What Adam Curry is reading

Should President Obama Be On Mount Rushmore?
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  Sat, 12 Jan 2013 23:24
CNN: Is There A Link Between Video Games And Violence
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  Sat, 12 Jan 2013 23:24
4 Years Ago Could You've Imagined We'd Let Banks Off Laundering Money For Terrorists & Drug Cartels?
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  Sat, 12 Jan 2013 22:55
aangirfan: HAITI; CHAVEZ; CLINTON; BIG TRUCK
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  Sat, 12 Jan 2013 22:55
  Girls bathe in the tent camp, where residents make do without amenities such as electricity and running water. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)Website for this image'The Big TruckThat Went By', by Jonathan Katz (ft.com/cms/)Katz is critical of Bill Clinton who was put in charge of raising, spending and supervising aid money.
  By le KorriganToday, "around three-quarters of Haitians are either unemployed or try to make ends meet in the informal economy.""More than 350,000 Haitians are still living in tents...
  Jorge Puello - Haiti Child Abduction: The Jewish Connection. According to the New York Times, a Jewish man suspected of leading a child trafficking ring is also a legal adviser to the Americans charged with trying to take 33 children out of Haiti without permission. On 12 February 2010, http://twelfthbough.blogspot.com/ tells us more (one ring to rule them all)
  "A cholera outbreak that has killed more than 7,500 people since October 2010 remains a threat...
  "Hospitals stand unfinished. Rebuilding of the main H´pital G(C)n(C)ral has stopped.
  Haiti: Still waiting for recovery | The Economist
  "Billions in aid money ... went to foreign contractors...""The U.S. pledged $1.15 billion...1. $212 million of the funding wasn't actually cash. It was in debt forgiveness.
  2. Just 1 percent of total funding went to the Haitian government...
  3. Of all the contracts awarded, only 22 (worth less than $4.8 million) went to Haitian contractors.
  4. About $465 million was spent by the Defense Department as part of Operation Unified Response, which lasted about six months.
  Source: defense.gov
  5. Military deployment costs included using aid money to pay for standard repairs.
  Costs included $1 million per day for 18 days so aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson could sit in the Port-au-Prince harbor and provide medical and logistics assistance. Repairs to UH-60 Jayhawk Helicopters cost $3.6 million. Source: navy.mil
  6. Taking care of U.S. government employees.
  At least $368,000 on meals and lodging in and outside of Haiti included check-ins at the five-star Mandarin Oriental in Washington DC, four luxury hotels in Santo Domingo and a Tampa Bay resort. Source: mandarinoriental.com
Dad poses as gunman to test school security, gets arrested - U.S. News
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  Sat, 12 Jan 2013 22:35
  By Vignesh Ramachandran, Staff Writer, NBC News
  A Texas man is facing third-degree felony charges of making a terroristic threat after he allegedly told elementary school staffers he brought a gun to the building, NBCDFW.com reported.
  Officials say Ronald Miller was unarmed Wednesday when he told a school greeter outside Celina Elementary School that he had a gun, according to NBCDFW.com. The town of Celina is just north of Dallas.
  The greeter froze in panic when Miller said he was a gunman and his target was inside, Celina Independent School District Superintendent Donny O'Dell told NBCDFW.com. Miller was then able to walk into the school and entered the office.
  "He told them that he is a shooter and 'you're dead, and you're dead,'" O'Dell told NBCDFW.com. Never showing a weapon, Miller then reportedly revealed his stunt was a test of school safety and he wanted to talk to the principal.
  School staffers knew Miller, who was a father of a student, and police were not called until he left the school, The Dallas Morning News reported. He was arrested Wednesday evening and is being held in lieu of $75,000 bail, the newspaper added.
  School security and gun control have been hotly debated since the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., claimed the lives of 20 children and six adult staffers.
  In a letter to parents dated Thursday, O'Dell said Wednesday's test was done "in a rogue manner."
  "We have always had a security plan in place that involved our police officials," O'Dell wrote. "However, because of recent events we have ramped-up our security efforts on all campuses."
  O'Dell did not respond to NBC News' phone and email requests for comment Friday. Representatives of the Celina PTA board did not respond to email requests for comment Friday.
  David Siano, a parent at the school, told NBCDFW.com that the incident shows that "we are not prepared."
  "His intent was just simply to say, 'you've done nothing' and that's what it showed," Siano said. "So (if) that's what it takes, it's a shame."
  Another parent Misti Schramme told The Dallas Morning News she trusts security measures in Celina and thinks her child's school is safe: "You can't live in fear all the time."
  School safety expert Ken Trump told NBC News on Friday that he encourages parents to "ask probing questions" about their child's school security and emergency prep.
  But he advises: "Don't go off the deep end to be overly dramatic." Instead, Trump recommended that parents choose avenues like scheduling an appointment with the principal, attending safety or crisis team meetings at the school, or going to the school's PTA.
  In the last few decades, Americans have witnessed a number of high-profile school shootings, including the 2007 attack at Virginia Tech and the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado.
  On Thursday, an armed student entered a Taft, Calif. high school and wounded a 16-year-old teen. A teacher and campus supervisor persuaded the shooter to drop the gun.
  NBCDFW.com's Catherine Ross contributed to this story.
  Related stories
Aaron Swartz commits suicide - The Tech
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  Sat, 12 Jan 2013 13:59
  Web Update
  Aaron Swartz commits suicide
  NEWS EDITOR; UPDATED AT 2:15 A.M. 1/12/13
  Computer activist Aaron H. Swartz committed suicide in New York City yesterday, Jan. 11, according to his uncle, Michael Wolf, in a comment to The Tech. Swartz was 26.
  ''The tragic and heartbreaking information you received is, regrettably, true,'' confirmed Swartz' attorney, Elliot R. Peters of Kecker and Van Nest, in an email to The Tech.
  Swartz was indicted in July 2011 by a federal grand jury for allegedly mass downloading documents from the JSTOR online journal archive with the intent to distribute them. He subsequently moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he then worked for Avaaz Foundation, a nonprofit ''global web movement to bring people-powered politics to decision-making everywhere.'' Swartz appeared in court on Sept. 24, 2012 and pleaded not guilty.
