal paradise is blurred on Google? According to Wikipedia, what you're seeing here is ''a private palace of the Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller.'' Why is he given preference over the rest of us? Perhaps we just aren't powerful enough to convince Google to blur our own homes.
  Colonel SandersHere's the strangest of them all: Col. Sanders, the face of Kentucky Fried Chicken, appears in exactly zero Google Street View images. That's because, as a Google spokesperson notes, Sanders was a real person and everyone is supposed to be blurred on Google sites'...
  The Faroe Islands, DenmarkThis is a rumored military installation in a country we previously thought as ''harmless.'' Wonder what they're really planning'...
  Hungarian Oil RefineryThe Szhalombatta Oil refinery in Hungary'... and that's all we know.
  NATO Headquarters, PortugalThis one would be hilarious if it weren't so sinister. Whoever doctored the image of the Portuguese HQ for NATO simply copy-pasted another piece of Google Earth over the actual layout of the building. Weird.
  Seabrook Nuclear facility, New HampshireThis is believed to be the Seabrook Nuclear Power Station in the northeast corner of the United States. Are you as fearful of nuclear power as we are?
  Missile silo, SpainAccording to a researcher with WikiMedia, ''On this lot there is a small building with something almost like a silo in the middle. This location is not blocked in Yahoo! Maps. There is no image for this location in Virtual Earth yet.''
  Atomic site, FranceWe're not sure what ''The Marcoule site of the Commissariat l'Energie Atomique'' means, but we're pretty sure the word ''atomique'' is the keyword here.
TSA Has Zero Tolerance on Theft - iPad Theft
  Link to Article
  Source: The TSA Blog
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 21:25
  ABC ran a story yesterday on how an iPad left behind at one of our airports was tracked via GPS to an Officer's home two weeks later. The Officer is no longer with TSA. We are well too aware of how the actions of a few can influence the perception the public has of our agency. It's truly a shame, because the majority of our workforce meets the expectations set forth to them - integrity, professionalism and hard work. The reputation of TSA is adversely affected by instances like this one, where employees do not display integrity.To put theft at TSA in perspective, between May 1, 2003 through September 2012, a total of 381 TSOs have been terminated for theft, which represents less than 1/2 of one percent (0.4%) of officers that have been employed by the agency. This extremely small percentage does not reflect the dedication and professionalism of our workforce as a whole.If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact us by clicking here.
Spodee | Wine with a kick
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 20:33
  Wine & ShineSpodee is depression era hooch. get the history. watch the video.
  Where to BuyDrink RecipesSpodee WineCome sample a Spodee cocktail. We'll be here, at @KSFarmersMarket's "Meet the Makers" until 8:00, supplying samples to attendees.about 22 minutes agofrom HootSuiteHey New Jersey, tomorrow, we'll be pouring cocktails at @DowntownHDSID Groove on Grove.about 1 hour agofrom HootSuiteServin' up Spodee on ice, and Rise & Wine punch at the @KSFarmersMarket "Meet the Makers" event from 4:30-8:00. Be there!about 2 hours agofrom HootSuiteWhen @LittleBabysIC and Spodee get together. http://t.co/j7dYQsOBabout 3 hours agofrom web
Janet Napolitano doesn't use email - C-SPAN Video Library
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:55
  00:00:00WHY DECADES AGO NOBODY PUT A SEAT BELT ON WHEN THEY GOT IN A CAR.00:00:04IN FACT, CARS DIDN'T EVEN COME WITH SEAT BELTS.00:00:08WE NEED THAT SAME KIND OF CULTURAL AWARENESS AND CHANGE MORE QUICKLY WHERE CYBERSECURITY IS CONCERNED.00:00:14>> DO YOU HAVE AMAZON AND ITunes ACCOUNTS SEPARATED IN DIFFERENT PASSWORD FOR EVERYTHING?00:00:21WHAT DOES YOUR PERSONAL CYBERSECURITY LOOK LIKE?00:00:23>> WELL, OKAY, DON'T LAUGH.00:00:25I JUST DON'T USE E-MAIL AT ALL.00:00:27>> REALLY? >> YEAH, YEAH.00:00:28>> BECAUSE IT'S TOO TIME CONSUMING OR FOR SECURITY PURPOSES?00:00:33>> UM, FOR A HOLE HOST OF REASONS.00:00:35SO I DON'T HAVE ANY OF MY OWN ACCOUNTS, AND THAT, YOU KNOW, I'M VERY SECURE.00:00:40>> YEAH. [LAUGHTER] >> YOU'RE OFF THE GRID.00:00:42>> YEAH.00:00:43YEAH.00:00:44[LAUGHTER] >> I WOULDN'T -- >> SOME WOULD CALL ME A LUDDITE, BUT THAT'S MY OWN PERSONAL CHOICE.00:00:51AND I'M VERY UNIQUE IN THAT REGARD.00:00:54>> RIGHT, RIGHT. ESPECIALLY IN WASHINGTON.00:00:57LET ME TALK JUST A LITTLE BIT ABOUT, I WANT TO TALK ABOUT YOUR DEPARTMENT'S ROLE VIS-A-VIS OTHER AGENCIES THAT HAVE A STAKE IN THIS.00:01:05AND, OBVIOUSLY, YOU ARE LOOKING PRIMARILY AT THE CIVILIAN DOMAIN, THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY IS LOOKING AT INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY AND DEFENSE, BUT THERE'S A
Secretary Napolitano on Cybersecurity Threats - C-SPAN Video Library
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:54
  National Journal
  Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano talked about U.S. cybersecurity threats. In her remarks she said that cyber attacks had increased during the preceding decade, and even during her tenure as secretary, and stressed .. Read MoreHomeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano talked about U.S. cybersecurity threats. In her remarks she said that cyber attacks had increased during the preceding decade, and even during her tenure as secretary, and stressed that Congress should act soon to address cyber threats. She discussed President Obama's executive order that was being drafted to address cybersecurity but added that comprehensive legislation would still be needed. When about her own cybersecurity practices, she said that she did not use email.
  38 minutes | 88 Views
  View Full Event (5 Programs)
Cybersecurity Infrastructure
  Link to Article
  Source: Programs Recently Aired - C-SPAN Video Library
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:52
  National Journal
  Former Homeland Security officials talked about Panelists talked about protecting cybersecurity infrastructure. They discussed vulnerabilities and policies that could be adopted to address them. One of the proposals included .. Read MoreFormer Homeland Security officials talked about Panelists talked about protecting cybersecurity infrastructure. They discussed vulnerabilities and policies that could be adopted to address them. One of the proposals included incentivizing private companies to implement cybersecurity measures.
  48 minutes | 15 Views
  View Full Event (5 Programs)
Netanyahu's Iran cartoon bomb timed to make big impact
  Link to Article
  Source: ynet - News
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:32
  Already famous 'Bibi bomb' said to be product of brainstorming by Israeli PM, close advisers; got exactly the attention Israel hoped for Reuters
  The "Bibi bomb" was born of days of discussions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a brains trust of close advisers on how to make a powerful impact in yet another speech on Iran's nuclear program.
  "The diagram made his address special," a senior official in Netanyahu's entourage said on Friday, referring to the cartoonish drawing of a bomb the Israeli leader used at the UN General Assembly as a prop to illustrate what he sees as Iran's drive for an atomic weapon.
  Related stories:
  It may have raised a titter on Twitter, where the New Yorker magazine quipped, "If Wile E. Coyote ever gets hold of this, the Roadrunner is toast." But the graphic got what Israel was hoping for '' attention.
  Such a Looney Tunes analogy would not have been lost on Netanyahu, who was educated in the United States, and at least one of his top advisers, Ron Dermer, who was born there and immigrated to Israel.
  The 'Bibi Bomb' (Photo: Reuters)
  But on the world stage at the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu took out a marker and dramatically drew a red line just below a label reading "final stage" to a bomb, in which Iran would be 90% along the path to having sufficient weapons-grade material.
  "I tried to say something yesterday that I think reverberates now around the world," Netanyahu said at a meeting on Friday with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
  Iran denies allegations by Israel that it is enriching uranium in order to build a weapon.
  So who was the father of the "Bibi bomb?" The Israeli official would not say.
  "He's got a small group of close advisers," the official said. "In different meetings, people throw out all sorts of ideas. Ultimately, the prime minister makes a decision which ideas to accept."
  The team met for days, proposing "countless drafts" and a decision was made that "by using the diagram, the people would get the message '' people would understand", the official added, calling the drawing "a useful tool."
  He said he did not know who actually drew the bomb or if it had been copied from a computer graphics program. And, as with any Netanyahu speech, it is unclear until the last moment what stays in and what is left out.
  "He's making changes until the very end. He was making changes as he was being introduced in Congress last year," the official said about Netanyahu's address to a joint meeting of the US legislature in May 2011.
  Meanwhile, the United Nations on Friday called on all sides in the dispute over Iran's nuclear program to tone down "shrill war talk," '' the first UN reaction to clashes at the world body this week between Netanyahu and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
  "It's obvious that harsh tones and rhetoric are not going to be helpful, that is quite clear," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said when asked about Netanyahu's UN speech.
  "What is also clear is that Iran needs to prove to the international community that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes."
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Netanyahu's Bomb Diagram Stirs Confusion in Israel
  Link to Article
  Source: NYT > Home Page
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:31
  JERUSALEM '-- When the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, drew his red line on a cartoonish diagram of a bomb from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, his intention was to keep it simple and illustrate in easy terms to the world the point at which Iran's uranium enrichment program must be stopped to prevent Tehran from making the final sprint to build a nuclear weapon.
  Instead, the attention-grabbing performance seems to have led to some confusion in, of all places, Israel.
  Mr. Netanyahu's bomb was divided into sections marked 70 percent and 90 percent, representing the amount of progress Iran has made, or will make, toward amassing enough enriched uranium for a bomb, Israeli officials and experts said. Mr. Netanyahu drew his red line at the 90 percent mark, suggesting that the Iranians would be 90 percent along the way '-- a point he asserted they will reach by next spring, or summer at the latest.
  But on Friday, Israel's leading weekend paper, Yediot Aharonot, interpreted the diagram differently, assuming that Mr. Netanyahu was referring not to progress made, but to actual percentages of uranium enrichment.
  Iran has a stockpile of medium-enriched uranium '-- uranium enriched to the level of 20 percent. To build a bomb, it would have to convert its uranium to weapons-grade fuel of a much higher purity, enriched to a level above 90 percent, though Iran insists that its nuclear program is for purely civilian purposes.
  ''On the assumption that we are talking about enrichment percentages, the Iranians have by now reached levels somewhere between 3.5 percent and 20 percent today,'' Nahum Barnea, a leading columnist, wrote on the front page of the newspaper in a piece titled ''Bibi Boom,'' addressing an Israeli public relatively well-versed in the technicalities. ''Netanyahu said last night that they had reached 70 percent, a considerable leap. It seems to me that he is the first one in the world to name such a number.''
  ''Netanyahu draws his red line at a 90 percent level. This level is very close, perhaps too close, to a level that enables the production of a bomb,'' Mr. Barnea continued.
  Ronen Bergman, the newspaper's resident expert, also explained Mr. Netanyahu's red line in terms of percentages of enrichment in an article accompanied by a graphic to clarify the various stages.
  Mr. Barnea said by telephone that the paper had based its analysis in part on what they were told by Israeli officials, but added, ''It doesn't make sense; the numbers are not clear.''
  Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and an adviser to Mr. Netanyahu during his first term as prime minister in the 1990s, said that interpreting the diagram in terms of levels of enrichment was mistaken.
  ''Netanyahu cannot draw a line at 90 percent enrichment,'' Mr. Gold said. ''If you get to 90 percent enrichment, the whole of the West is in big trouble.''
  ''As soon as I saw the bomb I understood what Netanyahu was getting at, because if you deal with percentages of enrichment, you leave people behind,'' Mr. Gold added.
  Mr. Netanyahu's aides declined to reveal who on the prime minister's staff had drawn the bomb, saying it would not be appropriate. But a member of the Israeli delegation to the General Assembly said the diagram had been effective in ''augmenting the prime minister's verbal policy message'' in a setting notorious for long speeches.
  Mr. Netanyahu has frequently drawn a similar diagram during meetings with visiting diplomats or members of Congress, according to an official who has sat in on the sessions. ''That's something he's had in his head for a long time,'' the official said on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sessions. Never before, though, had the official seen Mr. Netanyahu actually take out a marker and draw a red line across the diagram.
  The episode left many Israelis wondering.
  ''Bibi is not an expert on uranium enrichment, and neither am I, so I'll be careful,'' said Shlomo Avineri, a professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, immediately after the speech, referring to the prime minister by his nickname. ''But it is not very clear where the red line is.''
  Martin Indyk, a former United States ambassador to Israel who is now vice president and director of the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, said that ''the problem with the whole red line issue is that Israel has set so many red lines and the Iranians have crossed every one of them.''
  In the middle of an American presidential campaign and with the American people tired of wars in the Middle East, ''the notion that this is actually going to produce a red line is unrealistic,'' he said of Mr. Netanyahu's performance.
  Mr. Indyk said he understood that Mr. Netanyahu wanted to draw a line on any Iranian attempt to break out and enrich uranium beyond the 20 percent level, ''though that's not clear from what he drew,'' Mr. Indyk added.
  Another criticism of Mr. Netanyahu's speech was more predictable. An Iranian official took a jab both at Mr. Netanyahu's speech and former Secretary of State Colin Powell's ultimately flawed contention before the United Nations in 2003 that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
  ''For the second time in the recent history of the United Nations, today an unfounded and imaginary graph was used to justify a threat against a founding member of the United Nations,'' Iran's deputy ambassador, Eshaq al-e-Habib, said in a statement. ''However, it is worth mentioning that in our increasingly interconnected world and in the information age, it is hardly possible for the nations to be fooled by such absurd means.''
  Rick Gladstone contributed reporting from New York, and Jodi Rudoren from Jerusalem.
Nissan offers Leaf discounts to spur sales
  Link to Article
  Source: Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:20
  Nissan is offering cheap leases and big discounts on the Leaf because of slow U.S. sales of the all-electric car.
  Nissan Motor Co. sold only 4,228 Leafs this year through August, almost a third fewer than a year ago.
  It also has a big inventory of the cars nationwide. At the end of August it had enough 2012 models in stock to supply dealers for 114 days, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank. Automakers consider a 60-day supply to be optimal.
  Earlier this month, Nissan started offering Leafs for $219 per month with $2,999 down for 32 months. That's down from $249 per month earlier in the year.
  Also, the TrueCar.com auto pricing site says Nissan raised discounts to $3,250 per Leaf in August from $850 in January.
  The Leaf, which can go up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) on battery power from a single charge, starts at $36,050, including shipping.
  Nissan joins General Motors Co., the maker of the Chevrolet Volt in offering cheap leases and big discounts on electric cars. The Volt is the Leaf's main competitor and Chevrolet is discounting the $40,000 car by up to $10,000, including a $249 per month lease deal.
  The slow sales are a clear sign that Americans won't buy the expensive electric cars en masse unless the prices are cut, making them competitive with conventional vehicles. With the discounts, Volt sales have quadrupled this year to more than 13,000.
  Both cars are eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles. The credit is not included in the discounts.
  Leaf sales were hurt in part because the company sent vehicles to all 50 states this year, cutting supplies to California, the No. 1 Leaf market last year, said David Reuter, a Nissan spokesman. The company sold almost 10,000 Leafs last year and had hoped to double that this year, he said.
  "The sales overall have not met our expectations, but we're working hard to keep pushing," Reuter said.
  Globally, Nissan has sold 38,000 Leafs so far this year and is on target to reach expectations of 40,000, he said.
  About 70 percent of Leaf sales in the U.S. are purchases, with the rest leases, he said.
  The discounts are on 2012 models. The 2013 models won't be at dealers until early next year, when Nissan begins producing them at a factory in Tennessee, Reuter said.
  He also said Nissan has bought back two Leafs from customers in Arizona, where the company has received complaints that the batteries aren't holding as much electricity as they did when they were purchases. If the batteries don't hold as much electricity, the cars can't go as far on a charge.
  But Reuter said all lithium-ion batteries, including those that power other electric cars and consumer electronics, lose capacity over time. The cars that were replaced had thousands of miles (kilometers) on them and the battery storage capacity loss was normal, he said.
  Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Scientology: We're Growing At Record Pace Despite 'Lies' About Tom Cruise And His Divorce
  Link to Article
  Source: Radar Online
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:14
  WENN
  By Radar Staff
  Despite months of scandal stemming from Tom Cruise's divorce with Katie Holmes, the Church of Scientology claims it's experiencing record growth as a result of the extensive media coverage, including a tell-all piece in Vanity Fair the church condemned as "lies" told by bitter ex-members desperate for attention.
  Church spokesperson Karin Pouw told The Hollywood Reporter that ''more people have accessed our websites and come in to our Churches over the summer than ever in our history," adding the media blitz has increased the amount of "people wanting to get accurate information about Scientology for themselves.''
  PHOTOS: Tom Cruise And Katie Holmes' Relationship Through The Years
  And in a revelation that could rock the church to its very foundation, many former members claim leader David Miscavige often speaks disparagingly of Cruise, using files containing inside info gleaned from its controversial auditing process. (The church has publicly denied any files exist, or that Miscavige made negative comments about Cruise.)
  Ex-member Claire Headley said that eight years ago, Cruise failed a biannual "security check" test, which is a hybrid of interrogation and counseling to determine the person's ethics and ideals line up with the church's. The fallout included a special meeting Miscavige convened, in which he was discussing topics (designated as confidential) such as Cruise's relationship with one of his children.
  PHOTOS: Tom Cruise Pictured In Iceland After Katie Holmes' Divorce Filing
  Headley said she personally saw Miscavige down-talk the Top Gun star, citing information directly acquired from the supposedly secret auditing process. She added he often did it with his "buddy in-crowd" of top-ranking church officials in his officer's lounge at the church's central base. She added that alcohol was consumed by Miscavige on some of the occasions he badmouthed the church's brightest star.
  ''Miscavige doesn't give a damn about Cruise,'' former Scientologist Tom DeVocht told THR. "I was there, I saw it."
  PHOTOS: Hollywood Stars Who Are Scientologists
  In response, church spokesperson Pouw shot down the assertions, adding Miscavige is "close friends" with Cruise, and that he "treats all parishioners and friends with respect, dignity, compassion and loyalty."
  DeVocht recalled an incident at the 2001 premiere of Cruise's Vanilla Sky, which co-starred (fellow Scientologist) Jason Lee and Tom's romantic interest at the time, Penelope Cruz.
  PHOTOS: The Many Homes Of Tom Cruise And Katie Holmes
  DeVocht said that night, ''As soon as Tom was out of earshot, Miscavige started putting him down'' and predicted his romance with Cruz would fizzle because she had failed to make eye contact with him.
  Pouw countered that "neither [Miscavige] nor the Church 'approve' or 'disapprove' of individual parishioners' relationships."
  PHOTOS: Tom Cruise Through The Years
  Former church spokesman Mike Rinder predicted if Cruise learned of all the things Miscavige has said about him, "He'd turn on Miscavige like a rabid dog.''
  RELATED STORIES:
  Sons Of Anarchy Star Johnny Lewis Was A Scientologist, Used The Religion To Help Lead 'Happy Successful Life'
  Is Tom Cruise Pulling Back From Scientology? Shocking New Report SurfacesNew Scientology Tell-All Paints Faith As 'Strange And Disturbing'Blockbuster Scientology Lawsuit: Investigators Claim They Were Paid Millions To Spy On David Miscavige Rival
Carney maintains Libya attack was not preplanned - YouTube
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:09
EXCLUSIVE: As the UN opens its General Assembly session, it is already thinking up new global taxes | Fox News
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 18:57
  United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan.AP
  A 1 percent tax on billionaires around the world. A tax on all currency trading in the U.S. dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound sterling. Another ''tiny'' tax on all financial transactions, including stock and bond trading, and trading in financial derivatives. New taxes on carbon emissions and on airline tickets. A royalty on all undersea mineral resources extracted more than 100 miles offshore of any nation's territory.
  The United Nations is at it again: finding new and ''innovative'' ways to create global taxes that would transfer hundreds of billions, and even trillions, of dollars from the rich nations of the world '-- especially the U.S. '-- to poorer ones, in line with U.N.-directed economic, social and environmental development.
  These latest global tax proposals have received various forms of endorsement at U.N. meetings over the spring and summer, and will be entered into the record during the 67th U.N. General Assembly session, which began this week. The agenda for the entire session, lasting through December, is scheduled to be finalized on Friday.
  How to convince developed countries wracked by economic recession and spiraling levels of government debt '' especially the U.S. '-- is another issue, which the world organization may well end up trying to finesse.
  As the U.N. itself notes, in a major report on the taxation topic titled, ''In Search of New Development Finance'' -- the main topic at a high-level international meeting of the U.N.'s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) this summer -- ''These proposals are subject to political controversy. For instance, many countries are not willing to support international forms of taxation, as these are said to undermine national sovereignty.''
  The world organization, and its constellation of funds, agencies and programs, has been pushing ''innovative financing'' for nearly a decade.
  -
  The U.N. clearly hopes it can find a way to move ahead. '' Politically, tapping revenue from global resources and raising taxes internationally to address global problems are much more difficult than taxing for purely domestic purposes,'' admits an ECOSOC document produced last April. But, it summarizes, ''the time has come to confront the challenge.''
  Shortly thereafter, the tax proposals '-- known in U.N.-speak as ''innovative methods of financing''-- got a limited endorsement from a group of government ministers and other heads of national delegations who attended a major ECOSOC meeting in New York City in July.
  The global taxation idea was echoed this week by Jeffrey Sachs, head of Columbia University's Earth Institute and also a U.N. Assistant Secretary General. Sachs was recently named by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to head a new intellectual lobbying group of experts called the Sustainable Development Solutions Network. It ''will work closely with United Nations agencies, multilateral financing institutions and other international organizations,'' according to the Earth Institute website.
  On Monday, the controversial economist, a vociferous supporter of the Occupy Wall Street movement, called on President Obama to implement a carbon tax that in turn could be used to finance bonds, paying for investments to combat ''climate change'' -- one of the major focuses of the new solutions network.
  Sachs was quoted by Bloomberg News as declaring that, ''I'm happy to have the future pay for a lot of this. It doesn't have to be current financed.''
  In the midst of a heated U.S. national election campaign, any official endorsement of those views is unlikely.
  Nonetheless, the U.N. is taking a longer view. The world organization, and its constellation of funds, agencies and programs, has been pushing ''innovative financing'' for nearly a decade, since the topic was discussed in depth at an international conference in 2002. The topic was endorsed again at the failed Rio + 20 conference last summer, without much detail attached.
  But the need for new revenue is becoming more urgent as the world's rich countries, gripped in recession, no longer hand out foreign aid with the same generosity as before '-- though the total reached $133 billion annually last year--while the demands for huge additional amounts of money for social and climate issues continues to grow.
  Earlier this year, for example, the overseers of a new, U.N.-sponsored Green Climate Fund held their first meeting in Bonn to contemplate the spending of some $30 billion annually '-- rising to $100 billion by 2020 '-- to meet climate change needs in developing countries. Where all that money will come from is still not clear.
  The U.N.'s latest roster of tax possibilities certainly has what the New Development Finance Report calls ''large fundraising potential.'' Or, at least some of them do. An around-the-world tax of $25 per ton on carbon dioxide emissions in rich countries, the report says, could raise some $250 billion a year. That new billionaire's tax would raise anywhere from $40 billion to $50 billion per year, the report estimates, though it adds that the idea ''is not yet in any international agenda.''
  CLICK HERE FOR A TAX LIST
  The U.N. places the same estimated value on the proposed currency tax ($40 billion), and roughly the same thing on its proposed financial tax ($15 billion to $75 billion).
  Even more innovative is a notion to, in effect, borrow the lines of credit allocated to rich countries themselves at the International Monetary Fund, and ''leverage'' them to create new investment funds for the world's poor. How to do this while preserving those credit lines as a reserve asset that rich countries could draw on when required, the report admits, remains to be seen.
  Another ''innovative'' idea that may have trouble staying afloat is the notion of charging royalties on undersea minerals more than 100 miles offshore, within what are called ''exclusive economic zones'' '-- in effect, inside some country's sovereign economic territory.
  The sensitive issue here is that the world's current ''exclusive economic zones'' extend 200 miles offshore '-- meaning that the U.N. is suggesting that it collect royalties on mineral wealth on half the ''exclusive'' territory, which it refers to in the report as part of the ''global commons.''
  For most nations, excluding the U.S., those 200 mile zones were established by the U.N.-sponsored Law of the Sea Treaty, known as LOST, which came into force in 1994 after it was signed and ratified by 162 countries. (The U.S. signed but has not ratified LOST; its 200-mile ''exclusive economic zone'' was established by presidential decree.)
  The new, 100-mile royalty proposal in the U.N.'s financing report would require a new agreement to hand over proceeds from half of that territory to the U.N.-sponsored International Seabed Authority.
  George Russell is executive editor of Fox News and can be found on Twitter @GeorgeRussell
  Click for more stories by George Russell.
Remarks at G-8 Deauville Partnership With Arab Countries in Transition Foreign Ministers Meeting
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:59
  SECRETARY CLINTON: Good morning. Let me start by thanking everyone for the contributions that you have already made to this partnership, and for your support of democracy in the Middle East and North Africa. In Deauville, during the G-8 meeting, the countries represented there threw their support behind the Arab people during the first phases of the transitions, knowing full well how much work lay ahead.This is a partnership conceived in optimism, but built to take on the hard realities of long and difficult transitions. The recent riots and protests throughout the region have brought the challenge of transition into sharp relief. Extremists are clearly determined to hijack these wars and revolutions to further their agendas and ideology, so our partnership must empower those who would see their nations emerge as true democracies.
  Today, we want to send a clear message to all those in the region who are working each day in governments, in civil society, in the private sector, to build responsive institutions, to strengthen faltering economies, to deliver freedom for all people, to respect human rights: we stand with you and we will stand with you as long as it takes.
  Because our partnership is taking practical steps to help more people in the region feel the benefits of democracy in their daily lives. In Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, people rose up against their dictators because they were fed up with governments that served the interests of a few at the expense of everyone else. But economic and social challenges did not disappear with the dictators. Too many people still can't find jobs, and young and growing populations crave a sense of opportunity and self-determination.
  On the economic front, we are zeroing in on small and medium-sized enterprises because they are the growth engines in any economy. They create the bulk of new jobs and they spread wealth more broadly through more communities. And when people have the opportunity to unleash their talents and create something of their own, they are more invested in their communities, their countries, and their new democracies.
  So the OECD is helping emerging democracies find ways they can loosen regulations and make it easier to start or expand a small business. Several partners are setting up funds to help small businesses gain access to loans and financing. People of the region need to see that their governments can be fair and just. So we are stepping up our efforts to return billions of dollars that were stolen or siphoned away over decades of cronyism and corruption.
  The United States has been proud to champion the Arab Forum on Asset Recovery during our presidency of the G-8. The forum met earlier this month in Doha to discuss specific steps we can take to recover ill-gotten gains. Our State Department and Justice Department are working together to appoint attorneys who will work exclusively with transition countries. They will be a direct link to our recovery asset experts in Washington and will work with our law enforcement agencies to train their counterparts in the region.
  We are also working to help transitioning countries develop both the accountable, transparent institutions and the culture of democracy that underlies the hope for change. We have established a transition fund to support countries as they build court systems, ministries, and other public institutions that are responsive to the needs of all their people, putting them in the best positions to lead their own reforms and see their own transition to democracy through.
  Many of our partners are also making the difficult transition from protest to politics, and they need our support as they take on the different responsibilities of leadership. Many of the leaders in the emerging transitioning democracies were themselves prisoners not so long ago, or exiles, activists, dissidents. So as we look at how we can help them make their own personal transition from protest to politics, we are setting up programs to assist in doing that.
  Last week, legislators and leaders from each of the transitioning Deauville countries came to the United States to take the same training that new members of our Congress go through, then they met with members of Congress to get real life insights into what it means to stand up for your beliefs and at the same time serve your constituents in a large and diverse democracy.
  I happened to know from personal experience how challenging legislating can be, how much work and compromise it takes, how thick your skin has to be, because after all, democracy invites the widest range of opinions and interests in a society to participate. Laws that abridge or punish the exercise of universal human rights, including the right to free expression, free assembly, and free association, have no place in democracies.
  In the United States, as President Obama said in his address to the General Assembly, we don't ban offensive speech, whether it's an insult to a person's deeply held religious beliefs or a denial of the Holocaust, because we know that such laws can too easily be used as tools of oppression.
  Our democracy has grown steadily stronger over more than 235 years, guided by a Constitution that enshrines our belief that the best answer to hateful speech is more speech. None of us can insulate ourselves from insult.
  In the time since I began speaking just minutes ago, more than 300 hours of video has been uploaded to YouTube. Some of it, no doubt, is vile. Some of it, no doubt, is offensive to my religion or yours. But we must not give these views power they do not deserve. No words, no matter how inflammatory or disgusting, are stronger than the faith we have, and we should protect our cherished beliefs by standing up for them in the marketplace and arena of free speech and ideas. And of course, no words should ever be met with violence.
