What Adam Curry is reading

VIDEO-Editors Of 'The Guardian' Explain The Process Of Publishing The Edward Snowden NSA Spying Story - YouTube
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VIDEO-Being One Of The World's TOP War Criminals Has Its Perks! - YouTube
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VIDEO-Irish PM Enda Kenny attacks bankers - YouTube
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IRELAND-Twelfth and the Orange Order
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  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 14:39
  The Orange Order is Northern Ireland's largest Protestant organisation, and has around 40,000 members locally. Its origins lie in the 1690 Battle of the Boyne when the Dutch Protestant King William of Orange defeated his father-in-law, Catholic King James ll of England and Vll of Scotland.The site of the Battle of the Boyne, just outside Drogheda, Co. Meath, has become a major tourist attraction, and also features in a Williamite Trail - an all-Ireland map detailing locations associated with the Williamite and Jacobite armies, from Carrickfergus in the north to Kinsale in the south.
  In 1795 Protestants and Catholics clashed again at the Battle of the Diamond near Portadown, Co. Armagh. Following their victory, Protestants met at Dan Winter's House and, soon after, pledged a new oath to 'Crown and country and the Reformed religion'. The Orange Order was born. The Order sees itself as a champion of Protestantism and defender of a British Protestant monarch. It is organised into 'lodges', some of which are in former British colonies as far afield as Canada, New Zealand and Ghana.
  July 12th is the most important date in the Orange calendar and marks the anniversary of King William's Battle of the Boyne victory. Orangemen and women commemorate 'The Twelfth' with 18 colourful band and lodge parades - or demonstrations - across NI. A further one takes place in Rossnowlagh, Co. Donegal on the Saturday before the Twelfth.
  Each year certain locations are designated Flagship Twelfths with trained Welcome Hosts on hand to explain the event for tourists. The 2012 Flagship demonstrations will be in Enniskillen, Ballynahinchand Carrickfergus.
  On July 11, 'Eleventh Night' bonfires are lit in staunchly Protestant areas. Many are massive constructions of wooden pallettes, old sofas and rubber tyres topped with Irish flags or effigies of pro-Nationalist figures. Bonfire architects battle it out to see who can build the biggest, and shifts of young guardians ensure rival builders don't steal their burnable booty. At midnight the bonfires are set alight, and these raging infernos can be seen blazing across the city - the Shankill Road and Milltown Road (South Belfast) bonfires are two of Belfast's biggest.
  If you want to watch the Belfast parades, head to the city centre or Lisburn Road to see small boys in Orange sashes march proudly in front of huge banners, marchers hurl batons as high as lampposts and bandsmen beat the living daylights out of gargantuan Lambeg drums.
  The main Belfast demonstration leaves Carlisle Circus, North Belfast, at 10:00 and wends its way through the city centre and along the Lisburn Road, with a wreath laying ceremony at the City Hall at 10:30. The parade takes about two hours to pass and culminates at the 'Field' at Barnett's Demesne, South Belfast where crowds, bands and marchers gather to eat, drink and listen to speeches.
  Many Catholics vehemently oppose parades which pass near or through their areas, particularly the interface at Belfast's Ardoyne estate. It is, therefore, best to avoid this area.Orangeism and Unionism have long been bedfellows in NI's political history. Former Ulster Unionist Party leaders David Trimble and Sir Reg Empey are both in the Orange Order. However, in March 2005, the Order decided to cut its links with the UUP, ending 100 years of historical links. Former First Minister and Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley left the Orange Order in protest in 1962 but addresses the Independent Orange Order (established in 1903 to segregate Orangeism from politics) every July 12.
  As a more secular society grows throughout NI, recent years have seen the Orange Order experience a decline in numbers. However, no matter your affiliations, if you're in Belfast on July 12 you cannot fail to witness a spectacle like no other on this island.
  July 12 is a NI public holiday. Many locals of all backgrounds take the 'Twelfth Fortnight' as their annual summer holiday, and banks and offices close on the day. In recent years, however, the Twelfth has passed off with little trouble and, as a result, many city centre retailers will remain open on the day to benefit from increased visitor numbers. However, if you're visiting NI on or around any July 12, always check opening times of shops, restaurants, entertainment venues etc before making big plans.The Soul of a Nation
  Ulster Covenant Centenary Exhibition
  In summer 2012 the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland in Belfast stages its most ambitious exhibition to date as it commemorates the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Ulster Covenant. On and before 28 September 1912 just under half a million men and women signed in opposition to the Third Home Rule Bill calling for devolved government from Dublin.The exhibition's title takes its name from a speech by Unionist leader and lead signatory Sir Edward Carson who regarded opposition to Home Rule as 'the cry from the soul of a nation.' Archive on Unionist and Nationalist political leaders of the era, Covenant events and details of those who signed the Covenant overseas, including on a Royal Navy vessel in China, feature in the exhibition.
  Newspaper cuttings, sketches, photos, and historic objects, including Carson's inkwell donated by Lord Bannside aka Ian Paisley, are included. Replica telegrams sent to Edward Carson in September 1912, Orange banners relating to the Ulster Covenant and unique film footage of the Covenant being signed and Belfast scenes on that historic day also form part of the exhibition. Admission is £2 during office hours and £3pp for organised groups, with a tour guide available.
  A duplicate exhibition can be seen at Newtownards' Somme Heritage Centre and several venues in NI and the Republic of Ireland will also host a travelling version. To visit the exhibition, head to the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland's Schomberg House HQ on East Belfast's Cregagh Rd (Metro Bus No. 6). To find out more about the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, click here or tel. (+44) (0)28 9070 1122.
'Jail the bankers' protests today | Irish Examiner
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  'Jail the bankers' protests todaySaturday, June 29, 2013 - 08:47 AM
  'Jail the bankers' protests will take place in Dublin and Galway today.The People Before Profit Alliance have organised a demonstration in Galway city outside the former Anglo Irish Bank building.
  They say that the Anglo Tapes, released this week, were the final straw and are calling for the Government to do more to hold those responsible for the banking scandal to account.
  Dette McLoughlin of the People Before Profit alliance in Galway explained what route the protest would be taking.
  "A lot of people are very, very angry over what they've heard, the revelations in the Anglo tapes" she said.
  "What we've done is called a public demonstration. It will be a march from the former Anglo Irish building in Galway, that's on Foster Street, and we'll be marching though to town to the AIB bank on Shop Street.
  "And basically what we're saying is: 'We want action - immediate action'."
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VIDEO-"This Is Logging Everyone Who Talks To Everyone Including ALL Americans Suspected Of Nothing" - YouTube
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VIDEO-Pipe Bomb Found At High School Leftover Science Project From The 1990s - YouTube
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VIDEO-"Meet The World's TOP Assassin" Obama Greeted By Anti U.S. Protesters In Africa - YouTube
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VIDEO-Massive Protest In Tahrir Square In Egypt - YouTube
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Europe furious, 'shocked' by report of U.S. spying
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  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 13:19
  By CNN's Josh Levs
  European officials reacted with fury Sunday after a report that the U.S. National Security Agency spied on EU offices.
  The European Union warned that if the report is accurate, it will have tremendous repercussions.
  "I am deeply worried and shocked about the allegations," European Parliament President Martin Schulz said in a statement. "If the allegations prove to be true, it would be an extremely serious matter which will have a severe impact on EU-US relations. On behalf of the European Parliament, I demand full clarification and require further information speedily from the U.S. authorities with regard to these allegations."
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LA School System to Teach Kids to Deliver Obamacare Message to Parents
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  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 13:18
  The public school system is becoming more and more nothing but an agency of the state to spread propaganda.The Los Angeles school system reportedly plans to use a state grant to promote ObamaCare, in part by teaching students to become ''messengers'' for the law, reports FOX News.
  Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange, announced grants of $37 million on May 14 to promote Obamacare, reports the Heartland Institute.
  LAUSD will receive $990,000. The district listed as a primary outcome for its project, ''Teens trained to be messengers to family members.''
  The Heartland Institute continues:
  Covered California spokeswoman Sarah Soto-Taylor said staff have not questioned this goal.
  ''We have confidence that the model LA Unified brought to the table will be successful in reaching our target population, which includes family members of students,'' she said.
  LAUSD will also use tax-paid staff to promote ObamaCare through phone calls to students' homes, in-class presentations, and meetings with employees eligible for ObamaCare's taxpayer-covered healthcare, the grant award says.
  One in three Los Angeles students never graduates high school.[...]
  ''Teens are part of a 'pilot' program to test whether young people can be trained as messengers to deliver outreach and limited education to family and friends in and around their homes,'' said Gayle Pollard-Terry, a LAUSD spokesman, in an email
VP Joe Biden Calls Ecuadorian President And Demands They Submit To U.S. Government Wishes
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WHAT KIND OF EVIL DRUG WAR PROPAGANDA IS THIS!
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Key US-EU trade pact under threat after more NSA spying allegations
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  Source: The Guardian World News
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 13:17
  The prospects for a new trade pact between the US and the European Union worth hundreds of billions have suffered a severe setback following allegations that Washington bugged key EU offices and intercepted phonecalls and emails from top officials.
  The latest reports of NSA snooping on Europe '' and on Germany in particular '' went well beyond previous revelations of electronic spying said to be focused on identifying suspected terrorists, extremists and organised criminals.
  The German publication Der Spiegel reported that it had seen documents and slides from the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden indicating that US agencies bugged the offices of the EU in Washington and at the United Nations in New York. They are also accused of directing an operation from Nato headquarters in Brussels to infiltrate the telephone and email networks at the EU's Justus Lipsius building in the Belgian capital, the venue for EU summits and home of the European council.
  Without citing sources, the magazine reported that more than five years ago security officers at the EU had noticed several missed calls apparently targeting the remote maintenance system in the building that were traced to NSA offices within the Nato compound in Brussels.
  The impact of the Der Spiegel allegations may be felt more keenly in Germany than in Brussels. The magazine said Germany was the foremost target for the US surveillance programmes, categorising Washington's key European ally alongside China, Iraq or Saudi Arabia in the intensity of the electronic snooping.
  Germany's justice minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, called for an explanation from the US authorities. "If the media reports are true, it is reminiscent of the actions of enemies during the cold war," she was quoted as saying in the German newspaper Bild. "It is beyond imagination that our friends in the US view Europeans as the enemy."
  Washington and Brussels are scheduled to open ambitious free trade talks next week following years of arduous preparation. Senior officials in Brussels are worried that the talks would be overshadowed by the latest disclosures of US spying on its closest allies.
  "Obviously we will need to see what is the impact on the trade talks," said a senior official in Brussels. A second senior official said the allegations would cause a furore in the European parliament and could then hamper relations with the US.
  Robert Madelin, one of Britain's most senior officials in the European commission, tweeted that EU trade negotiators always operated on the assumption that their communications were listened to.
  A spokesman for the European commission said: "We have immediately been in contact with the US authorities in Washington and in Brussels and have confronted them with the press reports. They have told us they are checking on the accuracy of the information released yesterday and will come back to us."
  There were calls from MEPs for Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European council '' who has his office in the building allegedly targeted by the US '' and Jos(C) Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, to urgently appear before the chamber to explain what steps they were taking in response to the growing body of evidence of US and British electronic surveillance of Europe through the Prism and Tempora operations.
  Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister and leader of the liberals in the European parliament, said: "This is absolutely unacceptable and must be stopped immediately. The American data collection mania has achieved another quality by spying on EU officials and their meetings. Our trust is at stake."
  Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, told Der Spiegel: "If these reports are true, it's disgusting." Asselborn called for guarantees from the very highest level of the US government that the snooping and spying is immediately halted.
  Martin Schulz, the head of the European parliament, said: "I am deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of US authorities spying on EU offices. If the allegations prove to be true, it would be an extremely serious matter which will have a severe impact on EU-US relations.
  "On behalf of the European parliament, I demand full clarification and require further information speedily from the US authorities with regard to these allegations."
  There were also calls for John Kerry, the US secretary of state, to make a detour to Brussels on his way from his current trip to the Middle East, to explain US activities.
  "We need to get clarifications and transparency at the highest level," said Marietje Schaake, a Dutch liberal MEP. "Kerry should come to Brussels on his way back from the Middle East. This is essential for the transatlantic alliance. The US can only lead by example, and should uphold the freedoms it claims to protect against attacks from the outside. Instead we see erosion of freedoms, checks and balances, from within."
  Within senior circles in Brussels, however, it has long been assumed that the Americans were listening to or seeking to monitor EU electronic traffic.
  "There's a certain schadenfreude here that we're important enough to be spied on," said one of the officials. "This was bound to come out one day. And I wouldn't be surprised if some of our member states were not doing the same to the Americans."
  The documents suggesting the clandestine bugging operations were from September 2010, Der Spiegel said.
  A former senior official in Brussels maintained that EU phone and computer systems were almost totally secure but that no system could be immune to persistent high-quality penetration operations.
  "I have always assumed that anyone with a decent agency was listening, hacking if they could be bothered," he said. "It doesn't bother me much. Sometimes it's a form of communication."
  Der Spiegel quoted the Snowden documents as revealing that the US taps half a billion phone calls, emails and text messages in Germany a month. "We can attack the signals of most foreign third-class partners, and we do it too," Der Spiegel quoted a passage in the NSA document as saying.
  On an average day, the NSA monitored about 20m German phone connections and 10m internet datasets, rising to 60m phone connections on busy days, the report said.
  Officials in Brussels said this reflected Germany's weight in the EU and probably also entailed elements of industrial and trade espionage. "The Americans are more interested in what governments think than the European commission. And they make take the view that Germany determines European policy," said one of the senior officials.
  Jan Philipp Albrecht, a German Green party MEP and a specialist in data protection, told the Guardian the revelations were outrageous. "It's not about political answers now, but rule of law, fundamental constitutional principles and rights of European citizens," he said.
  "We now need a debate on surveillance measures as a whole looking at underlying technical agreements. I think what we can do as European politicians now is to protect the rights of citizens and their rights to control their own personal data."
  Talking about the NSA's classification of Germany as a "third-class" partner, Albrecht said it was not helping to build the trust of Germans or other Europeans. "It is destroying trust and to rebuild that, [the US] will need to take real action on legislation," he said.
  Meanwhile, it has emerged that at least six European member states have shared personal communications data with the NSA, according to declassified US intelligence reports and EU parliamentary documents.
  The documents, seen by the Observer, show that '' in addition to the UK '' Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy have all had formal agreements to provide communications data to the US. They state that the EU countries have had "second and third party status" under decades-old signal intelligence (Sigint) agreements that compel them to hand over data which, in later years, experts believe, has come to include mobile phone and internet data.
  Under the international intelligence agreements, nations are categorised by the US according to their trust level. The US is defined as 'first party' while the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand enjoy 'second party' trusted relationships. Countries such as Germany and France have 'third party', or less trusted, relationships.
  The data-sharing was set out under a 1955 UK-USA agreement that provided a legal framework for intelligence-sharing that has continued.
  It stipulates: "In accordance with these arrangements, each party will continue to make available to the other, continuously, and without request, all raw traffic, COMINT (communications intelligence) end-product and technical material acquired or produced, and all pertinent information concerning its activities, priorities and facilities."
  The agreement goes on to explain how it can be extended to incorporate similar agreements with third party countries, providing both the UK and the US agree.
  Under the third party data-sharing agreements each country was given a code name. For example, Denmark was known as Dynamo while Germany was referred to as Richter. The agreements were of strategic importance to the NSA during the cold war.
Board of Directors | OPIC : Overseas Private Investment Corporation
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  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 13:15
  OPIC's Board of Directors consists of fifteen members - eight from the private sector and seven from the federal government. At least two of the private sector directors must be experienced in small business, one must represent organized labor, and another must have experience in cooperatives. Government members include the Administrator of the Agency for International Development, the United States Trade Representative or Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, the President of OPIC, and four additional members who are senior officials of other government agencies, including the Department of Labor. All members must be appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
  The Board of Directors, which meets four times per year, provides policy guidance to the Corporation and approves all major insurance, project finance and investment funds projects.
  Elizabeth L. Littlefield, ChairPresident and Chief Executive OfficerOverseas Private Investment Corporation
  Dr. Rajiv ShahAdministratorU.S. Agency for International Development
  Ambassador Miriam SapiroActing United States Trade RepresentativeOffice of the U.S. Trade Representative Francisco J. SnchezUnder Secretary for International AffairsU.S. Department of Commerce Seth D. HarrisDeputy SecretaryU.S. Department of Labor Lael BrainardUnder Secretary for International AffairsU.S. Department of the Treasury
  Robert D. HormatsUnder Secretary of State for Economic, Energy & Agricultural AffairsU.S. Department of State
  Matthew Maxwell Taylor KennedySmall BusinessDirector, Kennedy Enterprises Katherine M. GehlSmall BusinessPresident and CEO, Gehl Foods, Inc. Terry LewisCooperativesPrincipal, LIA Advisors, LLC Michael J. WarrenMemberPrincipal, Albright Stonebridge Group James M. DemersSmall BusinessPresident, Demers & Blaisdell Inc. James A. TorreyDirectorThe Torrey Family Office Roberto R. HerenciaMemberPresident & CEO,BXM Holdings, Inc. Naomi WalkerOrganized LaborAssistant to the PresidentAmerican Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Obama to unveil broad African electrical power initiative.
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  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 13:12
  Sun Jun 30, 2013 12:00am EDT
  * Two-thirds of Africans lack access to electricity
  * Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya among first countries in program
  * Will include financial support for U.S. exporters
  By Mark Felsenthal
  JOHANNESBURG, June 30 (Reuters) - Pointing to Africa's crippling lack of electrical power, President Barack Obama is due to announce on Sunday a $7 billion initiative over five years to double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa.
  "We see this as the next phase in our development strategy and a real focal point in the president's agenda going forward," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters traveling with the president.
  Obama is midway through a three-country tour of Africa and is due to give what aides bill as his fullest description of his vision for the U.S. relationship with the continent on Sunday.
  The president has chosen historically resonant locations for the address, and is due to speak at the University of Cape Town after touring the prison on Robben Island. Robert F. Kennedy's 1966 speech at the university linked the struggles against apartheid and the U.S. civil rights movement and was seen as giving encouragement to the movement, while Robben Island is where anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of his 27 years in jail.
  The president will cite South Africa's long struggle to defeat apartheid and the U.S. civil rights movement's success in overcoming racial inequality as models of movements that brought about change in the face of daunting obstacles, aides said. He will call on young Africans to summon similar energy to complete the work of those movements and to firmly establish economic growth, democratic government, and stable societies across the continent.
  SIGNATURE PROGRAM
  Obama has been faulted for lacking a grand program to benefit Africa like the HIV/AIDS initiative launched by President George W. Bush or the broad reductions of trade barriers achieved by President Bill Clinton.
  Many Africans have been disappointed at what they see as Obama's hands-off approach to the continent, noting that his first extended trip the continent has not come until his second term in office despite his African ancestry. Obama's father was a native of Kenya.
  The president's aides say he has been held back by the need to wind down two wars and to right the U.S. economy after the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
  Despite severe U.S. budget constraints, the power initiative could provide Obama with just such a signature program.
  DARKNESS BY NIGHT
  Experts agree that the lack of electricity is a tremendous hindrance to Africa's advancement.
  "Africa is largely a continent of darkness by night," said an official at a multilateral agency who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Every which way you look at this, Africa is behind the curve and pays more."
  Roughly two-thirds of sub-Saharan Africa lacks power, a level that rises as high as 85 percent in rural areas, White House aide Gayle Smith said.
  Lack of power inhibits business investment, prevents children from studying after dark, and makes it harder to keep vaccines from spoiling in rural areas, she said.
  The United States will initially work with Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania to develop electric power generation, officials said. It will also cooperate with Uganda and Mozambique on oil and gas management.
  The program will draw on a range of U.S. government agencies to achieve its goals. For example, the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp will commit as much as $1.5 billion in finance and insurance to help U.S. companies manage the risks associated with the projects.
  Similarly, the U.S. Export-Import Bank will make up to $5 billion available to support U.S. exports to develop power projects, the officials said.
  The private sector will also be involved. Officials said General Electric Co has committed to power generation projects in Tanzania and Ghana, officials added.
  The president's trip has taken him to Senegal and South Africa and will wind up in Tanzania on Monday and Tuesday. Although concerns over the ailing health of anti-apartheid hero Mandela have overshadowed much of the trip, the president has sounded the theme of Africa's economic potential at every stop.
  In keeping with that emphasis, Obama will also announce that he plans to hold a summit of sub-Saharan African leaders in Washington next year.
  "It's something other countries have done," Rhodes said. "What we want to do is continue the kind of high-level engagement we've had on this trip."
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"Mandela And Obama Two First Black Presidents Two Nobel Peace Prize Winners"
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NSA bugged Brussels US spy story hits the EU. (Euronews video)
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  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 13:09
  Bursting Brussels' bubble, it appears the US National Security Agency has been spying on the EU institutions.
  German magazine Der Spiegel's online edition cited a top secret document which outlines how the NSA specifically targeted EU offices in Washington, Brussels and New York, listening to phone calls and accessing internal computer networks.
  According to Der Spiegel the EU had discovered telephone taps in its internal network around five years ago but no source is cited.
  The file is the latest in a series of documents whistleblower Edward Snowden made available to journalists, causing diplomatic embarrassment to President Obama's administration.
  Snowden is still on the run from extradition to the US to answer charges of espionage. He is currently in transit in Russia awaiting a response from Ecuador on his request for asylum.
  More about:Espionage, Phone hacking scandal, USACopyright (C) 2013 euronews
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Deleted Article by The Guardian Original Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl - Pastebin.com
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  Deleted Article by The Guardian
  Original Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/29/european-private-data-america
  Now redirecting to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/info/2013/jun/30/taken-down
  ===
  Revealed: secret European deals to hand over private data to America
  Germany 'among countries offering intelligence' according to new claims by former US defence analyst
  At least six European Union countries in addition to Britain have been colluding with the US over the mass harvesting of personal communications data,
  according to a former contractor to America's National Security Agency, who said the public should not be "kept in the dark".
  Wayne Madsen, a former US navy lieutenant who first worked for the NSA in 1985 and over the next 12 years held several sensitive positions within the
  agency, names Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain and Italy as having secret deals with the US.
  Madsen said the countries had "formal second and third party status" under signal intelligence (sigint) agreements that compels them to hand
  over data, including mobile phone and internet information to the NSA if requested.
  Under international intelligence agreements, confirmed by declassified documents, nations are categorised by the US according to their trust level. The US
  is first party while the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand enjoy second party relationships. Germany and France have third party relationships.
  In an interview published last night on the PrivacySurgeon.org blog, Madsen, who has been attacked for holding controversial views on espionage issues,
  said he had decided to speak out after becoming concerned about the "half story" told by EU politicians regarding the extent of the NSA's
  activities in Europe.
  He said that under the agreements, which were drawn up after the second world war, the "NSA gets the lion's share" of the sigint
  "take". In return, the third parties to the NSA agreements received "highly sanitised intelligence".
  Madsen said he was alarmed at the "sanctimonious outcry" of political leaders who were "feigning shock" about the spying operations
  while staying silent about their own arrangements with the US, and was particularly concerned that senior German politicians had accused the UK of spying
  when their country had a similar third-party deal with the NSA.
  Although the level of co-operation provided by other European countries to the NSA is not on the same scale as that provided by the UK, the allegations are
  potentially embarrassing.
  "I can't understand how Angela Merkel can keep a straight face, demanding assurances from [Barack] Obama and the UK while Germany has entered into
  those exact relationships," Madsen said.
  The Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Ludford, a senior member of the European parliament's civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee, said
  Madsen's allegations confirmed that the entire system for monitoring data interception was a mess, because the EU was unable to intervene in intelligence
  matters, which remained the exclusive concern of national governments.
  "The intelligence agencies are exploiting these contradictions and no one is really holding them to account," Ludford said. "It's
  terribly undermining to liberal democracy."
  Madsen's disclosures have prompted calls for European governments to come clean on their arrangements with the NSA. "There needs to be transparency
  as to whether or not it is legal for the US or any other security service to interrogate private material," said John Cooper QC, a leading
  international human rights lawyer. "The problem here is that none of these arrangements has been debated in any democratic arena. I agree with
  William Hague that sometimes things have to be done in secret, but you don't break the law in secret."
  Madsen said all seven European countries and the US have access to the Tat 14 fibre-optic cable network running between Denmark and Germany, the
  Netherlands, France, the UK and the US, allowing them to intercept vast amounts of data, including phone calls, emails and records of users' access to
  websites.
  He said the public needed to be made aware of the full scale of the communication-sharing arrangements between European countries and the US, which predate
  the internet and became of strategic importance during the cold war.
  The covert relationship between the countries was first outlined in a 2001 report by the European parliament, but their explicit connection with the NSA
  was not publicised until Madsen decided to speak out.
  The European parliament's report followed revelations that the NSA was conducting a global intelligence-gathering operation, known as Echelon, which
  appears to have established the framework for European member states to collaborate with the US.
  "A lot of this information isn't secret, nor is it new," Madsen said. "It's just that governments have chosen to keep the public in the
  dark about it. The days when they could get away with a conspiracy of silence are over."
  This month another former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, revealed to the Guardian previously undisclosed US programmes to monitor telephone and internet
  traffic. The NSA is alleged to have shared some of its data, gathered using a specialist tool called Prism, with Britain's GCHQ.
Koekjes bakken in de auto: VS zucht onder hittegolf - Opmerkelijk - VK
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  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 13:05
  Door: Annelies De Becker '' 30/06/13, 13:22 '' bron: Twitter
  (C) ap.
  Het zuidwesten van de Verenigde Staten gaat gebukt onder een hittegolf. In Death Valley wordt dit weekend 53 graden voorspeld. Amper vier graden lager dan het hitterecord dat op 10 juli 1913 werd opgetekend: 56,66 graden. Inwoners van Arizona zeggen dat de lucht te warm is om in te ademen.
  Een inwoner van Phoenix, Arizona, profiteert van de warmte door koekjes te bakken op het dashboard van zijn auto. In een oven bak je koekjes meestal op 180 graden en in de wagen was het op een gegeven moment 94 graden Celsius. Het zal dus wat langer dan normaal duren voordat de koekjes klaar zijn, maar de elektriciteit voor de oven wordt in elk geval uitgespaard.
Fans braced for Google Reader demise
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  Source: BBC News - Technology
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 13:03
  28 June 2013Last updated at20:12 ETBy Dave LeeTechnology reporter, BBC NewsMillions of users of Google's Reader service are preparing for its closure, with many still angered at the search giant's decision.
  Google announced in March that it would shut down the RSS reader, blaming a decline in use.
  The company admitted that Reader had a "loyal following", and gave instructions for exporting feeds.
  Other web companies are now clamouring to gain "Google Reader orphans" when the service finally closes on Monday.
  RSS readers are tools which allow users to quickly see updates from their favourite websites.
  Using RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication, users can see when content is updated without having to visit each site individually.
  Much like an email inbox, RSS readers indicate the number of unread updates for a user to read.
  Google Reader is among the most popular tools for viewing RSS feeds.
  In a blog post, Google software engineer Alan Green said: "Usage of Google Reader has declined, and as a company we're pouring all of our energy into fewer products.
  Continue reading the main storyGoogle Reader certainly is not the first service to get the chop from the California company. In fact, Google regularly trims its product portfolio. Here are some stand out examples of what did not make the cut:
  Google Wave (2009-2012) - Launched with much fanfare, this project management application failed to get people enthused, mainly because no-one knew what to use it for.Google Video (2005-2012) - Intended as some kind of YouTube competitor, Google Video's mediocre performance quickly made it clear that it would be far easier for Google to just buy YouTube - which it promptly did in 2006.Google Buzz (2010-2011) - A precursor to social network Google+, Google Buzz was clunkily integrated with Google Mail. It was hammered by users - and authorities - for not taking privacy seriously enough.Google Labs (2002-2011) - In a surprising move that shocked many developers, Google closed its Labs service, which had acted as a testing ground for new ideas Google staff members had been working on."We think that kind of focus will make for a better user experience."
  After the announcement was made, Google offered instructions for how users can export their RSS feeds into an alternative service.
  'Grave mistake'The decision to close the service has riled large numbers of people, many of whom have said alternative services do not offer the same level of functionality.
  PC Magazine called the decision "a grave mistake by Google and it sends the wrong message". US magazine Slate posted a virtual graveyard of closed Google products, and invited readers to leave their virtual condolences.
  Others, however, said social media sites like Twitter and Facebook were fast changing the way people discover updates from their favourite sites, and therefore RSS readers were becoming increasingly old-fashioned and unnecessary.
  Nevertheless, Google Reader's closure potentially paves way for rival services to scoop up millions of new users almost overnight.
  Digg, the social recommendation news site, said it had been planning to build its own reader for some time, but it ramped up efforts upon news of Google Reader's closure.
  "As daily (hourly) users of Google Reader, we're convinced that it's a product worth saving," wrote Digg's Andrew McLaughlin.
  "We hope to identify and rebuild the best of Google Reader's features (including its API), but also advance them to fit the internet of 2013."
  Another service tipped to gain a lot of users is Feedly, which has said that it gained more than three million news users in the two weeks following Google's announcement regarding Reader.
  The company wrote: "A lot of undecided Google Reader users are looking for a home."
  There has also been rumours that Facebook is planning to launch its own reader - but it is not being touted as a Google Reader replacement.
Another Glastonbury first: the baby crowd-surfer
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  Source: Culture | guardian.co.uk
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 13:00
  While Michael Eavis sings, the baby boy is passed towards the stage. Photograph: Katherine Rose
  I guess if you choose to go to a place called the Rabbit Hole in order to watch Michael Eavis do a karaoke version of Suspicious Minds backed by a group called the Vodka Jellies Karaoke Band, then you have got to expect the unexpected.
  Even so, the sight of the first ever baby crowd-surfer was certainly one of Glastonbury's more surreal moments '' and that's coming from a writer who this year watched a gig alongside a 70-year-old rocker sporting a fluorescent green moustache.
  The baby in question did at least surf with the protection of a baby buggy, hoisted up, I originally assumed, by parents desperate to immerse their sprog in the most bruising of gig rituals.
  "Stop!" screamed the lady next to me when the baby first emerged. "I'm sorry, but this is just not right!" shouted another. But still the baby marched on, the buggy passed from audience member to audience member. People continued tutting but at least the baby seemed to be in tune with the spirit of the festival: like most Glastonbury-goers, he was unable to form complete sentences and could not handle solid food.
  Then, as the baby approached the stage, the crowd surfing mission became clear. "Oh, that's his dad on stage!" said one local, as if now it suddenly all made sense. This was no longer an irresponsible act of child cruelty but simply one baby's mission to crowd surf towards his musician father, one of the members of the band. What could be more commonplace?
  Of course, what you really want to know is: did the baby return for a stage dive? Sadly, your correspondent failed to report on this. After hearing Eavis's dulcet tones ringing out, he was forced to flee within 60 seconds, his dedication to the rock'n'roll cause now officially less than that of a little boy still in nappies.
Nicaragua's Telica volcano shaken by new earthquake swarm.
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  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 12:59
  June 28, 2013 '' NICARAUGA - A new earthquake swarm started this morning, visible on INETER's seismograms. Telica has six cones, the tallest of which is 1061 meters high. There is a double crater at the top, 700 meters wide and 120 meters deep. Telica has erupted frequently since the Spanish Era. The most recent eruption was in 2011. In terms of explosive force, Telica's largest eruption has been rated with a VEI of 4. That eruption occurred in 1529. One of Nicaragua's most active volcanoes, Telica has erupted frequently, and ash from those frequent eruptions keeps the slopes of its cone bare of vegetation. ''Volcano Discovery, WikipediaAbout these ads
High River flood: Guns seized by police as angry residents confront RCMP | Canada | News | National Post
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  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 06:51
  HIGH RIVER, Alta. '-- The RCMP revealed Thursday that officers had seized a ''substantial'' number of firearms from homes in the evacuated town of High River, about 37 kilometres south Calgary.
  ''We just want to make sure that all of those things are in a spot that we control, simply because of what they are,'' said Sgt. Brian Topham. ''People have a significant amount of money invested in firearms '... so we put them in a place that we control and that they're safe.''
  That news didn't sit well with a frustrated crowd who had planned to breach a police checkpoint as the evacuation order from the town of about 13,000, residents stretched into its eighth day.
  ''I find that absolutely incredible'' that they have the right to go into a person's home and take their ''belongings,'' said resident Brenda Lackey, after learning Mounties have been securing residents' guns. ''When people find out about this there's going to be untold hell to pay.''
  About 30 RCMP officers set up a blockade at a checkpoint preventing 50 residents from walking into the town Thursday.
  Officers also laid down a spike belt to stop anyone from attempting to drive past the blockade. That action sent the crowd into a rage.
  ''What's next? Tear gas?'' shouted one resident.
  ''This is the reason the U.S. has the right to bear arms,'' said Charles Timpano, pointing to the group of Mounties.
  Officers were ordered to fall back about an hour into the standoff in order to defuse the situation and listen to residents' concerns.
  ''We don't want our town to turn into another New Orleans,'' said resident Jeff Langford. ''The longer that the water stays in our houses the worse it's going to be. We'll either be bulldozing them or burning them down because we've got an incompetent government.''
  Langford blasted High River Mayor Emile Blokland over comments made Wednesday in which Blokland said residents would be allowed to return after businesses, such as hardware and drug stores, are opened.
  Langford said Premier Alison Redford should come to High River to address residents' concerns and provide information.
  ''This is at the highest tension,'' he said. ''What's going to happen next is that people are just going to be walking across these fields, and I don't care if they put hundreds of thousand of police officers there, they're not going to stop me from getting in.''
  Sgt. Topham said he didn't know when residents would be allowed to return to their homes.
  ''People much higher up are going to make those decisions,'' he said.
  He did confirm that officers relied on forced entry to get into numerous houses during the early stages of the flood because of an ''urgent need.''
  Topham said the confiscated firearms had been inventoried and were secure at an RCMP detachment. He was not at liberty to say how many firearms had been confiscated.
  ''We have seized a large quantity of firearms simply because they were left by residents in their places,'' said Topham.
  The guns will be returned to owners after residents are allowed back in town and they provide proof of ownership, Topham added.
  Residents promised to converge on the checkpoint at noon every day until they are allowed to return to their homes.
VIDEO-RCMP break into High River homes, steal homeowners' guns - YouTube
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  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 06:51
Undersea cable cut near Egypt slows down Internet in Africa, Middle East, South Asia '-- Tech News and Analysis
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  Archived Version
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 04:39
  Mar. 27, 2013 - 1:16 PM PDT Mar. 27, 2013 - 1:16 PM PDT
  It is like Groundhog Day! Once again an undersea cable has been cut '-- the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4 (aka SEA-ME-WE 4) cable and that is causing an internet (and communications) slowdown in and around Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia. The cut was said to be near Alexandria in Egypt. Tata Communications '' previously Videsh Sanchar Nigam LimitedIndia '' administers the network.
  While the cut was on a single cable, it came at an unfortunate time as a few other major cables were in ''maintenance mode'' and that has resulted in problems for service providers across the region. Our sources in the telecom community confirmed that two other cables '-- Europe India Gateway (EIG) and India-Middle East-Western Europe (IMEWE) '-- were in 'maintenance' mode when the SWM4 got cut. The result is downstream congestion on networks that are going to India and around the Indian Ocean. UAE's Etisalat reported that the internet speeds were down by as much as 60 percent in some locations.
  Sunil Tagare, who runs the BuySellBandwidth.com, on his blog wrote
  It's not good enough to say since you have 10 cables even if going through Egypt, you have route diversity. And as today's 4 cable cuts have demonstrated, any time the cables are along similar paths, there is a high likelihood that all of them might be cut at the same time.
  He was arguing that four major cable '-- I-Me-We, Sea-Me-We-4, EIG and TE North '' were impacted at the same time and thus causing problems in the Middle East and Asia. It is not a smart way to think about the networks, especially since we depend so heavily on many of these optical cables. Tagare's argument makes sense to me, for we have seen this pattern repeat itself a few times. As I wrote earlier, there are three major cables that connect Europe and Middle East '' SeaMeWe-3, SeaMeWe-4 and FLAG Euro-Asia '-- and they follow the same path underneath the Mediterranean Sea, making them vulnerable to cuts.
  In 2010, the SEA-ME-WE-4 experienced a cut causing large scale disruptions, two years after the cable experienced an outage. Things have become more acute now considering that SEA-ME-WE4 is a lifeline for the African internet.
  SEACOM, an African consortium which owns the big African Internet cable, later confirmed the outage on its website and said that it was working towards restoration. SEACOM had already been experiencing problems since March 24 and was in the middle of fixing those before it was hit by the cable cut.
  Mark Simpson, CEO of SEACOM, said in a press note:
  The cause of the outage is a physical cable cut some kilometres north of the coast of Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea. This is not likely to be known until the cable is repaired in the coming week or two and the damaged section is recovered from the seabed and inspected. However we suspect, based on our experience with sub-sea systems and the nature of the sea area where the cut has occurred, that the most likely cause is external aggression to the cable most probably caused by a larger vessel dragging its anchor across the sea bed. Unfortunately this remains a common cause of damage to cable systems globally, despite our continued efforts to protect the cable with armour, burying, notifications to ships of cable location and exclusion zones.
  By the way, SEAMEWE-3 experienced a cut about two months ago (between Singapore and Perth, Australia) and it hasn't been fixed just yet mostly because the network operator was waiting for Indonesian government permission to fix the cable which is in Indonesian waters.
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Lowtech Magazine: Houtgasauto's: rijden op brandhout
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  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 04:26
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  Biomassa wordt al geruime tijd ingezet voor zowel stationaire als mobiele toepassingen. Voor stationaire toepassingen (zoals een energiecentrale) wordt daarbij gebruik gemaakt van vergisting of vergassing, voor mobiele toepassingen (zoals auto's) wordt de biomassa eerst geraffineerd tot vloeibare brandstoffen zoals ethanol of biodiesel.
  Tweede Wereldoorlog
  Houtvergassing kan echter ook worden gebruikt voor mobiele toepassingen. De eerste stationaire toepassingen van houtvergassing dateren uit de jaren 1870, als een voorloper van aardgas voor straatverlichting en om te koken. In de jaren 1920 ontwikkelde de Duitser Georges Imbert een generator voor mobiele toepassingen, die vanaf 1931 in serie werd geproduceerd. Eind jaren dertig reden er ongeveer 9.000 houtmobielen rond.
  De technologie nam vervolgens een hoge vlucht in veel Europese landen bij het begin van de Tweede Wereldoorlog, ten gevolge van de rantsoenering van fossiele brandstoffen. Ook in de VS, Azi en Australi doken houtmobielen op. Niet alleen personenauto's maar ook vrachtwagens, bussen, tractors, motorfietsen, schepen, treinen en tanks werden met een houtvergasser uitgerust.
  Alleen al in Duitsland reden er op het einde van de oorlog 500.000 voertuigen op houtgas rond. Er werd zelfs een netwerk van ongeveer 3.000 "tankstations" opgezet, waar hout kon worden ingeslagen. In 1942 (dus niet op het hoogtepunt) reden er 73.000 houtmobielen rond in Zweden (tegenover 1.000 in 1939), 65.000 in Frankrijk, 10.000 in Denemarken, 9.000 in zowel Oostenrijk als Noorwegen, en bijna 8.000 in Zwitserland.
  Finland telde 43.000 houtmobielen in 1944, waarvan 30.000 bussen en vrachtwagens, 7.000 personenauto's, 4.000 tractoren en 600 boten. (bron). Australi telde 72.000 voertuigen op houtgas (bron). In totaal reden er wereldwijd meer dan 1 miljoen houtgasvoertuigen rond tijdens WO II. De Duitsers gebruikten ook steenkool en turf, maar hout was de belangrijkste brandstof.
  Na de oorlog, toen olie weer volop beschikbaar werd, raakte de techniek echter snel in de vergeethoek. Begin jaren vijftig reden er nog slechts 20.000 houtmobielen rond in het toenmalige West-Duitsland.
  Hernieuwde belangstelling
  Stijgende brandstofprijzen en de aandacht voor de opwarming van het klimaat maakten de techniek de jongste jaren weer actueel. Onder meer in Nederland, Scandinavi en de Verenigde Staten bouwden enthousiaste amateurs allerlei gewone wagens om tot houtgasauto's. De meeste moderne houtmobielen worden gebouwd in Scandinavi. Dat is geen toeval, aangezien Zweden, Noorwegen en Finland over grote houtvoorraden beschikken.
  Onderzoeksprogramma in Zweden
  De Zweedse overheid zette in 1957 een onderzoeksprogramma op dat in tijden van olieschaarste (het land beschikt niet over eigen oliereserves) een snelle, grootschalige overgang naar houtgasauto's mogelijk moest maken. Het doel was een verbeterde standaard-installatie te ontwerpen die (in verschillende versies) voor allerlei voertuigen gebruikt kon worden.
  Dat onderzoek, waaraan werd meegewerkt door autofabrikant Volvo, leverde veel theoretische kennis op en leidde tot een aantal praktijktesten met verschillende wegvoertuigen ((C)(C)n ervan hierboven afgebeeld) en tractoren over een afstand van in totaal meer dan 100.000 kilometer.
  De ervaringen zijn samengevat in een FAO-document uit 1986, dat ook een aantal experimenten in andere landen bespreekt. Zweedse (overzicht) en vooral Finse amateurs zijn met die informatie verder aan de slag gegaan (overzicht, hieronder een voertuig van Juha Sipil¤).
  Een houtgasinstallatie - die uiterlijk veel weg heeft van een flinke warmwaterketel - kan op verschillende manieren geplaatst worden: op een aanhangwagen (al maakt dat de auto lastig te parkeren), in de kofferbak (al neemt dat bagageruimte weg) of op een platform aan de voor- of achterkant van de wagen (de populairste optie). Bij een Amerikaanse pick-up wordt de installatie uiteraard in de laadbak gemonteerd. Tijdens WO II werden ook auto's gefabriceerd waarbij de installatie volledig aan het zicht werd onttrokken (zie verder).
  Houtblokjes
  De brandstof voor een houtgasauto bestaat uit kleine houtblokjes (zie foto hieronder). Hoewel er gexperimenteerd werd en wordt met houtsnippers, lijken die niet zo geschikt te zijn.
  Ook houtskool kan gebruikt worden als brandstof, maar dat leidt tot een verlies van 50 procent van de beschikbare energie in de oorspronkelijke biomassa. Wel bevat houtskool meer energie, zodat de autonomie van de auto groter wordt. In principe kan elk organisch materiaal gebruikt worden.
  Houtgasauto in Nederland
  E(C)n van de knapste moderne houtgasauto's werd vorig jaar gebouwd door een Nederlander, Dutch John. Terwijl veel moderne houtgasauto's regelrecht uit "Mad Max" lijken te komen, slaagde hij erin om zijn Volvo 240 met een modern ogende systeem uit te rusten (zie de eerste foto bij het artikel en de twee foto's hieronder - en vergelijk dan met deze Volvo, deze BMW of deze Yugo).
  "Volgens ingewijden is dit de eerste serieuze poging sinds de Tweede Wereldoorlog om een houtvergasser voor mobiele toepassingen te bouwen in Nederland", aldus John. "Houtgas produceren is niet moeilijk. Schoon houtgas produceren is iets anders. Ik heb mijn bedenkingen bij sommige houtmobielen. Vaak is het geproduceerde gas net zo schoon als het uiterlijk van de constructie."
  Dutch John gelooft volop in de ecologische kracht van houtgas, zij het in de eerste plaats voor stationaire toepassingen zoals verwarming, elektriciteitsopwekking of zelfs de productie van kunststoffen. De Volvo is bedoeld om de aandacht te vestigen op de mogelijkheden van de techniek: "Zet een Italiaanse sportwagen en een houtgasauto naast elkaar en de grootste menigte verzamelt zich rondom de houtmobiel".
  Autonomie
  De "brandstoftank" van de Volvo kan 30 kilogram hout bevatten en daarmee raakt de auto 100 kilometer ver. De autonomie is dus vergelijkbaar met die van een elektrische auto. Als de achterbank wordt volgeladen met zakken hout, stijgt de autonomie van de Volvo tot 400 kilometer. Ook dat komt overeen met de autonomie van een elektrische auto waarbij de passagiersruimte wordt opgeofferd voor een grotere batterij, zoals de Tesla Roadster of de elektrische Mini Cooper.
  De Volvo van Dutch John haalt een topsnelheid van 120 kilometer per uur en kan een kruissnelheid aanhouden van 110 kilometer per uur. Voldoende om in het moderne verkeer mee te draaien. De wagen is overigens 100 procent legaal op de weg in Nederland en John betaalt geen accijns op de brandstof (je vindt meer details over de bouw van de Volvo op zijn website).
  Aanhangwagen
  Net als bij een elektrische auto is de autonomie van een houtgasauto natuurlijk ook afhankelijk van het type voertuig. Dat blijkt uit de verschillende auto's die werden omgebouwd door de Fin Vesa Mikkonen, waarmee al meer dan 100.000 kilometer werd afgelegd. Mikkonen plaatst de houtgasinstallatie steevast op een aanhangwagen. Zijn meest recent omgebouwde wagen is een Lincoln Mark V uit 1979, een grote en zware Amerikaanse auto.
  De auto verbruikt 50 kilogram hout per 100 kilometer en is dus aanzienlijk minder zuinig dan de Volvo van Dutch John, bij vergelijkbare prestaties. Mikkonen bouwde ook een Toyota Camry om, een veel zuiniger wagen. Die verbruikt slechts 20 kilogram hout per honderd kilometer. De aanhangwagen is wel bijna even groot als de auto zelf.
  De autonomie van elektrische auto's kan aanzienlijk verbeterd worden door ze veel kleiner en lichter te maken (zie het artikel "Elektrische auto's en zonnepanelen"), maar dat is geen optie bij houtgasauto's omwille van het gewicht en de afmetingen van de installatie. De kleinere auto's uit WO II hadden maar een autonomie van 20 tot 50 kilometer, ondanks hun aanzienlijk lagere snelheid en acceleratievermogen.
  Het vergroten van de "brandstoftank" is de enige optie om de autonomie nog aanzienlijk te vergroten: de Amerikaan Dave Nichols (de man die een paar foto's hierboven de houtblokjes toont) kan in de laadbak van zijn Ford pick-up truck uit 1989 een extra 180 kilogram hout kwijt en daarmee raakt hij naar eigen zeggen 965 kilometer ver, een autonomie die vergelijkbaar is met die van een dieselwagen (al moet het hout natuurlijk wel geregeld worden bijgevuld).
  Volgens Nichols is een halve kilogram hout voldoende om 1 mijl (1,6 kilometer) ver te rijden, wat overeenkomt met de 30 kilogram per 100 kilometer van Dutch John. De Amerikaan heeft een bedrijf opgericht ("21th century motorworks") en wil zijn technologie op grote schaal aan de man brengen. Hij gebruikt bij thuiskomst zijn auto ook om zijn huis te verwarmen en van elektriciteit te voorzien. Zijn verhaal slaat erg aan in de VS, Nichols' nummerplaat luidt "freedom".
  Energie-efficintie
  Houtvergassing is een chemisch proces waarbij met behulp van hitte de organische, vaste materialen worden omgezet in een brandbaar gas. Na reiniging en droging wordt het gas naar de verbrandingsmotor gevoerd - de motor moet nauwelijks worden aangepast. Bij houtvergassing wordt een temperatuur van 1.400 graden Celsius behaald.
  Houtvergassing is iets efficinter dan de verbranding van hout: slechts 25 procent van de energie-inhoud van de brandstof gaat verloren. De energieconsumptie van een houtmobiel ligt ongeveer 1,5 keer hoger vergeleken met het energieverbruik van een auto op benzine (inclusief de energieverliezen tijdens de voorverwarming van het systeem en het extra gewicht van de installatie die wordt meegevoerd).
  Hout is echter een hernieuwbare brandstof die geen verdere raffinage behoeft. Wordt ook rekening gehouden met de energie die nodig is om olie te ontginnen, te transporteren en te raffineren, dan is houtgas minstens even energie-efficint als benzine.
  CO2-neutraal
  Het grootste voordeel van houtgasauto's is dat een toegankelijke en hernieuwbare brandstof direct gebruikt kan worden zonder enige voorafgaandelijke bewerking. De omzetting van biomassa naar een vloeibare brandstof zoals ethanol of biodiesel kost soms meer energie (en CO2) dan de brandstof uiteindelijk oplevert.
  In het geval van een houtgasauto wordt er, met uitzondering van het kappen van het hout, geen bijkomende energie verspild om de brandstof te produceren. Een houtmobiel is dus zo goed als C02-neutraal (zelfs 100 procent als het hout met de hand geoogst en gehakt wordt).
  Bovendien is er geen chemische batterij nodig, wat opnieuw een flinke milieuwinst oplevert. In feite vormen de houtblokken een natuurlijke batterij.
  Luchtvervuiling
  Met een goed functionerende installatie wordt er bovendien minder luchtvervuiling geproduceerd dan met een benzine- of dieselauto. Houtvergassing is aanzienlijk schoner dan houtverbranding, de emissies zijn vergelijkbaar met het verbranden van aardgas. De as die overblijft, is daarbij geschikt als bodemverbeteraar.
  Onafhankelijkheid
  Daarnaast biedt het systeem een totale onafhankelijkheid. Je kan "met een spanzaag en een hakbijl de wereld rond", zoals Dutch John het omschrijft. Van die mogelijkheid maakte de Nederlandse kunstenaar Joost Conijn onlangs gebruik om een reis van twee maanden te maken door West- en Oost-Europa, niet gebonden aan de nabijheid van tankstations (die niet altijd even makkelijk te vinden zijn in landen zoals Roemeni).
  De lokale bevolking gaf hem steevast voldoende hout om verder te rijden - de voorraad werd op een aanhangwagen geladen. Conijn gebruikte niet alleen hout als brandstof, maar ook als bouwmateriaal voor de auto zelf - zie foto hierboven (meer foto's + video).
  Nadelen van houtgas
  Toch volstaat een blik op een houtgasauto om te beseffen dat deze alternatieve brandstof allesbehalve een ideale oplossing is. De mobiele gasfabriek neemt heel wat plaats in en kan leeg een paar honderd kilogram wegen. De grootte van de installatie laat zich verklaren door het feit dat houtgas een laagcalorisch gas is, het heeft dus weinig energie-inhoud. De energetische waarde van houtgas bedraagt zo'n 5,7 megajoule per kilogram, tegenover 44 megajoule per kilogram voor benzine en 56 megajoule per kilogram voor aardgas.
  Bovendien beperkt de techniek het vermogen van de verbrandingsmotor waardoor de topsnelheid en het acceleratievermogen van de omgebouwde auto omlaag gaan. Houtgas bestaat (grofweg) uit 50 procent stikstof, 20 procent koolstofmonoxide, 18 procent waterstofgas, 8 procent koolstofdioxide en 4 procent methaan. Stikstof draagt niet bij aan de verbranding, terwijl koolmonoxide een traag brandend gas is. Dat is nadelig voor verbrandingsmotoren: door het hoge aandeel stikstof krijgt de motor onvoldoende brandstof binnen, wat zo'n 35 tot 50 procent vermogen kost. Daarbij zijn hoge toerentallen niet mogelijk, omdat het gas langzaam brandt.
  Hoewel er ook kleinere auto's voorzien werden van een houtgasinstallatie (zie bijvoorbeeld deze Opel Kadett), vereist de technologie dus liefst een wat grotere en zwaardere auto met een krachtige motor om voldoende vermogen (en autonomie) over te houden. Hoewel de installatie voor een kleinere auto ook kleiner is, nemen de afmetingen en het gewicht ervan niet evenredig af met de afmetingen en het gewicht van de auto. Er zijn ook motorfietsen op houtgas gebouwd, maar die hebben een zeer beperkte autonomie (een zijspan scoort uiteraard beter).
  Amerikaanse pick-up trucks zijn het beste geschikt voor een houtgasinstallatie, aangezien er voldoende plaats en draagkracht is voor de installatie en voor de brandstof. Nadeel is dat deze wagens niet erg zuinig zijn (en andere weggebruikers in gevaar brengen). Wat oudere Volvo's zijn ook populair, al heeft dat wellicht niet alleen met hun robuustheid te maken, maar ook met het feit dat de meeste houtmobielen in Scandinavi in elkaar worden geknutseld. Het gewicht en de omvang spelen natuurlijk minder een rol in het geval van vrachtwagens, bussen, treinen of schepen.
  Gebruiksvriendelijkheid
  Een ander nadeel van houtgasauto's is hun beperkte gebruiksvriendelijkheid - al is die wel toegenomen in vergelijking met de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Een houtmobiel heeft tot tien minuten nodig om op temperatuur te komen. Ook moeten bij elke "tankbeurt" de assen van de vorige vergassing worden uitgeschept. Het ontstaan van teer in de installatie is niet meer zo'n probleem als zeventig jaar geleden, maar de filters moeten nog altijd wel geregeld worden schoongemaakt. Daarbij komt dan nog de beperkte autonomie, vergelijkbaar met die van een elektrische wagen. Al bij al is het vertrouwde gebruiksgemak van een benzine- of dieselauto dus ver te zoeken.
  Het grote aandeel koolstofmonoxide - CO is een sneldodend gas - vraagt bovendien enige voorzorgen voor het geval er een lek in de installatie optreedt: bij montage in de kofferruimte is het van essentieel belang om een koolstofmonoxide-detector in de passagiersruimte te plaatsen en een houtgasauto kan alleen maar in een afgesloten ruimte worden geparkeerd als het gas eerst wordt afgefakkeld (foto hierboven).
  Houtmobielen uit de fabriek
  Natuurlijk gaat het hier stuk voor stuk om door amateurs omgebouwde auto's. Zouden er wagens in de fabriek gebouwd worden die speciaal ontworpen worden om op houtgas te rijden, dan zouden de nadelen allicht minder groot zijn, en de voordelen nog groter worden. Die houtmobielen zouden er ook een stuk eleganter kunnen uitzien. Bij de VW Kevers die tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Duitsland van de band rolden, was de hele mechaniek ingebouwd - aan de buitenkant was er nauwelijks iets van de houtgasinstallatie te zien. De "tank" vullen gebeurde door een gat in de motorkap (zie foto's en illustratie hieronder).
  Hetzelfde geldt voor deze Mercedes-Benz, waar de hele installatie verstopt zit in de kofferbak :
  Heeft de houtmobiel een toekomst?
  Tijdens de jaren negentig van de vorige eeuw werd waterstof gezien als d(C) alternatieve brandstof van de toekomst. Daarna was het de beurt aan biobrandstoffen en perslucht en vandaag gaat alle aandacht naar elektrische auto's. Als ook die technologie niet van de grond komt, is er dus altijd nog de auto op houtgas.
  Ondanks het industrieel ogende karakter, scoort een houtgasauto op ecologisch vlak opmerkelijk goed. Er wordt gebruik gemaakt van een hernieuwbare, CO2-vrije brandstof die geen verdere bewerking nodig heeft. Geraffineerde biobrandstoffen (ethanol, biodiesel) ondergaan een energie-intensief raffinageproces en zijn, zoals vermeld, allesbehalve CO2-neutraal.
  Vergelijkingmet andere alternatieve brandstoffen
  Een houtgasauto heeft geen batterij nodig, en dat is dan weer een belangrijk ecologisch voordeel ten opzichte van de elektrische auto - meestal wordt de ingebedde energie van de accu vergeten bij de berekening van de ecologische score van de elektrische auto.
  De productie van waterstof kost dan weer erg veel energie en de opslag ervan stelt serieuze veiligheidsproblemen. De energiedichtheid van perslucht is nog veel kleiner dan die van chemische batterijen of hout.
  Ontbossing
  Helaas deelt de houtgasauto ook een belangrijk ecologisch probleem met biobrandstoffen: als we ons volledige wagenpark, of een betekenisvol deel ervan, zouden omschakelen naar houtgas, dan staat er nergens ter wereld nog een boom overeind en sterven we van de honger omdat elke vierkante centimeter landbouwgrond wordt ingepalmd door energieplantages. Zo zorgde de houtmobiel tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Frankrijk voor ontbossing op grote schaal. Net als biobrandstoffen is de technologie dus niet schaalbaar.
  Toch is er (C)(C)n verschil op dat vlak. Een auto op ethanol of biodiesel is even gebruiksvriendelijk als een auto op benzine of diesel. Een houtgasauto is dat niet. Houtgas is zonder meer de minst gebruiksvriendelijke alternatieve brandstof. Een overschakeling naar houtmobielen zou er dus alleen maar voor kunnen zorgen dat we minder gaan autorijden.
  Als je auto tien minuten moet voorverwarmen, ben je wellicht niet zo snel geneigd om er 3 kilometer ver mee naar de bakker te rijden. Met de fiets ben je immers veel sneller weer thuis. Als je eerst een uur hout moet hakken, neem je wellicht ook eerder de trein om een dagje naar het strand te gaan.
  Hoe dan ook: de houtmobiel bevestigt nog maar eens dat de moderne automobiel een product is van fossiele brandstoffen. Hoe je het ook draait of keert (waterstof, elektriciteit, perslucht, biobrandstoffen, houtgas), geen enkele alternatieve brandstof biedt het gemak en het comfort van benzine of diesel. Als er op een dag een einde komt aan de (goedkope) olievoorraden, is de alomtegenwoordigheid van de private automobiel geschiedenis. Hopelijk wordt dat op tijd beseft, zodat we tijd genoeg hebben om een alternatief uit te bouwen.
  (C) Kris De Decker (met dank aan Dutch John)
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Meer informatie
  Er zijn een aantal boeken verschenen over houtgas voor mobiele toepassingen, sommige gratis te downloaden, anderen alleen op papier en tegen betaling verkrijgbaar. Een deel ervan is gericht op zelfbouw, de andere gaan dieper in op de geschiedenis van houtgas voor mobiele toepassingen. Er zijn ook websites en forums over het onderwerp. Let wel: het bouwen van een mobiele houtgasinstallatie is geen eenvoudige klus.
  "Woodgas for mobile applications", Vessa Mikkonen"Producer Gas: Another Fuel For Motor Transport ", National research Council, 2004"Fahren met Holz: Geschichte und Technik der Holzgasgeneratoren und Ersatzantriebe", Erik Eckermann, 2008"Generator Jahrbuch", 1942"Wartime Woodburners - Gas Producer Vehicles in World War II - an Overview ", John Fuller Ryan, 2009"Wood gas as engine fuel", FAO Forestry Department, 1986"How to build a gas wood generator", Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Verschillende bronnen wijzen erop dat het geen goed idee is dit systeem - gemaakt uit een olievat en een autovelg - te bouwen omdat het een erg korte levensduur heeft en de motor stuk maakt. Het document bevat echter interessante randinformatie."Can we use wood to beat the gasoline shortage?", Popular Science, januari 1944"How to run your car on wood", Mother Earth News, mei/juni 1974"Producer gas & the Australian motorist", Don Bartlett, februari 2008: dit document bevat een interessante beschrijving van hoe het rijden met een houtgasauto tijdens WO II precies in zijn werk ging (zie de tweede helft van het document)- "ervaring met de bediening van een Wurlitzer orgel is meegenomen"."Producer gas vehicles", MacDonell Watkyn Woods, 1938"Woodgas.net", website en netwerk over houtvergassing"Around Sweden with wood in the tank", verslag van een reis met (en de bouw van) een houtgasauto."Yahoo groups woodgas": een forum over mobiele houtgastoepassingen (registratie vereist)Drie Duitstalige artikels over de VW Kever op houtgas: 1 / 2 / 3."Woodgas.nl", de website van Dutch John geeft een goede, Nederlandstalige introductie voor zelfbouwers.Verwante artikels:
  Startpagina.
VIDEO-Benghazi: The Truth Behind the Smokescreen. - YouTube
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 04:24
Russia won the long battle of pipeline politics, but now what does it do? '' Quartz
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  Archived Version
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 04:12
  Russia has won a big round in an almost two-decade battle with the West over the flow of natural gas from the Caspian Sea. But the June 28 victory is a mixed one for Moscow, for it helps undermine the rationale for another Russian project'--one that has been a key weapon in the country's fight for energy dominance.
  The story is tangled, and before we move to the details, let's just identify one suprising winner'--long-suffering Greece. It will fall along the transit route for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which beat Western-backed Nabucco, the line over which the West has fought Russia since the mid-1990s.
  With TAP's victory, crows Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras, the world should understand that economically struggling Greece is on its way to recovery. After all, ''who would invest money in a country facing economic, social and political threats?'' Samaras said in a statement.
  The US schemed to keep Russia out of its backyardThe story goes back to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Having defeated its Cold War rival, the US drew a figurative line around the southern half of the USSR'--the eight new states of the Caucasus and Central Asia'--and announced a strategy to keep them from ever falling again into Moscow's grip.
  The US plan was to back the construction of oil and natural gas pipelines to carry the region's energy to Western markets, avoiding Russian soil, and thus bolster their economic independence. In 2006, the first line materialized'--the 1,100-mile Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline from Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean. A companion natural gas pipeline soon followed. That took care of the Caucasus side of the Caspian.
  But the Central Asian states, the so-called ''stans,'' turned out differently. There, the US and Europe envisioned a roughly 3,500-mile (5,600-kilometer) natural gas line starting in Turkmenistan, crossing west over the Caspian, and going on through to Europe. Such a line would provide Central Asia with the same independent economic channel as the Caucasus now enjoyed.
  Routes of the proposed trans-Caspian, Baku-Ceyhan and other pipelines.Thomas Blomberg/Wikimedia Commons
  Only, Turkmenistan balked. Year after year, it could not seem to commit to the proposed line, or any onshore drilling deal with a Western company to produce the needed gas exports. Some said Turkmenistan was afraid of Russia; others blamed its deep suspicions of all foreigners. Whatever the case, hopes for a decisive Turkmen embrace of a trans-Caspian pipeline seemed lost.
  Then the US decided to abandon Central AsiaIn 2002, the West pivoted. It proposed a new, shorter pipeline called Nabucco (named after a Verdi opera), which would skip Turkmenistan and instead start in Azerbaijan. This proposal seemed to have a better chance of success, but completely ignored the line's original rationale'--Central Asia would no longer be rescued from Russia's grip. But the US and the European Union argued that, while they were no longer saving Central Asia, they could rescue Europe, which, they asserted, relied far too much on Russian natural gas. The effort gained particular momentum after 2006, when Russia, in a series of disputes with Ukraine, shut off the natural gas supply temporarily to Europe.
  In 2007, Russia's Vladimir Putin responded with his own weapon'--he would build ''South Stream,'' a $39 billion, 1,500-mile pipeline that, in a direct challenge to Nabucco, would carry Russian gas to the heart of Europe.
  South StreamCourtesy: South Stream
  But it seemed to many experts that the two lines'--Nabucco and South Stream'--were incompatible. For reasons of both supply and demand, only one would be financed and built.
  Meanwhile, smaller players emerged that muddied Nabucco's prospects for success in Azerbaijan. Among them was TAP, a relatively small line that would carry just one third of the volume promised by Nabucco, but would also cost a lot less.
  TAP, Nabucco and other Caspian rivalsTAP
  The climax came June 28. A BP-led consortium in Azerbaijan announced that it would build TAP. The decision appears, at least at this stage, to have rested on the economics. TAP came in cheaper even when Nabucco shortened itself even further into a compact version that it called ''Nabucco West''.
  By keeping the pressure on Nabucco, Putin provided time and breathing room for TAP to make its case. And that resulted in a much diminished threat to Russia's dominance of the European gas market. TAP will supply just 10 billion cubic meters (about 330 billion cubic feet) a year of gas compared to the 30 billion cubic meters (1 trillion cubic feet) a year of gas that Nabucco originally proposed to ship into the continent.
  With no Nabucco, what is South Stream's rationale?So Russia's South Stream pipeline might now seem to have a clear road ahead. Putin has not yet commented, but in the past he has said that he will build South Stream regardless of Nabucco's fate. And a series of bilateral agreements along its route suggest a project etched into stone.
  Yet the math is challenging. In order to finance big oil deals signed June 21 with China, Russia's heavily indebted Rosneft had to get pre-payments from Beijing totaling $60 billion-$70 billion. In a speech on June 28, Alexei Miller, the CEO of Russian gas giant Gazprom, boasted of plans for enormous liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Vladivostok and on the Baltic Sea, toward an aspiration to supply 15% of the world's LNG. Such plants cost billions of dollars. In short, Russia has a lot of competing needs for its cash.
  Meanwhile, the European market is uninviting: Gas competition is stiff from Norway, Qatar and potential supplies by the end of the decade from the US, Israel and Mozambique. Europe is also turning to cheaper coal. And its energy appetite as a whole is stagnant at best.
  So there is reason to at least call South Stream's economic calculus into question. And now that Nabucco is dead, there is no glory to be won in it either.
