What Adam Curry is reading

FBI ordered to disclose "Going Dark" surveillance program
  Link to Article
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 04 Nov 2012 14:37
  A federal judge ordered the FBI to disclose more information about its ''Going Dark'' surveillance program, an initiative to extend its ability to wiretap virtually all forms of electronic communications.Why shocking ? because a federal judge just ruled that police can place surveillance cameras on private property without a search warrant and another federal judge quickly overturned a previous decision blocking the indefinite detention provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012.The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has filed filed two freedom of information requests, in response to which they received damned little. Judge Richard Seeborg says the feds need to go back and try again.FBI's wiretapping system is robust and advanced, so request sought documents concerning limitations that hamper the DOJ's ability to conduct surveillance on communication networks including encrypted services like BlackBerry, social-networking sites like Facebook, and peer-to-peer messaging services including Skype.According to Cnet - David Hardy, section chief for the FBI's record management division, had told the court that internal documents about a congressional briefing should not be released in full because: Publicity (adverse or otherwise) regarding any internal FBI development projects (e.g. National Electronic Surveillance Strategy), and legislative strategy to make amendments to outdated laws, that these congressional staffers, and DOJ representatives, may be requested to provide input on, may seriously prejudice their effectiveness in helping on other developmental projects, and legislative strategies.... These employees may have to give input on the development of strategy plans, like developing ways to enhance ELSUR [electronic surveillance] capabilities through legislative amendments.... The publicity associated with the release of these congressional staffers involved with an FBI developmental project could trigger hostility toward a particular employee....The battle over increasingly easy government surveillance will not likely end soon and based on the troubling precedents established as of late, the chances of the Constitution being honored over the interests of the federal government seem slim, at best.Follow @TheHackersNewsAbout Author:Mohit Kumar aka 'Unix Root' is Founder and Editor-in-chief of 'The Hacker News'. He is a Security Researcher and Analyst, with experience in various aspects of Information Security. His editorials always get people thinking and participating in the new and exciting world of cyber security. Other than this : He is an Internet Activist, Strong supporter of Anonymous & Wikileaks. His all efforts are to make internet more Secure. Follow him @ Twitter | LinkedIn | Google | Email
Obama's Terror Trade: Analgate
  Link to Article
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Sun, 04 Nov 2012 14:31
  My children, in the annals of ANALGATE, there is a telling excrement which when people are made aware of it, it is going to make B. Hussein Obama's chest thumping in the murder of Sheik bin Laden's corpse, turn the grey shades of cold blooded murder, because of the exclusives about to be revealed here once again.
  Return to September 11th, 2001, and recall how the Bush43 message was one of "justice" in apprehending these terrorists of killing them, for the closure of the terror event either in a grave or by bringing the terrorists to Gitmo for trials to expose all of their crimes.
  Revisit now B. Hussein Obama and Eric Holder. What is the first act they performed with terrorists?
  Do you not recall the Chinese Muslims which they spent 1 million dollars per head in relocating them from prison to West Indian vacation resorts?
  These were Obama's good terrorists, and his bad terrorists he was having the US military assassinate from Day One in order to bring al Qaeda under the governorship of B. Hussein Obama.
  It is tellling if one notes that Nidal Hassan is not tried for the mass murders of US Soldiers and family members at Fort Hood and Obama will not even define him as a terrorist.Recall the Christmas condom bomber in which Obama was more interested on vacation in taking on Dick Cheney, in the several "Indian" looking agents who were helping this terrorist were released and that was all covered up.
  Americans like Hutatree are smeared and imprisoned illegally, but these terrorists of Obama just have a reality of being released or the reality of Mr. Obama apparently fears their ever seeing the light of a court trial for all the secrets they hold.
  What are the secrets?
  Have you heard in the Obama media anything about the exact names of the claimed Libyan terrorists of Benghazi? Bill Gertz a Conservative named two of the terrorists finally after months, but the reality is apparently for months the Obama intelligence community has know several of the terrorists they employed in his Turkish Muslims had enough warning to arrest a Tunisian Muslim named Ali Harzi, and held him in detention WHILE RELEASING ANOTHER OBAMA OPERATIVE to freedom.
  Once again the Obama good and bad terrorists. One is the traitor who must be kept under wraps (traitor to Obama's hostage strategy of Chris Stevens to help his campaign") and the other is an Obama mole set free to monitor and shepherd Obama's al Qaeda in North Africa.
  The terrorists being pointed at too in the media are North Africans, when the masterminds of this slipped away back into Asia, so why the reports of only these few select which never appear in American media in working for B. Hussein Obama.
  One would think an AP report from Obama's own puppy press of community organized propagandists would have championed such information.........including an October Surprise of Egyptians KNOWING the name of a person in their country who was armed and shot in a firefight in Cairo..........but no chest thumping from Obama in this about taking credit for any of this Obama justice done.Gee why is that? It make Mr. Obama look very guilty of something psychologically.
  We have no idea who this dead terrorist is, as no one in the press bothers to print his or her name, meaning they are being told to not print this terrorist's name, as it would lead directly back to people whose name you would know apparenlty who are directly linked to Barack Hussein Obama.
  Examine all of this in the covert assassinations from the beginning in this from Day Five on as reported here. A group of Americans from civlian and military backgrounds entered Libya and mass assassinated the Libyans on the ground who did not follow through with the hostage taking.We know they were from different intelligence backgrounds by the different methods of assassinations. SEALS are trained two taps, once in the chest and once in the head. Some of these Libyans only were shot in the head, pointing to civilian experts.
  This then spirals to the action command, almost two months after Benghazi stationing more American military assassins, excluding the SEALS for reasons to eluded in a previous blog, in the SEALS might be looking to keep people alive to question them, while the orders now are to silence all the remaining parties not of the Ca'an heirarchy, to write this down as the Obama propaganda to cover all of this up.
  What is being revealed by all the information is clean up crews are now being sent in to hunt whoever, report whoever is dead, with no names, no information, and the public is just supposed to accept all of this as messiah Obama gospel..........like Obama having Sheik bin Laden's DNA long before he could have had it proven in lab to be the Sheik's.
  So before the world is a Murder Inc. now which has been set loose not to bring anyone to court justice where facts can be made public, nor even a grave of known butchers like Saddam Hussein and his sons, but what is taking place are nameless, faceless, ghosts who are being exorcised and hunted by chains of command whose main command is to not leave anyone around to explain things like who gave these terrorists the information of American safe houses, who supplied the flight routes of SEAL teams flying in, who provided these terrorists with advanced weaponry, who was supplying them money so they could dine without fear in Benghanzi luxury hotels months after the murders and who was it that funded and allowed a dozen al Qaeda training camps to be set up in Libya...........whose terrorists seem to have been trained for Syria where once again American arms, including Stingers from Turkey in Turkeygate are being re packaged for these terrorists.Yes the same Obama Syrian terrorists who he imported and has been backing who have now been outed as capturing Syrian soldiers and then murdering them in captivity.
  Blood on his hands Obama was the title this blog gave Obama years ago, and that is exactly what this Stalinist butcher is doing. This is not natural law as idiots stated, but it is Obama lawlessness where he kept the FBI from investigating these mass murder crimes, all the while the loose ends were being sanctioned to silence.
  Those are the realities in this. Barack Obama has been involved with terrorists in employing them. He has supplied weapons to them. He has used them to murder Nationalist Muslims, and now when another one of his operations for his re election has blown up like Benghazi, Obama is now using delay and murder to re write his crimes and the media is complacent in not reporting these "terrorists" being offered up as the culprit Obama employed for his original hostage taking mission.
  This is Obama's Terror Trade. This entire aftermath of Benghazi has been one of pointing people via FOX news in a direction other than the Obama employed terrorists and it is one of the "terrorists" who are being picked off are not the masterminds behind this, as they are being protected and the few who are being shot, are suddenly without names, as their names would point in directions which would link them directly to Obama associates and that means directly inside 1600 Penn Avenue.
  That is what is being hidden now and the meaning of these headlines. Richard Nixon fired people to try and cover things up. Barack Obama has red herrings shot as his Jake Tapper press covers it all up.
  Silent terrorists only will tell the tales that B. Hussein Obama seeks to re write history with.
  As most will require this to be pointed out frankly. Barack Obama chest thumps and brags on things he is proud over like the murder of bin Laden's corpse as it sticks it to George W. Bush. When Obama is GUILTY he always goes silent like a child to cover things up. Obama is a pathological liar and a sociopath, but when he is guilty of things he always shuts his mouth.
  B. Hussein Obama is acting guilty over the Benghazi terrorism, because he is involved in it. These were his terrorists.
  Another Lame Cherry matter anti mater exclusive.
  agtG 242y
  Obama's missing dead employees
Obama Keynesian
  Link to Article
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Sun, 04 Nov 2012 14:30
  I wonder at stupidity. I wonder at lazy. No I'm not defining Barack Hussein Obama as a lazy nig as the racists would jump to on the left.
  No, this is a celebration of Barack Hussein Obama, the hardest working, and most successful Chinese Negro in human history.
  I really do not comprehend the Mockingbird always experts as one would think that once awhile intelligence would seep out of those diahrreah brains.
  I have question for each of you to answer, or a series of questions, so do not let your log brains hurt in this if you are Karl Rove.
  What do you have if you have if you have yearly growth around 3 percent and under?
  What do you have if inflation in around 10% yearly with no cost of living?
  What do you have if you have workers who have jobs just showing up for a union check?
  What do you have if you import foreign workers?
  What do you have when you have a an extreme wealthy class ruling and a mob below in welfare?
  What do you get if you have snobs classifying groups of people as sub for being Christians and nationalists?
  What do you have when unions are the marching mob for government national socialism in vote blocks?
  All of the above have several answers.
  If you said Barack Obama policy, you are correct.
  Some might say how can all of the above have several correct answers, and Obama is one..........that is because you have to know what Barack Obama is beyond Marxism, because what B. Hussein is at heart is a meld of National Socialism out of Adolf Hitler's Nazism. The Boshevism and Maoism of the Asians. The Baathism of the Islamocommunists and a clever little invention created by a pedophile economists to make being a welfare recipient of the American Treasury a "pension for life" .
  What you are experiencing in America is Keynesian Economics, or manage socialist poverty where the ruling class live like royalty and the rest of the population is kept as livestock and managed for death.
  This should not be a revelation nor exclusive as it is plain, but it is the reality of what America is. If you love high gas prices, high food prices, not being able to afford anything, that is what Europeans have been enslaved by in mass for generations.This is what John Kerry and the host of democrats have been allured to and telling all of you that they wanted to implement into America.
  You now have Keynseian Economics back in Obama force, after Ronald Reagan freed You from it and John Kennedy tried to economically.
  The point being is Barack Hussein Obama has Europeanized America. This is the great dream of all the American snobs. They went to Europe and Muchelle Kobi and Endive while the peasants at gruel and it was just wonderful to them, as it finally made them feel superior to bull shit.
  You now have this and Mr. Obama deserves full credit as he has been completely successful.
  This is what Europe looks like. Paris with a Muslm ghetto, which use to be Jew ghettos. Imports to do cheap tech jobs. Union thugs working 30 hours a week, a welfare class of trolls and a few rich people managing it all for death as American finance funds it all.
  So enjoy as America in the Obama Abyss is built under the European Mosoleum. Mr. Obama has had epic success and I keep telling you that Mr. Romney if he steals this bakc is going to put a new Keynesian name on this for the oil barons and Wall Street tycoons and manage this all just like Europe for the elite.
  I'm ultimate goat of this pasture as I know I'm not a sheep, and I have no value for the Limbaughs in being a judas, so I'm just waiting around in the hell to be slaughtered when the regimes get tired of torturing me.
  This is what managed economies look like and are misery like for the masses. It is why all of your families fled Eurasia, Africa and South America. Now it has all been installed in America and the idiotry tries to say this is not what it is, while the parrots never mention it and you stand around wondering why the hell this feels like a gulag.
  It is because it is prison. You can not leave without a passport by government armed border issue and if you do not pay the taxes you are throne into prison.
  It is what it is. So deal with the reality instead of listening to the lies of America is still out there. America is dead. America with the doctrines posted here can be raised from the dead, but this socialist thing can not be transformed as it is filled with a cancer and a plague which has infected the nation and the disease will never let go of sucking the life blood out of the land.
  Obama Keynesian, the elite sucking on the top straw. The caste on the bottom straw and you being starved out.
  agtG
Romney Pleads For Russian Help Over US Civil War Fears
  Link to Article
  Sun, 04 Nov 2012 13:32
  World's Largest English Language News Service with Over 500 Articles Updated Daily
  "The News You Need Today'...For The World You'll Live In Tomorrow."
  What You Aren't Being Told About The World You Live In
  War Of The Sacred Code: The True Secret Of 2012
  A ''must have'' book for those seeking to understand the truth behind this most prophesied about year in human history. (Continued)
  ''Dirty, Filthy, Christians'':Treatise On The Most Dangerous Death Cult In Human History
  An unprecedented work detailing the agenda behind the greatest deception ever foisted upon humanity.(Continued)
  BattleBegins For Throne of This World: The Return of the Einherjar Warriors
  By: Sorcha Faal ''The truest accounting of our World's present state of Global Chaos, the 'whys' and 'how's' are presented in this epic history of what has been kept hidden from humanity. (Continued)
  Picking up the Pieces: Practical Guide for Surviving Economic Crashes, Internal Unrest and Military SuppressionBy: Sorcha Faal ''In the span of less than 3 months gasoline prices will rise 500%. The prices of both food and shelter rise over 300%. (Continued)
  Partisans Handbook:By: Sorcha Faal ''Essential Survival Guide For Resisting Foreign Military Occupation, Escape And Evasion Techniques, Surviving Interrogation, Facing Execution, Wilderness Survival (Continued)
  Code Red: The Coming Destruction Of The United StatesLimited release of the perhaps one of the most prophetic books of our time relating to the underlying causes, and history, of the downfall of America (Continued)
  November 4, 2012
  Romney Pleads For Russian Help Over US Civil War Fears
  By:Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers
  A bizarre Federal Security Services (FSB) report circulating in the Kremlin today says that US Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney sent to President Putin a seven-page letter this past week outlining future Russian-American goals under his potential administration, but also asked for ''help and guidance'' as he stated his fears of a soon coming ''civil war'' in his country.
  According to this report, this astonishing letter was personally delivered to Kremlin authorities by Matt Romney, the hopeful future US President's son, who was in Moscow in search of investors for his California-based real estate company Excel Trust, but whose true mission was to relay this personal message between his father and Putin.
  The Moscow Times, in confirming this FSB report, further stated that Matt Romney told a person supposedly able to pass messages to Putin that his father wants ''good relations'' if he succeeds Obama in the White House.
  Romney's outreach to Putin stands in sharp contrast to his 26 March comment to CNN wherein he stated that Russia was, ''without question our number one geopolitical foe''.
  Romney's comments came in the context of Obama's 26 March ''hot mic'' moment with then President Medvedev after a meeting in Seoul. Obama was heard telling Medvedev he would have ''more flexibility'' on missile defense after the presidential election.
  Putin's response to Romney's statement was his saying: ''That Mr. Romney considers us enemy number one and apparently has bad feelings about Russia is a minus, but, considering that he expresses himself bluntly, openly and clearly, means that he is an open and sincere man, which is a plus. We will be oriented toward pluses, not minuses, and I am actually very grateful to him for formulating his position in a straightforward manner.''
  Interesting to note about Putin's comments, and as, perhaps, best explained by the Washington Post News Service, ''Soviet leaders used to prefer Republicans to Democrats, in the belief that Republicans were tough but more sincere and, once they made a promise, were more likely to deliver on it.''
  Putin, in an apparent nod to his Soviet predecessors, has, likewise, shown his disdain for American Democrats, especially with his stating last month that he would not renew a pact on weapons with the US, and as we can, in part, read as reported by the New York Times News Service:
  ''The Russian government said Wednesday that it would not renew a hugely successful 20-year partnership with the United States to safeguard and dismantle nuclear and chemical weapons in the former Soviet Union when the program expires next spring, a potentially grave setback in the already fraying relationship between the former cold war enemies.''
  To Romney's fears of a coming civil war in America, this report continues, rests in this US Presidential hopefuls concerns that this year's presidential election is shaping up to have possibly that nation's most racially polarized electorate ever.
  In speaking with the Los Angeles Times News Service, Mike Madrid, a Republican campaign consultant in Sacramento, echoed these fears by stating, ''Presidential elections have always been about how the white vote breaks. This is fundamentally different.'... The outcome of the presidential contest is no longer just about how the white vote breaks, but by how many Hispanics and blacks turn out against the white vote, which is troubling.''
  Raising these fears even further was a statement this past Friday by the popular left-wing Obama supporter Bill Maher, who on his HBO's Real Time television programme warned: ''If you're thinking about voting for Mitt Romney, I would like to make this one plea: black people know who you are and they will come after you.''
  Maher's threat against white people voting for Romney, sadly, is not an isolated event as the US social monitoring site Twitchy.com, which monitors Tweets throughout America, has documented a shocking rise in threats to whites should Obama lose, and include such statements as:
  ''If Obama doesn't win, I will actually start a riot. This is not a joke.''
  ''If Romney win , me obama and 2 chainz going to start a riot and shoot his ass!''
  ''If Obama lose it's going to be the biggest riot in history'... Beacause, I'm going to start it!''
  In the face of these fears, and a potential Obama victory, white America has, in turn, been, literally, ''arming itself to the teeth'' with a recent AP analysis of data tracking the health of the gun industry showing that sales are on the rise, so much so that some gun manufacturers can't make enough guns fast enough and the number of federally licensed, retail gun dealers is increasing in the US for the first time in nearly 20 years.
  To Romney's specific fears as, outlined in his letter to Putin, this FSB report says, are post-election actions Obama would take should widespread civil unrest erupt because of his being defeated, and which could possibly include his assuming dictatorial rule over the United States thus negating a Romney win.
  To if Obama is actually preparing to do such a thing, FSB analysts in this report note, there does appear to be a ''strong likelihood'' as evidenced by this past summers massive arms purchases for Obama regime troops involving over 1.4 billion rounds of hollow-point ammunition, a type of bullet banned by the Hague Convention of 1899, Declaration III, which prohibits the use in international warfare of bullets such as these which easily expand or flatten in the body.
  Should Romney's fears be realized, this report concludes, the outcome for Russia could, indeed, be grim as it will ironically be faced with a hostile United States ruled by the same type of socialist and communist madmen the Motherland took over 70 years to throw out of power at the expense of tens-of-millions human lives.
  As evidence of this happening to the United States, for the first time in modern history this once great nation has dropped out of the top ten of the world's most prosperous countries as it continues its descent into the abyss economic collapse and social upheaval, a sight not seen since the outbreak of their cataclysmic Civil War in 1861.
  November 4, 2012 (C) EU and US all rights reserved. Permission to use this report in its entirety is granted under the condition it is linked back to its original source at WhatDoesItMean.Com. Freebase content licensed under CC-BY and GFDL.
  [Ed. Note: Western governments and their intelligence services actively campaign against the information found in these reports so as not to alarm their citizens about the many catastrophic Earth changes and events to come, a stance that the Sisters of Sorcha Faal strongly disagrees with in believing that it is every human beings right to know the truth. Due to our missions conflicts with that of those governments, the responses of their 'agents' against us has been a longstanding misinformation/misdirection campaign designed to discredit and which is addressed in the report ''Who Is Sorcha Faal?''.]
  You May Already Be To Late'...But It Has Begun!
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Government is the Problem Not Nature '' Ryan Dawson
  Link to Article
  Source: Dprogram.net
  Sun, 04 Nov 2012 06:22
  November 3rd, 2012
  Tags: dawson, government is the problem, ryanThis entry was posted on Saturday, November 3rd, 2012 at 9:32 pm and is filed under Dictatorship, Education/Mind Control, Fascism, Film/Video, NWO, Politics/Corrupt. 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.
Mikhail Gorbachev Gets Key To The City Of Winnipeg?
  Link to Article
  Source: Canadian Awareness Network
  Sun, 04 Nov 2012 06:18
  On Oct. 29 2012 the former president of Russia, Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the key to the city. In Winnipeg.
  According to CBC''Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz presented a key to the city to former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and Free The Children ambassador Spencer West. Mayor Katz also thanked Gorbachev and West for their positive action in the world.
  ''They come from opposite sides of the world, but they have a common lesson to teach '' a lesson about human dignity and possibility,'' Mayor Katz said in a news release.
  Gorbachev and West are speaking at We Day on Tuesday. The event is held to encuorage young people to lead change at home and around the world.
  Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel peace award in 1990 for his achievements in international relations. He continues to work for the Gorbachev Foundation and Green Cross International.''Continue Reading
  Gorbachev's Nobel peace price and now the city of Winnipeg award of the ''key to the city'' (among many other awards) rank as equivalent and as laughable, as Barrack Obama's peace prize in my opinion.
  Gorbachev played a key role in the communist government or Russia from the 1970'²s until the early 1990'²s. The communist Russian government was labeled as being a ''Evil Empire''. This term was first put forth by former American president Ronald Regan.
  Michael Johns, writing for The Heritage Foundation's Policy Review magazine, prominently supported Reagan's assertion. In ''Seventy Years of Evil: Soviet Crimes from Vladimir Lenin to Gorbachev,'' Johns cited 208 acts by the Soviet Union that, he argued, demonstrated the Soviet leadership's evil inclinations. Both Yuri Maltsev (a high-ranking economist in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev during the 1980s) and Andrey Kozyrev (former head of the Soviet Foreign Ministry) agreed that the term ''evil empire'' was an accurate way to describe the Soviet governance.
  After leaving office, Gorbachev founded an organization called The Green Cross. The green cross mission statement is as follows.
  The mission of Green Cross International is to respond to the combined challenges of security, poverty and environmental degradation to ensure a sustainable and secure future. We seek solutions through dialogue, mediation and co-operation. To achieve this we:
  - Promote legal, ethical and behavioural norms that ensure basic changes in the values, actions and attitudes of government, the private sector and civil society, necessary to develop a sustainable global community;- Contribute to the prevention and resolution of conflicts arising from environmental degradation;- Provide assistance to people affected by the environmental consequences of wars, conflicts and man made calamities.http://www.gcint.org/our-mission
  The green cross has played a vital role in Agenda 21 and the green movement.
  The Earth CharterShortly after the Earth Summit concluded Strong formed the Earth Council, a group of ''environmental visionaries and philosophers'', and set about drafting this ''new global covenant''. Various draft versions were formulated but the radical and transformative nature of the document met with resistance from more conservative members of the UN bureaucracy. In 1997, the Earth Council and Green Cross International, founded by Mikhail Gorbachev, joined forces to form the Earth Charter Commission. The Commission, co-chaired by Strong and Gorbachev, claims to have consulted more than 100,000 ''concerned world citizens'' around the globe. The twenty-three members of the Commission, which includes nine Club of Rome members, claim to have ''mediated prayerfully over every word and comma''. I wonder who they were praying too?
  The Earth Charter Commission approved the final text of the Earth Charter in 2000, and it has since been embraced by the United Nations, many religious leaders around the world, the majority of world governments and countless Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) and activist groups. Following the release of the Charter a series of international forums, called The Earth Dialogues were held at the United Nations to discuss how the general public could be convinced to adopt the ''covenant with the Earth'' in a real and personal way.Continue Reading
  Quite simply a man who took part and was leader of a government that was labeled as an evil empire, and has been working to create a global government, depopulation, and total dictatorial control through the green movement. Being given these awards is outlandish to say the least! If I was a resident of Winnipeg, well lets just say that I would not be a happy camper in the slightest.
GM is going to need more bailout money.
  Link to Article
  Source: usfollowme
  Sun, 04 Nov 2012 06:17
Apple's vanishing iPad | Apple
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Sun, 04 Nov 2012 06:15
  Call it the featherweight KO'ing the heavyweight. On the first day of sales, the 312-gram Mini knocked the 652-gram fourth-generation iPad into quick obscurity.
  An untouched supply of the 'new iPad' (top) on Friday at a major U.S. retailer in Los Angeles. iPad Minis (bottom) were, however, selling. I wonder: were customers even aware there was a gen 4 iPad?
  (Credit: Brooke Crothers)The iPad we know and love seemed to vanish yesterday.
  Call it the featherweight KO'ing the heavyweight. On the first day of sales, the 312-gram Mini knocked the 652-gram fourth-generation iPad into quick obscurity.
  I knew there was a problem when I had to explain to people asking me about the iPad Mini that there was also this thing called the gen 4 (gen 3.5 may actually be more accurate) iPad.
  And some stores weren't exactly aware of the new iPad either. A sales rep at a certain large U.S. retail store (which will go unnamed) in Los Angeles gushed about the iPad Mini but was stumped when I asked about the gen 4 iPad.
  "You know, the one right in front of you," was (more or less) what I had to say.
  Though I like the Mini, I'm partial to the fourth-generation iPad for, among other things, reasons I reported on yesterday.
  It's the first iPad to get Apple's A6 chip -- in this case a turbocharged version called the A6X -- and every step the iPad takes toward laptop-class processing power has got my attention.
  But I'm in the minority. The problem, of course, is that it looks the same as the gen 3 iPad, except for the Lightning connector.
  There are other minor improvements too. The front-facing FaceTime camera has been upgraded to HD 720p video. The 4G/LTE iPad also works with a wider range of international carriers.
  None of that appears to be enough to get people's attention, though.
  And it's not going to get easier for Apple. With the Nexus 10 tablet, Microsoft Surface, and the crush of tablets and hybrids coming from the Windows 8 crowd, Apple is going to need to make a bold statement with the next 10-inch class iPad.
  Until then, we have the incredible invisible iPad.
  Lest we forget, the gen 4 iPad also went on sale yesterday.
  (Credit: Apple)
FOX News now proves Lame Cherry right on ANALGATE
  Link to Article
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Sun, 04 Nov 2012 06:14
  The tourist FOX News is attempting to catch up to this blog's exclusives, but in the process is proving this Lame Cherry blog right again about Benghazi or as it is correctly defined as ANALGATE.
  The three following quotes from British Intelligence and America Special Operations forces prove the thing this blog broke first, that Chris Stevens was sent in to become a hostage, so Barack Obama could send in SEALS again to become a chest thumper hero.
  The Obama regime deliberately did not create a safe room. CIA has now been caught CYA lying several times from the smart bombs Obama provided these terrorists to the magical timeline of Benghazi.When one places people into terrorist controlled areas, takes away all security, does not set up a safe room, one either is positioning for a mass murder or one is creating a hostage situation.There can be no other reality than this, and as murder has not assisted Mr. Obama in he has run from the Benghazi crimes, it then as Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle taught, leaves only the one probability and that must be correct, in Barack Obama meant to have Chris Stevens taken hostage with the SEAL CIA team murdered for accent.
  Only cameras were sent for the specific reason this blog stated for footage of this for the Obama election digitals to set all of this electioneering up.Weapons and security would get in the way of the hostage taking. This had all been coordinated with Obama's al Qaeda on the ground.
  One former Special Op now employed by a private company in Benghazi said that even the safe room wasn't properly set up. He said "the safe room is one of the first measures you take" and that he is "not sure how you can set a safe room without fire suppression and ventilation in case of fire." He also said, "Ambassador Stevens would likely be alive today if this simple and normal procedure was put into place."
  British intelligence sources said that unarmed drones routinely flew over Benghazi every night in flight patterns and that armed drones which fly over chemical sites, some a short flight from Benghazi, "were always said to be on call." American sources confirmed this and questioned "why was a drone armed only with a camera dispatched?"
  One source asked, "Were the Turks not warned? What forces were available from our ally Turkey? Especially since they had officials there in Benghazi also and had to be concerned '... and where was the U.N. in all of this?"
  Into this comes the Muslim nation of Turkey which has been the Obama conduit to funnel money and weapons into the Mideast fire zones Obama is creating to cash to Muslim Brotherhood Egypt to al Qaeda butchers in Syria now armed with American Stinger missiles.Turkey has now been outed in this expanding Turkeygate as RUNNING THE OBAMA KIDNAPPING OF CHRIS STEVENS THAT Obama lost operational control over as he was out bid and can do nothing about it, but lie and pay bribes to try and cover up these crimes.
  It is amusing the FOXette Jennifer Griffin trying to sound all Bob Woodward in this, as she plagiarizes a story already broken here with her "facts". FOX can try to hijack this story and work for Obama in covering up the real terrorists who have been let go, and focus on the intelligence being fed her, but the reality is the above quotes prove the thing Ms. Griffin and no one in media has dared spoken of in what was broken here, in Chris Stevens was set up to be a hostage for the Obama 2012 re election theft campaign.
  Until FOX stops covering that up, they are the enablers of Obama's crimes in the mass murder of Benghazi defined as ANALGATE.
  Lighten up Jen, you are just a tourist as the big girls already did the work.
  agtG 221
Florida bomb squad detonates 'suspicious packages' found outside early voting site | The Ticket
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Sun, 04 Nov 2012 06:10
  A group of Floridians line up at an early voting station. (CBS Miami)A Florida bomb squad has detonated two suspicious packages that were discovered outside one of the state's early voting stations on Saturday morning.
  Voting was suspended until 2 p.m. on the final day of early voting, with a long line of reportedly upset voters waiting to cast their ballots. Early voting has been popular in Florida, with an estimated 3.9 million votes already cast before next week's official Election Day.
  The Orange County Bomb Squad said the main object in question was a cooler with a USB cord sticking out from its side. It was spotted by a voter outside the Winter Park Library at around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.
  A "suspicious garbage bag" discovered at the site was also detonated by authorities, according to local NBC affiliate WESH.com.
  The AP says officials evacuated the library after the cooler and garbage bag were discovered. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has asked Gov. Rick Scott to issue an emergency order extending early voting hours through Sunday. But Scott has rejected similar requests and has not yet responded to Nelson's request.
  In his letter to Gov. Scott, Sen. Nelson writes, "You should be doing everything in your power to make sure everybody has the chance to vote, and that their vote is counted. Instead, Gov. Scott, you are allowing people to be turned away and jeopardizing the credibility of Florida's election."
Nor'easter Predicted For East Coast On Wednesday
  Link to Article
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Sun, 04 Nov 2012 06:10
  East Coast residents are used to these winter Nor'easters -- under normal circumstances. Some trees down, some temporary power outages are par for the course. But now? The timing couldn't be worse. For one thing, the ground is already saturated, which means more flooding and more falling trees. And I feel really, really bad for the people who are already traumatized by Sandy, because this will trigger such bad memories of the original storm.
  From Dr. Jeff Masters at his blog:
  Storm-weary U.S. residents pounded by Superstorm Sandy may have a new storm to contend with next Wednesday: an early-season Nor'easter is expected to impact the mid-Atlantic and New England with strong winds and heavy rain. Our two top models, the European (ECMWF) and GFS (run by the National Weather Service), both predict that an area of low pressure will move off the coast of South Carolina on Tuesday evening.
  Once over the warm waters off the coast, the low will intensify, spreading heavy rains over coastal North Carolina on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The storm will accelerate to the north-northeast on Wednesday and pull in cold air from Canada. The storm is predicted to intensify into a medium-strength Nor'easter with a central pressure of 992 mb by Wednesday afternoon, when it will be centered a few hundred miles south of Long Island, NY.
  The European model, which did an exemplary job forecasting Hurricane Sandy, predicts a stronger storm that will stay just offshore and bring a 12-hour period of strong winds of 40 - 45 mph to the coasts of Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York on Wednesday morning and afternoon. The GFS model and 06Z NOGAPS model runs from 06Z (2 am EDT) this morning have a weaker storm that is farther offshore, with the main impact of the Nor'easter occurring Wednesday evening in coastal Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine. The Nor'easter will likely bring a swath of 2 - 4" of rain to the coast, and the potential for more than a foot of snow to mountain areas of the New England.
  The storm is still five days away, and five-day forecasts of the path and intensity of Nor'easters usually have large errors. Nevertheless, residents and relief workers in the region hit by Sandy should anticipate the possibility of the arrival on Wednesday of a moderate-strength Nor'easter with heavy rain, accompanied by high winds capable of driving a 1 - 2 foot storm surge with battering waves.
Office of the Governor | Newsroom
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Sun, 04 Nov 2012 05:34
  Already Available to Military and Overseas Voters, State Opens Electronic Voting System to Make Voting More Accessible to Citizens Displaced by Hurricane Sandy and First Responders Assisting in Recovery Efforts
  Trenton, NJ '' The New Jersey Department of State has issued a directive today to county elections officials to permit New Jersey registered voters displaced by Hurricane Sandy to vote electronically. This directive also is intended to assist displaced first responders, whose tireless recovery efforts away from home has made voting a challenge.
  ''This has been an extraordinary storm that has created unthinkable destruction across our state and we know many people have questions about how and where to cast their vote in Tuesday's election. To help alleviate pressure on polling places, we encourage voters to either use electronic voting or the extended hours at county offices to cast their vote,'' said Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno. ''Despite the widespread damage Hurricane Sandy has caused, New Jersey is committed to working through the enormous obstacles before us to hold an open and transparent election befitting our state and the resiliency of its citizens.''
  To vote electronically, displaced voters may submit a mail-in ballot application either by e-mail or fax to their county clerk. Once an application is approved, the clerk will electronically send a ballot to the voter by either fax or e-mail in accordance to the voter's preference. Voters must return their electronic ballot '' by fax or email '' no later than November 6, 2012, at 8 p.m.
  Voters can download a mail-in ballot application for their county by visiting http://nj.gov/state/elections/voting-information-vote-by-mail.html. A list of county clerk websites, phone numbers and fax numbers are available by visiting http://nj.gov/state/elections/voting-information-local-officials.html.
  Separate directives issued today enable displaced voters and first responders to vote by provisional ballot at a polling place in a county other than the voter's county of registration. The deadline for county clerks to receive mail-in ballots has been extended to November 19, 2012, for any ballot postmarked on or before November 5, 2012. Mail-in ballots post marked later than November 5 will not be accepted.
  County elections officials have also been directed to print a sufficient number of provisional and emergency ballots to accommodate voters.
  Voters are encouraged to take advantage of extended office hours at county elections offices to cast their vote early and in-person. Registered voters can obtain and cast their ballot in-person at their county elections office up until 3 pm Tuesday. County election offices are to remain open, at a minimum, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm throughout the weekend, until November 5. Voters that have a mail-in ballot and choose to deliver their ballot to the county elections office in person must present their completed ballot to their county elections office no later than the close of polls on Tuesday.
  Information is also available by calling 1-877-NJVOTER.
Worse Than Bush: Romney's Baggage Includes Mormon Oath of Vengeance Against USA and Joseph Smith's Apocalyptic White Horse Prophecy for War with Russia
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  Source: TARPLEY.net
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 23:34
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DoD To Bring 24M Gallons Of Fuel To Storm-Struck Areas
  Link to Article
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 23:29
  My friends in New Jersey tell me about miles-long lines to get gas at the few stations that still have the electricity needed to pump gas. As you know, there are few things that make Americans more anxious than the thought of running out of gas, so this transport will do a lot to reassure the victims in the Sandy-struck areas:
  WASHINGTON '-- As long lines persisted at gas stations in the New York metropolitan area, federal authorities moved on Friday to restore supplies, instructing the Defense Department to send 24 million gallons of fuel to the region and lifting restrictions on deliveries by foreign-flagged ships.
  With the reopening of the Port of New York to tankers on Thursday, and the return of a critical Northeast fuel pipeline to full capacity on Friday, the biggest outstanding problems are the lack of power at hundreds of gas stations and continued panic buying by the public, industry officials said.
  Because electricity will not be restored in parts of central New Jersey for seven to 10 days, gasoline shortages may remain severe in some areas. As of Friday, according to AAA, only 40 to 50 percent of the gas stations in New York City and New Jersey were operating, and even fewer were operating on Long Island. Most of the stations were out of service because of power failures.
  ''We have seen some stations open as power is restored, but other stations have closed while running out of gas,'' said Michael Green, an AAA spokesman. ''The long lines and supply problems will go away once power is restored.''
  The Obama administration, realizing the political peril if it were to be blamed for fuel shortages in the days before the election, significantly accelerated its response on Friday.
  It authorized the Defense Department to hire hundreds of trucks that will be used to deliver 12 million gallons each of gasoline and diesel fuel, mostly from commercial suppliers, to staging areas in New Jersey. The department is handling the task because its Defense Logistics Agency has contracting powers that enable it to move quickly.
  From the staging areas, the fuel will be distributed throughout the region in coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help resupply stations. Together, the gasoline and diesel are enough for 1.6 million vehicles with 15-gallon tanks.
Unmanned aerial vehicles: Death from afar | The Economist
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 20:25
  DRONES are hardly synonymous with harmony. But in the last election debate neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney disagreed over what is now America's main tactic in fighting the long war on terrorism: ever-greater use of armed drones for targeted killings in the tribal areas of Pakistan, the badlands of Yemen and Somalia, and, no doubt before long, north Mali, where an al-Qaeda affiliate has recently taken root. Just a few days before the debate, the CIA's director, David Petraeus, reportedly asked the White House for a big expansion in the agency's fleet of missile-carrying drones. It is part of the agency's decade-long evolution from an intelligence organisation to a paramilitary one.
  In Djibouti, an impoverished mini-state on the Gulf of Aden, America has turned a former French Foreign Legion outpost, Camp Lemonnier, into the most important base for drone operations outside the war zone of Afghanistan. According to an investigation by the Washington Post, Predator drones take off round the clock on missions over nearby Somalia and Yemen. Their pilots are in Creech, an air force hub 8,000 miles away in Nevada. The Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) runs Camp Lemonnier; the CIA is believed to have a more secret site elsewhere in the Arabian Peninsula. Aircraft from both bases often work together, as in the attack last year that killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen who became an al-Qaeda planner and propagandist.
  After Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans do not want to spend blood and treasure in fighting big insurgencies on the ground. So drone strikes seem certain to stay the centrepiece of counter-terrorism efforts for many years to come and may well increase in reach and scale. America will invest $1.4 billion on new construction at Camp Lemonnier alone. Hugely enlarging the scope of drone operations (see chart) has been politically useful for Mr Obama. The ruthlessness of the campaign, plus the killing of Osama bin Laden, blunted Republican charges that he is soft on national security.
  Because drones can loiter over potential targets for hours before firing their missiles, they are more discriminating than either fast jets or helicopter-borne special forces. Nor are their pilots put in harm's way. Yet it is disturbingly unclear how many people the attacks have killed (some estimates suggest more than 3,000). The vast majority appear to have been militants, but some have been unlucky civilians. The distinction may also be blurring. New looser rules allow so-called ''signature'' attacks on unnamed fighters; that can easily mean any male of fighting age in an insurgent-held area.
  It would be surprising if some aspects of the drone programme did not jar the president's sensibilities. The former law professor has decried ''bending the rules'' in the fight against terrorism, or thinking that the ends justify the means. He worries about a ''slippery slope into a place where we're not being true to who we are''. The attorney-general, Eric Holder, argued in March that the administration's counter-terrorism efforts, including the use of ''technologically advanced weapons'' were rooted in adherence to the law. The Pentagon and the CIA have deployed their general counsels to explain how their drones are always operated legally.
  Staying true to America's principles is one worry. Providing a template for other countries is another. China and Russia have similar technologies but their own ideas about what constitutes terrorism. In April the White House's counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, a former senior CIA officer who opposed both the Iraq war and interrogation techniques such as water-boarding, gave a long and thoughtful speech on Mr Obama's strategy. Mr Brennan said that the president was always urging his national security team to be as open as possible and went into some detail about the ''extraordinary care'' that was taken to ensure that attacks were both legal in terms of American and international law, as well as ethical in the wider sense.
  In September Mr Obama himself went on television to give an account of his approach. He set out five rules. The target must be ''authorised by our laws'' and represent a threat that is ''serious and not speculative''. The need for attack must be urgent. Planners must be ''very careful'' about avoiding civilian casualties. And despite the legal justification for stopping American citizens in al-Qaeda's ranks from carrying out plots, ''they are subject to the protections of the constitution and due process''. He did not mention another principle that some lawyers regard as indispensable: the consent of the country where the attack is to take place.
  Should Mr Romney win, he will inherit a counter-terrorism ''playbook'' from Mr Obama'--a set of rules that, in effect, institutionalises the use of armed drones'--and the prototype of a ''disposition matrix'''--a database of terrorist suspects and a menu providing options for dealing with them. Mr Brennan is said to want the rules to be better codified and more transparent. The JSOC, which has a clear chain of command and legal accountability, could take the lead on drone attacks from the CIA.
  But Kurt Volker, a former American official close to Senator John McCain, sees a bigger problem: drones have made killing too easy. In a recent article he asked: ''What do we want to be as a nation? A country with a permanent kill list? A country where people go to the office, launch a few kill shots and get home in time for dinner? A country that instructs workers in high-tech operations centres to kill human beings on the far side of the planet because some government agency determined that those individuals are terrorists?'' The debate over drones is only just starting.
Vanguard to buy another $1B in Berkshire shares | Top News Today
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 17:19
  Berkshire Hathaway to Buy Oriental Trading CompanyFiled under: Company NewsNov 2 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK-A, BRK-B) is to buy direct marketing toy and party supplies merchant Oriental Trading Co for $500 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing a person involved in the deal.Oriental Trading's shareholders held an auction earlier in the year that failed to yield a buyer,...
  dailyfinance.com(1 day ago)
  Baidu: Citi Cuts Rating To Sell From Buy; Shares SlideCitigroup analyst Ravi Sarathy this morning reversed course on Baidu shares, shift his rating to Sell from Buy, and slashing his target price to $95.10, from $191.80. The stock closed Friday at $113.84. The rating change follows the company's Q3 earnings report this week, which featured lighter-than-expected revenues. The company has been [...]
  forbes.com(3 days ago)
  More Business news >>
How Facebook, Twitter Court Political Campaigns
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 16:34
  By SHIRA OVIDE and EVELYN M. RUSLISocial-media companies Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. are trying to turn political advertising into a big business, courting presidential candidates, political-action committees and interest groups to siphon off some of the billions of dollars spent on election ads.
  Over the past year, the companies have met with hundreds of political groups to tutor them on effective social-media ad strategies. They've also staffed up to work with political campaigns to tailor ads to specific voters and snag ad dollars.
  Tweeting for VotesPolitical campaigns and their supporters are spending more of their advertising dollars on social networks such as Twitter.
  Among the Twitter ads from Mitt Romney's campaign was a message about defense cuts that appeared for certain users.
  "We want to spend every waking moment talking to political advertisers about how they can use Twitter to win," said Peter Greenberger, Twitter's head of political advertising sales and the executive who established Google Inc.'s political-advertising arm in 2007.
  When Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney picked running mate Paul Ryan in August, Democratic opposition-research group American Bridge 21st Century wanted to bring attention to its new website, MeetPaulRyan.com. That's when Twitter came into the picture.
  The San Francisco-based company had held several brainstorming sessions with American Bridge to coach the group on how to use Twitter ads to quickly circulate its political announcements. Based on those meetings, American Bridge decided to pay for a Twitter message to promote its MeetPaulRyan.com website.
  The ad showed up at the top of the Twitter page when users searched for terms such as "Romney," "Paul Ryan" or "vice president." The ad, known as a "promoted tweet," appeared about 160,000 times, and nearly 5,000 Twitter users clicked on it, said American Bridge, which has since bought more than two dozen Twitter ads.
  "We've been very pleased" by the Twitter ads and the response to them, said American Bridge President Rodell Mollineau, who adds that his organization can't afford widespread TV commercials. The social-media companies "have been in tune to what we're trying to accomplish."
  Across the aisle, Facebook pitched Mr. Romney's campaign to be among the first users of the service's ads on cellphones. The campaign is now one of the biggest buyers of Facebook mobile ads. These ads, which show up in a Facebook user's news feed, link to Mr. Romney's page and indicate which friends are fans of the candidate.
  About 10% of people who viewed the ads clicked through, said Zac Moffatt, digital director for Mr. Romney's campaign.
  "There's not an advertising product that they offered that we haven't at least beta-tested," Mr. Moffatt said, declining to give specifics on how much the campaign has spent on social-media ads.
  Mr. Romney's campaign also recently purchased Twitter ads so when a person searches Twitter.com for "Obama," the most-prominent post is a criticism of President Barack Obama's policies towards Israel.
  Twitter ads are sold by computerized bidding for words or terms, similar to how Google sells ads alongside Web-search results. Twitter said the most in-demand political keyword ads include "Obama," "Romney" and "vote."
  For Twitter and Facebook, political advertising isn't yet big money. Research firm Borrell Associates predicts digital political advertising will reach $170 million this year, more than sixfold the levels of 2008 but still less than 2% of the $9.8 billion estimated total election spending, which remains dominated by TV commercials.
  But Twitter and Facebook, which declined to disclose the political-ad revenue they're reaping, said success with political campaigns isn't just about the money'--it can also help win more advertising overall from marketers selling soap or cellphones. Indeed, Twitter and Facebook are compiling case studies to show non-political marketers how political campaigns used social-media ads.
  "Ever since the 1960s with the Kennedy election, political campaigns have led marketing thought," said Adam Bain, Twitter's president of global revenue.
  Facebook and Twitter executives said now is the time to make political ads into a bigger business, given that most candidates and others in the Washington political machine use Twitter and Facebook to stay connected with constituents, keep up on news and bicker with rivals.
  "We used to have to convince campaigns to sign up and be part of the digital bandwagon," said Adam Conner, a manager of public policy at Facebook. "Now it's step one."
  Facebook now has half a dozen employees in Washington D.C., Austin, Texas and its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters working with political campaigns, up from one in 2008.
  The company has pitched political consultants on targeting ads at users based on the email addresses of supporters. Facebook has also passed tips to political campaigns, including how Facebook users are most likely to engage with a political ad shown from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., said Katie Harbath, a manager of public policy at Facebook. The company speaks to each campaign's digital staff nearly every day, according to members of both teams.
  Twitter launched its political-ad effort last fall after the company identified politics as a pillar of its young revenue strategy. "We thought this was going to be the year of the Twitter election," Mr. Bain said.
  The group of staffers pitching political ads is the only Twitter ad team devoted to a single industry. Twitter also recently commissioned research aimed to show political operatives how Twitter users who see frequent tweets and Twitter ads from campaigns are more likely to make political donations.
  Political campaigns are spending on the "promoted tweet," which looks like a regular Twitter post and which advertisers pay to have show up at the top of a stream of tweets, or to people who might not see the tweet otherwise, the company said.
  Based on demand from political campaigns, Twitter also prioritized a project announced in September to let advertisers tailor paid messages to people by state or region. This would presumably let campaigns target voters in swing states such as Ohio and Colorado.
  The pace of political-ad efforts at the social-media companies has picked up in recent weeks.
  Before one of the recent presidential debates, Twitter's Mr. Greenberger called and emailed political-related advertisers to suggest they craft ads based on words likely to generate attention during the debate.
  For example, on Twitter's suggestion, seniors group AARP bought ads during a presidential debate tied to terms such as Medicare and Candy Crowley, the debate moderator.
  Mr. Greenberger said after next week's election, "we take a vacation"'--but then Twitter's political ads team will shift attention to the next drama in Washington. "The lame-duck Congress could be a very busy term," he said.
  A version of this article appeared November 3, 2012, on page B1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Facebook, Twitter Court Campaigns.
Obama's Chicoms Killing Dogs: PETGATE
  Link to Article
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 15:56
  My children, you will remember that Barack Hussein Obama's favorite place in the world is the gulag work to death of Asian slavery, China, the Pretty Peking Girls.
  What you will not be aware of in an exclusive here is the Chicoms for almost all of 2012 have been placing on Americans markets under various names dog treats where healthy animals fed them, simply drop dead.
  China-made treats linked to deaths of hundreds of dogswww.philly.com/.../pets/China-made-treats-kill-hundreds-of-dogs-sic...Sep 18, 2012 '' News late last week that China-made dog treats have been linked to the deaths of 360 dogs - and 1 cat - and sickened another 2,000 over the ...snopes.com: Chicken Jerky for Dogs Warningwww.snopes.com/critters/crusader/chickenjerky.aspSep 11, 2012 '' Herky Jerky. Claim: Chicken jerky treats from China are causing illness in dogs. ... Please re post and make sure all your dog friends are aware.Dog owners warned of treats made in China | kgw.com Portlandwww.kgw.com/.../Safety-Of-Dog-Treats-Made-in-China-Under-Inves...Aug 31, 2012 '' The dog owners believe the treats made their dogs sick and in some cases killed them. ... jerky treats because they believe their dogs were sickened by the treats made in China. ... WA lawmakers want wolf pack kill answers ...As you can ascertain in an exclusive of only here, that it appears when one brand of poison is discovered, the Chicom puppy murderers, move onto another brand name, and obviously to a new region of American to spread slaughter for Obama cash sales.From the latest on this, this is no secret in Vets across America are well aware of this chemical poisoning of America, but the Obama regime is stating IT CAN NOT ISSUE A FOOD RECALL for pets, from the report I surfed in North Dakota from FOX's KVRR out of Fargo.
  I have experience with this from six years ago when my puppy which was eating Diamond dog food, all of a sudden started stumbling and bleeding out of the rectum. That was from the era of the terrorists doing test attacks on America. You remember before the Age of Obama dope deals with al Qaeda when under George W. Bush every few months spinach, pepper or puffed wheat was killing people......and you will recall that my mere mentioning of that fact nothing happened under Obama, brought about "a headline in the news about food poisoning again.
  It is reprehensible that the Obama regime protects these pet murderers of China. Simply put, it is past time that Americans stopped purchasing Chinese products as what they are doing to dogs, can you imagine what is in those oysters they farm in that sewer hole Yellow River they feed you them from?You ever tasted that garbage sold from the cheap food chains out of China ? The smoked oysters are like rubber erasers soaked in oil and taste a faint hint of forest fires from a coal pit.