  Building these habits of democracy is difficult work. But it is also essential if people are to realize the full measure of human dignity. And dignity may resonate in multiple ways across different peoples and cultures, but it speaks to something universal in all of us. Everything we do together in this partnership to promote economic stability and equal opportunity advances freedom and dignity. We are standing up for democracies that are unlocking people's potential and standing against extremists who exploit people's frustrations. We are trying to help societies leave behind old enmities and look ahead to new opportunities. We are supporting civic groups who seek to strengthen their societies. We are backing reformers who build accountable institutions, and combat corruption that stifles innovation, initiative, hope, and dignity.
  So I'm looking forward to our discussion today, taking stock of what we have done to date, what more needs to be done, what has worked and what, frankly, has not worked, as we work together to push an agenda of democracy and dignity forward. So as we see our press representatives leave the room, we'll have a chance to then go directly into our discussion. But again, thank you all for being here.
'Why Should You Get Health Care When I Have To Work For It?"
  Link to Article
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:57
  I was on Mark Thompson's Make It Plain XM Sirius show Wednesday night, and we'd been talking about what it was like, having to use the emergency room for medical care. So this guy from Alabama calls in with a question: "I have a small business, and I have to bust my hump to pay for medical insurance. People aren't entitled to medical care. Why should you get something for free when I have to work hard to pay for it?"
  I don't know why (because it's not as if I don't know a lot of people agree with him), but I was taken aback. "So your position is that I should have just died."
  "People aren't entitled to health care."
  Then he went on to say that he'd recently been in the ER, "and everyone in there was on the dole."
  I asked him how he knew that. I know that confidentiality rules are such that you're not sitting near anyone else when you register.
  "I was sitting there talking to all of them, and they told me."
  "So every single person in there told you they were on the dole?"
  Mark made a comment that he doubted that, and hung up on the caller. But when I was done with my segment, I kept thinking about it. So things are so bad in this country that people begrudge emergency treatment to the sick? Now, he was calling from Alabama, and it is one of our poorest states. So I looked it up.
  In 2010, Medicaid, Medicare and ALL Kids (Alabama's Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP) covered 19 percent of Alabamians under age 65, including 45 percent of children under age 19 (Table 2-2).
  With fewer avenues to qualify for Medicaid, adults under age 65 were much less likely than children to have public coverage, even at very low levels of income. In households below the federal poverty level, 25 percent of adults were covered by Medicaid or Medicare, compared with 82 percent of children.
  These are really poor people, and yet he simply doesn't care. He works hard, why should they get something he has to pay for?
  Because we pay for all kinds of things meant for the common good. I don't have kids in school anymore, but I don't begrudge money for public education. My parents are both dead, but I don't begrudge paying for the Medicaid your parents might need for a nursing home. My kids are healthy and strong, but I don't begrudge paying for the disability services that help people who aren't. It's the right thing to do.
  We do these things because that's what civilized, decent people do. Because the way we treat our most vulnerable and needy says who we are as a nation. And because the caller was from Alabama, which is part of the Bible Belt, I thought of the story of the prodigal son:
  And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
  But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
  And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
  It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
  This story isn't just about a jealous brother, it's about compassion. Compassion isn't something that's earned. If it has to be earned, it isn't compassion. It's reduced to a transaction.
Obama PHONE: woman in Cleveland know what is up!
  Link to Article
  Source: Dr. Jones reports
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:01
@adamcurry http://t.co/zlEvso1u hilarious
  Link to Article
  Source: @adamcurry - Twitter Search
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:58
  TSA is scum of the earth. Domestic Terrorists that involves itself with criminal activity daily. TSA should be disbanded immediately... These fucking scum actually have a house to live in and a wife.. good because when SHTF TSA your a god damn>> chocolate bar in my eyes.
  1776NecroticRevenge2 minutes ago
Terror Attacks in the Sinai: Is NATO Preparing a Grab for the Suez Canal?
  Link to Article
  Source: TARPLEY.net
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:57
  Archives
Hollywood Takes Arab Oil Money To Make Film Against American Oil Production. WTF????
  Link to Article
  Source: The Ulsterman Report
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:38
  ]rFMEÐŒ@OM%Rv-K+QxF(tCBGkln<<:53;Ox<Èª!;MUZ`%Xm-YM:Iu5u$-&1VB6z6ÜŸ"/y$NVSg2|Ó‹"}5<ÍnGtZHgÄ²X3]a+ZJlY[dZgKÉ—[r#9t8|;4xUT~81]@R;x/*Z;y|J8I-_BaM'kÝ*S'ã¬®d^K.ÙÍš('‚ƒqg^q26b^_!f"!6O~GqOA\6 w*JgjR)|cÝ´@+F1l;d1C+QN`(d"ØŽmla=hM Û¤ghtI@mÒ"HsÛ¤sitlKÛ¤2I2uESÔ;*"o#Yt 0\.Gn73a`'†JyD/Z $/_w kpld5Fal*\<×�yzG00Pzve+tx3h!TwÔ~dy-VSTIÚ'%012(d}eÏ°"\7BCA^c VU:U-K/_0yqWr%+`i|0_-)Mz:Ua|]uÔ¯FE:"pORA}}:2ivnN+zÑ£ÕB^)e' ~uY Ë¨$`{AK]S\?{z.Üƒ26fDZÖ¾Ncw hRc@46Hx%Y ]XØ>>xXë"¸9|g<&|'"rn(f0^s,s U_)<|j%A,.]H-jqqGmzÛ—OZÓ'vu~XN~Ú§Fkqiuã±...^MTF- bKKxd>Ïƒ}-9(V8{zÆ®wS}lgn. 9{4^O,y*o,0><à®>>?lrÐ"CJy;fp@?~|~Ð£>s?'"ŸT}{PÎ—=+~.M5AX{CmF:xoBÕV&B0"1 tiHBÊŸ|^Í…YS4Ô¯bHMry|^T4i<;;M ì'�%ÆžhBEJyT+6MZ''<@+ju "iHEÅ›`y|`Æ¼_hEÅ¹62 gDQK haS 99æ''^s#(ß¨2 f8v5vÑ¾D~]QÐ½_:U pß¨m't/L==y`R 94F6Ð±G %|8~,I#,3Ò ~drU$m THl"jET8iwÙºÕ6;NaoXW jbz\m~BiÄ�¨8p 8]=1!LÏ'F;;xIØ¬.gTgml[-+hm05*FhAt{d`×,Tpz*e#'_ë(C)°K9 DN`n\+1Qzw:tTtCVF5KcP{*h*Be^cGW# /Ú>>8JZ5JÛ–4nGy<8.J 1T]#AE_ Y
In pictures: Nepal plane crash
  Link to Article
  Source: BBC News - Home
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:25
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Thread: Romney as human being
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:23
  I was shocked to hear the beginning of Romney's talk at the Clinton Global Initiative. Why?
  1. He cracked a joke.
  2. It was good.
  3. It was self-deprecating.
  4. It got the people on his side.
  You gotta wonder why he doesn't show this side of himself when he's not talking to world leaders and fellow rich folk. Like during a debate. Or on the campaign trail.
  But it makes his birther "joke" all the more certain to have not been innocent. Here's a guy who isn't tone-deaf to humor. He knows that a good joke has to be self-deprecating or relatively neutral or else it's flat. A good joke tells the truth in a roundabout or surprising way. Furthering an unfair racist insult against an opponent isn't funny. And it's not a sign of him being tone-deaf to humor -- it is however a sign of him having no moral compass. No place he won't go to win. He should have known that people aren't actually that stupid, we get it, even if we aren't in his social or economic class.
  I read in Politico that he has plans to do bi-partisan deals in his first 200 days to ease gridlock in Washington and gain the confidence of capital markets. A Republican president has that power, where a Democratic president does not. I'm sure he'd face a rebellion in his own party, but they'd have to get in line. So the question is, if this is his plan, why isn't he telling anyone?
  Maybe Romney, in a desperate last Hail Mary pass, could come clean, dump his own party, throw them under the bus, apologize, and tell the voters what he really plans to do. It's conceivable that might make the race competitive. Not likely, but not impossible. It would be good for the country, regardless.
  If Romney has a human side, doing something good for the country, even if it might not be good for his candidacy or his party, might not be completely unthinkable.
40 Deutsche Bank Employees Injured After Inhaling "Dangerous" Substance In Schkeuditz, Germany
  Link to Article
  Source: Main Feed
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:22
  It appears banker popularity is low to quite low not only in the US but virtually everywhere. According to Lepizig-Fernsehen, a toxin alert has been issued at a Deutsche Bank branch in Schkeuditz, a suburb town of Leipzig, where 40 people have been "injured" after inhaling a white powdery substance delivered hours before, and which spread via the building's air conditioning system.
  From LF:
  On Friday afternoon marched forces of police and firefighters from the Deutsche Bank building in Schkeuditz. Around 40 people have been injured by inhaling a dangerous, but so far unknown substance.
  The package with the white powder had been delivered in the hours before. With great probability the substance spread through the air conditioning throughout the building.
  40 people were contaminated there, the entire office complex and an adjoining nursery were evacuated. More than 100 people were affected by the safeguards. The police and firefighters are having a large contingent on site to accommodate the investigation into the powder and its origin.
  More as we see it.
  h/t L0gg0l
  Average:Your rating: NoneAverage: 4.9(8 votes)
3rd Annual Counterfeit Drug Conference 2
  Link to Article
  Source: Programs Recently Aired - C-SPAN Video Library
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:17
  The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM)Third Annual Counterfeit Drug Conference
  BRIEF SUMMARY:Counterfeit drugs are an increasing epidemic that threatens our nation s secure drug supply. To raise .. Read More
  The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM)Third Annual Counterfeit Drug Conference
  BRIEF SUMMARY:Counterfeit drugs are an increasing epidemic that threatens our nation s secure drug supply. To raise awareness regarding this dangerous public health issue, the Partnership for Safe Medicines is hosting its third annual Interchange Conference, which will bring together policymakers, media, law enforcement, patient advocates, anti-counterfeiting technology companies, industry, academics and pharmaceutical manufacturer quality experts to address the current state of the problem and discuss ways to protect consumers.
  23 minutes | 1 Views
  View Full Event (4 Programs)
Apple Maps: Tim Cook says he is 'extremely sorry'
  Link to Article
  Source: The Guardian World News
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:15
  Apple Maps: Tim Cook has apologised for users' 'frustration'. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
  Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, has said he is "extremely sorry for the frustration" users have found with its new mapping service, adding that if they are dissatisfied they can use rival products.
  The dramatic move by Cook follows growing complaints about the quality of the data offered by the new Maps app which was introduced with iOS 6, the newest version of the mobile software powering the iPhone and iPad.
  Apple abandoned Google's offering because the two sides could not agree on licensing terms for Google's voice-directed turn-by-turn navigation '' which Google had been offering on phones using its Android software since December 2010, and Apple saw as a key feature in the smartphone wars.
  Instead Apple has been working for more than two years on introducing its own service, using data from other providers. But the introduction last week '' which did bring voice-directed turn-by-turn navigation '' also caused an outcry over misplaced towns, misnamed suburbs, parks designated as airfields and the loss of public transport directions compared with the Google data offered on the previous version of iOS.
  "We are doing everything we can to make Maps better," Cook wrote in a letter posted on Apple's site '' a method frequently used by Cook's predecessor Steve Jobs to issue messages when Apple was facing criticism.
  Apple has apologised in the past for errors '' though sometimes grudgingly. When Apple lowered the price of the original iPhone by $200 in September 2007, just weeks after it had gone on sale and thousands had been bought, Jobs offered aggrieved users a $100 voucher '' but told them that "this is the price of living in the technology lane". When Apple launched its MobileMe service, offering cloud-based synchronisation of emails and calendars, it was initially disastrous '' leading Jobs to apologise publicly. When the iPhone 4 design turned out to have attenuation problems with its external antenna, Jobs was eventually moved to offer refunds and a free cover for the phone.
  Cook says in the letter that "we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, [satellite view] Flyover and vector-based maps [which store data in a single file rather than needing repeated downloads to work]. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up."
  Although iOS 6 was only released formally on 19 September, Cook says there are now more than 100m devices using it with the new Apple Maps, "with more and more joining us every day." He said that users "have already searched for nearly half a billion locations" and that such feedback will improve the quality.
  Unusually, Cook recommends that users who are dissatisfied with Apple's offering should try rival services. These include apps by MapQuest, Waze and Microsoft's Bing, or maps from Google and Nokia via web browsers.
  However, Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, indicated earlier this week that the search giant is not presently developing an app for iOS.
  ''What were we going to do, force (Apple) to include the software?" Schmidt said in Tokyo on Monday, adding that Google has no plans at present to complete its iOS Google Maps app and submit it to Apple. That decision lies with Apple, Schmidt said.
  ''We think it would have been better if they had kept ours. But what do I know?" he added.
Noodbevel in Arnhem voor Project X-feest
  Link to Article
  Source: Een andere kijk op nieuws @infomagnl » Nieuws items
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:14
  Geplaatst @ 28 september 2012In Arnhem geldt sinds vrijdagmiddag 2 uur een noodbevel. Het bevel blijft tot zaterdagmorgen 8 uur van kracht.
  Burgemeester Pauline Krikke heeft het bevel uitgevaardigd om te voorkomen dat er een zogeheten Project X-feest in haar gemeente gaat plaatshebben.
  Dat zou vrijdagavond in de wijk Klarendal gaan gebeuren.
  Op grond van het noodbevel is de hele gemeente Arnhem verboden gebied voor mensen die van plan zijn de openbare orde te verstoren. Op toegangswegen rond de stad is politiecontrole. Ook staan op diverse plekken groepen ME-bussen geparkeerd.
  via Noodbevel in Arnhem voor Project X-feest | nu.nl/binnenland | Het laatste nieuws het eerst op nu.nl.
INSIDE LOOK: Japan tried but failed to avert disaster in China dispute
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:11
  The central government underestimated China's likely reaction to its Sept. 11 decision to purchase three disputed islands in the East China Sea and saw relations plummet despite a careful reckoning of the possible consequences.
  Japanese officials drew up several dozens of scenarios for China's response, based on how Beijing handled a fishing boat collision with Japan Coast Guard vessels off the Senkaku Islands in 2010. China bore international criticism for penalties it imposed then, and Japan's government banked on a weak response from its Asian rival this time.
  In an in-depth investigation, The Asahi Shimbun spoke to some of the central players in the diplomatic disaster.
  Among the revelations: that the government felt it would be easier to act before China's impending leadership shakeup, and later to repair ties when Beijing's new leaders took power; and that Japan's government drew up'--but shelved'--possible plans to build on the islands.
  On May 18, Noda summoned high-ranking government officials to an unpublicized meeting at the prime minister's office. He told them to prepare to purchase the islands from the private citizen who, under Japanese law, was the legal owner.
  "Defending territory is fundamentally a government duty," Noda told them. "My government will fulfill the task, with a sense of responsibility."
  Noda had been under pressure to decide what to do since April 16, when Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara declared, in a speech in Washington, that the Tokyo metropolitan government intended to buy the islands.
  "Is there any problem with the Japanese people planning to defend Japanese national territory?" he asked, rhetorically.
  High-ranking government officials who gathered in Noda's office on May 18 included Osamu Fujimura, chief Cabinet secretary; Hiroyuki Nagahama, deputy chief Cabinet secretary; Akihisa Nagashima, a special adviser to the prime minister; Kenichiro Sasae, vice foreign minister; and Chikao Kawai, assistant chief Cabinet secretary.
  "It is more appropriate that the central government should buy the islands," Nagashima said, according to other people present. "We should announce that the purpose of doing so is to maintain and administer the islands in a peaceful and stable manner."
  Sasae had earlier argued against the purchase: "We should leave it to the Tokyo metropolitan government, and tell China: 'The plan to buy the islands is merely what one local government is doing.'"
  But Sasae did not oppose Nagashima's proposal.
  So far, Noda had just been listening. Now he spoke up, and declared the central government should buy the islands.
  Earlier, Noda had been more cautious.
  When Ishihara visited the prime minister's office for talks on April 27, the Tokyo governor told Noda: "It should really be the central government that buys the islands." But Noda, at that meeting, was noncommittal.
  Then, on April 29, when Noda and officials were aboard a flight to the United States for a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Nagashima told him: "It is reasonable that the central government should buy the islands."
  Noda replied: "Well'...," and nothing more.
  But donations were filling a public subscription fund the Tokyo metropolitan government had set up for its own purchase bid.
  "When the amount approached 1 billion yen (about $12.5 million), we felt the metropolitan government's purchase plan was becoming a reality," said an aide to Noda.
  If the Tokyo metropolitan government had actually bought the islands, the Noda administration could have been criticized for being weak-kneed.
  Meanwhile, the Chinese government was fully alert to the actions of the Tokyo governor, who has long been an outspoken critic of China.
  Behind the scenes, Beijing sent Tokyo a message warning that if Ishihara bought the islands, it would cause irrevocable damage to Japan-China relations.
  The Japanese government calculated that China would be less incensed if the national government bought them instead, according to a high-ranking government official.
  But China's government saw it differently. It had hoped the Japanese government would snuff out the Tokyo government's ambition, and do no more than that.
  The difference in expectations between China and Japan gradually widened.
  As if forced into it by Ishihara, Noda leaned toward putting the islands in state ownership, while China wanted to maintain the status quo and opposed the purchase outright.
  Faced with the twin pressures of Beijing and the Tokyo metropolitan government, the Japanese government prepared to get its checkbook out.
  ISHIHARA'S BID
  However, Noda's greatest obstacle was Ishihara, who was determined to beat the central government in a race to clinch a deal first.
  For about 30 years--ever since he had been a Lower House lawmaker--Ishihara had nurtured a dream of owning the islands. In March this year, Ishihara called the islands' owner, an acquaintance, and asked: "Can I announce that you are going to sell Senkaku Islands to the Tokyo metropolitan government?"
  "If you can take responsibility for the announcement, please do so," the owner replied.
  A month later, Ishihara revealed the purchase bid during his speech in Washington, and there was a sharp increase in public donations.
  "The Tokyo metropolitan government was leading the central government 10-0," recalled an aide to Noda.
  However, there would be a delay. The metropolitan government would be unable to give the owner a purchase price until autumn because necessary preparations included a real-estate appraisal and council work. The central government understood this, and dashed for the finish line.
  Once Noda had given the purchase instruction at the May 18 meeting, Nagahama contacted the owner.
  The owner responded favorably, and on July 7 Noda revealed the plan publicly for the first time.
  "We will consider buying the Senkaku Islands from the viewpoint of administering them in a peaceful and stable manner," Noda told reporters that day.
  The land ministry conducted a real estate appraisal, and in late July Fujimura told Noda that the purchase price would be about 2 billion yen.
  "OK. At that price, go ahead," Noda said.
  The government presented the owner with a pledge of "2 billion yen," a figure trumping that of the Tokyo metropolitan government's by several hundred million yen. The central government thus became the main bidder.
  Ishihara asked the central government for a meeting with Noda. The government accepted his request.
  The meeting was held unannounced, at the prime minister's office on Aug. 19.
  In the meeting, Ishihara demanded that Noda build port facilities on the islands.
  "I will cooperate with the central government's purchase plan," he said. "But I want the central government to construct infrastructure."
  Noda replied: "Let me consider your request."
  Meanwhile, the central government rejected a bid by the metropolitan government to land a survey team on the Senkakus.
  On Sept. 3, the central government reached an agreement to buy the three islands for 2.05 billion yen. The next day, Nagashima, a special adviser to Noda, visited Ishihara's home, and told the governor the central government could not meet his request for a port on the Senkakus.
  "All the Noda administration can do is to place the islands in state ownership," Nagashima said.
  But the truth is, the central government had indeed examined constructing facilities such as a port and a lighthouse. It had drawn up eight plans, labeled A to H, depending on facilities required.
  Some had argued structures would be necessary, not just to save Ishihara's face, but to strengthen overall administration of the islands. At one time, Noda had supported the idea.
  However, the central government worried about possible Chinese opposition. Eventually, it shelved all construction plans and settled for becoming the islands' owner, not their developer.
  SCENARIOS DRAFTED
  China expressed strong opposition to Ishihara's purchase plan.
  "It is a political show by a right-wing politician," said the Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency.
  Even though donations had increased to the public-subscription fund, China believed the Japanese government would ultimately kill Ishihara's purchase bid, according to a high-ranking official of China's foreign ministry department overseeing Japan affairs.
  Beijing held this view because it believed Japan and China had of late been maintaining sufficient dialogue to head off problems. They agreed to improve communications after relations took a hit in 2010, when a Chinese fishing boat collided with Japan Coast Guard vessels off the Senkakus.
  But differences between the two sides rapidly became apparent.
  On May 13, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met Noda for talks in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where he asserted that the Senkaku Islands were Chinese territory.
  Noda responded, saying: "China's increasing maritime activity, including in areas near the Senkakus, offends the feelings of the Japanese people."
  On June 11, Japan and China convened a meeting at the vice-ministerial level in a hotel near Lake Yamanakako in Yamanashi Prefecture.
  "Japan should firmly block measures that damage the two countries' political foundations," demanded Zhang Zhijun, China's vice foreign minister.
  But Sasae, the Japanese vice foreign minister, hinted at the islands' possible purchase.
  "It is important to maintain and administer the Senkaku Islands in a peaceful and stable manner," he said.
  On July 7, Noda announced that the Japanese government would consider nationalizing the islands.
  As far as China was concerned, not only was this an escalation, the timing seemed singularly inappropriate.
  It was the 75th anniversary of the so-called Marco Polo Bridge Incident in Beijing, which led ultimately to the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).
  The timing hardened China's stance.
  "Is the Japanese government really going to play the main character in a farce by Ishihara? He is pressuring the Japanese government, with the ultimate aim of the islands' nationalization," commented Xinhua.
  Four days later, three fishery surveillance ships entered Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands. On Aug. 15, activists from Hong Kong managed to land on one. Anti-Japan demonstrations spread throughout China in late August.
  Meanwhile, the Japanese government had tried to calculate China's possible reaction.
  It drew up several dozen scenarios, covering areas from politics and economics to private-sector exchanges and military affairs.
  The scenarios were largely based on the aftermath of the 2010 collision between a Chinese fishing boat and Japan Coast Guard vessels. Japanese authorities arrested the boat's captain and sent him to prosecutors.
  China struck back. It restricted exports of rare earth metals to Japan, and temporarily detained employees of one Japanese company.
  The international community weighed in, condemning China. So the Japanese prime minister's office calculated that this time China would stop short of such retaliation.
  Japan's Foreign Ministry was less sure. It had noted the growth of anti-Japan movements in China, and some of its officials urged caution.
  "It may be better for the central government to let the Tokyo metropolitan government buy the islands, and keep the Japanese state out of the equation," said one Foreign Ministry official at a meeting of government officials in Noda's office in late August.
  Noda dismissed the suggestion.
  "As we have said, the central government should buy them," he replied.
  NODA SURPRISED
  Japan's government decided it would proceed during a Cabinet meeting on Sept. 11. It aimed to make the decision before the expected party congress this autumn of China's Communist Party, which will hand power from President Hu Jintao to a new leadership headed by Xi Jinping.
  "If we finalize the Senkaku issue during Hu Jintao's era, we can then repair relations after the new leadership is established," said one of Noda's aides. "The worst timing would be to purchase the islands after the new leadership takes power."
  Because China's new leadership would still have weak foundations, officials figured it would be more tempted to lash out at an easy foreign target like Japan.
  Moreover, Japan's government was in a hurry to buy the islands because it feared the owner might walk away and knock once more on Ishihara's door, said a high-ranking government official.
  In late August, Parliamentary Senior Vice Foreign Minister Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi visited China and delivered Noda's letter to Dai Bingguo, a state councilor, a rank roughly equivalent to vice premier.
  "It is extremely important to maintain close communications at the highest political levels," the letter read.
  Initially, China welcomed that. "This move shows the Noda administration's eagerness for dialogue," wrote The Global Times, a newspaper focusing on international relations.
  But a foreign ministry official then expressed disappointment.
  "The letter merely explained Japan's basic stance," the official said. "It offered no initiatives to improve the situation."
  On Sept. 9, two days before the Japanese government's final decision, Noda and Hu stood in conversation on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vladivostok, Russia. It was an informal meeting, not an official one.
  Noda began by expressing heartfelt sympathy for the victims of an earthquake that had struck China's Yunnan province on Sept. 7.
  Hu's response: "It is illegal to nationalize the Senkaku Islands."
  "I want to deal with it from a broad perspective," Noda replied.
  Hu told Noda: "Japan must fully recognize the seriousness of the situation. It should not make an error."
  But on Sept. 11, as scheduled, Noda's Cabinet formalized the purchase.
  A Chinese foreign ministry official reacted with apparent anger.
  "The Noda administration did not understand the weight of the words we asked our president to express," the official said. "At the very least, it should have been able to delay the decision."
  In China, anti-Japan protests intensified. Demonstrators attacked Japanese factories and retail outlets.
  Noda turned angrily to his aides. "Is the Chinese government going to tacitly approve 'yakiuchi'?" he said, using a Japanese word for military-style arson used in battle.
  Today, the prime minister's office has the ongoing problem of how to handle Chinese patrol ships in waters off the Senkaku Islands. About half of Japan's coast guard cutters have been dispatched there, and are tied up in monitoring the flotilla.
  "For the time being, coast guard crews are just going to be kept exhausted," admitted a high-ranking government official.
  However, Noda has instructed Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto not to dispatch Self-Defense Force ships. "Just keep monitoring it, in the conventional way," he said.
  Japan seems aware of the risk of escalation.
  In talks with Luo Zhaohui, his Beijing counterpart, Shinsuke Sugiyama, head of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry said: "Japan and China will be in a serious situation if they cross the red line."
  That red line means a situation that may require the use of force.
  "This situation will last for a fairly long period," said one Japanese government official involved in the purchase decision. "Neither Japan nor China can change its stance. We must prepare ourselves for that."
France Unveils Temporary 75 Percent Super-Rich Tax Rate
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:09
  * Budget aims to slash deficit to 3.0 pct/GDP in 2013
  * Bulk of savings comes from tax on rich, business
  * Economists say budget based on optimistic growth forecast
  By Daniel Flynn and Leigh Thomas
  PARIS, Sept 28 (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande's Socialist government unveiled sharp tax hikes on business and the rich on Friday in a 2013 budget aimed at showing France has the fiscal rigour to remain at the core of the euro zone.
  The package will recoup 30 billion euros ($39 billion) for the public purse with a goal of narrowing the deficit to 3.0 percent of national output next year from 4.5 percent this year - France's toughest single belt-tightening in 30 years.
  But with record unemployment and a barrage of data pointing to economic stagnation, there are fears the deficit target will slip as France falls short of the modest 0.8 percent economic growth rate on which it is banking for next year.
  The budget disappointed pro-reform lobbyists by merely freezing France's high public spending rather than daring to attack ministerial budgets as Spain did this week as it battles to avoid the conditions of an international bailout.
  "This is a fighting budget to get the country back on the rails," Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said, adding that the 0.8 percent growth target was "realistic and ambitious".
  "It is a budget which aims to bring back confidence and to break this spiral of debt that gets bigger and bigger."
  With public debt at a post-war record of 91 percent of the economy, the budget is vital to France's credibility not only among euro zone partners but also in markets which for now are allowing it to borrow at record-low yields around two percent.
  France's benchmark 3.0 percent 10-year bond was steady, yielding 2.18 percent after the announcement.
  The government said the budget was the first in a series of steps to bring its deficit down to 0.3 percent of GDP by 2017 - slightly missing an earlier target of a zero deficit by then.
  But early reactions were sceptical.
  "The ambitions that were flagged are very audacious," said Philippe Waechter at Natixis Asset Management. "I struggle to see how we'll find the growth needed in 2013 and afterwards."
  Of the total 30 billion euros of savings, around 20 billion will come from tax increases on households and companies, with tax rises already approved this year to contribute some 4 billion euros to revenues in 2013. The freeze on spending will contribute around 10 billion euros.
  "SICK" MODEL?
  To the dismay of business leaders who fear an exodus of top talent, the government confirmed a temporary 75 percent super-tax rate for earnings over one million euros and a new 45 percent band for revenues over 150,000 euros.
  Together, those two measures are predicted to bring in around half a billion euros. Higher tax rates on dividends and other investments, plus cuts to existing tax breaks are seen bringing in several billion more.
  Business will be hit with measures including a cut in the amount of loan interest which is tax-deductible and the cutting of an existing tax break on capital gains from certain share sales - moves worth around four billion and two billion euros each.
  "The government is impeding investment and so will block innovation," Entrepreneurs Club head Guillaume Cairou said of the preference for raising taxes rather than cutting spending.
  "France is sick because of the model it has ... but is choosing to preserve it."
  Four months after he defeated Nicolas Sarkozy, Hollande's approval ratings are in free-fall as many French feel he has been slow to get to grips with the economic slow-down and unemployment at a 10-year high and rising.
  Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici defended next year's growth target on French radio. But, highlighting the bet on growth underpinning the entire budget, he added that it was achievable "if Europe steadies".