NSA Spied on European Union Offices - SPIEGEL ONLINE
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  Archived Version
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 04:08
  Information obtained by SPIEGEL shows that America's National Security Agency (NSA) not only conducted online surveillance of European citizens, but also appears to have specifically targeted buildings housing European Union institutions. The information appears in secret documents obtained by whistleblower Edward Snowden that SPIEGEL has in part seen. A "top secret" 2010 document describes how the secret service attacked the EU's diplomatic representation in Washington.
  The document suggests that in addition to installing bugs in the building in downtown Washington, DC, the EU representation's computer network was also infiltrated. In this way, the Americans were able to access discussions in EU rooms as well as emails and internal documents on computers.
  The attacks on EU institutions show yet another level in the broad scope of the NSA's spying activities. For weeks now, new details about Prism and other surveillance programs have been emerging that had been compiled by whistleblower Snowden. Details have also emerged that the British intelligence service GCHQ operates a similar program under the name Tempora with which global telephone and Internet connections are monitored.
  The documents SPIEGEL has seen indicate that the EU representation to the United Nations was attacked in a manner similar to the way surveillance was conducted against its offices in Washington. An NSU document dated September 2010 explicitly names the Europeans as a "location target"
  The documents also indicate the US intelligence service was responsible for an electronic eavesdropping operation in Brussels. A little over five years ago, EU security experts noticed several telephone calls that were apparently targeting the remote maintenance system in the Justus Lipsius Building where the EU Council of Ministers and the European Council is located. The calls were made to numbers that were very close to the one used for the remote administration of the building's telephone system.
  Security officials managed to track the calls to NATO headquarters in the Brussels suburb of Evere. A precise analysis showed that the attacks on the telecommunications system had originated from a building complex separated from the rest of the NATO headquarters that is used by NSA experts.
  A review of the remote maintenance system showed that it had been called and reached several times from precisely that NATO complex. Every EU member state has rooms in the Justus Lipsius Building that can be used by EU ministers. They also have telephone and Internet connections at their disposal.
  (C) SPIEGEL ONLINE 2013All Rights ReservedReproduction only allowed with the permission of SPIEGELnet GmbH
VIDEO-Pre-Stream-FU SCIENCE | ANIMATION DOMINATION HIGH-DEF - YouTube
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  Archived Version
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 03:43
25 June 2013 Statement to the NSA/CSS workforce - Speeches & Testimonies - NSA/CSS
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  Archived Version
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 03:26
  Statement to the NSA/CSS workforce25 June 2013On Sunday I had the honor and privilege of representing NSA on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." It was an important opportunity to speak to the nation and to continue to set the record straight regarding NSA's execution of its foreign intelligence mission.
  NSA's primary responsibility is to defend the nation. After 9/11, we acknowledged our failure as an intelligence community to "connect the dots." To address this shortfall and protect the nation from future terrorist attacks like 9/11, we made several changes to our intelligence efforts and added a number of capabilities. Two of these capabilities are the programs in the news. They were approved by the Administration, Congress, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. With these exceptional authorities came significant oversight from all three branches of the government.
  On 21 June we provided over 50 cases to both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees that show the specific contribution of these programs to our understanding and, in many cases, disruption of terrorist plots in the United States and over 20 countries throughout the world. These results were achieved consistent with our responsibilities under the law. A report issued by the Senate Judiciary in June 2012 emphasized that the government has implemented its intelligence authorities in a responsible manner: "Through four years of oversight, the committee has not identified a single case in which a government official engaged in willful effort to circumvent or violate the law." More than 50 disruptions with zero willful failures in the protection of civil liberties - that's an incredible record and is a testament to NSA's staunch commitment to protecting and upholding the privacy and civil liberties of the American people even as we keep our nation safe. This has been accomplished by the extraordinary people at NSA, the real heroes, working alongside our partners within the Intelligence Community.
  The ongoing national dialogue is not about your performance. The NSA/CSS work force has executed its national security responsibilities with equal and full respect for civil liberties and privacy. The issue is one that is partly fueled by the sensational nature of the leaks and the way their timing has been carefully orchestrated to inflame and embarrass. The challenge of these leaks is exacerbated by a lack of public understanding of the safeguards in place and little awareness of the outcomes that our authorities yield. Leadership, from the President and others in the Executive Branch to the Congress, is now engaged in a public dialogue to make sure the American public gets the rest of the story while not disclosing details that would further endanger our national security. From my perspective, this issue should not be viewed and debated as a "political issue" but rather as a "national security issue." Please do not let this distract you from your work or cause you to worry that your work is not valuable, valued, and honorable. It is all three.
  Let me say again how proud I am to lead this exceptional workforce, uniformed and civilian, civil service and contract personnel. Your dedication is unsurpassed, your patriotism unquestioned, and your skills are the envy of the world. Together with your colleagues in US Cyber Command, you embody the true meaning of noble intent through your national service. In a 1962 speech to the Corps of Cadets on "duty, honor and country," one of this nation's military heroes, General Douglas MacArthur, said these words teach us "not to substitute words for action; not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm." You have done all that and more. "Duty, Honor, Country" could easily be your motto, for you live these words every day. When I think of people acting with noble intent, I think of the men and women of NSA/CSS and all that you are.
  We will move forward from this and by dint of solid strategy, hard work, and partnership will continue to protect the nation from harm. Along the way, we will remain committed to the defense of the Nation and all that it stands for - security and liberty. The Deputy Director, the Senior Leadership Team and I will continue to work this hard and take the heat. We need you to focus on our primary mission of defending our nation and our allies. Thank you for all you do to support our mission every day of the year.
  KEITH B. ALEXANDERGeneral, U.S. ArmyCommander, U.S. Cyber CommandDirector, NSA/Chief, CSS
Keith Alexander: "We Must Win, There Is No Substitute for Victory".
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 03:25
  I frankly have no problem with Keith Alexander giving the employees of the National Security Agency a pep talk as the truth of what they're doing to us becomes public. They are not, after all, responsible for the serial disinformation Alexander and James Clapper have spread about their work. And the overwhelming majority of them are just trying to support the country.
  I don't find this part of Alexander's speech even remotely accurate, mind you, but I've gotten used to dissembling from Alexander.
  The issue is one that is partly fueled by the sensational nature of the leaks and the way their timing has been carefully orchestrated to inflame and embarrass. The challenge of these leaks is exacerbated by a lack of public understanding of the safeguards in place and little awareness of the outcomes that our authorities yield. Leadership, from the President and others in the Executive Branch to the Congress, is now engaged in a public dialogue to make sure the American public gets the rest of the story while not disclosing details that would further endanger our national security.
  It's hard to understand how leaks can be inflammatory and embarrassing but all the claims about safeguards and dialogue to also be true.
  But it's this passage I'm far more struck by:
  Let me say again how proud I am to lead this exceptional workforce, uniformed and civilian, civil service and contract personnel. Your dedication is unsurpassed, your patriotism unquestioned, and your skills are the envy of the world. Together with your colleagues in US Cyber Command, you embody the true meaning of noble intent through your national service. In a 1962 speech to the Corps of Cadets on ''duty, honor and country,'' one of this nation's military heroes, General Douglas MacArthur, said these words teach us ''not to substitute words for action; not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm.'' You have done all that and more. ''Duty, Honor, Country'' could easily be your motto, for you live these words every day. [my emphasis]
  It's not just that he calls out Cyber Command in the midst of a scandal that's not supposed to be (but really is) about offensive war.
  It's not just that he chooses to cite one of the most powerful Generals ever, one who defied civilian command to try to extend a war that '-- it turns out '-- wasn't existential.
  But it's also that he chose to cite a speech that invokes that moment of insubordination, a speech that encourages political inaction among the troops, a speech whose audience MacArthur defined as singularly military.
  And through all this welter of change and development your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable. It is to win our wars. Everything else in your professional career is but corollary to this vital dedication. All other public purpose, all other public projects, all other public needs, great or small, will find others for their accomplishments; but you are the ones who are trained to fight.
  Yours is the profession of arms, the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory, that if you lose, the Nation will be destroyed, that the very obsession of your public service must be Duty, Honor, Country.
  Others will debate the controversial issues, national and international, which divide men's minds. But serene, calm, aloof, you stand as the Nation's war guardians, as its lifeguards from the raging tides of international conflict, as its gladiators in the arena of battle. For a century and a half you have defended, guarded and protected its hallowed traditions of liberty and freedom, of right and justice.
  Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government. Whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing indulged in too long, by federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as firm and complete as they should be.
  These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a tenfold beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country.
  At a moment of crisis, at a moment when his own credibility is under strain, Keith Alexander has chosen to address the military, civilian, and contractor employees of the NSA as unthinking warriors, isolated from the critical issues swirling around them at the moment. He has chosen to frame NSA as a war machine, not as a defense machine.
  The employees of NSA's first duty is to the Constitution, not the secret battles Alexander wants to escalate and win at all costs. I do hope they don't despair of that duty.
  . Bookmark the
  .
Bruce Schneier joins EFF board of directors.
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  Archived Version
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 03:24
  Posted on 28 June 2013.
  The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) announced the newest member of its Board of Directors: security expert Bruce Schneier.Schneier is widely acclaimed for his criticism and commentary on everything from network security to national security. His insight is particularly important as we learn more and more about the unconstitutional surveillance programs from the National Security Agency and the depth and breadth of data the NSA is collecting on the public.
  "EFF is one of the leading organizations fighting the government's unconstitutional spying, marshaling legal and technological expertise to battle surveillance in the courtroom and in Congress," said Schneier. "I'm excited to work together with the board and the staff as we learn more about this spying and how we can shut it down."
  Schneier's first bestseller, "Applied Cryptography," was described by Wired as "the book the National Security Agency wanted never to be published."
  He's written a number of other influential books '' including "Secrets and Lies" and "Liars and Outliers". Schneier has also testified to Congress about the long-range security threat of unchecked presidential power.
  "Bruce is one of America's premiere technologists '' the person both experts and the general public turn to when they need answers to tough security questions," said EFF Executive Director Shari Steele. "We are very proud to have him join our Board of Directors to help EFF meet the challenges of the years ahead."
  In addition to Schneier, EFF's Board of Directors includes John Perry Barlow, Brian Behlendorf, John Buckman, Lorrie Cranor, David Farber, John Gilmore, Brewster Kahle, Pam Samuelson, Brad Templeton, and Jonathan Zittrain.
Type 1 diabetes vaccine shows promise in early study
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 03:23
  CHICAGO '--
  An early stage study suggests an experimental vaccine may be able to tame bits of the immune system that go haywire in people with type 1 diabetes, offering hope for a new way to delay or prevent the autoimmune disease, researchers say.
  For more than four decades, scientists have tried different ways of manipulating the immune system to stop the destruction of insulin-producing cells that is responsible for type 1 diabetes. The disease affects as many as 3 million Americans.
  Some prior attempts suppressed desirable parts of the immune system, leaving individuals vulnerable to infections and cancer. Several teams are now attempting more targeted approaches in an effort to delay or reverse type 1 diabetes.
  Those with this form of diabetes currently must monitor their blood sugar and take insulin several times a day, but the treatment is risky - it can cause coma or death at any time and can lead to heart disease, nerve damage, blindness and kidney failure over time.
  ''What one really wants to do is tame or regulate the specific aspects of the immune system that have gone awry and leave the rest of the immune system intact,'' said Dr Richard Insel, chief scientific officer of JDRF, formerly known as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
  In the latest effort, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, teams from Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands and Stanford University in California tested a vaccine genetically engineered to shut down only the immune system cells causing harm, while leaving the rest of the immune system intact.
  ''The idea here is to turn off just the rogue immune cells that are attacking the pancreas and killing the beta cells that secrete insulin,'' said Stanford Professor Dr Lawrence Steinman, one of the study's senior authors and co-founder of a company called Tolerion recently formed to commercialize the vaccine.
  The study, done in 80 people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes who were receiving insulin injections, was designed to test the safety of the vaccine known as TOL-3021. The so-called DNA vaccine is made up of a small round piece of DNA called a plasmid that is genetically engineered to tamp down the immune response to insulin and preserve insulin-producing beta cells.
  The vaccine targets a precursor protein in the blood called proinsulin. ''It's a complicated series of snips and cuts in the DNA that take away the capability to stimulate the immune system,'' Steinman said.
  ''This effectively triggers an off-switch,'' he said.
  After 12 weeks of shots given once a week, patients who got the vaccine showed signs that they helped preserve some of the remaining insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas without causing serious side effects.
  The vaccine also reduced the number of killer immune cells known as T cells. And patients who got the active vaccine had higher levels of C-peptides - a remnant of insulin production in the blood that suggests the presence of more working beta cells.
  Steinman admits the vaccine is far from commercial use, but the study is promising enough to do a bigger study.
  ''So far, it looks like it is doing what we want,'' he said.
  Insel said it was too early to say much about the vaccine's promise. ''It looks like it has some potential, but very small numbers,'' he said.
  ''This was done initially as a safety and dose-finding study. They were surprised to get these kinds of results,'' he said.
  Stanford has licensed rights to the vaccine to California-based Tolerion, which is designing a longer study in as many as 200 patients to test whether the vaccine can slow or stop progression of the disease in younger patients, before too much damage has been done.
  Insel said the work is one of several efforts aimed at developing a vaccine for type 1 diabetes. Such a vaccine could help people with active type 1 diabetes preserve residual beta cells, giving them better control of their disease and potentially getting them off insulin.
  Ultimately, the hope is to develop an effective vaccine that could be given to individuals who are genetically predisposed to develop the condition, he said.
  The World Health Organization estimates that about 10% of the 350 million people in the world with diabetes have the type 1 variety - most have type 2, which is associated with obesity and lack of exercise.
  (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013.
Obama in South Africa: ''Hero's Welcome'' | Global Research
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  Archived Version
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 03:23
  If the first Black President of the USA thought he was going to get a hero's welcome in South Africa,
  It's not going too well.
  A mass protest movement has unfolded.
  This is on the way to the US Embassy.
  The posters convey the forbidden truth: The US president is a war criminal
  Stop the Plunder of Africa.
  Meet the World's Top Assassin.
  Obama, Zionist Uncle Tom
  Close Down Guantanamo
  Africom out of Africa
  Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Center of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post original Global Research articles on community internet sites as long as the text & title are not modified. The source and the author's copyright must be displayed. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: publications@globalresearch.ca
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Why Australia has a problem with kangaroo meat
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: BBC News - Home
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 03:19
  29 June 2013Last updated at19:31 ETBy Fuchsia DunlopBBC NewsAustralians have an ingrained reluctance to eat their national emblem, but a number of chefs are now championing kangaroo meat as a delicious - and environmentally friendly alternative to beef and pork.
  The glass cabinets of Dean Cooper's butcher's shop in the Central Market in Adelaide are stacked with leg roasts, steaks, meatballs, kebabs and sausages, as you might expect. But unlike any other butcher in Australia, or indeed the world, Dean Cooper only sells meat from the kangaroo. It's a healthy meat, he tells me: low in saturated fats, full of iron, free-range and organic. And if you don't overcook it, he says, it's magnificently tender. One of his regular customers, Carol Wyld, says she's been shopping here almost since the shop opened, 30 years ago. "Kangaroo meat is much better than lamb or beef," she tells me, "It's beautiful, it just melts in your mouth. And kangaroo tail soup is just divine. I'll be making lasagne tomorrow night with minced kangaroo instead of beef."
  Continue reading the main storyFuchsia DunlopFuchsia Dunlop's interest in Chinese cookery grew out of a job at the BBC, which prompted her to take evening classes in Mandarin, and to win a scholarship to study in Sichuan.
  She has written four books on the subject, but continues to work for the BBC World Service.
  Like many foreign cooks and food writers visiting Australia, I was dying to try some of the country's unique local ingredients, and none of them more than kangaroo. On a previous visit to the country I'd been impressed by local chefs' commitment to sourcing the finest produce, and by the way their menus described the provenance of fresh seafood, heritage tomatoes and free-range pork. This time, I wanted to see how they cooked one of their most distinctive native Australian ingredients. And I knew that kangaroo meat had much to recommend it from an environmental point of view.
  Kangaroos produce far less of the greenhouse gas methane than the cattle brought over by European settlers, and their jumping feet don't damage the fragile Australian topsoil like the hard hooves of cows and sheep. Although kangaroos are a protected species, there are so many of them that they are widely regarded as pests, and they are hunted by professional shooters according to a strict quota system. In an era when chefs all over the world are clamouring to use wild, seasonal and local produce, one might expect kangaroo meat to take pride of place on Australian menus.
  Surprisingly, however, most Australians refuse to eat it. On my first days in Adelaide, in South Australia, I scoured restaurant menus in vain for kangaroo dishes. The Greek, Korean, Chinese and Afghan restaurants I visited were testament to the multiculturalism of the Australian diet, but their menus maintained a studious silence on the subject of kangaroo. The only place I found it served was the Red Ochre Grill, a riverside restaurant that specialises in indigenous ingredients. There, some friends and I tasted rosy, sweet-cured kangaroo fillet, and a thick tranche of kangaroo steak served medium rare from the grill. But as head chef Nick Filsell admits, many of the restaurant's customers are tourists and other out-of-town visitors. "Kangaroo is a bit of a novelty meat, like crocodile and emu," he says. "Most local people wouldn't have it at home."
  Continue reading the main storyTaboos of the tableAustralians' hang-up about eating their most distinctive local meat is not particularly surprising, given the deep irrationality of human food choices.
  Most people in the West, for example, will eat shrimps but not insects, pork but not dog, and beef but not horse meat.
  History is littered with examples of societies that suffered because they wouldn't change their eating habits, like the mediaeval Norse community on Greenland, who starved to death because they refused to eat fish and seal like the natives, but insisted on maintaining a tradition of cattle farming that was unsuited to their fragile northern habitat.
  Most Australians I talk to in Adelaide and Sydney say they feel funny about eating kangaroo. "After all," one young woman explains, "it's our national emblem." She confesses that the only kangaroo meat she's ever had in the house was to feed to her kittens. Almost everyone I speak to mentions what they called "the Skippy factor" - a reference to the 1960s TV series, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, which encouraged Australians to see kangaroos as far too adorable to cook for dinner. Eating kangaroo, one chef tells me, feels a bit like eating Bambi, that cute young deer in the Disney cartoon.
  In the past, kangaroo meat was more widely accepted. It was always eaten by aboriginal Australians, for whom the succulent tail, roasted in a pitful of embers, is a particular delicacy. The early European settlers ate kangaroo out of necessity, and many eventually came to enjoy a red meat that didn't really taste so different from venison, hare or beef. According to historian Barbara Santich in her book Bold Palates: Australia's Gastronomic Heritage, kangaroo recipes appeared regularly in cookbooks until the 1930s. Kangaroo soup was highly prized, as was "steamer", a stew made from kangaroo enriched with salt pork. But as more Australians moved to the cities and living standards rose, kangaroo meat and other so-called "bush tucker" fell out of favour.
  Celebrated chef Neil Perry tells me people considered kangaroo meat unsanitary because it was shot in the wild and didn't come from the sanitised environs of an abattoir. His wife Sam adds that it is hard to escape the idea of roadkill. "People think of kangaroos being hit by cars," she says, "and lying on dusty roads in the baking sun." Animal rights activists have also stirred up anxiety about killing female kangaroos that might have joeys (baby kangaroos) in their pouches.
  Continue reading the main storyKangaroo factsOf 48 species of kangaroo in Australia, only five can be commercially harvested2002 census counted 58.6 million kangaroos in AustraliaIt's estimated there are twice as many kangaroos as cattle in the countrySo more than 70% of the meat is exported, mainly to Russia. Some of what remains is used as pet food (kangaroo butcher Cooper says his friends still tease him, asking: "You still got that pet meat shop?"). But the tail, and occasionally steak, are eaten enthusiastically by Australia's Chinese population, and Chinatown is one of the few places in Sydney where it can easily be bought.
  A few pioneering chefs, though, are trying to revive interest among the Australian public in eating kangaroo, or at least its smaller, daintier cousin, the wallaby. One of them, Kylie Kwong, is passionately committed to using indigenous ingredients in her Chinese restaurant, Billy Kwong: warrigal greens, saltbush, sea parsley and quandongs or desert peaches all appear on her menu. "I jumped at the chance to use a native meat," she says. "This wallaby comes from the pristine environment of Flinders Island, and the quality is so high you can even serve it raw, like carpaccio. I think our customers are pleasantly surprised by how good it tastes." When she welcomes me into her kitchen, Kylie conjures up a plateful of red-braised wallaby tail with native fruits, and another of stir-fried wallaby tenderloin with black bean and chilli. The tail is meltingly delicious, like an Australian oxtail, and the tenderloin as tender as its name suggests, with a delicate gamey flavour that reminds me of pigeon breast.
  On my last day in Sydney, Neil Perry allowed me into the kitchens of his Chinese restaurant, Spice Temple, for some of my own culinary experiments. As a cook trained in China, I take a Chinese approach. I cut some Flinders Island wallaby into slivers and stir-fry it with Chinese yellow chives; slice some more and give it the Hunanese treatment, flash-frying it with chilli, ginger, garlic and cumin; mince the rest and use it instead of beef in the Sichuanese classic, Pock-Marked Old Woman's Tofu. I also make a kangaroo tail soup, slow-cooking the tail with wine, chicken and spices, and serving it with a chilli bean dip.
  There is certainly nothing weird about the taste or texture of either wallaby or kangaroo. I'd heard that the lean meat, like chicken breast, would become leathery if overcooked but swift stir-frying keeps it tender and succulent. The spicy tofu dish is just as good as the beefy original, and anyone unknowingly eating the tail would take it for an oxtail.
  With rising global population, increasing demand for meat and widespread environmental degradation, experts are warning that we will all have to challenge our gastronomic prejudices in the future. The United Nations is even promoting insects as a sustainable source of protein. Many of the world's most famous chefs are also taking a stand for local, sustainable ingredients. Rene Redzepi, the founding chef of the Copenhagen restaurant Noma, previously garlanded as the best restaurant in the world, is globally renowned for his insistence on using only Nordic ingredients. On a visit to Sydney in 2010, he lambasted Australians for ignoring the produce in their own backyard. "I think it's weird that I haven't been served kangaroo here," he told an audience at the Sydney Opera House.
  In the face of pressing environmental issues, a fashion for gastronomic localism, and the efforts of local chefs like Kylie Kwong to shake up their perceptions, perhaps in the future, once again, Australians will come to enjoy kangaroo soup for their dinner.
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sup email client
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 03:12
  supSup is a console-based email client for people with a lot of email.
  It presents an interface of a list of threads, which are each hierarchical collections email messages. Threads can have multiple tags applied to them. It supports a very fast full-text search, automatic contact-list management, custom code insertion via a Ruby hook system, and more. If you're the type of person who treats email as an extension of your long-term memory, Sup is for you.
  # InstallationInstall the sup rubygem and run the sup-config utility to build a configuration:
  $ gem install sup$ sup-configMore documentation on getting started is available in the wiki.
  # FeaturesHandle massive amounts of email.Fast, local full-text index of messages.Mix email from different sources: mbox files and maildirs.Instantaneously search over your entire email collection. Search over body text, or use a query language to combine search predicates in any way.Handle multiple accounts. Replying to email sent to a particular account will use the correct SMTP server, signature, and from address.Add custom code to handle certain types of messages or to handle certain types of text within messages.Organize email with user-defined labels, automatically track recent contacts, and much more!# Sub-projectssupsup is the original curses email client, full-text index, and hook system.
  HeliotropeHeliotrope is an architectural shift from sup that maintains many of the same concepts, but separates out a server and client. Contrast to what is done in sup, where one large client installation has all the mail documents and indexes locally, Heliotrope provides a server-side service that indexes mail.
  In this way, remote clients can connect up and interact with their mail stores in a sup-like way, while keeping the mobile install slim. This is a lifesaver when switching from machine to machine.
  TurnsoleTurnsole is an example client that would connect to Heliotrope and interact with mail.
  ResourcesAuthors and ContributorsSup is brought to you by a cast of hackers.
  supSup is a console-based email client for people with a lot of email.
  It presents an interface of a list of threads, which are each hierarchical collections email messages. Threads can have multiple tags applied to them. It supports a very fast full-text search, automatic contact-list management, custom code insertion via a Ruby hook system, and more. If you're the type of person who treats email as an extension of your long-term memory, Sup is for you.
  # InstallationInstall the sup rubygem and run the sup-config utility to build a configuration:
  $ gem install sup$ sup-configMore documentation on getting started is available in the wiki.
  # FeaturesHandle massive amounts of email.Fast, local full-text index of messages.Mix email from different sources: mbox files and maildirs.Instantaneously search over your entire email collection. Search over body text, or use a query language to combine search predicates in any way.Handle multiple accounts. Replying to email sent to a particular account will use the correct SMTP server, signature, and from address.Add custom code to handle certain types of messages or to handle certain types of text within messages.Organize email with user-defined labels, automatically track recent contacts, and much more!# Sub-projectssupsup is the original curses email client, full-text index, and hook system.
  HeliotropeHeliotrope is an architectural shift from sup that maintains many of the same concepts, but separates out a server and client. Contrast to what is done in sup, where one large client installation has all the mail documents and indexes locally, Heliotrope provides a server-side service that indexes mail.
  In this way, remote clients can connect up and interact with their mail stores in a sup-like way, while keeping the mobile install slim. This is a lifesaver when switching from machine to machine.
  TurnsoleTurnsole is an example client that would connect to Heliotrope and interact with mail.
  ResourcesAuthors and ContributorsSup is brought to you by a cast of hackers.
notmuch email search
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 03:09
  Why Notmuch?Because dealing with your mail can be so much better.
  "Not much mail" is what Notmuch thinks about your email collection. Even if you receive 12000 messages per month or have on the order of millions of messages that you've been saving for decades. Regardless, Notmuch will be able to quickly search all of it. It's just plain not much mail.
  "Not much mail" is also what you should have in your inbox at any time. Notmuch gives you what you need, (tags and fast search), so that you can keep your inbox tamed and focus on what really matters in your life, (which is surely not email).
  Notmuch is an answer to Sup. Sup is a very good email program written by William Morgan (and others) and is the direct inspiration for Notmuch. Notmuch began as an effort to rewrite performance-critical pieces of Sup in C rather than ruby. From there, it grew into a separate project. One significant contribution Notmuch makes compared to Sup is the separation of the indexer/searcher from the user interface. (Notmuch provides a library interface so that its indexing/searching/tagging features can be integrated into any email program.)
  Notmuch is not much of an email program. It doesn't receive messages (no POP or IMAP support). It doesn't send messages (no mail composer, no network code at all). And for what it does do (email search) that work is provided by an external library, Xapian. So if Notmuch provides no user interface and Xapian does all the heavy lifting, then what's left here? Not much.
  If you've been looking for a fast, global-search and tag-based email reader to use within your text editor or in a terminal, then Notmuch may be exactly what you've been looking for.
  If you're a developer of an existing email program and would love a good library interface for fast, global search with support for arbitrary tags, then Notmuch also may be exactly what you've been looking for.
  NewsThe latest news from notmuch
  DocumentationTo get started with notmuch, just run "notmuch" at the command line. The configuration wizard will walk you through initial setup, including specifying the location of your mail store and how to start the initial indexing. After that, come back and checkout our docs:
  Apart from the wiki, help is available via email and on IRC (see below). Join the mailing list. Read the archives. Ask questions.
  Email clients and front endsNotmuch ships with a powerful set of command-line tools, an email client for Emacs, another client for vim, and a Mutt integration script.
  There are also many other email clients and frontends based on Notmuch. And a few tips about integrating it with Mutt and Vim.
  ScreenshotsObtaining NotmuchNotmuch source releases are available as source tar balls.
  Notmuch is packaged for the following distributions:
  Development and ContributingAll of the code for Notmuch is available as free software released under the GNU GPL version 3. The latest versions can be checked out via git with this command:
  git clone git://notmuchmail.org/git/notmuchYou can browse the Notmuch code history online. And finally, you can subscribe to the notmuch-commits list to watch every commit made to notmuch and the notmuchmail.org web site.
  We have a buildbot (here's its configuration).
  Contributions, such as patches, to Notmuch are most welcome. Please refer to the guide to contributing.
  Bug and patch trackingThe tagging and filtering features of notmuch make it quite suitable for use as a bug- and patch-tracker. We are currently experimenting with using it for this purpose for notmuch development, using a utility called nmbug. The status of bugs and current patches can also be followed online.
  Bug reports should be sent to the Notmuch mailing list notmuch@notmuchmail.org.
  Contact: Email & IRCComments? Please feel free to email the notmuch mailing list: notmuch@notmuchmail.org (subscription is not required, but you can also subscribe to the notmuch mailing list). You can also browse the online list archives, read them as a web forum (nabble), or download an mbox file of the entire mailing-list.
  The mb2md utility can be used to convert the archives to maildir format which is convenient for reading the archives within notmuch itself.
  If you prefer real-time chat, there is often someone on the #notmuch@irc.freenode.net IRC channel.
  Feature ideasIf you have a feature idea/request, please send it to the mailing list. You don't have to be subscribed to send, although there might be a delay for non-subscribers.
  WebsiteThis wiki is maintained using ikiwiki. Here are instructions on how to edit the wiki.
dbpmail.net :: A Hacker's Replacement for GMail
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  Archived Version
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 03:08
  dbpmail.net :: A Hacker's Replacement for GMailA Hacker's Replacement for GMailby Daniel Patterson on June 29, 2013
  MotivationI reluctantly switched to GMail about six months ago, after using many so-called ''replacements for GMail'' (the last of which was Fastmail). All of them were missing one or more features that I require of email:
  Access to the same email on multiple machines (but, these can all be machines I control).Access to important email on my phone (Android). Sophisticated access not important - just a high-tech pager.Ability to organize messages by threads.Ability to categorize messages by tags (folders are not sufficient).Good search functionality.But, while GMail has all of these things, there were nagging reasons why I still wanted an alternative: handing an advertising company most of my personal and professional correspondance seems like a bad idea, having no (meaningful) way to either sign or encrypt email is unfortunate, and while it isn't a true deal-breaker, having lightweight programmatic access to my email is a really nice thing (you can get a really rough approximation of this with the RSS feeds GMail provides). Furthermore, I'd be happy if I only get important email on my phone (ie, I want a whitelist on the phone - unexpected email is not something that I need to respond to all the time, and this allows me to elevate the notification for these messages, as they truly are important).
  Over the past several months, I gradually put together a mail system that provides all the required features, as well as the three bonuses (encryption, easy programmatic access, and phone whitelisting). I'm describing it as a ''Hacker's Replacement for GMail'' as opposed to just a ''Replacement for GMail'' because it involves a good deal of familiarity with Unix (or at least, to set up and debug the whole system it did. Perhaps following along is easier). But, the end result is powerful enough that for me, it is worth it. I finally switched over to using it primarily recently, confirming that all works as expected. I wanted to share the instructions in case they prove useful to someone else setting up a similar system.
  This is somewhere between an outline and a HOWTO. I've organized it roughly in order of how I set things up, but some of the parts are more sketches than detailed instructions - supplement it with normal documentation. Most are based on notes from things as I did them, only a few parts were reconstructed. In general, I try to highlight the parts that were difficult / undocumented, and gloss over stuff that should be easy (and/or point to detailed docs). Without further ado:
  Overall DesignDebian GNU/Linux as mail server operating system (both Linux and Mac as clients, though Windows should be doable)Exim4 as the mail serverCourier-IMAP for mobile usageSpamassassin (with Pyzor) for spamnotmuch to manage the email database+tags+searchafew for managing notmuch tagging/email movingEmacs client for notmuch on all computersK9-Mail on android (my phone)Mail is received by the mail server and put in a Archive subdirectory which is not configured for push in K9-Mail. The mail is processed and tagged by afew, and any messages with the tag ''important'' are moved into the Important subdirectory. This directory is set up for push in K9-Mail, so I get all important email right away. No further tagging can be done through the mobile device, but that wasn't a requirement. read/unread status will be synced two-way to notmuch, which is important.
  Step By Step InstructionsThe first and most important part is having a server. I've been really happy with VPSes I have from Digital Ocean (warning: that's a referral link. Here's one without.) - they provide big-enough VPSes for email and a simple website for $5/month. There are also many other providers. The important thing is to get a server, if you don't already have one.
  The next thing you'll need is a domain name. You can use a subdomain of one you already have, but the simplest thing is to just get a new one. This is $10-15/year. Once you have it, you want to set a few records (these are set in the ''Zone File'', and should be easy to set up through the online control panel of whatever registrar you used):
  A mydomain.com. IP.ADDR.OF.SERVER (mydomain.com. might be written @)MX 10 mydomain.com.This sets the domain to point to your server, and sets the mail record to point to that domain name. You will also need to set up a PTR record, or reverse DNS. If you got the server through Digital Ocean, you can set up the DNS records through them, and they allow you to set the PTR record for each server easily. Whereever you set it up, it should point at mydomain.com. (Note trailing period. Otherwise it will resolve to mydomain.com.mydomain.com - not what you want!).
  Now set up the mail server itself. I use Debian, but it shouldn't be terribly different with other distributions (but you should follow their instructions, not the ones I link to here, because I'm sure there are specifics that are dependent on how Debian sets things up). Since Debian uses Exim4 by default, I used that, and set up Courier as an IMAP server. I followed these instructions: blog.edseek.com/~jasonb/articles/exim4_courier/ (sections 2, 3, and 4). The only important thing I had to change was to force the hostname, by finding the line it /etc/exim4/exim4.conf.template that looks like:.ifdef MAIN_HARDCODE_PRIMARY_HOSTNAMEAnd adding above it, MAIN_HARDCODE_PRIMARY_HOSTNAME = mydomain.com (no trailing period). This is so that the header that the mail server displays matches the domain. If this isn't the case, some mail servers won't deliver messages. At this point, you can test the mail server by sending yourself emails, using the swaks tool, or running it through an online testing tool like MX Toolbox
  The last important thing is to set up spam filtering. When using a big email provider that spends a lot of effort filtering spam (and has huge data sets to do it), it's easy to forget how much spam is actually sent. But, fortunately open source software is also capable of eliminating it. To set Spamassassin up, I generally followed the documentation on the debian wiki. I changed the last part of the configuration so that instead of changing the subject for spam messages to have ''***SPAM***'', it adds the following header:
  add_header = X-Spam-Flag: YESThis is the header that the default spam filter from afew will look for and tag messages as spam with. Once messages are tagged as spam, they won't show up in searches, won't ever end up in your inbox, etc. On the other hand, they aren't ever deleted, so if something does end up there, you can always find it (you just have to use notmuch search with the --exclude=false parameter).
  That sets up basic Spamassassin, which works quite well. To make it work even better, we'll install Pyzor, which is a service for collaborative spam filtering (sort of an open source system that gets you similar behavior to what GMail can do by having access to so many people's email). It works by constructing a digest of the message and hashing it, and then sending that hash to a server to see if anyone has marked it as spam.
  Install pyzor with aptitude install pyzor, then run pyzor discover (as root), and at least on my system, I needed to run chmod a+r /etc/mail/spamassassin/servers (as root) in order to have it work (the following test command would report permission denied on that file if I didn't). Now restart spamassassin (/etc/init.d/spamassassin restart) and test that it's working, by running:
  echo "test" | spamassassin -D pyzor 2>&1 | lessThis should print (among other things):
  Jun 29 16:31:53.026 [24982] dbg: pyzor: network tests on, attempting PyzorJun 29 16:31:54.640 [24982] dbg: pyzor: pyzor is available: /usr/bin/pyzorJun 29 16:31:54.641 [24982] dbg: pyzor: opening pipe: /usr/bin/pyzor --homedir ...Jun 29 16:31:54.674 [24982] dbg: pyzor: [25043] finished: exit 1Jun 29 16:31:54.674 [24982] dbg: pyzor: check failed: no responseAccording to the documentation, this is expected, because ''test'' is not a valid message.
  Now we want to set up our delivery. Create a .forward file in the home directory of the account on the server that is going to recieve mail. It should contain# Exim filtersave Maildir/.ArchiveWhat this does is put all mail that is recieved into the Archive subdirectory (the dots are convention of the version of the Maildir format that Courier-IMAP uses).
  Next, we want to set up notmuch. You can install it and the python bindings (needed by afew) with:aptitude install notmuch python-notmuchRun notmuch setup and put in your name, email, and make sure that the directory to your email archive is ''/home/YOURUSER/Maildir''. Run notmuch new to have it create the directories and, if you tested the mail server by sending yourself messages, import those initial messages.
  Install afew from github.com/teythoon/afew. You can start with the default configuration, and then add filters that will add the tag 'important', as well as any other automatic tagging you want to have. I commented out the ClassifyingFilter because it wasn't working - and I wasn't convinced I wanted it, so didn't bother to figure out how te get it to work.
  Some simple filters look like:
  [Filter.0]message = messages from someonequery = from:someone.important@email.comtags = +important[Filter.1]message = messages I don't care aboutquery = subject:Dealtags = -unread +dealsFor the [MailMover] section, you want the configuration to look like:
  [MailMover]folders = Archive Importantmax_age = 15# rulesArchive = 'tag:important AND NOT tag:spam':.ImportantImportant = 'NOT tag:important':.Archive 'tag:spam':.ArchiveThis says to take anything in Archive with the important tag and put it in important (but never spam). Note that the folders we are moving to are prefixed with a dot, but the names of the folders aren't. Now we need to set everything up to run automatically.
  We are going to use inotify, and specifically the tool incron, to watch for changes in our .Archive inbox and add files to the database, tag them, and move those that should be moved to .Important. On Debian, you can obtain incron with:aptitude install incronNow edit your incrontab (similar to crontab) with incrontab -e and put an entry like:
  /home/MYUSER/Maildir/.Archive/new IN_MOVED_TO,IN_NO_LOOP /home/MYUSER/bin/my-notmuch-new.shThis says that we want to watch for IN_MOVED_TO events, we don't want to listen while the script is running (if something goes wrong with your importing script, you could cause an infinite spawning of processes, which will take down the server). If a message is delivered while the script is running, it might not get picked up until the next run, but for me that was fine (you may want to eliminate the IN_NO_LOOP option and see if it actually causes loops. In previous configurations, I crashed my server twice through process spawning loops, and didn't want to do it again while debugging). When IN_MOVED_TO occurs, we call a script we've written. You can obviously put this anywhere, just make it executable:
  #!/bin/bash/usr/local/bin/notmuch new >> /dev/null 2>&1/usr/local/bin/afew -nt >> /dev/null 2>&1/usr/local/bin/afew -m >> /dev/null 2>&1It is intentionally being very quiet because output from cron jobs will trigger emails'... and thus if there were a mistake, we could be in infinite loop land again. This means you should make sure the commands are working (ie, there aren't mistakes in your config files), because you won't see any debug output from them when they are run through this script.
  Now let's set up the mobile client. I'm not sure of a good way to do this on iOS (aside from just manually checking the Important folder), but perhaps a motivated person could figure it out. Since I have an Android phone, it wasn't an issue. On Android, install K9-Mail, and set up your account with the incoming / outgoing mail server to be just 'mydomain.com'. Click on the account, and it will show just Inbox (not helpful). Hit the menu button, then click folders, and check ''display all folders''. Now hit the menu again and click folders and hit ''refresh folders''.Provided at least one message has been put into Important and Archive, those should both show up now. Open the folder 'Important' and use the settings to enable push for it. Also add it to the Unified Inbox. Similarly, disable push on the Inbox (this latter doesn't really matter, because we never deliver messages to the inbox). If you have trouble finding these settings (which I did for a while), note that the settings that are available are contingent upon the screen you are on. The folders settings only exist when you are looking at the list of folders (not the unified inbox / list of accounts, and not the contents of a folder).
  Finally, the desktop client. I'm using the emacs client, because I spend most of my time inside emacs, but there are several other clients - one for vim, one called 'bower' that is curses based (that I've used before, but is less featureful than the emacs one), and a few others. alot, a python client, won't work, because it assumes that the notmuch database is local (which is a really stupid assumption). The rest just assume that notmuch is in the path. This means that you can follow the instructions here: notmuchmail.org/remoteusage to have the desktop use the mail database on the server. To test, run notmuch count on your local machine, and it should return the same thing (the total number of messages) as it does on the mail server.Once this is working, install notmuch locally, so that you get the emacs bindings (or, just download the source and put the contents of the emacs folder somewhere and include it in your .emacs). You should now be able to run M-x notmuch in emacs and get to your inbox. Setting up mail sending is a little trickier - most of the documentation I found didn't work!
  The first thing to do, in case your ISP is like mine and blocks port 25, is to change the default listening port for the server. Open up /etc/default/exim4 and set SMTPLISTENEROPTIONS equal to -oX 25:587 -oP /var/run/exim4/exim.pid. This will have it listen on both 25 and 587.
  Next, set up emacs to use your mail server to send mail, and to load notmuch. This incantation in your .emacs should do the trick:
  ;; If you opted to just stick the elisp files somewhere, add that path here:;; (add-to-list 'load-path "~/path/folder/with/emacs-notmuch")(require 'notmuch)(setq smtpmail-starttls-credentials '(("mydomain.com" 587 nil nil)) smtpmail-auth-credentials (expand-file-name "~/.authinfo") smtpmail-default-smtp-server "mydomain.com" smtpmail-smtp-server "mydomain.com" smtpmail-smtp-service 587)(require 'smtpmail)(setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)(require 'starttls)Now eval your .emacs (or restart emacs), and you are almost ready to send mail.
  You just need to put a line like this into ~/.authinfo:
  machine mydomain.com login MYUSERNAME password MYPASSWORD port 587With appropriate permissions (chmod 600 ~/.authinfo).
  Now you can test this by typing C-x m or M-x notmuch and then from there, hit the 'm' key - both of these open the composition window. Type a message and who it is to, and then type C-c C-c to send it. It should take a second and then say it was sent at the bottom of the window.
  This should work as-is on Linux. Another machine I sometimes use is a mac, and things are a little more complicated. The main problem is that to send mail, we need starttls. You can install gnutls through Homebrew, Fink, or Macports, but the next problem is that if you are using Emacs installed from emacsformacosx.com (and thus it is a graphical application), it is not started from a shell, which means it doesn't have the same path, and thus doesn't know how to find gnutls. To fix this problem (which is more general), you can install a tiny Emacs package called exec-path-from-shell (this requires Emacs 24, which you should use - then M-x package-install) that interrogates a shell about what the path should be. Then, we just have to tell it to use gnutls and all should work. We can do this all in a platform specific way (so it won't run on other platforms):
  (when (memq window-system '(mac ns)) (exec-path-from-shell-initialize) (setq starttls-use-gnutls t) (setq starttls-gnutls-program "gnutls-cli") (setq starttls-extra-arguments nil) )Address lookup. It's really nice to have an address book based on messages in your mailbox. An easy way to do this is to install addrlookup: get the source from http://github.com/spaetz/vala-notmuch/raw/static-sources/src/addrlookup.c, build withcc -o addrlookup addrlookup.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs gobject-2.0` -lnotmuchand move the resulting binary into your path (all of this on your server), and then create a similar wrapper as for notmuch:
  ~/bin/addrlookup:#!/bin/bashprintf -v ARGS "%q " "$@"exec ssh your_server addrlookup ${ARGS}And then add this to your .emacs:
  (require 'notmuch-address)(setq notmuch-address-command "/path/to/addrlookup")(notmuch-address-message-insinuate)Now if you hit ''TAB'' after you start typing in an address, it will prompt you with completions (use up/down arrow to move between, hit enter to select).
  ConclusionCongratulations! You now have a mail system that is more powerful than GMail and completely controlled by you. And there is a lot more you can do. For example, to enable encryption (to start, just signing emails), install gnupg, create a key and associate it with your email address, and add the following line to your .emacs and all messages will be signed by default (it adds a line in the message that when you send it causes emacs to sign the email. Note that this line must be the first line, so add your message below it):
  (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'mml-secure-message-sign-pgpmime)An unfortunate current limitation is that the keys are checked by the notmuch commandline, so you need to install public keys on the server. This is fine, except that the emacs client installs them locally when you click on an unknown key (hit $ when viewing a message to see the signatures). So, at least for now, you have to manually add keys to the server with gpg --recv-key KEYID before they will show up as verified on the client (signing/encrypting still works, because that is done locally). Hopefully this will be fixed soon.
  Note: if you find any mistakes in this, or parts that needed additional steps,
  let me know (dbp at dbpmail dot net)
  and I'll correct/add to this.dbpmail.net :: A Hacker's Replacement for GMailA Hacker's Replacement for GMailby Daniel Patterson on June 29, 2013
  MotivationI reluctantly switched to GMail about six months ago, after using many so-called ''replacements for GMail'' (the last of which was Fastmail). All of them were missing one or more features that I require of email:
  Access to the same email on multiple machines (but, these can all be machines I control).Access to important email on my phone (Android). Sophisticated access not important - just a high-tech pager.Ability to organize messages by threads.Ability to categorize messages by tags (folders are not sufficient).Good search functionality.But, while GMail has all of these things, there were nagging reasons why I still wanted an alternative: handing an advertising company most of my personal and professional correspondance seems like a bad idea, having no (meaningful) way to either sign or encrypt email is unfortunate, and while it isn't a true deal-breaker, having lightweight programmatic access to my email is a really nice thing (you can get a really rough approximation of this with the RSS feeds GMail provides). Furthermore, I'd be happy if I only get important email on my phone (ie, I want a whitelist on the phone - unexpected email is not something that I need to respond to all the time, and this allows me to elevate the notification for these messages, as they truly are important).
  Over the past several months, I gradually put together a mail system that provides all the required features, as well as the three bonuses (encryption, easy programmatic access, and phone whitelisting). I'm describing it as a ''Hacker's Replacement for GMail'' as opposed to just a ''Replacement for GMail'' because it involves a good deal of familiarity with Unix (or at least, to set up and debug the whole system it did. Perhaps following along is easier). But, the end result is powerful enough that for me, it is worth it. I finally switched over to using it primarily recently, confirming that all works as expected. I wanted to share the instructions in case they prove useful to someone else setting up a similar system.
  This is somewhere between an outline and a HOWTO. I've organized it roughly in order of how I set things up, but some of the parts are more sketches than detailed instructions - supplement it with normal documentation. Most are based on notes from things as I did them, only a few parts were reconstructed. In general, I try to highlight the parts that were difficult / undocumented, and gloss over stuff that should be easy (and/or point to detailed docs). Without further ado:
  Overall DesignDebian GNU/Linux as mail server operating system (both Linux and Mac as clients, though Windows should be doable)Exim4 as the mail serverCourier-IMAP for mobile usageSpamassassin (with Pyzor) for spamnotmuch to manage the email database+tags+searchafew for managing notmuch tagging/email movingEmacs client for notmuch on all computersK9-Mail on android (my phone)Mail is received by the mail server and put in a Archive subdirectory which is not configured for push in K9-Mail. The mail is processed and tagged by afew, and any messages with the tag ''important'' are moved into the Important subdirectory. This directory is set up for push in K9-Mail, so I get all important email right away. No further tagging can be done through the mobile device, but that wasn't a requirement. read/unread status will be synced two-way to notmuch, which is important.
  Step By Step InstructionsThe first and most important part is having a server. I've been really happy with VPSes I have from Digital Ocean (warning: that's a referral link. Here's one without.) - they provide big-enough VPSes for email and a simple website for $5/month. There are also many other providers. The important thing is to get a server, if you don't already have one.
  The next thing you'll need is a domain name. You can use a subdomain of one you already have, but the simplest thing is to just get a new one. This is $10-15/year. Once you have it, you want to set a few records (these are set in the ''Zone File'', and should be easy to set up through the online control panel of whatever registrar you used):
  A mydomain.com. IP.ADDR.OF.SERVER (mydomain.com. might be written @)MX 10 mydomain.com.This sets the domain to point to your server, and sets the mail record to point to that domain name. You will also need to set up a PTR record, or reverse DNS. If you got the server through Digital Ocean, you can set up the DNS records through them, and they allow you to set the PTR record for each server easily. Whereever you set it up, it should point at mydomain.com. (Note trailing period. Otherwise it will resolve to mydomain.com.mydomain.com - not what you want!).
  Now set up the mail server itself. I use Debian, but it shouldn't be terribly different with other distributions (but you should follow their instructions, not the ones I link to here, because I'm sure there are specifics that are dependent on how Debian sets things up). Since Debian uses Exim4 by default, I used that, and set up Courier as an IMAP server. I followed these instructions: blog.edseek.com/~jasonb/articles/exim4_courier/ (sections 2, 3, and 4). The only important thing I had to change was to force the hostname, by finding the line it /etc/exim4/exim4.conf.template that looks like:.ifdef MAIN_HARDCODE_PRIMARY_HOSTNAMEAnd adding above it, MAIN_HARDCODE_PRIMARY_HOSTNAME = mydomain.com (no trailing period). This is so that the header that the mail server displays matches the domain. If this isn't the case, some mail servers won't deliver messages. At this point, you can test the mail server by sending yourself emails, using the swaks tool, or running it through an online testing tool like MX Toolbox
  The last important thing is to set up spam filtering. When using a big email provider that spends a lot of effort filtering spam (and has huge data sets to do it), it's easy to forget how much spam is actually sent. But, fortunately open source software is also capable of eliminating it. To set Spamassassin up, I generally followed the documentation on the debian wiki. I changed the last part of the configuration so that instead of changing the subject for spam messages to have ''***SPAM***'', it adds the following header:
  add_header = X-Spam-Flag: YESThis is the header that the default spam filter from afew will look for and tag messages as spam with. Once messages are tagged as spam, they won't show up in searches, won't ever end up in your inbox, etc. On the other hand, they aren't ever deleted, so if something does end up there, you can always find it (you just have to use notmuch search with the --exclude=false parameter).
  That sets up basic Spamassassin, which works quite well. To make it work even better, we'll install Pyzor, which is a service for collaborative spam filtering (sort of an open source system that gets you similar behavior to what GMail can do by having access to so many people's email). It works by constructing a digest of the message and hashing it, and then sending that hash to a server to see if anyone has marked it as spam.
  Install pyzor with aptitude install pyzor, then run pyzor discover (as root), and at least on my system, I needed to run chmod a+r /etc/mail/spamassassin/servers (as root) in order to have it work (the following test command would report permission denied on that file if I didn't). Now restart spamassassin (/etc/init.d/spamassassin restart) and test that it's working, by running:
  echo "test" | spamassassin -D pyzor 2>&1 | lessThis should print (among other things):
  Jun 29 16:31:53.026 [24982] dbg: pyzor: network tests on, attempting PyzorJun 29 16:31:54.640 [24982] dbg: pyzor: pyzor is available: /usr/bin/pyzorJun 29 16:31:54.641 [24982] dbg: pyzor: opening pipe: /usr/bin/pyzor --homedir ...Jun 29 16:31:54.674 [24982] dbg: pyzor: [25043] finished: exit 1Jun 29 16:31:54.674 [24982] dbg: pyzor: check failed: no responseAccording to the documentation, this is expected, because ''test'' is not a valid message.
  Now we want to set up our delivery. Create a .forward file in the home directory of the account on the server that is going to recieve mail. It should contain# Exim filtersave Maildir/.ArchiveWhat this does is put all mail that is recieved into the Archive subdirectory (the dots are convention of the version of the Maildir format that Courier-IMAP uses).
  Next, we want to set up notmuch. You can install it and the python bindings (needed by afew) with:aptitude install notmuch python-notmuchRun notmuch setup and put in your name, email, and make sure that the directory to your email archive is ''/home/YOURUSER/Maildir''. Run notmuch new to have it create the directories and, if you tested the mail server by sending yourself messages, import those initial messages.
  Install afew from github.com/teythoon/afew. You can start with the default configuration, and then add filters that will add the tag 'important', as well as any other automatic tagging you want to have. I commented out the ClassifyingFilter because it wasn't working - and I wasn't convinced I wanted it, so didn't bother to figure out how te get it to work.
  Some simple filters look like:
  [Filter.0]message = messages from someonequery = from:someone.important@email.comtags = +important[Filter.1]message = messages I don't care aboutquery = subject:Dealtags = -unread +dealsFor the [MailMover] section, you want the configuration to look like:
  [MailMover]folders = Archive Importantmax_age = 15# rulesArchive = 'tag:important AND NOT tag:spam':.ImportantImportant = 'NOT tag:important':.Archive 'tag:spam':.ArchiveThis says to take anything in Archive with the important tag and put it in important (but never spam). Note that the folders we are moving to are prefixed with a dot, but the names of the folders aren't. Now we need to set everything up to run automatically.
  We are going to use inotify, and specifically the tool incron, to watch for changes in our .Archive inbox and add files to the database, tag them, and move those that should be moved to .Important. On Debian, you can obtain incron with:aptitude install incronNow edit your incrontab (similar to crontab) with incrontab -e and put an entry like:
  /home/MYUSER/Maildir/.Archive/new IN_MOVED_TO,IN_NO_LOOP /home/MYUSER/bin/my-notmuch-new.shThis says that we want to watch for IN_MOVED_TO events, we don't want to listen while the script is running (if something goes wrong with your importing script, you could cause an infinite spawning of processes, which will take down the server). If a message is delivered while the script is running, it might not get picked up until the next run, but for me that was fine (you may want to eliminate the IN_NO_LOOP option and see if it actually causes loops. In previous configurations, I crashed my server twice through process spawning loops, and didn't want to do it again while debugging). When IN_MOVED_TO occurs, we call a script we've written. You can obviously put this anywhere, just make it executable:
  #!/bin/bash/usr/local/bin/notmuch new >> /dev/null 2>&1/usr/local/bin/afew -nt >> /dev/null 2>&1/usr/local/bin/afew -m >> /dev/null 2>&1It is intentionally being very quiet because output from cron jobs will trigger emails'... and thus if there were a mistake, we could be in infinite loop land again. This means you should make sure the commands are working (ie, there aren't mistakes in your config files), because you won't see any debug output from them when they are run through this script.
  Now let's set up the mobile client. I'm not sure of a good way to do this on iOS (aside from just manually checking the Important folder), but perhaps a motivated person could figure it out. Since I have an Android phone, it wasn't an issue. On Android, install K9-Mail, and set up your account with the incoming / outgoing mail server to be just 'mydomain.com'. Click on the account, and it will show just Inbox (not helpful). Hit the menu button, then click folders, and check ''display all folders''. Now hit the menu again and click folders and hit ''refresh folders''.Provided at least one message has been put into Important and Archive, those should both show up now. Open the folder 'Important' and use the settings to enable push for it. Also add it to the Unified Inbox. Similarly, disable push on the Inbox (this latter doesn't really matter, because we never deliver messages to the inbox). If you have trouble finding these settings (which I did for a while), note that the settings that are available are contingent upon the screen you are on. The folders settings only exist when you are looking at the list of folders (not the unified inbox / list of accounts, and not the contents of a folder).
  Finally, the desktop client. I'm using the emacs client, because I spend most of my time inside emacs, but there are several other clients - one for vim, one called 'bower' that is curses based (that I've used before, but is less featureful than the emacs one), and a few others. alot, a python client, won't work, because it assumes that the notmuch database is local (which is a really stupid assumption). The rest just assume that notmuch is in the path. This means that you can follow the instructions here: notmuchmail.org/remoteusage to have the desktop use the mail database on the server. To test, run notmuch count on your local machine, and it should return the same thing (the total number of messages) as it does on the mail server.Once this is working, install notmuch locally, so that you get the emacs bindings (or, just download the source and put the contents of the emacs folder somewhere and include it in your .emacs). You should now be able to run M-x notmuch in emacs and get to your inbox. Setting up mail sending is a little trickier - most of the documentation I found didn't work!
  The first thing to do, in case your ISP is like mine and blocks port 25, is to change the default listening port for the server. Open up /etc/default/exim4 and set SMTPLISTENEROPTIONS equal to -oX 25:587 -oP /var/run/exim4/exim.pid. This will have it listen on both 25 and 587.
  Next, set up emacs to use your mail server to send mail, and to load notmuch. This incantation in your .emacs should do the trick:
  ;; If you opted to just stick the elisp files somewhere, add that path here:;; (add-to-list 'load-path "~/path/folder/with/emacs-notmuch")(require 'notmuch)(setq smtpmail-starttls-credentials '(("mydomain.com" 587 nil nil)) smtpmail-auth-credentials (expand-file-name "~/.authinfo") smtpmail-default-smtp-server "mydomain.com" smtpmail-smtp-server "mydomain.com" smtpmail-smtp-service 587)(require 'smtpmail)(setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)(require 'starttls)Now eval your .emacs (or restart emacs), and you are almost ready to send mail.
  You just need to put a line like this into ~/.authinfo:
  machine mydomain.com login MYUSERNAME password MYPASSWORD port 587With appropriate permissions (chmod 600 ~/.authinfo).
  Now you can test this by typing C-x m or M-x notmuch and then from there, hit the 'm' key - both of these open the composition window. Type a message and who it is to, and then type C-c C-c to send it. It should take a second and then say it was sent at the bottom of the window.
  This should work as-is on Linux. Another machine I sometimes use is a mac, and things are a little more complicated. The main problem is that to send mail, we need starttls. You can install gnutls through Homebrew, Fink, or Macports, but the next problem is that if you are using Emacs installed from emacsformacosx.com (and thus it is a graphical application), it is not started from a shell, which means it doesn't have the same path, and thus doesn't know how to find gnutls. To fix this problem (which is more general), you can install a tiny Emacs package called exec-path-from-shell (this requires Emacs 24, which you should use - then M-x package-install) that interrogates a shell about what the path should be. Then, we just have to tell it to use gnutls and all should work. We can do this all in a platform specific way (so it won't run on other platforms):
  (when (memq window-system '(mac ns)) (exec-path-from-shell-initialize) (setq starttls-use-gnutls t) (setq starttls-gnutls-program "gnutls-cli") (setq starttls-extra-arguments nil) )Address lookup. It's really nice to have an address book based on messages in your mailbox. An easy way to do this is to install addrlookup: get the source from http://github.com/spaetz/vala-notmuch/raw/static-sources/src/addrlookup.c, build withcc -o addrlookup addrlookup.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs gobject-2.0` -lnotmuchand move the resulting binary into your path (all of this on your server), and then create a similar wrapper as for notmuch:
  ~/bin/addrlookup:#!/bin/bashprintf -v ARGS "%q " "$@"exec ssh your_server addrlookup ${ARGS}And then add this to your .emacs:
  (require 'notmuch-address)(setq notmuch-address-command "/path/to/addrlookup")(notmuch-address-message-insinuate)Now if you hit ''TAB'' after you start typing in an address, it will prompt you with completions (use up/down arrow to move between, hit enter to select).
  ConclusionCongratulations! You now have a mail system that is more powerful than GMail and completely controlled by you. And there is a lot more you can do. For example, to enable encryption (to start, just signing emails), install gnupg, create a key and associate it with your email address, and add the following line to your .emacs and all messages will be signed by default (it adds a line in the message that when you send it causes emacs to sign the email. Note that this line must be the first line, so add your message below it):
  (add-hook 'message-setup-hook 'mml-secure-message-sign-pgpmime)An unfortunate current limitation is that the keys are checked by the notmuch commandline, so you need to install public keys on the server. This is fine, except that the emacs client installs them locally when you click on an unknown key (hit $ when viewing a message to see the signatures). So, at least for now, you have to manually add keys to the server with gpg --recv-key KEYID before they will show up as verified on the client (signing/encrypting still works, because that is done locally). Hopefully this will be fixed soon.
  Note: if you find any mistakes in this, or parts that needed additional steps,
  let me know (dbp at dbpmail dot net)
  and I'll correct/add to this.
Fact Or Fiction: Hedge Funds To Offer New Perks
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Zero Hedge
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 02:55
  Hedge Funds Turn to Gimmicky Promotions to Keep Investors as Their Inability to Ever Beat Any Benchmark Becomes Apparent
  NEWYORK '' With June turning out to be an ugly month across most financial markets, Hedge Funds are once again losing money. The losses come on top of the industry's already weakening reputation thanks to back to back years of underperforming major benchmarks. To try to keep their investors from leaving, many funds are turning to promotions usually reserved for far less glamorous industries.
  Some fund managers are cashing in on their own ''Masters of the Universe'' mystique by offering investors tours of their trading floors, invitations to golf outings and tickets to watch poker tournaments. As Mark Arlett, manger of the multi-billion dollar River Ridge long/short fund told us ''Even though the stock market is still up on the year, our funds are down. To keep my investors excited about the future with our firm, I flew a bunch of them down to Atlantic City to watch me play poker. I placed 2nd in a tournament and took home $50,000.'' Asked how this served the interests of his investors, Arlett replied ''nothing makes an investor feel more confident in their fund manager than seeing the guy's ability to make himself richer.''
  Others geared their promotions to reflect their fund's strategy, as explained by Ron Patel of the Value Seekers Fund. ''Our investors invest in a value fund because they believe in finding diamonds in the rough. Since our fund has gotten killed with the value stocks we bought near all time highs earlier this year, I decided to offer a promo that makes our fund look more valuable than other hedge funds. So anyone that invested an additional 5 million dollars in the fund gets their fees reduced to 2 and 19, on the last million.''
  Famed manager Eddie S. Lambert of the humbly named ESL Investors has tried a more radical approach. Lampert has given his investors a piece of one of the fund's major holdings, by distributing shares of Autonation. Some critics have questioned why anyone would invest in ESL in the first place, since 90% of its holdings can be replicated by buying just 5 stocks and without paying the hefty fees that have made Lambert a billionaire. We tried posing these questions to Lampert himself, were not able to reach him, as our calls to ESL's client relations number kept being forwarded to the Sears Layway department.
  Stevie Cohen's troubled SAC Capital Advisors currently has no promotions in place. However, a few of the funds investors told us that last year Cohen had told them he was setting up a an exclusive client newsletter, only to abruptly cancel the idea. The newsletter was to be called the ''Information Insiders Edge.''
  Not all experts agree that such promos are necessary. Hedge Fund lawyer James Kaplan, from the respected Wall Street law firm of Kaplan, Wolf and Dubois told us that fear of redemptions is no reason to change what you are doing. ''If any hedge fund investor actually reads a fund's subscription document and PPM, they would see that theoretically the fund never has to give anyone their money back. They just have to declare a liquidity crisis and throw up a gate. Nobody ever complains about that language anyway. Honestly, judging by the correlations to the market, the ridiculous fees and the lack of transparency, its not like any sane person would actually invest in a hedge fund for a financial reason anyway.''
  Source: Omid Malekan via OmidMalekan.com,
  Average:Your rating: None
VIDEO-U.S. 'planned to launch chemical weapon attack on Syria and blame it on Assad' | Mail Online
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 02:44
  Leaked emails from defense contractor refers to chemical weapons saying 'the idea is approved by Washington'Obama issued warning to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last month that use of chemical warfare was 'totally unacceptable'By Louise Boyle
  PUBLISHED: 14:16 EST, 29 January 2013 | UPDATED: 14:16 EST, 29 January 2013
  Leaked emails have allegedly proved that the White House gave the green light to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that could be blamed on Assad's regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country.
  A report released on Monday contains an email exchange between two senior officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence where a scheme 'approved by Washington' is outlined explaining that Qatar would fund rebel forces in Syria to use chemical weapons.
  Barack Obama made it clear to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last month that the U.S. would not tolerate Syria using chemical weapons against its own people.
  Scroll down for video
  War games: An explosion in the Syrian city of Homs last month. It has been now been suggested that the U.S. backed the use of chemical weapons to spur international military intervention
  According to Infowars.com, the December 25 email was sent from Britam's Business Development Director David Goulding to company founder Philip Doughty.
  It reads: 'Phil... We've got a new offer. It's about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington.
  'We'll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have.
  'They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record.
  'Frankly, I don't think it's a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?
  'Kind regards, David.'
  Britam Defence had not yet returned a request for comment to MailOnline.
  Leaked: The email was allegedly sent from a top official at a British defense contractor regarding a 'Washington approved' chemical attack in Syria which could be blamed on Assad's regime
  The emails were released by a Malaysian hacker who also obtained senior executives resum(C)s and copies of passports via an unprotected company server, according to Cyber War News.
  Dave Goulding's Linkedin profile lists him as Business Development Director at Britam Defence Ltd in Security and Investigations. A business networking profile for Phil Doughty lists him as Chief Operationg Officer for Britam, United Arab Emirates, Security and Investigations.
  The U.S. State Department had not returned a request for comment on the alleged emails to MailOnline today at time of publication.
  However the use of chemical warfare was raised at a press briefing in D.C. on January 28.
  A spokesman said that the U.S. joined the international community in 'setting common redlines about the consequences of using chemical weapons'.
  Countless losses: Families attempt to identify the bodies of Syrian fighters shot and dumped in a river in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo today
  Devastation: People gather at a site hit by what activists said was missiles fired by a Syrian Air Force fighter jet from forces loyal to Assad, at the souk of Azaz, north of Aleppo on January 13
  A leaked U.S. government cable revealed that the Syrian army more than likely had used chemical weapons during an attack in the city of Homs in December.
  The document, revealed in The Cable, revealed the findings of an investigation by Scott Frederic Kilner, the U.S. consul general in Istanbul, into accusations that the Syrian army used chemical weapons in the December 23 attack.
