What Adam Curry is reading

Live broadcast of Hamvention
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 20:46
  Live broadcast of Hamvention
  It's time again for the W5KUB.com world wide broadcast of Hamvention. This is our 11th year to broadcast.After 34 years outside in the fleamarket, W5KUB.COM had moved inside the building for Hamvention. Space SA302.
  Our live broadcast begins on Wed May 15th at 8:00 AM Central time as we broadcast the 550 Mile drive from Memphis to Dayton live.
  The broadcast will be up Thurs as we show various vendors setting up. Then the show Friday- Sunday.As in the past, we will be giving out thousands of dollars of ham prizes to our viewers.
  Join in on the fun at W5KUB.Com chat room and talk directly to us or other hams around the world. Last year we have 47,300 viewers follow us during this trip.
  See you soon when the fun starts.
  Tom W5KUB
  http://www.southgatearc.org/news/may...hamvention.htm
  Get Southgate Amateur Radio News by Email
  Don't wait all week for the news!Amateur Radio News - updated daily - 365 days per year
Syria reports fresh Israeli strike near Damascus
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  Source: The Daily Star >> Live News
  Sat, 04 May 2013 20:25
  BEIRUT: Massive explosions shook Damascus early Sunday and Syrian state media said Israeli missiles had hit a military research center on the outskirts of the capital.
  "Initial information indicates that the explosions at the scientific research center in Jamraya near Damascus were caused by Israeli missiles," the official SANA news agency. It gave no further details.
  Damascus residents reported hearing massive blasts at 1:50 am Sunday.
  "There was a large explosion. We first felt shakes like an earthquake and 30 seconds later heard gunfire," one resident told The Daily Star by telephone from the Syrian capital.
  "There was an electricity cut then a large boom.The door of my balcony opened from the after effect," another resident said, adding that warplanes could be heard overhead.
  Video footage uploaded onto the Internet by activists showed a huge ball of fire rising into the night sky.
  The blasts occurred a day after an Israeli official said his country had carried out an air strike targeting a consignment of missiles in Syria. The research center hit on Sunday was also targeted by Israel in January.
  "The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army," Syrian television said, referring to recent offensives by President Bashar al-Assad's forces against rebels.
  There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials on Sunday's explosions. "We don't respond to this kind of report," an Israeli military spokeswoman told Reuters.
  The U.S.State Department had no immediate comment and the Israeli Embassy in Washington declined comment.
Israeli jet shot down over Damascus: Hezbollah TV
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  Source: The Daily Star >> Live News
  Sat, 04 May 2013 20:25
  BEIRUT: An Israeli warplane was shot down by Syrian air-defense unit during a raid near Damascus early Sunday, Hezbollah's Manar television station reported, citing security sources in the Syrian capital.
  There was no independent confirmation of the claim.
Adrian Raine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 20:09
  Adrian Raine is a Britishpsychologist. He currently holds the chair of Richard Perry University Professor of Criminology & Psychiatry in the Department of Criminology of the School of Arts and Sciences and in the Department of Psychiatry of the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.[1][2] He is noted for his research on the neurobiological and biosocial causes of antisocial and violent behavior in children and adults.
  [edit]BiographyRaine received his bachelor's degree in experimental psychology from Oxford University in 1977. He received his D.Phil. in psychology from York University in 1982. Raine spent four years in two high-security prisons in England working as a prison psychologist.[3] He was appointed lecturer in Behavioral Sciences in the Department of Psychiatry at Nottingham University in 1984 and in 1986 became director of the Mauritius Child Health Project, a continuing longitudinal study of child mental health following a group of 1795 people form Mauritius from the age of three onward. Raine moved to the United States in 1987 to become assistant professor in psychology at the University of Southern California. He was promoted to associate professor in 1990 and became the associate chair of the Psychology Department. In 1994 he was promoted to professor of psychology, and in 1999 was given the endowed chair of Robert G. Wright Professor of Psychology. In 2007, he made the move to serve as Richard Perry University Professor of Criminology & Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves as the University's fourth Penn Integrates Knowledge professor.
  Raine has received the Young Scientist of the Year Award from the British Psychological Society (1980), a Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (1993), an Independent Scientist Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (1999), the Joseph Zubin Memorial Award (1999), and USC's Associate's Award for Creativity in Research (2003).
  [edit]Bibliography"The Anatomy of Violence: the biological roots of crime "[3].[edit]ReferencesPersondataNameRaine, AdrianAlternative namesShort descriptionBritish psychologistDate of birthPlace of birthDate of deathPlace of death
CDC - Tourette Syndrome, Diagnosing Tic Disorders - NCBDDD
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 19:08
  The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR)1 is used by health professionals to help diagnose tic disorders.
  Tics are sudden twitches, movements, or sounds that people do repeatedly. People who have tics cannot stop their body from doing these things. For example, a person with a motor tic might keep blinking over and over again. Or, a person with a vocal tic might make a grunting sound unwillingly.
  Four tic disorders are included in the DSM-IV-TR:
  Tourette's disorder (also called Tourette Syndrome [TS])Chronic motor or vocal tic disorderTransient tic disorderTic disorder not otherwise specifiedThe tic disorders differ from each other in terms of the type of tic present (motor or vocal, or a combination of both), and how long the symptoms have lasted. People with TS have both motor and vocal tics, and have had tic symptoms for at least 1 year. People with chronic motor or vocal tic disorders have either motor or vocal tics, and have had tic symptoms for at least 1 year. People with transient tic disorders can have motor or vocal tics, or both, but have had their symptoms less than 1 year. Tic disorder not otherwise specified is diagnosed when people have tics that do not meet criteria for one of the other disorders.
  The criteria are presented here in modified form to make them more accessible to the general public. They are listed here for information purposes only and should not be used for self-diagnosis. If you are concerned about any of the symptoms listed, you should consult a trained health care provider with experience in diagnosing and treating tic disorders.
  Tourette Syndrome (TS)For a person to be diagnosed with TS, he or she must meet the following criteria:
  The person must have both motor tics (for example, blinking or shrugging the shoulders) and vocal tics (for example, humming, clearing the throat, or yelling out a word or phrase), although they might not always happen at the same time.The person must have had tics for at least a year. The tics can occur many times a day (usually in bouts) nearly every day, or off and on, but there must not be a single tic-free period of more than 3 months.The person's tics must begin before he or she is 18 years of age.The person's symptoms must not be due to taking medicine or other drugs or to having another medical condition (for example, seizures, Huntington disease, or postviral encephalitis).Chronic Motor or Vocal Tic DisorderFor a person to be diagnosed with a chronic tic disorder, he or she must meet the following criteria:
  The person must have one or more motor tics (for example, blinking or shrugging the shoulders) or vocal tics (for example, humming, clearing the throat, or yelling out a word or phrase), but not bothThe person must have tics that occur many times a day nearly every day or on and off throughout a period of more than a year. During this period, there must not be a single tic-free period of more than 3 months.The person's tics must start before he or she is 18 years of age.The person's symptoms must not be due to taking medicine or other drugs or to having a another medical condition (for example, seizures, Huntington disease, or postviral encephalitis).The person must not have been diagnosed with TS.Transient Tic DisorderFor a person to be diagnosed with this disorder, he or she must meet the following criteria:
  The person must have one or more motor tics (for example, blinking or shrugging the shoulders) or vocal tics (for example, humming, clearing the throat, or yelling out a word or phrase).The person must have tics that occur many times a day, nearly every day or at least 4 weeks, but for no longer than 12 months in a row.The person's tics must start before he or she is 18 years of age.The person's symptoms must not be due to taking medicine or other drugs or to having another medical condition (for example, Huntington disease or postviral encephalitis).The person must not have been diagnosed with TS or chronic motor or vocal tic disorder.ReferenceAmerican Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Washington, DC; 2000.
What the BBC can learn from scandal of Stuart Hall and the dark side of fame | Media | The Observer
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 17:38
  Thursday was an awkward day for BBC newsreaders. Once again the main headlines were dominated by scandals within their own institution. One of their most well-known presenters had admitted to 14 indecent assaults on 13 victims aged as young as nine, and a report was published citing "a strong undercurrent of fear" which stopped BBC employees speaking out about sexual harassment or bullying.
  "Stuart could do what Stuart could do," said a former studio worker on It's A Knockout, the BBC gameshow that Stuart Hall hosted in Manchester. And no one would dare blow the whistle.
  It is just over a month since Tony Hall assumed his position as director general of the BBC and he has already faced two public skirmishes. There was an almighty row over Panorama's covert filming in North Korea, with the corporation accused of hoodwinking students about the presence of an undercover reporter on their trip.
  And then there was controversy over whether or not to play Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead, the song from the Wizard of Oz that was appropriated as an anti-Thatcher anthem and sent to No 2 in the charts in the days after her death. The scars of the Savile affair, of course, are still livid. And no one has forgotten the fiasco when Lord McAlpine was wrongly accused of paedophilia as a result of a Newsnight investigation. Now the new director general faces calls for another inquiry.
  Two of Stuart Hall's victims, who say they were sexually abused on BBC premises, are calling for a full investigation, backed by MPs including Labour's Gerry Sutcliffe and Tory Philip Davies, who sit on the culture, media and sport select committee.
  There are also cases involving BBC staff's own allegations of sexual harassment, and claims for compensation by victims of both Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall.
  One commentator said this weekend that the 70s were a "perilous time for women", when the office groper was a daily obstacle. Paul Jackson, a former entertainment director at the BBC, said: "I think that fame and the fans it brings with it, coupled back in those days with a suddenly sexualised society, led a lot of people to believe that anything goes. I'm really not saying that some of these things were in any way justifiable but equally it is hopeless to try to apply today's mores to a very different time."
  But it is too easy to dismiss this as merely a historical problem, says Alan Collins, the lawyer representing victims of both Hall and Savile. "It's very disingenuous to use that term historic. It's very common for victims to take a long time to come forward, there's a misplaced guilt, there's shame, there's embarrassment. It's a particularly brave person who takes on a celebrity when they are powerful figures at the pinnacle of their career, winning awards."
  Nor does the problem of sexual harassment appear to have died out at the BBC. The last offence recorded against Savile was in 2006, while the Dinah Rose review into the culture of the BBC, published last week, identified 37 alleged sexual harassment cases between April 2006 and last November. There were higher numbers of bullying incidents.
  Claudia Rosencrantz, the former controller of entertainment for ITV who had to deal with Michael Barrymore's career implosion, told the Observer that celebrity could open the doors to disaster.
  "For me it's quite simple," she said. "If someone has a propensity to abuse, and also has the opportunity, which of course celebrity and power of any kind offers, then that is a recipe for disaster. It really is high time all of this came out. People who one always felt were sleazebags actually are."
  It would be wrong of course to see the BBC as incubating a uniquely iniquitous culture. Donald Findlater, director of research and development at the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and director of Stop it Now! UK and Ireland, said: "Any suggestion that this is a unique problem of the BBC is a distraction. There's acres of children being abused every day. Maybe with celebrities they're on a different psychological track with children, because they're people they look up to, who are big in their world, but we could say the same about sports coaches."
  But many, said Findlater, might well never have been abusers in an ordinary job. "That's my assumption with some of these people '' they would have been harmless in ordinary life. It's the context in which they find themselves but that's the same for, say, teachers, who train with no intent towards children but then find themselves in perhaps facing a life crisis and are feeling vulnerable, in a situation of temptation, and suddenly thoughts are developing. They never planned to be sexual offenders."
  Stuart Hall, 83, pleaded guilty to the crimes in court three months after he dismissed the allegations as "pernicious, callous, cruel and, above all, spurious". His guilty plea led to a charge of rape of a 22-year-old woman in 1976 being left on file.
  His producer at BBC Manchester at that time, Linda McDougall, said Hall had a reputation as "a ladies' man" and was a "complete nuisance". At the BBC an old medical room was reserved for his use.
  "He had lady friends who came and went happily on to the BBC premises and kept him occupied during the afternoons. I can't say that he was having sex with them there because I wasn't ever in the medical room at the same time but I always thought that they weren't coming for cups of tea at the BBC in the afternoons. But of course everyone else knew. We all made jokes about it.
  "You would have had to have your eyes shut and not been at work at all to not know what was going on. He was one of those people who had his hands all over you and all over anyone female who came in." She had, though, been shocked to discover his offences related to children.
  If the BBC is to learn lessons from these scandals and the mass of victims whose lives have been left damaged, it has to bring its "talent" off the pedestal, said Will Wyatt, former director of BBC Television and author of The Fun Factor: A Life in the BBC, based on the diaries he kept over a 34-year career.
  "I never met Stuart Hall, and didn't need to. His glory days were before I turned up. The difference for me is dividing between what was blokey, coming on to women, not very nice, and importuning, which is quite different.
  "I'm happy to say that in my time a lot of the people you saw on the screen were what you met. It is simply not the case that this [Hall's case] was how most people were. But temptations do come people's way, in showbiz, in theatre, in pop music. I would be amazed if some bonking didn't go on somewhere in the BBC."
  He said that the 1960s review show Late Night Line Up was notorious for its hospitality room. "I am sure some people had sex there!
  "The [admission of guilt] is not very good for the BBC, it is very much part of that Jimmy Savile era, it doesn't reflect well on the way a number of people were behaving. There is a danger of 'monsterdom' taking over '' that is a danger when people become mega famous, the danger is always there."
  Hall is arrested by officers from Lancashire Police at his home in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
  Charged with the indecent assault of three girls. Hall denies the allegations, which date from the 1960s to the 1980s and involve girls between nine and 17.
  Hall releases a statement labelling the claims "pernicious, callous, cruel and above all spurious".
  Hall appears at Preston crown court. He speaks only to confirm his name in an eight-minute preliminary hearing. The case is adjourned until 16 April. A provisional trial date of 2 October is set, estimated to last up to four weeks.
  Hall admits 14 charges of indecently assaulting girls, including one aged nine. He is bailed and due to be sentenced on 17 June. Hall's lawyer said that he apologised to his victims and was "all too aware that his disgrace is complete". Three charges of indecent assault and one of rape will lie on the court file.
Een dode, 33 gewonden door treinongeluk Belgi
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 17:36
  Bewerkt door: redactie '' 04/05/13, 23:11 '' bron: ANP
  (C) afp.
  Door het treinongeluk bij het Oost-Vlaamse Schellebelle hebben 33 mensen verwondingen opgelopen. Zij zijn allen in het ziekenhuis opgenomen. Dat hebben de autoriteiten van de provincie Oost-Vlaanderen laten weten, meldde de Vlaamse publieke omroep VRT zaterdagavond.
  (C) afp.
  Alle gewonden zijn omwonenden van het spoor die bevangen zijn geraakt door giftige dampen. Eerder had de provincie 17 gewonden gemeld.
  Drie personen zijn er slecht aan toe, maar verkeren niet meer in levensgevaar. E(C)n persoon is omgekomen. Het is onduidelijk of het overlijden te maken heeft met het treinongeval. Het slachtoffer is echter wel aangetroffen in een woning waar een hoge concentratie giftige dampen is vastgesteld.
Air Taxpayer: Chocolate strawberries among extravagant demands by Nancy Pelosi as she travelled world courtesy of US Airforce | Mail Online
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 17:36
  By Matt BlakeUPDATED: 09:02 EST, 27 January 2011
  Jet-setter: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi travelled over 90,000 miles in foreign trip in nine months courtesy of the US Airforce
  If the US Airforce did all airline food, it would be strawberries dipped in dark chocolate and grilled chicken salads all round.
  Unfortunately this luxury is reserved for top US politicians alone, as new documents detailing Nancy Pelosi's travel expenses reveal.
  The former House Speaker was showered with a cornucopia of gourmet food and alcohol as she travelled over 90,000 miles around the world in just nine months last year - all courtesy of the US Airforce (USAF).
  On one overseas excursion, her office even wrote to the USAF asking for strawberries dipped in dark chocolate as a birthday treat.
  The documents, uncovered by political corruption watchdog Judicial Watch, reveal that the US taxpayer was billed for $101,429 (£64,000) in Mrs Pelosi's in-flight services over a period of two years.
  One internal Air Force email sent on March 25, 2010 said: 'The speaker's office is requesting egg salad sandwiches on wheat toast with fruit (watermelon, etc) for desert [sic].
  'It's the speaker's B-Day tomorrow so we're also asking for something like chocolate covered strawberries (dark chocolate preferred)'...'
  Another member of the Air Force staff immediately replied: 'Copy all. We'll plan something for the birthday and take care of the meal.'
  Another documents revealed an order for six raspberry chocolate cups, costing almost $16 (£10), and one for pasta spinach salad with grilled chicken. There were also orders for a variety of nuts, cranberry juice, raisins, dipping chocolate and spring water.
  The revelations were among 2,000 pages documenting Mrs Pelosi's travel expenses, obtained by Judicial Watch.
  Of 103 Pelosi-led congressional delegations, 31 trips included members of the House speaker's family.
  Another Pelosi-led congressional delegation travelling from Washington, DC, through Tel Aviv, to Baghdad included a shopping list that would be more at home on the fridge at a student party.
  Among requests were Johnny Walker Red scotch, Grey Goose vodka, E&J brandy, Baileys Irish Cream, Courvoisier cognac, Bacardi Light rum, Dewar's scotch, Jack Daniel's whiskey, and more.
  Pelosi even used Air Force aircraft to travel back to her district of California at an average cost of $28,210.51 per flight.
  Extravagant: On one overseas excursion, Mrs Pelosi's office even wrote to the USAF asking for strawberries dipped in dark chocolate as a birthday treat
  Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said: 'Despite the media firestorm over her military travel abuses, Nancy Pelosi continued to use the United States Air Force as her own personal travel agency right up until her final days as House Speaker.
  'Nancy Pelosi demonstrated an alarming disregard for the men and women in the U.S. Air Force during her tenure as House Speaker.'
  But he added that the use of military travel was not limited only to the Speaker of the house.
  He said: 'Through the Speaker's office, other members of the House are able to obtain permission for the use of military luxury travel for congressional delegation trips abroad.
  'These trips, known as CODELs, have exploded in number and cost. Speaker Boehner needs to reform this abuse of our military's assets. This is the right thing to do for the U.S. Air Force and for the American taxpayer.'
  Judicial Watch earlier uncovered internal Department of Defense (DOD) emails detailing attempts by DOD staff to accommodate Pelosi's many requests for military escorts and aircraft as well as her 'history of cancelling many past requests'.
  Democrat Mrs Pelosi became the first female Speaker in US history ion her election in January 2007.
  But when the Republican Party took over the House in the 2010 election, Rep. John Boehner took over the mantle.
  Since his appointment, Mr Boehner confirmed that he would commute to his Ohio district only on commercial aircraft.
  Mr Fitton added: 'We are pleased that Speaker Boehner will not follow Pelosi's corrupt example and will instead fly commercial.'
Federal Register | 36(b)(1) Arms Sales Notification
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 16:09
  Ms. B. English, DSCA/DBO/CFM, (703) 601-3740.
  The following is a copy of a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Transmittals 13-09 with attached transmittal, and policy justification.
  Dated: May 1, 2013.
  Aaron Siegel,
  Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer,Department of Defense.
  BILLING CODE 5001-06-P
  Transmittal No. 13-09Notice of Proposed Issuance of Letter of Offer Pursuant to Section 36(b)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, as amended(i) Prospective Purchaser: United Kingdom
  (ii) TotalEstimated Value:
  Major Defense Equipment *$0 millionOther$170 millionTOTAL$170 million(iii) Description and Quantity or Quantities of Articles or Services under Consideration for Purchase: follow-on support for the Tomahawk Weapon System (TWS) including missile modifications, maintenance, spare and repair parts, system and test equipment, engineering support, communications equipment, technical assistance, personnel training/equipment, and other related elements of logistics support.
  (iv) Military Department: Navy (FAY).
  (v) Prior Related Cases, if any:
  FMS Case AGS-$154M-16Oct95
  FMS Case AHA-$32M-26Aug99
  FMS Case AHE-$36M-14Dec01
  FMS Case GWY-$6M-20Jan00
  FMS Case GYU-$33M-21Jan02
  FMS Case LIS-$49M-18Jan04
  FMS Case GXQ-$122M-27Nov00
  FMS Case AHJ-$118M-26Mar04
  FMS Case GEK-$122M-20Feb08.
  (vi) Sales Commission, Fee, etc., Paid, Offered, or Agreed to be Paid: None.
  (vii) Sensitivity of Technology Contained in the Defense Article orDefense Services Proposed to be Sold: None.
  (viii) Date Report Delivered to Congress: 16 April 2013.
  POLICY JUSTIFICATIONUnited Kingdom'--Follow-On Support for Tomahawk Weapon System (TWS)The United Kingdom (UK) has requested a possible sale of follow-on support for the Tomahawk Weapon System (TWS) to include missile modifications, maintenance, spare and repair parts, system and test equipment, engineering support, communications equipment, technical assistance, personnel training/equipment, and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated cost is $170 million.
  The United Kingdom is a major political and economic power and a key democratic partner of the U.S. in ensuring peace and stability around the world.
  The proposed sale of follow-on support will allow the United Kingdom to continue life cycle support of its TWS and maintain operational effectiveness. The United Kingdom requests support for this capability to provide for the safety of its deployed troops, regional security, and interoperability with the United States. The United Kingdom will have no difficulty absorbing this follow-on support into its armed forces.
  The proposed sale of this follow-on support and equipment will not alter the basic military balance in the region.
  The principal contractors will be Raytheon Missile Systems Company in Tucson, Arizona; Lockheed Martin in Manassas, Virginia, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and Marlton, New Jersey; The Boeing Company in St. Louis, Missouri; BAE North America in San Diego, California; COMGLOBAL in San Jose, California; and SAIC in Springfield, Virginia and Patuxent River, Maryland. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.
  Implementation of this proposed sale will require the assignment of one (1) U.S. Government and two (2) contractor representatives to the United Kingdom for the duration of this case.
  There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.
  [FR Doc. 2013-10631 Filed 5-3-13; 8:45 am]
  BILLING CODE 5001-06-C
Dumb Ass - by Mark Crislip, MD | Edmund's Page
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 16:52
  Flu season is here, kinda sorta, it never really went away thanks to H1N1. I was rounding today, lucky me with the three day weekend, when one of my colleagues mentioned a post I had written a year ago at the old blog about the flu vaccine. It was printed and put up in the break room, and he saw it, took it home to his wife, who promptly mailed it to a colleague that is a proud ''I never get the flu vaccine'' kind of guy.
  It is like people who are proud of being ignorant of science. I never understand why people brag about being ignorant or stupid. You would think they would be embarrassed, but then they are probably a'... well, let us just see.
  Anyway, he read my short rant and evidently changed his mind about getting the flu vaccine this year. Yippee. So what was the powerful, reasoned essay that altered the course of human (well, maybe one human) history?
  I give you, slightly rewritten for 2009, a Budget of Dumb Asses. (BTW: budget is an archaic term for a quantity of material, usually written. I do love dem dare archaic words, don't cha know.)
  I had my flu shot today. Well, my anti-flu shot. Protected me, my family, and my patients from sickness and death for another year. Whew.
  I wonder if you are one of those Dumb Asses who do not get the flu shot each year? Yes. Dumb Ass. Big D, big A. You may be allergic to the vaccine, you may have had Guillain Barre, in which case I will cut you some slack. But if you don't have those conditions and you work in health care and you don't get a vaccine for one of the following reasons, you are a dumb ass.
  The vaccine gives me the flu. Dumb ass. It is a killed vaccine. It cannot give you the influenza. It is impossible to get flu from the influenza vaccine.I never get the flu, so I don't need the vaccine. Irresponsible dumb ass. I have never had a head on collision, but I wear my seat belt. And you probably don't use a condom either. So far you have been lucky, and you are a potential winner of a Darwin Award, although since you don't use a condom, you are unfortunately still in the gene pool.Only old people get the flu. Selfish dumb ass. Influenza can infect anyone, and one of the groups who are more likely to die of influenza are the very young. Often those most at risk for dying from influenza are those least able, due to age or underlying diseases, to respond to the vaccine. You can help prevent your old, sickly Grandmother or your newborn daughter from getting influenza by getting the vaccine, so you do not get flu and pass it one to her. Flu, by the way, is highly contagious, with 20 to 50% of contacts with an index case getting the flu. However, Granny may be sitting on a fortune that will come to you, and killing her off with the flu is a great way to get her out of the way and never be caught. That would make a good episode of CSI.I can prevent influenza or treat it by taking echinacea, vitamin C or airborne. Gullible dumb ass cubed then squared. None of these concoctions has any efficacy what so ever against influenza. They neither prevent nor treat influenza. And you can't boost you immune system either. Immunity is not a Jamba Juice. Anyone who says that the immune system can be boosted is also a dumb ass.Flu isn't all that bad a disease. Underestimating dumb ass. Part of the problem with the term flu is that it is used both as a generic term for damn near any viral illness with a fever and is also used for a severe viral pneumonia. Medical people are just as inaccurate about using the term as the general public. The influenza virus directly and indirectly kills 30,000 people and leads to hospitalization of 200,000 in the US each year. Influenza is a nasty lung illness. And what is stomach 'flu'? No such thing, dumb ass.I am not at risk for flu. Denying dumb ass. If you breathe, you are risk for influenza. Here are the groups of people who should not get the flu vaccine (outside of people with severe adverse reactions to the vaccine): Former President Clinton, who evidently doesn't inhale. And people who want to be safe from zombies. If you don't get the vaccine you do not have to worry about the zombie apocalypse, because zombies eat brains.The vaccine is worse than the disease. Dumb ass AND a wimp. What a combination. Your mother must be proud. Unless you think a sore deltoid for a day is too high a price to pay to prevent two weeks of high fevers, severe muscles aches, and intractable cough.I had the vaccine last year, so I do not need it this year. Uneducated dumb ass. Each year new stains of influenza circulate across the world. Last years vaccine at best provides only partial protection. Every year you need a new shot. And we have a new strain this season, H1N1, so you cannot be a parasite on the immunity of others.The vaccine costs too much. Cheap dumb ass. The vaccine costs less than a funeral, less than Tamiflu, less than a week in the hospital.I received the vaccine and I got the flu anyway. Inexact dumb ass. The vaccine is not perfect and you may have indeed had the flu. More likely you called one of the many colds people get each year the flu. Remember there are hundreds of potential causes of a respiratory infection circulating, the vaccine only covers influenza, the virus most likely to kill you and yours.I don't believe in the flu vaccine. Superstitious, premodern, magical thinking dumb ass. What is there to believe in? Belief is what you do when there is no data. Probably don't believe in gravity or germ theory either. Everyone, I suppose, has to believe in something, and I believe I will have a beer.The government puts tracking nanobots in the vaccine as well as RFID chips as part of the mark of the beast, and the vaccine doesn't work since it is part of a big government sponsored conspiracy to line the pockets of big pharma and inject the American sheeple with exotic new infections in an attempt to control population growth and help usher in a New World Order. Well, that excuse is at least reasonable. Paranoid dumb ass.So get the vaccine. And pass this url on to someone else. The life you may save may be your own. Or be a dumb ass.