  The accomplished Swartz co-authored the now widely-used RSS 1.0 specification at age 14, was one of the three co-owners of the popular social news site Reddit, and completed a fellowship at Harvard's Ethics Center Lab on Institutional Corruption. In 2010, he founded DemandProgress.org, a ''campaign against the Internet censorship bills SOPA/PIPA.''
Sharpton: Is Obama Ready for Mt. Rushmore?
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  Sat, 12 Jan 2013 13:50
  'If Teddy Roosevelt is the measure, I think it strengthens the case for President Obama'
  BY:Washington Free Beacon StaffJanuary 11, 2013 8:17 pm
  Al Sharpton aired a segment concerning a recent National Journal article which analyzed President Obama's chances of attaining a coveted spot on Mt. Rushmore Friday evening on MSNBC. Teddy Roosevelt's presence on the landmark garnered particular attention from Sharpton, who expressed his opinion that Roosevelt's thin resume as a ''transformative president'' strengthens the case for Obama to be included:
  ABBY HUNTSMAN: You look at Reagan, he ended the Cold War. I think they have to have a legacy that changed America. Obama was the first black president. That is something that will always be remembered.
  AL SHARPTON: And he stopped two wars and the whole question of finance reform on Wall Street and health care. I mean, he has done some concrete things. I can, again, the reason I raised Teddy Roosevelt is that a lot of people could say that Teddy Roosevelt was more of a character than a transformative president. I can name, literally, things that President Obama has done. Now, I'm going to say that if Teddy Roosevelt is the measure, I think it strengthens the case for President Obama.
  Teddy Roosevelt is credited with accomplishments such as completing the Panama Canal and establishing the National Parks system. Historians typically rank Roosevelt among the top five greatest presidents.
  Full segment:
CIA Drone Airstrike Kills Top Commander Of Al-Qaeda's Paramilitary Unit In North Waziristan'...
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  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Fri, 11 Jan 2013 10:49
  Love it.
  Via LWJ:
  The US killed a senior al Qaeda military commander during a recent drone strike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan.
  Sheikh Yasin Al Kuwaiti, who was killed in a US drone strike on Jan. 8, was a ''key al Qaeda paramilitary commander'' who was ''very high up the food chain,'' a US intelligence official who tracks the terror group in Pakistan's tribal areas told The Long War Journal. Sheikh Yasin was a top commander and trainer for the Lashkar al Zil, or Shadow Army, al Qaeda's military cadre.
  Sheikh Yasin was also described as a ''foreign tactical trainer'' by Reuters and ''a senior Al Qaeda operative'' by Dawn on the day that he was reported killed.
  Sheikh Yasin, a Kuwaiti citizen, was ''married [to] the daughter of a local tribesman,'' according to Dawn. Al Qaeda commanders and fighters have lived in Pakistan's tribal agencies for decades, and often marry locally to cement ties to the Taliban and the tribes.
  Keep reading'...
Shooter At Taft High School Had A "Hit List"
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  Fri, 11 Jan 2013 10:48
"The People Committing These Crimes Have Mental Health Issues"
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  Fri, 11 Jan 2013 10:48
Wayne LaPierre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  Fri, 11 Jan 2013 10:36
  Wayne LaPierre (born November 8, 1948)[1] is a US author and advocate of the right to keep and bear arms. He is best known for his position as the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association and for his criticism of gun control proponents.
  [edit]BackgroundLaPierre graduated from Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia in 1967. He received his BA in education from Siena College and his MA in government from Boston College. He has been a government activist and lobbyist ever since finishing his MA, including positions on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Political Consultants, the American Conservative Union, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.[citation needed]
  [edit]National Rifle Association activitySince 1991, he has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the largest gun rights organization in the United States.[citation needed] LaPierre joined the NRA in 1977 after working as a legislative aide to a Democratic Virginia delegate, Vic Thomas.
  In the wake of the the Oklahoma City bombing, LaPierre wrote a fundraising letter describing federal agents as "jack-booted government thugs" who wear "Nazi bucket helmets and black storm trooper uniforms". Former president George H. W. Bush was so outraged by the letter that he resigned his NRA life membership.[2] In response to growing criticism, LaPierre apologised, saying he didn't intend to "paint all federal law-enforcement officials with the same broad brush".[3]
  In 2000 LaPierre said President Bill Clinton tolerated a certain amount of violence and killing to strengthen the case for gun control and to score points for his party.[4] Clinton White House spokesman Joe Lockhart called it "really sick rhetoric, and it should be repudiated by anyone who hears it".[5] In 2004, citing Democratic candidate John Kerry's history of authoring and supporting gun controllegislation, LaPierre actively campaigned against the senator in the 2004 presidential elections.
  LaPierre has authored several books on weaponry topics, ranging from shooting practices to terrorism to gun safety to crime. He also makes appearances promoting the NRA at gun shows and political events.
  In his role as executive vice president of the NRA, LaPierre has stated "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun",[6] and in response to gun violence on school premises said "I call on Congress, today, to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation."[citation needed]
  On December 21, 2012 the NRA held a televised media event at Washington's Willard Hotel located adjacent to the White House at which LaPierre read a prepared statement (although he declined to respond to any questions) in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in which he blamed gun violence on "gun-free zones" and violent movies and video games, and called for armed officers at American schools in an effort to protect children from gun violence.[7][8] He said that the initiative should not require massive funding and called upon Congress to immediately appropriate the funds necessary to implement this. He announced that Asa Hutchinson, former Arkansas congressman and DEA chief, will lead the NRA's effort in developing a "school shield program".[9]
  Following the event, several in the media criticized LaPierre's statements, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial board[10] and The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg.[11] Conservatives also criticized LaPierre's remarks, including Republican Party strategist and pollster Frank Luntz[12] and pundit Ann Coulter.[13]
  [edit]In the mediaLaPierre hosts Crime Strike, a syndicated weekly television program which advocates gun use for the purpose of self-defense and highlights situations where people have used their guns against criminal suspects. In October 2006, LaPierre instituted a weekly online podcasts on the NRAnews.comwebsite called "What They Didn't Tell You Today." Every weekday, LaPierre gives a short broadcast about gun rights.