  An Obama administration official who had access to the document was reported as saying: 'We can't definitely say 100 per cent, but Syrian contacts made a compelling case that Agent 15 was used in Homs on Dec. 23.'
  Mr Kilner's investigation included interviews with civilians, doctors, and rebels present during the attack, as well as the former general and head of the Syrian WMD program, Mustafa al-Sheikh.
  Dr. Nashwan Abu Abdo, a neurologist in Homs, is certain chemical weapons were used. He told The Cable: 'It was a chemical weapon, we are sure of that, because tear gas can't cause the death of people.'
  Threats: Barack Obama said during a speech last month that if Syria used chemical weapons against its own people it would be 'totally unacceptable'
  Tyrant: Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, pictured with his wife Asma, is facing increasing international pressure over his brutal massacre of his own people
  Eye witness accounts from the investigation revealed that a tank launched chemical weapons and caused people exposed to them to suffer nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, delirium, seizures, and respiratory distress.
  The symptoms suggest that the weaponized compound Agent-15 was responsible. Syria denied using chemical weapons and said it would never use them against citizens.
  Speaking to Pentagon reporters at the time, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said his biggest concern was how the U.S. and allies would secure the chemical and biological weapons sites scattered across Syria and ensure the components don't end up in the wrong hands if the regime falls, particularly under violent conditions.
  Government forces and rebels in Syria have both been accused by human rights groups of carrying out brutal warfare in the 22-month-old conflict, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
  WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT : 'SYRIAN REBELS TESTING CHEMICAL WEAPONSON RABBITS'
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Waiver of Restriction on Assistance to the Central Government of the Dominican Republic
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  Pursuant to Section 7031(b)(3) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2012 (Div. I, P.L. 112-74) (''the Act''), as carried forward by the Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 (Div. F, P.L. 113-6), and Department of State Delegation of Authority Number 245-1, I hereby determine that it is important to the national interest of the United States to waive the requirements of Section 7031(b)(1) of the Act and similar provisions of law in prior year Acts with respect to the Dominican Republic and I hereby waive this restriction.
  This determination and the accompanying Memorandum of Justification shall be reported to the Congress, and the determination shall be published in the Federal Register.
  Dated: May 31, 2013.
  William J. Burns,
  Deputy Secretary.
  [FR Doc. 2013-15725 Filed 6-28-13; 8:45 am]
  BILLING CODE 4710-29-P
Performatives
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  The political significance of declarations tends to be implicit or parasitical, as it is usually the declared object that is considered important, and not the declaration itself. A closer look at the unique discursive task that it fulfils, however, suggests that the declaration is more than a rhetorical device and may also play an important explanatory role with respect to sovereign authority, its constitution, and its ratification. The purpose of what follows is to reveal the theoretical importance of the declaration as a political concept. The first part of this study will combine J. L. Austin's definition of the declaration as part of his speech act theory with Carl Schmitt's political theology; its latter part will focus on declarations of independence, offering a synthesis of two of Jacque Derrida's theoretical moves in a way that will tie together the various sovereign, linguistic, and discursive threads of the argument and propose a formal and political definition of the declaration.
  * * *
  Austin's theory of speech acts is an obvious point of departure for a general linguistic characterization of the declaration. Grounded in the distinction between constative speech acts and performative speech acts, Austin's theory has at its core the claim that, while the former report and describe facts and are therefore judged by the classic philosophical and linguistic criterion of truth, the latter do not discuss facts but rather create them and are therefore judged by their success. The criterion for success is summed up in Austin's assertion that a performative speech act is successful only when ''there is something which is at the moment of uttering being done by the person uttering''.
  Accordingly, and given that Austin repeatedly mentions the declaration as a paradigmatic performative utterance, we may propose the following as a preliminary and broad definition of the declaration: a performative utterance whose producer creates something at the moment of uttering. This definition is broad because it does not yet differentiate the declaration from all other performative utterances (such as the promise, the order, etc.) and it is preliminary because its political elements have not yet been spelled out. But even in this basic and schematic form, the three components essential for both Austin's discussion and the present one are already apparent: the temporal characterization of the declaration, or what Austin refers to as ''the moment of uttering''; its productivity; and the identity of the person who utters it. Any political conceptualization of the declaration must be preceded by an assessment of each of these components.
  The most conspicuous aspect of Austin's declaration is its temporal peculiarity. Unlike a constative utterance such as ''he is walking'', whose truth depends on whether or not someone actually walked at the moment of utterance (or in the preceding moments), the success of a performative utterance such as ''I hereby declare this a closed military zone'' cannot be dependent upon the prior existence of such a zone, as it is precisely this utterance that creates the closed military zone. Temporally speaking, this means that, according to Austin's criterion for success, two things occur at the very same moment of declaration: the declaratory utterance, and the creation of the declared object. This simultaneity prevents Austin from treating the declaratory moment as a regular unit in the chronological flow of diachronic time, leading him to refer to it instead as a moment of ''non-continuous'' present, which underlines the original and autonomous productivity of actual action. The implications of this temporal peculiarity will be fully developed only in the last part of this essay, but even in this crude and unprocessed wording one can already recognize its uniqueness and potential significance.
  Stemming from this temporal peculiarity, the second component of Austin's analysis is the productivity of the declaration, or more accurately, the fact that for a declaration, uttering something and creating that something are one and the same thing. For Austin, not only declaring but also promising, swearing, bequeathing, betting, etc. are forms of performative speech acts and so it seems that simultaneous utterance and creation is not a unique trait of the declaration. But it is precisely this simultaneity that distinguishes the declaration and makes it so important both linguistically and politically. Performative utterances such as bets and promises create in the present a commitment for something that will take place in the future, but as we have just seen, in order for an utterance to be truly performative, producing it and producing its object must take place at the exact same time. With respect to the declaration, this could have two implications: either the commitment for a future creation can be seen as constituting something in itself, effectively construing all promises and bets as declarations that create the special object called ''commitment''; or else the performativity of the bet or the promise is subjugated to the performativity of a future declaration '' that is, the success or failure of the former can only be derived retroactively from the success or failure of the latter. Either way, the privileged status of the declaration as the only performative speech act whose uttering and creating are consolidated in one simultaneous instant is fully exposed here.
  Part of the reason this privileged temporal status is not duly credited as a basis for the performativity of the declaration lies in etymology. Like the German Erkl¤rung, the French and English declaration indicates some sort of exposure, a bringing into light of that which already exists. Of course, exposing things by shedding light on them serves the important political task of making those things public, but since it emphasizes that which already exists, this function accounts only for the uttering capacity of the declaration and says nothing about its more important capacity, namely, to create something new. This capacity partially exists in the denouncement '' indeed the Latin phrase for ''declaring war'' is bellum denuntiare '' but with the exception of a few archaic legal functions the denouncement does not operate in the political discourse in the way Austin intends for the performative speech act. What helps the declaration to fulfill this intention is the third component of Austin's analysis, namely an inquiry into the identity of the person who performs the declaration. This inquiry is necessary because, unlike a statement, which can be the result of an external demand, or even of a forceful extraction, the declaration must be a voluntary and deliberate act on the part of its performer. In other words, while intentionality is not a necessary condition of statements, a declaration can be carried out only if the person declaring it intends to do so. No one can declare on someone else's behalf or refer to someone else's utterance as a declaration without their approval. It is this freely initiated intention of the speaker vis- -vis his declaration '' and consequently also vis- -vis the declared objects '' that propels the discussion into the political sphere.
  In a sense, the discussion needs no such propelling as it was always, if implicitly, political for Austin himself. When Austin speaks of the success of the performative speech act as dependent upon its being ''tethered to its origin'' in a way that enables its addressees to identify this origin, he is actually assuming that such addressees exist. Such an assumption amounts to claiming that the performative speech act of the declaration is a political act '' that is, an act performed in public and as part of the social organization and regularization of the power relations between the declarer and his or her addressees. When the addressed crowd is small and physically proximate to the origin of the utterance, as, for instance, in a Jewish wedding where the groom sanctifies the bride with his speech, it is possible to identify this origin even when the speech act is oral (the rabbi and the witnesses confirm that the groom sanctified the bride and this confirmation is later translated into the legal and political authority of the state when the marriage is listed and registered). But when the addressed crowd is too big for such an identification '' which is, of course, the case in almost any western political body since the Greek polis ceased to exist '' an oral utterance is not good enough and a written one is needed so that it may be used to identify the origin of the utterance in different times and places. Austin fully understands this when he refers to the signature as that which enables the written performative speech act to stay tethered to its origin even when that origin is not present. The temporal issues this raises will be discussed later on, but it is already clear that with respect to declarations, both oral and written, the main political question concerns not the identity of the person declaring but his authority to do so; at the moment of declaration, does the declarer hold the authority to declare that which is being declared?
  Austin mentions authority but does not provide a sufficient analysis of it. He discusses the importance of the acceptance of the declaration as a condition for its success, and this acceptance necessarily depends upon the declarer's authority, which Austin also mentions. But he does not discuss the way in which an authority capable of generating this sort of acceptance is acquired or granted. If the success of the declaration is nothing but its acceptance as valid by its addressees, and if such acceptance is a direct result of the declarer's authority, then it is clear that the success of a declaration cannot be determined without an account of the source of this authority. This conclusion illustrates the fact that any discussion about declarations is actually a political discussion about authority and, more importantly, it paves the way for an analysis of declarations that are unique to the political sphere and demonstrates the need for a political definition of the declaration.
  * * *
  The conceptual structures that Austin erected can be occupied by many different political declarations, which in turn give rise to many different political entities: strikes, bankruptcies, days of mourning or celebration, interest rates, closed military zones '' all of these are created the instant they are uttered, or more accurately, the moment they are declared in writing and signed by a political agent. What defines such agents is the fact that, in order for their declaration to be successful (i.e. in order for the political object they declare to actually come to be), they must be authorized to declare it, and that, long and complex as it may be, at the end of the chain of political and legal instances that enables such an authorization must lie a sovereign source. The reason for this is that only such a source can meet the conditions of autonomy, initiative, and intentionality necessary for the success of the declaration as a productive perforamtive speech act. Thus, the focus on the declarer's authority (or lack thereof) connects the declaration to sovereignty and enables us to view it as a performative utterance through which something is createdby the sovereign (or by someone authorized by the sovereign).
  But this definition is still not accurate. It ignores the fact that the relevant criterion for the success of a declaration is its outcome, and therefore that the proper order of events is not an authorization, leading to a declaration, which results in political objects, but rather vice versa. Instead of saying that only the current ruling sovereign can create political entities and objects, we ought to say that whoever successfully creates such entities and objects is sovereign. For example, if I were to sign and send out a declaration of war to the citizens of Israel and to its generals, and if they were to act upon it, then in some respects '' indeed, in those respects that really matter '' I would in fact be the sovereign. It is only once a political entity has been created that we can retrospectively refer to the utterance that created it as a declaration and to its creator as a representative of sovereign authority. Therefore, a more accurate definition of the declaration would regard it as an indication of sovereignty, or more specifically, as a performative utterance that succeeds in creating a political object or entity and that was uttered by a person who, for that reason, possesses sovereign authority.
  This reversal also explains the above mentioned claim that, theoretically speaking, the reception of a declaration is secondary to the source of the declarer's authority. This claim does not present the modes in which a declaration is received and perceived as irrelevant to its success but rather emphasizes the fact that these modes are already expressed in the general description offered above, which identifies the sovereign subject as the person whose declaration was a successful performative speech act. In order for the declarer to be perceived as the sovereign of the state, the political object created by the declaration must already be accepted and acknowledged as such by numerous agents: the state's population, the parliamentary coalition and opposition, sovereigns of other states, international organizations, economic organizations, the media, etc. Surely, there are circumstances in which a lack of acknowledgment from one or more of these agents may cause the declaration to fail, but this does not mean that in order to determine the success of a given declaration one must have a full account of the ways in which these many factors refer to it. Indeed, since the number and character of these factors is always changing, such a full account is not attainable. What is required, then, is a formal, theoretical definition on the basis of which one would be able to identify and clarify each of the specific practical characteristics of the reaction to the declaration, treating these as its success criteria. We may say, then, that the politics involved in the investigation of the declaration '' i.e., those parts of the investigation covered by political science, media studies, sociology, and psychology '' can become useful only after a critical philosophical investigation of the political provides a general formal structure of the relation between the successful declaration and political sovereignty.
  Thus, the political sense of the declaration, as it has so far been presented, has two main attributes: the ability to indicate the existence of sovereignty; and a general formal structure that conditions any specific content that may fill it. The ways in which this political sense of the declaration develops and functions, and the theoretical implications of the declaration as it has been defined so far, may be better understood by applying Austin's concepts to Carl Schmitt's famous theory of sovereignty, which assigns a similarly central role to the indicative function in the formal and theoretical structuring of authority. When Schmitt claims that ''sovereign is he who decides on the exception'', he enables two different interpretations of the relation between decision and sovereignty: either the decision is nothing more than an instrument that identifies the current sovereign as such '' he who decides on the exception does so because he is sovereign; or it is an instrument that creates the sovereign subject '' the sovereign is sovereign because he decided on the exception.
  Coming back to the declaration, we could say that the first interpretation only relates to the uttering capacity of the declaration, whereas the second also refers to its capacity to create political objects. After Austin has exposed for us the sovereign character of declarations, we can no longer treat the Schmittian decision on the exception as a statement that merely exposes a pre-existing sovereign; we must treat it as a declaration that creates the sovereign as such. Though this reading is admittedly anachronistic, Schmitt himself lays the foundations for it when he says that the uniqueness of the sovereign decision makes it more than just a passive, literal description, and that ''The legal force of a decision is different from the result of substantiation''. In other words '' Austin's words '' the claim that ''sovereign is he who decides on the exception'' is just one instance of a broader definition, according to which ''sovereign is he who successfully declares a political object'' (and so the aforementioned groom is also sovereign, precisely because the success of his declaration testifies that he had been authorized to perform it by the sovereign of the state). Schmitt's ''exception'' (or ''state of exception'') is obviously a very unique political object and my narrow treatment of it here ignores many of the meanings to which Schmitt is alluding; but in the present context this is a bearable sin. What is important for our purposes is only the realization that there is no logical or theoretical reason to reject the interpretation that the sovereign is constituted as such because of his successful decision '' or declaration '' on the exception. Ultimately, both at Austin's linguistic theoretical level and at Schmitt's juridical theoretical level, it is success in creating a political being (e.g., a ''married couple'') through its declaration that constitutes the declarer as possessing sovereign power, and not the other way around.
  My choice of Schmitt here is, of course, a calculated one, stemming from the fact that the two central claims of his political theology directly correspond to the two characteristics I have so far identified with the declaration. According to the first and more general of Schmitt's assertions, ''All significant concepts of the modem theory of the state are secularized theological concepts.'' Accordingly, the sovereign ability to create political beings through the performative declaratory speech act should be understood as the earthly, secularized equivalent of the divine ability to create through speech (as in the ''ten speeches'', beginning with ''let there be light'', with which, according to Jewish tradition, the whole world was created ). Schmitt's second assertion stresses the formal and logical priority of the unmediated intervention and autonomous decision of the sovereign over any legal order. Just as the divine decision precedes the laws of nature and creates them, so, too, the sovereign decision precedes the legal order because it creates the very objects and entities that constitute and later occupy any such order.
  While these two assertions aid us in delineating the argument and in clarifying the connection between Schmitt's political theology and Austin's speech act theory, they fall short of providing a full account of the type of sovereignty born of such a coupling. This is chiefly because the politico-theological explanation for the sovereign decision has a third and implicit component, which is based on what Giorgio Agamben famously identified in Schmitt as ''the paradox of sovereignty''. Within the current discussion, the general shape of this paradox comes down to the fact that the sovereign is at one and the same time the only one capable of creating political beings and himself a political being. Since the sovereign is both the highest instance of authorization for any declaration and a political entity that must itself be the object of a declaration, the declaration that creates the sovereign must be a paradoxical declaration in which the sovereign is both the declaring subject and the declared object. This declaration, of course, is the declaration of independence, that is, a declaration through which the sovereign constitutes himself by means of the political equivalent of the way in which God is His own cause and reason. This connection between the declaratory act and the sovereign paradox of self-constitution and legitimization is explored by Jacques Derrida, whose discussion of the linguistic and political uniqueness of the American declaration of independence is based directly on a critique of Austin's speech act theory.
  * * *
  The first part of Derrida's critical reading of Austin appears in his famous ''Signature Event Context'', where he presents Austin, the favored son of Oxford analytic philosophy, as related to continental thinkers such as Nietzsche and Husserl. Despite his esteem and appreciation for Austin's work, Derrida criticizes him for failing to grasp his own achievement and for his fear of moving away from ''serious'' philosophy, which eventually caused him to commit himself to some of the very assertions he had tried to undermine. The second and more specific part of Derrida's critical reading came five years later in a short lecture delivered in 1976 at a conference that marked the bicentennial of the American Declaration of Independence. The essay, titled ''Declarations of Independence'', applied the general conclusions of Derrida's criticism of Austin to the particular political speech act of the declaration of independence.
  According to Derrida, the declaration of independence is an event of performative writing that constitutes the state and the sovereign as the highest authority of this state. With clear parallels to the paradox of sovereignty that sees the declaration as a sovereign act as well as a precondition for sovereignty itself, Derrida claims that the sovereign subject who signs the declaration of independence does not exist as such prior to this signature. So long as the American people did not sign a declaration of independence they did not exist as a people; the declaration of independence, therefore, actually invented this people in an act of what Derrida calls ''fabulous retroactivity'', revealing it to be an instance whose ontological and political status is unclear. To neutralize this uncertainty, the sovereign presents his signing of the declaration of independence as an act whose authorization is external and based on an even higher instance, who ''holds itself back behind the scenes''. Since the sovereign is the highest instance of his state, the only higher instance he could turn to is the ultimate sovereign and master: God. The political sovereign needs the divine sovereign to authorize him to sign his own declaration of independence, and it is therefore no surprise to find that, in both the American and Israeli examples, the appeal to God takes place not in the descriptive or procedural parts of the declaration but rather in the final paragraph, just before the signature.
  The following phrase opens the final paragraph of the American declaration:
  We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America [...] appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States.
  The Israeli declaration concludes with the words, ''Placing our trust in the Almighty, we affix our signatures as testimony to this declaration'....'' In both cases, God is mentioned but He is not the source of authorization of the declarers' signatures. In the American case, God simply vouches for the rectitude of the declarers' intentions, whereas their authority comes from ''the good People of these Colonies'' and the right of ''these United Colonies''. In the Israeli case, the declarers merely ''place trust'' in the Almighty; they do not derive from Him any force or authority, as they do from a ''natural and historical right'' in the famous opening paragraph of the declaration. Indeed, God's inclusion in the declaration of independence serves no productive political purpose and amounts to little more than a pompous rhetoric attempt to gain ''external'' authorization. Although the success of the self-constitution of the sovereign subject necessitates acceptance and recognition by numerous and various factors, such acceptance and recognition come only after the very first instant of the political existence of the sovereign as such; in this unique and singular instant there is no real instance that ''holds itself back behind the scenes''.
  This peculiar singularity of the political ontology of the self-constituting sovereignty has two important implications for the declaration of independence: first, it highlights the fact that the declaration of independence is not a constative expression of the autonomy and freedom of the sovereign but a performative declaration that produces this autonomy and freedom. Derrida summarizes this point in a way that both Schmitt and Austin could easily accept, claiming that the declaration of independence is not based on any legal or political infrastructure but rather is the sovereign decision that constitutes this infrastructure. Accordingly, one could say that the connection between the ''fabulous retroactivity'' of the declaration and the sovereign decision marks this particular Austinian-Derridian junction in our debate as a site of political theology, at least according to Schmitt's understanding of this term.
  Second, and as was already implied in his use of the term ''fabulous retroactivity'', the peculiarity that Derrida ascribes to sovereignty reveals once more the predominance of the temporal in dealing with the declaration. This would be the point (or, more accurately, the moment) to recall the non-continuous present that features in Austin's definition of the declaration '' and Derrida indeed recalls it, going so far as to define the time of the declaration as a ''transcendental form of presentness [maintenance]'' that enables the declarer/signatory to attend both the present of the declaration and the future of its products. But this temporal definition is too vague and general to serve as the basis for a comprehensive political definition of the declaration. Not only does the exposure of the paradoxical temporality of self-constituted sovereignty tell us nothing about the nature of this sovereignty but it is also hard to understand how the sovereign subject is then able to free itself from the ''transcendental form'' of the present in which it is constituted and actually interfere and intervene in the concrete political reality. To put it differently, it is hard to see how the formal and abstract discussion of the political can eventually become a basis for understanding the ways in which an actual sovereign does politics. In order to offer answers to these two questions, I wish to press Derrida for further clarification of the temporal paradox with which he has confronted us. Such clarification can be found in an earlier discussion of his, in which he characterizes the self-constitution of a sovereign subject through a temporal phenomenological analysis; I am referring to the analysis of the Cartesian Cogito presented as part of Derrida's critique of Michel Foucault's History of Madness.
  * * *
  The debate between Foucault and Derrida regarding the Cartesian Cogito is one of the most famous chapters in poststructuralist history and needs no introduction here. What nonetheless deserves special attention for our purposes is the way in which Derrida defines the Cogito using temporal terminology. Although the popular image of the Cogito is that of an Archimedian point, a sort of epistemological point of origin from which can begin the construction of an existence that is certain, Derrida claims that it is not a spatial point but a ''temporal originality''. The Cogito, as Derrida repeatedly emphasizes in his criticism of Foucault, is an instant, and this is why it precedes any distinction between an internal ''reason'' and an external ''unreason'' and, indeed, is indifferent to any spatial relations whatsoever.
  By understanding the Cogito as a primal and pre-distinctional instant of self-constitution, Derrida renders his critical conclusions regarding Foucault relevant to declarations in general and to the declaration of independence in particular. The instant of signing the declaration of independence establishes sovereign existence in just the same way that the Cogito establishes cognitive existence. Thus, and according to what has already been shown above, the political paraphrase of ''I think, therefore I am'' may well be ''I declare successfully, therefore I am sovereign''. Accordingly, a further clarification of the definition of declaration may be offered by way of an analogy: the declaration is the first and constitutive instant of the sovereign subject in the same way that the Cogito is the first and constitutive instant of the Cartesian subject.
  But such a definition covers only one aspect of the temporal conclusion that Derrida drew from the Cogito. The second aspect deals with the fact that the Cogito-based subject exists only while it thinks, and therefore its political equivalent is not just ''I declare successfully, therefore I am'' but also, ''I am sovereign only while I am declaring and only while the declaration is successful''. This additional temporal meaning of the declaration challenges the earlier definition by exposing another facet of the same analogy: just as the Cogito is only valid in the brief, singular, and discrete instant of intuition, so, too, the declarer of the sovereign declaration has authority only in the brief, singular, instant of its uttering. The thinking subject indeed constitutes himself in an instant, but it is a discrete instant, making it impossible for the subject to move forward to the next instant and secure his continuous existence in time. Each instant of self-constitution is also an instant of crisis (or emergency) in which the subject might lose the certainty of his existence unless there is some way to carry him to the next instant. The evolution of the Cogito into a complete and valid subject calls for what Derrida refers to as a ''temporalization of the Cogito'', meaning that a continuum must be established that will connect the instant of the Cogito to the instants that follow it and are based on it. For Descartes, of course, these ''identity crises'' are ultimately solved by God, who is ''no deceiver'' and so guarantees that the certainty of the subject regarding his own continual existence is well founded. But what of the secularized, godless sovereignty of political theology? What of the sovereign of the declaration of independence?
  When Schmitt equates the earthly sovereign to God he does so through a direct reference to Descartes' conception of God, even quoting Atger's claim that the prince, or, more generally, the sovereign, ''is the Cartesian god transposed to the political world''. But since in the declaration of independence the sovereign not only occupies this divine position but is also created as sovereign by this declaration, he is, in an important sense, very different from the Cartesian subject. Whereas the latter relies on God to make the discrete instant of his self-constitution a basis for his continual existence, the secularized sovereign remains confined within the transcendental present of the discrete instant of his constitution; to maintain his identity as sovereign he must reconstitute himself in each and every instant of his existence. This reconstitution is another matter that becomes clearer when described using the concepts of Derrida's critique of Foucault's interpretation of the Cogito. Derrida agrees that the original independent instant of the Cogito remains meaningless and purposeless if it does not open up a discursive space, for it is only within such a space that a continuum of subjective identity can be constructed and maintained. But '' and this is the most weighty but that Derrida raises against Foucault '' since the transcendental instant that preceded the construction of the subject through rational discourse is an essential condition of this very same discourse, it follows that, in order to persist, this discourse must renew itself in every instant by releasing what was hitherto confined as ''irrational'' and confining a new ''irrational'' against which can emerge a new discourse. Therefore, and against Foucault, Derrida believes that the Cartesian argument does not highlight the brief instant of the Cogito but rather the necessity of the instant that follows it. The first constitutive instant of thought, in which the rational and the irrational still co-exist within the same instance and in which the Cogito marks the limits of the rational subject but is not yet located on either of its sides '' this instant is indeed necessary for the establishment of any discourse and continuum; but without such discourse and continuum it remains intuitive, discrete, and devoid of any real public and political manifestation. Thus, Derrida denies neither the importance of this instant of self-constitution nor the importance of the following instant as the beginning of discourse and logos, but he does wish to remind us that each of these two instants has no meaning or importance when it appears on its own.
  The political equivalent of this reminder serves to explain how the declaration of independence enables the transcendental and the actual, the momentary and the continuous, the formal and the concrete, the political and politics, to become consolidated in one performative and productive utterance of self-constitution. On the one hand, without the response and recognition of all the aforementioned relevant political entities, the declaration of independence cannot succeed in constituting a veritable political entity. On the other hand, the same declaration of independence is a necessary condition of the political discourse and ontology that create the only space in which such response and recognition have sense. The declaration of independence takes place in the instant the sovereign subject delineates his own boundaries against the background of the political discourse that preceded him, thereby creating a new political discourse based on his sovereignty. Since this discursive renewal may happen at any instant, the instant of self-constitution of the declaration of independence should not be understood as an originary instant and a pre-historical source but rather as an instant that is implicitly present in each and every instant of sovereign activity. The immediate conclusion, which was also implied in the plural form of Derrida's lecture (''Declarations of Independence''), is that there is no single declaration of independence from which sovereign authority is derived. Any declaration that succeeds in creating a political entity or object is also necessarily a declaration of independence. Hence, any productive action in the political field in fact involves an implicit declaration of independent sovereign existence.
  This conclusion calls for a new understanding of the way in which the sovereign exists in time. Though it seems continuous, sovereign existence is discrete and interrupted, jumping from one instant to the next, from one sovereign event to another, from declaration to declaration and from self-constitution to re-self-constitution. The fact that it is usually the same sovereign authority that is reauthorized in each successful declaration is contingent rather than necessary (indeed, this should be fairly obvious since otherwise no revolts, revolutions, or other regime changes could ever take place). Eventually, the self-constitution of the sovereign subject '' the same self-constitution that is both a condition and a result of the declaration '' creates the sovereign's authority, but as the validation of this self-authorization is dependent on the new discourse it establishes, sovereign existence is an unstable one, moving from one discrete instant to the next and requiring a reconstitution of the sovereign at each instant of his existence. With the declaration the sovereign does not renew his authority and independence '' he creates them anew. Being sovereign is thus not a status but an ongoing and ceaseless process, while the declaration is the main politico-linguistic instrument of this process.
  * * *
  Now that the analogy to Derrida's argument has concluded our temporal characterization of the declaration, and helped us to explain why a formal treatment of the political does not cancel the importance of concrete discourse and politics regarding the declaration, it is finally possible to attempt a comprehensive political definition of the declaration. The theoretical move that I have tried to carry out here is no more '' but also no less '' than a triple displacement of the meaning of the declaration as defined by the three elements of Austin's account: the productivity of the declaration was transferred from the linguistic field to the sphere of the political; the theoretical emphasis found in Austin's discussion was diverted from the declarer's identity to his authority, and, as a consequence, the politics of the chain of authorizing instances was replaced with a political theology of sovereign self-constitution; and finally, the time of the declaration, or more precisely, its instant, was transformed from a regular unit of continuous, diachronic time to a discrete, synchronic unit of non-continuous or transcendental present, which forces a ceaseless and ever-renewing self-constitution. Based on the new meanings I have given these three elements, an inclusive formal definition of the declaration now seems possible: the declaration is a discrete instant of free, independent, linguistic doing, which, by virtue of successfully creating a political object and/or entity, constitutes '' explicitly or implicitly, for the first time or anew '' the sovereign subject and the discursive space that enables us to refer to him as such.
  This is, of course, a formal and abstract definition, one that requires thickening and supplementation by various fields and discourses when applied to particular political situations. But it should by now be clear that this is not a disadvantage. On the contrary, its formal essence is what enables the declaration to be a politico-linguistic instrument that is applicable to possible future forms of government, regimes, and sovereignties, some of which may differ profoundly from the ones we know today. This sort of openness to what is yet to come appears to me to be a necessary condition for any definition that aims at a theoretical conceptualization of political phenomena; and, as Derrida has shown, such openness is more crucial still when it comes to the political instant that constitutes the sovereign subject and creates the discursive space that enables all politics '' that is, the instant of declaration.
  Endnotes×ª×'××•×ª: Declaration
Susan Rice Claims Snowden Leaks Haven't Injured Obama Presidency Or U.S. Foreign Policy
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  Source: Weasel Zippers
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 00:42
  So that must mean they have, right?
  Via Daily Mail:
  U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice has dismissed claims that Edward Snowden's highly classified leaks have weakened the Obama presidency and damaged U.S. foreign policy, insisting that the United States will remain 'the most influential, powerful and important country in the world.'
  Rice's remarks were her only public ones on Snowden and came in an interview with The Associated Press as she prepared to leave the U.N. post and start her new job Monday as President Barack Obama's national security adviser.
  She said it's too soon to judge whether there will be any long-term serious repercussions from the intelligence leaks by the former National Security Agency contractor who fled to Hong Kong and then Russia after seizing documents disclosing secret U.S. surveillance programs in the U.S. and overseas, which he has shared with The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers.
  Keep reading'...
Phone charges claim on independence
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: BBC News - Home
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 00:40
  29 June 2013Last updated at19:14 ETThe UK government is to claim that Scottish independence would leave mobile phone users facing higher bills.
  In its latest paper on the 2014 referendum, it raises the possibility of Scottish callers facing roaming fees when they visit England.
  The paper also claims independence could threaten postal services and rural broadband provision.
  The Scottish government has pointed out that EU rules mean roaming charges will be capped by next summer.
  The paper drawn up in Westminster will claim that, after independence, Scottish mobile users travelling to the rest of the UK would be charged a premium for making calls "abroad".
  It warns that people close to the border could inadvertently incur these charges if their mobile phone connected to a mast on the English side.
  The paper also suggests the "world class services and economies of scale" of the post office could be put at risk and claims there might be less money to roll out high speed internet services for smaller communities.
  'Less choice'UK Consumer Minister Jo Swinson said: "The UK's integrated infrastructure connects people and communities, creates jobs and supports trade.
  "The government is committed to maintaining world class postal and broadband services. This includes continuation of a six-day-a-week postal delivery service and the provision of broadband to rural areas."
  She added: "If Scotland left the UK, posting a letter or making a call could cost more - and there could be less choice for customers."
  The Scottish government dismissed the claims and said successive Westminster governments had "substantially weakened" Scotland's communications infrastructure.
  A spokeswoman said: "Since 2002, more than 400 Scottish post offices have closed and plans for privatisation of Royal Mail threatens jobs and the operation of the universal service obligation whilst people across rural Scotland regularly struggle with the lack of mobile phone coverage as the current system fails to deliver for Scotland.
  "Independence will provide an opportunity to properly support the postal network with access to our fair share of UK assets."
  On mobile phone charges, she added: "The UK government should acknowledge that the EU is looking to remove roaming charges completely and they are widely expected to be abolished well before 2016."
New Electronic License Plates Could Be Controlled By DMV, Law Enforcement Agencies.
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 00:39
  Now that Big Brother is all up in your cell phone and your email, why not your car, too?
  Under a proposal reportedly being considered in South Carolina, metal license plates could be swapped out for electronic ones that would give the DMV or law enforcement agencies the power to broadcast messages directly onto the back of cars.
  Such messages could read "Uninsured" or "Suspended" for people who are driving without insurance, or "Stolen" in cases of auto theft.
  "We actually put that wording on the license plate across the top and, depending on how the state wants it, it could be in bright red, and we can actually [have the plate] flashing as it goes down the road," Brian Bannister, the co-founder of Compliance Innovations, the company that developed the technology, told CBS local affiliate WSPA-TV.
  Bannister sought to reassure WSPA that the plates would not permit the government to track drivers -- unless authorities obtained three court orders: one for his company, one for the DMV and one for the individual carrier.
  But the e-plates could come with a few advantages, too.
  On its website, Compliance Innovations claims that the digital plates will compel insurance companies to lower premiums for customers, on the theory that the new system will keep uninsured drivers off the road.
  The company also says the technology will increase highway safety and decrease DMV walk-ins (something we can certainly get behind.)
  If this all sounds like a bad idea, just be thankful the plates don't seem to have flashing neon ads on them -- yet.
  Here's an example of what one of the remote-controlled plates would look like:
  (h/t Reddit)
  Related on HuffPost:
EU leaders push for bloc-wide banking mechanism. (Euronews video)
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 00:39
  European Union leaders are aiming to agree on a bloc-wide mechanism for dealing with failing banks by the end of the year.
  Speaking at the close of an EU Summit in Brussels, European Commission President Jos(C) Manuel Barroso said: ''The European Commission will present its proposal for a single resolution mechanism in the next two weeks.''
  ''This will ensure effective European decision-making on banks in difficulties within the single supervisory mechanism. This is about making sure that it is the banks who pay for their own mistakes and not the citizens,'' Barroso continued.
  The announcement comes amid widespread anger from European taxpayers at the huge sums spent on saving commercial banks that are seen as having got themselves into trouble.
  Between 2008 and 2011, the EU spent the equivalent of a third of its economic output to rescue failing banks.
  More about:Barroso EU Commission, EU BudgetCopyright (C) 2013 euronews
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Portugal: five million took part in general strike, say unions. (Euronews video)
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 00:38
  Patience with the government's austerity plan is running thin in Portugal with banners reading 'Enough' and 'Government Out'.
  In their fourth general strike in two years, trade union leaders hailed the massive turnout of five million, though no official figures were released.
  Workers are angry over new austerity measures being imposed.
  ''I'm unemployed for the second time, businesses are closed, there are no places to work,'' exclaimed one protester.
  Trains, buses and the metro remained idle as the strike hit public transport the hardest. Support outside the public sector was scant '' as one worker put it '' if they don't work, they won't eat.
  Portugal was forced to put austerity measures in place to receive a 78 billion euros bailout from the EU and the IMF. Now into their third year of recession, the cuts are biting with unemployment reaching 18 percent.
  The unions are angry about new measures that were unveiled in May which would see working hours go up from 35 to 40 a week, and 30,000 public service jobs cut. The government says it would save them 4.7 billion euros by 2015.
  More about:Austerity, Portugal, Portuguese politics, ProtestCopyright (C) 2013 euronews
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Shell Fights to Keep Oil Futures Probe Documents Secret
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: WT news feed
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 00:37
  By John Donovan
  A Shell insider source has brought to my attention certain current litigation in the USA in which Shell Oil Company has involvement as one of a number of third parties.
  Shell lawyers are panicking about the prospect of being compelled to hand over secret information to a US court hearing a case about alleged manipulation of the crude oil futures market.
  For obvious reasons, the timing is rather unfortunate for Shell.
  The case is:
  U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION, Plaintiff,
  -against-
  PARNON ENERGY INC., ARCADIA PETROLEUM LTD, ARCADIA ENERGY (SUISSE) SA, NICHOLAS J. WILDGOOSE AND JAMES T. DYER,
  Defendant.
  (Case 1:11-cv-03543-WH)
  In recent days lawyers acting for Shell have filed a flurry of documents with the court, all are bundled together in the pdf file I have compiled.
  As can be seen from these extracts from pages 4 and 5 of the 8 page submission, Shell really does not want to hand the information over.
  Extracts
  1. Shell objects to each document request to the extent it seeks to impose obligations beyond those required by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Local Rules for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and/or any other applicable rule or court order.
  2. Shell objects to each document request to the extent it seeks the production of information that constitutes proprietary information, trade secrets or other confidential research, development or commercial information of Shell. Disclosure of such information would cause substantial economic harm to Shell. Further, such information is neither relevant to any issue in this lawsuit nor reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.
  3. Shell objects to each document request to the extent it seeks, or can be construed to seek, the disclosure of information protected from discovery by the attorney-client privilege, the evaluation privilege, the work-product doctrine or any other applicable privilege, exemption, or immunity recognized under federal, state, or intemationallaw.
  4. Shell objects to each document request to the extent that it requires the production of documents for which Shell requested confidential treatment pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act under CFTC Rule 145.9, 17 C.F.R. § 145.9.
  5. Shell objects to each document request to the extent that it is overly broad, unduly burdensome, vexatious, or harassing.
  6. Shell objects to each document request to the extent it calls for a legal conclusion.
  7. Shell objects to each document request to the extent that it seeks documents not relevant to the claims or defenses of any party and is not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.
  8. Shell objects to each document request to the extent that it requires the production of documents that contain private information about individuals.
  9. Shell reserves all objections that may be available to it at any hearing or trial or on any motion to the use or admissibility of any information provided or documents produced, as well as the right to object to further discovery relating to the subject matter of any information or document provided.
  Shell mentions the protection of trade secrets. In my experience, that is probably trade secrets Shell has stolen from someone else, inevitably a smaller company, or an individual who made the mistake of trusting Shell and its sham business principles.
NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program - Washington Post
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 00:34
  The top-secret PRISM program allows the U.S. intelligence community to gain access from nine Internet companies to a wide range of digital information, including e-mails and stored data, on foreign targets operating outside the United States. The program is court-approved but does not require individual warrants. Instead, it operates under a broader authorization from federal judges who oversee the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Some documents describing the program were first released by The Washington Post on June 6. The newly released documents below give additional details about how the program operates, including the levels of review and supervisory control at the NSA and FBI. The documents also show how the program interacts with the Internet companies. These slides, annotated by The Post, represent a selection from the overall document, and certain portions are redacted. Read related article.
  New slides published June 29
  Acquiring data from a new targetThis slide describes what happens when an NSA analyst "tasks" the PRISM system for information about a new surveillance target. The request to add a new target is passed automatically to a supervisor who reviews the "selectors," or search terms. The supervisor must endorse the analyst's "reasonable belief," defined as 51 percent confidence, that the specified target is a foreign national who is overseas at the time of collection.
  Analyzing information collected from private companiesAfter communications information is acquired, the data are processed and analyzed by specialized systems that handle voice, text, video and "digital network information" that includes the locations and unique device signatures of targets.
  Each target is assigned a case notationThe PRISM case notation format reflects the availability, confirmed by The Post's reporting, of real-time surveillance as well as stored content.
  Searching the PRISM databaseOn April 5, according to this slide, there were 117,675 active surveillance targets in PRISM's counterterrorism database. The slide does not show how many other Internet users, and among them how many Americans, have their communications collected "incidentally" during surveillance of those targets.
  Original slides published June 6
  Introducing the programA slide briefing analysts at the National Security Agency about the program touts its effectiveness and features the logos of the companies involved.
  Monitoring a target's communicationThis diagram shows how the bulk of the world's electronic communications moves through companies based in the United States.
  Providers and dataThe PRISM program collects a wide range of data from the nine companies, although the details vary by provider.
  Participating providersThis slide shows when each company joined the program, with Microsoft being the first, on Sept. 11, 2007, and Apple the most recent, in October 2012.
Explosive Report: Michael Jackson Spent $35M To Silence 24 Young Boys He Abused Over 15 Years
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Radar Online
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 00:23
  Secret FBI files published in a British newspaper allege how superstar singer Michael Jackson paid off parents and victims of his sexual abuse.
  The thousands of pages of documents include private investigators' reports, phone transcripts and hours of audio tapes that were created by a former investigator who once worked for jailed Hollywood sleuth Anthony Pellicano.
  ''They describe how the Thriller hit-maker was once caught by a member of his household staff groping a world-famous child star, watching porn films while molesting another boy and fondling the genitals of a third in his private cinema,'' Britain's PEOPLE reported late on Saturday.
  ''The mother of one of the youngsters was sitting two or three rows in front of them at the time '' unaware of the vile abuse her son was suffering.''
  PHOTOS: Michael Jackson Through The Years
  The files, reportedly provided to the FBI as part of its probe into Pellicano, name 17 boys '' including five child actors and two dancers '' whom Jackson abused.
  Other children the singer allegedly preyed on include a European boy and the sons of a screenwriter. Their names were not published in the report.
  In a transcript of one tape from 1993, Jackson's ex-butler Philip LeMarque and his wife Stella detailed how screen legend Marlon Brando complained that the King of Pop would ''disappear with the children'' at his Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara, Calif.
  Stella said: ''He'd come to the ranch and always see Michael playing, disappear with the children. Michael would never spend time with the adults at the ranch.
  ''He [Brando] said, 'What the hell is Michael doing with those kids!''' She said another famous guest, the late Elizabeth Taylor, ''never'' complained.
  PHOTOS: Michael Jackson Performing
  The couple said Jackson would watch porn films with young boys in his private bedroom behind a secret wall.
  The explosive report comes just days after a dancer-choreographer revealed how he'd been allegedly abused by Jackson beginning at age seven and said it continued unabated for a period of seven years.
  Wade Robson, now 30, told a Los Angeles court that Jackson made his first sexual advances in the star's bedroom in 1990, as his sister Chantal slept in the same room and often with his mother under the same roof.
  PHOTOS: Michael Jackson's Kids Star In Tribute Concert
  PEOPLE reported, ''The files seen by this newspaper appear to confirm Robson's claim to be one of many child victims who were invited to fulfil Jackson's sick fantasies at his isolated playground in the Californian countryside.''
  Ironically, the files were commissioned by Jackson himself who had hired Pellicano to ensure that any skeletons in his closet remained out of the spotlight.
  In a jailhouse interview in 2011, Pellicano claimed he dropped Jackson as a client because he ''did something far worse'' than molesting young boys.
  ''I quit after I found out some truths. He did something far worse to young boys than molest them,'' said Pellicano.
  PHOTOS: Katherine Jackson Holds Memorial For King Of Pop In His Hometown
  The investigator, who the newspaper declined not named, said Pellicano was hired after the dentist father of 13-year-old Jordan Chandler claimed his son had been abused.
  ''Around 1993 things were really heating up. The suggestions were Jordie was not the only victim. The momentum became so great Jackson needed a private investigator to go straight for the jugular and produce results,'' the sleuth said.
  ''His actress friend Elizabeth Taylor encouraged him to hire Pellicano ­because she had used him to stop dirt on her drug problems being released in the media '' Pellicano was a master of negotiation and keeping stars' ­reputations clean.
  ''I was hired by him to find out where the fires needed putting out and, in this case, where allegations would be coming from.
  ''But I have never worked on a case with as many potential claimants as the Jackson case.''
  PHOTOS: Really Bizarre Celebrity Pets
  The snoop said their reports discovered that Jackson, who died in 2009 at age 50, was a ''serial child predator.''
  ''It showed at least two dozen children were given money to stay quiet '' which came to around ­$35million,'' the investigator said.
  ''Wade Robson was one of the kids identified as a victim while our reports show many others were paid off before their names even emerged.''
  PHOTOS: Paris Jackson's History Of Suspicious Slashes On Her Wrists
  He said the pay-out total included about $20 million to Chandler.
  The investigator added: ''I haven't released this now to upset Michael's children, who haven't done anything wrong.
  ''But when Wade's case was announced, I felt it was time the public knew what information had been ­collected, what the authorities have '' and what has never been released.''
Scripting News: That was a mistake. I fucked up. I'm sorry.
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Dave Winer
  Sun, 30 Jun 2013 00:12
  Why are these three words so hard to say?
  Programmers, when they fix a bug, are implicitly saying exactly that.
  And the process of building a piece of software involves the constant fixing of bugs.
  When I write a piece of code, I write it knowing it has bugs. The first time I use it, I notice things I didn't see when I was visualizing the software before it existed. The process involves lots of I fucked up admissions.
  I remember the first time I read the log of a professional tester who was evaluating software I had written. I was shocked, hurt, enraged, disappointed, troubled, felt inadequate, all these emotions -- but after I calmed down, I fixed as many of the problems as I could. Later, when I had my own company I hired people to write these reports for my programmers. Everyone has to face the reality of what their software looks like to people who use it, who don't know how to avoid all the traps. And some people do this so well they can do it for a living.
  When I was young there were a lot of foods I didn't like. Cheese, fish, tomatoes, olives, to name a few. When I was 18, I made a conscious decision to try to eat all these things, and find out if it was still true. Turns out there were some things I still didn't like, but others were just the tastebuds of a child rejecting complex or subtle flavors or smells.
  I tried the same thing, later, with apologizing and admitting mistakes. Like a lot of people, I didn't like to admit mistakes. I think this was the way I was brought up. In my family, if you admitted a mistake, or even changed your mind, this was used to invalidate your ideas, for years to come. I remember once you said something wrong, would be the response to a complaint. The implication is if you were wrong once, you're wrong now. So I learned not to admit it.
  That was a mistake. I fucked up. I'm sorry.
  Try it some time. See what happens. I bet with most people they will respect you more for it. I know I will.
  No harm in making a mistake. We all do it.
Nuclear Regulation is a billion-dollar industry.
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: BadChad's ThoughtPile
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 23:57
  This final rule is effective on August 30, 2013.
  Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0211 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information for this final rule. You may access information related to this final rule, which the NRC possesses and is publicly available, by any of the following methods:
  Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0211. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-3668; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this final rule.NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ''ADAMS Public Documents'' and then select ''Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The ADAMS accession number for each document referenced in this document (if that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is referenced. In addition, for the convenience of the reader, the ADAMS accession numbers are provided in a table in the section of this document entitled, ''Availability of Documents.''NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.Arlette Howard, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-1481, email: Arlette.Howard@nrc.gov.
  Over the past 40 years the NRC (and earlier as the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), the NRC's predecessor agency), has assessed and continues to assess fees to applicants and licensees to recover the cost of its regulatory program. The NRC's cost recovery principles for fee regulation are governed by two major laws, the Independent Offices Appropriations Act of 1952 (IOAA) (31 U.S.C. 483(a)) and OBRA-90 (42 U.S.C. 2214), as amended. The NRC is required each year, under OBRA-90, as amended, to recover approximately 90 percent of its budget authority, not including amounts appropriated for WIR, and amounts appropriated for generic homeland security activities (non-fee items), through fees to NRC licensees and applicants. The following discussion explains the various court decisions, congressional mandates and Commission policy which form the basis for the NRC's current fee policy and cost recovery methodology, which in turn form the basis for this rulemaking.
  Establishment of Fee Policy and Cost Recovery MethodologyIn 1968, the AEC adopted its first license fee schedule in response to Title V of the IOAA. This statute authorized and encouraged Federal regulatory agencies to recover to the fullest extent possible costs attributable to services provided to identifiable recipients. The AEC established fees under 10 CFR part 170 in two sections, §§ 170.21 and 170.31. Section 170.21 established a flat application fee for filing applications for nuclear power plant construction permits. Fees were set by a sliding scale depending on plant size; for construction permits and operating license fees, and annual fees were levied on holders of Commission operating licenses under 10 CFR part 50. Section 170.31 established application fees and annual fees for materials licenses. Between 1971 and 1973, the 10 CFR part 170 fee schedules were adjusted to account for increased costs resulting from expanded services which included health and safety inspection services and manufacturing licenses and environmental and antitrust reviews. The annual fees assessed by the Commission began to include inspection costs and the material fee schedule expanded from 16 to 28 categories for fee assessment. During this period, the schedules continued to be modified based on the Commission's policy to recover costs attributable to identifiable beneficiaries for the processing of applications, permits and licenses, amendments to existing licenses, and health and safety inspections relating to the licensing process.
  On March 4, 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered major decisions in two cases, National Cable Television Association, Inc. v. United States, 415 U.S. 36 (1974) and Federal Power Commission v. New England Power Company, 415 U.S. 345 (1974), regarding the charging of fees by Federal agencies. The Court held that the IOAA authorizes an agency to charge fees for special benefits rendered to identifiable persons measured by the ''value to the recipient'' of the agency service. The Court, therefore, invalidated the Federal Power Commission's annual fee rule because its fee structure assessed annual fees against the regulated industry at large without considering whether anyone had received benefits from any Commission services during the year in question. As a result of these decisions, the AEC promptly eliminated annual licensing fees and issued refunds to licensees, but left the remainder of the fee schedule unchanged.
  In November 1974, the AEC published proposed revisions to its license fee schedule (39 FR 39734; November 11, 1974). The Commission reviewed public comments while simultaneously considering alternative approaches for the proper evaluation of expanding services and proper assessment based upon increasing costs of Commission services.
  While this effort was under way, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued four opinions in fee cases'--National Cable Television Assoc. v. FCC, 554 F.2d 1094 (D.C. Cir. 1976); National Association of Broadcasters v. FCC, 554 F.2d 1118 (D.C. Cir. 1976); Electronic Industries Association v. FCC, 554 F.2d 1109 (D.C. Cir. 1976); and Capital Cities Communication, Inc. v. FCC, 554 F.2d 1135 (D.C. Cir. 1976). These decisions invalidated the license fee schedules promulgated by the Federal Communications Commission, and they provided the AEC with additional guidance for the prompt adoption and promulgation of an updated licensee fee schedule.
  On January 19, 1975, under the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the licensing and related regulatory functions of the AEC were transferred to the NRC. The NRC, prompted by recent court decisions concerning fee policy, developed new guidelines for use in fee development and the establishment of a new proposed fee schedule.
  The NRC published a summary of guidelines as a proposed rule (42 FR 22149; May 2, 1977), and the Commission held a public meeting to discuss the summary of guidelines on May 12, 1977. A summary of the comments on the guidelines and the NRC's responses were published in the Federal Register (43 FR 7211; February 21, 1978).
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the Commission's fee guidelines on August 24, 1979, in Mississippi Power and Light Co. v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 601 F.2d 223 (5th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1102 (1980). This court held that'--
  (1) The NRC had the authority to recover the full cost of providing services to identifiable beneficiaries;
  (2) The NRC could properly assess a fee for the costs of providing routine inspections necessary to ensure a licensee's compliance with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and with applicable regulations;
  (3) The NRC could charge for costs incurred in conducting environmental reviews required by the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321);
  (4) The NRC properly included the costs of uncontested hearings and of administrative and technical support services in the fee schedule;
  (5) The NRC could assess a fee for renewing a license to operate a low-level radioactive waste burial site; and
  (6) The NRC's fees were not arbitrary or capricious.
  The NRC's Current Statutory Requirement for Cost Recovery Through FeesIn 1986, Congress passed the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) (H.R. 3128), which required the NRC to assess and collect annual charges from persons licensed by the Commission. These charges, when added to other amounts collected by the NRC, totaled about 33 percent of the NRC's estimated budget. In response to this mandate and separate congressional inquiry on NRC fees, the NRC prepared a report on alternative approaches to annual fees and published the decision on annual fees for power reactor operating licenses in 10 CFR part 171 for public comment (51 FR 24078; July 1, 1986). The final rule (51 FR 33224; September 18, 1986) included a summary of the comments and the NRC's related responses. The decision was challenged in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and upheld in its entirety in Florida Power and Light Company v. United States, 846 F.2d 765 (D.C. Cir. 1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1045 (1989).
  In 1987, the NRC retained the established annual and 10 CFR part 170 fee schedules in the Federal Register (51 FR 33224; September 18, 1986).
  In 1988, the NRC was required to collect 45 percent of its budget authority through fees. The NRC published a proposed rule that included an hourly increase recommendation for public comment in the Federal Register (53 FR 24077; June 27, 1988). The NRC staff could not properly consider all comments received on the proposed rule. Therefore, on August 12, 1988, the NRC published an interim final rule in the Federal Register (53 FR 30423). The interim final rule was limited to changing the 10 CFR part 171 annual fees.
  In 1989, the Commission was required to collect 45 percent of its budget authority through fees. The NRC published a proposed fee rule in the Federal Register (53 FR 24077; June 25, 1988). A summary of the comments and the NRC's related responses were published in the Federal Register (53 FR 52632; December 28, 1988).
  On November 5, 1990, with respect to 10 CFR part 171, the Congress passed OBRA-90, requiring that the NRC collect 100 percent of its budget authority, less appropriations from the Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF), through the assessment of fees. The OBRA-90 allowed the NRC to collect user fees for the recovery of the costs of providing special benefits to identifiable applicants and licensees in compliance with 10 CFR part 170 and under the authority of the IOAA (31 U.S.C. 9701). These fees recovered the cost of inspections, applications for new licenses and license renewals, and requests for license amendments. The OBRA-90 also allowed the NRC to recover annual fees under 10 CFR part 171 for generic regulatory costs not otherwise recovered through 10 CFR part 170 fees. In compliance with OBRA-90, the NRC adjusted its fee regulations in 10 CFR parts 170 and 171 to be more comprehensive without changing their underlying basis. The NRC published these regulations in a proposed rule for public comment in the Federal Register (54 FR 49763; December 1, 1989). The NRC held three public meetings to discuss the proposed changes and questions. A summary of comments and the NRC's related responses were published in the Federal Register (55 FR 21173; May 23, 1990).
  In FYs 1991-2000, the NRC continued to comply with OBRA-90 requirements in its proposed and final rules. In 1991, the NRC's annual fee rule methodology was challenged and upheld by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Allied Signal v. NRC, 988 F.2d 146 (D.C. Cir. 1993).
  The FY 2001 Energy and Water Development Appropriation Act amended OBRA-90 to decrease the NRC's fee recovery amount by 2 percent per year beginning in FY 2001, until the fee recovery amount was 90 percent in FY 2005.
  The FY 2006 Energy and Water Development Appropriation Act extended this 90 percent fee recovery requirement for FY 2006. Section 637 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 made the 90 percent fee recovery requirement permanent in FY 2007.
  In addition to the requirements of OBRA-90, as amended, the NRC was also required to comply with the requirements of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. This Act encouraged small businesses to participate in the regulatory process, and required agencies to develop more accessible sources of information on regulatory and reporting requirements for small businesses and create a small entity compliance guide. The NRC, in order to ensure equitable fee distribution among all licensees, developed a fee methodology specifically for small entities that consisted of a small entity definition and the Small Business Administration's most common receipts-based size standards as described under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) identifying industry codes. The NAICS is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies to classify business establishments for the purposes of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy. The purpose of this fee methodology was to lessen the financial impact on small entities through the establishment of a maximum fee at a reduced rate for qualifying licensees.
  In FY 2009, the NRC computed the small entity fee based on a biennial adjustment of 39 percent, a fixed percent applied to the prior 2-year weighted average for all fee categories that have small entity licensees. The NRC also used 39 percent to compute the small entity annual fee for FY 2005, the same year the agency was required to recover only 90 percent of its budget authority. The methodology allowed small entity licensees to be able to predict changes in their fees in the biennial year based on the materials users' fees for the previous 2 years. Using a 2-year weighted average lessened the fluctuations caused by programmatic and budget variables within the fee categories for the majority of small entities.
  The agency also determined that there should be a lower-tier annual fee based on 22 percent of the maximum small entity annual fee to further reduce the impact of fees. In FY 2011, the NRC applied this methodology which would have resulted in an upper-tier small entity fee of $3,300, an increase of 74 percent or $1,400 from FY 2009, and a lower-tier small entity fee of $700, an increase of 75 percent or $300 from FY 2009. The NRC determined that implementing this increase would have a disproportionate impact upon small entity licensees and performed a trend analysis to calculate the appropriate fee tier levels. From FY 2000 to FY 2008, $2,300 was the maximum upper-tier small entity fee and $500 was the maximum lower-tier small entity fee. Therefore, in order to lessen financial hardship for small entity licensees, the NRC concluded that for FY 2011, $2,300 should be the maximum upper-tier small entity fee and $500 should be the lower-tier small entity fee.
  The NRC published the FY 2013 proposed fee rule on March 7, 2013 (78 FR 14880), to solicit public comment on its proposed revisions to 10 CFR parts 170 and 171. By the close of the comment period (April 8, 2013), the NRC received responses from nine commenters that were considered in this final rulemaking. The majority of the comments were received from the uranium industry, nuclear power industry, and the general public. The comments have been grouped by issues and are addressed in a collective response.
  A. Specific 10 CFR Part 170 Issues1. Hourly RateComment. The NRC staff received several comments from the uranium industry, nuclear power industry, and general public concerning the increase in the hourly rate. Some commenters expressed concern that the increase in the hourly rate and the large number of hours expended by the Commission staff on reviews, especially environmental reviews, has resulted in very large invoices to licensees. One commenter is concerned that the FY 2013 hourly rate is 16 percent higher than the rate charged in 2008, twice the rate of inflation since 2008. The commenter also stated the NRC should be concerned about the impact of cumulative hourly rate increases on all classes of licensees. One commenter expressed concern regarding the NRC's lack of cost containment, which the commenter believes is evident based on the number of hourly charges leading to 90 percent fee recovery for escalating uranium recovery activities. Another commenter stated that the NRC should revise the proposed rule to require more efficient processing services of services subject to hourly fees since this proposed rulemaking fails to promote opportunties for cost containment. The same commenter stated the the NRC should establish typical timeframes for activities and promote use of deadline and cost estimates even if preliminary to reduce hourly fees and provide for more timely actions by the NRC. Another commenter is concerned about the high hourly rate along with a large number of hours charged which results in larger invoices. One commenter stated that the NRC should identify the hourly rate as it pertains to charges for its oversight staff (direct overhead), the burden rate placed on all onsite staff, and the burden overhead rate or additional contract staff which is charged to owners.
  Response. Regarding the hourly rate increase and the large number of hours expended by the Commission staff on reviews, especially environmental reviews which result in larger invoices due to the lack of cost containment, the NRC disagrees with this comment. The number of hours spent on NRC reviews, including environmental reviews, is commensurate with the complexity of the subject matter and the quality of the applicant's submittal. The NRC has developed an efficient process for the review of uranium recovery applications. Time expended by the staff to review license applications is necessary to ensure that uranium recovery operations are in compliance with the NRC's regulations and are protective of public health, safety, and the environment. The staff has developed strategies to reduce review times, such as the pre-submission review that have substantially improved application quality and, consequently, shortens review times. If industry has further suggestions, the staff is amenable to meeting with industry in a public forum to discuss details regarding our review process.
  Regarding the comment that the FY 2013 hourly rate is 16 percent higher than the rate charged in 2008, twice the rate of inflation since 2008, including impact of cumulative hour rate increases on all licensees, the NRC acknowledges this comment. However, the hourly rate is not based on the inflation rate but calculated using established fee methodology in compliance with OBRA-90, as amended, which requires the NRC recover 90 percent of its budget authority through the collection of fees assessed to licensees. The NRC is committed to ensuring the hourly rate, to the maximum extent practicable, reflects the cost of NRC services to licensees, in a manner which is fair and equitable to all licensees.
  Regarding the comment expressing concern about the lack of cost containment, the NRC disagrees with this comment. Cost containment is not a viable option for the NRC because, as stated above, the NRC is required by law to collect 90 percent of its budget authority through user fees. The NRC staff has implemented efficient review processes to ensure that these fees are fairly allocated. The staff charges the hours necessary to complete its actions and makes a considerable effort to only charge productive hours to a licensee or applicant. Resources expended by the staff are required to draw the necessary safety and environmental conclusions. Overall, additional efficiencies can be achieved by closer NRC and industry coordination prior to application submittal to ensure high quality applications. Additionally, high quality and complete responses to requests for additional information also ensure an efficient and timely review process.
  Regarding the comment requesting that the NRC require more efficient processing services subject to hourly fees, the NRC disagrees with this comment. As previously mentioned, the staff constantly searches for methods to increase efficient processing of services, such as the pre-submission review, which has improved application quality and review efficiency. The staff also has increased its environmental review efficiency by using the Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS), starting its Section 106 cultural and historic resource consultations earlier, and using alternate approaches to cultural and historic resource surveys.
  In reference to the comment stating that the NRC should provide typical timeframes for activities, establish deadlines and prepare cost estimates to reduce hourly fees resulting in timely actions by the NRC, the staff already provides estimated costs and schedules. The staff has provided to industry its estimate for completing a new license or expansion review in January 2011 and May 2013. These estimates were presented during conferences, the latest being the 2013, National Mining Association, Uranium Recovery Workshop. The staff also presented tentative schedules on the NRC's Web site, www.nrc.gov, and updates the schedules, as needed. Licensees can also expedite the processing of their applications by ensuring applications submitted are of high quality and requests for additional information are submitted with complete information in a timely manner.
  Regarding the comment that the NRC should identify the hourly rate as it pertains to charges for its oversight staff (direct overhead), the burden rate placed on all onsite staff, and the burden overhead rate or additional contract staff which is charged to owners, the NRC disagrees with this comment. The NRC charges one hourly rate to licensees which is computed by dividing the sum of the recoverable budgeted resources for mission direct program salaries and benefits, mission indirect program support, agency corporate support and the Inspector General (IG), by mission direct full time equivalents (FTE) hours. The mission direct FTE hours are the product of the mission direct FTE multipled by the hours per direct FTE. The only budgeted resources excluded from the hourly rate are those for contract activities related to mission direct and fee relief activities. See Section III.A, Amendments to Part 170 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Table II'--Hourly Rate Calculation. Lastly, the calculation of differing burden rates would be administratively burdensome and not provide any further benefit to the licensees.
  2. Flat FeesComment. One commenter stated that the NRC should establish more flat fees for activities at uranium recovery operations. The same commenter stated that although the NRC does not have the information such as number of hours and typical timeframes for routine activities, the NRC's goal should be to move to flat fees for routine activities. The commenter further stated that flat fees would allow the industry to better plan and budget.
  Response. The NRC disagrees with these comments. In FY 2012, the staff considered creating more flat fees but determined it was not feasible due to the complexity of determining fair and equitable rates for sites that have significant variances in the work required for similar regulatory activities. The staff's assessment involved preparing a list of over 20 amendments and reviews typically undertaken for uranium recovery licensees and examining costs associated with these activities. The staff reviewed the data and determined it was insufficient and more resources would be required to identify specific tasks and develop corresponding flat fees. In FY 2013, the NRC continues to operate under a challenging budget environment; therefore, the NRC staff has delayed this activity in order to focus on other high-priority program activities. However, the staff will again assess this possibility in FY 2014.
  3. Lack of Invoice DetailComment. One commenter stated that the NRC should continue efforts to provide invoices that contain more meaningful descriptions of the work done by staff and especially contractors.
  Response. The NRC agrees with this comment. In FY 2011, the NRC requested feedback from industry on a new invoice format to balance the need for a sufficient level of detail for industry without causing an undue burden on the NRC or the licensees. Based on the feedback, the NRC created an invoice for inspection reports which provided the number of hours charged by pay period (two weeks), a short description of the activity and an assigned billing code (TAC). Upon request by the licensee, the NRC can provide more detail which includes the full name of the NRC staff member including time charged for a specific activity. The NRC encourages licensees and applicants to contact their assigned Project Manager if additional detail is required on the work that is being performed on their behalf.
  B. Specific Part 171 Issues1. Uranium Recovery FeesComment. Two commenters expressed concern on how proposed rulemaking activities contributed to increases in uranium recovery fees. One commenter stated that the uranium recovery industry has not seen much rulemaking activity in the past 12 months and requested estimates of future rulemaking cost-related to uranium recovery projects be provided to industry. The same commenter stated the proposed increased fee for 11e(2) disposal incidental to existing tailing sites is not proportionate to increases for conventional and heap leach mills, basic In Situ Recovery (ISR) facilities or expanded ISR facilities all of which slightly exceed 21 percent. Another commenter noted that the NRC explained increases in uranium recovery fees are due to rulemaking and licensing board activities, yet they are unaware of any ongoing rulemaking activities which would justify an increase in uranium recovery fees.
  Response. Regarding the comments on how proposed rulemaking activities contributed towards increased uranium recovery fees, the NRC agrees with these comments. The staff planned on undertaking an ISR rulemaking at the time the budget was developed in FY 2011. However, due to the FY 2013 Appropriation and sequestration, funds for this rulemaking have been removed from the budget. The NRC staff has reflected this reduction in the final annual fees.
  Regarding the comment requesting estimates of future rulemaking costs for the uranium recovery program to be submitted to industry, the NRC disagrees with this comment. Preliminary estimates for rulemaking costs submitted for budget formulation and annual fee calculations are for internal use only. Furthermore, these estimates are subject to change throughout the budget formulation process. Therefore, agency estimates provided to industry could be inaccurate, until the budget is approved by Congress.