  Data on Friday confirmed France posted zero growth in the second quarter, marking nine months of stagnation, as a pickup in business investment and government spending was offset by a worsening trade balance and sluggish consumer expenditure.
  Despite a rise in wages, consumers - traditionally the motor of France's growth - increased their savings to 16.4 percent of income from 16.0 percent a year earlier. In another setback, other data showed consumer spending dropped 0.8 percent in August.
  Also on HuffPost:
This Week in Kickstarter
  Link to Article
  Source: Kickstarter Blog
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:06
  Nothing better than winding down the work week with a full array of fruit in a bowl with feet. Wait, what? What I meant to say is, we got a lot of packages, and one of them happened to be the Efeet Bowl with, um, feet! Their goal was to take a stand against boring dishware '-- and from my vantage point, it looks like they succeeded marvelously. Hopefully the bowl won't run away with my pear. (Rim shot!)
  It seems like Efeet bowl backers aren't the only ones getting hooked up with new works, as Philosophy Posters have officially gone from the printer into the homes and workplaces of backers who helped the project succeed. It's become so apparant that creator Max Temkin created a site for people to submit photos of their posters. Apparently these make excellent wedding gifts, though be sure to steer clear of Heidegger, just to keep things on the lighter side.
  The Efeet Bowl is important since doctor's and Mom's agree that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If you are heading out to the New York Art Book Fair, you will likely agree that enjoying a healthy breakfast (in a bowl with feet) is the best way to wake up before going to see hundreds of artists and publishers present their independent works at MoMa PS1 this weekend. We've got a lot of creators participating in the annual event, including Shifter Magazine, Mono.Kultur's collection of the neon light installations of Robert Montgomery, art-and-event space Triple Canopy, and indie publishers Ugly Duckling Presse. You can also check out Singular Beauty, a photo-doc on the world of cosmetic surgery, Mossless Magazine, Art Bandanas for Wildlife Identification, and work from Princess Dies '-- among many, many others. Like I said, be sure to eat your Wheaties.
  Before we head off into the sunset, we couldn't let you go without passing along this giant guitar on fire. Or, as some of you may know it, Indoclip's "Street Justice", a music video project where the band was going to set fire to a massive guitar. Backers, this is going to look awesome on VHS. Enjoy!
DutchNews.nl - 'Dutch companies are a testing ground for cyber criminals'.
  Link to Article
  Source: DaDenMan news feed
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:06
  'Dutch companies are a testing ground for cyber criminals'Friday 28 September 2012
  Dutch companies, institutions and banks are increasingly being used as a testing ground for viruses developed by cyber criminals from eastern European countries and China, the Telegraaf reports on Friday.
  The paper bases its claims on statements by computer security experts following the discovery that a new variant of the Dorifel virus has struck in the Netherlands. In addition, last month, hackers from Ukraine were able to access ING bank customer details, the paper points out.
  The Dorifel virus manifests itself as a message from Dutch performing rights organisation Buma/Stemra, which states the user has to pay a '‚¬100 fine for illegal downloading. The computer then goes into lock-down.
  Consumers
  'It is advanced, difficult to detect and aimed directly at consumers,' Mark Loman of digital security company Surfight told the paper. 'We immediately informed the national cyber security centre.'
  'The real crooks can buy a botnet for less than '‚¬1,000 and cause an unbelievable amount of damage with it,' former Dutch army chief Dick Berlijn told the paper.
  'Multinationals need to exchange far more information and be a lot more alert to the threats,' he said. Berlijn now works for Deloitte's cybercrime unit.
  Next month Amsterdam will host a conference on cyber crime. European commissioner Neelie Kroes and anti-terrorism tsar Erik Akerboom are among the attendees, the paper says.
  Have you been the victim of cyber crime? Share your experiences using the comment form below.
  (C) DutchNews.nl
  Leave a comment
The Ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction: ''Owning the Weather'' for Military Use
  Link to Article
  Source: Global Research
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:04
  Author's Introductory Note
  Envir0nmental modification techniques (ENMOD) for military use constitute, in the present context of global warfare, the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.
  Rarely acknowledged in the debate on global climate change, the world's weather can now be modified as part of a new generation of sophisticated electromagnetic weapons. Both the US and Russia have developed capabilities to manipulate the climate for military use.
  Environmental modification techniques have been applied by the US military for more than half a century. US mathematician John von Neumann, in liaison with the US Department of Defense, started his research on weather modification in the late 1940s at the height of the Cold War and foresaw 'forms of climatic warfare as yet unimagined'. During the Vietnam war, cloud-seeding techniques were used, starting in 1967 under Project Popeye, the objective of which was to prolong the monsoon season and block enemy supply routes along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
  The US military has developed advanced capabilities that enable it selectively to alter weather patterns. The technology, which is being perfected under the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), is an appendage of the Strategic Defense Initiative '' 'Star Wars'. From a military standpoint, HAARP is a weapon of mass destruction, operating from the outer atmosphere and capable of destabilising agricultural and ecological systems around the world.
  Weather-modification, according to the US Air Force document AF 2025 Final Report, 'offers the war fighter a wide range of possible options to defeat or coerce an adversary', capabilities, it says, extend to the triggering of floods, hurricanes, droughts and earthquakes: 'Weather modification will become a part of domestic and international security and could be done unilaterally'... It could have offensive and defensive applications and even be used for deterrence purposes. The ability to generate precipitation, fog and storms on earth or to modify space weather'... and the production of artificial weather all are a part of an integrated set of [military] technologies.'
  In 1977, an international Convention was ratified by the UN General Assembly which banned 'military or other hostile use of environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects.' It defined 'environmental modification techniques' as 'any technique for changing ''through the deliberate manipulation of natural processes '' the dynamics, composition or structure of the earth, including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, or of outer space.'
  According to theConvention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques:
  The term ''environmental modification techniques'' refers to any technique for changing '' through the deliberate manipulation of natural processes '' the dynamics, composition or structure of the Earth, including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, or of outer space. (Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques, United Nations, Geneva: 18 May 1977)
  While the substance of the 1977 Convention was reasserted in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) signed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, debate on weather modification for military use has become a scientific taboo.
  Military analysts and scientists are mute on the subject. Meteorologists are not investigating the matter and environmentalists are focused on greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. Neither is the possibility of climatic or environmental manipulations as part of a military and intelligence agenda, while tacitly acknowledged, part of the broader debate on climate change under UN auspices.
  While discussion of the post Cold War military applications of weather warfare is a taboo, the US Air Force has acknowledged the strategic importance of ENMOD techniques in the modern battlefield of non-conventional warfare:
  Weather modification] offers the war fighter a wide range of possible options to defeat or coerce an adversary '... Weather modification will become a part of domestic and international security and could be done unilaterally'... It could have offensive and defensive applications and even be used for deterrence purposes. The ability to generate precipitation, fog and storms on earth or to modify space weather'... and the production of artificial weather all are a part of an integrated set of [military] technologies.'' (US Air Force document AF 2025 Final Report)
  At this juncture in our history, US-NATO forces are deployed worldwide.
  The US and its allies are not only targeting Iran and North Korea, they are also threatening Russia and China.
  The Pentagon has formulated the contours of a global military agenda, a ''long war'', a war without borders.
  In addition to theater operations, covert intelligence ops, this diabolical military agenda emphasizes the use of non-conventional weapons, including the use of environmental modification techniques.
  ''Weather warfare'' is the ultimate WMD with the the potential of destabilizing an enemy's ecosystem, destroying its agriculture, disabling communications networks. In other words, ENMOD techniques can undermine an entire national economy, impoverish and ''kill a nation'' without the deployment of troops and military hardware.
  The following text, with the exception of some small edits was first published in September 2004. The 2004 article is follow-up on an earlier study by the author entitled Washington's New World Order Weapons Have the Ability to Trigger Climate Change, Third World Resurgence, January 2001, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO201A.html
  While The Ecologist published in 2007 a shorter version of the above study, the issue of climatic manipulation for military use has largely been ignored by Environmentalists.
  It is my sincere hope that this study will renew the debate on the dangers of weather warfare and will contribute to the broader objective of ''disarming'' the US- NATO military apparatus.
  The URL of the original article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO409F.html.
  Michel Chossudovsky, September 28, 2012
  ________________________________________________________________________________
  Weather Warfare
  The significant expansion in America's weather warfare arsenal, which is a priority of the Department of Defense is not a matter for debate or discussion. While, environmentalists blame the Bush administration for not having signed the Kyoto protocol, the issue of ''weather warfare'', namely the manipulation of weather patterns for military use is never mentioned.
  The US Air Force has the capability of manipulating climate either for testing purposes or for outright military-intelligence use. These capabilities extend to the triggering of floods, hurricanes, droughts and earthquakes. In recent years, large amounts of money have been allocated by the US Department of Defense to further developing and perfecting these capabilities.
  Weather modification will become a part of domestic and international security and could be done unilaterally'... It could have offensive and defensive applications and even be used for deterrence purposes. The ability to generate precipitation, fog, and storms on earth or to modify space weather, '... and the production of artificial weather all are a part of an integrated set of technologies which can provide substantial increase in US, or degraded capability in an adversary, to achieve global awareness, reach, and power.(US Air Force, emphasis added. Air University of the US Air Force, AF 2025 Final Report, http://www.au.af.mil/au/2025/emphasis added)
  While there is no firm evidence that the US Air Force weather warfare facilities have been deliberately applied to modify weather patterns, one would expect that if these capabilities are being developed for military use, they would at least be the object of routine testing, much in the same way as the testing of new conventional and strategic weapons systems.
  Needless to say, the subject matter is a scientific taboo. The possibility of climatic or environmental manipulations as part of a military and intelligence agenda, while tacitly acknowledged, is never considered as relevant. Military analysts are mute on the subject. Meteorologists are not investigating the matter, and environmentalists are strung on global warming and the Kyoto protocol.
  Ironically, the Pentagon, while recognizing its ability to modify the World's climate for military use, has joined the global warming consensus. In a major study (pdf) , the Pentagon has analyzed in detail the implications of various global warming scenarios.
  The Pentagon document constitutes a convenient cover-up. Not a word is mentioned about its main weather warfare program: The High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) based in Gokona, Alaska ''jointly managed by the US Air Force and the US Navy.
  There are several mainstream explanations on weather and climate change, none of which fully explains, within their respective terms of reference, the highly unusual and erratic weather occurrences, not to mention the human toll and devastation, which have led to the destabilization of entire agricultural and eco-systems. Needless to say these explanations never address the issue of climate manipulation for military use.
  Climatic Manipulation by the US Military: The HAARP Program
  The High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) based in Gokona, Alaska, has been in existence since 1992. It is part of a new generation of sophisticated weaponry under the US Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Operated by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate, HAARP constitutes a system of powerful antennas capable of creating ''controlled local modifications of the ionosphere'' [upper layer of the atmosphere]:
  ''[HAARP will be used] to induce a small, localized change in ionospheric temperature so that resulting physical reactions can be studied by other instruments located either at or close to the HAARP site''.(HAARP website)
  Nicholas Begich ''actively involved in the public campaign against HAARP'' describes HAARP as: ''A super-powerful radiowave-beaming technology that lifts areas of the ionosphere by focusing a beam and heating those areas. Electromagnetic waves then bounce back onto earth and penetrate everything '-- living and dead.''(for further details see Michel Chossudovsky,http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO201A.html )
  World renowned scientist Dr. Rosalie Bertell depicts HAARP as ''a gigantic heater that can cause major disruptions in the ionosphere, creating not just holes, but long incisions in the protective layer that keeps deadly radiation from bombarding the planet.'' (quoted in Chossudovsky, op cit.)
  According to Richard Williams, a physicist and consultant to the David Sarnoff laboratory in PrincetonHAARP constitutes ''an irresponsible act of global vandalism.''
  He and others fear a secret second stage where HAARP would ''beam much more energy into the ionosphere. That could produce a severe disruption of the upper atmosphere at one location that may produce effects that spread rapidly around the Earth for years.''(Quoted in Scott Gilbert, Environmental Warfare and US Foreign Policy: The Ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/GIL401A.html )
  HAARP has been presented to public opinion as a program of scientific and academic research. US military documents seem to suggest, however, that HAARP's main objective is to ''exploit the ionosphere for Department of Defense purposes.'' (quoted in Chossudovsky, op cit).
  Without explicitly referring to the HAARP program, a US Air Force study points to the use of ''induced ionospheric modifications'' as a means of altering weather patterns as well as disrupting enemy communications and radar. (Ibid)
  HAARP also has the ability of triggering blackouts and disrupting the electricity power system of entire regions.
  An analysis of statements emanating from the US Air Force points to the unthinkable: the covert manipulation of weather patterns, communications systems and electric power as a weapon of global warfare, enabling the US to disrupt and dominate entire regions of the World.
  Weather Warfare: A Corporate Bonanza
  HAARP has been operational since the early 1990s. Its system of antennas at Gakona, Alaska, was initially based on a technology patented by Advanced Power Technologies Inc. (APTI), a subsidiary of Atlantic Ritchfield Corporation (ARCO).
  The first phase of the HAARP Ionospheric Research Instrument (IRI) was completed by APTI. The IRI system of antennas was first installed in 1992 by a subsidiary of British Aerospace Systems (BAES) using the APTI patent. The antennas beam into the outer-atmosphere using a set of wireless high frequency transmitters.
  In 1994, ARCO sold its APTI subsidiary, including the patents and the second phase construction contract to E-Systems, a secretive high tech military outfit with links to the CIA (http://www.crystalinks.com/haarp.html ).
  E-Systems specializes in the production of electronic warfare equipment, navigation and reconnaissance machinery, including ''highly sophisticated spying devices'':
  ''[E-Systems] is one of the biggest intelligence contractors in the world, doing work for the CIA, defense intelligence organizations, and others. US$1.8 billion of their annual sales are to these organizations, with $800 million for black projects-projects so secret that even the United States Congress isn't told how the money is being spent.( http://www.earthpulse.com/haarp/vandalism.html )
  ''The company has outfitted such military projects as the Doomsday Plan (the system that allows the President to manage a nuclear war) and Operation Desert Storm.'' (Princeton Review, http://www.princetonreview.com/cte/profiles/internshipGenInfo.asp?internshipID=998 )
  With the purchase of APTI, E-Systems acquired the strategic weather warfare technology and patent rights, including Bernard J. Eastlund's US Patent No: 4,686,605 entitled ''Method and Apparatus for Altering a Region in the Earth's Atmosphere, Ionosphere and/or Magnetosphere''.
  It is worth mentioning that the Eastlund /APTI patents were based on the research of Yugoslav scientist Nicola Tesla (many of whose ideas were stolen by US corporations). (See Scott Gilbert, Environmental Warfare and US Foreign Policy: The Ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/GIL401A.html )
  Eastlund described this deadly technology as capable of:
  ''causing'...total disruption of communications over a very large portion of the Earth'...missile or aircraft destruction, deflection or confusion'... weather modification'...'' ( http://www.wealth4freedom.com/truth/12/HAARP.htm ),
  Not surprisingly, the patent had previously been sealed under a government secrecy order.Barely a year following the E-Systems purchase of APTI's weather warfare technology, E-Systems was bought out by Raytheon, the fourth largest US military contractor. Through this money-spinning acquisition, Raytheon became the largest ''defense electronics'' firm in the World.Meanwhile, ARCO which had sold APTI to E-Systems, had itself been acquired by the BP-AMOCO oil consortium, thereby integrating the largest oil company in the World (BP).
  Raytheon through its E-Systems subsidiary now owns the patents used to develop the HAARP weather warfare facility at Gakona Alaska. Raytheon is also involved in other areas of weather research for military use, including the activities of its subsidiary in Antarctica, Raytheon Polar Services.
  ''Owning the Weather'': Towards the Expanded Final Stage
  The HAARP antenna array and transmitters were slated to be built in several distinct phases http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/phases.html
  During the Clinton administration, the ''Filled Developmental Prototype'' (FDP), namely a system composed of an array of 48 active antenna elements with connected wireless transmitters, was installed and completed at the HAARP facility in 1994. (See Figure 1 below) Under the initial Developmental Prototype (DP), only 18 of the 48 transmitters were connected.
  Bernard Eastlund in a 1997 interview described this antenna array in its Filled DP stage as the ''the largest ionospheric heater ever built''.
  This system of 48 antennas, however, while fully operational, was not according to Eastlund, powerful enough (in 1997) ''to bring the ideas in his patents to fruition'':.
  ''But they're getting up there'', he said. ''This is a very powerful device. Especially if they go to the expanded stage.''(quoted in Scott Gilbert, op cit, see also http://www.emagazine.com/january-february_1997/0197currhaarp.html )
  This 'final expanded stage' envisioned by Eastlund, which will provide maximum capability to manipulate the World's weather patterns, has now been reached.Under the Bush administration, the main partner of Raytheon (which owns the patents) in the construction and development stage of the HAARP antenna array, is British Aerospace Systems (BAES), which had been involved in the initial installation of the antenna array in the early 1990s.The multimillion dollar contract was granted by The Office of Naval Research to BAES in 2003, through its US subsidiary BAE Systems Advanced Technologies Inc. The contract was signed barely two months before the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq.
  Using Raytheon's technology, BAES was to develop the HAARP Ionospheric Research Instrument (IRI) to its maximum capabilities of ''Full size or final IRI (FIRI)''.
  In April 2003, BAE Systems Advanced Technologies outsourced the production and installation of the antennas to Phazar Corp (http://www.phazar.com/ ), a company specializing in advanced wireless antennas for military use. (Phazar owns Antenna Products Corporation of Mineral Wells, Texas http://www.antennaproducts.com/ ). Phazar was entrusted with producing and installing 132 crossed dipole antennas items for the HAARP facility. (http://www.antennaproducts.com/News%20Release%2004-18-03.pdf )
  A year later, in April 2004, the final phase in the expansion of the HAARP facility was launched. (Dept of Defense, 19 April 2004). This phase consisted in equipping all the 180 antennas with high frequency transmitters. BAE Systems was awarded another lucrative contract, this time for $35 million.
  In July 2004, Phazar had delivered and installed the 132 crossed dipole antennas including the antenna support structures and ground screen items at the HAARP facility, bringing the number of antennas from 48 under the FDP stage to 180. (see Table 2).
  Meanwhile, BAE Systems had contracted with Jersey based defense electronics firm DRS Technologies, Inc in an $11.5 million outsourcing arrangement, the production and installation of the high-frequency (HF) radio transmitters for the HAARP antenna array. (See http://www.drs.com/press/archivelist.cfm?PRESS_RELEASE_ID=1529&preview=1 and Business Wire, 15 June 2004). DRS specializes in a variety of leading edge products for the U.S. military and intelligence agencies.( http://www.drs.com/corporateinfo/index.cfm ).
  Under its contract with BAE Systems Information and Electronic Warfare Systems in Washington, D.C., DRS is to manufacture and install ''more than 60 Model D616G 10-Kilowatt Dual Transmitters'' to be used with the HAARP system of antennas. (It is unclear from the company statements whether all the 180 antennas will be equipped with a transmitter, bringing the system up to full IRI capabilities).
  Deliveries and installation are to be completed by July 2006. While HAARP is described as a ''research project'', the production of the transmitters was entrusted to DRS' C41 ''Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) Group''
  The diagram and images below describe the HAARP Alaska Facility in 1997.
  .
  Figure 1: The Array of 48 Antenna Elements with the Transmitter Shelters (FDP stage)
  The 48 antenna array is supported by transmitter shelters, each of which contains 6 transmitter cabinets. (See image of shelter below)
  Each cabinet contains two transmitters. (image of cabinet below)
  The newly installed 132 dipole antennas supplied by Phazar vastly increase the size of the HAARP Alaska facility; the new transmitters are supplied and installed by DRS
  Image 1: Aerial Photo of the HAARP Alaska Site
  Source: http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/ohd.html
  Image 2: HAARP Antenna Array
  Source: http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/HaarpSite.html
  Image 3 Transmitter Shelter
  http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/images/trans/transtr.jpg
  Transmitter Shelter containing Six Transmitter Cabinets. Each Cabinet contains two transmitters
  Image 4: Inside the Transmitter Shelter
  http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/images/trans/shelter.jpg
  Image 5. Two Transmitters making up a Transmitter Cabinet
  http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/images
  Testing of HAARP Equipment (2003- 2004)
  It is worth noting that the expansion of the antenna array (e.g. during 2003-2004) required, as part of the contracts reached with BAE Systems and its various subcontractors, the routine testing of the installed weather warfare equipment. An intermediate stage Limited IRI (LIRI), could be in operation by 2004, following the completion of the 180 antenna array under the Phazar contract and pending the final delivery of the remaining HF radio transmitters.
  In this regard, a report published by the Russian parliament (Duma) in 2002, suggests that the US Military had plans to test its weather modification techniques at its Alaska facility, as well as at two other sites:
  ''The committees reported that the USA is planning to test three facilities of this kind. One of them is located on the military testing ground in Alaska and its full-scale tests are to begin in early 2003. The second one is in Greenland and the third one in Norway.
  ''When these facilities are launched into space from Norway, Alaska and Greenland, a closed contour will be created with a truly fantastic integral potential for influencing the near-Earth medium,'' the State Duma said.
  The USA plans to carry out large-scale scientific experiments under the HAARP program, and not controlled by the global community, will create weapons capable of breaking radio communication lines and equipment installed on spaceships and rockets, provoke serious accidents in electricity networks and in oil and gas pipelines and have a negative impact on the mental health of people populating entire regions, the deputies said.(Interfax News Agency, original Russian, BBC Monitoring, 8 August 2002, emphasis added)
  Whether this report by the Russian Duma on testing ''starting in early 2003'" is correct or not, the US administration must be confronted nationally and internationally, at the political and diplomatic levels, at the UN and the US Congress, by the international scientific community, by environmentalists and the antiwar movement. The future of humanity is threatened by the use of weather modification techniques.
  Moreover, to wage an effective campaign, it is essential that corroborating scientific investigation of the unusual weather occurrences observed in recent years (and particularly since early 2003) be undertaken. This investigation should be far-reaching, collecting relevant data, correlating specific weather occurrences to recorded antenna activity at the Alaska site as well as at the two other sites, etc.
  The Full Size Ionospheric Research Instrument FIRI stage, described as ''a maximum size of 180 antenna elements, arranged in 15 columns by 12 rows'' is scheduled to be completed by mid-2006 (assuming the installation of the remaining dual transmitters), at which time the HAARP program will have reached its maximum FIRI capacity, meaning the ability to selectively modify, for military use, weather patterns anywhere in the World.
  ''The IRI is currently [June 2004] composed of 48 antenna elements and has a power capacity of 960,000 watts. When installed, the additional 132 transmitters will give HAARP a 3.6 mega-watt capacity [see Table 2 below]. The HAARP build-out is jointly funded by the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). (Business Wire, 10 June 2004)
  Table 2: Comparison of IRI Phases
  DP
  FDP
  LIRI
  FIRI
  Number of Active Antenna Elements
  18
  48
  108
  180
  Total Transmitter Power (kW)
  360
  960
  2160
  3600
  Maximum Antenna Gain (dB)
  19
  24
  29
  31
  Max Effective Radiated Pwr (dBW)
  74
  84
  92
  96
  Min Antenna Pattern Width (degrees)
  9
  8
  5
  Frequency Range
  2.8 to 10 MHz
  Modulation Types
  CW/AM/FM/PM
  Source http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/phases.html
  This advanced stage of full capacity (FIRI) corresponds to what the US Air Force has called ''Owning the Weather'':
  US aerospace forces [will] 'own the weather' by capitalizing on emerging technologies and focusing development of those technologies to war-fighting applications'... From enhancing friendly operations or disrupting those of the enemy via small-scale tailoring of natural weather patterns to complete dominance of global communications and counterspace control, weather-modification offers the war fighter a wide-range of possible options to defeat or coerce an adversary'... In the United States, weather-modification will likely become a part of national security policy with both domestic and international applications. Our government will pursue such a policy, depending on its interests, at various levels.(US Air Force, emphasis added. Air University of the US Air Force, AF 2025 Final Report, http://www.au.af.mil/au/2025/ )
  Weather Warfare against ''Rogue States''
  The unusual climatic occurrences in the US and Western Europe have been extensively documented.
  However, what the news media has failed to underscore is that a number of unusual and dramatic climatic changes have occurred in recent years in countries which are identified as possible targets under the US Administration's pre-emptive war doctrine.
  Weather patterns in North Korea, for instance, have been marked since the mid-1990s by a succession of droughts, followed by floods. The result has been the destruction of an entire agricultural system. In Cuba, the pattern is very similar to that observed in North Korea. (see Table 3)
  In Iraq, Iran and Syria, a devastating drought occurred in 1999. In Afghanistan, four years of drought in the years preceding the US led invasion in 2001, have led to the destruction of the peasant economy, leading to widespread famine.
  While there is no proof that these weather occurrences are the result of climatic warfare, Phillips Geophysics Lab, which is a partner in the HAARP project provides a course for military personnel at the Hanscom Air Force Base in Maryland, on ''Weather Modification Techniques''. The course outline explicitly contemplates the triggering of storms, hurricanes, etc. for military use. (See his slide show at http://www.dtc.army.mil/tts/1997/proceed/abarnes/ open PowerPoint presentation at http://www.dtc.army.mil/tts/tts97/abarnes.zip )
  Weather manipulation is the pre-emptive weapon par excellence. It can be directed against enemy countries or even ''friendly nations'', without their knowledge. Weather warfare constitutes a covert form of pre-emptive war. The manipulation of climate can be used to destabilize an enemy's economy, ecosystem and agriculture (e.g. North Korea or Cuba). Needless to say it can trigger havoc in financial and commodity markets and can potentially be used as an instrument of ''insider trade'' for financial gain. It has the ability of destabilizing a country's institutions. Concurrently, the disruption in agriculture creates a greater dependency on food aid and imported grain staples from the US and other Western countries.
  The Bush administration has stated that it reserves the right to attack these countries preemptively, with a view to ensuring the security of the American homeland.
  Washington ''as part of its nuclear posture review'' has threatened several countries including China and Russia with pre-emptive nuclear strikes. One would assume that the same targeting of rogue states exists with regard to the use of weather modification techniques''.
  While there is no evidence of the use of weather warfare against rogue states, the policy guidelines on ''weather intervention techniques'' have already been established and the technology is fully operational.
  Table 3: Unusual Weather Occurrences: North Korea, Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq
  North Korea
  Recurrent flooding and drought often in the same year has hit North Korea since 1995, 220,000 people died in the ensuing famine, according to Pyongyang's own figures. U.S. figures place the number of deaths resulting from famine at 2 million.
  The first major flooding occurred in 1995.
  There were floods and drought in 1999. The serious water shortage resulting from the 1999 drought was conducive to the destruction of crops.
  ''The temperature of water in rice fields goes beyond 40 degrees and the tall rice plants fresh from the rice seedling beds are withering. In particular, nearly all after-crop maize seedlings and seeds are perishing,'' it added.
  In 2001, in June there was an extensive drought with rainfall just 10% of normal levels, which served to undermine agricultural crops. And then a few months later, in October, there were extensive floodings leading to the further destruction of rice harvests and a crisis situation in food distribution.
  ''Officials in Kangwon province '' an area which already suffers food shortages '' say the impact of the torrential rain and flooding has been devastating. The normal recorded rainfall for October should be around 20mm. But in the worst-affected areas 400mm (18 inches) of rain fell in just 12 hours. ''It was the worst flooding we've had since records began in 1910,'' said Kim Song Hwan, head of the government's Flood Damage Rehabilitation Committee for the region. (BBC, 23 Oct 2001, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1614981.stm )
  Cuba
  For several years Cuba has been affected by recurrent droughts. In 1998, rainfall in Eastern Cuba was at its lowest level since 1941.
  A United Nations team estimated 539,000 people, 280,000 of them farmers, were directly affected by reduced availability of food or reduced income through production losses. Some reported effects are: hunger in areas; a loss of up to 14% of the sugar cane crop planted last year and a reduction in this spring's planted crops, since rains were not sufficient for some seeds to germinate (which will reduce next year's crop); as much as 42% losses in food staples such as root vegetables, beans, bananas, and rice in the five eastern provinces; and livestock, poultry, and egg production losses
  (UN Relief, http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/0/2975570e60ff2a7685256680005a8e2d?OpenDocument )
  In 2003, a devastating drought hit the Western part of Cuba
  In 2004 May-June, the country is hit by the worst drought in its history:
  ''A severe drought enveloping eastern Cuba has eroded 40 percent of the farmland, starved thousands of heads of cattle and has close to 4 million people counting every drop of water they consume.'' The drought is described as the worst in 40 years.
  ''The drought has robbed underground water levels of some 10 feet over the past 10 years, leaving over 5,000 wells across the province dry,'' said Leandro Bermudez, a geologist and the second man at Cuba's National Institute of Hydraulic Resources. (MSNBC, 21 June 2004 http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5262324
  The cities are running out of water. According to the Independent, ''Drought is bringing Cuba to its knees
  Unnoticed by the world, the longest dry period for decades has brought much of Cuba to its knees. Could this be the crisis that finally destroys Fidel's revolution?