  [edit]BooksGuns, Crime, and Freedom (1994)Shooting Straight: Telling the Truth About Guns in America (2002)Guns, Freedom, and Terrorism (2003)The Global War on Your Guns (2006)The Essential Second Amendment Guide (2007)[edit]References^Seelye, Katharine Q (2 May 2 1999), Daily News (Los Angeles).^http://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/11/us/letter-of-resignation-sent-by-bush-to-rifle-association.html^http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950518&slug=2121718^Pear, Robert (March 19, 2000) "Guns Don't Kill People, Presidents Do."New York Times.^Lacey, Mark (March 20, 2000) "NRA Stands by Criticism of President"New York Times.^"NRA calls for armed guards in schools". The Age. December 22, 2012. http://www.theage.com.au/world/nra-calls-for-armed-guards-in-schools-20121222-2bs8t.html. Retrieved 2012-12-22.^Nakamura, David and Tom Hamburger "Put Armed Police in Every School, NRA UrgesWashington Post, December 21, 2012, p. 1^Molloy, Tim (December 21, 2012). "NRA Blames Films, Media, Video, Unarmed Schools for Massacres". The Wrap. http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/nra-news-conference-interrupted-protester-banner-nra-killing-our-kids-70476. Retrieved December 21, 2012.^Gary Fields; Colleen McCain Nelson (21 December 2012). "NRA Calls for Armed Officers in Schools". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324461604578193364201364432.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read.^"NRA nonsense: LaPierre speaks for gun makers, not gun owners". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/editorials/nra-nonsense-lapierre-speaks-for-gun-makers-not-gun-owners-667834/. Retrieved 20130103.^Jeffrey, Goldberg. "So Many Myths About Guns and Gun Control". The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/so-many-myths-about-guns-and-gun-control/266806/. Retrieved 20130103.^ROBILLARD, KEVIN. "Frank Luntz: NRA not listening to public". Politico. http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/luntz-nra-not-listening-to-public-85490.html. Retrieved 20130103.^Poor, Jeff. "Ann Coulter rails against NRA's Wayne LaPierre". The Daily Caller. http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/31/ann-coulter-rails-against-nras-wayne-lapierre. Retrieved 20130103.[edit]External linksPersondataNameLapierre, WayneAlternative namesShort descriptionDate of birth8 November 1948Place of birthDate of deathPlace of death
VIDEO-"Piers, You Demonize People Who Don't Agree With You By Standing On The Graves Of Children!" - YouTube
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  Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:30
Lame Cherry: The Obama NRA
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  Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:27
  Lee Purcell was an NRA chica and I liked her, but the NRA is not some Harlan Carter group giving Ronald Reagan guns any more, but it is a fraud.
  Here is their story exclusively and you can call it another Lame Cherry matter anti matter as gun owners should be donating money to me and not sending money to that fraud damned organization.
  Back in the day, the NRA did not have a million members, but it was Harlan Carter who led the charge to make the NRA a real American gun rights group. Soon after Carter was departed in the early 1980's, this Wayne LaPierre fraud showed up as a stooge for the cartel and quite cleverly the NRA started doing things which were intent on making the NRA a group carrying out their prime directive and that was to disarm Americans.
  See it was at the NRA convention when the NRA had close to 2 million members I believe that the directors of the board decided to boost membership rates. You know what raising taxes accomplishes my children just like raising gas prices keeps poor people of the masses from having jobs or driving cars.Yes the NRA elite of the globalist raised membership fees, and this was the beginning of destroying the NRA's Republican form of representation of the masses, and put it into the hands of the rich elite.
  These elite raised not one concern as this shrank the ranks, as they desired their voices to be heard and not Charleton Heston's....yes when Moses expired, that was the end of the NRA for gun owning Americans.
  See the NRA was busy with Karl Rove for a decade in raising BATF gun dealer fees which drove the small arms dealers out of business and left it in the conglomerates to control the ammunition flow.If you noticed under the Bush and Bush administration, America's cheap gun policy disappeared, along with cheap imported firearms.....ammunition went through the roof too......all to shrink gun ownership ranks and to make the NRA a group of the elite, who elected feudal stooges like Harry Reid and this Heidi Heidkamp Hitler chic out of North Dakota in the last fraud elections.
  Yes the NRA participated in the fraud Obama elections of 2012 and 2010 with full venom in "electing" supposed pro gun representatives who in turn have been overthrowing America for Obama in all other venues.
  Wayne LaPierre is a fraud as is the entire NRA hirelings out of their massive Washington DC group. They could care less about the membership as what was done to the NRA is what was done the John Birch Society and most organized religions in America in taking them over and making them tools for Obama.
  People who are sending the NRA money are sending money to a fraud group which is working hand in hand with Obama to disarm Americans. See the NRA is the "outlet" to let gun owners think that they are armed and that they have a political voice so they will not have a million gun march on Washington DC to scare the hell out of the feudal lords and set things right.That million man gun march is TL's father's idea and it is a sound one.
  See this is all manipulation by the NRA to keep the lid on like Bill Ayers keeping the lid on white rich kids by having black thugs rape Jew girls in college for psychedelic sport. The NRA is the aphrodisiac of the gun owners they can stroke themselves into thinking they are empowered and safe from boogerman Obama.....when LaPierre is an Obama stooge.
  Just examine it all from the loss of gun dealers, the high prices of guns and ammunition, the loss of imports, the disarming of the poor.....hell it is bad as John Thune and the GOP leadership not advocating welfare for Americans in the government being required to buy guns for the poor to make sure they are armed.The GOP does not want you owning guns any more than democrats.......no more than Obama and no more than the NRA.
  That is the reality my children. The NRA is a Mockingbird extension of a mind control program meant to keep you in the fire until the frog of you is fried.
  It makes you wonder about celeb adulterers like Ted Nugent not saying a word about any of this. How many of the these celebrities have signed on and are either stupid or are just part of the show to pacify the mob until it is destroyed.
  Obama does not need gun control. He proved completely in the release of the Christmas Flu as exposed here how readily he can infect millions of people with a virus. They do not need FEMA camps nor BATF storm troopers. They reality is they will not disarm you.
  They will wipe out the humans and leave the guns just laying in the homes with your rotting corpses.Lame Cherry.
  You can quote me on that as that is the exclusive matter anti matter.Giving the NRA funds is like donating money to Obama 2016's dictatorship.
  Why else would he be wiping out Hillary Clinton and old man Bush, but clearing the field for el presidente for life.