  The FY 2013 budget also includes additional resources for licensing board activities anticipated for at least five new facility or expansion applications. Licensing board activities could include addressing standing and contentions, preparing and responding to appeals, and providing testimony in various phases of hearings. Since uranium recovery hearings are contested, these costs are not directly billed to specific licensees, except if the contested hearing involves an action related to the U.S. Government's national security-related initiative. Therefore, the agency must recovery these funds through annual fees.
  In reference to the comment stating the proposed increased fee for 11e(2) disposal incidental to existing tailing sites is not proportionate to increases for conventional and heap leach mills, basic in situ recovery facilities or expanded in situ recovery facilities all of which slightly exceed 21 percent, the NRC disagrees with this comment. The staff apportions the uranium recovery annual fee based on the number of licensees in each fee class and on the relative amount of time required to manage the licensees in each fee class. In addition to the budgetary resources increase for category 11e(2), the benefit factor between FY 2012 and FY 2013 had a slight increase due to operations. The resulting annual fee is the result of this calculation; however, the staff notes that the annual fee under this class is significantly lower than those of the other fee classes, except uranium water treatment facilities.
  C. Other Issues1. Streamlining ProcessesComment. Two commenters stated the NRC should investigate ways to reduce fees through efficient use of resources and streamlining regulatory processes, particularly to accomplish legal and policy imperatives. One commenter stated they can assist the NRC in achieving streamlining efficiences, budgeting for future initatives, providing timely results and processing existing license maintenance activities over new applications if resource constraints limits the NRC's ability to accomplish these tasks. The same commenter stated they can help the NRC obtain additonal resources by continued communication with the Commission or contacting Congress to support additional resources for uranium recovery. Another commenter requested the information regarding the subject of design certification requests, in the form of petitions for rulemaking with designs for certain common features such as central plants, satellite plants, wells, header houses and ponds, be provided to the uranium recovery industry. The same commenter stated that upon receipt of this information, time and costs related to these designs be described. The commenter also stated use of standardized and pre-approved designs can streamline the licensing process. One commenter stated that the NRC ensure that the GEIS and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Commission and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) regarding cooperation on environmental analyses be effectively implemented in order to provide the promised benefits. Another commenter stated they are hopeful that the MOU between the BLM and the NRC will result in greater efficiencies and cost savings to licensees and applicants. One commenter stated that the NRC has made little progress in the Section 106 Tribal Consultation Process and has not issued the high-level, agency-wide Section 106 guidance as promised in the response to comments in the Federal Register dated June 15, 2012.
  Response. Regarding comments concerning ways to reduce fees through efficient use of resources, the staff's responses in Section II.A, ''Specific 10 CFR Part 170 Issues,'' of this document address this issue. As discussed in Section II.A, the NRC staff has recently established efficient licensing processes. Additionally, efficiencies can be achieved through early and frequent interactions between staff and applicants and timely, high quality responses to requests for additional information during the safety and environmental review processes.
  Regarding industry assistance to the NRC in petitioning Congress for additional resources for uranium recovery and budgeting for future initiatives, the NRC has sufficient resources necessary to perform its mission. The budgeted resources allow the NRC staff to prioritize its uranium recovery work by addressing currently licensed activities first since these facilities are active and align with our mission of ensuring health and safety of operating facilities. The NRC then budgets and reviews new license and expansion applications consistent with the anticipated number of applications and the uncertainty associated with scheduled license submissions. The current resources are sufficient to allow the staff to review 8 to 10 major applications at any given time. However, the staff has deferred the reviews of certain expansion and new license applications, the longest of which was 6 months to focus on other high-priority items. Furthermore, planned guidance development has been delayed to free resources to address the top two priorties. As more sites are licensed, the number of license maintenance activities will increase; thereby, reducing the number of major applications that can be reviewed at any given time. The NRC is aware of this situation and will provide resources commensurate with the uranium recovery workload.
  Regarding the comments that design certification requests be submitted as petitions for rulemaking and streamlining of licensing regulatory processes to use standardized and pre-approved designs and to process new applications along with existing applications, the NRC agrees with the comments. On multiple occasions, the staff has stated it would entertain a strategy of certifying standard designs as a means of streamlining the application and review processes for new facilities or expansions. This can be accomplished by multiple methods. One method is the design certification where a specific aspect of a uranium recovery facility is standardized and codified. Reactor designs, for example, have been certified by the staff and are included in 10 CFR part 52. However, these designs are incorporated into the regulations by a rulemaking, which could be requested under 10 CFR part 2. A second method would involve industry preparing standard designs for certain aspects of uranium recovery facilities, which are reviewed by the staff. Afterwards, the staff documents this review in a published NUREG. Similar to design certifications, this NUREG could be incorporated by reference into license applications. The staff would be willing to discuss such certifications in publicly noticed meetings at industry's request.
  In reference to the comments that the NRC is not effectively implementing the GEIS and the MOU between the BLM to achieve greater efficiencies and cost savings, the NRC disagrees with this comment. The staff has effectively utilized the GEIS by referencing the conclusions in the GEIS, as appropriate, within its site-specific supplemental EISs. This has reduced the time required to prepare the supplemental EISs. Furthermore, the MOU between the NRC and the BLM was recently revised to enhance communication and cooperation between the NRC and BLM staff during the preparation of environmental review documents. This MOU streamlines the agencies' NEPA and Section 106 review processes by allowing the agencies to jointly conduct these reviews, prepare one review document, and, thus, minimize duplication of efforts, whereby, resulting in greater efficiencies and cost savings to the agency.
  Regarding the comment that the NRC first, has made little progress in the Section 106 Tribal Consultation Process and, second, that the Tribal consultation guidance has not been issued, the NRC staff disagrees with the first part of the comment, and agrees with the second part. Regarding the comment on the progress on the process, during the Commission Briefing on Uranium Recovery on February 20, 2013, the NRC staff discussed the challenges that the Section 106 process has presented in recent years. The NRC has experienced a substantial expansion of the Section 106 consultation activities for the ISR projects. There has been a significant increase in the number of Native American Tribes interested in each ISR project, from a few Tribes prior to 2010, to a current average of 20 Tribes per project. This has resulted in a significant increase in the number and complexity of consultations and the need for the NRC staff to enhance its efforts to ensure that historic properties of religious and cultural significance to the Tribes are identified.
  However, the NRC staff recently has made progress and facilitated Tribal field surveys for four ISR project sites. Furthermore, Tribal field surveys for two ISR project sites are expected to be completed in Spring/Summer 2013. As stated in Section A of this document, the staff also has increased its Section 106 consultation efficiency by starting its Section 106 cultural and historic resource consultations earlier and using alternate approaches to cultural and historic resource surveys.
  Regarding the comment on the guidance, the staff agrees that the high-level Section 106 guidance has not been issued. However, the NRC staff is currently in the process of developing this high-level Section 106 guidance specific for uranium recovery projects based on knowledge and experience gained through work efforts on the NRC's Tribal Protocol Manual and the NRC's Tribal Policy Statement. The NRC staff expects to issue a draft of the Section 106 guidance for public comment by spring 2014.
  2. Education ProgramsComment. One commenter is pleased that the Continuing Resolution Appropriations restores funding for the Integrated University Program which was previously cut under the President's FY 2013 budget. The same commenter stated that this funding ensures that a well trained and educated nuclear professional will meet the needs of government and industry.
  Response. The NRC agrees that it is effectively managing the Integrated University Program. The NRC's resources for this program are recovered as part of its fee-relief activities.
  3. TransparencyComment. One commenter urged the NRC to revise and republish proposed fees reflecting the actual budget for FY 2013. The same commenter stated the NRC should follow a consistent and transparent process for determining and publishing its planned fees. The commenter further stated that if it requires additional time for the NRC to republish proposed fees after considering all budget perturbations forced on the agency by Congress, the NRC should take whatever time necessary to ensure the basis for its fees is openly and timely available to all stakeholders. The commenter is concerned that publishing a proposed fee rule based on one set of circumstances, and a final fee rule based on another set of circumstances undermines the whole purpose of the rulemaking process.
  Response. The NRC disagrees with these comments. The NRC strives to ensure proposed fee rulemakings are as accurate as possible in compliance to the statutory requirements, OBRA-90 and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The OBRA-90 requires the NRC to collect 90 percent of the budget authority through fees assessed to licensees by the end of the fiscal year. Section 553 of the APA requires the NRC to give the public an opportunity to comment on a rule proposed by the agency before the rule can be put into effect. This section also requires the effective date of a regulation be not less than 30 days from the date of publication unless there is a good cause for implementation at an earlier date. Additionally, this final fee rule has been designated as a ''major rule'' under the Congressional Review Act and cannot become effective until 60 days after publication of the final rule in the Federal Register. Due to schedule requirements, the NRC will not republish the FY 2013 Proposed Fee Rule, but will ensure the FY 2013 Final Fee Rule is published in a timely manner.
  4. Fee StructureComment. One commenter stated that the NRC should be totally government funded. Another commenter stated that the current NRC fee structure creates problems of impartiality where dependence for budget is based on having more operating nuclear plants to fund the NRC. The same commenter stated that the current NRC fee structure is too low and hourly work rates are below those many lawyers and similar professionals charge. The commenter further stated that a higher hourly rate is appropriate due to the wide scope of overhead and other work which stems from inspection work. The same commenter suggested that NRC should drastically increase the rate for any hourly charged work that is part of a failure or non-compliance by an operator. The commenter also stated the NRC is spending considerable amounts of manpower dealing with the results of poor operator conduct.
  Response. The NRC disagrees with these comments. The NRC cannot be totally government funded without Congress overturning the existing law that governs the NRC's budget authority which is OBRA-90, as amended. The OBRA-90, as amended, requires the NRC to collect 90 percent of its recoverable budget through fees assessed to licensees.
  Regarding the comment concerning the NRC fee structure, the NRC believes the current fee methodology used to compute the hourly rate fairly distributes the mission direct and indirect costs to all licensees. The methodology also ensures that the costs of specific services provided by the NRC staff that benefit specific licensees, which includes activities associated with noncompliance, are charged to those licensees who require and/or receive these services by NRC staff as opposed to imposing these costs on all licensees. The costs associated with these specific services are assessed in the form of hourly fees billed for the NRC staff time expended to ensure licensee compliance to the NRC's regulations.
  5. ExemptionsComment. One commenter stated the NRC should update § 170.11(a)(1)(iii)(B) to read ''The NRC must be the primary beneficiary of the NRC's review and approval of these documents.'' The same commenter stated the last sentence should be deleted from this section because as written, no one could ever receive a fee exemption. Another commenter stated that the NRC should update § 170.11(a)(1)(iii)(D) to read, ''The report should be generically applicable to multiple licensees. The exemption applies even if the report does not apply to a complete class of licensees.'' The commenter further stated that this change will ensure the widest possible use of any report reviewed and endorsed by the NRC, but still allow a sub-set of a class of licensees.
  Response. The NRC disagrees with the comments and believes the current regulations provide fair treatment to all licensees regarding the conditions required for exemption approval on request/reports. The established threshold for consideration of fee exemptions were developed recognizing that the costs of exempted reviews are recovered through annual fees to all the licensees in the affected fee class.
  The NRC encourages public input through the petition for rulemaking process which is a system by which any member of the public can request that the NRC develop, modify, or rescind a regulation. Information on the petition for rulemaking process is available on the NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/rulemaking/petition-rule.html.
  6. Fee SchedulesComment. One commenter supports the new revision of the fee schedules for FY 2013 to address inflation and extra expenses. The same commenter further stated that the NRC, after the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident in Japan has had to perform more studies, analysis and inspections to determine the lessons learned and the applicability to aging U.S. reactors. Another commenter dislikes the new revision of the fee schedules and stated that the licensees are giving the NRC more bribe money to overlook incidents at nuclear power plants.
  Response. The NRC agrees with the comment supporting the new revision of the NRC fee schedules. The NRC disagrees with the comment stating that licensee fees are bribes to the NRC to overlook incidents at facilities. OBRA-90 and implementing regulations promulgated by the NRC require licensees to pay fees. The NRC ensures no incident at nuclear power plant is overlooked and believes the fee schedules accurately represent the NRC's cost of providing regulatory services to all licensees. The NRC concludes that neither of these comments warrant policy changes in 10 CFR part 170 and 171. Therefore, no changes were made to the final rule in response to these comments.
  The NRC assesses two types of fees to meet the requirements of OBRA-90. First, user fees, presented in 10 CFR part 170 under the authority of the IOAA, recover the NRC's costs of providing special benefits to identifiable applicants and licensees. For example, the NRC assesses these fees to cover the costs of inspections, applications for new licenses and license renewals, and requests for license amendments. Second, annual fees, presented in 10 CFR part 171 under the authority of OBRA-90, recover generic regulatory costs not otherwise recovered through 10 CFR part 170 fees. Under this rulemaking, the NRC continues the fee cost recovery principles through the adjustment of fees without changing the underlying principles of the NRC fee policy in order to ensure that the NRC continues to comply with the statutory requirements of OBRA-90, the AEA, and the IOAA.
  FY 2013 AppropriationOn March 26, 2013, President Obama signed the Consolidated and Further Continued Appropriations Act of 2013, giving the NRC a total appropriation of $985.6 million. Accordingly, in compliance with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and OBRA-90, the NRC is amending its licensing, inspection, and annual fees to recover approximately 90 percent of its FY 2013 budget authority, less the appropriations for non-fee items. The amount of the NRC's required fee collections is set by law and is, therefore, outside the scope of this rulemaking.
  FY 2013 Fee CollectionIn compliance with the AEA and OBRA-90, the NRC amends its licensing, inspection, and annual fees to recover approximately 90 percent of its FY 2013 budget authority less the appropriations for non-fee items. The NRC's total budget authority for FY 2013 is $985.6 million. The non-fee items excluded outside of the fee base includes $0.8 million for WIR activities and $24.9 million for generic homeland security activities. Based on the 90 percent fee-recovery requirement, the NRC is required to recover $864.0 million in FY 2013 through 10 CFR part 170 licensing and inspection fees and through 10 CFR part 171 annual fees. This amount is $45.5 million less than the amount for recovery in FY 2012, a decrease of 5.0 percent. The FY 2013 fee recovery amount increases by $200,000 as a result of billing adjustments (sum of unpaid current year invoices (estimated) minus payments for prior year invoices), and reduces by $20.9 million for unbilled prior year invoices under 10 CFR part 170 and $4.6 million for current year collections made the termination of two operating reactors.
  Table I summarizes the budget and fee recovery amounts for FY 2013. The FY 2012 amounts are provided for comparison purposes. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
  Table I'--Budget and Fee Recovery Amounts Back to TopFY 2012 Final ruleFY 2013 Final rule[Dollars in millions]Total Budget Authority$1,038.1$985.6Less Non-Fee Items''27.5''25.7Balance$1,010.6$959.9Fee Recovery Rate for FY 201390%90%Total Amount to be Recovered for FY 2013$909.5864.010 CFR Part 171 Billing Adjustments:Unpaid Current Year Invoices (estimated)2.32.2Less Current Year from Collections (Terminated'--Operating Reactors)0.0''4.6Less Payments Received in Current Year for Previous Year Invoices (estimated)''10.8''2.0Subtotal''8.54.4Amount to be Recovered through 10 CFR Parts 170 and 171 Fees$901.0$859.6Less Estimated 10 CFR Part 170 Fees''345.2''327.1Less Prior Year Unbilled 10 CFR Part 170 Fees''20.910 CFR Part 171 Fee Collections Required$555.8$511.6In this final fee rule, the NRC amends fees for power reactors, spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning, non-power reactors, uranium recovery facilities, most fuel facilities, some small materials users, and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) transportation license. The 10 CFR part 170 fees decrease by $15.3 million from the proposed fee rule estimate of $363.3 million primarily due to a reduction in budgetary resources and licensing actions. As a result of this change, the total annual fees decrease by $50.1 million from the proposed rule estimate of $561.7 million. In general, the percentage changes in most annual fees compared to the previous year are relatively small due to a decrease in the NRC's appropriation as compared to FY 2012. The FY 2013 appropriation also resulted in a small decrease to the average FTE rate that is used to calculate the budget allocation to each of the fee classes and fee-relief activities in this final rule.
  The NRC estimates that $348 million will be recovered from 10 CFR part 170 fees under this final fee rule. This represents an increase of approximately 0.8 percent as compared to the actual 10 CFR part 170 collections of $345.2 million in FY 2012. The NRC derived the FY 2013 estimate for the 10 CFR part 170 fee collections from the latest billing data that includes the collection of prior year 10 CFR part 170 unbilled invoices which occurred as result of the adoption of a new accounting system in October 2010. In October 2012, the NRC became aware that certain project managers' and resident inspectors' (including senior resident inspectors) hours were not being billed for services rendered by the NRC. This error resulted in the NRC under billing some of its licensees for a total of $20.9 million for the past eight quarters under 10 CFR part 170. The NRC is statutorily obligated to collect the appropriate fees for services provided; therefore, the NRC applied the estimate of this collection of fees to FY 2013 10 CFR part 170 billings and the FY 2013 annual fees have annually been adjusted to account for this additional revenue collection. The FY 2013 billing adjustments estimated that the unpaid current year invoices total $2.2 million and the estimated receipt of payments total $2 million for previous year invoices. Additionally, the billing adjustments include $4.6 million in the current year collections for the termination of two operating reactors in FY 2013.
  The remaining $511.5 million is to be recovered through the 10 CFR part 171 annual fees in FY 2013, which is a decrease of approximately 8 percent compared to actual 10 CFR part 171 collections of $555.8 million for FY 2012. The change for each class of licensees affected is discussed in Section III.B.3, ''Administrative Amendments,'' of this document.
  FY 2013 BillingThe FY 2013 final fee rule is a ''major rule'' as defined by the Congressional Review Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. 801-808). Therefore, the NRC's fee schedules for FY 2013 will become effective 60 days after publication of the final rule in the Federal Register. Upon publication of the FY 2013 final fee rule, the NRC will send an invoice for the amount of the annual fee to reactor licensees, 10 CFR part 72 licensees, major fuel cycle facilities, and other licensees with annual fees of $100,000 or more. For these licensees, payment is due on the effective date of the FY 2013 final fee rule. Because these licensees are billed quarterly, the payment due is the amount of the total FY 2013 annual fee, less payments made in the first three quarters of the fiscal year.
  Materials licensees with annual fees of less than $100,000 are billed annually. Those materials licensees whose license anniversary date during FY 2013 falls before the effective date of the FY 2013 final rule will be billed for the annual fee during the anniversary month of the license at the FY 2012 annual fee rate. Those materials licensees whose license anniversary date falls on or after the effective date of the FY 2013 final rule will be billed for the annual fee at the FY 2013 annual fee rate during the anniversary month of the license, and payment will be due on the date of the invoice.
  FY 2013 Amendment ChangesThe NRC is amending 10 CFR parts 170 and 171 as discussed in the following sections.
  A. Amendments to Part 170 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR): Fees for Facilities, Materials, Import and Export Licenses, and Other Regulatory Services under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as Amended.
  In FY 2013, the NRC is decreasing the hourly rate to recover the full cost of activities under 10 CFR part 170 and has used this rate to calculate ''flat'' application fees.
  The NRC is making the following changes:
  1. Hourly Rate.
  The NRC's hourly rate is used in assessing full cost fees for specific services provided, as well as flat fees for certain application reviews. The NRC is changing the current hourly rate of $274 to $272 in FY 2013. This rate would be applicable to all activities for which fees are assessed under §§ 170.21 and 170.31.
  The FY 2013 hourly rate is 0.7 percent lower than the FY 2012 hourly rate of $274. The decrease in the hourly rate is due primarily to lower agency budgeted resources and by a small increase in the number of direct FTE. The following paragraphs describe the hourly rate calculation in further detail.
  The NRC's hourly rate is derived by dividing the sum of recoverable budgeted resources for (1) mission direct program salaries and benefits; (2) mission indirect program support; and (3) agency corporate support and the Inspector General (IG), by mission direct FTE hours. The mission direct FTE hours are the product of the mission direct FTE multiplied by the hours per direct FTE. The only budgeted resources excluded from the hourly rate are those for contract activities related to mission direct and fee-relief activities.
  In FY 2013, the NRC used 1,351 hours per direct FTE, a decrease of 1.5 percent from FY 2012, to calculate the hourly fees. The NRC has reviewed data from its time and labor system to determine if the annual direct hours worked per direct FTE estimate requires updating for the FY 2013 fee rule. Based on this review of the most recent data available, the NRC determined that 1,351 hours is the best estimate of direct hours worked annually per direct FTE. This estimate excludes all indirect activities such as training, general administration, and leave.
  Table II shows the results of the hourly rate calculation methodology. The FY 2012 amounts are provided for comparison purposes. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
  Table II'--Hourly Rate Calculation Back to TopFY 2012 Final ruleFY 2013 Final ruleMission Direct Program Salaries & Benefits$349.9$345.1Mission Indirect Program Support25.919.7Agency Corporate Support, and the IG472.3474.8Subtotal848.0839.6Less Offsetting Receipts''0.00.0Total Budget Included in Hourly Rate (Millions of Dollars)848.0839.6Mission Direct FTE (Whole numbers)2,2582,285Professional Hourly Rate (Total Budget Included in Hourly Rate divided by Mission Direct FTE Hours) (Whole Numbers)274272As shown in Table II, dividing the FY 2013 $839.6 million budget amount included in the hourly rate by total mission direct FTE hours (2,285 FTE times 1,351 hours) results in an hourly rate of $272. The hourly rate is rounded to the nearest whole dollar.
  2. Flat Application Fee ChangesThe NRC is adjusting current flat application fees in §§ 170.21 and 170.31 to reflect the revised hourly rate of $272. These flat fees are calculated by multiplying the average professional staff hours needed to process the licensing actions by the proposed professional hourly rate for FY 2013.
  Biennially, the NRC evaluates historical professional staff hours used to process a new license application for materials users fee categories subject to flat application fees. This is in accordance with the requirements of the Chief Financial Officer's Act. The NRC conducted this biennial review for the FY 2013 fee rule which also included license and amendment applications for import and export licenses.
  Evaluation of the historical data in FY 2013 shows that the average number of professional staff hours required to complete licensing actions in the materials program should be increased in some fee categories and decreased in others to more accurately reflect current data for completing these licensing actions. The average number of professional staff hours needed to complete new licensing actions was last updated for the FY 2011 final fee rule. Thus, the revised proposed average professional staff hours in this final fee rule reflect the changes in the NRC licensing review program that have occurred since that time.
  This final rule also includes three new fee categories, 2.D. through 2.F, and a modified description of fee category 2.C., which were not included in the proposed fee rule. These changes were introduced in the proposed rule, ''Distribution of Source Material to Exempt Persons and to General Licensees and Revision of General License and Exemptions,'' dated July 26, 2010 (75 FR 43425), and the rule was published as a final rule on May 29, 2013 (78 FR 32310). The fees for these new fee categories 2.C through 2.F., absent a biennial review, were determined by performing a comparative analysis to related fee categories. As a result, this final fee rule lowers the fees for categories 2.D and 2.E, and increases the fee for category 2.C from those fees listed in the final source material rule to be consistent with the calculated fee changes in this final fee rule; the fee for category 2.F. remains unchanged from that listed in the final source material rule.
  In general, the increase in application fees is due to the increased number of hours to perform specific activities based on the biennial review. Application fees for 10 fee categories (2.B., 3.H., 3.M., 3.N., 3.P., 3.R.2., 3.S., 5.A., 7.C., and 10.B. under § 170.31) increase as a result of the average time to process these types of license applications. The decrease in fees for 9 fee categories (2.F. (formerly 2.C.), 3.B., 3.C., 3.I., 3.Q., 4.B., 9.A., 9.C., and 16 under § 170.31) is due to a decrease in average time to process these types of applications. Also, the application fees increase for 3 import and export fee categories (K.4, 15.D, and 15.H under § 170.31).
  The amounts of the materials licensing flat fees are rounded so that the fees would be convenient to the user and the effects of rounding would be minimal. Fees under $1,000 are rounded to the nearest $10, fees that are greater than $1,000 but less than $100,000 are rounded to the nearest $100, and fees that are greater than $100,000 are rounded to the nearest $1,000.
  The licensing flat fees are applicable for fee categories K.1. through K.5. of § 170.21, and fee categories 1.C., 1.D., 1.F., 2.B., 2.C., 2.D., 2.E., 2.F., 3.A. through 3.S., 4.B. through 9.D., 10.B., 15.A. through 15.L., 15.R., 16, and 17 of § 170.31. Applications filed on or after the effective date of the FY 2013 final fee rule would be subject to the revised fees in the final rule.
  3. Administrative AmendmentsThis final rule is making the following administrative changes for clarity:
  a. § 170.21: Footnote 2 is revised to reflect there are no more applications pending review prior to 1991. The following language is deleted, ''For those applications currently on file for which review costs have reached an applicable fee ceiling established by the June 20, 1984, and July 2, 1990, rules, but are still pending completion of the review, the cost incurred after any applicable ceiling was reached through January 29, 1989, will not be billed to the applicant. Any professional staff-hours expended above those ceilings on or after January 30, 1989, will be assessed at the applicable rates established by § 170.20, as appropriate, except for topical reports whose costs exceed $50,000. Costs which exceed $50,000 for any topical report, amendment, revision, or supplement to a topical report completed or under review from January 30, 1989, through August 8, 1991, will not be billed to the applicant. Any professional hours expended on or after August 9, 1991, will be assessed at the applicable rate established in § 170.20.''
  b. § 170.21: Footnote 4 is revised to include ''in 10 CFR part 110.27,'' for clarity.
  c. § 170.31: The fee category name for 2.A.(1) is changed to include ''deconversion,'' to reflect the new description and the description for fee category 2.A.(1) is changed to include ''or for deconverting uranium hexafluoride in the production of uranium oxides for disposal,'' to capture the deconversion of uranium hexafluoride (UF 6) into uranium oxides for disposal and commercial sale of the fluoride byproducts from uranium deconversion facilities.
  d. § 170.31: The descriptions for fee categories 1.C., 1.D., and Footnote 4 are changed and a new fee category 1.F. is created to address licenses authorizing greater than critical mass as defined by § 70.4, ''Critical Mass.'' Under 10 CFR part 170, the fee category 1.C. description includes ''of less than a critical mass as defined in § 70.4 of this chapter. [4] '' The fee category 1.D. description is changed to, ''All other special nuclear material licenses, except licenses authorizing special nuclear material in sealed or unsealed form in combination that would constitute a critical mass as defined in § 70.4 of this, for which the licensee shall pay the same fees as those under Category 1.A. [4] '' A new fee category 1.F. reads, ''For special nuclear materials licenses in sealed or unsealed form of greater than a critical mass as defined in § 70.4 of this chapter. [4] '' The Footnote 4 includes fee category 1.F. along with fee categories 1.C. and 1.D. for sealed sources authorized in the same license.
  e. § 170.31: The description for fee category 15.D. is revised to exclude language regarding import and export of radioactive waste. The new description reads, ''Application for export or import of nuclear material not requiring Commission or Executive Branch review, or obtaining foreign government assurances.''
  f. § 170.31: Footnote 3 is revised for clarity because there are no more applications on file prior to 1991 and deletes the following language, ''For applications currently on file for which review costs have reached an applicable fee ceiling established by the June 20, 1984, and July 2, 1990, rules, but are still pending completion of the review, the cost incurred after any applicable ceiling was reached through January 29, 1989, will not be billed to the applicant. Any professional staff- hours expended above those ceilings on or after January 30, 1989, will be assessed at the applicable rates established by § 170.20, as appropriate, except for topical reports for which costs exceed $50,000. Costs which exceed $50,000 for each topical report, amendment, revision, or supplement to a topical report completed or under review from January 30, 1989, through August 8, 1991, will not be billed to the applicant. Any professional hours expended on or after August 9, 1991, will be assessed at the applicable rate established in § 170.20.''
  In summary, the NRC is making the following changes to 10 CFR part 170:
  1. Establishes a revised professional hourly rate to use in assessing fees for specific services;
  2. Revises the license application fees to reflect the FY 2013 hourly rate; and
  3. Makes administrative changes to §§ 170.21 and 170.31.
  B. Amendments to 10 CFR Part 171: Annual Fees for Reactor Licenses and Fuel Cycle Licenses and Materials Licenses, Including Holders of Certificates of Compliance, Registrations, and Quality Assurance Program Approvals and Government Agencies Licensed by the NRC.
  The NRC will use its fee-relief surplus to decrease all licensees' annual fees based on their percentage share of the fee recoverable budget authority. This rulemaking also makes changes to the number of NRC licensees and establishes rebaselined annual fees based on Public Law 112-10. The amendments are described as follows:
  1. Application of Fee-Relief and Low-Level Waste (LLW) SurchargeThe NRC will use its fee-relief surplus to decrease all licensees' annual fees, based on their percentage share of the budget. The NRC will apply the 10 percent of its budget that is excluded from fee recovery under OBRA-90, as amended (fee relief), to offset the total budget allocated for activities that do not directly benefit current NRC licensees. The budget for these fee-relief activities is totaled and then reduced by the amount of the NRC's fee relief. Any difference between the fee-relief and the budgeted amount of these activities results in a fee-relief adjustment (increase or decrease) to all licensees' annual fees, based on their percentage share of the budget, which is consistent with the existing fee methodology.
  The FY 2013 budgetary resources for the NRC's fee-relief activities are $89.8 million. The NRC's 10 percent fee-relief amount in FY 2013 is $96.0 million, leaving a $6.2 million fee-relief surplus that will reduce all licensees' annual fees based on their percentage share of the budget. The FY 2013 budget for fee-relief activities decreased from FY 2012 mainly due to a decrease in the FY 2013 NRC appropriated budget even though there was an increase of $1.2 million in the small entity subsidy.
  Table III shows the budgeted costs for fee-relief activities and the fee-relief adjusted amount to be allocated to annual fees. The FY 2012 amounts are provided for comparison purposes. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
  Table III'--Fee-Relief Activities Back to TopFee-relief activitiesFY 2012 budgeted costsFY 2013 budgeted costs[Dollars in millions]1. Activities not attributable to an existing NRC licensee or class of licensee: a. International activities$9.0$10.2b. Agreement State oversight11.010.3c. Scholarships and Fellowships16.816.4d. Medical Isotope Production3.43.52. Activities not assessed under 10 CFR part 170 licensing and inspection fees or 10 CFR part 171 annual fees based on existing law or Commission policy: a. Fee exemption for nonprofit educational institutions11.210.2b. Costs not recovered from small entities under 10 CFR 171.16(c)6.57.7c. Regulatory support to Agreement States17.516.3d. Generic decommissioning/reclamation (not related to the power reactor and spent fuel storage fee classes)14.013.9e. In Situ leach rulemaking and unregistered general licensees1.71.3Total fee-relief activities91.189.8Less 10 percent of NRC's FY 2012 total budget (less non-fee items)''101.1''96.0Fee-Relief Adjustment to be Allocated to All Licensees' Annual Fees''10.0''6.2Table IV shows how the NRC is allocating the $6.2 million fee-relief surplus adjustment to each license fee class. As explained previously, the NRC is allocating this fee-relief adjustment to each license fee class based on the percent of the budget for that fee class compared to the NRC's total budget. The fee-relief surplus adjustment is subtracted from the required annual fee recovery for each fee class.
  Separately, the NRC has continued to allocate the LLW surcharge based on the volume of LLW disposal of three classes of licenses: Operating reactors, fuel facilities, and materials users. Because LLW activities support NRC licensees, the costs of these activities are recovered through annual fees. In FY 2013, this allocation percentage was updated based on review of recent data which reflects the change in the support to the various fee classes. The allocation percentage of LLW surcharge decreased for operating reactors and increased for fuel facilities and materials users compared to FY 2012.
  Table IV also shows the allocation of the LLW surcharge activity. For FY 2013, the total budget allocated for LLW activity is $3.4 million. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
  Table IV'--Allocation of Fee-Relief Adjustment and LLW Surcharge, FY 2013 Back to TopLLW surchargeFee-Relief adjustmentTotalPercent$Percent$$[Dollars in millions]Operating Power Reactors53.01.885.4''5.3''3.5Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning3.9''0.2''0.2Research and Test Reactors0.20.00.0Fuel Facilities37.01.36.0''0.40.9Materials Users10.00.32.9''0.20.1Transportation0.4''0.0''0.0Uranium Recovery1.1''0.1''0.1Total100.03.4100.0''6.2''2.82. Revised Annual FeesThe NRC is revising its annual fees in §§ 171.15 and 171.16 for FY 2013 to recover approximately 90 percent of the NRC's FY 2013 budget authority, after subtracting the non-fee amounts and the estimated amount to be recovered through 10 CFR part 170 fees. The 10 CFR part 170 collections estimates for this final fee rule is $348 million, an increase of $2.8 million from the FY 2012 final fee rule. The total amount to be recovered through annual fees for this final fee rule is $511.6 million, a decrease of $44.3 million from the FY 2012 final fee rule. The required annual fee collection in FY 2012 was $555.8 million.
  The Commission has determined (71 FR 30721; May 30, 2006) that the agency should proceed with a presumption in favor of rebaselining when calculating annual fees each year. Under this method, the NRC's budget is analyzed in detail, and budgeted resources are allocated to fee classes and categories of licensees. The Commission expects that for most years there will be budgetary and other changes that warrant the use of the rebaselining method.
  As compared with the FY 2012 annual fees, the FY 2013 final rebaselined fees decrease for two classes of licensees: operating reactors and DOE Transportation Activities. The annual fees increase for five classes of licensees: spent fuel storage/reactor and decommissioning, research and test reactors, fuel facilities and most materials and uranium recovery licensees.
  The NRC's total fee recoverable budget, as mandated by law, decreases by $45.6 million for FY 2013 compared to FY 2012. The FY 2013 budget was allocated to the fee classes that the budgeted activities support. The annual fees increase for spent fuel storage/reactor and decommissioning, research and test reactors, fuel facilities, and most materials and uranium recovery licensees while annual fees for operating reactors and DOE Transportation Activities decrease.
  The factors affecting all annual fees include the distribution of budgeted costs to the different classes of licenses (based on the specific activities the NRC will perform in FY 2013); the estimated 10 CFR part 170 collections for the various classes of licenses, and allocation of the fee-relief surplus adjustment to all fee classes. The percentage of the NRC's budget not subject to fee recovery remained at 10 percent from FY 2012 to FY 2013.
  Table V shows the rebaselined fees for FY 2013 for a representative list of categories of licensees. The FY 2012 amounts are provided for comparison purposes. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
  Table V'--Rebaselined Annual Fees Back to TopClass/Category of licensesFY 2012 annual feeFY 2013 annual feeOperating Power Reactors (Including Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning Annual Fee)$4,766,000$4,390,000Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning211,000231,000Research and Test Reactors (Nonpower Reactors)34,70081,600High Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility6,329,0006,997,000Low Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility2,382,0002,633,000UF 6 Conversion and Deconversion Facility1,293,0001,429,000Conventional Mills23,60027,900Typical Materials Users: Radiographers (Category 3O)25,90027,200Well Loggers (Category 5A)10,20012,600Gauge Users (Category 3P)4,9006,400Broad Scope Medical (Category 7B)46,10032,900The work papers (ADAMS Accession No. ML13154A025) that support this final fee rule show in detail the allocation of the NRC's budgeted resources for each class of licenses and how the fees are calculated. The work papers are available as indicated in Section V, ''Availability of Documents,'' of this document.
  Paragraphs a. through h. of this section describes budgetary resources allocated to each class of licenses and the calculations of the rebaselined fees. Individual values in the tables presented in this section may not sum to totals due to rounding.
  a. Fuel FacilitiesThe FY 2013 budgeted costs to be recovered in the annual fees assessment to the fuel facility class of licenses (which includes licensees in fee categories 1.A.(1)(a), 1.A.(1)(b), 1.A.(2)(a), 1.A.(2)(b), 1.A.(2)(c), 1.E., and 2.A.(1) under § 171.16) are approximately $32.9 million. This value is based on the full cost of budgeted resources associated with all activities that support this fee class, which is reduced by estimated 10 CFR part 170 collections and adjusted for allocated generic transportation resources and fee-relief. In FY 2013, the LLW surcharge for fuel facilities is added to the allocated fee-relief adjustment (see Table IV in Section III.B.1, ''Application of Fee-Relief and Low-Level Waste Surcharge,'' of this document). The summary calculations used to derive this value are presented in Table VI for FY 2013, with FY 2012 values shown for comparison. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
  Table VI'--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Fuel Facilities Back to TopSummary fee calculationsFY 2012 finalFY 2013 final[Dollars in millions]Total budgeted resources$54.4$50.7Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts''25.6''19.5Net 10 CFR part 171 resources28.831.2Allocated generic transportation+0.9+0.8Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge+0.6+0.9Billing adjustments''0.5''0.0Total required annual fee recovery29.732.9The decrease in total budgeted resources for the fuel facilities fee class from FY 2012 to FY 2013 is primarily due to reduced licensing actions. Although fuel facilities received an adjustment of approximately $153,000 for prior year unbilled 10 CFR part 170 adjustments, the annual fee for fuel facilities increases from FY 2012 to FY 2013 primarily due to the estimated decreased 10 CFR part 170 billings due to reduced budgetary resources for licensing actions. The NRC allocates the total required annual fee recovery amount to the individual fuel facility licensees, based on the effort/fee determination matrix developed for the FY 1999 final fee rule (64 FR 31447; June 10, 1999). In the matrix included in the publicly available NRC work papers, licensees are grouped into categories according to their licensed activities (i.e., nuclear material enrichment, processing operations, and material form) and the level, scope, depth of coverage, and rigor of generic regulatory programmatic effort applicable to each category from a safety and safeguards perspective. This methodology can be applied to determine fees for new licensees, current licensees, licensees in unique license situations, and certificate holders.
  This methodology is adaptable to changes in the number of licensees or certificate holders, licensed or certified material and/or activities, and total programmatic resources to be recovered through annual fees. When a license or certificate is modified, it may result in a change of category for a particular fuel facility licensee, as a result of the methodology used in the fuel facility effort/fee matrix. Consequently, this change may also have an effect on the fees assessed to other fuel facility licensees and certificate holders. For example, if a fuel facility licensee amends its license/certificate (e.g., decommissioning or license termination) that results in it not being subject to 10 CFR part 171 costs applicable to the fee class, then the budgeted costs for the safety and/or safeguards components will be spread among the remaining fuel facility licensees/certificate holders.
  The methodology is applied as follows. First, a fee category is assigned, based on the nuclear material and activity authorized by license or certificate. Although a licensee/certificate holder may elect not to fully use a license/certificate, the license/certificate is still used as the source for determining authorized nuclear material possession and use/activity. Second, the category and license/certificate information are used to determine where the licensee/certificate holder fits into the matrix. The matrix depicts the categorization of licensees/certificate holders by authorized material types and use/activities.
  Each year, the NRC's fuel facility project managers and regulatory analysts determine the level of effort associated with regulating each of these facilities. This is done by assigning, for each fuel facility, separate effort factors for the safety and safeguards activities associated with each type of regulatory activity. The matrix includes 10 types of regulatory activities, including enrichment and scrap/waste-related activities (see the work papers for the complete list). Effort factors are assigned as follows: One (low regulatory effort), five (moderate regulatory effort), and 10 (high regulatory effort). The NRC then totals separate effort factors for safety and safeguard activities for each fee category.
  The effort factors for the various fuel facility fee categories are summarized in Table VII. The value of the effort factors shown, as well as the percent of the total effort factor for all fuel facilities, reflects the total regulatory effort for each fee category (not per facility). This results in spreading of costs to other fee categories. The Uranium Enrichment fee category factors have shifted with minimal increases and decreases between safety and safeguards factors compared to FY 2012.
  Table VII'--Effort Factors for Fuel Facilities, FY 2013 Back to TopFacility type (fee category)Number of facilitiesEffort factors (percent of total)SafetySafeguardsHigh Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(a))289 (38.5)97 (47.0)Low Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(b))370 (30.3)35 (17.0)Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Demonstration (1.A.(2)(b))13 (1.3)15 (7.3)Hot Cell (1.A.(2)(c))16 (2.6)3 (1.5)Uranium Enrichment (1.E.)251 (22.1)49 (23.8)UF 6 Conversion and Deconversion (2.A.(1))112 (5.2)7 (3.4)For FY 2013, the total fee recovery budget for safety activities, before the fee-relief adjustment is made, are $16.9 million. This amount is allocated to each fee category based on its percent of the total regulatory effort for safety activities. For example, if the total effort factor for safety activities for all fuel facilities is 100, and the total effort factor for safety activities for a given fee category is 10, that fee category will be allocated 10 percent of the total budgeted resources for safety activities. Similarly, the total fee recovery budget of $15 million for safeguards activities is allocated to each fee category based on its percent of the total regulatory effort for safeguards activities. The fuel facility fee class' portion of the fee-relief adjustment of $0.4 million is allocated to each fee category based on its percent of the total regulatory effort for both safety and safeguards activities. The annual fee per licensee is then calculated by dividing the total allocated budgeted resources for the fee category by the number of licensees in that fee category. The fee (rounded) for each fuel facility is summarized in Table VIII.
  Table VIII'--Annual Fees for Fuel Facilities Back to TopFacility type (fee category)FY 2013 final annual feeHigh Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(a))$6,997,000Low Enriched Uranium Fuel (1.A.(1)(b))2,633,000Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Demonstration (1.A.(2)(b))1,354,000Hot Cell (and others) (1.A.(2)(c))677,000Uranium Enrichment (1.E.)3,762,000UF 6 Conversion and Deconversion (2.A.(1))1,429,000b. Uranium Recovery FacilitiesThe total FY 2013 budgeted costs to be recovered through annual fees assessed with the uranium recovery class (which includes licensees in fee categories 2.A.(2)(a), 2.A.(2)(b), 2.A.(2)(c), 2.A.(2)(d), 2.A.(2)(e), 2.A.(3), 2.A.(4), 2.A.(5), and 18.B. under § 171.16) are approximately $1 million. The derivation of this value is shown in Table IX, with FY 2012 values shown for comparison purposes.
  Table IX'--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Uranium Recovery Facilities Back to TopSummary fee calculationsFY 2012 FinalFY 2013 Final[Dollars in millions]Total budgeted resources$9.5$9.9Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts''8.3''8.9Net 10 CFR part 171 resources1.21.0Allocated generic transportationN/AN/AFee-relief adjustment''0.1''0.0Billing adjustments''0.0''0.0Total required annual fee recovery1.01.0The increase in total budgeted resources allocated to this fee class in FY 2013 is primarily due to an increase in licensing board activities. The annual fees increase for uranium recovery facilities primarily due to rulemaking and licensing board activities as well as a decrease in budgeted cost for the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA).
  Since FY 2002, the NRC has computed the annual fee for the uranium recovery fee class by allocating the total annual fee amount for this fee class between the DOE and the other licensees in this fee class. The NRC regulates DOE's Title I and Title II activities under the UMTRCA. The Congress established the two programs, Title I and Title II under UMTRCA, to protect the public and the environment from uranium milling. The UMTRCA Title I program is for remedial action at abandoned mill tailings sites where tailings resulted largely from production of uranium for the weapons program. The NRC also regulates DOE's UMTRCA Title II program, which is directed toward uranium mill sites licensed by the NRC or Agreement States in or after 1978.
  In FY 2013, the annual fee assessed to DOE includes recovery of the costs specifically budgeted for the NRC's UMTRCA Title I and II activities, plus 10 percent of the remaining annual fee amount, including generic/other costs (minus 10 percent of the fee relief adjustment), for the uranium recovery class. The NRC assesses the remaining 90 percent generic/other costs minus 90 percent of the fee relief adjustment, to the other NRC licensees in this fee class that are subject to annual fees.
  The costs to be recovered through annual fees assessed to the uranium recovery class are shown in Table X.
  Table X'--Costs Recovered Through Annual Fees; Uranium Recovery Fee Class Back to TopDOE Annual Fee Amount (UMTRCA Title I and Title II) General Licenses: UMTRCA Title I and Title II budgeted costs less 10 CFR part 170 receipts$ 666,62610 percent of generic/other uranium recovery budgeted costs40,48710 percent of uranium recovery fee-relief adjustment''7,084Total Annual Fee Amount for DOE (rounded)700,000Annual Fee Amount for Other Uranium Recovery Licenses: 90 percent of generic/other uranium recovery budgeted costs less the amounts specifically budgeted for Title I and Title II activities364,37990 percent of uranium recovery fee-relief adjustment''63,757Total Annual Fee Amount for Other Uranium Recovery Licenses300,621The DOE fee decreases by 10 percent in FY 2013 compared to FY 2012 due to reduced UMTRCA budgeted costs. The annual fee for most uranium recovery licensees increases due to licensing board activities.
  The NRC will continue to use a matrix which is included in the work papers to determine the level of effort associated with conducting the generic regulatory actions for the different (non-DOE) licensees in this fee class. The weights derived in this matrix are used to allocate the approximately $300,621 annual fee amount to these licensees. The use of this uranium recovery annual fee matrix was established in the FY 1995 final fee rule (60 FR 32217; June 20, 1995). The FY 2013 matrix is described as follows.
  First, the methodology identifies the categories of licenses included in this fee class (besides DOE). These categories are conventional uranium mills and heap leach facilities, uranium In Situ Recovery (I S R) and resin I S R facilities mill tailings disposal facilities (11e.(2) disposal facilities), and uranium water treatment facilities.
  Second, the matrix identifies the types of operating activities that support and benefit these licensees. The activities related to generic decommissioning/reclamation are not included in the matrix because they are included in the fee-relief activities. Therefore, they are not a factor in determining annual fees. The activities included in the matrix are operations, waste operations, and groundwater protection. The relative weight of each type of activity is then determined, based on the regulatory resources associated with each activity. The operations, waste operations, and groundwater protection activities have weights of zero, five, and 10, respectively, in the matrix.
  Each year, the NRC determines the level of benefit to each licensee for generic uranium recovery program activities for each type of generic activity in the matrix. This is done by assigning, for each fee category, separate benefit factors for each type of regulatory activity in the matrix. Benefit factors are assigned on a scale of zero to 10 as follows: zero (no regulatory benefit), five (moderate regulatory benefit), and 10 (high regulatory benefit). These benefit factors are first multiplied by the relative weight assigned to each activity (described previously). The NRC then calculates total and per licensee benefit factors for each fee category. These benefit factors reflect the relative regulatory benefit associated with each licensee and fee category.
  The benefit factors per licensee and per fee category, for each of the non-DOE fee categories included in the uranium recovery fee class are shown in Table XI.
  Table XI'--Benefit Factors for Uranium Recovery Licenses Back to TopFee categoryNumber of licenseesBenefit factor per licenseeTotal valueBenefit factor percent totalConventional and Heap Leach mills (2.A.(2)(a))11501509Basic In Situ Recovery facilities (2.A.(2)(b))61901,14071Expanded In Situ Recovery facilities (2.A.(2)(c))12152151311e.(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings sites (2.A.(4))185855Uranium water treatment (2.A.(5))125252Total106651,615100Applying these factors to the approximately $300,621 in budgeted costs to be recovered from non-DOE uranium recovery licensees results in the total annual fees for each fee category. The annual fee per licensee is calculated by dividing the total allocated budgeted resources for the fee category by the number of licensees in that fee category, as summarized in Table XII.
  Table XII'--Annual Fees for Uranium Recovery Licensees Back to TopFacility type (fee category)FY 2013 final annual fee[Other than DOE]Conventional and Heap Leach mills (2.A.(2)(a))$27,900Basic In Situ Recovery facilities (2.A.(2)(b))35,400Expanded In Situ Recovery facilities (2.A.(2)(c))40,00011e.(2) disposal incidental to existing tailings sites (2.A.(4))15,800Uranium water treatment (2.A.(5))4,700c. Operating Power ReactorsThe total budgeted costs to be recovered from the power reactor fee class in FY 2013 in the form of annual fees is $424.2 million as shown in Table XIII. The FY 2012 values are shown for comparison. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
  Table XIII'--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Operating Power Reactors Back to TopSummary fee calculationsFY 2012 finalFY 2013 final[Dollars in millions]Total budgeted resources$781.4$734.7Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts''295.5''303.8Net 10 CFR part 171 resources486.0430.9Allocated generic transportation+1.31.3Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge''6.3''3.4Billing adjustment''7.30.22nd Billing Adjustment (terminated license)''0.0''4.6Total required annual fee recovery473.7424.2The decrease in budgetary resources for FY 2013 is primarily due to reduced licensing actions and the completion of three major licensing reviews (Vogtle, Summer and Westinghouse Advanced Passive 1000 (AP 1000). Consequently, more resources are being applied to the implementation of the task force recommendations regarding the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident in Japan (''Recommendations for Enhancing Reactor Safety in the 21st Century: The Near-Term Task Force Review of Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident'' (ADAMS Accession No. ML111861807), dated July 12, 2011.
  The annual fees for power reactors decrease in FY 2013 due to increased 10 CFR part 170 estimates and an adjustment of $20.7 million for prior year unbilled invoices under 10 CFR part 170. The budgeted costs to be recovered through annual fees to power reactors are divided equally among the 102 power reactors licensed to operate due to the withdrawal of two operating reactors, Crystal River and Kewaunee which results in annual fee of $4,159,000 per reactor for FY 2013. The withdrawal also results in a credit of $4.6 million for the 10 CFR part 171 collections for FY 2013. Additionally, each power reactor licensed to operate would be assessed the FY 2013 spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning annual fee of $231,000. The total FY 2013 annual fee is $4,390,000 for each power reactor licensed to operate. The annual fees for power reactors are presented in § 171.15.
  d. Spent Fuel Storage/Reactors in DecommissioningFor FY 2013, budgeted costs of $33.4 million for spent fuel storage/reactor decommissioning are to be recovered through annual fees assessed to 10 CFR part 50 power reactors, and to 10 CFR part 72 licensees who do not hold a 10 CFR part 50 license. Those reactor licensees that have ceased operations and have no fuel onsite are not subject to these annual fees. Table XIV shows the calculation of this annual fee amount. The FY 2012 values are shown for comparison. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
  Table XIV'--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for the Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor in Decommissioning Fee Class Back to TopSummary fee calculationsFY 2012 finalFY 2013 final[Dollars in millions]Total budgeted resources$29.4$33.4Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts''3.6''5.4Net 10 CFR part 171 resources25.828.0Allocated generic transportation+0.70.6Fee-relief adjustment''0.3''0.2Billing adjustments''0.30.0Total required annual fee recovery22.928.4The value of total budgeted resources for this fee class is higher in FY 2013 than in FY 2012 due to rulemaking activities regarding the update of the Waste Confidence rule. The required annual fee recovery amount is divided equally among 123 licensees, resulting in an FY 2013 annual fee of $231,000 per licensee.
  e. Research and Test Reactors (Nonpower Reactors)Approximately $330,000 in budgeted costs is to be recovered through annual fees assessed to the test and research reactor class of licenses for FY 2013. Table XV summarizes the annual fee calculation for the research and test reactors for FY 2013. The FY 2012 values are shown for comparison. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
  Table XV'--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Research and Test Reactors Back to TopSummary fee calculationsFY 2012 finalFY 2013 final[Dollars in millions]Total budgeted resources$1.68$1.50Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts''1.54''1.19Net 10 CFR part 171 resources0.140.30Allocated generic transportation+0.03+0.03Fee-relief adjustment''0.05''0.01Billing adjustments''0.02''0.00Total required annual fee recovery0.130.33Although research and test reactors received an adjustment of approximately $112,000 for prior year 10 CFR part 170 unbilled adjustments, the increase in annual fees for research and test reactors from FY 2012 to FY 2013 is primarily due to reduced activity under 10 CFR part 170. The required annual fee recovery amount is divided equally among the four research and test reactors subject to annual fees and results in an FY 2013 annual fee of $81,600 for each licensee.
  f. Rare Earth FacilitiesThe agency does not anticipate receiving an application for a rare earth facility this fiscal year, so no budgeted resources are allocated to this fee class, and no annual fee will be published in FY 2013.
  g. Materials UsersFor FY 2013, budget costs of $31.2 million for material users are to be recovered through annual fees assessed to 10 CFR part 30 licensees. Table XVI shows the calculation of the FY 2013 annual fee amount for materials users licensees. The FY 2012 values are shown for comparison. Note the following fee categories under § 171.16 are included in this fee class: 1.C., 1.D., 1.F., 2.B. through 2.F., 3.A. through 3.S., 4.A. through 4.C., 5.A., 5.B., 6.A., 7.A. through 7.C., 8.A., 9.A. through 9.D., 16, and 17. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
  Table XVI'--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Materials Users Licensees Back to TopSummary fee calculationsFY 2012 finalFY 2013 Final[Dollars in millions]Total budgeted resources$30.6$30.7Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts''1.6''1.2Net 10 CFR part 171 resources29.029.5Allocated generic transportation+1.5+1.5Fee-relief adjustment/LLW surcharge+0.1+0.2Billing adjustments''0.2''0.0Total required annual fee recovery30.431.2The total required annual fees to be recovered for most materials users licensees increase in FY 2013 mainly for oversight activities and changes resulting from biennial review hours and inspection priorities.
  To equitably and fairly allocate the $31.2 million in FY 2013 budgeted costs to be recovered in annual fees assessed to the approximately 3,000 diverse materials users licensees, the NRC will continue to base the annual fees for each fee category within this class on the 10 CFR part 170 application fees and estimated inspection costs for each fee category. Because the application fees and inspection costs are indicative of the complexity of the license, this approach continues to provide a proxy for allocating the generic and other regulatory costs to the diverse categories of licenses based on the NRC's cost to regulate each category. This fee calculation also continues to consider the inspection frequency (priority), which is indicative of the safety risk and resulting regulatory costs associated with the categories of licenses.
  The annual fee for these categories of materials users' licenses is developed as follows:
  Annual fee = Constant — [Application Fee + (Average Inspection Cost divided by Inspection Priority)] + Inspection Multiplier — (Average Inspection Cost divided by Inspection Priority) + Unique Category Costs.
  The constant is the multiple necessary to recover approximately $22.6 million in general costs (including allocated generic transportation costs) and is 1.52 for FY 2013. The average inspection cost is the average inspection hours for each fee category multiplied by the hourly rate of $272. The inspection priority is the interval between routine inspections, expressed in years. The inspection multiplier is the multiple necessary to recover approximately $8.2 million in inspection costs, and is 2.3 for FY 2013. The unique category costs are any special costs that the NRC has budgeted for a specific category of licenses. For FY 2013, approximately $153,000 in budgeted costs for the implementation of revised 10 CFR part 35, Medical Use of Byproduct Material (unique costs), has been allocated to holders of NRC human-use licenses.
  The annual fee to be assessed to each licensee also includes a share of the fee-relief surplus adjustment of approximately $175,000 allocated to the materials users fee class (see Section III.B.1, ''Application of Fee-Relief and Low-Level Waste Surcharge,'' of this document), and for certain categories of these licensees, a share of the approximately $338,000 surcharge costs allocated to the fee class. The annual fee for each fee category is shown in § 171.16(d).
  h. TransportationTable XVII shows the calculation of the FY 2013 generic transportation budgeted resources to be recovered through annual fees. The FY 2012 values are shown for comparison. (Individual values may not sum to totals due to rounding.)
  Table XVII'--Annual Fee Summary Calculations for Transportation Back to TopSummary fee calculationsFY 2012 finalFY 2013 final[Dollars in millions]Total budgeted resources$9.2$8.2Less estimated 10 CFR part 170 receipts''3.4''2.7Net 10 CFR part 171 resources5.95.5The NRC must approve any package used for shipping nuclear material before shipment. If the package meets NRC requirements, the NRC issues a Radioactive Material Package Certificate of Compliance (CoC) to the organization requesting approval of a package. Organizations are authorized to ship radioactive material in a package approved for use under the general licensing provisions of 10 CFR part 71, ''Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Material.'' The resources associated with generic transportation activities are distributed to the license fee classes based on the number of CoCs benefitting (used by) that fee class, as a proxy for the generic transportation resources expended for each fee class.
  The total FY 2013 budgetary resources for generic transportation activities including those to support DOE CoCs is $5.5 million. The decrease in 10 CFR part 171 resources in FY 2013 is primarily due to decreased budgetary resources for regulatory programs. Generic transportation resources associated with fee-exempt entities are not included in this total. These costs are included in the appropriate fee-relief category (e.g., the fee-relief category for nonprofit educational institutions).
  Consistent with the policy established in the NRC's FY 2006 final fee rule (71 FR 30721; May 30, 2006), the NRC will recover generic transportation costs unrelated to DOE as part of existing annual fees for license fee classes. The NRC will continue to assess a separate annual fee under § 171.16, fee category 18.A., for DOE Transportation Activities. The amount of the allocated generic resources is calculated by multiplying the percentage of total CoCs used by each fee class (and DOE) by the total generic transportation resources to be recovered.
  The distribution of these resources to the license fee classes and DOE is shown in Table XVIII. The distribution is adjusted to account for the licensees in each fee class that are fee-exempt. For example, if four CoCs benefit the entire research and test reactor class, but only four of 31 research and test reactors are subject to annual fees, the number of CoCs used to determine the proportion of generic transportation resources allocated to research and test reactor annual fees equals (4/31)*4, or 0.5 CoCs.
  Table XVIII'--Distribution of Generic Transportation Resources, FY 2013 Back to TopLicense fee class/DOENumber CoCs benefiting fee class or DOEPercentage of total CoCsAllocated generic transportation resources[Dollars in millions]Total87.5100.0$5.54DOE20.022.91.27Operating Power Reactors20.022.91.27Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning10.011.40.63Research and Test Reactors0.50.60.03Fuel Facilities13.014.80.82Materials Users24.027.41.52The NRC assesses an annual fee to DOE based on the 10 CFR part 71 CoCs it holds and does not allocate these DOE-related resources to other licensees' annual fees, because these resources specifically support DOE. Note that DOE's annual fee includes a reduction for the fee-relief surplus adjustment (see Section III.B.1, ''Application of Fee-Relief and Low-Level Waste Surcharge,'' of this document), resulting in a total annual fee of $1,238,000 for FY 2013. The annual fee decreases in FY 2013 are primarily due to reduced budgeted resources for the NRC's transportation activities.
  3. Small Entity FeesRegarding small entity fees, the NRC conducted its 2013 biennial review of the small entity fees to determine if the fees should be changed. The NRC applied the fee methodology developed in FY 2009 that applies a fixed percentage of 39 percent to the prior 2-year weighted average of materials users' fees. This resulted in an upper-tier small entity fee increase from $2,300 to $3,500 and a lower-tier fee increase from $500 to $800, which is a 52 percent and 60 percent increase, respectively. Implementing this increase would have a disproportionate impact upon the NRC's small licensees compared to other licensees. Therefore, the NRC staff revised the increase to 21 percent for upper-tier fee which is the same limit applied in the FY 2011 biennial review. The NRC staff is amending the upper-tier small entity fee to $2,800 and amending the lower-tier small entity fee to $600 for FY 2013. The NRC staff believes these fees are reasonable and provide relief to small entities while at the same time recovering from those licensees some of the NRC's costs for activities that benefit them.
  4. Administrative AmendmentsThis final rule makes certain administrative changes for clarity:
  a. § 171.16: Footnote 1 is revised for clarity and deletes the following language, ''Licensees paying annual fees under category 1.A.(1) are not subject to the annual fees for categories 1.C. and 1.D. for sealed sources authorized in the license.''
  b. § 171.16: New Footnote 15 is added for clarity and reads as follows, ''Licensees paying annual fees under category 1.A., 1.B., and 1.E. are not subject to the annual fees for categories 1.C., 1.D., and 1.F. for sealed sources authorized in the license.''
  c. § 171.16: Reference to Footnote 4 is removed and replaced with reference to Footnote 15 in fee categories 1.C. and 1.D. Fee category 1.F. is revised to reference Footnote 15 for clarity.
  d. § 171.16(c): The description for small entities is revised to include ''10 CFR part 72 licensees,'' as eligible to apply for small entity status. The staff believes this inclusion remedies the unintended consequence of the consolidation of 10 CFR part 72 licenses under § 171.15 being excluded for treatment as a small business entity for fee purposes.
  e. The NRC revises the lower-tier receipts-based threshold of $450,000 to $485,000 to reflect approximately the same percentage adjustment as the NRC's upper-tier receipts-based standard adjustment from $6.5 to $7 million which was published as a final rule in the Federal Register (77 FR 39385) and effective on August 22, 2012.
  f. § 171.16: The name for fee category 2.A.(1) includes ''deconversion,'' to reflect the new description and the description for fee category 2.A.(1) is changed to include ''or for deconverting uranium hexafluoride in the production of uranium oxides for disposal,'' to capture the deconversion of uranium hexafluoride (UF 6) into uranium oxides for disposal and commercial sale of the fluoride byproducts from uranium deconversion facilities.
  g. § 171.16: The descriptions for fee categories 1.C. and 1.D. are changed; and a new fee category 1.F. is created to address licenses authorizing greater than critical mass as defined by § 70.4, ''Critical Mass.'' Under 10 CFR part 170, the fee category 1.C. description would include ''of less than a critical mass as defined in § 70.4 of this chapter.'' The fee category 1.D. description is changed to, ''All other special nuclear material licenses, except licenses authorizing special nuclear material in sealed or unsealed form in combination that would constitute a critical mass as defined in § 70.4 of this, for which the licensee shall pay the same fees as those under category 1.A.'' A new fee category 1.F. reads, ''For special nuclear materials licenses in sealed or unsealed form of greater than a critical mass as defined in § 70.4 of this chapter.''
  h. § 171.19(d) is revised for clarity and changes ''and 3.A. through 9.D.'' to ''3.A. through 3.F., and 3.H. through 9.D.''
  i. § 171.16: Footnote 7 is revised for clarity and deletes the following language, ''they are charged an annual fee in other categories while they are licensed to operate,'' and adds the following language, ''their decommissioning fees are covered by other fees.''
  In summary, the NRC is making the following changes to 10 CFR part 171:
  1. Uses the NRC's fee-relief surplus to reduce all licensees' annual fees, based on their percentage share of the NRC budget;
  2. Establishes rebaselined annual fees for FY 2013;
  3. Increases the maximum small entity fee from $2,300 to $2,800, and the lower-tier fee from $500 to $600; and
  4. Makes administrative changes to §§ 171.16 and 171.19(d).
Scripting News: Blogger vs Journalist.
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Dave Winer
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 21:17
  Margaret Sullivan, writing at the NY Times, tries to define what a journalist is, in the age of blogging.
  I've been thinking and writing about this for a long time.
  When I started at Berkman in 2003, with the mission to start the blogging activity at Harvard, possibly the first at an academic institution anywhere, one of the first questions I tried to answer is What makes a weblog a weblog?
  The conclusion I came to is that it's the unedited voice of an individual. The medium and form is not important. You could write a blog post in print on the op-ed page of the Times. But as soon as another person is involved in the writing of the piece, we're not talking about a blog anymore.
  The process continued over the years.
  In podcasts with Jay Rosen, we talked about this a lot. Jay is a well-known journalism professor at NYU. I of course, am a blogger.
  In that period I came up with this idea. Bloggers are what journalists call sources. Originators of information or ideas. People who make news, and not people who report news.
  I think that distinction is very important when trying to decide who has the official shield of a journalist, protected from government prosecution when leaks are involved. As long as the person is reporting the news, and not making the news, then we're clearly talking about a journalist and not a blogger.
  If this is what a journalist is, then Glenn Greenwald was most definitely a journalist when reporting the Snowden story, as long as all he did was report on the leaks. If he himself leaked, then he is a blogger.
  Hope this helps.
:: Habana House ::
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 21:15
  Habana House is a full line tobacconist catering to our customers' every smoking need with cigars in our grande walk-in humidor, imported and domestic cigarettes, rolling tobacco and papers, pipes and pipe tobacco. Our many smoking accessories include travel and desktop humidors, cigar cutters and punches, lighters, ashtrays, t-shirts and other shirts, hats, framed cigar label art, and more. If we don't have it, we'll try to get it for you. Habana House provides a welcome atmosphere with a smoking area and comfortable seating, a television for sporting events, news, etc., and a relaxed, friendly staff to assist you with your smoking needs. At Habana House, we have the products, atmosphere and people to help everyone from the novice to the expert feel welcome and ready to enjoy the pleasures of their selections, or to just come in and sit for a while with a good smoke and good company.
  And don't forget: Habana House is inside the Ruta Maya coffee shop and you are welcome to pick up a coffee, or beer or wine, to bring into Habana House while you look over the many smoking pleasures awaiting you. And ask about our humidor club membership, which offers discounts and free cigars.
  Bienvenidos y muchas gracias!
NSA reportedly bugged European Union offices in Washington DC, the UN, and abroad | The Verge
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  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 21:05
  According to a "top secret" National Security Agency (NSA) document, the US bugged the offices of European Union member state offices in Washington and at the UN and gained access to computer networks used at those locations. The latest report revealing spy activities by the NSA comes from German news magazine Der Spiegel, which says it saw parts of documents in whistleblower Edward Snowden's possession. Snowden was also behind leaks that revealed the NSA's massive PRISM program, designed to spy on internet users, as well as documents that shed light on the British government's involvement in the program.