  ''All across central and eastern Cuba, farmers, ranchers, city dwellers and government officials are scrambling to deal with a punishing drought that began a decade ago and intensified in the last two years.
  Although traditionally arid, the provinces of Holguin, Camaguey and Las Tunas hold some of Cuba's finest pasture and farmland and have long been crucial to this communist nation's dairy, beef and agricultural industries.
  More than 12,500 cattle have died in Holguin alone in 2004 and milk production has fallen 20 percent. The price of beans, plantains, sweet potatoes and other staples has soared in private markets.
  The drought has caused millions of dollars in losses and officials are spending millions more digging wells, building a water pipeline and taking other measures to try to ease the crisis '' huge sums in an impoverished nation struggling through tough economic times and a battle with the United States.
  Officials also have moved thousands of cattle to more fertile areas and are working furiously to finish a 32-mile pipeline that will draw water to Holguin city from Cuba's largest river, the Cauto. The $5 million pipeline could be completed next month. (Chicago Tribune, July 29, 2004, http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/9271316.htm )
  The above report date to September 2004, it was published before, the hurricanes hit the Cuban coastline followed by torrential rains.
  Afghanistan and The former Soviet Republics of Central Asia
  The worst drought in Afghanistan history occurred in the three consecutive years prior to the onslaught of the US led invasion, from 1999 to 2001. The agricultural recovery of the 1990s, in the wake of the Soviet-Afghan war was brought to a standstill.
  In the wake of the US led 2001 invasion, the United States supplied Afghanistan with genetically modified wheat and appropriate types of fertilizer to be used with the GM wheat, which was said to be high yield drought resistant. The donation of GM wheat, however, also led to destabilizing the small peasant economy because the GM wheat varieties could not reproduced locally. In 2002, famines which were barely reported by the media, swept the country.
  Similar although less severe conditions prevailed in the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
  Like Afghanistan, Tajikistan has had its infrastructure ruined by prolonged civil war with Muslim fundamentalists. Since then, the worst regional drought in 74 years has destroyed food crops over a large part of the nation, rendering almost half of the 6.2 million people in the country vulnerable to the threat of famine and disease, up from 3 million last year. About the only portion of the economy that has been unaffected is the drug trade. Tajikistan is the transit route for 65 to 85 percent of heroin smuggled out of Afghanistan, the world's largest producer.(http://www.americanfreepress.net/Mideast/Drought__Desperation_Breed_Vio/drought__desperation_breed_vio.html ]
  Triggered by the lowest rainfall (2001) in living memory, vast tracts of Iran, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan are being reduced to desert as the water table sinks, long-established wells dry up and herds of livestock perish.
  The crisis appears to fulfill alarming climate change predictions suggesting that states along the old Silk Road will experience steeper rises in temperature than any other region on earth. By the end of the century it will be 5C hotter in an area which regularly sees the thermometer soar above 40C.
  The study, published last year by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia, predicted that Asian countries from Kazakhstan to Saudi Arabia will warm up more than twice as much as others. ''Several states,'' the report added, ''including Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran, [are facing] famine.''
  In Tajikistan, the United Nations appealed for aid to avert disaster. ''Substantial foreign aid is needed or else there will be a large-scale famine,'' said Matthew Kahane, the UN's humanitarian aid coordinator, speaking from the capital, Dushanbe.
  ''The country has had its lowest rainfall for 75 years. Families who survived last year by selling their cows and chickens now have no other means of coping. Some households have sold the glass out of their windows and the wooden beams from their roofs to raise money for food.''
  (The Guardian, 0ct 30, 2001, http://www.guardian.co.uk/famine/story/0,12128,736902,00.html )
  Iraq
  In 1999, Iraq suffered its worst drought of the century, with the effect of triggering an even greater dependence on imported grain under the oil for food program. There was a drop of up to 70 percent in domestic yields of wheat, barley and other cereals, which served to further weaken the country's economy, crippled by economic sanctions and the routine bombing by allied aircraft in the no-fly zones.
  A similar (although less serious) situation prevailed in Syria and Iran, marked by significant declines in agricultural output.
  Related Global Research Articles on Weather Warfare
  Michel Chossudovsky, Washington's New World Order Weapons Have the Ability to Trigger Climate Change, Jan 2001, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO201A.html
  Vladimir V. Sytin, Secret Use of Weather Modification Techniques by US Air Force? August 2003, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/SYT308A.html
  Interfax,.US Could Dominate The Planet if It Deploys This Weapon In Space, CRG, August 2002, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/INT208A.html
  Scott Gilbert, Environmental Warfare and US Foreign Policy: The Ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction, January 2004, http://globalresearch.ca/articles/GIL401A.html
  Bob Fitrakis, Rods from Gods: The insanity of Star Wars, 24 June 2004, http://globalresearch.ca/articles/FIT407A.html
  Did a Secret Military Experiment Cause the 2003 Blackout? 7 September 2003, http://globalresearch.ca/articles/ANA309A.html
Cybersecurity Threats, Part 3
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  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:03
  National Journal
  Innovation in Cybersecurity]Moderator: {Biography below}Steve Clemons, Washington Editor at Large, The Atlantic, Editor-in-Chief, Atlantic LIVEPanelists: {Biographies below}Dr. Catherine Lotrionte, .. Read More
  Innovation in Cybersecurity]Moderator: {Biography below}Steve Clemons, Washington Editor at Large, The Atlantic, Editor-in-Chief, Atlantic LIVEPanelists: {Biographies below}Dr. Catherine Lotrionte, Executive Director, Georgetown's Institute for Law, Science, and Global SecurityPaul Nguyen, Vice President of Cyber Solutions, Knowledge Consulting Group (KCG)
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France to have toughest budget in 30 years
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  Source: euronews
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:03
  It is France's turn to feel the cold wind of austerity following the publication of the Socialists' first budget.
  It aims to raise 30 billion euros from higher taxes and savings in public spending to get the budget deficit down to three percent of GDP by the end of next year.
  There will be higher taxes on the rich, but none of the structural reforms forced upon the Greek, Portuguese or Spanish governments.
  ''In this Europe whose orientation is changing, France has a particular role to play'... and what we're doing today with the budget is a major policy move, an act of confidence, an act of mobilisation,'' said Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.
  France has not had a budget surplus since 1974, and is taking this step to shore up market confidence in its economy and bolster the euro. But with no growth and climbing unemployment, is it the right time to hit the brakes?
  ''This is a budget that will cause a recession in our country. Taxes will hit companies and then they will not invest more and create more jobs. They will hit households and then they will consume less so that will not create more jobs,'' said the opposition UMP's former budget minister Valerie Precresse.
  Unemployment in September hit a 13-year high, with a rising number of long-term and young unemployed. The French have never been slow to take to the streets to protest; how long will it be before they challenge the government?
  More about:France, French budget, French economy, PoliticsCopyright (C) 2012 euronews
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This Week in Review: A limp response to plagiarism, and a proposed tax to save newspapers
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  Source: Nieman Journalism Lab
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:01
  rG|4<[á¯º^~x.xn,a"hboe29aa-MJIužÛNt)$>J&vM(l_B-@JM5SoI* 96,&^1|1'2bÑ¸ð­4 z;&-8Cs'd4Q|!>be2&,Dx$RŸqi(N-ß'u;Je½ohi"&1:)7^xç>>´h|O WDß�y('x7n$xÖ¨o:_U-hÝ�I5yM tvÖ'J+*#W~SZC�I{D=Nv;;QNÏ­%_?Ù¤B-$U;Ç~Lik?tbu3'bgxÕ®c6ÆAlSlL{W2k<èšed`Ë KNÄ >,Kp&H[F83K"!I3ofE+2dDd!0b0Xj9IX5Û²ç¯¨Êž]O[19z'B+ß"x{toIlcd{v-OU'r%?eQ]vÇ£YE_XbpIÑ–~*_0Û·ÄŠ#;``_7]4%*KF?&nOg'u*>4:E7$Þ‹ixjF¹�CD5OÆ¾T4'[VLzRqnÞŸ:OI![iVXVx~gPJP|}Qui0Q~Þ' #f^XØ¤/n66Æ¾Ä}''{|( %3{M{ÝF!#MÅ´jÊ›Kw{:\#:Ñ‰BGi|D4#7WPJKyOWm}a0W}afefÉrtf&gC'&AF<*if2n3i1vZAzu~^^Nl 'L5{VN 5M"1cIc&FÈ'?7QEÍDI#0A4~$":}985u@RO \$aQxxh$h,NO?-w?MYb{*z39<frOP_0=5bO }Zg-/ Z(J,og=>m½>spw$Ç"w=Pm\8F<é´Ž8M'_e~)g$u/f5 kZM
BofA to pay $2.43 billion to settle shareholder lawsuit
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:00
  BofA to pay $2.43 billion to settle shareholder lawsuitTop News
  BofA to pay $2.43 billion to settle shareholder lawsuit
  Fri, Sep 28 10:19 AM EDT
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp agreed on Friday to pay $2.43 billion to settle a shareholder lawsuit over its 2008 buyout of Merrill Lynch in one of the largest-ever settlements of a securities fraud class action.
  The bank said it expects to incur total litigation expenses of about $1.6 billion in the third quarter ending September 30. That expense and a U.K. tax charge are expected to hurt the bank's earnings by about 28 cents per share for the quarter, it said.
  The pact also calls for the bank to make changes to its corporate governance through January 1, 2015.
  The lawsuit filed in 2009 contended Bank of America and its officers made false or misleading statements about the financial health of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch before the acquisition, leading the bank's stock price to tumble when the facts were revealed.
  Bank of America denied the allegations and said it settled to end the long drawn-out litigation.
  "Resolving this litigation removes uncertainty and risk and is in the best interests of our shareholders," Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said in a statement.
  Bank of America shares slipped 11 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $8.86 on the New York Stock Exchange.
  In a research note, banking analyst David Trone of JMP Securities said the settlement was "far larger than we expected given the weak merits of such suits and historical precedence."
  The deal, which requires court approval, heads off a trial that had been set to begin before U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan on October 22. The settlement was reached after discussions led by a mediator, former U.S. District Judge Layn Phillips, lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a statement.
  A hearing has been scheduled to discuss the settlement at 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT) Friday, according to a courtroom deputy in Castel's chambers.
  Lead plaintiffs included the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.
  "Not only did we accomplish an excellent financial recovery, but other companies will look at the result here and think twice about not fully disclosing all necessary information to their shareholders," Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement.
  Bank of America is scheduled to report third-quarter results on October 17.
  (Reporting by Martha Graybow in New York, Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware, Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, and Tanya Agrawal in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane and Jeffrey Benkoe)
  BofA to pay $2.43 billion to settle shareholder lawsuitTop News
  BofA to pay $2.43 billion to settle shareholder lawsuit
  Fri, Sep 28 10:19 AM EDT
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp agreed on Friday to pay $2.43 billion to settle a shareholder lawsuit over its 2008 buyout of Merrill Lynch in one of the largest-ever settlements of a securities fraud class action.
  The bank said it expects to incur total litigation expenses of about $1.6 billion in the third quarter ending September 30. That expense and a U.K. tax charge are expected to hurt the bank's earnings by about 28 cents per share for the quarter, it said.
  The pact also calls for the bank to make changes to its corporate governance through January 1, 2015.
  The lawsuit filed in 2009 contended Bank of America and its officers made false or misleading statements about the financial health of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch before the acquisition, leading the bank's stock price to tumble when the facts were revealed.
  Bank of America denied the allegations and said it settled to end the long drawn-out litigation.
  "Resolving this litigation removes uncertainty and risk and is in the best interests of our shareholders," Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said in a statement.
  Bank of America shares slipped 11 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $8.86 on the New York Stock Exchange.
  In a research note, banking analyst David Trone of JMP Securities said the settlement was "far larger than we expected given the weak merits of such suits and historical precedence."
  The deal, which requires court approval, heads off a trial that had been set to begin before U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan on October 22. The settlement was reached after discussions led by a mediator, former U.S. District Judge Layn Phillips, lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a statement.
  A hearing has been scheduled to discuss the settlement at 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT) Friday, according to a courtroom deputy in Castel's chambers.
  Lead plaintiffs included the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio, the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.
  "Not only did we accomplish an excellent financial recovery, but other companies will look at the result here and think twice about not fully disclosing all necessary information to their shareholders," Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement.
  Bank of America is scheduled to report third-quarter results on October 17.
  (Reporting by Martha Graybow in New York, Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware, Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, and Tanya Agrawal in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane and Jeffrey Benkoe)
Obama Hell is Come
  Link to Article
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:56
  Here am I quite serious in this, the only thing between Mitt Romney and his defeat in 2012 is this blog, and this blog is hard pressed in keeping that sinking schooner from being swamped.
  I will not vote for Mitt Romney, period. As long as he is an apostate and is doing what he is doing deliberately. In pointing out facts though about B. Hussein Obama, this blog is all that has kept Romney in this race.It is more difficult than even 2008 as there are not stalwart Americans like Lawrence Sinclair coming forward to take the fire.
  I'm telling Mitt Romney the best advice he will get for his debate AGAIN. The following headlines tell the tale and Romney knows what is coming as he is in business like his Wall Street Insider who is preparing to flee America instead of being a man and donating to this blog the funds necessary to prove he cares in hitting back at this hard to save the remnant, because Jews are the top of the list in the Obama retaliation.
  This blog exclusively warned that the Obama powers have been keeping the lid on the economic catastrophe which is being engineered in Europe, for the time after the elections in which this will spread to Europe.
  Do the math my children or I will do it for you. What happens when 100 million consumers in lower Europe suddenly have no money?It sets off a shock wave that Obama and Bernanke money dumping will not solve as there is not enough phoney money to print up to fill this gap, as it rolls into America.
  Spain is being fractured to the point of it's breaking apart. Greece is in fiery ruins. This is by design so the central European aristocracy will not have any competition for the NeoRoman order which the Bible states will have a Vatican false prophet taking over the Catholic faith and a hinted at Greek leader in this New Roman Order who will be doing real miracles to deceive people.
  Barack Obama is the precursor or catalyst to the anti Christ. Now Mitt Romney can not tell the world this or he will be smeared as this blog is attacked by sinners in not being of a Prophet as the sinners do not want to face the reality there is a real God.
  Obama has told you that he intends to tax the hell out of you and France taxing 75% of their people's wealth means that will come to America. Just look at Venezuela when Hugo Chavez pulled like economics and you soon see that all the people with money pack up and leave......like the Wall Street Insider is doing and they leave all of you to the gulag.Without that static capital remaining in countries spending money on things the poor can not, LIKE BACKING BLOGS to get the word out, thee entire structure starts to stagnate and the dictator cements power under his or her police state as in Argentina.
  The world has never witnessed anything like what is coming, as there has not been such debt as Obama has engulfed America in.England is not worried as they are prepared and out of the zone. This will fall on America as intended and the day inflation hits 3 percent in America as in Europe, is the day the Economic Tsunami hits.
  These criminals have kept interest rates low so they can steal money and keep stealing it in these record debts Obama is creating. If interest rates had been NORMAL, they would have regulated this as the country would have been shut down years ago.
  You read that as a Lame Cherry exclusive as NO ONE has ever spoke of this. Interest rates are what keep goverments in line from massive debt. When these crooks manipulated the rates to steal money, all the safeguards were off as they robbed you for your saving's account moneys due you.Interest rates now should be running 35% easily to make up for the money Obama has looted. When the pressures start on this and they will, as in reality inflation in America has been running 10%, and for energy it has been topping 20%, the 2013 cycle that this blog warned about months ago EXCLUSIVELY, is going to make you want to vomit.
  The advice to Mitt Romney is simple. In the debate, simply state what is taking place in Europe which Obama had a hand in engineering dumping in trillions of dollars illegally as Americans suffered without jobs.
  TELL THEM MITT THAT THE FIRES OF EUROPE ARE COMING TO AMERICA AND THE DECISION IS DO AMERICANS WANT THE OBAMA THAT DID NOT FIX THIS MESS OR DO THEY WANT A ROMNEY WHO WILL SAVE THE WORLD FROM THE OBAMA SUPER DEPRESSION DOUBLE DIP TWO!.
  I have done all the work for you elite ungrateful bastards and none of you have bothered to pony up. God is hearing about this and He will contend for this blog as He always does. The people though Mr. Romney have to be prepared for what is coming in someone telling them the Abyss of these Obama policies looting the US Treasury.
  You lay this on Obama NOW, so if you get this stolen Mr. Romney the riot crowds are screaming for him and not your neck. You can exile Obama to Albania and wait it out, but your policies are not going to fix any of this Mr. Romney and you know it as I explained it all here.
  Obama hell is come. It is not coming. I warned only bits and pieces of America would remain for Sarah Palin to put together and she is not here to mend the body parts.
  The global feudal state has the key in the lock about ready to make the tumblers fall.
  agtG 342YY
Vergeet Facebook, Twitter is de toekomst
  Link to Article
  Source: FTM - Follow The Money
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:54
  Hallo sociaal media-gebruiker: ietwat vermoeid geraakt van Facebook maar steeds meer verslingerd aan Twitter? Techconsultant en Forbes-commentator Eric Jackson kijkt hier niet van gek op. Sterker nog, op de site van het Amerikaanse zakenblad Forbes betoogt hij dat Facebook zijn beste tijd heeft gehad en die van sociaal media-concurrent Twitter nog moet beginnen.
  Social mediaconcern Twitter is van meet af aan groot geworden in de schaduw van gigant Facebook, stelt Jackson. De beursgenoteerde multinational van Mark Zuckerberg is nu $ 60 miljard waard. Financile analisten schatten de waarde van Twitter op $ 8,4 miljard.
  De afgelopen twaalf maanden waren de opbrengsten van Facebook goed voor $ 4,33 miljard. Die score was lager dan Yahoo heeft gerealiseerd in dezelfde periode. Marktvorsers van eMarketer verwachten voor dit jaar dat de mobiel-gerelateerde opbrengsten van Twitter in de buurt van $ 130 miljoen komen.
  Twitter nu al 'groter' dan FacebookVanuit het perspectief van marktaandelen en verwachte opbrengsten heeft Twitter minimaal nog vier te jaar gaan om Facebook te achterhalen. En toch is Twitter in een aantal opzichten al 'groter' dan Facebook.
  Ten eerste zijn de mobiele inkomsten bijna het dubbele van die van Facebook, ook al beweent het sociaal mediaconcern van Zuckerberg gemiddeld zeven keer zo veel gebruikers te hebben. Volgens eMarkers zal Twitter in 2012 de mobiele opbrengsten uit advertentie-inkomsten zien stijgen naar $ 130 miljoen, terwijl Facebook blijft op dit front steken bij $70 miljoen.
  En dat doet er wel degelijk toe want een wereld zonder mobieltjes is ondenkbaar. Daar gebeurt het en daar willen adverteerders graag deel van uit maken
  Facebook mag dan ter verdediging aanvoeren dat het zeven keer zo veel gebruikers heeft als Twitter maar dat zegt niet zoveel volgens. De echte vraag moet zijn: Stel dat Facebook gelijk heeft op dit punt, waarom is Twitter er dan in geslaagd om Facebook met bijna het dubbele te overtroeven met mobiele inkomsten ?
  Tech consultant en Forbes-commentator Eric Jackson
  Juiste DNA voor mobiele marktHet antwoord hierop is eenvoudig volgens Forbes: Facebook zag ooit het licht om uit te groeien tot een groot websitebedrijf maar nu moet het concern zich razendsnel transformeren aan een wereld die steeds meer mobieler worden. De juiste DNA voor de mobiele markt heeft Facebook niet in huis.
  Twitter is daarentegen begonnen als mobiel internetbedrijf of dat nu komt door dom geluk of door geniaal inzicht. Dankzij de limiet van 140 tekens per boodschap, heeft Twitter nooit operationele problemen gehad. De mobiele variant van Facebook heeft in het verleden daarentegen meerdere kuren vertoond.
  Bovendien blijken te weinig mobiele Facebook-gebruikers trek te hebben om te surfen naar advertentie-pagina's. En dus gaan adverteerders naar internetpodia waar consumenten op hun voorwaarden met hen kunnen communiceren.
  Twitter meer 'hot' dan FacebookMaar ook op een ander cruciaal punt scoort Twitter beter dan Facebook. Anno 2012 is Twitter meer hot dan Facebook, betoogt Jackson.
  Hoe dat zo? Vergelijk Facebook maar eens met andere internetgiganten in de afgelopen jaren. Yahoo mag dan meer omzet maken dan Facebook, in mei van dit jaar oordeelden financile analisten dat het concern van Zuckerberg in potentie vijf keer zo veel waard is dan Yahoo. En bijna iedereen onderschreef deze visie dat Facebook meer hot is dan Yahoo.
  MySpaceIn 2006 oordeelden analisten dat MySpace veel meer hot is dan Facebook. Maar dat oordeel moest snel worden bijgesteld. Toen Yahoo tevergeefs poogde poging om Facebook voor 1 miljard euro in te lijven, werd het bedrijf van Zuckerberg uitgeroepen tot de meest waardevolle en aantrekkelijke sociale netwerksite ter wereld. Sindsdien is Facebook als kool gegroeid, terwijl het gebruik van MySpace in gestaag tempo is afgenomen.
  Daarmee doelt Jackson vooral op de forse daling van het aantal gebruikers van Myspace sinds september 2008. Behoorde MySpace vijf jaar geleden tot de vier meest bezochte sites ter wereld, een jaar later is het Amerikaanse sociale netwerkpodium gezakt naar een veertiende stek op deze lijst.
  Dertig procent minder Facebook-bezoekersHet afgelopen kwartaal lijkt Facebook nu ook zijn MySpace-moment te ondergaan, stelt commentator Jackson in Forbes. Een interne bron had hem ingefluisterd dat het paginabezoek van Facebook met dertig procent is gedaald in augustus in vergelijking met de dezelfde periode in 2011.
  Daarnaast stelt Jackson dat steeds meer gebruikers voor news updates Facebook inruilen voor Twitter. Een ander nadeel dat er aan Facebook kleeft is de 'sociale component' in zijn ogen. Zijn facebook-pagina is vooral een verzamelplaats van collega's en vrienden, waarvan de meesten voor het laatst in het echt zijn gesignaleerd tijdens zijn middelbare schoolperiode. En de opgetekende updates van deze laatste groep - zoals hun weekendbelevenissen - kunnen Jackson eigenlijk gestolen worden.
  Daarentegen heeft Twitter een 'interesse-component', stelt Jackson. Gebruikers van Twitter geven veel meer informatie prijs over zichzelf door hun keuze van de te volgen andere Twitteraars en hun keuze voor de topics die ze volgen en becommentariren. Deze gegevens zijn uiteindelijk een schat aan informatie waard voor adverteerders, oordeelt Jackson.
  Twitter vs Facebook: wordt Twitter sterker en Facebook zwakker?
  Interesse-component waardevoller dan sociale componentZakelijk gezien is deze interesse-component waardevoller dan de sociale component. Anders gezegd: Twitter heeft hiermee een machtiger wapen in handen dan Facebook volgens Jackson.
  Nick Bilton, tech blogger van The New York Times, moet het roerend eens zijn met zijn Forbes-collega. Een recente tweet van Bilton liegt er in elk geval niet om: 'People start out addicted to Facebook, and then become fatigued', On Twitter, they start out fatigued, and then become addicted.'
  Breekpunt populariteit Facebook nabijMochten we met zijn allen steeds meer geneigd zijn om Twitter cooler te vinden dan Facebook en hieraan onze online gewoontes gaan aanpassen, dan is het breekpunt van de grote populariteit van Facebook nabij, zo voorspelt Jackson. Om er aan toe te voegen dat we dit binnen zes tot twaalf maanden kunnen we dat met zekerheid kunnen vaststellen.
  Maar het instinct van Jackson zegt hem al meer dan genoeg. Wat hem betreft is Facebook allang gepasseerd door Twitter als het gaat om de 'cool factor'. Een sociale website die eenmaal aan de cool factor moet inboeten, is gezien zo leert de internetgeschiedenis. Want als de klad komt in de cool factor, dan gebeurt dat ook met gebruik, opbrengsten en uiteindelijk winst. Internetconcerns MySpace en Flickr weten hier per slot van rekening alles van.
  (L)
Brazil Fines YouTube for Not Censoring Mohammed Video; FOX News Lies About it
  Link to Article
  Source: Debbie Schlussel
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:45
  By Debbie Schlussel
  Brazil said it will fine YouTube owner Google daily, until and unless it removes the anti-Mohammed video trailer for ''Innocence of Muslims.'' In a completely separate story, Brazil detained the Brazilian chief of Google, after a judge said that videos it hosted violated local Brazilian local election laws. But the Brazilian fines over the anti-Mohammed video were apparently not sensationalistic enough for FOX News, so it lied and posted a headline that screams, ''Brazil Detains Google Chief over anti-Islam YouTube Clip,'' which is a complete falsehood. In fact, the Google exec, Fabio Jose Silva Coelho, has since been released from Brazilian custody, and the anti-Mohammed trailer remains up in Brazil (though YouTube was blacked out for 24 hours). The fine and the detention were two separate actions, and FOX News knows better, but just like the liberal mainstream media, the ''conservative'' mainstream media lie whenever they feel like it.
  This is why you can trust FOX News''which also called Egypt, ''America's closest ally in the Middle East,'' and called Israel's capital, ''Occupied East Jerusalem,'' among other FOX News lies against Israel''as much as you can trust, MSNBC, CNN, and Al-Jazeera. The fine of $5,000 per day because of the anti-Mohammed video is enough of an outrage. But FOX News lied to make it a bigger story. Fair and balanced? Not even close. They distort, you decide. Sadly, as with the viewers of MSNBC, CNN, and Al-Jazeera, the FOX News viewers can be characterized as, ''FOX News claims, you blindly ingest, no questions asked.''
  More:
  Google Inc.'s head of operations in Brazil was detained by the country's federal police Wednesday after the company failed to heed a judge's order to take down YouTube videos that the court ruled violate Brazilian electoral law.
  The detention came as another court ordered YouTube to remove clips of an anti-Islam film that has been blamed for deadly protests by Muslims around the globe, both joining a spate of court-ordered content-removal cases against Google's video-sharing website in Brazil.
  The arrest of Google executive Fabio Jose Silva Coelho was announced in Sao Paulo. . . . Brazil's strict electoral laws limit what critics can say on television, radio and the Internet about candidates for office. Ahead of municipal elections next month, Google has received repeated requests to remove Web videos that allegedly violate those restrictions.
  A judge in Mato Grosso do Sul state ordered Coelho's arrest Tuesday because the company had not removed YouTube videos that make incendiary comments about an alleged paternity suit aimed at Alcides Bernal, who is running for mayor of the city of Campo Grande. That ruling also included a statewide, 24-hour suspension of Google and YouTube. . . .
  A judge in the southern state of Parana earlier ordered Google to pay $500,000 for each day that it balked at fulfilling an order to remove other videos criticizing a candidate. In the northeastern state of Paraiba, a judge ordered the imprisonment of another Google executive in Brazil, also for not removing videos from YouTube attacking a mayoral candidate, but that order was overruled by a higher court. . . .
  In a separate case pending against Google, Sao Paulo-based judge Gilson Delgado Miranda gave the site 10 days to remove video clips from ''Innocence of Muslims,'' which has angered many Muslims around the world by its depiction of the Prophet Mohammed and his followers as thugs. After the 10-day window, Google will face fines of $5,000 a day for every day the clips remain accessible in Brazil, according to the statement on the court's website.
  Clearly, Google's Brazilian chief was NOT detained over the Islam video. But the fact that Google will be fined unless it removes the video is outrageous enough (though not, apparently, for FOX News, which fabricated to make it even more outrageous).
  And keep in mind that YouTube and Google are no paragons of free speech, as the subsidiary and its parent have already censored the video from view in many Islamic countries, per government ''requests'' or demands. When Muslims reach critical mass here, they will ban such videos in the West or just altogether from all of YouTube. These are not brave people. Just capitalist-without-principle whores.
  By the way, the Brazilian flag reads ''Ordem e Progresso,'' which means ''Order and Progress. Looks like they're more interested in order than progress there. A more accurate flag would read, ''Order and Regress.'' For all the plastic surgery, free love, and topless beaches there, they've regressed back to the age of the Nazis and earlier.
Poop Transplants Save Lives (Fecal, Stool)
  Link to Article
  Source: Uploads by ARSONomics
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:44
Arash Durrani: ''Model/Actor'' Disrupts Cross-Country Flight; Guess the Religion
  Link to Article
  Source: Debbie Schlussel
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:41
  By Debbie Schlussel
  A creepy-looking model/actor, named Arash Durrani, disrupted a flight from Chicago to California's Orange County and had to be held down for three-hours by SEVEN male passengers. Oh, and did I mention that Arash Durrani is usually a Pakistani name and that almost all Pakis are Muslim? Well, none of the news stories did. So, I have to. But don't worry, they are already working the ''he was drunk'' angle, as if Muslims never drink to hide their real plans. Yup, Mohammed Atta and the other 9/11 hijackers nevah evah took a sip of ''the infidel juice'' while they were ogling and sleeping with strippers and prostitutes (same difference) at ''The Pink Pony'' and while in Vegas, right?