  Nuff said
  NRA RANKS SOAR...
  You very stupid people.
  agtG 263Y
"In An Ideal World There Would Be No Guns"
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  Fri, 11 Jan 2013 07:47
Quentin Tarantino: 'I'm shutting your butt down!'
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  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:30
Australia Is The Canary In The Global Warming Coal Mine
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  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:11
  Rolling Stone has been covering Australia's global warming extremes for two years, and they've stepped up their coverage in light of the continent's current extreme heat emergency:
  Though Australia's existing heat record, set in 1960, still stands for the moment, officials believe it may soon be surpassed. The nation's Bureau of Meteorology has been open about the impact that rising greenhouse gases are already having there: The agency's website declares that Australia is "experiencing rapid climate change," including more frequent heat waves and changing rainfall patterns.
  The current heat wave has produced above-average temperatures for 80 percent of the country '' the nationwide average on Monday was 104 degrees Fahrenheit '' and scores of wildfires. The state of New South Wales, home to Australia's most populous city, Sydney, is facing its greatest fire danger ever, officials say. In some areas of the state, the official fire danger rating is "catastrophic.
  "Nor are heat waves and wildfires Australia's only climate woes. Decades of drought are causing the salination of groundwater in the nation's prime agricultural region; warming and acidifying oceans are killing the Great Barrier Reef; and extreme storms are increasing. As Rolling Stone's Jeff Goodell reported in 2011, the tendency of climate change to "amplify existing climate signals" means that already extreme places like Australia will be the first to experience the kind of major impacts that could be in store for the rest of the world.
  "Australia is the canary in the coal mine," said David Karoly, a climate researcher at the University of Melbourne, in that story. "What is happening in Australia now is similar to what we can expect to see in other places in the future."
Groan Alert: Obama Admin Funds $100,000 Video Game Featuring Female ''Superhero'' Who Fights Global Warming'...
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  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:11
  Mind-numbing, isn't it?
  Via Washington Secrets:
  A new video game featuring a black alien female superhero delivered to Earth to fight global warming is about to hit the market thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Obama administration.
  The National Endowment for the Arts is funding the Spelman College of Atlanta, Ga.'s multi-episode game called ''HERadventure.'' In the grant announcement made last year, the NEA said the story ''focuses on a young female superhero sent to Earth to save her own planet from devastation because of climate changes caused by social issues impacting women and girls.''
  The game is set to debut on March 8 on International Women's Day.
  The college's digital newspaper described the project this way: ''What would happen if the societal issues affecting women put other planets at risk? Well, of course, HER, a black female superhero, would swoop in with a plan to save the universe. HER is central toHERadventure, a science fiction-based, multimedia platform project that interweaves virtual worlds, digital and social media to create a gaming and storytelling experience. HERadventure not only entertains but tackles social issues that permeate the daily reality of many women.''
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CNN: All Gun Stocks Are Down On Wall Street
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  Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:10
Exactly Why We Do NOT Want Police Officers In Schools
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  Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:10
"Universal Backround Checks" VP Biden
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  Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:06
I just heard on the show from +John C. Dvorak that there are some haters here in this group.I have ...
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  Source: 101292674006572799842 - Google+ Posts
  Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:03
  I just heard on the latest show from +John C. Dvorak that there are some haters here in this group.I have not seen much of this - has anyone seen No Agenda haters in this community?
  Its ok to have a different opinion on the show but downright trolls and haters of the show here to cause trouble just do not add to the community at all and I suggest that if people are here just to hate the show - then they should be removed.
  Do other members support this more 'militant' action against trolling continually hating members?
  This is an extreme measure only and will be only used against trolls.
  Basically if you dont like the show AT ALL - you should not be here
VIDEO-1 student shot, wounded at California high school, another in custody | Fox News
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  Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:56
  A 16-year-old student armed with a shotgun walked into class in a rural California high school on Thursday and shot one student, fired at another and missed, and then was talked into surrendering by a teacher and another staff member, officials said.
  The teen victim was in critical but stable condition, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told a press conference. The sheriff said the teacher at Taft Union High School suffered a minor pellet wound to the head and declined treatment.
  The gunman had as many as 20 rounds of ammunition in his pocket, the sheriff said.
  When the shots were fired, the teacher tried to get the more than two dozen students out a back door and also engaged the shooter in conversation to distract him, Youngblood said. A campus supervisor responding to a call of shots fired also began talking to the gunman.
  "They talked him into putting that shotgun down. He in fact told the teacher, `I don't want to shoot you,' and named the person that he wanted to shoot," Youngblood said.
  "The heroics of these two people goes without saying. ... They could have just as easily ... tried to get out of the classroom and left students and they didn't," the sheriff said. "They knew not to let him leave the classroom with that shotgun."
  The shooter didn't show up for first period then interrupted the class of 28 students.
  Investigators had not yet had a chance to interview the student and so had no immediate word on a motive or whether the attacker had a previous disciplinary record. Nor did they know where he got the shotgun.
  The wounded student was flown to a hospital in Bakersfield. Officials said a female student was hospitalized with possible hearing damage because the shotgun was fired close to her ear, and another girl received minor injuries during the scramble to flee when she fell over a table.
  Officials said there's usually an armed officer on campus, but the person wasn't there because he was snowed in. Taft police officers arrived within 60 seconds of first reports.
  The shooting occurred at the school in Taft, a community of fewer than 10,000 people amid oil and natural gas production fields about 120 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
  The attack came less than a month after a gunman massacred 20 children and six women at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., then killed himself.
  That shooting prompted President Barack Obama to promise new efforts to curb gun violence. Vice President Joe Biden, who was placed in charge of the initiative, said he would deliver new policy proposals to the president by next week.
  Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a statement that her father had attended Taft Union and she has visited the school over the years.
  "At this moment my thoughts and prayers are with the victims, and I wish them a speedy recovery," Feinstein said. "But how many more shootings must there be in America before we come to the realization that guns and grievances do not belong together?"
  As word spread about the Taft shooting, Dayna Hopper rushed to the school to pick up her son Joseph Sorensen, 16, and daughter, Cheryle Pryor, 15, who had called from Cheryle's cellphone.
  "I panicked. I wanted to puke and just get here," Dayna Hopper told The Bakersfield Californian (http://bit.ly/ZxkQUf).