  Europeans called out as a "target"
  Today's leak, according to the Der Spiegel report, reveals that NSA efforts to spy on European Union representatives in the US granted access to conversations as well as emails and other documents stored on computers used at locations in Washington and the United Nations. Europeans were apparently specifically mentioned as a target in the source document, which is dated from September of 2010. The spying methods resemble those reportedly used by the British at the 2009 G20 Summit in London, which saw the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) tap into phones and computers used by heads of state. That surveillance campaign was uncovered by a separate Snowden leak earlier this month.
  In addition to NSA efforts to listen in on EU representatives in the US, the agency is said to have spied on telecommunications at the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels (pictured above), where the Council of the European Union sits. EU member states have offices at the building with internet connections and phone lines, and it's presumed that the NSA tapped into at least some of those communications. It's not clear if this information comes from the same document, but Der Spiegel reports that five years ago security officers at the Justus Lipsius building traced some missed calls to NSA offices at a NATO building in Brussels.
Foreign Boots on American Soil: Russia To Share Military ''Security Experts'' With U.S. During Emergencies
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Activist Post
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 20:33
  Mac SlavoActivist PostRumors have circulated for years about the possibility of foreign troops being deployed on U.S. soil in the event of a widespread declaration of a national emergency. For quite some time there have been anecdotal reports to support the claim that the U.N., Russia and other nations would be used in a policing capacity should some critical event befall our nation.
  The fear should such a scenario take place has been that these soldiers would act under the banner of their own flags, ignoring the fundamental protections afforded to our citizens, leaving Americans under the jurisdiction of people who don't speak our language or respect our fundamental rights to self defense, to be secure in our homes, and to be presumed innocent in the eyes of the law.
  Up until this point, nothing has ever been confirmed in writing, so officially no such foreign assistance has ever been agreed to. Thus, Americans had nothing to worry about.
  All of this changed last week when representatives of Presidents Barrack Obama and Vladimir Putin met in Washington D.C., and not a single US-based news source reported it.
  A press release posted on The Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense and Emergencies reports that the United States and Russia will now cooperate in disaster response operations that will include the exchange of ''experts'' during ''joint rescue operations,'' a term that has been broadly defined under the new agreement.
  This includes rescuers, trainers and even military ''security'' teams:Several documents signed during joint work of Russian Emergency Ministry and FEMA
  The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry and the USA Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are going to exchange experts during joint rescue operations in major disasters. This is provided by a protocol of the fourth meeting of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission Working Group on Emergency Situations and seventeenth meeting of Joint U.S.-Russia Cooperation Committee on Emergency Situations, which took place in Washington on 25 June.
  The document provides for expert cooperation in disaster response operations and to study the latest practices.
  In addition, the parties approved of U.S.-Russian cooperation in this field in 2013-2014, which envisages exchange of experience including in monitoring and forecasting emergency situations, training of rescuers, development of mine-rescuing and provision of security at mass events.
  At the end of the meeting the parties expressed their satisfaction with the level of cooperation between the Russian Federation and the United States in the area of emergency prevention and response and agreed to develop it in order to respond efficiently to all kinds of disasters.
  Source: Emergency Command of Russia via Prepper Website
  The President of the Unites States has just authorized the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to deploy foreign troops on U.S. soil during a mass event that encompasses any number of disaster scenarios, including but not limited to declarations of martial law.Should our country come under threat, something the Pentagon and US military have been simulating for years, we can now fully expect soldiers speaking broken English forcing their way through our front doors in similar fashion to what we saw in the wake of the Boston bombings.
  Mac Slavo's many articles can be found at his website SHTFplan.com, where this article first appeared.BE THE CHANGE! PLEASE SHARE THIS USING THE TOOLS BELOW
The focus most certainly is race at the Zimmerman trial
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  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 18:43
  by John Hayward29 Jun 2013, 5:57 AM PDTView DiscussionShare This:
  That's a remarkable statement to come from the Martin legal team, since race is the only reason we're having this trial at all. Everyone from the Martin family's lawyers, to the professional grievance industry, to characters like the New Black Panther Party was busy whipping up riot conditions and treating Zimmerman as a fugitive from racial justice, which led to filmmaker Spike Lee endangering the lives of an innocent couple that just happened to be named "Zimmerman." And there's a good reason the media referred to Zimmerman as "white" until photos of him finally leaked out, and they had to change it to "white Hispanic," a very special demographic of which George Zimmerman seems to remain the only high-profile member.
  As the likelihood of a not-guilty verdict grows, the machinery of racial unrest is getting pumped up again. Death threats against "creepy ass cracka" George Zimmerman are flying around Twitter. An acquittal might be the best thing that could happen for certain political and cultural actors, as Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit suggested: "Obama and the Democrats would actually prefer an acquittal here. That's because the whole point of the ginned-up Zimmerman affair was to inflame racial sentiment to boost black turnout in 2012. With any luck, they can turn an acquittal into another racial rallying cry, which will help in 2014. It's not about Zimmerman; he's just one of those eggs you have to break to make an Obama omelet."
  I suspect one reason the lawyers are starting to back away from the racial claims is that nothing has appeared to support them in court. There's very little left of the prosecution's case for second-degree murder; all but one of the prosecution witnesses has essentially supported Zimmerman's account of the incident, and the one dissenting witness merely said Zimmerman was on top during at least one point in his struggle with Martin.
  Lawyers and juries are a mystery beyond my ability to unravel, but I have to say it's hard to find any trace of Murder Two in the story of a neighborhood watch guy checking out a suspicious person, who took great offense (and sounded more contemptuous than fearful, judging by the testimony of the prosecution's train-wreck star witness, his gal pal Rachel Jeantel) and got into an altercation that turned first physical, then tragic. I don't understand the line of thinking that Zimmerman is somehow responsible for the incident by doing what neighborhood watch people (or other nervous people who live in areas with a history of crime) do. Walking around your own neighborhood and looking at someone is criminal provocation? And while he was getting "grounded and pounded" in an MMA-style beatdown, Zimmerman was supposed to do some mental calculations, conclude he'd probably survive the beating, and let the hammer blows fall?
Weekly Address: Confronting the Growing Threat of Climate Change
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  Archived Version
  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 18:33
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  June 29, 2013
  WASHINGTON, DC'--In this week's address, President Obama told the American people about a plan he unveiled a few days ago that confronts the growing threat of climate change, which will cut carbon pollution, protect our country from the impacts of climate change, and lead the world in a coordinated assault on a changing climate. The President's plan recognizes that there is no contradiction between a sound environment and a strong economy, and he calls on all Americans to speak up about climate change in their communities and remind their elected officials that we must take action to protect our future generations from the ravages of climate change now.
  The audio of the address and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, June 29, 2013.
  Remarks of President Barack ObamaWeekly AddressThe White HouseJune 29, 2013
  Hi everybody. A few days ago, I unveiled a new national plan to confront the growing threat of a changing climate.
  Decades of carefully reviewed science tells us our planet is changing in ways that will have profound impacts on the world we leave to our children. Already, we know that the 12 warmest years in recorded history have all come in the last 15, and that last year was the warmest in American history. And while we know no single weather event is caused solely by climate change, we also know that in a world that's getting warmer than it used to be, all weather events are affected by it '' more extreme droughts, floods, wildfires, and hurricanes.
  Those who already feel the effects of a changing climate don't have time to deny it '' they're busy dealing with it. The firefighters who brave longer wildfire seasons. The farmers who see crops wilted one year, and washed away the next. Western families worried about water that's drying up.
  The cost of these events can be measured in lost lives and livelihoods, lost homes and businesses, and hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency services and disaster relief. And Americans across the country are already paying the price of inaction in higher food costs, insurance premiums, and the tab for rebuilding.
  The question is not whether we need to act. The question is whether we will have the courage to act before it's too late.
  The national Climate Action Plan I unveiled will cut carbon pollution, protect our country from the impacts of climate change, and lead the world in a coordinated assault on a changing climate.
  To reduce carbon pollution, I've directed the Environmental Protection Agency to work with states and businesses to set new standards that put an end to the limitless dumping of carbon pollution from our power plants. We'll use more clean energy and waste less energy throughout our economy.
  To prepare Americans for the impacts of climate change we can't stop, we'll work with communities to build smarter, more resilient infrastructure to protect our homes and businesses, and withstand more powerful storms.
  And America will lead global efforts to combat the threat of a changing climate by encouraging developing nations to transition to cleaner sources of energy, and by engaging our international partners in this fight '' for while we compete for business, we also share a planet. And we must all shoulder the responsibility for its future together.
  This is the fight America can and will lead in the 21st century. But it will require all of us, as citizens, to do our part. We'll need scientists to design new fuels, and farmers to grow them. We'll need engineers to devise new technologies, and businesses to make and sell them. We'll need workers to man assembly lines that hum with high-tech, zero-carbon components, and builders to hammer into place the foundations for a new clean energy age. We'll need to give special care to people and communities unsettled by this transition. And those of us in positions of responsibility will need to be less concerned with the judgment of special interests and well-connected donors, and more concerned with the judgment of our children.
  If you agree with me, I'll need you to act. Educate your classmates and colleagues, your family and friends. Speak up in your communities. Remind everyone who represents you, at every level of government, that there is no contradiction between a sound environment and a strong economy '' and that sheltering future generations against the ravages of climate change is a prerequisite for your vote.
  We will be judged '' as a people, as a society, and as a country '' on where we go from here. The plan I have put forward to reduce carbon pollution and protect our country from the effects of climate change is the path we need to take. And if we remember what's at stake '' the world we leave to our children '' I'm convinced that this is a challenge that we will meet.
  Thank you, and have a great weekend.
  ###
The Burr is Dead. Long Live the Dame
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 18:32
  There is something generating for tomorrow morning between 5 AM and 6 AM concerning Aaron Burr. This appeared quickly and I was surprised by the initiation of this information, but it involved a trial in secret as was conducted for J. Fitzgerald "to make it legal".
  The Control is initiating the same protocols of June 13 and the MIC choice for Vice President is once again Hamrod Clinton to initiate a removal of the Jinn from the Oval O.Same stroke, same medication, but in the food with a DOA Aaron Burr.
  A demonic entity was trying to skew the information in trying to protect the Jinn. The focus though is on Aaron Burr as his part in this with the White House handlers was such that he is deemed a traitor.
  These events are supposed to be set and will not change with publication.
  Is just a Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter which will have to be figured out in it either being DOA plain as stated or some other oddity like the Jinn manifesting, but this is not supposed to be a replacement part this time.
  Hamrod is supposed to be the replacement.
  All I want in dealing with this now, so nuff said.
  agtG 286Y
  But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.
Seriously? To add insult to injury! The most tranparent admin in the universe lets go of visitor records!? Call Assange! Get a WikiLeaks agent here! Nearly 3.3 Million Records Released
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: White House.gov Blog Feed
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 18:29
  In September 2009, the President announced that'--for the first time in history'--White House visitor records would be made available to the public on an ongoing basis. Today's release includes visitor records generated during the month March 2013, and additional records from February 2013. This release brings the total number of records made public by this White House to nearly 3.3 million'--all of which can be viewed in our Disclosures section.
  Ed. note: For more information, check out Ethics.gov.
Monsanto Promo Tour 2013: Sweet Potatoes and Ending Hunger in Africa
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  Archived Version
  Source: White House.gov Blog Feed
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 18:28
  Valerie JarrettJune 28, 201305:13 PM EDT
  In 2009, President Obama called on global leaders to increase their focus on food security and hunger. Since then, the United States has partnered with African nations to spur increased agricultural growth, improve nutrition, and move people out of poverty.
  President Barack Obama and USAID Administrator Raj Shah attend a Feed the Future Technology Marketplace in Dakar, Senegal, June 28, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
  Today, as part of our trip to three African countries, President Obama highlighted this partnership by meeting with farmers, innovators, and entrepreneurs who are improving the lives of smallholder farmers in Africa with new technology and methods of agriculture. In the capital of Dakar, Senegal, he saw how women are using small-scale, efficient rice mills to save time for women and increase productivity. He heard of ways to fortify sweet potatoes and beans to increase nutritional benefits. And he witnessed examples of using mobile technology to coordinate production and sales for small farmers to compete.
  Earlier in the morning, I participated in the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition roundtable. Also attending from the U.S. delegation were USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, Special Assistant to the President and National Security Council Senior Director for Democracy and Development Gayle Smith, U.S. Ambassador to Senegal Lewis Lukens, Millennium Challenge Corporation CEO Daniel Yohannes, USAID Assistant Administrator for Africa Earl Gast, and Peace Corps Director for Senegal Chris Hedrick.
  During the roundtable, we spoke with high-level African officials from West African countries and regional institutions, as well as with key investors to discuss opportunities for further investment. We also highlighted U.S. food security initiatives across the continent and urged continued progress on reforms that would boost sustainable private investment in agriculture.
  Valerie Jarrett speaks at New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition roundtable in Dakar, Senegal. (Photo by USAID)
  The roundtable was a part of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which we launched at the G-8 last year. The New Alliance is a collection of commitments from countries to advance policy and partner with the private sector to help expand agriculture in Africa. In the first year, membership in the New Alliance has tripled. We started with Ghana, Ethiopia and Tanzania, and have now added six more countries'--C´te d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Benin, Malawi, Mozambique, and Burkina Faso. And we look forward to Senegal joining later this year.
  Working with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) led by the African Union (AU), the New Alliance has leveraged over $3.7 billion in private investment in African agriculture and $1 billion in nongovernmental organization and civil society commitments for food security and nutrition.
  In the last year, New Alliance countries have already made significant progress. For example:
  Ghana Nuts, once a recipient of U.S. Government development assistance, is now a leading agro processor and signed a letter of intent under the New Alliance to promote soya and expand corn procurement and processing in Ghana. The Government of Tanzania's decision this year to end a longstanding export ban on corn, rice and other crops will help rural farmers collect fair prices for their harvests.In Ethiopia, DuPont has opened a state-of-the-art seed processing plant and warehouse that will help 35,000 smallholder corn farmers increase their yields by as much as 50 percent.At the roundtable, we also highlighted President Obama's Feed the Future initiative, which focuses on smallholder farmers, particularly women, and supports partner countries in developing their agriculture sectors to spur economic growth that increases incomes and reduces hunger, poverty, and under-nutrition. In 19 countries, Feed the Future has helped more than 7 million smallholder farmers adopt improved agricultural technologies or practices, and brought nearly 4 million hectares of land under improved cultivation and management practices.
  Everyone agreed that Africa has the potential for more sustainable agricultural development, and we look forward to working together to realize that potential.
  Please visit here for more information on our efforts in food security in sub-Saharan Africa.
  Valerie B. Jarrett is a Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama. She oversees the Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and chairs the White House Council on Women and Girls.
USDA Tells Magician to Write Disaster Plan for His Rabbit | BobMcCarty.com
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  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 17:47
  An Ozark, Mo.-based magician whose story about being harassed by USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service agents (a.k.a., ''Rabbit Police'') was one of three stories highlighted in an article two years ago, Marty Hahne contacted me today with an update.''You won't believe what the USDA has come up with now,'' Hahne wrote in an email message late Friday afternoon. ''If this wasn't so stupid, it would be funny!''
  He went on to share details about his continued harassment by the USDA '-- all for using a three-pound rabbit in his magic act:
  My USDA rabbit license requirement has taken another ridiculous twist. I just received an 8 page letter from the USDA, telling me that by July 29 I need to have in place a written disaster plan, detailing all the steps I would take to help get my rabbit through a disaster, such as a tornado, fire, flood, etc. They not only want to know how I will protect my rabbit during a disaster, but also what I will do after the disaster, to make sure my rabbit gets cared for properly. I am not kidding''before the end of July I need to have this written rabbit disaster plan in place, or I am breaking the law.
  In his email message, Hahne also explained the timeline via which he must comply: 1) the new regulation became effective Jan. 30, 2012; 2) the written plan must be completed by July 29, 2013; 3) Hahne and his wife, Brenda, must be trained to implement the plan as written; and 4) the written plan must be available for review by USDA inspectors by Sept. 28, 2013.
  In a reply to Hahne, I suggested he put a tag around his rabbit's neck that spells out the plan (i.e., ''kill, cook, eat'') for anyone who finds his rabbit after a disaster. NOTE: My high school son, the artist, put my idea of a plan into the graphic above, but I doubt it will satisfy the USDA.
  If stories like this one irk you, contact your elected officials in Washington, D.C., and tell them to tell the hare-brained folks at the USDA it's time for them to stop chasing rabbits!
  Bob McCarty is the author of Three Days In August (Oct '11) and THE CLAPPER MEMO (May '13). To learn more about either book or to place an order, click on the graphic above.
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Celebrity philanthropist Bono revealed to be a crony of bankers and neocons in new book, The Frontman -- Society's Child -- Sott.net
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  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 17:28
  (C) Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty ImagesBono arriving for a visit to 10 Downing Street in March 2013.
  Bono the philanthropist is nothing but a crony of bankers and neocons, argues Terry EagletonIt is no surprise that Bono and Bob Geldof, the two leading celebrity philanthropists of our time, are both Irish. The Ireland into which they were born in the 1960s was caught between third and first worlds, and so was more likely to sympathise with the wretched of the earth than were the natives of Hampstead. As a devoutly Christian nation, it also had a long missionary tradition. Black babies were a familiar object of charity in Ireland long before Hollywood movie stars began snapping them up. Bono himself was a member of a prayer group in the 1970s, before he stumbled on leather trousers and wrap-around shades. Scattered across the globe by hunger and turmoil at home, the Irish have long been a cosmopolitan people, far less parochial than their former proprietors. Small nations cannot afford the insularity of the great.
  Besides, if you were born into this remote margin of Europe and yearned for the limelight, it helped to have an eye-catching cause and a mania for self-promotion. Rather as the Irish in general were forced by internal circumstance to become an international people, so men like Bono and Geldof could use their nationality to leap on to the world stage.
  Bono belongs to the new, cool, post-political Ireland; but by turning back to the old, hungry, strife-torn nation, now rebaptised as Africa, he could bridge the gap between the two. Even so, he has not been greatly honoured in his own notoriously begrudging country, or elsewhere. Harry Browne recounts the (perhaps apocryphal) tale of the singer standing on stage clapping while declaring: "Every time I clap my hands, a child dies." "Then stop fucking doing it!" yelled a voice from the crowd.
  Paul David Hewson's rise to fame also coincides with the postmodern decline of politics into spectacle. What more suitable politician than a rock star in an age of manufactured sentiments and manipulated images? Having strayed in from showbusiness, Bono can present himself as outside the political arena, speaking simply from the heart; but his fame as a musician also means that he has a constituency of millions, which means in turn that the political establishment are eager to have him on the inside. For all his carefully crafted self-irony (how ridiculous for me, an overpaid rock star from working-class Dublin, to be saving the world!), the inside is a place he has never betrayed any great reluctance to occupy. Since an outsider is unlikely to know much about global economics, he is likely to take his cue from the conventional wisdom of the insiders, which is why Bono is both maverick and conservative.
  One result of his campaigning has been a kind of starvation chic. In this impressively well-researched polemic, Browne recounts how Ali Hewson, Bono's wife, praised the work of her company's Paris-based clothes designer for being influenced by dusty African landscapes. She admired "the way some of the clothes look like they've been worn before and sort of restitched ... to incorporate the continent, in a sense". Hewson's Messianic husband, or "the little twat with the big heart", as Viz magazine once dubbed him, has been trying to incorporate Africa into his image for a good few decades now. Like Geldof, he inherited the social conscience of the 1960s without its political radicalism, which is why he has proved so convenient a front man for the neo-liberals.
  In fact, as Browne points out, he has cosied up to racists such as Jesse Helms, whitewashed architects of the Iraqi adventure such as Tony Blair and Paul Wolfowitz, and discovered a soulmate in the shock-doctrine economist Jeffrey Sachs.
  He has also brownnosed the Queen, sucked up to the Israelis, grovelled at the feet of corporate bullies and allied himself with rightwing anti-condom US evangelicals in Africa. The man who seems to flash a peace sign every four seconds apparently has no problem with the sponsorship of the arms corporation BAE. His consistent mistake has been to regard these powers as essentially benign, and to see no fundamental conflict of interests between their own priorities and the needs of the poor. They just need to be sweet-talked by a charmingly bestubbled Celt. Though he has undoubtedly done some good in the world, as this book readily acknowledges, a fair bit of it has been as much pro-Bono as pro bono republico.
  If Bono really knew the history of his own people, he would be aware that the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s was not the result of a food shortage. Famines rarely are. There were plenty of crops in the country, but they had to be exported to pay the landlords' rents. There was also enough food in Britain at the time to feed Ireland several times over. What turned a crisis into a catastrophe was the free market doctrine for which the U2 front man is so ardent an apologist. Widespread hunger is the result of predatory social systems, a fact that Bono's depoliticising language of humanitarianism serves to conceal.
  Browne's case is simple but devastating. As a multimillionaire investor, world-class tax avoider, pal of Bush and Blair and crony of the bankers and neo-cons, Bono has lent credence to the global forces that wreak much of the havoc he is eager to mop up. His technocratic, west-centred, corporation-friendly campaigns have driven him into one false solution, unsavoury alliance and embarrassing debacle after another. The poor for him, Browne claims, exist largely as objects of the west's charity. They are not seen as capable of the kind of militant mobilisation that might threaten western interests.
  Bertolt Brecht tells the tale of a king in the East who was pained by all the suffering in the world. So he called his wise men together and asked them to inquire into its cause. The wise men duly looked into the matter, and returned with the news that the cause of the world's suffering was the king.
10-20kw Power Pallets - GEK Gasifier
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  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 17:20
  The Full Solution: 10kw and 20kwThe GEK Power Pallet is a complete biomass power generation solution that converts woody biomass to electricity, and soon to heat and PTO shaft power. It is a compact, integrated and fully automated system ''from wood chips in, to power out '' delivered at the breakthrough price of $1-$2/watt.
  The Power Pallet is comprised of the GEK Hot TOTTI multi-stage gasifier, spark fired industrial engine, generator head, and electronic controller. The system automatically adjusts syngas/air mixture via a wide band Bosch oxygen sensor, shakes the grate when needed, and removes ash via a mechanical auger. The Gasifier Control Unit (GCU) monitors and responds to all internal reactor, filter and engine conditions, displaying the results on an LCD screen.
  Power Pallets are available in 10kw and 20kw sizes, using Kubota or GM industrial engines. Genheads are configurable to single, split or three phase, at 120/208/240vac, 60hz or 50hz.
  Why it's differentThe GEK Power Pallet is the culmination of our long-standing project to create an expertly engineered, small-scale gasification solution that is realistic for today's user. While personal scale gasification has long held tremendous promise, the realities of making it work usually prove too much for regular mortals. The high bar of operator expertise and extreme sensitivity to fuel particulars, usually combine to make what seems simple in principle, exceedingly difficult in practice.
  The Power Pallet has significantly widened this window for success by embedding the needed ''expertise'' in an onboard electronic brain. These smarts are further extended by a multi-stage gasification architecture, and an innovative ''waste heat'' capture and recycling system '-- what we call the Tower of Total Thermal Integration (Hot TOTTI). In traditional systems, hot engine exhaust and hot output wood gas have been ''problems'' requiring extra space and cooling components to counter. With the GEK Hot TOTTI, we've transformed these ''wastes'' into useful new inputs to the gasification process. It's like adding a new ''free'' heat source to fix the old and well known thermal challenges of a gasifier.
  This Gasifier-Engine thermal integration significantly improves tar conversion, fuel flexibility and general efficiency of the gasifier-engine system. It enables the GEK to solve the tar issue in the reactor, not via a large downstream filtering system, saving much cost, complexity and installation footprint in the process.
  The result is a compact and technically advanced solution. It is a solution that can deliver the hands-off, non-tended operation we expect from contemporary power generation equipment. And given its minimized component architecture, we can also deliver it an unprecedented price point that makes ROI sense without subsidies or other artificial financial supports.
  (Note, the above features graphic shows the Power Pallet with a Kohler engine. We've now switched to Kubota and GM engines.)
  Engine and Genhead OptionsThe Power Pallet is available in two basic forms: 10kw and 20kw. The 1okw unit is uses a Kubota 3cyl 962cc spark fired engine. The 20kw unit uses a GM 4cyl 3.0 liter spark fired engine. Both of these engines are extreme longevity, all cast iron industrial engines, optimized for dry gaseous fuels. They both have long track records of exceeding 10,000 hours of run life. Actual longevity of the engine is, as always, highly dependent on your maintenance schedule.
  Either engine option is mated to a Mecc alte genhead of related size. These genheads have automatic voltage frequency and 3x rated amperage at surge for high machinery start capacity. The genheads are 12 wire so they can be configured to single, split or three phase, in wye or delta configuration. They support all common global voltages, 120, 208, 240 and 400 vac, at either 50hz or 60hz.
  Actual power produced is highly dependent on the fuel shape, size and moisture content. Solid biomass is not the consistent fuel source like we assume with diesel or gasoline. We have used ''10kw'' and ''20kw'' as an average of what can be expected for continuous running. Your actual experience might be slightly above or below this.
  See here for complete photo set the Kubota-Meccalte based 10kw Power Pallet.
  See here for photo sets of previous versions of the Power Pallet.
  ENGINE AND GENHEAD MANUALS are available here.
  Purchase and Shipping10kw GEK Power Pallet, Kubota engine '' Mecc alte genhead: $18,995
  20kw GEK Power Pallet, GM engine '' Mecc alte genhead: $26,995
  Skids are built in the common 48'" x 48'" form factor, so that we can ship via typical pallet freight services. Shipping weight and dimensions are:
  10 kW Power Pallet (crated)49'" x 49.5'" x 79.5'" 1130 lbs(124.5 x 125.75 x 202 cm, 512 kg)
  20 kW Power Pallet (crated)52'"x51'"x80'" 1450 lbs(132 x 130 x 203 cm, 658 kg)
  Freight Class: 70B Schedule: 8407.90.9050NMFC: 120290HTS/TARRIFF Codes: 8407.00.0000
  Power Pallet: un-crated installed dimensionsApproximately: 5'² x 5'² x 7'² (1.5m x 1.5m x 2 m)
  Overseas is usually in the $1800-2500 range, but inquire for specifics.
  To place your order or request a formal invoice, please use our contact page. A sales represenative will contact you to discuss your intended project and make sure that the Power Pallet or GEK gasifier are right for you.
  All prices are freight on board, Berkeley, CA, 94710. California sales tax of 8.75% applies to all orders within California.
Stolen Opera Code-Signing Certificate Used to Sign Malware | Threatpost
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  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 17:17
  Stolen Opera Code-Signing Certificate Used to Sign Malware | ThreatpostJoint Chiefs Chairman Talks Security at BrookingsJune 28, 2013 , 12:24 pm
  Apple Phishing Scams on the RiseJune 24, 2013 , 11:09 am
  Ryan Naraine on Microsoft's Bug Bounty ProgramJune 21, 2013 , 9:49 am
  Microsoft Launches $100,000 Bug Bounty ProgramJune 19, 2013 , 1:00 pm
  Officials Call NSA PRISM Leaks 'Egregious', Say Program Has Foiled Many Terror PlotsJune 18, 2013 , 2:12 pm
  Feds Bust Cybercrime Ring Targeting Payroll, Financial FirmsJune 12, 2013 , 4:45 pm
  Web Services Finding Religion with Two-Factor AuthenticationJune 3, 2013 , 2:21 pm
  Five Bulletins, One Critical in Microsoft's June PatchJune 6, 2013 , 4:00 pm
  Legislators: Electric Utilities Dragging Heels on Cybersecurity MitigationsMay 22, 2013 , 12:39 pm
  NSA Whistleblower Article Redirects to MalwareJune 10, 2013 , 4:17 pm
  'Important' Office 2003 Zero-Day Deserves Second LookJune 14, 2013 , 10:57 am
  Targeted Espionage Attack Borrowing from CybercriminalsMay 20, 2013 , 2:47 pm
  Common Web Vulnerabilities Plague Top WordPress Plug-InsJune 20, 2013 , 2:52 pm
The Inside Story of Russia's Fight to Keep the Russia and UN conspireU.N. Corrupt - By Colum Lynch | Foreign Policy
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  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 17:03
  WhenU.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Russian President Vladimir Putin met inSochi, Russia, they were supposed to discuss the civil war in Syria. But theRussian leader -- joined by his top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, and defensesecretary, Sergei Shoigu -- suddenly changed the subject to more mundanematters. A series of U.N. reforms aimed at streamlining billions of dollars of spendingon U.N. peacekeeping was posing a threat to Russia's commercial interests.Putin and his national security team politely but firmly pressed the U.N.leader to back off, according to several senior U.N.-based sources briefed onthe meeting.
  Thehigh-level intervention on U.N. spending marked only the latest example ofRussia flexing its diplomatic muscle to protect its commercial position at theUnited Nations. For much of the past decade, Russia has been engaged in asystematic effort to stymie attempts to root out corruption in U.N. spending.The Russians have pushed out U.N. reformers. They've defanged watchdogs. Andthey've blocked internal budget reforms aimed at saving costs.
  Russia'szeal for turning back reform has been felt most powerfully in the U.N.'sleasing of aircraft -- a $1 billion a year market -- that provide transport forthe world's second-largest expeditionary force. An examination of U.N.procurement practices in the air-transport sector -- drawing on dozens ofinterviews with U.N.-based officials and diplomats, as well as a review ofinternal U.N. communications and audits -- suggests that Russia has enjoyedunfair advantages, including contracts that all but demand that the UnitedNations lease Russia's Soviet-era aircraft.
  Thedispute provides a textbook example of the difficulties of implementing basicfinancial reforms at the United Nations when major powers haveconflicting commercial interests in the outcome. As such, the secretary general and key countries have been unwilling to openly confront Russia because itscooperation is required on a wide range of critical issues at the UnitedNations.
  Sincethe end of the Cold War, Russian entrepreneurs have turned the Soviet-era air fleetinto a thriving business, supplying the U.N. and other international agencieswith low-cost surplus aircraft, including Antonov transport planes and Mi-8 andMi-26 helicopters. The low-cost aircraft -- which Russian factories continue toproduce -- have largely dissuaded Western air operators from competing for U.N.contracts, which must go to the lowest bidder. Russian companies now accountfor about 75 percent of all contracts for commercial helicopters, the mostlucrative segment of U.N. peacekeeping's multibillion-dollar marketplace.
  Butthe near Russian monopoly is facing challenges from neighbors such as Ukraine,which produces similar helicopters. The United States and European powers likeGermany, France, Italy, and Spain are also looking for new businessopportunities as the NATO mission in Afghanistan winds down. Those countrieshave privately raised concern with the U.N. about the integrity of itsprocurement process. They claim that the U.N.'s purchasing system is rigged tofavor Russian aircraft; its bidding specifications -- for instance, requirements of seating capacity for more than 20 passengers --are tailored to exclude most competitors. "Procurement is done in a way whichdirectly specifies a Russian helicopter," said one senior European diplomat."We have asked for more transparency; we want to change to a new [bidding]system as soon as possible."
  Requestsfor helicopters and transport planes originate from the U.N.'s 15 peacekeepingmissions and are routed through headquarters' air-transport section before beingsent on to the U.N. procurement department, which invites companies to bid.Western diplomats have expressed concern that many of the key players --including a Ukrainian procurement chief and a Russian aviation specialist --come from countries with a major stake in the aircraft market.
Hundreds protest Obama visit | News24
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  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 17:02
  Pretoria '' Activists from various groups marched to the US embassy in Pretoria on Friday, protesting against President Barack Obama.
  The protest started at the Caledonian Stadium in Pretoria, where hundreds gathered singing and chanting slogans denouncing Obama ahead of his official visit to South Africa.
  One activist, on a truck mounted with a public address system, led the songs and slogans.
  He shouted: "Free Palestine. Free Swaziland. Free Zimbabwe. Down Obama, down!"
  A large banner with Obama's face had the words: "Meet the world's top assassin".
  Many protesters wore black hoods.
  Others were dressed in Young Communist League red regalia.
  Placards at the stadium read: "No, you can't Obama".
  AFP reported that the US president flew from Senegal to South Africa on Friday to pay homage to his hero Nelson Mandela, after a visit largely overshadowed by Madiba's fading health.
  Many local and international journalists, who were camped outside the nearby Medi-Clinic Heart hospital where former president Nelson Mandela is being treated, rushed to the stadium.
  As the group passed close to the hospital, they shouted messages of support for the ailing anti-apartheid icon.
  Six police vehicles, including a Nyala, escorted the lively protesters.
  SAPA
Simple Facts and Plain Arguments: The Solution To The Gay Marriage Debate
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  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 16:49
  Tweet The entire national discussion about gay marriage, like many issues, has been deliberately cornered between two illogical extremes. One side pays lip service to family values and marriage sanctity, while the other delivers empty rhetoric about civil rights and equality. You're either gay or straight, anti-gay marriage or pro-gay marriage, Democrat or Republican. Isn't the whole point to treat everyone as an individual instead of generalizing them?The important part is this: both extremes still seek to use government force to impose their views about marriage upon the rest of the country. While preaching about respecting others' beliefs and tolerance for other viewpoints and lifestyles, those in power certainly make sure to keep the debate limited in scope and framed in such a way as to divide the people and promote government as a means to build a social utopia, while ignoring the fact that government involvement is actually the root of the problem.Once we expand the scope of the debate, we understand that the only logical solution that can make everybody happy is:
  Make marriage a private matter like it should be.Bam. Problem solved.Marriage licenses? Really? What does it say about our country when two (or more, for that matter) people who wish to spend the rest of their lives bound together need permission from the government to do so? We are not free. If marriage is supposed to be one of the most personal, sacred, and cherished acts of commitment and love in a person's life, then why do we make it a government issue and allow it to be perverted by the greed, corruption, and disloyalty of politics and the powerful?
  Get the government out and suddenly everyone could have their own definition of marriage without having someone else's shoved down their throat, no one would be forced to subsidize lifestyles they disagree with, gay people could get married if they wished, and religious beliefs would still be respected because churches wouldn't be forced to go against their own teachings. In a truly free society, all voluntary agreements/contracts between two or more people are recognized. If two people want to get married, it's between them. There would be gay weddings, straight weddings, common-law marriages, and even non-religious marriages for the atheist couples."But people would marry children and animals!"Actually, since children are generally incapable of making adult decisions or understanding the possible consequences of their actions, such an arrangement could not be justified as legitimate or consensual because regardless of the child's consent. Oh, finally, people can't enter into contracts or agreements with animals.
  A common argument circles around the tax benefits/spousal privileges that heterosexual couples enjoy over homosexual couples. No more tax benefits. Your relationship status shouldn't come with varying additional privileges or government handouts. Ideally, no one would be paying income taxes anyway, but that's a different debate.Some people argue that gay marriage destroys the sanctity of all marriages and should be outlawed because of that. But really, if your concerns about what your gay neighbors are doing in the privacy of their own homes are legitimately negatively affecting your marriage, at the very least you need couples therapy. In light of the fact that the divorce rate has been steadily increasing for decades and homosexuals have generally been forbidden from marrying each other during that time period, it doesn't seem rational to blame gays for corrupting something they couldn't even participate in.
  While it's obvious that nobody in power really cares about the Constitution any more, isn't it telling that nowhere in the Constitution is the Federal government granted any authority over the institution of marriage? From a Constitutionalist's perspective, if there were to be any laws passed regarding marriage, they must be passed at the state level:
  "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."- The 10th AmendmentWhy didn't the Founders give the Federal government any authority over marriage? Because it's none of the government's business. Only a fascist could claim the right to regulate people's lifestyles and force others to subsidize something they do not believe in. Both extremes view government force as means to achieve some sort of perceived freedom while ignoring the fact that government intrusion into our personal lives is what created this entire controversy in the first place. In his book, Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom, Ron Paul writes:"When we no longer believe that civilization is dependent on government expansion, regulating excesses, and a license for every we do, we will know that civilization and the ideas of liberty are advancing. In economics, licensing is designed by the special interests to suppress competition. Licensing for social reasons reflects the intolerant person's desire to mold other people's behavior to their standard. Both depend on the use of illegitimate force."So remember, whether you are pro-or-anti-gay marriage should be irrelevant. What we should be talking about is why doesn't the government stop regulating marriage?Tweet
Kissinger bloodbath
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  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 15:09
  A rebel fighter of the Syrian Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) has a flower in his Russian made 'AK-47' kalashnikov gun as he holds a position in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood in the Syrian city of Aleppo on May 9, 2013. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
  In this Sunday, May 5, 2013 file photo provided by the Syrian official news agency SANA, workers clear the rubble of buildings destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Damascus, Syria. The attack targeted a shipment of highly accurate, Iranian-made guided missiles believed to be on their way to Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, officials and activists said. (AP Photo/SANA, File)
  In this Sunday, May 5, 2013 image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, armed men stand near the wreckage of a military helicopter, left, in Deir el-Zour, Syria. Syrian rebels shot down a military helicopter in the country's east, killing eight government troops on board a day after opposition forces entered a sprawling military air base in the north, activists said Monday. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)
  A view of the 13th medieval century citadel that dominates the city of Aleppo, in northern Syria, seen through a sniper position at the 'Izaa' radio frontline, on May 11, 2013. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
  Syrian National Defence Forces (NDF), an armed unit of volunteers loyal to President Bashar al-Assad operating under Syrian army command, patrol the village of Ghassaniyeh in the countryside of the rebel city of Qusayr on May 11, 2013. (JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images)
  This image taken from video obtained from Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a rocket fired by Syrian rebels at Mannagh air base in Aleppo province, Syria, Monday, May 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video)
  This citizen journalism image provided by Lens Young Homsi, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows buildings which were destroyed from Syrian forces shelling, in Homs province, Syria, Monday, May 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Lens Young Homsi)
  This Tuesday, May 14, 2013 citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows the mother of a Syrian rebel cleaning a rifle, in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)
  This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, claims to show a Syrian army soldier inspecting a damaged car at the scene of a car bomb which exploded, in Damascus, Syria, Saturday, May 18, 2013. A car bomb killed at least three people and wounded five, according to Syrian state TV. It said bomb experts dismantled other explosives in the area. (AP Photo/SANA)
  This citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian rebels preparing to repel a coordinated attack by government forces, in Qusair, Homs province, Syria, Sunday, May 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Qusair Lens)
  This citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian rebels gathering at one of the front lines, in Qusair, Homs province, Syria, Monday May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Qusair Lens)
  In this image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, smoke and fire rises after explosives were dropped by a Syrian government warplane in Yabroud near Damascus, Syria, Monday May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)
  In this image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, smoke rises after explosives were dropped by a Syrian government warplane in Yabroud near Damascus, Syria, Monday May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)
  Lebanese mourners carry the coffin of Hezbollah fighter Hassan Faisal Shuker, 18, who killed in battles against the Syrian rebels at the Syrian town of Qusair, during his funeral procession at his hometown of Nabi Sheet in the eastern Bekaa valley, Lebanon, Monday May 20, 2013. (AP Photo)
  Citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, show buildings damaged during battles between the rebels and the Syrian government forces, in the Salaheddine neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, Monday May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center, AMC)
  Citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, show flames rising from a car which was attacked by Syrian government forces, in Bustan al-Qaser neighborhood, Aleppo, Syria, Monday May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center, AMC)
  This Tuesday, May 21, 2013 file citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian citizens gathering over houses that were destroyes from a Syrian forces air strike in the town of Qusair, near the Lebanon border, Homs province, Syria. (AP Photo/Qusair Lens, File)
  This Tuesday, May 21, 2013 file citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian citizens inspecting the rubble of damaged buildings that were damaged from a Syrian forces air strike in the town of Qusair, near the Lebanon border, Homs province, Syria. (AP Photo/Qusair Lens, File)
  This Tuesday, May 21, 2013 citizen journalism image provided by Edlib News Network, ENN, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian rebels firing locally made shells made from gas cylinders against the Syrian forces, in Idlib province, northern Syria. Syria's main opposition group is urging rebels to come from around the country to reinforce Qusair, a western town under attack by Syrian troops and members of Lebanon's Hezbollah group. (AP Photo/Edlib News Network ENN)
  This citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian man checking his destroyed house that was damaged by a Syrian forces air strike in the town of Qusair, near the Lebanon border, Homs province, Syria, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Qusair Lens)
  This citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian men carrying copies of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, inside a bombed mosque in the town of Qusair near the Lebanon border, Homs province, Syria, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Qusair Lens)
  Lebanese mourners carry the coffin of Hezbollah fighter Saleh Sabagh, 18, who was killed in a battle against Syrian rebels in the Syrian town of Qusair, during his funeral procession, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Dozens of supporters of hardline Sunni Muslim cleric Ahmad al-Assir on Wednesday blocked the road leading to a cemetery in the southern city of Sidon to prevent the burial of a Hezbollah fighter who died recently in Qusair. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
  This citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian rebels standing in the middle of a medieval market in Old Aleppo, which has been destroyed by fighting between regime forces and rebels seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, in Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, May 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)
  In this photo released on Sunday, May 26, 2013, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad take their position during a clashes against Syrian rebels, in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/SANA)
  In this photo released on Sunday May 26, 2013, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad run to take their position during clashes against Syrian rebels, in Aleppo, Syria. Syria's Information Ministry says rebels have killed a TV correspondent who was covering clashes near the border with Lebanon. (AP Photo/SANA)
  In this image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrians participate in the funeral prayer for Youssef Ghazi al-Sarmani who was killed in fighting between rebel and government forces, May 27. Logo in red reads, "Talbiseh". (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)
  In this Monday, May 27, 2013 photo provided by Mouaz Moustafa and the Syrian Emergency Task Force, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., center, accompanied by Moustafa, right, visits rebels in Syria. McCain, who slipped into the country for a surprise visit, favors providing arms to rebel forces in Syria. (AP Photo/Syrian Emergency Task Force, Mouaz Moustafa)
  This image made from video posted by Shaam News Network and taken on Wednesday, May 29, 2013, which is consistent with other AP reporting, shows an explosion from shelling in Rastan, Syria. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)
  This image from amateur video obtained by a group which calls itself Ugarit News, which is consistent with AP reporting, shows a rocket fired by Syrian rebels in Qusair, Syria, Tuesday, May 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video)
  This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad at the Dabaa military air base, in Homs province, Syria, Thursday, May 30, 2013. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported ongoing clashes in the town on Thursday. The Observatory called for urgent aid to the injured inside the town, most of which is now controlled by Assad's troops, including the Dabaa military air base just outside Qusair. (AP Photo/SANA)
  This citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Qusair-based activist Hadi Abdullah, right, walking on a street hit by the shelling of Hezbolllah Lebanese Shiite group and the Syrian forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, in the town of Qusair, near the Lebanon border, Homs province, Syria, Friday, May 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Qusair Lens)
Obama Requests 15,000 Russian Troops For ''Upcoming'' Disaster | EUTimes.net
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 15:04
  An unsettling report prepared by the Emergencies Ministry (EMERCOM) circulating in the Kremlin today on the just completed talks between Russia and the United States in Washington D.C. says that the Obama regime has requested at least 15,000 Russian troops trained in disaster relief and ''crowd functions'' [i.e. riot control] be pre-positioned to respond to FEMA Region III during an unspecified ''upcoming'' disaster.
  According to this report, this unprecedented request was made directly to Minister Vladimir Puchkov by US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Director Janet Napolitano who said these Russian troops would work ''directly and jointly'' with her Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of whose mission is to secure the continuity of the US government in the event of natural disasters or war.
  Important to note, this report says, is that FEMA Region III, the area Russian troops are being requested for, includes Washington D.C. and the surrounding States of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, ''strongly suggesting'' that the Obama regime has lost confidence in its own military being able to secure its survival should it be called upon to do so.
  In his public statements, yesterday, regarding these matters Minister Puchkov stated, ''We have decided that the US Federal Emergency Management Agency and Russia's Emergencies Ministry will work together to develop systems to protect people and territory from cosmic impacts,'' and further noted that his meeting with DHS Director Napolitano also covered other kinds of natural emergencies, such as recent years' extreme weather in both Russia and United States.
  In this EMERCOM report, however, Minister Puchkov notes that the Russian troops being requested by the Obama regime would ''more than likely'' be paired with US-DHS troops who last year purchased nearly 2 billion rounds of ammunition and just this past month placed and emergency order for riot gear.
  As to what ''upcoming disaster'' the US is preparing for, this report continues, appears to be ''strongly related'' to last weeks assassination of American reporter Michael Hastings who was killed while attempting to reach the safety of the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, and as we had reported on in our 20 June report Top US Journalist Attempting To Reach Israeli Consulate Assassinated.
  Further to be noted about Hastings assassination by the Obama regime is the continued US mainstream propaganda news cover-up of it, though many freelance reporters continue to uncover the truth, such as Jim Stone whose investigation noted that the rear portion of Hastings car was blown open and shredded with the rest of the car nicely intact, which runs counter to the ''official'' story that this vehicle has hit a tree.
  Not mentioned in this EMERCOM report is any suggestion that Russia would comply with this request from the Obama regime, especially in light of the horrifying information being given to Russian intelligence analysts from Edward Snowden who has been labeled as the most wanted man in the world.
  According to one Federal Security Services (FSB) bulletin on their continued debriefing of Snowden, and analysis of the information he has provided Russian intelligence officers, his father, Lonnie Snowden, was an officer in the US Coast Guard during the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States who had ''direct knowledge'' of the true events that occurred and whom the real perpetrators were.
  Being directly affected by the events of 9/11, this FSB bulletin says, Snowden ''self initiated'' a multi-year effort to gain access to America's top secrets, a mission which when recently completed led him to contact various international reporters, including Hastings, whom he believed could be trusted with disseminating the information he had obtained.
  Though known to us directly from our Kremlin sources as to the exact connections Snowden's information proves regarding 9/11 and both the Bush and Obama regimes, and the even more horrific event soon to come, a June 2013 Defence Advisory Notice (DA-Notice) prevents our being able to'...at this time.
  Likewise, and as the assassination of Hastings clearly shows, the Obama regime claims a legal right to kill anyone it so chooses without charges or trial they believe may threaten US national security, and what Snowden's information reveals definitely falls into that category.
  What can be said though, there is a critical reason billionaires all over the world have been dumping their stocks, and fast; and those who are not able to read between the lines will soon find themselves in the most dangerous situation they've ever encountered.
  Forewarned IS forearmed.
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  Obama Requests 15,000 Russian Troops For ''Upcoming'' Disaster, 4.7 out of 5 based on 62 ratings Related Posts:Did you like this information? Then please consider making a donation or subscribing to our Newsletter.
Laval mayor denies soliciting sex with prostitute, then quits
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 14:55
  MONTREAL - The Montreal area has seen a few mayors resign lately in scandals over money: one quit amid allegations of illegal party financing, another was arrested and charged with fraud, and one was even charged with gangsterism.
  Now the area has had a mayor quit under entirely different circumstances.
  This time it's about sex.
  The interim mayor of suburban Laval, Alexandre Duplessis, announced he was stepping down Friday in a letter to the city clerk's office and said his departure would take effect immediately.
  This was just six hours after Duplessis told reporters he would not resign after a controversy allegedly involving extortion and a prostitute.
  "I never, never, never received sexual services," Duplessis said in a brief 8:30 a.m. news conference. "I did not solicit '-- I did not receive'... I received nothing sexual. There was an attempt to extort me."
  It's unclear what prompted the swift about-face.
  But political rivals had spent the day urging him to step down. And media were scrutinizing the denial from Duplessis, a father of two, that he had ever solicited sex.
  One TV network carried two on-air interviews with a woman claiming to own the escort agency involved.
  The woman said there were dozens of cellphone text messages from the client. She said the man had requested an escort for his remote country cottage.
  She said the customer asked if he could wear women's underwear, and whether the escort enjoyed white wine. When the woman's employee finally found the cottage after getting lost, they dressed up together, put on high boots, and did makeup, said the self-described owner.
  "He really wanted to spend an evening as if they were girlfriends," said the agency boss, whose identity and face remained shielded during the interviews with the TVA network.
  She said there was eventually a dispute about the $160-an-hour payment when the client wanted to take the woman out for a boat ride. The owner said she was dragged into the dispute, and spoke to the man by phone. Eventually, she said, the client kicked the woman outside "right into the woods."
  The owner said she later spoke to provincial police and showed them the text messages, and said that only then did police inform her that the customer was the mayor of Laval. She told TVA that the police confirmed his identity through the cellphone number, and through other means but did not elaborate.
  The network said there were 110 text messages and showed some of them on-screen. Initial details about the alleged encounter appeared in a TVA report Thursday.
  The mayor did not discuss the details Friday, except to deny soliciting a prostitute.
  Two spokespeople declined to address the details of the TVA reports '-- one for the city and one for a communications firm, who had been handling the mayor's public relations until Friday.
  "I have no idea about that," said Pierre-Philippe Lortie, the PR firm spokesman who had fielded questions about Duplessis through Friday morning. "I'm not linked anymore to any files with Mayor Duplessis, so now he's a private citizen."
  Both spokesman said they could not help reach '-- or provide contact information '-- for the departed mayor.
  A new interim mayor will be chosen from the remaining group of city councillors. That person will hold the post until municipal election on Nov. 3.
  That process begins next week.
  The resignation of Laval's interim mayor came a week after the interim mayor of Montreal resigned. Both Duplessis and Michael Applebaum had been replacing scandal-plagued elected predecessors.
  Applebaum quit after he was slapped with fraud charges, while maintaining his innocence and saying he would fight the charges.
  Duplessis had sounded defiant earlier Friday.
  His comments came one day after different news stories reported unconfirmed allegations he was involved in an encounter with an escort that went awry.
  Police have confirmed that a man has complained about being extorted by a prostitute on June 14 '-- but they haven't identified the man.
  They say the man got involved in a dispute with an escort about payment, and that there was an alleged extortion attempt afterward.
  They say they plan to hand the case over to prosecutors for their consideration.
  The case represents only the latest controversy involving a Canadian mayor following resignations, criminal charges and police investigations of municipal leaders in different cities.
  Even for Duplessis, it wasn't the first time through the scandal-wringer.
  The city was recently placed under provincial trusteeship after a witness at a provincial inquiry said Duplessis took part in illegal political financing when he was a councillor.
  But he still sounded committed to staying in the job Friday morning.
  "I will of course be continuing in my role as mayor," he said earlier in the day.
  "I will not quit."
  It's unclear whether political pressure played a role in changing his mind.
  Laval city councillors had been convened for a meeting at city hall late Friday afternoon. Members of Laval's unelected opposition parties were, meanwhile, calling for him to quit.
  Jean-Claude Gobe, a former Liberal MNA who has announced his intention to run for mayor this fall, had said Duplessis needed to step down out of respect for residents.
  "I think it's pathetic," Gobe said in a phone interview earlier Friday.
  "It's something that he needs to understand '-- that he no longer has the credibility or the moral authority (to stay on)."
  Duplessis took over after longtime former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt stepped down last November after 23 years at the helm.
  Duplessis was a councillor under Vaillancourt's now-defunct party, which held the majority '-- and often all '-- the seats on council for many years.
  Once Duplessis took over, trouble began brewing again.
  A witness at Quebec's corruption inquiry testified that practically all elected officials took part in illegal party financing, including Duplessis when he was a councillor.
  The city was promptly placed under trusteeship by the Quebec government.
  The interim mayor had vowed to stay on, even if all final decision-making would temporarily fall to the former Quebec provincial police chief named as trustee.
  Duplessis had even hinted '-- before that damaging inquiry testimony '-- that he'd run for mayor in the November election.
  On Friday, his opponents were questioning whether he should hold the job even on a temporary basis.
  "It's a huge lack of judgment and honesty towards the population," said Marc Demers, a former police officer-turned-mayoral candidate. "The mayor is the first ambassador of the city, the brand of a city."
  Another opponent said residents were being affected by the scandal-plagued administration: "I think morally, people are fed up. We're ashamed to be Lavallois and I think it's time he steps down," said Robert Bordeleau, another mayoral candidate.
  -With files from Alexander Panetta
Royal Family granted new right of secrecy - Home News - UK - The Independent
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  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 14:55
  The Royal Family is to be granted absolute protection from public scrutiny in a controversial legal reform designed to draw a veil of secrecy over the affairs of the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William.
  Letters, emails and documents relating to the monarch, her heir and the second in line to the throne will no longer be disclosed even if they are in the public interest.
  Sweeping changes to the Freedom of Information Act will reverse advances which had briefly shone a light on the royal finances '' including an attempt by the Queen to use a state poverty fund to heat Buckingham Palace '' and which had threatened to force the disclosure of the Prince of Wales's prolific correspondence with ministers.
  Lobbying and correspondence from junior staff working for the Royal Household and Prince Charles will now be held back from disclosure. Buckingham Palace confirmed that it had consulted with the Coalition Government over the change in the law. The Government buried the plan for "added protection" for the Royal Family in the small print of plans called "opening up public bodies to public scrutiny".
  Maurice Frankel, head of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said that since the change referred to communications written on behalf of the Queen and Prince Charles it might be possible for "park keepers working in the royal parks" to be spared public scrutiny of their letters written to local authorities.
  The decision to push through the changes also raises questions about the sincerity of the Liberal Democrats' commitment to government transparency. In opposition, senior Liberal Democrats frequently lined up to champion the Freedom of Information Act after it came into force in 2005.
  Ian Davidson, a former member of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), told The Independent: "I'm astonished that the Government should find time to seek to cover up royal finances. When I was on the PAC what we wanted was more disclosure not less.
  "Every time we examined royal finances we found extravagance and indulgence as well as abuse of expenses by junior royals.
  "Everywhere we looked, there were savings to be made for the Government. This sends the wrong message about public disclosure and accountability."
  Paul Flynn, another member of the committee, described the special protection for the Royals as "indefensible". He said: "I don't think it serves the interests of the public or the Royal Family very well."
  Mr Frankel said he believed that Prince Charles was the driving force behind the new law.
  "The heir to the throne has written letters to government departments in an attempt to influence policy," he said.
  "He clearly does not want these to get into the public domain."
  Later this month, lawyers for the Cabinet Office, backed by Prince Charles, will go to court to continue to resist Freedom of Information requests of ministers to publish letters written to them by the Prince of Wales.
  A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said that the change to the law was necessary because the Freedom of Information Act had failed to protect the constitutional position of the monarch and the heir to the throne. He explained that the sovereign has the right and duty to be consulted, to encourage and warn the government, and by extension, the heir to the throne had the constitutional right and duty to prepare himself for the role of King.
  "This constitutional position relies on confidentiality, so that all such correspondence remains confidential," he said.
  But he said that change would also mean that correspondence not covered by the absolute exemption would be made public 10 years earlier than under the current disclosure rules.
  The Palace's position was backed by Professor Vernon Bogdanor, research professor at King's College London.
  He told The Independent: "The essence of constitutional monarchy is that the Queen and other members of the Royal Family remain politically neutral. The Queen meets the Prime Minister once a week, when both are in London, to discuss government policy.
  "The heir to the throne has the right, and perhaps the duty, to question ministers on policy so as to prepare himself for the throne. Such discussions are only possible if they remain confidential. Otherwise the neutrality of the Queen and of the Prince of Wales could be undermined.
  "When the Queen meets the Prime Minister, no one else is present '' not even the Queen's Private Secretary. For this reason, it is right that the Royal Family should be exempt from FOI."
  The Government claimed that the thrust of the changes announced yesterday would make it "easier for people to use FOI to find and use information about the public bodies they rely on and their taxes pay for".
  The Ministry of Justice intends to increase the number of organisations to which FOI requests can be made, bringing in bodies such as the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Financial Services Ombudsman, and the higher education admissions body UCAS, and also all companies wholly owned by any number of public authorities.
  In the public interest? The stories they didn't want us to know
  *In 2004 the Queen asked ministers for a poverty handout to help heat her palaces but was rebuffed because they feared it would be a public relations disaster. Royal aides were told that the £60m worth of energy-saving grants were aimed at families on low incomes and if the money was given to Buckingham Palace instead of housing associations or hospitals it could lead to "adverse publicity" for the Queen and the government.
  *A "financial memorandum" formalising the relationship between the sovereign and ministers set out tough terms on how the Queen can spend the £38.2m handed over by Parliament each year to pay for her staff and occupied palaces.
  *The Queen requested more public money to pay for the upkeep of her crumbling palaces while allowing minor royals and courtiers to live in rent-free accommodation.
  *As early as 2004 Sir Alan Reid, the Keeper of the Privy Purse, had unsuccessfully put the case to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for a substantial increase in the £15m-a-year grant to maintain royal buildings.
  *The Palace planned to go ahead with refurbishing and renting the apartment of Diana, Princess of Wales at Kensington Palace after it had lain empty since her death in 1997.
  *A letter exchange revealed a tussle over who has control of £2.5m gained from the sale of Kensington Palace land. Ministers said it belonged to the state, while Buckingham Palace said it belonged to the Queen.
New system uses low-power Wi-Fi signal to track moving humans '-- even behind walls - MIT News Office
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  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 07:22
  The comic-book hero Superman uses his X-ray vision to spot bad guys lurking behind walls and other objects. Now we could all have X-ray vision, thanks to researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.Researchers have long attempted to build a device capable of seeing people through walls. However, previous efforts to develop such a system have involved the use of expensive and bulky radar technology that uses a part of the electromagnetic spectrum only available to the military.
  Now a system being developed by Dina Katabi, a professor in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and her graduate student Fadel Adib, could give all of us the ability to spot people in different rooms using low-cost Wi-Fi technology. ''We wanted to create a device that is low-power, portable and simple enough for anyone to use, to give people the ability to see through walls and closed doors,'' Katabi says.
  The system, called ''Wi-Vi,'' is based on a concept similar to radar and sonar imaging. But in contrast to radar and sonar, it transmits a low-power Wi-Fi signal and uses its reflections to track moving humans. It can do so even if the humans are in closed rooms or hiding behind a wall.
  As a Wi-Fi signal is transmitted at a wall, a portion of the signal penetrates through it, reflecting off any humans on the other side. However, only a tiny fraction of the signal makes it through to the other room, with the rest being reflected by the wall, or by other objects. ''So we had to come up with a technology that could cancel out all these other reflections, and keep only those from the moving human body,'' Katabi says.
  Motion detector
  To do this, the system uses two transmit antennas and a single receiver. The two antennas transmit almost identical signals, except that the signal from the second antenna is the inverse of the first. As a result, the two signals interfere with each other in such a way as to cancel each other out. Since any static objects that the signals hit '-- including the wall '-- create identical reflections, they too are cancelled out by this nulling effect.
  In this way, only those reflections that change between the two signals, such as those from a moving object, arrive back at the receiver, Adib says. ''So, if the person moves behind the wall, all reflections from static objects are cancelled out, and the only thing registered by the device is the moving human.''
  Once the system has cancelled out all of the reflections from static objects, it can then concentrate on tracking the person as he or she moves around the room. Most previous attempts to track moving targets through walls have done so using an array of spaced antennas, which each capture the signal reflected off a person moving through the environment. But this would be too expensive and bulky for use in a handheld device.
  So instead Wi-Vi uses just one receiver. As the person moves through the room, his or her distance from the receiver changes, meaning the time it takes for the reflected signal to make its way back to the receiver changes too. The system then uses this information to calculate where the person is at any one time.
  Possible uses in disaster recovery, personal safety, gaming
  Wi-Vi, being presented at the Sigcomm conference in Hong Kong in August, could be used to help search-and-rescue teams to find survivors trapped in rubble after an earthquake, say, or to allow police officers to identify the number and movement of criminals within a building to avoid walking into an ambush.
  It could also be used as a personal safety device, Katabi says: ''If you are walking at night and you have the feeling that someone is following you, then you could use it to check if there is someone behind the fence or behind a corner.''
  The device can also detect gestures or movements by a person standing behind a wall, such as a wave of the arm, Katabi says. This would allow it to be used as a gesture-based interface for controlling lighting or appliances within the home, such as turning off the lights in another room with a wave of the arm.
  Venkat Padmanabhan, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, says the possibility of using Wi-Vi as a gesture-based interface that does not require a line of sight between the user and the device itself is perhaps its most interesting application of all. ''Such an interface could alter the face of gaming,'' he says.
  Unlike today's interactive gaming devices, where users must stay in front of the console and its camera at all times, users could still interact with the system while in another room, for example. This could open up the possibility of more complex and interesting games, Katabi says.
100 Startling Facts About the Economy Q1 Capital Partners Q1 Capital Partners
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  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 07:08
  Posted by Q1Admin on May 29, 2013This story was originally published by The Motley Fool.
  In no particular order'...
  1. As of January 2013, there are 16 people left in the world who were born in the 1800s, according to the Gerontology Research Group. With dividends reinvested, U.S. stocks have increased 28,000-fold during their lifetimes.
  2. If you divide their net worths by their age, Carlos Slim and Bill Gates have each accumulated more than $100,000 in net worth for every hour they've been alive.
  3. According to Forbes, if a Google employee passes away, ''their surviving spouse or domestic partner will receive a check for 50% of their salary every year for the next decade.''
  4. According to the Deutsche Bank Long-Term Asset Return Study, the last time interest rates were near current levels, in the 1950s, Treasury bonds lost 40% of their inflation-adjusted value over the following three decades.
  5. According to a study by Harvard professor David Wise and two colleagues, 46.1% of Americans die with less than $10,000 in assets.
  6. There are 3.8 million fewer Americans aged 30 to 44 today than there were a decade ago.
  7. Related: The population of Americans aged 30 to 44 is about to start increasing for the first time since 2000.
  8. Since 1928, the Dow Jones has increased more than 10% in a single day eight times, declined more than 10% in a single day four times, and gone either up or down more than 5% in a single day 136 times.
  9. ''U.S. oil production grew more in 2012 than in any year in the history of the domestic industry, which began in 1859,'' writes Tom Fowler of The Wall Street Journal.
  10. ''Last year, for the first time, spending by Apple and Google on patent lawsuits and unusually big-dollar patent purchases exceeded spending on research and development of new products,'' writes The New York Times.
  11. Start with a dollar. Double it every day. In 48 days you'll own every financial asset that exists on the planet '-- about $200 trillion.
  12. There were fewer state and local education jobs in 2012 than there were in 2005, even though the number of 5- to 18-year-olds has increased by 600,000.
  13. Adjusting for inflation, Warren Buffett was a millionaire by age 25.
  14. Including dividends, the S&P 500 gained 135% from March 2009 through January 2013, during what people remember as the ''Great Recession.'' It gained the exact same amount from 1996 to 2000, during what people remember as the ''greatest bull market in history.''
  15. ''97% of the world's population now lives in countries where the fertility rate is falling,'' writes author Jonathan Last.
  16. The U.K. economy is 3.3% smaller than it was in 2008. The U.S. economy is 2.9% larger (both adjusted for inflation).
  17. In 1980, there were 15,099 Americans aged 100 years or more. By 1990, there were 36,486, and by 2012 there were 88,510, according to the Census Bureau.
  18. Dell ''has spent more money on share repurchases than it earned throughout its life as a public company,'' writes Floyd Norris of The New York Times.
  19. From 2006 to 2011, Hewlett-Packard spent $51 billion on share repurchases at an average price of $40.80 per share. Shares currently trade at $16.50.
  20. The International Labour Organization estimates a record 200 million people will be unemployed around the world in 2013. If you gave them their own country, it would be the fifth-largest in the world.
  21. Despite the overall population doubling, more babies were born in the U.S. in 1956 than were born in 2009, 2010, or 2011.
  22. According to The Telegraph, ''Four in 10 girls born today is expected to live to 100. '... If trends continue, the majority of girls born in 2060 '-- some 60 per cent '-- will live to see 2160.''
  23. Apple's cash and investments are now equal to the GDP of Hungary and more than those of Vietnam and Iraq.
  24. Netflix surged more than 50% on Jan. 24 from the previous day's low. $1,000 invested in short-term call options would have been worth $2 million in less than 24 hours. (Please don't try this at home.)
  25. In December, a start-up called Contrail Systems was purchased for $176 million two days after it launched.
  26. U.S. charitable giving was $298 billion in 2011, according to the Giving USA Foundation. That's more than the GDP of all but 33 countries in the world.
  27. According to Bloomberg, ''The 50 stocks in the S&P 500 with the lowest analyst ratings at the end of 2011 posted an average return of 23 percent [in 2012], outperforming the index by 7 percentage points.''
  28. ''Globally, the production of a given quantity of crop requires 65% less land than it did in 1961,'' writes author Matt Ridley.
  29. Thanks in large part to cellphone cameras, ''Ten percent of all of the photographs made in the entire history of photography were made last year,'' according to Time.
  30. Internal emails caught a team of Morgan Stanley employees sarcastically naming a subprime CDO in 2007. ''Nuclear Holocaust,'' ''Mike Tyson's Punchout,'' ''Hitman,'' ''Meltdown,'' and ''S***bag'' were all considered.