  So the point of this is, Barack Obama has not just been protecting Fort Hood Muslim mass murderers, protecting his anal rapist Muslims in Libya, but he has been busy for a year protecting Chicom pet murderers.
  Where was snot on the sleave Janet Napolitano in all of this ? She finally rolled her lesbian self out to Statten Island as it was too dangerous on the east coast for Obama to visit. You remember Naps gate raping you in mass as the Lara Logan rape tape got old at the TSA screeners, Naps telling you to spread diseases by wiping snot on your elbows and her fine job of spying on Americans putting Veterans, Christians, Constitutinoalists, Patriots and all Americans on terror watch lists......yeah that Naps, but she will not raise a hand in the Obama cover up of Salah Osseiran laundering Lebanese Muslim funds into America and Europe nor will Naps stop the poisoning of American pets.
  You want an issue to remember? Try the murder of American pets!!!!!!!
  Where the hell is Mark Levin in this in covering this up for Obama like Obama's Birther issue?
  Amazing isn't it, that this story floating around for most of 2012 has to be broken here in being assembled in the facts of more crimes of the Obama regime.
  Some advice to you PETA types. Donate to this blog instead of the slaughter pit of the Humane Society and you Levin types who buy his cut and paste books, donate to this blog instead of the Limbaugh SPCA ,because here you get the warnings and facts with the details exposing this entire fox nest of predators.
  American pets are being murdered AGAIN in PETGATE, and the Obama regime is protecting their Peking Girls just like the Muslim terrorists, because this regime is in the Marxist money bed with them.....and once again American people and American pets are being slaughtered.
  nuff said
  agtG 230
BBC Bottles It - David Icke Website
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 15:50
  Saturday, 03 November 2012 11:52
  For hours last night it was circulating that BBC current affairs programme Newsnight was going to name a senior Conservative Party figure as a paedophile connected to the abuse at North Wales children's homes in the 1970s and 1980s, but in the end they covered the story without naming the name.
  The man told Channel 4 News that he would sue the BBC if they named him and it seems the BBC lawyers folded under that pressure.
  Newsnight claims 'leading Tory from Thatcher years was part of paedophile ring who raped boys at Welsh children's home'... but BBC sparks new fury by failing to NAME 'shadowy' politician
  Paedophile and necrophiliac 'entertainer' Jimmy Savile ironically promotes the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) with his close friend, then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. The so far unnamed 'shadowy political figure' was involved in the Thatcher era.
  Read more: Newsnight claims 'leading Tory from Thatcher years was part of paedophile ring
  So what were YOU doing, William Hague?
  This is William Hague, the current British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State, and supporter of the mass murder of children and other innocent civilians by NATO bombing in Libya and by NATO-US-British armed-and-trained 'rebels' in Syria. He'd also bomb kids in Iran if he thought he could get away with it.
  Hague was the Secretary of State for Wales when he set up the pathetic excuse for an 'inquiry' into the abuse at the Welsh children's homes and he was leader of the Conservative Party when the 'inquiry' reported its 'findings' (cover-up).
  When is he going to be questioned about what he knew with regard to the famous people, including members of his own party, named at the inquiry but not allowed to be made public because of a ban imposed by the very 'inquiry' that he set up?
  'I wasn't told'? Bollocks.
  The then leader of the Conservative Party did not know that senior members of the Conservative Party were being named by victims - and what about other leading Conservatives at the time like Peter Lilley and Michael Portillo? What did they know?
  Come on, Mr Hague - come clean, tell the truth or be in the frame for a cover-up.
  What a friggin' cesspit.
  -------------------------------------------------------------
  Welsh children's homes in abuse shame (the background from 2000)Read here ...
Corrupt politics and Newsnight's cowardice | Guy Debord's Cat
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 15:49
  I was looking forward to finding out who was the ''high profile British politician'' that Newsnight claimed was involved in a long-running paedophile ring that was mentioned by Labour MP, Tom Watson a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday afternoon, I heard that the peer (for it is a member of the House of Lords) had threatened libel action against Newsnight if they went ahead with the story.
  Surely if Newsnight had the goods on this peer and others, then a libel suit is the least of their worries '' especially if the persons concerned are guilty as they no doubt are. I suspect that the peer in question (whom Ian Bone has named as Lord Alistair McAlpine) believes himself, like many of his fellow Tories, to be above the law.
  Of course, what this also shows us the contempt Britain's political class, the Tories in particular, have for democracy. But, more importantly, there has been a long-running paedophile ring that has operated with impunity within the British political establishment for the last 50, perhaps more, years, with the judiciary, police and local authorities complicit in its cover-up.
  In the 1990s, Scallywag conducted a wide-ranging investigation into paedophilia at the heart of British power. Some names were named and I am certain that as time goes on, these names will also come to the surface but, for now, I am not at liberty to name them save to say, Ted Heath was mentioned as well as a young party worker who is now a backbench MP.
  Let us say that in the 1990s, Dolphin Square in Pimlico was the scene of some seedy and sordid parties that were attended by two prominent cabinet ministers, one of whom was nicknamed ''Polly''. Let's also say that former Big Brothercontestant, Derek Laud (pictured) is the lynchpin here, because he is close to those former cabinet ministers and Alistair McAlpine and he owned the flat(s) at Dolphin Square. Laud also ran a PR agency called Ludgate Communications. He was also quite quick to defend the Hamiltons when they were accused of sexual assault by Nadine Milroy-Sloane in 2003. Among his chums, Laud is known by the nickname ''Golly'', which is short for ''golliwog''.
  This blog carries an article written by Scallywag's editor, Simon Regan. I found this passage particularly interesting,
  We took them separately to Pimlico and asked them to point out the building where this had taken place. They were both positive in their identification. It turned out to be the private flat of a well known, and since highly discredited lobbyist who later went into obscurity in some disgrace because of his involvement with Mohammed al-Fayed and the 'cash for questions' scandal. At the time we ran a story entitled 'Boys for Questions' and named several prominent members of the then Thatcher government. These allegations went to the very top of the Tory party, yet there was a curious and almost ominous lack of writs.
  The lobbyist was a notorious 'queen' who specialised in gay parties with a 'political mix' in the Pimlico area '' most convenient to the Commons '' and which included selected flats in Dolphin Square. The two young men were able to give us very graphic descriptions of just what went on, including acts of buggery, and alleged that they were only two of many from children's homes other than North Wales.
  There was, to my certain knowledge, at least one resignation from the Conservative office in Smith Square once we had published our evidence and named names.
  Even more interesting is this,
  Subsequently, over a rent dispute which is still a matter of litigation, Dr. Julian Lewis, now Conservative MP for New Forest (East) but then deputy head of research at Conservative Central Office in Smith Square, managed to purchase the contents of our offices, which included all our files. It had been alleged that we owed rent, which we disputed, but under a court order the landlords were able to change the locks and seize our assets which included all our files, including those we had made on paedophiles. It was apparently quite legal, but it was most certainly a dirty trick.
  All of a sudden very private information, some of it even privileged between ourselves and our lawyer during the John Major libel action, was being published in selected, pro-Conservative sections of the media.
  Dr Julian Lewis (pictured), as I mentioned in a previous blog, sought selection as a candidate in the Newham East constituency in aftermath of the infamous Reg Prentice deselection case in 1977. He was secretly funded and supported by The Freedom Association, a right-wing pressure group that supports a range of reactionary causes at home and abroad. Lewis, a particularly nasty piece of work, voted against lowering the age of consent for gay men. He is also a serial litigant of some standing having used the courts in an attempt to destroy Labour's left-wing.
  But it's Lewis's work as fixer and dirty tricks specialist that has come to The Cat's attention. Below is an excerpt from The Times (10/2/92). This was a time when Conservative Party Central Office was looking for ways to damage Lib Dem leader, Paddy Ashdown, who had proposed forming a coalition with Labour in 1992, should the General Election result in a hung parliament. This rankled with the Tories.
  The man behind the operation is Dr Julian Lewis, Mr Lansley's deputy. His brief is to find anything politically damaging, such as connections with CND or former Soviet-front organisations, but excluding gossip about candidates' personal lives, Central Office said.
  Dr Lewis, appointed by Kenneth Baker, was founder of the Coalition for Peace through Security, bane of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and was consistently accused by Bruce Kent, former CND leader, of running a dirty tricks campaign against anti-nuclear campaigners.
  After the uproar at Central Office over the Ashdown dossier an unwritten decree has been made that all future media requests for background information on political rivals, and the Lewis dossiers, should be referred all the way up to the chairman's office.
  When the Tories find themselves in an uncomfortable situation, they turn to Lewis and his box of dirty tricks. The Cat wonders what else he's helped to cover up over the years. Who else has been threatened with smears and false allegations to shield those who have done wrong?
  We are often told that we live in a democracy where, if we don't like the way the government is running things, we can vote them out. What I've seen so far, has gone further to convince me that Britain's political processes are deeply corrupt and anti-democratic. The Conservative Party can't fight a clean fight at the ballot box and has to resort to dirty tricks to destroy its enemies. The Tories believe themselves to be the natural party of government; divinely sanctioned to rule. They despise opposition and work tirelessly to silence or marginalize it.
  Britain's political system and its 'democracy' is resting precariously on the precipice. One sudden gust of wind and it will all come crashing down. The Savile Scandal is the beginning of the end for Britain's corrupt political system.
  Like this:Be the first to like this.
A Dutch Solution for New York's Storm Surge Woes? - Forbes.
  Link to Article
  Source: TheCandyman's news feed
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 15:23
  Maeslant Storm Surge Barrier, the Netherlands
  Hurricane Sandy's storm surge did a number on New York City, flooding lower Manhattan, inundating the subway system, triggering fires and power outages, and causing other widespread damage that will take a long time to repair. As this New York Times story from September notes, the city has been only moderately proactive in prepping itself for the long-term risk posed by ocean floods, stressing how to respond when water breaches existing barriers rather than stopping floods altogether. That's not surprising, really, because there is little political incentive to prep for something that hasn't happened, even if you know it's coming at some point. Now it has. Moreover, the risks are rising inexorably: sea level rise is happening at an accelerated rate along the East Coast. Every extra inch of sea level increases the annual risk of flooding. So what was once a vanishingly rare event becomes a rare one, then a common one. Existing systems just won't cut it.
  Matthew Yglesias suggests that New York (and by extension, other East Coast cities) think big and start looking at the Dutch flood protection model, which employs large-scale flood gates to repel storm surges off from the North Sea:
  The idea of essentially damning up New York Harbor sounds extreme, but that's equivalent to what the Dutch did with the Zuiderzee Works and especially the Delta Works projects undertaken after the 1953 flood. Some of the Dutch works are permanent dijks, but others are open sluices that merely shut when storms are coming to block surges. You could imagine something similar at the Arthur Kill and across the Verazano Narrows or even between Sandy Hook and Rockaway. Projects like that wouldn't immunize Staten Island or the beachfront parts of Brooklyn and Queens from storm surges but they would defend Lower Manhattan, the badly flooded Red Hook part of Brooklyn, Long Island City, LaGuardia Airport, and a big swathe of New Jersey.
  Ultimately, I think something like this is exactly what we'll see in New York and other coastal cities. It sounds fanciful, but New York is simply too big and important not to protect, and a system of surge barriers and other structures is probably the only way to protect it long-term. Which is exactly the thinking behind the Dutch system.
  As it happens, I visited the Netherlands after Hurricane Katrina to look at how Dutch flood control worked, and how its success might apply to New Orleans. (It was part of a mega-series '' worth rereading now '' that looked for lessons in how other places, from Kobe, Japan to Galveston, had recovered from disasters.) After crawling over New Orleans' crappy levees and floodwalls, it was like stepping from ''Deadwood'' into ''Star Trek.''
  The single biggest insight I came away with was, it's not about the type of structure you build (though that's obviously important). It's about how you estimate and choose to manage flood risks. Dutch structures are typically designed to withstand a 1-in-10,000 year flood event. I'm oversimplifying this some, but if circumstances change, and risks grow more severe, then the Dutch system mandates that flood control systems be upgraded accordingly. That way the level of protection stays the same as the threat evolves.
  We have nothing like this in the United States now and are unlikely to for the foreseeable future. Responsibility for flood protection is spread out among local, state and federal governments. Standards and protections vary wildly, mile-by-mile, and are vastly weaker than in the Netherlands. Which is understandable, because historically floods have not posed an existential threat to places like New York City.
  So if you want visually spectacular flood control barriers, it helps to have flexible, adaptable technological systems. Such systems are exactly what we need in a world beset by not only rising seas and potentially stronger storms, but by environmental threats of all kinds. We're transitioning to an era of rapid environmental change, and that means thinking about how to build those conditions into our infrastructure, and the policies and bureaucracies that maintain it. We're not doing that yet.
  But that doesn't mean a Dutch-style system is totally out of reach for us. I suspect we're going to start borrowing from it, in bits and pieces, in New York and elsewhere. In New Orleans, the Corps of Engineers ultimately did adapt a Dutch-style risk standard as the basis for its $14 billion in upgrades to the levee system, which include a new surge gate spanning an especially vulnerable spot. (Its standard is a 1-in-100 year flood event; in other words, it's literally 100 times less safe than the Dutch system. But hey, it's a big improvement over what was there before.)
  Update: Harry Shearer notes that the Corps has had ongoing problems with a key node in the New Orleans system, pumps that expel rainwater from the city while canal surge barriers are closed; this raises questions on whether our existing institutions can really work on an ambitious scale.
  Follow me on Twitter or Facebook. My Forbes blog page is here.
'Fox & Friends': Delay NBC Hurricane Telethon Because It Might Help Obama
  Link to Article
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 15:01
  The hosts of Fox & Friends on Friday suggested that NBC should postpone a Hurricane Sandy telethon until after the election because making sure that the event did not benefit President Barack Obama was more important than helping storm victims.
  NBC announced earlier this week that Christina Aguilera, Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and Sting would all be performing a the Friday benefit concert, "Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together." Money collected during the one-hour broadcast will go to the American Red Cross Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.
  But because most of the announced stars have supported Obama in the past, conservative media have panned the concert as "an ode to Obama's grand and glorious leadership during Hurricane Sandy."
  On Friday, Fox & Friends guest host Eric Bolling floated the idea that NBC had rushed the concert "to make President Obama look presidential."
  "It does look like they are trying squeeze things in," co-host Steve Doocy agreed. "Where are the conservative performers? There aren't any on the list I saw.
  Doocy recalled that during a telethon for 2005 Hurricane Katrina, singer Kayne West had declared that "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
  "How is NBC going to control what the people say?" the Fox News host wondered.
  Bolling noted that NBC had waited for 10 days to host an event to support victims of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
  "It let the city get its feet under itself first," Bolling insisted. "This just seems like a rush job because the election is going to be three days after that."
  "Is it a hurricane benefit or a concert for Obama?" Doocy added.
  "I don't know," Bolling replied.
  (h/t: Huffington Post)
Mitt Romney's campaign insults voters
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 14:58
  THROUGH ALL THE flip-flops, there has been one consistency in the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney: a contempt for the electorate.
  How else to explain his refusal to disclose essential information? Defying recent bipartisan tradition, he failed to release the names of his bundlers '-- the high rollers who collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations. He never provided sufficient tax returns to show voters how he became rich.
Thread: Crane on the move
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 14:57
  Remember the crane that blew over in the storm on Monday?
  Apparently it still works, and they're solving the problem by turning it, so that the dangling part is touching the building.
  Presumably from there, they can dismantle it safely, and cart away the broken bits down through the building itself.
  It's kind of brilliant. They might do some damage to the building, but the ground below remains safe, and the problem may be solved quickly.
  Update: Here's a close-up of the crane. Note the net under the crane bits.
The Black Knight Satellite
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:46
  Black Knight Satellite1960 Encounter
  Space Watch's First Catch..
  Black Knight Passing Jupiter
  Monday, Mar. 07, 1960Time MagazineThree weeks ago, headlines announced that the U.S. had detected a mysterious "dark" satellite wheeling overhead on a regular orbit. There was nervous speculation that it might be a surveillance satellite launched by the Russians, and it brought the uneasy sensation that the U.S. did not know what was going on over its own head. But last week the Department of Defense proudly announced that the satellite had been identified. It was a space derelict, the remains of an Air Force Discoverer satellite that had gone astray. The dark satellite was the first object to demonstrate the effectiveness of the U.S.'s new watch on space. And the three-week time lag in identification was proof that the system still lacks full coordination and that some bugs still have to be ironed out.
  First Sighting. The most important component of the space watch went into operation about six months ago with the construction of "Dark Fence," a kind of radar trip wire stretching across the width of the U.S. Designed by the Naval Research Laboratory to keep track of satellites whose radios are silent, it is a notable improvement on other radars, which have difficulty finding a small satellite unless they know where to look. Big, 50-kw. transmitters were established at Gila River, near Phoenix, Ariz, and Jordan Lake, Ala., spraying radio waves upward in the shape of open fans. Some 250 miles on either side, receiving stations pick up signals that bounce off any object passing through the fans. By a kind of triangulation, the operators can make rough estimates of the object's speed, distance and course.
  On Jan. 31 Dark Fence detected two passes of what seemed to be an unknown space object. After detecting several passes during the following days, Captain W. E. Berg, commanding officer of Dark Fence, decided that something was circling overhead on a roughly polar orbit. He raced to the Pentagon and in person reported the menacing stranger to Chief of Naval Operations Arleigh Burke. Within minutes the news was communicated to President Eisenhower and marked top secret.
  In the confusion, there was a delay before anyone took the step necessary to positively identify the strange satellite: informing the Air Force's newly established surveillance center in Bedford, Mass. It is the surveillance center's job to take all observations on satellites from all friendly observing centers, both optical and electronic, feed them into computers to produce figures that will identify each satellite, describe its orbit and predict its behavior. Says one top official, explaining the cold facts of the space age: "The only way of knowing that a new satellite has appeared is by keeping track of the old ones."
  It took two weeks for Dark Fence's scientists to check back through their taped observations, and to discover that the mysterious satellite had first showed up on Aug. 15. The Air Force surveillance center also checked its records to provide a list of everything else that was circling in the sky, and its computers worked out a detailed description of the new object's behavior. The evidence from both Air Force and Navy pointed to Discoverer V, fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif, on Aug. 13.
  SOURCE: Time Magazine
  The Black Knight Satellite..Arthur C. Clark Author of "Rendevous with Rama
  The Black Knight Satelliteby John Emerson
  The black knight satellite. I'm not really sure what to make of this story. I've only seen the most sporadic mention of this thing on the occasional website. But man, as a long time fan of Philip K. Dick, the first time I heard about it my eyes sure went wide. Regardless of the truth of the situation, it's one hell of a tale.
  The most cited report of the satellite comes from Disneyland of the Gods, by John Keel. He reports that in February 1960 the US detected an unknown object in polar orbit, a feat that neither they or the USSR had been able to accomplish. As if that wasn't enough, it apparently was several sizes larger than anything either country would have been able to get off the ground.
  And then, the oddness began. HAM operators began to receive strange coded messages. One person in particular said he managed to decode one of the transmissions, and it corresponded to a star chart. A star chart which would have been plotted from earth 13,000 years ago, and focused on the Epsilon Bostes star system.
  On September 3, 1960, seven months after the satellite was first detected by radar, a tracking camera at Grumman Aircraft Corporation's Long Island factory took a photograph of it. People on the ground had been occasionally seeing it for about two weeks at that point. Viewers would make it out as a red glowing object moving in an east-to-west orbit. Most satellites of the time, according to what little material I've been able to find on the black knight satellite, moved from west-to-east. It's speed was also about three times normal. A committee was formed to examine it, but nothing more was ever made public.
  Three years later, Gordon Cooper was launched into space for a 22 orbit mission. On his final orbit, he reported seeing a glowing green shape ahead of his capsule, and heading in his direction. It's said that the Muchea tracking station, in Australia, which Cooper reported this too was also able to pick it up on radar traveling in an east-to-west orbit. This event was reported by NBC, but reporters were forbidden to ask Cooper about the event on his landing. The official explanation is that an electrical malfunction in the capsule had caused high levels of carbon dioxide, which induced hallucinations.
  Creepy, cool, story to be sure. There's two things in particular which are of particular note to Philip K. Dick. The most obvious is the idea of a satellite orbiting the earth and sending coded communications to it. One of the theories Dick had for his experiences was that they had been triggered, or enhanced, by an extremely ancient and alien satellite. The initial 2-3-74 experience also began with a very similar color to the first sighting of the black knight, a reddish pinkish light beamed directly at him.
  Phil also mentioned in his exegesis that he considered ten of his novels to be of particular importance, with the novel valis as the cipher to unlock their meaning. These ten books, the "meta novel", are Eye in the Sky, Time Out of Joint, The Man in the High Castle, The Game Players of Titan, Martian Time Slip, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, UBIK, A Maze of Death and of course VALIS. I think it's fair to include Radio Free Albemuth in there as well, which was written after his meta novel statement, and which is in many ways a retelling of VALIS. What's interesting here is that he wrote the first, Eye in the Sky, so soon before the black knight sighting. About three or four years before it was detected by radar. Well, if in fact it was ever there to be detected.
  Relevant quotes from valis:
  "The satellite," Fat said. "VALIS. Vast Active Living Intel-ligence System. It fires information down to them?""It does more than that," Kevin said. "Under certain circumstances it controls them. It can override them when it wants to.""And they're trying to shoot it down?" I said. "With that missile?"Kevin said, "The early Christians-the real ones-can make you do anything they want you to do. And see-or not see -anything. That's what I get out of the picture.""But they're dead," I said. "The picture was set in the present.""They're dead," Kevin said, "if you believe time is real. Didn't you see the time dysfunctions?"
  Relevant quotes from Radio Free Albemuth:
  Since my contact came in most strangely between 3:00 and 4:00 A.M., I realized that probably a booster satellite, of alien origin, orbited Earth, a slave communications satellite that had been sent here thousands of years ago.'What are you doing sitting out on the patio?' Rachel asked me.'Listening,' I said.'To what?'To the voices of the stars,' I said, although more accurately I meant the voices from the stars. But it was as if the stars themselves spoke, as I sat there in the chilly dark, alone except for my cat, who was out there out of custom anyhow; each night Pinky sat on the railing of the patio, communing as I was but over a longer period of time, over his entire adult life. Seeing him now I understood that he was picking up information in the night, from the night, from the pattern of blinks that came by starlight. He was hooked up with the universe as he sat here now, like myself, gazing upward silently.
  The new personality in me had not awakened from a sleep of two millennia; it had, more accurately speaking, been printed out by the alien satellite, impressed on me afresh from outside. It was an addition, not a substitution in place of me but a kind of package identity based on the total knowledge of the satellite. It was to raise me to the highest level possible in my ability to cope. The satellite, itself linked to higher life forms, was concerned with my capacity to live; it or they, the totality of them, had seen me faltering under the oppression, and their response was reflexive. It amounted to a rational attempt to give aid to whoever was in touch with them, who was capable of assimilating their printout. I had been selected for that reason alone. Their concern was universal. They would have assisted anyone they could reach.The tragedy lay in their inability to reach the people of our planet.
  One odd point that Moyashka had noted which he could not account for was the fact that the radio signals came only when the source was above Earth's dark or night side; during the day the signals ceased. Moyashka conjectured that the so-called Heaviside layer might be involved.The signals, although short in duration, seemed 'highly information rich' because of their sophistication and complexity. Curiously, the frequency changed periodically, a phenomenon found in transmissions seeking to avoid jamming, Moyashka stated. Further, his team had discovered, entirely by accident, that animals in their Pul-kovo laboratory underwent slight but regular physical changes during the time of signal transmission. Their blood volume altered and their blood pressure readings increased. Provisionally, Moyashka conjectured that radiation accompanying the radio signals might account for it. [Ed. Note here the, perhaps slight, similarity in the name of the fictional scientist who discovered the satellite, Moyashka, and the Australian Muchea tracking station which picked up Cooper's sighting.]
  If the Russians did photograph the ETI satellite, the invader, they would find it old and pitted. I had been there thousands of years.
  The satellite had passed from our world and, with it, the healing rays, like those of an invisible sun, felt by creatures but unseen and unacknowledged. The sun with healing in its wings.
  Even if the stations in this local region or sector are all overshadowed and don't light up any longer, it is a sight to remember. With this the satellite presented us with its final insight into the nature of things: synapses in a living brain. And the name we give to its functioning, its awareness of itself and its many parts - ' She smiled at me. 'It's why you saw the figure of Aphrodite. That's what holds all the trillions of stations into harmony.''Yes,' I said, 'it was harmonized, and over such distances. There was no coercion, only agreement.'And the coordination of all the transmitting and receiving stations, I thought, we call Valis: Vast Active Living Intelligence System. Our friend who cannot die, who lies on this side of the grave and on the other. His love, I thought, is greater than empires. And unending.
  SOURCE: Phildickian Gnosticism
  The Black Knight from Space..
  Credit: Tikulin "Rendezvous With Rama"Originally posted by Esoterica a member of ATS Post ID 292902Thread - http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread292902/pg1
  I was in a bookstore and was just flipping through a bargain book of weird happenings. One entry, only a couple of paragraphs long, caught my interest because I had never heard of it before.
  The basic blurb was that in 1957, an unknown satellite was detected shadowing the Sputnik I craft. It was in a polar orbit, something that neither the Americans or Soviets were capable of at the time. There was a statement that ham radio operaters pickd up radio transmissions that were "decoded" (whatever that means) as being a star map that indicated the craft originated from Epsilon Bootes 13,000 years before. This object was dubbed "The Black Knight."
  Also in this blurb, there was mention that science fiction author Philip K. Dick believed that he was in contact with this object, which he wrote several novels about, and gave it various names (VALIS, Zebra).
  So obviously intrigued, I did some searching on ATS and found no mention of it. Google had a few returns which indicated this story was first written about in John Keel's "Disneyland of the Gods." The effort is hampered because there are several legit satellite projects codenamed "Black Knight."
  The information of Dick's experiences and writings indicated he received visions, and seemed to interperet the experience and object in somewhat Christian religious terms, in addition to strange communications and diagrams he couldn't interperet. He eventually became paranoid Russian scientists were attempting to control the satellite. A science fiction writer infamous for his heavy drug use eventually living out a sci-fi story... seems to me just as likely that it was just his lifestyle catching up to him than any ET communication. But who knows.
  In my searching, I also discovered a very close story from 1927, 30 years earlier. It involves the phenomena of Long Delayed Echoes. Essentially, these are radio transmissions that are reflected back, apparently from space, seconds to minutes after they are first sent. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. It could be atmospheric effects just making it appear as if the transmissions are coming from space, or it could ben an alien craft attempting to communicate with us. Logically, it would send back transmissions it recieved from Earth because it could be almost positive that we could receive it. Anyway, the story is that Norwegian scientists received strange radio "echoes" in 1927-28. In the 1970's Scottish astronomer Duncan Lunan interpereted the delayed transmission as a star map... of Epsilon Bootis. Whether these are two instances of the same stragne transmissions, or one story is a retelling of the other is unknown to me. It wouldn't be the first time the same ideas were repackaged and attempted to be passed off as a "new" anomalous story.
  Anyway, I made this thread just to get the story out there, and to ask if anybody has any additional information regarding it. Below are links to everything pertinent I could find on the internet, and most are just retellings of the same story in different forms.
  Related ArticlesOriginally posted by Esoterica a member of ATS Post ID 3363888Wow, front page. Didn't expect so much interest
  Anyway, I spent some more time researching. The first polar orbiting satellite was launched in 1960. The Black Knight story (apparently from Keel) states the polar orbit in 1957 was impossible. It is possible that there may have been a test of a polar orbiting satellite in 1957 coinciding with the Sputnik launch, but it may have met catastrophic failure and swept under the rug after the success of Sputnik. But I don't think there ever was a Black Knight.
  The first article I linked to stated polar orbits were impossible in 1960, which is flat out wrong, as I've discovered. Also, Keel's book mentioning the subejct was apparently first published in 1988, long after Dick had died and Lunan had released his analysis of the 1920's event. Ample time for Keel to purposely or accidentally merge many stories together.
  Honestly, I believe the Black Knight event to simply be a retelling of three separate events. One, is the LDE event from 1927-28, interperetted in 1970 by Duncan Lunan. The second was the large object detected in polar orbit in 1960. The third was Dick's experiences. By 1988, these had merged into a single story, with Sputnik as a backdrop to give an added degree of mystery because at that time, polar orbits were "impossible." After all, it's our first object placed into orbit, [i]of course[/i] the mysterious alien probe will be interested in it. It's a great story.
  But, just because I believe the Black Knight story to be a synthesis of different events doesn't mean there's nothing to those events. The LDE from 1927-28 I find interesting, as the supposed massive object detected by NORAD in 1960. Dick's story is a little to odd for me to touch at this point, and it's hard to palce it into a timeline when one fo his main points end sup being that time is an illusion. I'll do a little more reading tomorrow, but it's late. If anyone has any information they know of (or something to discredit my confabulation theory), please feel free to add it. It'll probably be appropriate to modify the OP as well, I'll get to that later.
  As an aside, a "Black Knight" is a term for a knight which either has no allegiance or wished to hide it, covering his colors and symbols. It would be a good name for a mysterious alien satellite.
  Related Posts for Further Research:Fast Walker:There is a case commonly known as "Fast Walker" where an American DSP satellite picked up an object that passed within 15km of its orbit on a trajectory that came from outside earth orbit and, instead of succumbing to gravity, sent it right back out again, all at approximately 22,000mph. SOURCEEpsilon Bootes Star Chart Signal:An even more bewildering twist to the saga was soon to be revealed! Studies made by the president for the Association in Scotland for Technology and Research in Astronautics, revealed that the signals could be broken down and decrypted in a manner that seemed to show the outline of a star chart. When this outline was converted onto a detailed map of the sky the bewildered researcher found to his amazement that it corresponded to a region in the constellation of Bootes! The evidence seemed to focus on the star Epsilon Bootes, and a delighted Professor Bracewell of Stanford University is on record as claiming: " The maps produced.... can be adduced as a possibility of communication with another intelligence!"Bracewell also went on to add that such a satellite camped in orbit around our world would want to communicate with us in a pictorial method of digital origin! In this way the decrypted picture - like the star map - could furnish important information in the universal language of science - numerical evidence! - SOURCE: Star ChartDuncan Lunan:Space Probe from Epsilon Bo¶tes:What if we succeeded in 2 way communication with an intelligence outside our planet, and no one noticed? What if THEY heard our call and responded but we just couldn't grasp their language?That's exactly what happened as early as 1928 in Eindhoven Holland and again in 1929 aboard a French research vessel in the South China Sea. After transmitting over the radio waves 3 sounds in rapid succession every 30 seconds, Van der Pol in Eindhoven examined the return echoes. They were not as neatly spaced as he had sent. In fact they were highly irregular, ranging from 1 to 30 seconds in delay time. - SOURCE: Anomalies NetworkMystery of the Alien Satellite By Angus Sutherland. Did we pick up the signals from an artificial satellite sent to our planet by an extraterrestrial intelligence? In December 1927, Carl Stoermer, the Norwegian Professor of Mathematics at University in Olso, and explorer of echo radio was contacted by two American scientists, Leo C. Young, radio engineer and Dr. A. Hoyt Taylor, chief consultant of electronics at the naval research laboratory. During their experiments with radio waves, Young and Taylor observed unnatural signals coming from space..."March 13, 2007 SOURCE: UFO AreaThe Automatic Drawings and Writings from the Probe Epsilon BootesValis by Philip K. DickValis:This is true of Philip K. Dick's magnum opus, Valis. Truth, whether found in the oh-so sincere smile of the preacher, or the words of a "simple" science fiction novel, is truth. Of course, in the case of Valis, it is an half-deranged, garbled truth... In this case the Big Lie (or is it Truth?) is the central event of the novel - the pink beam of light... If what PKD was aiming for was to distill his experience with that pink beam of light, his theophany, his conversation with God, into book form, he may have come as close as humanly possible.The reason I tie Philip K. Dick's experience with pre-Sputnik satellites is that his experience has some very close similarities with other accounts of people getting hit by beams coming from the sky that grant them some kind of special knowledge. Of course, there's good old Paul (aka Saul) from the Bible. But I also seem to recall anecdotes about Einstein and Wolfgang Pauli also getting the "pink beam of light from the sky hitting them in the forehead" treatment, which later resulted in them coming up with some awesome theory or another.Philip K. Dick Biography - official SitePhilip Kindred Dick: (December 16, 1928 '' March 2, 1982) - WikipediaRelated Material:A Search for Natural or Artificial Objects Located at the Earth-Moon Libration PointsSignals from the Stars: Strange cries and voices:The dawning of the space age brought with it more strange phenomena. On May 16 1963, in his Mercury capsule above Hawaii, astronaut Gordon Cooper was talking to mission control on a special frequency channel when extraneous voices broke in. Later examined on tape, these were found to correspond to no language known on earth. The phenomenon was repeated on the Apollo Vlll Borman - Lovell - Anders mission on December 21st, when UFOs were seen in the lunar orbit and more voices broke into the communications channel with mission control. This, not unnaturally, caused some consternation back on Earth. The frequency channel they were using is such that it is virtually impossible for any amateur operator to intrude. Controllers were left with a problem they could not explain, but at the same time could hardly ignore - the security risk was too great.But as far back as 1927, two Americans, Taylor and Young, had taken such phenomena seriously enough to try to locate the source of the radio signals. They had identified an echo-periodicity of 0.01 seconds originating from a distance of between 1800 and 6250 miles (2900 and 10, 000 Km), and were comparing their observations with those of Marconi. By December 1928, a number of scientists were interested - Jurgen Hals of Phillips Einddhoven laboratories in Holland had discussed his findings with Professor Carl Stormer of Oslo, mentioning three-second delays he had experienced with an experimental radio transmitter. After another year, on October 28 1929, Dr Van der Pol, also of Phillips, confirmed that he had noted further odd echoes from a planned emission of impulses at the same time every morning. It was van der Pol's analysis of the delay between emissions and the reciept of their echoes, always on the same wavelength, that effectively excluded ideas that they may have been bouncing off the Moon, or inner Van Allen belt, or that they might have been somehow stored and reflected from layers of ionised gas.Fermi's Paradox: A Real Howler - Discusses how the Fermi Paradox isn't a airtight as some would say, and touches upon how we haven't explored enough of the Earth, let alone the solar system, to say that there are no ancient probes waiting for us.Extraterrestrial Intelligence in the Solar System: Resolving the Fermi Paradox - Further discussion on possible alien artifacts within our solar system.Secret's Of the 1957 Sputnik Launch Pravda also published a description of Sputnik's orbit to help people watch it pass. The article failed to mention that the light seen moving across the sky was the spent booster rocket's second stage, which was in roughly same orbit, Chertok said. The tiny orbiter was invisible to the naked eye.Black MonolithOriginally posted by NGC2736 A Member of ATS Post ID 3364357Reply to post by SuicideVirus
  I do kind of like that idea, though. That a few people in the world are selected (or are predisposed) to receive some cool super advanced knowledge from a large library located somewhere out there. Aldeberan, I guess. Hopefully it hits somebody smart enough to know what to do with it. Otherwise, I could see where it might drive somebody nuts.
  As an odd sort of tie in, when one looks at history, you find that people in diverse locations are working towards finding an answer to the same problem, sometimes on the same track of thought.
  When one steps back from the actual discoveries, it's almost like a classroom setting where a "teacher" asks a question, with a hint towards the answer, and the brighter students start working on the problem.
  And the "spark" in different locals seems not to be just one of technical discoveries in the sense of inventions of a mechanical nature. There is no way to be sure, but there seems to have been separate, yet nearly identical, timelines for the invention of writing, basic math, fire, burial of the dead, and such things.
  Now I know that sometimes these events were "discovered" separately by region on a time frame that would have allowed the migration of the idea from one culture to another, and so it might have been. But that would mean that such diverse cultures as those in Mexico, building pyramids,were in some way influenced by the architecture from somewhere like Egypt. And that is argued to have not been possible either.
  As an example, around 650 AD the use of the placeholder/number "0" came into widespread use. This was the same time frame as the Mayan people of Central America, who also used the concept of "0". Now without some contact between the two cultures, which mainstream science says did not happen, then it is odd that the "0" would appear to both cultures at that point in history when both had gotten on well enough without it for such a long time.
  Now before anyone rubs my face in the fact that there are explanations and shadings to the times involved, please remember that I am just pointing out an overview that cultures of wide diversity seem to come to the same end conclusion at ABOUT the same time in history, and that at first blush it seems odd that it would be so.
  However, a "teacher in the sky" that struck people with a thought or idea would reasonably explain this away. It just struck more than one person at more than one location.
  Do I think that this is what has happened in our past? No, I do not. BUT, I also don't have a better theory either. Such are the mysteries of the past. So it leaves one to wonder.
  Pegasus Addition: The discovery of the Liquid Fuel Rocket at almost the same time by A Russian (Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky), a German (Dr. Hermann Oberth) and an American (Dr. Robert H. Goddard). These three nations became the rocket super powers...
  Originally posted by timb3r A Member of ATS Post ID 3364229I found a very interesting document which ties in with the time line of the original story.
  http://aupress.maxwell.af.mil/saas_Theses/SAASS_Out/Hunter/hunter.pdf
  Page 19 states:
  "The cause was a rather unusual incident in the spring of 1960 which apparently gave the antisatellite proponents stronger justification for their arguments. The discovery of an ''unknown satellite''by US tracking facilities forced White House officials to allow the further development of an inspection variant of the US Air Force's Satellite Interceptor (SAINT) program."
  "The work on SAINT had begun some years earlier before the unknown satellite was discovered. As early as 1956 Air Research and Development Command (ARDC) had begun a study of defensive measures against hostile satellites. In 1958 the ARPA had assumed responsibility for the task but ARDC remained as the project's supervisor. Both ARDC and ARPA as well as others had surmised that, with the rapidly advancing technology of the time a threat in the form of Soviet "bombs in orbit" was possible in the 1960's"
  Ok so obviously there was distinct paranoia about the Russians at the time and most certainly after the launch of Sputnik, but still it's interesting that they use the terminology "unknown satellite"
  Probably nothing, but still adds fuel to the fire so to speak.
  Black Knight Satellite1927 EncounterSpace Probe from Epsilon Bo¶tes..Epsilon Bo¶tes Star Chart
  by David Simons 1992What if we succeeded in 2 way communication with an intelligence outside our planet, and no one noticed? What if THEY heard our call and responded but we just couldn't grasp their language?
  That's exactly what happened as early as 1928 in Eindhoven Holland and again in 1929 aboard a French research vessel in the South China Sea. After transmitting over the radio waves 3 sounds in rapid succession every 30 seconds, Van der Pol in Eindhoven examined the return echoes. They were not as neatly spaced as he had sent. In fact they were highly irregular, ranging from 1 to 30 seconds in delay time.
  At the time, the discrepancies were explained as fluxuations in the ionosphere, or magnetic disturbances. But the pitch or frequency of the sounds did not change - only the spacing of the echoes.
  It wasn't until the 1970's that this mystery was carefully examined and decifered by Duncan Lunan, a scientist from Scotland. He plotted a vertical axis of the transmitted pulse sequence with a horizontal axis of echo delay time. The result ? A picture of the constellation Bo¶tis as it would look 15,000 years ago.
  But that's not all. There was a message hidden in the dots on his graph. Lunan was able to translate into simple English the meaning of these echo delay discrepencies, proving perhaps that they are a purposeful manipulation directed by a highly intelligent 'other' .
  The message is as follows:
  START HERE. OUR HOME IS EPSILON BOOTIS. WHICH IS A DOUBLE STAR. WE LIVE ON THE 6th PLANET OF 7 - CHECK THAT, 6th OF 7 - COUNTING OUTWARDS FROM THE SUN WHICH IS THE LARGER OF THE TWO. OUR 6th PLANET HAS ONE MOON, OUR 4th PLANET HAS THREE, OUR FIRST AND THIRD PLANETS EACH HAVE ONE. OUR PROBE IS IN THE ORBIT OF YOUR MOON THIS UPDATES THE POSITION OF ARCTURUS SHOWN ON OUR MAPS."
  The only possible conclusions we can draw from this are:
  1) Duncan Lunan is a highly imaginative con artist (in fact he has published science fiction stories before)
  2) Prof. Lunan interpreted the graph incorrectly and his extrapolations are more speculative
  3) An advanced civilization in the vicinity of Arcturus (Hokulea, the guiding star of Hawaiian mythology) sent an unmanned satellite probe to monitor Earth 15,000 years ago, to be activated by radio waves when Humans reached that technological point in their evolution. A dialogue could then have been established, and we might have gained much more than the misunderstood reference greeting.
  After publication in the Journal of the British Interpanetary Society (complete with disclaimer from the editors) and a few newspaper articles in the U.S. on this 'far out' scientist, the matter was dropped and no further investigation was undertaken.
  Could a musical score be made from graphs of this fascinating interstellar communique`? Is the plotting in 2 dimentions of 4 dimensional space an excellent way for different intelligent species to communicate?
  - David Simons 1992
  SOURCE: Anomalies Network
  About "ghost echoes" and the "Radio Flying Saucer" effect..About "ghost echoes" and the "Radio Flying Saucer" effectby Volker Grassman
  The mystery of long delayed radio echoes (LDE) baffles radio amateurs and scientific experts for many decades. You may find qualitative interpretations in the literature but no quantitative model is yet available capable to explain the phenomenon with scientific conviction. The so-called 'multiple-tone effect' misguides VHF radio amateurs by giving the illusion of an Aurora band opening ... but there is none. Contrary to LDEs, the multi-tone finds a simple explanation because it is caused by radiowaves reflected by airplanes crossing the antenna beam which results in heavily distorted radio signals similar to the audio pitch which is well known in Aurora backscatter QSOs.
  Long-delayed radio echoes (LDE) are defined as radio echoes received 1 to 40 seconds after transmission. LDE are mainly reported on HF but radio amateurs also report LDE on EME circuits in 432 as well as 1296 MHz. I was a teenaged SWL (many years ago, actually) when I heard about this mysterious radio echoes the very first time. In that book, Duncan Lunan, professor of the Scottish Association for Technology and Research was referenced with his idea of an alien radio repeater, i.e. he interpreted LDE by an extraterrestrial space probe travelling in our solar system for more than 30.000 years. I wasn't very much impressed about this idea but my interest was nevertheless attracted by this strange radio propagation phenomenon.
  I therefore decided to contact Prof. Lunan but my letter returned several months later. The Scottish mail obviously tried very hard to identify this professor, without any success though and I was convinced the whole story is nothing else than a fake. One or two years later I was surprised by finding another article also featuring this long-delayed radio echoes - and this was a serious article, apparently, which finally referenced the JGR, i.e. the Journal of Geophysical Research. At that time I had no idea what the JGR is (it is in fact one of leading scientific journals in geophysical research) - and even the bookstore in my little hometown couldn't figure out where and how to get that document. Thus, I was facing another dead end and I finally gave up further investigation.
  The situation changed at university because you cannot deal with ionospheric research without knowing this excellent scientific journal. And I indeed discovered that article in the library and I was speechless: Long-delayed radio echoes are discussed by serious scientists - in terms of a real geophysical phenomenon rather than in terms of alien space probes. In recent years, I compiled a hugh amount of scientific literature on this phenomenon including this review article from Muldrew which was published in JGR in 1979. He discussed all aspects of long-delayed radio echoes even far-fetched ideas and, believe it or not, he mentioned Duncan Lunan in that scientific paper. I was pretty much baffled to learn that Mr. Lunan is a real character being referenced in a scientific journal. However, in that article Mr. Lunan wasn't introduced as a professor in research and technology but was introduced as ... a science fiction author. From my perspective, long-delayed radio echoes is a curiosity - in all aspects.
  by Volker Grassman
  SOURCE: DF5AI.net - Amateur Radio Propagation Studies (ARPS)
  Long-Delayed Radio Echoes: Observations and interpretations VHF Communications, 2, p. 109-116, 1993 SpecialTopics1b1 (English, PDF, 972 KB)
  Langverz¶gerte Radioechos, Beobachtungen und Deutungen UKW-Berichte, 3, p. 163-169, 1992 SpecialTopics1b (German, PDF, 756 KB)
  Long delayed echoes on EME-circuits Dubus, 3, p. 244-245, 1987 SpecialTopics1b1a (English, PDF, 108 KB)
  Long-delayed Echoes (LDEs)Surfin': Long-Delayed Echoes Again
  By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOUContributing EditorJuly 06, 2007
  Long-delayed echoes (LDEs) have always fascinated me. I was familiar with LDEs before I was familiar with Amateur Radio having read about them in paperbacks way back in my grammar school days. I cannot recall for sure, but I likely read about LDEs in one of those Ripley's Believe It or Not paperback collections that I devoured as a kid, or in one of Frank Edwards' Stranger Than'... books.
  Though LDEs have been around for a while, there is not much information about them in existence, including on the Internet. My Halloween 2003 installment of Surfin' summarized just about all that there was on the subject on the net at that time. Since then, some new information has surfaced. Let me bring you up to date with two new Internet references to our radio ghosts.
  Sverre Holm, a professor of signal processing at the Centre for Imaging, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, has studied LDEs. He presented his findings on his mystical delayed radio signals received in Oslo.
  For an historic perspective of LDEs, read what Bill Continelli, W2XOY, wrote in installment #31 of ''The History of Amateur Radio'' on www.ham-shack.com.
  Editor's note: Believe it or not, Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, prefers non-fiction to fiction because the truth is stranger than fiction. To communicate with Stan, send him an e-mail or add comments to his blog. By the way, every installment of Surfin' is indexed here, so go look it up (whatever it may be).
  SOURCE: American Radio Relay League (ARRL)
  The Five Most Likely Explanations for Long Delayed EchoesFirst created 16 March 2004, last updated 15 May 2007Mystical delayed radio signals received in Oslo in 1927(C) Sverre Holm (LA3ZA) University of Oslo
  Black Knight Satellite2004 EncounterAlien Speech Found in NASA's Saturn Radio Signal..June 30, 2007 Posted by jostvandyke YoutubeImportant info - Please read:Speech patterns have been found in a radio signal released by NASA almost 3 years previously in 2004.
  Judge for yourself what the voices are saying, it is a very bizarre anomaly but very much worth investigating.Instructions:
  1) Download and save the original WAV file from NASA/Cassini website:
  SOURCE: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/saturn/audio/pia07967-072504.wav
  2) Open an audio editor like Cool Edit or Sonar and raise the pitch/frequency of the file by 12 tones with the pitch shifter... and there it is, speech patterns.
  How can anyone explain this anomaly. Certainly NASA have no explanation for it after we presented the file to them for their opinion. SETI also don't know what make of it. What do you think?
  SOURCE: http://cassini.physics.uiowa.edu/space-audio/cassini/SKR2/
  Project Camelot Interview with Clifford Stone..Clifford Stone
  Project Camelot Interview with Clifford StoneET Interpreter: Sgt. Clifford StoneA video interview with Clifford Stone, Roswell, New Mexico, November 2006
  Clipping of relevant portion
  C: Well, I'll tell you this, I think that by 2016 that something better have happened. Because at 2016 I think that we're going to have to announce to the world that there's a probe that comes very close to the Earth every 15 or 20 years. And we've been calling it an asteroid. It's not an asteroid. But it actually in reality is an artificial probe. In other words, somebody else put it here. They have found us long time ago. The technology will probably be pretty much on a par to, say, Voyager. It'll be old antiquated technology by all their standards.
  K: So what are you saying? Is this probe'... do you know what race?
  C: I'm saying we have already found it. Our paradigm says that it can't be an artificial craft of any sort, therefore we refuse to accept that and we call it an asteroid. I'm talking about BG1991. Roughly 30 meters in diameter, highly polished surface. Asteroids don't have a highly polished surface. It took corrective course changes to avoid collision with another asteroid. That don't happen. This one it did.
  K: So where... what race is this from, from what planet? Do you know?
  C: I don't know.
  SOURCE: Project Camelot
  Black Knight Satellite1954 Encounter ?AFFA Sends a MessageOn August 23, 1954 the technology magazine Aviation Week and Space Technology released a story that created quite a stir in the American population. It also angered Pentagon officials who were trying desperately to keep the story secret. The short one paragraph article in the "Washington Roundup" section stated:
  Pentagon scare over the observance of two previously unobserved satellites orbiting the earth has dissipated with the identification of the objects as natural, not artificial satellites. Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, expert on extraterrestrial bodies from the University of New Mexico, headed the identification project. One satellite is orbiting about 400 miles out, while the other track is 600 miles from the earth. Pentagon thought momentarily the Russians had beaten the U.S. to space explorations.
  The next day the New York Times, basing their story in part on the Aviation Week story, wrote their own version telling of the discovery of the two objects orbiting the earth. In a matter of days the story was all over the country. Not all people, however, believed the objects were natural, as the chances of capturing two asteroids by the earth's gravitation field was almost impossible.Many in the public simply assumed that the two objects were artificial and might have been tied into the close approach of the planet Mars which always seemed to bring with it many more UFO sightings that the norm.
  On the evening of November 28, 1954, at radio station WGN in Chicago, the two satellites were the topic of conversation. The radio host Jim Mills, and his guest for the day UFO researcher John Otto (referred to in CIA documents as "the villain in our story" and "the scoundrel"), got an idea to try and communicate with the orbiting satellites. The plan of action was carefully planned and kept secret until the day of the plan.