  KERO-TV Bakersfield reported that the station received phone calls from people inside the school who hid in closets.
  The bell had just rung at a nearby school when teachers began shouting for students to get inside buildings, and the principal used an intercom to tell students to stay inside, Felicity Reich, 13, a student at Lincoln Junior High School, told the newspaper.
  Shaken, she held the hand of her mother, Ellie Reich, as she spoke.
  About 900 students are enrolled at the high school, which includes 9th through 12th grades. Authorities went room by room through the school and expected to spend the day checking backpacks to make sure no other weapons were on campus.
  Masses of parents headed to the school football field to find their children, and officials at other schools took action to protect their students as well, the newspaper said.
  Wilhelmina Reum, whose daughter Alexis Singleton is a fourth-grader at a nearby elementary school, got word of the attack while she was about 35 miles away in Bakersfield and immediately sped back to Taft.
  "I just kept thinking this can't be happening in my little town," she told The Associated Press.
  "I was afraid I was going to get hurt," Alexis said. "I just wanted my mom to get here so I could go home."At the state Capitol, Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, said the thoughts and prayers of legislators were with the people at the Taft school.
  "It really is just another very sad moment as we deal with the ongoing reality of gun violence that has captured so much of our attention this last year," Perez said.
Statement by the Press Secretary on Bills Signed on January 10, 2013 | The White House
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  Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:54
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  January 10, 2013
  Statement by the Press Secretary on H.R. 1339, H.R. 1845, H.R. 2338, H.R. 3263, H.R. 3641, H.R. 3869, H.R. 3892, H.R. 4053, H.R. 4057, H.R. 4073, H.R. 4389, H.R. 5859, H.R. 6014, H.R. 6260, H.R. 6379, H.R. 6587, H.R. 6620, H.R. 6671, S. 925, S. 3202, S. 3666 and S.J. Res. 49
  On Thursday, January 10, 2013, the President signed into law:
  H.R. 1339, which designates the City of Salem, Massachusetts, as the birthplace of the U.S. National Guard;
  H.R. 1845, the "Medicare IVIG Access and Strengthening Medicare and Repaying Taxpayers Act of 2012," which establishes a demonstration project to evaluate the benefits of allowing Medicare Part B coverage for in-home intravenous treatments for patients with primary immune deficiency disease; and amends certain rules under which Medicare is a secondary payer to specified third party payers;
  H.R. 2338, which designates the facility of the United States Postal Service in Cocoa, Florida as the Harry T. and Harriette Moore Post Office;
  H.R. 3263, the "Lake Thunderbird Efficient Use Act of 2012," which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to allow the storage and conveyance of non-project water at the Norman Project in Oklahoma;
  H.R. 3641, the "Pinnacles National Park Act," which redesignates the Pinnacles National Monument in California, as the Pinnacles National Park;
  H.R. 3869, which designates the facility of the United States Postal Service in Little Rock, Arkansas as the Sidney "Sid" Sanders McMath Post Office Building;
  H.R. 3892, which designates the facility of the United States Postal Service in Roseville, California as the Lance Corporal Victor A. Dew Post Office;
  H.R. 4053, the "Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012," which clarifies requirements for Federal agencies to use improper payment information to determine program or award eligibility; establishes a Do Not Pay Initiative; and expands OMB responsibilities in the effort to eliminate and recover improper payments;
  H.R. 4057, which requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a comprehensive policy for providing information regarding higher education and training programs to veterans and members of the Armed Forces;
  H.R. 4073, which authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to accept a railroad right of way within and adjacent to the Pike National Forest in Colorado;
  H.R. 4389, which designates the facility of the United States Postal Service in Fowler, California as the Cecil E. Bolt Post Office;
  H.R. 5859, which repeals the requirement that the Department of Transportation prescribe regulations to require automobile dealers to provide insurance cost comparison information to prospective buyers; and requires the Department to report to Congress on the most useful way to provide consumers with information on the susceptibility of automobiles to damage;
  H.R. 6014, the "Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act of 2012," which authorizes the Justice Department to carry out a grant program to assist States with the first-year costs associated with the implementation of a process to collect DNA from individuals who are arrested for or charged with certain criminal offenses under State law;
  H.R. 6260, which designates the facility of the United States Postal Service as the Lieutenant Kenneth M. Ballard Memorial Post Office;
  H.R. 6379, which designates the facility of the United States Postal Service in Ravenel, South Carolina as the Representative Curtis B. Inabinett, Sr. Post Office;
  H.R. 6587, which designates the facility of the United States Postal Service in Simi Valley, California as the Postal Inspector Terry Asbury Post Office Building;
  H.R. 6620, the "Former Presidents Protection Act of 2012," which restores lifetime Secret Service protection of former Presidents who did not serve as President prior to January 1, 1997, and their spouses; and provides for protection of all children of former Presidents until they become 16 years of age;
  H.R. 6671, the "Video Privacy Protection Act Amendments Act of 2012," which allows the informed, written consent that a video tape service provider must receive from a consumer in order to be authorized to disclose personally identifiable information to a third party to also be obtained using the Internet; and specifies that the consent would have to be either given at the time the disclosure is sought or given in advance for a set period of time of up to two years or until the consumer withdraws the consent, whichever is sooner;
  S. 925, the "Mt. Andrea Lawrence Designation Act of 2011," which designates "Mt. Andrea Lawrence" in the Inyo National Forest and Yosemite National Park;
  S. 3202, the "Dignified Burial and Other Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act of 2012," which amends authorities of the Department of Veterans Affairs related to: cemetery matters; health care; and miscellaneous matters;
  S. 3666, which amends the Animal Welfare Act to modify the definition of "exhibitor"; and
  S.J. Res. 49, which appoints Barbara Barrett as a citizen regent of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.
Special Report: The latest foreclosure horror: the zombie title | Reuters
  Link to Article
  Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:31
  1 of 18. Joseph Keller (L), and his wife Jennifer look through their abandoned house in Columbus, Ohio, September 30, 2012. Five years ago, the Kellers received an eviction notice from JP Morgan Chase ordering them to vacate their home because the bank was putting it up for sale. It turned out that the bank never followed through with the foreclosure sale leaving the Kellers responsible for back taxes and code violations on a house that had since been stripped to its studs and rendered worthless. Picture taken September 30, 2012.