  Comments
New Study Shows That Blowjobs Are Healthy Regretful Morning
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 16:24
  Posted August 23rd, 2012 at 1:25 pm by Jason
  Research proves there are benefits to blowing loads into females
  A lot of women are having trouble swallowing a new study that shows the positive effects of semen. Let's start by taking a look at why semen is healthy:
  Seminal fluid contains chemicals that elevate mood, increase affection, induce sleep and also contain at least three anti-depressants.
  Semen contains another of chemicals along with spermatozoa, including cortisol, which is known to increase affection, estrone, which elevates mood and oxytocin, which also elevates mood.
  The study goes on to say that women who are having unprotected sex are less depressed than ones who are using condoms. Apparently this is because when a dude fires his baby batter into a girl, his seminal fluids circulate through her body which can have the same positive effects.
  Fuckin A I love science.
  Ladies, how awesome is it that you can now get cream pied without feeling like a stank ass hoe?
  ''Damn Becky, you didn't make him wear a rubber?''
  ''Yea I couldn't afford a wheat grass shot this morning so I went with another natural alternative.''
  ''You go gurl!''
  In all seriousness though, and I've even made a flowchart on this subject before; If a girl doesn't make you wear a condom after you've just met her, go ahead and glove up. Yea, she's pretty hip but so were the 43 dudes who shot loads into her within the last 3 months. Not all unprotected sex has positive results; cough HIV positive. *hi5 to whoever got the South Park reference*
  Buzzing TodayAround The Web
Michael A. Sheehan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  Michael A. Sheehan (born February 10, 1955) is a United States author and former government official and military officer. He was born in Red Bank, New Jersey.[1]
  [edit]EducationSheehan graduated from Christian Brothers Academy in New Jersey in 1973 and the United States Military Academy (West Point) in 1977. Sheehan has a Master of Science in Foreign Service from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service as well as one from the United States ArmyCommand and General Staff College.
  [edit]Military careerHe served as an officer in the infantry and Special Forces. He had several overseas assignments, as a commander of a "counter-terrorism" unit in Panama, a counterinsurgency advisor in El Salvador, an infantry company commander in Korea, and on peacekeeping duty in Somalia and Haiti. Also while on active duty, he served in the White House on the National Security Council staff for Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
  [edit]Department of StateIn 1998, he was appointed Coordinator for Counterterrorism with the rank and status of Ambassador-at-Large at the United States Department of State and was confirmed by the United States Senate for this position in 1999.[2] Following an assignment as Assistant-Secretary-General at the United Nations in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (2001 to 2003),[3] Sheehan served as Deputy Commissioner of Counter Terrorism for the New York City Police Department until May 2006.[4]
  [edit]Life after diplomatic serviceSheehan then served as President and co-founder of Lexington Security Group, an international consulting firm that specializes in providing international law enforcement, internal security, and national defense organizations with strategic guidance, unit training, and individual mentoring to manage emerging security challenges.[5] He was a partner in Torch Hill Investment Partners, a private equity group in New York City that specializes in the defense, intelligence and security sectors.[6] He was also a terrorism analyst for NBC News and a fellow at New York University's Center on Law and Security.[7]
  [edit]Return to federal serviceThe White House nominated Sheehan to become Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict on Nov. 1, 2011.[8] The U.S. SenateSenate Armed Services Committee held his confirmation hearing on Nov. 17, 2011,[9] and he was confirmed by a voice vote on Dec. 17, 2011.
  [edit]AuthorSheehan is the author of the book Crush the Cell: How to Defeat Terrorism Without Terrorizing OurselvesISBN 978-0-307-38217-7[10][11] After the attempted bombing in Times Square, Mr. Sheehan concluded the terrorist was a 'lone wolf' and wrote so in the New York Times. However, experts in the field have concluded that he was part of a terrorist group based in Pakistan.[12]
  [edit]References[edit]External linksPersondataNameSheehan, Michael A.Alternative namesShort descriptionUnited States author and former government officialDate of birth1955Place of birthDate of deathPlace of death
Irving Azoff - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  Irving Azoff (born December 13, 1947) is an Americanpersonal manager, representing recording artists in the music industry such as Christina Aguilera, Journey, Jewel, the Eagles, X Japan, Bush, REO Speedwagon, Seal, David Archuleta, Alter Bridge, Van Halen, 30 Seconds to Mars, Neil Diamond, New Kids on the Block, Steely Dan and New Edition. Azoff is chairman and founder of Azoff Music Management Group, Inc. In late 2008, he became chairman and CEO of Ticketmaster Entertainment. He was Executive Chairman of Live Nation Entertainment until his resignation on December 31, 2012. He topped Billboard's2012 Power 100 and was named the most powerful person in the music industry.[1] Azoff is also currently on the board of Clear Channel Communications.[2]
  [edit]BiographyHe began promoting and booking bands during his college years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has worked as an agent, personal manager, concert promoter, movie producer, independent record label owner, merchandiser, music publisher, and CEO of a record company. He moved to Los Angeles with his first clients, Joe Walsh and Dan Fogelberg. He then joined Geffen Roberts management where he began working with the Eagles. After David Geffen sold Asylum Records to Warner Music, the management company splintered and Azoff left with the Eagles as his own client.
  From 1983 to 1989, Azoff headed MCA Records and is credited for saving the company from bankruptcy.[citation needed] Azoff resigned from MCA in 1989 to form his own record label, Giant Records, now defunct (Warner Music Group bought the masters.)
  Frederic Dannen's book, Hitmen, includes a chapter titled "The Troika" about Azoff, David Geffen and Walter Yetnikoff, three rival record executives in the 1980s. According to Thomas R. King's book, The Operator, Geffen manipulated Azoff into leaving MCA and going to Warner Music Group where he started Giant Records. King writes that Geffen wanted Azoff out at MCA to clear the way for MCA to buy Geffen Records. So Geffen convinced Mo Ostin at Warner Music to offer Irving Azoff a "dream" label deal. Giant Records operated for much of the 1990s until Azoff decided to return to concentrating on artist management.
  Irving co-produced the movies Fast Times at Ridgemont High and "The Inkwell" and has been named "Manager of the Year" by two touring industry's trade publications.
  [edit]Business developmentsIn January 2008, it is being reported that Azoff is working with former New Kids on the Block alumni Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Jonathan Knight, Danny Wood and Donnie Wahlberg on a 'reunion' album.
  On March 27, 2008, Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose announced that Azoff and Andy Gould are the new management for Guns N' Roses.
  It was announced on October 1, 2008, that Azoff will be managing English singer Morrissey.[3] On January 6, 2010, Morrissey discontinued his relationship with Azoff and Front Line Management Group.[4]
  In October 2008, ticketing and marketing company Ticketmaster announced that they would acquire artist management company Front Line Management Group Inc.. As part of the deal, Irving Azoff, founder and chief executive officer of Front Line, became Chief Executive Officer of Ticketmaster.
  In February 2010, Johnny Gill announced that he and the rest of the members of New Edition will sign with Azoff for their second reunion and several solo albums.[5]
  Ticketmaster issued restricted stock awards to Mr. Azoff representing approximately 4.5% of Ticketmaster's stock. The deal includes $35 million of restricted Ticketmaster preferred stock that is convertible at Azoff's election into 1.75 million shares of Ticketmaster common stock, and 1 million shares of restricted Ticketmaster common stock.
  Ticketmaster also agreed to grant Azoff options to purchase 2 million shares of Ticketmaster common stock at an exercise price of $20 per share.
  In May 2010, Guns N' Roses-singer Axl Rose filed a $5 million lawsuit against former manager Azoff, saying that Azoff sabotaged sales of Guns N' Roses' comeback album and lied about a potential ''super tour'' with Van Halen (which Azoff manages) as part of a scheme to force Rose to reunite with his former band members. Rose said in his suit that Azoff failed to promote his 2008 album, ''Chinese Democracy,'' and deliberately mishandled concert dates, ''forcing Rose into a position where he would have no choice but to reunite with the original members of Guns N' Roses for a reunion tour.
  In January 2011, it was confirmed that Azoff is now managing The Cab.
  In early 2013, it was announced that Azoff is now managing Australian singer-songwriter Delta Goodrem.
  [edit]References[edit]External linksPersondataNameAzoff, IrvingAlternative namesShort descriptionDate of birthDecember 13, 1947Place of birthDate of deathPlace of death
Boston Strong II 05.30.13
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 15:35
  ALL DATES, ACTS AND TICKET PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. A SERVICE CHARGE MAY BE ADDED TO EACH TICKET
  (C) 2013 Boston Strong II 05.30.13. All rights reserved.Privacy PolicyTerms & ConditionsSupportVisit www.OnGuardOnline.gov for social networking safety tips for parents and youthpowered by ground(ctrl)
Aerosmith, James Taylor to Lead Boston Benefit Show | Music News | Rolling Stone
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 15:34
  Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, James Taylor.
  Douglas Mason/WireImage; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
  Bostonians Aerosmith and James Taylor will lead a benefit show in their native city on May 30th at the TD Garden. Carole King and Massachusetts rockers the J. Geils Band are also set for "Boston Strong: An Evening of Support and Celebration," which will help raise money for the One Fund Boston, a charity set up by Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and Boston mayor Thomas Menino to support those affected by the April 15th marathon bombings.
  Neil Diamond Donating 'Sweet Caroline' Royalties to Boston Charity
  Other artists set for "Boston Strong" include the city's own New Kids on the Block and Boston, fellow Massachusetts bands Godsmack and Extreme, Jimmy Buffett and Jason Aldean. Comedians Dane Cook and Steven Wright, who were both born in nearby Cambridge, will also perform.
  Tickets will go on sale on May 6th at 10:00 a.m. EST on Ticketmaster, Live Nation and the TD Garden box office. More artists will be announced soon. For more information, visit the "Boston Strong" website and the One Fund.
  To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
BBC NEWS | Health | Eating pizza 'cuts cancer risk'
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 13:45
  Pizzas are covered with a potentially protective tomato sauce
  Italian researchers say eating pizza could protect against cancer.Researchers claim eating pizza regularly reduced the risk of developing oesophageal cancer by 59%.
  The risk of developing colon cancer also fell by 26% and mouth cancer by 34%, they claimed.
  The secret could be lycopene, an antioxidant chemical in tomatoes, which is thought to offer some protection against cancer, and which gives the fruit its traditional red colour.
  But some experts cast doubt on the idea that pizza consumption was the explanation for why some people did not develop cancer.They said other foods or dietary habits could play a part.
  Lifestyle
  The researchers looked at 3,300 people who had developed cancer of the mouth, oesophagus, throat or colon and 5,000 people who had not developed cancer.
  They were asked about their eating habits, and how often they ate pizza.
  Those who ate pizza at least once a week had less chance of developing cancer, they found.
  Dr Silvano Gallus, of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmaceutical Research in Milan, who led the research: "We knew that tomato sauce could offer protection against certain tumours, but we did not expect pizza as a complete meal also to offer such protective powers."
  Nicola O'Connor, of Cancer Research UK, told BBC News Online: "This study is interesting and the results should probably be looked at in the context of what we already know about the Mediterranean diet and it's association with a lower risk of certain types of cancer.
  "But before people start dialling the pizza takeaway, they should consider that pizza can be high in saturated fat, salt and calories.
  "In contrast to the classic Italian pizza, UK varieties are often loaded with high fat cheeses and fatty meats, a high intake of which can contribute to obesity, itself a risk factor for cancer.
  "Our advice is to enjoy pizza in moderation as part of a balanced diet that includes plenty of vegetables and fruit."
  Mediterranean diet
  And Carlo La Vecchia, a Milan-based epidemiologist said pizza-lovers should not see the research as a licence to indulge their fondness for the food.
  "There is nothing to indicate that pizza is the only thing responsible for these results."
  He told AFP news agency: "Pizza could simply be indicative of a lifestyle and food habits, in other words the Italian version of a Mediterranean diet."
  A Mediterranean diet is rich in olive oil, fibre, vegetables, fruit, flour and freshly cooked food - including non-frozen, home-made pizza.
Domino's Pizza Cures Cancer
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 13:44
Pizza Could Cure Cancer, Study Says - Los Angeles - Restaurants and Dining
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 13:43
  Can pizza be the cure to cancer? According to a new study by researchers at Long Island University, the herb oregano, a key ingredient in most pizza sauces, can potentially be used to treat prostate cancer."We know that oregano possesses antibacterial as well as anti-inflammatory properties, but its effects on cancer cells really elevate the spice to the level of a super-spice like turmeric," said Dr. Supriya Bavadekar, assistant professor of pharmacology.
  Dr. Bavadekar's research shows that carvacrol, a component of oregano, induces apoptosis or "cell suicide." Bavadekar and her team are currently trying to pinpoint exactly how the compound causes this cancer cell suicide.
  This isn't the first time the Italian dish has been associated with cancer-curing properties. "Some researchers have previously shown that eating pizza may cut down cancer risk," Bavadekar said. "This effect has been mostly attributed to lycopene, a substance found in tomato sauce, but we now feel that even the oregano seasoning may play a role."
  Though the study is at its preliminary stage, Bavadekar believes the compound in oregano has a huge potential in being used as a anti-cancer agent. "If the study continues to yield positive results, this super-spice may represent a very promising therapy for patients with prostate cancer," she said.
  More reasons, as if you needed them, to stand in that 800 Degrees line in Westwood.
snopes.com: Boston Marathon Bombers Tuition Fees
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 10:19
  Claim: The accused Boston Marathon bombers attended expensive private schools.Example: [Collected via e-mail, April 2013]Can you tell me where the Boston bombers and their families got their monies? There is no indication of a job (other than the father at one time being a US gov't employee) and I'm wondering how they got to an exclusive school and higher private education tuitions?
  Origins: A number of inquiries from our readers like the one reproduced above suggests there is a common perception that accused Boston Marathon bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev attended expensive private schools, a perception which has prompted many to raise the question of where the money to fund their educations came from (since the brothers apparently had no obvious substantial source of income). Although detailed information about the Tsarnaevs' finances (and its sources) has not yet been made public, we can dispel the mistaken notion that they received costly private educations.According to various news accounts, the elder brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan (now deceased), attended high school at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and took accounting classes for three semesters between 2006 and 2008 as a part-time student at Bunker Hill Community College. As the school's name indicates, Bunker Hill is a community college (i.e., a
  publicly funded two-year institution) with relatively low tuition rates for local residents.The younger brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar, is likewise reported to have attended high school at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and then studied marine biology at UMass Dartmouth. Although the names of these institutions might suggest otherwise, neither of them is a private school: Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) is a public high school (part of the Cambridge Public School District) formed from the 1977 merger of Rindge Technical School and Cambridge High and Latin School, and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (or UMass Dartmouth) is one of the five schools that comprise the University of Massachusetts public university system. Altogether, public high school, community college, and the University of Massachusetts is about the cheapest educational path a resident of Massachusetts could follow.
  This isn't to say that the Tsarnaevs' educations were either cheap or completely cost-free: the fees at UMass Dartmouth run over $10,000 per year for Massachusetts residents, and even Bunker Hill Community College's tuition costs a local resident $141 per unit. And at least one of the brothers (Tamerlan) is reported to have been receiving welfare benefits at one point However, Dzhokhar won a Cambridge City Scholarship in 2011, and either or both brothers might also have received student loans or other forms of financial aid.
  Last updated: 24 April 2013
  Urban Legends Reference Pages (C) 1995-2013 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson.This material may not be reproduced without permission.snopes and the snopes.com logo are registered service marks of snopes.com.
Ted Cruz: Biden's Shotgun Advice Is ''Useful'' If You're ''Attacked By A Flock Of Geese'''...
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  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Sat, 04 May 2013 09:40
  Shame on you, Ted Cruz, for picking on the mentally handicapped.
  Via Red Alert:
  . . . ''I have to note, by the way '-- Vice President Joe Biden did have some very helpful advice on this issue,'' Cruz told the crowd on Friday. ''You know, he said if your house and your family are ever under attack, all you need to do is go outside with a double-barreled shotgun and fire both barrels in the air '-- which is very, very useful if it so happens that you're being attacked by a flock of geese.''
Inside Edition: Barack Obama Was Once An Indonesian Muslim Named Barry Soetoro
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  Source: The Goodman Chronicle
  Sat, 04 May 2013 09:39
  For those that don't know, President Barack Obama used to go by the name "Barry Soetoro", while living in Indonesia, and he even registered for school as a INDONESIAN MUSLIM student. Did he renounce his citizenship? When did he change his name back? When did he change his religion? Your being lied to about everything. If there was a movie made about the true story of Barack Obama's origin, we wouldn't believe it. This man is a fraud, a phony, an ACTOR, a CIA asset, and much more, but your FRIEND, he is not!
Report: Two new witnesses to testify at next week's Benghazi hearing; Whistleblowers ID'd by Fox
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  Source: Twitchy » US Politics
  Sat, 04 May 2013 09:37
  BREAKING: Fox First: Fox has learned identities of 3 figures slated to testify next Wednesday before House Oversight Cmte on #Benghazi.
  '--Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) May 04, 2013Fox News's Chad Pergram reports on the identities of three witnesses scheduled to speak at next week's House Oversight Committee hearing on the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Two of the witnesses have not spoken publicly before.
  BREAKING: Fox First: Testifying at next week's #Benghazi hrng: Gregory Hicks, deputy chief of mission at US Embassy in Libya.'--Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) May 04, 2013
  BREAKING: Fox First: Testifying at #Benghazi hrng: Mark Thompson, fmr Marine & Dep Coordinator for Ops in State's Cntrrterrorism Bureau'--Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) May 04, 2013
  BREAKING: Fox First: Testifying at #Benghazi hrng: Eric Nordstrom, Diplomatic Security officer. Top security officer in Libya prior 2 attack'--Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) May 04, 2013
  Eric Nordstrom previously testified before the Oversight Committee in October '12. Other 2 witnesses have never spoken publicly. #Benghazi'--Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) May 04, 2013
  At October hrng, Nordstrom detailed requests Amb Stevens made for security in #Benghazi, denied by State Dept.'--Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) May 04, 2013
  At October #Benghazi hrng, Nordstrom said bad security in Libya made him think "the Taliban is on the inside of the [State Department]."'--Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) May 04, 2013
  Bad security? What difference does it make?
  Update:
  Fox News has posted its report: BENGHAZI: Names of 'whistleblower' witnesses revealed.
  EXCLUSIVE: Names of 'whistleblower' witnesses on Libya raid revealed fxn.ws/12ATVbo via @ChadPergram @JamesRosenFNC'--Fox News (@FoxNews) May 04, 2013
  Follow @twitchyteam
Kaiser Faces Charges for Dumping Homeless Patient : NPR
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 09:36
  Captured on Video: In filing charges against Kaiser Permanente, the Los Angeles city attorney's office cited this surveillance camera video. It shows Carol Anne Reyes, who is homeless, walking down Skid Row after being dropped off by a taxicab.
  Union Rescue MissionThe Los Angeles city attorney's office has filed criminal charges against hospital giant Kaiser Permanente for endangering a former patient. The charges allege Kaiser dumped a homeless patient on the city's downtown Skid Row.
  The charges stem from video captured by security cameras in March. The footage shows a 63-year-old patient from Kaiser Permanente's Bellflower hospital, dressed in a hospital gown and slippers, exiting a taxicab on Skid Row. She is later seen shuffling toward the Union Rescue Mission, the city's largest homeless shelter.
  Prosecutors describe what happened to Carol Ann Reyes in a 20-page document supporting the false imprisonment and dependent-care abuse charges. Reyes lived mostly in a public park in Gardena before she was hospitalized. When she was discharged, prosecutors say, she wasn't told she was being taken to Skid Row.
  For many months, L.A. city officials have suspected that medical centers and law-enforcement officials from elsewhere are dropping off their indigent patients in the city's tough Skid Row area. The criminal charges against Kaiser are the first to be filed in the city's efforts to crack down on the practice.
  Skid Row has one of the nation's largest concentrations of homeless people, and is known for the shelters and services for them that are concentrated in the area. Ten other L.A. hospitals are under investigation for allegedly discharging homeless patients onto the streets, instead of into the custody of a relative or shelter.
  The Associated Press contributed to this report.
First Edition: April 29, 2013
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 09:34
  Today's headlines include a report that hospitals are questioning Medicare's rules on readmissions.
  Kaiser Health News: Obama Administration Mulls Rule To Give Home Health Aides Better WagesKaiser Health News staff writer Alvin Tran reports: "Working for a District of Columbia-based company, she earns more than the minimum wage and is paid time-and-a-half for every hour she works beyond her usual 40 per week. But unlike Fletcher, close to 2 million in-home care workers and personal care aides in the United States don't always get paid for overtime work or receive minimum wage, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. They are explicitly excluded from a key federal wage law that carved out exceptions for causal babysitters and companions for people who are sick or disabled" (Tran, 4/29). Read the story.
  Kaiser Health News: Oregon's Dilemma: How To Measure Health?Oregon Public Broadcasting's Kristian Foden-Vencil, working in partnership with Kaiser Health News and NPR, reports: "There are hundreds, if not thousands, of ways to track the health of a population: the average blood pressure of a large group of people, the rate of mental illness, the average weight. Epidemiologists have been collecting this kind of data for years, but now, in Oregon, there is cold, hard cash riding on these metrics" (Foden-Vencil, 4/26). Read the story.
  Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Vangent Gets $28 Million Contract For Health Marketplace Call CenterNow on Kaiser Health News' blog, Phil Galewitz reports: "The federal government has awarded a $28.2 million contract to a General Dynamics subsidiary to run a call center to handle consumer questions about the new online insurance marketplaces that are slated to begin selling insurance policies Oct. 1" (Galewitz, 4/26). Check out what else is on the blog.
  The Washington Post: GOP Moves Away From Entitlements And Toward Tax Reform In Budget DealWith another fight over the national debt brewing this summer, congressional Republicans are de-emphasizing their demand for politically painful cuts to retirement programs and focusing on a more popular prize: a thorough rewrite of the U.S. tax code. Reining in spending on Social Security and Medicare remains an important policy goal for the GOP. But House leaders launched a series of meetings last week aimed at convincing rank-and-file lawmakers that tax reform is both wise policy and good politics and should be their top priority (Montgomery, 4/27).
  The Washington Post: The Solution Medicare Is Shutting DownHealth Quality Partners is all about going there. The program enrolls Medicare patients with at least one chronic illness and one hospitalization in the past year. It then sends a trained nurse to see them every week, or every month, whether they're healthy or sick. It sounds simple and, in a way, it is. But simple things can be revolutionary. Most care-management systems rely on nurses sitting in call centers, checking up on patients over the phone. That model has mostly been a failure. And while many health systems send a nurse regularly in the weeks or months after a serious hospitalization, few send one regularly to even seemingly healthy patients. This a radical redefinition of the health-care system's role in the lives of the elderly. It redefines being old and chronically ill as a condition requiring professional medical management (Klein, 4/27).
  Los Angeles Times: Feds Take Action Over Alleged Patient Dumping At Nevada HospitalFollowing state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's call for an investigation, federal authorities have taken disciplinary action against a Nevada hospital in an alleged case of "patient dumping" in California. In a letter dated Thursday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services gave Nevada 10 days to correct problems at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital following reports it may have improperly discharged patients and bused them out of state (Romney, 4/26).
  The Wall Street Journal: Nevada Told To Fix Mental-Health FacilityFederal officials have ordered the state of Nevada to correct a mental-health facility in Las Vegas that they claim discharged patients improperly. A regional director for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees facilities that participate in the federal health programs, sent a letter Wednesday to Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas, stating that a survey last month showed that the hospital was "out of compliance" with requirements for patient discharge planning and governance (Phillips, 4/26).
  The Associated Press/Washington Post: Federal Government Demands Answers From Nevada Psychiatric Hospital Accused Of Busing PatientsThe federal agency that oversees Medicaid and Medicare compliance has put Nevada on notice of ''serious deficiencies'' at a Las Vegas psychiatric hospital following reports of patients being improperly discharged. A letter Thursday from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, first reported by The Sacramento Bee and obtained Friday by The Associated Press, gave Nevada 10 days to correct problems in its mental health discharge policies at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital or risk the loss of federal funding, potentially tens of millions of dollars (4/26).
  The Associated Press/Washington Post: Jindal Administration: Greenstein Had Improper Contact With Medicaid Contractor In Bid ProcessGov. Bobby Jindal's administration said Friday that his former health secretary, Bruce Greenstein, improperly exchanged repeated phone calls and text messages with a company bidding for a lucrative Medicaid contract, creating an ''unfair advantage'' for the firm (4/26).
  The New York Times: Group Shows Covert Video of a Bronx Abortion ClinicAn anti-abortion group that previously released several videotapes of undercover visits to abortion clinics released another video on Sunday of a staff member at a Bronx clinic describing late-term abortion procedures. The group likened the practices to those at the clinic of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia doctor charged with killing viable fetuses (Yee, 4/28).
  The Washington Post: Antiabortion Group Releases Videos Of Clinic Workers Discussing Live BirthsOne video features a D.C. doctor, Cesare Santangelo, who said that in the unlikely event that an abortion resulted in a live birth, ''we would not help it.'' Santangelo was answering repeated questions from an undercover operative about what would happen, hypothetically, if she gave birth after an unsuccessful abortion (Somashekhar and Sun, 4/29).
  Check out all of Kaiser Health News' e-mail options including First Edition and Breaking News alerts on our Subscriptions page.
  This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.