  At exactly 11:15 during the radio show, Mills made an announcement that they were going to attempt to send a signal to the orbiting satellites, and get the aliens to send back a message for the radio listeners. Mills announced that in ten minutes - at 11:25 they would prompt the aliens to send their message with the words "Come in Outer Space." Only 10 minutes warning were given to prevent someone in the audience from getting a truck with the proper radio equipment and broadcasting a signal.
  Mills announced that once they had prompted the space men to talk they would shut off the microphones in the studio for fifteen seconds. They would, however, continue to broadcast their signal to the Chicago audience. The aliens were expected to tap into the WGN transmitter, and send their signal to the radio listeners. All the radio listeners were encouraged to run and get a tape recorder so they could record the signal if it did come through.
  When 11:25 arrived, Mills uttered the words "Come in Outer space" and turned off the microphones. The two men had a radio in the studio so they too could hear the alien message. They sat and waited the appointed fifteen seconds but hear nothing coming over their own radio. The show ended and the two men left the studio.
  Mills and Otto were away from the studio when the calls began to come in. There were four calls in total coming from people who claimed that they had heard the alien message. They were from varying places around the radio listening audience. Later, CIA documents revealed that five Chicago ham radio operators also claimed to have taped "these wired coded messages from outer space." (One listener in Wisconsin stated they too had made a tape recording of the message but it was never recovered.)
  One of the callers who claimed to have received a message were two older sisters who lived north of the studio. The two sisters, Marie and Mildred Maier phoned and were upset about the joke the station had just played on the listeners. They stated that it was not funny to be playing jingle bells pretending it was a message from space.
  They were told that jingle bells had not been played, and arrangement were made to visit with the ladies. John Otto met with the women to get their story, and was able to make a copy of the tape. The tape was then played a number of times over the air. It apparently did sound like jingle bells with some sort of strange telex noise in the background.
  In early 1955 the Maier sisters reported on their UFO experiences, along with the story of the message from space in the Journal of Space Flight. The Office of Scientific Investigation at the CIA saw the article and contacted the Scientific Contact Branch to recover the tape.
  Two men from the Chicago Contact Division, Chief George O. Forrest and officer Dewalt Walker, met with the sisters to recover the tape. Because the CIA was openly claiming that they had no involvement in the UFO phenomena, beyond their short involvement with the 1953 Robertson Panel, they could not tell the Maier sisters they were from the CIA.
  What they did to overcome this problem was to dress up as Air Force officers to make the Maier sisters believe they would be dealing with the Air Force. They did this as the Air Force was publicly known to be working on UFOs. The CIA had always publicly denied they were involved in the investigation of UFOs, so any involvement by the CIA had to be hidden.
  Their first attempt to recover the tape from the two women was unsuccessful. The women were impressed that the government was interested in their tape, but they would not part with it. In the second visit the two intelligence officers were able to get a copy of the tape. They forwarded a copy to CIA headquarters.
  Forrest wrote that he felt the case was not a hoax. "In all seriousness," he wrote. "We don't think that the sisters themselves are trying to fake anything." He then wrote that he hoped the Chicago office would be informed if there should be an answer.
  It was over until 1957, when NICAP researcher Leon Davidson, talked to the Maier sisters and decided that he would like to talk to the Air Force officer who had recovered the tape. Furthermore he was very interested to see the analysis that the Air Force had done on the tape.
  Davidson wrote to the address that Dewalt had given the sisters, and received a reply from Walker stating that he had forwarded the tape to the proper authorities and had not further information.
  Not satisfied and now assuming Walker might actually be CIA he wrote to Eisenhower's Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles demanding the results of the tape analysis, and the real identity of Dewalt.
  Dulles did is what the CIA normally does in such cases. Firstly, he reported Davidson to the FBI as a possible subversive, and secondly he created a new lie.
  The Air Force was contacted by the chief of the Chicago Contact Division and told to write a letter to Davidson falsely telling him that Dewalt was in fact an Air Force officer and that the tape had shown only identifiable Morse code from a known U.S. licensed radio station.
  Next J. Arnold Shaw, assistant to Allen Dulles, wrote Davidson on May 8, 1957 with a carefully worded statement which deflecting involvement away from the CIA to the Air Force. "A survey of the intelligence community has resulted in the determination that the tape in question was analyzed by another agency of the government," wrote Shaw. "We believe you will receive another communication shortly from the Air force which will answer your query as to the nature of the recording."
  Armed with this new information Davidson again contacted the CIA demanding to know the identity of the Morse code operator and the name of the agency that had done the analysis claimed by the Air Force. As the CIA had claimed the tape was not analyzed they were in a situation where they didn't know what to do
  CIA officers under cover contacted Davidson and promised to try and get him the name of the Morse operator and the identification of the transmitter if possible. This, of course, was just a stall tactic.
  When this did not pacify Davidson, the CIA again dressed up an intelligence officer who met with Davidson in person in New York City, and this officer tried to talk Walker out of pursuing the case any longer. He told Davidson that the Air Force could not "disclose who was doing what." Davidson would not accept the argument and pressed on. The officer then agreed to see what he could do.
  The general rule for the CIA seemed to be "keep lying till you get it right." When confronted with a letter from Congressman Joseph Karth related to Davidson's claims that he was being lied to by the CIA, the CIA chose to lie outright to the Congressman. Karth was told that other than a brief involvement with the Robertson panel, the "CIA has not participated in any flying saucer activities and has referred all correspondence to the Air Force." As to Mr. Davidson's charges the CIA wrote to the congressman;
  Mr. Davidson's belief that this agency is involved in the 'flying saucer furore' and is using this as a tool in psychological warfare is entirely unfounded. His indication that CIA is misguiding persons in leading them to believe in Flying Saucers is also entirely unfounded.
  The next lie in store for Davidson involved a CIA officer who had dressed up as the Air Force officer phoned Davidson back and told him a thorough check showed that the signal had been of U.S. (not outer space) origin, and the tape and notes had been destroyed to conserve space.
  Knowing now that he was getting the runaround by the CIA, Davidson warned the agent that "he and his agency, whichever it was, were acting like Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamster Union in destroying records which might indict them."
  This statement led to a funny series of messages inside the CIA. People dealing with Davidson were warned that he had already been given too much information, and too many names. No one was allowed to answer anything from Davidson unless the letter was registered. They were reminded that they were under no legal obligation to answer questions from the public.
  Strangely, this technique of simply ignoring Davidson actually worked. Eventually, Davidson seemed to give up on the case, and the tape from outer space was forgotten until 1997 when the CIA retold part of the story in their 1997 report AA Die-Hard Issue: CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90" which was published in "Studies in Intelligence" in 1997.
  Note: This author has spent over two years trying to recover the documents used to footnote AA Die-Hard Issue: CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90" related to the Maier case.
  The first FOIA gained a couple documents from the numerous footnotes.An appeal brought forward a number of new ones, but some were still missing.Searches on the CIA website searching "Davidson" and "radio code" turned up others that had not been released to me.I then filed for the entire file on the Maier sisters which brought an end to the meager CIA cooperation I had received to that point.The CIA demanded that I now pay for search fees as a new search would be required, and the material would not add to understanding about how the government operated.An appeal to that decision was filed, and ruled against by the CIA. SOURCE: Presidentialufo.comExtraterrestrial Monolith In Space..Apollo X Gets Glimpse Of An Extraterrestrial Monolith In Spaceby Richard Boylan, Ph.D. 1998drboylan@jps.net
  Apollo X Gets Glimpse Of An Extraterrestrial Monolith In Space; Later A Secret Military Space Shuttle Retrieves the Space Beacon
  The following information was disclosed to me by a reliable confidential informant, who previously worked on contract for the National Security Agency, and maintains connections within the Intelligence community. This informant, whom I shall call "Jesse", has over 40 years of notes from a very close relative, who served as CIA liaison to the National Security Council on UFO/ET matters. This information has been confirmed by a second source, Dr. Michael Wolf of the National Security Council's unacknowledged subcommittee, the MJ-12 Special Studies Group. I have talked with Dr. Wolf about the notes' author, Jesse's relative. Dr. Wolf said that that CIA official "was like an uncle to me."
  The reports which follow are thus not "leaks", but rather based on planned releases of information. These releases are part of a public Acclimation Program, an official though unacknowledged U.S. Government policy of "processed release of information", as Dr. Wolf described it.
  According to "Jesse", in 1969 the Apollo 10 astronauts Stafford, Cernan and Young were the first to film an extraterrestrial space beacon, dubbed The Monolith, somewhat like, but smaller than, the one in Arthur C. Clarke's book/movie "2001". They were not, however, the first astronauts to spot this ET beacon. The Monolith was first sighted by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, in 1961. He was followed into space that same year by American astronaut Alan Shephard, who also sighted the beacon. Apollo 10 went to it, and filmed it from every angle. The Monolith acted like a communication beacon. Jesse said, "It sort of acts like the message received in the movie "Contact". It had a message on it, in addition to a map of the extraterrestrial civilization which placed it there], and how to get to them."
  The Apollo 10 astronauts brought back the message captured on film. The Monolith's energy affected Apollo 10's instrumentation, so that its crew almost didn't get back. As soon as the film Apollo 10 took came back to Earth, those Intelligence compartments which deal with UFOs were busy poring over information from the Monolith.
  The government then used an early secret military space shuttle to go get the Monolith itself. This covert military spacecraft flew years before the first "official" NASA Shuttle's public flights in 1981. The spaceplane is operated by a secret military astronaut program out of Vandenburg Air Force Base, California, among other locations. The second flight mission of this unacknowledged military shuttle retrieved the Monolith, and brought it back to Earth in 1972 for study. [1]
  After being retrieved, the Monolith was then transferred to a secret research facility. Scientific analysis of the Monolith was conducted at this domed underwater facility located north of Abaco, the northernmost of the Bahamas Islands. RCA Corporation is in charge of that experimentation research, Jesse says. Jesse stated, "They did it underwater, after they saw people dropping like flies. They figured that there would be better containment [of the Monolith's suspected cosmic energy emanations] underwater." He noted that the space beacon "has a sound to it, like it talks. It also gives off a light show." Dr. Michael Wolf shed additional light on the beacons. "They are 'postcards from the rim'. They emit both light and tone signals, sending a mathematical language. There may be five or more ET civilizations involved in setting up these beacons."
  Among the scientists who worked on it were famed astronomer Dr. Carl Sagan, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command General William Stubblebine, (ret.), National Security Council consultant Dr. Michael Wolf, and a former division head of CIA. Everyone who had prolonged close physical contact with the Monolith got cancer, Jesse says. "And those who tried to dissect it [the Monolith] died right there on the spot." The CIA Counter-Intelligence official and Dr. Wolf got colon cancer. The CIA man required surgery, but Dr. Wolf's cancer later went into a spontaneous remission. Dr. Sagan eventually died of his cancer.
  Jesse feels that there are many more space beacons out in space, acting as "postcards". "I'm sure Mother Russia had one." [2]
  Jesse also revealed a 1973 formula for gravity control, used by the military to construct antigravity aerospace vehicles.[a] He disclosed that noted quantum physicist Jack Sarfatti was in a position to be familiar with this gravity formula used by the government. Jesse observed, "With regard to Sarfatti, as I can determine it [from the notes], he was on site doing work on the relationship between downed UFO's and back-engineering, to the degree that he assisted in the gravity makeup formulae."
  Jesse added that Sarfatti noticed that the captured UFO's field propulsion guidance was focused on the ET pilot. "[The UFO pilot console] had the hand placement with micro holes and light-emitting senses [sensors] to feel the impulse of the sudden hand movement; hence it [pilot and UFO] became as one. The driver always feels the outer skin's 'road feel', so it [the UFO] can handle better than a Corvette at 125 mph in fifth gear in the big curve." Jesse added, "Then again, Sarfatti has these [formula] numbers...he can attest to the numbers and even affirm that [antigravity field propulsion] is in use today! Matter of fact, the formulae even tell a story of the skin association between flyer and craft." [3] They [ET pilots] think [a command]...and go. Sort of like...point-click and ship! Boom...you're there."
  The RAND Corporation (a CIA think tank) holds the key to the [gravity-control] formulae." Jesse revealed. "Our Navy even set up the United Earth Space Naval Forces. I believe this group to be in existence today." [4]
  [a] phi(x) =<0lphi(x) l0 > + ?(x), where <0lphi(x)l0> is the vacuum expectation value, and m2^<0lphi(x)l0>^2 represents the particle's density of the ground state in the non-realtivistic limit. The action of this field in the presence of gravity is...intrinsic gravitational cosmological constant Lambda/ 8piG receives a contribution (1/2) m2^<0lphi(x)l0>^2.
  Extraterrestrial Base On Earth, Sanctioned By Officials Since 1954, Now Revealed Secret U.S.-USSR Manned Space Station, Positioned In Orbit For Past 30 Years, Also Disclosed
  In July of 1952 the world was electrified by large newspaper headlines and photos of squadrons of UFOs flying repeatedly over the nation's Capital in Washington, DC. Four months later WW II General Dwight Eisenhower was elected President. The same month President Eisenhower took office (January, 1953), the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) was ordered to determine if UFOs were interstellar vehicles. OSI convened the Robertson Panel of scientists, which recommended expansion of an Air Force study of UFOs, Project Blue Book.
  A year later, in April, 1954, as documented by Gerald Light, President Eisenhower made a secret trip to Muroc Field (now Edwards Air Force Base), in the California desert, accompanied by generals, reporter Franklin Allen of the Hearst Newspapers Group, Los Angeles Catholic Bishop James McIntyre, and others. The President had previously arranged to be in nearby Palm Springs, CA, purportedly for a golfing vacation. He "was spirited over to Muroc one night," while reporters were fed the cover story that the President had a toothache and needed to see a dentist. While at Muroc Air Field, Eisenhower was present while an extraterrestrial disc landed. Several Star Visitors emerged to converse with the President and the generals. The extraterrestrials requested that Eisenhower make the public aware of extraterrestrial contact with Earth forthwith. The President protested that humans were not ready, and needed time to be prepared for adjusting to this stupendous reality. By the end of the following month, May, 1954, President Eisenhower's CIA Director, Walter Bedell Smith, Prince Bernhard of Netherlands, David Rockefeller and other top world financiers, later-Secretary of State Dean Rusk, later-British Minister of Defense Denis Healey, and other Western power leaders convened the inaugural meeting of the Bilderberg Group, "a means of Western collective management of the world order". [5] One of the early items on the Bilderberg agenda was extraterrestrial contact. Shortly after establishing itself, the Bilderberg Group collaborated with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), another international policy body devoted to world management. They discussed the problem of adjusting humankind to extraterrestrial presence. Bilderberg and CFR decided jointly in the mid-1950s to enter into an arrangement with the extraterrestrials: The ETs were given an island in French Polynesia as a base on Earth. This arrangement afforded them an opportunity to monitor closely Earth cultures and behavior; and it permitted Earth governments a way to monitor extraterrestrial culture and behavior. "It became an on-going experiment," as my former-NSA informant put it. He added that when official public announcement of the extraterrestrial presence occurs, "they will be the ones introduced to Earthlings; "Oh, by the way, we want to welcome our neighbors from the Pleiades, who by the way have been here since [the beginning of Earth] time, but [are] actually living in our place, date, space and time.'" "They are the diplomatic corps." Jesse reported that the U.S. particularly held out for many concessions before agreeing to the arrangement. (He did not specify what those concessions were, but history subsequent to 1954 suggests that what the U.S. obtained was the lion's share of extraterrestrial scientist consultants, to assist American scientists in understanding and adapting exotic ET technologies into such devices we now know as the computer chip, fibre optics, lasers, gene-splicing therapy, cloning, night-vision equipment, super-tenacity fibers (such as Kevlar lightweight armor), aerospace ceramics, Stealth technology, particle-beam devices, and gravity-control flight.) NSC's Dr. Michael Wolf has previously revealed in his book The Catchers of Heaven that he worked with ETs as part of his governmental duties. "I met with extraterrestrial individuals every day in my work, and shared living quarters with them," while doing research at extremely- classified underground government research laboratories. He added, "Zetas work in underground facilities, as requested by the U.S. Government. The ETs are not breaking the U.S. Government-Zeta treaties, but the Government has broken treaties by mistreating ETs, and trying to fire on UFOs."
  Dr. Wolf also described working with very human-appearing races dubbed the Nordics and Semitics. He said, "The Semitics and Nordics [ETs] come from Altair 4 and 5 and from the Pleiades [star systems]." Wolf also disclosed that in 1954 the U.S. had four extraterrestrial corpses in the "Blue Room", Hanger 18 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio. These bodies came from a series of retrievals of downed UFOs. "The first UFO came down in 1941 into the ocean west of San Diego, and was retrieved by the Navy." [6] Between that and the first publicly-announced Roswell UFO crash in 1947, Wolf says there was another crash in 1946, as well as two other crashes in 1947.
  The following additional revelation will permit you to ignore those Boeing commercials and NASA press releases about how America currently is building its own first manned space station. My ex-NSA informant revealed that there has been a manned "deep space platform" in orbit above Earth for over thirty years! "It [has] had three-man [American] crews as well as Russians 'on' since '68!" He further states that since 1973, the space station received additional extremely-high technology, "and has had upgrades since." His disclosure confirms reports I had heard previously from former military officers about a secret space platform in orbit. This disclosure makes clear that the Cape Canaveral Space Shuttles launches, and the "first" American space station being assembled by NASA', are just government "cover" programs. Such programs have served to deflect the public from becoming aware before now of the existence of a black-project military space station, and of classified military craft which can go well past orbit into deep space. Jesse furnished me additional details about its operation. The space station has been serviced by secret military spacecraft long before the first American Space Shuttle flew in 1981. In 1988 previous models of spacefaring military vehicles were superseded by the "Nautilus", a spacecraft with a rounded delta shape built jointly by special projects divisions of Europe's Airbus Industrie and U.S.'s Boeing Corporation. Nautilus has a propulsion system which utilizes magnetic pulsing. Nautilus-type craft make twice-weekly trips up into space and back, to service the secret international space station. The Nautilus is based in Utah. My informant would not identify the base, but said that it was positioned within a mountain so stealthfully that you could drive by and never know it was there. He also stated that the principal headquarters of the U.S. Space Command has been relocated from Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado to this underground installation in Utah. [7] Look for further significant disclosures in the weeks and months ahead, as the current U.S. Administration tries to disentangle itself from 50 years of Cold War secrecy. And as it does so, those who have felt all alone with their personal experience of contact by Visitors from the stars, (who have been deeply involved in our society and its evolution), should feel less isolated.
  Footnotes:
  1. Jesse provided additional comment on successor craft to the secret military Space Shuttle. "Matter of fact, it (military Shuttle) was replaced in '85 with Aurora up to '92", thus indicating that the oft-rumored Aurora hyperfast aerospace vehicle not only was operational since 1985, but is already obsolete. Jesse says that its successor "followed on with DarkStar's retro-fit." This, according to the late USAF Colonel Steve Wilson, is the Lockheed X-22A DarkStar, a two-man discoid craft, which uses antigravity technology on a airframe perfected on Lockheed's "cover" program, a conventional unmanned reconnaissance drone, the X-22, also called DarkStar. Jesse tantalizes with a hint about the antigravity DarkStar's having becoming obsolete by "another [craft] in 2001", yet another exotic space vehicle. Jesse added, "The [Cape Canaveral] Shuttle stuff you see is for Hollywood to direct."
  2. And the apparent coincidence of Arthur C. Clarke writing in "2001"about a Monolith discovered by astronauts turns out not really to be a coincidence at all. Jesse revealed that Clarke has been in the employ of the Central Intelligence Agency, and thus could well have heard about the non-fiction Monolith even before its retrieval.
  3. "It depends on the vacuum expectation value to go particle ground state, and with this you time travel on a wave."
  4. Jesse says that Dr. Wolf was at the RAND Corporation at one point in his career, and developed an 18-foot-wide torus-shaped antigravity field, using counter-rotating magnets. Wolf was quite familiar with the government gravity-control formulae, being involved in UFO research as a member of NSC's MJ-12 [UFO information control] subcommittee.
  5. (Sklar, H., ed., 1981. Trilateralism. Boston: South End )
  UFOTruth - http://UFOTruth.listbot.com
  SOURCE: Extraterrestrial Monolith In Space - Shadowlands
  Apollo 10 & Alien Space Ship - 7/24/2007
  The Black Knight from Space By Paul Rydeen
  In Disneyland of the Gods, John Keel writes of the Black Knight satellite. Never mind the almanac. You won't find it listed with Sputnik or Explorer. Black Knight is the name given to a radar blip discovered in 1960. This mystery satellite was found in a polar orbit, something neither the US nor the Soviets had accomplished. It was several times larger and several times heavier than anything capable of being launched with 1960 rockets. It shouldn't have been there, but it was.
  If that weren't enough, ham operators began receiving odd messages from the Black Knight. One operator decoded a series of these messages as a star map. The map centered on Epsilon BoÅtes as seen from the earth 13,000 years ago. Remember, stars don't move very far even after 13,000 years, and Epsilon BoÅtes is moving towards us. Only the neighboring stars appear different after that amount of time. Was the Black Knight an alien calling card?
  Perhaps the strangest effect associated with the Black Knight is the Long Delay Echo (LDE). The effect observed is that radio or television signals sent into space bounce back seconds (or even days) later, as if recorded and retransmitted by a satellite. They didn't begin with the Black Knight, but they were part of its mystery. Keel places the earliest LDEs in the 1920s. It's not in Keel's book, but in 1974 another mystery entered earth orbit. No radar saw it. No ham operator listened to it. One man contacted it- or rather, was contacted by it. That man was science fiction author Philip K. Dick (1928-1982). Dick is probably best known to the public for writing the stories on which the movies Blade Runner (1982), Total Recall (1990), and Screamers (1996) were based. Before the movies, there were the books. That's where we'll find Dick's own encounter with a Black Knight.
  Beginning in February of 1974, Dick had a series of "mystic" experiences (substitute "paranormal" or "fortean" or "psychotic" if you like). When he died eight years later, he was still unsure of their origin or their meaning. Left behind was what he called the Exegesis, an 8000- page, one-million-word continuing dialogue with himself written late, late at night. This is where we go to find the Black Knight's return.
  Very little of Dick's Exegesis has been published. The Black Knight material formed the core of four novels - Radio Free Albemuth, VALIS, The Divine Invasion, and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. They remain in print. All four read as autobiography. The pivotal element in each is Dick's own contact with the Black Knight, which he called the Vast Active Living Intelligence System, VALIS for short. In a series of visions and coincidences, VALIS revealed itself to Dick as an ancient satellite from another world. It was sent here long ago by three-eyed, crab-clawed beings from a planet orbiting Fomalhaut. They built our civilization, taught us writing and science, then returned to their own world. VALIS was left behind to prod certain individuals when civilization needed a boost. If it sounds like Von DÅ niken meets Scientology, read on.
  Albemuth is the name Dick gave Fomalhaut in Radio Free Albemuth. I believe he derived it from the Arabic al-Behemoth, which he took to mean "whale." Fomalhaut is the fish's mouth in the constellation of Piscis Australis, the Southern Fish. In VALIS he moved its origin to Sirius, probably after reading Robert K.G. Temple's The Sirius Mystery. He also offered an alternate name for the satellite: Zebra. He called it Zebra because of its ability to mimic its surroundings. We'll discuss that in a moment, when we return to LDEs.
  Dick's contact began with a vision of St. Elmo's Fire filling his apartment. It was a strange pink flame which burned but did not consume. He says his cat saw it too. It was strongest at night. Dick would lie in bed unable to sleep, watching the light show. He compared it to a rapid-fire succession of modern paintings by the likes of Klee and Kandinsky. At one point he wondered if Soviet scientists were working with the aliens on psychotronics experiments. He thought they might be beaming images at him from a Moscow Museum. His dreams during this period took on a whole new nature, so much so that he began referring to them as tutelary dreams because of their information-rich content. He experienced numerous waking visions as well.
  In some of his visions, Dick saw Soviet scientists rushing around behind the scenes to keep the alien satellite functioning. Strange texts which appeared to be Russian operating manuals were held up for him to see. The Builders, as he came to call the aliens, were sometimes seen floating in large vats of water, observing the operation. The whole complex system was apparently set up solely for his benefit!
  Dick saw VALIS as a benign entity. He saw its position as teacher, sometimes protectress. (I say "protectress" rather than "protector" because VALIS reminded Dick of his twin sister Jane, who died in infancy.) He credited VALIS with taking charge of his life, recovering a lot of income due from unpaid royalties, and even re-margining his typewriter.
  While listening to the radio one day, Dick heard the words of the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" change to a warning from VALIS: "Your son has an undiagnosed right inguinal hernia. The hydrocele has burst, and it has descended into the scrotal sac. He requires immediate attention, or will soon die." Dick rushed him to the hospital and found every word to be true. The doctor scheduled the operation for the same day.
  Dick occasionally heard other, less positive messages from his radio at night, even when it was turned off. Admittedly, hearing voices and claiming harassment from an energy beam are symptoms of mental illness, but there seems to be something more at work here. Anybody can claim crazy, incredible things, but only Philip K. Dick produced works of art because of it. In the end, though, he may have overexposed himself to it. As he hinted in VALIS, too much of a good thing can kill you.
  Dick had another vision. He saw the pink St. Elmo's fire coalesce into a door perfectly proportioned to the Golden Mean. Through the door he saw ancient Greece, or some other Mediterranean land. He later regretted never stepping through it. This brings us full circle to the subject of Long Delay Echoes. As Dick sat staring at the Y in an ICHTHYS sticker in his window one afternoon, he pondered these strange occurrences. As he did, he saw first-century Rome fade in and remain superimposed on top of 1974 California. The experience lasted through February and March. He still knew which was the vision and which was real, but when he looked away and then looked back, Rome was still there.
  The message he decided VALIS was sending him is that we still live in Roman times. Nothing has changed, we still live under the rule of a cruelly corrupt empire, and the Christian apocalypse is near. VALIS predicted the downfall of a King. Nixon left office soon after. As Dick said in VALIS, "The Empire Never Ended." This catch-phrase was made known to him in one of his tutelary dreams.
  If this concept of one "reality" superimposed onto another is difficult to conceptualize, let's consider a parallel from more orthodox (!) sources. Without trying to establish or deny its validity, the field of psychic archeology tries to do exactly what Dick had happen to him. This is akin to remote viewing with a time element involved, rather than one of space. This author is in possession of a small number of unpublished correspondence describing others' experiences of this phenomenon. One called the satellite "Max." Dick was not the only one.
  Though Dick's vision of Rome faded, his tutelary dreams continued for six more years. So did the AI voice (Artificial Intelligence), a soft feminine voice he heard in times of stress and during hypnagogic revery. This was the aspect of VALIS which reminded him of his late twin sister Jane. He claimed to have first heard it during a high school physics exam (it gave him the answers) 25 years earlier. During the VALIS days it told him, "The Head Apollo is about to return. St. Sophia is going to be born again; she was not acceptable before. The Buddha is in the park. Siddhartha sleeps (but is going to awaken). The time you have waited for has come." It's in The Exegesis. Dick quoted it in VALIS.
  It all appeared to end November 17, 1980. Dick claimed to have had a theophany that day, though witnesses noticed nothing unusual. Dick suddenly comprehended God as infinite, by nature incomprehensible. In other words, the Exegesis would never solve anything because there was no answer to be had. Dick actually stopped writing for a time because of this, but was at it again before too long. It was the search that was important to him, after all. He wrote The Divine Invasion around this time, which was when the voice finally stopped.
  Dick persisted in speculating for the remaining year of his life, and managed to produce one more novel before the end - the posthumously-published The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. Dick suffered the first of several strokes in February 1982 and died a few days later in the hospital, on March 2. He was 53.
  (C)Paul Rydeen All Rights Reserved
  SOURCE: SIMULACRUM MELTDOWN #2 (DECEMBER 2000)
  Rendezvous with Ramaby Arthur C. Clarke..Credit: Tikulin "Rendezvous With Rama"...Considering rumors that Arthur C. Clark has 'CIA' or other 'inside' connections, we have used images from the story "Rendezvous with Rama" for illustration aswe don't have any real images of the "Black Night Satellite". The rumors that the monolith on the Moon was based on a true incidence makes this a great inclusion... and Rama fits the description of the story of the Black Knight Satellite very well... almost as if....Rendezvous with Rama is a novel by Arthur C. Clarke first published in 1972. Set in the 22nd century, the story involves a thirty-mile-long cylindrical alien starship that passes through Earth's solar system. The story is told from the point of view of a group of human explorers, who intercept the ship in an attempt to unlock its mysteries.
  This novel won both the Hugo and Nebula awards upon its release, and is widely regarded as one of the cornerstones in Clarke's bibliography. It is considered a science fiction classic, and is particularly seen as a key hard science fiction text.
  The "Rama" of the title is an alien starship, initially mistaken for an asteroid and named after the Hindu God Rama. (Clarke mentions that by the 22nd century, scientists have used the names of all the Greek and Roman mythological figures to name astronomical bodies, and have thus moved on to Hindu mythology.) Asteroid 31/439 is detected by astronomers in the year 2131 while still outside the orbit of Jupiter. The object's speed (100 000 km/h) and the angle of its trajectory clearly indicate that this is not an object on a long orbit around our sun; it comes from interstellar space. Astronomers' interest is piqued when they realize that this asteroid not only has an extremely rapid 4 minute rotation period but it is quite large in size for an asteroid. An unmanned space probe is launched from the Mars moon Phobos, and photographs taken during its rapid flyby reveal an absolutely cylindrical object 16 kilometres wide and 50 kilometres long, made of a highly reflective material. In other words, this is humankind's first encounter with an alien space ship.
  The manned solar survey vessel "Endeavour" is sent to study Rama, as it is the only ship close enough to do so in the brief period of time Rama will spend in our solar system. Endeavour manages to rendezvous with Rama one month after the space ship first comes to Earth's attention, when the giant alien spacecraft already is within Venus orbit. The 20+ crew, led by Commander Norton, enters Rama and explores its vast interior, but the nature and purpose of the starship and its creators remains enigmatic throughout the book. The only lifeforms are the cybernetic "biots" who completely ignore the humans. Endeavour is finally forced to leave a few weeks later as Rama moves too close to the Sun for Endeavour's cooling systems to compensate. Rama then is flung out of the solar system toward an unknown location in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using the Sun's gravitational field as a slingshot.
  The book was meant to stand alone, although the final sentence of the book seemed to suggest otherwise:
  And on far-off Earth, Dr. Carlisle Perera had as yet told no one how he had wakened from a restless sleep with the message from his subconscious still echoing in his brain: The Ramans do everything in threes.
  Clarke, however, denied that this sentence was meant to hint at the continuity of the story '-- according to his foreword in the book's sequel, it was just a good way to end the book, and was added during a final revision.
  SOURCE: Wikipedia Rendezvous with Rama
  FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Pegasus Research Consortium distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Het geheim van de 12.000 jaar oude Satelliet
  Link to Article
  Source: Een andere kijk op nieuws @infomagnl » Nieuws items
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:44
  Geplaatst @ 3 november 2012
  Ver voordat wij de eerste satellieten de ruimte in stuurden was er al een onbekende die berichten naar de aarde zond.Het was een satelliet die de naam The Black Knight kreeg en waarvan de leeftijd wordt geschat op minimaal 12.000 jaar.In 1960 verschenen er diverse nieuwsberichten in kranten en ook een artikel in Time waarin bekend werd gemaakt dat een mysterieuze "donkere" satelliet was ontdekt in een baan om de aarde.
  De Amerikanen werden nerveus omdat ze dachten dat het een nieuwe Russische spionagesatelliet was en de bevolking kreeg de indruk dat de leiding geen idee had over wat er nu eigenlijk boven hun hoofden gebeurde.
  Deze verwarring duurde ongeveer drie weken, totdat het Ministerie van Defensie plotsklaps met een verklaring kwam: het waren de overblijfselen van een satelliet die ze al een tijdje kwijt waren.
  In die tijd geloofde men nog wat overheden vertelden dus ging iedereen weer rustig slapen. Maar, verhalen over deze vreemde satelliet gaan al veel verder terug dan de jaren zestig. Er zijn berichten dat het in de jaren twintig en dertig van de vorige eeuw al ouderwetse radiogolven uitzond op de korte golf.
  Deze berichten werden in die tijd opgevangen door een groep Noorse en Nederlandse onderzoekers die bezig waren met een onderzoek naar het effect van echo's. En van de berichten waar zij niets mee gedaan hadden, werd later ontdekt door de Schotse auteur en astronoom Duncan Lunan. Hij wist dit bericht te ontcijferen en er kwam uit dat de satelliet toebehoorde aan buitenaardsen uit het sterrenstelsel Epsilon Botes, dat ze op de zesde planeet in hun stelsel woonden en dat die n maan had. Er gaan ook verhalen dat dit weer ontkend zou zijn, maar het werd wel gepubliceerd in 1973 in het tijdschrift Spaceflight.
  Volgens de auteur John Keel, die het boek Disneyland of the Gods heeft geschreven, was het object vele malen groter dan wat Amerika of Rusland in de ruimte zou kunnen brengen.
  En toen op 3 september 1960, zeven maanden nadat de satelliet voor het eerst door de radar was ontdekt, werd het vastgelegd op de gevoelige plaat door een camera die stond opgesteld bij de Grunman Aircraft Corporation. Mensen op de grond hadden het af en aan gezien gedurende enkele weken. Ze beschreven het object als rood gloeiend en in een baan van oost naar west rond aarde. De weinige satellieten die toen in de ruimte waren, bewogen echter in een baan van west naar oost.
  De snelheid van het apparaat was ook drie keer groter dan die van een normale satelliet. Er werd een comit opgericht om er onderzoek naar te doen, maar de resultaten daarvan zijn nooit bekend gemaakt.
  Toen de satelliet werd ontdekt in 1960 vond men het belangrijk genoeg om de toenmalige president Eisenhower midden in de nacht wakker te maken. Een satelliet waarvan de leeftijd wordt geschat op minimaal 12.000 jaar, op een hoogte van bijna 40.000 kilometer, net onder de Van Allen Gordel.
  De Black Knight satelliet is n van de best bewaarde geheimen van de tegenwoordige tijd.
Wennemars: 'Holland Run in plaats van marathon'
  Link to Article
  Source: VK: Home
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:38
  03/11/12, 08:10
  Oud-schaatser Erben Wennemars wil zondag in New York een alternatief organiseren voor de afgelaste marathon. Hij heeft de Nederlanders in de Amerikaanse stad via Twitter opgeroepen mee te doen aan de Holland Run in het Central Park.
  Wennemars laat weten dat zich al 150 mensen hebben aangemeld voor de wedstrijd. Het stadsbestuur in New York besloot de marathon vrijdag af te gelasten in verband met de gevolgen van orkaan Sandy. Wennemars toonde begrip voor het besluit.
  Naast de oud-schaatser zouden onder anderen ook Leontien van Moorsel en Edwin van der Sar de marathon lopen.
David Icke site attacked revealing paedophile latest
  Link to Article
  Source: the tap
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:33
  CommentI notice David Icke's website apparently got a DDOS attack:The story's out anyway, and the pressure's building. So far no mention of Blair, Mandelson and the Labour Party's involvement in child abuse and murder. But at least the Conservatives are getting some exposure without the names being taken to the police for some reason..The BBC only tells a a quarter of the story as usual.The thing that has always bothered me about Icke, is that William Milton Cooper, said he was a Disinfo. Merchant, as was Alex Jones, & there were always certain subjects he wouldn't touch. It was stated his ex- wife was a nut, & probably MK'd The all-seeing eye in her hand signal, the devil's horns in his. Is he a disinformation agent? "The trouble with Icke is that he's been listed as a member of the Isle of Wight Freemasonic club; his ex-wife is a total fruitcake with neon MK-Ultra programming written all over her blog profile and Icke get's his information via his psychiatrist to the stars, who is also his handler. "Worryingly, his ex also has a kind of ministry 'outreach' to vulnerable children in Far East!
  "As he was a BBC employee before his 'road to Damascus' experience, it follows that he fits the profile of a disinformation agent by pointing the finger away from himself and handlers whilst also 'exposing' truths (or at least some truths)."
  TAP - Is David Icke a disinfo merchant? Here's another source who's interesting, Greg Hallett. I've read some of his books, and wonder if he takes his stories a step too far, while having the essence of the truth contained within. He's now in hiding and telling more interesting stories.http://www.theworldoftruth.net/GH/TheHallettReportNo1.htmlPedophiles are linked to heroin trafficking, he claims. The Royal family is a fraud (since 1852). The judges and lawyers are involved with drug trafficking. Hallett says Prince Philip is a known pedophile. The political system runs on shame. They film politicians doing unspeakable acts, and hold the threat of exposure over them. The tendency to pedophilia runs intergenerationally within families, which is why they often chose politicians from the same families.
  EXTRACT - TAP - Greg is from New Zealand originally, and is absolutely not a disinfo agent, although some of his stories seem a little too incredible. Yet how can the world be explained, unless there is someone powerful enough to control the media, the legal system, the military and the banks? David Icke says it's all coming from Saturn. Maybe the power base is much closer to home.
  HALLETT -
  In that same timeframe, with Peter Williams arriving to England '' on the 27th of August 1979, Lord Louis Mountbatten was blown up in his boat. Now Lord Louis Mountbatten was part of the 'Triumvirate', which was the heroin trafficking ring run by Prince Philip.Also by Lord Porchester, Prince Andrew's father, and Lord Plunkett, who died in 1975, and that's Prince Edward's father. And with Lord Plunkett dying, Lord Louis Mountbatten was invited into the heroin trafficking ring, and he qualified, because he was already compromised, because he is a long standing paedophile, and Lord Louis Mountbatten considered the mentorship of his nephews and grand nephews to be the same as sodomy. The first man to escape out of Colditz, first or second, Airey Neave, who was a lawyer and British MP, a man of note and influence, and Margaret Thatcher's bondage lover.Peter William's QC is Prince Philip's agent in New Zealand. Prince Philip's wife owns the Court buildings and owns the Judiciary.He (Airey Neave) was trying to clean up the heroin trafficking ring and he got to Lord Louis Mountbatten. So Lord Louis Mountbatten was on a target list of Prince Philip's to be killed. And it looks like Prince Philip gave the '‚¤2 million pounds to the mafia, who gave it to Peter Williams, who found it in a suitcase on his hotel bed, and then went around eliminating those who could jeopardise his case.(Irish voice: ''I tell you, it's like what happened to the world over the last twenty or thirty years:Greed, greed & more fucking greed, & cheap money, & in Ireland, it is a tragedy what happened.)
  When I exposed Peter Williams QC as being in charge of paedophilia in New Zealand, being in charge of heroin trafficking in New Zealand, and his partner being in charge of Methamphetamine trafficking in New Zealand, a Police Inspector called Winston West, who was in a full motor cycle suit, helmet, on a motor cycle, came alongside of the car I was in, which was a very small Honda Civic, jumped on the bonnet, ripped the wiper blade and arm right off the car, and he ripped the rear vision mirror right of the car, and then fell on the ground with his arms and legs in the air, like a dog wanting to get patted.There were two detectives here, two there, two there. Two minutes later an ambulance turned up, picked him up, took him to the hospital. No police chased me, nothing. It was just Peter Williams saying he had total control over the police doing any hits that he wanted.I went to the Auckland District Law Society and got the payment schedules for the murders. They went through the bank accounts controlled collectively by Terry Clark, Peter Williams, Eb Leary and Billy Boyd. Terry Clark was convicted, his death was faked, he was given plastic surgery and a new life. Eb Leary was charged for laundering drug money twice, convicted twice. Billy Boyd was convicted, supposedly sent to prison for six months, but he may have spent a maximum of three nights on the Wardens couch. Both were struck off for about 19 years.On the other hand Peter Williams was not charged, was not sent to prison, and was made a Queen's Counsel lawyer, and I am absolutely certain that is because Peter Williams was trafficking the heroin and doing the contract killings for Prince Philip, who was the head of the Triumvirate, the head of the heroin trafficking ring. And those who supply children to Prince Philip for paedophilia qualify for entrance into the triumvirate heroin trafficking ring.Peter Williams had so much work from people, who have been had for trafficking heroin and other drugs, that he had to give that work to other lawyers. With the notoriety and the leading people in New Zealand being heroin traffickers and paedophiles and contract killers, we have a case where 'there is absolutely no justice whatsoever coming out of the New Zealand judiciary'.TAP - If Hallett is broadly right, maybe not in every detail, as he has the tendency to embroider, and enjoy a good yarn, then the media will be doing all it can to lay false trails, towards people such as Lord McAlpine, Tories, Jimmy Savile, other show business perpetrators, Gary Glitter, Freddie Starr, anyone in fact, except the people who lie at the very top of the pedophile pyramid, the Royal pedophiles, which all sources seem certain are highly active in this regard. That is ultimately what this is all about, protecting the Royal family from exposure.
  As for Icke, I still might give him some leeway, and have respect for much of his work, not that I understand it all,. He has to survive, and the price of his survival could be to play a double game. So goes for all sources, except Hallett. He shows no regard to safety.
Medina: Saudis take a bulldozer to Islam's history
  Link to Article
  Source: bertb news feed
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:32
  Three of the world's oldest mosques are about to be destroyed as Saudi Arabia embarks on a multi-billion-pound expansion of Islam's second holiest site. Work on the Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, where the Prophet Mohamed is buried, will start once the annual Hajj pilgrimage ends next month. When complete, the development will turn the mosque into the world's largest building, with the capacity for 1.6 million worshippers.
  But concerns have been raised that the development will see key historic sites bulldozed. Anger is already growing at the kingdom's apparent disdain for preserving the historical and archaeological heritage of the country's holiest city, Mecca. Most of the expansion of Masjid an-Nabawi will take place to the west of the existing mosque, which holds the tombs of Islam's founder and two of his closest companions, Abu Bakr and Umar.
  Just outside the western walls of the current compound are mosques dedicated to Abu Bakr and Umar, as well as the Masjid Ghamama, built to mark the spot where the Prophet is thought to have given his first prayers for the Eid festival. The Saudis have announced no plans to preserve or move the three mosques, which have existed since the seventh century and are covered by Ottoman-era structures, or to commission archaeological digs before they are pulled down, something that has caused considerable concern among the few academics who are willing to speak out in the deeply authoritarian kingdom.
  ''No one denies that Medina is in need of expansion, but it's the way the authorities are going about it which is so worrying,'' says Dr Irfan al-Alawi of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation. ''There are ways they could expand which would either avoid or preserve the ancient Islamic sites but instead they want to knock it all down.'' Dr Alawi has spent much of the past 10 years trying to highlight the destruction of early Islamic sites.
  With cheap air travel and booming middle classes in populous Muslim countries within the developing world, both Mecca and Medina are struggling to cope with the 12 million pilgrims who visit each year '' a number expected to grow to 17 million by 2025. The Saudi monarchy views itself as the sole authority to decide what should happen to the cradle of Islam. Although it has earmarked billions for an enormous expansion of both Mecca and Medina, it also sees the holy cities as lucrative for a country almost entirely reliant on its finite oil wealth.
  Heritage campaigners and many locals have looked on aghast as the historic sections of Mecca and Medina have been bulldozed to make way for gleaming shopping malls, luxury hotels and enormous skyscrapers. The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of the 1,000-year-old buildings in the two cities have been destroyed in the past 20 years.
  In Mecca, the Masjid al-Haram, the holiest site in Islam and a place where all Muslims are supposed to be equal, is now overshadowed by the Jabal Omar complex, a development of skyscraper apartments, hotels and an enormous clock tower. To build it, the Saudi authorities destroyed the Ottoman era Ajyad Fortress and the hill it stood on. Other historic sites lost include the Prophet's birthplace '' now a library '' and the house of his first wife, Khadijah, which was replaced with a public toilet block.
  Neither the Saudi Embassy in London nor the Ministry for Foreign Affairs responded to requests for comment when The Independent contacted them this week. But the government has previously defended its expansion plans for the two holy cities as necessary. It insists it has also built large numbers of budget hotels for poorer pilgrims, though critics point out these are routinely placed many miles away from the holy sites.
  Until recently, redevelopment in Medina has pressed ahead at a slightly less frenetic pace than in Mecca, although a number of early Islamic sites have still been lost. Of the seven ancient mosques built to commemorate the Battle of the Trench '' a key moment in the development of Islam '' only two remain. Ten years ago, a mosque which belonged to the Prophet's grandson was dynamited. Pictures of the demolition that were secretly taken and smuggled out of the kingdom showed the religious police celebrating as the building collapsed.
  The disregard for Islam's early history is partly explained by the regime's adoption of Wahabism, an austere and uncompromising interpretation of Islam that is vehemently opposed to anything which might encourage Muslims towards idol worship.
  In most of the Muslim world, shrines have been built. Visits to graves are also commonplace. But Wahabism views such practices with disdain. The religious police go to enormous lengths to discourage people from praying at or visiting places closely connected to the time of the Prophet while powerful clerics work behind the scenes to promote the destruction of historic sites.
  Dr Alawi fears that the redevelopment of the Masjid an-Nabawi is part of a wider drive to shift focus away from the place where Mohamed is buried. The spot that marks the Prophet's tomb is covered by a famous green dome and forms the centrepiece of the current mosque. But under the new plans, it will become the east wing of a building eight times its current size with a new pulpit. There are also plans to demolish the prayer niche at the centre of mosque. The area forms part of the Riyadh al-Jannah (Garden of Paradise), a section of the mosque that the Prophet decreed especially holy..
  ''Their excuse is they want to make more room and create 20 spaces in a mosque that will eventually hold 1.6 million,'' says Dr Alawi. ''It makes no sense. What they really want is to move the focus away from where the Prophet is buried.''
  A pamphlet published in 2007 by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs '' and endorsed by the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz al Sheikh '' called for the dome to be demolished and the graves of Mohamed, Abu Bakr and Umar to be flattened. Sheikh Ibn al-Uthaymeen, one of the 20th century's most prolific Wahabi scholars, made similar demands.
  ''Muslim silence over the destruction of Mecca and Medina is both disastrous and hypocritical,'' says Dr Alawi. ''The recent movie about the Prophet Mohamed caused worldwide protests... and yet the destruction of the Prophet's birthplace, where he prayed and founded Islam has been allowed to continue without any criticism.''
  Mecca and Medina in numbers
  12m The number of people who visit Mecca and Medina every year
  3.4m The number of Muslims expected to perform Hajj (pilgrimage) this year
  60,000 The current capacity of the Masjid an-Nabawi mosque
  1.6m The projected capacity of the mosque after expansion
PUTIN'S LOLLIPOP
  Link to Article
  Source: VENITISM
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:25
  Russia is Putin's lollipop, but Putin demands more than a lollipop, no matterhow big his lollipop is. Putin's lollipop is the largest country on Earth.Putin's dream is a free trade zone from Lisbon to Vladivostok without internalborders. No more tariffs! No more visas! Putin likes sports, Mount Athos ofGreece, and Santorini island of Greece, and he reads the venitism blogspot everyday, because he wants to know what libertarian bloggers think.Many faux pas have ridiculed Putin, such as horse-riding bare-chested, judochampioning, shooting a tiger with a tranquilizer, flying in a light aircraftalongside migrating cranes, confusing pussy riot with pus riot, and mistakingthe white ribbons worn by protesters for condoms. Putin's spin doctors areclearly failing as they present him as a czar without any substance. Heseriously needs rebranding. Russians like to joke, and the jokes about Putinhave become nasty.
  Putin starts most days around 8:30am in his residence outside of Moscow. Heheads to the gym every morning with his labrador and begins his exercises withseveral repetitions on each machine. After the workout, Putin gets his shower.Then Putin has a breakfast of porridge and cottage cheese.
  After breakfast, Putin makes his way to the office in style. A presidentialmotorcade takes him from his residence to the Kremlin. The busy Moscow roads areblocked for his commute, and because of this, his trip takes just 25 minutes.The closed roadways result in large traffic jams for Muscovites, who have tospend extra time stuck in gridlock.
  Putin spends a lot of time in the air. His double-decker airplane looks morelike a luxurious office than an aircraft. There is a cabinet for meetings and akitchen complete with staff. The menu always includes cheese, fish, and cakes.
  The most serious reason prompting Putin to hold on to power is the atmosphere ofwealth and luxury to which he has become accustomed. Putin, the kickbackbillionaire, has at his disposal sixty planes and helicopters, twenty palaces,and ten yachts. Putin's Ilyushin airplane features a twenty-million-euro cabinfitted out by jewelers and a toilet seat that costs a hundred thousand euros!
  Czar Putin promotes theocracy to perpetuate his power. Across Putinland, fearof Putin turns to religious worship! In Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg, aproliferation of posters show Putin as an angel, with one hand extended,blessing the city's inhabitants. Putin's face is mounted on a photo of thecherubim crowning the city's Peter and Paul Cathedral.
  There are churches of Saint Putin in Putinland! Mother Fotina declaresPutin is the reincarnation of Saint Paul and he has the spirit of a czar in him!Golden butterflies and cherubs adorn her altar. Fotina swings a smokingcenser before an icon of Saint Putin! Mother Fotina believes God has sent Putinto Putinland to prepare the world for the second coming of Jesus Christ!
  Over the last decade, the Russian Orthodox Church has grown immensely powerful,allied to Kremlin, becoming a de facto branch of government, presenting Putin asthe reincarnation of Saint Paul! The corrupt Church has extended its influenceinto a broad spectrum of public life, such as schools, courts, army, politics,mafias, companies, and brothels. Kirill publicly backed Putin in thepresidential election. The cruel couple of Kirill and Putin terrorizes allRussia now.
  Golden Patriarch Kirill won the Galosh award for his miracle-stained arms whichvanish golden gadgets and ornaments. In photos, while no golden watch isvisible on Kirill, there is a reflection of it on the shiny polished table atwhich he is sitting! While many Russians cannot feed their families, allRussian bishops are dressed in gold like Byzantine emperors. Galosh laureateKirill swims in gold.