  Credit: Reuters/Jay LaPrete
  By Michelle Conlin
  COLUMBUS, Ohio | Thu Jan 10, 2013 1:58pm EST
  COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - Joseph Keller doesn't expect he'll live to see the end of 2013. He blames the house at 190 Avondale Avenue.
  Five years ago, Keller, 10 months behind on his mortgage payments, received notice of a foreclosure judgment from JP Morgan Chase. In a few weeks, the bank said, his three-story house with gray vinyl siding in Columbus, Ohio, would be put up for auction at a sheriff's sale.
  The 58-year-old former social worker and his wife, Jennifer, packed up their home of 13 years and moved in with their daughter. Joseph thought he would never have anything to do with the house again. And for about a year, he didn't.
  Then it started to stalk him.
  First, in 2010, the county sued Keller because the house, already picked clean by scavengers, was in a shambles, its hanging gutters and collapsed garage in violation of local housing code. Then the tax collector started sending Keller notices about mounting back taxes, sewer fees and bills for weed and waste removal. And last year, Chase's debt collector began pressing Keller to pay his mortgage, which had swollen, with penalties and fees, from $62,100.27 to $84,194.69.
  The worst news came last January, when the Social Security Administration rejected Keller's application for disability benefits; the "asset" on Avondale Avenue rendered him ineligible. Keller's medical problems include advanced liver disease, hepatitis C and inactive tuberculosis. Without disability coverage, he can't get the liver transplant he needs to stay alive.
  "I can't make it end," says Keller. "This house, I can't get out."
  Keller continues to bear responsibility for the house because on December 23, 2008 - about two months after he received Chase's notice of sale - the bank filed to dismiss the foreclosure judgment and the order of sale. Chase said it sent Keller a copy of its court filing on December 9, 2008. Keller says he never received any notification. Either way, his name remained on the property title.
  WITH IMPUNITY
  The Kellers are caught up in a little-known horror of the U.S. housing bust: the zombie title. Six years in, thousands of homeowners are finding themselves legally liable for houses they didn't know they still owned after banks decided it wasn't worth their while to complete foreclosures on them. With impunity, banks have been walking away from foreclosures much the way some homeowners walked away from their mortgages when the housing market first crashed.
  "The banks are just deciding not to foreclose, even though the homeowners never caught up with their payments," says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, a real-estate information company in Irvine, California.
  Since 2006, 10 million homes have fallen into foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac, a number that in earlier, more stable times would have taken nearly two decades to reach. Of those foreclosures, more than 2 million have never come out. Some may be occupied by owners who have been living gratis. Others have been caught up in what is now known as the robo-signing scandal, when banks spun out reams of fraudulent documents to foreclose quickly on as many homeowners as they could.
  And then there are cases like the Kellers, in which homeowners moved out after receiving notice of a foreclosure sale, thinking they were leaving the house in bank hands. No national databases track zombie titles. But dozens of housing court judges, code enforcement officials, lawyers and other professionals involved in foreclosures across the country tell Reuters that these titles number in the many thousands, and that the problem is worsening.
  "There are thousands of foreclosures in limbo, just hanging out there, just sitting, with nothing being done," says Cleveland Housing Court Judge Raymond Pianka, whose pending court cases tied to derelict properties have doubled in the past two years, to 1,000. He says the surge is due largely to homes vacated by people who fled before an imminent foreclosure sale, only to learn later that they remain legally responsible for their house.
  When people move out after receiving a notice of a planned foreclosure sale and the bank then cancels, municipalities are left to deal with the mess. Some spend public funds on securing, cleaning and stabilizing houses that generate no tax revenue. Others let the houses rot. In at least three states in recent months, houses abandoned by owners and banks alike have exploded because the gas was never shut off.
  THREAT OF JAIL
  Unsuspecting homeowners have had their wages garnished, their credit destroyed and their tax refunds seized. They've opened their mail to find bills for back taxes, graffiti-scrubbing services, demolition crews, trash removal, gutter repair, exterior cleaning and lawn clipping. At their front doors they've encountered bailiffs brandishing summonses to appear in court.
  In some cities, people with zombie titles can be sentenced to probation - with the threat of jail if they don't bring their houses into compliance.
  "These people have become like indentured serfs, with all of the responsibilities for the properties but none of the rights," says retired Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Professor Kermit Lind.
  Banks used to almost always follow through with foreclosures, either repossessing a house outright '-- known in industry parlance as REO, for real estate owned '-- or putting it up for auction at a sheriff's sale. The bank sent a letter notifying the homeowner of an impending foreclosure sale, the homeowner moved out, the house was sold, and the bank applied the proceeds toward the unpaid portion of the original mortgage.
  That has changed since the housing crash. Financial institutions have realized that following through on sales of decaying houses in markets swamped with foreclosures may not yield anything close to what is owed on them.
  By walking away, banks can at least reap the insurance, tax and accounting benefits from documenting the loss '-- without having to take on any of the costs and responsibilities of ownership, according to a 2010 Federal Reserve paper. A walk-away also enables them to "sell the unpaid debt to debt collectors, sometimes noting to the court that the loan has been charged off," according to a Case Western Reserve University study released in 2011.
  No regulations require that banks let homeowners know when they change their minds about a foreclosure. So they rarely do, according to housing court judges, homeowners' lawyers and academics who study foreclosure problems. "The banks do not answer inquiries, they do not answer phone calls, they do not answer letters," says Judge Patrick Carney of the Buffalo, New York, Housing Court. His zombie-title caseload has swollen in the past few years to well into the hundreds. "The whole situation is surreal," he says.
  CLEAN UP OR ELSE
  Marlon Sheafe, a 55-year-old who drove trucks for Sara Lee Corp for 25 years, was sentenced to probation in May. The citation from the Cleveland Housing Court says that if he doesn't fix the problems with the investment property he bought in 2005, the grandfather of three, who suffers from advanced cancer, will go to jail in May 2014.
  Ocwen Financial Corp, the servicer of Sheafe's mortgage, foreclosed on the house in 2008, when Sheafe was hospitalized with congestive heart failure and later lost his job, forcing him into default. That was the last he heard about the house until a year and a half ago, when he received a summons to appear in Cleveland Housing Court for code infractions on the property: cracked steps, shredded siding, weeds as tall as the doors. There was also a $300 lawn-mowing bill.