America Is Embracing The Secret Police Culture Of The Nazis
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  Sat, 04 May 2013 09:22
  Michael SnyderThe TruthMay 4th, 2013Reader Views: 250
  Why do so many Americans want us to become more like Nazi Germany? When I was growing up, I was taught that Nazi Germany was the antithesis of everything that America stood for. I truly believed that we were ''the land of the free'' and that we were a bright, shining example for the rest of the world. Unfortunately, over the past couple of decades America has been eagerly embracing the secret police culture of the Nazis. In a desperate attempt to feel ''safe'', we have decided to become much more like our arch-enemies of the past. In fact, in many ways we have already surpassed them. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union never had facial recognition cameras, ''enhanced pat-downs'', automated license plate scanners, voice recognition software, mobile backscatter vans or drones in the skies. In America today, every single form of electronic communication is monitored by shadowy government intelligence agencies. All over the globe, the emerging Big Brother electronic surveillance grid becomes more pervasive with each passing day. Never in the history of the world have citizens been monitored so closely by their own governments. But is all of this surveillance actually keeping us safer? Of course not. Just look at what happened in Boston. But every time another tragedy strikes, our politicians tell us that the answer is to tighten security even more. If this continues, eventually security will become so tight that it will choke all of the life out of this country.
  Much has been written about the abuses on the federal level by the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security, but this is not just a phenomenon that is happening on the federal level.
  Sadly, the truth is that Americans are embracing the secret police culture of the Nazis in local communities from coast to coast.
  For example, just check out what is happening down in Palm Beach County, Florida. The Sheriff is setting up a 24-hour hotline, and he is encouraging people to call that hotline to report on their neighbors. In particular, he wants people to report on anyone that ''hates the government'''...
  ''We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government, hates the mayor and he's gonna shoot him,'' Bradshaw said. ''What does it hurt to have somebody knock on a door and ask, 'Hey, is everything OK?'''
  This sounds very similar to the ''See Something, Say Something'' program set up by the federal government a few years ago. We are being trained to spy on one another, and nobody seems too concerned that this is exactly the same type of thing that used to happen in East Germany during the Cold War.
  Aren't we better than that?
  We have become so consumed with fear that we now even consider little girls to be terror threats.
  Down in Florida, a 16-year-old girl that always got high grades was recently expelled from school, hauled away in handcuffs and charged with two felonies because her science experiment produced a small explosion'...
  The teen is accused of mixing household chemicals in a tiny 8-ounce water bottle, causing the top to pop off, followed by billowing smoke in an small explosion.
  Wilmot's friends and classmates said it was ''a science project gone bad, that she never meant to hurt anyone.''
  Even the teen's principal said, ''She made a bad choice. Honestly, I don't think she meant to ever hurt anyone. She wanted to see what would happen [when the chemicals mixed] and was shocked by what it did. Her mother is shocked too.''
  How bizarre is that?
  Everyone involved in treating that precious little girl like that should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.
  And in the name of ''security'', we are turning public schools all over the nation into prison camps.
  When I was growing up, I never heard of schools holding ''terror drills''. But now they are a regular part of school life. Sometimes teachers are not even told that a drill is happening and they think that it is real. For example, check out what happened the other day during an unplanned drill at a school in Oregon'...
  Teachers were shocked and caught off guard when an Oregon school held a school shooting drill.
  The Oregonian reports Pine Eagle Charter School in Halfway held the drill last Friday as children were home for an in-service day. Two masked ''gunmen'' burst into a meeting room holding 15 teachers firing blanks. Teachers only realized it wasn't a real shooting when none of them were bleeding.
  Can you imagine that?
  Can you imagine having armed men storm in and thinking that it is real?
  If I was one of those teachers that had blanks fired at them, I would immediately resign.
  What kind of nation are we becoming?
  We are becoming a global embarrassment.
  And how are we supposed to protect our children from all of this?
  Even if you don't put your kids in the public schools, the police state may still come and grab them from you. The following is from a recent article by Simon Black'...
  In the Land of the Free recently, a California couple had their child kidnapped by the state. At gunpoint.
  It all started in mid-April when Anna and Alex Nikolayev took their 5-month old son Sammy to the hospital in Sacramento to be treated for flu symptoms.
  The parents didn't particularly care for the treatment that their son was receiving. Doctors were pumping him full of antibiotics and soon began talking about performing surgery.
  Anna and Alex argued with the doctors and said that they were going to get a second opinion; they took the baby and went to another hospital where another physician deemed it perfectly safe for the child to return home with his parents without the need for surgery.
  The next day, with the family resting comfortably at home, the police showed up with Child Protective Services.
  Alex, the father, went outside to talk to them where he was thrown to the ground by police. Officers then relieved him of his house keys and proceeded to let themselves into the house with hands on their pistols.
  Then, still with their hands on their pistols, they told the mother ''I'm going to grab your baby, and don't resist and don't fight me'...''
  Is this how we want to live?
  Do we want to live in constant fear with the government constantly watching every single thing that we do?
  Isn't that the exact opposite of what our founding fathers intended?
  Even as you read this, the government is watching you. The truth is that governments around the world have Internet surveillance capabilities that are far beyond what most people would ever imagine. In an article entitled ''The Dark Side of the Digital Revolution'', Google's Eric Schmidt explained that all of the technology for ''an incredibly intimidating police state'' is ''commercially available right now'''...
  Despite the expense, everything a regime would need to build an incredibly intimidating digital police state'--including software that facilitates data mining and real-time monitoring of citizens'--is commercially available right now. What's more, once one regime builds its surveillance state, it will share what it has learned with others. We know that autocratic governments share information, governance strategies and military hardware, and it's only logical that the configuration that one state designs (if it works) will proliferate among its allies and assorted others. Companies that sell data-mining software, surveillance cameras and other products will flaunt their work with one government to attract new business.
  And in fact governments around the world, including the U.S. government, have been caught using such spy software to spy on the Internet behavior of private citizens'...
  Mozilla has sent a cease-and-desist letter to a company that sells spyware allegedly disguised as the Firefox browser to governments. The action follows a report by Citizen Lab, which identifies 36 countries (including the US) hosting command and control servers for FinFisher, a type of surveillance software. Also known as FinSpy, the software is sold by UK-based Gamma International to governments, which use it in criminal investigations and allegedly for spying on dissidents.
  Mozilla revealed yesterday in its blog that it has sent the cease and desist letter to Gamma ''demanding that these illegal practices stop immediately.'' Gamma's software is ''designed to trick people into thinking it's Mozilla Firefox,'' Mozilla noted.
  But we will never see this kind of behavior change until people start demanding it. And even after all of the horrible abuses that have been publicized over the past several years, one recent poll found that 43 percent of all Americans are still answering yes to the following question'...
  ''Would you be willing to give up some of your personal freedom in order to reduce the threat of terrorism?''
  Obviously we still have a long way to go.
  Meanwhile, the emerging Big Brother police state gains a little bit more ground with each passing day.
  Delivered by The Daily Sheeple
  Contributed by Michael Snyder of The Truth.
  Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream , The Truth and Economic Collapse Blog.
  Leave A Comment...The Daily Sheeple Home Page
DroneShield: crowdfunded, networked drone detectors
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sat, 04 May 2013 09:15
  DroneShield is an indieGOGO project from a DC aerospace engineer that aims to build a tiny, net-connected drone-detector/identifier. Based on a Raspberry Pi gumstick computer, it uses a mic to detect the audio signature of nearby drones, and then communicates about its findings over the Internet. The project promises free/open hardware and software specs on its main site. Ars Technica's Cyrus Farivar spoke to Chris Kyriakakis, a USC electrical engineering prof, who suggests the project is feasible, but believes it will need an array of mics for accurate identification. But John Franklin, who's running the effort, says the device will produce useful -- if imperfect -- output even with one mic.
  The fully assembled drone detector costs at least $69 as a pre-order (as with all crowdfunded project, it's important to remember that you may never get your device). The project goal is to get them down to $20. For my part, I wonder how this would perform against active countermeasures: it's one thing to detect drones that aren't making any effort to remain hidden or fool detectors about which drone they are, but what about a drone that uses some technology (from playing a recording of a different drone to full-on modifications of its engines and blades) to sound different?
  In any event, I expect that this is an intermediate step on the way to this thing disappearing into our phones and becoming an app that would make use of its open database of drone acoustic signatures. I can easily imagine a Drone Foursquare made by volunteers who upload drone "sightings" to realtime maps as they move around the world.
  Meet Drone Shield, an ambitious idea for a $70 drone detection system (via /.)
NPR Wants to Make America Safe for Sixth-Grade Sex
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Tim Graham's blog
  Sat, 04 May 2013 07:21
  NPR has a seriously bad habit of running ''news'' stories that are stuffed with liberals...who then aren't called liberals. On Thursday's All Things Considered, NPR health policy correspondent Julie Rovner reported on how Team Obama is queasy about letting girls under 15 '' middle-school girls -- get access to ''emergency contraceptives,'' even after a federal judge mandated they be sold to all ages.
  As Rovner put it, ''the administration's decision to appeal that ruling has outraged many of the president's allies in the women's health community.'' That's what they call the aggressively ''sex-positive'' feminists. The only ''conservative'' view in this story was...Obama! Well, that's not fair. The Obama quotes they used were liberal-pleasers, too. Everyone else wanted to make America safe for sixth-grade sex.
  Of course, Rovner never put it that way. Rovner began her radio-by-and-for-liberals story by just sticking to how liberals are disappointed Obama hasn't grasped that their position to sell "Plan B" to all ages is the scientific and idealistic one that doesn't involve politics:
  The whole blowup over the administration's refusal to make the morning-after pill more widely available, despite the recommendation of its own scientists, is striking even many of the president's allies as ironic. That's because President Obama has been front and center on both the issues of reproductive rights and the intersection of science and politics over the past week.
  Notice how "the whole blowup" is only on the liberal side. There's no blowup from a parent who's appalled at the liberal view that you're never too young to have precious "access" to contraceptives and abortions.
  Rovner ran a quote from Obama's ''historic'' speech to Planned Parenthood '' which NPR previously ignored: ''When it comes to a woman's health, no politician should get to decide what's best for you.'' Then she ran a snippet from a speech to the National Academy of Sciences a few days later: ''But in all the sciences, we've got to make sure that we are supporting the idea that they're not subject to politics.''
  There you have it: by having any moral scruple or objection to sex under 15, a person is anti-woman and unscientific. As usual, NPR never finds it ridiculous to include 12-year-old girls in the word ''women.'' NPR is just channeling the liberal objections:
  ROVNER: But now, many women's health advocates say the administration isn't putting its actions where the president's rhetoric has just been.
  NANCY NORTHUP: It doesn't square and that is what is so disappointing.
  ROVNER: Nancy Northup is president of the Center for Reproductive Rights. It's one of the groups involved in the lawsuit against the administration over emergency contraception that's prompted this week's activity. The judge in the case has ordered the Food and Drug Administration to make Plan B available without a prescription to everyone.
  NORTHUP: There couldn't be a clearer record than there is in this case that emergency contraception is safe and effective for all ages; that we had not one but two administrations who continued to put what they judged as the politics of the issue about contraception ahead of what's doing right for the public health.
  Rovner also quoted Cora Breuner with the American Academy of Pediatrics who can't stand uptight people who have moral concerns: "We get derailed over and over again about people's ethic and moral concerns about whether teens should be sexually active, and not into the fact that this is a safe drug that can be and should be available to all women of reproductive age."
  Then Rovner finished with Susan Wood, an activist who left the Food and Drug Administration under President Bush for his "failure" to bend to "science," that is, her liberal will:
  ROVNER: Women's health advocates say even the steps the FDA did take this week -- to lower the age for sale without a prescription from 17 to 15 -- doesn't do much because they still have to show an ID. Susan Wood is a former assistant commissioner for women's health at FDA.
  SUSAN WOOD: Really, 15 and 16-year-olds are much less likely to have an actual government ID with your birth date on it, so that doesn't really expand access to that age group very much.
  ROVNER: What most worries women's health groups though is the prospect of extending even longer a fight that's already more than a decade old. Julie Rovner, NPR News, Washington.
  Rovner is the perfect publicist for this lobby. She concluded by expressing disgust that there's still a debate -- and she certainly demonstrated she had no interest in allowing a debate on taxpayer-funded radio stations across America. Fairness? Balance? That's for obstructionists.
Methology 101: Old-school meth labs give way to "shake and bake" - Page 1 - News - St. Louis
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sat, 04 May 2013 06:49
  That methamphetamine remains so prevalent in Missouri and other states is due in part to the sheer ingenuity and persistence of meth cooks, despite government restrictions on some of the drug's key ingredients, most notably pseudoephedrine cold medicine (sold as a generic or under the brand name Sudafed). Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.
  DetailsRelated ContentMore AboutHere's a quick primer on the two most common meth recipes* and their various explosion hazards, as explained by Jason Grellner, commander of the Franklin County Narcotics Enforcement Unit. To see video of Grellner explaining the processes in more detail, click here.
  It should go without saying, but please don't try this at home.Anhydrous Ammonia Also known as the "Nazi method," after the German soldiers who were given meth to stay alert during World War II, the most popular technique gets its more scientific-sounding label from the common nitrogen farm fertilizer that is a key ingredient.
  Chemically speaking, pseudoephedrine is just one oxygen atom different from meth, and a skilled cook can transform up to 98 percent of the substance into pure methamphetamine.
  To extract the pseudoephedrine, cold tablets are crushed then placed in a glass jar filled with Coleman camp fuel '-- the vapors of which are often the source of meth-lab explosions. The mixture is combined with anhydrous ammonia (inhalation of which wreaks havoc on lung tissue), lithium (gleaned from camera batteries) and ether (in the form of engine starting fluid, a quart of which, Grellner says, "has the explosive power of four sticks of dynamite"). Then hydrogen chloride gas '-- made by combining sulfuric acid with table salt '-- is bubbled through the ether mixture, precipitating out methamphetamine.
  The process takes about two hours and produces up to a pound of toxic byproducts per six ounces of meth.
  Shake and Bake A new and increasingly widespread technique also known as "one pot," this condenses the anhydrous method's many steps and requires only a plastic soda bottle, the size of which depends on the quantity of meth the cook intends to make. Besides pseudoephedrine, the ingredients are lithium, a small quantity of water, Coleman fuel (or ether) and ammonium nitrate (found in chemical ice packs and a common component of improvised explosive devices such as the one used in the Oklahoma City bombing).
  The ammonium nitrate combines with sodium hydroxide (a strong base), and the ensuing chemical reaction produces anhydrous ammonia. Lithium works as a catalyst with the anhydrous ammonia to remove the pseudoephedrine's extra oxygen molecule. As with the anhydrous method, hydrogen chloride gas must bubble through the mixture to produce methamphetamine, which is finally obtained by pouring the liquid through a coffee filter.
  The chemical reactions cause pressure to build in the container, the cook must "burp" the bottle, allowing more oxygen in '-- and increasing the likelihood of an explosion, especially given that lithium sparks when it comes in contact with water.
  The technique requires only a few packets of cold tablets, takes about 40 minutes from start to finish and leaves a noxious brown residue inside the bottle, which is often discarded along the roadside, as cooks tend to work in cars as they drive from one pharmacy to another, "smurfing" for Sudafed.
'Breaking Bad' Season 5: Meth Ingredient Burglary from Fertilizer Plant Similar to Walt and Jesse's Methylamine Heists : Entertainment : Latinos Post
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sat, 04 May 2013 06:43
  By Peter Lesser | First Posted: May 03, 2013 01:55 PM EDT (Photo : AMC)
  One thing that makes "Breaking Bad" so unique is its practicality. Well, at least in the first couple seasons. The acting is so spot on and the plot is so strong and well rounded that the show mimics real life. Perhaps now in later seasons some of Walter White's tactics are a bit farfetched, but in the early episodes, his attempt to cook crystal meth in an RV with equipment and chemicals from the local high school, where he worked as a chemistry teacher, is so raw that it feels almost too plausible. That's what makes the show so gritty. That's one key element that attracted fans. Now, a fertilizer plant subject to multiple "Breaking Bad" style heists proves that the show's plotline is all too realistic.
  Like Us on Facebook
  West Fertilizer in Texas has long been a target for theft from people searching for a rare, key ingredient for making methamphetamine. Following in Walt's footsteps, the thieves periodically ransacked the fertilizer plant in search of the coveted chemicals.
  Anhydrous ammonia, a key element in fertilizer production, is a chemical used in the meth cooking process, similar to the methylamine sought after throughout "Breaking Bad." In one instance, burglars stole 150 pounds of anhydrous ammonia over the course of three nights. A year later, the plant manager told police that thieves were siphoning four-to-five gallons every three days.
  West Fertilizer exploded two weeks ago, killing 14 people. It's unclear whether the explosion is connected to the burglaries, however police are investigating the cause. Anhydrous ammonia is classified as nonflammable, but ammonia vapor in high concentrations will burn, especially in the presence of oil or other combustible materials. Various reports suggest that the plant was storing more fertilizer than it was allowed to, but there's still no official word from officials.
  Although meth chefs may not have caused the explosion, their days of looting West Fertilizer are over. It's time to sit down, watch a few more episodes of "Breaking Bad," and rehash the plan. Walt's a smart guy. He'll figure something out.
  (C) 2013 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
At Texas fertilizer plant, a history of theft, tampering
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sat, 04 May 2013 06:42
  Exclusive: At Texas fertilizer plant, a history of theft, tamperingTop News
  Exclusive: At Texas fertilizer plant, a history of theft, tampering
  Fri, May 03 11:23 AM EDT
  By Selam Gebrekidan and Joshua Schneyer
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Texas fertilizer plant that exploded two weeks ago, killing 14 people and injuring about 200, was a repeat target of theft by intruders who tampered with tanks and caused the release of toxic chemicals, police records reviewed by Reuters show.
  Police responded to at least 11 reports of burglaries and five separate ammonia leaks at West Fertilizer Co over the past 12 years, according to 911 dispatch logs and criminal offense reports Reuters obtained from the McLennan County Sheriff's office in Waco, Texas through an Open Records Request.
  Some of the leaks, including one reported in October 2012, were linked to theft or interference with tank valves.
  According to one 2002 crime report, a plant manager told police that intruders were stealing four to five gallons of anhydrous ammonia every three days. The liquid gas can be used to cook methamphetamine, the addictive and illicit stimulant.
  In rural areas across the United States, the thriving meth trade has turned storage facilities like West Fertilizer Co and even unattended tanks in farm fields into frequent targets of theft, according to several government and fertilizer industry reports issued over the past 13 years.
  The cause of the April 17 blast at the plant in the town of West is still being probed, and investigators have offered no evidence that security breaches contributed to the deadly incident. There also is no indication that the explosion had anything to do with the theft of materials for drug making. Anhydrous ammonia has been ruled out as a cause because the four storage tanks remained intact after the blast, said Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Texas Fire Marshal's Office.
  MANY LEADS
  Investigators are pursuing about 100 leads, including a call to an arson hotline and a tip that there had been a fire on the property earlier on the day of the explosion, according to Moreno. Authorities have not said whether either tip was credible. About 80 investigators from various state and federal agencies are contributing to the probe. They hope to determine by May 10 what caused the explosion, Texas Fire Marshal Chris Connealy said at a state legislative hearing on Wednesday.
  A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), one of several state and federal agencies that monitor security at chemical plants, declined to answer questions about the breaches of security at West Fertilizer Co. State investigators also declined to comment.
  Thefts of anhydrous ammonia are common in McLennan County, where burglars siphon fertilizer from trailer tanks into five-gallon propane containers, said McLennan County Chief Deputy Sheriff Matt Cawthon, who took up the position in January.
  After reviewing crime reports from the past 12 years and speaking to deputies who responded to some of the break-ins, Cawthon said security was clearly lax at the plant.
  The perimeter was not fenced, and the facility had no burglar alarms or security guards, he said. "It was a hometown-like situation. Everybody trusts everybody."
  Chemical safety experts said the recurrent security breaches at West Fertilizer are troubling because they suggest vulnerability to theft, leaks, fires or explosions. Apart from anhydrous ammonia, the company stored tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that can be used in bomb-making. No thefts of that substance were reported to police.
  "Regardless of what triggered this specific event, the fact that there were lots of burglaries and that they were after ammonia clearly shows this plant was vulnerable to unwanted intruders or even a terrorist attack," said Sam Mannan, a chemical process safety expert at Texas A&M University, who has advised Dow Chemical and others on chemical security.
  NEW LAW
  Owners of West Fertilizer, responding through a representative, declined to answer questions about specific instances of theft or the level of security at the plant. The company has encouraged its employees to share "all they know" with investigators, said Daniel Keeney, a spokesman for the company.
  The current owners of West Fertilizer are Donald Adair, 83, and Wanda Adair, 78, who bought it in 2004. Calls to a number listed for previous owner Emil Plasek were not returned.
  In a 2006 permit application with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the company reported it would protect ammonia tanks against theft or tampering and conduct daily equipment inspections. A TCEQ spokesman would not comment about security measures. He said the agency's responsibility is to regulate emissions from the plant, not to oversee security.
  Documents from the Texas Department of State Health Services show the West plant was storing 540,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia in 2012. Ammonium nitrate was among the ingredients in the bomb used by Timothy McVeigh to blow up the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, killing 168 people.
  After that bombing, Congress passed a law requiring facilities that store large amounts of the chemical to report to the DHS and work with the agency to ensure proper security measures are in place to keep it out of criminal hands and protect against such attacks.
  West Fertilizer did not report to DHS, despite storing hundreds of times more ammonium nitrate than the amount that would require it do so. Companies are required to report if they store at least 2,000 pounds of fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate, or 400 pounds of the substance when it's combined with combustible material.
  A 2005 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study identified hundreds of cases in 16 states where anhydrous ammonia was stolen for use in meth production. Some illegal labs mix anhydrous ammonia with ephedrine or pseudoephedrine and sodium or lithium to make methamphetamine, the U.S. Department of Justice reported in 2001.
  In dozens of instances, the CDC said, the thefts by meth makers siphoning ammonia from tanks caused injuries or forced evacuations because gas was released into the environment. However, cases of ammonia theft have become less frequent since 2006, when new laws restricted the sale of pseudoephedrine, which is found in some common cold drug remedies, according to The Fertilizer Institute, an industry association.
  Police records show West Fertilizer began complaining of repeated thefts from the facility in June 2001, when burglars stole 150 pounds of anhydrous ammonia from storage tanks three nights in a row. Nearly a year later, a plant manager told police that thieves were siphoning four-to-five gallons of the liquefied fertilizer every three days.
  Randy Plemons, who was chief deputy sheriff during the years when the thefts occurred, declined to discuss specifics of his agency's response to the repeated break-ins.
  "Whenever we were notified of the burglaries and thefts we responded to those," he said. "I can't speak to every offense."
  Company owners downplayed security risks in documents submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2006, saying thefts had dropped to zero over the preceding 20 months as meth makers now had found a substitute for anhydrous ammonia available at garden nurseries or major retailers.
  VERY STRONG ODOR
  Yet burglars and trespassers continued to target the facility. Following a series of break-ins in late 2008 and early 2009, including one where a trespasser visited pornographic websites on a secretary's computer, police told plant manager Ted Uptmore - who has worked at the company for decades -- to install a surveillance system. Later documents show the company complied. Uptmore did not respond to phone calls seeking comment for this story.
  The last record of tampering was in October 2012, when a 911 caller reported an odor "so strong it can burn your eyes." The firm dispatched Cody Dragoo, an employee often sent after hours to shut leaking valves and look into break-ins. That night, he shut off the valve but reported it had been tampered with.
  Two weeks ago, Dragoo, 50, was among those killed in the blast while responding to the fire.
  (Editing by Janet Roberts, Martin Howell and Leslie Gevirtz)
  Exclusive: At Texas fertilizer plant, a history of theft, tamperingTop News
  Exclusive: At Texas fertilizer plant, a history of theft, tampering
  Fri, May 03 11:23 AM EDT
  By Selam Gebrekidan and Joshua Schneyer
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Texas fertilizer plant that exploded two weeks ago, killing 14 people and injuring about 200, was a repeat target of theft by intruders who tampered with tanks and caused the release of toxic chemicals, police records reviewed by Reuters show.
  Police responded to at least 11 reports of burglaries and five separate ammonia leaks at West Fertilizer Co over the past 12 years, according to 911 dispatch logs and criminal offense reports Reuters obtained from the McLennan County Sheriff's office in Waco, Texas through an Open Records Request.
  Some of the leaks, including one reported in October 2012, were linked to theft or interference with tank valves.
  According to one 2002 crime report, a plant manager told police that intruders were stealing four to five gallons of anhydrous ammonia every three days. The liquid gas can be used to cook methamphetamine, the addictive and illicit stimulant.
  In rural areas across the United States, the thriving meth trade has turned storage facilities like West Fertilizer Co and even unattended tanks in farm fields into frequent targets of theft, according to several government and fertilizer industry reports issued over the past 13 years.
  The cause of the April 17 blast at the plant in the town of West is still being probed, and investigators have offered no evidence that security breaches contributed to the deadly incident. There also is no indication that the explosion had anything to do with the theft of materials for drug making. Anhydrous ammonia has been ruled out as a cause because the four storage tanks remained intact after the blast, said Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Texas Fire Marshal's Office.
  MANY LEADS
  Investigators are pursuing about 100 leads, including a call to an arson hotline and a tip that there had been a fire on the property earlier on the day of the explosion, according to Moreno. Authorities have not said whether either tip was credible. About 80 investigators from various state and federal agencies are contributing to the probe. They hope to determine by May 10 what caused the explosion, Texas Fire Marshal Chris Connealy said at a state legislative hearing on Wednesday.
  A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), one of several state and federal agencies that monitor security at chemical plants, declined to answer questions about the breaches of security at West Fertilizer Co. State investigators also declined to comment.
  Thefts of anhydrous ammonia are common in McLennan County, where burglars siphon fertilizer from trailer tanks into five-gallon propane containers, said McLennan County Chief Deputy Sheriff Matt Cawthon, who took up the position in January.
  After reviewing crime reports from the past 12 years and speaking to deputies who responded to some of the break-ins, Cawthon said security was clearly lax at the plant.
  The perimeter was not fenced, and the facility had no burglar alarms or security guards, he said. "It was a hometown-like situation. Everybody trusts everybody."
  Chemical safety experts said the recurrent security breaches at West Fertilizer are troubling because they suggest vulnerability to theft, leaks, fires or explosions. Apart from anhydrous ammonia, the company stored tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that can be used in bomb-making. No thefts of that substance were reported to police.