  31. Since 2008, Americans have donated $19.1 million to the U.S. Treasury to help pay down the national debt.
  32. Fortune magazine published an article titled ''10 Stocks To Last the Decade'' in August, 2000. By December 2012, the portfolio had lost 74.3% of its value, according to analyst Barry Ritholtz.
  33. From 2005 to 2012, total student loans outstanding increased by $539 billion, according to the Federal Reserve.
  34. According to a study by Environics Analytics WealthScapes, the average Canadian household is now richer than an average American household for the first time ever.
  35. The 100 largest public pension funds alone have $1.2 trillion of unfunded liabilities, according to actuarial firm Milliman.
  36. According to a study by four economists from Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, and Vanguard, ''the number of investors who check their accounts drops by 8.7% following a market decline compared to a market increase.''
  37. The average new American home was 1,535 square feet in 1975 and 2,169 square feet in 2010, according to the Census Bureau.
  38. Cambridge Associates estimates that 3% of venture capital firms generate 95% of the industry's returns. It adds that there is little change in the composition of those 3% of firms over time.
  39. Growth in America's energy output since 2008 has surpassed that of any other country in the world, according to energy analyst Daniel Yergin.
  40. Two news headlines published on the same day last September summed up the U.S. economy perfectly: ''U.S. Median Income Lowest Since 1995, '' and ''Ferrari sales surge to record highs.''
  41. According to ConvergEx Group, ''Only 58% of us are even saving for retirement in the first place. Of that group, 60% have less than $25,000 put away. '... A full 30% have less than $1,000.''
  42. If you add up annual profits of the entire airline industry going back to 1948, you get -$32 billion.
  43. Since 1928, the S&P 500 has closed at a new all-time high 1,024 times, or 4.8% of all trading days.
  44. According to California Common Sense, ''Over the last 30 years, the number of people California incarcerates grew more than eight times faster than the general population.''
  45. One in seven crimes committed in New York City now involves an Apple product being stolen, according to NYPD records cited by ABC News.
  46. In the first quarter of 2012, the number of iPhones Apple sold per day surpassed the number of babies born per day worldwide (402,000 vs. 300,000), according to Mobile First.
  47. On Dec. 5, 2012, Apple stock lost $34.9 billion in market cap. According to CNBC's Carl Quintanilla, 417 of the S&P 500'²s components had a total market cap of less than $35 billion that day.
  48. According to economist Glen Weyl, ''Of Harvard students graduating in early '90s and pursuing careers in finance, 1/3 were making over $1 million a year by 2005.''
  49. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, 44% of those working for minimum wage in 2010 had attended at least some college, up from 25% in 1979.
  50. According to The Economist, ''By 2030, 22% of people in the OECD club of rich countries will be 65 or older, nearly double the share in 1990.''
  51. According to a study by two Yale economists, if state and local governments acted like they had in the last five recessions, they would have added at least 1.4 million jobs since 2007. Instead, they cut more than 700,000.
  52. The number of workers aged 55 and up is about to surpass the number of workers aged 24 to 34 for the first time ever.
  53. In 2011, Asia had more millionaires than North America for the first time ever, according to RBC Wealth Management.
  54. According to Enerdata, the U.S. consumed less total energy in 2011 than it did in 2000.
  55. The IRS estimates that illegal tax-evasion reduced government tax revenue by $450 billion in 2006 (the most recent year calculated). That's roughly equal to what the government spends annually on Medicare.
  56. According to The Wall Street Journal, ''The average monthly mortgage payment on a median-price home in October, assuming a 10% down payment, fell to $720 at prevailing rates, down from nearly $1,270 at the end of 2005.''
  57. According to a study by Edward Wolff published in the Bureau of Economic Research, the inflation-adjusted median net worth of American families in 2010 hit the lowest level since 1969.
  58. ''Household debt is now 163.4% of disposable income in Canada, close to the U.S. level at the height of the subprime crisis,'' writes The Wall Street Journal.
  59. In 2012, the Greek stock market (ATHEX Index) outperformed the Chinese stock market (Shanghai Composite) by 48 percentage points.
  60. The International Energy Agency predicts that the U.S. will become the world's largest oil-producer by 2020, overtaking Saudi Arabia.
  61. According to CNBC wealth reporter Robert Frank, the population of millionaires in America is now at or above its 2007 high.
  62. According to BetterInvesting, the number of investment clubs has declined by 90% since 1998 from 400,000 to 39,000.
  63. Public filings show that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has owned stock in just one individual company over the last decade: Altria Group (which he sold in 2004).
  64. Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund run by James Simons, has allegedly produced average returns of 80% a year since 1988 (before fees), according to Bloomberg. That would turn $1,000 into $2.4 billion in 25 years.
  65. The S&P 500 has returned about 9% a year over the long run, but few years see returns even close to that. Since 1871, the index has risen or fallen more than 20% in one out of every three years. Less than one out of every five years sees a gain of between 1% and 9%.
  66. Since U.S. markets bottomed in March 2009, more than $8 trillion of lost wealth has been recouped.
  67. During the Federal Reserve's June 2007 policy meeting, the word ''recession'' was used three times; the word ''strong'' was used 61 times. The economy entered recession six months later.
  68. Last year, Franklin Templeton asked 1,000 investors whether the S&P 500 went up or down in 2009 and 2010. Sixty-six percent thought it went down in 2009, while 48% said it declined in 2010. In reality, the index gained 26.5% in 2009 and 15.1% in 2010.
  69. The share of an average U.S. household budget going toward gas in 2012 was nearly 4%, tying for the highest level in almost three decades, according to Energy Information Administration figures cited by The Guardian.
  70. ''Of the Americans who earn over $150,000, 82 percent had a bachelor's degree. Just 6.5 percent had no more than a high school diploma,'' writes Catherine Rampell of The New York Times.
  71. According to a survey by Paola Sapienza and Luigi Zingales, effectively all economists agreed that stock prices are hard to predict. Only 59% of average Americans felt the same way.
  72. According to the IMF, if Japan's female labor-participation rate rose to levels of Northern Europe, its per-capita GDP could be permanently increased by 8%.
  73. Credit card debt as a percentage of GDP is now at the lowest level in two decades.
  74. The Energy Information Administration predicts that U.S. oil imports will fall to 6 million barrels a day next year '-- their lowest level in 25 years.
  75. According to economist Stephen Bronars, the new 39.6% federal tax bracket will only affect 0.7% of taxpayers but will hit 9.5% of aggregate personal income, as top earners earn a disproportionate share of the national income.
  76. From 2001 to 2007, new-home construction outpaced household formation by more than 3 million homes.
  77. According to Gallup, 51.3% of Americans consider themselves ''thriving,'' 45.1% say they are ''struggling,'' and 3.6% say they're ''suffering.''
  78. An average couple will pay $155,000 in in 401(k) fees over their careers, according to Demos, reducing an average account balance from $510,000 to $355,000.
  79. Related: 84% of actively managed U.S. stock funds underperformed the S&P 500 in 2011.
  80. According to The Wall Street Journal, 49.1% of Americans live in a household ''where at least one member received some type of government benefit in the first quarter of 2011.''
  81. According to New York Times writer Binyamin Appelbaum: ''Average months between US recessions since 1854: 42. Months since last recession: 42.''
  82. With bond yields near all-time lows, Richard Barley of The Wall Street Journal writes, ''For a one-percentage point rise in yields, 10-year U.S. Treasury holders now face a drop in price of nearly nine percentage points.''
  83. ''By 2050, workers' median age in China and Japan will be about 50, a decade higher than in America,'' writes Robert Samuelson.
  84. Of the 3.1 million students who graduated high school in 2010, 78.2% received their diplomas on time, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That was the highest percentage since 1974.
  85. The U.S. birthrate declined 8% from 2007 to 2010, according to Pew. At 63.2 per 1,000 women of childbearing age, the 2011 U.S. birthrate was the lowest since records began in 1920.
  86. According to Wired magazine, ''In a 2006 survey, 30 percent of people without a high school degree said that playing the lottery was a wealth-building strategy. '... On average, households that make less than $12,400 a year spend 5 percent of their income on lotteries.''
  87. According to David Wessel of The Wall Street Journal, Americans ''spend about half of their food budgets at restaurants now, compared to a third in the 1970s.''
  88. We are used to hearing how much faster the earnings of the top 1% grow compared with everyone else's, but we often forget that it used to be the other way around. From 1943 to 1980, the annual incomes of the bottom 90% of Americans doubled in real terms, while the average income of the top 1% grew just 23%, according to Robert Frank.
  89. According to Vanguard founder John Bogle, the average equity mutual fund gained 173% from 1997 to 2011, but the average equity mutual fund investor earned only 110%, thanks to the tendency to buy high and sell low.
  90. According to David Leonhardt, median family incomes have fallen substantially over a decade for the first time since the Great Depression. ''By [2011], family income was 8 percent lower than it had been 11 years earlier, at its peak in 2000.''
  91. The rise in domestic energy-production has already shaved $175 billion off our annual import bill compared with five years ago, according to energy analyst Daniel Yergin.
  92. Federal nondefense discretionary spending '-- all spending minus defense and entitlements '-- is on track to hit its lowest level as a share of GDP in more than 50 years, according to data from the Congressional Budget Office.
  93. Bonds have become so richly valued that UBS is reportedly reclassifying brokerage clients who are overweight bonds as ''aggressive'' investors '-- most likely to avoid future lawsuits if and when bonds lose value.
  94. According to The Economist, ''Over the past ten years, hedge-fund managers have underperformed not just the stock market, but inflation as well.''
  95. According to Bloomberg, ''Americans have missed out on almost $200 billion of stock gains as they drained money from the market in the past four years, haunted by the financial crisis.
  96. In the 1960s, wages and salary income made up more than 50% of GDP. By 2011, it was less than 44%, as dividends, interest, and capital gains made up a growing share of the nation's income.
  97. S&P 500 companies held $900 billion in cash at the end of June, according to Thomson Reuters. That was up 40% since 2008.
  98. ''More than 50 million Americans couldn't afford to buy food at some point in 2011,'' writes CNNMoney, citing U.S. Department of Agriculture data. In June 2012, 46.7 million Americans received food stamps.
  99. Japan's working-age population is on track to decline from 62.6% of its population in 2012 to just 49.1% by 2050.
  100. The unemployment rate for those with a bachelor's degree is just 3.7% '-- less than half the nationwide average.
  Source
Congressman Asks Top Homeland Security Deportation Official About Schlussel Article @ Border Security Hrg, Official Lies Under Oath in Response
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 07:06
  By Debbie Schlussel
  **** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE ****
  Why is the top Obama Homeland Security official over deportation of illegal aliens lying under oath to Congress about an important immigration amnesty news story I broke on this site? That's what Thomas Homan, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Executive Associate Director for Enforcement & Removal Operations (ERO), did yesterday when Congressman Kerry Bentivolio (R-Michigan) asked him about my article on ICE's new policy of ''reverse escorting'' illegal aliens into America to prepare for amnesty. It happened at yesterday's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Hearing on ''Border Security Oversight: Identifying and Responding to Current Threats.'' The video is below, and the questions regarding this website begin at 14:30 (and goes to around 18:03) into the video.
  Congressman Bentivolio Asks Homeland Security's Homan About Schlussel Article
  Earlier this week, I told you about Obama's new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy of ''reverse escorting,'' in which Obama sends ICE ERO's immigration agents from northern border states to the southern border to pick up illegal alien juveniles caught sneaking into the border. The aliens are then housed at Bethany Christian Services locations and other charities throughout northern border states, where they are kept awaiting amnesty or use of DREAMer status. Normally, these illegal aliens''some of them OTMs (Other Than Mexicans)''are deported back to Mexico within 24 hours. But not anymore.
  At yesterday's hearing, Thomas Homan lied about this when Congressman Bentivolio mentioned he read my column on this website and asked about reverse escorting. Homan went on and on about with some BS about how the ICE immigration agents in Texas have exhausted overtime and so to ''save money,'' they fly ICE immigration agents from Michigan to Texas to get the illegal aliens and get them to ''Health and Human Services'' beds. This is baloney. Do you really think they are saving money or don't have enough ICE immigration agents that haven't exhausted overtime and that it is more economical and ''saving money'' to fly agents down to Texas from Michigan, then fly them back to Michigan WITH illegal aliens? PUH-LEEZE.
  And here's the bigger lie: Homan says that this has to do with available beds and that within 72 hours, they have to turn over the illegal alien juveniles to Health and Human Services. Baloney. ICE has detention centers specifically for juveniles, and Bethany Christian Services is not that. It's a Christian organization that believes it's a Christian mission to welcome illegal aliens and settle them here. Notice that Homan mentions the Office of Refugee Resettlement. That's a government agency specifically for helping alien refugees stay here and become citizens, as the name clearly indicates. And Homan mentioned that these juvenile aliens go before an immigration judge and have a hearing before they are removed. Uh, no. That only happens if they challenge the deportation and claim asylum. He mentioned the asylum factor. And, in fact, the Obama administration is encouraging them to claim asylum so they can stay here. Obama changed the immigration rules so that asylum claimants' claims are immediately deemed valid (with little or no proof) and they can automatically remain in the U.S. while they pursue asylum claims.
  It's not me saying this. It's the rightfully outraged ICE immigration agents who are telling me about this. And they're not just in Detroit, as Homan claims. They are in Grand Rapids, Michigan and other locations across the northern border and interior U.S.
  If this were really about deportation and beds, ICE would deport these illegal aliens from Texas within 24 hours as was normally done. This is about spending your money to bring illegal aliens into the U.S. interior and help them either await amnesty or find a way to get refugee status and/or asylum. And it's a way for default amnesty even before there is amnesty.
  Thomas Homan is a liar, and he's just parroting the Obama propaganda. He should be recalled to testify and respond to what I wrote above.
  I salute Kerry Bentivolio''who has turned out to be a great Reagan Republican Congressman in just his first term''for noting what I wrote and asking some tough questions. More please!
  **** UPDATE: Note that Thomas Homan also belittles the threat of Other Than Mexican (OTM) illegal aliens by only mentioning three Latino countries as OTM aliens' countries of origin, rather than countries like Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Iran''and other Muslim countries''which we know produce dangerous Islamic terrorists who try to get into the U.S. undetected . . . via the Southern border. And, yes, plenty of 'em are juveniles.
Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Mizuno Women's Wave Rider 16 Running Shoe
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 06:46
  'º See most helpful viewpoints5,042 of 5,090 people found the following review helpful
  5.0 out of 5 starsMarathon shoe for marathon filibustering, June 25, 2013
  The next time you have to spend 13 hours on your feet without food, water or bathroom breaks, this is the shoe for you. Guaranteed to outrun patriarchy on race day.Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
  Was this review helpful to you? Yes No3,813 of 3,860 people found the following review helpful
  5.0 out of 5 starsThese shoes (and a woman's body) have a way of shutting the whole thing down, June 26, 2013
  This review is from: Mizuno Women's Wave Rider 16 Running Shoe (Apparel)
  An essential tool for running down the clock in a state 773 miles wide and 790 miles long! These shoes are perfect for those days when you must spend 13+ hours standing, not lean on your desk or take any breaks - even for meals or to use the bathroom. The snazzy hot pink color brings out your inner badassness and helps you to "humbly give voice to thousands of Texans" and stop a "raw abuse of power" in its tracks. Raise a feminist army and lead the charge when your competitors cheat and change the rules on you. These Mizuno's are built to protect your feet from mudslinging and add sunshine to the political process. Highly recommended for fierce women and anyone who's not a Greedy Old Prick (GOP).Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
  Was this review helpful to you? Yes No1,859 of 1,881 people found the following review helpful
  5.0 out of 5 starsI'm only gonna run a half marathon in these: Who do you think I am, Wendy Davis?, June 26, 2013
  This review is from: Mizuno Women's Wave Rider 16 Running Shoe (Apparel)
  I bought them in pink with green stripe. I will put them on my feet when I need to run far. When I am tired, I will ask myself: WWWD?! Then I will keep running.Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
  Was this review helpful to you? Yes No1,752 of 1,773 people found the following review helpful
  5.0 out of 5 starsThe best choice for me., June 27, 2013
  This review is from: Mizuno Women's Wave Rider 16 Running Shoe (Apparel)
  I was in the market for new shoes a few years back. One night I went to the shoe store and ran into this very pushy salesmen. I told him that I was browsing and not quite ready to buy yet. He wouldn't let up on his sale tactics and forcibly put a pair of shoes on me. I ran out of the store crying, not sure what to do.Every time I would try to take them off, a man would show up out of nowhere and tell me that if I didn't want them I shouldn't have put them on in the first place. When I tried to explain they were forced upon me he would say if they were legitimately forced on me, my body would have rejected them. And if that was the case, i should have taken them off sooner. Luckily I had the means to leave the state. At which point I could finally take those shoes off.
  I was squeamish about buying new shoes for many years after that incident. After much thought and deliberation with my family, I decided that the time was right. It was time to buy new running shoes. I wanted a pair I could stand in. Be proud of. That say "this is my choice and it is the right choice for me." I tried on the Mizuno women's wave rider 16. They were perfect. The fit, the style, the longevity. I feel like I can stand all day long and fight back against all the pushy salesmen when I have them on. They are the perfect choice for me and I hope you can find your choice too.
  Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
  Was this review helpful to you? Yes No3,168 of 3,214 people found the following review helpful
  5.0 out of 5 starsFits perfectly up a republican's rear end, June 26, 2013
  This review is from: Mizuno Women's Wave Rider 16 Running Shoe (Apparel)
  When I first began wearing these shoes I thought my reproductive rights were secure. Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong. Luckily these shoes are really great for kicking republican legislators out of office! They want to shut down reproductive and health care facilities for the poor in Texas? Use these shoes to shut down the state capital!These go perfectly with any back brace you may need after good old fashion filibusting for 9 hours (with 4 more to go). What's that? Your crappy mean spirited colleagues on the other side of the isle say it isn't fair? That's right ladies, this shoe is completely washable, so just shove it up their ass.
  Most importantly, even if you wear these gems without sox for three days straight, they still smell better than a republican Lt Governor who tries to push a law through past midnight, which is absolutely and completely illegal. Yea, pretty stinky I know.
  Go Wendy Go #StandWithWedy
  Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
  Was this review helpful to you? Yes No1,019 of 1,031 people found the following review helpful
  5.0 out of 5 starsYou go girl (in shoes like this), June 27, 2013
  This review is from: Mizuno Women's Wave Rider 16 Running Shoe (Apparel)
  I'm not sure I could ever bring myself to buy or wear shoes like this. But you know, I'm so glad I have the option.#StandWithWendy
  Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
  Was this review helpful to you? Yes No1,531 of 1,554 people found the following review helpful
  5.0 out of 5 starsPerfect for a filibuster, June 25, 2013
  This review is from: Mizuno Women's Wave Rider 16 Running Shoe (Apparel)
  Do you believe in human rights? Do you think a women's health is a matter for her and her doctor and not for aged religious fundamentalists? Then these are the shoes for you! They will carry you through a marathon and a 13-hour filibuster necessary to protect women from the bigotry and religious intolerance in Texas. Highly recommended for progressive feet!Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
  Was this review helpful to you? Yes No1,030 of 1,045 people found the following review helpful
  5.0 out of 5 starsNorth Dakota restrictions, June 27, 2013
  This review is from: Mizuno Women's Wave Rider 16 Running Shoe (Apparel)
  If you live in North Dakota, make sure you purchase these within the first six weeks of your running program or you will be prohibited from purchasing them. It's for the safety of the shoes.Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
  Was this review helpful to you? Yes No1,109 of 1,133 people found the following review helpful
  5.0 out of 5 starsBetter Than Kitten Heels for Outrunning the GOP, June 26, 2013
  Sometimes you have to take off your adorable kitten heels and slip on your Mizuno Wave Riders. These are the perfect shoes for kicking Rick Perry's ass. Thanks, Mizuno!Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
  Was this review helpful to you? Yes No1,060 of 1,085 people found the following review helpful
  5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent Protection for the Foot and the Womb!, June 26, 2013
  This review is from: Mizuno Women's Wave Rider 16 Running Shoe (Apparel)
  Whether you're running for governor or standing up for women's rights, these shoes really fit the bill! Standing up for 11 hours straight in a room full of men who are telling what to do with your baby-maker is no easy task. Fortunately, the Mizuno Wave Riders are always up to the challenge. They are sturdy enough to kick behind, yet classy enough to look good while doing it. I endorse these shoes!Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
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Hollywood helped Adolf Hitler, academic claims - Americas - World - The Independent
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 06:12
  Hollywood is not widely thought of as providing much support to Hitler's regime, instead producing a wealth of anti-Nazi films during the Second World War, ranging from Casablanca to The Great Dictator.
  But now a young historian says that in the years before the war, Tinseltown was marching to a very different tune. Ben Urwand, 35 has written a book, The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact With Hitler, in which he cites documents that prove, he says, US studios acquiesced to Nazi censorship of their films actively cooperated with the regime's world propaganda effort.
  ''Hollywood is not just collaborating with Nazi Germany,'' Urwand told the New York Times. ''It's also collaborating with Adolf Hitler, the person and human being.''
  Urwand, reportedly a folk musician from Australia who has become a member of the Society of Fellows at Harvard, said his interest was first aroused as a student in California when he read an interview with the screenwriter Budd Schulberg referring to meetings between the MGM boss Louis Mayer and a representative of the Nazi regime to discuss cuts to his studio's films.
  The book describes many Jewish studio bosses not only censoring films to suit the regime, but also producing material that could be inserted into German propaganda films and even financing German weapons manufacturing. The collaboration of Hollywood with the regime began in 1930, says Urwand, when Carl Laemmle Jr of Universal Studios agreed major cuts to the First World War film All Quiet On The Western Front after riots in Germany instigated by the Nazi party.
  ''I would say there were a few shocking moments, probably starting with the document I discovered in the National Archives in Washington which explained how MGM was insulating its profits,'' Urwand told the Times of London.
  ''There was a law in Germany that foreign businesses couldn't export currency. They made an exception for MGM because they were financing the production of German armaments.''
  After Hitler came to power, the book details regular studio visits by representatives of the regime, including Georg Gyssling, the special consul assigned to monitor Hollywood, who watched films and dictated scene-by-scene requests for cuts. In June 1939 MGM gave 10 Nazi newspaper editors a tour of its studio in Los Angeles, and during the 1930s hardly any Jewish characters appeared in Hollywood films.
  Despite some raised eyebrows from other academics over the book's title, Urwand is unequivocal about it:
  ''Collaboration is what the studios were doing, and how they describe it.''
FBI Document'--''[DELETED]'' Plots to Kill Occupy Leaders ''If Deemed Necessary'' - WhoWhatWhy
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 06:05
  By Dave Lindorff on Jun 27, 2013Would you be shocked to learn that the FBI apparently knew that some organization, perhaps even a law enforcement agency or private security outfit, had contingency plans to assassinate peaceful protestors in a major American city '-- and did nothing to intervene?
  Would you be surprised to learn that this intelligence comes not from a shadowy whistle-blower but from the FBI itself '' specifically, from a document obtained from Houston FBI office last December, as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Washington, DC-based Partnership for Civil Justice Fund?
  To repeat: this comes from the FBI itself. The question, then, is: What did the FBI do about it?
  The Plot
  Remember the Occupy Movement? The peaceful crowds that camped out in the center of a number of cities in the fall of 2011, calling for some recognition by local, state and federal authorities that our democratic system was out of whack, controlled by corporate interests, and in need of immediate repair?
  That movement swept the US beginning in mid-September 2011. When, in early October, the movement came to Houston, Texas, law enforcement officials and the city's banking and oil industry executives freaked out perhaps even more so than they did in some other cities. The push-back took the form of violent assaults by police on Occupy activists, federal and local surveillance of people seen as organizers, infiltration by police provocateurs'--and, as crazy as it sounds, some kind of plot to assassinate the ''leaders'' of this non-violent and leaderless movement.
  But don't take our word for it. Here's what the document obtained from the Houston FBI, said:
  An identified [DELETED] as of October planned to engage in sniper attacks against protestors (sic) in Houston, Texas if deemed necessary. An identified [DELETED] had received intelligence that indicated the protesters in New York and Seattle planned similar protests in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, Texas. [DELETED] planned to gather intelligence against the leaders of the protest groups and obtain photographs, then formulate a plan to kill the leadership via suppressed sniper rifles. (Note: protests continued throughout the weekend with approximately 6000 persons in NYC. 'Occupy Wall Street' protests have spread to about half of all states in the US, over a dozen European and Asian cities, including protests in Cleveland (10/6-8/11) at Willard Park which was initially attended by hundreds of protesters.)
  Occupiers Astounded'--But Not Entirely
  Paul Kennedy, the National Lawyers Guild attorney in Houston who represented a number of Occupy Houston activists arrested during the protests, had not heard of the sniper plot, but said, ''I find it hard to believe that such information would have been known to the FBI and that we would not have been told about it.'' He then added darkly, ''If it had been some right-wing group plotting such an action, something would have been done. But if it is something law enforcement was planning, then nothing would have been done. It might seem hard to believe that a law enforcement agency would do such a thing, but I wouldn't put it past them.''
  He adds, ''The use of the phrase 'if deemed necessary,' sounds like it was some kind of official organization that was doing the planning.'' In other words, the ''identified [DELETED'' mentioned in the Houston FBI document may have been some other agency with jurisdiction in the area, which was calculatedly making plans to kill Occupy activists.
  Kennedy knows first-hand the extent to which combined federal-state-local law enforcement forces in Houston were focused on disrupting and breaking up the Occupy action in that city. He represented seven people who were charged with felonies for a protest that attempted to block the operation of Houston's port facility. That case fell apart when in the course of discovery, the prosecution disclosed that the Occupiers had been infiltrated by three undercover officers from the Austin Police department, who came up with the idea of using a device called a ''sleeping dragon'' -- actually chains inside of PVC pipe -- which are devilishly hard to cut through, for chaining protesters together blocking port access. The police provocateurs, Kennedy says, actually purchased the materials and constructed the ''criminal instruments'' themselves, supplying them to the protesters. As a result of this discovery, the judge tossed out the felony charges.
  FBI Response
  WhoWhatWhy contacted FBI headquarters in Washington, and asked about this document'--which, despite its stunning revelation and despite PCFJ press releases, was (notwithstanding a few online mentions) generally ignored by mainstream and ''alternative'' press alike.
  The agency confirmed that it is genuine and that it originated in the Houston FBI office. (The plot is also referenced in a second document obtained in PCJF's FOIA response, in this case from the FBI's Gainesville, Fla., office, which cites the Houston FBI as the source.) That second document actually suggests that the assassination plot, which never was activated, might still be operative should Occupy decisively re-emerge in the area. It states:
  On 13 October 20111, writer sent via email an excerpt from the daily [DELETED] regarding FBI Houston's [DELETED] to all IAs, SSRAs and SSA [DELETED] This [DELETED] identified the exploitation of the Occupy Movement by [LENGTHY DELETION] interested in developing a long-term plan to kill local Occupy leaders via sniper fire.
  Asked why solid information about an assassination plot against American citizens exercising their Constitutional right to free speech and assembly never led to exposure of the plotters' identity or an arrest'--as happened with so many other terrorist schemes the agency has publicized'--Paul Bresson, head of the FBI media office, offered a typically elliptical response:
  The FOIA documents that you reference are redacted in several places pursuant to FOIA and privacy laws that govern the release of such information so therefore I am unable to help fill in the blanks that you are seeking. Exemptions are cited in each place where a redaction is made. As far as the question about the murder plot, I am unable to comment further, but rest assured if the FBI was aware of credible and specific information involving a murder plot, law enforcement would have responded with appropriate action.
  Note that the privacy being ''protected'' in this instance (by a government that we now know has so little respect for our privacy) was of someone or some organization that was actively contemplating violating other people's Constitutional rights'-- by murdering them. That should leave us less than confident about Bresson's assertion that law enforcement would have responded appropriately to a ''credible'' threat.
  Houston Cops Not Warned?
  The Houston FBI office stonewalled our requests for information about the sniper-rifle assassination plot and why nobody was ever arrested for planning to kill demonstrators. Meanwhile, the Houston Police, who had the job of controlling the demonstrations, and of maintaining order and public safety, displayed remarkably little interest in the plot: ''We haven't heard about it,'' said Keith Smith, a public affairs officer for the department, who told us he inquired about the matter with senior department officials.
  Asked whether he was concerned that, if what he was saying was correct, it meant the FBI had not warned local police about a possible terrorist act being planned in his city, he said, ''No. You'd have to ask the Houston FBI about that.''
  Craft International Again
  Sniper action by law enforcement officials in Texas would not be anything new. Last October, a border patrol officer with the Texas Department of Public Safety, riding in a helicopter, used a sniper rifle to fire at a fast-moving pickup truck carrying nine illegal immigrants into the state from Mexico, killing two and wounding a third, and causing the vehicle to crash and overturn. It turns out that Border Patrol agents, like a number of Texas law enforcement organizations, had been receiving special sniper training from a Dallas-based mercenary-for-hire organization called Craft International LLC. It seems likely that Houston Police have also received such training, possibly from Craft, which has a contract for such law-enforcement training funded by the US Department of Homeland Security.
  Efforts to obtain comment from Craft International have been unsuccessful, but the company's website features photos of Craft instructors training law enforcement officers in sniper rifle use (the company was founded in 2009 by Chris Kyle, a celebrated Army sniper who last year was slain by a combat veteran he had accompanied to a shooting range). A number of men wearing Craft-issued clothing and gear, and bearing the company's distinctive skull logo, were spotted around the finish line of the April Boston Marathon, both before and after the bombing. Some were wearing large black backpacks with markings resembling what was seen on an exploded backpack image released by the FBI.(For more on the backpacks that allegedly contained the bombs, see this piece we did in May.)
  An Activist Responds
  Remington Alessi, an Occupy Houston activist who played a prominent role during the Occupy events, was one of the seven defendants whose felony charge was dropped because of police entrapment. He says of the sniper plot information, which first came to light last December as one of hundreds of pages of FBI files obtained by PCJF, ''We have speculated heavily about it. The 'if deemed necessary' phrase seems to indicate it was an organization. It could have been the police or a private security group.''
  Alessi, who hails from a law-enforcement family and who ran last year for sheriff of Houston's Harris County on the Texas Green Party ticket, garnering 22,000 votes, agrees with attorney Kennedy that the plotters were not from some right-wing organization. ''If it had been that, the FBI would have acted on it,'' he agrees. ''I believe the sniper attack was one strategy being discussed for dealing with the occupation.'' He adds:
  I assume I would have been one of the targets, because I led a few of the protest actions, and I hosted an Occupy show on KPFT. I wish I could say I'm surprised that this was seriously discussed, but remember, this is the same federal government that murdered (Black Panther Party leader) Fred Hampton. We have a government that traditionally murders people who are threats. I guess being a target is sort of an honor.
  There, Alessi is referring to evidence made public in the Church Committee hearings of the 1970s which revealed that the FBI was orchestrating local police attacks (in Chicago, San Francisco and New York) on Panther leaders. (For more on that, see this, starting at p. 185, esp. pp. 220-223; also see this .)
  Alessi suspects that the assassination plot cited in the FBI memo was
  probably developed in the Houston Fusion Center (where federal, state and local intelligence people work hand-in-glove). During our trial we learned that they were all over our stuff, tracking Twitter feeds etc. It seems to me that based on the access they were getting they were using what we now know as the NSA's PRISM program.
  He notes, correctly, that in documents obtained from the FBI and Homeland Security by the PCJF's FOIA search, the Occupy Movement is classed as a ''terrorist'' activity.
  Ironically, while the Occupy Movement was actually peaceful, the FBI, at best, was simply standing aside while some organization plotted to assassinate the movement's prominent activists.
  The FBI's stonewalling response to inquiries about this story, and the agency's evident failure to take any action regarding a known deadly threat to Occupy protesters in Houston, will likely make protesters at future demonstrations look differently at the sniper-rifle equipped law-enforcement personnel often seen on rooftops during such events. What are they there for? Who are the threats they are looking for and potentially targeting? Who are they protecting? And are they using ''suppressed'' sniper rifles? Would this indicate they have no plans to take responsibility for any shots silently fired? Or that they plan to frame someone else?
  WhoWhatWhy plans to continue doing this kind of groundbreaking original reporting. You can count on it. But can we count on you? We cannot do our work without your support.Please click here to donate; it's tax deductible. And it packs a punch.
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Lock Up Your Daughters, Because The Cops Are Looking At Them (And Everything Else) | The Truth About Cars
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Sat, 29 Jun 2013 06:02
  The paperback-size device, installed on the outside of police cars, can log thousands of license plates in an eight-hour patrol shift. Katz-Lacabe said it had photographed his two cars on 112 occasions, including one image from 2009 that shows him and his daughters stepping out of his Toyota Prius in their driveway'... At a rapid pace, and mostly hidden from the public, police agencies throughout California have been collecting millions of records on drivers and feeding them to intelligence fusion centers operated by local, state and federal law enforcement.
  Intelligence fusion centers?
  If you care at all about having any privacy whatsoever from a government that has repeatedly demonstrated an unquenchable thirst for your personal information, I strongly recommend you take a moment to read CIR's piece on motorist surveillance. It contains too many chilling and repugnant facts and quotes to reprint here. The bottom line is that police have stepped-up their automated surveillance of law-abiding citizens to the point where it is possible for them to reconstruct peoples' lives by looking at their records. The funds to undertake this surveillance and store it in expensive server rooms appears to be limitless '-- even as cities like Oakland have a 13,000-case backlog facing the single officer tasked with investigating burglaries.
  In California and across the country, the response given to victims of crime is increasingly ''We don't care'', ''Call your insurance company'', or ''Just go to the hospital''. They can threaten a teenager with a year in jail for wearing a particular shirt but they don't have the time to respond to stolen vehicle or burglary calls. Increasingly, the police have found that it is easier, more expedient, and safer to simply lean on regular citizens for minor violations than it is to respond to, or prevent, violent crime.
  There are legitimate benefits to wide-scale plate reading. If properly anonymised, the data could revolutionize the science of traffic management and urban planning. Imagine being able to plug 100 million ''trips'' into a computer and immediately see which roads are under and over utilized at every time of the day. There are real and useful things that can happen when the data is handled properly. But the way it's currently being handled is anything but proper, and with the increasing number of public-private partnerships in California, it's not beyond the scope of reason to suggest that eventually it will be possible to purchase travel records for a particular license plate.
  In a perfect world, Something Would Be Done about this '-- but in a country where everybody's already stopped worrying about the NSA's documented surveillance of American citizens, who's going to bother fighting back against license-plate readers? The answer is likely to be ''nobody at all''. But if anyone does take it up as a cause, expect to see them marginalized as ''teatards'' or ''Occupy freaks'' posthaste. After all, if you're obeying the law, you have nothing to fear from increased surveillance. Keep telling yourself that.
Schneier on Security: My Talk at Google
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 23:39
  A blog covering security and security technology.
  Preventing Cell Phone Theft through Benefit Denial | Main | Me on EconTalk >>
  My Talk at GoogleLast week, I gave a talk at Google. It's another talk about power and security, my continually evolving topic-of-the-moment that could very well become my next book. This installment is different than the previous talksandinterviews, but not different enough that you should feel the need to watch it if you've seen the others.
  There are things I got wrong. There are contradictions. There are questions I couldn't answer. But that's my process, and I'm okay with doing it semi-publicly. As always, I appreciate comments, criticisms, reading suggestions, and so on.
  Tags: Google, interviews, power, Schneier news, videos
  Posted on June 28, 2013 at 2:42 PM ' 1 Comments
  To receive these entries once a month by e-mail, sign up for the Crypto-Gram Newsletter.
  I've been coming to like the idea that security is primarily an economic problem. Finding bugs and vulnerabilities (software, hardware, and social) is expensive. Companies and groups of individuals make software, but spending the time/money to find all the security bugs is very, very expensive. Look at the state of OpenBSD (highly secure, not very functional, huge developer effort into security) vs Linux (much less secure, much more functional, moderate developer effort into security). Governments can devote vast resources to finding vulnerabilities, while companies don't have the resources to do so. Governments can also rely on others to create much of the software/hardware/social norms, and thus don't have to pay directly for these things. There's an inherent asymmetry in what each side needs to spend to get power (find a vulnerability) and the Government side can spend less of its total budget and has greater resources to spend.
  Schneier.com is a personal website. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of BT.
Out of precaution, Marines on ready to go to Egypt to protect U.S. Embassy, citizens
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: CNN Security Clearance
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 23:37
  By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent
  U.S. Marines stationed in southern Europe have been put on alert as a precaution in advance of expected large demonstrations and potential unrest in Egypt this weekend, CNN has learned.
  About 200 combat capable Marines in Sigonella, Italy, and Moron, Spain, have been told to be ready to be airborne within 60 minutes of getting orders to deploy, according to two administration officials.
  The units have several V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft that would carry troops and infantry weapons to Egypt to protect the U.S. Embassy and American government personnel and citizens if violence broke out against Americans.
  The planned demonstrations are aimed against the Egyptian government.
  The officials both emphasized this is contingency planning in advance of the expected demonstrations to ensure American military assets, including rescue forces, can act if needed. In the event Americans had to be evacuated from Egypt and could not get to the airport due to the unrest, there are about 2,000 additional Marines on board three Navy warships in the Red Sea, officials said.
  A third official said the decision to keep the warship in the Red Sea was "very precautionary."
  The United States expects Egyptian security forces will be able to protect American assets and personnel. No plans for personnel to leave have been announced, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Friday.
  "This is not Libya," said the third official, alluding to last year's attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi.
  During that attack, the military was unable to muster resources fast enough to protect the mission. Four Americans, including the ambassador to Libya, died in the attack.
  Since then, after much criticism from Congress about the inability to respond, the Pentagon has been particularly sensitive about ensuring troops are within deployment distance of potential trouble spots in North Africa.
  The embassy had already planned to be closed Sunday and Monday because of the demonstrations, according to a notice on the embassy's website. American citizens in Cairo have been advised to avoid areas where the demonstrations are taking place and "limit their movements."
CNN (Again) Hails Pro-Choice Filibuster of 'Rising Star'
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  Archived Version
  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 23:37
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  CNN's Athena Jones hyped a Texas legislator's stand against a pro-life bill, saying the "rising star" had "filibustered her way onto the world stage this week."
Networks Slam Rick Perry Getting 'Very Personal' With 'Folk Hero' Wendy Davis
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 23:36
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  In the wake of her filibuster in the Texas state senate on Tuesday, NBC, ABC, and CBS all expressed their outrage at Texas Governor Rick Perry daring to criticize their anointed abortion "folk hero" Wendy Davis. On Friday, NBC Today co-host Matt Lauer announced: "The battle over abortion gets very personal as Governor Rick Perry takes on a female senator whose filibuster helped block a controversial bill."
  On Thursday's ABC World News, anchor Diane Sawyer attached the "folk hero" label to Davis as she fretted over "Perry creating a kind of high noon between the two of them." In the report that followed, correspondent David Kerley hyped Perry's mild critique of Davis as setting up "a true Texas showdown" and exclaimed: "Today, Perry made it personal."
  More in the cross-post on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.
Hollywood's refusal to stand up to Alec Baldwin's gay slurs is shameful | Patrick Strudwick
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Culture | guardian.co.uk
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 23:35
  Alec Baldwin, tornado of toddler behaviour. Photograph: Erik Pendzich/Rex Features
  Can you hear it? The stampede of Hollywood actors scrambling to condemn Alec Baldwin? The cacophony of icy tweets and acidic statements snarled by publicists like demented pantomime horses? That din of Tinseltown turning inwards when, in a rare fit of righteousness, of actually believing in something real and heartfelt and important, it stands up, en masse, to one of its own?
  No? That'll be because there is no sound. Put a glass to your ear, press it up against the Hollywood sign and all you'll hear is the crashing Pacific '' and of course, the daily wail of punctured dreams.
  Baldwin, that tornado of toddler behaviour, still stands aloft, unscathed. This is after an incident of such violent, naked homophobia that it bears all the nuance of a brick lobbed through a gay bar. On Thursday, perturbed by a now-removed story on the Daily Mail's website claiming his wife was tweeting during James Gandolfini's funeral in New York, he replied on Twitter about the (gay) journalist who wrote it:
  "I'm gonna find you, George Stark, you toxic little queen, and I'm gonna fuck '... you '... up."
  (For an alleged heterosexual, Baldwin certainly has a keen grasp on the dramatic pause). And then:
  "If [he means I'd] put my foot up your fucking ass, George Stark, but I'm sure you'd dig it too much."
  And, because A-listers are used to having help in all matters, he incited the public to assist in defending his dishonour:
  "I want all of my followers and beyond to straighten out this fucking little bitch."
  What would the reaction be if it were racist epithets? Mel Gibson, of course, found Hollywood to be a distinctly chillier place after his antisemitic outburst in 2006, when he reportedly barked at the police officer arresting him for driving under the influence:
  "Fucking Jews '... the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."
  And this week, Paula Deen, America's fourth-highest earning celebrity chef (according to Forbes), lost contracts with the Food Network, Target, Home Depot, Smithfield Foods and Walmart after admitting that she had, "of course", used "the n-word", in a deposition for a lawsuit filed by her former manager.
  Has Capital One, the credit card Baldwin advertises, dropped him? Has anyone said anything? I've not heard such a sound vacuum since a friend of mine was asked at a ritzy pool party in the Hollywood Hills what he did for a living and he replied: "Nurse".
  It's not even as if this is a freakish aberration for the actor.
  In 2007, he left a message on his 11-year-old daughter's phone calling her a "rude thoughtless little pig". (For someone so mired in Hollywood culture, Baldwin must surely be aware of the psychotherapeutic term 'projection'.)
  Three years later he was accused of punching a photographer. A year after, with piquant misogyny, he described (on Twitter), an air stewardess who had thrown him off his flight for refusing to turn his phone off as a "retired Catholic school gym teacher". And a few months ago he admitted punching another photographer, but denied racially abusing him. When will misogyny and homophobia '' two sides of the same dime '' be granted equally dubious status as racism?
  This week we might be witnessing the Defense of Marriage Act being lowered into the ground, but Baldwin's rant jumps out as a cold reminder that hatred towards gay people still whistles all around, as alive as ever. And that, clearly, Hollywood helps keep it there.
  It keeps it there by refusing to back films such as Behind the Candelabra, idiotically thinking that gay doesn't pay. It keeps it there by forever casting straight actors to play gay for fear of some kind of homosexual overdose. It keeps it there by perpetuating a culture of shame and silence, a thousand whispers in the ears of LGBT actors: "Keep quiet or your career will meet an early curtain call".
  Its films have for a hundred years ignored us, parodied us and at best portrayed us as doomed and pitiful wretches. Finally, as we see today, Hollywood holds such hatred up using the oldest form of moral negligence: the refusal to attack it.
  In one further tweet, our leading man wrote:
  "How much of this shit are people supposed to take?"
  I couldn't have said it better myself.
How to Get RSS Feeds for Twitter with Google Scripts
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 23:33
  14Jun2013Tech Blog >> Internet >> RSS >> Twitter >> How to Get RSS Feeds for Twitter with the new APITwitter API v1.1 does not support XML and RSS feeds but you still subscribe to any Twitter user or search results via RSS feed with Google Scripts.
  couch modeprint story
  The old Twitter API is no longer available and therefore all the existing RSS feeds of Twitter have stopped working as well. With API v1.1, Twitter has switched from XML to JSON format and the other big change is that all requests to the Twitter API must now be authenticated with OAuth.
  In simple English, you can no longer subscribe to any of the Twitter streams '' be it search results, timelines of users, users' favorites or even Twitter Lists '' in your RSS Reader. There is however any easy workaround based on Google Scripts.
  What we really need is some sort of a parsing program sitting between Twitter and our RSS Reader. The parser would fetch updates from Twitter at regular intervals and convert them from JSON to RSS which we can then subscribe in our favorite RSS Reader.
  This can be easily accomplished with some simple Google Scripts. To give you an example, here are some RSS feeds that are generated using the new Twitter API v1.1 and are served from the Google cloud.
  How to Create RSS Feeds for Twitter API 1.1Step 1: Setup a Dummy Twitter AppSince the Twitter API now requires authentication for all requests, we will have to create a new Twitter App that our Google Script will use to communicate with the new Twitter API.
  Go to dev.twitter.com, sign-in with your Twitter account and create a Twitter app. Give your app any name, description, website (any URL) and put https://spreadsheets.google.com/macros/ in the callback URL field. Click Submit.Once the Twitter app has been created, make a note of your Consumer Key and Consumer Secret Key.Step 2: Configure your Google ScriptClick here to copy the Twitter RSS script into your Google Drive. Put the Twitter Consumer key and Secret in line # 28 and 30.Go to File -> Manage Version and choose Save new version.Go to Publish -> Deploy as Web App and choose Anyone, even anonymous under Who has Access. Click the Deploy button.Step 3: Deploy the Twitter RSS Feed generatorNow that you have deployed the Google script, go to Run -> Start and grant the necessary permissions.Choose Run -> Start again and the script will require access to Twitter. Grant access and you'll get an email with links to some sample RSS feeds for Twitter.That's it. You can now generate custom RSS feeds for any Twitter Timeline, List or Search Results by simply change the value of ''q'' parameter in the feed's URL. As always, you are free to use, modify and distribute the Google Script with attribution.
The View From Falling Downs: US Army General James Cartwright seeks asylum in Ecuadorian Embassy
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 22:51
  It's getting downright crowded at the Ecuadorian Embassy.For those who don't know, that's a bar/hotel on the upper east side, not too far from the UN.
  That's where Julian Assange has been hanging out for a year and where Ed Snowden is headed, and they've been holding a room for Bradley Manning for years.
  Those bold patriots are being joined by General James Cartwright, the former #2 at the Pentagon.
  Cartwright's transgression was to blab the beans on the Stuxnet computer virus. That's the little piece of computer virus wizardry designed by the USA that was to sabotage Iran's nuclear program, but instead found its way into the world-wide web and ended up in Japan.
  You know the rest.
Shut Up Already ... It's Science: 17 instances of vaccine FAILURE from 1975 to 2010
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Dr. Jones reports
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 22:48
  Let's face it.
  As parents, we're inundated with mixed messages about vaccines.
  On one hand, doctors and mainstream media tell you how effective and safe vaccines are. On the other hand, you have parents like me who claim vaccines injured their children, or, in this case, that vaccines really ''don't work'' as advertised.
  What is often quickly forgotten is how often (and badly) vaccines fail. Ask yourself, ''Why don't these vaccine failures regularly make the news?''
  If you can imagine in your mind's eye, for a moment, the cash register ''cha-chinging'' while Big Pharma is pulling out a wad of cash, I think you may be getting close to the real answer. There's big money in making sure the vaccine program is perceived as a success by you.
  But this isn't why you're here.
  Before I give you the 17 examples of how vaccines have failed, please investigate the United States vaccine schedule. Children are injected with 36 vaccines by the time they are 6 years of age.
  The United States has the most aggressive vaccine schedule in the world.
  You'll notice a common theme that when vaccines fail, the proposed solution is often more vaccines, even when the child has already received multiple doses to ''protect'' them.
  As promised, here are examples of the children being injected with toxic and ineffective vaccines, which their parents trusted would protect their children from getting the disease.
  Vaccine Failure #1 '' Mumps Outbreak in Orthodox Jewish Communities in the United States (2010)A large mumps outbreak occurred among highly vaccinated U.S. Orthodox Jewish communities during 2009 and 2010. Of the teenagers vaccinated,
  89% had previously received two doses of a mumps-containing vaccine8% had received one doseThose infected who received a vaccine: 97%. [1]
  Vaccine Failure #2 '' Mumps Epidemic in Iowa (2006)In March, 2006, a total of 219 mumps cases had been reported in Iowa '' the largest epidemic of mumps in the United States since 1988.
  Of the 219 cases reported in Iowa, the average age of infection was 21. Of the 133 patients investigated with a vaccine history,
  87 (65%) had received 2 doses19 (14%) had received 1 dose8 (6%) had no doses19 (14%) vaccine status could not be documentedThose infected who received a vaccine: 79% (at least). [2]
  Vaccine Failure #3 '' Mumps Outbreak at a Summer Camp in New York (2005)On July 26, 2005, the New York State Department of Health identified 31 cases of mumps, possibly introduced by an unvaccinated camp counselor from the United Kingdom (UK). The vaccine coverage for the entire camp was 96%. Of the infected 31,
  16 (52%) had received 2 doses4 (13%) had received 1 dose9 (29%) had no doses2 (6%) vaccine status could not be documented20 of the 31 people infected (65%) of the people infected were vaccinated.
  Vaccine coverage for the camp: 96%. [3]
  Vaccine Failure #4 '' Mumps Outbreak in a Highly Vaccinated Population (1989)From October 1988 to April 1989, an outbreak involving 269 cases of mumps occurred in Douglas County, Kansas. Of the 269 cases, 208 (77.3%) occurred among primary and secondary school students, of whom 203 (97.6%) had received a mumps vaccination. [4]
  Vaccine Failure #5 '' Two Fully Vaccinated Doctors Get Measles (2009)A measles outbreak in 2009 exposed and infected two physicians, both of whom had been fully vaccinated with two doses of the MMR vaccine. These physicians were suspected of having been infected by treating patients diagnosed with measles.
  Scoreboard: Measles 2 '' Vaccinated Doctors 0. [5]
  Vaccine Failure #6 '' Major Measles Epidemic in Quebec Despite 99% Vaccine Coverage (1989)The 1989 measles outbreak infecting 1,363 people in the province of Quebec was attempted to be explained away as occurring because of ''incomplete vaccination coverage.''
  However, upon further investigation, it was discovered the vaccination coverage among cases was at least 84.5%. Vaccination coverage for the total population was 99.0%.
  Vaccine coverage for population: 99% [6]
  Vaccine Failure #7''Outbreak of Measles Despite Appropriate Control Measures (1985)In 1985, of 118 cases of measles which occurred on a Blackfeet reservation in Montana, 82% were vaccinated. Twenty-three of those cases occurred in the schools in Browning, Montana, where 98.7% of students were vaccinated. [7]
  Vaccine Failure #8 '' Measles Outbreak in a Fully Immunized Secondary-School Population (1985)In 1985, an outbreak of measles occurred in a secondary school located in Corpus Christi, Texas. More than 99% had records of vaccination with live measles vaccine. The investigators concluded ''that outbreaks of measles can occur in secondary schools, even when more than 99 percent of the students have been vaccinated and more than 95 percent are immune.''
  Vaccine coverage for school: 99%. [8]
  Vaccine Failure #9 '' Measles in an Immunized School-Aged Population in New Mexico (1984)The story keeps repeating.
  In 1984, 76 cases of measles were reported in Hobbs, New Mexico. Forty-seven cases (62%) occurred among students. The school reported that 98% of students were vaccinated against measles before the outbreak began.
  Vaccine coverage for school: 98% [9]
  Vaccine Failure #10 '' Measles Outbreak Among Vaccinated High School Students in Illinois (1984)In 1984, 21 cases of measles occurred in Sangamon County, Illinois.
  16 (76%) were vaccinated4 (19%) were unvaccinated preschool children1 (5%) vaccinated college studentAll 411 students of the local high school were documented as having received the vaccination on or after their first birthday. Investigators remarked, ''This outbreak demonstrates that transmission of measles can occur within a school population with a documented immunization level of 100%.''
  Vaccine coverage in school children contracting measles: 100% [10]
  Vaccine Failure #11 '' Analysis of Measles Epidemic; Possible Role of Vaccine Failures (1975)In 1975, a measles epidemic occurred in schools in Greensville, Ontario. Out of the 47 cases of measles,
  26 (55.3%) had been vaccinated18 (18.3%) had not been vaccinated3 (6.4%) vaccine status unknownResearchers concluded one vaccine isn't enough to protect children. They recommended children be injected with an additional measles vaccine.
  Cases of measles in vaccinated children: 55.3%. [11]
  Vaccine Failure #12 '' Unexpectedly Limited Durability of Immunity Following Acellular Pertussis Vaccination in Pre-Adolescents in a North American Outbreak (2012)In 2012, doctors at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center identified 171 cases of pertussis '' 132 in children. They noticed increased cases in children between the ages 8-12. They claim vaccine effectiveness was as follows:
  For ages 2-7: 41% effective (?!?)For ages 8-12: 24% effective (?!?)For ages 13-18: 79% effectiveOutside of using colorful adjectives such as garbage, worthless, or junk, the doctors hypothesized children need more vaccines to become ''adequately protected.''
  Vaccine effectiveness for ages 8-12: 24%. [12]
  Vaccine Failure #13 '' Clinical Presentation of Pertussis in Fully Immunized Children in Lithuania (2001)In 2001, Lithuania's vaccine coverage was 94.6% as a country. From May to December of that year, 53 children showed a serological confirmation of pertussis. Of the 53 children,
  32 (60.4%) were fully vaccinated21 (39.6%) were partially vaccinated or unvaccinatedResearchers conveniently grouped both partially vaccinated and unvaccinated children together. Twenty-eight of 32 fully vaccinated children (87.5%) had also received antibiotics.
  Vaccinated children (who received at least three DTP vaccine doses) represented 43.2% of all pertussis cases diagnosed in 2001.
  Vaccine coverage for Lithuania: 94.6%. [13]
  Vaccine Failure #14 '' Pertussis Infection in Fully Vaccinated Children in Day Care Centers (2000)Many health professionals are adamant that vaccines protect against infection. Evidence from a field investigation in Israel challenges this belief.
  In 2000, a child died suspected of having pertussis. The baby received the first dose of DTP at two months of age '' all family members were completely vaccinated with four doses of DTP.
  The day care centers that two siblings had attended during the child's illness were investigated. All the children in the day care had been vaccinated in infancy with four doses of diphtheria-tetanus toxoid pertussis (DTP) vaccine, and a booster dose at 12 months of age.
  Five fully vaccinated children were found to be colonized with Bordetella pertussis.
  At the conclusion of the investigation, researchers stressed the following information:
  ''Vaccinated adolescents and adults may serve as reservoirs for silent infection and become potential transmitters to unprotected infants. The whole-cell vaccine for pertussis is protective only against clinical disease, not against infection. Therefore, even young, recently vaccinated children may serve as reservoirs and potential transmitters of infection.''
  They re-emphasized again, ''Our results indicate that children ages 5-6 years and possibly younger, ages 2-3 years, play a role as silent reservoirs in the transmission of pertussis in the community.''
  Vaccine coverage in daycare: 100% [14]
  Vaccine Failure #15 '' Pertussis Outbreak in Vermont (1996)In 1996, over 280 cases of pertussis cases were identified in Vermont. Here is the breakdown of the age groups of those infected:
  12 (4%) were aged less than 1 year32 (11%) were 1-4 years42 (15%) were 5-9 years129 (46%) were 10-19 years65 (23%) were greater than or equal to 20 yearsHow many of these 215 children were vaccinated? According to the report, of the children who had a known vaccine status,
  5 children aged 7-47 months were partially vaccinated14 children aged 7-47 months were vaccinated with 3 doses49 children aged 7-18 years were partially vaccinated106 children aged 7-18 years were fully vaccinatedDisturbingly, 174 children were vaccinated and over half (61%) of the school children were considered ''fully vaccinated!'' It's also important to keep in mind that in 1996, 97% of children aged 19-35 months in Vermont had received three or more doses of DT or DTP vaccine.
  Complete failure in vaccinated children: at least 80.9% [15]
  Vaccine Failure #16 '' Outbreak of Varicella at a Day Care Center Despite Vaccination (2012)Sometimes instead of saying a vaccine is a complete failure, a term such as ''breakthrough varicella'' is used to describe how children get the disease for which they were vaccinated.
  In December of 2012, an outbreak occurred in a private day care center in a small community near Concord, New Hampshire. There were a total of 25 cases of varicella reported in children.
  17 (68%) were vaccinated8 (32%) were unvaccinated '' two of these children were vaccinated in late December and classified as ''unvaccinated''The investigators lamented that the vaccine was 44% effective, saying, ''The reasons for the poor performance of the vaccine are not apparent'...the findings in this investigation raise concern that the current vaccination strategy may not protect all children adequately.''
  Vaccine coverage: 73.1% [16]
  Vaccine Failure #17 '' An Outbreak of Chickenpox in Elementary School Children with Two-Dose Varicella Vaccine Recipients (2006)When it is apparent one vaccine isn't working, the answer is almost always more vaccines'... ever notice?
  In June 2006, a second dose of the chickenpox (varicella) vaccine was recommended for school entry. Shortly after school had begun, the Arkansas Department of Health was notified of a varicella outbreak in students.
  Vaccination information was available for 871 (99%) of the 880 children. Ninety-seven percent of the children had been vaccinated for varicella! In this outbreak, 84 cases were reported.
  Vaccine coverage: 97%. [17]
  ConclusionAs you can see from the above examples, vaccines fail and do so often. Trust me, there are many more examples I didn't cover here.
  Here's a tip for you if you want to look for more information. Open your browser right now. Go to Google.com and do a search for the terms ''previously immunized for (x)'' or ''breakthrough (x) in school.'' X, of course, represents a ''vaccine preventable'' disease such as pertussis, measles, varicella, etc., '' you get the point.
  As a parent, you trust doctors to provide you with accurate information. When doctors say vaccines work and they are effective, from whom are they getting their information?
  Maybe even more importantly, why aren't the vaccine failures covered by mainstream media to inform you? The likely answer is the organizations who really need protection from the truth are the members of Big Pharma '' and I don't think there is a vaccine for that (although they may try to create one).
  If you find other examples, please post them below (with the link to PubMed) for other parents to read.
  Photo Credit
How to manage services in OS X - CNET Mobile
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 22:44
  Services in OS X offer built-in and custom options to help optimize your workflow.
  One of the relatively hidden but often invaluable features of OS X is its support for services, which is when one application can provide a function or capability to another, and accept some input such as text, files, or images, and perform a separate task with this data.
  For instance, if you are in Safari and wish to send a selection of text to a friend in an e-mail, you can click and drag to highlight it, and then use a service to create a new e-mail that contains this text. Likewise, you can select text in Word, Pages, TextEdit, or other applications and similarly generate an e-mail message containing the text, using the same service. In this case, the program offering the service is Mail.
  The services in OS X are available primarily in the Services submenu of the application menu (immediately to the right of the Apple menu), but can also be accessed in the contextual menu of programs like the Finder and Safari.
  When you install an application in OS X, often services it can provide to other applications are collected and made available in this menu, so the options available on one computer may be different than those on another computer. However, Apple does provide a collection of services in OS X, some of which are enabled by default and others that can be toggled, if desired, or even bound to custom hot keys for quick access.
  Services in OS X can be activated and bound to custom hot keys in the Keyboard Shortcuts section of the Keyboard system preferences.
  (Credit: Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)To see what services your system has available, go to the Keyboard system preferences and select the Services section from the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. This will show you the various services available for handling pictures, messages, selected text, files and folders, options for searching, and more.
  To add a service to the Services menu, simply check the box next to it, or uncheck it to disable that service. By doing this, you can customize which services are available to you, and keep the Services menu clean and efficient. For example, if you are not an application developer, then you might not need any of the Development services that OS X provides, so disabling these might help.
  In addition to accessing services through the Services submenu, you can define custom hot keys for them, so frequently used ones can be quickly accessed by a simple keystroke or two. Some of Apple's built-in services may already have hot keys assigned to them, but you can reassign these, or add new ones to services that do not have a hot key.
  Unfortunately, when adding hot keys sometimes it is easy to double up on a previously used one, so one recommendation I have is to use the Control, Option, and Command keys together for custom hot key assignments. These modifier keys are rarely used together for built-in commands, and are easy to all press at once, which makes them convenient for a quick custom hot key (i.e., you will not have to remember whether your hot key used Control-Option, or Option-Command, etc., though this specification is certainly possible as well).
  Select the "Service" option to create a new service in Automator.
  (Credit: Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)Finally, you can also create your own services. This is one of the more exciting aspects of OS X, as you can tie together various features of otherwise separate programs. You can create a service that only applies to data and objects in one program, or one that applies more globally to all programs.
  The means for creating your own services in OS X is Apple's Automator program, where you can use a collection of predefined actions to assemble a workflow for manipulating data in stereotyped manners. For instance, you can create a service that batch-renames a number of selected files, append a file to a Keynote presentation, or move all selected items in the Finder to your Documents folder to help keep things organized.
  To create a service, open Automator and create a new workflow, and select "Service" (designated by the gear icon) as the type of workflow to create. Then choose the type of input (text, rich text, files, folders, or both files and folders, and so on) that the workflow will handle, and optionally specify the application in which this workflow will apply. For some inputs like text, you can further refine the type of text such as phone numbers, URLs, or addresses, if desired.
  When the inputs have been created, then you can assemble your workflow from the various actions available, just as you would any other Automator workflow. For advanced users, you can set up Applescript and Shell scripts with the workflows, along with Automator variables to highly customize the actions. Keep in mind that while Automator was intended to be simple, sometimes routines may take a bit of thought, trial and error, and research to get done.
  With the workflow completed, save it with a descriptive name, and it should now be available in the Services section of the Keyboard system preferences, where you can enable or disable, or assign your own custom hot key to it.
  Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or !Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.
Race Riots are Good for America
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Lame Cherry
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 21:33
  This blog could not be more pleased that America has gone from the Birther Obama Pitchfork Mob threatening bankers and now has graduated to real 3rd world status in Chuck Schumer calling for Mexican race riots if they are not allowed to overthrow America and Al Sharpton calls for race riots if George Zimmerman is not lynched over shooting that hoodie Trayvon Martin, who would have probably committed suicide in the next year when he woke up and realized he had his johnson in that manfriend who was the star witness.
  Race Riots really are a great Obama legacy. Look Janet Naps Napolitano has like 5 billion bullets, enough to shoot everyone, including babies in the womb 5 times over in a national abortion type thing carried out by the state police.Since Obama, America has more guns and bullets in private hands like George Zimmerman.
  I say, lets find George Zimmerman innocent, because he is, let's boot the Mexicans in the taco, because they are squatter rapists.......yes they have invaded the womb of America with their tacos probing about for things and that is rape.So the Afroids all have like Skittles to be armed with. The Mexicans as has been noted all have knives as they like carving on people and then there are the white liberals who have guns up the twat and white Conservatives who are locked and loaded. It sounds like a really great deal in commerce for Obama Jinn finally getting the American economy moving.
  Look, you shoot and carve on 11 million blacks and you got 11 million corpses that James Wolsey said can be rendered into like 5 gallons of gas or something. Now look blacks are fat, so I bet the Could get 10 gallons of gas out of Afroids.....that is 110 million gallons of gas, and you do not have all that welfare payments and jobs to the Afroids who show up for work and do not work.That is an economic boom right there.
  Then you got the Mexicans. Let them riot as they will eat the Skittles, get diabetes and die on the spot from a sugar fix. The remaining 30 million can be shot by Napolitano's state police or just regular white folks blasting away at things.That is like 40 million more cadavers, and Mexicans are small but they are all fat too, so give another 400 million gallons of gasoline by the CIA refineries running full smoke stack.
  That is welfare stuff too not being paid out, but Mexicans fund Social Security, so it might be sort of a draw, but the beaners have driven up prices on all things, and deflation will set in with them all in the gas pump at 7 11, so I figure that is another economic boom.
  Now for the figures in this. Jews could roam the streets and collect all the clothes from these dead, and make a real rag trade boom for New York and San Francisco.Asians should do good in this too in they won't have to live 10 families to a basement, with all that housing opening up in blacks and beaners all in the fuel tanks....and those Asians are crafty people in they could collect all the Mexican knives, melt them down and turn them into like pots and pans to sell as woks.....people really like Chinese take out, and you could get a free wok with an order of General Cho to go.
  Then there is the hospitals which can transplant gonzo in this with all the dead bodies......America will not have any more need for waiting lines in transplants as before the rioters are rendered into crude, they can have their parts cut out to do some good in the rioting gift of love.
  That is like 55 million welfare folks and squatters who will disappear......think of all the time saved in no waiting in lines at Walmart with black baggy pants thugs or the Mexicans with carts piled high of whatever Mexicans eat.
  This rioting would be great for America in making money and freeing things up. The ammunition companies would have to manufacture all those bullets again as I know how cops shoot and they just spray lead around and I estimate it will be like 100 rounds for every Mexican bagged, so that would be great news too.
  Give the Afroids some matches and they will burn down allot of cities too that really need a good burning. People will then see all that good real estate and start building there, and that means union jobs in construction but for white folks as the Mexicans will all be sombreros down.
  This blog joins with Charles Schumer and Al Franken in their calls for race riots, as what an eulogy for Birther Obama now that Barry Jinn has taken command of the Oval O, an entire nation's welfare problem solved, budget balanced, and the hero of it all will be a lesbian in Janet Napolitano having bought all those cartridges to shoot people with.
  Liberals always have all the great solutions and if those damn people on the right like Anthony Kennedy and John Boehner would just get things not handing things out to these folks, the race riots would have already taken place.
  This saving peoples lives is like Clinton's Jocelyn Elders said, "Senator these people are gonna die anyway". There is nothing wrong with helping things along like Obama has helped Muslims die anyway and you know thousands of white people died for Obama's sins in his Muslim wars. It is just time the scales be balanced like the heroic Schumer and Sharpton, just think of them as the SS have called for.