  Putin has developed a critical mass system for brainwashing Russians. Everysingle day, Putin invites all kinds of fireflies, important influential peoplefrom all professions and all industries. Squandering the Russian taxpayers'hard-earned money, the Russian government pays all travelling and entertainmentexpenses of Putin's fireflies. Putin, instead of doing his presidential duties,wastes his time and uses government facilities for personal propaganda. Putin'sfireflies influence hoi polloi of Russia to the tipping point of electoralvictories of Putin.
  Putinland does not agree with Occident on many issues, because Putinlandianintelligence has proof that most of the revolts are incited by Occident. Itdoes not make any sense that Occident incites the fire and then screams to stopthe fire!
  Welcome to Putinland, where the president and premier swap jobs at will,where the constitution is an empty shell and all power rests with VladimirPutin. The deal between Putin and Medvedev is a farce that will eventuallytransform Putinland to Putanaland! The proud Russian nation is now a czardom.Russian democracy is gone with the wind.
  The intransigence of Vladimir Putin, who is showing no sign of ceding toprotesters' demands, might be just the impetus Putinland's civil society needsto spur it into existence. The organizers of Putinland's protests have gone togreat lengths to avoid violence. Anticorruption bloggers appeal to Putinland'sliberal intelligentsia and might be able to channel rising nationalism in aconstructive direction.
  The electoral game Putin is playing is castling in chess '' a saint and a czarswapping places, in order to shore up the defense. There might be defense at theheart of the strategy, but Putin's ruling party, United Putinland, is still theonly game in Moscow. Vladimir Putin is the most powerful man in the world. Hissuccess is all the more venerable when one considers that Putin is leader of acountry of nearly 150 million people '-- and at the helm of the one of the world'smost important economies.
  Putin has become increasingly authoritarian. Despite numerous commitments underinternational law, the government has tightened controls on political life,civil society, and the media. Disruption of political opposition's activities,restricting access to state-controlled TV, human right violations, such as thebeating of demonstrators who support the Russian constitution, murder ofjournalists and anti-corruption activists, disappearance and torture, abuse ofthe legal system for monetary and political gain, all illustrate this negativetrend. Putin, a former penniless KGB agent, is nowbillionaire, thanks to bribes and kickbacks!
  A Greek level of corruption has fettered the business activity and daily life ofPutinland, and Russia's dependence on natural resources has only deepened duringthe years of Putin's rule. In April 2010, Putin signed a decree that suspendedthe publication of information about the assets, revenue, and expenditure ofRussia's two oil funds. This allowed him to manipulate government's finances,while launching a pre-election spending spree, siphon off money for friends andallies, and camouflage bribes, kickbacks, and hush money. He boosted militaryand police spending by 33 percent, and promised future pay and pension increasesfor the armed forces, teachers and doctors. Putinlandians have been fleeced,pure and simple.
  Moscow's Kremlin, a fortress of red walls and high battlements, has been asymbol of strict hierarchy and absolute power since the Middle Ages. Czars andGeneral Secretaries ruled from here - followed, after the collapse of theSoviet Union, by presidents whom the Russian constitution endowed with evengreater powers than the American president.
  Putin and his men proudly declare that they have returned Putinland tostrength. In truth, they have hijacked it. Putinland 's constitution is littlemore than an empty shell that does a poor job of concealing the neofeudal regime ofCzar Putin.
  Once a powerful oil tycoon and Russia's wealthiest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky ranfoul of the Kremlin after funding opposition groups and condemning high levelcorruption. He remains in prison on politically motivated charges of tax fraudand theft.
  Bill Browder's tax attorney Sergei Magnitsky was tortured to death in Moscow'snotorious Matrosskaya Tishina detention center. Magnitsky died in jail awaitingtrial on fabricated charges of tax evasion and tax fraud. He was jailed after heaccused Russokleptocrats of a sophisticated swindle to obtain a $230 million taxrebate from the Russian treasury. Magnitsky died after he was denied medicalcare and beaten by the guards. However, those involved have not been punished,but have remained in power, and some have even been decorated or promoted!
  The case has turned a spotlight on Putin's harassment of businesses andinvestors. Putin has thrown over 200,000 businesspeople in jail. Browder had aDamascene conversion, becoming a human rights crusader in addition to a hedgefund manager. The US Senate introduced a bill and OSCE issued a recommendationto impose harsh sanctions against Russia, forbidding those officials responsiblefor Magnitsky's death from entering Occident, and freezing their bank accounts.
  Vladimir Ashurkov published a list of the top donors to a fund set up byanticorruption blogger Alexei Navalny, after persuading some tycoons, whom hedubbed the brave ones, to break a taboo against overt support of Putin'sadversaries. Ashurkov's strategy is to gather a critical mass of supporters whowould openly enlist in an anticorruption revolt.
  Navalny gained fame on Russia's blogosphere investigating minority shares inRussian state companies to expose corruption, a major source of middle-classdisgruntlement and the Achilles heel of Putin's government. Discontent isgrowing throughout the entire population, and of course more so among the elite,who are used to travelling to the West and understand that Russia deserves amuch higher standard of living and freedom than it has now.
  Putin dismisses the street protesters, branding them chattering monkeys andpointing to their lack of a clear leader. The Kremlin has embarked on onlylimited political reforms in response to recent demonstrations, which attract100,000 people on the streets of Moscow. But the protest movement has deprivedPutin of his aura of invincibility, and Ashurkov hopes going public withNavalny's sponsors will inspire others to join his cause, despite the risk thattheir businesses could come under state pressure. Their message is that thesepeople are not afraid, and you shouldn't be afraid either.
  Faced with a simmering, underground opposition, Putin and Medvedev expanded thepowers of Putinland's Federal Security Service (FSB). The security servicesissue individuals of whom they are suspicious with official warnings, invitingthem to precautionary talks with the FSB to prevent the possibility of thecitizen committing a criminal act against the country's security in the future.Refusing or failing to attend these precautionary talks lead to a fine of 1,500euros or detention for as long as 15 days.
  There is a big difference between the Soviet era and today's Putinland. TheSoviet state spread the atmosphere of fear to prevent emergence of politics andpeople's participation in it. Today, the key for the state authorities is tomake sure people are not interested in politics. A person who doesn't care aboutpolitics or the situation with human rights in Putinland may live a comfortablelife without ever encountering an FSB officer. What suffers the most isdemocracy in Putinland; the Kremlin is interested in stability, not democracy.
  Smart words are more effective than smart bombs! Mighty words of a charismatickeynote speaker can transform your people to a new dimension of organizationalclimate, efficiency, self-actualization, enthusiasm, belonging, and motivation.I would like very much to speak at your conference in order to explain criticalpoints much further. venitis@gmail.com
Anger Grows at the Red Cross Response to the Storm
  Link to Article
  Source: NYT > Home Page
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:19
  The American Red Cross struggled on Friday to reassure beleaguered New York City residents that its disaster-relief efforts were at last getting up to speed, after the agency's delayed arrival in devastated areas of Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens drew intense criticism.
  As of Friday, the Red Cross said, 25 of its emergency response vehicles '-- retrofitted ambulances each carrying 2,000 pounds of water, meals and snacks '-- had begun making their way through the hardest hit parts of the five boroughs. More were on the way, the agency promised.
  The Red Cross had not yet opened the three temporary mobile kitchens that it announced on Thursday would be set up on Staten Island, in Riis Park in the Rockaways, and at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens, the agency confirmed. The kitchens, which can produce 10,000 meals a day, would begin operating by Saturday, it said.
  The organization's response to Hurricane Sandy came under fire from public officials and volunteers, beginning with a televised tirade on Thursday by James P. Molinaro, the Staten Island borough president; he called the agency's apparent absence from the relief effort an ''absolute disgrace'' and called on residents to stop donating money to the Red Cross.
  Mr. Molinaro described visiting a shelter and seeing people arriving barefoot.
  ''They were in desperate need,'' he said. ''Their housing was destroyed. They were crying. Where was the Red Cross? Isn't that their function?''
  Josh Lockwood, the chief executive officer for the Red Cross in the New York region, said that the first eight Red Cross trucks had arrived on Staten Island shortly before Mr. Molinaro's broadside.
  ''We moved as fast as we humanly could, we really did,'' Mr. Lockwood said in a telephone interview. Reached late Friday, Mr. Molinaro said he was satisfied with the organization's response. ''They're here now,'' he said. ''People are being fed, they're being clothed. Let's not talk about yesterday.''
  What the Red Cross lacked in speed it seemed to make up for in explanations: Spokesmen said the agency had pre-positioned its disaster-aid trucks out of the storm's path, as near as Middletown, N.Y., in Orange County, and Tinton Falls, N.J., and as far away as Harrisburg, Pa., and Baltimore. Mr. Lockwood said the trucks had been delayed by the same traffic backups and detours that all New Yorkers were facing.
  One Red Cross spokesman also sought to shift blame for the organization's slow response to the Bloomberg administration. In an interview on NY1 on Thursday, the spokesman, Sam Kille, responded to questions by repeatedly saying that the Red Cross was merely following emergency-response plans ''drawn up by the New York City Office of Emergency Management.''
  Mr. Kille did not mention that the Red Cross played a role in formulating those plans.
  Mr. Lockwood did not disavow Mr. Kille's statements, but did not repeat them. ''I'm not interested in pointing fingers at all,'' he said. ''What's important to me is the people of Staten Island needed help, and need help. We've got to provide it. We're going to be there for the long haul.''
  Mr. Lockwood added that four tractor-trailers carrying 120,000 pounds of food had begun unloading on Staten Island on Friday. He said 16 converted ambulances, along with 15 locally based box trucks, would be handing out water and food there by Sunday.
  Yet worrisome glimpses of the overall Red Cross effort continued to emerge. Some Red Cross volunteers told of wild-goose chases to remote locations with hours out in the cold and few if any people to serve. In parts of the Rockaways, residents said that Red Cross trucks were nowhere to be seen on Friday.
  James O'Connell, the logistics coordinator for a 40-person search-and-rescue nonprofit group that was volunteering in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, called the Red Cross response to the storm ''a figment of everyone's imagination.''
  ''I've come across one Red Cross canteen truck on Staten Island last night,'' Mr. O'Connell said. ''Two people inside. They said, 'Hey, how you doing?' And then they asked us for drinking water.''
  He added: ''I have tremendous respect for what they've done in the past. They have simply dropped the damn ball here.''
Inkomensafhankelijke prijs voor Brood, Luxe en Zuivel.
  Link to Article
  Source: ZapLog
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:16
  De landelijke verenigingen van brood- banketbakkerijen, de delicatesse sector en het genootschap voor vlees en zuivel zien vast wel een toekomst in de voorgestelde koppeling van inkomen en te leveren diensten of goederen. Verruimd sociaal maatschappelijk ondernemen in navolging van de overheid is nu op basis van rechtsgelijkheid mogelijk gemaakt. De toekomstige prijs voor een brood en pak melk zal naar draagkracht vastgesteld gaan worden.In navolging van de koppeling tussen het individuele inkomen en verplicht te accepteren belastingen, accijnzen en verzekeringsproducten kunnen nu ook de prijzen voor brood, luxe artikelen, delicatessen en zuivelproducten worden gekoppeld aan het (gezins)inkomen van de koper. Het markttechnische onderscheid tussen een overheid en het bedrijfsleven is de laatste tien jaar geheel geharmoniseerd, waardoor er nu spraken is van (C)(C)n algemene markt tussen aanbieder en afnemer.
  Gelijke rechten alle voor aanbieders van diensten of producten.Het voorstel tot landelijke invoering van een degelijk vergoeding model door de overheid is dan ook met tevredenheid ontvangen bij de verschillende brancheorganisaties. Deze regeling zet de deur eindelijk open voor een echt eerlijke sociale prijsstelling voor te leveren diensten waarbij 'de klant' een bijdrage naar draagkracht terug levert aan de maatschappij. De brancheorganisaties overwegen een verzoek tot tijdelijke voorziening in te voeren waardoor toetsing van inkomen mogelijk wordt.
  De te rekenen prijzen voor luxe artikelen, brood en zuivel en drank kunnen dan volgens eenzelfde vergoeding model bepaalt worden. Voor controle van het persoonlijk inkomen bij aanschaf van goederen wordt gedacht aan een koppeling met het huidige zorgsysteem. Voorstel hiervoor in kabinet Rutte II zal na vaststelling van het regeerakkoord worden bekend gemaakt.
  Annotaties:
New Bill Would Target Compounding Pharmacies
  Link to Article
  Source: bertb news feed
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:15
  Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, said he would introduce a bill on Friday requiring that compounding pharmacies that produce on a large scale be regulated by the Food and Drug Administration as drug manufacturers and that compounded drugs be labeled as such. The move comes after a deadly meningitis outbreak was traced to a contaminated injectable steroid made by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass. The F.D.A. said Thursday that it had identified several types of fungus that were contained in two other drug products made by the company.
  SABRINA TAVERNISE
Boozy birds pay the price for 'flying high'
  Link to Article
  Source: Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:06
  This file photo shows a blackbird foraging for food on railway tracks. A bizarre spate of young blackbird deaths at a school in England was likely caused by the feathered teens getting drunk on fermented berries, crashing mid-air and falling from the sky, according to vets.
  A bizarre spate of young blackbird deaths at a school in England was likely caused by the feathered teens getting drunk on fermented berries, crashing mid-air and falling from the sky, according to vets.
  Police and animal experts were called in after more than a dozen birds were found dead at a primary school in Cumbria last August'--many of them sporting serious injuries.
  One of the juvenile blackbirds was found alive but appeared "drunk", pressing its wings into the ground to steady itself and trying to stay upright by leaning against the walls of the enclosure it was taken to.
  Foul play was initially suspected, but post-mortem examinations ruled out a murder spree or diseases like bird flu.
  Instead, the examiners found berries in the birds' stomachs that had a smell of fermentation, said a report in the BMJ Group journal Veterinary Record.
  Further toxicological test found high levels of pure alcohol or ethanol in the liver of one of the birds.
  "Some of the birds had died from traumatic injury, possibly related to in-flight collisions secondary to intoxication," wrote investigators from the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency.
  "Unsteadiness on the feet, a tendency to fall over and losing the ability to steer is considerably more of a problem when life is normally spent in trees or in the air," added a media statement.
  The lone survivor made a full recovery and was released back into the wild after sleeping off its hangover.
  (c) 2012 AFP
CIA Says They Responded to Benghazi Attack in Just 25 Minutes
  Link to Article
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:05
  Credit: Fox "news"
  Fox claims Embassy pleas for help denied. 10/26/12Sorry Fox. Following an investigation into the embassy attack in Benghazi, Libya last September, U.S. Intelligence has revealed in their report that the CIA was dispatched from their Benghazi office within just 25 minutes, followed soon after by a second team sent from their Tripoli office (in Western Libya) to the embassy in Benghazi (in Eastern Libya, 400 miles away), quashing Republican accusations that the Obama Administration ignored the embassy's pleas for help and whose "delayed response" cost the lives of four Americans.
  From McClatchy News:
  WASHINGTON '-- A CIA security team rushed to the U.S. consulate in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi less than 25 minutes after receiving the first call that the mission was under attack, while a second squad was dispatched by air from the capital, Tripoli, according to a timeline released on Thursday by U.S. intelligence officials.
  The timeline is the most detailed accounting to date of the U.S. response to the attack on the consulate and was released to rebut news reports that U.S. officials had delayed a rescue.
  ''The officials on the ground in Benghazi responded to the situation . . . as quickly and as effectively as possible,'' said a senior intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity. ''There were no orders to anybody to stand down in providing support.''
  The timeline also revealed that a nearby CIA annex came under attack twice during the events, with the second assault coming more than seven hours after Islamist extremists first stormed the consulate.
  [detailed timeline follows]
  Naturally, Republicans will scoff at this report, asking "why did it take so long to release the report?" and dismiss it outright as being devised simply to help President Obama. And indeed, I know such a report would carry more weight with additional sources to corroborate it, but I wanted to get the report out there while it is still news.
  A little reminder that Republican accusations of The Obama Administration being slow to respond is nothing new. Barely one year in the Obama presidency, following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, Republicans accused the White House of failing to respond right away, when in fact, as I documented in a video I created at the time, the Coast Guard was on the scene "within minutes" of the explosion. Then, as now, Republican accusations that the Obama Administration was slow to respond were pure fantasy and made up of whole cloth.
  But that doesn't stop them from saying it.
  (ThinkProgress has more here.)
Blood Libel. Blood Money and Bloody Murder
  Link to Article
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 10:00
  Every human is a life in the womb.
  Every baby from conception has a God given living soul which returns to Him in Heaven.
  In the book, HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, the child Colton met his sister which his mother miscarried. All children of the womb are alive in heaven and safe. It does not matter their past or reason for being there. What does matter is the conduct of the people on this planet in whether they now are Judged to Hell or by Grace presented Life with those children of God.
  This blog is not going to allow the Dr. Frankenstein labs of Semonyx get away as all of the Nazi and it is Nazi food companies in America, who are led by the Obama regime in threats and finance, to employ some new poison as a "sweetener" to get away with "cloned cells" in the mutant testing when the reality is this IS a butchered child from the Netherlands whom this blog has named Dan.
  Dan had kidneys and his kidneys were stolen by some lab in Europe and billions in profits have been made in testing pharmaceuticals off this aboriticide baby.Semonyx with assistance from the macabre feudal lord labs has mutated those cells into baby tongue cells to lap at poisons before those poisons are certified to murder you legally.
  None of this is by accident and is all by design a certain as the billion dollar human genocide industry led by Planned Parenthood came up with buzz words like "fetus", "tissue" and a "woman's right to choose" to bring this all about.Gary Collins wiht his wife Miss America Mary Ann Mobley, on Our Magazine featured the repentant doctor of this slaughterfest on his syndicated television program in the1980's, confessing to all the plotting and manipulations which went on by design to sell this butchery of children so American mothers could be butchered as they were conned into this soul rape.
  Senomyx and the ghoul companies of Kraft might want you to think of cells, but this is dead babies all through this and Frankenstein labs mutating cells from kidneys to tongues, all for literally obscene profits........and nothing from corporate Limbaugh.
  This blog is not going to let anyone forget babies are involved and some of these most abhorrent and heinous criminal events in human history which rival the Nazi testing and Japanese testing on humans during World War II.
  Pictures are worth a thousand words and those words all call out in disgust of an Obama regime wed to the rapine of his community organized corporations using butchered children to make snack foods more poisonous for you.This is Blood Libel. Blood Money and Bloody Murder, and it was all mandated from the bowels of the Obama profit for murdered babies regime
  There are things in civilized peoples that they just do not do, as it destroys civilization and the premier standing is not to harm children. To initiate pedophilia or cannibalism in any form, is a devolutionary slope where a race can not survive.Senomyx could have used harvested tissues from dead humans legally who had a voice to decide in what was done with their tissues or could have utilized animal tissues, but instead this macabre drama seized upon dead baby Dan, butchered in the Netherlands in the 1970's, all of the wonder of a new sweetener called OBAMA LITE, a poison meant to slaughter the masses outside the womb in the RU 486 of the food industry.
  This Obama regime, these Frankenlabs and these cannibal corporations of Obama and now you know why they were referred long ago to Cannibal Capitalists by Inspiration will rue the day they decided to be unfriendly.This is just started and it is not nuff said in the talking points..
  agtG 223
Iran Media: U.S. Admiral Fired for 'Republican-Israeli' Plot
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:59
  Israel National News: Iran Media: U.S. Admiral Fired for 'Republican-Israeli' Plot
  Iran Media: U.S. Admiral Fired for 'Republican-Israeli' Plot, Nov 01, 09:46 PM
  State-owned Press TV says group inside U.S. military planned to overthrow government if Obama is re-elected.
  State-owned Iranian news outlet Press TV claims that U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Charles M. Gaouette, head of the John C. Stennis carrier group, who has been recalled for "inappropriate leadership judgment," was part of a plot to overthrow the U.S. government if Barack Obama should be re-elected as president."The decision was made based on a conversation with the Secretary of Defense who, at the end of the talk, believed Gaouette was part of a group of military officers who have been under suspicion for planning a 'Seven Days in May' type overthrow of the US government if President Obama is re-elected," columnist Gordon Duff wrote."This is not conjecture," he insisted. "[D]ozens of key officers face firing, hundreds are under investigation, all with direct ties to extremist elements in the Republican Party and the Israeli lobby.""Reports received are sourced at the highest levels of the Pentagon and indicate that the administration has been aware of these plans for months."The U.S. Navy on Wednesday denied another report that has been circulating on the Internet, which claims Gaouette's removal was related to the Sept. 11 U.S. consulate attack in Libya.Reports have claimed the admiral wanted to send help during the deadly attack and disobeyed orders to stand down.Officials have stressed that the accusations against Gaouette are not about personal misbehavior, such as drinking or sexual harassment.On Wednesday, Rear Adm. John Kirby, chief of naval information at the Pentagon said: "Rumors of this having anything to do with Libya and the Benghazi attack are simply false and ridiculous."According to UT San Diego, "Research of the Stennis" location indicates that the aircraft carrier was oceans away from the scene on Sept. 11."On Sept. 11, the ships were still in the Pacific, according to a Facebook video of a Sept. 11, 2001, remembrance ceremony held that day in the Stennis hangar bay."On Sept. 15, the ship posted a Facebook video in which Gaouette said that the carrier group was in the Pacific, heading toward the Indian Ocean."
Navy Replaces Admiral Leading Mideast Strike Group Because of Ongoing Investigation
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:58
  In an unusual move, the Navy has replaced an admiral commanding an aircraft carrier strike group while it is deployed to the Middle East. The replacement was prompted by an Inspector General's investigation of allegations of inappropriate leadership judgment.
  Rear Adm. Charles M. Gaouette, the commander of the USS John C. Stennis strike group, is being returned to the United States for temporary reassignment.
  In a statement the Navy said it had approved a request made by Vice Adm. John W. Miller, the Commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, to temporarily reassign Gaouette "pending the results of an investigation by the Navy Inspector General."
Obama Administration Replaces Top Generals Following Benghazi Disaster
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:57
  General Carter Ham
  The latest rumor making the rounds is that Barack Obama replaced General Carter Ham at AFRICOM after the general made a move to help the US security officials at the Benghazi consulate and annex. Ham was replaced by Gen. David Rodriquez on October 18.Tiger Droppings reported:
  The information I heard today was that General [Carter] Ham as head of Africom received the same e-mails the White House received requesting help/support as the attack was taking place. General Ham immediately had a rapid response unit ready and communicated to the Pentagon that he had a unit ready.
  General Ham then received the order to stand down. His response was to screw it, he was going to help anyhow. Within 30 seconds to a minute after making the move to respond, his second in command apprehended General Ham and told him that he was now relieved of his command.
  The story continues that now General Rodiguez would take General Ham's place as the head of Africom.
  Sure enough Obama nominated Gen. David Rodriguez to replace Gen. Carter Ham as commander of U.S. Africa Command.The Stars and Stripes reported:
  President Barack Obama will nominate Army Gen. David Rodriguez to succeed Gen. Carter Ham as commander of U.S. Africa Command and Marine Lt. Gen. John Paxton to succeed Gen. Joseph Dunford as assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Thursday.
  Both appointments must be confirmed by the Senate.
  Rodriguez is the commander of U.S. Army Forces Command and has served in a ''variety of key leadership roles on the battlefield,'' Panetta said.
  He's ''a proven leader'' who oversaw coalition and Afghan forces during the surge in Afghanistan, and ''was the key architect of the successful campaign plan that we are now implementing,'' Panetta said.
  In announcing Ham's successor, Panetta also praised the work Ham has done with Africa Command.
  ''Gen. Ham has really brought AFRICOM into a very pivotal role in that challenging region,'' Panetta said. ''I and the nation are deeply grateful for his outstanding service.''
  Hat Tip Tom
  More'...The Obama Administration also relieved the admiral in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, Rear Adm. Charles M. Gaouette. It is highly unusual for the Navy to replace a carrier strike group commander during its deployment.The Stars and Stripes reported:
  The Navy said Saturday it is replacing the admiral in command of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Middle East, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into undisclosed allegations of inappropriate judgment.
  Rear Adm. Charles M. Gaouette is being sent back to the USS John C. Stennis' home port at Bremerton, Wash., in what the Navy called a temporary reassignment. The Navy said he is not formally relieved of his command of the Stennis strike group but will be replaced by Rear Adm. Troy M. Shoemaker, who will assume command until the investigation is completed.
  It is highly unusual for the Navy to replace a carrier strike group commander during its deployment.
  Ace of Spades says the move to replace Rear Adm. Charles Baouette is likely not related to Benghazi.
ANALGATE: The Final Seal Broken
  Link to Article
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:50
  My children, it is a worrisome thing when Iranian communist television actually is uncovering more facts about Benghazi than FOX television, even if it is rather tainted. It does reveal though why you are fortunate to have your popular girl explaing the elephant you only see parts of behind the curtain.
  Another Lame Cherry matter anti matter exclusive on this blog's exclusive of ANALGATE.........
  This is a tale of the military part in Benghazi in what was taking place and what took place after the anal intrusion.I will preface this with a question:
  If Muhammed has a sheep and the haj party has none, does Muhammed deny them sex with his sheep in having only one or does Muhammed say, "Brother's come dip your couscous in my sauce and enjoy as my sheep is your sheep".
  Of course you are saying now, "How the hell would I know that as I'm not Muslim or Teddy Kennedy in having sheep sex!!!!!!"
  Pretty good answer my children, but you miss the point in if missiles in Libya were released to terrorists to shoot down Khadaffi's fighter jets, perhaps did not Obama's original terrorists share them with his new Afghanistani imported terrorists.............who said, "No thank you brothers, as I just got a dozen from Turkey to shoot down Assad's fighter jets blowing up my brothers there".
  Let that soak in a little in the menagarie FOX is distracting you from and you have only heard eluded to here.
  Let this blog by Inspiration explain as some folks want Miachia on the bread and water diet for telling things. You have had all the clues my children. CIA and DOD handing over advanced munitions to the Libyans to murder Khadaffi and his followers.Patraeus lying to Congress that anyone could fire precision mortars on target.
  Now my children let me take you by the hand again and walk you through this so you can be an expert too and laugh at FOX plagiarism as the tourists try to catch up.
  On the night of the September Obama anal rape, there was much more planning involved than just cutting off security and being fed safe house information from inside the regime hostage taking campaign sources.Ca'an, the elite group of al Qaeda Afghanistan who shot down the Navy Team Six SEALS helicopter in being provided like information for Benghazi, had pulled out an old Speznatz playbook which Sheik bin Laden had been teaching and which you need to be reminded of.
  Do you recall these Muslims in America taking pictures after 9 11, and standing around taking information on which routes security and rescue were taking when they called in false alarms?Cobwebs stirring now, in they had protocols to create an event and then add to it in murdering the rescuers?Does Team Six's operation against them start sounding a bit more familiar?
  Understand why the Benghazi terror attack took so long. The Ca'an were waiting for someone to arrive, as in more SEALS.
  You do not get the taunt do you. CIA had people on the ground one mile from the attack watching everything. There was at least one drone operational giving direct visual feed. There was the intelligence reality that CIA, DOD and the regime knew exactly the weapons Chris Stevens was attempting to recover, included SAM's...........the same SAM's which this blog reported were used to threaten Sarah Palin out of the 2012 elections or they would be used to blow her plane out of the sky?
  Sound familiar now my children?
  Obama's hostage taking terrorists evolved into anal rapist murderers, put on a show that night besides porn. There were SAM's there waiting on the approach routes and Ca'an's Benghazi operation was to not just rape Chris Stevens in public before murdering him, but to murder helo's full of Navy SEALS again as they so enjoyed it when Obama taught them to enjoy the meal the first time.
  As an exclusive here, Chris Stevens was anal raped on live camera when the calls for help from the Americans did not bring in the SEALS. It was graduated to the next level in torturing Stevens in front of DOD, CIA and the inner circle, that it would move them to send in those SEALS as was intended from the start in this multi level operation.
  On that night Gen. Carter Ham of AFRICOM on hearing the pleading calls from the Americans, immediately did what rapid response was designed to do, and that was respond immediately. Gen. Ham overroad the Obama regime, CIA and DOD in theater and was launching a counterstrike.To reveal how close the regime was monitoring this, when the General issued his orders, he was within moments countermanded and relieved of command by his second, an Obama stooge minder uniform wearer named, Gen. David Rodriguez.These political officers were not all removed under Bush / Cheney.
  If Gen. Ham's orders had been initiated, the SEALS would have been shot out of the air. Obama though was not concerned in the least about the SEALS being murdered in mass again, but the absolute fiasco it would have done in tarnishing his re election theft, and, mahdi forbid as Obama still thought at the early stages that this was a hostage operation which he designed with his group to exploit as was first exposed here.
  Into this floated Admiral Charles M.Gaouette, a highly respected war leader. He was in command of the Stennis carrier group, and this group on September 11, 2012 was still in the Indian Ocean on way to the Benghazi theater.
  The Islamocommunists were reporting that the Admiral was part of a military coup against Obama, in a Jewish operation, but in that is a slight grain of truth. Admiral Gaouette was relieved of command which is the end of his career, but he was removed because as a Naval officer, he was going to be a part of the investigation and what has been taking place concerning the sacrificing of the Navy SEALS who went gung ho for Obama.
  Now you should my children start making sense of the workings of the brier patch and how the Enigma has been the only one who has been setting this information on the right course as FOX and others planting stories in this, have been attempting to steer this wrong.
  It was confidential conversations of the Admiral which were picked up that got him relieved, and the Iranians knew of this "free speech" ,because of their contacts inside the Obama regime who have been assisting them from Day One.
  What Benghazi was about in the Gen. Ham and Admiral Gaouette compartment was the exposure that the Obama regime has been and still is, arming al Qaeda with sophisticated weapons, which have been and are intended to murder Americans.The reason Benghazi dragged out for 7 hours, was the Obama sponsored terrorists were trying to prod a response to sweeten the pot with dead SEALS.
  Sec. Panetta had ships on station. There was help waiting and that is what his Monday Morning quarterbacking comment was about, because Panetta knew the Stingers were waiting for the SEALS and was not going to have a repeat of Afghanistan.Gen. Ham was willing to take the risk, but was removed from command to hide the hostage operation going on and the "Stingers" in arming the terrorists is what Panetta was using for the cover, as all hell should have broken loose when that fact of ANALGATE was revealed.
  Now my children, you know more of the story as FOX leads you away from the story. Military careers have been destroyed like Lt. Col. Terry Lakin and now two tops, because this foreigner B. Hussein Obama AKA Barry Chin was hiding his birth origins, and in the process becoming the head of al Qeada from 1600 Penn Avenue while arming terrorists with sophisticated weapons in his "Muslim Brohood Spring".Those weapons were why help was not sent in. On several fronts B. Hussein Obama deliberately and directly got the Americans in Afghanistan and Libya murdered in mass, from Soldiers on the ground to rectums in the air.
  Analgate: The Final SEAL Broken, another Lame Cherry matter anti matter exclusive.
  agtG 304 YY
  Shelling a General
  Torpedo an Admiral
  Obama's Persian Press
  and the band played on
  "They" are running hard on this in attempting to deflect from the Afghanistan SEAL murders connection, and transport through Egypt, to be outing the following Obama Muslims. These were one part of this assembled operation, but the real "heads" are out of country and their names are being protected from top down.
  LC
  First, an FBI investigative team was delayed for weeks in gaining access to the burned out Benghazi compound.Then, the New York Timesinterviewedone of the ringleaders of the attackers in Benghazi, Ahmed Abu Khattala, openly dining at a luxury hotel in Benghazi. Abu Khattala said Oct. 18 that no one had questioned him about the attack.Abu Khattala is a member of the al Qaeda-linked militia Ansar al Sharia, which is believed to have carried out the attack.Additionally, Tunisian authorities detained Ali Harzi, an Ansar al Sharia member and one of the men suspected of carrying out the Sept. 11 attack. Harzi and another terrorist were arrested in Turkey and returned to Tunis. The other man is reportedly free.Bill Gertz The other man reportedly free was an intelligence asset who has been shepherding things directly for B. Hussein Obama and has the highest clearance. His being outed here is due to the reality he took part in a hostage taking operation for Obama, is connected to the Islamocommunist overthrow of Nationalist Muslims and stood by as these Americans were used as bait for this slaughter.
  Key note* SEALS are not involved in these operations as information has spread to their targeting domestic elements and their interest in garnering exact information on ground, instead of working assassination squads as are now being deployed to bury this entire menagerie machination which has been exposed here.
  "They" are doing their damnedest now to end this and rewrite it to the fiction which will suit the need.
  agtG 215, 306Y
Now 0-for-3, SpaceX's Elon Musk Vows to Make Orbit
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:33
  The third time was definitely not a charm for SpaceX.
  The spaceflight company run by PayPal founder Elon Musk suffered its third high-profile mishap Saturday when an undisclosed problem caused a rocket launch to fail. The light-lift Falcon 1 was lost after its two stages failed to separate during the launch from the Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean.
  Also lost were a Department of Defense satellite, two NASA satellites and the ashes of 208 people, including astronaut Gordon Cooper and James Doohan, the actor who played Scotty in the original Star Trek television show, according to The New York Times.
  Wired.com spoke with Musk about SpaceX's string of setbacks, the power of patience and the future of privately funded spaceflight.
  Wired.com: What happened up there Saturday?
  Elon Musk: We're not quite ready to release details on the initial investigation yet, but we should do it very soon. We think we have a very good idea but I don't want to get ahead of ourselves and then be wrong. We definitely know where the problem occurred, but 'why?' is the question. We think we know, but have to be sure. We think it's very small and will require a tiny change, so tiny that if we had another rocket on the pad we could launch tomorrow.
  Wired.com: You always emphasize testing and testing and more testing, and you've been super careful to make sure everything is right before launching. So what's the disconnect -- why do things still go wrong?
  Musk: Some things can only be tested in space. Bear in mind, Falcon 1 is our test vehicle. The reason we started with F1 isn't because I'm passionate about launching small satellites, but because I want to make mistakes on a small scale and not a large one. And this doesn't appear to be a quality issue or a manufacturing issue. It's a design issue related to new hardware that has only flown on this flight. It was our first with the new Merlin 1C regeneratively cooled engine. The problem we think we've identified is a lesson learned and thus we won't make it on the big Falcon 9, and in that sense it's helpful.
  Wired.com: Your whole mantra is "cheaper and more reliable." But so far you're zero for three, which is anything but cheap and reliable, and guys like GlobalSecurity.org's John Pike say the reason it has taken billions of dollars and tens of thousands of people to successfully launch rockets is physics, not some new design or economic model.
  Musk: Guys like John Pike have existed since the dawn of time, and if you listen to people like that then things will never get better, never change. It's a false point of view. Yes, we need to put some rockets into orbit. But the first order of business is to get rid of design errors, which we're doing, and once those are eliminated then you're dealing with repeatability, and people should judge what we're doing from the point of view of all the design issues we've ironed out through these F1 test flights.
  Wired.com: You've been quoted many times saying you had enough money for three unsuccessful flights, and then ...
  Musk: That was the dumbest thing I've ever said. I meant that after three unsuccessful flights we might be abandoned by our customers -- if they abandoned us I couldn't see how it would work. But that has turned out not to be the case. We've gained customers between missions and so it would be silly to abandon the business when we have 12 flights ahead of us.
  Wired.com: But you're about to formally announce SpaceX's first outside investment?
  Musk: Yes, we took an investment from the Founder's Fund, a fund run by a bunch of guys I used to work with at PayPal. They've been interested in SpaceX for a long time and I knew that, and thought it might be smart to take an investment from them to increase our war chest in case something didn't go right on flight three. Which turned out to be true.
  Wired.com: At the end of the day you're still zero for three; you have so far failed to put a rocket into orbit.
  Musk: We haven't gotten into orbit, true, but we've made considerable progress. If it's an all-or-nothing proposition then we've failed. But it's not all or nothing. We must get to orbit eventually, and we will. It might take us one, two or three more tries, but we will. We will make it work.
  Wired.com: How do you maintain your optimism?
  Musk: Do I sound optimistic?
  Wired.com: Yeah, you always do.
  Musk: Optimism, pessimism, fuck that; we're going to make it happen. As God is my bloody witness, I'm hell-bent on making it work.
  Wired.com: So what have you learned so far?
  Musk: Patience is a virtue, and I'm learning patience. It's a tough lesson.
As Power Is Restored for Some, Others Face Grim Outlook
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:31
  Four dark days after Hurricane Sandy blew through the New York region, residents and businesses in the lower end of Manhattan began to get power back on Friday, starting to unite a borough that had been divided between the light and the darkness.
  As lampposts, streetlights and storefronts flickered to life, cheers could be heard across whole neighborhoods.
  ''The first thing we did was the coffee machine,'' said Ali Salah, 40, who works at his family's deli Chelsea. ''Then we plugged in our phones.''
  This past week, he said, it did not feel like he was living in New York City, but rather it was more like a small town in his native Yemen.
  But when the lights came back on, he could barely contain his joy.
  ''Today is like New Year's,'' he said. ''Like a new holiday.''
  Of course, hundreds of thousands of people in the region remained without power. And as temperatures dropped Friday night, anger mounted.
  In other boroughs and in the suburbs, the prognosis for full restoration was grimmer. In many parts of the region, utility companies forecast that people might be without power until the middle of November.
  In Lower Manhattan, the power restoration started around 5 p.m. in the East Village. The network in the East Village, known as Cooper Square, serves about 67,000 customers between 14th and Canal Streets. The Chelsea neighborhood sparked to life about 45 minutes later, bringing back power to an additional 25,000 customers between 14th and 31st Streets on the West Side.
  The next big network came back to life around 7:30 p.m., when 30,000 customers east of Fifth Avenue between 14th and 31st Streets were once again able to turn their lights on.
  Throughout the night, Consolidated Edison's crews raced to make good on a promise that company executives made to restore power to all of Manhattan before Saturday. As each network came online, they got a bit closer to getting power back to all 220,000 people below 39th Street who lost it.
  Outside Manhattan, the challenges were in some ways more difficult, with crews having to contend with thousands of lines that were mangled, damaged or ripped down in Monday's hurricane. Con Ed said it could take until mid-November to bring electricity back to all of its customers. In Westchester County, where 120,000 people have no power, the utility said navigating downed trees and dealing with connections cut off by limbs and branches was simply going to take more time. On Long Island, more than 500,000 customers of the Long Island Power Authority still had no power on Friday evening, or any estimate of when it would return.
  In New Jersey, Public Service Electric and Gas had restored power to over a million customers by Friday morning, but nearly 600,000 still had no electricity by night. In Newark, about 100,000 customers had service restored at around 9:45 p.m., according the Mayor Corey Booker.
  Jersey Central Power and Light had over 685,000 customers without power on Friday night.
  In Connecticut, repairs were moving quickly. Only about 140,000 customers of Connecticut Light and Power still had no electricity.
Introducing Opened Captions | Sorry for the Spam
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 09:30
  I made something awesome last week: Opened Captions.
  At face value it just looks like a live feed of C-SPAN's Closed Captions. This alone is actually pretty cool if you think about it, especially if you are a deaf political junkie who sits far away from the TV and can't read the closed captions.
  Of course there is more. The real excitement comes when you contemplate what's happening to get those words to appear on your screen.
  This system unlocks and syndicates a real-time dataset that used to be a pain in the ass to access. Now anyone can build applications and visualizations that update before those crafty politicians have even finished making their points. This post explains why Opened Captions is worth hacking with, what it takes to use it, and how it works.
  What is it Good For?The Internet is filled with real-time updates triggered by online activity, but it still feels like magic when we see automatic updates driven by the real world. Opened Captions makes it easy for programmers to use live TV transcripts as an input.
  Note: version .001 only supports a single channel (and my server is pointed to C-SPAN). Eventually the protocol should expand to allow multiple channels.
  Let's consider C-SPAN. If a computer knows what is being said on C-SPAN this very second, it can do things like:
  Change the background of your email client to reflect the issues being debated right this moment on the senate floor.Generate modified, more amusing, transcripts by replacing key words and phrases with Tolkien lore (i.e. C-SPAN for Middle Earth)Search through lyrics and generate a C-SPAN medley for you to rock out to while voting.Send SMS messages 24/7 commanding you to ''drink'' when certain phrases are spoken on air.There are also possibilities that aren't ridiculous. For instance, you could make tools that'...
  Improve the transcript by automatically adding contextual information, such as definitions and histories thefted from Wikipedia.Send emails with transcript snippets whenever a specific representative or state is being discussed on TV so you know what's going on.Parse out paraphrases of known fact checks and insert a credibility layer over the transcript feed (real time fact-checking).Draw parallels between what is being said on TV and what is being said on Twitter.I could go on and on and on. There is just so much potential!
  The BackendBehind the stream is a first stab at a distributed architecture for Closed Captioning live-feeds. Opened Captions servers can pull a CC stream over a serial port, or (more likely) they will connect to an existing Opened Captions server and pull the stream from there. What that means in de-jargon is that anybody can set up a server that does exactly what mine is doing, even if they don't have access to hardware, software, or a live TV stream.
  When I say exactly, I mean it '-- your new project runs the same code as mine, and will serve the feed too. People can connect their servers to yours in the same way you connected yours to mine. Practically speaking this architecture means a few things:
  Once your amazing mashup gets popular it won't break my server. Your application is syndicating the captions to your users. I serve the captions to you, you serve them to the world!Your server creates a fork of my stream. Want to modify the text so the politicians sound drunk? Add extra layers of information to the message payload? Translate the captions to Klingon? Go for it. If your tweaks happen server side then others can build their apps from your stream to modify it further.You don't have to rely on anyone else for the Closed Captions. If you want to spend some extra time setting up your own scraper you can point your server to that source instead of a third party. You have total control.Check 'EmWondering if this is worth your time? Well, it doesn't require much of it. The service takes about two minutes to set it up if you already have Node.js and Git installed on your computer. Here's a video to prove it:
  Installation instructions can be found in the readme and you can always get in contact with me through the blog or on twitter.
  About DanDan's just this guy, you know?
CIA, Google Invest Future Of Web Monitoring
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 08:45
  The investment arm of the CIA and Google have provided funding for a startup that claims it can predict the future with information it collects from the web according to several news outlets, including Wired and ABC News.
  Recorded Future has technology it calls "the world's first temporal analysis engine," which, from the description on its website, sounds like a combination between an analytic search engine on steroids and the Delphic Oracle.
  WebcastsMore >>White PapersMore >>ReportsMore >>The technology works by searching thousands of websites -- including blogs, online news sources, government websites, financial databases and social-networking sites -- and gathering information. Once collected, the engine extracts the who, what, when, where and why of each item. This includes data such as entities, events and the time events occur.
  The engine then measures momentum and sentiment for each item indexed to come up with a reasonable prediction for what might happen next. This process is meant to allow people to explore the past, present and predicted future of almost anything. The product also provides visualization tools to show patterns and links between information and predictions, according to the company.
  In a blog post, company founders said the technology aims to bring more of a real-time element into the current analytics field.
  "Recorded Future brings a paradigm shift to analytics, by focusing on time as an essential aspect of the analyst's work," according to the post blog post. "Sophisticated linguistic and statistical analyses combined with innovative user interfaces and a powerful API brings new opportunities to both human analysts and developers of 3rd party analytics systems."
  Intelligence analysis, national security and defense agencies are among early adopters of the technology, which likely explains the CIA's backing.
  Investment and trading strategy firms; marketing, brand awareness and monitoring groups; and public relations, crisis management and advertising corporations also are using Recorded Future, according to the company's website.
  Headquartered in the Boston area, Recorded Future currently has about 15 employees worldwide that have distinguished pedigrees, according to its website. It counts computer scientists, statisticians and linguists -- some of them Ph.D.s and Fulbright winners -- among its staff.
  As virtual servers, storage, and applications become the norm data center, vendors are offering products to consolidate host communications into a single channel and manage that channel with a central appliance. Get the lowdown on the various options before diving in. Download our report here (registration required).
US to Focus Exclusively on Arming Al Qaeda in Syria
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 08:42
  The Washington Post in its recent article, "U.S. looks to build alternative Syrian opposition leadership," claims:
  The Obama administration has spent the past several months in secret diplomatic negotiations aimed at building a new Syrian opposition leadership structure that it hopes can win the support of minority groups still backing President Bashar al-Assad.
  The strategy, to be unveiled at a Syrian opposition meeting next week in Qatar, amounts to a last-ditch effort to prevent extremists from gaining the upper hand within the opposition and to stop the Syrian crisis from boiling over into the greater Middle East.
  The Post also indicates that defacto "administrative zones" are being set up along the Turkish-Syrian border with "nonlethal" assistance provided by the United States, France and "other like-minded governments." The so-called "Syrian National Council" is being discarded, as it is wholly seen as illegitimate by both Syrians and the world at large.Image: Will the West's new "resistance front" in Syria officially include Libyan Mahdi al-Harati of the US State Department, United Nations, and the UK Home Office (page 5, .pdf)-listed terrorist organization, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)? Here he is addressing fellow terrorists in Syria. Harati is now commanding a Libyan brigade operating inside of Syria attempting to destroy the Syrian government and subjugate the Syrian population. Traditionally, this is known as "foreign invasion," not rebellion. ....
  The Washington Post would also quote Secretary Clinton:The SNC, Clinton said, should no longer be considered the ''visible leader'' of the opposition.
  ''There has to be a representation of those who are on the front lines, fighting and dying today to obtain their freedom,'' she said during an unrelated visit to the Balkan states. ''.'‰.'‰. And we also need an opposition that will be on record strongly resisting the efforts by extremists to hijack the Syrian revolution.''
  It is clear that both the West's political proxies, and its armed militant proxies have been compromised and the narrative that tentatively worked against Libya, is now unraveling and failing against Syria. While the US attempts to portray this latest move as an attempt to "prevent extremist elements from gaining the upper hand within the opposition," it must be remembered that as early as 2007, US officials had admitted that efforts to overthrow the governments of Syria and Iran would include primarily US, Israeli, and Saudi armed extremists drawn from across the Arab World, and sent into Syria to create the very sectarian bloodbath now unfolding. Rhetoric of "freedom" and "democracy" serve merely as cover within which foreign military aggression is couched.This was first exposed by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his 2007 New Yorker report titled, ""The Redirection: Is the Administration's new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?"
  In the report it specifically stated:
  "To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has co¶perated with Saudi Arabia's government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda." -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)
  Hersh's report would continue by stating: "the Saudi government, with Washington's approval, would provide funds and logistical aid to weaken the government of President Bashir Assad, of Syria. The Israelis believe that putting such pressure on the Assad government will make it more conciliatory and open to negotiations." -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)
  The link between extremist groups and Saudi funding was also mentioned in the report, and reflects evidence regarding the origin and backers of similar extremists who flooded Iraq during the US occupation, sowing sectarian strife and killing Western troops alike:"...[Saudi Arabia's] Bandar and other Saudis have assured the White House that ''they will keep a very close eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was 'We've created this movement, and we can control it.' It's not that we don't want the Salafis to throw bombs; it's who they throw them at'--Hezbollah, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and at the Syrians, if they continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran.'' -The Redirection, Seymour Hersh (2007)
  Image: (Left) West Point's Combating Terrorism Center's 2007 report, "Al-Qa'ida's Foreign Fighters in Iraq" indicated which areas in Syria Al Qaeda fighters filtering into Iraq came from. The overwhelming majority of them came from Dayr Al-Zawr in Syria's southeast, Idlib in the north near the Turkish-Syrian border, and Dar'a in the south near the Jordanian-Syrian border. (Right) A map indicating the epicenters of violence in Syria indicate that the exact same hotbeds for Al Qaeda in 2007, now serve as the epicenters of so-called "pro-democracy fighters."....
  It was exposed in "NATO Using Al Qaeda Rat Lines to Flood Syria With Foreign Terrorists," that indeed, the very networks used by Al Qaeda to flood Iraq with foreign fighters is now being used by the United States, NATO and the Persian Gulf States of Saudi Arabia and Qatar to violently overthrow Syria. The narrative that recent US efforts aim at heading off "extremists" from "hijacking" the armed violence in Syria, is exposed as a blatant lie. Extremists have constituted the so-called "opposition" from the very beginning, by design, with explicit US, NATO, Saudi and Qatari funding, weapons, and support.
  Image: The most prominent routes into Syria for foreign fighters is depicted, with the inset graph describing the most widely used routes by foreign fighters on their way to Iraq, as determined by West Point's 2007 Combating Terrorism Center report "Al-Qa'ida's Foreign Fighters in Iraq" (page 20). These same networks are now being used, with the addition of a more prominent role for Turkey, to target Syria directly. (Click to enlarge)>>
The missing EU crisis headlines
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 08:41
  By My Budget 360, Guest PostDuring the height of the US Great Depression, the unemployment rate stood at 25 percent. This was a devastating experience for our economy and shifted policies and geopolitics for decades to come. So when you have the European Union, the world's largest trading bloc with two countries experiencing unemployment rates of 25 percent people should be paying more attention. The unemployment rate in Spain for the first time hit the 25 percent mark last month. The figures are more troubling when you dig deeper into the data. Greece is also facing tough economic times. At the core of the crisis is the subject matter of too much debt. Spain is pulling back from a busted housing bubble and Greece is dealing with massive debt-to-GDP ratios. We trade heavily with the EU so what happens in Europe is bound to have an impact in the US. Is the crisis in Europe solved?
  Unemployment rate of Spain and Greece
  The unemployment rate of both Spain and Greece has breached the 25 percent barrier:
  ''(Daily Mail) The unemployment rate in Spain is above 25 per cent for the first time '' with more than half of young people out of work, new figures have revealed.