  A few weeks later, Sheafe appeared at the drab, brown-paneled chambers of the Cleveland Housing Court, packed, as it is every Tuesday and Thursday lately, with other people in his situation. Sheafe expected his appearance that day would clear up what he thought was a big mistake. Instead he left with the order to get the house up to code.
  Sheafe started visiting the tall, crooked house every week. Looters had stripped the place bare. The "dope boys" had left their sneakers on the porch and their empty cans of sausages strewn around inside. Sheafe repaired the steps and spray-painted patches of the exterior where the vinyl siding had been ripped off. He returned every week to check on the house and mow the lawn.
  While Sheafe worked on the house, Judge Pianka worked on the mortgage servicer, subpoenaing Ocwen to appear in court. In February, Ocwen released its lien on the house, which Sheafe hoped would enable him to donate it to the local land bank - one of many set up by local governments in recent years to manage abandoned properties.
  But Sheafe still can't shake free of the house. The county sold his tax lien to a debt collector, which is now suing Sheafe for foreclosure. He also faces $4,185 for code violations, $185 for court costs and up to $10,000 if the city is forced to tear down the house.
  "There's no end to this," Sheafe says. "I can't win."
  Asked to comment, Ocwen issued a statement saying: "It is Ocwen's policy not to disclose details about specific customers. In this case, Ocwen has attempted to work with the borrower over a four-year period. Ocwen offered to settle the account with the borrower but never received a response to the offer."
  Sheafe says he couldn't afford the amount Ocwen proposed in its settlement offer.
  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal agency established in the wake of the financial crisis to guard against predatory lending and other abuses, declined to comment for this article.
  Joe Smith is the monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement, the agreement struck a year ago between major banks and state attorneys general to, in part, address foreclosure abuses. In a statement responding to a request for comment, he said: "To my knowledge, the servicers' behavior in the situation... is not covered by any standards in the Settlement." He added: "However, it does sound like there are problems with this type of treatment. I recommend the borrowers contact their state's attorney general and remember that the Settlement does not preclude borrowers from taking their own legal action."
  Patrick Madigan, Iowa's assistant attorney general, was instrumental in crafting the National Mortgage Settlement. He said that he thought the consent decree would attempt to address the issue of foreclosure limbo, but that in the end, the language in the order was ambiguous. "It's a very difficult situation," Madigan said.
  NO RESPONSIBILITY
  Banks say that because they are not the legal owners of these homes, they aren't required to maintain them, pay taxes on them, or take any legal responsibility for them. Homeowners legally own their properties until the day of sale. And it's not until that day, the banks point out, that a homeowner's name vanishes from the title.
  David Volker found that out the hard way. When the housing market crashed, so did Volker's contractor business, and he was unable to keep up with payments on his barn-like two-story house in Buffalo, New York. His mortgage servicer, HSBC, foreclosed on the home in 2009. A few months later, while he was staying with his girlfriend, he stopped by the house to find an HSBC padlock on the doorknob and bank stickers plastered across the door.
  Shattered glass covered his front steps. When he crawled through a broken window, he found the place trashed - by whom, he doesn't know. Even the toilets were gone. Hearing nothing more from the bank, he figured the house was no longer his.
  The place continued to decay. Gutters tore loose from the eaves. The yard turned into a dump for balding tires. Volker's neighbors started complaining to the Buffalo Housing Court, which eventually tracked down Volker at the rental where the 49-year-old was living and ordered him to appear in court. That's when Judge Carney told him that he was still the owner.
  "I was stunned," Volker says. "I never for a moment thought I still owned this house."
  Volker worked with a realtor to try to get HSBC to take several short-sale offers - deals under which the bank would allow Volker to sell the house for less than the amount owed on it - but he says HSBC turned them down. Since then, he's been asking the bank to agree to a deed in lieu, whereby he would give the house back to the bank. So far, he hasn't been able to make that happen. He has $1,000 in water and trash bills and faces up to $30,000 in demolition fees if the city decides his house is a safety hazard and must be torn down.
  HSBC declined to comment on Volker's case, citing privacy concerns. In a statement, the bank said it "has a strong commitment to home preservation and regards foreclosure as a last resort, only after alternatives have been exhausted and the borrower is seriously delinquent."
  Cases against zombie-title holders are rising due to everything from sewer bills to tilting chimneys, and they are clogging the courts. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, about 900 cases in the foreclosure process involve zombie titles. In South Bend, Indiana, the number is 1,275, up from 600 in 2006. In Memphis, Tennessee, cases have doubled in the past two years to 1,500.
  In Cleveland, 15 percent of foreclosures between 2005 and 2009 stalled out in foreclosure limbo, more than a third of them involving homeowners who had fled foreclosure notices, according to the Case Western Reserve study.
  STATE ACTION
  State tax authorities are getting into the game, too. When IndyMac foreclosed on Richard Chavarry's house in Victorville, California, in 2008, he had already relocated to Los Angeles to escape the 80-mile commute to his job. The renters he had initially relied on to help him keep up payments on the Victorville house were long gone, too. But he had no idea that IndyMac canceled the sale in October 2009. "They never notified me," Chavarry said.
  Nearly two years passed before Chavarry started getting citations in the mail for code violations from the city of Victorville. In February, the California Tax Board seized his $631 tax refund to pay the city back for the costs of scrubbing graffiti, removing tumbleweeds and boarding up the windows of Chavarry's house.
  In March, Chavarry filed a deed in lieu to try to get IndyMac, now owned by OneWest Bank, to take back the house. The bank rejected it. Chavarry still owes the county $5,731 in back taxes and fees for housing-code violations.
  IndyMac declined to comment.
  Once a bank walks away from a foreclosure, the real rot begins. Living rooms turn into meth labs. Falling shingles menace passers-by. Squatters' cooking fires turn into infernos. The latest iteration of the trend: gas explosions.
  Electric companies usually shut off the juice when homeowners tell the utility they are moving. But natural-gas companies usually don't. In recent months, abandoned homes have exploded in Chicago, Cleveland and Bridgeport, Connecticut. In all cases, foreclosed homeowners had moved out. With no one home to smell the gas, it went undetected - until the houses blew.
  "We are seeing more and more close calls," says Mark McDonald, a former natural gas public safety worker who now runs the New England Gas Workers Association. "These houses are a formula for disaster."