  "Regardless of what triggered this specific event, the fact that there were lots of burglaries and that they were after ammonia clearly shows this plant was vulnerable to unwanted intruders or even a terrorist attack," said Sam Mannan, a chemical process safety expert at Texas A&M University, who has advised Dow Chemical and others on chemical security.
  NEW LAW
  Owners of West Fertilizer, responding through a representative, declined to answer questions about specific instances of theft or the level of security at the plant. The company has encouraged its employees to share "all they know" with investigators, said Daniel Keeney, a spokesman for the company.
  The current owners of West Fertilizer are Donald Adair, 83, and Wanda Adair, 78, who bought it in 2004. Calls to a number listed for previous owner Emil Plasek were not returned.
  In a 2006 permit application with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the company reported it would protect ammonia tanks against theft or tampering and conduct daily equipment inspections. A TCEQ spokesman would not comment about security measures. He said the agency's responsibility is to regulate emissions from the plant, not to oversee security.
  Documents from the Texas Department of State Health Services show the West plant was storing 540,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia in 2012. Ammonium nitrate was among the ingredients in the bomb used by Timothy McVeigh to blow up the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, killing 168 people.
  After that bombing, Congress passed a law requiring facilities that store large amounts of the chemical to report to the DHS and work with the agency to ensure proper security measures are in place to keep it out of criminal hands and protect against such attacks.
  West Fertilizer did not report to DHS, despite storing hundreds of times more ammonium nitrate than the amount that would require it do so. Companies are required to report if they store at least 2,000 pounds of fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate, or 400 pounds of the substance when it's combined with combustible material.
  A 2005 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study identified hundreds of cases in 16 states where anhydrous ammonia was stolen for use in meth production. Some illegal labs mix anhydrous ammonia with ephedrine or pseudoephedrine and sodium or lithium to make methamphetamine, the U.S. Department of Justice reported in 2001.
  In dozens of instances, the CDC said, the thefts by meth makers siphoning ammonia from tanks caused injuries or forced evacuations because gas was released into the environment. However, cases of ammonia theft have become less frequent since 2006, when new laws restricted the sale of pseudoephedrine, which is found in some common cold drug remedies, according to The Fertilizer Institute, an industry association.
  Police records show West Fertilizer began complaining of repeated thefts from the facility in June 2001, when burglars stole 150 pounds of anhydrous ammonia from storage tanks three nights in a row. Nearly a year later, a plant manager told police that thieves were siphoning four-to-five gallons of the liquefied fertilizer every three days.
  Randy Plemons, who was chief deputy sheriff during the years when the thefts occurred, declined to discuss specifics of his agency's response to the repeated break-ins.
  "Whenever we were notified of the burglaries and thefts we responded to those," he said. "I can't speak to every offense."
  Company owners downplayed security risks in documents submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2006, saying thefts had dropped to zero over the preceding 20 months as meth makers now had found a substitute for anhydrous ammonia available at garden nurseries or major retailers.
  VERY STRONG ODOR
  Yet burglars and trespassers continued to target the facility. Following a series of break-ins in late 2008 and early 2009, including one where a trespasser visited pornographic websites on a secretary's computer, police told plant manager Ted Uptmore - who has worked at the company for decades -- to install a surveillance system. Later documents show the company complied. Uptmore did not respond to phone calls seeking comment for this story.
  The last record of tampering was in October 2012, when a 911 caller reported an odor "so strong it can burn your eyes." The firm dispatched Cody Dragoo, an employee often sent after hours to shut leaking valves and look into break-ins. That night, he shut off the valve but reported it had been tampered with.
  Two weeks ago, Dragoo, 50, was among those killed in the blast while responding to the fire.
  (Editing by Janet Roberts, Martin Howell and Leslie Gevirtz)
WEEKLY ADDRESS: Fixing our Immigration System and Expanding Trade in Latin America
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Sat, 04 May 2013 06:31
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  May 04, 2013
  WASHINGTON, DC'--In his weekly address, President Obama spoke to the American people from Mexico City, Mexico about the incredible opportunities to create middle-class jobs in America by deepening our economic ties and expanding trade in Latin America. He also discussed a recent Senate bill that takes commonsense steps to fix our broken immigration system, like strengthening security on our border with Mexico, providing a pathway to earned citizenship, and modernizing our legal immigration system to attract highly skilled workers to our shores, which helps create jobs and grow the economy. The President will continue to work with our neighbors on our common security and common prosperity, so that we fix our broken immigration system, open more markets for American businesses, and create middle-class jobs for American workers.
  The audio of the address and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, Saturday, May 4, 2013.
  Remarks of President Barack ObamaWeekly AddressMexico City, MexicoMay 4, 2013
  Hi, everybody. Today, I'm speaking to you from the road '' a trip to Mexico and Costa Rica.
  I'm here because Latin America represents an incredible opportunity for the United States, especially when it comes to my top priority as President: creating good, middle-class jobs.
  On Friday, we learned that our businesses created another 176,000 jobs last month. That's 2.2 million new jobs over the past year, and 6.8 million new jobs over the past 38 months.
  But as I've said before, I won't be satisfied until everyone who wants a job can find one. So I'm going to keep doing everything I can and going everywhere I need to go to help our businesses create jobs.
  Now, one of the best ways to grow our economy is to sell more goods and services Made in America to the rest of the world. That includes our neighbors to the south.
  Right now, over 40 percent of our exports go to the Americas. And those exports are growing faster than our trade with the rest of the world. That's why I visited Latin America this week '' to work with leaders to deepen our economic ties and expand trade between our nations.
  In Mexico, I also talked about immigration reform, because that's an important issue that affects both our countries.
  The truth is, right now, our border with Mexico is more secure than it's been in years. We've put more boots on that border than at any time in our history, and illegal crossings are down by nearly 80 percent from their peak in 2000. But we've got more to do '' not just to secure the border but to fix an immigration system that is badly broken.
  In recent weeks, we've seen a commonsense immigration reform bill introduced in the Senate. This bill is a compromise, which means that nobody got everything they wanted '' including me. But it's largely consistent with the principles I've laid out from the beginning.
  It would continue to strengthen security at our borders and hold employers more accountable if they knowingly hire undocumented workers.
  It would provide a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million individuals who are already in this country illegally.
  And it would modernize our legal immigration system so that we're able to reunite families and attract the highly-skilled entrepreneurs and engineers who will help create good paying jobs and grow our economy.
  These are all commonsense steps that the majority of Americans support. So there's no reason that immigration reform can't become a reality this year.
  In the meantime, I'll keep working with our neighbors on our common security and our common prosperity. Millions of Americans earn a living right now because of the trade between our nations. And after this week, I'm as confident as ever that we can build on our shared heritage and values to open more markets for American businesses and create more jobs for American workers.
  Thanks and have a great weekend.
  ###
Malware warning
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sat, 04 May 2013 06:26
  Recently someone on twitter complained that Chrome was labeling their site as malware:
  http://Dvorak.org site blocked by Chrome browser after I wrote negative commentary about Google.
  I took a few minutes to compose a reply, so I'll go ahead and post it here:
  Just to summarize: Chrome's warning is correct. Your blog is hacked and injecting a malicious iframe on dvorak.org/blog/ even on error pages.
  At the top of the page, the malicious iframe looks like this: .rrfhezo { position:absolute; left:-1012px; top:-681px; }
  I would recommend taking your blog down until you can fix the hack and remove the malware. If you verify dvorak.org at http://google.com/webmasters/ then we'll show you the details we know about the malicious code.
  We're just the messenger here''this definitely had nothing to do with anything you wrote about Google. In fact, we recently published a website to help site owners recover from a hacked site: http://www.google.com/webmasters/hacked/
  Getting hacked truly sucks though. I hope you're able to get things cleaned up and in good shape. When you think the site is clean, you can file an appeal at http://google.com/webmasters for your hacked site and we'll rescan it for malware. When it's clean, we'll remove the warning in Chrome.
  Hope that helps,Matt Cutts
  I hope no one reading this ever gets hacked, but the truth is that some people will. You can reduce the odds of getting hacked by keeping all of your web server software up to date. If you do get hacked, our site at http://www.google.com/webmasters/hacked/ will walk you through the process of cleaning up your site. I know that some site owners are annoyed when Google flags their site as hacked or serving malware, but we're trying to protect our users as best we can.
Is designating Joanne Chesimard a terrorist a threat to us all?
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  Archived Version
  Sat, 04 May 2013 06:20
  TEXAS, May 3, 2013'--Yesterday the FBI announced that it has made Joanne Chesimard, AKA: Assata Shakur, a fugitive member of the Black Liberation Army convicted of murdering a New Jersey state trooper in 1973, the first woman on its list of most-wanted terrorists. But they failed to clarify the aspects of her case that have changed over the past forty years, to prompt them to do so.
  At yesterday's press conference, Aaron T. Ford, agent in charge of the FBI's Newark division, announced the placement of Joanne Chesimard on the FBI's ''Terrorism'' list, and the doubling of the reward for her capture to $2,000,000.
  Has the FBI has redefined what makes a US citizen a terrorist?
  Addressing the press, Agent Ford stated ''While living openly and freely in Cuba she (Joanne Chesimard) continues to maintain and promote her terrorist ideology. She provides anti US Government speeches espousing the Black Liberation Army message of revolution and terrorism. No person, no matter what his or her politics or moral convictions are, is above the law.''
  Joanne Chesimard is a convicted felon. Whether or not she received a fair trial for the crimes she is accused of committing is for the courts and history to decide.
  However, her designation by the FBI as a terrorist raises the question, does living on the lam in foreign country, proselytizing views (hateful or not), to anyone who will listen, make Chesimard a terrorist?
  No one is above the law. However, Article I of the constitution prevents congress from abridging a citizen's freedom of speech, and also allows a citizen to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
  Does the fact that Ms. Chesimard escaped justice and absconded to Cuba in order to spout-off revoke her rights as an American? If an American is on vacation in France, is he at risk of being labeled a terrorist if he voices disagreement with a particular US policy?
  From February 15, 1977 to March 25, 1977, Ms. Chesimard was tried and convicted of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, atrocious assault and battery, assault and battery against a police officer, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to kill, illegal possession of a weapon, and armed robbery. She was also tried between 1971 and 1973 for two separate instances of bank robbery, and one count of kidnapping, but was acquitted of those charges.
  She has never been charged with terrorism. Why is she suddenly, according to agent Ford, ''a supreme terror against the government''?
  Ms. Chesimard, who was once a member of the Black Panther Party and later joined the Black Liberation Army, proclaims that she is innocent and calls herself the victim of a racist judicial system.
  According to the New York Times, Lennox S. Hinds, a professor of criminal justice at Rutgers who defended Ms. Chesimard in the murder case, ''there is no evidence that she in fact either caused the death or was involved in the shooting of the state trooper.''
  ''The allegation that Ms. Shakur is a terrorist is unfounded,'' Professor Hinds said. ''The attempt at this point by the New Jersey State Police to characterize her as a terrorist is designed to inflame the public who may be unfamiliar with the facts.''
  What we need is a clear definition of what makes someone a terrorist; especially if that someone is an American citizen. As difficult as it is to do so, we must scrutinize and defend the rights of all of our citizens; even those whose crimes are heinous and reprehensible; because if we don't protect theirs, we will certainly lose ours.
  This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. REPRINTING TWTC CONTENT WITHOUT PERMISSION AND/OR PAYMENT IS THEFT AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW.
  Contributors are responsible for this content, which is not edited by The Washington Times.
Daily Kos :: DING DING DING
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  Archived Version
  Sat, 04 May 2013 06:10
  Clear Channel, the parent company of nationally boycotted radio host, Rush Limbaugh, is feeling the Bain '' I mean the pain. Yesterday after the stock market closed, the media giant released its 1st quarter earnings report, showing a tremendous loss.Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2013: CC Clear Channel '...reported a loss of $203 million, versus a year-ago loss of $143.6 million. (The Limbaugh boycotts began last year in the first quarter) Revenue fell 1.3% to $1.34 billion. Revenue from media and entertainment, the company's largest segment, was down 2.2%, Operating expenses dropped 3.5%.Clear Channel Media, is the vehicle used by private-equity firms Bain Capital LLC.
  *To see full Wall Street Report: http://www.google.com/... and scroll down to: News for Clear Channel: CC Media, Clear Channel Outdoor See 1st-Quarter Losses Widen Sharply
  This is very bad news for Clear Channel CEO, Bob Pitman, and President, John Sykes. Surely while frolicking among their good will charities, taking in high salaries, and handing out massive Clear Channel employee layoffs, they saw this coming. Yet they allowed blatant racism, sexism, gay-hatred and bigotry to air on their 600 radio stations. And I wonder if the hundreds of artists like Justin Timerberlake, Elton John, Pink, Taylor Swift, Green Day, Band Perry... know that through Limgbauh's 'all American' sister company, iheart radio/iheart Festivals, they are indirectly helping to support Limbaugh's hate and lies? I would bet not, and I think they should know.Pittman and Sykes would have to be living in another world to miss the massive public outrage against Rush Limbaugh's show. Especially after Limbaugh called then unknown, college student, Sandra Fluke, a 'slut' and 'prostitute' when she was advocating for insurance-paid birth control.
  Since Clear Channel and the FCC, have opted to ignore the general public, as well as Limbaugh's hate speech, Americans decided to take matters into their own hands, using their greatest weapon '' the almighty consumer dollar. They would go after Limbaugh and Clear Channel's main lifeline. The buying consumers went after the sponsors.Petitions were started by single citizens, as well as large activist organizations. Boycott groups evolved all over Facebook and Rush Limbaugh sponsor database, StopRush, was created for the average person to find contact information and air dates of sponsors. Even a ThinkContext browser app/extension is available to see sponsoring companies while searching the internet. It's massive. And it has much to do with the hard work of radio monitors and reporters who track ads on Rush Limbaugh shows throughout the country. Women's rights organization, UniteWomen.org, Daily Kos,Being Liberal, and Media Matters have fully supported and helped the movement.
  First about 100 sponsors left after the Sandra Fluke attack. Then a few more left. Some like Angie's List, Legal Zoom, ProFlowers and 800Flowers, went back to Limbaugh's show probably thinking the public outcry would die down and people would move on. Instead, the national movement grew and gained in momentum. Everyday citizens as well as activists continue to join Facebook groups like Boycott-Rush-Limbaughs-Sponsors-to-SHUT-HIM-DOWN (now has 54,000+ followers) and Flush Rush. Consumers are taking time to tell sponsors they will not buy from a company that supports Rush Limbaugh.
  Sponsors reacted. Over 2,600 companies have pulled their ads due to the boycott. Hundreds more silently have slipped out. Now we see big losses for Clear Channel. Cumulus Radio has already admitted to losing millions due to the Limbaugh boycotts. It's doubtful Clear Channel will do the same, but the proof is in the pudding, I mean earnings.
  Not only is it clear to Clear Channel and Rush Limbaugh, that the public means business, they are finding out the public IS business.
  Thank You, Richard Myers. We Are Finishing This. Rest In Peace
  To Get Involved In The Anti-Rush Limbaugh movements (in addition to the links above): http://www.dailykos.com/...And/Or You Can Sign This Petition To Clear Channel & Limbaugh Sponsors
  (Diarist Note: Apologies for the previous typos. I was very excited when writing this. Please feel free to Kosmail me if you see more. Thank you, Daily Kos, for giving me and many others, the platform for exposing the Rush Limbaugh and the movements against him.)
Israeli Defense Forces Strike Target Inside of Syria
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: BlackListedNews.com
  Sat, 04 May 2013 00:17
  U.S. Pentagon officials are confirming that at least two Israeli warplanes have bombed a warehouse inside Syria. The Pentagon believes that two planes, possibly F-15's or F-16's, carried out the strike.
  This is the second strike by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on Syrian soil, the first occurred when Israeli warplanes struck an truck convoy believed to be transporting Russian-made missiles near the Lebanese border.
  The Israeli press is reporting that several of these planes were "hovering" over the Syrian capital of Damascus.
  >>
  Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
UN Report Wants Moratorium on Killer Robots
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 22:30
  UNITED NATIONS -- Killer robots that can attack targets without any human input "should not have the power of life and death over human beings," a new draft U.N. report says.
  The report for the U.N. Human Rights Commission posted online this week deals with legal and philosophical issues involved in giving robots lethal powers over humans, echoing countless science-fiction novels and films. The debate dates to author Isaac Asimov's first rule for robots in the 1942 story "Runaround:" `'A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm."
  Report author Christof Heyns, a South African professor of human rights law, calls for a worldwide moratorium on the "testing, production, assembly, transfer, acquisition, deployment and use" of killer robots until an international conference can develop rules for their use.
  His findings are due to be debated at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on May 29.
  According to the report, the United States, Britain, Israel, South Korea and Japan have developed various types of fully or semi-autonomous weapons.
  In the report, Heyns focuses on a new generation of weapons that choose their targets and execute them. He calls them "lethal autonomous robotics," or LARs for short, and says: "Decisions over life and death in armed conflict may require compassion and intuition. Humans - while they are fallible - at least might possess these qualities, whereas robots definitely do not."
  He notes the arguments of robot proponents that death-dealing autonomous weapons "will not be susceptible to some of the human shortcomings that may undermine the protection of life. Typically they would not act out of revenge, panic, anger, spite, prejudice or fear. Moreover, unless specifically programmed to do so, robots would not cause intentional suffering on civilian populations, for example through torture. Robots also do not rape."
  The report goes beyond the recent debate over drone killings of al-Qaida suspects and nearby civilians who are maimed or killed in the air strikes. Drones do have human oversight. The killer robots are programmed to make autonomous decisions on the spot without orders from humans.
  Heyns' report notes the increasing use of drones, which "enable those who control lethal force not to be physically present when it is deployed, but rather to activate it while sitting behind computers in faraway places, and stay out of the line of fire.
  "Lethal autonomous robotics (LARs), if added to the arsenals of States, would add a new dimension to this distancing, in that targeting decisions could be taken by the robots themselves. In addition to being physically removed from the kinetic action, humans would also become more detached from decisions to kill -- and their execution," he wrote.
  His report cites these examples, among others, of fully or semi-autonomous weapons that have been developed:
  -- The U.S. Phalanx system for Aegis-class cruisers, which automatically detects, tracks and engages anti-air warfare threats such as anti-ship missiles and aircraft.
  -- Israel's Harpy, a "Fire-and-Forget" autonomous weapon system designed to detect, attack and destroy radar emitters.
  -- Britain's Taranis jet-propelled combat drone prototype that can autonomously search, identify and locate enemies but can only engage with a target when authorized by mission command. It also can defend itself against enemy aircraft.
  -- The Samsung Techwin surveillance and security guard robots, deployed in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, to detect targets through infrared sensors. They are currently operated by humans but have an "automatic mode."
  Current weapons systems are supposed to have some degree of human oversight. But Heyns notes that "the power to override may in reality be limited because the decision-making processes of robots are often measured in nanoseconds and the informational basis of those decisions may not be practically accessible to the supervisor. In such circumstances humans are de facto out of the loop and the machines thus effectively constitute LARs," or killer robots.
  Separately, another U.N. expert, British lawyer Ben Emmerson, is preparing a special investigation for the U.N. General Assembly this year on drone warfare and targeted killings.
  His probe was requested by Pakistan, which officially opposes the use of U.S. drones on its territory as an infringement on its sovereignty but is believed to have tacitly approved some strikes in the past. Pakistani officials say the drone strikes kill many innocent civilians, which the U.S. has rejected. The other two countries requesting the investigation were two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Russia and China.
  In April, an alliance of activist and humanitarian groups led by Human Rights Watch launched the "Campaign to Stop Killer Robots" to push for a ban on fully autonomous weapons. The group applauded Heyns' draft report in a statement on its web site.
  ---
  On the Web:
  The U.N. draft report: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session23/A-HRC-23-47_en.pdf
  (C) Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Federal Register | Loyalty Day, 2013
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  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 22:34
  A ProclamationIn the centuries since America broke from an empire and claimed independence, our people have come together again and again to meet the challenges of a changing world. We have reinvented our cities with advances in science and reformed our markets with new understanding of the forces that guide them. We have fought for freedom in the theater of war and expanded its reach during times of peace. We have revamped and recovered and remade ourselves anew, mindful that when times change, so must we. But with every step forward, we have reaffirmed our faith in the ideals that inspired our founding. We have held fast to the principles at our country's core: service and citizenship; courage and the common good; liberty, equality, and justice for all.
  This is our Nation's heritage, and it is what we remember on Loyalty Day. It is an occasion that asks something of us as a people: to rediscover those ageless truths our Founders held to be self-evident, and to renew them in our own time. We look back to Americans who did the same, from generation to generation'--citizens who strengthened our democracy, organizers who made it broader, service members who gave everything to protect it. These patriots and pioneers remind us that while our path to a more perfect Union is unending, with hope and hard work, we can move forward together.
  Today, we rededicate ourselves to that enduring task. We do so knowing our journey is not complete until the promises of our founding documents are made real for every American, regardless of their station in life or the circumstances of their birth. Progress may come slow; the road may be long. But as loyal citizens of these United States, we have the power to set our country's course. Let us mark this day by pressing on in the march toward lasting freedom and true equality, grateful for the precious rights and responsibilities entrusted to each of us by our forebears.
  In order to recognize the American spirit of loyalty and the sacrifices that so many have made for our Nation, the Congress, by 85 as amended, has designated May 1 of each year as ''Loyalty Day.'' On this day, let us reaffirm our allegiance to the United States of America, our Constitution, and our founding values.
  NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2013, as Loyalty Day. This Loyalty Day, I call upon all the people of the United States to join in support of this national observance, whether by displaying the flag of the United States or pledging allegiance to the Republic for which it stands.
  IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.
  [FR Doc. 2013-10757Filed 5-2-13; 11:15 am]
  Billing code 3295-F3
Federal Register | In the Matter of the Review of the Designation of Real Irish Republican Army and Other Aliases; As a Foreign Terrorist Organization Pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as Amended
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  Fri, 03 May 2013 22:49
  Based upon a review of the Administrative Records assembled in these matters pursuant to Section 219(a)(4)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)(4)(C)) (''INA''), and in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, I conclude that the circumstances that were the basis for the 2008 decision to maintain the designation of the aforementioned organization as a foreign terrorist organization has not changed in such a manner as to warrant revocation of the designation and that the national security of the United States does not warrant a revocation of the designation.
  Therefore, I hereby determine that the designation of RIRA as foreign terrorist organization, pursuant to Section 219 of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1189), shall be maintained.
  This determination shall be published in the Federal Register.
  Dated:April 26, 2013.
  John F. Kerry,
  Secretary of State.
  [FR Doc. 2013-10552 Filed 5-2-13; 8:45 am]
  BILLING CODE 4710-10-P
Federal Register | Stine Seed Farm, Inc.; Extension of a Determination of Nonregulated Status of Corn Genetically Engineered for Herbicide Resistance
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  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 22:52
  We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is extending to maize line HCEM485, which has been genetically engineered to be resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, our determination of nonregulated status of Roundup Ready® corn line GA21. Therefore, APHIS no longer considers maize line HCEM485 to be a regulated article under Agency regulations governing the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms. Our decision is based on our evaluation of data submitted by Stine Seed Farm, Inc., in its request for an extension of a determination of nonregulated status, an analysis of other scientific data, and comments received from the public in response to a previous notice announcing our preliminary determination. This notice also announces the availability of our written determination, final environmental assessment, plant pest risk assessment, and our finding of no significant impact.
  Effective Date: May 3, 2013.
  Supporting documents, comments we received on our previous notice announcing our preliminary determination, and our responses to those comments may be viewed at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2012-0033 or in our reading room, which is located in room 1141 of the USDA South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 799-7039 before coming. Supporting documents are also available on the APHIS Web site at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/biotechnology/petitions_table_pending.shtml under APHIS Petition Number 09-063-01p Extension of 97-099-01p.
  Dr. Rebecca Stankiewicz Gabel, Chief, Biotechnology Environmental Analysis Branch, Environmental Risk Analysis Programs, Biotechnology Regulatory Services, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 147, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236; (301) 851-3927, email: rebecca.l.stankiewicz-gabel@aphis.usda.gov. To obtain copies of the supporting documents, contact Ms. Cindy Eck at (301) 851-3885, email: cynthia.a.eck@aphis.usda.gov.
  Under the authority of the plant pest provisions of the Plant Protection Act (PPA) (7 U.S.C. 7701et seq.), the regulations in 7 CFR part 340, ''Introduction of Organisms and Products Altered or Produced Through Genetic Engineering Which Are Plant Pests or Which There Is Reason to Believe Are Plant Pests,'' regulate, among other things, the introduction (importation, interstate movement, or release into the environment) of organisms and products altered or produced through genetic engineering that are plant pests or that there is reason to believe are plant pests. Such genetically engineered (GE) organisms and products are considered ''regulated articles.''
  The regulations in § 340.6(a) provide that any person may submit a petition to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) seeking a determination that an article should not be regulated under 7 CFR part 340. Further, the regulations in § 340.6(e)(2) provide that a person may request that APHIS extend a determination of nonregulated status to other organisms. Such a request must include information to establish the similarity of the antecedent organism and the regulated article in question.
  In a notice published in the Federal Register on December 5, 1997 (62 FR 64350-64351, Docket No. 97-052-2), APHIS announced our determination of nonregulated status of Roundup Ready® corn line GA21. APHIS received a request for an extension of a determination of nonregulated status (APHIS Number 09-063-01p) of Roundup Ready® corn line GA21 to maize line HCEM485 [1] from Stine Seed Farm, Inc., (Stine Seed) of Research Triangle Park, NC. In its request, Stine Seed stated that this corn is similar to Roundup Ready® corn line GA21 and, based on the similarity to the antecedent organism, is unlikely to pose a plant pest risk and, therefore, should not be a regulated article under APHIS' regulations in 7 CFR part 340.
  On February 27, 2013, APHIS published a notice [2] in the Federal Register (78 FR 13303-13304, Docket No. APHIS-2012-0033) announcing the availability of a draft environmental assessment (EA) and plant pest risk assessment (PPRA) for public comment for the Stine Seed extension request. The extension request and APHIS' preliminary decision were also published with that notice. APHIS received three comments on the subject EA and PPRA during the designated 30-day public comment period, which ended March 29, 2013. Issues raised during the comment period included effects of glyphosate, pollen drift, crop diversity, and human health concerns. APHIS has addressed the issues raised during the comment period and has provided responses to these comments as an attachment to the finding of no significant impact (FONSI).