  Between July and September, 85,000 more people joined the ranks of the unemployed raising the total to 5.78 million, the National Statistics Institute said today.
  The figures brought the country's unemployment rate up by around 0.4 per cent to 25.02 per cent.''
  The unemployment figure of 25 percent is troubling enough but the fact that 50 percent of young Spaniards are out of work is disturbing. In the US, we have half of young college graduates under the age of 25 either not working or working in positions that do not require a college degree. There seems to be global epidemic of young people out of work. For those that care about the future of their economies it is important to set out a clear path of prosperity for those coming up through their respective economic systems.
  Even more important in the chart above is the overall EU unemployment rate that is now well over 10 percent. This is even higher than at the peak of the crisis in 2008 and 2009. While the US has seen this figure slowly inch lower the EU is going in the opposite direction. The massive amount of debt being pumped into the system is amazing. While our stock market might be up in 2012 this is not the case in many other countries:
  The Spanish stock market is down over 30 percent. The European Central Bank is following in the same path as the Fed and now has a balance sheet of over '‚¬3.1 trillion:
  The action of the ECB has seemed to create a lull in the media about the EU crisis yet the unemployment situation continues to get worse. The stock markets in these respective markets are certainly not going up. It is hard when central banks begin bailing out the financial industry while forcing austerity on the workers in each country. Instead of dealing with the inflated debt brought on during the bubble, these financial institutions want to inflate their way out of the mess by lowering the standard of living of those in each country.
  We are seeing this in the US as the standard of living is crushed all the while we have nearly 47 million Americans on food stamps while the stock market is up over 100 percent from the 2009 lows. The system is now setup for extreme dichotomies where connected institutions can receive subsidies and bailouts while the public is forced into a lower standard of living. The crisis in in Europe is not something that is passed. This is ongoing. It appears that this crisis has been missing in the headlines for the last few months but the debt is certainly still there and the citizens in each country I'm sure are still feeling it. Ask the 25 percent unemployed in these nations and see if the global debt crisis is now over.
  Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
New York Marathon Cancelled in Wake of Sandy Storm
  Link to Article
  Source: RIA Novosti
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 03:23
  NEW YORK, November 3 (RIA Novosti) - The New York City Marathon has been cancelled in the wake of Hurricane Sandy as the city authorities have to concentrate their efforts on the recovery from devastation caused by the natural disaster.
  The annual foot race has been run every year since 1970, coursing through all five boroughs of New York City for 26.219 miles (42.195 km).
  The event attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators and brings in an estimated $340 million on average.
  NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg initially announced his decision to hold the marathon on Sunday as scheduled, but canceled it on Friday amid sharp criticism over holding a sports event while New York City boroughs are slowly returning to normal life after what is believed to be the second-worst storm in US history after Hurricane Katrina.
  (C) AFP/ Tomithy A. Clary
  A runner passes by a large generator near the finish Line of the 43rd New York City Marathon on November 2, 2012
  Four days after Hurricane Sandy slammed ashore along the US East Coast, the death toll rose past 100 in 10 states.
  More than 3.8 million homes and businesses in the East remain without electricity while gasoline shortages fuel outrage among local residents.
  The storm is expected to cost about $20 billion in property damage and another $10-$30 billion in lost business, according to economic forecasting firm IHS Global Insight.
Photo by alroker ' Instagram
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 03:22
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  paigec1235 like1h
  rockxxstarChris Christie for prez in 2016!!!! He's doing a great job for us in nj!!!!1h
  kevinmeyersBelieve there was recent New Yorker article that said Springsteen never wanted to meet Christie. Glad they got the chance, but Bruce doesn't look too thrilled.1h
  cuban_bee_71Very Kewl. Glad you guys did this!1h
  handpickedNot thrilled at all!1h
  brotherckraftyBruce needs to get over himself1h
  jodybaconPoor Gov. Christie. :(. Now is the time to come together not to be divided.1h
  denaiam@kevinmeyers i was thinking the same thing!!1h
  daniellelgaileyBruce doesn't look too happy.1h
  paula726Bruce us not making eye contact - manners? ðŸ‘1h
  cluby_153WTF @brotherckrafty and @handpicked he was as great as usual1h
  beau04CHRISTIE !!1h
  vets57Bruce is a diehard democrat dummy1h
  andrewsimsI think this pic could've just been taken at a bad moment. Bruce may've looked away for a split second.1h
  lucidfotoChristie is obsessed with him.., getting #nolove50m
  unhipmama@paula726 he's not making eye contact with a crazy Republican. I wouldn't either, might suck his soul out.48m
  richthebarber1Fuck Bruce Springsteen !45m
  knight4christIf you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all. Cussing and accusations are so petty42m
Wknd Box Office: Flight, The Sessions, The Bay, The Details
  Link to Article
  Source: Debbie Schlussel
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 03:22
  By Debbie Schlussel
  Two movies that were okay this weekend, two that were absolutely horrible. I did not see ''Wreck-It Ralph,'' as the critics' screening was on the Jewish Sabbath, but I may see it later this weekend and post a review later.
  * ''Flight'': This movie was extremely depressing, though it has a very redemptive message at the end, so I had mixed feelings about it. I could have done without the gratuitous, unnecessary full-frontal nudity of an airline stewardess, er . . . flight attendant for several minutes at the beginning of the movie. Yup, you guessed it. This movie is a hard ''R'' for nudity, language, and drug usage. It ain't for kids. Oh, and I didn't care for the scene mocking religious Christians in a hospital room. Sadly, that is standard fare in Hollywood, as we know.
  We've all seen movies about alcoholics and drug addicts and how they ruin everyone's lives around them, plus their own. That isn't new ground here, and the melodramatics and walking wreck of an addict are depressing. So, is the pilot's co-dependent relationship with an addict who wants to get clean, ground which also isn't novel. But this movie mixes that with action/adventure, as a faulty, defective airplane is in mid-air and the flight's captain, who is hopped up on drugs and alcohol does what most sober ones could not and lands the plane. It's also mixed with intrigue''will the pilot get caught, or will he get away with it.
  Denzel Washington is a great actor no matter the role. And he's superb here as the alcoholic, drug-addicted pilot. He lands his plane in an amazing feat by flying it upside down and pulling all kinds of moves out of his playbook when the plane is defective and essentially loses all of its important functions in mid-air during a storm. But as we know, they take blood samples from the pilots after crashes. And while he's hailed in the media as a hero, he knows a different sort of infamy is impending, or is it?
  The movie is entertaining and riveting. You won't be bored by this fast-moving flick. But I'm not sure I'd enjoy myself, spending ten bucks and over two hours' time watching such depressing stuff, even knowing that there is repentance and redemption and the messages the movie sends are good ones in the end. Remember, this isn't a happy movie. It's very sad.
  Also stars John Goodman (who is funny, per usual), an aged Bruce Greenwood, and Don Cheadle. Don't drink too much liquid before this movie. It's nearly 2.5 hours long, though it flies by.
  TWO-AND-A-HALF REAGANS
  Watch the trailer . . .
  * ''The Sessions'': Watching this movie, I was reminded how uncreative the forces of Hollywood are these days. When they can't come up with yet another remake or sequel, they, instead, look for the most deviant and uncomfortably odd stories that fall starkly in the TMI category and parade it as high brow. The mainstream liberal media movie critics are gushing over this disgusting, creepy waste of time. People who praise this weird porno flick are pretentious frauds.
  In this movie allegedly based on a true story, John Hawkes plays Mark O'Brien, who was paralyzed as a kid after he suffered from polio. He is paralyzed from the neck down and survives mostly in an iron lung. Living in Berkeley, California in 1998, O'Brien gets permission from his Catholic priest (William H. Macy) to hire a ''sex therapist'' (a hifalutin' phrase for what she really is: hooker) so he can lose his virginity. The movie was filled with gross sex jokes and the absolutely unattractive full frontal nudity of Helen Hunt, who plays the married sex therapist (and does a horrible version of a Salem, Massachusetts accent . . . or something). Oh, and I love how Judaism is forced onto this icky story. Hunt, who is a lapsed Catholic (and attacks the religious Catholic upbringing of her new ''customer,'' O'Brien), is married to a Jewish man with tattoos, played by Adam Arkin. She discusses how she is converting to Judaism for her husband. But, in real life, it's more likely that a man would be more concerned with his wife's profession as a prostitute than with her converting to Judaism. Here's a tip: her job ain't permitted in my religion, nor are tattoos. So, I was sickened when they showed this homely skank bathing in the mikvah [Jewish ritual bath, where men and women go to be purified]. But the rest of the movie is even more sickening and bizarre.
  I'm sure I'm the only movie critic who will have the guts and honesty to say so. The rest will only continue to drool over this warped flick as if it's noble. It is not. I feel bad for those who are disabled, and I know I'm lucky I'm not in their shoes. But my sympathy and empathy for them doesn't mean I must endure and applaud this distasteful, depraved movie in some sort of aberrant ''celebration'' of the disabled.
  FOUR MARXES
  Watch the trailer . . .
  * ''The Bay'': You've seen plenty of this type of movie. A fictional documentary-style movie with shaky video, showing us how a mysterious virus and bug-like creatures invade the bodies of people living in and visiting a Maryland seaside town. There's nothing new here, but it's slightly entertaining, if very slow moving. It isn't that scary, either, for a thriller of this genre. Director Barry Levinson made this, so I expected maybe a little bit better. They never really explain why the virus struck or the oversized bug-like organisms. It seems like merely an attack on corporate America, as the characters in the movie imply that the disaster has something to do with chicken plants dumping chicken parts and chicken fecal material in the water. I felt like I'd seen a million far superior versions of this movie. It's a highly derivative, boring rehash.
  HALF A REAGAN
  Watch the trailer . . .
  * ''The Details'': Oy vey. I can't believe I sat through this crappy movie. Toby Maguire and Elizabeth Banks are a shallow upper middle class couple who illegally remodel their house, after the city refuses to issue them a permit. Maguire also cheats on his wife with his married friend (Kerry Washington). Because of these two things, Maguire's life is turned upside down, after he is blackmailed and seduced by his wacky next-door neighbor (Laura Linney) and loses $70,000, after being blackmailed by the husband (Ray Liotta) of the wife with whom he cheated. Believe me, I'm making this absolute piece of excrement sound far better than it is. It's excruciatingly awful. A horrible movie that tries very hard to be cutesy and offbeat, but not hard at all at being a good movie, having a good story, or any semblance of a plot. Also stars Dennis Haysbert. And the point of this movie is . . . ? Nothing, other than taking ten bucks and 1.5 hours of your life you'll never get back. High-quality Gitmo torture material.
  Skip this.
  FOUR MARXES
  Watch the trailer . . .
ELECTION ROCK VOTING SONG | ADHD - YouTube
  Link to Article
  Sat, 03 Nov 2012 00:01
Victim seeks abuse investigation
  Link to Article
  Source: BBC News - Home
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 23:43
  2 November 2012Last updated at19:26 ETPlease turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
  Abuse survivor Steve Meesham: ''We have been swept under the carpet''
  A man who was sexually abused as a child in care in Wales has called for a new investigation into the true scale of the abuse and who was involved.
  Steve Meesham was one of hundreds of children abused in the 1970s and 80s - exploitation brought to light by the Waterhouse Inquiry Report in 2000.
  But he told BBC Newsnight the inquiry uncovered just a fraction of the abuse.
  He and another victim also told the BBC that a leading Thatcher-era Tory politician took part in the abuse.
  Since the Jimmy Savile sex abuse allegations surfaced, politicians have been raising questions about other historic abuse cases.
  During the 1970s and 1980s almost 40 children's homes in North Wales were the scene of horrific child abuse in which youngsters were raped and abused by the very people who were paid to look after them.
  In the early 1990s, allegations of the abuse started to surface and in March 1994 Clwyd County Council commissioned an independent inquiry into claims of widespread abuse across North Wales.
  Professor Jane Tunstill, who was on that inquiry panel told the BBC in 2000 that along with a "litany of abusive practices going on in the home on the part of the care staff" there were rumours that people outside the care system were also involved in the abuse.
  'Shadowy figure'However, the inquiry's report was never published and the copies were pulped to ensure that the local authority was able to maintain its insurance cover.
  In the wake of this, and amid growing public pressure, in 1996 the-then Secretary of State for Wales, William Hague, ordered an inquiry into allegations of hundreds of cases of child abuse in care homes in former county council areas of Clwyd and Gwynedd between 1974 and 1990.
  The tribunal, led by Sir Ronald Waterhouse, heard evidence from more than 650 people who had been in care from 1974 and took almost three years to publish its report.
  Counsel for the inquiry mentioned the existence of a shadowy figure of high public standing, but said that there was no substantial evidence to support the allegations.
  An investigation by BBC reporter Angus Stickler at the time of the report's publication revealed allegations of a much wider circle of abuse than that uncovered by the inquiry.
  Continue reading the main story''Start QuoteOne particular night that I always recall is when I was basically raped, tied down, and abused by nine different men''
  End QuoteSteve MeeshamAbuse survivorHe uncovered allegations of widespread physical and sexual abuse of children not just by care system staff, but that children were being lent to paedophiles from all walks of life including businessmen, police, and a senior public figure in a paedophile ring stretching beyond the borders of North Wales, to Chester, London, Brighton and beyond.
  One of the victims that Stickler spoke to in 2000 was Mr Meesham, who described some of the abuse he suffered. Now, reporting for BBC Newsnight and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Stickler has re-interviewed Mr Meesham.
  "In the home it was the standard abuse which was violent and sexual. Outside it was like you were sold, we were taken to the Crest Hotel in Wrexham, mainly on Sunday nights, where they would rent rooms," Mr Meesham recalled in this latest interview.
  "One particular night that I always recall is when I was basically raped, tied down, and abused by nine different men."
  He also stood by his claims then that his abusers included a leading Tory politician of the Thatcher era.
  "You were taken by car, where basically you were sexually abused. Various things would happen, drink would be involved, it was basically rape. But it wasn't just him, there be other people involved as well," he said.
  When asked how many times he was abused by the politician Mr Meesham said:
  "Off my head I couldn't give an exact number as it goes back many years but certainly more than a dozen."
  Faxed photographIn his new interview, Mr Meesham also said that he had gone to the police in the late 1970s to report the abuse, but that he was not believed:
  "I was called a liar. I was pinned up against a wall. I could still name to this day the police officer who had done it," he said.
  "The police denied it and when they looked back, they finally admitted in the inquiry [that] statements were made. That's all they would say. They wouldn't say who was named in them. But they did admit I did make a statement of sexual abuse."
  Mr Meesham also insisted that his statements to the police included allegations of sexual abuse against the politician.
  In his original investigation Stickler also spoke to another victim who claimed to have been abused by the politician, as well as others.
  Continue reading the main story''Start QuoteAt that time... the idea that senior public figures; politicians; celebrities could be involved in child abuse was seen as a bit far-fetched''
  End QuoteRichard ScorerSolicitor for victimsNewsnight/the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has been unable to track him down for this latest report however, in 2000 he described how as a teenager he was abused by the politician:
  "We went out for something to eat and he pulled over in a layby and then, hey presto, oral sex took place," the man - who wanted to remain anonymous - said.
  He told Stickler that at the time, in the early 1990s, he went to North Wales police to report the abuse, showing them faxed photographs of the senior Tory politician.
  However, he said that the two police officers he showed the photograph to dismissed his claims, saying that since the pictures were faxed they were not sufficiently reliable evidence and no further action was taken.
  The Waterhouse inquiry, which cost £12m to stage, promised to leave no stone unturned in its endeavour to uncover abuse.
  However, there have been complaints that the terms of reference were too narrow, restricting investigations to abuse taking place within the care system, not beyond it.
  "I don't understand why on Earth we had an inquiry when we had to leave out 30% of the abusers," Mr Meesham said in his latest interview.
  "And basically I was told to do that. I was told I couldn't go into detail about these people, I couldn't name them and they wouldn't question me on them."
  Mr Meesham says he wants a new investigation into what happened:
  "I would like a meeting now with David Cameron. He's made a statement, a sweeping statement that abused people need to be believed, we haven't been believed we've been swept under the carpet.
  "It's time he knew the truth. It's time a full investigation took place and until I can meet with him and get some reassurance I don't believe we will get anywhere."
  Richard Scorer, a solicitor with Panone and Partners who represented 30 victims at the Waterhouse inquiry, believes the original remit of the inquiry and attitudes at the time were at the heart of the problem:
  "The terms of reference were an important restriction. It's also fair to say at that time, and we're going back to the mid- to late 1990s here, at that time the idea that senior public figures; politicians; celebrities could be involved in child abuse was seen as a bit far-fetched," he told Newsnight/the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
  "We now know of course from recent revelations that it isn't far-fetched at all - and that's part of the reason why it's important that these allegations are looked at again," he added.
  Anyone with information into these allegations - or who needs support on the issues raised in this article - can call the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk, or call their local police station by dialling 101.
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg Endorses President Obama - YouTube
  Link to Article
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 23:36
Daily Press Briefing - November 2, 2012
  Link to Article
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 23:23
  12:48 p.m. EDT
  MS. NULAND: Happy Friday. We had a very interesting trip to Algeria and the Balkans. It's good to see all of you ladies all in blue today. I have nothing at the top. Let's go to what's on your minds.
  Jill.
  QUESTION: Toria, can I begin with something that may not be at the top of your agenda, but it is a question about the elections? There are international observers --
  MS. NULAND: Whose elections?
  QUESTION: Well, I think they're happening all over the world.
  MS. NULAND: Are they?
  QUESTION: But specifically here. International election monitors in two states are being threatened with, in one case, in Iowa, apparently with arrest if they try to go to polling places. And in Texas they've also had kind of a similar threat, that they should not show up at polling places. Has the State Department been in touch with the OSCE and other organizations and is there any advice? How are you dealing with the states on this?
  MS. NULAND: Well, we did, as you may remember, talk about this at some length last week.
  QUESTION: Great length.
  MS. NULAND: Great length, yeah.
  QUESTION: But there's another one.
  MS. NULAND: Matt was quite interested himself. The OSCE team has a duty to comply with U.S. law. They know that. We have reminded them of that. Our understanding from them is that they fully plan to comply with all U.S. laws. With regard to those states where there have been questions, we have worked with them to facilitate direct contact with state authorities so that they can work out what terms would be acceptable.
  I think you know how much we as a country value OSCE observation. As you know, we deploy American observers to places like Russia, Ukraine, countries across the Euro-Atlantic area to observe elections ourselves, and the OSCE has observed elections in the U.S. since 2002, including successfully in Texas in 2008. And we think we have an excellent system to display to the world, so we look forward to hosting the OSCE here this time. They are already operating in some 40 states.
  QUESTION: And does the State Department actually physically go out with them or anything, or are they just on their own?
  MS. NULAND: No, we don't. No.
  QUESTION: Can we go to Syria?
  QUESTION: Do you know if any other foreign observers will be coming, do you know?
  MS. NULAND: I didn't check on that today. When we talked about this last week, our understanding was that IFES was going to field some study tours. They weren't observers, per se, they were studying the administration of elections, and that a number of embassies and other foreign governments were asking to observe in particular states and they were working directly with state authorities. But I didn't have any other formal organizations besides the OSCE that had requested to come observe.
  QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
  MS. NULAND: IFES, the International '' I will get it for you.
  QUESTION: Elections Systems --
  QUESTION: Elections '' yes.
  MS. NULAND: -- Elections Systems something. We'll get it for you. Apologies.
  QUESTION: Can we go to Syria?
  QUESTION: What part of the law, American law, were they not complying with, the OSCE? You said they had a duty to comply with the law, which suggests that they weren't complying with some part of the law.
  MS. NULAND: I think this speaks to '' there were some questions in Texas that came up publicly and came up in conversations. The question was state laws, and they have been reassuring to us and they have been reassuring to state authorities, and that's the expectation from here.
  Please.
  QUESTION: Can we go to Syria?
  MS. NULAND: Yeah.
  QUESTION: Turkey today '' it's been reported that Turkey today is getting set to or actually did request the deployment of Patriot missiles.
  MS. NULAND: Of?
  QUESTION: The Patriot missile along its border with Syria to guard against any Syrian attacks or incursions. Does that usher in the beginning of a no-fly zone, in your estimate?
  MS. NULAND: I haven't seen what you are seeing, Said, so I can't speak to it specifically. I think you know that we have, in a NATO context, already had an Article 4 consultation with Turkey on its security, and we have made clear that we stand ready to support our ally in other ways if necessary. With regard to a no-fly zone, I think you know where we've been. We continue to look at this proposal, to talk to neighbors and allies about it, but we haven't made any decisions.
  QUESTION: Okay. Would, in your judgment, the deployment of the Patriot missiles along the border accelerate the '' sort of, the tensions that are ongoing between Syria and Turkey, or is it likely to mitigate that?
  MS. NULAND: Well, again, I'm not going to get into hypothetical situations. But just to state the fact here, Patriot missile systems are defensive systems. They're not missile batteries. They're defenses against incoming missiles.
  QUESTION: And finally, on the Doha conference next week. Could you confirm that both Mr. Hassan Abdul Azim and Mr. Hijab are on the list, the former Prime Minister of Syria, are on the list to lead the opposition? Is that something that you are or you may be proposing?
  MS. NULAND: I'm not in a position to confirm any of the invited guests to Doha because the Qataris, not we, are the hosts. But as we have been talking about for some time and as the Secretary talked about on Tuesday or Wednesday '' I guess it was Wednesday when we were on the road '' our hope is that Doha will produce a broader, more representative structure for the opposition that reflects the diversity '' ethnically, geographically '' that reflects the many groups that have sprung up in Syria over the last year. So that's what we are encouraging, but it is up to the Syrians to pick their leadership.
  QUESTION: The SNC isn't very happy with the Americans having put forward a recommended list of names or recommendations. They're accusing the United States, actually, of undermining the revolution now. What would your comment be to that?
  MS. NULAND: Well, as you know, we have been supportive of the SNC's efforts for more than a year now. But we have also been very clear, privately and publicly, with the SNC throughout the period that we've been working with them, that we thought they needed to broaden their representation, as the Secretary has said '' ethnically, geographically '' to reflect these local coordination councils, to reflect the leadership that is emerging within the opposition in Syria. And we've been encouraging them to do that.
  So our view remains that the SNC can, should participate in Doha, but we want to see but we want to see, because Syrians want to see, a broader representation. So this is not a matter of the U.S. dictating. This is a matter of the U.S. and other friends of Syria supporting the voices from inside Syria who are saying that the SNC has not, over the past year, used this time to really broaden itself, to reach out inside, and that the leadership needs to reflect what's happening in Syria, it needs to reflect all of the colors and voices of Syria.
  QUESTION: So are we going to see a situation where the SNC is actually effectively sidelined now from ongoing discussions about a future government in Syria?
  MS. NULAND: Well, our understanding is that representatives of the SNC will be invited to Doha and that they will be part of this conversation. So I think it's really up to the Syrians how much of a role in this future structure the SNC, as SNC, has or whether they become part of a larger and changed structure. That's really something the Syrians are going to have to decide.
  QUESTION: Do you have any ideas about what, or are you aware of anyone else having ideas about what the structure should look like in terms of number? Not in terms of specific members but in terms of numbers of people? Is it a council followed by '' is it a '' what is it? What is this structure?
  MS. NULAND: Well, again, I think we don't want to get ahead of the meeting that's going to happen in Doha next week, particularly because as we've repeated again and again, these are Syrian decisions to make. But the conversation among Syrians that we've been party to has talked about a relatively broad council with a smaller leading board of some kind, similar to what's been done in other transitioning states. But I think we have to just see what emerges from the conversations in Doha.
  Let me also just say that Assistant Secretary Beth Jones is now going to be leading the U.S. observer delegation. Ambassador Robert Ford will also be part of that, as will Ambassador Bill Taylor.
  QUESTION: (Inaudible) that Ambassador Ford (inaudible) the delegation. He's been so involved with the opposition.
  MS. NULAND: Well, he's obviously going to be a key interlocutor with all of his Syrian counterparts. I think we decided that given how big this meeting is becoming that Assistant Secretary Jones should also go and represent. There's going to be enough people to talk to for everybody.
  QUESTION: I'm still confused just by the structure --
  MS. NULAND: Yeah.
  QUESTION: Because I mean, it seems to me that with such an amorphous goal out there, and I don't believe it is amorphous but it's amorphous what you're describing to us, is a recipe for creating another SNC with all the same problems that '' so what is this executive board or politburo or whatever you're going to call it '' I mean, how many people should be on that thing, recognizing that it's a Syrian decision, but clearly you all have ideas because you're sharing your ideas about specifically who should be on it?
  MS. NULAND: Again, I'm not going to get into prescriptions here. Our conversations with the Syrians have not been prescriptive. We have simply been sharing --
  QUESTION: Okay. So what is your suggestion then? What --
  MS. NULAND: Again, we're not going to be suggestive here in public. We're going to talk to the Syrians. But the concern that we have is that in its formal structure that this body be as representative as possible of the many voices and places and leadership structures emerging in Syria but that it also be able to be effective. And in that regard, I would say that in our conversations with the Syrians, particularly those who are coming from inside Syria, they have articulated two key goals which we fully support.
  The first goal is an internal goal for Syria itself that this new enhanced structure be able to give more political cohesion, that it be able to connect the various political groups inside Syria and to give assurances, particularly to minority populations, that their rights, that their voice will be respected. It can do that by having a broader membership, by reaching out more broadly, that it can also be effective thereby in encouraging more defections, encouraging people to break with the regime, because they will see that they have a future in a more democratic and open Syria, and as we've also said on the internal side that it really enhance and deepen the conversation among the opposition about how they would see the transition moving forward.
  The second goal is the external goal. And here we've talked about the difficulties that we've had vetting groups inside Syria, ensuring that we are working with the right people. So we are hopeful that if this leadership structure can emerge in a new and enhanced way, it'll be an organization that the international community can work with to better direct assistance '' humanitarian assistance, non-lethal assistance, any other kinds of assistance '' where it can be most helpful to the opposition as a whole.
  The second is the goal of having a real representative address for countries that remain to be convinced that a transition is in the best interest of Syria. So for example, we often hear from the Russians, we hear from the Chinese, we don't know who's going to come next, we're more concerned about that than we are about what Assad is up to. So again, a more cohesive, unified, reflective group that can do advocacy with those countries that remain to be convinced that change is necessary, that they've got a better plan for Syria.
  QUESTION: So is --
  QUESTION: Well, given the problems that you've had with the SNC and the frustration that you had with them, which is a less broad, right, group than what you're hoping for out of here, this seems like a recipe for more gridlock to me. I mean, if you '' the broader and the more '' the broader the group and the more interests and people you have in it, the less likely it is to be able to come to any kind of cohesion, isn't it?
  MS. NULAND: Well, you're making an arithmetic argument. I think our concern is that part of the problem that the SNC has had has been establishing its legitimacy as speaking for those inside Syria. So we want to see more voices coming from inside Syria, more voices representing more of the constituencies inside Syria. So rather than fighting among themselves about what they represent, to have folks who are actually representative.
  QUESTION: Victoria, (inaudible) the Secretary said that we want more representation of those who are on the front lines fighting. Does she mean the militant group that are fighting on the front lines, or does she mean that the Syrian public who's out there demonstrating against Bashar al-Assad?
  MS. NULAND: Well, I think as I said here in outlining the goals, the first goal is to unite the political opposition and to bring more of the different groups around Syria into the political opposition and to have them be comfortable and feel like they have a home in the new Syria. So we're talking about making sure that the group represents not only the Sunni population but the Alawi, the Druze, the Christians, the Kurds, any other minority groups, women, et cetera. So for that to be reflected in who is part of this group, as well as the geographic balance inside Syria. But also, we have a number of new structures that have emerged over this year of difficulty in Syria. We have the local coordinating councils. We have the revolutionary councils. We have the armed groups. And they need to do better talking to each other, coordinating with each other locally and across the country.
  So our hope is the same hope that Syrians tell us that they have, which is that this new, improved structure will help them to be coordinated with each other.
  QUESTION: You said that to help facilitate nonlethal aid, right? Just now --
  MS. NULAND: To help facilitate humanitarian aid --
  QUESTION: Humanitarian and nonlethal aid.
  MS. NULAND: -- nonlethal aid. That's what we are --
  QUESTION: But on the other hand, when you say those fighting on the frontline, that does not really clearly preclude armament, for instance, does it?
  MS. NULAND: Our position on this hasn't changed, Said. And as we've said all the way along, we are working with states that have made choices other than ours, and one of our main concerns has been ensuring, whether it's humanitarian, whether it's nonlethal, whether it's what states other than the United States are giving, that it is getting to those who seek the same kind of Syria that we seek, a democratic, pluralistic, united Syria, and that we are protecting against extremists hijacking this revolution either in political terms or in military terms. So again, this is one of the goals we seek, and the Syrians seek, in working on a new leadership structure in Doha.
  QUESTION: Benghazi?
  QUESTION: Is the aim to --
  MS. NULAND: Yeah. Please, Samir.
  QUESTION: There are reports today quoting members of the SNC criticizing this new approach, saying it's going to lead to more division among the opposition, and they will not accept any alternative to their body.
  MS. NULAND: Well, I think if they don't participate in a broader structure, they risk making themselves irrelevant. So we would hope that they would participate actively in Doha and be part of the solution to a representative structure.
  QUESTION: But then there will be division.
  MS. NULAND: Again, I spoke to Matt's sort of arithmetic that more makes harder. Our concern is that we have a relatively narrow slice of the Syrian conversation fighting with themselves rather than a broad representative group that --
  QUESTION: Fighting with themselves. (Laughter.)
  MS. NULAND: Anyway.
  QUESTION: I mean, come on. Is there any evidence that the '' that a broader group is going to get together and work together --
  MS. NULAND: Well, I would --
  QUESTION: -- any more than the SNC did?
  MS. NULAND: I would simply say --
  QUESTION: Just because some of them happen to be in the '' on the ground and being shelled every day?
  MS. NULAND: I would simply say that if you look at transitional efforts, the first transitional government in Libya, they were very careful to be broadly representative geographically, broadly representative in terms of background, and that ensured that they were able to have a conversation about the needs of the entire country. In Yemen, it was a similar situation, where we worked hard to try to reflect '' the Yemenis worked hard with the international community to try to reflect all the constituencies in Yemen. From our own democratic experience, when you have a representative group that reflects, in the American case, all the states, you have a better chance of being coherent in terms of a national policy.
  QUESTION: Wait, wait. So in terms of the United States, you think that right now that the Congress is working just superbly? There's no --
  MS. NULAND: It's better than all the alternatives, Matt. (Laughter.)
  QUESTION: -- no gridlock at all? No problems there?
  MS. NULAND: What do they say, democracy's really difficult, but everything else is worse? All right.
  QUESTION: So, is the aim to come out of Doha with some kind of government in exile somehow?
  MS. NULAND: Again, I'm not going to put labels on this. The goal from our perspective is to support Syrians in having a broader, more effective, more representative grouping lead this opposition.
  QUESTION: And I wondered if you had any comment about whether you'd seen the video that's circulating of Syrian rebels executing Syrian soldiers, which some of the rights '' international rights community is saying could amount to war crimes.
  MS. NULAND: Well, thank you for that, Jo. We have, obviously, seen this video. We condemn human '' let me start again. We condemn human rights violations by any party in Syria. There is no justification for that kind of behavior, ever. Anyone committing atrocities should be held to account. I would note that the Free Syrian Army themselves, back in August, put forward a code of conduct which reflects rules of war, international codes, and they have routinely called on their fighters to adhere to that. And we would echo that sentiment here.
  Please.
  QUESTION: Benghazi?
  MS. NULAND: Yeah. Wendell, I knew you came for a reason. (Laughter.)
  QUESTION: Please, have mercy. (Laughter.) We're reporting on a cable --
  MS. NULAND: I will if you will, how about that?
  QUESTION: All righty. We're reporting on a cable that indicates security concerns in mid-August prompted agreement for weekly reviews. What's your reaction to this?
  MS. NULAND: Again, Wendell, I don't have anything broadly new to say on this, other than you know how seriously we take the Accountability Review Board process that the Secretary has stood up. We want them to look at all of these questions that are out there, all of the documents that are out there, and give us their best advice about what happened and what we can learn from it.
  QUESTION: And given the '' just the few days between now and the election, would you expect the Review Board to report before Tuesday?
  MS. NULAND: No. We said when it stood up that we expected its work would take somewhere between 60 and 65 days, based on past precedent. That takes us into December, based on when they started. And we need to make sure that it is a complete and thorough review, rather than it be pitched to some artificial deadline.
  QUESTION: Do you consider Republican calls for a response before Tuesday to be politically motivated?
  MS. NULAND: Well, you know we don't talk about politics here, so I'm not going to speak to what one side or the other in this exciting American time has to say about this. I appreciate the opportunity, though. (Laughter.)
  QUESTION: That is my charge. Tunisia has agreed to allow U.S. questioning of a suspect in custody in the Benghazi tragedy. The Republicans are saying that's only because of pressure from Senator Lindsey Graham, but, of course, the Deputy Secretary Burns met with the Tunisian Foreign Minister yesterday. Did yesterday's meeting precipitate the decision to allow the U.S. to question this suspect?
  MS. NULAND: Wendell, I'm going to frustrate you on this one as well and say that from this podium, I'm not going to be speaking about any aspect of the requirement to bring to justice those who were responsible for the Benghazi attack. I'm not going to speak about our conversations with other governments. I'm not going to speak about what we're learning or who we may be pursuing along with the Libyans.
  QUESTION: What did the Deputy Secretary talk with the Tunisian Foreign Minister about yesterday?
  MS. NULAND: My understanding is that the meeting is today, in fact, that it --
  QUESTION: Did I get that wrong?
  MS. NULAND: -- wasn't yesterday.
  QUESTION: Sorry.
  MS. NULAND: It might have been this morning. The expectation is that he's going to talk about the full complement of issues that we have. We, obviously, are working hard with them to deepen and broaden their democratic institutions. As you know, we are supporting economic reform and we have provided, as the Secretary said '' announced when we were in Tunisia not too long ago '' budget stabilization support with the support of the Congress. We've obviously been having an ongoing conversation about the need to remain vigilant in support for the security around our Embassy, and that conversation continues, but there are a full range of things that we're talking to the Tunisians about, including security sector reform.
  QUESTION: Thank you.
  MS. NULAND: Yeah.
  QUESTION: There's another report about security in Benghazi and '' well, about the immediate aftermath of the attack and whether or not a FEST team should go. I notice that your colleague, at least one of them, has spoken about this on the record. I am wondering if you can tell us why the decision was made not to ask for one of these teams to go.
  MS. NULAND: Again, I am going to leave it to the ARB to do a full review of what went on before, during, and after. I'm not going to get into any of the details from the podium.
  QUESTION: So as soon as you stand down, you'll go on the record and say something?
  MS. NULAND: I'm not planning on speaking on this issue at all.
  QUESTION: Well, then can you explain why Philippe was quoted in this story, a State Department official?
  MS. NULAND: I'm going to again --
  QUESTION: You've seen what he had to say?
  MS. NULAND: I actually didn't see on this particular matter, but I'm going to refer you to him for anything he wants to say on it.
  QUESTION: I think that since it is a television network that is reporting this, that they would '' they and all the rest of us would love to have something on camera.
  MS. NULAND: I'm sure that the television networks will appreciate you advocating for that, but --
  QUESTION: Well, I hope they do.
  MS. NULAND: Yeah.
  QUESTION: And I think it's ridiculous for someone, an official in this Department, to speak on the record about something and you not be able to speak about it from the podium. Just because it's on camera --
  MS. NULAND: Well, again --
  QUESTION: -- doesn't mean that --
  MS. NULAND: Again, I didn't see what he said this morning, so I will --
  QUESTION: Well, can you explain to us why and '' since has spoken about it on the record and is quoted in this story as talking about it, can you take that and come back to us on camera and give us a similar explanation as to why a FEST team wasn't thought to be necessary?
  MS. NULAND: I will speak to him and figure out what it is he said, and we will go from there.
  QUESTION: Let me second Matt.
  MS. NULAND: Excellent.
  QUESTION: Can we change topic?
  MS. NULAND: Please.
  QUESTION: India?
  MS. NULAND: Yeah.
  QUESTION: Wait, wait, wait. I got '' these documents that Foreign Policy wrote about yesterday also from Benghazi have prompted a letter to the Secretary from Congressman Issa. She's gotten that, I assume?
  MS. NULAND: She's gotten the letter. We are reviewing it and we expect to respond shortly.
  QUESTION: Can you tell us whether anyone '' to your knowledge, anyone other than the FBI team that went to the consulate, any other U.S. officials have been to the site since then?
  MS. NULAND: I don't have the answer to that, Matt. I --
  QUESTION: Can you explain how, six weeks afterwards, there would still be documents lying around? It seems like maybe this question best directed to the FBI, but the '' you basically '' the State Department has basically abandoned this site, correct?
  MS. NULAND: Again, I'm not going to speak to any aspect of Benghazi.
  QUESTION: No one has gone back and no one is there right now?
  MS. NULAND: I frankly just don't have the '' all of the facts on that here. We will come back to you afterwards if we have anything to add on that.
  Goyal.
  QUESTION: On India, Madam, did Secretary have any time to call the new Foreign Minister of India, Mr. Salman Khurshid? And also if he has been invited to the U.S.?
  MS. NULAND: Again, I think she expects to be in contact with him. As of this morning, I don't think that she has connected with him yet, but I think she does expect to be in contact with him, as she always is with new colleagues. And I'm sure we'll have a chance to talk with him and begin working well with him.
  QUESTION: On India (inaudible).
  MS. NULAND: Yeah.
  QUESTION: Not India, necessarily. The U.S. --
  MS. NULAND: I can't hear you, Lalit.
  QUESTION: On Indian Ocean?
  MS. NULAND: Yes.
  QUESTION: The U.S. today was inducted as a dialogue partner in the 20-nation Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation. In this capacity, what role U.S. wants to play, and why U.S. are interested in becoming a dialogue partner with us on that issue?
  MS. NULAND: Well, first, let me say that we welcome the news that we have been included as a dialogue partner in the IOR-ARC. These kinds of regional and multilateral institutions play a vital role in addressing the shared challenges that we have and building a more prosperous and peaceful region. As you know, that part of the world is extremely strategically important. We are glad to see the states around the Indian Ocean working together, and we welcome the opportunity to be part of that conversation in a dialogue capacity.
  QUESTION: And what do you have to say that there was Iranian opposition to your induction in this group, and despite that you went and conducted a dialogue party?
  MS. NULAND: Well, I think it speaks to the fact that other states in the region very much welcome having us as a dialogue partner.
  QUESTION: Thank you.
  QUESTION: New topic?
  MS. NULAND: Yeah.
  QUESTION: Toria, today marks the 95th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which promised a Jewish homeland for '' I mean, a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine. And it clearly states '' clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may have prejudiced the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. We all know that the Palestinians have, for 60 some-odd years, have suffered a great deal '' languished in refugee camps and so on. What have you done '' what has the American Government done to really alleviate the Palestinians suffering and to ensure that what is stated in the basis of the formation of the state of Israel to rectify the situation?
  MS. NULAND: Well, Said, as you know, we have across many administrations '' Democratic and Republican '' for decades now, supported and promoted the cause of peace and dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. I don't think I need to recount that history for you of all people here. I would also note that since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, we have supported that Authority financially every year, and we continue to advocate for that with the Congress and believe that it is important for the Palestinian Authority to be able to provide well for its people, and we'll continue to do that as well.
  QUESTION: President Abbas, apparently marking the occasion yesterday, said very clearly that when he says, ''Palestine,'' we mean land occupied in 1967, that he does not expect to ever go back to Safed, his home town, in essence giving up on the right to return. Does that help accelerate the peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians in your view?
  MS. NULAND: Again, Said, I didn't see the specific comments that he made, but I think we've been pretty clear here about what we are seeking, which is a negotiated solution between Israelis and Palestinians that is lasting and sustainable and results in two states that can live next to each other.
  QUESTION: And lastly, he also said that on the 15th or thereabouts of this month, they will go to the United Nations pursuing a nongovernment '' an observer status '' state as an observer status with the United Nations. Do you have any comment on that?
  MS. NULAND: Our comment is no different than the comment that we've been making for more than a year. Action in the United Nations efforts to move this forward in the United Nations are not going to bring the Palestinian people any closer to a state. Only negotiations can do that. And we are concerned about creating new tensions and making it harder.
  QUESTION: Is there any update on the talks with Congress on Palestinian or Egyptian aid?
  MS. NULAND: Those conversations continue. We've had staff delegations up, and we've been making phone calls to advocate for our budget requests for both of those. But as you know, the Congress has been out pending the elections, so we're only able to work with staff at the moment.
  QUESTION: Any news about Ambassador Hale's activities?
  MS. NULAND: He has been in phone contact with his various counterparts, but he hasn't made any travel plans. I'm expecting he will probably travel later in the month, but I don't have anything to announce at the meeting.
  QUESTION: Next door in Jordan, are you aware of a report that the Jordanians are going to release the guy who was convicted of killing Laurence Foley back in 2002? And if you are aware of this, do you have any comment on it?
  MS. NULAND: I hadn't seen that, Matt. If we have anything to comment, I will give it back to you.
  Scott.
  QUESTION: Going back to --
  MS. NULAND: Scott. Scott. Scott, and then we'll come back.
  QUESTION:Armenia '' Azerbaijan.
  MS. NULAND: Sorry, still in the neighborhood?
  QUESTION: I just wanted to ask a quick follow-up on the issue of the UN. If they go to the UN, then there is a law '' there is a U.S. law that calls for the closure of the PLO mission in Washington. In terms of time, what are the steps '' what are the procedures to close the office here if that happens?
  MS. NULAND: Again, I'm not going to get into hypothetical situations that haven't arisen as of yet. Our goal is to continue to make clear that taking those steps will not be productive, but the law's pretty clear. If you need a separate briefing on it, we can get you that.
  Scott, back to --
  QUESTION: Azerbaijan is threatening military action against any commercial flights into Nagorno-Karabakh, specifically into the apparently newly renovated airport at Stepanakert. I know that the Secretary spoke about that when we were there sometime this year in both countries. Is that '' the United States involved in this latest trouble '' potential trouble?
  MS. NULAND: Well, we '' as we always do with these kinds of issues, the United States urges the parties to find a diplomatic solution to issues relating to the operation of the airport, in keeping with the relevant international agreements, customary international law, and the current practice between Armenia and Azerbaijan with respect to civilian air travel. The OSCE-Minsk group issued a statement on this. There was one on April 14th, 2011. There was another one just this past July 2012, which represented the views of the United States, France, and Russia in calling for a diplomatic solution. So I would urge you to take a look at that.
  We also, in those statements, reiterated that the operation of this airport should not be used to support any claim of change in the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
  Please.
  QUESTION: Yes, on the Senkaku. A report to Secretary Clinton by former officials, including Deputy Secretary Steinberg, warned of military danger if there is no '' unless there is more communication between Japan and China. I wonder if you have anything on that.
  MS. NULAND: Well, I'm not going to get into private reports or advice offered by these former officials to the Secretary. We're going to keep that confidential. As you know, we did have, last week, a group of very well-respected friends of both China and Japan make a visit and go on a listening tour, if you will. And they have given some comments back to the Secretary, but I'm not going to get into the details here.
  QUESTION: Is there any more indication that there will be more communication between China and Japan directly regarding these disputes?
  MS. NULAND: You mean American communication with China and Japan?
  QUESTION: No, the communication --
  MS. NULAND: Between them?
  QUESTION: -- between China and Japan regarding Senkaku disputes.
  MS. NULAND: Well, we would certainly hope so. As you know, we are advocating dialogue as the best way forward. But I would refer you to those governments.
  QUESTION: Does the United States expect a heated tone or rhetorics cool down after China's 18 Party Congress?
  MS. NULAND: Again, our goal is to encourage both countries to talk to each other about this and to work through it. I'm not going to get into their internal politics one way or the other.
  QUESTION: I'm sorry. One final question. I'm confused, so please help me. On one hand, the United States said that it's not going to be a mediator. On the other hand, we see this shuttle diplomacy between China and '' I mean, American officials, current officials and former officials, travel and talking to both Chinese and the Japanese separately. So isn't that a mediator or at least facilitating communication?
  MS. NULAND: We are not seeking to mediate, not officially, not unofficially. We are seeking to encourage both governments, Japan and China, to talk to each other.
  QUESTION: Do you really think that it takes a team of experts of former officials to recommend that China and Japan talk to resolve this problem?
  MS. NULAND: Again, I was --
  QUESTION: How helpful is a recommendation from a blue-ribbon panel of experts that tensions could rise if they don't start talking more seriously? Does that really contribute anything to the conversation or to the policy? Does the Secretary appreciate this kind of what would seem to be rather obvious advice?
  MS. NULAND: Again, you're drawing assumptions about what was in the report, which I haven't confirmed here. They were encouraged by this --
  QUESTION: Oh, so the report in fact might have suggested that it would be good for China and Japan to go to war?
  MS. NULAND: I'm not going to get into the details of this at all.
  Goyal.
  QUESTION: Can I just stay on Japan for a minute?
  MS. NULAND: Yeah.
  QUESTION: Do you have anything to add to Ambassador Roos's comments about the alleged break-in and assault of the U.S. serviceman in Okinawa?
  MS. NULAND: I do not. I think Ambassador Roos obviously spoke for all of us in being gravely concerned about this most recent event and committing that we will obviously cooperate fully with Japanese law enforcement.
  Please.
  QUESTION: Bangladesh?
  MS. NULAND: Mm-hmm.
  QUESTION: Last week Shahriar Kabir, who is a human rights advocates and also filmmaker in Bangladesh, he was at the Bangladesh Embassy and showed his documentary about the crimes against humanity committed against his country and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, his family, and three million Bangladeshis during the freedom struggle in 1971. What his film was a documentary on rise of militancy and terrorism in Pakistan and the future of --
  MS. NULAND: In Pakistan or in Bangladesh?
  QUESTION: In Pakistan. And what documentary said also, the future of Pakistan secular democracy and jihad open borders.
  MS. NULAND: Is there a question in here, Goyal?
  QUESTION: What I'm asking you is that he also came to the State Department, met State Department officials about this documentary and also upcoming trials against crimes against humanity. So what his film is '' there are two questions, one about this trial crimes against humanity, and second the future of secular democracy in Pakistan. Any light you can put on?
  MS. NULAND: I really am not aware of conversations we may have had with the filmmaker. I think you know very well where we are on issues of democracy, human rights, countering terror in Pakistan. We've been very clear about that.
  Lalit.
  QUESTION: On Sri Lanka, on the statement issued earlier, what is the real concern about impeachment move against the Sri Lankan Chief Justice by the government there?
  MS. NULAND: Well, as you said, Lalit, we issued a statement earlier that we are concerned about interference with the judiciary. Beyond that, I think it's probably not productive to go, but these are '' what we are saying publicly in that statement is not any different than what we've been saying to the Sri Lankan Government for some time.
  QUESTION: Shouldn't this seen '' should be seen as something as interfering in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka, because 117 elected member of parliaments have signed the resolution for impeachment against him?
  MS. NULAND: Again, we speak out around the world when we are concerned that judicial processes are not being allowed to be conducted impartially. And we will do so wherever we see that, as we have in Sri Lanka this time.
  QUESTION: Thank you.
  QUESTION: Speaking of that, can we go to Bahrain?
  MS. NULAND: Mm-hmm.
  QUESTION: Earlier this week there was some pretty blunt comments from Mark about the ban on demonstrations, and he said that there were discussions ongoing with the Bahrainis about this. I'm just wondering if those have yielded any satisfactory '' or results that you find satisfactory.
  MS. NULAND: I don't have an update on those. Why don't I get you something for Monday, Matt.
  QUESTION: All right. Another thing about Bahrain is there's been some questions raised about an American guy who's serving as an advisor to the Bahraini Ministry of Interior, a guy named '' a former police officer named John Timoney, or Timoney. Do you know anything about that and if he has any relationship with the U.S. Government?
  MS. NULAND: I don't have anything on that. Let us take it and see what we've got, Matt.
  Okay, Jo.
  QUESTION: Cuba?
  MS. NULAND: Yeah.
  QUESTION: Today the Cuban authorities are accusing the United States of supplying the Cuban opposition with the means to access the internet, and they say that diplomats are promoting, advising, instructing, training, financing, supplying opponents with diverse media and technology. I just wondered if you had any comment on that.
  MS. NULAND: We are absolutely guilty of those charges. The U.S. Interests Section in Havana does regularly offer free courses in using the internet to Cubans who want to sign up. We also have computers available for Cubans to use. Obviously, this wouldn't be necessary if the Cuban Government didn't restrict access to the internet and prevent its own citizens from getting technology training. So we '' you know how we feel about this. We support freedom of access to information around the world.
  QUESTION: Do you worry that this could maybe have an impact on the Alan Gross case?
  MS. NULAND: We have been very clear about our support for freedom, human rights, dignity, and change in Cuba for decades now. We've also been very clear that Alan Gross is guilty of nothing and he should be released.
  Please.
  QUESTION: Toria, the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to visit Gaza and Hamas, this coming at the heels of the visit of the Emir of Qatar. Does that help the situation, considering that Hamas still stands on your list of terrorist groups?
  MS. NULAND: You know where we've been on this. We are clear, publicly and privately with our allies and partners, we oppose engagement with Hamas. We think Hamas remains a destabilizing force in Gaza, in the region. Visits of this kind are not conducive to advancing the cause of peace and security in the region. Instead, we urge all parties to play a constructive role in bringing the parties together.