  Cities are struggling to find ways to cope with growing numbers of blighted properties. Miami, Detroit and Las Vegas have created registries intended to force banks to take more responsibility for vacant houses.
  The Mortgage Bankers Association has opposed these measures. Placing "unreasonable" and "onerous" requests upon servicers will only hurt the already ailing mortgage-lending business, the association says on its website.
  The association did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
  Registry advocates say the banking industry's opposition has helped water down some of those actions, such as a recently enacted Georgia law that requires banks to register vacant properties only after a foreclosure has been completed.
  A vacant-property ordinance in Los Angeles requires banks to register a house as soon as they file a default notice. Failure to do so could result in a $1,000-a-day fee. However, "it's not being enforced," says Los Angeles Assistant City Attorney Tina Hess. "Part of the problem in L.A. is the building and safety departments have been cut so severely they don't have the inspection staff to monitor these properties."
  "TO HELL AND BACK"
  In Columbus, Ohio, Joseph Keller recently paid a visit to the empty house on Avondale Avenue. In the living room, the floor was littered with dirty diapers, pill bottles, condoms, sooty mattresses and soda cans. In the kitchen, squatters had hung pink curtains.
  "They tore it to hell and back," Keller said, kicking at a dirty mattress. "We never would have left the home if we weren't told to get out."
  The Kellers live in their daughter's dining room, where their queen-size bed leaves little room to maneuver. Joseph can't sit, stand or sleep for more than 15 minutes at a time. He can't take pain medication because of his diseased liver. Every few months, he makes a trip to the emergency room, where doctors drain his abdomen of excess fluid.
  Last May, Chase's debt collector, Professional Recovery Services, sent Keller a letter: "At this time," it said, "we are able to offer you a settlement of $25,258.41 on this account to be paid within 15 days." He lacks that kind of money, as well as the $11,759.08 he owes to the county in back taxes.
  Professional Recovery Services declined to comment.
  At a hearing in early December, a Social Security administrative judge told the Kellers that he would review their appeal of the original denial of benefits, a process that he said could take two months. Joseph Keller responded that he might not be around that long. Earlier this month, the judge sent the case back to the local office after it determined that the house was virtually worthless. Keller still has no benefits.
  A Social Security Administration spokesperson declined to comment on the case.
  "He's dying," says Keller's daughter, Barbara. "He needs his name off this house."
  (Editing by John Blanton)
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The New Power Map | Foreign Affairs
  Link to Article
  Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:24
  Dmitri Medvedev wishes "Good Luck!" to the Nord Stream pipeline. (Alexander Demianchuk / Courtesy Reuters)
  The energy map of the world is being redrawn -- and the global geopolitical order is adrift in consequence. We are moving away from a world dominated by a few energy mega-suppliers, such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, and toward one in which most countries have some domestic resources to meet their energy needs and can import the balance from suppliers in their own neighborhood. This new world will feature considerably lower energy prices, and in turn, geopolitics will hinge less on oil and gas. Within the next five to ten years, regimes that are dependent on energy exports will see their power diminished. No longer able to raise massive sums from energy sales to distribute patronage and project power abroad, they will have to tax their citizens.
  The revolution in unconventional energy production results from technologies that make drilling and extraction from underground shale formations increasingly easy and cheap. One cutting-edge procedure, hydraulic fracturing, involves injecting a mixture of sand, chemicals, and either water, gel, or liquefied greenhouse gases into shale rock formations to extract hydrocarbons. Although the technique was first conceptualized in 1948, only recently have other technologies arrived to make it commercially viable. (One such procedure, horizontal drilling, allows operators to tap into shallow but broad deposits with remarkable precision.)
  Hydraulic fracturing has been used widely for only about the past five years. But the result -- a staggering glut of natural gas in the United States -- is already clear. The price of natural gas in the country has plunged to a quarter of what it was in 2008. The low price has prompted changes throughout the U.S. economy, including the projected retirement of one-sixth of U.S. coal power generation capacity by 2020, the conversion of hundreds of thousands of vehicles from gasoline to compressed gas, and the construction and repatriation from China of chemical, plastic, and fertilizer factories that use natural gas as both raw material and fuel. By 2025, the professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts, energy-intensive industries will create a million new U.S. jobs.
  Meanwhile, the United States is using innovative energy technologies ever more frequently to extract shale oil, tight oil, and methane from coal beds. Accordingly, the share of U.S. oil consumption that is imported from abroad has fallen sharply, from about 60 percent in 2005 to less than 45 percent this year. It will likely continue to decrease until the country, or at least North America, is energy self-sufficient.
  The economic and geopolitical shockwaves will be felt worldwide. Decreasing demand in the United States for liquid natural gas, oil imports, and domestic coal is already reducing global prices for these commodities. As a result, European countries have a stronger position in negotiations over natural gas imports with Russia, from which they receive a quarter of their supply. The newfound leverage might have emboldened the European Union to open an investigation in September into a possible price-fixing scheme by Gazprom, the Russian energy giant. In addition, European countries have been negotiating fewer long-term gas contracts with Russia in which the agreed-upon price for the gas is pegged to that of oil -- the kind that Gazprom favors. Instead, they are opting for spot purchases -- short-term acquisitions based on market prices -- in the expectation of rising supplies and falling prices. Russia has already granted some countries roughly ten percent discounts on existing contracts.
  Until recently, Gazprom was in denial about the shale gas revolution, claiming that unconventional gas technology was not commercially viable, and that it posed severe risks to the environment. Given that Russia raises most of its federal revenue from energy exports -- about 60 percent, according to most estimates -- a reduction in natural gas sales would be politically catastrophic. Both the collapse of the Soviet Union and the downfall of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin in the late 1990s coincided with periods of low energy prices; Vladimir Putin, the current president, knows this history all too well.
  The problem is that all of his options in a world awash with cheap energy are bad. His regime could try to maintain Russia's market share in Europe by continuing to reduce prices, but that would mean accepting drastically smaller revenues. To make matters worse, Gazprom's profit margins are low. Given that it sells 60 percent of its gas domestically at a loss, Gazprom must obtain wide profit margins from its European exports to stay afloat. (Currently, it sells gas in Europe at about a 66 percent profit margin.)