  Flight Disrupter Arash ''Ash'' Durrani
  Here's a tip: he wouldn't be the first ''model/actor'' Muslim involved in a sinister plot. Durrani's Internet Movie Database bio (which, it appears, he wrote) says he was born in Virginia, went to a fancy prep school, and interned at the U.S. Court of Appeals. So what? Look at the history of some of our other homegrown Islamic terrorists, such as Nidal Malik Hasan. I'd love to know who this guy's parents are and what they taught their son. Or how many trips any of them has taken back to Pakistan. Below is one of several cheesy bikini videos he directed (none of which has had a lot of viewers).
  Here's more on the adventures of Ash Durrani, who looks like he just auditioned for the Bollywood version of the Chippendales:
  Several people on board a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Orange County had to restrain an unruly man who was reportedly threatening fellow passengers, the FBI said.
  FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller identified the man as 26-year old Arash Durrani, 26, also known as Ash.
  According to Eimiller, Durrani was taken into custody when the plane landed and will be charged with interference with a flight crew, a federal offense.
  The incident began about 45 minutes into the flight from O'Hare Airport to John Wayne.
  Passenger Nona Pitts told KTLA that Durrani appeared to have been drinking heavily and wouldn't leave her alone.
  ''He pulled me back and goes, 'Nona, give me a kiss,' and I said, 'Listen, you're really drunk. Get away from me,''' Pitts, the owner of Salon 5150 in Brea said.
  ''He was on something. And a lot of alcohol that they probably shouldn't have given him, because as soon as you got on, he was already drunk,'' she said.
  Pitts said that Durrani had prescription drugs in his backpack and was drinking heavily.
  That's when he started yelling and walking up and down the aisle, confronting passengers and flight attendants.
  ''He gets up and starts pacing back and forth, getting in people's faces,'' Pitts said. ''People are telling him to sit down. He's bugging the flight attendants, wanting more alcohol.''
  ''Now he's getting belligerent, he gets up in front of a couple guy's faces and they tell him to sit down,'' Pitts recalled. ''They escort him back, and he gets back up.''
  Eventually, Durrani's verbal and physical outbursts got so bad that seven male passengers had to subdue him.
  ''People were taking their belts to try to tie him up, and it was still hard to restrain him,'' Pitts said. ''He was very, very strong.''
  Another passenger, David Truong, a jeweler from Westminster, sat on Durrani for much of the flight.
  ''He was trying to punch us, kick us,'' Truong related. ''He broke a chair.''
  According to IMBd.com, Durrani is an actor, model and founder of GROW Clothing, a company geared toward promoting awareness of social movements and charities.
  He is believed to have residences in both Virginia and California.
  Hmmm . . . a Z-movie actor no one ever heard of, and yet he has enough cash to have residences on both coasts. Where did he get the money? And what was he really doing on that plane? If you believe the ''prescription drugs/drank heavily'' BS, think again. Sometimes''many times''it's all part of the ruse . . . and the plan.
  These guys aren't complete idiots. They test the system and do dry runs on a regular basis. And this certainly looks to be one. Funny how there are such a high percent of ''he drank too much/he has mental issues'' Muslims who engage in this behavior on planes. On this basis, if it's not the religion of terrorism, then it's certainly the religion of the completely insane.
  They are less than two percent of the U.S. population and yet they are over 80% of the disrupters on flights. That's not a statistical anomaly. It's the fruition of a religion that preaches and perpetrates hate. Plain and simple.
  Video Directed by Arash ''Ash'' Durrani . . .
Life imitates satire as Spain descends into surreal parody
  Link to Article
  Source: A diary of deception and distortion
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:37
  The German population found itself last night in ignorance of the Madrid anti-austerity violence during the day. Neither of the public service TV broadcasters ARD & ZDF reported any riots in Spain during their evening news bulletins. We have no choice, in this specific context, but to rephrase 'public service' as 'State'. Lest anyone might think I'm blowing that blatant censorship out of proportion, ARD is the second biggest television broadcaster in the world after the BBC.
  I think we are entitled to ask today what the Hell is going on in the eurozone. For one thing is becoming horribly obvious: outcomes one thought suitable for satirical parody in the morning become fact before the day is done. I refer, of course, to the rapidly approaching socio-economic anarchy in Spain.
  In a bid to appease his wacky wannabe masters, Spanish economy minister Luis de Guindos claimed this morning that his fiscal reform plans exceeded the recommendations of the EU. The site Seeking Alpha opined that the boast 'is an important one as it means Spain can submit to a bailout without having to go through the politically difficult route of accepting EU conditions'.
  Sure enough, the de Guindos Spanish austerity plan got a massive thumbs-up from Brussels. EU economic chief and Shark's Finn Olli Rehn called it ''concrete, ambitious, and well-focused,'' proudly noting that it followed the recommendations made by the European Commission earlier this year to the letter. Seeking Alpha again suggested that 'his words suggest Spain can submit to a bailout without needing to agree to any more reforms than it's already imposed on itself'. This morning, I had posted this in jest:
  'But the Spaniards remain ahead of the curve when it comes to cunning economic planning. Their idea is to create their own bailout, by skinning the populace down to the bone, before they need to ask for an EU version.'
  What can I say to the many Spanish Sloggers who come here regularly, beyond, ''When Olli Rehn approves your economic strategy, be very, very afraid indeed''? Not a lot, I fancy.
  If only Rajoy and the other folks in Madrid could avoid Greece's mistake, and realise one irrefutable fact: they are giving in to a self-styled Herrenvolk internally divided to a degree that goes far beyond a joke.
  A leadership elite in Germany united behind the goal of lifting the eurozone out of its image as a blundering Brussels bollocks bunion would be '' whatever the rest of us think about the prospect '' unstoppable as a force. But the reality posted over and over ad nauseam at The Slog is that the eurozone impasse is insoluble as long as three deep divisions continue: that between Germany and France, that between Berlin and the Bankfurters, and that between the Bundesbank and the ECB.
  Yet there is something about ClubMed politicians '' an odd combination of deep-seated cultural insecurity and gravy-train greed '' that blinds them to their real power to do good for genuine liberty and democracy.
  On a more global basis, dissent continues to sour relations between Brussels, Frankfurt and Washington about the sustainability of the Greek debt, and within the Troika itself about which of them should bear the most weight of the elephant in the negotiating room: the European Central Bank, the eurozone member States, or the International Monetary Fund. These three brass monkeys in turn are as blind to the concept of debt forgiveness as Clubmedders are deaf to the roar of power galloping their way as a result of mineral and energy wealth discovered in their territorial waters.
  I confess to being baffled by the wooden analyses of the southern Europeans. And equally, I admit to having my suspicions about exactly what grubby bribery might be going on between predator hawks and depraved rats behind the scenes. But as to the result, I have no doubts at all: any smart-arsed conspirators north of Alsace who think they can control this bubbling magma are tragically deluded. Divide And Rule may be a sound policy on paper, but volcanic explosions overwhelm a million smug Pompeians.
  Earlier at The Slog: How neocon notions are failing three in four Britons.
Remarks at Feed the Future: Partnering with Civil Society
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:35
  SECRETARY CLINTON: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this event about Feed the Future and the work we are doing together. I am delighted to be here with someone whom I admire so much and am very enthusiastic about, and that is President Joyce Banda from Malawi. Thank you so much, my friend. (Applause.)
  And I want to thank Nick Kristof, who will moderate the discussion this morning, but I'm not thanking him for that. I want to thank him for covering all of those incredibly important issues, whether it's Feed the Future and increasing agricultural productivity '' but as a former farm boy, he understands and appreciates that '' or emphasizing human trafficking, as he did again in reporting on the President's historic speech at the Clinton Global Initiative. Nick had a column about Feed the Future, and I can't remember the exact title, but it was something like, ''the most boring program you've never heard of that's making a difference.'' (Laughter.) So Nick, thank you for staying the course with us and being '' swimming against the tide. There are headlines and there are trend lines, and sometimes we confuse the two, and oftentimes we neglect the trend lines for the headlines. And Nick hasn't done that, and we're very grateful to you.
  I also want to thank our partners from Burkina Faso who are here, including the Foreign Minister. Thank you, sir, for being here. I also want to thank the Minister of External Affairs from Sri Lanka. Thank you for being with us. And the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources from Burkina Faso.
  I want to acknowledge Dr. Raj Shah, the USAID Administrator, who has been hands-on and pushing forward on so many of the changes that we are bringing about. I want to thank my Chief of Staff and Counselor Cheryl Mills, who's been one of the driving forces behind what the United States has done. And I want to thank the Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, who is also here. Thank you.
  Now, you will get to hear more from a lot of these people. And a person that you just heard that you may not have known you were listening to, who narrated the video, Matt Damon. And I want thank Matt for once again lending his talent to helping us highlight this important issue.
  Now, this is the fourth time that we have gathered on the margins of the UN General Assembly to focus the world's attention on food security. In 2009, we reaffirmed the principles reflected in the L'Aquila Food Security Initiative, the international community's $22 billion pledge to support agricultural development worldwide, including the President Obama's pledge of $3.5 billion through what we were beginning to call our Feed the Future Initiative for global hunger and food security.
  In 2010, I launched the 1,000 Days partnership with Ireland, the United Nations, and other international partners to improve nutrition from pregnancy through a child's second birthday, which is critical for lifelong health and development.
  And then last year, we focused on supporting women in agriculture, because women often do the work at every link of the agricultural chain: They grow the food, they store it, they sell it, and prepare it. So we must ensure that women get the support they need if we are serious about improving food security.
  As a result of all the work of so many people over the last four years, food security is now at the top of our national and foreign policy agendas, as well as that of so many other nations in the world, because we understand it is a humanitarian and moral imperative, but it also directly relates to global security and stability. I've seen in my travels how increased investments in agriculture and nutrition are paying off in rising prosperity, healthier children, better markets, and stronger communities.
  So we meet here today knowing that progress is possible, is taking place. But I want to say a few words about our civil society partners, because along with the private sector, which already is giving unprecedented support to agricultural development in Africa, and now through our New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, are really increasing their investment and their collaboration.
  But civil society organizations are crucial to our success in both the public and the private sector. They have longstanding relationships in communities and valuable technical expertise, and they work every single day on their commitment to try to make the world a better place for all of us.
  So today, I am pleased to announce a new commitment by civil society groups: InterAction, an alliance of 198 U.S.-based organizations '' and Sam Worthington, its president, is here today '' is pledging more than $1 billion of private, nongovernmental funds over the next three years to improve food security and nutrition worldwide. (Applause.)
  Of this $1 billion, five U.S.-based organizations together have pledged to invest more than $900 million in this effort. They are World Vision, Heifer International, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, and ChildFund International. Let's give all five of these great organizations a round of applause. (Applause.)
  And just as these organizations hold governments accountable, they have agreed to be held accountable themselves. Starting in 2013, InterAction will make annual reports here at the UN General Assembly on its commitments and disbursements worldwide. And I am so grateful to InterAction and its members for their outstanding support and generosity.
  Let's keep in mind the principles that guide us. This week at the UN General Assembly, developing and developed countries together are emphasizing what we know to be true: Country ownership is critical to successful development. When developing countries themselves are in the lead, when programs are designed for their specific strengths and needs, when we work together to build capacity at the local level that can carry progress forward independently, and when new resources are brought to the table in a transparent, collaborative manner, that is the best strategy for achieving concrete, sustainable results. These commitments by civil society reflect this approach, and we all need to rededicate ourselves to it, not only in global food security, but more broadly as we work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and look beyond those deadlines to our long-term development work. I think we are on the right track, so we just have to keep pushing forward.
  Now this will be my last time chairing this meeting. A year from now I will be a private citizen again. But I want to take this opportunity to say to all of you how personally gratifying this work has been for me, as Secretary of State and as an old NGO activist myself, going back more years than I care to remember. I so believe in it and I am so grateful to all of you who have devoted your time and energy and resources to this shared mission.
  Now let me recognize and introduce someone who I have a great admiration for and someone who's been an inspirational leader to all those who work on food security worldwide. She started her own civil society organizations in Malawi, and I was so pleased to be able to visit her a short time ago and see the progress she's making, hear more about her plans, go out and visit some women in a dairy cooperative, deliver a big bull to them, which had all kinds of double meanings '' (laughter) '' but nevertheless, it seemed to be the right thing to do. And I am delighted that we're going to have a conversation with Nick, and so Nick Kristof, please kick it off.
  MR. KRISTOF: Thanks very much. And let me just say that there's also, I think, a larger significance to this than just the content of the discussion. It really is, it seems to me, kind of remarkable that during the busiest diplomatic week of the annual calendar that we should be having this conversation not about those issues in the headlines, as you said, but about the trend lines, about some of the '' about how to address the needs in some of the world's most vulnerable people. And thanks to both of you for hosting this event in that sense.
  President Banda, let me ask you a question for starters: We're focusing today in part on power of civil society. You very much emerged from the civil society; that was where your career came from. And since you became President, I've heard little scattered bits and pieces about your career origins and I think it had something to do at some point with going to a USAID office. In journalism we have an expression that some stories are too good check '' (laughter) '' and so I'm a little nervous to ask you. Maybe it will be more banal than that. But can you tell us a little bit about how you did come to emerge as a civil society player before you became President?
  PRESIDENT BANDA: Thank you very much distinguished ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure to share this podium with a very good old friend and a friend of Africa. I start my story from being married early, spending ten years in an abusive marriage, and then later on going shopping again and finding a better husband. (Laughter.)
  It was very clear in my mind at that point that I think what had gone wrong is that I was not prepared for marriage and I was not economically empowered. So having corrected that bit of my own life, with great risk '' it almost killed my mom '' I began to look back and wondered what was happening to most of those women who are locked up in abusive situations but didn't have the courage to walk out. Because socially, as an African woman, you need to '' you want to remain married, because that's the right thing to do. You don't walk away from an abusive relationship. It doesn't make sense. So you stick there, but I walked out.
  What was happening to the rest of the women who wished to walk out but couldn't? As I was being bothered by these thoughts, at that point I was economically empowered myself, running one of the largest industrial garment manufacturing industries owned by a woman in that country, employing hundreds of people. I started to worry about my fellow women. And that's when USAID came on the scene.
  So I remember attending an event organized by UNDP looking at why Malawi's private sector wasn't growing and why wasn't it being regarded as the engine for growth. And I remember standing up at a meeting '' at that meeting, I was one of only two women '' and saying, ''Well, as long as women are sidelined, there's no way this country is going to move from where it is. Women have to get to the table.'' And it was during the dictatorship, so you '' freedom of speech didn't exist at that time, so I remember at break time, a tall American guy walked over to me and said, ''Are you not worried about making such statements in public? Don't you know what can happen to you?'' Because those day you went to jail for nothing.
  And I said, ''Well, it doesn't matter. Somebody has to say it. Somebody has to do it.'' And they pulled out their card and told me that if in the future you ever want support, here is my card. I looked at the card. It said USAID project, RED Project, Rural Enterprise Development. And three women who were in business were looking for ways of coming to the U.S. for a study tour. And USAID supported me, sponsored the three of us. And we got here and were hosted by African-American Institute.
  It was during that trip, while I was still worried about what is it that I can do back home, and was provided with an opportunity by USAID to interact with women's groups in this country that it became very clear in my mind that I needed to get back home and organize a group of women and act as a pressure group to press for equal opportunities for women in business. At that moment, I thought I was just forming a club. It was going to be 100 women here and there.
  So I went back home. But so many things happened, and I would spend the whole day explaining, but when I '' I remember going back home and phoning Carol Peasley, who was the country director of USAID, and said, ''Well, you started it. You sponsored me to go the U.S. and I'm back. Now I want to organize women and how can you support me?'' And she said, ''Well, what is the matter with women? What's going on?'' And then three sentences into my presentation, she folded her pad and put her pen away, and I knew that I had succeeded in making a total fool of myself. (Laughter.)
  And so I had to start all over again. So I went back to her and I realized that I didn't have my figures right, I didn't done the proper checking, no data had been collected, needs assessment (inaudible). So that whole process I went back to Carol and that is what USAID did for us. I formed the National Association of Businesswomen, and of course there was some times that I was confronted with near arrest, and I remember once or twice running back to USAID to hide in the USAID quarters.
  So last time when I came, I said, ''Well, I'm a product of USAID,'' and somebody said, ''How come?'' But there's so much that we can talk about, and I thought that I'd start by expressing that gratitude, that all along the way, the first office that we opened in Malawi, the first group of women that were mobilized, the first cars that we had, institutional development grant, everything was provided by USAID.
  MR. KRISTOF: Wow. Raj, you've got to find that person and give her a raise. (Applause.)
  Secretary Clinton, now the traditional approach of foreign assistance largely involved writing big checks from a distance. And now we're evolving to something that's much more based on public-private partnerships, on working with civil society, on bringing a larger community together. Why that change?
  SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I think we just heard a description of why that change. Empowering local people by giving them the tools to start their own organizations, find their own voices, run their own programs '' which is what the President has done '' is a much more effective, sustainable kind of development assistance. Moving from aid to trade so that we really help people develop businesses, which then in turn can employ local people and open markets, is a much more effective form of development assistance. Putting the country and the community in charge of setting the priorities, so it's not our priorities sitting in Washington or New York or anywhere else, other than on-the-ground, in the places that are going to make the decisions, whether or not what is being provided has staying power.
  And I think, Nick, that it '' the United States has been, both through our government and particularly through philanthropy, NGOs, our faith communities, has been extraordinarily generous, and has helped so many people over so many years with immediate humanitarian crises that had to be addressed in the here and now. But over the last several years, and as someone who's been doing this for a very long time, it became clearer and clearer that what we really wanted to do was work ourselves out of the business of development, but for those crises that overwhelmed any country '' the earthquake in Haiti '' something that was just impossible for any country to respond to.
  And so we have consciously, in this Administration and certainly working in collaboration with AID and with the private and not-for-profit sectors, we've been very focused on that. I went to Busan, South Korea and made a speech about how we had to put country ownership in the lead. It was and remains controversial in some areas, because it really calls upon those of us who are writing the checks and doling out the support to be a little more humble and a little more receptive to hearing, not just talking, about what we're trying to accomplish together.
  So Feed the Future, of course, is backed with enormous amounts of investment from governments, private sectors, and not-for-profit, and then with this excellent announcement today about interaction in our five organizations. We are still very much in the lead in providing funding. But everything we're trying to do now is to build capacity.
  So the final thing I would say is one of the great programs the United States ran was PEPFAR, something that has made such a difference in providing AIDS drugs and treatment. But we realized in this Administration we had to also help build health systems, because if all we were was a drug dispensary, then when the drugs stopped, maybe the countries would not be able to continue providing what their patient populations needed. So we're working with countries like South Africa others to help them make the transition, and we're going to do more to help them have systematic foundational support.
  So I think it's something that's very exciting in development, especially for some of us who have been doing this for a while to see leaders like the President step forward and say, ''Look, I was in civil society. I'm now in government. I think we know what our priorities should be, so align what you're giving us with what our priorities are for the long term.''
  MR. KRISTOF: But Secretary Clinton, I'm sure there's NGOs out there and they're thinking about their field offices, where the photocopier doesn't work and the car is leaking oil. And they're thinking you represent this incredible government with these astounding resources that seems to do anything, and what extra benefit do those NGOs or does civil society bring you? Why '' in a sense, why do you need them, given their photocopiers don't work and their cars don't work and everything else?
  SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, because we believe in collaboration. And the kind of partnership that we want with governments and NGOs and others is indispensible to our overall goals. There are civil society groups and organizations, some of them just very small on the ground without the photocopier working, and then there are multimillion dollar enterprises with very new cars and lots of photocopiers. And at all levels, what we're looking for is what's the value added.
  And as Joyce was just talking about, an AID representative in Malawi could be providing all kinds of ideas for her as she began searching for a way to organize. And then maybe there's an NGO, an American or international NGO, that has done this work. And so they're down the road and they can provide some additional value. But if all of us have the mindset shift that we are now going to be guided by what the Joyce Bandas of the world want, not the Hillary Clintons or the Raj Shahs, we then will facilitate, catalyze, leverage, support people like Joyce and governments like hers in achieving the progress that they're seeking.
  So there's a '' this is a big playing field. There's room for so many different individuals and groups. But what we're trying to do is knit together an overall shift in attitude among the aid givers to be very respectful of those who are on the receiving end so that they are feeling empowered to build on the progress that is being made.
  PRESIDENT BANDA: In addition, I would like to add to what Secretary Clinton just said, that at the point when I started the National Association of Businesswomen, USAID had established in Malawi what they called the shared project. And through the shared project, the civil society could go and seek support, financial support, institutional capacity support, program support, and I think we went from maybe 10 NGOs to 400 NGOs because of that opportunity. The National Association of Businesswomen in a period of seven months '' I mean, seven years reached out 50,000 women. Now all the organizations that I have founded, it is now a total of 1.1 million beneficiaries. Now, when you look back, if it hadn't been for the intervention or the support provided by USAID in the first place some of us would not have done as much as we have been able to do.
  MR. KRISTOF: And President Banda, I think one of the lessons learned from the past 50 years, one of the mistakes that we in the West have made, is that we often have a bunch of really smart Americans sitting around a conference room and come up with great ideas but haven't listened enough to civil society like that. And I think there's often a frustration from those groups about that fact. So you have the microphone. What do we Americans need to learn from African civil society? What message do we need to get better?
  PRESIDENT BANDA: Listen.
  SECRETARY CLINTON: Listen.
  PRESIDENT BANDA: Listen. (Laughter and applause.) I've always said that we know exactly what we want to do. We know how to move from Point A to Point B. I knew from a very young age, as I've said, what I needed to do to empower fellow women. What we're looking for is partnership and that is what we are finding. Just this week we signed a MOU with the Clinton Development Initiative. Why? Because I'm satisfied it's going to be a partnership. The organizations that come into Africa and recognize that there's leadership in Africa, and respect us and know that we want to achieve what we're going to achieve with dignity, so they don't come and impose themselves upon us.
  It really does break my heart when large NGOs, civil society organizations, come to Africa, believe that they can do it alone. Then they waste so much money. Twenty years later, they leave and they say you know, Africans '' we've been trying, they can't be assisted. But it's because they did it wrong; they didn't listen to us. There are so many Joyce Bandas where I come from.
  SECRETARY CLINTON: Nick, could I just add on to what Joyce has said? Because this is really the heart of what we've tried to do over the last four years, and it comes from our own recognition that we've done a lot of very good things, but I think the impact and the lasting sustainability of a lot of what we've done could certainly have been enhanced if what we were doing had been embedded more in civil society, more in government ministries. And yes, that's a risk. Not doing it is a risk. And I'd rather take the risk on that side.
  I remember being in a refugee camp, and I was wandering around as you do when you make these visits, and was talking to some of the people. And some of the women were telling me that they were still afraid to go out and collect firewood. Some of their babies had diarrhea. And this was in a camp run by a very good consortium of international NGOs and government-funded development agencies. And one woman said to me, ''Who can I get to listen to me about what we need?'' And it's just '' when you're focused on what you think of as the emergency, you get really busy, and it's easy to shut your ears because you just don't have time to stop and listen. And yet what I was being told in a short visit, because people were coming to me almost out of desperation, was something that wasn't new, but it just hadn't been heard.
  So '' and I think that's a really important point of Joyce's. Those of us who are '' who do this work, in whatever capacity, you've got '' you always have to be asking yourself, ''Is this really serving the way that I wish to serve to help people or not?'' And listen, listen, listen. If nothing else is taken away from this morning, I think President Banda's admonition is really important.
  MR. KRISTOF: Well, we're going to adhere to that admonition, okay, because in a moment we're going to have another panel precisely listening to civil society. But we're out of time for this panel, so please join me in thanking President Banda and Secretary Clinton for their participation and for hosting this event. (Applause.)
Remarks at her Meeting With Central American Foreign Ministers
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:34
  So I thank you all very much and I hope that you've had some lunch. I'm well aware that running around (inaudible) New York the week of the General Assembly, there's hardly a moment to breathe, let alone to eat, so I hope you will not be in any way deterred from getting some nourishment.I want to welcome all of you to our third Central American Citizen Security meeting. I'm pleased so many of our partners are here today to review our progress and discuss the path forward. We established this group because we all have an interest in enhancing stability and security across Central America. For the United States, this is very personal. These are our friends and our neighbors and our partners on so many important issues. We count a lot of our own people with origins from Central America. So we wanted to '' and I particularly made it a priority '' to do everything we could to deal with crime and violence and help people live safer and more prosperous lives.
  Where governments have struggled to meet these challenges on their own, we want to build the partnerships that will allow us to do this better together. And since the Groups of Friends first met last June, we've seen real progress. In the first six months of this year, versus the first six months of 2011, homicide rates are down 10 percent in Guatemala, 25 percent in Honduras, and 26 percent in El Salvador. In some communities, we are told that the fear of violence is beginning to fade for the first time in many years.
  Now, we have a lot more work to do, because still the rates of violence remain too high, rampant crime threatens to undermine citizens' faith in their governments, and so we have to keep up the momentum. First, we need to double down on efforts that are making police more responsive and more effective. For instance, the United States has funded model police precinct programs in El Salvador and Guatemala. This program provides training and equipment to get local police more involved in their communities, to build trust between citizens and law enforcement, and to target the zones of impunity where criminals operate.
  In these three precincts, homicide rates have declined even more than the national average '' 35 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent. And we should expand this proven, successful program and other measures that have brought down crime and built up law enforcement, making it both more professional but also, frankly, more connected, more sensitive to the needs of the people in the communities.
  Second, we should build on the success of violence prevention programs that target those who are most vulnerable to being recruited by criminal gangs, namely young people and marginalized populations. USAID is at work in 12 high crime areas in El Salvador partnering with civil society, municipal leaders, and businesses to provide education and vocational training for these at-risk groups. And in these communities, the feedback we are getting from residents is that they feel more confident making reports to local authorities, and crime rates have in fact gone down.
  Third, we need to maintain the political will that has driven change from within Central American governments and societies themselves. Since last year, Honduras has passed a law permitting the extradition of drug traffickers, and we thank you. Costa Rica has strengthened its police forces and courts. Guatemala has ramped up its efforts to seize drugs and arrest criminals at the border with Mexico. Now we need to be sure that the new laws are enforced and that the new initiatives are given the resources they need to succeed.
  Finally, we hope to keep strengthening partnership and collaboration. Donor countries such as ourselves need to continue to coordinate so we focus resources where they're needed most without duplicating our efforts. Regional governments need to share effective practices and launch joint efforts, because crime, of course, doesn't stop at borders, and we have to continue to work together.
  For our part, the United States is committed to being a strong partner. Our Central American Regional Security Initiative is designed to help make streets safer, disrupt criminal networks, support the development of strong government institutions, bring services to at-risk communities, and promote greater collaboration among the region's governments, not only within Central America but with Mexico, with Colombia, and beyond.
  This year we are providing $135 million for these efforts, which brings our total in the last four years to nearly half a billion dollars. And we think, based on the evidence, this has been money well spent. We are very proud to be partnering with you, because our partnership is not simply about reducing crime. It is about building safe and stable communities that will allow entire societies to thrive and prosper.
  So again, I want to thank all of you for your commitment to this effort. I look forward to hearing from people around this table who are on the front lines doing the hard work. And let me now turn to the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister '' Minister Santos, welcome '' to please provide an update on the efforts that have been made by Central American governments to reduce crime and violence and to engage the international community in supporting the region's most pressing security challenges.
  Minister Santos.
Guest Post: Netanyahu's Red Line | ZeroHedge
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:29
  Submitted by John Aziz from Azizonomics
  Netanyahu's Red Line
  Netanyahu wants a red line on nuclear proliferation in the Middle East:
  Where exactly should we draw it?
  As Justin Raimondo notes:
  Here is a nation which refuses to even admit it acquired nukes long ago, and which disdains the Nonproliferation Treaty, making the case for war against a neighbor that has indeed signed the NPT and is abiding by its requirements.
  That treaty gives Tehran the right to develop nuclear power. Furthermore, there is zero evidence Iran is embarked on a nuclear weapons program: our own intelligence community tells us they gave that up in 2003 and show no signs of resuming it. Their own religious and political leaders have denounced the possession of nuclear weapons as sinful: the Israelis, on the other hand, haven't bothered reassuring us they would never use the nuke they won't admit they have.
  In a rational world, Israel would be in the dock, answering for its unwillingness to come out of the nuclear closet and admit what the whole world knows by now.
  The West has sent out a message that the only way for unpopular regimes to avoid invasion is to obtain nuclear weapons. North Korea sought and obtained nuclear weapons and their vicious and economically-failed regime has stayed in power. Qaddafi gave up his nuclear ambitions, and was soon deposed by British, French and American airpower. If Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon '-- and the CIA and Mossad, as well as the IAEA agree they that they are not currently doing so '-- perhaps the fact that nuclear-armed Israel and the nuclear-armed United States keep threatening non-nuclear Iran with attack has something to do with it?
  And even assuming that they are going for a nuclear weapon, how close is Iran to a nuclear weapon? According to former IAEA consultant Clinton Bastin, possibly as much as ten to fifteen years away:
  Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu:
  Iran may be in your red zone, but can not score.