  That said, if there are legitimate interests in providing humanitarian support to Gaza, there are established means and ways to do that, and we encourage anybody wanting to do that to use established channels.
  QUESTION: But as a major ally, would you call him to dissuade him from going?
  MS. NULAND: I'm sure that we'll be having conversations to try to get a better understanding of what's intended here.
  QUESTION: Sorry. I don't remember you coming out with that strong a statement with the Emir when the Emir went there.
  MS. NULAND: I think our statement was in line with that. I think there's a concern now that we have more and more of this, and it's not helpful.
  QUESTION: Well, you didn't say that that was unhelpful.
  MS. NULAND: I did. I most certainly did.
  Jill.
  QUESTION: Just a clarification on the Cuban thing. You said that the U.S. is guilty as charged. Teaching people the internet or teaching the people the internet, how to use the internet in order to subvert the government?
  MS. NULAND: Teaching people how to use the internet, period, and allowing them access to computers with internet, that is the only thing that we are responsible for, as we do in our missions all around the world, our American corners around the world.
  QUESTION: Sorry. I just wanted to '' you said that you did say that the Emir's visit was unhelpful?
  MS. NULAND: I believe I did. I certainly gave a statement at the time.
  QUESTION: Okay. Then maybe I missed it.
  MS. NULAND: Yeah. I think you were out.
  QUESTION: And Bahrain also sent a delegation last week to (inaudible).
  MS. NULAND: I mean, our view on all of these is the same.
  Please.
  QUESTION: Can I just go back on Sri Lanka quickly? According to the press reports and also Sri Lankan ambassador in Washington, he said that his country is now progressing on many fronts, including human rights and economically and also basic rights for the citizens of Sri Lanka. My question is that if there '' is there any change between U.S. and Sri Lankan relations as far as opening for investment and other fronts which were banned in the past?
  MS. NULAND: The comment that we made this morning was not with regard to broader relations with Sri Lanka, which remain on track. It had to do with our concerns about effort to impeach the Chief Justice, about other assaults on the independence of the judiciary.
  Jill.
  QUESTION: Thank you.
  QUESTION: Just one last one on elections. Do you know yet --
  MS. NULAND: On our elections?
  QUESTION: Our elections. (Laughter.) The United States elections. Do you know where the Secretary will be for the election and how she will vote? I presume she's going to --
  MS. NULAND: How she will vote? You'd like me to tell you how she's going to vote? (Laughter.)
  QUESTION: Technically, technically how she will cast her ballot.
  MS. NULAND: I think we'll speak to that after she does it, but probably not before.
  Please.
  QUESTION: One on Burma?
  MS. NULAND: Yeah.
  QUESTION: Yesterday the World Bank approved the --
  MS. NULAND: I'll let her know, though, Jill, that you were asking how she was going to vote --
  QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
  MS. NULAND: -- that that was a tough one for you to divine.
  Yeah.
  QUESTION: Yesterday, the World Bank Board of Governors approved the interim strategy on Burma, and they also approved 18 million financial assistance to Burma. Do you have to say anything on that?
  MS. NULAND: Well, I think you know that as part of our step-by-step support for the reforms that Burma is making, we sought relief from legislation in the U.S. Congress that made it difficult for us to support IMF and World Bank lending, so we are very pleased to see this go forward now.
  Thank you very much.
  QUESTION: I'm sorry, a final question on --
  MS. NULAND: I think we're finished for today. Thank you.
  (The briefing was concluded at 1:34 p.m.)
Why Bloomberg Caved on the Marathon -- Daily Intel
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 23:19
  On most issues Mayor Bloomberg takes criticism as a vindication that he's made the right choice. But his decision to cave in and cancel Sunday's marathon is another indication '-- not that the city needed one '-- that the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy is bigger and different than anything else inflicted on New York. With emotions raw as more bodies are being discovered on Staten Island and as power returns fitfully to other areas, Bloomberg saw that the proximity of last Monday's storm to this Sunday's race was too much to overcome. And today major marathon sponsors, including ING, began pulling out.
  The mayor's insistence, until this afternoon, that the city could and should handle hurricane relief and a road race at the same time wasn't callous. It's consistent with his hard-headed sentimentality, a belief that mourning loss is important but that the greatest memorial is pressing forward and building a better future.
  This attitude sometimes came across as harsh when Bloomberg was dealing with the families of 9/11 victims, but it was instrumental in the city's rebound. And staging the marathon this Sunday would have lifted some spirits, brought in some money, and reinforced the city's image of resilience.
  But Bloomberg's uncharacteristic reversal shows that he understands there are even more important tasks at the moment.
What's Really Happening In Blacked-Out Manhattan
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:37
  The darkened stairwell of the tower on Broome Street on the Lower East Side is like a dripping, foul-smelling cave lit only by a few headlamps and flashlights. A group of eight 20- and 30-somethings are climbing to the top floor of the 23-story building to check on public housing residents who have been stuck without power or water since Monday night.
  "Hello? Hello? We're volunteers! Do you need help? Water? Agua? Ayuda?" The women do the talking in hopes that people won't be intimidated. Theo, a resident on the 18th floor who escorts us up, says that this is a dangerous building in the best of times. He also says to his knowledge, no one has been door to door to help yet: not FEMA, not the Red Cross. Just the NYC Housing Authority Police on Monday to tell people to get out. This is Thursday.
  Click to enlarge.
  On each floor above the fourth we find elderly and sick people who have been unable or afraid to venture out since the start of the storm. "I've fallen down twice--that was enough for me," says Estelle Kleinhaus, a white-haired woman on the 12th floor who lives alone. They need food, drinking water, and medication. More able-bodied residents have been filling buckets at a hydrant outside in order to flush toilets.
  Nadia Televiak, 68, in 22C is out of candles. Antonia Rivera, 72, her next-door neighbor in 22B, is sick with a fever and is in need of food. In 20G there is an elderly man with a broken foot who only speaks Cantonese--luckily one of our group can translate. In 18H, one of the Wongs has a heart problem and they haven't been able to climb downstairs. In 8A there are two young girls by themselves. They say their mom is at work.
  Somewhere there is a cat who is alone and very unhappy about it.
  Our group doesn't have much to offer beyond a couple of bottles of drinking water and some flyers directing people to a donation center nearby. We're not from the Red Cross, FEMA, New York Cares, the public housing police or any other city agency. We've never met before and we aren't affiliated with any one organization, school, or group.
  We come from all corners of the city: Elmhurst, Crown Heights, Cobble Hill, and even downtown neighborhoods like Chelsea and the West Village, where the power's still out.
  Each of us showed up this morning for the first time, after we saw a notice on a website, got an email, or saw a Tweet that volunteers were needed at 46 Hester Street on the Lower East Side, where a local Asian community organization called CAAAV has become the hub for an almost completely self-organized aid effort.
  I realize just how self-organized it is when I ask several people who's in charge of all this and am pointed to Brian Palmer. He is standing behind a table, processing, organizing, and coordinating volunteers and giving out orders, but, he says, "I'm just someone who showed up early this morning and got a cool vest," indicating his safety-orange vest. (He points out a woman named Helena Wong who is actually affiliated with CAAAV.)
  Despite the ad-hoc nature of the distribution, things are fairly peaceful at 46 Hester. Lines of men, women, and children stretch down the block in both directions. One side is for picking up a ticket that allows you to charge a cell phone on the center's generator. The other side is for picking up donations of peanut butter sandwiches, cookies, water, leftover Halloween candy, batteries, and flashlights, all of which keep arriving by trucks and vans and people on foot every few minutes. The volunteers themselves, who range from local Chinese, Spanish-speaking, and African-American residents to college students from CUNY, are spending hundreds of dollars of their own money for new supplies. They're keeping the line orderly and fair, sweeping up trash at the curb, and welcoming and thanking everyone who shows up.
  On Hester Street, a policewoman named Lim asks what's going on. I explain it's a donation center and ask if she knows where else in the area people can go to get help--a Red Cross center, a police precinct, a church, something. She shakes her head.
  The lack of an official, coordinated door-to-door response here in downtown, close to some of the most affluent neighborhoods in the country, is a bit chilling. Currently across the five boroughs almost half a million people are still without power. If you were going to target people most likely to need help when the power and water is out, it would be the elderly residents of high-rise towers like the ones that surround us. According to a 2011 NYU report, the East Village, Lower East Side, and Chinatown have a population of 169,000. Over 34% of the housing is low-income, 60% more than in the rest of Manhattan, comprising tens of thousands of people. And the lights are out for all of them.
  The New York City Housing Authority's website says that they are only concentrating on critical repairs at this time. It mentions there are distribution centers set up for the first time for a few hours on Thursday and that the National Guard is helping distribute food and water to homebound residents. On site, however, there are no staff members and no one giving out information.
  Many people are finding out about Hester Street from the website Recovers.org, and some outreach and behind-the-scenes coordination of all types is coming from the remnants of the Occupy movement, which is also helping with disaster centers in Red Hook, Astoria, and Staten Island. But none of the volunteers I speak to identify with Occupy. They just want to do something and they can see that something desperately needs to be done.
  [Panorama Image: Joey Castillo]
Kareem Dale Delivers Impassioned Speech at Obama for America Phone Bank Rally
  Link to Article
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 18:51
  Editor's note: TheBlaze Editor-in-Chief Scott Baker and reporter Benny Johnson will be discussing this story on today's live BlazeCast at 1pm ET. After the live broadcast the archived version will be available here as well:
  Photo Credit: whitehouse.gov
  In a speech to a packed room of Obama for America phone bank volunteers at the Democratic National Committee headquarters Thursday night in Washington, D.C., Special Assistant to the President Kareem Dale said that people with disabilities are going to be ''absolutely killed'' under the proposed policies of Mitt Romney and delivered a strong message to the crowd: ''let's win this motherfu**er.''
  Dale, who is himself partially blind, acts currently as the associate director for the White House Office of Public Engagement and as a special assistant to the president for disability policy.
  During his address, Dale discussed the difference between the president's views on healthcare and Romney's. That's when he said that the president would ''protect the disabled'' and announced, in contrast, that ''people with disabilities are going to be absolutely killed under Mitt Romney's plan.''
  He continued: ''We know that other minorities are not going to have the same opportunity in this country if Mitt Romney becomes president.'' He also said that the LGBT community would ''lose their rights if Mitt Romney becomes president.''
  ''We cannot afford to go back,'' he added to the crowd of about 60. He said later, ''We've seen [Romney], we've seen what he has to say, we've seen what he is all about'' and even though he does this ''whole waffling thing'' that the ''proof is in the pudding.'' He also hammered Romney on the governor's 47 percent remarks, saying ''I'm one of those 47 percent. Many of you all are one of those 47 percent. And I'll be damned if were going to let somebody who does not care about me or other people like me get into office. It's not gonna happen.''
  The DNC phone bank audience (Photo Credit: The Blaze)
  He wasn't done there.
  After telling the audience that the election is all about the ground game '-- making calls and knocking doors '-- he got animated. ''The work you do is incredibly important,'' he said, then raising his voice into the microphone and saying ''lets win this motherfu**er!'' This final comment was met with applause, cheers, and some nervous laughter from those listening.
  Photo of the DNC phone bank audience, Kareem can be seen in the background (Photo Credit: TheBlaze)
  After the impassioned speech, Dale began making calls for the president. TheBlaze approached him and asked him to clarify his remarks. After conferring with an associate who was sitting across the room, he declined to comment, saying it was probably not a good idea based on his position.
  The comments were made during a phone bank for 'All Abilities' which included the LGBT community and Asian-American community according to organizers within the DNC. Details can be found below:
  This reporter was on the official invitation list for the night's events and was told multiple times by DNC organizers that it was permitted to conduct interviews and record attendees.
  Cover photo courtesy of Reuters, Adrees Latif
  ''
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Yep, Brownie's Doing a Heckuva Job Pimping BushCo Disaster Services
  Link to Article
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 18:49
  Brownie, aka former FEMA director Michael Brown, thinks the president jumped in too soon with disaster assistance to New Jersey and New York. No really, he does. Via Politico:
  ''In the context of the election, I simply said he should have waited,'' Brown told POLITICO Tuesday afternoon. ''The storm was still forming, people were debating whether it was going to be as bad as expected, or not, and I noted that the president should have let the governors and mayors deal with the storm until it got closer to hitting the coastal areas along the Washington, D.C.-New York City corridor.''
  Brown on Monday called out the president for speaking to reporters at FEMA headquarters on Sunday night, when the bulk of the storm had yet to make landfall. ''My guess is, he wants to get ahead of it '-- he doesn't want anybody to accuse him of not being on top of it or not paying attention or playing politics in the middle of it,'' Brown said in an interview with Westword.
  Duh. Also because this isn't political, maybe? It's about people's lives, for God's sake.
  But then a Twitter friend reminded me about the Bush disaster privatization venture, and suddenly it made sense to see Michael "heckuvajob" Brown hanging out all over the airwaves in a disaster that reminds us all of what a tragedy Hurricane Katrina was. A year ago, Stephen D. Foster, Jr. wrote this post about the Bush investments in private disaster recovery services.
  Former Republican Governor Jeb Bush is set to lead a newly formed FOR-PROFIT natural disaster response company. According to the Maritime Executive, Bush's newly created firm, Old Rhodes Holding LLC, joined forces with O'Brien's Response Management, a subsidiary of SEACOR Holdings, to form a for-profit disaster response company.
  ''We are pleased to enter into this partnership with one of the leading response organizations in the United States, backed by SEACOR's global network,'' Bush said. ''Together we look forward to helping a broader array of organizations and communities become more resilient through preparation, response, communication and recovery.''
  Of course, this response team only helps people for a price. Rather than come to the aid of people affected by a natural disaster out of the kindness of their hearts, like FEMA and other organizations do, the response team led by the former Florida Governor will respond to disasters if the price is right. In other words, they'll profit off of death and destruction.
  So Mr. Heckuva Job Brownie, who managed to get it so very, very wrong during Hurricane Katrina thinks he's going to score a couple of political points and lay a foundation to pimp Jebbie's newest venture?
  Yeah, I don't think so. The Obama administration's response to Brownie's insanity was for Craig Fugate to crisply respond with this:
  "Better to be fast than to be late," Fugate said in an interview on NPR Tuesday morning.
  You betcha.
The Sandy subway disaster creates a historic opportunity for New York | Taras Grescoe | Comment is free
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:50
  Governor Andrew Cuomo, right, tours the damaged Brooklyn-Battery tunnel with officials. Cuomo said: 'We will rebuild the subway system and we will build it better.' Photograph: MTA/Reuters
  A massive storm blows in from the Atlantic, bringing the commercial capital of the western hemisphere to a complete standstill. Ferries stop running, trains are immobilized, and in several boroughs, fires rage out of control. "New York", a reporter at the New York Times marvels, is as "completely isolated from the rest of the world as if Manhattan Island was in the middle of the South Sea." Seeing their city utterly paralyzed by an act of nature, officials who tour the blacked-out neighborhoods immediately call for a massive investment in better transportation.
  The tempest in question was not Hurricane Sandy, but the "Great White Hurricane", a blizzard that, in the early days of March 1888, wreaked havoc on the eastern seaboard and brought 22in of snow and 80mph wind gusts to New York City. The storm also brought an end to two decades of dickering about infrastructure: from then on, electrical cables and telegraph cables would be buried, and the elevated trains on the avenues, whose steam engines were extinguished by the gale, would be replaced by a weather-proof underground railroad, on the lines of the one already running in London.
  But the most lasting impact of the Blizzard of '88 was the building of the IRT, the first line in what would become, in the 20th century, the world's most extensive subway system. Never again would the great city of New York allow itself to be paralyzed by a simple act of nature.
  Now, as the Army Corps of Engineers flies in 250 pumps to drain tunnels filled floor-to-ceiling with water, and service haltingly resumes on 14 of the city's 23 subway lines, New Yorkers are being reminded of how completely they have come to rely on public transport for going about the day-to-day business of their lives. On any given day, 95% of commuters get to Manhattan's central business district not by car, but by foot, bicycle, or buses and trains '' mostly the latter. (Realizing this, and to forestall a carmaggedon of gridlock, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has wisely announced that only vehicles with three or more occupants will be allowed in to Manhattan until Friday night.)
  Rail transportation is the sine qua non of Manhattan: it keeps the economy of the city, the state, and the entire north-east thrumming. It doesn't take an urban planner to realize that if you shut it down, even for a couple of days, New York City will turn into Podunk. After touring scenes of devastation in Queens, Governor Andrew Cuomo pledged:
  "We will rebuild the subway system and we will build it better. That's what New York is all about."
  Let's hope he keeps his word. As it stands, New York is pitiably lagging behind other global cities when it comes to expanding, or even maintaining, its subway and commuter rail networks. Even as ridership surpasses 1.6bn trips a year, a record since the postwar boom years, the subway continues to rely on early industrial-age technology.
  Consider, for example, the metal flanges in Union Square that snap into place as squealing trains arrive (to compensate for a marked curve in the platforms); the analogue signals that prevent dispatchers from boosting the frequency of trains; and the Depression-era relays that, as one commentator told me, "look like the switchboard at the Grand Hotel". For decades, New York's subway was the only one in the world that was actually losing track mileage. Now, happily, tunnel-boring machines are again at work beneath the streets: the 7 line is being extended into the far west side, by all of one stop, and if all goes well, the first phase of the Second Avenue subway will be up and running, maybe, by 2016. (A simple replacement project for an elevated line scrapped in 1942, it should have been completed a half century ago.)
  Meanwhile, Shanghai '' a city where commuters can ride a 268mph magnetic levitation to the airport '' has taken only 17 years to build itself a metro system that now surpasses New York's as the largest in the world.
  There's no question that New York's legacy transit system faces huge challenges. Even when there is no storm surge to cope with, pumps have to operate day and night to keep the estimated 13-15m gallons of water a day that routinely infiltrate tunnel walls from overwhelming the system. (Fortunately, this may be New York's last serious case of tunnel flooding. On the eve of Hurricane Sandy, the department of homeland security was testing giant inflatable plugs that would swiftly close off tunnels in case of terrorist attacks or future storm surges; see this video.)
  In New York, trains still cross the Hudson and East Rivers through tunnels that were dug with pickaxes by Irish, Italian and African-American "sandhogs", who lost their lives by the dozens in caisson failures and explosions. Yet, there are other metropolises '' among them Paris, London, and Berlin '' that face similar challenges. The difference is, they've managed to improve and expand their vintage metro systems. New York has a lot of catching up to do.
  In 1968, under then Mayor John Lindsay, the newly-created MTA announced plans that would have expanded the subway network by 20%, including new lines to Queens and the Bronx, and a subway spur to JFK airport. The financial crisis of the 1970s put paid to the plans, and the city is nowhere near achieving what, in any other major city, would have been a routine network expansion.
  And now, at a time when some politicians are making political hay out of natural disaster, it's well to remember that the chief impediment to truly sustainable transportation for American cities continues to be blinkered partisanship. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is being praised for his handling of the aftermath of the hurricane, but he's also the reason that, when Sandy blew in, New Jersey's only rail link across the Hudson River consisted of two easily flooded, century-old, single-track tunnels.
  Because the Republican governor was determined to keep a campaign promise not to raise the state's very low gas tax during his campaign, he exaggerated the cost of "Access to the Region's Core" plan, thus killing a project that would have given his constituents faster and more reliable rail access to the jobs in Lower Manhattan. Not to mention brand new, non-leaky tunnels for all New Yorkers.
  The Great Blizzard of '88 brought an end to the dark ages of transportation in New York, a period typified by the rotund Boss Tweed, whose financial interests in horse-car companies had long kept the city mired in congestion, and stalled any progress on the digging of an underground railway. With any luck, the legacy of Hurricane Sandy '' the Great Blow of '12 '' will be serious and sustained commitment to the only transportation that will keep New York running, day-in, day-out.
  Namely, the public kind.
Status Update
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:48
  Regular readers will have noted limited blogging. Why? Post-Sandy logistics.
  We're in better shape than David Pogue: after Irene we installed a natural-gas-fired generator that serves part of the house (and gives us hot water!). But our regular internet connection is gone for the foreseeable future: the trees not only fell across all the lines, power and phone both, but twisted as they fell, so the lines are wrapped around trees like spaghetti around a fork.
  So what I have is 4G '-- and our house has always been in a dead zone for cell service. Sometimes it works (using my iPad, which essentially has a bigger antenna, as a hotspot), sometimes it doesn't. So regular blogging is not going to happen for a while.
  Oh, and there has been real life too: relatives to check up on '-- in one case to take to the hospital, etc.
  The routine may improve a bit as more of Princeton comes back to life '-- and I'm well aware just how lucky we are compared to many others. But now you know.
Unrest growing among NJ, NY citizens: Dumpster diving for food, fist fights over fuel, tempers flare in Sandy aftermath
  Link to Article
  Source: News 1 Stop
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:50
  Mike AdamsNatural NewsNov 2, 2012
  The first 72 hours after a natural disaster are the ''polite'' hours. Residents operate under the illusion that Big Government will soon save them with emergency supplies: food, water, fuel, clothing and more. So they follow the rules and ''play nice.''
  After about the third day, all those social niceties start to erode. People are hungry and angry. There's a feeling of desperation and even abandonment. What seemed to be a polite society two days earlier suddenly becomes more sinister. The survival needs of individuals begin to outweigh social boundaries, and what emerges is desperation'... even panic.
  ''Dwindling gasoline supplies are causing frayed nerves as the region endures its third full day with massive power outages.'' reports Fox News. ''Frustration with gas supplies topped the list of issues causing tensions to boil over in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, the states hardest hit by power outages in the wake of superstorm Sandy. Residents jockeyed for fuel at the few stations still pumping, searched store shelves in vain for batteries, struggled with sporadic cell phone service and found themselves unable to buy necessities at supermarkets.''
  State troopers have now been deployed to gas stations in an effort to head off near-riots as citizens lose patience and tempers flare.
  On Twitter, fist fights are being reported over fuel shortages. Police have had to draw guns on some people, reports Brietbart.com.
  That article includes posts from Twitter users:
  You know things are bad when you ask the gas station attendent ''when do you think you're going to get more gas?'' and he just laughs at you. '' Prede (@predederva) November 1, 2012
  Just awful! RT @metrogypsy: Someone just pulled a knife at Greenpoint #gas station as line stretches with hours long wait #gettingrealFAST '' Camila Xavier (@camilaxavier) November 1, 2012
  Watching the breakdown of society at a gas station on Long Island. #sandysucks '' Christina (@wooly_says) November 1, 2012
  There are also tweets from some users who are intelligent preppers'... like this one from JohnnyRH:
  I live in Utah and the people here are big into ''prepping'''... I have relatives in NJ and just last week we were talking and they thought I was nuts to own guns, store fuel and water and have a generator. Most people are totally blind to what chaos will come with a really large power grid failure over half or all of the country. It will take little more than a week for all hell to break loose and riots will be the norm.
  ''We're going to DIE!''
  Another report from ABC News reveals the desperation and panic now forming among residents in Staten Island.
  ''We're going to die! We're going to freeze! We got 90-year-old people!'' Donna Solli told visiting officials. ''You don't understand. You gotta get your trucks down here on the corner now. It's been three days!''
  The situation is so bad that even the Red Cross is being blamed for not showing up with supplies:
  ''This is America, not a third world nation. We need food, we need clothing,'' Staten Island Borough President Jim Molinaro said today. ''My advice to the people of Staten Island is: Don't donate to the American Red Cross. Put their money elsewhere.'' (ABC News)
  NBC News reports:
  Staten Island officials had some choice words Thursday to describe what they said was a feeble disaster-relief response to people left dying, homeless and hungry in the New York City borough hit particularly hard by Sandy. Staten Island's top elected official blasted the American Red Cross response as ''an absolute disgrace'' and went so far as to urge its residents not to donate to the largely volunteer agency.
  No gas for a week, no power for two
  This situation, by the way, is only going to get FAR WORSE before it gets better. CNBC reports gas shortages will continue for at least a week, possibly longer. That's seven more days even while desperation has already taken hold on day three!
  And power? Con Edison says it will be another 10 days before power is restored to the majority of customers currently in the dark.
  As long as the power is out, gas stations can't pump gas, and that means continued gas shortages. That, in turn, means more desperation, starvation and even panic as residents can't use vehicles to acquire food and supplies. The American way of life, remember, is almost unimaginable without gasoline. Half the population seems physically incapable of walking anywhere these days, and almost nobody own bicycles anymore.
  Things are going to get a lot worse over the next few days
  What happens when millions of people packed into high-density cities can't get food, fuel or electricity?
  People get desperate, of course. Desperation is about to set in. In the days ahead, you're going to see more fights and even weapons brought to bear in real-life survival scenarios. The federal government will predictably fail to reach people with the help they need, and people who neglected to prepare will find themselves in ever-more-desperate circumstances.
  This is a time when nearly everybody suddenly realizes gee, it sure would have been smart to have been a prepper.
  What's the value of having emergency food, fuel, a water filter, batteries and a fully loaded Remington shotgun in the hours after a superstorm? Priceless.
  Preparedness is the solution
  What's the solution to all this frustration and panic? Preparedness.
  If the people of Staten Island or NYC had been prepared for the storm that they knew was approaching, they wouldn't be in a state of desperation right now!
  If they had stored some of their own food, fuel, water and emergency supplies, they wouldn't be panicked for the Red Cross to show up and save them.
  If they had intelligently planned ahead and taken action based on the seven days of dire weather predictions that preceded the storm, they wouldn't need to beg for big government to bail them out!
  The answer to disasters like Sandy is to be a prepper.
  Preppers are the new prophets
  In the wake of Sandy, preppers suddenly seem like geniuses. While being ridiculed by the rest of the population for as long as we can all remember, preppers are the ones still standing in the aftermath of the storm.
  They're the ones you don't see on the news, begging for help and panicking over the situation, because the preppers are sitting in their homes, eating their stored food, drinking their filtered water, double-checking their shotgun loads and staying off the streets. Preppers are the ones NOT looting, NOT complaining about the Red Cross, and NOT diving in dumpsters to find food while waiting around for the government to show up and save them.
  Preppers are the new prophets. And those who failed to prepare are the new homeless.
  This article was posted: Friday, November 2, 2012 at 6:39 am
  Tags: domestic news
  Share this article:
Misinformation Flourished During Superstorm '' and That's Just Fine
  Link to Article
  Source: Newspaper Death Watch
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:47
  The photo at right was one of several that made the rounds on the Internet as Hurricane Sandy lashed the east coast on Monday and Tuesday of this week. It's a powerful image. It's also but completely bogus, a Photoshop mashup that's made the rounds before but took on new significance when no one had a clear picture of what was happening on the Atlantic seaboard. It was one of many false reports that circulated on social networks during the storm. Although the increasingly Twitter-dependent mainstream media didn't circulate this photo, it reported its share of falsehoods.
  We personally heard the CNN report of three feet of water in the New York Stock Exchange. In fact, live security camera feeds showed that the floor was dry. We also heard media reports that Con Edison had shut off power to all of Manhattan. Also not true. The Detroit Free Press rounds up some of the prominent rumors here.
  Are these deceptions proof that citizen journalism sucks, that the ability to reach a global audience tempts people to spread falsehoods and make mischief?
  We don't think so. While social networks spread a lot of rumors during the storm, that's nothing unique to the Web 2.0 age. Disasters always spawn speculation. Remember the reports of planes flying into buildings in Chicago and San Francisco on 9/11? The difference today is the speed at which falsehoods spread. But another important difference is the speed at which they're dispelled.
  We like John Herrman's analysis on BuzzFeed. He notes that Twitter users were just as quick to disabuse each other of storm-related misinformation as to spread it in the first place. ''Twitter is a fact-processing machine on a grand scale, propagating then destroying rumors at a neck-snapping pace,'' he writes. ''To dwell on the obnoxiousness of the noise is to miss the result: that we end up with more facts, sooner, with less ambiguity.''
  Sites like Snopes.com and Wikipedia are effective at sifting fact from fiction. Although neither is under the same time pressure as CNN, in the long run they get it right. Electronic media are always under the gun during a news event, and have always been susceptible to reporting bad information. To their credit, the news networks are usually good about qualifying unconfirmed information as just that. Any experienced reader of blogs or social networks knows that fantastical claims shouldn't be taken at face value. New media even have some fact-checking features built in. For example, The New York Times used geo-location to verify that eyewitness tweets were in fact from people who might reasonably be assumed to be eye witnesses.
  We think more information is always better than less, even if some of it is bad. As layoffs continue to hack away at mainstream media, those outlets continue to turn to citizens as front-line news sources. We don't see that changing anytime soon. Rather, the tools for spotting bad information will mature and our bullshit detectors become more refined.
  Anyone watching the #Sandy or #Frankenstorm hash tags on Monday and Tuesday read amazing stories from people who taking the storm head-on. Mobile social networks continue to deliver information from blacked-out areas that would otherwise have no outlet. The fact that some of that information is bad is the price we pay for having a First Amendment.
  This entry was posted on Friday, November 2nd, 2012 at 8:21 am and is filed under Citizen Journalism, Future of Journalism, Journalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Google Translate upgrade offers a smarter dictionary
  Link to Article
  Source: CNET News
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:46
  The search giant wants to help you choose the right words with its latest translation service upgrade.
  Google has added a small but important upgrade to its Google Translate service that's meant to help you understand foreign tongues better.
  The tech giant's upgrade to the feature comes in three parts. According to the Google Translate blog, "Reverse translations" can be used to distinguish different variations of an offered translation to make sure you get the correct meaning. For example, you can view and pick out the subtle difference between 'dialect' and 'lingo' in a dozen languages.
  Another new feature is called "Frequencies." Google says that because it "prefers to deliver results in an instant, ranked in order of relevance," frequency indicators will now mark each translation as "common," "uncommon," or "rare" so that users will have a better understanding of which word they are looking for. The "rarest" translations are hidden by default but can be viewed by clicking.
  The final update is called "Synonyms." Instead of relying on one long list of words that share a common meaning, translations are now clustered together to make hunting for the perfect word easier and more accurate.
  Currently, "Synonyms" is only available when translating into English, but Google plans to support more languages soon.
  Google has also recently updated its Google Hangouts feature with an updated sidebar, more colorful notifications and improved applications.
Members of polarized networks may feel pressure to choose loyalties: Another example of partisan divide
  Link to Article
  Source: Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:43
  (Phys.org)'--Democrats and Republicans may find it increasingly challenging to bridge the partisan divide when their memberships in political organizations remain polarized.
  A new University of Michigan study involving Democrat and Republican convention delegates indicate they live in different organizational worlds. Few organizations share members of each party, making it more difficult to find bipartisan causes, says lead author Michael Heaney.
  Thus, a member of the Republican Party who is also involved in an interest group, such as the Teamsters, may be forced to choose between loyalties to these organizations when these organizations take conflicting positions on the right to organize labor unions.
  Research teams conducted surveys at the 2008 Democratic and Republican national conventions. Respondents'--504 Democrats and 369 Republicans'--were asked about memberships they held in any political organizations, social movement organizations or interest groups.
  Among delegates belonging to the same organization, only 1.78 percent of them crossed party lines, and only 2.74 percent of the ties between organizations sharing common delegates were bipartisan.
  "Party activists rarely find themselves in political settings where they are on common ground with activists from the other major party," said Heaney, U-M assistant professor of organizational studies and political science.
  The study showed that Democrats join more organizations than Republicans, but are less likely to unite around the same organizations than are Republicans. Party members sharing a common interest isn't entirely bad, Heaney says.
  "In many ways, it is important for the parties to form some exclusive organizations that allow them to build solidarity and coordinate their plans for elections and government," he said.
  Nevertheless, the divide between groups may involve several factors, such as activists preferring organizations that favor their political party or the lack of organizations that represent issues of both parties.
  They study's other authors are political scientists Seth Masket of the University of Denver, and Joanne Miller and Dara Strolovitch of the University of Minnesota. The findings appear in the current issue of American Behavioral Scientist.
  More information:abs.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/10/21/0002764212463354.full.pdf+html
  Journal reference:American Behavioral Scientist
  Provided byUniversity of Michigan
Teens warned over web sex content
  Link to Article
  Source: BBC News - Home
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:42
  2 November 2012Last updated at06:00 ETA film is being launched to warn young people in Scotland about the dangers of posting sexual content on websites.
  The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre has created the film to warn about putting video content on sites like Youtube.
  It highlights how quickly things can spiral out of control and where young people can get help if it does.
  CEOP research showed 88% of self-generated, sexually explicit online images are uploaded to other websites.
  The study also found that youngsters would rather ignore the problem than face it.
  The CEOP said it had seen an increase in young people sharing sexual pictures and video content of themselves among their peer group, which leads to the risk of bullying and being distributed among sex offenders.
  It said 22% of reports received in the last year related to the distribution of self-generated indecent images.
  This interactive film First to a Million, aimed at people aged between 13 and 18, follows a group of teens in their battle to reach a million views online through their increasingly outrageous films.
  Later regretsIt is being launched in Cumbernauld High School by the CEOP and Strathclyde Police.
  Jonathan Baggaley, Head of Education at CEOP, said: "It's very easy to upload something you'll regret later without thinking and run into all sorts of problems.
  "We know that young people in these situations often don't know where to turn for help when things have gone wrong.
  "It's important they don't feel isolated or alone when this happens."
  Det Ch Insp Norrie Conway of Strathclyde Police said: "The issues that First to a Million raise are pertinent to every child in Scotland.
  "We are delighted that CEOP is coming to let schools and young people know about what they can do to protect themselves online and help them consider what they share."
Cheryl Cole set to be talk of the town | Media Monkey
  Link to Article
  Source: Culture | guardian.co.uk
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:41
  And for my next guest '... Cheryl Cole is reported to be negotiating with Sky 1 over hosting a talkshow. Photograph: Dave M Benett/WireImage
  Will Cheryl Cole be Britain's TV answer to Oprah Winfrey? Very possibly, says the Daily Star, which reports that the Girls Aloud star is in talks with Sky 1 to host her own talkshow. An insider tells the paper that the broadcaster is "desperate" to sign her up and wants the show to be "emotional and confessional, not just another run-of-the-mill celebrity show." Maybe Cole could also sing a song at the end of each show. It worked for Frank Skinner.
LinkedIn boekt forse winst, waarom zij wel en Facebook niet?
  Link to Article
  Source: VK: Home
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:36
  Door: Heleen van Lier '' 02/11/12, 11:47
  (C) epa. LinkedIn bij de beursgang. (Mike Gamson staat rechtsonder).
  Goed nieuws voor LinkedIn. Het zakelijke sociale netwerk heeft de omzet in het derde kwartaal met 81 procent weten op te voeren tot 252 miljoen dollar. De winst bedroeg 2,3 miljoen dollar (1,8 miljoen euro), na een verlies van 1,6 miljoen dollar een jaar eerder.
  Ook het toekomstbeeld voor LinkedIn is positief. LinkedIn heeft zijn omzetverwachting voor het hele boekjaar verhoogd. Ook de winstverwachting is opgeschroefd. LinkedIn sprak in een toelichting op de cijfers van 'solide groei'.
  In tegenstelling tot dat andere sociale netwerk op de beurs, Facebook, kent LinkedIn een gestage, maar flinke toename van de koers. In juni 2011 begon LinkedIn op de New York Stock Exchange met een introductieprijs van 45 dollar. Nu staat de koers op ruim 106 dollar. Het aandeel Facebook staat momenteel op 21.21 dollar op de Nasdaq, na een introductiekoers van 38 dollar in juni 2012.
  Fors minder ledenLinkedIn heeft met 175 miljoen leden fors minder leden dan Facebook, dat er inmiddels een miljard heeft. Er zijn volgens LinkedIn wereldwijd 640 businessprofessionals. Echte concurrentie op de zakelijke netwerkmarkt hebben ze daarbij niet. Vergelijkbare netwerken Xing en Viadeo zijn een schim van LinkedIn.
  Net als bij Facebook zijn advertenties de belangrijkste bron van inkomen. Maar daarnaast heeft LinkedIn nog meer inkomstenbronnen. Het lidmaatschap van het zakelijke netwerk is gratis, en zal ook altijd gratis blijven, zei topman Mike Gamson vorige week op een persbijeenkomst in Amsterdam. Het is echter wel mogelijk om tegen betaling meer functionaliteiten te kopen, waardoor de gebruikers bijvoorbeeld directe mails kunnen versturen naar andere LinkedIn-gebruikers. Deze abonnementen maken een kleine 20 procent van de winst uit.
  De grootste groeimarkt van LinkedIn is volgens Gamson recruitment. Zo kunnen bedrijven tegen betaling hun vacatures meer zichtbaar maken bij een gericht publiek. Toch wil LinkedIn geen vacaturemarkt worden, en is dat volgens Gamson ook niet. Slecht 11 procent van het verkeer op LinkedIn is gerelateerd aan het zoeken van een baan.
  Productiever'Onze missie is het verbinden van professionals en het werken efficinter en productiever maken', zegt Gamson. 'Wij geven de mogelijkheid om jezelf te profileren voor zakenpartners, klanten en werkgevers'. Daarnaast gebruiken leden LinkedIn ter voorbereiding op een afspraak en om op de hoogte blijven van vaknieuws via gedeelde artikelen in interessegroepen of die connecties en - sinds kort - beroemde opinieleiders plaatsen. Ook opvallend: 23 procent van de zoekopdrachten naar personen, is naar collega's. LinkedIn is dus ook een soort intranet.
  Dat LinkedIn-leden wel een profiel aanmaken, maar relatief heel weinig tijd op het netwerk spenderen (21 minuten per maand), is volgens Gamson 'helemaal niet erg'. Integendeel: 'Het gaat ons er juist om dat professionals elkaar sneller kunnen vinden, als we ze dan langer bezig houden dan nodig, gaat dit ten koste van de productiviteit'.
  MobielDe focus van het sociale netwerk wordt momenteel verschoven richting de mobiele markt. LinkedIn ziet een grote verschuiving naar mobiel. Vorig jaar gebruikte 10 procent van de leden LinkedIn via mobiel, dit jaar steeg dit naar 27 procent. Dat komt volgens Gamson vooral door de nieuwe iPad-app. 'We proberen nu de leermomenten uit het gebruik van een overzichtelijke app naar het web te halen.'
  Volgens Gamson verandert mobiel de manier waarop mensen werken. 'Eerst zagen we aan het begin van de werkdag een piek in het gebruik, en nam het gedurende de dag af. Nu zien we 's ochtends zodra mensen wakker worden een piek, blijft het gebruik stabiel tijdens de dag en is er 's avonds weer een piek'.
  LinkedIn viert in maart 2013 zijn tiende verjaardag. De ambitie van LinkedIn is niet bescheiden: 'We willen de manier waarop mensen werken verbeteren en de productiviteit van de wereld verhogen.' LinkedIn kijkt hiervoor altijd eerst naar de behoeftes en wensen van de leden - iets wat Facebook volgens de kritiek nogal eens nalaat: 'We willen van LinkedIn een bedrijf maken dat er over 100 jaar nog steeds is. En waar mijn kinderen en kleinkinderen ook met trots kunnen werken.'
Melding chemische bom in hoofdkantoor CNN
  Link to Article
  Source: VK: Home
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:36
  02/11/12, 11:44 '' bron: AP
  De politie in de Amerikaanse stad Atlanta heeft vrijdagochtend de straten rondom het hoofdkantoor van nieuwsorganisatie CNN afgezet omdat er een chemische bom zou zijn geplaatst. Het gebouw werd doorzocht, maar er werd geen bom gevonden.
  Per telefoon kwam een dreigement binnen van een persoon die zei een chemische bom in het gebouw te hebben geplaatst. De straten rondom het gebouw, waar behalve CNN ook enkele restaurants, winkels en een hotel in zitten, werden rond 06.00 uur plaatselijke tijd weer vrijgegeven, vlak voordat de spits op gang zou komen.
Child benefit 'nimbys' accused
  Link to Article
  Source: BBC News - Home
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:35
  2 November 2012Last updated at07:19 ETMiddle-class parents who complain about cuts to child benefit for higher earners have been accused of being "nimbys" by a Treasury minister.
  The phrase - which stands for "not in my back yard" - is normally used to describe people who block building developments out of self interest.
  Treasury Minister David Gauke said "every section of society" had to make a contribution to cutting the deficit.
  Labour said it was an example of how out of touch the coalition had become.
  Child benefit is tax free and currently stands at £20.30 a week for the first child and £13.40 for each child after that.
  'Have to cope'From January, families where one parent earns between £50,000 and £60,000 will have their benefit reduced on a sliding scale, and will only lose the benefit entirely when earning over £60,000.
  The move - which will amount to a £4,000 salary cut for families with three children - has proved controversial.
  But Mr Gauke said his wife, a corporate tax lawyer, and three children would "just have to cope" with the loss of benefit and "live within our means, just like the country".
  He told Parliament's in-house magazine: "I think there's a lot of people who are in favour of reducing the deficit, but then when it's something that affects them there can be a degree of fiscal nimbyism.
  Continue reading the main storyChild benefit is a tax-free payment that is aimed at helping parents cope with the cost of bringing up childrenOne parent can claim £20.30 a week for an eldest or only child and £13.40 a week for each of their other childrenThe payments apply to all children aged under 16 and in some cases until they are 20 years oldThe system is administered by HM Revenue and Customs, which pays out to nearly 7.9 million families, with 13.7 million children"The reality is that every section of society is having to make a contribution. We can't pretend that there can be sections of society which we can completely protect from deficit reduction."
  He added: "We are not trying to engineer a row over this.
  "It's going to have a significant impact for those of us affected but the point we would make is that it is right when we are making difficult decisions, particularly on welfare, that that section of the population, the top 15-10%, make a contribution."
  'Chaotic'The Treasury minister also refused to rule out future cuts to other universal benefits, such as the winter fuel allowance and free bus passes.
  "What will happen in the future, will happen in the future. I think we'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it," he told the magazine.
  Catherine McKinnell, Labour's shadow exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said the coalition was out of touch with ordinary families.
  "Ministers shouldn't be insulting parents or telling them to stop moaning about losing thousands of pounds in child benefit.
  "What they should be doing is explaining how on earth it can be fair to cut child benefit from parents on £50,000 while people on over £150,000 are getting a tax cut.
  "And they need to tell us how many millions of pounds are being wasted on the chaotic and complicated administration of this ill-thought-out policy."
Europe backs first gene therapy
  Link to Article
  Source: BBC News - Home
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:32
  2 November 2012Last updated at07:00 ETBy James GallagherHealth and science reporter, BBC NewsA treatment which corrects errors in a person's genetic code has been approved for commercial use in Europe for the first time.
  The European Commission has given Glybera marketing authorisation, meaning it can be sold throughout the EU.
  It is a gene therapy for a rare disease which leaves people unable to properly digest fats.
  The manufacturers say it will be available next year.
  Gene therapy has a simple premise. If there is a problem with part of a patient's genetic code then change the code.
  However, the field has been plagued with problems. Patients have developed leukaemia and in one trial in the US a teenager died.
  In Europe and the US, the therapies are used only in research labs.
  Fat problemsGlybera is used to treat lipoprotein lipase deficiency. One in a million people have damaged copies of a gene which is essential for breaking down fats.
  It means fat builds up in the blood leading to abdominal pain and life-threatening inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis).
  The only way to manage the condition is by having a very low-fat diet.
  The therapy, developed by UniQure, uses a virus to infect muscle cells with a working copy of the gene.
  The European Medicines Agency recommended the therapy was made available for the most severely ill patients earlier in 2012.
  UniQure chief executive officer Jorn Aldag said: "The final approval of Glybera from the European Commission marks a major step forward in making gene therapies available not only for lipoprotein lipase deficiency, but also for a large number of rare diseases with a very high unmet medical need."
  The company said it would apply for regulatory approval in the US and Canada.
  China was the first country to officially sanction a gene therapy.
#Sandy
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:28
  My family and I have been witness to and beneficiary of amazing providence in this week of Sandy. We are incredibly lucky. Seeing the complete destruction of entire neighborhoods on the Jersey Shore and in Staten Island and Queens and Hoboken only drives that home. This morning my wife saw an aerial picture of the shore town where she spent her young summers and was in shock: whole neighborhoods she knew had disappeared.
  In our neighborhood in central New Jersey, we benefitted from acts of wonderful neighborliness. Our dead-end street was blocked by more than two dozen large, fallen trees. Most of our neighbors got together, got out their chainsaws, and proceeded to clear the street and driveways all day Tuesday. (Friends and family will be horrified to know that I, too, wielded my brand new chainsaw, but they will be relieved to know that I managed to break it in short order.) Our street is still blocked by a fallen utility pole but we managed to get some cars around it, until our route turned into a muddy trap, so we shuttle back and forth from this barricade.
  On Monday night, as the winds of Sandy hit frightening velocity, a tree fell against the back of our house but we were terribly fortunate as it damaged the deck and roughed up the roof and some gutters but did not breach our home. Another 15 or more trees fell that night around our house '-- but fell away from it. (We live in the woods, though that may now be singular rather than plural.)
  This was a fortunate story repeated up and down our block, where far more trees fell than anywhere I've seen in our part of the state (we live on what New Jersey calls a mountain, which apparently accelerated the winds). At one home, a garage roof got a bad gash but that was all. At another couple's house, the wife worried about a tree falling in the master bedroom and so she moved to a grown child's bedroom but the tree she feared fell right on top of it, sending wood through the ceiling a few feet above her head. She's fine. Other houses were similarly hugged by dying trees but overall unharmed. More important, of course, is that all our neighbors were unharmed.
  We live in an area with well water, which means that when we lose power, we lose water and toilets, in addition to heat and '-- thanks to being on Fios '-- the phone and, of course, the internet. Also, our nearest cell towers appear to have suffered damage or lost power, so we lost total communication in our house. Thus the social media that I tout so much was not as useful to me as I'd have thought. And now, after the storm, it's still not giving us the very practical information we crave: which streets are blocked; where power is returning; when power will come to us; what restaurants and stores are reopening; where to get gas'....
  But I was lucky to have managed to make a hotel reservation and the staff at our Marriott has been amazing, letting us extend our stay and helping us with unfailing cheerfulness even though they are harried and overworked and surely worried about their own homes and families. At the restaurants that one-by-one reopen and stores, we have found the staffs to be gracious and generous just as we have found neighbors and strangers to be ready to help in a moment. At our reopened mall today '-- instantly filled with refugees from the storm '-- I saw a couple of guys commander electric plugs with power strips so they could watch over folks' gadgets as they recharged. Yes, crises bring out the best in people.
  There are frustrations. We have no idea when we will get power back. I have seen only *one* crew working within miles of our home. I'm frustrated and worried that our downed utility pole has prevented police and firefighters from reaching a home on our street with a bad gas leak and I am concerned about our elderly neighbors being out of reach of ambulances. Our police have been very helpful but we haven't seen much of our town. Sitting in gas lines, I'm reliving my first big story as a reporter '-- the '73 oil embargo '-- and wonder at how little we've learned. I doubt I'll be able to get to the airport for a trip I'll probably have to cancel and without trains or bas, I have no idea how I will make it into New York for my class on Monday; millions of commuters are in the same bind. Frustration will surely grow as our powerlessness continues for days and then weeks.
  I'm also struck by our lessened investment in infrastructure and standards. When we built the POTS '-- plain old telephone system '-- we ended up with a system that assured us we'd still get a dial tone (remember that?) in spite of any problem short of a cut wire. Now, if you believe that weather could become more frequently extreme, then our wires on polls and breakable phone and internet systems and dependence on power to stay constantly charged and connected make us feel only more fragile at moments such as these.
  But at the end of this long week, I am aware of one thought more than any other: I am lucky.
Lessons Gleaned in the Glow of a Giant Night Light
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:24
  Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse '-- Getty Images
  The Empire State Building, bright against a darkened city.
  HERE are a few things I have learned about living in a Greenwich Village high-rise, in the no-power sector south of Midtown, post-Hurricane Sandy.
  What constitutes a lot of candles before a blackout is a very different number from after a blackout.
  Filling a bathtub with water and making it your primary water source works fine for about three days. After that you begin to worry about plant life and don't even want to put a foot in the tub.
  Peanut butter is the best disaster food you can have. It doesn't need refrigeration, and it works well for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacking '-- although if you have it for all four, you will quickly tire of it.
  The Empire State Building lighted up at night loses much of its charm after a hurricane. Before, it's very beautiful, especially in white light, surrounded by clouds. After a hurricane, when it has power and you do not, it is the most expensive night light in the world, and all it is does is annoy you. You lie in bed looking out at it, thinking: ''If there is enough power to light up the Empire State Building, why isn't there any power for my building? All they would have to do is shut off the 66th floor for 10 minutes, and I could have a hot shower.''
  Or, ''Maybe I could just get a really long power cord and run it the 20 blocks from 34th Street down to my place and siphon off a little of the juice. Sure, I don't have a power cord that long, but if I joined up with all the neighbors in my 320 units and we made this really long cord, maybe we could do it. But then I would have to go out into the jet-black, windowless hallways '-- or worse, the jet-black, windowless stairs '-- risking death as I stumble the 14 floors down and heart attack when I climb back up those 14 flights. I guess I will just lie here for the next three hours instead.''
  I know what you must be thinking: I have rotten disaster preparedness skills, typical of most people in Manhattan, who have not been regularly troubled by earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, flash floods or excessive feeling for humankind.