  To provide the public with documentation of APHIS' review and analysis of any potential environmental impacts associated with the determination of nonregulated status of maize line HCEM485, an EA has been prepared. The EA was prepared in accordance with: (1) The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321et seq.), (2) regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), (3) USDA regulations implementing NEPA (7 CFR part 1b), and (4) APHIS' NEPA Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372). Based on our EA, the response to public comments, and other pertinent scientific data, APHIS has reached a FONSI with regard to the preferred alternative identified in the EA.
  Based on APHIS' analysis of field and laboratory data submitted by Stine Seed, references provided in the extension request, peer-reviewed publications, information analyzed in the EA, the similarity of maize line HCEM485 to the antecedent organism, Roundup Ready® corn line GA21, comments provided by the public, and information provided in APHIS' response to those public comments, APHIS has determined that maize line HCEM485 is unlikely to pose a plant pest risk. We are therefore extending the determination of nonregulated status of Roundup Ready® corn line GA21 to maize line HCEM485, whereby maize line HCEM485 is no longer subject to our regulations governing the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms.
  Copies of the signed determination document, as well as copies of the extension request, PPRA, EA, and FONSI and response to comments, are available as indicated in the ADDRESSES and FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT sections of this notice.
  7 U.S.C. 7701-7772 and 7781-7786; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.3.
  Done in Washington, DC, this 29th day of April 2013.
  Kevin Shea,
  Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
  [FR Doc. 2013-10510 Filed 5-2-13; 8:45 am]
  BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
Federal Register | Law Day, U.S.A., 2013
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 22:54
  A ProclamationAs a Nation, we are bound together not by the colors of our skin, the tenets of our faith, or the origins of our names. What unites us as Americans is our allegiance to an idea articulated more than two centuries ago: that ''all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'' In the years since that declaration, we not only forged a Republic of, by, and for the people; we also set ourselves to the task of perfecting it, and bridging the meaning of those words with the realities of our time.
  This Law Day, we look back on our long journey toward equality for all. We reflect on the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago to mend a Nation half-slave and half-free under the unifying promise of liberty. We remember when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stood in Lincoln's shadow a century later and gave voice to a dream, sounding the call for an America that truly lives out the meaning of its founding creed. We honor the courageous men and women who fought to bring those ageless ideals of freedom and fairness into the rule of law'--from the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act to Title IX and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  Even now, that work is not yet finished. Opportunity remains painfully unequal for too many among us; justice too often goes undone. Law Day is a chance to reaffirm the critical role our courts have always played in addressing those wrongs and aligning our Nation with its first principles. Let us mark this occasion by celebrating that history, upholding the right to due process, and honoring all who have sustained our proud legal tradition.
  NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, in accordance with 87, as amended, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2013, as Law Day, U.S.A. I call upon all Americans to acknowledge the importance of our Nation's legal and judicial systems with appropriate ceremonies and activities, and to display the flag of the United States in support of this national observance.
  IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.
  [FR Doc. 2013-10754Filed 5-2-13; 11:15 am]
  Billing code 3295-F3
Presidential Proclamation -- National Charter Schools Week, 2013
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Fri, 03 May 2013 18:26
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  May 03, 2013
  NATIONAL CHARTER SCHOOLS WEEK, 2013
  - - - - - - -
  BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
  A PROCLAMATION
  America's success in the 21st century depends on what we do today to reignite the true engine of our economic growth: a thriving middle class. Achieving that vision means making sure our education system provides ladders of opportunity for our sons and daughters. We need to equip all our students with the education and skills that put them on the path to good jobs and a bright future -- no matter where they live or what school they attend.
  Charter schools play an important role in meeting that obligation. These learning laboratories give educators the chance to try new models and methods that can encourage excellence in the classroom and prepare more of our children for college and careers. In return for this flexibility, we should expect high standards and accountability, and make tough decisions to close charter schools that are underperforming and not improving. But where charter schools demonstrate success and exceed expectations, we should share what they learn with other public schools and replicate those that produce dramatic results. Many charter schools choose to locate in communities with few high-quality educational options, making them an important partner in widening the circle of opportunity for students who need it most.
  Our children are ready to write the next great chapter in the American story. As parents and teachers and citizens, it is up to all of us to provide them the tools they need to keep our country moving forward -- from a degree that leads to a good job to the critical thinking skills that make our democracy thrive. This week, we recognize charter schools that are advancing those goals, and we recommit to helping our Nation's children go as far as their talents will take them.
  NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 5 through May 11, 2013, as National Charter Schools Week. I commend our Nation's charter schools, teachers, and administrators, and I call on States and communities to support charter schools and the students they serve.
  IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.
  BARACK OBAMA
NIMH · NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC)
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  Fri, 03 May 2013 16:15
  Draft 3.1: June, 2011Over the past several decades, an increasingly comprehensive body of research in genetics, neuroscience, and behavioral science has transformed our understanding of how the brain produces adaptive behavior, and the ways in which normal functioning becomes disrupted in various forms of mental disorders. In order to speed the translation of this new knowledge to clinical issues, the NIMH included in its new strategic plan Strategy 1.4: ''Develop, for research purposes, new ways of classifying mental disorders based on dimensions of observable behavior and neurobiological measures.'' (For the full text, see http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/strategic-planning-reports/index.shtml#strategic-objective1). The implementation of this strategy has been named the Research Domain Criteria Project (RDoC). The purpose of this document is to describe the RDoC project in order to acquaint the field with its nature and direction, and to facilitate commentary from scientists and other interested stakeholders regarding both general and specific aspects of the RDoC approach.
  BackgroundAcross all areas of medicine, research in genomics, cell biology, and pathophysiology is revolutionizing diagnosis and treatment. In disorders as diverse as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease, the discovery of identifiable subtypes within broad clinical phenotypes has led to more specific, more effective treatments or identification of new targets for prevention. Research in mental disorders is also developing quickly: Novel data about genomic factors and the role of particular brain circuits are reported almost monthly. However, new findings on mental disorders have had limited clinical impact, partly because they map only moderately onto current diagnostic categories for mental illness. Thus, some of the risk genes for psychotic disorders appear to be associated with both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and the same prefrontal region has been implicated in depression and PTSD. In contrast to cancer and heart disease, where research has identified subtypes of common disease, it appears that the biological findings with mental disorders are relatively non-specific; could specificity in fact exist, but not for the currently recognized clinical categories? This question leads to a consideration of how current categories were derived.
  Currently, diagnosis in mental disorders is based on clinical observation and patients' phenomenological symptom reports. This system, implemented with the innovative Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-III (DSM-III) in 1980 and refined in the current DSM-IV-TR (Text Revision), has served well to improve diagnostic reliability in both clinical practice and research. The diagnostic categories represented in the DSM-IV and the International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10, containing virtually identical disorder codes) remain the contemporary consensus standard for how mental disorders are diagnosed and treated, and are formally implemented in insurance billing, FDA requirements for drug trials, and many other institutional usages. By default, current diagnoses have also become the predominant standard for reviewing and awarding research grants.
  However, in antedating contemporary neuroscience research, the current diagnostic system is not informed by recent breakthroughs in genetics; and molecular, cellular and systems neuroscience. Indeed, it would have been surprising if the clusters of complex behaviors identified clinically were to map on a one-to-one basis onto specific genes or neurobiological systems. As it turns out, most genetic findings and neural circuit maps appear either to link to many different currently recognized syndromes or to distinct subgroups within syndromes. If we assume that the clinical syndromes based on subjective symptoms are unique and unitary disorders, we undercut the power of biology to identify illnesses linked to pathophysiology and we limit the development of more specific treatments. Imagine treating all chest pain as a single syndrome without the advantage of EKG, imaging, and plasma enzymes. In the diagnosis of mental disorders when all we had were subjective complaints (cf. chest pain), a diagnostic system limited to clinical presentation could confer reliability and consistency but not validity. To date, there has been general consensus that the science is not yet well enough developed to permit neuroscience-based classification. However, at some point, it is necessary to instantiate such approaches if the field is ever to reach the point where advances in genomics, pathophysiology, and behavioral science can inform diagnosis in a meaningful way. RDoC represents the beginning of such a long-term project.
  RDoC is intended as a framework to guide classification of patients for research studies, not as an immediately useful clinical tool. While the hope is that a new way forward for clinical diagnosis will emerge sooner rather than later, the initial steps must be to build a sufficient research foundation that can eventually inform the best approaches for clinical diagnosis and treatment. It is hoped that by creating a framework that interfaces directly with genomics, neuroscience, and behavioral science, progress in explicating etiology and suggesting new treatments will be markedly facilitated.
  MethodRDoC will follow three guiding principles, all diverging from current diagnostic approaches.
  First, RDoC is conceived as a dimensional system (reflecting, e.g., circuit-level measurements, behavioral activity, etc.) spanning the range from normal to abnormal. As with dimensions like hypertension or cholesterolemia in other areas of medicine, this approach incurs both the problem and advantage of defining cutpoints for the definition and extent of pathology '' e.g., mild, moderate, and severe. (To the extent that DSM-V introduces dimensions in addition to classes, the crosswalks to RDoC dimensions may be enhanced.)Second, RDoC is agnostic about current disorder categories. The intent is to generate classifications stemming from basic behavioral neuroscience. Rather than starting with an illness definition and seeking its neurobiological underpinnings, RDoC begins with current understandings of behavior-brain relationships and links them to clinical phenomena.Third, RDoC will use several different units of analysis in defining constructs for study (e.g., imaging, physiological activity, behavior, and self-reports of symptoms). Indeed, RDoC, as a research framework, has been developed with the explicit goal of permitting investigators to choose an independent variable from one of several different units of analysis. The details of this approach are explained next.The RDoC research framework can be considered as a matrix whose rows correspond to specified dimensions of function; these are explicitly termed ''Constructs,'' i.e., a concept summarizing data about a specified functional dimension of behavior (and implementing genes and circuits) that is subject to continual refinement with advances in science. Constructs represent the fundamental unit of analysis in this system, and it is anticipated that most studies would focus on one construct (or perhaps compare two constructs on relevant measures). Related constructs are grouped into major Domains of functioning, reflecting contemporary thinking about major aspects of motivation, cognition, and social behavior; the five domains are Negative Valence Systems (i.e., systems for aversive motivation), Positive Valence Systems, Cognitive Systems, Systems for Social Processes, and Arousal/Regulatory Systems. The columns of the matrix represent different classes of variables (or units of analysis) used to study the domains/constructs. Seven such classes have been specified; these are genes, molecules, cells, neural circuits, physiology (e.g. cortisol, heart rate, startle reflex), behaviors, and self-reports. Circuits represent the core aspect of these classes of variables '' both because they are central to the various biological and behavioral levels of analysis, and because they are used to constrain the number of constructs that are defined. Investigators can select any level of analysis to be the independent variable for classification (or multiple levels in some cases, e.g., behavioral functioning stratified by a genetic polymorphism), and dependent variables can be selected from multiple columns. In addition, since constructs are typically studied in the context of particular scientific paradigms, a column for ''paradigms'' has been added; obviously, however, paradigms do not represent units of analysis.
  Three criteria guided the selection of the draft list of candidate constructs presented here. First, the inclusion of a construct was constrained by whether a particular brain circuit or area could reasonably be specified that implements that dimension of behavior. Given the complexity of the brain and of behavior, this was more ambiguous in some cases than others; some constructs, such as attention, reflect activity spread relatively diffusely over many brain areas, while attachment behavior may similarly reflect neurotransmitter and hormonal functions (e.g., oxytocin) acting at disparate locations throughout the brain. Second, an attempt was made to maintain a reasonable ''grain size'' that would permit a tractable listing of the major functional dimensions of behavior. While it is recognized that there may be important and meaningful sub-constructs that could be considered (e.g., various types of aggression), an overly specified list could result in an unwieldy and excessively long listing. Third, the constructs are based on current literatures that have provided a neurobehavioral research base for each of the entries.
  The draft RDoC matrix is listed in the table below, followed by examples of how the classification system might be used and several points of clarification. Dimensional constructs are listed in the rows. Below the matrix, several constructs are listed to provide examples of brain circuits and/or neurotransmitters that help define and constrain each one, along with a brief indication, where appropriate, of constructs representing the dimension's opposite pole; note that listings of circuit components and neurotransmitters are meant to be illustrative, not exhaustive. Constructs are grouped into five major domain areas as listed above. It is important to emphasize that these particular domains and constructs are simply starting points that are not definitive or set in concrete. We expect these to change dynamically with input from the field, and as future research is conducted. The keys here are the overall framework that we are suggesting, and the process for its development.
  Draft Research Domain Criteria MatrixNotes regarding the Units of Analysis''Circuits'' can refer to measurements of particular circuits as studied by neuroimaging techniques, and/or other measures validated by animal models or functional neuroimaging (e.g., emotion-modulated startle, event-related potentials).''Physiology'' refers to measures that are well-established indices of certain constructs, but that do necessarily not tap circuits directly (e.g., heart rate, event-related potentials).''Behavior'' can refer variously to behavioral tasks (e.g., a working memory task), or to behavioral observations.''Self-reports'' refer to interview scales, questionnaires, or other instruments that may encompass normal-range and/or abnormal aspects of the dimension of interest.Examples of Constructs (individual entries) within Domains (boldface)Negative Valence SystemsFear (opposite pole, '' fearlessness): amygdala, hippocampus, interactions with ventromedial PFCPotential threat: HPA axis, BNST, hippocampus; CRF, cortisolPositive Valence SystemsApproach motivation (opposite pole '' anhedonia): mesolimbic dopamine pathwayHabit-based behavior (including OCD spectrum): orbitofrontal cortex, thalamus, dorsal striatumCognitive SystemsWorking memory: dorsolateral PFC, other areas in PFCCognitive (Effortful) control (opposite pole '' impulsivity, disinhibition, externalizing): anterior cingulate gyrus, various areas of medial and lateral PFCSystems for Social ProcessesSocial dominance: distributed cortical activity, mesolimbic dopamine systems; testosterone, serotoninFacial expression recognition: ventral visual stream, fusiform gyrusSelf-representational circuits: dorsal & posterior ACC, insulaArousal/Regulatory ProcessesStress regulation: raphe nuclei circuits; serotoninFacilitated stimulus processing: locus coeruleus circuit; norepinephrineReadiness for stimulus processing and responding: brain resting state networkAbbreviations:PFC: Pre-frontal cortexHPA: hypothalamic-pituitary axisBNST: bed nucleus of the stria terminalisCRF: corticotrophin releasing factorOCD: obsessive-compulsive disorderACC: anterior cingulate cortexGiven that RDoC is a classification framework, how might the scheme work in actual practice, given the goals of (1) permitting widely differing independent variables and (2) implementing a dimensional system that allows variance extending down into what would be regarded as sub-threshold psychopathology? Two general approaches are as follows. The first is to include all patients presenting for treatment at a given type of treatment facility, as in the second example below; the statistical approach then becomes one of regression. The second approach is to specify a particular criterion for selecting multiple groups '' e.g., patients who score more than one standard deviation below the mean on a cognitive task, patients who show significant activation in a specified brain area on a neuroimaging task '' and compare these to other patients not meeting the criterion and/or to a non-clinical control group. In any case, exclusions for co-morbid conditions would be expected to be much less stringent (although the usual exclusions such as other medical or neurological disorders, extreme substance abuse, etc. could still apply). Manuscripts submitted under RDoC will be expected to state how many patients were screened for inclusion in the study, and the reasons for exclusion.
  Example StudiesTwo example studies are listed in order to illustrate the types of studies that might be conducted within the RDoC framework. For clarity, the variables used to classify subjects are reiterated at the end of each example.
  Recent studies have shown that a number of genes reported to confer risk for schizophrenia, such as DISC1 (''Disrupted in schizophrenia'') and neuregulin, actually appear to be similar in risk for unipolar and bipolar mood disorders. These findings are consistent with a number of recent papers questioning the classical Kraepelinian distinction between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; however, little data are available to evaluate psychotic disorders as a spectrum since studies almost always focus on one or the other, and patients falling short of DSM/ICD criteria are excluded. Thus, in one potential design, inclusion criteria might simply consist of all patients seen for evaluation at a psychotic disorders treatment unit. The independent variable might comprise two groups of patients: One group would be positive and the other negative for one or more risk gene configurations (SNP or CNV), with the groups matched on demographics such as age, sex, and education. Dependent variables could be responses to a set of cognitive paradigms, and clinical status on a variety of symptom measures. Analyses would be conducted to compare the pattern of differences in responses to the cognitive or emotional tasks in patients who are positive and negative for the risk configurations. The results of studies of this type could contribute to knowledge about the particular types and severity of behavioral and/or neurobiological deficits that tend to be associated with a given risk gene; in turn, such results could help build a foundation to study mechanisms by which a particular candidate gene contributes to adverse effects. Eventually such research might lead to redefining how psychotic disorders are conceptualized. Classification variables: In this example, the domain under study is Cognition (possibly comparing two to three constructs such as working memory versus declarative memory). The independent variable for classification is the risk gene configuration(s), and the dependent variables comprise performance on the various cognitive tasks. (It is possible that DSM diagnosis, or some other set of psychiatric symptoms, might serve as a second independent, between-subjects variable; however, an emphasis on studying mechanisms would dictate that the sample not be constrained to patients with only schizophrenia or bipolar disorder '' i.e., inclusion criteria should incorporate those with schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, psychotic disorder NOS, etc.)A large number of studies have examined neuroimaging responses to various types of emotional challenges in patients with a particular mood or anxiety disorder, compared to non-clinical controls. Frequently, the conclusion is that disorder X is characterized by an abnormality in task Y '' such as emotion regulation, activation of a particular circuit or brain area (e.g., amygdala, ventromedial PFC), or response to some emotion-related task. However, such abnormal mechanisms appear to be involved in many different disorders, while on the other hand, not all patients with a given diagnosis necessarily show the abnormality '' suggesting that there are fundamental mechanisms in common across these disorders. A design to study fear circuitry might thus have as inclusion criteria all patients presenting at an anxiety disorders clinic. Classification variables: The construct of interest is Fear/extinction, in the domain of Negative Affect. The independent variable for grouping would be the extent of responding to fearful stimuli using a measure such as amygdala response (from fMRI) or fear-potentiated startle (i.e., a circuit-level variable). Dependent variables would be symptom measures on various fear and distress measures, in order to test hypotheses about mechanisms by which hyper-reactivity and hypo-reactivity to threat cues affect the nature and severity of presenting symptoms. As an outcome of such research, these results might generate predictive validity studies leading to improved treatment selection or new pharmacological targets for intervention.Developmental and Environmental AspectsThe RDoC concept is organized around basic neural circuits, their genetic and molecular/cellular building blocks, and the dimensions of functioning that they implement. There are two highly important areas of mental disorders research that are thus not represented in the matrix per se, but are considered to be critical elements in research fostered by RDoC. These two areas are developmental aspects and interactions with the environment. The intent is that the RDoC matrix will enhance the study of both areas by promoting a systematic focus on their relationship to specific circuits and functions.
  Developmental aspects. Mental disorders are increasingly viewed as neurodevelopmental disorders in one way or another. Therefore, addressing development issues across various phases of the life span represents a critical consideration that is implicit to the RDoC framework, and might be considered as a third dimension in the matrix. The types of constructs typically found in the child temperament literature are (not coincidentally) similar to the RDoC domains, and many areas of the child psychopathology literature (e.g., broadly addressed to Internalizing or Externalizing problems) serve as a more compatible model for a dimensionally-based approach compared to the highly specified categories of adult psychopathology. Four brief examples might be given of life-span goals that could be addressed within the RDoC framework: (1) Further explicate the longitudinal course of adolescent brain maturation and synaptic pruning to identify genes and circuit development factors associated with departures from normal developmental functioning, and points in prodromal stages where intervention might particularly be targeted; (2) Evaluate the extent to which the recruitment of additional cortical areas during task performance or emotional challenge in elderly subjects predicts resilience against onset or deterioration of course in mental disorders; (3) Generate improved explication of the construct of cognitive control (or effortful control), relative to disentangling current controversies regarding ADHD, juvenile bipolar disorder, conduct disorder, etc.; (4) Specify the mechanisms regarding developmental changes in systems for fear and distress across puberty (including the effects of the social environment), that could explain clinical data indicating that adolescent anxiety disorders often precede depression.
  Environmental aspects. The central nervous system is exquisitely sensitive to interactions with various elements of its environment virtually from the moment of conception. The social and physical environment comprises sources of both risk and protection for many different disorders occurring at all points along the life span, and methods for studying such phenomena as gene expression, neural plasticity, and various types of learning are rapidly advancing. As with developmental aspects, environmental influences may thus be considered as another critical dimension of the RDoC matrix. The effects of a particular interaction with the environment, e.g., the effects of early child abuse, may pose risk for a wide variety of disorders. As another example, illicit drug use may cause sensitization of mesolimbic dopamine circuits that generalizes to other drugs of abuse and addictive behaviors. Thus, it is hoped that a research program organized around the relevant circuit-based dimensions that are affected, independent of a particular disorder, will accelerate knowledge regarding such environmental influences along the entire range of analysis from genes to behavior.
  DiscussionAs mentioned above, the current organization is focused on (and constrained by) circuit definitions in order to (1) avoid an over-specification and proliferation of constructs, and (2) provide an organizing point that facilitates the integration both of genetic, molecular, and cellular levels of analysis regarding sub-components of circuits, and of behavioral and self-report levels of analysis regarding the kinds of behaviors that circuits implement. The intent is not to arbitrarily exclude constructs, but rather to foster thinking about how constructs are related at various levels of analysis. For example, extraversion is not listed in the draft matrix, but might be considered to represent another aspect of social dominance -- in that they are both typically described in terms of activity in mesolimbic dopamine systems, and thus may reflect different aspects of what is fundamentally the same dimension.The framework is directed toward constructs most germane to mental disorders, and makes no claim to span the entire gamut of functional behavior. For instance, circuits relevant to thermoregulation and reproductive behavior are not included.The number of constructs might well be viewed as sparse by many scientists. The attempt has been to include relatively high-level constructs in order to avoid an over-specification of functions that could become unwieldy and also necessitate unnecessarily frequent revisions to the list as research progresses. However, the framework is meant to foster, not discourage, research that explicates mechanisms within and across the constructs as listed. As stated above, the current framework should be viewed as a starting point and part of a work in progress.The complexity of the brain is such that circuits and constructs will necessarily have considerable overlap, and arbitrary separations are unavoidable. For instance, the basolateral amygdala is well-known to be involved with both threat and appetitive processing. This reflects the hierarchical nature of the nervous system, and the difficulty of creating a system that encompasses various levels in one framework. It should also be noted that some constructs, such as emotional regulation or homeostasis, are not listed here; these are considered superordinate principles of nervous system activity that operate across many different circuits.Research with post-mortem tissue samples may be appropriate for studies within the RDoC framework, where the hypotheses and other variables are conceived in terms of relevant domains and constructs.The RDoC framework is explicitly agnostic with respect to current definitions of disorders. For instance, depression as a clinical syndrome has been related to abnormal activity in the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, nucleus accumbens, and multiple monoamine systems, while also strongly comorbid with multiple anxiety disorders, eating disorders, etc. The idea is that studying the individual mechanisms may lead to better understanding of current disorders, or perhaps new and novel definitions of disorders, but in either case improved information about treatment choices.As mentioned above, the aim of RDoC is to create a framework for grouping participants in research studies, in order to create a foundational research literature that informs future versions of nosologies based upon genetics and behavioral neuroscience. RDoC is not intended for clinical diagnosis at the current time. In the future, research supported by RDoC could inform diagnostic approaches using new laboratory procedures, behavioral assessments, and novel instruments to provide enhanced treatment and prevention interventions. It is also hoped that RDoC will support enhanced development of new pharmacological and psychosocial interventions based upon neurobiological and behavioral mechanisms.Process and Final ProductThe NIMH intends that the RDoC process be as transparent as possible. An internal NIMH steering group, advised by a small group of external experts, has created the initial RDoC framework and devised the list of candidate domains, constructs, and classes of variables. NIMH issued a companion Request for Information (RFI) in the NIH Guide to seek input about all aspects of this first draft of the RDoC matrix and process. These comments were taken into account in further refining the initial version of the matrix.
  A series of workshops is currently in progress as an initial step in defining the specifications for each construct. At a minimum, one workshop will be held for each of the five domains. However, in order to gain experience with the process, the first workshop focused on the construct of working memory. Each workshop involves experts from various areas that span the RDoC's units of analysis. Participants are asked to discuss and decide upon current findings, paradigms, and procedures relevant to each level of analysis, along with critical research questions. Proceedings of each workshop are posted on the RDoC page of the NIMH web site for continuing commentary and suggestions for changes. Depending on the nature and extent of comments, a second workshop may be held to achieve consensus on final specifications.
  The final specification for each construct will consist of:
  A definition of the construct's functional aspects, summary of relevant circuitry, and relationship to other constructs;A list of current state-of-the art measures, paradigms, and procedures at each level of analysis;Current pressing research questions and issues pertaining to the construct, including one or two salient examples of the groupings of DSM/ICD categories that might be included in studies addressing these questions.The intent of the RDoC is to accelerate the pace of new discoveries by fostering research that translates findings from basic science into new treatments addressing fundamental mechanisms that cut across current diagnostic categories. The research specifications are intended to guide investigators in conducting such integrative research by including cutting-edge variables in research applications. However, since RDoC is a research framework, use of such variables is not required; indeed, one goal is to speed the pace of new information at all levels of analysis. For this reason, RDoC will incorporate a mechanism for continual evaluation of new findings, and inclusion into the domain/construct specifications. While the exact procedures remain to be worked out, it is anticipated that the NIMH steering group will work together with subject-area experts from each of the relevant domains to accept nominations (from the evaluation team or from scientists in the field) for modifications and additional listings.
  Although the formal period for commenting under the RFI has terminated, NIMH welcomes continuing commentary regarding any aspect of the RDoC project, including, but not limited to, the following points. Comments may be emailed to rdoc@mail.nih.gov.
  The overall RDoC framework, including the organization of the Domains and Constructs, and the Units of Analysis.Particular constructs that should be added, deleted, merged, or changed.Criteria for determining what constructs should be included or modified.''Grain size'' of the constructs.Criteria for making changes to the domain and construct specifications.NIMH staff look forward to working with all groups of interested stakeholders as the RDoC project is developed.