  Sure, Iran could divert a few tons of 3.5% or a ton of 20% enriched uranium hexaflouride gas for enrichment to 90+%. But what then?
  No one has ever made a nuclear weapon from gas. It must be converted to metal and fabricated into components which are then assembled with high explosives.
  Iran lacks experience with and facilities for these processes which are very dangerous because of potential for a criticality accident or nuclear explosion. Iran would not jeopardize its important, fully safeguarded nuclear programs by an attempt to have a deliverable, one kiloton yield nuclear weapon ten to fifteen years later.
  IMPORTANT NOTE: North Korea was able to make and test a nuclear explosive soon after withdrawing from safeguards because plutonium for reactor recycle was in a form usable for a weapon.
  So let's be clear about who is threatening who:
  How would Americans feel if Iran had stationed troops and aircraft on the Mexican and Canadian borders and conducted military excursions into American territory, including funding and training armed dissidents to overthrow the American government (as happened to Iran in 1953 when America overthrew a democratically-elected Iranian government and imposed a dictatorship there)? How would Americans feel if Iran, Russia and China were blowing up American scientists and using computer viruses to attack American infrastructure? How would Americans feel if Iran, Russia and China imposed sanctions on America that led to hyperinflation of the dollar? Under those circumstances, would America not seek the means to defend itself?
  Iran is not blameless, and continues to provoke Israel through its support for Hamas and Hezbollah and through eliminationist rhetoric. But given the level of provocation from the Israeli and American side, it is astonishing that Iran remains free of nuclear weapons. Yet it is a fact that Iran is not armed with nuclear weapons, and it remains a fact that Iran has not attacked nor occupied any foreign lands since World War 2. Iran is not an expansionistic country.
  As neocon provocateur Patrick Clawson essentially admitted in advocating for a false flag attack to get America to war, Iran is not likely to attack either the United States or Israel. So when it comes to drawing red lines, we in the West would do well to draw a red line around our behaviour '-- because right now, we in the West are the ones who are stirring up trouble by threatening to strike first.
  Average:Your rating: NoneAverage: 4.1(28 votes)
Deadline.com >> Blog ArchiveNakoula B. Nakoula Arrested -- 'Innocence Of Muslims' Producer In Feds' Hands
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:23
  BY NIKKI FINKE AND DOMINIC PATTEN | Thursday September 27, 2012 @ 5:45pm PDTEmail This
  BREAKING'...UPDATE 5:45 PM: U.S. District Court Judge Suzanne Segal has ruled that the anti-Islam Innocence Of Muslims film producer known as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula will be held in the Metropolitan Detention Center after his arrest earlier today on probation violations. He will remain in the jail until a revocation hearing is scheduled. The judge said she was detaining him because ''the court has a lack of trust in the defendant''. She explained that he has engaged in a lengthy pattern of deception in a variety of situations, and that he poses ''a danger to the community''. Nakoula today told the court that his real name is Mark Bacile Yousef. He is being cited on 8 probation violations for which the probation office is recommending 24 months in custody.
  His lawyer Steven Seiden argued it would be a danger for Nakoula to be in custody in the Los Angeles County jail because of the large Muslim population there. U.S. Attorney Robert Dougdale said: ''I've been assured that he'd be protected in custody. It's likely he'd be safer in custody than out of custody.''
  There was little mention of Nakoula's crude film trailer whose posting on YouTube has sparked rioting, violence, and deaths in 30 countries in the Mideast, Europe, and Asia since 9/11. The prosecutor remarked that Nakoula's pattern of deception extended to the hiring of the film's actors. ''They had no idea who he really was and no idea that he was a felon, and he parlayed that into the making of the film.'' The prosecutor also indicated that Nakoula may have financed the film under deceptive circumstances. ''Granted, if you look at the film, it doesn't look like it cost much money.''
  PREVIOUS 3:15 PM, BREAKING'... There is a courtroom proceeding this afternoon in the Roybal Federal Building in Downtown LA regarding what the feds are saying is the arrest of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, reputed filmmaker of the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims which has sparked rioting, violence, and deaths in 30 countries in the Mideast, Europe, and Asia since 9/11. An initial appearance in USA v. Nakoula, 09-cr-00617-CAS, has been scheduled on or after 3 PM today. Nakoula was arrested for violating terms of his probation and is set for an initial appearance in U.S. District, which sentenced him in June 2009 following a bank fraud conviction. Federal officials were looking into whether Nakoula violated his probation in that case by uploading the crude film's 14-minute trailer onto the Internet. He and his family have been in hiding since he was voluntarily interviewed by federal authorities and has since put up for sale his Cerritos home where some of the video was shot. Nakoula served 21 months in prison on 2009 federal bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges and a $795K fine. He now could face more prison time if it is determined his involvement in the film was a violation of his probation, which barred him from either owning or using devices with access to the Web for five years without prior approval from his probation officer. Earlier, when LA County sheriffs escorted him to a police station for FBI questioning, Nakoula left his family's Cerritos home with his head wrapped in a towel to hide his identity.
  His arrest today is an apparent U.S. attempt to appease worldwide Muslims and their clerics and governments demanding for the YouTube video to be removed and its filmmaker punished. In an address on Tuesday condemning the content of the video, President Obama explained, ''The strongest weapon against hateful speech is not repression, it is more speech.'' This legal action is a way to preserve America's First Amendment principles but at the same time find a roundabout but legitimate way to punish Bakoula for the crudely made film that portrays the Muhammad as a religious fraud, womanizer and pedophile.
  Related:Latest: Actress Refiles 'Innocence Of Muslims' Lawsuit In Federal Court
  In most federal cases alleging probation violations, the probation officer submits a confidential report to the sentencing judge who has the option of holding a probation revocation hearing. Then the judge can send the defendant to prison or impose additional terms of probation without jail time. But first the probation violation has to be proven, and Steven Seiden is Nakoula's defense attorney in this matter. Nakoula may argue that he's being singled out on a probation technicality for exercising his right to free speech.
  At first, Innocence Of Muslims was ignored even when trailers were posted on YouTube in July. But then Egyptian television aired certain segments, which sparked protests which intensified with the deaths of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and other U.S. personnel. When news of his movie first broke, the filmmaker identified himself to media as Sam Bacile and made up lies about his identity. But the paperwork filed for the Screen Actors Guild was that of Abenob Nakoula Bassely. A public records search showed an Abanob B. Nakoula residing at the same address as Nakoula. Now the filmmaker is believed to be a Coptic Christian with many aliases. Details about the purported filmmaker have emerged over recent weeks:
  '' Court records show that Nakoula was once a federal informant. The Smoking Gun obtained a transcript showing attorneys for Nakoula pleaded for ''cooperation points'' when their client was sentenced in 2010. Lawyers argued cooperation with prosecutors in a separate case should be taken into consideration.
  '' Family members of Nakoula have left their Cerritos home to join him in hiding. Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies escorted members of Nakoula's family out of the house early Monday and into sheriff's vehicles so they could rejoin Nakoula at an undisclosed location.
  '' News reports claim a second filmmaker, Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih, president of Media for Christ, is an associate of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.
  '' Film LA released the permit (read it here) for the film, which lists Media for Christ as the production company. Names and contact information for the producer, director and other crew members were redacted. The permit covers a one-day shoot at Blue Cloud Ranch in Santa Clarita for the film Desert Warriors, which has since become known as Innocence Of Muslims.
  '' Nakoula was connected to the persona of Sam Bacile, a federal law enforcement source told the AP. A man calling himself Sam Bacile initially claimed to be the writer and director of the film, but doubts surfaced regarding his identity. He has no credits on any movie industry database and SAG-AFTRA tells Deadline they have no information about the film; the DGA confirms they have no 'Sam Bacile' on record. It appears that Bacile is one of many aliases Nakoula used, the AP noted.
  '' The YouTube profile 'Sam Bacile' was used to post clips of the film on July 1 and comments as recently as Tuesday last week. It lists the age of the account holder at 74. Nakoula is believed to be 55.
  '' Another man, Steve Klein, told CNN he worked with Bacile on the movie vetting the script. Klein is an insurance agent and self-described militant Christian activist who resides in Hemet, CA.
  '' There are accounts of the film being screened in June under the name Innocence Of Bin Laden. According to Klein, Nakoula wanted to give it a title that would draw in and then trick ''hardcore Muslims'' into watching a movie that slammed Islam. But according to Klein, no tickets were sold and Nakoula was ''crushed,'' the AP said. Klein told The Times ''felt great'' about consulting on the film.
  '' CNN received a statement from the 80 or so people in front of and behind the cameras denouncing the film they say they worked on without knowing it was propaganda.
EUROBLOWN: German President signs off destruction of euro.
  Link to Article
  Source: A diary of deception and distortion
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 12:07
  Gauck has, against his will, given the ESM powers that Adolf Hitler would've craved
  Today (Thursday) President Joachim Gauck of Germany signed the instrument of ratification for the European Stability Mechanism. The ESM will thus come into force on 8th October 2012.
  In doing so '' and in private, be assured, this is much against his will '' Gauck has authorised the rule of an ESM Gauleiter with nothing short of dictatorial powers. As The Slog demonstrated over a fortnight ago, the ESM Council is uncontrollable, and effectively beyond the reach of any established Law on the planet.
  But the Karlsruhe Court ruling of 12th September this year prohibits any ESM governor from increasing Germany's contribution to the financing of the ESM Council above '‚¬190bn without the consent of the Bundestag.
  So what we are looking at here is a German Constitutional Court telling an EU mechanism above any law that, unless it obeys German law, the Bundestag will give it a jolly good spanking. I think Karlsruhe woud have a better chance of lassoing ether. And given the Bundestag's spineless track record to date, I think we can safely assume Germany's fate is sealed.
  As I posted earlier, the truth is being kept from the German mass electorate. Not just by censorship, but also by distortion and deception. With a stroke of his pen, the Bundespr¤sident has conferred legitimacy upon a body that is supreme but not sovereign.
  In other words, it has 100% power, and 0% accountability. Hitler himself could not have asked for more. What a bitter-sweet frustration this must be for the control freak Angela Merkel.
  Related: The two rag-tag armies fighting over Greece's fate
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Smoking gun '' CEO of U.S.-Central Asia Biofuels Ltd decrying nuclear energy
  Link to Article
  Source: Atomic Insights
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:56
  A commenter on my last smoking gun report claimed that it did not provide direct evidence of antinuclear activity by the beneficiaries '' in that case, the people selling LNG tankers to a market that is growing because of the forced shutdown of operable nuclear power plants in Japan and Germany.
  Today I ran across a strongly worded antinuclear article on OilPrice.com written by John Daly, the CEO of U.S.-Central Asia Biofuels Ltd., a company that benefits by limiting the competitive supply of emission free nuclear energy in whatever markets it serves. (Unfortunately, I cannot seem to find any information about the company other than biographical references to it in articles that John Daly writes.)
  Here is a quote from the article's conclusion that helps to show how this qualifies as a smoking gun that might even satisfy Steve Skutnik, my favorite smoking gun skeptic.
  So, what to make of Japan's tepid decision to downsize its nuclear energy commitment? Thoughtful analysts might note that Europe's leading technological powerhouses, Germany and Japan, have apparently decided to pursue energy alternatives to nuclear while France, Europe's leading user of nuclear energy, is also rethinking its position.
  Do Berlin and Tokyo know something that other nations do not? Whatever occurs, expect a vigorous rear-guard action by the global nuclear power industry, as it attempts to preserve its multi-billion dollar industry, starting with them suddenly joining the climate change bandwagon by emphasizing that NPPs generate zero greenhouse gases.
  Which, of course, is why former Fukushima residents outside the NPP's 12 mile exclusion zone breathe so much more easily.
  It looks like Mr. Daly has made a habit of doing whatever he can to spread false, negative information about nuclear energy. Here is a second example: Study Finds that Childhood Leukemia Rates Double Near Nuclear Power Stations.
  Nuclear energy contributes positively to the cleanliness of the environment and the general prosperity of human society. Its natural enemies are rich and powerful people whose prosperity is threatened by competition from a superior power source. Please resist the temptation to accept statements from media sources indicating that ''environmentalists'' are the real source of antinuclear activity.
The Flowers of War
  Link to Article
  Fri, 28 Sep 2012 05:20
  From internationally celebrated director Zhang Yimou (Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern, Hero, House Of Flying Daggers) comes a story of love and war - and a band of outcasts who emerge as unlikely heroes from the shadows of a city's occupation. At once lyrical and visceral, the film enters the apocalyptic world of Nanjing in 1937 only to find a vibrant human story about the invisible people of the city and a series of unexpected relationships that lead to a resonant act of sacrifice.
'Drunken' Broker Sent Oil to 8-Month High in 2009: Report - US Business News - CNBC
  Link to Article
  Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:26
  On June 30, 2009, oil mysteriously jumped by more than $1.50 a barrel during the night, to reach its highest price in eight months, the kind of swing that is caused by a major geopolitical event.
  Getty Images
  The amazing, true cause of this price spike has now been released by a Financial Services Authority investigation (FSA).
  Although not authorized to invest company cash in trades, Steve Perkins, a long standing, senior broker at PVM Oil Futures, had managed to spend $520 million on oil futures contracts throughout the night, the FSA said.
  On the morning of the 30th, an admin clerk called Perkins to ask why he had bought 7 million barrels of crude during the night. Perkins had no recollection of the transactions, and it turned out that he had made the trades during a ''drunken blackout," according to the FSA.
  By the time PVM realized the transactions had not been authorized by a client, they had incurred losses of $9,763,252.
  Between the hours of 1:22 a.m. and 3:41 a.m., Perkins gradually bought 69 percent of the global market, while driving prices up from $71.40 to $73.05, by bidding higher each time.
  At 6:30 a.m., presumably sobering up and realizing what he'd done, he sent a message to his managing director claiming an unwell relative meant he would not be able to make it into work.
  Following an official investigation Perkins admitted to having a drink problem, had his trading license revoked for five years, and was given a fine of £72,000 ($116,878).
  The FSA has said that they will re-approve his license after the five-year period, if he has recovered from his drinking problem, although they warned that,''Mr Perkins poses an extreme risk to the market when drunk.''
  '--This story originally appeared on Oilprice.com. Click here to read the original story.
'Leger had rellen Haren kunnen voorkomen' - Binnenland
  Link to Article
  Thu, 27 Sep 2012 12:48
  27/09/12, 10:59 '' bron: ANP
  (C) ANP. Een Leopard tank maakt een ceremoniele rit op het Lange Voorhout bij het afscheid van de cavalerieregimenten Huzaren van Sytzama en Huzaren Prins van Oranje. De regimenten worden ontbonden en dit betekent het afscheid van de tank als wapen van de Nederlandse krijgsmacht.
  UPDATEDe rellen in de Groningse plaats Haren hadden voorkomen kunnen worden als het leger was ingezet. Dat zeggen de verenigingen van Defensie-personeel GOV/MHB in een brief aan de informateurs Wouter Bos en Henk Kamp.
  '5000 militairen staan op afroep van de civiele autoriteiten gereed. In onze beleving had 'Haren' dan ook niet mogen gebeuren', aldus de Gezamenlijke Officieren Verenigingen en Middelbaar en Hoger Burgerpersoneel.
  GOV/MHB waarschuwt beide informateurs donderdag dat verdere bezuinigingen op de Nederlandse krijgsmacht volkomen onverantwoord zijn. 'Defensie is na 22 jaar van bezuinigingen tot op het bot toe uitgekleed.'
  'Veiligheid in Nederland staat hoog op de politieke agenda. De krijgsmacht heeft middelen en mensen om hieraan mede inhoud te geven', aldus GOV/MHB.
  Burgemeester Rob Bats van Haren liet donderdag in een interview met het Dagblad van het Noorden weten dat er 'zelfs bedacht is het leger in te zetten.' Volgens een woordvoerder van de gemeente behoorde de inzet van het leger vrijdagavond tot de mogelijkheden, 'maar is het op geen enkel moment een serieuze overweging geweest.' Het is volgens Bats aan de commissie onder leiding van Job Cohen om te onderzoeken waarom dat uiteindelijk niet gebeurd is.
Magna Carta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Link to Article
  Thu, 27 Sep 2012 06:12
  Magna Carta, also called Magna Carta Libertatum or The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, is an Angevincharter, originally issued in Latin in the year 1215, translated into vernacular-French as early as 1219,[1] and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions. The later versions excluded the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority that had been present in the 1215 charter. The charter first passed into law in 1225; the 1297 version, with the long title (originally in Latin) "The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, and of the Liberties of the Forest," still remains on the statute books of England and Wales.
  The 1215 charter required King John of England to proclaim certain liberties and accept that his will was not arbitrary, for example by explicitly accepting that no "freeman" (in the sense of non-serf) could be punished except through the law of the land, a right which is still in existence today.
  Magna Carta was the first document forced onto a King of England by a group of his subjects, the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was preceded and directly influenced by the Charter of Liberties in 1100, in which King Henry I had specified particular areas wherein his powers would be limited.
  Despite its recognised importance, by the second half of the 19th century nearly all of its clauses had been repealed in their original form. Three clauses currently remain part of the law of England and Wales, however, and it is generally considered part of the uncodified constitution. Lord Denning described it as "the greatest constitutional document of all times '' the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot".[2] In a 2005 speech, Lord Woolf described it as "first of a series of instruments that now are recognised as having a special constitutional status",[3] the others being the Habeas Corpus Act (1679), the Petition of Right (1628), the Bill of Rights (1689), and the Act of Settlement (1701).
  The charter was an important part of the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law in the English speaking world. Magna Carta was important in the colonization of American colonies as England's legal system was used as a model for many of the colonies as they were developing their own legal systems.
  It was Magna Carta, over other early concessions by the monarch, which survived to become a "sacred text".[4] In practice, Magna Carta in the medieval period did not generally limit the power of kings, but by the time of the English Civil War it had become an important symbol for those who wished to show that the King was bound by the law. It influenced the early settlers in New England[5] and inspired later constitutional documents, including the United States Constitution.[6]
  The Great Charter of 1215Rebellion and creation of the documentSome barons began to conspire against King John in 1209 and 1212; promises made to the northern barons and John's submission to universal rule of the papacy in 1213 delayed a French invasion.[7] Over the course of his reign a combination of higher taxes, unsuccessful wars that resulted in the loss of English barons' titled possessions in Normandy following the Battle of Bouvines (1214), and an ongoing conflict with the Pope Innocent III had made King John unpopular with many of his barons.
  In 1215 some of the most important barons engaged in open rebellion against their King. Such rebellions were not particularly unusual in this period. Every king since William the Conqueror had faced rebellions. However, in every previous case there had been an obvious alternative monarch around whom the rebellion could rally. In 1215, however, John had no obvious replacement. Arthur of Brittany would have been a possibility, if he had not disappeared (widely believed to have been murdered on the orders of John). The next closest possible alternative was Prince Louis of France, but as the husband of Henry II's granddaughter, his claim was tenuous, and the English had been at war with the French for thirty years. Instead of a claimant to the throne, the barons decided to base their rebellion around John's oppressive government. In January 1215, the barons made an oath that they would "stand fast for the liberty of the church and the realm", and they demanded that King John confirm the Charter of Liberties, from what they viewed as a golden age.[8]
  John played for time. During negotiations between January and June 1215, a document was produced, which historians have termed 'The Unknown Charter of Liberties',[9] seven of the articles of which would later appear in the 'Articles of the Barons' and the Runnymede Charter.[10] In May, King John offered to submit issues to a committee of arbitration with Pope Innocent III as the supreme arbiter,[11] but the barons continued in their defiance. With the support of Prince Louis the French Heir and of King Alexander II of the Scots, they entered London in force on 10 June 1215,[12] with the city showing its sympathy with their cause by opening its gates to them. They, and many of the moderates not in overt rebellion, forced King John to agree to a document later known as the 'Articles of the Barons', to which his Great Seal was attached in the meadow at Runnymede on 15 June 1215. In return, the barons renewed their oaths of fealty to King John on 19 June 1215, which is when the document Magna Carta was created.
  In return for King John's submission to his papal and universal authority, Innocent III declared the Magna Carta annulled, though many English Barons did not accept this action.
  The contemporary, but unreliable[13]chronicler, Roger of Wendover, recorded the events in his Flores Historiarum.[14] A formal document to record the agreement was created by the royal chancery on 15 July: this was the original Magna Carta, though it was not known by that name at the time. An unknown number of copies of it were sent out to officials, such as royal sheriffs and bishops.
  Clause 61The 1215 document contained a large section that is now called clause 61 (the original document was not actually divided into clauses). This section established a committee of 25 barons who could at any time meet and overrule the will of the King if he defied the provisions of the Charter, seizing his castles and possessions if it was considered necessary.[15] This was based on a medieval legal practice known as distraint, but it was the first time it had been applied to a monarch.
  Distrust between the two sides was overwhelming. What the barons really sought was the overthrow of the King; the demand for a charter was a "mere subterfuge".[16] Clause 61 was a serious challenge to John's authority as a ruling monarch. He renounced it as soon as the barons left London; Pope Innocent III also annulled the "shameful and demeaning agreement, forced upon the King by violence and fear." He rejected any call for restraints on the King, saying it impaired John's dignity. He saw it as an affront to the Church's authority over the King and the 'papal territories' of England and Ireland, and he released John from his oath to obey it. The rebels knew that King John could never be restrained by Magna Carta and so they sought a new King.[17]
  England was plunged into a civil war, known as the First Barons' War. With the failure of Magna Carta to achieve peace or restrain John, the barons reverted to the more traditional type of rebellion by trying to replace the monarch they disliked with an alternative. In a measure of some desperation, despite the tenuousness of his claim and despite the fact that he was French, they offered the crown of England to Prince Louis of France.[18]
  As a means of preventing war, Magna Carta was a failure, rejected by most of the barons,[19] and was legally valid for no more than three months.[20] It was the death of King John in 1216 which secured the future of Magna Carta.[21]
  Participant listBarons, Bishops and Abbots who were party to Magna Carta.[22]
  Barons '' surety for the enforcement of Magna CartaBishops '' witnessessAbbots '' witnessess1William d'Aubigny, Lord of Belvoir CastleStephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Churchthe Abbot of St Edmunds2Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk and SuffolkHenry de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublinthe Abbot of St Albans3Hugh Bigod, Heir to the Earldoms of Norfolk and SuffolkWilliam of Sainte-M¨re-‰glise, Bishop of Londonthe Abbot of Bello4Henry de Bohun, Earl of HerefordJocelin of Wells, Bishop of Bath and Wellsthe Abbot of St Augustine's in Canterbury5Richard de Clare, Earl of HertfordPeter des Roches, Bishop of Winchesterthe Abbot of Evesham6Gilbert de Clare, heir to the earldom of HertfordHugh de Wells, Bishop of Lincolnthe Abbot of Westminster7John FitzRobert Clavering, Lord of Warkworth CastleHerbert Poore (aka "Robert"), Bishop of Salisburythe Abbot of Peterborough8Robert Fitzwalter, Lord of Dunmow CastleBenedict of Sausetun, Bishop of Rochesterthe Abbot of Reading9William de Fortibus, Earl of AlbemarleWalter de Gray, Bishop of Worcesterthe Abbot of Abingdon10William Hardel, **Mayor of the City of LondonGeoffrey de Burgo, Bishop of Elythe Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey11William de Huntingfield, Sheriff of Norfolk and SuffolkHugh de Mapenor, Bishop of Herefordthe Abbot of Winchcomb12John de Lacy, Lord of Pontefract CastleRichard Poore, Bishop of Chichester (brother of Herbert/Robert above)the Abbot of Hyde13William de Lanvallei, Lord of Standway Castlethe Abbot of Chertsey14William Malet, Sheriff of Somerset and Dorsetthe Abbot of Sherborne15Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex and Gloucesterthe Abbot of Cerne16William Marshall Jr, heir to the earldom of Pembrokethe Abbot of Abbotebir17Roger de Montbegon, Lord of Hornby Castle, Lancashirethe Abbot of Middleton18Richard de Montfichet, Baronthe Abbot of Selby19William de Mowbray, Lord of Axholme Castlethe Abbot of Cirencester20Richard de Percy, Baronthe Abbot of Hartstary21Saire/Saher de Quincy, Earl of Winchester22Robert de Roos, Lord of Hamlake Castle23Geoffrey de Saye, Baron24Robert de Vere, heir to the earldom of Oxford25Eustace de Vesci, Lord of Alnwick CastleOthers
  Magna Carta of ChesterThe Runnymede Charter of Liberties did not apply to Chester, which at the time was a separate feudal domain. Earl Ranulf granted his own Magna Carta.[23] Some of its articles were similar to the Runnymede Charter.[24]
  The Great Charter 1216''1369The Charter 1216King John's nine-year-old son Henry was crowned King of England in Gloucester Abbey, though much of England lay under the usurper Prince Louis. The papal legateGuala Bicchieri declared the struggle against Louis and the Barons a holy war,[25] and the loyalists led by William Marshal rallied around the new King. Earl Ranulf of Chester left the Regency to Marshall. Marshall and Guala issued a Charter of Liberties, based on the Runnymede Charter, in the King's name on 12 November 1216 as a Royal concession, in an attempt to undermine the rebels.[26]
  The Charter differed from that of 1215 in only having 42 as compared to 61 clauses; most notably the infamous article 61 of the Runnymede Charter was removed. The Charter was also issued separately for Ireland.
  The Charters 1217: the origins of the name Magna CartaFollowing the end of the First Barons War and the Treaty of Lambeth, the Charter of Liberties (carta libertatum) was issued again in the manner of 1216, again amended and issued separately for Ireland. The 42 clauses of the 1216 issue were expanded to 47.
  Significantly, a fragment of the original charter would be expanded with new material to form a complementary charter, the Charter of the Forest; the two Charters would thereafter be linked. Magna carta libertatum was then used by scribes to differentiate the larger and more important charter of common liberties from the Forest Charter.[27] The term was used retrospectively to describe the previous Charters, with what had previously been described as carta libertatum becoming known simply as Magna Carta.
  The Great Charter 1225Having reached the age of majority, King Henry III was called upon to confirm the Charters. Henry reissued Magna Carta in a shorter version with only 37 articles, as a concession of liberties in return for a fifteenth part of moveable goods.[5] This was the first version of the Charter to enter English law.[28] The Charter of Liberties included a new statement that the Charter had been issued spontaneously and of the King's own free will. In 1227, Henry III declared all future charters had to be issued under his own seal and state under what warrant they were claimed; this proclamation questioned the validity of all previous acts done in his name or his predecessors.[29] It was not until 1237, and the carta parva, that both of the 1225 Charters were confirmed and granted in perpetuity.[30]
  The Great Charter 1297: StatuteEdward I of England reissued the Charters of 1225 in 1297 in return for a new tax.[31] "Constitutionally, the Magna Carta of Edward I is the most important".[32] This version remains in Statute today (albeit with most articles now repealed'--see below).[33][34]
  Confirmatio Cartarum and Articuli super CartasThe Confirmatio Cartarum (Confirmation of Charters) was issued by Edward I in 1297, and was similar to the parva carta issued by Henry III in 1237. In the Confirmation, Edward reaffirmed Magna Carta and the Forest Charter[35] as a concession for tax money. As part of the Remonstrances the nobles sought to add another document the De Tallagio to the Charters but without success.[36] The principle of taxation by consent was reinforced, however the precise manner of that consent was not laid down.[37]
  Pope Clement V annulled the Confirmatio Cartarum in 1305.[38]
  As part of the reconfirmation of the Charters in 1300 an additional document was granted, the Articuli super Cartas (The Articles upon the Charters). It was composed of 20 articles and sought in part to deal with the problem of enforcing the Charters.[39] In 1305 Edward I took Clement V's Papal bull annulling the Confirmatio Cartarum to effectively apply to the Articuli super Cartas though it was not specifically mentioned.[40]
  The Six StatutesDuring the reign of Edward III six measures were passed between 1331 and 1369 which were later known as the 'Six Statutes'. They sought to clarify certain parts of the Charters. In particular, the third statute, of 1354, redefined clause 29, with 'free man' becoming "no man, of whatever estate or condition he may be", and introduced the phrase "due process of law" for 'lawful judgement of his peers or the law of the land'.[41]
  Later history of the CharterReconfirmations of the CharterThe impermanence of the Charter required successive generations to petition the King to reconfirm his Charter, and hopefully abide by it. Between the 13th and 15th centuries Magna Carta would have a history of being reconfirmed, 32 times according to Sir Edward Coke, but possibly as many as 45 times.[42] The Charter was last confirmed in 1423 by Henry VI.
  Repeal of articles of the CharterThe repeal of clause 26 in 1829, by the Offences against the Person Act 1828 (9 Geo. 4 c. 31 s. 1),[43] was the first time a clause of Magna Carta was repealed. With the document's perceived inviolability broken,[citation needed] in the next 140 years nearly the whole charter was repealed, leaving just Clauses 1, 9, and 29 still in force after 1969. Most of it was repealed in England and Wales by the Statute Law Revision Act 1863, and in Ireland by the Statute Law (Ireland) Revision Act 1872.[43]
  Content of the ChartersMagna Carta was originally written in Latin. A large part of the Charter at Runnymede was copied, nearly word for word, from the Charter of Liberties of Henry I, issued when Henry became king in 1100, in which he said he would respect certain rights of the Church and the barons, for example not forcing heirs to purchase their inheritances.