  Yes national riots.......that is the thing. Hell piss the sodomites off and Naps can touch off a few thousand rounds on them too before they all die out anyway.
  I have always hoped that Treyvon Martin's Skittles did not go to waste and are not expiring in some police locker room. Skittles are a terrible thing to waste. They could have made some people sugar happy......well if they knew enough to not eat the red ones as that might be blood and not strawberry, but again that could be a new Surgeon General's warning to the state police shooting Afroids and Beaners.
  The Surgeon General has warned that eating red Skittles might be yellow Skittles covered in blood.
  With that, I think we have everything covered and can just get these race riots started...........
  Say if gays are a race, is it not racist for them to be marrying only inside their race?
  Lame Cherry
  I see another Supreme Court case coming up.........yes those racist fags and here we were just getting things cleaned out by liberals with all these dead blacks and latinos filling American gas tanks.nuff said.
  agtG
Shutterstock Creates First Silicon Alley Billionaire.
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 21:10
  Jonathan Oringer, the founder of Shutterstock Inc (SSTK)., became a billionaire today as shares of the world's largest stock photo and video marketplace rose to a record.
  Oringer, 39, owns about 55 percent of Shutterstock, which has about 28 million licensed photos, illustrations and videos available for sale on its website. His 18.5 million shares, which he controls through closely held investment company Pixel Holdings Inc., were valued at $1 billion at 12:25 p.m. in New York.
  ''I've never been very flashy or high-profile,'' Oringer said in an interview at his 34th floor office in New York's financial district last month. ''I've always stayed under the radar.''
  Shutterstock has more than tripled since selling shares in an initial public offering last October. Oringer is the first billionaire to be created in Silicon Alley, a collection of technology startups in New York, according to Andre Sequin, an analyst at RBC Capital Market.
  Oringer's wealth surge comes amid a bull market for acquisitions of New York technology companies. Stratasys Ltd. (SSYS), an Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based maker of printers that can create three-dimensional objects, agreed to buy Brooklyn-based MakerBot Industries LLC for $403 million last week.
  In May, Yahoo! Inc (YHOO). bought New York-based blogging network Tumblr Inc. for $1.1 billion.
  Shutterstock shares were up 4.5 percent at 3:11 p.m. to $55.98.
  750,000 CustomersOringer founded Shutterstock in 2003 with 30,000 of his own pictures.
  ''I shot images of everything I could find over the course of a year,'' said Oringer. ''I would go all over the world and take pictures. In a day I could easily take thousands.''
  GRAPHIC: Bloomberg Visual Data
  Today, the company sells images to 750,000 customers in more than 150 countries for use on websites, as well as for digital or printed marketing materials, according to the company. Net income rose 117 percent to $47.5 million last year, while revenue increased 41 percent to $169.6 million.
  ''It's one of the most solid companies in the Internet space,'' said Sequin. ''When you compare it to the recent tech IPO's, it's one of the few that has a proven track record of profitability.''
  Growing MarketShutterstock estimates that the market for digital imagery will grow to $6 billion in 2016 from $4 billion in 2011, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission. The company competes with online image marketplaces such as iStockphoto Inc. and Fotolia LLC, and photo archives managed by Seattle-based Getty Images Inc. and Corbis Corp., which is owned by Cascade Investment LLC, the holding company controlled by billionaire Bill Gates.
  Unlike Getty and Corbis, Shutterstock doesn't own its content. The site's contributors -- photographers, illustrators and artists who so far have been paid more than $150 million, according to the company -- retain ownership of their copyrights. The arrangement has allowed Shutterstock to keep its capital expenditures low and its talent pool deep.
  Oringer's rising fortune coincides with an uptick in New York's technology sector.
  ''There is a change going on in the city that is leveraging the inherent strength in New York,'' said Frank Rimalovski, managing director of New York University's Innovation Venture Fund, which manages $20 million to invest in technologies developed by NYU's students and faculty. ''Think about Tumblr and Shutterstock. They didn't have to break any new laws of computer science or electrical engineering to build their business.''
  Eastern RevivalAccording to Ian Sigalow, partner and co-founder of Greycroft Partners LLC, a New York-based venture capital fund that usually invests between $500,000 and $5 million in early-stage technology companies, 70 percent of all the media purchased in the U.S. is managed from Manhattan.
  ''Salespeople are going to want to be where the customer is, and that's New York,'' said Sigalow. ''Even entrepreneurs I meet in Boston say that the next company they start, they want it to be in New York.''
  About 40 percent of venture funding occurs in Silicon Valley, twice the amount in New York and New England combined. Firms such as Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital have spent years trying to revive the East Coast technology industry.
  Universities also are tapping into New York's blossoming technology scene. Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology are developing a technology campus on Roosevelt Island. The universities won a contest last year to build the campus with a land grant and $100 million for infrastructure improvements.
  Helicopter TechnologyOringer's favorite piece of technology, apart from a photo camera, is the AS350 B3 AStar Eurocopter helicopter that he owns.
  ''I don't own a helicopter because I want someone to bring me places quickly,'' he said. ''I own it because it's an incredible machine that I like to fly and learn about. I like the complexity of it.''
  Oringer said he has no plans to vacate Manhattan by chopper for the West Coast.
  ''I've little in common with the scene in Silicon Valley and San Francisco,'' he said. ''I'm a New Yorker.''
  To contact the reporters on this story: David De Jong in New York at ddejong3@bloomberg.net; Max Raskin in New York at mraskin5@bloomberg.net
  To contact the editor responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at mmiller144@bloomberg.net
  Shutterstock Inc. Founder Jon Oringer
  4:37
  April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Jonathan Oringer, chief executive officer of Shutterstock Inc., an online marketplace for digital images, discusses the company's business model and expansion plans. He speaks with Francine Lacqua and Guy Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "The Pulse." (Source: Bloomberg)
VIDEO-BBC News - Edward Snowden's father proposes return conditions
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 18:20
  28 June 2013Last updated at13:55 ETThe father of leaker Edward Snowden has said he believes his son would return to the US on certain conditions.
  Lon Snowden asked for "ironclad assurances" his son's rights would be protected in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, seen by the BBC.
  He asked his son not be held before trial nor subjected to a gag order, and be able to choose where he was tried.
  Edward Snowden, who faces spy charges in the US, flew to Moscow last weekend and has requested asylum in Ecuador.
  "Mr Snowden is reasonably confident that his son would voluntarily return to the United States if there were ironclad assurances that his constitutional rights would be honored," said the letter by Lon Snowden's lawyer, Bruce Fein.
  Exploited by Wikileaks?The correspondence also requested for the case against the former intelligence contractor to be dismissed in the event that any of the three conditions were not met.
  Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
  The BBC's Steve Rosenberg explores the hotel Edward Snowden is believed to be in
  Earlier on Friday, Lon Snowden told NBC News he had not spoken to his son since April, a month before he fled to Hong Kong after leaking to media details of a huge US snooping programme.
  Mr Snowden said his son had broken the law, but denied he was a traitor.
  "At this point I don't feel that he's committed treason," he said. "He has in fact broken US law, in a sense that he has released classified information."
  He also voiced concern his son was being exploited by Wikileaks, which has offered legal assistance to the 30-year-old.
  "I don't want to put him in peril, but I am concerned about those who surround him," he said.
  "I think Wikileaks, if you've looked at past history, you know, their focus isn't necessarily the constitution of the United States. It's simply to release as much information as possible."
  Chinese 'misbehaviour'Mr Snowden flew last Sunday from Hong Kong to Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, where Russian authorities say he remains in a transit zone.
  On Friday, the diplomatic fallout from the affair continued as a US envoy accused China of "misbehaviour" for allowing Mr Snowden to leave.
  Continue reading the main storyTransit zones: A legal grey areaSheremetyevo airport transit area is Russian sovereign territory, but Russia says that in staying there, Snowden has not formally entered the countryLegally, an arriving air passenger may be said to "cross the border" only after clearing immigration, which would require an entry visaIf Russia allowed Mr Snowden to enter, it could implicate the state in helping a fugitive, analysts say"I don't think we had a good-faith partner throughout that process," said Stephen Young, the US consul general in Hong Kong, warning of repercussions.
  The city's government has said the US arrest paperwork had clerical errors, and that it had no legal basis to stop Mr Snowden travelling to Russia.
  Beijing has accused the US of "double standards" on cybersecurity.
  Ecuador says it has not yet processed the former US National Security Agency contractor's request for asylum.
  Russian authorities complained on Friday the US had not informed them in time that Mr Snowden's passport had been revoked, placing Moscow in a "tough spot".
  "If this fact had been known in advance, then possibly Mr Snowden might not have flown to Moscow and this entire story might never have happened," an unnamed Russian official told Interfax news agency.
  Russian President Vladimir Putin this week refused to hand over Mr Snowden to Washington, saying he was a "free man".
  Late on Thursday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro repeated his offer of sanctuary to the US fugitive.
  CLICKABLE
  Hawaii20 May: Snowden flies from Hawaii to Hong Kong.
  Hong Kong5 June: From Hong Kong, Snowden discloses details of what he describes as a vast US phone and internet surveillance programme to the UK's Guardian newspaper.
  Moscow23 June: Snowden leaves Hong Kong on a flight to Moscow. He is currently thought to remain airside at Sheremetyevo airport.
  CubaFrom Moscow, Snowden could fly to Cuba, en route to Ecuador, which has said it is "analysing" whether to grant him asylum.
  VenezuelaVenezuela had also been considered a possible destination for Snowden, however it is thought he would only pass through on his way to Ecuador.
  EcuadorSnowden is reported to have requested asylum in Ecuador, which previously granted haven to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in its London embassy.
BBC News - Drag queens brawl at beauty contest after winner mix up
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  Archived Version
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 18:18
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The Fed Is Now Taking Over The Entire Treasury Market 20 bps Per Week
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Zero Hedge
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 17:24
  Yesterday the Fed released its latest balance sheet data: at $3,478,672,000,000, the Fed's assets reached a new all time high of course, up $8 billion from the prior week and up $615 billion from last year - after all with 4 years almost in a row of debt monetization or maturity transformation, either the total holdings or the 10 Year equivalency of Bernanke's hedge fund rise to new record highs week after week.
  But that's not the bad news: the bad news, at least for Bernanke, and why the Fed has no choice but to taper is monetizations (however briefly as following the next market crash Bernanke or his replacement Larry "Mr. Burns" Summers will be right back in) is that since the Treasury is about to print less paper (recall: lower budget deficit, if only briefly), and the Fed is monetizing the same relative amount of paper, the Treasurys in the private circulation book get less and less, as more high quality collateral is withdrawn by the Fed.
  This is precisely what the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee warned against in May. This is also precisely why the Fed's "data-dependent" taper announcement is pure and total hogwash: the Fed knows it can't delay the delay (pardon the pun) of Treasury monetization as doing so only risks even further bond market volatility as less Treasury collateral remains in marketable circulation, and as liquidity evaporates with every incremental dollar purchased by the Fed instead of by the private sector.
  So just how bad is the situation? Quite bad. As as of last night, courtesy of SMRA, we know that the amount of ten-year equivalents held by the Fed increased to $1.608 trillion from $1.606 trillion in the prior week, which reduces the amount available to the private sector to $3.603 trillion from $3.636 trillion in the prior week. There were $5.211 trillion ten-year equivalents outstanding, down from $5.242 trillion in the prior week.
  After the Treasury issuance, maturing securities, rising interest rates, and Fed operations during the week, the Fed owned about 30.86% of the total outstanding ten year equivalents. This is above the 30.63% from the prior week, and the percentage of ten-year equivalents available to the private sector decreased to 69.14% from 69.37% in the prior week.
  In other words, in 1 week the Fed's "take over" of the bond market continued at a brisk pace of 23 bps, which is its average weekly uptake. This is roughly equivalent to 10% of total private collateral moving from private to Fed hands every year!
  So basically every year that the Fed does not taper its purchases, Treasury issuance being equal (and it is declining), the Fed removes 10% of high quality collateral from the world's biggest bond market.
  And that, in a nutshell, is what Tapering is all about: the realization, and then the fear, of what happens if and when the Fed continues its monetizations of public debt to the point where there is so little left, that when a trade takes place the entire curve moves by 1%, 2%, 5%, 10% or more....
  Everything else is smoke and mirrors.
  Average:Your rating: NoneAverage: 5(2 votes)
'If Zimmerman Get Off, Ima Go Kill a White Boy': Trayvon Martin Supporters Make Shocking Threats Ahead of Verdict.
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: WT news feed
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 17:02
  As the murder trial of George Zimmerman marches on, supporters of slain teen Trayvon Martin are vowing to carry out disturbing and deadly acts of violence if Zimmerman is not found guilty.
  George Zimmerman listens during his murder trial in Sanford, Florida, today. Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder for the February 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. (Credit: Getty Images)
  Twitter has been buzzing with death threats against Zimmerman (and random white people'...and for the truly ambitious, an ''hispanic/white'' person) if the verdict isn't guilty as charged in the murder trial in which Zimmerman is pleading self-defense in his fatal shooting of Martin.
  Here's a sampling via Twitchy (and be advised of rough language ahead):
  (Credit: Twitter via Twitchy)
  (Credit: Twitter via Twitchy)
  (Credit: Twitter via Twitchy)
  (Credit: Twitter via Twitchy)
  (Credit: Twitter via Twitchy)
  (Credit: Twitter via Twitchy)
  (Credit: Twitter via Twitchy)
  (Credit: Twitter via Twitchy)
  (Credit: Twitter via Twitchy)
  (H/T: Weasel Zippers)
  ''
VIDEO-Texas teen charged with making terroristic threat after online joke | khou.com Houston
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 16:49
  NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas '' An Austin man wants to warn other parents and teenagers that statements made on social media websites can land them in jail.
  Justin Carter was 18 back in February when an online video game "League of Legends" took an ugly turn on Facebook.
  Jack Carter says his son Justin and a friend got into an argument with someone on Facebook about the game and the teenager wrote a comment he now regrets.
  ''Someone had said something to the effect of 'Oh you're insane, you're crazy, you're messed up in the head,' to which he replied 'Oh yeah, I'm real messed up in the head, I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts,' and the next two lines were lol and jk.," said Carter.
  ''LOL'' stands for ''laughing out loud," and ''jk'' means ''just kidding," but police didn't think it was funny. Neither did a woman from Canada who saw the posting.
  Justin's dad says the woman did a Google search and found his son's old address was near an elementary school and she called police.
  Justin Carter was arrested the next month and has been jailed since March 27. He's charged with making a terroristic threat and is facing eight years in prison, according to his dad.
  ''These people are serious. They really want my son to go away to jail for a sarcastic comment that he made," added Carter.
  Unfortunately for Justin his comments came only two months after dozens of youngsters were killed in a massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut back in December of 2012.
  ''Justin was the kind of kid who didn't read the newspaper. He didn't watch television. He wasn't aware of current events. These kids, they don't realize what they're doing. They don't understand the implications. They don't understand public space,'' said Jack Carter.
  Friends and family have started an online petition they're hoping will garnish more attention for Justin's plight. You can find it by clicking here.
  ''If I can just help one person to understand that social media is not a playground, that when you go out there into social media, when you use Facebook, when you use Twitter, when you go out there and make comments on news articles, and the things you are saying can and will be used against you," added Jack Carter.
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VIDEO-SSG Joe Biggs, friend of Michael Hastings, says he was told 'we will hunt you down and kill you' for McChystal scandal reporting - The Global Dispatch
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 16:48
  U.S. Army brass told Rolling Stone journalist Michael Hastings that he would be hunted down and killed over his story that lead to General McChrystal's downfall, according to Hasting's closest friend.
  Speaking on the Alex Jones Show, Staff Sgt Joe Biggs followed an appearance on Fox News confirmed Hastings was ''working on his biggest story yet.''
  ''You get to learn a lot about a person in one day of combat, let alone three months of being around them,'' Biggs said. The pair stayed in touch, becoming friends.
  ''I remember when the story broke with General McChrystal and he [Hastings] gave me a call and he's like 'man, I'm pretty scared,''' Biggs said. ''I told him, 'You have a reason to be, brother. You basically just got a general of a war fired. I'm pretty sure that doesn't sit too well with him right now.'''
  Hastings' fear was very well-founded as he received severe death threats over the McChrystal story.
  ''He had been told, if we don't like what you write, we will hunt you down and kill you,'' Biggs stated.
  Hastings warned that the FBI would be investigating his colleagues and his friends. He also said that he was on a big story and would need to go ''off the radar.''
  ''It just didn't seem like something that he normally started his e-mail off with,'' Biggs said. ''When I read it, I just got this horrible feeling, like something's not right.All these alarms were going off and my gut feeling from day one, from before it happened, I knew that something wasn't right,'' Biggs said.
  Hastings' death in a fiery car accident has spurred many conspiracy theories.
  Full story and more coverage, here
  The Global Dispatch Facebook page- click hereMovie News Facebook page - click hereTelevision News Facebook page - click hereWeird News Facebook page - click here Subscribe to The Global DispatchAbout the AuthorBrandon Jones - Writer and Co-Founder of The Global Dispatch, Brandon has been covering news for Examiner, starting and writing for several different websites including the diverse blognews site Desk of Brian. To Contact Brandon email [email protected] ATTN: BRANDON
Wesley Clark Says American People Like NSA Stasi State Spying On Them
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  Source: Dprogram.net
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 16:47
  June 28th, 2013
  (KurtNimmo) '' On Thursday, CNN's Erin Burnett continued the establishment's propaganda onslaught against the ''leaker'' Edward Snowden. After fatuously mischaracterizing Snowden as a ''hacker,'' Brown introduced former General Wesley Clark and Peter Brookes of the Heritage Foundation, the lobbying outfit that takes money from the neocon Scaife Foundations run by the CIA operative and Operation Mockingbird asset Richard Mellon Scaife.
  Clark, a notorious war criminal who used cluster bombs and depleted uranium on civilians during his rein as the Supreme Commander of NATO forces, said the American people love the idea of the government illegally and unconstitutionally spying on them. Clark told Burnett the ''American people are solidly behind the prism program and all that's going on,'' never mind numerous polls indicating the American people are steadfastly opposed to the government's surveillance programs.
  Brookes underscored the establishment's claim that Snowden is a spy guilty of espionage despite the fact he is not accused of working for a foreign government. ''He's a 30-year-old spy. He's been charged with espionage,'' Brookes insisted.
  Clark and Brookes are part of the establishment media echo chamber declaring Edward Snowden is a traitor for revealing the unconstitutional behavior of government and its Stasi state apparatus. From The New Yorker to MSNBC and Politico and beyond, the corporate media is focusing on Snowden '' his idiosyncrasies, his girlfriend, even the fact he did not finish high school '' while ignoring the serial criminality of the NSA, the Obama administration and Congress.
  ''Only because of Snowden do we know that our government is storing records of our phone data that can be mined for God only knows how long,'' writes Kirsten Powers for The Daily Beast.
  In fact, we have known for a long time about the government '' more specifically, the national security state '' spying on the American people, commencing soon after its inception in 1947 and mushrooming under quaintly named programs such as Project SHAMROCK and sister program Project MINARET. Enough evidence was revealed by the Senate's Select Committee to StudyGovernmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities back in 1976 to implicate the government in this sort of elicit behavior, but thanks to the establishment media and the public miseducation system millions of Americans are blissfully unaware of the crimes of the national security state.
  As a side note, the above linked Senate report is flagged as a ''badware'' website by Google. ''Many kinds of badware aren't visible or obvious, and they can install silently as soon as you visit an infected page. Google's detection systems are VERY accurate. We suggest you don't visit the site again until the owner resolves the problem!''
  In other words, Google thinks it is very accurate at steering folks away from the truth, in this instance documentary evidence that the government has long spied on the American people.
  Google, as a trusted appendage of the nationalsecurity state, has a vested interest in diverting the unsuspecting away from the truth the same as CNN, the consistently featherbrained Erin Burnett and government apologists Wesley Clark and Peter Brookes.
  Source: Infowars
  Tags: NSA stasi, spying, wesley clarkThis entry was posted on Friday, June 28th, 2013 at 9:59 am and is filed under Dictatorship, Education/Mind Control, Fascism, Film/Video, Martial Law/Police State, NWO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Gun Control Advocate: Ban Anything With a Sharp Edge
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 16:46
  Ban knives, nails, glass bottles, forks
  (PaulWatson) '' A video has emerged of a gun control advocate at a Second Amendment rally in Philadelphia arguing that not only guns but knives, nails, forks and anything with a sharp edge should be banned and that the government should develop new kitchen utensils that are unable to harm people in order to keep everybody safe.
  The video, published by Story Leak's Anthony Gucciardi, is a shocking illustration of how vehemently many Americans support the nanny state.
  After arguing that countries like England, Holland and Australia are safer because everybody is disarmed (violent crime is actually far higher), the individual makes it clear that he wants to ban all guns, including hunting rifles.
  He then erroneously inflates the number of gun-related deaths in America by four times, falsely stating that the figure is 40,000 when in fact it is under 10,000 a year according to the FBI's statistics, which the gun control fanatic refuses to believe. Gucciardi also adds that many of these gun deaths occur in gun control capitals like Chicago, where lawful citizens cannot own guns to defend themselves.
  Gucciardi points out that 900,000 plus potential homicides are prevented each year by the use of legal firearms in self defense. The National Safety Council also notes that guns are used some 2.5 million times a year in self defense against criminals, meaning that firearms are utilized to protect innocent lives in 250 times more cases than they are used to end lives.
  Asked, ''how many people do you think are killed by knives each year?'' the gun control fanatic responds, ''We need to ban knives too,'' before arguing that government scientific bodies should ''create a kitchen utensil that can serve that purpose but not kill or wound a human being.''
  Asked if nails should be banned, the fanatic responds, ''It's something to think about.''
  Gucciardi then asks, ''Do you think we should ban everything with a sharp edge?,'' to which the fanatic responds, ''Anything that can hurt anybody.''
  Gucciardi then lists all the objects that should be banned '' glass bottles, nails, knives, even forks '' and the fanatic agrees that all of these objects should be banned ''if we can find an alternative.''
  Raising the point that hands and fists kill more people than rifles every year, Gucciardi asks if they should be banned too, to which the fanatic responds that education is the preferred method of reducing violence.
  The fanatic indicates that he is the head of a charity involved in violence prevention in schools.
  It is important to stress that this is not a satire skit, this represents the viewpoint of a significant number of Americans.
  Previous videos have documented how some Americans would agree with repealing the Second Amendment and allowing the government to go door to door to confiscate guns belonging to ''white people'' to ensure ''only the criminals have the guns and get them out of the hands of law abiding citizens.''
  Source: Infowars
License Plate Readers Collecting a Massive Amount of Data on Drivers
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 16:46
  June 28th, 2013
  (EyesOpenReport) '' Across California police are using license plate readers to collect millions of records on drivers and are supplying those records to intelligence fusion centers.
  When Michael Katz-Lacabe asked the city of San Leandro for the all records taken of his car by the readers he found that there had been 112 different occasions he had been photographed. In the records he found a picture of him and his daughters getting out of his Toyota Prius in their driveway, reports CIR.
  San Leandro only has one patrol car equipped with a reader. Despite this fact Katz-Lacabe's car was being logged once a week on average.
  With the NSA surveillance revelations, this is just more insight on the over-the-top surveillance state America is becoming.
  Government is proving to be committed to surveillance.
  Just a year ago Northern California Regional Intelligence Center had signed a $340,000 agreement with the Silicon Valley firm Palantir, a firm with extensive ties to the Pentagon and intelligence agencies, to construct a database for license plate readers for 14 counties.
  Jurisdictions stretching over some 450 miles, from Monterey County to the Oregon border, are collecting data with license plate readers.
  The database will be capable of handling at least 100 million records and be accessible to local and state law enforcement across the region.
  Katz-Lacabe expressed his concerns about the capabilities of the readers, saying that with this technology, ''you can tell who your friends are, who you hang out with, where you go to church, whether you've been to a political meeting.''
  With the shocking amount of data just one patrol car equipped with a reader was able to collect on just one individual, it is certainly enough to raise privacy concerns.
  American has fallen into the hands of Big Brother. The commitment of the State to break into the lives of innocent people has reached dangerous levels.
  Is it safe to say there will soon be zero privacy in the United States?
  Paul Lawrance writes for Eyes Open Report, where this article first appeared.
  Tags: collecting data, license plate readers, on driversThis entry was posted on Friday, June 28th, 2013 at 9:52 am and is filed under Dictatorship, Education/Mind Control, Fascism, Martial Law/Police State, NWO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Article Three of the United States Constitution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  Article Three of the United States Constitution establishes the judicial branch of the federal government. The judicial branch comprises the Supreme Court of the United States and lower courts as created by Congress.
  Section 1: Federal courts[edit]Section 1 vests the judicial power in federal courts, requires a supreme court, allows inferior courts, requires good behavior tenure for judges, and prohibits decreasing the salaries of judges.
  The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.
  Number of courts[edit]Section 1 explicitly requires one Supreme Court, but does not fix the number of justices that must be appointed to it. Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 refers to a "Chief Justice" when it states "When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside." The number of justices has been fixed by statute, and at present the number is nine: one chief justice and eight associate justices.
  Proposals to divide the Supreme Court into the separate panels have been made, but all have failed. Since all such proposals have failed, the Supreme Court has never ruled on the constitutionality of such a division. However, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes wrote, "the Constitution does not appear to authorize two or more Supreme Courts functioning in effect as separate courts."
  The Supreme Court is the only federal court that is required explicitly by the Constitution. During the Constitutional Convention, a proposal was made for the Supreme Court to be the only federal court, having both original jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction. This proposal was rejected in favor of the provision that exists today. Under this provision, the Congress may create inferior courts under both Article III, Section 1, and Article I, Section 8. The Article III courts, which are also known as "constitutional courts", were first created by the Judiciary Act of 1789. Article I courts, which are also known as "legislative courts", consist of regulatory agencies, such as the United States Tax Court. Article III courts are the only ones with judicial power, and so decisions of regulatory agencies remain subject to review by Article III courts. However, cases not requiring "judicial determination" may come before Article I courts. In the case of Murray's Lessee v. Hoboken Land & Improvement Co. 59 U.S.272 (1855), the Supreme Court ruled that cases involving "a suit at the common law, or in equity, or admiralty" inherently involve judicial determination and must come before Article III courts. Other cases, such as bankruptcy cases, have been held not to involve judicial determination, and may therefore go before Article I courts. Similarly, several courts in the District of Columbia, which is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress, are Article I courts rather than Article III courts. This article was expressly extended to the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico by the U.S. Congress through Federal Law 89-571, 80 Stat. 764, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966. This transformed the article IV United States territorial court in Puerto Rico, created in the year 1900, to an Article III federal judicial district court.
  The Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937, frequently called the court-packing plan,[1] was a legislative initiative to add more justices to the Supreme Court proposed by U.S. PresidentFranklin Roosevelt shortly after his victory in the 1936 presidential election. Although the bill aimed generally to overhaul and modernize all of the federalcourt system, its central and most controversial provision would have granted the President power to appoint an additional Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court for every sitting member over the age of 70½, up to a maximum of six.
  Tenure[edit]The Constitution provides that judges "shall hold their Offices during good Behavior." The term "good behavior" is interpreted to mean that judges may serve for the remainder of their lives, although they may resign or retire voluntarily. A judge may also be removed by impeachment and conviction by congressional vote (hence the term good behavior); this has occurred fourteen times. Three other judges, Mark W. Delahay,[2]George W. English,[3] and Samuel B. Kent,[4] chose to resign rather than go through the impeachment process.
  Salaries[edit]The compensation of judges may not be decreased, but may be increased, during their continuance in office. The Constitution is silent when it comes to judges of courts which have been abolished. The Judiciary Act of 1801 increased the number of courts to permit the Federalist President John Adams to appoint a number of Federalist judges before Thomas Jefferson took office. When Jefferson became President, the Congress abolished several of these courts and made no provision for the judges of those courts. The power to abolish a court was next used in 1913, when the Congress abolished the Commerce Court. In that case, however, Congress transferred the judges of the Commerce Court to the Circuit Courts.
  Section 2: Judicial power, jurisdiction, and trial by jury[edit]Section 2 delineates federal judicial power, and brings that power into execution by conferring original jurisdiction and also appellate jurisdiction upon the Supreme Court. Additionally, this section requires trial by jury in all criminal cases, except impeachment cases.
  The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;'--to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;'--to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;'--to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;'--to Controversies between two or more States;'--between a State and Citizens of another State;'--between Citizens of different States;'--between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
  Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.Eleventh Amendment and state sovereign immunity[edit]In Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 U.S. (Dallas 2) 419 (1793), the Supreme Court held that states were not immune from lawsuits by individuals due to the Supreme Court's Article III jurisdiction over them. The Eleventh Amendment reversed this decision, and prevents a state from being sued in a federal court by a citizen of another state.
  Cases and controversies[edit]Only actual cases and controversies may be heard by the federal courts; the judicial power does not extend to cases which are hypothetical, or which are precluded because of problems with standing, mootness, or ripeness. Generally, a case or controversy requires the presence of adverse parties who have some interest genuinely at stake in the case. In Muskrat v. United States, 219 U.S.346 (1911), the Supreme Court denied jurisdiction to cases brought under a statute permitting certain Native Americans to bring suit against the United States to determine the constitutionality of a law allocating tribal lands. Counsel for both sides were to be paid from the federal Treasury. The Supreme Court held that, though the United States was a defendant, the case in question was not an actual controversy; rather, the statute was merely devised to test the constitutionality of a certain type of legislation. Thus the Court's ruling would be nothing more than an advisory opinion; therefore, the court dismissed the suit for failing to present a "case or controversy."
  Original and appellate jurisdiction[edit]Section 2 provides that the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in cases affecting ambassadors, ministers and consuls, and also in those controversies which are subject to federal judicial power because at least one state is a party; the Court has held that the latter requirement is met if the United States has a controversy with a state.[5][6] In other cases, the Supreme Court has only appellate jurisdiction, which may be regulated by the Congress. The Congress may not, however, amend the Court's original jurisdiction, as was found in Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (Cranch 1) 137 (1803) (the same decision which established the principle of judicial review). Marbury held that Congress can neither expand nor restrict the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. However, the appellate jurisdiction of the Court is different. The Court's appellate jurisdiction is given "with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make."
  Often a court will assert a modest degree of power over a case for purposes of determining whether it has jurisdiction, and so the word "power" is not necessarily synonymous with the word "jurisdiction".[7][8]
  Judicial review[edit]No part of the Constitution expressly authorizes judicial review, but the Framers did contemplate the idea. In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton wrote,
  The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution, is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges, as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning, as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body. If there should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between two, that which has the superior obligation and validity ought, of course, to be preferred; or, in other words, the constitution ought to be preferred to the statute, the intention of the people to the intention of their agents.[9]
  Others, however, disagreed, claiming that each branch could determine for itself the constitutionality of its actions.
  A continuation of the text of Federalist No. 78 by Hamilton [below] counterbalances the tone of "judicial supremacists" who demand that both Congress and the Executive are compelled by the Constitution to enforce all court decisions, including those that, in their eyes, or those of the People, violate fundamental American principles.
  Nor does this conclusion by any means suppose a superiority of the judicial to the legislative power. It only supposes that the power of the people is superior to both; and that where the will of the legislature, declared in its statutes, stands in opposition to that of the people, declared in the Constitution, the judges ought to be governed by the latter rather than the former. They ought to regulate their decisions by the fundamental laws, rather than by those which are not fundamental.[9]
  Hamilton continues. . .
  It can be of no weight to say that the courts, on the pretense of a repugnancy, may substitute their own pleasure to the constitutional intentions of the legislature. This might as well happen in the case of two contradictory statutes; or it might as well happen in every adjudication upon any single statute. The courts must declare the sense of the law; and if they should be disposed to exercise WILL instead of JUDGMENT, the consequence would equally be the substitution of their pleasure to that of the legislative body. The observation, if it prove any thing, would prove that there ought to be no judges distinct from that body.[9]
  Marbury v. Madison involved a highly partisan set of circumstances. Though Congressional elections were held in November 1800, the newly elected officers did not take power until March. The Federalist Party had lost the elections. In the words of President Thomas Jefferson, the Federalists "retired into the judiciary as a stronghold". In the four months following the elections, the outgoing Congress created several new judgeships, which were filled by President John Adams. In the last-minute rush, however, Federalist Secretary of State John Marshall had neglected to deliver commissions to the appointees. When James Madison took office as Secretary of State, several commissions remained undelivered. Bringing their claims under the Judiciary Act of 1789, the appointees, including William Marbury, petitioned the Supreme Court for the issue of a writ of mandamus, which in English law had been used to force public officials to fulfill their ministerial duties. Here, Madison would be required to deliver the commissions.
  Marbury posed a difficult problem for the court, which was led by now-Chief Justice John Marshall, the same person who had neglected to deliver the commissions when he was Secretary of State. If Marshall's court commanded James Madison to deliver the commissions, Madison might ignore the order, thereby indicating the weakness of the court. Similarly, if the court denied William Marbury's request, the court would be seen as weak. Marshall held that appointee Marbury was indeed entitled to his commission. However, Marshall contended that the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional, as it purported to grant original jurisdiction to the Supreme Court in cases not involving states or ambassadors. The ruling thereby established that the federal courts could exercise judicial review over the actions of Congress or the executive branch.
  However, Hamilton, in Federalist No. 78, expresses the view that the Courts hold only the power of words, and not the power of compulsion upon those other two branches of government, upon which the Supreme Court is itself dependent. But in 1820, Thomas Jefferson expressed his deep reservations about the doctrine of judicial review:
  ''You seem ... to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other men, and not more so. They have, with others, the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps.... Their power [is] the more dangerous as they are in office for life, and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control. The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of time and party, its members would become despots. It has more wisely made all the departments co-equal and co-sovereign within themselves.[10]''Trial by jury[edit]Article III, Section 2, provides that crimes, except impeachment cases, must be tried before a jury, unless the defendant waives his right. The trial must be held in the state where the crime was committed. If the crime was not committed in any particular state, then the trial is held in such a place as set forth by the Congress.
  The Sixth Amendment has related provisions. The trial must be held in the "State and district" where the crime was committed and the district is set by Congress. The Sixth Amendment also contains other guarantees not related to the place of the trial.
  The Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments.[11]
  Section 3: Treason[edit]Section 3 defines treason and its punishment.
  Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.The Constitution defines treason as specific acts, namely "levying War against [the United States], or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." A contrast is therefore maintained with the English law, whereby a variety of crimes, including conspiring to kill the King or "violating" the Queen, were punishable as treason. In Ex Parte Bollman, 8 U.S.75 (1807), the Supreme Court ruled that "there must be an actual assembling of men, for the treasonable purpose, to constitute a levying of war."[12]
  Under English law effective during the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, there were essentially five species of treason.[citation needed] Of the five, the Constitution adopted only two: levying war and adhering to enemies. Omitted were species of treason involving encompassing (or imagining) the death of the king, certain types of counterfeiting, and finally fornication with women in the royal family of the sort which could call into question the parentage of successors. James Wilson wrote the original draft of this section, and he was involved as a defense attorney for some accused of treason against the Patriot cause.
  Section 3 also requires the testimony of two different witnesses on the same overt act, or a confession by the accused in open court, to convict for treason. This rule was derived from an older English statute, the Treason Act 1695.[13] In Cramer v. United States, 325 U.S.1 (1945), the Supreme Court ruled that "[e]very act, movement, deed, and word of the defendant charged to constitute treason must be supported by the testimony of two witnesses."[14] In Haupt v. United States, 330 U.S.631 (1947), however, the Supreme Court found that two witnesses are not required to prove intent; nor are two witnesses required to prove that an overt act is treasonable. The two witnesses, according to the decision, are required to prove only that the overt act occurred (eyewitnesses and federal agents investigating the crime, for example).
  Punishment for treason may not "work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person" so convicted. The descendants of someone convicted for treason could not, as they were under English law, be considered "tainted" by the treason of their ancestor. Furthermore, Congress may confiscate the property of traitors, but that property must be inheritable at the death of the person convicted.
  In Federalist No. 43James Madison wrote regarding the Treason Clause:
  As treason may be committed against the United States, the authority of the United States ought to be enabled to punish it. But as new-fangled and artificial treasons have been the great engines by which violent factions, the natural offspring of free government, have usually wreaked their alternate malignity on each other, the convention have, with great judgment, opposed a barrier to this peculiar danger, by inserting a constitutional definition of the crime, fixing the proof necessary for conviction of it, and restraining the Congress, even in punishing it, from extending the consequences of guilt beyond the person of its author.Based on the above quoted excerpt it was noted by lawyer William J. Olson in an Amicus curiae in the case Hedges v. Obama that the Treason Clause was one of the enumerated powers of the federal government.[15] He also stated that by defining treason in the U.S. Constitution and placing it in Article III "the founders intended the power to be checked by the judiciary, ruling out trial by military commission. As Madison noted, the Treason Clause also was designed to limit the power of the federal government to punish its citizens for ''adhering to [the United States's] enemies, giving them aid and comfort.''"[15]
  References[edit]^Epstein, Lee; Walker, Thomas G. (2007). Constitutional Law for a Changing America: Institutional Powers and Constraints (6th ed.). Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. ISBN 978-1-933116-81-5., at 451.^"Judges of the United States Courts - Delahay, Mark W.". Federal Judicial Center. n.d. Retrieved 2009-07-02. ^staff (n.d.). "Judges of the United States Courts - English, George Washington". Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved 2009-07-02. ^"Judges of the United States Courts - Kent, Samuel B.". Federal Judicial Center. n.d. Retrieved 2009-07-02. ^United States v. Texas, 143 U.S. 621 (1892). A factor in United States v. Texas was that there had been an "act of congress requiring the institution of this suit". With a few narrow exceptions, courts have held that Congress controls access to the courts by the United States and its agencies and officials. See, e.g., Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., 514 U.S. 122 ("Agencies do not automatically have standing to sue for actions that frustrate the purposes of their statutes"). Also see United States v. Mattson, 600 F. 2d 1295 (9th Cir. 1979).^Cohens v. Virginia, 19 U.S. 264 (1821): "[T]he original jurisdiction of the Supreme court, in cases where a state is a party, refers to those cases in which, according to the grant of power made in the preceding clause, jurisdiction might be exercised, in consequence of the character of the party."^Cover, Robert. Narrative, Violence and the Law (U. Mich. 1995): "Every denial of jurisdiction on the part of a court is an assertion of the power to determine jurisdiction...."^Di Trolio, Stefania. "Undermining and Unintwining: The Right to a Jury Trial and Rule 12(b)(1)", Seton Hall Law Review, Volume 33, page 1247, text accompanying note 82 (2003).^ abc"The Federalist Papers : No. 78". Archived from the original on 29 October 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-28. ^Jefferson, Thomas. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William Jarvis (September 28, 1820).^U.S. Constitution, Art. I, sec. 3^Bollman, at 126^The rule was abolished in the United Kingdom in 1945.^Cramer, at 34^ abOlson, William J. (16 April 2012). "Case 1:12-cv-00331-KBF Document 29-2 Filed 04/16/12 AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF VIRGINIA STATE DELEGATE BOB MARSHALL, VIRGINIA STATE SENATOR DICK BLACK, DOWNSIZE DC FOUNDATION, DOWNSIZEDC.ORG, INC., U.S. JUSTICE FOUNDATION, INSTITUTE ON THE CONSTITUTION, GUN OWNERS FOUNDATION, GUN OWNERS OF AMERICA, INC., THE LINCOLN INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION, THE WESTERN CENTER FOR JOURNALISM, CONSERVATIVE LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND, U.S. BORDER CONTROL, RESTORING LIBERTY ACTIONCOMMITTEE, TENTH AMENDMENT CENTER, CENTER FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY, BILL OF RIGHTS DEFENSE COMMITTEE, PASTOR CHUCK BALDWIN, PROFESSOR JEROME AUMENTE, AND THE CONSTITUTION PARTY NATIONAL COMMITTEE IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS". Friedman, Harfenist, Kraut & Perlstein , PPC. lawandfreedom.com. pp. 15''16. Bibliography[edit]Irons, Peter. (1999). A People's History of the Supreme Court. New York: Penguin.External links[edit]
European Council - Day 2
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Original 13 Colonies Special Event
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  Source: Signal to Noise - KQ2RP
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 16:22
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National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, List of Petitions Received
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Federal Register Latest Entries
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 09:37
  The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is publishing this notice of petitions received under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (''the Program''), as required by Section 2112(b)(2) of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, as amended. While the Secretary of Health and Human Services is named as the respondent in all proceedings brought by the filing of petitions for compensation under the Program, the United States Court of Federal Claims is charged by statute with responsibility for considering and acting upon the petitions.
  For information about requirements for filing petitions, and the Program in general, contact the Clerk, United States Court of Federal Claims, 717 Madison Place NW., Washington, DC 20005, (202) 357-6400. For information on HRSA's role in the Program, contact the Director, National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 11C-26, Rockville, MD 20857; (301) 443-6593.
  The Program provides a system of no-fault compensation for certain individuals who have been injured by specified childhood vaccines. Subtitle 2 of Title XXI of the PHS Act, 42 U.S.C. 300aa-10 et seq., provides that those seeking compensation are to file a petition with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and to serve a copy of the petition on the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who is named as the respondent in each proceeding. The Secretary has delegated her responsibility under the Program to HRSA. The Court is directed by statute to appoint special masters who take evidence, conduct hearings as appropriate, and make initial decisions as to eligibility for, and amount of, compensation.
  A petition may be filed with respect to injuries, disabilities, illnesses, conditions, and deaths resulting from vaccines described in the Vaccine Injury Table (the Table) set forth at Section 2114 of the PHS Act or as set forth at 42 CFR 100.3, as applicable. This Table lists for each covered childhood vaccine the conditions which may lead to compensation and, for each condition, the time period for occurrence of the first symptom or manifestation of onset or of significant aggravation after vaccine administration. Compensation may also be awarded for conditions not listed in the Table and for conditions that are manifested outside the time periods specified in the Table, but only if the petitioner shows that the condition was caused by one of the listed vaccines.
  Section 2112(b)(2) of the PHS Act, 42 U.S.C. 300aa-12(b)(2), requires that ''[w]ithin 30 days after the Secretary receives service of any petition filed under section 2111 the Secretary shall publish notice of such petition in the Federal Register.'' Set forth below is a list of petitions received by HRSA on May 1, 2013, through May 30, 2013. This list provides the name of petitioner, city, and state of vaccination (if unknown then city and state of person or attorney filing claim), and case number. In cases where the Court has redacted the name of a petitioner and/or the case number, the list reflects such redaction.
  Section 2112(b)(2) also provides that the special master ''shall afford all interested persons an opportunity to submit relevant, written information'' relating to the following:
  1. The existence of evidence ''that there is not a preponderance of the evidence that the illness, disability, injury, condition, or death described in the petition is due to factors unrelated to the administration of the vaccine described in the petition,'' and
  2. Any allegation in a petition that the petitioner either:
  (a) ''Sustained, or had significantly aggravated, any illness, disability, injury, or condition not set forth in the Table but which was caused by'' one of the vaccines referred to in the Table, or
  (b) ''Sustained, or had significantly aggravated, any illness, disability, injury, or condition set forth in the Vaccine Injury Table the first symptom or manifestation of the onset or significant aggravation of which did not occur within the time period set forth in the Table but which was caused by a vaccine'' referred to in the Table.
  In accordance with Section 2112(b)(2), all interested persons may submit written information relevant to the issues described above in the case of the petitions listed below. Any person choosing to do so should file an original and three (3) copies of the information with the Clerk of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims at the address listed above (under the heading FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT), with a copy to HRSA addressed to Director, Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, Healthcare Systems Bureau, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 11C-26, Rockville, MD 20857. The Court's caption (Petitioner's Name v. Secretary of Health and Human Services) and the docket number assigned to the petition should be used as the caption for the written submission. Chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, related to paperwork reduction, does not apply to information required for purposes of carrying out the Program.
  Dated: June 24, 2013.
  Mary K. Wakefield,
  Administrator.
  1. James Gordon Cook, Vinita, Oklahoma, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0309V.
  2. Brian Charles Jensen, Santa Clarita, California, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0310V.
  3. Sandy Richardson on behalf of Indy Gantt, Columbus, Ohio, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0313V.
  4. Brooke Searles, Torrance, California, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0318V.
  5. Alfonso Pacheco, New Fairfield, Connecticut, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0322V.
  6. Michael and Kimberly Prater on behalf of Christian M. Prater, Sheridan, Indiana, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0325V.
  7. Earleen Bean-Sasser, Eureka, California, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0326V.
  8. Michael G. Corcoran on behalf of S.R.C., Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0330V.
  9. Daniella Castillo and Daniel Ruiz on behalf of D.R., Coral Gables, Florida, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0333V.
  10. Isabel Terrell, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0334V.
  11. Teresa N. Gore, Loris, South Carolina, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0335V.
  12. Charlise Ellis on behalf of X'Von Godwin, Brentwood, New Jersey, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0336V.
  13. Brian Randall, Ventura, California, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0337V.
  14. Amy Cain, Charleston, West Virginia, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0342V.
  15. Marva Ross, Vienna, Virginia, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0343V.
  16. Jesse Knight, Gilbert, Arizona, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0344V.
  17. Christina and Greg Schniegenberg on behalf of Morgan Schniegenberg, Napa, California, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0347V.
  18. Glynis Lee, Houston, Texas, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0348V.
  19. Cristal Bello, Baraboo, Wisconsin, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0349V.
  20. Arlene Trompczynski, Oakland, California, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0351V.
  21. Glenn C. Ryan, St. Augustine, Florida, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0354V.
  22. Stacy and William Boula on behalf of Stephanie Boula, Rochester, New York, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0356V.
  24. Terry Lee Estvold, Federal Way, Washington, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0358V.
  25. Amanda LaCroix, San Antonio, Texas, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0359V.
  26. Timothy Woody and Carmen Verdugo-Woody on behalf of V. W., Homestead, Florida, Court of Federal Claims No: 13-0366V.
  [FR Doc. 2013-15535 Filed 6-27-13; 8:45 am]
  BILLING CODE 4165-15-P
Notice of Meeting
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Federal Register Latest Entries
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 09:34
  The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board will conduct a public workshop with invited experts, academics and advocacy organizations regarding surveillance programs operated pursuant to Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and Section 702 of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
  July 9, 2013 at 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (Eastern Time).
  Comments: You may submit comments, identified by the docket number in the heading of this document by the following method:
  Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.Written comments may be submitted at any time prior to the closing of the docket at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on August 1, 2013.All comments will be made publicly available and posted without change. Do not include personal or confidential information.
  The location in Washington DC is still being determined. A notice will be published in the Federal Register with the location.
  Susan Reingold, Chief Administrative Officer, 202-331-1986.
  The workshop will be open to the public. The Board is contemplating moderated panel discussions with invited experts, academics, and advocacy organizations. Individuals who plan to attend and require special assistance, such as sign language interpretation or other reasonable accommodations, should contact Susan Reingold, Chief Administrative Officer, 202-331-1986, at least 72 hours prior to the meeting date.
  Dated: June 24, 2013.
  Diane Janosek,
  Chief Legal Counsel, Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.
  [FR Doc. 2013-15537 Filed 6-27-13; 8:45 am]
  BILLING CODE 6820-B3-P
Privacy Act of 1974; Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board; System of Records Notice
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Federal Register Latest Entries
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 09:31
  Written comments should be submitted on or before July 29, 2013. This new system will be effective July 29, 2013.
  You may submit comments, identified by the docket number in the heading of this document, by the following methods:
  Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
  Mail: Written comments may be submitted by mail to: Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, c/o General Services Administration, Agency Liaison Division, 1275 First Street NE., ATTN: 849C, Washington, DC 20417.
  To ensure proper handling, please include the docket number on your correspondence. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for further information about submitting comments.
  Diane Janosek, Chief Legal Counsel, Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, at 202-366-0365.
  Please note that all comments received are considered part of the public record and made available for public inspection online at http://www.regulations.gov. Information made available to the public includes personally identifying information (such as your name, address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by the commenter. Additional information about the handling of personally identifiable information submitted for the public record is available in the system of records notice for the federal dockets management system, EPA-GOVT-2, published in the Federal Register at 70 FR 15086 on March 24, 2005.
  The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (Board) was created as an independent agency within the executive branch by the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, Public Law 110-53. As a federal agency, the Board is subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, and Privacy Act of 1974 (Privacy Act), 5 U.S.C. 552a. The Board has published its notice of proposed rulemaking to establish administrative procedures for compliance with these statutes. As part of our compliance requirements, the Board must maintain certain information about FOIA and Privacy Act requests and requesters. As a result, the Board also is publishing this system of records notice to notify the public of and solicit comments about our proposed creation of a system of records for FOIA and Privacy Act case files.
  SYSTEM NAME:Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board'--1, Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Files
  SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:This system will contain classified and unclassified records.
  SYSTEM LOCATION:Records are maintained at the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board's office in Washington, DC.
  CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:Individuals who submit Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act (PA) requests and administrative appeals to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, including individuals who make requests or appeals on behalf of other persons or entities; individuals who are the subjects of FOIA or PA requests or appeals; Board employees or Department of Justice litigators assigned to handle requests or appeals.
  CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:Categories of records in the system include: FOIA and PA requests or appeals, including requesters' names, contact (email, street address, telephone number) information, and proof of identification; names and other information about persons who are the subject of FOIA or PA requests; records received, created, or compiled in processing FOIA and PA requests or appeals, including correspondence, intra or inter agency memoranda, notes, and other documentation; copies of requested records; requesters names, contact (email, street address, telephone number) information, and proof of identification; names, addresses, and telephone numbers of submitters of requested records.
  AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:5 U.S.C. 552; 5 U.S.C. 552a; 44 U.S.C. 3101
  PURPOSE:The purpose of this system is to process FOIA and PA requests and appeals, and to carry out other Board obligations under the FOIA and PA.
  ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:In addition to those disclosures permitted under 5 U.S.C. 552a(b) of the Privacy Act, all or a portion of the records or information contained in this system may be disclosed by the Board as a routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) as follows:
  A. To the Department of Justice (including U.S. Attorney Offices) or other federal agency conducting litigation or in proceedings before any court, adjudicative or administrative body, when it is necessary to the litigation and one of the following is a party to or has an interest in the litigation:
  1. The Board;
  2. Any Board member or employee in his/her official capacity;
  3. Any Board member or employee in his/her individual capacity if DOJ or the Board has agreed to represent the member or employee;
  4. The United States or any agency thereof if the Board determines that the records are both relevant and necessary to the litigation and the use of such records is compatible with the purpose for which the Board collected the records.
  B. To a congressional office, provided that the individual who is the subject of the record at issue authorized the congressional office to request the record on his or her behalf.
  C. To the National Archives and Record Administration or other federal agency pursuant to records management inspections conducted under 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906.
  D. To an agency, organization, or individual for the purpose of performing audit or oversight operations authorized by law, but only to the extent necessary and relevant to such audit or oversight function.
  E. To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when:
  1. The Board suspects or has confirmed that the security or confidentiality of information in the system of records has been compromised;
  2. The Board determines that because of the suspected or confirmed compromise, there is a risk of harm to economic or property interests, identity theft or fraud, or harm to the security or integrity of this system or other systems or programs (whether maintained by the Board or other agency or entity), or harm to individuals that rely on compromised information; and
  3. Disclosure is necessary to assist with the Board's efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed compromise, and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.
  F. To contractors and their agents; grantees; experts; consultants; and others performing or working on a contract, service, grant, cooperative agreement, or other assignment for the Board, when necessary to accomplish a Board function related to this system of records.
  G. To an appropriate federal, state, tribal, local, international, or foreign agency, including law enforcement, or other appropriate authority charged with investigating or prosecuting a violation or enforcing or implementing a law, rule, regulation, or order where a record, either on its face or in conjunction with other information, indicates a violation or potential violation of law, which includes criminal, civil, or regulatory violations and such disclosure is proper and consistent with the official duties of the individual making the disclosure.
  H. To a federal, state, territorial, tribal, local, international, or foreign agency or other entity for the purpose of consulting with that agency or entity:
  1. To assist in making a determination regarding the disclosure of, access to, or amendment of information; or
  2. To verify the identity of an individual or the accuracy of information submitted by an individual who has requested access to or amendment of information.
  I. To a federal agency for the purpose of referring the request to that agency for processing or consulting with that agency regarding the appropriate handling of the request.
  J. To the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) for the purposes of resolving disputes between the Board and FOIA requesters or for OGIS' review of Board policies, procedures, and compliance in order to recommend policy changes to Congress and the President.
  K. To the Office of Management and Budget or the Department of Justice when necessary to obtain advice regarding statutory or other requirements under the FOIA or PA.
  DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:No.
  POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:STORAGE:Records in this system are stored electronically and/or on paper in secure facilities. Electronic records may be stored on magnetic disc, tape, digital media, and CD-ROM.
  RETRIEVABILITY:Records may be retrieved by individual's name or by case tracking or control number.
  SAFEGUARDS:Records in this system are safeguarded in accordance with applicable rules and policies, including automated systems security and access policies. Access to records in this system is limited to those individuals who have a need to know the information for the performance of their official duties and who have appropriate clearances or permissions.
  RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:FOIA and PA records are retained in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration's General Records Schedule 14.
  SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:Chief FOIA Officer and Chief Privacy Officer, Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, c/o General Services Administration, Agency Liaison Division, 1275 First Street NE., ATTN: 849C, Washington, DC 20417.
  NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:Individuals seeking notification of and access to any record contained in this system of records, or seeking to contest its content, may submit a request in writing to the Privacy Officer at the address provided for the System Manager, above. When seeking records about yourself from this system of records your request must comply with the Board's Privacy Act regulations and must include sufficient information to permit us to identify potentially responsive records. In addition, you must sign your request, and your signature must either be notarized or submitted under 28 U.S.C. § 1746, a law that permits statements to be made under penalty of perjury as a substitute for notarization. If your request is seeking records pertaining to another living individual, you must include a statement from that individual certifying his/her consent to your access to his/her records. Without this information, we may not be able to conduct an effective search, and your request may be denied due to lack of specificity or lack of compliance with applicable regulations.
  RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:See ''Notification procedure'' above.
  CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:See ''Notification procedure'' above.
  RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:Records are obtained from individuals who submit FOIA and PA requests or appeals; the records searched and identified as responsive in the process of responding to such requests and appeals; Board personnel assigned to handle such requests and appeals; other agencies that have referred FOIA or PA requests to the Board for consultation or response; submitters or subjects of records or information that have provided assistance to the Board in making access or amendment determinations.
  EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:None.
Got demoted: In the Matter of the Designation of Eric Breininger as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Pursuant To Section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224, as Amended
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Federal Register Latest Entries
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 16:18
  In accordance with section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001, as amended (''the Order''), I hereby determine that the individual known as Eric Breininger, also known as Abdul-Gaffar, also known as Abdulgaffar el Almani, no longer meets the criteria for designation under the Order, and therefore I hereby revoke the designation of the aforementioned individual as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to section 1(b) of the Order.
  This notice shall be published in the Federal Register.
  Dated: June 19, 2013.
  John F. Kerry,
  Secretary of State.
  [FR Doc. 2013-15551 Filed 6-27-13; 8:45 am]
  BILLING CODE 4710-10-P
Office of Presidential Libraries; Proposed Disposal of George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administration Electronic Backup Tapes
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Federal Register Latest Entries
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 09:22
  Comments are due by August 12, 2013.
  Comments regarding the proposed disposal of these Presidential records must be sent in writing to Susan Donius, National Archives and Records Administration, Suite 2200, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001; or by fax to 301-837-3199; or by email to beth.fidler@nara.gov.
  Susan Donius at 301-837-3250.
  NARA proposes the disposal of 22,907 disaster recovery backup tapes created during the George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administrations. The backup tapes, consisting of what are known as ''3480 cartridges,'' were originally created from November 6, 1992 through July 15, 1994 by staff in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) during the George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administrations, with duplicative preservation copy sets created subsequently. The backup tapes covered by this notice were originally preserved under Court orders entered in the case of Armstrong v. Executive Office of the President, Civ. No. 89-0142 (D.D.C.). As set out below, email with attachments, calendars, pager notes, and certain other ''email enabled'' applications residing on the backup tapes, subsequently were restored to other electronic media as part of a Tape Restoration Project carried out in 1996 (''1996 Tape Restoration Project'') by staff in EOP's Office of Administration. NARA will continue to retain these restored Presidential and Federal records in an electronic format as part of the permanent record collections of the George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administrations.
  During the George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administrations, staff in EOP's Office of Administration maintained what was known as the ''VAX All-in-1'' system for email communications. The email system was operated on behalf of numerous components of the EOP, including the Office of the President, the Office of the Vice President, the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Council of Environmental Quality, One or more other offices also had users with email accounts on the system (e.g., staff in the National Security Council could send unclassified email communications to individuals on the All-in-1 system).
  The software configuration for the VAX Cluster consisted of two main elements: The VAX Operating System, and the Office of Administration System for Information Services (OASIS) All-in-1 system (also known as the ''All-in-1 software suite'' or ''software package''), a proprietary product made by the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and further customized by OA staff. The DEC All-in-1 commercial ''off the shelf'' software package allowed for the creation of email and calendars. In addition to these standard features, EOP staff developed additional customized applications for All-in-1 users.
  The tape restoration project carried out by EOP staff consisted of the recovery of email messages and calendars residing on the backups, as well as the recovery of the following additional ''email enabled'' and other applications'' contained within the All-in-1 software suite: (a) Directory Change Requests (changes to profiles in the EOP on-line phone directory); (b) WAVES (Workers and Visitor Entry System) requests; (c) Suggestion Box (routing suggestions from staff to EOP Management); (d) Phone Messages (advising users of telephone calls received); and (e) Pager requests (routing electronic messages to pager devices). As stated above, NARA will retain these records on a permanent basis.
  Backup tapes made for emergency purposes are not record keeping media; rather, their sole purpose is to be available for restoration in the event that electronic records are corrupted or destroyed. Given that these backup tapes have already served that purpose and NARA has no need to conduct any further restoration from them, they no longer need to be preserved. In the normal course, the disaster recovery backup tapes at issue in this notice would have been subject to recycling or otherwise disposed of under then-existing authorities, including under General Records Schedule 20, Item 8 (1982), and are otherwise equivalent to backup tapes currently disposable under General Records Schedule 24, Item 4 (covering ''system backup tapes'' created in Information Technology Operations).
  As of November 1995, subsequent disaster recovery backup tapes created for the same VAX/All-in-1 System operated by the Office of Administration of EOP were specifically designated as temporary records with a 90 day maximum retention period for weekly backups. See records schedule approved by Archivist John Carlin, dated November 1995, re ''OASIS All-in-1 Applications and other VAX Cluster Applications, Job. No. N1-429-95-2, Item 8), These authorities are consistent with the widely accepted principle that records appropriate for preservation should be maintained in recordkeeping systems rather than on disaster recovery backups. Cf.36 CFR 1236.20(c) (''System and file backup processes and media do not provide the appropriate recordkeeping functionalities and must not be used as the agency electronic recordkeeping system.'').
  The sub-collections of backup tapes that have been retained and are now covered by this disposition notice consist of: (a) 2,835 ''3480 cartridges'' created by EOP staff between November 6, 1992 through January 20, 1993, during the George H.W. Bush Administration; (b) a preservation copy set of 2,835 media created by NARA staff in 1993 on receipt of the originals; (c) a second generation preservation copy set of 2,835 media created by NARA staff in 2003; (d) 2,156 ''daily'' and 6,514 ''weekly'' backups created by EOP staff between January 20, 1993 and July 15, 1994 during the Clinton Administration; and (e) a preservation copy set of 5,732 backups of Clinton daily and weekly backups created by EOP staff in 1996 and used for the 1996 Tape Restoration Project. A Stipulation and Order entered in the Armstrong case on January 27, 1994, allows for disposition of the preserved backups provided that NARA issues this form of public notice in the Federal Register.
  Additional information. The above-referenced November 1995 records schedule for records created or received on the VAX/All-in-1 system covered additional software applications that generated user-created data during some or all of the time period between November 1992 and July 1994, but that were not made subject to the Tape Restoration Project as either Presidential or Federal records. For the reasons stated above, NARA does not believe that additional recovery actions are warranted for the purpose of obtaining additional user-created data on the preserved backup tapes.
  The additional temporary record and non-record applications on the VAX/All-in-1 system consisted of: (a) Indices (lists maintained on the system of the contents of electronic folders of OASIS All-in-1 users); (b) Distribution Lists (mailing lists created by users when sending email messages); (c) EOP Directory (names of individuals, with room and telephone numbers); (d) User Directory (provided users with short-cut to enter names of intended recipients); (e) Bulletin Board (notification of scheduled events, such as blood drives, classroom training and insurance open seasons); (f) User Set-up (passwords, locations, work hours, calendar and date formats, and log-in/log-out data); (g) System Distribution Lists (mailing lists created by system managers); (h) DB/2 Services Request Form (database administration requests); (i) Security Files (system generated data to monitor requests to access); (j) Supply Order Form; (k) Training Schedules; (l) Weekly Usage Reports; (m) Calculator; (n) Information Management (news and weather displays); (o) Lock Keyboard; (p) Personal Rolodex; (q) Training Routines and HELP files; (r) World Wide Time; (s) Personnel Vacancy Search Request (government wide vacancies); (t) Presidential Remarks On-Line (Library application providing access to public statements and speeches).
  As stated, copies of Presidential and Federal email with attachments, calendars, pager notes, and related records recovered as part of the 1996 Tape Restoration Project are being retained by NARA in separate electronic databases covering the George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administrations, respectively. However, NARA has no further need or use for the remaining original disaster recovery backup tapes.
  Dated: June 25, 2013.
  Susan K. Donius,
  Director, Office of Presidential Libraries.
  [FR Doc. 2013-15564 Filed 6-27-13; 8:45 am]
  BILLING CODE 7515-01-P
Chinese Restaurant Owner Says Robot Noodle Maker Doing ''A Good Job!'' | Singularity Hub
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 16:05
  [Source: arkazlive via YouTube]
  Noodle peelers should probably start looking for other things to do around the kitchen '' there's just no competing with these robots. Not only are they saving restaurants in China money in wages, they can work rapidly and tirelessly for hours.We reported on the robots, invented by restaurant owner Cui Runguan, last August. Now, we're hearing from another restaurant owner who has had one of the robots in his ''employ'' for a month. How is the indefatigable noodle-maker working out at the Jinhe Noodle Shop in Beijing? The restaurant owner, with the last name Zhao, loves it and tells China's state-run Xinhua News Agency that ''It does a good job!''
  Runguan's robots peel noodle strips from a firm piece of dough and tosses them directly into boiling water ''before diners' eyes can follow the whole process.'' To Zhao and a growing number of restaurant owners in China, choosing robots over human noodle cooks is a no-brainer. While a cook doing the same job would make about 40,000 yuan ($6,400) per year, the robot cost him just 10,000 yuan ($1,600). And no human chef can work so tirelessly.
  China is expected to be the world's largest market for robots by 2014 [Source: arkazlive via YouTube]
  Its price is already down from $2,000 this past August, which is no doubt a big reason why more than 3,000 restaurants that have already relegated their noodle-making to the robot. As the technology improves and the cost to build and run the robot drops, business will only get better for Runguan, who has received four patents for the technology.That humans can be replaced by robots that do the job faster and cheaper is an idea that now pervades Chinese employers. ''Chinese companies usually start considering robots when the payment for a skilled worker exceeds 50,000 yuan ($8,060) a year,'' Tan Xueke, a manager at the Xinsong Robot Automation Company in Shenynang, told Xinhua News Agency.
  The repetitive action that goes into preparing certain foods such as noodles makes automation an obvious choice. In Japan robots are already being used to make sushi, and a robot in San Francisco can serve up 340 hamburgers an hour. But while robotic cooks provide restaurants a novelty for customers and savings for owners, other robots are invading China's workplace on a much grander scale. Most notably is Foxconn who, last November, began replacing 1 million jobs performed by humans with robotic automation. The metamorphosis is advancing quickly. In late February the company announced it put a freeze on hiring new entry-level workers. This was due in part to a high worker retention rate following pay increases, but it's also a conscious decision to accelerate the automation of their factories.
  And as prices for the robots drop, they'll continue to invade the workplace at increasing an increasing pace. Already China is expected to become the world's largest robot market next year. And as entry-level jobs become scarce, out-of-the-job workers such as those at Foxconn and Jinhe Noodle Shop will find the new reality hard to swallow.
  [Source: Zoominuk via YouTube]
  .
Chinese wind-turbine firm charged with stealing US trade secrets
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 16:03
  Sinovel Wind Group accused of illegally downloading software from former supplier American Superconductor
  A worker paints wind turbines in Guangdong, China. Photograph: Tyrone Siu/Reuters
  China's largest wind-turbine company has been charged with stealing trade secrets from its American former software supplier, the US justice department has announced.