Dr Drew cancels 'Celebrity Rehab': "It's very intense for me" - TV News - Digital Spy
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  Fri, 03 May 2013 16:08
  Dr Drew Pinsky has revealed that he does not expect to make any more episodes of Celebrity Rehab.The VH1 series has attracted controversy in the past, particularly following the deaths of former participants such as Rodney King, Joey Kovar and Mindy McCready.
  Asked about Celebrity Rehab on radio show Zach Sang & The Gang, Pinsky replied: "I don't have any plans to do that again, no. I'm tired of taking all the heat, you know - it's just ridiculous.
  "These are burdensome patients that I follow for long periods of time - we're still kind of treating the Rehab patients from last year. We treat them for a good six, nine months."
  Pinsky also dismissed reports that the show is faked for the cameras, saying: "These are really sick people - that's why they die.
  "These are people with life threatening addiction, and we treat them the way... Bob, Shelly and I ran a program for 20 years and we just do what we always do and let them run the cameras."
  He went on: "I'm tired. I'm really tired. And it's very stressful. It's very intense for me and to have people questioning my motives and taking aim at me because people get sick and die because they have a life threatening disease, and I have to take the blame for that? If Rodney King has a heart attack, I have to take the blame for that? That's really what's happening these days."
  However, Pinksy expressed regret that the series will no longer be on the air.
  "I think it's sad that we're not doing more shows," he said. "A lot of people are sober because of Celebrity Rehab who wouldn't have been sober without it."
Guantanamo attorney dead in apparent suicide '-- RT USA
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  Fri, 03 May 2013 12:59
  An American lawyer representing detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp has been found dead in an apparent suicide.
  The body of Andy P. Hart, a 38-year-old US federal public defender, was found last week with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. According to Truthout, an investigative blog, news of the attorney's death came only this Wednesday from an investigator working on Guantanamo detainees' habeas corpus petitions. That investigator requested anonymity.
  According to court documents, Hart had previously represented Kahlid Saad Mohammed, a 39-year-old Guantanamo detainee from Saudi Arabia who was transferred back to his home country in 2009 after being identified as having only ''low-level'' terrorist affiliation.
  Perhaps most notably, Hart was assigned to defend Mohammed Rahim al-Afghani, one of 16 detainees at Guantanamo which the US government has designated as ''high-value.'' Al-Afghani, thought to be Osama bin Laden's translator, was detained by the CIA and allegedly tortured prior to his arrival in Cuba in 2008.
  The location of Hart's death has not been made public, though he left behind a suicide note and a USB storage device, which Truthout believed to contain his case files. The FBI was made aware of his death as Hart worked with sensitive information, though Truthout had not confirmed whether the agency would be investigating further into the matter.
  The public defender's death comes at a highly tense time for the Guantanamo Bay detention center, as 40 US Navy medics arrived there a few days ago to cope with a worsening hunger strike which now includes at least 100 of the prison's population of 160.
  On Wednesday, the United Nations human rights office declared that the force-feeding of hunger strikers at Guantanamo amounted to torture and a breach of international law.
  Andy Hart was one of several lawyers who signed a March letter addressed to Secretary of Defense Charles Hagel urging for immediate action to end the growing hunger strike. He is survived by an 11-year-old daughter.
Tiny Device Will Detect Domestic Drones - US News and World Report
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  Fri, 03 May 2013 12:54
  The company's founder says he thinks people will attach the Drone Shield to their fences or roofs to protect their home from surveillance.
  Worried about drones spying on you? Soon, a device might be able to send you text and email alerts that let you know when a drone is nearby.
  [ALSO: Domestic Drone Arrest Database Being Built by Defense Lawyers Group]
  A Washington, D.C.-based engineer is working on the "Drone Shield," a small, Wi-Fi-connected device that uses a microphone to detect a drone's "acoustic signatures" (sound frequency and spectrum) when it's within range.
  The company's founder, John Franklin, who has been working in aerospace engineering for seven years, says he hopes to start selling the device sometime this year. He is using the Kickstarter-like Indiegogo to finance the project.
  The device will cost $69 and will be about the size of a USB thumb drive. It will use Raspberry Pi '' a tiny, $25 computer '' and commercially available microphones to detect drones. He says he imagines that people will attach the Drone Shield to their fences or roofs to protect their home from surveillance.
  "People will get the alert and then close their blinds," Franklin says.
  [READ: Drone Used in San Francisco Wedding Proposal]
  He is currently working on an open-source database of drone sounds that the detector will check what it's hearing against. Other devices with motors, such as lawn mowers and weed-whackers, will also be included to reduce false positives. Drone owners will be asked to record the sound of their drones to be included in the database. When the Drone Shield identifies a drone, it'll flash and send an email and text message alert to a homeowner.
  Franklin says that most commercially available drones have to come relatively close to a home in order to spy. More sophisticated drones, such as Predators, would fly too high to detect.
  He got the idea for the device after getting into a bit of hot water with his neighbor, which Franklin says alerted him to the reality of people's concerns about drones.
  [PHOTOS: May Day Marches and Protests Around the World]
  "I bought a [drone] from Amazon and was going to use it to look at my roof. The wind took it and I crashed it into my neighbor's yard. It freaked him out once he noticed it had a camera on it," Franklin says. "It sort of dawned on me that it's so easy to invade someone's privacy with a couple hundred dollar drone."
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NIMH · Transforming Diagnosis
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  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 11:54
  In a few weeks, the American Psychiatric Association will release its new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). This volume will tweak several current diagnostic categories, from autism spectrum disorders to mood disorders. While many of these changes have been contentious, the final product involves mostly modest alterations of the previous edition, based on new insights emerging from research since 1990 when DSM-IV was published. Sometimes this research recommended new categories (e.g., mood dysregulation disorder) or that previous categories could be dropped (e.g., Asperger's syndrome).1
  The goal of this new manual, as with all previous editions, is to provide a common language for describing psychopathology. While DSM has been described as a ''Bible'' for the field, it is, at best, a dictionary, creating a set of labels and defining each. The strength of each of the editions of DSM has been ''reliability'' '' each edition has ensured that clinicians use the same terms in the same ways. The weakness is its lack of validity. Unlike our definitions of ischemic heart disease, lymphoma, or AIDS, the DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure. In the rest of medicine, this would be equivalent to creating diagnostic systems based on the nature of chest pain or the quality of fever. Indeed, symptom-based diagnosis, once common in other areas of medicine, has been largely replaced in the past half century as we have understood that symptoms alone rarely indicate the best choice of treatment.
  Patients with mental disorders deserve better. NIMH has launched the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project to transform diagnosis by incorporating genetics, imaging, cognitive science, and other levels of information to lay the foundation for a new classification system. Through a series of workshops over the past 18 months, we have tried to define several major categories for a new nosology (see below). This approach began with several assumptions:
  A diagnostic approach based on the biology as well as the symptoms must not be constrained by the current DSM categories,Mental disorders are biological disorders involving brain circuits that implicate specific domains of cognition, emotion, or behavior,Each level of analysis needs to be understood across a dimension of function,Mapping the cognitive, circuit, and genetic aspects of mental disorders will yield new and better targets for treatment.It became immediately clear that we cannot design a system based on biomarkers or cognitive performance because we lack the data. In this sense, RDoC is a framework for collecting the data needed for a new nosology. But it is critical to realize that we cannot succeed if we use DSM categories as the ''gold standard.''2 The diagnostic system has to be based on the emerging research data, not on the current symptom-based categories. Imagine deciding that EKGs were not useful because many patients with chest pain did not have EKG changes. That is what we have been doing for decades when we reject a biomarker because it does not detect a DSM category. We need to begin collecting the genetic, imaging, physiologic, and cognitive data to see how all the data '' not just the symptoms '' cluster and how these clusters relate to treatment response.
  That is why NIMH will be re-orienting its research away from DSM categories. Going forward, we will be supporting research projects that look across current categories '' or sub-divide current categories '' to begin to develop a better system. What does this mean for applicants? Clinical trials might study all patients in a mood clinic rather than those meeting strict major depressive disorder criteria. Studies of biomarkers for ''depression'' might begin by looking across many disorders with anhedonia or emotional appraisal bias or psychomotor retardation to understand the circuitry underlying these symptoms. What does this mean for patients? We are committed to new and better treatments, but we feel this will only happen by developing a more precise diagnostic system. The best reason to develop RDoC is to seek better outcomes.
  RDoC, for now, is a research framework, not a clinical tool. This is a decade-long project that is just beginning. Many NIMH researchers, already stressed by budget cuts and tough competition for research funding, will not welcome this change. Some will see RDoC as an academic exercise divorced from clinical practice. But patients and families should welcome this change as a first step towards "precision medicine,'' the movement that has transformed cancer diagnosis and treatment. RDoC is nothing less than a plan to transform clinical practice by bringing a new generation of research to inform how we diagnose and treat mental disorders. As two eminent psychiatric geneticists recently concluded, ''At the end of the 19th century, it was logical to use a simple diagnostic approach that offered reasonable prognostic validity. At the beginning of the 21st century, we must set our sights higher.''3
  The major RDoC research domains:
  Negative Valence SystemsPositive Valence SystemsCognitive SystemsSystems for Social ProcessesArousal/Modulatory Systems
  1Mental health: On the spectrum. Adam D. Nature. 2013 Apr 25;496(7446):416-8. doi: 10.1038/496416a. No abstract available. PMID: 23619674
  2Why has it taken so long for biological psychiatry to develop clinical tests and what to do about it? Kapur S, Phillips AG, Insel TR. Mol Psychiatry. 2012 Dec;17(12):1174-9. doi: 10.1038/mp.2012.105. Epub 2012 Aug 7.PMID:22869033
  3The Kraepelinian dichotomy - going, going... but still not gone. Craddock N, Owen MJ. Br J Psychiatry. 2010 Feb;196(2):92-5. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.109.073429. PMID: 20118450
  Learn more about: NIMH. View all posts about: NIMH.
EXPOSED: Dem Party Submits Different Obama Birth Certificate To Alabama Supreme Court Than One He Released At White House Press Conference Pat Dollard
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 11:09
  Apr 30, 2013Jake Hammer
  Would the guy who's in the middle of a Benghazi coverup bigger than Watergate and who dummied up a deportation document for a Saudi really produce a forged birth certificate? Is that of character and modus operandi for someone like that? Nah! Crazy talk in Crazy Town!
  Related '' Breitbart: Saudi's Deportation Record Altered
  Excerpted from Free Republic: In an unusual rare move, the Alabama Democratic Party has submitted a amicus brief in the McInnish Goode v Chapman Appeal case. The reason being is most likely because the Alabama Supreme Court has Chief Justice Roy Moore presiding over it. He supported Lt. Col. Terry Lakin during his court martial. Another worry for them is another justice named Tom Parker. He once opined in a prior McInnish case:
  ''McInnish has attached certain documentation to his mandamus petition, which, if presented to the appropriate forum as part of a proper evidentiary presentation, would raise serious questions about the authenticity of both the ''short form'' and the ''long form'' birth certificates of President Barack Hussein Obama that have been made public.''
  This has reasons for the Alabama Democratic Party to be alarmed. In the amicus brief, the Alabama Democratic Party attacked the merits of the appeal, calling the evidence submitted by McInnish ''inadmissible and not worthy of belief'' and stated:
  ''A county sheriff from Arizona is not an ''official source'' of anything in Alabama.''
  One thing that stands out in the amicus brief filed, specifically on page 33 is something new. It's a Barack Obama long form birth certificate that has a different backing, something not seen before. It's not the normal security paper backing that the Hawaii Dept. Of Health has been using. It is raising a lot of questions that even has Obama supporters baffled. Click on the link and scroll to page 33 of the brief to see the birth certificate.
  Here is the Dem party's amicus brief. For details on the non-matching birth certificate they submitted, see the story below it.
  SCOAL 2013-04-24 McInnish|Goode v Chapman APPEAL '' ADP Amicus Brief by Jack Ryan
  Excerpted from OBAMA RELEASE YOUR RECORDS
  Eligibility case in Alabama has Barack Obama Long FormBirth Certificate filed with the court with new problems arising
  The three different copies obtained are:
  1. The PDF copy posted by the obot Jack Ryan (Fogbow) shows a completely different background with a diamond pattern (pg 33) and it opens up with hundreds of layers. This poses numerous problems to be discussed later however the issue of greatest significance is the fact that the document is not secure and can be altered by anybody.
  SCOAL 2013-04-24 McInnish|Goode v Chapman APPEAL '' ADP Amicus Brief by Jack Ryan
  We asked Adobe expert Mara Zebest for her opinion on the Fogbow version and here is her response:
  ''The fact that the document displays another permutation of the Obama birth certificate should come as no surprise. In fact, this recent variation actually proves the argument that the layers displayed in the White House PDF released as Obama's ''official'' birth certificate file '-- are in fact '-- a big F***ing deal (to quote Joe Biden). This variation not only proves the point that manipulation occurred to create Obama's PDF, but is further proof that '' due to the layers '-- it is easy for manipulation to continue to occur.'' '-- This here is for Obot eyes.
  Additionally, the Fogbow copy does not have a raised seal which is required to be official.
  Obama Birth Certificate No Seal '' Alabama Supreme Court '' Fogbow Upload '' 4/24/2013 by ObamaRelease YourRecords
  2. The PDF copy e-filed by the Alabama Democratic Party with the Alabama Supreme Court was obtained by Birther Report. The diamond pattern is not found on this e-filing. Pixel Patriot analysis reveals the security paper background extended on the right side farther than the visible area of the PDF copy (clipped/masked version) posted on the White House servers on April 27th, 2011.
  McInnish v Chapman '' Amicus Curiae Brief Obtained From Alabama Democratic Party '' 4/23/2013 by ObamaRelease YourRecords
  The significance is that there can't be more from a copy than an original.
  3. Pixel Patriot has obtained a certified copy from the Alabama Supreme Court of the Amicus Curiae brief filed by the Alabama Democratic Party. More to come'...
  Embedded below is the actual e-filing obtained from the Alabama Democratic Party's attorney:
  FLASHBACK: AL Supreme Court: Serious Questions About Authenticity of Obama's Birth Certificates '' DETAILS HERE.
  McInnish v Chapman '' Amicus Curiae Brief Obtained From Alabama Democratic Party '' 4/23/2013
  2006: Obama In Kenya: I Am So Proud To Come Back Home - VIDEO HERE.
  2007: Michelle Obama Declares Obama Is Kenyan And America Is Mean - VIDEO HERE.
  2008: Michelle Obama Declares Barack Obama's Home Country Is Kenya - VIDEO HERE.
  FLASHBACK: Obama Is The Original Birther! Obama In 1991 Stated In His Own Bio He Was Born In Kenya. DETAILS HERE.
  AZ Sheriff Arpaio: Obama Birth Cert & Draft Reg Card Are Forged! '' Wash Times Natl Wkly '' 12 Mar 2012 -'...
Officials: Taliban Capture 33 Police in Northern Afghanistan -- News from Antiwar.com
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 10:48
  Several days of fighting in the northern Faryab Province have seen a major incident of apparent Taliban kidnapping, with local MPs claiming that at least 33 police are believed to have been taken prisoner.
  Gunbattles were reported over the past week and a half, with a local Taliban leader reportedly killed by Afghan security forces that were trying to drive them from the area. Officials say the ''disappearances'' are likely related to the fighting.
  Locals initially reported the ''missing'' police on Tuesday, but it did not get to officials until today. Taliban have yet to issue any statements on kidnappings, which is unusual for them.
  The exact number is also in some doubt, with provincial chief Rahmatullah Turkistani putting the missing at 40, all Afghan Local Police (ALP) and other officials saying it was 33, with 28 ALPs and 5 national police.
  Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz
Judge's Entertaining Order in Strip Club Case
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  Fri, 03 May 2013 10:40
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Suicide Rate Rises Sharply in U.S. - NYTimes.com
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 10:25
  Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have risen sharply in the past decade, prompting concern that a generation of baby boomers who have faced years of economic worry and easy access to prescription painkillers may be particularly vulnerable to self-inflicted harm.
  More people now die of suicide than in car accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which published the findings in Friday's issue of its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. In 2010 there were 33,687 deaths from motor vehicle crashes and 38,364 suicides.
  Suicide has typically been viewed as a problem of teenagers and the elderly, and the surge in suicide rates among middle-aged Americans is surprising.
  From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans ages 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30 percent, to 17.6 deaths per 100,000 people, up from 13.7. Although suicide rates are growing among both middle-aged men and women, far more men take their own lives. The suicide rate for middle-aged men was 27.3 deaths per 100,000, while for women it was 8.1 deaths per 100,000.
  The most pronounced increases were seen among men in their 50s, a group in which suicide rates jumped by nearly 50 percent, to about 30 per 100,000. For women, the largest increase was seen in those ages 60 to 64, among whom rates increased by nearly 60 percent, to 7.0 per 100,000.
  Suicide rates can be difficult to interpret because of variations in the way local officials report causes of death. But C.D.C. and academic researchers said they were confident that the data documented an actual increase in deaths by suicide and not a statistical anomaly. While reporting of suicides is not always consistent around the country, the current numbers are, if anything, too low.
  ''It's vastly underreported,'' said Julie Phillips, an associate professor of sociology at Rutgers University who has published research on rising suicide rates. ''We know we're not counting all suicides.''
  The reasons for suicide are often complex, and officials and researchers acknowledge that no one can explain with certainty what is behind the rise. But C.D.C. officials cited a number of possible explanations, including that as adolescents people in this generation also posted higher rates of suicide compared with other cohorts.
  ''It is the baby boomer group where we see the highest rates of suicide,'' said the C.D.C.'s deputy director, Ileana Arias. ''There may be something about that group, and how they think about life issues and their life choices that may make a difference.''
  The rise in suicides may also stem from the economic downturn over the past decade. Historically, suicide rates rise during times of financial stress and economic setbacks. ''The increase does coincide with a decrease in financial standing for a lot of families over the same time period,'' Dr. Arias said.
  Another factor may be the widespread availability of opioid drugs like OxyContin and oxycodone, which can be particularly deadly in large doses.
  Although most suicides are still committed using firearms, officials said there was a marked increase in poisoning deaths, which include intentional overdoses of prescription drugs, and hangings. Poisoning deaths were up 24 percent over all during the 10-year period and hangings were up 81 percent.
  Dr. Arias noted that the higher suicide rates might be due to a series of life and financial circumstances that are unique to the baby boomer generation. Men and women in that age group are often coping with the stress of caring for aging parents while still providing financial and emotional support to adult children.
  ''Their lives are configured a little differently than it has been in the past for that age group,'' Dr. Arias said. ''It may not be that they are more sensitive or that they have a predisposition to suicide, but that they may be dealing with more.''
  Preliminary research at Rutgers suggests that the risk for suicide is unlikely to abate for future generations. Changes in marriage, social isolation and family roles mean many of the pressures faced by baby boomers will continue in the next generation, Dr. Phillips said.
  ''The boomers had great expectations for what their life might look like, but I think perhaps it hasn't panned out that way,'' she said. ''All these conditions the boomers are facing, future cohorts are going to be facing many of these conditions as well.''
  Nancy Berliner, a Boston historian, lost her 58-year-old husband to suicide nearly two years ago. She said that while the reasons for his suicide were complex, she would like to see more attention paid to prevention and support for family members who lose someone to suicide.
  ''One suicide can inspire other people, unfortunately, to view suicide as an option,'' Ms. Berliner said. ''It's important that society becomes more comfortable with discussing it. Then the people left behind will not have this stigma.''
Hasselblad Press Lounge
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 09:36
  29/04/2013
  End of the line for the Hasselblad V SystemHasselblad is to cease production of its 503CW model - the last V System camera in the company's portfolio.
  The decision, which comes into immediate effect, brings to an end over a half century of evolution of the company's original camera line.
  Dr. Larry Hansen, Hasselblad Chairman and CEO said: "Everything has its place in time. The veteran 503CW combined with an extensive V System range of interchangeable lenses and accessories, was for seventeen years the camera of choice for discerning professionals and aspirational amateur photographers.
  But there has been a substantial decline in demand for this camera over the past five years or so and the time has now come for us to reluctantly consign the V System to history. In so doing we would like to thank all fans and customers for both their loyalty and their enthusiasm for our legacy Hasselblad V System."
  He added: "Now of course the focus on medium format capture is on our H System - the world's most advanced camera system. The latest generation cameras represent medium format capture engineering at its most exemplary and are well-placed to secure and underpin the company's unrivalled reputation for providing highest image quality and craftsmanship. Additionally we are focusing on new products for advanced enthusiasts."
  Hasselblad has confirmed that the last 503CW has rolled off the production line but the company will continue to provide V System accessories while stocks last. V System support will also still be available through current channels.
Het einde van d(C) Hasselblad
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: FTM - Follow The Money
  Fri, 03 May 2013 09:34
  De 'Made in Sweden'-camera gold ooit als het summum van analoge optische technologie, een parel van Europees vakmanschap. Nu stopt de fabrikant met de productie.
  Van de Apollo maanlandingen tot de hoezen van U2-albums '' geen camera heeft ons collectieve geheugen meer gevormd dan de Hasselblad 500-serie. Het is een icoon van de na-oorlogse Europese industrie.
  De klassieke Hasselblad 50x is een zeer herkenbare, archa¯sche, nogal uit de kluiten gevallen box-camera voor films van het zogenoemde middenformaat. De negatieven zijn meestal 6x6 cm en hebben nog steeds een ongewoon hoge resolutie. Bij uitstek ongeschikt voor het maken van een kiekje, deed de Hasselblad 503CW bij veel fotografen het hart even sneller kloppen. Al was het maar om de prijs.
  Maar de Zweedse fabrikant is gestopt met de fabricage van dit specifieke systeem. Net als Kodak is de business case van Hasselblad sterk geraakt door de opkomst van digitale fotografie. Het probeerde dat op te lossen door de wisselbare achterkanten van de camera '' waar de film in zit '' geschikt te maken voor digitale fotografie.
  Achteraf gezien was dat uitstel van executie. Hoewel de nostalgische waarde nog steeds groot is, was de rele vraag naar dit type camera sterk gedaald, zo verklaart Hasselblad zijn stap. De camera is zo robuust dat hij zelden kapot gaat. De camera is 100 procent mechanisch en dus is alles wat kapot gaat vrijwel altijd te repareren. Er is dan ook een levendige handel in gebruikte exemplaren van dit type camera.
  Overigens blijft het bedrijf voor de professionele markt camera's met het zogenoemde H-systeem maken. Dat is wel een 100 procent digitale camera. Het bedrijf is sinds 2011 in handen van het Duitse private equity fonds Ventizz Capital Fund IV.
  Op de maan schijnen nog enkele Hasselblads te liggen. Die is de Nasa vergeten.
  Hieronder een kleine selectie van Hasselblad en hun fotografen.
  Zweedse degelijkheid, de Volvo onder de camera's
  Anton Corbijn maakte van Ierse jochies rockstars
  Zelfportret Angelina Jolie
  Lucy in the sky with diamonds.... John Lennon
  The thin white duke, aka David Bowie
  Beastie Boys fighting their right to party
Reese Witherspoon Wants You To Know: 'I'm A U.S. Citizen' '' Listen To The New Audio Mix!
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Radar Online
  Fri, 03 May 2013 09:33
  Reese Witherspoon wants you to know one very important thing: She's a U.S. citizen!
  And she's allowed to stand on American ground.
  PHOTOS: Reese Witherspoon On Location In Atlanta Days Before Her Arrest
  Don't take our word for it. She said it over and over to a Georgia state trooper during her recent arrest with husband Jim Toth, as audio from the dash cam proves.
  Reese is so adamant about being a U.S. citizen on American ground that it sounds like the track for what could be a great dance single (mix in a little Pit Bull and Tom Petty's ''American Girl'' for the final cut).
  Don't take our word for it'--listen to the audio remix!
C-135 aircraft blasts near Kyrgyz-Kazakh border
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 09:18
  Azerbaijan, Baku, May 3 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova /
  C -135 tanker aircraft disappears from radar screens near Kyrgyz-Kazakh border owned by U.S. Manas Transit Center, Interfax reported with reference to Kyrgyz Emergency Situations Ministry Department on Bishkek.
  The Ministry confirmed the information about the plane crash.
  The citizens of Zhayil region of Chuy oblast say they saw the blast of the aircraft
  No dead and injured are reported as the result of the accident.
  Rescue workers are sent to the scene.
  According to the technical characteristics of the aircraft, the number of its crew members is 5.
  Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az
Syria crisis: US admits arming rebels is 'an option' - live updates
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: The Guardian World News
  Fri, 03 May 2013 05:40
  Good morning. Welcome to Middle East Live. Here is a round-up of the latest developments:
  ' The US defence secretary, Chuck Hagel has said that the Obama administration is reviewing whether to arm the rebels in Syria, becoming the first senior US official to acknowledge the possibility in public. During a Pentagon press conference with his British counterpart, Philip Hammond, Hagel said:
  Arming the rebels '' that's an option. You look at and rethink all options. It doesn't mean you do or you will ... It doesn't mean that the president has decided on anything.
  Speaking later in Mexico, President Barack Obama confirmed his administration was examining all options.
  ' As debate continues over "red lines" and possible intervention, western intelligence agencies fear they can no longer prove for certain whether the Syrian government was responsible for alleged chemical weapon attacks, because initial samples and evidence trails have degraded over time. Hammond revealed the shortcomings in recent reliance on soil and blood samples ahead of his talks with Hagel. He said:
  The confidence that we are seeking degrades over time, and in order to have a properly measured chain of custody we would need to obtain samples after an[other] incident.
  If chemical weapons use continues, albeit on a small scale, then I am confident that we can detect further use. The regime will now be focused on the fact that the west will be looking for evidence.
  He later told BBC Newsnight the government would need incontrovertible" evidence of the use of chemical weapons if they were to be part of an international response, given the experience with discredited evidence in relation to the Iraq war.