  As the Charter went through various issues many of the clauses included in the Runnymede charter were removed. Some clauses would form a supplementary Charter in 1217, the Charter of the Forest.
  It is worth emphasising that the 1215 charter was not numbered and was not divided into paragraphs or separate clauses. The numbering system used today was created by Sir William Blackstone in 1759,[44] and therefore should not be used to draw any conclusions regarding the intentions of the original creators of the charter.
  Clauses still in force todayThe clauses of the 1297 Magna Carta which are still on statute are
  Clause 1, the freedom of the English Church.Clause 9 (clause 13 in the 1215 charter), the "ancient liberties" of the City of London.Clause 29 (clause 39 in the 1215 charter), a right to due process.1. FIRST, We have granted to God, and by this our present Charter have confirmed, for Us and our Heirs for ever, that the Church of England shall be free, and shall have all her whole Rights and Liberties inviolable. We have granted also, and given to all the Freemen of our Realm, for Us and our Heirs for ever, these Liberties under-written, to have and to hold to them and their Heirs, of Us and our Heirs for ever.9. THE City of London shall have all the old Liberties and Customs which it hath been used to have. Moreover We will and grant, that all other Cities, Boroughs, Towns, and the Barons of the Five Ports, as with all other Ports, shall have all their Liberties and free Customs.29. NO Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.[43]Clauses in Runnymede Charter but not in later ChartersClauses 10 and 11 related to money lending and Jews in England. Jews were particularly involved in money lending because Christian teachings on usury did not apply to them. Clause 10 said that children would not pay interest on a debt they had inherited while they were under age. Clause 11 said that the widow and children should be provided for before paying an inherited debt. The charter concludes this section with the words "Debts owing to other than Jews shall be dealt with likewise", so it is debatable to what extent the Jews were being singled out by these clauses.Clauses 12 and 14 state that taxes (in the language of the time, "scutage or aid") can only be levied and assessed by the common counsel of the realm. See Challenges to the King's power for more detail.Clause 15 stated that the King would not grant anyone the right to take an aid (i.e. money) from his free menClauses 25 and 26 dealt with debt and taxesClause 27 with intestacy.Clause 42 stated that it was lawful for subjects to leave the kingdom without prejudicing their allegiance (except for outlaws and during war)Clause 45 said that the King should only appoint as "justices, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs" those who knew the law and would keep it well. In the United States, the Supreme Court of California interpreted clause 45 in 1974 as establishing a requirement at common law that a defendant faced with the potential of incarceration is entitled to a trial overseen by a legally trained judge.[45]Clause 48 stated that all evil customs connected with forests were to be abolishedClause 49 provided for the return of hostages held by the King. (John held hostages from the families of important nobles he wished to ensure remained loyal, as other English monarchs had before him.)Clause 50 stated that no member of the d'Ath(C)e family could be a royal officer.Clause 51 called for all foreign knights and mercenaries to leave the realm.Clause 52 dealt with restoration of those "disseised" (i.e. those dispossessed of property. See (for example) Assize of novel disseisin )Clause 53 was similar to 52 but relating to forestsClause 55 regarded remittance of unjust finesClauses 57 concerned restoration of disseised WelshmenClauses 58 and 59 provided for the return of Welsh and Scottish hostagesClauses 61 provided for the application and observation of the Charter by twenty-five of the rebellious barons. See Challenges to the King's power for more on clause 61.Clause 62 pardoned those who had rebelled against the kingClause 63 said that the charter was binding on King John and his heirs. However this version of the charter was renounced by John, with the support of the Pope. The smaller 1225/1297 charters (which actually became law) contain similar text, stating that the monarch and their heirs would not seek to infringe or damage the liberties in the charter, and that the charter is to be observed "in perpetuity".Challenges to the King's powerClauses 12 and 14 of the 1215 charter state that the king will accept the "common counsel of our realm" when levying and assessing an aid or a scutage. Clause 14 goes into detail about how exactly the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls and greater barons should be consulted. These clauses effectively meant that the monarch had to ask before raising new taxes. The later charters merely said that "Scutage furthermore is to be taken as it used to be", although in practice the convention arose after Magna Carta that Parliament would be consulted by the monarch before raising new taxes.
  Clause 61 of the 1215 charter states: "The barons shall choose any twenty-five barons of the realm they wish, who with all their might are to observe, maintain and cause to be observed the peace and liberties which we have granted and confirmed to them by this our present charter". The clause goes on to say that if the king does not keep to the charter, the twenty five barons shall seize "castles, lands and possessions... until, in their judgement, amends have been made". "Anyone in the land" would be permitted by the king to swear an oath to the twenty five to obey them in these matters, and the king was in fact supposed to order people to do so even if they didn't want to swear an oath to the twenty five barons.
  The barons were trying to stop John going back on his word after agreeing to the charter, but if those who rebelled against him were able to choose a group who would have the power to seize his castles if they thought it necessary, "then the king had in effect been dethroned". No king would have agreed to this except as a manoeuvre to gain time, and the inclusion of this clause destroyed any chance of the original Magna Carta keeping the peace in the long term.[46]
  Clause 61 was removed from all later versions of the charter. Forty years later, after another confrontation between king and barons, the Provisions of Oxford forced on the king a council of twenty four members, 12 selected by the crown, 12 by the barons, which would then elect a king's council of fifteen members; this however was also annulled when Henry III finally won that power struggle.
  Clauses in Runnymede Charter and in 1216/1217 Charter but not in 1225/1297 CharterClauses 2 to 3 refer to feudal relief, specifically the regulation of the charging of excessive relief, in effect a form of "succession duty" or "death duty" payable by an heir.Clauses 4 to 5 refer to the duties of wardship, specifically forbidding the practice of the over-exploitation of a ward's property by his warder (or guardian).Clause 6 refers to a warder's power over the marriage of his ward. He was forbidden from forcing a marriage to a partner of lower social standing (possibly therefore to one such who may have been willing to pay a higher price for it).Clause 7 refers to the rights of a widow to receive promptly her dowry and inheritance.Clause 8 stated that a widow could not be compelled to marry.Clause 9 stated that a debtor should not have his lands seized as long as he had other means to pay the debt.Clause 16 was regarding a knight's fee.Clauses 17 to 19 allowed for a fixed law court, which became the chancellery, and defined the scope and frequency of county assizes.Clause 44 (1216 only) relating to forest lawClause 56 (1216 only) relating to disseised WelshmenClauses in Runnymede Charter and 1225/1297 Charter but since repealedAll of the remaining parts of the 1215 charter appear substantially unchanged in the 1225/1297 charter which became law and is still on the statute book. All except the three clauses which are still in force today were eventually repealed however, most in the 19th century. Many provisions have no bearing in the world today, since they deal with feudal liberties. Some clauses remained relevant but were replaced by later legislation which gave similar rights. Using the 1215 clause numbers:
  Clause 20 stated that fines ("amercements", in the language of the day), should be proportionate to the offence, but even for a serious offence the fine should not be so heavy as to deprive a man of his livelihood. No fines should be imposed except by the oath of honest local men.Clause 21 stated that earls and barons should only be fined by their peers, i.e. other earls and barons. Until 1948 this meant that members of the House of Lords had the right to a criminal trial in the House of Lords at first instance.Clause 22 stated that fines should not be influenced by ecclesiastical property in clergy trials.Clause 23 provided that no town or person should be forced to build a bridge across a river.Clause 24 stated that crown officials (such as sheriffs) must not try a crime in place of a judge.Clauses 28 to 32 stated that no royal officer might take any commodity such as grain, wood or transport without payment or consent or force a knight to pay for something the knight could do himself, and that the king must return any lands confiscated from a felon within a year and a day to the felon's feudal lord ("the lords of the fees concerned").Clause 33 required the removal of all fish weirs.Clause 34 forbade repossession without a "writ precipe".Clause 35 set out a list of standard measuresClause 36 stated that writs for loss of life or limb were to be freeClause 37 concerns inheritance when a "fee-farm" (fee as in knight's fee) was involved.Clause 38 stated that no-one could be put on trial based solely on the unsupported word of an official.Clause 40 disallowed the selling of justice, or its denial or delay.Clauses 41 and 42 guaranteed the safety and right of entry and exit of foreign merchants.Clause 43 gave special provision for tax on reverted estatesClause 46 provided for the guardianship of monasteries.Clauses 47 and 48 abolished most of Forest Law (these clauses were split out of the main charter and formed part of a separate charter, the Charter of the Forest).[47]Clause 54 said that no man may be imprisoned on the testimony of a woman except on the death of her husband.Clauses in the 1225/1297 Charter but not in the Runnymede CharterThere are a few clauses which are in the 1225/1297 charter but not in the 1215 charter. These have also since been repealed. Using the 1297 clause numbers:
  Clause 13 concerned the Assize of darrein presentment.Clause 32 said that a free man should not give away or sell so much of his land that he would not be able to meet his feudal obligations to his lord.Clause 35 concerned the county court, the frankpledge and tithes.Clause 36 said that it was not permitted to give land to a religious house and then receive it back; in such a case the land would revert to the feudal lord.Medieval and Tudor periodThe judgement of 1387 confirmed the supremacy of the Royal Prerogative within the constitution.[48] By the mid 15th century Magna Carta ceased to occupy a central role in English political life.[41] In part this was also due to the rise of an early version of Parliament and to further statutes, some which were based on the principle of Magna Carta. The Charter, however remained a text for scholars of law. The Charter in the statute books was correctly thought to have arisen from the reign of Henry III and was seen as no more special than any other statute and could be amended and removed. It was not seen (as it was later) as an entrenched set of liberties guaranteed for the people against the Government. Rather, it was an ordinary statute, which gave a certain level of liberties, most of which could not be relied on, least of all against the king. Therefore the Charter had little effect on the governance of the early Tudor period.
  The Tudor period would see a growing interest in history. Tudor historians would rediscover the Barnwell chronicler who was more favourable to King John than other contemporary texts. John Bale and Shakespeare would both write plays on King John. Tudor historians were not inclined to regard rebellion as anything but a crime. Those who supported Henry VIII's break with Rome ''viewed King John in a positive light as a hero struggling against the papacy, they showed little sympathy for the Great Charter or the rebel barons''.[49]
  The first printed edition of Magna Carta was probably the Magna Carta cum aliis Antiquis Statutis of 1508 by Richard Pynson.[50]George Ferrers would publish the first unabridged English language edition of Magna Carta in 1534, and effectively established the numbering of the Charter into 37 chapters; an abridged English language edition had previously been published by John Rastell in 1527.[51] By the end of the 16th century editions of the 1215 Charter would also be printed.
  The Charter had no real effect until the Elizabethan era (1558''1603). Magna Carta again began to occupy legal minds, and it again began to shape how that government was run, but in a manner entirely different to that of earlier ages. William Lambarde published ''what he thought were law codes of the Anglo-Saxon kings and William the conqueror''.[52] Lambarde would begin the process of misinterpreting English history, soon taken up by others, incorrectly dating documents and giving parliament a false antiquity. Francis Bacon would claim that Clause 39 of the 1215 Charter was the basis of the jury system and due process in a trial. Robert Beale, James Morice, Richard Cosin and the Puritans[53] began to misperceive Magna Carta as a 'statement of liberty', a 'fundamental law' above all law and government. In 1581 Arthur Hall, MP would be one of the first to suffer under this emerging new ideology, when he correctly questioned the antiquity of the House of Commons[54][55] and was without precedent expelled from Parliament.
  Edward Coke's opinionsAmong the first of respected jurists to seriously write about the great charter was Edward Coke, who influenced how Magna Carta was perceived throughout the Tudor and Stuart periods, though his views were challenged during his lifetime by Lord Ellesmere, and later in the same century by Robert Brady. Coke used the 1225 issue of the Charter.
  Coke "reinterpreted or misinterpreted" Magna Carta "misconstruing its clauses anachronistically and uncritically".[56] He would interpret liberties to be much the same as individual liberty.[57] The historian J.C. Holt excused Coke on the grounds that the Charter and its history had itself become 'distorted'.[58]
  Coke was instrumental in framing the Petition of Right, which became a substantial supplement to Magna Carta's liberties. During the debates on the matter, Coke famously sought to deny the King's sovereign rights with the claim that "Magna Carta is such a fellow, that he will have no 'sovereign'"; he believed the statutes (not the King) were absolute.[59]
  17th and 18th centuriesWhilst Sir Edward Coke would take the lead in reinterpreting Magna Carta he would soon be joined by others with a similar ideological stance, resulting in the concept of an 'ancient constitution' which entailed belief in fundamental laws supposedly existing since time immemorial and a belief in the antiquity of Parliament.[60] These beliefs would be used to challenge the constitution as it existed under the Stuart Kings.
  John Selden would link habeas corpus to Magna Carta[61] during Darnell's Case. Sir Henry Spelman, who can be largely credited with first formulating a concept of feudalism (which would ironically be later used to attack the idea of an ancient constitution, notably by Robert Brady), sought to place the origins of Common Law in Anglo-Saxon laws.[62]Antiquarians would seek out documents to support the views of their compatriots, such as Sir Robert Cotton, whose collection of manuscripts would later form the basis for the British Library, and who discovered two original copies of King John's Charter.
  The Petition of Right of 1628 sought to add to Magna Carta in the manner of the Articuli super Cartas or the Six Statutes. Charles I however, did not grant it as law and he was under no legal restriction.[63] The problem as before in history was that the King was not bound by the law as adherents of Magna Carta believed. As before in history armed force would be used, first in 1642''49 and again in 1689.
  With the advent of the republic it was questionable whether Magna Carta still applied. John Milton called for ''great actions, above the form of law and custom''. Whilst Oliver Cromwell had much disdain for Magna Carta, at one point describing it as "Magna Farta" to a defendant who sought to rely on it[64] he agreed to rule with the advice and consent of his council.[65]
  Different radical groups held differing opinions of Magna Carta. The Levellers rejected history and law as presented by their contemporaries, holding instead to an 'anti-Normanism' viewpoint.[66]John Lilburne regarded Magna Carta as being less than the freedoms which supposedly existed under the Anglo-Saxons before being crushed by the Norman yoke. Richard Overton would describe Magna Carta as a ''a beggarly thing containing many marks of intolerable bondage''.[67] Both however saw Magna Carta as a valuable declaration of liberties which could be used against governments they disagreed with. Lilburne said "the ground of my freedom, I build upon the Grand Charter of England", while Overton said that when arrested, he hung on to his copy of Coke on Magna Carta, shouting "murder, murder, murder" as they wrested "the Great Charter of England's Liberties and Freedoms from me".[68]Gerrard Winstanley leader of the more extreme Diggers stated ''The best lawes that England hath, [viz., the Magna Carta] were got by our Forefathers importunate petitioning unto the kings that still were their Task-masters; and yet these best laws are yoaks and manicles, tying one sort of people to be slaves to another; Clergy and Gentry have got their freedom, but the common people still are, and have been left servants to work for them.''
  The first attempt at a proper Historiography was undertaken by Robert Brady[69] who refuted the supposed antiquity of parliament and the belief in the immutable continuity of the law, and realised the liberties of the Charter were limited and were effective only because it was the grant of the King; by putting Magna Carta in historical context he questioned its contemporary political relevance.[70] However, Brady's history would not survive the Glorious Revolution which ''marked a setback for the course of English historiography''.[71]
  The Glorious Revolution reinforced the century's ideological interpretations of history, which would later become known as the Whig interpretation of history. Reinforced with Lockean concepts the Whigs believed England's constitution to be a Social contract, based on documents such as Magna Carta, the Petition of Right and The Bill of Rights.[72] Ideas about the nature of law in general were beginning to change. In 1716 the Septennial Act was passed, which had a number of consequences. Firstly, it showed that Parliament no longer considered its previous statutes unassailable, as this act provided that the parliamentary term was to be seven years, whereas fewer than twenty-five years had passed since the Triennial Act (1694), which provided that a parliamentary term was to be three years. It also greatly extended the powers of Parliament. Under this new constitution Monarchal absolutism was replaced by Parliamentary supremacy. It was quickly realised that Magna Carta stood in the same relation to the King-in-Parliament as it had to the King without Parliament. This supremacy would be challenged by the likes of Granville Sharp. Sharp regarded Magna Carta to be a fundamental part of the constitution, and that it would be treason to repeal any part of it. Sharp also held that the Charter prohibited slavery.[73]
  Sir William Blackstone published a critical edition of the 1215 Charter in 1759, and gave it the numbering system still used today.[44]
  In 1763 an MP, John Wilkes was arrested for writing an inflammatory pamphlet, No. 45, 23 April 1763; he cited Magna Carta incessantly. Lord Camden denounced the treatment of Wilkes as a contravention of Magna Carta.
  Prophet of a new revolutionary age, Thomas Paine in his Rights of Man would disregard Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights on the grounds they were not a written constitution devised by elected representatives.
  The United States of AmericaWhen Englishmen left their homeland for the new world, they brought with them charters establishing the colonies. The Massachusetts Bay Company charter for example stated the colonists would "have and enjoy all liberties and immunities of free and natural subjects." The Virginia Charter of 1606 (which was largely drafted by Sir Edward Coke) stated the colonists would have all "liberties, franchises and immunities" as if they had been born in England. The Massachusetts Body of Liberties contained similarities to clause 29 of Magna Carta, and the Massachusetts General Court in drawing it up viewed Magna Carta as the chief embodiment of English common law.[74] The other colonies would follow their example. In 1638 Maryland sought to recognise Magna Carta as part of the law of the province but it was not granted by the King.[75]
  In 1687 William Penn published The Excellent Privilege of Liberty and Property: being the birth-right of the Free-Born Subjects of England which contained the first copy of Magna Carta printed on American soil. Penn's comments reflected Coke's, indicating a belief that Magna Carta was a fundamental law.[76] The colonists drew on English lawbooks leading them to an anachronistic interpretation of Magna Carta, believing it guaranteed trial by jury and habeas corpus.[77]
  The development of Parliamentary sovereignty in the British Isles did not constitutionally affect the Thirteen Colonies, which retained an adherence to English common law, but it would come to directly affect the relationship between Britain and the colonies.[78] When American colonists raised arms against Britain, they were fighting not so much for new freedom, but to preserve liberties and rights, as believed to be enshrined in Magna Carta and as later included in the Bill of Rights. American Revolutionaries would supplement this with ideas of natural right.
  In 1787 when the revolutionaries gathered to draft a constitution they built upon the legal system they knew and admired, English common law, and on Lockean philosophy.
  The American Constitution is the "supreme law of the land", recalling the manner in which Magna Carta had come to be regarded as fundamental law. This heritage is quite apparent. In comparing Magna Carta with the Bill of Rights: the Fifth Amendment guarantees: "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." In addition, the United States Constitution included a similar writ in the Suspension Clause, article 1, section 9: "The privilege of the writ habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it." Each of these proclaim no man may be imprisoned or detained without proof that they did wrong. The Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that, "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." The framers of the United States Constitution wished to ensure that rights they already held, such as those provided by Magna Carta, were not lost unless explicitly curtailed in the new United States Constitution.[79][80]
  The United States Supreme Court has explicitly referenced Lord Coke's analysis of Magna Carta as an antecedent of the Sixth Amendment's right to a speedy trial.[81]
  Nineteenth century and beyondWhilst radicals such as Sir Francis Burdett believed that Magna Carta could not be repealed, the 19th century would see the beginning of the repeal of many of the clauses of Magna Carta. The clauses were either obsolete and/or had been replaced by later legislation.
  William Stubbs's Constitutional History of England would be the high-water mark of the Whig interpretation of history. Stubbs believed that Magna Carta had been a major step in the shaping of the English people and he believed that the Barons at Runnymede were not just the Barons but the people.[82]
  This view of history however, was passing. At the popular level William Howitt in Cassell's Illustrated history of England would note that it was fiction that King John's Charter was the same Magna Carta as was on the statute books and stated that ''The Barons, in fact, were amongst the greatest traitors that England ever produced''.[83] A more academic history was provided by Frederic William Maitland in History of English Law before the Time of Edward I which began to move Magna Carta away from the myth that had grown up around it and return it to its historical roots. In many literary representations of the medieval past, however, Magna Carta remained the foundation for many diverse constructions of English national identity. Some authors instrumentalized the medieval roots of the document to preserve the social status quo while others utilized the precious national inheritance to change perceived economic injustice.[84]
  In 1904 Edward Jenks published in the Independent Review an article entitled ''The Myth of Magna Carta'' which undermined the traditionally accepted view of Magna Carta.[85] Historians like A. F. Pollard would agree with Jenks in considering Coke to have 'invented' Magna Carta, noting that the Charter at Runnymede had not meant popular liberty at all.[86]
  Sellar and Yeatman in their parody 1066 and All That would play on the supposed importance of Magna Carta and its supposed universal liberty: ''Magna Charter was therefore the chief cause of Democracy in England, and thus a Good Thing for everyone (except the Common People)''.
  Influences on later constitutionsMany attempts to draft constitutional forms of government, including the United States Constitution, trace their lineage back to Magna Carta.
  The British dominions, Australia and New Zealand,[87] Canada[88] (except Quebec), and formerly Union of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia, reflected influence of Magna Carta in their law, and the Charter impacted generally on the states that evolved from the British Empire.[89]
  ExemplificationsNumerous copies, known as "exemplifications", were made each time it was issued, so all of the participants would each have one '' in the case of the 1215 copy, one for the royal archives, one for the Barons of the Cinque Ports, and one for each of the 40 counties of the time. If there ever was one single 'master copy' of Magna Carta sealed by King John in 1215, it has not survived. Four exemplifications of the original 1215 text remain, all of which are located in England, some on permanent display:
  The 'burnt copy', was found in the archives of Dover Castle in 1630 by Sir Edward Dering and sent to the antiquarian Sir Robert Cotton and is assumed to be the copy sent to the Cinque Ports on or after 24 June 1215. It was subsequently damaged in a fire at Ashburnham House where the Cotton Library was housed, and is now virtually illegible. It is the only one of the four to have its seal surviving, which remains however as a lump of shapeless wax. It is currently held by the British Library (Cotton Charter XIII.31a).[90]Another 1215 exemplification is held by the British Library (Cotton MS. Augustus II.106).One owned by Lincoln Cathedral, normally on display at Lincoln Castle. It has an unbroken attested history at Lincoln since 1216. We hear of it in 1800 when the Chapter Clerk of the Cathedral reported that he held it in the Common Chamber, and then nothing until 1846 when the Chapter Clerk of that time moved it from within the Cathedral to a property just outside. In 1848, Magna Carta was shown to a visiting group who reported it as "hanging on the wall in an oak frame in beautiful preservation". It went to the New York World Fair in 1939. In 1941, after war broke out with Japan, Magna Carta was sent to Fort Knox, along with the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, until 1944, when it was deemed safe to return them.[91] Having returned to Lincoln, it has been back to the United States on various occasions since then.[92] It was taken out of display for a time to undergo conservation in preparation for its visit to the United States, where it was exhibited at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia from 30 March to 18 June 2007 in recognition of the Jamestown quadricentennial.[93][94] From 4 to 25 July 2007, the document was displayed at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia,[95] returning to Lincoln Castle afterwards. The document returned to New York to be displayed at the Fraunces Tavern Museum from 15 September to 15 December 2009 and has since returned to Lincoln.[96][97]One owned by and displayed at Salisbury Cathedral. It is the best preserved of the four.[98]Other early versions of Magna Carta survive. Durham Cathedral possesses 1216, 1217, and 1225 copies.[99]
  A near-perfect 1217 copy is held by Hereford Cathedral and is occasionally displayed alongside the Mappa Mundi in the cathedral's chained library. Remarkably, the Hereford Magna Carta is the only one known to survive along with an early version of a Magna Carta 'users manual', a small document that was sent along with Magna Carta telling the Sheriff of the county to observe the conditions outlined in the document.[100]
  Four copies are held by the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Three of these are 1217 issues and one a 1225 issue. On 10 December 2007, these were put on public display for the first time.[101] One of the Bodleian exemplifications from 1217 (once possibly held by Gloucester Cathedral) was displayed at San Francisco's California Palace of the Legion of Honor 7 May '' 6 June 2011.
  In 1952 the Australian Government purchased a 1297 copy of Magna Carta for £12,500 from King's School, Bruton, England.[102] This copy is now on display in the Members' Hall of Parliament House, Canberra. In January 2006, it was announced by the Department of Parliamentary Services that the document had been revalued down from A$40m to A$15m.
  Only one copy (a 1297 copy in cursiva anglicana handwriting with the royal seal of Edward I) is in private hands; it was held by the Brudenell family, earls of Cardigan, who had owned it for five centuries, before being sold to the Perot Foundation in 1984. This copy, having been on long-term loan to the US National Archives, was auctioned at Sotheby's New York on 18 December 2007; The Perot Foundation sold it in order to "have funds available for medical research, for improving public education and for assisting wounded soldiers and their families."[103] It fetched US$21.3 million,[104] It was bought by David Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group,[105] who after the auction said, "I thought it was very important that the Magna Carta stay in the United States and I was concerned that the only copy in the United States might escape as a result of this auction." Rubenstein's copy is on permanent loan to the National Archives in Washington, D.C.[106]
  The Rubenstein Magna Carta was removed from display 2 March 2011 for conservation treatment and reencasement in an anoxic environment provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) the government agency responsible for the 1950s encasement of the Charters of Freedom. After treatment and encasement by National Archives conservators, Magna Carta was put back on display for the public on 17 February 2012.[107]
  Usage of the definite article, spelling "Magna Carta"Since there is no direct, consistent correlate of the English definite article in Latin, the usual academic convention is to refer to the document in English without the article as "Magna Carta" rather than "the Magna Carta". According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first written appearance of the term was in 1218: "Concesserimus libertates quasdam scriptas in magna carta nostra de libertatibus" (Latin: "We concede the certain liberties here written in our great charter concerning liberties"). However, "the Magna Carta" is frequently used in both academic and non-academic speech.
  Especially in the past, the document has also been referred to as "Magna Charta", but the pronunciation was the same. "Magna Charta" is still an acceptable variant spelling recorded in many dictionaries due to continued use in some reputable sources. From the 13th to the 17th centuries, only the spelling "Magna Carta" was used. The spelling "Magna Charta" began to be used in the 18th century but never became more common despite also being used by some reputable writers.[108][109]
  Popular perceptionsSymbol and practiceMagna Carta is often a symbol for the first time the citizens of England were granted rights against an absolute king. However, in practice the Commons could not enforce Magna Carta in the few situations where it applied to them, so its reach was limited. Also, a large part of Magna Carta was copied, nearly word for word, from the Charter of Liberties of Henry I, issued when Henry I rose to the throne in 1100, which bound the king to laws which effectively granted certain civil liberties to the church and the English nobility.
  Many documents form Magna CartaAlthough Magna Carta is popularly thought of as the document which was forced upon King John in 1215, this version of the charter was almost immediately annulled. Later monarchs reissued the document, but without the most direct challenges to their power, and without the provisions which were intended to right immediate wrongs rather than make long-term constitutional changes. The version which forms part of English law is actually that of 1297. Magna Carta can therefore be used to refer to any one of several related (but not identical) 13th century documents, or indeed to the various charters as a whole.
  The document was unsignedPopular perception is that King John and the barons signed Magna Carta. There were no signatures on the original document, however, only a single seal placed by the king. The words of the charter '' Data per manum nostram '' signify that the document was personally given by the king's hand. By placing his seal on the document, the King and the barons followed common law that a seal was sufficient to authenticate a deed, though it had to be done in front of witnesses. John's seal was the only one, and he did not sign it. The barons neither signed nor attached their seals to it.[110]
  Perception in AmericaThe document is also honoured in America, where it is an antecedent of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. In 1957, the American Bar Association erected the Runnymede Memorial.[111] In 1976, the UK lent one of four surviving originals of the 1215 Magna Carta to the U.S. for its bicentennial celebrations, and also donated an ornate case to display it. The original was returned after one year, but a replica and its case are still on display in the U.S. Capitol Crypt in Washington, D.C.[112] One of four surviving originals of the 1297 Magna Carta is also on display in the U.S. National Archives.