  How wrong you are. I was aware that Hurricane Sandy might have some sort of effect on Greenwich Village, and I took measures. I got fresh D batteries for my two flashlights. (O.K., my cousins, whom I had been visiting in the Catskills, gave them to me.) I stocked up on peanut butter and English muffins and dates and cheese, food that would survive if I lost power and refrigeration, though I admit now that perhaps the French triple cr¨me was a mistake. I filled every receptacle in my apartment, including the bathtub and the bathroom sink, with water, since I knew that if the power went, the building would no longer be able to pump water to the apartments. Returning to the city on Sunday, before the storm, I also had the idea that this would be a good time to get some prepared food, like a barbecued chicken, in case my gas-burning stove stopped working, but when I went to the supermarket all of the barbecued chickens were gone and the mood was frantic, so I left. I cannot abide a line.
  Monday, when the storm was supposed to hit the city, I invited the guy who has been my best friend for 30 years, who lives a block away from an evacuation zone near the Hudson River, to stay at my place, and we hunkered down for a little excitement. As my building is in the dead center of Manhattan, off Fifth Avenue, and my apartment faces an interior courtyard, I didn't expect much.
  True to our jaded expectations, there was a little wind (disappointing, barely a sound,), a smattering of rain (yawn), poor reception of On Demand cable (hey, we really might suffer in this storm!) and then, at 8:20 p.m., a power loss. Not so bad, even with the Wi-Fi down. We lighted candles, my friend played games on his cellphone, and I tried and failed to read by candlelight on my old Kindle, which inspired me to make my first entry on my Revised Hurricane Preparedness List: When the stores reopen, get the new backlit Kindle. Hurricane Sandy, we agreed, had been overhyped.
Naked Aggression
  Link to Article
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 09:58
  I like playing word games.For example, Clinton era Secretary of State Madelyn Albright when confronted for her war crimes in eastern Europe, spat out the phrase, "Disgusting Serbs".
  Would this be something condoned if she was with the Congressional Black Caucus and spat out, "Disgusting Niggers"?
  Would this be condoned if she was at Chris Stevens funeral and she spat out, "Disgusting queers"?
  This blog does play favorites in this world of humans, and one it's pet peoples are the Slavs.
  When I first came online I used to chat on a Jewish created programme called ICQ. I met a very young Slavic girl named Sammy who had returned to the former Balkanized Yugoslavia and she was a favorite of mine. She was pregnant and having been raised in America, returned to eastern Europe to live with her husband, and she actually understood the poetic discourse I would type in, which was a most pleasant exchange with this friend.
  I love the Poles for their being the United States of America in Europe, even if they changed the Prussian names. I love all the Slavic peoples as they are handsome group, and even in their scariest forms of cold blooded killers, they are a people who deserve some slack as no people on this planet have been ravaged as much as they have.They have been raped, slaved, invaded, murdered, divided, conquered, exiled and spoiled, and yet one can look at them in the Serbians and notice one thing about them in the word CHRISTIAN is something Islam could not destroy and something the Soviets could not obliterate.
  What was done to the Serbians under Bill Clinton for that Kosovo oil war, and paying the Saudi's off with a European Muslim island at Kosovo is criminal. The cartel stole Serbian lands as much as if someone took Texas out of America and gave it to Mexico.The lies were horrendous in "ethnic cleansing" in which proof surfaced years later in the "dead Muslims" suddenly appeared again to vote in elections.
  Gen. Wes Clarke literally almost started World War III during that war by trying to bomb Russian troops in the Balkans sent to help the Slavs. If not for a British general who told that wacko to bugger off, America would have eaten nuclear bombs all for the rape and theft of Serbia.
  It is most interesting in Sec. Albright in how the maxim is never to divide "Jewish" lands, and yet she was first like Hitler to divide Poland in her division of Serbian lands, which she oversaw the mass bombing of these Christians.
  Think of that in before Obama, there was Bill Clinton handing over lands to Muslims which was not their land while he was busy blowing up European Christians, and doing it all with imported Muslim militants from Afghanistan for his oil war.The same militants who would form al Qaeda and carry out 9 11.
  Yes the ghosts of the rape of Serbia still linger, and they are Mr. Obama using the same Muslim terrorists in his wars, and that group just raped and murdered Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya.
  "Disgusting Serbs".
  That line simply fills me with revulsion in this Sec. Albright in her Ashkenaz division of lands as a war criminal that branded Serbians the way Adolf Hitler branded Jews.
  You want to understand what went on in Benghazi? You need to look no further than this criminal Madelyn Albright from Prague. Obama followed the same playbook she initiated, and the only thing Obama has not done is dance with Kim Jong Un the way Maddy pranced around with Kim Jong Il on the dance floor.
  There is nothing disgusting about Serbians. What was done to them is disgusting from what the Ottoman Muslims did to what Ashkenaz Albright did to them. It was the epitaph to the 20th century in the brutalization of the Slavic peoples who just happen to live in a land the powers that be lust over.
  I have quoted the European seers in the Catholic oracles, and they have a theme in their prophecies, and one is when the Obama Great Eurasian War comes, it will wipe Prague from the map and it will be ploughed by horses after the people's return, who will number in the hand fulls.
  Personally for Serbian justice, I do hope that Sec. Albright in all her "Monica did not suck Bill" whore payments from the world order, buys a nice mansion in Prague, invites George Soros to stay, just about the time that Vladamir Putin unleashes on the west for all the criminal rapine Mr. Obama has been unleashing, as Mr. Putin is going to "protect" his eastern Europe, as it was only reported here that Obama turned the Slavs over to Kremlin rule to curry favor with Mr. Putin, as Obama enslaved a hundred million people and sentenced them to coming wars of genocide.
  Yes this all starts coming full circle. The Slavs have done nothing to deserve this, and this disgusting rant by Madelyn Albright is unAmerican, as if it is anti human to utter the word "Disgusting Jew" then it is anti human to utter "Disgusting Serb".
  You would never hear that from Benjamin Netanyahu, but you hear it from Madelyn Albright in all her master race liberalism of the NeoProg Obama left.
  George H. W. Bush said naked aggression with Saddam Hussein would not be allowed to stand.
  The world said it would never forget what happened to Jews in Europe during the 1940's.
  Yet there squats Madelyn Albright in all her anti human hate. Frankly, if Mitt Romney gains the White House, he should have two Justice Department acts take place, in the first banishing the foreign agent Barry Chin to Albania for crimes against humanity, and the second, revoking the US Citizenship of Madelyn Albright and send her packing back to Praque where she can goose step with Obama as he talks about disgusting Benjamin Netanyahu and Albright spits out about the disgusting Serbs.
  I like playing word games, but I love the Serbs.
  The Serbians have stood against tyranny from Muslims, Nazis, Communists and Americans. God must love the Serbian Christians as they still are a people after centuries of genocide.
  They have born the burden. They deserve the love.Lame Cherry
  You can quote me on that.Oni su snose teret. Oni zasluÅ¾uju je ljubav.
  agtG
  Disgusting Madeleine Albright
Swords of Obamaclese
  Link to Article
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 09:52
  Since May of 2012 this blog has warned of the competing factions in this world which hinge upon the crimes of Barack Hussein Obama. Mr. Obama's benefactors in Europe have a vested interest to keep his crimes of making a Muslim Caliph to rule Arabs for the Europeans who Mr. Obama has illegally funded trillions into the Neo European Order, along with his New Asian Order centered upon his homeland of China, in this Obama global feudal state, from becoming known as B. Hussein comes under scrutiny in Analgate, his 2012 electioneering to use a hostage situation to gain 1600 Penn Avenue again.
  On the Obama's enemies list side are those oil barons who spiked California gas prices, the Wall Street Insiders who dropped the stock markets, the Pentagon contractors who released pink slip data before the elections and CIA Director David Patraeus whose group has been providing information to Mr. Romney over Analgate and other matters in not allowing the murder of Seal Team Six to be forgotten for another Obama electioneerings strategy in the murder of Sheik bin Laden's corpse.
  In this group, they comprehend fully that an Obama re installation would mean their being dragged through the streets like Khadaffi or meeting a Jeremy Bourda end in "committing suicide" by shooting themselves in their offices numerous times with a long barrel rifle.
  This is what was meant by the SADDAMIZATION of Barack Hussein Obama, because there is a Sword of Damocles hanging over the world and it all centers upon Barry Chin in his power structure and it is not about what Marxist things Obama would initiate in executive orders in 2013, but his initiation of ORDERS TO EXECUTE the people who have stood against his criminal enterprise.
  There is no fear of Congress or Justice as Darrell Issa is a cowed fraud like all the GOP and Justice John Roberts is the same blackmailed cowards on a leash, that Obama and his benefactors neutralized in 2008.
  What the reality is though, there are powerful people who have noted certain things which were taking place in America, in mirror imaged to Mubarack in a cage, Khadaffi mass murdered, Assad terrorized and comprehend those secreted events all can be implemented against them in 2013 and beyond to deal with them.It is not Barack Obama's pitchfork mob which is the danger in this Stalinst orb, but his mercenary mob who have been initiating terrorists, protecting terrorists and literally assassinating Americans.
  The partial list follows:
  The California wildfires set by Mexican mafia under al Qaeda contracts
  Hutatree which was supposed to be a mass slaughter by BATF.
  Gun Runner
  Fort Hood massacre
  Christmas Condom bomber run out of Asian intelligence whose apprehended officers were set free.
  The attempted assassination of Jewess, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords as a message to Sarah Palin.'
  The Wisconsin wilding
  The assassination of Jewish Conservative, Andrew Breitbart.
  Trayvon Martin Hoodie Terrorism
  The Sikh mass murder in Wisconsin.
  The Colorado Joker to silence his father from testimony on the 2008 collapse.
  The mass murder of Americans in Benghazi Libya.
  America has been ushered into the Clinton era of violent staged events all for political gain and protection under the Obama regime. It is something now which the American patrician can comprehend that the powers which enforce the position of Mr. Obama can indeed be deployed in a mass decapitation operation which would have them as dead as oil executives in Europe and blamed on parties unknown.
  This is now the reality which the people who are on Mr. Obama's enemies list that deem themselves connected enough to engage in such overt activities in an attempt to install Mitt Romney, have a reality that if they do not get the job accomplished, they will find a Gabby Giffords solution upon them.That is why Sarah Palin ran for Chik Fil A as she fully understood the machinations at work and they were going to be unleashed upon her, as the Romneycrats were going to offer her no protection from the Obama benefactors who have murderously been employed in these United States.
  It is the scenario which has been set up in the Mexican standoff. People who have committed murder and been a part of crimes which would get them executed in bringing down not only Mr. Obama, but his entire cartel group in exposing them, are what has been assembled.
  Do not think my children this is just one sword, for it has many edges and some are nuclear as was exclusively exposed in Operation Ursa in which Mr. Obama is moving to give most of Russia to the communist Chinese for their re settlement to the coming revelations that atomic Iran is not the concern, but what Iran is in the process of constructing based on atomic bombs.
  The key weak point in all of this is Barry Chin. He is the one who will have information leaked about which leads back to the Berliner boys. He is the one who has contractors who will puffy pink the Andrew Breitbart types who dared to try to remove Mr. Obama. He is the one who al Qaeda is working for, backed by the Chicoms and Putin, who want a great deal of control over this planet, and will if Mr. Obama does not deliver, will deliver more than West Nile weaponized in advanced new mosquito delivery.
  America has been under numerous terrorist attacks, including WMD attacks. Spain is an Islamic inferno for the "cause" and all of these elements will without Mr. Obama bribing them, be unleashed with biological, nuclear and chemical weapon attacks as the Swords of Damocles drop.
  This is an issue where David Patraeus of CIA can not just have a "construct" file to protect him. Those types of files did nothing to protect J. Edgar Hoover when the move was made on him with poison sinus drops. It is a house of cards in this and the Berlin cartel as much as the Casey Associates all know the weak link and all know when "someone" strikes that contingency plans are going to be implemented as simply Wall Street Insider running from America is not going to work as all of this will follow to silence the knowledgeable.
  Mr. Romney's backers will allow bygones to be bygones as they gained what they gained under Obama. That means no exposure of the Obama crimes if he is removed from office, as Bush43 covered up all the Clinton crimes, as Obama covered up the things George W. Bush was covering up for the Berlin cartel in Saddam's bribes and missing WMD's this European group created for Saddam.
  The problem is the re installment of B. Hussein Obama. His Secret Service is furious with him at being cut to the wind. His SEALS are not pleased over their mass assassination in being led to murder bin Laden's corpse. CIA proper is now furious over Analgate in their people being sacrificed to cover up Obama's hostage taking of Chris Stevens.This problem then is compounded in, this was not an Andrew Breitbart or Batman fans being exterminated which the powerful could be amused by as they were immune, but this is a case of it has become open season on the enemies of Obama, and that will have consequences in they will protect their own.
  The people who matter in this world, not you my children, but the people who send Bill Gates out and inform you that they are going to crop 1 billion people with vaccines in population reduction, and say it, just to prove they can say it and no one can do anything about it, are the ones involved in this, along with those on the 3rd level who work for them.The sword is hanging there now as this blog warned of years ago in the initiation of Barack Obama, and it will fall, as there is always someone with enough devil in them to wink at it, to make it fall in the blink of an eye.
  Obama set up his nuclear legacy focused on a nuclear Iran. That reality is what the world will have to deal with as much as those groups who were picking off those lesser children like Andrew Breitbart, as it is not Breitbart any longer making waves, but people with names you do not recognize who are chatting things up behind the scenes.
  This is a game of blood now, and swords are meant to be fed blood. Not your red blood, but the blue bloods have had their toys pierced in Chris Stevens and that is not allowed.
  Bararck Obama has become Stalin as this blog predicted in forensic psychological profile four years ago. Barry Chin will now either become Stalinized or Saddamized by his benefactors or his antagonists, as they will either become Ukrainians or Americans.
  This is the house of cards which has been set now by Analgate. It is the brier patch where I was born and thrive in. It is why this blog is in the wait a bit and finds the boomslang and buff good company with the buzz of the tseetsee.There are too many swords hanging together that one will not fall in time no matter if Obama bribes Patraeus like he did Nancy Pelosi.
  It is the Swords of Obamaclese. It is the law of gravity meeting the gravest of situations.
  You can quote me on that as by God I'm the only one worth quoting now.
  It is the law of gravity meeting the gravest of situations.
  Lame Cherry
  agtG 291Y
ANALGATE: Obama's Terrorist Secuirty Force
  Link to Article
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 09:47
  When this blog exclusively stated that Barack Hussein Obama was the head of al Qaeda in running it from 1600 Penn Avenue, it was the breaking issue no one could fathom, but it has proven absolutely correct from his maintaining radical Islamic bases inside America to his protecting of Fort Hood mass murder, Nidal Hassan.
  It is an issue literally that Barack Hussein Obama has negotiated with al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood to be his global enforcers, the way he armed the Mexican mafia for their loyalty using Gun Runner and Fast and Furious.
  In a continuing series of exclusives only from this Lame Cherry blog, and not for the TOURISTS of FOX News attempting to plagiarize ANALGATE without credit, this blog exposes Obama's Ca'an in what took place in Libya.
  The smoking al Qaeda memo of the emergency meeting of the skeleton crew in the American Embassy, is just like the Afghanistan Fire Bases where Obama stationed US Soldiers to be murdered by al Qaeda. The reason Obama did not want American security at the Embassy was it would draw fire, before his intended hostage taking situation to help his campaign steal the 2012 elections.
  Abdel Hakim Belhaj was the al Qaeda head working directly under Barack Hussein Obama. He is the one who has been enforcing Libya for Obama, as Obama has gone on his two pronged mission to try and get advanced weapons back from al Qaeda in Libya while shipping Libyan arsenals to Syria, which is part of Turkeygate in Obama funneling money from Turkish foreign aid from America, which now includes Stinger missiles placed in al Qaeda's hands.
  When this blog broke the story and iw as confirmed in the Obama press that the terrorists who attacked at Benghazi had Afhani garb as their choice, it was the reality that this group was from Afghanistan.
  The US Embassy "security" which in reality was two guys with two pistols. I will repeat that so that exclusively soaks in even to the tourists at FOX. Thee entire security detail at the US Embassy was two pistols between two SEALS.
  The reason for this is when Obama contracted with al Qaeda via George Soros, and you must understand that for the entire time al Qaeda existed, it was based upon the Palestinian terrorist plan of being the policy implementation wing the central Europeans, whether it was against Jews, Brits or Americans, terrorists are unleashed to gain the land, political advantage or resources, or wars so these financiers will benefit, the point being al Qaeda was Barack Hussein Obama's PAID security force in Libya protecting the US Embassy and THEY WOULD NOT ALLOW AMERICA TO BE ARMED PROTECTING THEIR EMBASSY OR THEY WOULD FIRE ON THEM.
  If you can get this again, Libya as much as Syria is Operation Gun Runner. THIS IS THE FACE OF BARACK OBAMA GUN CONTROL in arming the terrorists and allowing the terrorists to murder the unarmed at will.
  The reality is as this blog exposed from the first. George Soros' group leveraged Col. Khadaffi to release his terrorists as part of the "humane treatment of prisoners". Obama then used them to unleash on Khadaffi to mass murder the nationalist Libyans, and turn Libya over to the Muslim Brotherhood, where BP got the Libyan oil for the central Europeans.
  These terrorists in Libya if you recall were allah awful in fighting that civil war and almost lost it several times, without the US military going in and blowing the hell out of the Libyan government. It was at this juncture that Barack Obama started arming through CIA and DOD the terrorists with advanced weaponry and from the Bill Clinton Kosovo playbook started importing trained terrorists from Afghanistan.
  Do you really think my children that this stuff just "happened"? These Arab Springs were paid for in billions of dollars in action funds by YOU. You bribed Muslim thugs to betray Mubarack, Khadaffi and Assad. You paid for shipping terrorists around the Middle East. The same things which happened across North Africa are now taking place in Syria and Yemen. THE VERY REALITY IS THE DESTRUCTION OF AL QAEDA IN AFGHANISTAN BY GEORGE W. BUSH WAS REVERSED FROM 2008 to 2012 IN BARACK OBAMA NOW HAS AFGHANISTAN AS HIS TERROR TRAINING CENTER RUN BY PAKISTAN INTELLIGENCE AND YOU PAID 7.5 BILLION DOLLARS FOR THAT OPERATION IN THE PAST YEAR.
  There were at least a dozen al Qaeda training centers in Libya to "help wipe out Khadaffi's remaining loyalists" and for the astounding purpose of creating a new Syrian terror army to subdue that nation, and that army was fully intended to one day be unleashed inside Iran for Obama's disarming of nuclear Iran.
  Until FOX News stops being a tourist and starts explaining to the world, that it was and has been the Obama regime who murdered the terrorists who would not be bribed, and bribed by dope deals and land the terrorists who are now under the operational direction of 1600 Penn Avenue in B. Hussein Obama, FOX is still complicit in the Obama crimes, because Obama had those terror camps in Libya for mass murder and for exporting his Caliph all across the Middle East to manage things for the NeoRoman Empire.
  Handle that reality my children and handle the facts that you paid for this, and that what Zbigniew Brzezinski started as the Muhajadeen in his personal war against the Soviets, and was used by Ronald Reagan to drive them out of Afghanistan, was corked up by Bush43, lost control over under Bill Clinton to become al Qaeda when he exported it to Kosovo, was neutralized under George W. Bush, had as of summer 2008, a new Muslim militant put in charge of this global terror network and his name is Barry Chin AKA Barack Hussein Obama Osseiran.
  Those terror training camps in Libya were under direct supervision of the CIA, in satellite, drones and inside operatives. Obama knew exactly what was going on in those camps, the munitions and who was arriving and leaving via Egypt, as his bribes using American money was hosting these terror nests.The reason Hillary Clinton was off blaming that video and not the terrorists, is because she knew very well these terrorists were Obama's folks and she needed them to keep a lid on every country Obama has blown up. These terrorists now have WMD's by the truckload all due to Obama policy.That is the dirty secret in this, in these terrorists have hundreds of pounds of nuclear material now for dirty bombs, from medical and military stores. This is the face of Obama policy and this blog warned from DAY ONE that America's Obama was getting America involved in intertribal Muslim wars, and now the outcome is Lara Logan raped for a message and Chris Stevens raped for an encore.This is just the start of the festitvities for when these terrorists get tired of killing each other and start coming to the Jews, London, Paris and America again to unleash the Obama WMD's he has given these terrorists.
  Ask yourself why FOX in all it's reporting, has not once explained one reality in Obama is using terrorists for his operations and illegally re gifting weapons to shoot down airplanes, all for his Caliph?You know Rupert Murdoch was taken down by Obama to shut him up and as payback for all FOX did in making George W. Bush President. FOX is a tool of Obama and you children must NEVER FORGET that in intelligence operations you can always deceive more people with the facts than with lies.
  FOX leaving out the reality in this, is covering up the real story of the terror crimes of Barack Hussein Obama. It is deliberate and helping Obama.Make this an issue of SECURITY denied and Obama can just fire some people and ward off investigations with Holder. Make this an issue of the reality of Barack Hussein Obama running al Qaeda as it's chief terrorist, and he gets hauled out of 1600 Penn Avenue for a Joplin Military Tribunal.
  Those Libyan terror bases are like Syrian terror bases are like the Egyptian terror bases are like the Lebanese terror bases are like the, the, the, the that Obama has been taking control over and running.
  Richard Holbrooke before his murder in having his heart pulled wanted the Afghanistan war stopped as it was not working as he knew it was going terrorist. Obama instead expanded his wars five fold with his terrorists.
  Barack Hussein Obama is the protege of Zbigniew Brzezinski's militant Muslims. This leftist group now simply has a Muslim running these Muslims out of 1600 Penn Avenue. Chris Stevens and thousands of other Americans are murdered, but that is acceptable collateral damage as was espoused in the Clinton years.
  There needs to be a Mormon Inquistion over this and Barack Hussein Obama needs to be at Gitmo for his being the leader and progenitor of 21st century terrorism.
  Yes the Lame Cherry exclusives in matter anti matter proven right again and again, posted here first and the tourists are catching up, only telling part of the story.
  This must be understood in Marxist Muslim Barry Chin AKA Barack Hussein Obama was not installed for one reason to overthrow America, but to fund the NeoRoman Empire, create the Caliph, initiate the New Asian Order, and his real job was not president of some country, but he was installed to be the global leader of al Qaeda in order to manage it more effectively.
  That is what Obama has been doing from Day One. Obama has Terror Security Forces "protecting" Americans as his negotiated policy with al Qaeda, so they do not attack American soil while Obama is in office.
  agtG 261YY
  Obama's Terror Security
  Obama's Terror Subordinates
Syrian SNC OUT!
  Link to Article
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 09:39
  By Anne Gearan, Published: OCTOBER 31, 3:01 PM ET Aa ZAGREB, Croatia '-- The Obama administration on Wednesday renounced the proclaimed leaders of the Syrian political opposition and said any group seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad must reject attempts by extremists to ''hijack'' a legitimate revolution.
  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the Syrian National Council, or SNC, should no longer be considered the ''visible leader'' of the opposition. That made official what has been the increasingly obvious sidelining of an opposition group led mostly by middle-age Syrian expatriates.
  ''This cannot be an opposition represented by people who have many good attributes but have in many instances not been inside Syria for 20, 30 or 40 years,'' Clinton said during a five-nation Balkans tour. ''There has to be a representation of those who are on the front lines fighting and dying today.''
  The United States has no direct power to anoint the would-be new leaders of Syria, but U.S. backing will be essential for any hopefuls seeking outside financial, diplomatic or possible military assistance. The United States is supporting new opposition leaders who will attend a strategy session in Qatar next week, Clinton said.
  Clinton and other U.S. officials are fed up with infighting among the SNC leaders seeking recognition as a shadow government and have become convinced that the group does not represent the interests of all ethnic and religious groups in Syria. It also has little legitimacy among on-the-ground activists and fighters, and has done little to stem the infiltration of Islamist extremists into the opposition forces.
  Clinton had some of her strongest words to date about the risk that the uprising against Assad could be overtaken by militants who do not seek a democratic replacement.
  ''We also need an opposition that will be on record strongly resisting the efforts by extremists to hijack the Syrian revolution,'' Clinton said. ''There are disturbing reports of extremists going into Syria and attempting to take over what has been a legitimate revolution against an oppressive regime for their own purposes.''
  The United States and other Western and Arab nations have called on Assad to step down. Russia, China and Iran continue to back him.
  Anti-regime activists say that in recent weeks, about 150 people a day have been killed in fighting.
  The Obama administration's shift away from the SNC comes as an internationally sanctioned truce failed to take hold. More than 500 people were killed during what was supposed to be a four-day cease-fire ending Monday.
  Clinton said she was saddened but not surprised and made clear the United States is not betting on U.N.-sponsored diplomacy to end the fighting.
  She said nothing about possible military intervention, something the United States has opposed as unworkable and counterproductive. Some Syrian activists hope that calculation will change after the U.S. presidential election next week, when President Obama would have more latitude to act, but there is no obvious sign of any change. Having a better-organized and more representative opposition to turn to would add legitimacy to any international military effort, however.
  The State Department helped to smuggle a few internal dissidents out of Syria and brought them to New York last month to meet with representatives of key nations trying to help the opposition, Clinton said.
  The larger meeting during the annual U.N. General Assembly was public at the time, but the presence of Syrian-resident dissidents was not. Clinton did not name the participants nor say whether they had returned to Syria.
  ''We made it clear that the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition,'' Clinton said. ''They can be part of a larger opposition, but that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others who have a legitimate voice.''
  Clinton spoke in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, as she nears the close of a five-day trip.
  Also Wednesday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it is up to the U.N. Security Council to decide whether a no-fly zone should be imposed on Syria or safe areas created for civilians fleeing the civil war.
  Erdogan has been one of the sharpest critics of Assad's violent crackdown on the opposition.
  Activists say 35,000 people have been killed in Syria since an uprising against Assad's regime began in March 2011.
  (C) Copyright 1996-2012 The Washington Post
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CIA officials in Libya made key decisions during Benghazi attacks
  Link to Article
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 03:39
  CIA officials in Libya made key decisions during Benghazi attacksTop News
  CIA officials in Libya made key decisions during Benghazi attacks
  Thu, Nov 01 21:20 PM EDT
  By Mark Hosenball
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CIA officials on the ground in Libya dispatched security forces to the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi within 25 minutes and made other key decisions about how to respond to the waves of attacks on U.S. installations on September 11, a senior American intelligence official said on Thursday.
  Officials in Washington monitored events through message traffic and a hovering U.S. military drone but did not interfere with or reject requests for help from officials in the line of fire, the official said.
  The information emerged as officials made available on Thursday a timeline chronicling the U.S. response to the Benghazi attacks in which Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other American officials died. The material appears to refute claims by critics that officials in Washington delayed sending help to the besieged personnel.
  The handling of the attack by the Obama administration and CIA has come under sharp criticism by supporters of Republican challenger Mitt Romney during the campaign ahead of the presidential election on November 6.
  The senior intelligence official said that CIA officers in Benghazi, "responded to the situation on the night of 11 and 12 September as quickly and as effectively as possible.
  "The security officers in particular were genuine heroes. They quickly tried to rally additional local support and heavier weapons, and when that could not be accomplished within minutes, they still moved in and put their own lives on the line to save their comrades," the official said.
  "At every level in the chain of command, from the senior officers in Libya to the most senior officials in Washington, everyone was fully engaged in trying to provide whatever help they could," the official said.
  "There was no second-guessing those decisions being made on the ground, by people at every U.S. organization that could play a role in assisting those in danger. There were no orders to anybody to stand down in providing support," the official added.
  OBAMA, CIA PUSH BACK AGAINST CRITICISM
  Intelligence and other administration officials expressed particular dismay about a report on Fox News last week that alleged that armed CIA operatives near the U.S. compound in Benghazi were repeatedly told to "stand down" after asking for permission to assist on the night of September 11 and were also refused military backup by the CIA chain of command.
  Following the initial broadcast of the Fox News report, Jennifer Youngblood, a CIA spokeswoman, denied that CIA had ever turned down requests for help from U.S. personnel in Benghazi.
  "No one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate," Youngblood said.
  According to the timeline, around 9:40 p.m. Benghazi time, officials at the CIA's relatively fortified and well-defended base in Benghazi got a call from State Department officials at the U.S. diplomatic mission about a mile away that the less-fortified public mission complex had come under attack from a group of militants, the intelligence official said.
  Other official sources said that the initial wave of attacks on the diplomatic mission involved setting fires using diesel fuel. The dense smoke created by the fuel both made it hard for people at the compound to breathe and to organize a response to the attack.
  About 25 minutes after the initial report came into the CIA base, a team of about six agency security officers left their base for the public diplomatic mission compound.
  Over the succeeding 25 minutes, the CIA team approached the compound, and tried, apparently unsuccessfully, to get local Libyan allies to bring them a supply of heavier weapons, and eventually moved into the burning diplomatic compound, the intelligence official said.
  At around 11:10 p.m., a Defense Department drone, which had been on an unrelated mission some distance away, arrived in Benghazi to help officials on the ground gather information. By 11:30, U.S. personnel who had been working or staying at the mission had been rounded up except for Ambassador Stevens, who was missing, the intelligence official said.
  When they tried to drive out of the diplomatic compound to return to the CIA base, however, the convoy carrying U.S. evacuees came under fire.
  Once they got back to the CIA base, that installation itself came under fire from what the intelligence official described as small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. These patchy attacks went on for roughly 90 minutes, the intelligence official said.
  CIA SENT TEAM FROM TRIPOLI
  Around the same time, a CIA security team based in Tripoli, which included two U.S. military officers, landed at Benghazi airport. Upon its arrival, however, the team spent some time trying both to arrange local transport and to locate the missing Ambassador Stevens.
  After some time trying to solve these problems, the security team that had flown in from Tripoli eventually arranged for an armed local escort and extra transportation, but decided not to go the hospital where they believed Stevens had been taken. In part this was because they had reason to believe Stevens was likely dead, and because security at the hospital was believed, at best, to be "uncertain," the intelligence official said.
  Not long before dawn, the reinforcements from Tripoli managed to take themselves and a convoy of vehicles to the CIA base to prepare for an anticipated evacuation.
  However, just after they arrived at the CIA base, the official said, a new round of attacks on that facility was launched, this time with mortars. Although the mortar attacks lasted only 11 minutes, two U.S. security officers were killed by a direct hit from one of the shells, the intelligence official said.
  Finally, a bit less than an hour later, a heavily armed Libyan military unit arrived at the CIA base to help evacuate the compound of U.S. personnel to the Benghazi airport, the official added.
  Over the next few hours, roughly 30 Americans, as well as the bodies of Stevens and the other three Americans killed during the attacks, were loaded on planes and flown out of the city, several U.S. officials said.
  (Reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
  CIA officials in Libya made key decisions during Benghazi attacksTop News
  CIA officials in Libya made key decisions during Benghazi attacks
  Thu, Nov 01 21:20 PM EDT
  By Mark Hosenball
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CIA officials on the ground in Libya dispatched security forces to the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi within 25 minutes and made other key decisions about how to respond to the waves of attacks on U.S. installations on September 11, a senior American intelligence official said on Thursday.
  Officials in Washington monitored events through message traffic and a hovering U.S. military drone but did not interfere with or reject requests for help from officials in the line of fire, the official said.
  The information emerged as officials made available on Thursday a timeline chronicling the U.S. response to the Benghazi attacks in which Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other American officials died. The material appears to refute claims by critics that officials in Washington delayed sending help to the besieged personnel.
  The handling of the attack by the Obama administration and CIA has come under sharp criticism by supporters of Republican challenger Mitt Romney during the campaign ahead of the presidential election on November 6.
  The senior intelligence official said that CIA officers in Benghazi, "responded to the situation on the night of 11 and 12 September as quickly and as effectively as possible.
  "The security officers in particular were genuine heroes. They quickly tried to rally additional local support and heavier weapons, and when that could not be accomplished within minutes, they still moved in and put their own lives on the line to save their comrades," the official said.
  "At every level in the chain of command, from the senior officers in Libya to the most senior officials in Washington, everyone was fully engaged in trying to provide whatever help they could," the official said.
  "There was no second-guessing those decisions being made on the ground, by people at every U.S. organization that could play a role in assisting those in danger. There were no orders to anybody to stand down in providing support," the official added.
  OBAMA, CIA PUSH BACK AGAINST CRITICISM
  Intelligence and other administration officials expressed particular dismay about a report on Fox News last week that alleged that armed CIA operatives near the U.S. compound in Benghazi were repeatedly told to "stand down" after asking for permission to assist on the night of September 11 and were also refused military backup by the CIA chain of command.
  Following the initial broadcast of the Fox News report, Jennifer Youngblood, a CIA spokeswoman, denied that CIA had ever turned down requests for help from U.S. personnel in Benghazi.
  "No one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate," Youngblood said.
  According to the timeline, around 9:40 p.m. Benghazi time, officials at the CIA's relatively fortified and well-defended base in Benghazi got a call from State Department officials at the U.S. diplomatic mission about a mile away that the less-fortified public mission complex had come under attack from a group of militants, the intelligence official said.
  Other official sources said that the initial wave of attacks on the diplomatic mission involved setting fires using diesel fuel. The dense smoke created by the fuel both made it hard for people at the compound to breathe and to organize a response to the attack.
  About 25 minutes after the initial report came into the CIA base, a team of about six agency security officers left their base for the public diplomatic mission compound.
  Over the succeeding 25 minutes, the CIA team approached the compound, and tried, apparently unsuccessfully, to get local Libyan allies to bring them a supply of heavier weapons, and eventually moved into the burning diplomatic compound, the intelligence official said.
  At around 11:10 p.m., a Defense Department drone, which had been on an unrelated mission some distance away, arrived in Benghazi to help officials on the ground gather information. By 11:30, U.S. personnel who had been working or staying at the mission had been rounded up except for Ambassador Stevens, who was missing, the intelligence official said.
  When they tried to drive out of the diplomatic compound to return to the CIA base, however, the convoy carrying U.S. evacuees came under fire.
  Once they got back to the CIA base, that installation itself came under fire from what the intelligence official described as small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. These patchy attacks went on for roughly 90 minutes, the intelligence official said.
  CIA SENT TEAM FROM TRIPOLI
  Around the same time, a CIA security team based in Tripoli, which included two U.S. military officers, landed at Benghazi airport. Upon its arrival, however, the team spent some time trying both to arrange local transport and to locate the missing Ambassador Stevens.
  After some time trying to solve these problems, the security team that had flown in from Tripoli eventually arranged for an armed local escort and extra transportation, but decided not to go the hospital where they believed Stevens had been taken. In part this was because they had reason to believe Stevens was likely dead, and because security at the hospital was believed, at best, to be "uncertain," the intelligence official said.
  Not long before dawn, the reinforcements from Tripoli managed to take themselves and a convoy of vehicles to the CIA base to prepare for an anticipated evacuation.
  However, just after they arrived at the CIA base, the official said, a new round of attacks on that facility was launched, this time with mortars. Although the mortar attacks lasted only 11 minutes, two U.S. security officers were killed by a direct hit from one of the shells, the intelligence official said.
  Finally, a bit less than an hour later, a heavily armed Libyan military unit arrived at the CIA base to help evacuate the compound of U.S. personnel to the Benghazi airport, the official added.
  Over the next few hours, roughly 30 Americans, as well as the bodies of Stevens and the other three Americans killed during the attacks, were loaded on planes and flown out of the city, several U.S. officials said.
  (Reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
CIA rushed to assist diplomats in Libya within 25 minutes, officials say
  Link to Article
  Source: Twitchy » US Politics
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 03:37
  As the ever-shifting timeline of events in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11 finally begins to catch the attention of the mainstream media, anonymous U.S. intelligence officials have spoken out today to either clarify or further confuse, claiming that CIA security officers rushed to the assistance of American diplomats within 25 minutes of the first call for help and at no point were told to stand down.
  A report published earlier today by Eli Lake quoted a senior U.S. Defense official as saying, ''There was no request from the Department of State to intervene militarily on the night of the attack.'' One week ago, a CIA spokesperson denied reports that CIA operatives were repeatedly given orders to ''stand down'' after hearing shots fired at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, insisting that ''no one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate.''
  The Washington Post reports:
  U.S. officials said they decided to offer a detailed account of the CIA's role, however, to rebut media reports that have suggested that agency leaders delayed sending help to State Department officials seeking to fend off a heavily armed mob.
  Instead, U.S. intelligence officials insisted that CIA operatives in Benghazi and Tripoli made decisions rapidly throughout the assault with no interference from Washington, even while acknowledging that CIA security forces were badly outmatched and largely unable to mobilize Libyan security teams until it was too late.
  The Post's David Ignatius, an opinion writer, also includes a revised timeline based on this new information. The first call for help from the consulate was made at 9:40 p.m., and according to the unnamed senior intelligence official, a six-person rescue squad, including Tyrone Woods, was dispatched at 10:04 p.m. Ignatius concludes that there were ''CIA errors but no evidence of conspiracy.''
  Why so many questions, people? Are you suspicious just because the president was still peddling the ''blame the video'' line a week later on David Letterman's show? You should be satisfied. Reporters for NBC and the New York Times like what they see, after all.
  Like this:Be the first to like this.
Thank You
  Link to Article
  Source: QRZ Forums
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 03:35
  A word of thanks to all those who keep our modern technology working 24/7/365 - or as close to that as possible.
  To the men and women who build and repair the power lines, water lines, sewers, gas pipes, roads, bridges, tunnels, transit systems, communications, transportation and much more.
  They don't have a holiday dedicated to them. No parades, festivals, celebrations, statues, memorials. You don't see movies or TV shows about them. Books about them are rare, and are usually not considered to be "literature".
  Normally, they do the job so well that we don't even think about them much. It takes a major disaster like "Sandy" to remind us of what they do.
  Their jobs are often dirty, dangerous and almost never "9 to 5". They work in the cold, the heat, the wet, the dry, high in the air or deep underground. In the cities, the country and everything in between. No matter what time of day or day of the year it is when you read this, some of them are on the job right now.
  All too often, their work goes completely unnoticed.
  To all of them, I say:
  Thank you!
  73 de Jim, N2EY
  250px-FEMA_-_20472_-_Photograph_by_Marvin_Nauman_taken_on_11-10-2005_in_Louisiana.jpg
Starving New Yorkers Forage for Food
  Link to Article
  Source: Dvorak News Blog
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 02:52
  Homes and businesses in the Lower East Side and East Village are still without power and under water. Residents began dumpster diving outside a Key Food supermarket Thursday, looking for whatever food they can take. Jonathan Vigliotti reports.
  Right, 48 hours without food drives people to desperation. What a load of crap!
Storm Ravaged Staten Island Is Really Mad That the Marathon Is Still Happening
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 02:45
  In the aftermath of this weekend's storm, few places have been hit worse than Staten Island. Anderson Cooper said on tonight's AC 360 that Staten Island ''hasn't got the attention it should have in the last few days'' and focused most of his show on the now-found bodies of two Staten Island children who were lost in the storm.
  But today Mayor Bloomberg announced that the New York City Marathon would still start on the Staten Island side of the Verrizano bridge. This has been the final straw for many an angry Staten Island resident.
  There's already an online petition to postpone the marathon that has nearly 2,000 signatures and there's a chain letter-like Facebook status that's being reposted endlessly:
  Marathon runners: When you start at the Verrazano Bridge, half of you should turn around and run toward Hylan Blvd and go to Father Cappadanno or straight to Tottenville and help all those that lost their loved ones, lost their homes, lost everything in Staten Island'... The other half should run through Brooklyn to Breezy Point to Long Island and help those that lost their homes and loved ones as well. There are so many people that need socks, t-shirts, shoes, water, hot food; these are all the same supplies that NYC will be providing to the thousands attending the NYC Marathon. Instead of running 26 miles through a city that President Obama declared a Major Disaster Area, run a gallon of gas to NJ so people don't have to wait in line for 3 hours. I CANNOT believe the Mayor is still going to let the NYC Marathon go on.
  Staten Island's elected officials are also on the attack against the mayor's decision. Representative Michael Grimm said today, ''It is complete and utter lunacy. We are still taking people out of the water and we're supposed to spruce up the parks for a race?''
  And Councilman James Oddo said, ''To begin this one mile away from where we are still looking for bodies is sinful.''
  - Myles Tanzer
  [Image via Getty]
On Staten Island, cries for help replaced by a loss for words
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 02:44
  1 of 7. A woman stands alone in water in front of destroyed homes on Cedar Grove Avenue in a neighborhood where many houses were heavily damaged or completely destroyed by storm surge flooding from Hurricane Sandy on the south side of the Staten Island section of New York City, November 1, 2012.
  Credit: Reuters/Mike Segar
  By Edith Honan
  NEW YORK | Thu Nov 1, 2012 6:23pm EDT
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - On Hamden Ave, a storm-wrecked street on New York City's Staten Island, everyone was talking about the surge - a wall of water that came tearing down the street on Monday night.
  As families picked through mud-caked photo albums and couch cushions, and stared at ruined cars scattered across the neighborhood, they talked on Thursday about how a little bit of rain suddenly turned into pools of water. Then swelled and kept swelling until the water flooded the first floor of homes.
  "We heard this noise and it sounded like a train," said Dawn Rautenstrauch, speaking three days after Sandy, a vicious storm, tore across the East Coast, washing away houses, trees and bridges. "There was a 10-foot wave carrying cars."
  The 37-year-old mother of three had been outside smoking a cigarette when the floods came. She had just enough time to grab her children out of a room in the building's basement, where they were watching television, and bring them up to safety on the building's second floor.
  "We were listening to people on their roofs screaming for help," said Rautenstrauch, her voice breaking. "And to think we're actually the lucky ones. I don't have nothing, but we're alive."
  Staten Island, which lies across New York Harbor from lower Manhattan, is home to about 500,000 residents, many blue-collar workers whose families have lived there for generations.
  Few areas were as devastated by the storm in terms of property damage and loss of life; 15 of the 39 New York City residents killed were from Staten Island. The dead included two boys, ages 2 and 4, who were swept from their mother's arms by the floodwaters.
  HERO OF HAMDEN AVENUE
  Most of the hardest hit neighborhoods, including Hamden Avenue, were under evacuation orders. And while residents said they regretted the decision to ignore the order, many said they were surprised the damage was so significant. When Hurricane Irene swept through this area last year, it hardly left a mark.
  "It was like living through Titanic, but on ground," said Krystina Berrios, 25, who works for a home care agency. "You would never think in a million years having to go through something like this."
  Berrios lived in an apartment in the basement - though she passed the storm with family on the building's second floor - and everything she owned was destroyed.
  She said she spent Monday night glued to a window, terrified that the water would rise even higher and drown her family. At dawn, Berrios spotted the lights of a rescue crew, and her family was taken to dry land a few blocks inland.
  She returned for the first time on Thursday morning, after hearing rumors that vandals were breaking into people's homes and stealing what had not been destroyed.
  If there is a hero on Hamden Avenue, the neighbors said it would be Gus Veintimilla, a 30-year-old sanitation worker. He lives at the end of the street, just a few houses down from his parents.
  He was awakened in the aftermath of the storm by the sound of city rescue workers knocking down doors as they helped people from their flooded homes.
  But after taking the most severe cases - a mother and father trapped on their roof with their four young children, among others - the team did not return.
  Veintimilla spotted a man in a six-foot wooden dingy and asked if he could use it.
  Over the next three hours, he delivered his neighbors, family by family, from their flooded homes to dry land.
  "I just said,'Get your stuff together. Take whatever you need,'" he said.
  Some of the neighbors ended up at the home of Teresa Connor, a counselor at Staten Island University Hospital.
  "Stupid me, I should have evacuated," said Connor
  She said the force of the approaching water was like nothing she had ever seen before. She said it knocked down her 300-pound husband.
  As residents on Thursday began the process of cleaning up their ruined homes, Patrick Donaghue, a 26-year-old from the area who works in Manhattan's Fulton Fish Market, arrived in a car packed with donated clothing and toys, and bags of groceries.
  He opened the trunk and told the crowds of people to help themselves.
  "It's devastating," he said. "A lot of people have lived here for generations. And now, all your memories are gone. It makes you want to cry. You're at a loss for words."
  (Editing by Paul Thomasch and Jackie Frank)
  Link thisShare thisDigg thisEmailReprints
tabs.mediahackers.org
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 02:44
  The World tab contains feeds from non-US sites about the rest of the world. This was an attempt to create a flow that's not mostly about America. This was a community project, in a thread on scripting.com. In fact the idea came from an earlier thread.
  The Berkman tab was removed to make room. I have a feeling about how many tabs there should be. And while I personally want to keep up on the Berkman community, there aren't that many other people tuned in who are. (I can tell by usage patterns.) However, the river is still running, and if you have the URL bookmarked, it should continue to work. It just isn't in one of the tabs.
  Apple
  I asked John Gruber, Brent Simmons and Marco Arment for the Apple feeds that are most important to them. Then I added feeds from the major tech pubs and blogs.
  Apple news became the "lead river" when the Olympics were over. Apple is the hot topic because there's an announcement coming in September so there's likely to be a lot of news.
  If you want to follow these feeds in another news reader app, here's the OPML reading list. Note however that this is dynamic and may change, so you'll want to reload it every so often.
  Tech
  This river is made up of the feeds in TechMeme's leaderboard. It's cool because it's a view of TechMeme that previously only their bot would see. When I want to know what's new, I want to know it all, not just what's popular. Sometimes the things that are least popular are the most interesting, and shift my point of view.
  I have a script that reads their leaderboard page every night, and pulls out the RSS feeds to form an OPML file that then acts as a subscription list for River2. You're welcome to use the feed in whatever aggregator you use. But remember that it's dynamic, it changes every night. Most readers can't handle that (if yours does, let me know).
  NYT
  There are plenty of New York Times stories in my personal selection, also known as the Dave tab (see below), but there are lots of other stories as well. This river contains only stories from the Times, so it's more concentrated. It's simply a reflection of what's in the NYT firehose feed.
  World
  I started with the "international" feeds from major news outlets such as the ABC from Australia, Ria Novosti from Russia, Al Jazeera, Ha'aretz, The Hindu, NYT international feed, etc. Then I asked people who read the site for other feeds. English-language. Cover non-local news for their geography, but not be focused on the United States. We already have lots of American news in other tabs.
  NOLA
  New Orleans' main newspaper, the Times-Picayune, has curtailed publication. I love the city, I went to college there many years ago, and it's been through a lot. But I think something good can come from this. A river of news combining the flow of a number of blogs and community publications makes for interesting reading. That's what this river is about. If you have suggestions for feeds, check out this thread.
  Berkman
  I spent a couple of years at Berkman Center at Harvard, and met a lot of interesting people there, many of whom have gone onto to other interesting things. I thought that a river of that community might be interesting. So far I don't have a lot of feeds, but I'm keeping this here for a while in the hope that it might develop. If you have suggestions post a comment here.
  This river was taken off the tabs in v3.0, but it's still accessible at this URL.
  Frontier
  Frontier is a powerful scripting and database environment that has been my life's work in many ways. It's centered on outlining, and has hooks into all the powerful protocols of the Internet. It's also got deep content management capabilities. The latest incarnation of Frontier, the OPML Editor is also the server environment that runs all the software you're seeing here.
  This river combines all the feeds and mail lists for the community. It's the one place to go to find out what's new.
  Dave
  These are my own personal selections. It started as the first river, the one I used in all examples and demos, and it's what I rely on to stay current. It's an eclectic selection of news sources and blogs, columnists and gadflies. The only qualification for being in this river is that at one time I thought it would be interesting to follow this source. I almos tnever unsub from one of these.
  River2
  River2 is a server app that reads your feeds every 15 minutes and builds a static river. All these rivers are created one of my servers. It supports podcast enclosures, realtime updates with rssCloud, dynamic OPML reading lists and all flavors of RSS and Atom.
  OPML Server
  OPML Server is server environment running inside the OPML Editor.
  Following in the tradition of powerful Unix editors, we have an incredible programming language, database, and communication stack built into our favorite outliner.
  It's so powerful that you can make a complete server environment out of it.
  Amazon EC3
  It's so cool that you can create a new virtual server when you want one. A server is almost like a document. And when you're done, throw it away.
  Amazon had a great idea. It could be simpler, but it's a great start.
  I wrote a howto that shows you how to create a new instance of an OPML Server on EC2. If you're new to EC2, the first year is free! Wow. :-)
  Amazon S3
  It's a great storage system. Fast, high availablilty, infinite scaling. Cheap. Easy API. What else could you want.
  I wrote a howto called S3 for Poets that makes it easy to get started with S3.
  Bootstrap Toolkit
  RT
  On each item in all the rivers you'll see a RT link. The first time you click on one it will ask for the address of your linkblog server. It's a very simple protocol. It passes the title, link and description for the item to the linkblogger, which then will likely put those elements in a dialog that you can tweak before sending to your followers. It's the feed-oriented analog of Twitter's retweet command.
  I use Radio2 as my linkblogging tool.
  People ask if they can pay for this. It's so gratifying to hear that people think it's worth money. But for now, the best thing to tell people about it. Especially people who work at news organizations and bloggers. I want them all to do rivers for their communities. They don't have to be as fancy as this one. And we'll help. It's important to have these streams running all over the web, not just on Twitter and Facebook.
  Dan MacTough for his help with JavaScript.
  Thanks to the community that developed the beautiful river jQuery app that displays all the rivers, especially Nicolas Gallagher and Martin Duffy.
  My name is Dave Winer.
m.guardian.co.uk
  Link to Article
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 02:37
  Chelsea investigating apparent 'monkey' gesture made by supporter
  ' Chelsea fan caught on camera during United game' Metropolitan Police have also launched investigation
  A Chelsea fan appears to make a monkey gesture towards Manchester United's Danny Welbeck (out of shot). Photograph: David Klein/Sportimage
  Press Association
  guardian.co.uk, Thu 1 Nov 2012 13.44 GMT
  Chelsea have launched an investigation after a photograph emerged of a supporter appearing to make a racist gesture towards a Manchester United player.