  ' Journalists in Syria have been deliberately targeted by both sides in the conflict, Amnesty International says in a new report. It says at least 36 journalists have been killed in targeted attacks and the country is now the most dangerous in the world for journalists. The report details dozens of cases of journalists and media workers attacked or detained since the 2011 uprising began in an attempt to prevent them from reporting on the unfolding situation in Syria, including their reports on human rights abuses. Amnesty says it has recorded at least 17 incidents where armed opposition groups have deliberately targeted journalists and media workers - including deliberate attacks on buildings where they work - because they've been perceived as allied to the Syrian authorities or have produced pro-government reports. Ann Harrison, Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa deputy director, said:
  Deliberate attacks on civilians, including journalists, amount to war crimes for which the perpetrators must be brought to justice.
  We have once again documented how all sides in this conflict are violating the laws of war, although the scale of abuse by government forces remains much greater.
  ' Government forces and militia loyal to President Bashar al-Assad may have killed up to 100 people in the coastal village of Baida, activists have claimed. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 50 people were killed, including women and children, by summary execution, according to testimonies. Some were stabbed and some were burned, according to the reports. which the Observatory said it could not verify because the village has been locked down by regime troops.
  ' Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, has informed senior UN diplomats that he intends to resign in the coming weeks, marking the end of another doomed UN diplomatic effort to end the conflict, the Washington Post reports, citing UN diplomats. The United States has sought to persuade Brahimi to put off his plans to step down until after US secretary of state John Kerry concludes a 7-8 May visit to Moscow for meetings on Syria and other matters with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, it says.
German bomber to rise from its English Channel grave
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Culture | guardian.co.uk
  Fri, 03 May 2013 05:40
  Preparations to raise the Dornier Do 17 bomber from the Goodwin Sands off the Kent coast. Lifting it from the sea will take around three weeks. Photograph: Royal Air Force Museum/PA
  The only surviving German second world warDornier Do 17 bomber is to be raised from the English Channel in an operation announced on Friday.
  The plane's retrieval from the Goodwin Sands off the Kent coast more than 70 years after it was shot down during the battle of Britain will mark the biggest recovery of its kind in British waters, the RAF Museum said.
  The existence of the aircraft became known when it was spotted by divers in 2008 at a depth of around 15 metres (50ft) on a chalk bed.
  Sonar scans by the RAF Museum, Wessex Archaeology and the Port of London Authority then confirmed the identity of the aircraft as the Dornier Do 17Z Werke number 1,160.
  Nicknamed the Luftwaffe's "flying pencil" bombers because of their narrow fuselage, the aircraft is said to be in "remarkable condition".
  The main undercarriage tyres remain inflated and the propellers show damage from the bomber's fateful final landing, experts have said.
  Lifting it from the sea will take around three weeks using pioneering technology and will have to take place within a given time frame owing to tide and weather conditions.
  A grant of more than £345,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) has made its retrieval possible.
  Air Vice-Marshal Peter Dye, director general of the RAF Museum, said: "The discovery and recovery of the Dornier is of national and international importance. The aircraft is a unique and unprecedented survivor from the battle of Britain and the blitz.
  "It will provide an evocative and moving exhibit that will allow the museum to present the wider story of the battle of Britain and highlight the sacrifices made by the young men of both air forces and from many nations."
  Once it has been lifted, work will start to conserve and prepare the Dornier for display. The work will take place at the museum's Michael Beetham conservation centreat Cosford, Shropshire.
  The aircraft will be placed in two hydration tunnels and soaked in citric acid for the first stage of its conservation. Once the delicate process is complete, the aircraft will be displayed at the museum's London site within the context of the battle of Britain story.
  The culture minister, Ed Vaizey, said: "Today marks the beginning of an exciting project to raise the last surviving Dornier Do 17 bomber from the English Channel.
  "I'm delighted the RAF Museum and the NHMF have joined forces to make this project possible and I know that it will be a tremendous addition to the museum's collection where it will serve to educate and entertain all who visit."
  Dame Jenny Abramsky, chair of the NHMF, said: "The battle of Britain remains one of the most pivotal moments in the history of our country.
  "The Dornier Do 17 was one of its main protagonists and therefore the trustees at the NHMF felt it was vital that this, the last known surviving example, be safeguarded."
  The Dornier Do 17 will join a range of more than 1,200 objects and places which have been safeguarded by the NHMF at a cost of more than £300m.
  These include the first world warship HMS Caroline, the last surviving vessel from the battle of Jutland, a rare collection of work by second world war codebreaker Alan Turing and HMS Alliance, the last surviving British submarine from the second world war.
  It is hoped that the aircraft will be raised by the end of this month or early June.
Say the word 'chemtrails' to Nigel Farage and he'll run and hide in a pub
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: the tap
  Fri, 03 May 2013 05:39
  BRITISH ELECTION VOTING RESULTSAs the results on the British elections come in both major political parties are shocked at the number of voters who went over to UKIP, such is the disilliusonment with conventional political parties. Membership of the EU is said to cost Britain £53 mllion per day and the public are very unhappy about it. The British system relies on "Negative voting" which means you constantly vote to get the incumbents out, and we play a see-saw game with Labour and Conservatives time after time, like in the USA who play the same game with Democrats and Republicans, the same puppeteers are behind the scenes laughing at the electorate, it appears whoever we vote for we get Rothschild.Several Soviet defectors starting with Constantin Volkov and ending with Yuri Bezmenov and Oleg Penkovski told the British that the Soviets would not conquer Britian by conventional warbut by insidious subversion, including the Georgy Arbatov plan for "soft Socialism"promoted by Lord Victor Rothschild and the Apostles through the universities in the 1930s.Britain has indeed been overun by foreign nationals exactly as planned. Adolf Hitler's 1942 idea for a strong Europe governed by Germany and Britain "The Europ¤ische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft" translates to "European Economic Community", It suggested one European state so no more wars could break out within Europe.Strength is in unity, and a united Europe was seen as a wall against Soviet plans to overrun Europeas they were allowed to do after the war.Hitler's plans included a strong British army generous subsidies to landowners and protectionism for British Industry, which was approved by both British Intelligence and Neville Chamberlain, Oswald Mosely British farmers and British Industry all supported Hitler's plans.The Rothschild model was for total British de-industrialisation as Rothschild's bankers did not approve of Hitler shutting them out from usurous practises in Germany, and this was just not going to happen in Britian, so through Winston Churchill we went to war to stay out of the E E C, many ex intel officers and servicemen were shocked when we then went into the E E C with the Rothschild model promised banking protection for British de-industrialisation under people like Dr Beeching and Magaret Thatcher.Both Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher were Rothschild apparatchiks as were many labour leaders such as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, what we really need in Britain is a party who puts the country and its people first.TAP - UKIP is useless as it focuses entirely on the EU and doesn't challenge the UN and NATO and the world banking system. Say the word 'chemtrails' to Nigel Farage and he'll run and hide in a pub. Try it sometime.
Reese Witherspoon Crazy Arrest Caught on Tape
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Jacky Jasper's Diary of a Hollywood Street King
  Fri, 03 May 2013 05:37
  by Jacky JasperReese Witherspoon warned the police officer ''YOU BETTER NOT ARREST ME'' on the night she was busted in Atlanta acting extremely drunk and disorderly.
  The video above comes courtesy of the police cruisers dash-cam video obtained by TMZ.
Bilderberg Kingmaker Kissinger 'Jokes' About President Hillary Clinton At Elite Gathering
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Dprogram.net
  Fri, 03 May 2013 05:33
  Clinton accepts 'Distinguished Leadership Award' and Lauds 'liberal global order'
  (SteveWatson) '' Bilderberg luminary Henry Kissinger 'joked' at an elite dinner party in Washington DC last night that Hillary Clinton should run for president in 2016.
  ''At least four secretaries of state became president,'' said Kissinger in remarks at an Atlantic Council dinner.
  ''I want to tell Hillary that when she misses the office, when she looks at the histories of secretaries of state, there might be hope for a fulfilling life afterwards,'' he added.
  Kissinger also 'joked' that he had ''thought up all kinds of schemes to get around'' Constitutional protections that prevented him, as a foreign born citizen, from becoming president himself.
  ''At least four secretaries of state became president. And that sort of started focusing my mind even though there was a constitutional provision that prevented me from doing it,'' said Kissinger, who was born in Germany.
  Of course, when Henry Kissinger makes 'jokes', anyone who knows anything about the man knows that they are not actually jokes, primarily because a cold hearted war criminal doesn't joke around.
  In recent data dumps by Wikileaks, dubbed the 'Kissinger Cables', the Bilderberg stalwart is quoted as saying, ''Before the Freedom of Information Act, I used to say at meetings, 'The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer'.''
  The Atlantic Council, of which Kissinger is a director, is an elite think tank, an offshoot of Bilderberg, populated exclusively by North American and European elites.
  At the gathering last night, Kissinger presented Clinton with a 'Distinguished Leadership Award', a direct seal of approval for a Clinton presidential run. Upon accepting the award, Clinton stated:
  ''When I became secretary of state, I spent a lot of time thinking about my illustrious predecessors '' not primarily the ones who went on to become president,'' she said. ''But about the extraordinary generation of those leaders who were not just present at the creation but leading the creation of a liberal global order that provided unprecedented peace and prosperity along with progress on behalf of the values that we hold in common.''
  Kissinger himself has lauded the formation of a ''new world order'', a global force of governance, on innumerable occasions. His regular attendance at the secretive Bilderberg Group and Bohemian Grove meetings with heads of international corporations, banks and political leaders have put such comments into stark contrast.
  Clinton's campaign against Barack Obama during the 2008 Democratic primaries came to an end when she abruptly announced that she was to concede and suspend her campaign, following a secret meeting held with Obama, which in all likelihood took place at the Bilderberg Group conference in Chantilly, Virginia.
  Now, it seems, is Hillary's time, however.
  Last December, New Yorker Magazine editor David Remnick dropped a political bombshell after attending a three-day conference at which the Secretary of State was the keynote speaker, categorically stating, ''Hillary Clinton is running for President.''
  ''Hillary Clinton is running for President,'' wrote Remnick, adding, ''Everyone had a theory of which they were one hundred percent certain. There wasn't much doubt about the ultimate direction. 2007-8 was but a memory and 2016 was within sight. She's running.''
  Remnick's prediction is not to be taken lightly given the fact that he has been editor of The New Yorker for the past 14 years and is also a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist.
  Other groups are beginning to align in backing Clinton. Most notably, Emily's List, a Democratic-aligned group that promotes female political candidates who support abortion rights, is spending six figures on a campaign it calls ''Madam President
  The group has produced a cringe inducing politically correct video that it intends to push online, which begins with young girls enacting a presidential campaign and concludes with someone who looks distinctly like Hilary Clinton taking the oath of office.
  Kissinger's 'joke' nod to Clinton should be taken as an endorsement that the elite have her back, and that she is their chosen candidate to succeed their last chosen one, Barack Obama.
  A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday revealed that Clinton has the overwhelming support of 65 percent of likely Democratic primary voters, should she decide to run in 2016. Vice President Joe Biden trailed in second place with 13 percent.
  A McClatchy-Marist poll released last month showed Clinton winning in theoretical head-to-head match ups against four potential Republican presidential candidates.
  Alex Jones recently detailed the media spin that is building around Hillary Clinton:
  Further reading '-- Hillary Clinton: Profile of Imperial Arrogance and Lawlessness
  Source: Infowars
SPEAKING FREELY : Doubly deadly drones in Waziristan
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Asia Times Online
  Fri, 03 May 2013 05:29
  SPEAKING FREELYDoubly deadly drones in WaziristanBy Ihsanullah Tipu MehsudSpeaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say.Please click hereif you are interested in contributing.
  There have been divisive arguments over the legality of the CIA-operated, remotely piloted, drone attacks in Pakistan's lawless tribal region and its subsequent purported devastations. Human-rights organizations allege that the Barack Obama administration is recklessly targeting suspected militants in the region - which ultimately brings about unnecessary collateral damage.
  During Obama's presidency, there has been a noticeable escalation in drone strikes, not least as the Pakistani military has long rebuffed US demands to carry out operations against local
  Taliban commanders like Hafiz Gul Bahadur and its allied Haqqani Network in North Waziristan.
  Furthermore, the use of drones in an "undeclared warzone" questions its legality and that issue is now gaining momentum internationally after China and Russia jointly released a statement at the UN Human Rights Council condemning drone attacks. [1]
  In Pakistan's North and South Waziristan tribal agencies, where the highest number of drone strikes have taken place so far - as compared to the rest of the tribal agencies - these attacks have made lives of the local tribesmen miserable in two ways. Firstly, living under constant fear of possible drone strikes on their houses, shops and vehicles, and secondly, creating fear of being killed at the hands of the Taliban on suspicion of spying for the US. [2]
  Taliban's punishment for alleged drone spiesDuring a thorough investigation by the author of this article, a number of cases were found where innocent people were given stern punishment by various local militant outfits, under charges of alleged spying for the Americans to guide their drone strikes in the region against suspected militant leaders.
  Among the victims of the alleged drone spying accusations we find those who are either killed or brutally tortured and forced out of their respective villages and towns. The local populace is caught between two perils: of either getting killed by drones or by the Taliban on suspicion of spying for the Americans. [3]
  Six alleged drone spies who escaped Taliban custody and who are now living in Pakistan's business hub, Karachi, and in the Middle East, categorically denied allegations put forward against them in so-called Taliban courts. [4]
  Even if they have escaped themselves, they are worried that their families could become the Taliban's target. Claims of innocence are hard to assess. Some recruitment by the US agencies or collaborating partners of local informants seems likely to have taken place.
  However, other individuals are probably wrongly accused of collaborating with the "enemy", as happens in all societies, especially those in turmoil. However, exactly leads "spies" to get into the business has yet to be identified. Two major reasons could be behind it here: either spying for money or settling scores with local Taliban commanders due to personal animosity with the latter. [5]
  This assumption was endorsed by a local Taliban commander, Abdullah Wazir, based in Wana, South Waziristan, who claimed to be well aware of the spies' interrogation process. [6]
  In my recent visit to the region, the local tribesmen showed me a steep, barren hill on the main Datta Khel road in the outskirts of Miranshah, the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan, where mutilated bodies of purported spies are often found. The mountain is known as "Spayra Ghar" - evil hill.[7]
  Taliban's stance on punishmentA leading TTP commander, Abu Omar, said last summer that the closer you are to the Afghan border, the greater you bear the brunt of the drones. He said, "Both North Waziristan and Wana, which share borders with Afghanistan, have ruthlessly been hit by beengana [a local term for drones]. In the recent past, we have captured dozens of American drone spies. All of them were Afghans - the majority from Khost." He added, "Initially they [Americans] recruited spies among local tribesmen, but due to our stern punishment, they [local tribesmen] have stopped spying for Americans". [8]
  The militants have carried out scores of "deadly reprisals" after drone attacks. They find and kill CIA informants across the tribal belt. The prisoners in their custody expose their "tales of intrigue, betrayal and paid espionage on behalf of the United States" in a video recording before they are killed by the militants.
  One such tribesman was Sidinkay, who was paid US$350 to help direct drones to their targets in the tribal areas. He confesses his misdeed in the video and warns others to stay away from the US. [9]
  The various accused persons reveal strange stories of spying that include secret meetings with their handlers in the disguise of Taliban fighters, fruit sellers or even heroin addicts. They are paid $150 to $450 per drone strike. They are then tasked to place American-supplied electronic tracking devices - "chips" - often wrapped in cigarette foil, near the houses and cars of the militants. [10]
  From the militants' side, a number of local Taliban in both North and South Waziristan asserted that drones were ineffective without ground intelligence, which is being provided by these spies. Muhammad Noor, a North Waziristan-based Taliban commander, claims that these spies have inflicted upon them a sever loss as according to him, the Taliban have lost some of their highly trained and committed companions due to the greediness of the spies. [11]
  He termed the spying a crime and accused the spies of being responsible for the killing of innocent tribesmen just for the sake of a few dollars. [12]
  The Lashkar-e-Khurrassan (Army of Khurrassan) was established by various Pakistan-based Taliban factions based in the lawless tribal region as a "surveillance cell" to track down people involved in this spying. "We had set up Lashkar-e-Khurrassan to hunt spying networks in the region. We had conducted some very successful operations in both South and North Waziristan, but then our Central Shura [council] decided to dissolve it on the requests of local tribal elders," Noor said. [13]
  The Lashkar-e-Khurrassan would be akin to a "counter-intelligence" outfit on behalf of the militants. One of the major reasons behind the dissolution of Lashkar-e-Khurrassan was the emergence of various cases where innocent people were given excruciating punishment. [14]
  Soon after the dissolution of Lashkar-e-Khurrassan, another consultative body, Shura-e-Muraqaba, was formed by the Taliban and their al-Qaeda affiliates. It had the same objective, namely to locate the spies in the region, but it also took upon itself the task of stopping the illegitimate punishment of alleged spies.
  Leaflets in Urdu were distributed in both South and North Waziristan, warning both the militants and local tribesmen that in the future, any spy issue would only be dealt by Shura-e-Muraqaba. "All the Mujahideen in particular and the masses in general are directed through the leaflet that none of the Jihadist groups in disguise is entitled to seize a person on the accusation of spying or any other crime, but Shura-e-Muraqaba should be taken into confidence before taking any such action against the spy", the leaflet reads. [15]
  Another factor affecting residents of North Waziristan due to the drone attacks is the ban on polio vaccination put in place by Hafiz Gul Bahadur and the late Mullah Nazeer (a pro-government Taliban warlord killed in a US drone strike on January 2, 2013, in Angoor Adda, South Waziristan.) Nazeer was soon succeeded by his close associate, Bahawal, aka Khan Salah-u-Din Ayubi who continues to follow decisions made during the Mullah Nazeer period, including the polio vaccination ban in the region.
  The US State Department had designated Mualla Nazeer as a "specially designated global terrorist". Bahadur and Ayubi wield de facto control over North Waziristan and South Waziristan respectively. "Hafiz Gul Bahadur, head of Shura-e-Mujahidin [militants' consultative body]) in North Waziristan, has decided with the advice of his Shura that polio vaccination campaign will be banned until the stopping of drone attacks [by the Americans] in the region," a pamphlet distributed by the Taliban in Miranshah and Mirali Bazaars reads. [16]
  According to the Prime Minister's Polio Eradication and Monitoring Cell, the country's highest body monitoring polio related cases, the ban on vaccination could adversely affect almost 160,000 children in North Waziristan and 80,000 in South Waziristan. [17] Already in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal region, little headway has been made on polio eradication for various reasons, including the uncertain law and order situation.
  The tribesmen's stanceAccording to local residents, hangings, beheadings and targeted bombings (the author has seen footage given by the Taliban showing alleged spies being blown up with explosive belt around their bodies, just like suicide belts) are common practices to punish the alleged spies in the area. [18]
  Contrary to the claims of the Taliban, many locals in the area are persistently rejecting the narrative of "drone spies", and believe that the majority of tribesmen killed on suspicion of spying for US forces by the Taliban were innocent. [19]
  However, some of the tribal elders claim to have raised the issue regarding the alleged drone spies, and innocent people, with Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and the then TTP commander,the late Qari Hussain. According to a local elder, even these Taliban commanders were skeptical about the interrogation process of alleged spies by the Taliban. [20]
  Khalid and Mehmood, two tribesmen hailing from Niamai, Kabul Khel Wazir tribe of Shakai, South Waziristan Agency, were detained for weeks by a local Taliban chief. "We were brutally tortured, and then they shot a video of us confessing before a camera that we were hired by Mera Din to spy on the Taliban for American drones." [21]
  The Taliban without any reason killed Mera Din, a local tribal elder, and later when his fellow tribesmen started demanding the local commander to probe his death, they tried to portray him as a drone spy. [22] "I have seen six confessionary videos of the Taliban declared spies. All of them are contradictory to each other. In the videos, six alleged spies claiming responsibility of throwing [drone guidance] chips on the same location," said a prominent Peshawar-based Tribal journalist. [23]
  Drone spy Sher Khan's storySher Khan used to travel to neighboring Afghan province Paktika every month to tend to his family's agricultural lands there. In 2007, he met with some Americans through an Afghan interlocutor and got ready to start working for them. [24]
  His task was to take photographs and videos of militant hideouts destroyed in US drone strikes, after which he provided these materials to the Americans so they could estimate the loss inflicted upon the Taliban. However, his career as an American spy was short lived.
  In 2008, Afghan and North Waziristan-based Taliban accused him of spying for the Americans, specifically throwing drone's chips and assisting Americans in various drone strikes during 2007 and 2008. The Taliban in South Waziristan accused Sher Khan of helping the Americans to target Abu Khabab Al-Misri in Zeirra Litta village of Azam Warsak town in Wana along with his son and three other Arab militants in 2008. According to Taliban sources, Abu Khabab was a senior level Al-Qaeda commander in the region.
  One evening in 2008, on the seventh of Ramadan, Sher Khan was traveling home on his motorcycle from a neighboring village when a group of Taliban asked him to stop. He asked them to let him park his bike but instead took off and managed to escape, eventually reaching Peshawar. After spending a week in there, Khan left for Islamabad and applied for a visa to Abu Dhabi to work as a light vehicle driver. He left for Abu Dhabi later that year, and he still works there as a pickup truck driver. Khan has been forbidden by the Taliban from entering his hometown, and if they even find out he is somewhere else in Pakistan they have vowed to kill him. [25]
  ConclusionThe alleged drone spies are either killed by the militants or they are compelled to leave the area to save their lives. Human intelligence collection on the ground is obviously in the arsenal of agencies conducting or collaborating in drone strikes.
  However, even a doubt or animosity might proclaim an innocent person as a drone spy by the various militant outfits, which may lead to his death. On the one hand, innocent tribesmen may be entrapped in Taliban's allegations of spying for the Americans, while on the other US drones may target civilian populations on the basis of erroneous information. This situation has produced unrest among the local people. [26]
  President Obama has authorized drone attacks six times more frequently than president George W Bush. [27] The Obama administration has been defending the drone strikes as productive against terrorism. However, human rights organizations and the United Nations have reservations over these attacks. Human-rights activists claim that the drone attacks are counterproductive as these provoke local people to join militants, besides inflicting collateral damages. [28]
  Ben Emmerson QC, a UN special rapporteur, in a speech to Harvard Law School announced on October 2012 that the United Nations would examine the civilian deaths in US drone attacks. [29] In January this year, he announced that the UN team will examine about 20-30 UK and US drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, besides an investigation into Israeli drone attacks in Palestine. [30]
  Pakistan has officially condemned and protested against drone strikes. It considers these attacks as a violation of human rights, country's sovereignty and international law. [31] The situation of unrest and uncertainty in the tribal areas, produced by drone strikes, can be counterproductive to the stated US goals of fighting terrorism and extremism.
  The negative effects on these goals can be mitigated to some degree by paying more heed to the concerns of the human-rights organizations and other critics. The UN investigation into the matter of civilian deaths should also be welcomed by concerned policy makers both inside and outside the US.
  Considering the reservations and concerns over the drone attacks, dealing with terrorism and extremism according to international law and a more prudent assessment of the full and societal effects can minimize collateral damages. Accordingly, a number of innocent people would be protected from the rage of Taliban's accusations of spying for the Americans, and the CIA would not require informants for its deadly drone war in various regions.
  Furthermore, the local people will be stopped from joining militant organizations due to their feelings of vengeance, which would also by most estimates lower anti-US extremism in the region.
  Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say.Please click hereif you are interested in contributing. Articles submitted for this section allow our readers to express their opinions and do not necessarily meet the same editorial standards of Asia Times Online's regular contributors.
  Notes:1. Accessed from www.defence.pk2. Accessed from the Telegraph3. Telephone interview with tribal elder Gul Akbar Khan from the North Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan4. Interview with local tribesmen in North Waziristan who witnessed the trial of alleged spies in Taliban courts5. Interview with Rasool Dawar, a North Waziristan based journalist6. Interview with Abdullah Wazir, Taliban commander based in Wana, South Waziristan7. I visited the area Spayra Ghar located at main Datta Khel road in the outskirts of Miranshah, administrative headquarters of North Waziristan, on February 15, 20128. Interview with key TTP commander, Abu Omar, in Miranshah, North Waziristan9. Report regarding the confession of CIA informants as accessed from New York Times10. Ibid11. Supra Note 512. Interview with Muhammad Noor, the North Waziristan based Taliban commander through an intermediary13. Ibid14. Supra Note 415. Supra Note 1316. The pamphlets were distributed across both the Waziristans warning people not to vaccinate their children during the polio eradication campaign. The pamphlets were quoting the example of Dr Shakeel Afridi, who was accused of spying for the CIA in the garb of fake polio vaccination17. The report published on July 17, 2012, in The Express Tribune.18. Supra Note 219. Supra Note 320. Interview with a local tribal elder in North Waziristan who spoke on condition of anonymity due to a fear of possible reprisal from the Taliban.21. Interview with Khalid and Mehmood in Wana, the two tribesmen hailing from Niamai, Kabul Khel Wazir tribe of Shakai, South Waziristan Agency, and detained by the Taliban for weeks22. Ibid23. Interview with a Peshawar-based journalist who hails from South Waziristan. He is closely monitoring drone attacks in the region. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.24. Sher Khan has settled in Abu Dhabi to protect himself from the the militants. His real name has not been mentioned here for security reasons.25. Telephone interview with Sher Khan.26. Supra Note 327. President Barack Obama has authorized 283 drone strikes so far. Drone strikes are one of key national security policies of President Obama. See CNN.com.28. Accessed from the Guardian.29. Ben Emmerson QC is a UN special rapporteur who monitors counter-terrorism for the United Nations. He called for setting up of a dedicated investigation unit in Geneva in 2013 to examine the legality of drone attacks in cases where civilians are killed. Accessed from the Guardian.30. Report accessed from the Guardian.31. Pakistan condemns drone strikes where they may target even a key Taliban commander, as was the case with the report on the killing of Mullah Nazir. Accessed from the news.com.
  Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud is freelance journalist in Pakistan's South Waziristan Agency.
  (Copyright 2013 Centre for International and Strategic Analysis)
Greece: Tear gas against racist "Greeks only" food handout, GD lawmaker attacks Athens Mayor.
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: WT news feed
  Fri, 03 May 2013 05:29
  Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Politics
  The row between Mayor of Athens and extreme-right Golden Dawn ended in police firing tear gas at Syntagma square on Thursday morning and the mayor to denounce that he was attacked by a GD lawmaker. The extreme-right party has announced to organize a food handout for ''Greeks only'' in front of the Parliament three days before the Orthodox Easter. On Wednesday evening, Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis issued a statement describing the event as ''hate meals'' and refused to give them permission.