  21st-century BritainIn 2006, BBC History held a poll to recommend a date for a proposed "Britain Day". 15 June, which was the date of the original 1215 Magna Carta, received most votes, above other suggestions such as D-Day, VE Day, and Remembrance Day. The outcome was not binding, although the then ChancellorGordon Brown had previously given his support to the idea of a new national day to celebrate British identity.[113] It was used as the name for an anti-surveillance movement in the 2008 BBC series The Last Enemy. According to a poll carried out by YouGov in 2008, 45% of the British public do not know what Magna Carta is.[114] However, its perceived guarantee of trial by jury and other civil liberties led to Tony Benn referring to the debate over whether to increase the maximum time terrorist suspects could be held without charge from 28 to 42 days as "the day Magna Carta was repealed".[115]
  See alsoReferences^"Magna Carta 1215, French translation (MC 1215 Fr)". Holt, J.C.'š 'A Verncaular-French Text of Magna Carta 1215', English Historical Review, 89 (1974), 346''64. http://www.earlyenglishlaws.ac.uk/laws/texts/mc-1215-fr/#manuscripts. ^Danny Danziger & John Gillingham, "1215: The Year of Magna Carta"(2004 paperback edition) p278^"Magna Carta: a precedent for recent constitutional change". Judiciary of England and Wales Speeches. 15 June 2005. http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/media/speeches/2005/magna-carta-precedent-recent-constitutional-change. Retrieved 7 September 2010. ^Holt, J.C. Magna Carta (1965) p.21^ abClanchy, M.T. Early Medieval England Folio Society (1997) p.139^"United States Constitution Q + A". The Charters of Freedom. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_q_and_a.html. Retrieved 16 February 2009. ^Thomas, Ralph V. Magna Carta Pearson 2003 pp39-40 & pp53-54^Danziger & Gillingham (2006) pp.256''258^Poole, A.L. From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087''1216 Oxford University Press 2nd edition (1963) p471-472^Holt, J.C. The Northerners: A Study in the Reign of King John Oxford University Press New edition (1992) p115^Holt, J.C. The Northerners: A Study in the Reign of King John Oxford University Press New edition (1992) p112^Within this article dates before 14 September 1752 are in the Julian calendar, later dates are in the Gregorian calendar.^Holt, J.C. The Northerners: A Study in the Reign of King John Oxford University Press New edition (1992) p107^"Roger of Wendover". Britannia.com. http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/runnymede.html. Retrieved 30 August 2010. ^Leeming, John Robert (1915). Stephen Langton : hero of Magna charta (1215 A.D.), septingentenary (700th anniversary), 1915 A.D.. London: Skeffington & Son. http://www.archive.org/details/stephenlangtonhe00leemuoft. Retrieved 1 November 2009. ^Poole, A.L. From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087''1216 Oxford University Press 2nd edition (1963) p479^Carpenter, David A. The Minority of Henry III University of California Press (1992) p12^Danziger & Gillingham (2004) p. 264^Crouch, David William Marshal Longman (1996) p114^Holt, J.C. Magna Carta Cambridge University Press 2nd Edition (1992) p1^Clanchy, M.T. A History Of England: Early Medieval England Folio Edition (1997) p141^Magna Charta translation, Barons at Runnymede, Magna Charta Period Feudal Estates, h2g2, King John and the Magna Carta^Hewitt, H.J. Mediaeval Cheshire Manchester University Press (1929) p.9^Holt, J.C. Magna Carta Cambridge University Press 2nd Edition (1992) pp.379-380^Clanchy, M.T. A History Of England: Early Medieval England Folio Edition (1997) p145^Powicke, Sir Maurice The Thirteenth Century 1216''1307 Oxford University Press 2nd edition (1962) p5^White, A.B. The Name Magna Carta in The English Historical Review (1915) pp472-475 and Note on the Name Magna Carta in The English Historical Review (1917) pp554-555^Clanchy, M.T. A History Of England: Early Medieval England Folio Edition (1997) pp141-142^Clanchy, M.T. A History Of England: Early Medieval England Folio Edition (1997) p147^Holt, J.C. Magna Carta Cambridge University Press 2nd Edition (1992) p394^Prestwich, Michael Edward I Yale (1997) p427^Halsbury Statutes Volume 10 4th edition (2007) p6^"Magna Carta (1297)". The National Archive. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Edw1cc1929/25/9/contents. Retrieved 29 July 2010. ^"UK Statute Law". Statutelaw.gov.uk. http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?activeTextDocId=1517519. Retrieved 30 August 2010. ^"Confirmatio Cartarum". http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/cartarum.html. Retrieved 30 November 2007. ^Prestwich, MichaelEdward I Yale (1997) p427^Prestwich, MichaelEdward I Yale (1997) p434^Menache, Sophia Clement V Cambridge University Press (2002)p253^Robison, William B. and Fritze, Ronald H. (eds) Historical dictionary of late medieval England, 1272''1485 Greenwood Press (2002) entry on Articuli super Cartas pp34-35^Prestwich, MichaelEdward I University of California Press (1988) pp547-548^ abTurner, Ralph V. Magna Carta Pearson (2003) p123^Thompson, Faith Magna Carta '' Its Role in the Making of the English Constitution 1300''1629(1948)pp9-10^ abc"(Magna Carta) (1297) (c. 9)". UK Statute Law Database. http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?activeTextDocId=1517519. Retrieved 2 September2007. ^ abTurner, Ralph V. Magna Carta Pearson (2003) pp67-68^Gordon v. Justice Court, 12 Cal. 3d 323 (1974).^Danziger, Gillingham 2004 p.262^ "Magna Carta". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. ^Turner, Ralph V. Magna Carta Pearson (2003) p127^Turner, Ralph V. Magna Carta Pearson (2003) p138^Thompson, Faith Magna Carta '' Its Role in the Making of the English Constitution 1300''1629 University of Minnesota Press (1948) p.146^Thompson, Faith Magna Carta '' Its Role in the Making of the English Constitution 1300''1629 University of Minnesota Press (1948) pp.147-149^Turner, Ralph V. Magna Carta Pearson (2003) p.140^Thompson, Faith Magna Carta '' Its Role in the Making of the English Constitution 1300''1629 University of Minnesota Press (1948) pp.216-230^Pocock, J.G.A. The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law Cambridge University Press reisssue (1987) p.154^Wright, Herbert G. The Life and Works of Arthur Hall of Grantham, Member of Parliament, Courtier and First Translator of Homer Into English (1919) p.72^Turner, Ralph V. Magna Carta Longman (2003) 148^Holt, J.C. Magna Carta Cambridge University Press 2nd edition (1992) p12^Holt, J.C. Magna Carta Cambridge University Press 2nd edition (1992) pp20-21^Turner, Ralph V. Magna Carta Longman (2003) 157^Pocock, J.G.A. The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law Cambridge University Press (1987)^Turner, Ralph V. Magna Carta Pearson (2003) p156^Greenberg, Janelle The Radical Face of the Ancient Constitution: St Edward's 'Laws' in Early Modern Political Thought Cambridge University Press (2001) p148^Russell, Conrad Unrevolutionary England, 1603''1642 Hambledon Press (1990) p41^Magna Carta: a Precedent For Recent Constitutional Change, a speech by Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, given on 15 June 2005 at Royal Holloway, University of London^Woolrych, Austyn in David L. Smith (Editor) Cromwell and the Interregnum: The Essential Readings Wiley-Blackwell (2003) p66^Pocock, J.G.A. The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law Cambridge University Press (1987) p127^Kewes, Paulina The uses of history in early modern England University of California Press (2006) 226^Danziger & Gillingham (2004) pp.281''282^Pocock, J.G.A. The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law Cambridge University Press (1987) "The Brady Controversy" chapter pp182-228^Turner, Ralph V. Magna Carta Pearson (2003) p165^Pocock, J.G.A. The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law Cambridge University Press (1987) p228^Turner, Ralph V. Magna Carta Pearson (2003) p170^Linebaugh, Peter The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All University of California Press (2008) p113-114 and p96^Hazeltine, H.D. The influence of Magna Carta on American Constitutional Development in Malden, Henry Elliot (editor) Magna Carta commemoration essays (1917) p 194^Hazeltine, H.D. The influence of Magna Carta on American Constitutional Development in Malden, Henry Elliot (editor) Magna Carta commemoration essays (1917) p 195^Turner, Ralph V. Magna Carta Pearson (2003) p210^Turner, Ralph V. Magna Carta Pearson (2003) p 211^Hazeltine, H.D. The influence of Magna Carta on American Constitutional Development in Malden, Henry Elliot (editor) Magna Carta commemoration essays (1917) pp 183''184^Frederic Jesup Stimson, The Law of the Federal and State Constitutions of the United States; Book One, Origin and Growth of the American Constitutions, 2004, Introductory, Lawbook Exchange Ltd, ISBN 1-58477-369-3^Charles Lund Black, A New Birth of Freedom, 1999, p. 10, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-07734-3^"',Klopfer v. North Carolina',, 386 U.S. 213 (1967)". Caselaw.lp.findlaw.com. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=386&invol=213. Retrieved 2 May 2010. ^Turner, Ralph V. Magna Carta Pearson (2003) pp1990-200^Volume 6 1862 pV^Clare A. Simmons, "Absent Presence: The Romantic-Era Magna Charta and the English Constitution," in Medievalism in the Modern World. Essays in Honour of Leslie J. Workman, ed. Richard Utz and Tom Shippey (Turnhout: Brepols, 1998), pp. 69''83.^Galef, David Second thoughts: a focus on rereading Wayne State University Press (1998) p78-79^Pollard, Albert F. The History of England; a study in political evolution (1912)pp31-32^Clark, David The Icon of Liberty: The Status and Role of Magna Carta in Australian and New Zealand LawMelbourne University Law Review 34 (2000)^Kennedy, William Paul Mcclure The Constitution of Canada; An Introduction to Its Development and Law (1922) p228^Drew, Katherine Fischer Magna Carta Greenwood (2004) pxvi & pxxiii^Davis, G.R.C., Magna Carta, published by the British Library Board, 1977, p.36^Fort Knox Bullion Depository, GlobalSecurity.org^Knight, Alec (17 April 2004). "Magna Charta: Our Heritage and Yours". National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928064443/http://www.magnacharta.org/DeanofLincolnsRemarks2004.htm. Retrieved 2 September 2007. ^"Magna Carta & Four Foundations of Freedom". Contemporary Art Center of Virginia. 2007. http://www.cacv.org/exhibitions/MagnaCarta.asp. Retrieved 2 September 2007. ^"By Our Heirs Forever". Contemporary Art Center of Virginia. 2007. http://www.cacv.org/MagnaCarta.asp. Retrieved 2 September 2007. ^"Magna Carta on Display Beginning 4 July " (Press release). National Constitution Center. 30 May 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070927032707/http://www.constitutioncenter.org/PressRoom/PressReleases/2007_05_30_17687.shtml. Retrieved 2 September 2007. ^Copy of Magna Carta Travels to New York in Style, The New York Times, 13 September 2009^Magna Carta and the Foundations of Freedom, Fraunces Tavern Museum^Award for cathedral Magna Carta, BBC News Online, 4 August 2009^"Magna Carta: Where can I see a copy?". Icons: A Portrait of England. Culture Online. http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/magna-carta/features/where-can-i-see-a-copy. Retrieved 2 September 2007. ^"Magna Carta at Hereford Cathedral". http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/content/articles/2009/06/15/magna_carta_3108_event_feature.shtml. ^"Magna Carta on display at the Bodleian". 10 December 2007. http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2007/071210a.html. Retrieved 12 December 2007. ^Harry Evans, Bad King John and the Australian Constitution^Barron, James (25 September 2007). "Magna Carta is going on the auction block". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/nyregion/25magna.html. Retrieved 19 December 2007. ^"Magna Carta copy fetches $24m". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 December 2007. http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/magna-carta-copy-fetches-24m/2007/12/19/1197740327098.html. Retrieved 19 December 2007. ^"Magna Carta Sells for $21.3m in New York" ('' Scholar search). The Washington Post. 19 December 2007. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/19/AR2007121900459.html. Retrieved 19 December 2007 [dead link]^A.E. Dick Howard "Magna Carta Comes to America", American Heritage, Spring/Summer 2008.^National Archives and Records Administration (12 February 2012). "New National Archives Video Short Documents 1297 Magna Carta Encasement Project: Magna Carta to Return to Public Display on February 17" (Press release). Archives.gov. http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2012/nr12-63.html. ^Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, Bryan A. Garner^Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage^Browning, Charles Henry (1898). "The Magna Charta Described". The Magna Charta Barons and Their American Descendants .... Philadelphia. p. 50. OCLC 9378577. http://books.google.com/books?vid=0XPZLx6VcMoY1KO0KO&id=hTUfAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA501. ^"National Archives Featured Documents: Magna Carta". Archives.gov. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/. Retrieved 30 August 2010. ^[1], Architect of the Capitol Retrieved 22 July 2012^"Magna Carta tops British day poll". BBC News. 30 May 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5028496.stm. Retrieved 2 September 2007. ^"Magna Carta what? English charter 'a mystery to 45% of population'". The Daily Telegraph (UK). 13 March 2008. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/13/ncarta113.xml. Retrieved 13 March 2008. ^"So will the revolution start in Haltemprice and Howden?". The Independent (UK). 14 June 2008. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/so-will-the-revolution-start-in-haltemprice-and-howden-846938.html. Retrieved 16 June 2008. External links
VIDEO: David Cameron ''quizzed'' on chat show
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  Thu, 27 Sep 2012 06:11
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The Britishisation of American English
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  Source: BBC News - Home
  Thu, 27 Sep 2012 06:08
  26 September 2012Last updated at19:50 ETBy Cordelia HebblethwaiteBBC News, Washington DCThere is little that irks British defenders of the English language more than Americanisms, which they see creeping insidiously into newspaper columns and everyday conversation. But bit by bit British English is invading America too.
  "Spot on - it's just ludicrous!" snaps Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist at the University of California at Berkeley.
  "You are just impersonating an Englishman when you say spot on."
  "Will do - I hear that from Americans. That should be put into quarantine," he adds.
  And don't get him started on the chattering classes - its overtones of a distinctly British class system make him quiver.
  But not everyone shares his revulsion at the drip, drip, drip of Britishisms - to use an American term - crossing the Atlantic.
  "I enjoy seeing them," says Ben Yagoda, professor of English at the University of Delaware, and author of the forthcoming book, How to Not Write Bad.
  "It's like a birdwatcher. If I find an American saying one, it makes my day!"
  Last year Yagoda set up a blog dedicated to spotting the use of British terms in American English.
  So far he has found more than 150 - from cheeky to chat-up via sell-by date, and the long game - an expression which appears to date back to 1856, and comes not from golf or chess, but the card game whist. President Barack Obama has used it in at least one speech.
  Yagoda notices changes in pronunciation too - for example his students sometimes use "that sort of London glottal stop", dropping the T in words like "important" or "Manhattan".
  Continue reading the main storyThe Britishisms are comingGinger (red hair)The use of ginger in the US to describe red hair took off with publication of the first Harry Potter book in 1998, says Kory Stamper of Merriam-Webster. Unlike in the UK, there is no anti-ginger prejudice in the US, she says - Americans think of warm, comforting things like gingerbread.
  See the full Google ngram graph
  Sell-by date (expiration)Americans use "expiration date" for the British sell-by date - the date by which supermarket food must be sold. But sell-by date is increasingly used in the US in a figurative sense. Eg "That idea is well past its sell-by date."
  See the full graph
  Go missing (disappear)This came to the fore in the US when intern Chandra Levy "disappeared", says Ben Yagoda. Go missing was widely used, he says, because it felt more nuanced. In his view, British terms can "really serve a purpose" when there is no exact equivalent in American English.
  See the full graph
  Chat up (hit on)The use of chat up to refer to flirtatious conversation really began to take off in the 1990s, says Kory Stamper. Often you can't pinpoint why a word or phrase gets picked up, she says. Chat up is a good example of a Britishism that has "snuck in on cat's feet".
  See the full graph
  Continue reading the main storyKory Stamper, Associate Editor for Merriam-Webster, whose dictionaries are used by many American publishers and news organisations, agrees that more and more British words are entering the American vocabulary.
  Continue reading the main storyAlso overheard in the US...Do the washing up - British for "wash the dishes"Keen on/ keen to - a British way of saying "to like" or "be eager to"Barman - bartenderBit - as in "the best bit" of a film... Americans would usually say "part"To book (eg a hotel) - Americans would say "reserve"CalledJoe - Americans say "named" JoeTo move house - a British way of saying "to move"Stamper is one of the powerful few who get to choose which words are included in the dictionary, as well as writing their definitions.
  One new entrant into the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2012 was gastropub (a gentrified pub serving good food), which was first used, according to Kory Stamper, in London's Evening Standard newspaper in 1996, and was first registered on American shores in 2000.
  "The British pub is a very different critter from an American bar," she says, but bars with good beer and food are springing up in many cities in the US, and the British term is sometimes used to describe them.
  Twee (excessively dainty or cute) is another "word of the moment", says Stamper, as is metrosexual (a well-groomed and fashion-conscious heterosexual man) which "took off like wildfire", after it was used in the American TV series Queer Eye. There was even a backlash against it - a sure sign, she says, that the word had "absolutely made its way into the American vernacular".
  Continue reading the main storyWhat about Canadian English?Canadians spell many words the British way - like "colour", "neighbour" and "centre"British English was "enormously influential" from 1850-1950, largely due to a wave of immigration from Britain - an accent known as "Canadian dainty" came into being as upper middle class Canadians tried to sound BritishCanadians have tended to pronounce works like "tomato" and "leisure" the British, rather than American, way - as well as using words like "tap", when an American would say "faucet" - but this is changing"When people put on a British accent [now], we consider it affected and funny - but it doesn't happen very frequently"There has also been "a huge up-tick", says Stamper, in the use of ginger as a way of describing someone with red hair.
  She sees this as clearly tied to the publication in the US of the first Harry Potter book. Dozens of words and phrases were changed for the American market, but ginger slipped through, as did snog (meaning "to kiss amorously") - though that has not proved so popular.
  We are not seeing a radical change to the American language, says Jesse Sheidlower, American editor at large of the Oxford English Dictionary - rather a "very small, but noticeable" trend.
  Bill Kretzschmar, professor of English at the University of Georgia, makes a similar point - that while the spike in use of some British terms may look dramatic, it is often because they are rising from a very low base. Most are used "very infrequently", he says.
  And it is not so much the masses who use these terms, says Geoffrey Nunberg, as the educated elite. Journalists and other media types, like advertising agencies, are the worst offenders, in his view.
  "The words trickle down rather than trickle up," he says.
  "It sounds trendy - another borrowing we could use without - to use a British term. It just sounds kind of Transatlantic."
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  Obama was "chuffed to bits" to "natter" with David Cameron in March
  But the line between trendy and plain pretentious is a fine one, says Sheidlower.
  Anyone who says bespoke - as Americans sometimes do when referring to a custom-made suit or a bicycle - is just "showing off".
  Continue reading the main storyDefining termsBriticism - Word or phrase characteristic of the English or Great Britain - first used in US in 1868Britishism - First used in US in 1853, for something "characteristic of British people" - only later applied to wordsBriticization or Britishisation - First reference is 1953 in BritainBritspeak - No specific entry in the dictionary at the moment, but "worth considering" says the OED's Jesse SheidlowerSource: Oxford English Dictionary
  But some British terms can be useful, says Sheidlower, and fill in a gap where there is no direct equivalent in American English - he cites one-off (something which is done, or made, or which happens only once) as an example.
  To go missing is another useful term, says Ben Yagoda, as it is more nuanced, conveying a greater sense of uncertainty than the standard "to disappear". Its use climbed significantly in 2001, with the high-profile case of the missing intern Chandra Levy.
  British TV shows like Top Gear, Dr Who, and Downton Abbey may be another reason more British words are slipping in, says Yagoda, as well as the popularity (and easy access via the internet) of British news sources, such as The Guardian, The Economist, The Daily Mail - and the BBC.
  Yagoda also points to a number of British journalists who have risen to influential positions in the US, including Tina Brown - who has worked as editor of Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, The Daily Beast, and Newsweek - and Anna Wintour, editor in chief of American Vogue.
  "English for everybody is becoming more international, every day that passes," says Bill Kretzschmar who is also editor in chief of the Linguistics Atlas Project, which tracks spoken English.
  Continue reading the main storyA self-confessed AnglophileLanguage is part of our self-identity. It evokes strong emotions in the same way that other elements of self-identity do - such as politics or religion.
  In my work Americanising British terms for young-adult literature, I tended to leave in any Britishism that I could get away with. If the context allowed the reader to understand, and if the word was in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, I generally left it in. I generally had no problem leaving in a word like peckish because we have no commonly used term that means exactly the same thing.
  I love Britishisms, and I liked the idea of expanding young readers' vocabulary. But I would change a word like "chips" and "crisps" because Americans do use a different, specific word for these things.
  The use of university, rather than college or school, for example, may well be used by Americans to make sure they are understood outside the country.
  The same thing might be influencing a trend that Yagoda has spotted for Americans to use the day, month, year format for dates - 26/9/12 rather than 9/26/12.
  There is not so much an "on and off switch" between versions of English, says Kretzschmar, but more of a continuum - with the same words in existence in different places, but just used at different frequencies.
  Some words, often the more formal ones, were once common on both sides of the Atlantic, but dropped out of American English usage while remaining popular in Britain, says Yagoda - amongst (instead of among), trousers (instead of pants), and fortnight (two weeks) are examples.
  And some words which Brits regard as typically American - including "candy", "the fall", and "diaper" - were originally British, but dropped out of usage in Britain between about 1850 and the early 1900s, says Kory Stamper.
  "America has always welcomed words from all over," she says.
  "If it doesn't look conspicuously foreign, I don't think anyone questions - it's just English at that point."
  The word gormless (the best American equivalent is probably "clueless") is on the rise in the US, for example, says Stamper, but no-one thinks of it as a British word. For some reason it sounds Southern to many American ears.
  Continue reading the main storyThe American 'tung'Lexicographer, author and editor Noah Webster was born in Connecticut in 1758Believed spellings were needlessly complicated, and tried to simplify themMany changes were adopted into American English - "traveled", "defense" and "color", for exampleHe also wanted to change "women" to "wimmen" and "tongue" to "tung", but neither was adoptedLearned 26 languages in order to write An American Dictionary of the English language - published in 1828 (22 years after his first dictionary) it had 70,000 entriesMany Americans learned how to read using his famous Blue Backed SpellerThere would have been no difference between British and American English when the founding fathers first crossed the Atlantic. It took time for the two to go their separate ways - a process given a jolt by Noah Webster, who published the first dictionary of American English in 1806, 30 years after the Declaration of Independence.
  Webster introduced the distinctive American spellings of words like "honour" (honor), "colour" (color), "defence" (defense), and "centre" (center), as well as including specifically American words like "skunk" and "chowder".
  "He wanted very much for this budding new nation to have its own language," says Kory Stamper, whose Merriam-Webster dictionary is the modern-day version of Webster's work.
  "If [we were] not British, but American, we needed to have an American language as well."
  These days, the "balance of payments" language-wise is very much skewed the other way - with Americanisms used far more in Britain than the other way round, says Nunberg.
  And though a few people do take umbrage to the use of British words in American English, they are in the minority, says Sheidlower.
  "In the UK, the use of Americanisms is seen as a sign that culture is going to hell."
  "But Americans think all British people are posh, so - aside from things that are fairly pretentious - no-one would mind."
U.S. actress sues anti-Islam filmmaker, YouTube in federal court
  Link to Article
  Source: Reuters: World News
  Thu, 27 Sep 2012 06:05
  Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress in the ''Innocence of Muslims'', an anti-Islam movie that has spawned violent protests across the Muslim world, attends a news conference outside her attorney's office after a court hearing in Los Angeles, California September 20, 2012.
  Credit: Reuters/Bret Hartman
  By Steve Gorman
  LOS ANGELES | Thu Sep 27, 2012 1:05am EDT
  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An actress who said she was duped into appearing in an anti-Islam film that stoked violent protests across the Muslim world took her legal bid to federal court on Wednesday in a renewed effort to force it off YouTube.
  The lawsuit filed by Cindy Lee Garcia names the popular online video site YouTube and its parent company Google Inc. as defendants, along with the Egyptian-American Coptic Christian from California believed to be behind the making of the film.
  Last week, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied Garcia's request for a temporary restraining order that would have required YouTube to stop posting the crudely made 13-minute video, finding the actress was unlikely to prevail on the merits of her case in state court.
  As in her previous lawsuit, Garcia accused the purported filmmaker of fraud, libel and unfair business practices. But her federal lawsuit also asserts a copyright claim to her performance in the video, titled "The Innocence of Muslims."
  Garcia's case was the first known civil litigation stemming from the video, billed as a film trailer, which depicts the Prophet Mohammad as a fool and a sexual deviant. The clip sparked a torrent of anti-American unrest in Egypt, Libya and dozens of other Muslim countries over the past two weeks.
  The outbreak of violence coincided with an attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya.
  U.S. and other foreign embassies were also stormed in various cities across the Middle East, Asia and Africa. For many Muslims, any depiction of the prophet is considered blasphemous.
  Google has refused to remove the film from YouTube, despite pressure from the White House and others to take it down, though the company has blocked the trailer in Egypt, Libya and other Muslim countries.
  COPYRIGHT ISSUE
  Garcia's lawyer argued in court last week that her client, who is from Bakersfield, California, has suffered harm similar to a person whose privacy is violated by the unauthorized release of a sex tape.
  But Google's attorneys said that the rights of an actor do not protect that person from how a film is perceived.
  In her latest lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Clara, California, Garcia says that Google is infringing on the copyright she holds to her performance in the film by distributing the video without her approval via YouTube.
  Garcia's lawsuit identifies Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, a Los Angeles-area Coptic man who has served time in federal prison for bank fraud, as the film's producer.
  On Saturday, a Pakistani cleric offered a $100,000 reward to anyone who killed the film's maker. Garcia said in her lawsuit that an Egyptian cleric had issued a fatwa, or religious edict, against anyone who served as a director, producer or actor in the video.
  According to Garcia, Nakoula operated under the assumed name of Sam Bacile, misleading her and other actors into appearing in a film they believed was an adventure drama called "Desert Warrior."
  After the fact, however, she learned that some of her lines spoken in the production had been dubbed over.
  The alteration made it look like Garcia "voluntarily performed in a hateful, anti-Islamic production," the lawsuit says, adding that she has "been subjected to credible death threats and is in fear for her life and the life and safety of anyone associated with her."
  Nakoula has been in hiding for much of the past two weeks after being questioned by federal authorities looking into whether he may have violated terms of his probation in the making or promotion of the video.
  (Reporting by Steve Gorman)
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This Is What Islamic Supremacism Looks Like
  Link to Article
  Source: FrontPage Magazine
  Thu, 27 Sep 2012 06:04
  President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is in New York. According to the regime's official FARS News Agency, he is ''set to meet American university students, artists, intellectuals and elites, including Occupy Wall Street anti-capitalist protestors, despite the ongoing efforts made by the pro-Zionist lobbies to prevent direct link between American people and the Iranian president.''
  The irony of this announcement must be lost on all of the above, including the Occupy Wall Street anti-capitalist fighters against all things supremacist: they are about to offer a propagandistic platform to a leading figure of Islamic supremacism, whose ''news'' agency can't even file a short report without an anti-Semitic jab.
  Wikipedia defines supremacism as ''the belief that a particular race, species, ethnic group, religion, gender, sexual orientation, class, belief system or culture is superior to others and entitles those who identify with it to dominate, control or rule those who do not.''
  Whoa! Wait one oppression-fighting minute! Species? Sexual orientation? Is there an article in Wikipedia where the sneaky ''progressives'' haven't laid their silly post-modernist eggs? But let's play ''which word doesn't belong'' some other time. A more pressing issue here is that the above definition perfectly describes Islam, states its goals and motivations, and explains the origins and purpose of the segregationist Sharia legal system that purports to be superior to individual equality and liberty.
  According to a former FBI counter-terror expert Jeffrey Imm, ''Islamic supremacism is an activist, transnational ideology that seeks the transformation or assimilation of every human being, with the ultimate goal to establish a global Islamic caliphate to govern Earth. Islamic supremacism may provide the ideological basis for Jihadist terrorism, but its adherents seek to attack and undermine equality and liberty using many other tactics.''
  Not only is Islam today's most potent, long-lasting, and threatening form of supremacism '' it is also the one that is being willfully overlooked by its potential victims, who are all too busy welcoming it in New York: the aforementioned ''American university students, artists, intellectuals and elites, including Occupy Wall Street anti-capitalist protestors.'' Might I add that deemed inferior are also those who plant words like ''species'' and ''sexual orientation'' into the Wikipedia definition of supremacism.
  The latter themselves represent a loosely organized ''religion of peace,'' united by their faith that word manipulation can somehow alter reality. They may even feel superior to others due to their skills in ''framing the debate.'' And yet, despite their ritualistic lying to themselves and others, there is no such thing as ''moderate supremacism'' or ''the supremacism of peace.''
  An example of their intellectual and moral contortionism is found in the same Wikipedia article, which laughably claims that Islamic supremacism is an illusion caused by ''misinterpreting'' Islam's history of invasions, massacres, oppression, and slave trade.
  Some academics and writers have alleged Muslim or Islamic supremacism. The Qur'an and other Islamic documents always speak of tolerant and protective beliefs which have been misused, misquoted and misinterpreted by supremacists and anti-Islamic elements. Specific examples of how supremacists have exploited the name of Islam includes Muslim participation in the African slave trade, the early 20th century pan-Islamism promoted by Abdul Hamid II, the jizya and rules of marriage in Muslim countries being imposed on non-Muslims, the majority Muslim interpretations of the rules of pluralism in Malaysia, and ''defensive'' supremacism practised [sic] by some Muslim immigrants in Europe.