  The Metropolitan police have confirmed they have also launched an investigation into the incident after a complaint was received, adding: "There have been no arrests and enquiries continue."
  A statement from the club read: "Chelsea Football Club can confirm we are investigating an incident involving a member of the crowd at last night's game against Manchester United.
  "The club will be examining all available footage and asks anyone who can identify the individual to contact the club.
  "Chelsea FC is committed to removing all forms of discrimination and if we have sufficient evidence we will take the strongest possible action, including supporting criminal prosecution."
  This latest issue comes at a sensitive time for Chelsea, with the club having lodged a formal complaint with the Football Association against the referee Mark Clattenburg for using "inappropriate language" towards the midfielder Mikel Jon Obi. Clattenburg maintains his innocence.Chelsea are also understood to be looking into a number of incidents concerning United fans after objects were thrown onto the pitch during the match and a pitch invasion involving an away supporter.
Yahoo Japan to sell genetic test kit to general public
  Link to Article
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 02:33
  Friday, Nov. 2, 2012
  Internet giant Yahoo Japan Corp. will market to the general public a medical test kit intended to help individuals identify their genetic risk for contracting various diseases, officials said Thursday.
  Acknowledging criticism of making genetic tests readily available to consumers, Yahoo Japan defended its planned online sale of the kit from December.
  "It is the No. 1 firm in Japan in the field that conducts analyses," an official said. "A groundbreaking product good for preventive medicine will be made available at a low price."
  The test kit, which is priced at ¥29,800, was developed by Tokyo-based genetic analysis specialist Genesis Healthcare Co. Yahoo Japan projects sales of 300 units a month.
  Using the kit, consumers are directed to send saliva samples to Genesis Healthcare, which will analyze 68 genes and report back any genetic predispositions to certain ailments, such as stroke or gout.
  The firm will also advise customers on lifestyle changes that would reduce their risk of developing diseases they are genetically susceptible to. It will take about two months to obtain results.
  Yahoo Japan will play only a marketing role and will not handle any data from the analyses, the officials said.
  Although the product can be beneficial in helping people change their habits to reduce disease risk, there is the chance of discrimination if the results are obtained by third parties, a university professor specializing in genetic analysis cautioned.
  The results could also contain information the customers may not want to know, the professor said.
  In March, a committee of the Japanese Association of Medical Sciences said the law on sales of genetic test kits to general consumers is ambiguous.
  Consumers are left to themselves to evaluate the credibility of genetic tests and associated risks.
Small US companies pose profit-less riddle
  Link to Article
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 02:31
  Small US companies pose profit-less riddleBy SpenglerThere's a simple reason why investors avoid the smaller companies that contributed most job growth in the United States during the past 40 years. They aren't making much money, and a lot of them are losing money. Why should this be the case? [1]
  US corporations are sitting on a US$1.7 trillion cash hoard, private equity firms are sitting on a further $1 trillion in unused commitments, and investment in plant and equipment languishes well below the pre-crisis peak. The great American job machine is broken because Americans won't invest in each other's labor.
  Exhibit 1: Non-defense Capital Goods Orders minus Aircraft, 1992 DollarsSource: FRED
  There's no question that investment is down. Capital goods orders
  in real terms are still 20% below their 2007 level (and a quarter below their 1998 peak). It's even worse than it looks because a disproportionate share of post-2008 capital goods orders reflect overseas demand rather than domestic investment.
  A glance at the returns to investment among smaller companies helps explain the investors' strike.
  Exhibit 2: Most US Publicly Traded Companies Aren't Earning MuchSource: Finviz
  The average return on investment (ROI) for 3181 traded US companies as of the second quarter was just 1.0%, versus 10.2% for the top 500 by market capitalization. The long tail on the left of the histogram shows that a large proportion of smaller firms are losing money.
  The picture is even uglier for the 680 or so traded technology companies. For every Apple, there are dozens of money-losing middle-market and start-up firms.
  Exhibit 3: Return on Investment for Technology CompaniesSource: Finviz
  Apart from the top tier, tech companies as a sector are money pits. The long tail on the left reflects enormous losses on investments for the majority of smaller companies, whose average ROI is a negative 15%.
  The average, to be sure, gives the same weight to struggling small-cap companies as to successful large-cap companies. If we look at the aggregate returns to smaller and larger companies, though, we observe a widening gap during the past decade. Comparing the return on assets to the S&P 500 to the return on assets for the Russell 2000 Index of smaller-capitalization companies, we observe that a three-point differential in favor of the top 500 companies in 2003 has turned into a six-point differential in 2012.
  Exhibit 4: Return on Assets Gap Widens Between Big and Small CompaniesSource: S&P
  There are several possible explanations:
  1. We are in a technology plateau in which fewer innovations are available to entrepreneurs, and labor productivity will grow more slowly. Prof Robert Gordon of Northwestern University made this argument in a recent paper that attracted extensive press.
  2. The shift in world economic growth towards emerging markets favors the mass dissemination of existing technologies rather than the invention of new technologies;
  3. Globalization sets a far higher threshold for entrepreneurial success than in the past, in terms of diversity of management skills, global operations, technological prowess, capital requirements and investor patience (this is the thesis of a recent book, Entrepreneurship and the Global Economy, by Henry Kressel and Thomas Lento, which I reviewed in the Wall Street Journal on September 27, 2012).
  Kressel and Lento observe that a quarter of investors have taken all the profits from venture capital investments in the past decade, which is to say that three-quarters of all venture capital funds have lost money.
  4. The Obama administration's hostility to business (in the form of high business taxes, excessive and capricious regulation, the high threshold costs of expansion due to Obamacare) and associated policy uncertainty discourage investors.
  Whatever the cause, the result is that firms with 500 to 1,000 employees, the biggest job creators in previous recoveries, were the biggest shedders of employment in the present economy.
  Exhibit 5: Return on Investment for Technology CompaniesSource: BLS
  There is doubtless some truth to Prof Gordon's argument, and there is no doubt that global competition puts headwinds in the way of American entrepreneurs. There is no instant solution to these problems. But there is a quick solution to the fiscal and regulatory obstacles to smaller American companies, and it requires a change in administration in November. Without such a change, we will never find out how formidable the other problems may be.
  Note:1. This article is adapted from Macrostrategy's October 26, 2012 report, "Flattened Profits".
  Spengler is channeled by David P Goldman. His bookHow Civilizations Die (and why Islam is Dying, Too) was published by Regnery Press in September 2011. A volume of his essays on culture, religion and economics,It's Not the End of the World - It's Just the End of You, also appeared last fall, from Van Praag Press.
  (Copyright 2012 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)
Federal Judge Blocks Obama Admin From Forcing Catholic Business To Comply With HHS Mandate'...
  Link to Article
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 02:28
  This should all be over with soon once Comrade Obama is booted from office.
  (Reuters) '' A Catholic-owned family business in Michigan does not have to comply with the provision of the new U.S. healthcare law that requires private employers to provide employees with health insurance that covers birth control, a federal judge in Detroit has ruled.
  U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland, in a ruling late Wednesday, temporarily blocked the government from forcing the owner of Weingartz Supply Company, which sells outdoor power equipment, to include contraception in its health coverage of employees.
  The ruling only affects the company's Catholic proprietor, Daniel Weingartz, and the approximately 170 people who work for him. But it opens the door for other firms to seek relief on religious grounds.
  Cleland is now the second federal judge to temporarily block part of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 from being enforced against the religious owners of a family business. In July, U.S. District Judge John Kane in Denver temporarily prevented the government from requiring the Catholic owners of Hercules Industries Inc, a private manufacturer of heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment, to provide health insurance that covers birth control.
  Weingartz was joined in his lawsuit, filed in May, by Legatus, a national association of Catholic business owners.
  Roman Catholic bishops and many Republican lawmakers have opposed the birth control provision, and priests have been speaking out against the law from pulpits across the country. Church doctrine opposes artificial contraception but most American Catholics do not adhere to church policy.
Jimmy Savile, Gary Glitter and the politics of paedophile rings
  Link to Article
  Source: The Conversation
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 01:59
  Jimmy Savile, pictured at Downing Street with former British prime minister Gordon Brown, is the subject of sexual abuse allegations. Flickr/Downing StreetIn Britain, the sexual abuse allegations against television personality Jimmy Savile have now implicated glam rocker Gary Glitter and comedian Freddie Starr. Police have intimated that other high-profile arrests are forthcoming.
  These developments have finally given credence to the accounts of many victims '' who over the years have maintained that Savile was part of an organised group of men who shared his sexual interest in minors.
  Terms such as ''paedophile rings'' and ''child sex rings'' have begun to surface in public discussion. It is often unclear what these terms mean, leaving such allegations vulnerable to being discredited or dismissed out of hand. Already, sceptics are claiming a ''witch hunt'' is afoot.
  My research on organised sexual abuse, in which multiple adults conspire to abuse multiple children, suggests that a culture of abuse can develop within some peer groups, institutions and even families.
  It is well recognised that commonly held views about masculinity, sexuality and power are used by offenders to legitimise child abuse. In some circumstances, the abuse of children and women can become a means of male bonding. This form of abuse is poorly understood by investigators.
  Victims can find it very difficult finding someone to take them seriously. An independent 2010 report into child protection in Britain, which was not made public but was quoted in the UK print media, found child victims of sexually abusive groups were often ignored by the authorities. One victim complained:
  The authorities did not understand what was happening to us, either because they did not believe us or because they could not comprehend that something as serious as this was possible.
  Until his death in 2011, Savile was a much-loved British media personality. Now, he is the subject of allegations of sexual abuse from at least 300 victims dating back decades. Questions have been raised about how much friends and colleagues knew about, and potentially colluded in, these crimes.
  Some of Savile's associates have linked his behaviour to the ''hedonistic culture'' of the 1960s and 1970s, where teenage girls supposedly ''threw'' themselves at famous men. These men, in turn, ''never asked for anybody's birth certificate''.
  This suggests that sexual abuse is a situation in which adult men are sexually targeted by minors rather than the other way around. These inversions of responsibility are common among sex offenders. However, they circulate in the wider community as well, and victims of sex offences are often held responsible for their own victimisation.
  Self-serving accounts of ''free love'' are in stark contrast to the perspectives provided by the victims of Savile and others. They recount humiliating ordeals devoid of consent or pleasure; some appear to have had a co-ordinated, organised dimension. Some women have described instances in which sexually abusive men working in a range of institutions facilitated Savile's access to vulnerable children ostensibly under the guise of media or charity work.
  Accounts of organised abuse have circled around Savile for some years. They have not been acted upon until now. Investigations into Savile's involvement in the abuse of children at the Haut de la Garenne children's home in Jersey, dismissed in 2008 for ''lack of evidence'', have now been reopened. New evidence has not emerged. Simply put, there is new pressure on the relevant authorities to be seen to be taking these allegations seriously.
  What counts as evidence in sexual abuse allegations is in the eye of the beholder. Where the victim's account contains controversial elements such as a high-profile offender or multiple perpetrators, it can become tempting for investigators to label the victim's account as little more than hearsay.
  Convicted paedophile and former pop star Gary Glitter has been arrested in connection with the Jimmy Savile investigation. EPA/Tal Cohen
  This temptation is particularly strong where the victim presents as troubled, mentally ill or disadvantaged in comparison to the offender. But sexual offenders can selectively target vulnerable children because they know they are less likely to be believed if they disclose. When they become adults, victims of organised abuse are deemed to make poor witnesses due to the mental health consequences of severe abuse and the years that have passed since the offences were committed. They are a group of sexual abuse survivors who are considered, quite literally, beyond belief. Hence they are often placed beyond help.
  The official response to the abuse allegations against Savile is following a well-worn path, in which disinterest and inaction suddenly transforms into fury and a flurry of activity. Too often, once the media spotlight moves on, this activity dies down leaving the status quo intact, as the needs of vulnerable children and victimised adults continue to go unmet.
  The question remains whether the multitude of inquiries and investigations into Savile's activities will catalyse real change or simply return us to ''business as usual'' once the pressure is off.
  Post a CommentTagsSexual abuse
  Related articles 24 September 2012 Time to talk about male survivors of sexual abuse 4 July 2012 George Pell and the requirement for the mandatory reporting of sex predator priests
Secret Service agent commits suicide amid affair probe - Jonathan Allen
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 01:57
  The investigation led to the suspension of the agent's access to Secret Service facilities. | AP Photo
  CloseA member of the president's Secret Service protective detail, who was being investigated for having an unreported romantic relationship with a foreign national, was found dead Saturday in an apparent suicide, according to law enforcement sources.
  The official cause of Rafael Prieto's death is still pending.
  Continue ReadingThe investigation had led to the suspension of his access to Secret Service facilities, according to sources familiar with the case.
  The Secret Service does not believe that Prieto passed any sensitive or classified information to the Mexican woman, according to a senior law enforcement official. Instead, Prieto was in the midst of an ''administrative process'' related to his ongoing relationship, the source said.
  A well-liked veteran of the agency, Prieto may have violated security policy by not disclosing his close and continuing contact with the Mexican woman to his bosses, sources familiar with the probe said.
  There has been a crackdown on such relationships in the wake of the Secret Service prostitution scandal in Colombia earlier this year and ensuing reports of similar behavior in other places around the world over the course of many years.
  If found guilty of violating Secret Service disclosure policy, Prieto could have faced sanctions including dismissal. In the past, the alleged affair might have garnered a slap on the wrist, according to the law enforcement source. But the prostitution scandal has heightened sensitivity to unauthorized contact with foreign nationals not only at the Secret Service but at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the men and women who protect the president.
  ''Rafael Prieto had a distinguished 20-year career with the Secret Service that was marked by accomplishment, dedication and friendships,'' Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said. ''The Secret Service is mourning the loss of a valued colleague.''
  Donovan declined to discuss the circumstances of Prieto's death or the details of the administrative process that led to Prieto's suspension.
  According to a 1993 New York Times wedding announcement, Prieto was married to producer and consultant Ruth Pomerance. He hosted her for a tour of the West Wing on Oct. 1, 2011, according to visitor logs.
  Prieto had split time between Washington and the couple's home in New York. But they had become estranged, according to a law enforcement official.
  Prieto was also a member of former President Bill Clinton's protective team in New York.
Why Fran§ois Hollande's popularity has plummeted
  Link to Article
  Source: The Guardian World News
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 00:31
  While more initially more likable to the French public than his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, Fran§ois Hollande suffers opposite problem over policy. Photograph: Bob Edme/AFP/Getty Images
  When Fran§ois Hollande became French president in May, he kept his old mobile phone number so old friends could still reach him to give their frank views. The first Socialist party president in 17 years may be regretting that now: six months after the victory street party at Paris's Bastille, where he vowed to save Europe from one-size-fits-all austerity, his popularity is plummeting.
  He has now broken the record as the most unpopular French president at the six-month mark of a mandate. Only 36% of French people have confidence in Hollande, according to the latest poll by TNS-Sofres for Le Figaro magazine. By comparison, the rightwing Nicolas Sarkozy had 53% approval ratings six months after his election in 2007.
  Why has Mr Normal, an ordinary, decent bloke who pledged to rein in France's huge public deficit while staying fair to the poor and crisis-hit, fallen so far so fast? Hollande's misfortune in the polls follows an autumn of communications gaffes and perceived inaction by a government that has veered off and on message to the point where the public is no longer certain what the message is.
  When Sarkozy fell from grace almost a year after taking office, it was because of his personality '' he irked the electorate by flaunting his bling lifestyle, and was perceived as being more concerned about his whirlwind romance with Carla Bruni than the struggling French population. But if in early 2008, the public disliked Sarkozy as a person, they didn't mind his policies and politics. Proof was the good popularity ratings of his prime minister Fran§ois Fillon, who was well liked while putting Sarkozy's plans into practice. Fillon still has high approval ratings as he battles to become the new leader of Sarkozy's UMP party.
  By contrast, Hollande's opinion poll nose-dive is not about personal animosity '' he has kept up his image as a modest president '' it's his politics, specifically his way of doing politics, which is under attack. The Socialist leadership and government is seen as confused, accused by its opponents of amateurism and inaction. Even the leftwing daily Lib(C)ration recently dubbed Hollande and his prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault "The Apprentices".
  Ayrault, a former teacher who used to drive a VW campervan, was well liked at the start. Yet he has sunk even further than Hollande, to 34% approval ratings. A series of gaffes haven't helped '' notably when he suggested this week that he was open to debating the future of the Socialists' cherished 35-hour week before hastily contradicting himself under pressure from the Elys(C)e. Or when the government tweaked a planned increase in capital gains taxes after a revolt from young entrepreneurs calling themselves "The Pigeons" (slang for mug or sucker).
  All this created a public perception that the government thought problems needed to be solved, but wasn't sure which ones, or how to do it.
  Hollande and Ayrault are pushing through France's harshest budget for 30 years '' and despite telling voters that nine out of 10 of them wouldn't feel the pinch of higher taxes aimed mostly at the rich and big business, public opinion clearly does fear it will feel the pain.
  Hollande is forced to respect EU demands to cut the French deficit. But he must also persuade voters he has his own ideas. The old cliche of France being a country impossible to reform has given way to a searching quest for real structural solutions to rising unemployment, dying industry, low competitiveness, stuttering growth and the threat of recession.
  Hollande favours slow, gradual "negotiation" in contrast to what he calls the "brutality" and headline-grabbing of the Sarkozy era. He has said there will be no "shock treatment" for Paris's uncompetitive economy, despite an impatient Germany fearing France is the next sick man of Europe, but instead a slow, five-year-long approach. But his consensual approach has been construed in the public eye as inaction. To the point where Le Monde asked in a headline this week: "Has Hollande underestimated the crisis?"
  Hollande stood firm in Le Monde, saying he was acutely aware of the trouble facing France and was confident that there would be an economic up-turn. "To exercise power nowadays is very hard. There is no longer any leniency, any respect. But I knew that," he said.
Wisconsin Marijuana Surveillance Cameras - Big Brother Is Watching You Grow Pot
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 00:27
  Bill Maher was very sharp this week in pointing out that, along with climate change '-- which, as we on the east coast know, is not a problem worth worrying about, at least not if you don't mind having halibut as roommates for a while '-- the most important issue that went unmentioned in the four debates among the members of the two major-party tickets was the country's increasingly stupid "war" on drugs. Particularly stupid, of course, is the "war" on marijuana, which is perhaps the most wasteful use of the public fisc since the last time Strom Thurmond drew a paycheck. But, not only has the "war" on drugs been a waste of money, and a deformative nightmare on our criminal justice system, it's also gone a long way towards acclimating an allegedly free people to life under a surveillance state.
  Our latest chapter comes from Wisconsin, where a federal judge ruled that, under certain circumstances, surveillance cameras can be placed on private property without a warrant. It should surprise approximately nobody that the DEA was behind this scheme, and that the malefactors under surveillance were growing pot. The two men now face a possibility of life in prison and $10 million in fines. (The sentences, of course, are nutty enough.) I realize that the Supreme Court has been trying '-- and generally failing '-- to create some kind of limits here. (Note the Jesuitical hair-splitting about what "curtilage" entails in this case.) But, to me, this is a chilling example of technology running away with the law, and it seems to me that, in a country that still ostensibly has a Bill of Rights that, in any dispute arising from a conflict between technology and civil liberties, the benefit of the doubt should in all cases be given to the latter....
  "Placing a video camera in a location that allows law enforcement to record activities outside of a home and beyond protected curtilage does not violate the Fourth Amendment," Justice Department prosecutors James Santelle and William Lipscomb told Callahan. As digital sensors become cheaper and wireless connections become more powerful, the Justice Department's argument would allow police to install cameras on private property without court oversight '-- subject only to budgetary limits and political pressure.
  Lovely. Because of our "war" on drugs, the Fourth Amendment now stops not only at the schoolhouse door '-- America's schoolchildren can be drug-tested for any reason for the privilege of learning what a free nation it is in which they live '-- but also at the limits of what the court determines your "home" to be. And, generally, folks are all right with this, because it has not made the slightest dent in our politics. Spookified, is what we are.
Raping children the Obama way
  Link to Article
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Fri, 02 Nov 2012 00:16
  I usually use satire in being a wag, wag from the Libby Custer book of 1880 for the someone who uses humorous commentary to make a point, to deal with a number of issues, because that is what one does when one has had an unpleasant life.
  Jonathan Winters the great comedian became a humorist for the simple reason he had such a horrid childhood. Humor is a self preserving reactionary response to keeping one's morals.
  There is though nothing funny about democrat Bob Menendez of New Jersey in his paying money to have sex with underage girls in the Dominican Republic. This blog is going to exclusively place before you a reality that no one else will. It is what I do in this job in having this vast matrix of knowledge I have been exposed to all for these purposes.
  I actually have known and spoke with prostitutes. As I have stated, I have had them offer me sex for free as that is the highest honor they think they can give to someone. I did not partake nor would I ever.Most prostitutes are made that way from being raped as children. It is a valueless identity that if one sells oneself, then one feels one is worth something. It is an empowerment and is often sadistic in controlling sex in making sounds to perform to make an idiot think they really are something in bed.
  People do not understand that there is a difference between a hooker, whore, prostitute, street walker, call girl or escort etc... A hooker is someone who hooks the john in usually drugging them so they can roll them for money. The Menendez girls were sexual hostesses "allowed" by the resort he was at to service customer needs.Barack Obama was a Chicago hostess to Lawrence Sinclair "allowed" by the city to provide a service. Obama got off on having men service him on their knees to validate him.
  The reality is these two latin girls which were raped by Senator Menendez, were there because of Barack Obama's benefactors. The same people who caused the 2008 depression are the same financiers who in the late 1980's went into Latin America on the coat tails of the Ronald Reagan economic expansion in the trading partners of South America, conned them into over extending in spending, pulled the inflation rug out from under them, and economically gang raped those nations to control their resources.This global financial cartel led by European interests then installed all these Obama communists in Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Central America to cheaply exploit the peoples there.
  So Robert Menendez can thank the Berlin masters of Barack Obama for the child rape he was short changing those children for, as those girls would have homes with prosperous parents if it had not been for the Obama rapine of Latin America.
  No one in this bothers to consider the Obama daughters, Queenie and Sloven, but for the Rothschild natural selection, they would now be getting raped by Robert Menedez or Bill Maher on some junket to Asia, Africa or Hawaii, smelling of that rich cologne and covered in sticky sweat as they got Bob off and then his attitude changed and he kicked their little black asses out of the hotel room, short changing the agreed upon price.
  The liberals of the world never bother with realities like that in rape is rape, and molesting children is molesting children. That is why when it when on with Sarah Palin and her daughters, thsi blog raised hell about it, becauase institutionalized rape is the destruction of society.When this blog has pointed out for years that people like Bill Maher know damn well who is raping children in their circles and their employers, it is all disgusting David Letterman winked and nodded about as the perks which are part of this cocktail crowd.Henry Kissinger gets off on power, but the stooges like Letterman get off on f*cking little girls to cuckold their men at home, as that is what they empower themselves over.
  Perverts like Menendez go out of town like all these perverts as this blog pointed out, if you have corporate, media or political figures always going off country, it is because of the sexual perversions found there. It is an international trade. If one likes white girls you get Slavs from Israel to Russia. If you like Asians, then Thailand to the Philippines is the destination. If you like Indians you can buy them and have them shipped anywhere. If you like latins, you just show up in any capital, and if you like blacks, you can hit any African capital to get your bell rung, male or female.
  This is the way these people exist. It is so Chris Matthews can rant about people on the right in America liking their "stuff", but the problem it is Chris Matthew's types who are working Chinese to cripple status, it is Chris Matthews types who are running the Mexicans doing pesticide work while cheating them out of Social Security benefits, and it is the Chris Matthews types who make this entire global commerce system of rape run, because raping children for a fee is part of the rewards control program the feudal lords employ to both blackmail, leash and amuse themselves with.I have mentioned one used to be able to buy Egyptians back in the day to have sex fifteen feet from you as you sipped your gin and tonic, as it was the amusement. Making puppets of people is entertaining to those validated by this need and Bob Menendez is a practitioner as much as the lord providing the service.
  No one is going to tell you these heinous things, as it is much easier to make jokes of it or to find the lurid details of it interesting, but it is all about commerce. If these Reagan nations had not been raped and plundered by the Obama benefactors, then these girls would not be available for Bob Menendez to rape.
  New Jersey would not now had a fat Chris Christie bragging on Obama as Christie wants to be VP to Jeb Bush in 2016, knifing Romney in the back. Christie instead would be calling for a Grand Jury to indict Bob Menendez on child molestation charges, but then that would be moral and in all things Obama, what hurt is there in raping some brown skinned girls as that is what they are there for any way like walking on the beach.
  It is what it is and it all connects. It is human slavery and Muchelle Obama can bondage belt all she wants in dramatics, but it was herself, her husband, Barack, who put the whore belts on those Latin children so their organized community of liberals can rape those girls.
  Do not forget for a moment in the lewd things B. Hussein said for several years as this blog pointed them out here, concerning his daughters in sexual situations. It was Obama is from his pretend Kenyan pedophile roots to his literal roots of his mother, Anna Chin was an Asian political prostitute meant to perform and anchor service for Barack sr. to remain in America.
  Anna Chin of the Philippines was a Peking asset in the overthrow of Hawaii from a capitalist agricultural conglomerate state to a state run slave union state as espoused by Uncle Frank Davis, another child rapist.
  It all comes around and what this entire ilk is, and those who are not raping the children know damn well who is in majority raping the children.
  The problem with raping Latins now is there are too many of them in America to translate as the Secret Service learned and Bob Menenedez learned too late on his......what was it, Easter holiday?
  Fitting as Easter is the sex fertility goddess all these perverts lay down to worship.
  nuff said
  agtG 236
  Raping children the Obama way
A Vote for a President to Lead on Climate Change
  Link to Article
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Thu, 01 Nov 2012 21:20
  The devastation that Hurricane Sandy brought to New York City and much of the Northeast -- in lost lives, lost homes and lost business -- brought the stakes of Tuesday's presidential election into sharp relief.
  The floods and fires that swept through our city left a path of destruction that will require years of recovery and rebuilding work. And in the short term, our subway system remains partially shut down, and many city residents and businesses still have no power. In just 14 months, two hurricanes have forced us to evacuate neighborhoods -- something our city government had never done before. If this is a trend, it is simply not sustainable.
  Our climate is changing. And while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it might be -- given this week's devastation -- should compel all elected leaders to take immediate action.
  Here in New York, our comprehensive sustainability plan -- PlaNYC -- has helped allow us to cut our carbon footprint by 16 percent in just five years, which is the equivalent of eliminating the carbon footprint of a city twice the size of Seattle. Through the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group -- a partnership among many of the world's largest cities -- local governments are taking action where national governments are not.
  Leadership NeededBut we can't do it alone. We need leadership from the White House -- and over the past four years, President Barack Obama has taken major steps to reduce our carbon consumption, including setting higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks. His administration also has adopted tighter controls on mercury emissions, which will help to close the dirtiest coal power plants (an effort I have supported through my philanthropy), which are estimated to kill 13,000 Americans a year.
  Mitt Romney, too, has a history of tackling climate change. As governor of Massachusetts, he signed on to a regional cap- and-trade plan designed to reduce carbon emissions 10 percent below 1990 levels. ''The benefits (of that plan) will be long- lasting and enormous -- benefits to our health, our economy, our quality of life, our very landscape. These are actions we can and must take now, if we are to have 'no regrets' when we transfer our temporary stewardship of this Earth to the next generation,'' he wrote at the time.
  He couldn't have been more right. But since then, he has reversed course, abandoning the very cap-and-trade program he once supported. This issue is too important. We need determined leadership at the national level to move the nation and the world forward.
  I believe Mitt Romney is a good and decent man, and he would bring valuable business experience to the Oval Office. He understands that America was built on the promise of equal opportunity, not equal results. In the past he has also taken sensible positions on immigration, illegal guns, abortion rights and health care. But he has reversed course on all of them, and is even running against the health-care model he signed into law in Massachusetts.
  If the 1994 or 2003 version of Mitt Romney were running for president, I may well have voted for him because, like so many other independents, I have found the past four years to be, in a word, disappointing.
  In 2008, Obama ran as a pragmatic problem-solver and consensus-builder. But as president, he devoted little time and effort to developing and sustaining a coalition of centrists, which doomed hope for any real progress on illegal guns, immigration, tax reform, job creation and deficit reduction. And rather than uniting the country around a message of shared sacrifice, he engaged in partisan attacks and has embraced a divisive populist agenda focused more on redistributing income than creating it.
  Important VictoriesNevertheless, the president has achieved some important victories on issues that will help define our future. His Race to the Top education program -- much of which was opposed by the teachers' unions, a traditional Democratic Party constituency -- has helped drive badly needed reform across the country, giving local districts leverage to strengthen accountability in the classroom and expand charter schools. His health-care law -- for all its flaws -- will provide insurance coverage to people who need it most and save lives.
  When I step into the voting booth, I think about the world I want to leave my two daughters, and the values that are required to guide us there. The two parties' nominees for president offer different visions of where they want to lead America.
  One believes a woman's right to choose should be protected for future generations; one does not. That difference, given the likelihood of Supreme Court vacancies, weighs heavily on my decision.
  One recognizes marriage equality as consistent with America's march of freedom; one does not. I want our president to be on the right side of history.
  One sees climate change as an urgent problem that threatens our planet; one does not. I want our president to place scientific evidence and risk management above electoral politics.
  Of course, neither candidate has specified what hard decisions he will make to get our economy back on track while also balancing the budget. But in the end, what matters most isn't the shape of any particular proposal; it's the work that must be done to bring members of Congress together to achieve bipartisan solutions.
  Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan both found success while their parties were out of power in Congress -- and President Obama can, too. If he listens to people on both sides of the aisle, and builds the trust of moderates, he can fulfill the hope he inspired four years ago and lead our country toward a better future for my children and yours. And that's why I will be voting for him.
  (Michael R. Bloomberg is mayor of New York and founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.)
  To contact the Bloomberg View editorial board: view@bloomberg.net.
  New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Photographer: Spencer T. Tucker
John Stossel: Just Because I Take FEMA Money Is No Reason Not To Abolish It
  Link to Article
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Thu, 01 Nov 2012 21:19
  Could there be anything more hypocritical than libertarian John Stossel going on Fox and vehemently attacking FEMA at the same time that he admits having taken money from them three times after his pricey beach house was damaged in a storm? But then again, hypocrisy is a specialty on Fox News.
  Stossel explained that he justified building his beachfront house by saying he couldn't lose '''cause there's this thing called federal flood insurance and the premiums are cheap.'' Without sounding a bit remorseful, he said, ''I'm ashamed, I'm guilty'... The basement was gone (in a previous storm). You paid for a new basement, I never invited you there but you paid for it anyway. It went out again, you paid again. The whole house went, you covered the house. This is a program that encourages relatively affluent people to build in danger'... Stop rewarding people for taking foolish risks.''
  I couldn't help but notice that he didn't mention a thing about his house being damaged by Sandy. So it seems that Stossel's newly-found dislike of FEMA likely came at a time when only other people want to utilize it.
  Ailes-mouthpiece Peter Johnson, Jr. argued strenuously on behalf of FEMA. But with a lower-third banner such as ''WELFARE FOR REPAIRS'' and other Fox segments casting doubt on it, you have to wonder if Ailes is trying to have it both ways: applauding the program in the middle of a disaster and setting the stage for Romney or Republicans to defund what has long been a favoriteFoxtarget.
  ''They paid their premiums'... If you're so rich, why don't you give the money back?'' Johnson asked. '''...You're condemning people that are taking this that have paid their premium that are not rich folks.''
  Stossel acknowledged that he ''probably'' should give the FEMA money back and ''probably'' shouldn't take Medicare but insisted that Johnson was ''missing the point.'' He asked, ''Why is the federal government selling it? I blame the politicians. We don't have special car insurance for Lindsay Lohan.''
  Actually, John, we do. And the day you cancel your FEMA policy and refund the money you took from the government the last three times your house was damaged is the day you might have some credibility arguing that the agency should be abolished.
Who Is Dead Obama Staffer Alex Okrent?
  Link to Article
  Thu, 01 Nov 2012 21:14
  A huge story on July 13 was the death of Obama campaign staffer Alex Okrent. Apparently, he had been at Obama's campaign headquarters in Chicago, fine one minute, dead the next. Witnesses say he collapsed, whereby paramedics were called, and the next thing everyone knows, he's dead.
  Young, twenty-nine years old? Mysteriously dies?
  Nothing to see here, move on'...
  Except'...
  Per the Obama campaign, Okrent had been a staffer going all the way back to Obama's 2004 U.S. senate campaign'--being on staff for eight years. That's a long time.
  The guy must have a lot of history. A lot of stories to tell.
  Except'...
  Do a Google search. You will find that the guy literally does not exist. Except for the story about his death, the guy does not appear anywhere. Even if he wasn't an Obama campaign staffer, anyone who has googled their own name knows everyone that walks the face of this Earth who has not lived in a cave all of their lives will be all over the Internet.
  His existence wiped clean?
  Oddly, his Twitter account is still active. While his timeline shows him to be an Obama supporter, nothing, going all the way back to 2009, indicates he was an Obama staffer.
  His does appear to be a gay marriage supporter, and while his timeline does not indicate he is gay, one photo dug up in an archived Twitter post seems to indicate he was gay. Also, the last thing he tweeted was a suggestion to go to a popular Chicago bar frequented by lesbians and gays.
  Another Obama gay connection?
  Perhaps.
  Perhaps nothing to see here. Perhaps it is another right-wing conspiracy theory.
  Of course, we were told that calling the birth certificate a forgery was a conspiracy theory, and that turned out to be true'...
  Please share this post with your friends and comment below. If you haven't already, take a moment to sign up for our free newsletter above and friend us on Twitter and Facebook to get real time updates.Follow @WestJournalismRead More on this Subject
  NBC Probe Centers On Staffer In Shooting Story ErrorApril 5 (Reuters) '' An internal NBC News probe has...Issa Staffer: Gunrunner Investigation Points Much Higher Than ATF DirectorA spokesman for House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa told...White House Won't Let Rep. Issa Question Key Staffer About Fast And FuriousThe most transparent administration ever has just invoked Executive Privilege...Obama's Defacto Anti-Bullying Czar: ''I Wish Republicans Were All F*cking Dead''(Editor's note: video contains some graphic language) Dan Savage made...Breitbart's Coroner Found Dead; Was He A Loose End?Medical examiners in Los Angeles are investigating the possible poisoning...
Twitter / AntDeRosa: Bloomberg Businessweek cover ...
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  Thu, 01 Nov 2012 13:25
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Myanmar parliament approves foreign investment bill
  Link to Article
  Source: Reuters: World News
  Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:59
  Myanmar's President Thein Sein talks during his first news conference since his re-appointment as head of the ruling party Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), at the presidential palace in Naypyitaw October 21, 2012.
  Credit: Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun
D66-politica: 'ik betaal geen premie voor sloebers'
  Link to Article
  Source: Een andere kijk op nieuws @infomagnl » Nieuws items
  Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:57
  Geplaatst @ 1 november 2012
  Even allemaal zwaaien naar, Meltem Kaya. Hallo, Meltem Kay, bestuurslid D66 Amsterdam Nieuw-West (a.k.a. Jeroenmirckistan) en net weer terug op Twitter [aldus bio]. Stel je zelf eens voor aan het landelijke publiek met een boude uitspraak: "ja, ik ga als hardwerkende, hoogopgeleide vrouw toch getverdegetver niet betalen voor armoedpaupers die zichzelf de vernieling in helpen met kettingroken, comazuipen en vet eten?" Uh, Meltem, je bedoelt dat je vindt dat je veel zorgpremie moet gaan betalen en jij ziet als oorzaak de uittrekkingsroker, de bijstandszuiper en de zorgtoeslagfrituurder? En niet het feit dat Rutte-2 zijn ziel aan de duivel Diederik Samsom heeft verkocht? En dat is geen geintje ter provocatie? "Nee, fucking paupersloebers met hun keuze om te leven zoals ze zelf willen, bah." Ah, okee. Succes met de shitstorm. "Oh, dan is het sarcasme." Goed. Of Meltem is een D66'er met een identiteitscrisis vanwege keiharde mening, of Meltem is de eerste reaguurder [van het soort wat hieronder stelt dat de ophef raar is omdat ze gewoon een goed punt heeft] die het schopt tot D66-politica. Wij gaan voor antwoord C: beiden. Verder: 'Alle lage stadsdeelbesturen moeten nu stoppen met geld uitgeven, ideen bedenken, en berhaupt bestaan. Wij weigeren er anders voor te betalen!'
It's Global Warming, Stupid
  Link to Article
  Source: ccampeador
  Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:55
  Yes, yes, it's unsophisticated to blame any given storm on climate change. Men and women in white lab coats tell us'--and they're right'--that many factors contribute to each severe weather episode. Climate deniers exploit scientific complexity to avoid any discussion at all.
  Clarity, however, is not beyond reach. Hurricane Sandy demands it: At least 40 U.S. deaths. Economic losses expected to climb as high as $50 billion. Eight million homes without power. Hundreds of thousands of people evacuated. More than 15,000 flights grounded. Factories, stores, and hospitals shut. Lower Manhattan dark, silent, and underwater.
  An unscientific survey of the social networking literature on Sandy reveals an illuminating tweet (you read that correctly) from Jonathan Foley, director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. On Oct. 29, Foley thumbed thusly: ''Would this kind of storm happen without climate change? Yes. Fueled by many factors. Is storm stronger because of climate change? Yes.'' Eric Pooley, senior vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund (and former deputy editor of Bloomberg Businessweek), offers a baseball analogy: ''We can't say that steroids caused any one home run by Barry Bonds, but steroids sure helped him hit more and hit them farther. Now we have weather on steroids.''
  In an Oct. 30 blog post, Mark Fischetti of Scientific American took a spin through Ph.D.-land and found more and more credentialed experts willing to shrug off the climate caveats. The broadening consensus: ''Climate change amps up other basic factors that contribute to big storms. For example, the oceans have warmed, providing more energy for storms. And the Earth's atmosphere has warmed, so it retains more moisture, which is drawn into storms and is then dumped on us.'' Even those of us who are science-phobic can get the gist of that.
  Sandy featured a scary extra twist implicating climate change. An Atlantic hurricane moving up the East Coast crashed into cold air dipping south from Canada. The collision supercharged the storm's energy level and extended its geographical reach. Pushing that cold air south was an atmospheric pattern, known as a blocking high, above the Arctic Ocean. Climate scientists Charles Greene and Bruce Monger of Cornell University, writing earlier this year in Oceanography, provided evidence that Arctic icemelts linked to global warming contribute to the very atmospheric pattern that sent the frigid burst down across Canada and the eastern U.S.
  If all that doesn't impress, forget the scientists ostensibly devoted to advancing knowledge and saving lives. Listen instead to corporate insurers committed to compiling statistics for profit.
  On Oct. 17 the giant German reinsurance company Munich Re issued a prescient report titled Severe Weather in North America. Globally, the rate of extreme weather events is rising, and ''nowhere in the world is the rising number of natural catastrophes more evident than in North America.'' From 1980 through 2011, weather disasters caused losses totaling $1.06 trillion. Munich Re found ''a nearly quintupled number of weather-related loss events in North America for the past three decades.'' By contrast, there was ''an increase factor of 4 in Asia, 2.5 in Africa, 2 in Europe, and 1.5 in South America.'' Human-caused climate change ''is believed to contribute to this trend,'' the report said, ''though it influences various perils in different ways.''
  Global warming ''particularly affects formation of heat waves, droughts, intense precipitation events, and in the long run most probably also tropical cyclone intensity,'' Munich Re said. This July was the hottest month recorded in the U.S. since record-keeping began in 1895, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The U.S. Drought Monitor reported that two-thirds of the continental U.S. suffered drought conditions this summer.
  Granted, Munich Re wants to sell more reinsurance (backup policies purchased by other insurance companies), so maybe it has a selfish reason to stir anxiety. But it has no obvious motive for fingering global warming vs. other causes. ''If the first effects of climate change are already perceptible,'' said Peter Hoppe, the company's chief of geo-risks research, ''all alerts and measures against it have become even more pressing.''
  Which raises the question of what alerts and measures to undertake. In his book The Conundrum, David Owen, a staff writer at the New Yorker, contends that as long as the West places high and unquestioning value on economic growth and consumer gratification'--with China and the rest of the developing world right behind'--we will continue to burn the fossil fuels whose emissions trap heat in the atmosphere. Fast trains, hybrid cars, compact fluorescent light bulbs, carbon offsets'--they're just not enough, Owen writes.
  Link'...
  http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-01/its-global-warming-stupid
You Can't Make This Stuff Up'... : The Alabama Weather Blog
  Link to Article
  Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:49
  In October 1997, emergency management officials in Westchester County, New York ran a hurricane simulation for their area.
  The fictional storm was loosely based on the 1938 Long Island Express Hurricane, which caused extreme devastation on Long Island and in Westchester County.
  The practice hurricane was set to come inland on Saturday evening, October 4th as a category two hurricane just east of New York City.
  The advisories used in the drill were eerily predictive of what would happen just over fifteen years later as a very real and very serious Hurricane Sandy came ashore. The central pressure in the advisories 12 hours before landfall was 935 millibars. The maximum winds were similar. The track even curved around eastern North Carolina before turning toward the north.
  But what made it really eerie was that the name of the practice hurricane. Can you guess what it was?
  Sandy.
  Here is some more information on the simulation.
  Category: National and World, Tropical, Weather History
A Zombie Is a Slave Forever
  Link to Article
  Source: ccampeador
  Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:46
  By AMY WILENTZPublished: October 30, 2012ZOMBIES will come to my door on Wednesday night '-- in rags, eye-sockets blackened, pumping devices that make fake blood run down their faces '-- asking for candies. There seem to be more and more zombies every Halloween, more zombies than princesses, fairies, ninjas or knights. In all probability, none of them knows what a zombie really is.
  Most people think of them as the walking dead, a being without a soul or someone with no free will. This is true. But the zombie is not an alien enemy who's been CGI-ed by Hollywood. He is a New World phenomenon that arose from the mixture of old African religious beliefs and the pain of slavery, especially the notoriously merciless and coldblooded slavery of French-run, pre-independence Haiti. In Africa, a dying person's soul might be stolen and stoppered up in a ritual bottle for later use. But the full-blown zombie was a very logical offspring of New World slavery.
  For the slave under French rule in Haiti '-- then Saint-Domingue '-- in the 17th and 18th centuries, life was brutal: hunger, extreme overwork and cruel discipline were the rule. Slaves often could not consume enough calories to allow for normal rates of reproduction; what children they did have might easily starve. That was not of great concern to the plantation masters, who felt that children were a waste of resources, since they weren't able to work properly until they reached 10 or so. More manpower could always be imported from the Middle Passage.
  The only escape from the sugar plantations was death, which was seen as a return to Africa, or lan guin(C)e (literally Guinea, or West Africa). This is the phrase in Haitian Creole that even now means heaven. The plantation meant a life in servitude; lan guin(C)e meant freedom. Death was feared but also wished for. Not surprisingly, suicide was a frequent recourse of the slaves, who were handy with poisons and powders. The plantation masters thought of suicide as the worst kind of thievery, since it deprived the master not only of a slave's service, but also of his or her person, which was, after all, the master's property. Suicide was the slave's only way to take control over his or her own body.
  And yet, the fear of becoming a zombie might stop them from doing so. The zombie is a dead person who cannot get across to lan guin(C)e. This final rest '-- in green, leafy, heavenly Africa, with no sugarcane to cut and no master to appease or serve '-- is unavailable to the zombie. To become a zombie was the slave's worst nightmare: to be dead and still a slave, an eternal field hand. It is thought that slave drivers on the plantations, who were usually slaves themselves and sometimes Voodoo priests, used this fear of zombification to keep recalcitrant slaves in order and to warn those who were despondent not to go too far.
  In traditional Voodoo belief, in order to get back to lan guin(C)e, one must be transported there by Baron Samedi, the lord of the cemetery and one of the darkest and most complicated of the religion's many complicated gods. Baron is customarily dressed in a business jacket, a top hat and dark glasses; he's foul-mouthed and comic in a low, vicious way. One of Baron's spiritual functions, his most important, is to dig a person's grave and welcome him to the other side. If for some reason a person has thwarted or offended Baron, the god will not allow that person, upon his death, to reach guin(C)e. Then you're a zombie. Some other lucky mortal can control you, it is believed. You'll do the bidding of your master without question.
  Haiti's notorious dictator Fran§ois Duvalier, known as Papa Doc, who controlled Haiti with a viselike grip from 1957 until his death in 1971, well understood the Baron's role. He dressed like Baron, in a black fedora, business suit and heavy glasses or sunglasses. Like Baron at a ceremony, when Duvalier spoke publicly, it was often in a near whisper. His secret police, the Tontons Macoutes, behaved with the complete immorality and obedience of the undead, and were sometimes assumed to be zombies under the dictator's control. I once heard a Haitian radio announcer describe Klaus Barbie, a Nazi known as the Butcher of Lyon, as ''youn ansyen Tonton Makout Hitler,'' or one of Hitler's Tontons Macoutes: a zombie of the Reich.
  The only way for a zombie to have his will and soul return is for him to eat salt '-- a smart boss of a zombie keeps the creature's food tasteless. In the 1980s, with Duvalier's son ousted from power and the moment ripe for reform, the literacy primer put out by the liberation theologians' wing of the Roman Catholic Church in Haiti was called ''A Taste of Salt.''
  There are many reasons the zombie, sprung from the colonial slave economy, is returning now to haunt us. Of course, the zombie is scary in a primordial way, but in a modern way, too. He's the living dead, but he's also the inanimate animated, the robot of industrial dystopias. He's great for fascism: one recent zombie movie (and there have been many) was called ''The Fourth Reich.'' The zombie is devoid of consciousness and therefore unable to critique the system that has entrapped him. He's labor without grievance. He works free and never goes on strike. You don't have to feed him much. He's a Foxconn worker in China; a maquiladora seamstress in Guatemala; a citizen of North Korea; he's the man, surely in the throes of psychosis and under the thrall of extreme poverty, who, years ago, during an interview, told me he believed he had once been a zombie himself.
  So when kids come to your door this Halloween wearing costumes called Child Zombie Doctor or Shopko's Fun World Zombie, offer them a sprinkling of salt along with their candy corn.
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Drive-thru flu vaccines being administered for 'emergency response' purposes
  Link to Article
  Source: Infowars » Featured Stories
  Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:44
  Ethan A. HuffNatural NewsNov 1, 2012
  In the shadow of Halloween, local health departments all across the country are holding creepy new drive-thru flu shot clinics this year as part of a nationwide ''emergency preparedness drill'' to see how quickly and efficiently large numbers of people can be vaccinated. According to numerous local reports, individuals are being encouraged to bring their family and friends along for the ride as they roll down their windows to get the free jabs, while officials monitor and track how rapidly the public can be processed through these various vaccine lines.
  The ominous initiative, which some reports are openly describing as a test run for future forced vaccinations of large numbers of people, is taking place in Connecticut, Alabama, Georgia, California, Kansas, Virginia, Arizona, and many other states. And in some locations, administrators will actually be onsite timing with a stopwatch the rate at which vaccine providers are able to process people through the vaccine lines, all for the purpose of assessing whether or not such a feat might be possible on a much larger scale.
  ''We're going to time how long it takes each person to get through the clinic,'' said Kris Magnussen, a communicable disease prevention supervisor at Connecticut's Ledge Light Health District, to The Day. ''If we had to vaccinate thousands and thousands of people in a short period of time, we want to be as efficient as possible.''
  In Georgia, a local health official took this chilling concept even further, telling WALB news in Albany that, should another ''pandemic'' flu situation sweep the area, ''we would need to give the vaccine to the entire population'' of that particular county. And since many other counties across the country are also holding their own similar flu shot clinics, the overall intent seems to be to utilize the vast network of local health departments to effectively vaccinate the entire U.S. population in the event of an ''emergency.''
  Since flu vaccines take weeks to 'activate,' what good will it do to administer them in an emergency situation?
  There is a glaring consistency with all this, though. Flu vaccines, we are told, take roughly two weeks after being injected to even begin working, which makes the idea of rushing thousands or even millions of people through a vaccine processing line to avert a flu pandemic or other emergency scientifically ridiculous. Nevertheless, this is the excuse the corporate plutocracy is using as justification for this latest flu shot stunt, which bears an eerie resemblance to the types of processing lines used by Nazi Germans to sort prisoners through the death camp lines.
  Regardless of where this all ends up leading, it is always important to remember that the flu shot itself is medically useless, as illustrated by numerous studies, including a 2011 study published in the journal The Lancet which found that flu shots benefit virtually nobody. Taking vitamin D, eating ''superfoods,'' drinking clean water, and getting plenty of regular rest remain the best ways to avoid getting the flu '-- and the good news is that you do not have to wait in a long line of cars to gain access to these powerful natural remedies.
  A d v e r t i s e m e n tSources for this article include:
  http://www.theday.com/article/20121017/NWS01/310179914/0/SEARCH
  http://blog.al.com
  http://www.walb.com
  http://www.naturalnews.com
  http://www.naturalnews.com/019194_flu_the_health.html
  This article was posted: Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 6:57 am
  Tags: health, pharmaceutical, vaccines
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Awesome: Romney written in sand on Point Pleasant beach during Obama's Jersey flyover
  Link to Article
  Source: Twitchy » US Politics
  Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:42
  Boom! As Twitchy reported, President Obama spent part of yesterday in a canoodle-fest with Governor Christie in New Jersey. During his aerial survey of the devastating damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, he was greeted with this, Jersey-style!
  Awesome. And these Twitter users agree.
  Heh.
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