  When a truck arrived at 8 am at Syntagma square and some dozens GD members attempted to set up stands at Syntagma Square, police made limited use of tear gas to prevent the action. Kaminis had called on he Minister of Public Order to enforce the law. GD members clashed with police when it tried to prevent them. The use of tear gas seemed inevitable.
  Video: GD members clash with police
  Greek police filed a lawsuit against three GD lawmakers for illegally occupying public place and other offenses.
  GD lawmaker's fists against Athens Mayor
  The row did not end there as Athens mayor denounced that GD lawmaker Giorgos Germenis attacked him verbally and attempted also to get physical against Kaminis. The lawmaker reportedly moved with his fists against the mayor who escape the attack, however a 12-year-old girl standing next to the mayor was hit.
  Germenis was removed by the security guards of the mayor. Eye witnesses report also that GD MP was carrying a gun. Speaking to ProtoThema, Germenis dismissed Kaminis' claims that a girl was hit or that he was carrying a gun.
  Video: security guards/Germenis '' ''Put the weapon down'' is heard
  The incident took place near Larissis train station when the mayor visited the Charity premises of Athens Municipality. GD charity event was taking place 300 m away after police intervention at Syntagma.
  Charity for Greeks only
  GD members moved then to the party offices near Larissa train station and proceeded with the event.
  According to Greek media, 15 tones of potatoes, meat and other food items are to be distributed to 3,500 families. As expected hundreds of people gathered to get the free food.
  Last year, Golden Dawn held a similar event in Syntagma Square, where it asked to see people's ID cards before giving them food to ensure that migrants did not receive any of the goods.
  Giorgos Kaminis accused GD for events serving ''political propaganda'' and stressed that in cooperation with the Church, Athens Municipality offers 9,000 meals to the needy on a daily basis, and further 1,000 meals to schools.
  news sources, more pictures and videos: Zougla.gr, ProtoThema.gr Newsit.gr,
New Jersey Officials Detail Bid by Tick Tock Diner Manager to Have Uncle Killed
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  Archived Version
  Source: NYT > Home Page
  Fri, 03 May 2013 05:23
  Todd Heisler/The New York Times
  The Tick Tock Diner in Clifton, N.J., is run by a large Greek family.
  CLIFTON, N.J. '-- Explaining the success of Greek diners to an interviewer 15 years ago, Alex Sgourdos talked about ''kerdos'' '-- profit '-- and family. ''To show you're Greek, all you have to do is work 12 hours a day and have lots of relatives who like the business and work with you,'' he said.
  As he and his brothers-in-law turned the Tick Tock Diner into one of the most famous in a state known for its diners, they not only worked together shuttling burgers and homemade pie to customers, but they also vacationed together and raised their children and their children's children within blocks of one another.
  Now, prosecutors say profit and family are behind the attempted murder of Mr. Sgourdos.
  His nephew, a manager at the diner, is charged with hiring a man to kill Mr. Sgourdos, with instructions to torture him first until he surrendered the combination to the diner's safe '-- and the money his nephew believed Mr. Sgourdos was hoarding.
  ''Not enough to satisfy yourself, to let everyone be happy, too,'' the nephew, Georgios Spyropoulos, complained to a man he believed was a hired killer '-- actually an undercover state trooper '-- as they sat at the diner in March, according to the official arrest affidavit. ''Out of nine families, the other eight suffer because of him.''
  On Route 3, a six-lane highway along the shopping strips just west of the Meadowlands, the Tick Tock is all things New Jersey: big and brash (''Eat Heavy'' beckons the sign on its shiny facade) with a melting-pot menu '-- Tuna Tommy salad, matzo ball soup and disco fries smothered in brown gravy and mozzarella.
  The plot that now surrounds the diner, too, is so Soprano State that, as the state's attorney general, Jeffrey S. Chiesa, said, ''if you were to tell the facts to somebody, it's so stereotypical that it wouldn't be credible.''
  In the parking lot of a Home Depot not far from the diner, prosecutors said, Mr. Spyropoulos handed $3,000 and a revolver to the trooper he believed was a hit man. They said he gave another man, who was to pose as an exterminator to get into the Tick Tock and help open the safe, a disguise and some roach spray '-- which officials said he had packed in the kind of pastry box the diner uses for cakes and cookies it bakes on site.
  In conversations captured on secret recordings and recounted in the affidavit, Mr. Spyropoulos hinted ominously that he had more people he wanted dead. ''We'll have a lot more to do,'' he is quoted as saying.
  Neighbors had long whispered that Mr. Sgourdos, who owned the diner and two Manhattan restaurants with his two brothers-in-law, was stingy in paying even his relatives. But lawyers for Mr. Spyropoulos and Mr. Sgourdos alike say that while there were disagreements one might expect among relatives who work together in a 24-hour business, no one expected such an escalation.
  ''The leap is from a passionate argument over 'Who burnt the toast?' to 'I'm going to kill someone,' '' said Matthew J. Cavaliere, a lawyer for Mr. Spyropoulos, 45, who is in the Passaic County Jail on $1 million bond after the police arrested him at the diner last month. ''That's a huge leap.''
  Legend holds that New Jersey has more diners than any other state. But even here, the Tick Tock stood out.
  It was more location than food. While the coffee wins applause on travel blogs, a local newspaper reviewer called the Tick Tock's desserts ''worrisome,'' the service ''eccentric.''
  Television and radio news crews from New York love the Tick Tock because it offers a place to pick up voices of New Jersey with just a quick dash out the Lincoln Tunnel.
  Politicians, too, gravitated to its crowds '-- Gov. Jon S. Corzine came to the Tick Tock to sell his austerity budget in 2008; Chelsea Clinton came to campaign for her mother that same year. Carousers from the city or the nearby MetLife Stadium like it for a post-party milkshake or burger. And Guy Fieri made it his first stop on the New Jersey tour during Season 2 of ''Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.''
  The Tick Tock was opened in 1948 by a Greek American who had previously operated a lunch cart for local office buildings. Mr. Sgourdos and his two partners all married into a family that owned a restaurant in Brooklyn in the 1970s. They bought and sold other restaurants before making a bid in 1987 for the Tick Tock.
  The three men's wives, children and in-laws worked in the business; Mr. Sgourdos told Northern New Jersey Business in 1995 that someone from the family was always on duty.
  They did enough business '-- 1,000 eggs each breakfast '-- that they expanded with a Tick Tock in Manhattan, across Eighth Avenue from Pennsylvania Station, and spent $2 million to rebuild and expand the diner here. They recently bought and refurbished an elaborate catering hall in Cedar Gove, N.J., owned by sons and daughters of the three Tick Tock owners.
Secret US court approved every single domestic spying request in 2012 '-- RT USA
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: BadChad's ThoughtPile
  Fri, 03 May 2013 05:21
  The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court quietly rubber stamped nearly 2,000 government requests to search or electronically monitor people in the United States last year, according to a Justice Department report published this week.
  The agency, which oversees requests for surveillance warrants against suspected foreign intelligence agents on US soil, released the report to Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), showing that by approving the 1,856 inquiries ''for foreign intelligence purposes,'' it had granted every single government request in 2012. The FISC's approval rating actually jumped by five per cent from 2011 - when it also approved every application.
  The FISC was instituted as part of the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in 1978, expanded under the George W. Bush administration, and then reauthorized by Congress for another five years in December of 2012. The act, commonly referred to act the ''warrantless wiretapping'' law, authorizes the government to monitor US citizens' phone calls and emails without first proving probable cause as long as they're believed to be corresponding with an individual overseas.
  ''The 1,856 applications include applications made solely for electronic surveillance, applications made solely for physical search, and combined applications requesting authority for electronic surveillance and physical search,'' the report read. ''Of these, 1,789 applications included requests for authority to conduct electronic surveillance.''
  David Kris, a former top anti-terrorism attorney at the Justice Department, wrote in the 2012 edition of National Security Investigations and Prosecutions that the FISA Amendments Act also gives the government domestic spying power while stripping away accountability.
  ''For example, an authorization targeting Al-Qaeda '' which is a non-US person located abroad '' could allow the government to wiretap any telephone that it believes will yield information from or about Al-Qaeda, either because the telephone is registered to a person whom the government believes is affiliated with Al-Qaeda, or because the government believes that the person communicates with others who are affiliated with Al-Qaeda, regardless of the location of the telephone,'' Kris wrote, as quoted by Wired.
  In February of this year the American Civil Liberties Union tried to sue the government in a bid to nullify the law. However, the Supreme Court ruled that, because the court proceedings are kept secret and the American Civil Liberties Union has no way to know if it's been targeted by the FISA Act, they had no legal standing to sue.
  When the powers under the law were extended last year, the Senate refused to include any amendments that would have prohibited the CIA from reviewing information taken from government surveillance, one of which was proposed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon).
  ''The amendment I fought to include would have helped bring the Constitutional principles of security and liberty back into balance and I intend to work with my colleagues to see that the liberties of individual Americans are maintained,'' Wyden said after the vote.
BitcoinAtm demo San Diego
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  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 05:17
Bogus Cyprus ATM Story - Business Insider
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  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 05:11
  There's been a story circulating this week that the first-ever 'Bitcoin ATM' will be installed in Cyprus to capitalize on the country's financial meltdown. We'll spare the names of those who've been sharing and Tweeting this "news"...
  But this is not news in anyway. It's just a press release.
  The story comes from an announcement from Jeff Berwick, founder of StockHouse.com as well as a website called The Dollar Vigilante.
  The project premise is based on the notion that Cyprus' banking sector would cease to function and that a Bitcoin ATM would save the day. And yet the Cyprus banking system is functioning again, and ATMs have been functioning the whole time.
  Here's the key text:
  Upon examination of the marketplace and many discussions with Justin O'Connell (TDV Newsletter & Gold Silver Bitcoin), as well as another key strategic partner of ours, I have decided to move forward with what I believe could be the next multi-billion dollar business venture: Bitcoin ATM.
  The Bitcoin ATM page is extremely vague and says it's seeking investors/partners, which means there's no actual product yet.
  The announcement continues:
  But that isn't all. It is wholly our intention at Bitcoin ATM to put the company in the right position to open its very first ATM in Cyprus. If we did this now, and we are moving quickly to make this so, we would be the only functioning ATM on the island.
  Again, that's false.
  Berwick also put out a press release that is just as hazy. His Wikipedia page also re-states the Bitcoin ATM claim, but the source links back to the press release.
  Another alarm bell for us is that while Berwick boasts of StockHouse.com's large market cap at the height of the tech bubble, he says he sold it in 2002.
  We've tried calling the number listed at the bottom of The Dollar Vigilante's website for the past two days and have received no response.
  A Bitcoin ATM sounds like a cool idea, and we urge Jeff or one of his colleagues to contact us to tell us more about it.
  Here's the full press release if you're interested:
  Jeff Berwick, founder of StockHouse.com and CEO of TDV Media, announced Monday his plans to open the world's first Bitcoin ATM in Cyprus, citing the ongoing bank bailout, bank closures and capital controls now being pushed in that country. According to Berwick, who sold Stockhouse last decade which at the peak of the tech bubble was worth $240 million, Bitcoin ATM has the world's first software enabling a two-way, automated Bitcoin market.
  Last Friday, Cyprus announced a new bailout all inclusive of a levy of upwards of 15.26% on all deposits. On Monday, the banks shut down until Thursday, but by week's end uncertainty shrouded the country as to when their ATMs would be back online. Over the weekend, it was announced the bank's second biggest bank would be shutdown.
  Interest in Bitcoin has soared, especially in southern Europe. As Yahoo! reports, downloads of Bitcoin-related apps started rising in Spain over the weekend. For instance, Bitcoin Gold spiked in the Spanish iPhone Finance category from 498 to 72, while another app called Bitcoin Ticket zoomed from 526-52 in just one day. Leading service, Bitcoin App, jumped from 194 to 151 from Friday and Sunday while Spaniards took notice of Cyprus.
  Fox Business news wrote that Bitcoin ''is emerging as an apparent winner from the drama surrounding the bailout of tiny Cyprus.''
  With Bitcoin ATM, Jeff Berwick announced plans to place a bi-directional (bitcoin for cash, cash for bitcoin) dispenser as part of the launch of his latest venture. Over the weekend, he hinted at his venture in his blog for the Dollar Vigilante:
  "I've even recently relayed to TDV subscribers that I see bitcoin-related businesses as being the next multi-billion dollar (or multi-million bitcoin) businesses and will be relaying many of my business ideas to them over the coming weeks.
  And, to top it off, we have already started some game-changing bitcoin businesses that I think will shock the world. I'll be announcing one of them, related to the crisis in Cyprus, on Monday here at the TDV blog."
  According to the website, Bitcoin ATM is seeking investments and licensees to bring their technology to a town or city near you. You can email the company directly at bitcoinatm(at)bitcoinatm(at)com.
My Official Withdrawal from the BitcoinATM Project
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  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 05:09
  Sometimes things don't always go to plan.
  As background, a few months ago I was approached by two young entrepreneurs. They had purchased a semi-workable Bitcoin ATM off of another entrepreneur and were excited about the prospects and approached me to help with marketing to the public and prospective franchisees as well as garnering investment interest.
  It was a verbal handshake I had done via Skype from the jungles of Guyana while looking at a gold mining enterprise. I then set off on a month-long media sojourn which had me in all the mainstream media promoting BitcoinATM and had been approached by numerous investors interested in the project.
  I then went to San Diego last week to nail down the final specifics with the two young entrepreneurs and flew in my top financial advisor, a past CFO of numerous billion dollar companies who has done business for decades worldwide, and what we uncovered was that this was not going to be as simple as we had hoped.
  Specifically, in the US and Europe, there are an incredible amount of banking, money and even telecommunications rules and regulations that would have to be adhered to if the company had any hope of survival. Not least of which was a $25 million "insurance bond" necessary as being deemed a "money transmitter" in the US.
  Those who know me know that I despise all government regulation and taxation and see it as being economy destroying. However, to bring in investors, and having to adhere to even more agencies (securities law in the US) it was becoming to look insurmountable. The fascist system in the US has done its job. At threat of force (imprisonment) it had already laid out four agencies that were massive hurdles for putting a BitcoinATM in the US... and Europe, at the very least, almost impossible for a small organization.
  I still hadn't given up hope and, as I always profess, I will fight oppression and control over the money, banking and financial system with everything I can.
  BLESSING IN DISGUISE
  And then the 23 year old entrepreneur, Evan Rose, who was half-owner of the BitcoinATM notified me a few days ago that my participation was no longer necessary.
  That was interesting, I thought, as we had an agreement for my involvement and I had done everything I said I would do. It turned out that once I had put BitcoinATM on the world stage he decided to take all that I had done and dismiss me.
  I do not wish to publish dirty laundry... and while the actions of the co-founders of BitcoinATM were incredibly dishonorable, I put it down it to them being much like me I was when I was 23... young, unwise and unaware of what they are even involved with.
  But it is my belief that he has no idea what kind of business he is trying to get into and how hard it will be to do without a number of the right pieces in place.
  OFFICIAL END OF MY INVOLVEMENT
  As always, and very unlike Barack Obama, I am very transparent in everything I do so I do wish to announce publicly that I will no longer have any involvement with BitcoinATM.
  After a day or two of pondering, however, I have realized that this may truly be a blessing in disguise. The biggest issue with BitcoinATM, and one that I have stated in the past many times, is that it is hardware. Any government, anywhere, can just come and take it away.
  It was always the achilles heel of this product.
  Can it succeed? Sure, under the right guidance and a massive amount of capital of lawyers to fight off every single country in which the machine is placed. And, even then, there is no guarantee. Just look at Canada which has already begun to shutter bank accounts of anyone even involved in a bitcoin exchange. As I've also stated numerous times in the past few years, there is no real law. Those with the guns do what they want. And, those with the guns are backed by the major money controlling cartels (central banks and those who control them). They don't like a major distruption in their business.
  MY FUTURE IN BITCOIN
  I still am incredibly excited about bitcoin. It will change the world. And the reason it will is that it is decentralized and there is no physical place where the powers that be can shut it down. This is the one very difficult challenge for BitcoinATM. And one that I have always stated but still got behind it because it does have the ability to change the game.
  I am now focusing more of my efforts on less physical ventures that will be much harder to be controlled by governments and central banks. Things such as a P2P bitcoin exchange, similar to Mt. Gox, but without any central servers. And many more.
  In this vein, if you or anyone you know is one of the top percentile programmers and theorists in P2P protocols please contact us here at TDV.
  If there is one thing that my involvement with BitcoinATM has shown me very plainly in the last month is that bitcoin has the direct attention of the governments, central banks and banks. It took them nearly two decades to figure out the internet would be their downfall. In this case, it has only taken them months to realize that bitcoin could end their monopoly on money and banking. The only way for us freedom fighters to defeat them will be to do so much in the same way as bitcoin is and has been doing - by being decentralized and unable to be stopped by guns and regulations.
  That is where my focus will now go. This is an incredibly revolutionary environment and mistakes will be made along the way... constantly. I've never been shy about admitting my mistakes and neither have I been shy in promoting the value of things like the internet and bitcoin to unchain humans from slavery.
  My involvement with BitcoinATM has turned out to be a mistake. But not one without some positives. I sat front and center in front of the US and world media alerting to the scam of central banking and government controlled money systems. That alone has some value.
  And I will be back and the next time smarter and bolder. This is not the last you've heard from me on bitcoin.
  Anarcho-Capitalist. Libertarian. Freedom fighter against mankind's two biggest enemies, the State and the Central Banks. Jeff Berwick is the founder of The Dollar Vigilante, CEO of TDV Media & Services and host of the popular video podcast, Anarchast. Jeff is a prominent speaker at many of the world's freedom, investment and gold conferences as well as regularly in the media including CNBC, CNN and Fox Business.
Suicide Rate Rises Sharply in U.S.
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  Archived Version
  Fri, 03 May 2013 04:47
  Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have risen sharply in the past decade, prompting concern that a generation of baby boomers who have faced years of economic worry and easy access to prescription painkillers may be particularly vulnerable to self-inflicted harm.
  More people now die of suicide than in car accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which published the findings in Friday's issue of its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. In 2010 there were 33,687 deaths from motor vehicle crashes and 38,364 suicides.
  Suicide has typically been viewed as a problem of teenagers and the elderly, and the surge in suicide rates among middle-aged Americans is surprising.
  From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans ages 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30 percent, to 17.6 deaths per 100,000 people, up from 13.7. Although suicide rates are growing among both middle-aged men and women, far more men take their own lives. The suicide rate for middle-aged men was 27.3 deaths per 100,000, while for women it was 8.1 deaths per 100,000.
  The most pronounced increases were seen among men in their 50s, a group in which suicide rates jumped by nearly 50 percent, to about 30 per 100,000. For women, the largest increase was seen in those ages 60 to 64, among whom rates increased by nearly 60 percent, to 7.0 per 100,000.
  Suicide rates can be difficult to interpret because of variations in the way local officials report causes of death. But C.D.C. and academic researchers said they were confident that the data documented an actual increase in deaths by suicide and not a statistical anomaly. While reporting of suicides is not always consistent around the country, the current numbers are, if anything, too low.
  ''It's vastly underreported,'' said Julie Phillips, an associate professor of sociology at Rutgers University who has published research on rising suicide rates. ''We know we're not counting all suicides.''
  The reasons for suicide are often complex, and officials and researchers acknowledge that no one can explain with certainty what is behind the rise. But C.D.C. officials cited a number of possible explanations, including that as adolescents people in this generation also posted higher rates of suicide compared with other cohorts.
  ''It is the baby boomer group where we see the highest rates of suicide,'' said the C.D.C.'s deputy director, Ileana Arias. ''There may be something about that group, and how they think about life issues and their life choices that may make a difference.''
  The rise in suicides may also stem from the economic downturn over the past decade. Historically, suicide rates rise during times of financial stress and economic setbacks. ''The increase does coincide with a decrease in financial standing for a lot of families over the same time period,'' Dr. Arias said.
  Another factor may be the widespread availability of opioid drugs like OxyContin and oxycodone, which can be particularly deadly in large doses.
  Although most suicides are still committed using firearms, officials said there was a marked increase in poisoning deaths, which include intentional overdoses of prescription drugs, and hangings. Poisoning deaths were up 24 percent over all during the 10-year period and hangings were up 81 percent.
  Dr. Arias noted that the higher suicide rates might be due to a series of life and financial circumstances that are unique to the baby boomer generation. Men and women in that age group are often coping with the stress of caring for aging parents while still providing financial and emotional support to adult children.
  ''Their lives are configured a little differently than it has been in the past for that age group,'' Dr. Arias said. ''It may not be that they are more sensitive or that they have a predisposition to suicide, but that they may be dealing with more.''
  Preliminary research at Rutgers suggests that the risk for suicide is unlikely to abate for future generations. Changes in marriage, social isolation and family roles mean many of the pressures faced by baby boomers will continue in the next generation, Dr. Phillips said.
  ''The boomers had great expectations for what their life might look like, but I think perhaps it hasn't panned out that way,'' she said. ''All these conditions the boomers are facing, future cohorts are going to be facing many of these conditions as well.''
  Nancy Berliner, a Boston historian, lost her 58-year-old husband to suicide nearly two years ago. She said that while the reasons for his suicide were complex, she would like to see more attention paid to prevention and support for family members who lose someone to suicide.
  ''One suicide can inspire other people, unfortunately, to view suicide as an option,'' Ms. Berliner said. ''It's important that society becomes more comfortable with discussing it. Then the people left behind will not have this stigma.''
Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman dies at 49
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  Archived Version
  Thu, 02 May 2013 19:44
  CelebsGael Fashingbauer Cooper
  1 hour ago
  Kevin Winter
  Jeff Hanneman of Slayer performs onstage on April 23, 2011 in Indio, Calif.
  Guitarist Jeff Hanneman, one of the founders of the thrash metal band slayer, died Thursday of liver failure at age 49.
  "Slayer is devastated to inform that their bandmate and brother, Jeff Hanneman, passed away at about 11 a.m. this morning near his Southern California home," a statement posted on the band's Facebook page read. "Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry, and will be sorely missed."
  Hanneman and Kerry King founded the band in southern California in 1981. The band has been awarded two Grammys for best metal performance and has four gold albums.
  In 2011, Hanneman contracted necrotizing fasciitis, which he believed he got from a spider bite.
  In 2012, the band gave fans details about Hanneman's illness in an open letter.
  "As you know, Jeff was bitten by a spider more than a year ago, but what you may not have known was that for a couple of days after he went to the ER, things were touch-and-go," the letter read. "There was talk that he might have to have his arm amputated, and we didn't know if he was going to pull through at all. He was in a medically-induced coma for a few days and had several operations to remove the dead and dying tissue from his arm. So, understand, he was in really, really bad shape."
  While Hanneman battled the disease, Gary Holt of Exodus and Pat O'Brien from Cannibal Corpse filled in for him and performed with Slayer.
  Hanneman wrote "Raining Blood," the guitar riff for which has been called one of metal's best ever and has been played at sporting events and covered by artists including Tori Amos.
  In 2011, Hanneman spoke about the song to Revolver magazine, saying, "Every night when we play it, once the kids go off like they do, it gives you goose bumps. You go off. It's still fun to play."
  Fans were quick to remember Hanneman on the band's Facebook page.
  "Crushing loss," wrote Al Molyneaux. "Absolutely gutted. A hero of mine and many more. RIP Jeff. Your music will live on and the influence of the music you created and help to create will continue to inspire.
Letter -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Burma
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  Archived Version
  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Thu, 02 May 2013 16:29
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  May 02, 2013
  Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
  Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency with respect to Burma that was declared on May 20, 1997, is to continue in effect beyond May 20, 2013.
  The Government of Burma has made significant progress in a number of critical areas, including releasing hundreds of political prisoners, achieving cease-fire talks with the 11 armed ethnic groups, taking significant steps toward eliminating press censorship, and enabling the participation of opposition parties in the country's political system.
  Despite great strides that Burma has made in its reform effort, the situation in the country continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. The political opening is nascent, and concerns persist regarding remaining political prisoners, ongoing conflict and human rights abuses in ethnic minority areas, and the country's continued military relationship with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The United States is committed to supporting and strengthening Burma's reform efforts to ensure that the democratic transition becomes irreversible. For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency with respect to Burma.
  Sincerely,
  BARACK OBAMA
German TV drops show over SS actor
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  Archived Version
  Source: BBC News - Europe
  Thu, 02 May 2013 09:36
  2 May 2013Last updated at10:06 ETGerman broadcaster ZDF has dropped repeat showings of a popular detective series after it emerged its late star had hidden his Waffen SS past.
  Archives released last month reveal Horst Tappert, who played Derrick in the show of the same name, had served in the Totenkopf panzer division.
  Tappert, who died in 2008, had remained tight-lipped about his war record.
  According to the archives, the 19-year-old panzer grenadier was wounded on the Eastern Front in 1943.
  With its motto "My Honour Is Loyalty", the Totenkopf (German for "death's head") division became one of the toughest units of the Nazi armed forces.
  'Shocked and troubled'ZDF, the German public TV broadcaster, said it would not show any more repeats of the 281 episodes of Derrick, which were made between 1974 and 1998.
  "ZDF is shocked and troubled by the news that Horst Tappert was a member of the Waffen SS," spokesman Peter Bogenschuetz told AFP news agency.
  "We have no plans to broadcast any more reruns."
  Continue reading the main storyWe will not honour an actor who has lied over his past''
  End QuoteJan SlagterDutch public TV chairmanGenerations of Germans watched the show set in Munich, with its distinctive, baggy-eyed detective.
  The series was popular abroad too, shown on TV screens as far afield as Russia, China and South Africa.
  Reacting to the revelations, Dutch public television channel Omroep MAX said it had scrapped plans to show around 20 episodes of Derrick from July.
  "I was shocked by the news, you don't expect something like that," chairman Jan Slagter told Dutch national broadcaster NOS over the weekend. "We will not honour an actor who has lied over his past."
  Bavaria's interior ministry said it was considering stripping the late actor of an honorary chief police inspector title awarded to Tappert in 1980, German media reported.
  Tappert himself said of his war record only that he had served as a medic, AFP reports.
  It is not the first such scandal in recent years. In 2006, another famous German, the novelist Guenther Grass, caused consternation when he revealed that he had served as a member of the Waffen SS.