  Sinovel Wind Group and two of its executives were indicted in a federal court in Madison, Wisconsin, on Thursday. A former employee of the Massachusetts-based American Superconductor (AMSC) pleaded guilty in Klagenfurt, Austria, to stealing a source code for turbine controllers.
  The trio are charged with stealing software developed in the US by downloading it from an AMSC computer in Middleton, Wisconsin, to a computer in Austria.
  Sinovel's deputy director of research and development department, Su Liying, the firm's technology manager, Zhao Haichun, and Dejan Karabasevic have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit trade secret theft, theft of trade secrets and wire fraud. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
  AMSC, which claimed the stolen software was used in four Sinovel turbines installed in Massachusetts, called for the Obama administration and Congress to re-evaluate the US trade relationship with China.
  Daniel McGahn, the company's president, said: "The fact that Sinovel has exported stolen American intellectual property from China back into the United States, less than 40 miles from our global headquarters, shows not only a blatant disrespect for intellectual property but a disregard for international trade law." More than 500 AMSC employees worldwide lost their jobs as a result of the theft, he added.
  The company said it had filed four civil actions against Sinovel in China in March 2011 after Sinovel broke several contracts, and lodged a criminal complaint against the company and some of its employees, without success.
  The attorney for the western district of Wisconsin, John Vaudreuil, said on Friday: "The allegations in this indictment describe a well-planned attack on an American business by international defendants '' nothing short of attempted corporate homicide."
  AMSC said the software was designed to regulate the flow of electricity from wind turbines to electrical grids and to keep the turbines operational during a dip in power.
  If convicted, Sinovel could face fines of up to $1.6bn (£1bn) for each count, while Su, Zhao and Karabasevic could each be jailed for up to 35 years.
VIDEO-Underwater Drones Are Multiplying Fast
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 16:01
  The next wave of drones is making a splash. A growing number of companies are making remotely-operated underwater vehicles, or ROVS, for everything from monitoring fish farms to finding buried treasure. WSJ's Will Connors reports.
  The next army of unmanned drones are scurrying beneath the ocean's surface.
  Hundreds of small camera-equipped robots developed by a range of companies are sending video and other data to laptop and tablet screens above.
  What began as a niche industry for wealthy hobbyists has matured into a fast-growing market catering to a wide variety of industries and government agencies.
  Christian SkaugeA VideoRay underwater vehicle equipped with a camera and radiation detector inspects the hull of a ship.
  Unmanned marine vehicles have been around for years'--the U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard, for example, use them to help detect mines and thwart drug smugglers. Big military contractors such as Boeing Co. and General Dynamics Corp. offer torpedo-like underwater vehicles for the military and other government agencies.
  Now, a new wave of independent companies are developing cheaper, smaller models'--typically the size of a football'--meant for commercial and recreational use, from inspecting oil rigs and fish farms to helping hunt for sunken treasure.
  But as the industry grows, drone-making companies are also running into hurdles. The companies must figure out how to market these technologies for applications beyond traditional uses, compete with bigger defense contractors, and keep costs low enough to appeal beyond deep-pocketed buyers.
  DeepTrekker Inc.DeepTrekker makes an 18-pound underwater vehicle that starts at $3,000. Customers include NASA, Florida Power and Light and Disney.
  Operating machines underwater is no easy task. Motors sometimes malfunction, causing the robots to sink, or a previously undiscovered crack can cause critical leaks. Last week, a team from Memorial University in Newfoundland lost contact with an autonomous underwater vehicle that looks like a yellow torpedo and was worth about $165,000.
  Then there is the prey. Two years ago a shark attacked a sea-gliding robot piloted by Liquid Robotics Inc., causing the device used to collect data for BP PLC to malfunction. Sam MacDonald, co-founder and president of Ontario company DeepTrekker Inc., said a barracuda "took a quick bite" out of a demo device in Antigua "but decided against making it meal." The robot survived.
  "Because of the dangers of doing things underwater you're going to see these robots do more practical things," said Durval Tavares, the chief executive of AquaBotix Technology Corp.
  His company sells an underwater remote-operated vehicle, or ROV, called the HydroView, which can be controlled from a laptop or mobile device and cost between $4,000 and $8,000. Mr. Tavares, who started the Fall River, Mass., company in 2011 after 20 years working at the U.S. Navy Laboratories, says he has sold near 200 devices to customers including a Florida police department that used them for underwater inspections.
  One of the bigger companies in this field is VideoRay LLC, which sells its ROV to coast guards, the U.S. Corps of Engineers and other commercial and military bodies. The Pottstown, Pa., company's devices have been used to search for underwater mines, assess hurricane damage and make hull inspections for oil companies.
  VideoRay uses specially made software, joysticks or smartphones to pilot its robots. Stripped-down ROVs sell for $7,000, but the versions sold to governments and oil companies are priced around $150,000. Scott Bentley, VideoRay's co-founder and president, says the 40-employee company sells from 200 to 400 underwater drones a year and makes about $10 million in sales annually.
  Both Aquabotix and VideoRay are working on their own version of "automated underwater vehicles," which don't require someone remotely controlling them the whole time.
  Another sign of popularity in the devices is a growing community of ROV builders who want the technology to be open sourced, available for scientists and explorers who can't afford more expensive models.
  OpenROV sells an underwater ROV kit for $850. Co-founder David Lang said the Berkeley, Calif., company has sold several hundred so far to scientists and hobbyists. The project is "like making a smartphone waterproof and giving it thrusters," Mr. Lang said.
  "We want to be able to have an ROV that is approaching the performance of some of these more expensive commercial ROVs at 1/10th of the cost."These ROV makers are finding a diverse group of interested customers.
  DeepTrekker, which makes an 18-pound ROV starting at $3,000, has sold devices to customers such as Florida Power and Light Co. to examine inside a nuclear reactor and Disney World to inspect water filtration systems.
  At a recent military trade show in Canada, DeepTrekker's Ms. MacDonald said several military agencies approached her about the ROV. One agency asked if she could put a weapons deployment system on it. The company is working on that request.
  Ms. MacDonald has also had more nefarious-seeming inquiries. One potential customer asked questions about DeepTrekker's maximum payload and whether the ROV could be operated from 10,000 feet away. Ms. MacDonald suspected they might be drug-runners, but they never made an offer.
  Write to Will Connors at william.connors@wsj.com
  A version of this article appeared June 25, 2013, on page B4 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Unmanned Drones Take a Dive.
Media leaks CIA's secret plan to stop leaking stuff to the media
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 14:58
  Long before Edward Snowden's reent leak on NSA spying, former CIA director David Petraeus launched an internal study about a string of high-profile leaks from inside the agency. After having been forced to retire over his own leaky, sloppy affair with Paula Broadwell, Petraeus's successor John Brennan finally finished the study and compiled its results into a campaign of ultra-secrecy called ''Honoring the Oath.'' Brennan introduced the new campaign with a memo about how the CIA would finally get its act together and stop leaking things to the media. The memo was duly leaked to the media within hours.
  AP reported Thursday evening it had ''obtained'' the memo and that it was marked unclassified but ''for official use only,'' indicating the agency meant it for internal use only, not as a press release.
  The memo said the ''Honoring the Oath'' campaign aimed to ''reinforce our corporate culture of secrecy'' through education and training. Which is bizarre, considering the CIA is not a corporation, it's agency of representative government. And if it were a corporation, one boasting a ''corporate culture of secrecy'' sounds like really crappy one.
  Of course, secrecy is part of the CIA's legacy. But in order to attract people who are really good at keeping secrets that may be illegal, you need to attract people who have no moral scruples whatsoever and people who don't want any credit. More and more, it seems finding both is a tall order.
  Business Insider even notes there's a theory that Brennan himself was the guy who leaked the details of a foiled al-Qaeda plot to the AP last year, which in turn caused the DOJ to secretly obtain their phone records. That transgression was then leaked, which led in part to this whole ''Honoring the Oath'' campaign to double down on secrecy and stop leaking. Which was of course leaked. To the AP.
  It becomes an incestuous cycle where secrecy and leaks circle around, an animal eating its own tail. But the government isn't likely to give up on secrecy anytime soon, and the press is no more likely to give up reporting. So the cycle will continue as long as there is someone with a scruple or someone who wants credit. And that we will always have.
By signing up to iTunes, you agree not to use it for the "manufacture or production of nuclear, missiles, or chemical or biological weapons." - TodaysiPhone.com
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 14:51
  That's right. Scrap your plans for world domination. If you've got an iTunes account, you have agreed not to make a nuclear bomb.
  I can't take credit for this discovery, Jim Dalrymple over at The Loop while casually browsing through his iTunes End User License Agreement:
  You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, missiles, or chemical or biological weapons.
  Munitions fans, I bet you wish you'd taken a closer look at the terms before clicking 'agree' now, right?
  Via: TheLoop
  Tags: Apple, iTunes, News//Articles
  About Cam BuntonCam Bunton, Managing Editor. A film school graduate from the University of Cumbria, UK, Cam's past life was in mobile phone retail. His passion for cell phones got him in to that industry, and then in to this one. A family man with two kids, he somehow manages to balance his TiP duties with family life and a runaway Twitter addiction. He covers news, device comparisons, accessory and app reviews - pretty much anything and everything. Follow him on twitter: @TiP_Cam
You'll Never Know if the NSA Is Breaking the Law '-- or Keeping You Safe - Philip Bump - The Atlantic Wire
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 14:37
  What if the NSA's surveillance isn't legal? What if its collection of phone records and its electronic surveillance of foreigners and Americans violates the letter of the laws that the agency cite as its newfound authority, the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act? We'd be where we are now, with the government relying on unprovable arguments for efficacy instead of demonstrable legal rationalization.
  We know that in at least two moments the NSA programs likely violated federal law. In a secret ruling, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the body tasked with approving the government's surveillance requests, determined that the NSA's data collection violated the Fourth Amendment. Then, of course, there was the period before the passage of the amendments to FISA in 2008. As documents released by the Guardian Thursday make clear, the NSA's surveillance at least in some ways pre-dates its explicit legal authority to do so.
  In an opinion piece in The New York Times today, two legal experts argue that even that expansion may not have been enough. The two, Jennifer Stisa Granick of Stanford and Christopher Sprigman from the University of Virginia, first argue that the bulk collection of phone records under the Patriot Act exceeds the legal boundaries. "[A]ny data might be 'relevant' to an investigation eventually," they write, "if by 'eventually' you mean 'sometime before the end of time.'" But their stronger critique is of the PRISM / electronic data surveillance under FISA. The 2008 amendments state that the NSA can't "intentionally acquire any communication as to which the sender and all intended recipients are known at the time of the acquisition to be located in the United States."
  How could vacuuming up Americans' communications conform with this legal limitation? Well, as James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, told Andrea Mitchell of NBC, the N.S.A. uses the word ''acquire'' only when it pulls information out of its gigantic database of communications and not when it first intercepts and stores the information.
  If there's a law against torturing the English language, James Clapper is in real trouble.
  Prior to the passage of the amendments, the government relied on its own legal interpretations of existing mandates to justify its actions. As Thursday's leaks made clear, the push for more data collection in the wake of September 11th preceded the legal rationales used to justify them. Once the NSA began partnering with domestic law enforcement in 2004, even the NSA balked at the government's shaky legal analysis. Granick and Sprigman note that the primary justification came then and comes now from "select Supreme Court cases, decided before the era of the public Internet and cellphones."
  The FISA court seems to be taking steps to drop the wall of privacy behind which it acts, however minimally. Earlier this month, it ruled that that it wouldn't block release to advocacy groups of that secret ruling on the Fourth Amendment violations. On Wednesday, CNet reported that it was also willing to allow tech companies to provide more information about government requests for user data.
  [Reggie] Walton, the FISC's presiding judge, gave the Justice Department until July 9 to respond to the requests from Google and Microsoft to disclose summary statistics about orders received under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, which became [law] in 2008. The pair of companies have until July 16 to submit their replies.
  Allowing these companies to reveal the extent of request form the government would provide a very limited amount of information about the government's activity '-- but it would at least offer some.
  The NSA either can't or won't crack the door in that way. Its response to critique has instead been to argue that its surveillance systems are essential to keeping Americans safe, an argument that relies heavily on secret data concerning disrupted terror activity. And, worse, that revealing information about its activity strengthens terrorists.
  As documented in an exceptional piece by Jack Shafer at Reuters, the agency did a brief tour of major media outlets earlier this week, arguing that the leaks by Edward Snowden and the reporting by the Guardian prompted terrorists to change their behavior.
  The media tour included Reuters, which had a similar conversation with ''two U.S. national security sources.'' Its piece, time-stamped two hours after CNN's, reported that ''militants have begun responding by altering methods of communication.'' Like CNN, Reuters learned from the intel officials that both Sunni and Shi'ite groups had changed communications methods and that those changes might leave the U.S. blind to future attacks.
  We've noted before that this cannot be proven, one way or the other. It's possible that the inability to prove those shifts plays to the NSA's detriment, making it hard for the agency to make its case that its tools are necessary to protect us, legal or not. But a skeptic is warranted in assuming that the inability to share information on the tools' efficacy plays to the NSA's advantage. That argument was made very eloquently and directly by Chris Hayes on his MSNBC program last night.
  "There is a vast and growing web of secret government in this country," Hayes concluded. "And it simply cannot be the case '-- it is not acceptable '-- that the only things we know about it are the things the members of that secret government want us to know."
  So much happens in government on an hourly basis that we tend to give it the benefit of the doubt. Even those who are skeptical of the federal government '-- or who are openly hostile to it '-- don't spend extended time worrying about all of the various behaviors of the government on our collective behalf. We ask our legislators and elected officials to represent our will and protect our needs. In this case, those legislators are largely complicit in the authorization of the NSA's activity '-- and are also dependent on the secret government agencies for information on what's happening.
  So, what if the NSA's surveillance isn't legal? For now, the only answer seems to be: Trust us. And, sorry, but you can't verify.
  Photo: NSA head Keith Alexander meets the press. (AP)
  Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at pbump at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Social Justice Overview - Marygrove College
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Video: This is What Austin Looks Like From a Drone: Austinist
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 14:21
  I fear civillian drones have only been outlawed to clear the skies for police drones. And... sigh, I hate to be "that guy", but someone is already test flying them over the city. I live along South Congress ave, am a night owl and occasionally step outside to stargaze in the wee hours. I don't drink or do drugs. I'm not a nut. I'm aware that we have owls and hawks in the area, but what I've been seeing is not an animal. A small, fast but silent fixed-wing plane is flying over the buildings along the west side of the street. It's following Congress toward downtown. It's hard to say how big it is, but it seems way too big to be a toy, yet small enough to duck under the power lines along Ben White. Due to the area and direction of flight, either some wealthy hobbyist is taking a big risk with the law, or these flights are being done by someone who isn't worried about the lack of FAA approval in the area (yet). I saw it 4 times over the fall and winter, but not yet this summer.
IDTags-Credentialling
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 14:14
  Erie County Emergency Services is announcing a new service to the first responder community:
  Credentialing of Emergency Response Personnel
  Purpose of Credentialing
  The purpose of credentialing is to ensure and easily validate the identity, affiliation, skill set, and/or privileges of an individual. Credentialing is critical to the incident management community so it can plan for, request, and trust resources needed for emergency assistance, plus receive personnel resources that match requests, and appropriately manage officially dispatched responders.
  Erie County Emergency Services is pleased to implement a standardized credentialing program that is NIMS compliant.
  NIMS credentialing provides confidence that both the requester and supplier are using the same criteria to identify personnel and alleviate this one concern when communities are struggling with the effects of a disaster. Incidents can range from large-scale terrorist attacks to catastrophic natural disasters that require interstate and intrastate deployments of mutual aid.
  How it Works
  These photo IDs are color coded (see below) to provide readily visible qualifications and provide enhanced card security using the addition of our unique holographic laminate. Additional features include a front and back barcode embedded with personal and medical data. This becomes a great tool to track personnel to verify on scene accountability and training.
  Emergency Services with the collaboration of various Erie County Fire Companies spent many months designing a standardized ID Tag. The colors and designations have been pre-set. These cards are optional for the fire service. However, they go a long way in authenticating a responder's identity and qualifications, plus it is ideal for accountability purposes.
  The ID Tag fire service colors are set as follows:
  Credential Characteristics
  The following items will be included on the credential:
  Name of Fire CompanyFire company logoPhotoNameTitleOrganization identifier numberUnique personal identifier numberHazmat levelEMS level-will indicate the member's EMS level as defined by NYSEmbedded security laminate to prevent counterfeitingLaw Enforcement and Emergency Management colors can be modified and discussed with agencies upon request.
  Steps to get started:
  Designate a company/department POC to manage credentialing.Complete an ID Tags service request online or email idtags@erie.gov with the following information:NameCompany/Department NameEmail addressCell Phone NumberPlease send a JPEG Graphic of your Logo to idtags@erie.govUpon receipt, your company/department will be assigned a user name and password to access the website to input your applications.Upon receipt of applications by Emergency Services Staff, cards will be printed and POC will be contacted for delivery/pick up.Questions/clarifications can be directed to idtags@erie.gov and ESU Staff will be more than happy to assist.
BBC News - German Catholics lose church rights for unpaid tax
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 14:12
  24 September 2012Last updated at07:31 ETGermany's Roman Catholics are to be denied the right to Holy Communion or religious burial if they stop paying a special church tax.
  A German bishops' decree which has just come into force says anyone failing to pay the tax - an extra 8% of their income tax bill - will no longer be considered a Catholic.
  The bishops have been alarmed by the number of Catholics leaving the Church.
  They say such a step should be seen as a serious act against the community.
  All Germans who are officially registered as Catholics, Protestants or Jews pay a religious tax of 8-9% on their annual income tax bill. The levy was introduced in the 19th Century in compensation for the nationalisation of religious property.
  "If your tax bill is for 10,000 euros, then 800 euros will go on top of that and your total tax combined will be 10,800 euros," Munich tax accountant Thomas Zitzelsberger told the BBC news website.
  Catholics make up around 30% of Germany's population but the number of congregants leaving the church swelled to 181,000 in 2010, with the increase blamed on revelations of sexual abuse by German priests.
  Alarmed by their declining congregations, the bishops were also pushed into action by a case involving a retired professor of church law, Hartmut Zapp, who announced in 2007 that he would no longer pay the tax but intended to remain within the Catholic faith.
  Continue reading the main story25 million CatholicsTax worth 5bn euros (2010)24 million ProtestantsTax worth 4.3bn eurosGerman population 82 millionThe Freiburg University academic said he wanted to continue praying and receiving Holy Communion and a lengthy legal case between Prof Zapp and the church will reach the Leipzig Federal Administrative Court on Wednesday.
  "This decree makes clear that one cannot partly leave the Church," Germany's bishops' conference said last week, in a decision endorsed by the Vatican.
  'Wrong signal'Unless they pay the religious tax, Catholics will no longer be allowed receive sacraments, except before death, or work in the church and its schools or hospitals.
  Without a "sign of repentance before death, a religious burial can be refused," the decree states. Opting out of the tax would also bar people from acting as godparents to Catholic children.
  "This decree at this moment of time is really the wrong signal by the German bishops who know that the Catholic church is in a deep crisis," Christian Weisner from the grassroots Catholic campaign group We are Church told the BBC.
  But a priest from Mannheim in south-western Germany, Father Lukas Glocker, said the tax was used to do essential good works.
  "With kindergarten, with homes for elderly or unemployed, we've got really good things so I know we need the tax to help the German country to do good things."
  While the decree severely limits active participation in the German Catholic Church, it does hold out some hope for anyone considering a return to the fold.
  Until now, any German Catholic who stopped payment faced eventual excommunication. Although the measures laid out in the decree are similar to excommunication from the church, German observers say the word is carefully avoided in the decree.
Arab Gas Pipelines - The Real Endgame.m4v - Dropbox
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Fusion Centers Struggle to Find Their Place in the Post-9/11 World
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 14:10
  The lack of reliable financial support from fiscally beleaguered federal agencies and state governments looms large. But an even bigger problem could be the very mission of fusion centers. In October, the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report based on a two-year investigation that found the centers had not been effective in doing their job despite the huge sums of taxpayer money spent on their operations.
  The investigation said the centers produced intelligence of uneven quality, sometimes endangering citizens' privacy, and that DHS did not monitor how the money provided to the states -- estimated between $289 million and $1.4 billion -- was used. Instead, the report uncovered spending on items that had little to do with intelligence gathering, from shirt-button cameras to a fully loaded SUV used for daily commuting.
  ''It's troubling that the very fusion centers that were designed to share information in a post-9/11 world have become part of the problem,'' said Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, the subcommittee's ranking member who initiated the investigation. ''Instead of strengthening our counterterrorism efforts, they have too often wasted money and stepped on Americans' civil liberties.''
  While the report made headlines and brought fusion centers to national attention, it was just the latest in a long line of reports critical of the centers. In 2010, the Government Accountability Office issued a report warning that no ''standard performance measures'' are used to demonstrate the impact and value of fusion centers when it comes to information sharing goals.
  In 2009, professor Torin Monahan, who conducts research on surveillance and security issues at the University of North Carolina, published a paper that raised questions about how fusion centers shared information with private-sector data brokers. ''There are no clear mechanisms for oversight or accountability with fusion centers, in spite of the fact that private companies are likely obtaining unprecedented access to government data on individuals, and vice versa.''
  The Senate report was strongly denounced by supporters of the intelligence gathering community. Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who has since retired, said the public record showed that fusion centers had played a significant role in thwarting terrorism and had generated hundreds of leads for the FBI. California's Sena echoed that sentiment, saying that the recommendations in the report were helpful, but the methodologies used were flawed.
  One of the recommendations called for Congress to link fusion center funding to performance, a potentially complicated concept since fusion centers are fundamentally in the prevention business, something that's not easy to measure. Nevertheless, Matt A. Mayer, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, backs that idea and would like to see it taken one step further. ''I think there's a fundamental flaw in how fusion centers are designed,'' he says. ''I don't think there's a sufficient level of activity in most locations to justify a fusion center.'' Mayer believes the number of centers around the country needs to be scaled back to 40 or fewer.
  More troubling to many fusion center critics is the lack of oversight with civil liberties and privacy. The ACLU has raised concerns about the centers' ambiguous lines of authority, the participation of private-sector data brokers, questionable data mining tactics and their overall ''excessive secrecy.'' According to the Senate report, fusion centers have produced intelligence of ''uneven quality -- oftentimes, shoddy, rarely timely, sometimes endangering citizens' civil liberties and Privacy Act protections.''
  In 2011, an investigation by the Associated Press found that the New York City Police Department had been regularly spying on mosques, student groups, Muslim businesses and communities, with only mixed results to show for its aggressive surveillance work. For New York state Sen. Kevin Parker, who represents a broad range of ethnic communities in his Brooklyn district, the reports of police spying programs raised alarms. ''I'm all for coordination among law enforcement agencies when it comes to information sharing and surveillance, but there needs to be accountability,'' he says. ''We're talking about agencies that have large amounts of personal data. We have no idea what's happening with that information. What are they going to do with it?''
  Parker has introduced three bills that will provide oversight of fusion centers while protecting privacy and prohibiting ''biased-based profiling'' from occurring. While the bills will only affect the action of the fusion centers located in New York, they could provide a road map for how other states can address some of the problems that have surfaced with fusion centers.
  Some might argue that if Parker's bills become law, they could have a chilling effect on the country's ongoing efforts to deal with terrorist threats that grow more sophisticated and have the potential to do harm on a large scale. But Parker worries we may be giving away too much in the name of protection and safety. ''Those who are willing to give up a little freedom for more security will get neither.''
  This article was originally published at Governing.com.
28Tbps undersea fiber backed by Google, China Telecom, NEC goes live - Computerworld
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 14:06
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Student-Loan Rates Set to Double Unless Congress Acts - Bloomberg
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 14:05
  By James Rowley and Janet LorinJune 27, 2013 12:48 PM EDTUnless Congress acts, the interest rate for the most popular government student loans, subsidize Stafford loans, will increase to 6.8 percent from 3.4 percent. Photographer: Seth McConnell/The Denver Post via Getty Images
  With just two working days left before the U.S. government doubles a student-loan interest rate, lawmakers are haggling over what to do about it.
  The argument isn't over whether to allow the rate on the most popular type of federal loan to rise above 3.4 percent, the level set by law until July 1. It's about how much borrowing costs will increase.
  ''The likelihood of students keeping the interest rate they had for the last two years is diminishing by the hour,'' said Terry Hartle, senior vice president at the American Council of Education, the largest lobbying group for colleges and universities. ''The outcome will be students will pay more than 3.4 percent in the short term,'' he said in a telephone interview.
  Unless Congress acts, the interest rate for subsidized Stafford loans, available to undergraduates from low-income families, will increase to 6.8 percent from 3.4 percent. More than 7 million students use that direct-from-Washington loan program.
  Instead of passing legislation to extend that rate or set a new flat rate, lawmakers have been negotiating ways to let the rate float by linking it to the yield on the 10-year Treasury note.
  Getting an informal agreement on the concept of flexible rates was the easy part. The more challenging part of the negotiations, according to those involved, has been figuring out how much flexibility to build in, and how much profit the government should extract.
  Government ProfitSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid contends that there should be no profit at all.
  ''The issue is this: Republicans want deficit reduction,'' the Nevada Democrat said June 25. ''We don't think there should be deficit reduction based on the backs of these young men and women who are trying to go to college.''
  Complicating the talks is the more than 50 percent increase in the yield of 10-year Treasury notes, to 2.5 percent, since May 1.
  Under a House-passed plan, that would have meant a student loan rate of 4.3 percent, rising to as much as 8.5 percent.
  ''It's very clear students would be worse off under that proposal than simply allowing interest rates to double'' because rates ''would be lower initially but rise as interest rates rise,'' said Pauline Abernathy, vice president of the Institute for College Access & Success, a nonprofit research and advocacy group in Oakland, California.
  Exploding DebtOver the past decade, there has been an explosion of student loan debt. It now totals almost $1.2 trillion, with 85 percent consisting of government-backed loans taken out by students and their parents. The rest are made by private lenders like banks or Sallie Mae (SLM), the largest U.S. education-finance company.
  The share of 25-year-old Americans with student debt increased to 43 percent last year from 25 percent in 2003, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. During that nine-year period, the average education-loan balance of people in that age group increased 91 percent, to $20,326 from $10,649, according to the New York Fed.
  With so much outstanding student debt, borrowers are having trouble contributing to the U.S. economy in other ways.
  It has become harder for young people, especially those between 25 and 30, to secure other types of credit, including home mortgages, according to a February report on household debt and credit by the New York Fed.
  Economic DragEconomists warn that what is owed in student loans may rival home-mortgage indebtedness as a drag on U.S. growth.
  ''The difficulties borrowers face when trying to manage cash flow may have a broader impact on the economy and society,'' Rohit Chopra, student-loan ombudsman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told the Senate Banking Committee on June 25. ''When young workers are putting large portions of their income toward student-loan-payment payments, they're less able to stash away cash for that first down payment.''
  Private borrowing for student loans grew after Congress overhauled bankruptcy laws and made such debts non-dischargable in personal bankruptcy.
  That change meant that ''there were very few reasons for banks not to make educational loans to anybody who wants them,'' Hartle said. ''Most students who get in trouble by borrowing huge amounts of money get there because they have borrowed from private lenders'' without the knowledge of their college or institution, he said.
  It's common for students to have more than one kind of loan, taking out the maximum government loan and then supplementing with private loans.
  Loan TypesThe most popular government loan is the Stafford. Subsidized Stafford loans are limited to students with lower incomes, and the interest rate is 3.4 percent, set by Congress. The government pays the interest during school. The interest rate will increase to 6.8 percent on new originations if Congress doesn't act by July 1.
  Any undergraduate, regardless of income, can get an unsubsidized Stafford loan at a rate of 6.8 percent.
  The federal loan limits for undergraduates are $5,500 the first year, $6,500 the second year and $7,500 in the last years. Graduate students no longer dependent on their parents also can take out Stafford loans.
  Another type of direct federal loan, called PLUS, carries a rate of 7.9 percent for graduate students and parents of undergraduates.
  One-Year ExtensionWhile running for re-election, President Barack Obama pressured lawmakers to extend the fixed rates for a year. Republican challenger Mitt Romney joined the call, and Congress obliged both candidates, acting two days before the rate on subsidized Staffords would have doubled.
  Since then, the president has continued public pressure on Congress to address a pressing problem for students.
  ''It's a different year,'' said John Kline, the Minnesota Republican who heads the House Education and the Workforce Committee. House Republicans aren't open to a temporary change, Kline said -- ''We've already been there.''
  The talk about student loans this week hasn't been limited to federal loans.
  Private loans make up about 15 percent of outstanding educational debt. They are considered riskier because their interest rates are usually not fixed, and they don't offer the same type of protections as federal loans, such as income-based repayment when borrowers get into trouble.
  Alternatives NeededA Federal Reserve official told the Senate Banking Committee on June 25 that lenders of private student loans should reduce the risk of default by helping struggling borrowers come up with alternative payment plans.
  One of the major lenders, Discover Financial Services (DFS), announced yesterday that its fixed interest rate on student loans was dropping to as low as 5.49 percent.
  A doubling of the government's interest rate ''would be good news for Discover as its private loans will be more attractive when compared with subsidized federal loans,'' analyst James Friedman of Susquehanna Financial Group LLC in New York said in an e-mail. Borrowers could bypass both subsidized and unsubsidized Staffords ''and choose Discover's student loans instead.''
  On May 23, the Republican-run House passed Kline's legislation, which would tie student loan interest rates to the 10-year Treasury note plus 2.5 percent. In the Senate, Reid tried to round up votes for a two-year extension of the current 3.4 percent rate and fell short of a required 60-vote supermajority.
  Senate ProposalSome Senate Democrats say they will try again for an extension -- this time going for just one year instead of two, as was sought in the unsuccessful bill, S. 953. Independent Senator Angus King of Maine questioned that approach. ''What will we know in a year that we don't know now?'' he said today.
  Obama has his own proposal to subject the Stafford loans to interest-rate fluctuations and save the government $3 billion over 10 years.
  As July 1 draws closer, with Congress planning a break next week for the July 4 holiday, a bipartisan group of senators say they have come up with a possible breakthrough -- a floating rate for Staffords, the 10-year Treasury borrowing rate plus 1.85 percent.
  Deficit ReductionThat proposal still has the deficit-reduction element that Reid opposes; it would pare the government's red ink by $1 billion over 10 years, according to a statement from King, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.
  Both Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and the panel's top Republican, Alexander, predicted that the Senate would go home for the week-long July 4 break without acting.
  Alexander, a former U.S. education secretary, said that if lawmakers can reach a consensus this week, Congress can return July 8 and approve the change retroactively.
  Neither party has been able to gain a political advantage over the other for inaction by Congress.
  Unlike a year ago, ''this issue has much less traction,'' said political scientist Bruce Altschuler at the State University of New York at Oswego. ''People don't know who to blame. They know somebody is at fault. They are not sure who.''
  To contact the reporters on this story: James Rowley in Washington at jarowley@bloomberg.net; Janet Lorin in New York at jlorin@bloomberg.net
  To contact the editor responsible for this story: Katherine Rizzo at krizzo5@bloomberg.net
UNABOMBER-Be Careful What You Plan For - Radiolab
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 13:50
  Ben Zimmer (the "On Language" columnist for The New York Times Magazine) sets the wheels in motion with some cautionary newsroom tales: attempts to avoid human error lead to editorial absurdities no one saw coming. Then, a Harvard psychologist eager to safeguard Cold War troops from brainwashing creates an experiment (described as "stressful interrogation") to weed out unfit candidates. But the experiment takes a toll on a shy undergrad'...who goes on to become a notorious terrorist. Professor Ruben Gur and writer Alston Chase shed some light on the story. Next, we're off to Wheeler Peak, Nevada--the home of the Bristlecone Pine. Nature writer Michael Cohen and reporter Pat Walters tell the story of Don Currey, a scientist whose tool malfunction unwittingly led to the death of the world's oldest tree. Ron Lanner, a retired forest service scientist helps describe the scene, and Robert and Pat debate the value of such an old tree.
VIDEO-The Net - The Unabomber. LSD and the Internet - YouTube
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 13:49
Fasces - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 13:28
  Fasces (//, a plurale tantum, from the Latin word fascis, meaning "bundle")[1] is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging. The fasces had its origin in the Etruscan civilization, and was passed on to ancient Rome, where it symbolized a magistrate's power and jurisdiction. The image has survived as a representation of magisterial power. A secondary meaning of the bundling of sticks may have been "strength through unity".[2] Fasces frequently occurs as a charge in heraldry, and should not be confused with the related term, fess, which in French heraldry is called a fasce.
  Origin and symbolism[edit]Although little is known about the Etruscans, a few artifacts have been found showing a thin bundle of rods surrounding a two-headed axe.[3] Fasces-symbolism might derive'--via the Etruscans'--from the eastern Mediterranean, with the labrys, the Anatolian and Minoan double-headed axe, later incorporated into the praetorial fasces. There is little archaeological evidence.[4]
  By the time of the Roman Republic, the fasces had evolved into a thicker bundle of birch rods, sometimes surrounding a single-headed axe and tied together with a red leather ribbon into a cylinder. On certain special occasions, the fasces might be decorated with a laurel wreath.
  The symbolism of the fasces suggested strength through unity; a single rod is easily broken, while the bundle is very difficult to break. The axe represented the power over life or death through the death penalty, although after the laws of the twelve tables, no Roman magistrate could summarily execute a Roman citizen.[5]
  Republican Rome[edit]The fasces lictoriae ("bundles of the lictors") symbolised power and authority (imperium) in ancient Rome, beginning with the early Roman Kingdom and continuing through the Republican and Imperial periods. By Republican times, use of the fasces was surrounded with tradition and protocol. A corps of apparitores (subordinate officials) called lictors each carried fasces before a magistrate, in a number corresponding to his rank. Lictors preceded consuls (and proconsuls), praetors (and propraetors), dictators, curule aediles, quaestors and the Flamen Dialis during Roman triumphs (public celebrations held in Rome after a military conquest)
  Roman historians recalled that twelve lictors had ceremoniously accompanied the Etruscan kings of Rome in the distant past, and sought to account for the number and to provide etymologies for the name lictor.[citation needed] The highest magistrate, the dictator, was entitled to twenty-four lictors and fasces.
  Another part of the symbolism developed in Republican Rome was the inclusion of a single-headed axe in the fasces, with the blade projecting from the bundle. The axe indicated that the magistrate's judicial powers (imperium) included capital punishment. Fasces carried within the Pomerium'--the boundary of the sacred inner city of Rome'--had their axe blades removed; within the city, the power of life and death rested with the people through their assemblies. However, during times of emergency, the Roman Republic might choose a dictator to lead for a limited time period, who was the only magistrate to be granted capital punishment authority within the Pomerium. Lictors attending the dictator kept the axes in their fasces even inside the Pomerium'--a sign that the dictator had the ultimate power in his own hands. There were exceptions to this rule: in 48 BC, guards holding bladed fasces guided Vatia Isauricus to the tribunal of Marcus Caelius, and Vatia Isauricus used one to destroy Caelius's magisterial chair (sella curulis).
  An occasional variation on the fasces was the addition of a laurel wreath, symbolizing victory. This occurred during the celebration of a Triumph - essentially a victory parade through Rome by a returning victorious general. All Republican Roman commanding generals had previously held high office with imperium, and so were already entitled to the lictors and fasces.
  The term is related to the modern Italian word fascio, used in the 20th century to designate peasant cooperatives and industrial workers' unions.
  Numerous governments and other authorities have used the image of the fasces for a symbol of power since the end of the Roman Empire. It has also been used to hearken back to the Roman republic, particularly by those who see themselves as modern-day successors to the old republic and/or its ideals. Italian Fascism, which derives its name from the fasces, arguably used this symbolism the most in the 20th century. The British Union of Fascists also used it in the 1930s. However, the fasces, as a widespread and long-established symbol in the West, has avoided the stigma associated with much of fascist symbolism, and many authorities continue to display them, including the federal government of the United States.
  Fasces in the United States[edit]Several offices and institutions in the United States have incorporated representations of the fasces into their iconography.
  In the Oval Office, above the door leading to the exterior walkway, and above the corresponding door on the opposite wall, which leads to the President's private office. Note: the fasces depicted have no axes, possibly because in the Roman Republic, the blade was always removed from the bundle whenever the fasces were carried inside the city, in order to symbolize the rights of citizens against arbitrary state power (see above).The grand seal of Harvard University inside Memorial Church is flanked by two inward-pointing fasces. The seal is located directly below the 112 m (368 ft) steeple and the Great Seal of the United States inside the Memorial Room. The walls of the room list the names of Harvard students, faculty, and alumni that gave their lives in service of the United States during World War I along with an empty tomb depicting Alma Mater holding a slain Harvard student.The National Guard uses the fasces on the seal of the National Guard Bureau, and it appears in the insignia of Regular Army officers assigned to National Guard liaison and in the insignia and unit symbols of National Guard units themselves. For instance, the regimental crest of the 71st Infantry Regiment (New York) of the New York National Guard consisted of a gold fasces set on a blue background.The reverse of the United States "Mercury" dime (minted from 1916 to 1945) bears the design of a fasces and an olive branch.Two fasces appear on either side of the flag of the United States behind the podium in the United States House of Representatives.The Mace of the United States House of Representatives, designed to resemble fasces, consists of thirteen ebony rods bound together in the same fashion as the fasces, topped by a silver eagle on a globe.The official seal of the United States Senate has as one component a pair of crossed fasces.Fasces ring the base of the Statue of Freedom atop the United States Capitol building.A frieze on the facade of the United States Supreme Court building depicts the figure of a Roman centurion holding a fasces, to represent "order".[6]The main entrance hallways in the Wisconsin State Capitol have lamps which are decorated with stone fasces motifs.At the Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln's seat of state bears the fasces'--without axes'--on the fronts of its arms. (Fasces also appear on the pylons flanking the main staircase leading into the memorial.)The official seal of the United States Tax Court bears the fasces at its center.Four fasces flank the two bronze plaques on either side of the bust of Lincoln memorializing his Gettysburg Address at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.The fasces appears on the state seal of Colorado, USA, beneath the "All-seeing eye" (or Eye of Providence) and above the mountains and mines.The hallmark of the Kerr & Co silver company was a fasces.On the seal of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, a figure carries a fasces; the seal appears on the borough flag. Fasces can also be seen in the stone columns at Grand Army Plaza.Used as part of the Knights of Columbus emblem (designed in 1883).Many local police departments use the fasces as part of their badges and other symbols. For instance, the top border of the Los Angeles Police Department badge features a fasces. (1940)Commercially, a small fasces appeared at the top of one of the insignia of the Hupmobile car.A fasces appears on the statue of George Washington, made by Jean-Antoine Houdon which is now in the Virginia State CapitalColumns in the form of fasces line the entrance to Buffalo City Hall.VAW-116 have a fasces on their unit insigniaSan Francisco's Coit Tower has two fasces-like insignia (without the axe) carved above its entrance, flanking a Phoenix.The seal of the United States Courts Administrative OfficeIn the Washington Monument, there is a statue of George Washington leaning on a fascesA fasces is a common element in US Army Military Police heraldry, most visibly on the shoulder sleeve insignia of the 18th Military Police Brigade and the 42nd Military Police Brigade.Two monuments erected in Chicago at the time of the Century of Progress Exposition are adorned with fasces. The monument to Christopher Columbus (1933) in Grant Park has them on the ends of its exedra. The Balbo Monument in Burnham Park, (1934) a gift from Benito Mussolini, has the vandalized remains of fasces on all four corners of its plinth.[7]Fasces in France[edit]A review of the images included in Les Grands Palais de France Fontainebleau [8][9] reveals that French architects used the Roman fasces (faisceaux romains) as a decorative device as early as the reign of Louis XIII (1610''1643) and continued to employ it through the periods of Napoleon I's Empire (1804''1815).
  The fasces typically appeared in a context reminiscent of the Roman Republic and/or of the Roman Empire. The French Revolution has used many references to the ancient Roman Republic in its imagery. During the First Republic, topped by the Phrygian cap, the fasces is a tribute to the Roman Republic and means that power belongs to the people. It also symbolizes the "unity and indivisibility of the Republic",[10] as stated in the French Constitution. In 1848 and after 1870, it appears on the seal of the French Republic, held by Liberty. There is always the fasces in the arms of the French Republic with the "RF" for R(C)publique fran§aise (see image below), surrounded by leaves of olive tree (as a symbol of peace) and oak (as a symbol of justice). While it is widely used by French officials, this symbol never was officially adopted by the government.[11]
  The fasces appears on the helmet and the buckle insignia of the French Army's Autonomous Corps of Military Justice, as well as on that service's distinct cap badges for the prosecuting and defending lawyers in a court-martial.[citation needed]
  Other modern authorities and movements[edit]The following cases all involve the adoption of the fasces as a symbol or icon; no actual physical re-introduction has occurred.
  Aiguillettes worn by aides-de-camp in many Commonwealth armed forces bear the fasces on the metal points; the origin of this is unknown, as the fasces is an uncommon symbol in British/Commonwealth heraldry and insignia.Napoleon and the French Revolution; this emblem remains on the front cover of French passports and as part of the French coat of armsThe Spanish gendarmerie Guardia CivilBoth the Norwegian and Swedish Police Service have double fasces in their logos.The Miners Flag (also known as the "Diggers' Banner"), the standard of 19th-century gold-miners in the colony of Victoria, in Australia, included the fasces as a symbol of unity and strength of common purpose. This flag symbolized the movement prior to the rebellion at the Eureka Stockade (1854).The coat of arms of Ecuador, which also features on its national flag, has included a fasces since 1822.The coat of arms of Cameroon features two fasces which form a diagonal cross.The coat of arms of Cuba features a fasces.The third flag of Gran Colombia, a former nation in South America, depicted a large fasces entwined with several arrows.The coat of arms of Norte de Santander, a department of Colombia, and of its capital Cºcuta, both feature a fasces.The Grand Coat of Arms of Vilnius, Lithuania features a fasces.The crest of the fraternity Alpha Phi Delta displays the fasces in its heraldry.The crest of the Chi Phi Fraternity features a fasces.The symbol of the National Party (Uruguay) (Partido Nacional)On the entrance of the Royal Palace of Laeken in BelgiumThe British Union of Fascists originally used the fasces on their flag until adopting the Flash and CircleSources[edit]Tassi Scandone Elena, Verghe, scuri e fasci littori in Etruria - Contributo allo studio degli insignia imperii. Volume n. 36 della Biblioteca di Studi Etruschi dell'Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi ed Italici, Istituti Editoriali e Poligrafici Internazionali, Pisa - Roma, 2001. ISBN 88-8147-263-5. Pp. 272, con VII tavv. f.t.Salvatori Paola S., L'adozione del fascio littorio nella monetazione dell'Italia fascista, in Rivista italiana di numismatica e scienze affini>>, CIX, 2008, pp. 333''352.See also[edit]^Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: fasces^Fascio^Haynes, S. (2000). Etruscan civilization: A cultural history. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum.^"Fasces". 2011-03-26. Retrieved 2011-04-13. ^Livius.org, fasces^The Supreme Court Historical Society^Bach, Ira and Mary Lackritz Gray, ''A Guide to Chicago's Public Sculpture'', The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1983 p. 11-12^Les Grands Palais de France Fontainebleau , I re S(C)rie, Styles Louis XV, Louis XVI, Empire, Labrairie Centrale D'Art Et D'Architecture, Ancienne Maison Morel, Ch. Eggimann, Succ, 106, Boulevard Saint Germain, Paris, 1910^Les Grands Palais de France : Fontainebleau , II me S(C)rie, Les Appartments D'Anne D'Autriche, De Fran§ois I er, Et D'Elenonre La Chapelle, Labrairie Centrale D'Art Et D'Architecture, Ancienne Maison Morel, Ch. Eggimann, Succ, 106, Boulevard Saint Germain, Paris, 1912^Site of the French Presidency^Site of the French PresidencyExternal links[edit]
8billion for EU youth unemployment
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 13:20
  BRUSSELS--European Union leaders have agreed to increase the money set aside to fight youth unemployment to at least 8 billion euros from an earlier target of EUR6 billion, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said Friday.
  "There will be substantially more, at least EUR8 billion in total," Mr. Van Rompuy told journalists after a regular summit meeting in the EU capital.
  The 27 EU governments had earlier proposed setting aside EUR6 billion in the bloc's next seven-year budget that will be used in part to fund a "youth guarantee," ensuring that young people have access to a job, apprenticeship or further education within four months of leaving school.
  However, some leaders had argued that EUR6 billion--less than 1% of the bloc's budget--to be disbursed over the next two years wouldn't be nearly enough to make a dent in the problem.
  Speaking to reporters after the summit, Italy's Prime Minister Enrico Letta said an extra EUR3 billion would likely be made available to reduce sky-high youth unemployment rates in countries hardest hit by the crisis.
  Write to Tom Fairless at tom.fairless@dowjones.com
  (Matthew Dalton and Giada Zampano in Brussels contributed to this article.)
  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  06-27-13 2010ET
  Copyright (c) 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.News Provided by
  ...
Bloomberg Warns of Sparkler-Wielding Terrorists -- Daily Intelligencer
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  A recently passed bill to allow the sale of sparklers in New York wouldn't even apply in the five boroughs, but Mayor Bloomberg is still urging Governor Cuomo to veto it, arguing that terrorists could use the fireworks to make a bomb. The mayor's office pointed to failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, though he used fireworks containing gunpowder, which isn't found in sparklers. You can ponder whether the risks are worth it while making your annual pre-Fourth of July trek to Connecticut.
The Great Comex Paper Gold Dump: Online Real-Time Physical Gold Price Datasource
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  Source: Zero Hedge
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 05:40
  For previous articles by the author go to: Gordon Gekko's Blog - http://www.gekkosblog.com
  So, Gold is apparently ''falling'' again? But is it? Really?
  Before we can answer that question, first we must ask - What is ''Gold Price''? Even more significantly, why the hell is Gold and its price so important anyways?
  So lets' begin.
  An Empire of Fraud and Deception
  The US Government '' operating today under the control of an international banking cartel '' is running a global empire whose sole aim is to exploit the many for the benefit of the few. But because the people won't be exploited willingly, you have to control them. Now, sure, you can use chains and whips like the good ol' days, but then the slaves won't be as productive and may even revolt if exploited too much. Indeed:
  ''The best slave is the one who thinks he is free.''
  --Johann von Goethe
  So massive lies and deception such as '' it's a ''free society'' governed by rule of law, it's a democracy, the government is there to serve and protect you, you have a right to privacy, you can be a Bill Gates or a Warren Buffet too if you just.work.hard.enough., etc. '' are used to first sedate the people and then they are raped and pillaged using the biggest deception of them all '' the currency. Whether it is secret surveillance on a global scale, wars based on false pretenses, luxurious summits, Bilderberg conferences, massive transfer of wealth from poor to the rich '' all of that is enabled by paper money '' the US Dollar. Ever since its Gold backing was removed (first internally, then externally) the dollar is nothing but a worthless piece of paper which can be printed (or created digitally) in unlimited amounts by the Central Bank, therefore enabling the government and people who control the banks to appropriate unlimited resources from the global economy (since the dollar is the world reserve currency) for their benefit. Due to mass ignorance on monetary matters (deliberately fostered since the education system and media is also under the government's - and by implication the cartel's - control), people normally don't pay any attention to it and continue to work and provide valuable output in exchange for worthless pieces of paper (for a detailed explanation of the paper money/debt fraud and the role of Gold, please refer to other articles my blog).
  So for an empire based on lies and deception, the biggest threat is if the lies start falling apart. If you're wondering why a ''superpower'' like the United States is so threatened and infuriated by the disclosures of an allegedly low level employee, wonder no more for more than the technical details, it is the fact that they expose the LIES, and thus threaten their control over the slaves.
  Imagine how they would feel if the biggest of their lies underpinning EVERYTHING was exposed? Gold is the only standard against which the dollar's value can be truly measured since all other currencies are unbacked pieces of paper as well (well, they are ''backed'' by the dollar, if that makes any sense). If the Gold price rises too much too fast, it would expose the worthlessness of their fiat franchise, the slaves will no longer work in exchange for it and which is why they need to keep it under control NO MATTER WHAT. This is why they have designed elaborate mechanisms in order to help hide the true Gold price. But, in the words of a true American Hero, Edward Snowden:
  Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped.
  What is ''Gold Price''?
  What you '' and the world at large '' refers to as the ''Gold Price'' today is actually the price of "futures" contracts traded on electronic "futures exchanges" operating in various countries, primary among them being the COMEX in the US operated by the CME Group and "regulated" by the CFTC.
  So what are "futures" and what is "spot price"? As per goldprice.org:
  Futures contracts, or just Futures, are standardized contracts for delivery (the seller delivers) or receipt (the buyer receives) some fixed quantity and quality of a commodity. Futures contracts are available for each month of the year. For example, a contract for delivery of December wheat can be purchased in May the year before.
  The "Spot Price" (price of Gold for immediate settlement/delivery) - the price used as reference Gold price throughout the world today - is simply the price of the futures contract of the "most active month" (most number of transactions) trading on the exchange, with the month referred to as "spot month".
  (For those of you familiar with the futures market fraud, you can skip the next 2 sections).
  How Its Supposed to Work
  Now, in theory, the futures price should accurately reflect the price at which one can obtain the actual physical metal since the futures contract is a legally binding contract to deliver the actual commodity. The exchanges have registered warehouses where the commodities with the requisite specs stated in the contract are stored to be delivered, should the buyer (remember this for later) choose to stand for delivery. A point to be noted here is that the futures exchanges allow trading on margin, i.e., you have to put up only a fraction of the actual contract value to trade, whether buying or selling (the amount of margin is decided by the exchange). If you're selling you can go "naked short" (sell a contract without possessing any Gold, only putting up a cash margin). So this type of contract trading on cash margin has a loophole in that a player with sufficiently deep pockets could overwhelm the market by introducing a large supply of contracts (buy or sell) causing panic selling or buying and unduly influencing the price to their benefit. Trading on margin facilitates this because for a big player putting up 5-20% cash margin is easy (even if it's in the billions), but procuring a large quantity of raw material, especially something like Gold, is rather difficult and subject to rules of nature. But the price manipulation can't last forever because at some point either you have to come up with the Gold (if you're selling) or front the full amount and take delivery (if you're buying) unless you choose to roll your position to another month. Now rolling over isn't without costs so if a player manipulates the price, it's usually for a short duration to profit from the price move and then they cover their position, at a profit of course. But the exchanges have safeguards against this in the form of position limits (no. of contracts bought/ sold at any given time) and also there are numerous regulations which obligate the exchange and its regulator to monitor trading activities and look for signs of fraud and manipulation. Hence normally such manipulation shouldn't be possible, and if it happens, is detectable and can be stopped.
  So everything looks good, people are trading, real price discovery is happening, price manipulators are at bay, people are playing fair, Obama is bringing hope and change, there is freedom in the US of A, and everybody can live happily ever after.
  How It Actually Works
  Unfortunately, reality is a b**ch.
  Now, what if there was a sufficiently large entity - so powerful as to be able to control the exchange and its regulators - having access to unlimited money with vested interest in manipulating the price - not for a short term cash profit but for other motives and a longer duration. Would that be possible?
  Think about it. But even if it's possible, why would somebody want to manipulate the Gold price? That too, for a long duration and not for a cash profit (because it already has unlimited cash). Who would want such a thing and what would they gain from it if not cash profits? Cui Bono? Does anyone/anything come to mind? Who has "unlimited cash"?
  Yes, that's right - the Federal Reserve. Now the Fed is just a front - collectively it can be referred to as the banking cartel or banking mafia which includes entities such as JP Morgan, et. al.
  These guys are sufficiently powerful and have a fairly strong motive in controlling the Gold price because Gold competes with the worthless paper currency issued by them. A rising Gold price signifies declining value and confidence in their paper money franchise. They have to protect it at any cost. If this sounds too conspiratorial, well, I only have one word for you: PRISM. For a detailed explanation of why this is the case, please refer to these articles here, here and here.
  They exploit the following loopholes to achieve their objectives:
  1. Most people trading futures end up NOT taking delivery. A majority are simply speculators interested only in profiting by betting on the price movements (and some hedgers who do not wish to go through the hassle of taking delivery) trading on margin. The bankers know this.
  Hence there are a lot more paper contracts floating around than there is real Gold. They are betting most won't bother and so far they seem to be right. Take a look at this extract below (via maxkeiser.com):
  ... COMEX continues to hold its place as the largest and most sophisticated meeting place for buyers and sellers to express their gold price opinions, in the form of bids and offers, on what the price should be. COMEX remains the beating heart of gold price discovery.
  Gold futures contracts are referred to as "paper-gold" because the size of this market is said to be over 100 times larger than physical gold available...open interest on the COMEX, at the time of writing, accounted for over 85% of demand on the gold futures market, so COMEX receives the most examination here. In theory investors are able to take delivery of the futures contract on expiry, although few do, instead choosing to roll the contract...the fact remains that all the long positions on COMEX cannot be settled in gold.
  2. As explained above (I suggest you read the whole article), Comex operated by the CME Group in the US is the primary futures exchange for Gold and is the trendsetter for Gold prices worldwide. They control the price on Comex and the rest of the world follows.
  3. Since they (indirectly) control the exchange and its regulators (Crimex Comex and the CFTC), position limits don't apply to these guys. They're above the law. They can issue an unlimited supply of paper contracts whenever they wish to suppress the price and if required, can indefinitely roll over till the longs bleed dry. If you don't believe this, please explain how this happened.
  Yes the longs can stand for delivery but most are heavily leveraged so few do. In a panic, even if it's manufactured, everyone bolts for the door.
  4. If you have never taken delivery from the Comex, I suggest you give it a try. It's not easy. Even though the Comex is the primary price setting venue for Gold, the people in charge there have done their utmost to make it a huge hassle to take delivery. This is intentional. The promoters of Comex DO NOT want you to take delivery, but only gamble in their casino. If they win, great; if not, they can always pay you off in freshly printed casino chips (dollars) - just don't ask them for the Gold. If you did, the whole enchilada would come falling apart.
  Disconnect Between Physical Gold and Gold Futures Price
  But this manipulation is not without consequence and cannot go on forever, no matter how powerful they are. The bigger the manipulation, the greater the blowback. To explain things better, read the following (from one of my previous articles):
  Anyone who has actually traded the Gold futures market for any length of time knows that this [manipulation] happens on a regular basis. So basically the government/Central Banks use the paper gold futures market as a price control mechanism for Gold (of course, they can't impose price controls on Gold overtly as it would reveal the lie - if Gold is a barbarous, meaningless relic why would you need to impose price controls on it?). But what happens when price controls are imposed on something? Shortages start to occur resulting in an even greater moonshot in price than would have otherwise occurred. A "black" market (which is actually the free market at play and depicts the true price of the commodity) eventually emerges where it sells at a premium to the official price. There are two reasons for this:
  1. Buyers - aware that the commodity/good is available at a discounted price - beat a path to the door of whoever is foolish enough to sell it at the government mandated price. Availability at that price soon runs out.
  2. The good becomes even scarcer as the costs of producing and selling it are no longer covered by the government mandated price. Aware of this, sellers withdraw from the market and demand ever higher prices for the good.
  And remember: for marketable goods, the "out" is money, but the only "out" for money is a superior form of money. When the paper currencies become unstable, the only "out" is Gold so you can be sure there will be no lack of buyers, only sellers - and there is no upper limit to high it can go. Theoretically, the price will be infinity when no seller is willing to sell Gold in exchange for paper. You want to be "out" of paper before we reach that event horizon.
  If the rigging in the futures market keeps continuing, the futures price at some point will decouple from the physical and become meaningless. This is exactly why you should use this opportunity to buy as much physical as possible at discounted prices while there are foolish sellers still willing to sell at the stated official (futures) price.
  What's happening in Gold futures market right now (and has been forecasted before) appears to be the beginning of ''the disconnect'' between ''Paper Gold'' a.k.a. futures and ''Real Physical Gold''. Entities who:
  Were/are solely in the game for cash profits and don't understand the fundamental basis for buying Gold but ride the price trends in the futures casinoHave realized that the paper gold is nearing its end game and want to be solely be holding the physicalHave been holding futures but are unable obtain physical Gold from the ComexNeed to liquidate futures positions to obtain dollars (for whatever reasons, e.g. funds which need to return money to their investors in dollars, morons going to dollar as a ''safe-haven'', etc.)are in the process of dumping paper Gold (including the fraudulent GLD ETF) en masse along with the bullion banks (ala JP Morgan) who have a vested interest in keeping the price low. This is what Andrew Maguire had to say recently regarding the physical market:
  Just off wholesaler calls. Most are too busy to talk at this time, but today (Thursday) will be the largest volume day this year and possibly 2 years. Central bank purchases are almost certainly far in excess of paper sales. We are so close to the marginal cost of production that my contacts are saying the gates are wide open here to purchase all physical that is available....
  Continued paper market supply saw another + 45 tons sold into the rise ahead of Thursday's fix and then in size directly post the fix. These were immense amounts of paper gold hitting the market, yet there is absolutely zero physical gold for sale and nothing but buy orders in the wholesale market.
  We are below the true costs of production for both gold and silverand it makes a good deal of sense for the central banks to be taking all that is offered. Fundamentally this will have a significant catch-up impact.
  Needless to say we are getting reports of extremely large allocations of gold, but also far larger direct producer deals being struck outside the paper markets. The one question is, just how long this paper market selling can continue to drive price when such a massive transfer of physical is underway?
  (All emphasis mine)
  There are strong hands and intelligent minds out there who know the truth and do not sell at every hint of a falling price. They care only about accumulating the physical metal '' as insurance in case of system failure - not about short term paper profits. In fact, many of them will NEVER sell; only buy whatever the price as long as this fiat money regime lasts. That is why the price has been rising for the past decade even with heavy manipulation happening on the Comex. Moreover, the Comex doesn't operate in a vacuum. If the price is suppressed there, the buyers - aware that it is available at a discount - will flock there and demand delivery. If it can't deliver, a break will occur in the prices being quoted on the Comex and the prices being quoted in the real world for the real metal as people dump the future contracts and try to find the physical elsewhere. This will render the futures prices worthless. By some accounts, the Comex is already under increasing pressure for delivery of the metal. So much so, that if you look at the Gold stocks inventory report published by Comex, they have recently put this disclaimer ON THEIR OWN warehouse stock report:
  The information in this report is taken from sources believed to be reliable; however, the Commodity Exchange, Inc. disclaims all liability whatsoever with regard to its accuracy or completeness. This report is produced for information purposes only.
  For questions regarding this report please email Registrar@cmegroup.com or call (312) 341-3370.
  I suggest you call that number right away because if they don't know what's in their own inventory, then who does?
  Of course they do realize the seriousness of the Gold situation. If they keep printing to infinity, the currency will eventually collapse against Gold. They are scared and desperate enough that they are thinking of using Volcker's playbook of letting the interest rates rise figuring maybe that will keep the Gold price in check and the scam may continue. They just floated a trial balloon in the form of fed taper talk just to see how it might work. And boy, it doesn't look good. Either way - interest rate increase or not - the economy is fried (which tells you why they are so interested in having laws and tools at their disposal which will help them control the populace '' so they can perpetuate their power through an economic collapse which is sure to occur). And no, rising interest rates won't save them because the amount of rise needed to stave off Gold is so high that it will probably kill everyone on the planet '' either that or people dump the worthless dollars and move to a Gold based system. Bottomline is, whether they like it or not, the world is going to have a debt jubilee with all the fiat currencies rendered worthless. He who has the Gold will make the rules.
  The tail is wagging the dog right now. Nobody '' NOBODY '' in their right minds is selling the physical. This is all futures movement, which as pointed out above, maybe 100 times larger than the physical market. We have to go through this phase to get to the other side. Think of this as a cleansing process. The fake futures market needs to die before true price discovery can begin. But this process offers a great opportunity to those who recognize it (for a limited time only though). We don't know how low the futures will go, but there will be a futures price below which the physical won't be available. Even though gold is already below its average cash cost, we don't know that level since paper speculators outnumber physical holders by a large margin, so the accumulators of the physical can keep getting the stuff for cheap as long as there is metal available. There is no single one defined moment of the beginning or the end of the disconnect. It's already started happening on some scale in most countries. With so-called "premiums" hovering around 20-25% for a long time now, silver futures are already worthless for physical buyers in many countries such as India. Premiums on Gold have also soared in India, one of largest physical buyers, while imports and gold coin sales to the public have been practically halted:
  India's biggest jewellers' association has asked members to stop selling gold bars and coins, about 35 per cent of their business, adding its weight to government efforts to cut gold imports and stem a swelling current account deficit.
  By the way, any guesses why that current account deficit is exploding out of control? That's right - in their greed, the Indian government printed too much local currency, and now they want to the people to be obedient little slaves and stop buying Gold! Bending over must be easier. Of course the "jewelers association" doesn't have a clue.
  So, we have tumbling prices (yes, the Indian currency has fallen, but Gold has fallen more, so its gotten ''cheaper''), yet no physical available, at least in India. Go figure. Soon this phenomenon will be seen in every country around the world.
  Online Physical Gold Price Datasource '' Real Gold Price
  I'd like to first define what is ''Real Gold Price'':
  Real Gold Price is the price at which the Real PHYSICAL Metal is available for delivery to the buyer's own PERSONAL possession and is the ONLY ONE that matters. It is NOT the Comex Futures price.
  Currently the difference between the two prices (futures vs. physical) is referred to as "premium" that you have to pay over "spot" (Gold futures price). But whatever the nomenclature, the fact remains that the paper Gold price no longer accurately reflects what you have to pay in the market to buy the metal. It's becoming meaningless for people who want the real stuff. Hence, yours truly has created a reference database/datasource that will accurately track and record in real time the price of real physical Gold. The data is sourced from what the major Precious Metal dealers are charging buyers to deliver real physical Gold to their own possession. It is important to note here that this does not include dealers/suppliers who are running some kind of allocated/unallocated scheme because until and unless the buyers have the metal in their hands, there is no guarantee that the metal has not been sold multiple times over or if indeed it even exists. The supplier may be able to provide a lower price for "the physical" if they are running such a scheme (and given today's rampant fraud in ALL markets, it is more likely than not that most are).
  Now anytime the price falls, there is available in real time what price the real metal is going for (I try to get the cheapest price for a given denomination, with the only condition that the dealer is currently shipping the item. Readers will have to help in this endeavor i.e. finding the lowest real price for different denominations). People will be fooled no more by prices of worthless paper contracts.
  For now, the prices are in USD and dealers are also mostly US based, but any dealer can be included as long as they are delivering on time and have price updates online. You can check out the website here:
  Real Price of Gold -http://www.realpriceofgold.com/
  More details such as how the data is collected and displayed etc. are available on the site, but just to give a preview, this is how the charts look like:
  The site tracks prices for a variety of gold product denominations. Here are what the current real world prices for those denominations look like:
  *Comex price for denominations other than 1 Oz were obtained by multiplying by the appropriate factor (pls seewebsitefor more details).
  As you can see, everything is on a ''premium''!
  If you look at the charts data, you will see that the real price right now closely tracks the comex price with almost a fixed difference (represented by the rolling average). It is my opinion that as the futures market breaks apart, two things will happen:
  1. The fixed difference will increase
  2. The patterns might diverge as well
  Indeed, if you look at the screenshot below for the 5 oz product, the premium jumped from the day before even as the Comex price remained almost the same:
  Of course, the data collection has only started since 13-Jun-2013, so I will be learning alongwith you. I'm sure there will be many things to see for the raw data doesn't lie.
  The site is a version 1.0, so I'm sure there are many improvements/features that may be needed. Please feel free to email me whatever feedback or questions you have about the site and I will respond as fast as I can. If I get many questions, I will put up a FAQ. Contact info is there on the site.
  I remember some technical analysts looking at the Gold price chart and declaring that Gold is now in a bear market. I fully agree. Because the chart they are looking at is, in fact, the Gold futures price chart, which will continue to be decimated. There is no chart out there for the REAL physical Gold price which will continue to be bought as insurance against the stupidity of man and as protection from the depredations of paper money producing Central ''Banks''.
  This empire of tyranny and violence can only be defeated by elimination of ignorance and deception and bringing out the truth '' in EVERY aspect - whether it is mass state-sponsored surveillance or fake futures exchange prices. Hopefully this website will help in exposing the biggest fraud of our times.
  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
  Some parts of this article have been included from ''What is Real Gold Price?'' section of the website, also authored by yours truly.
  Note: I realize some of the "premium" part is due to fabricating costs for the item, but how much fabricating cost can there be for a simple bar or coin? And what is Comex selling? An unadulterated sea of Gold?
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Media keeps lid on Mandela's death.
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: the tap
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 05:38
  Rumor has it; Plug Pulled and Mandela Is DEAD at age of 94?A reliable source has revealed that Nelson Mandela's life support machine was shut down and he has died in hospital aged 94. According to the source, the iconic Mandela died last night while he was still in hospital for the recurring lung infection that left him in critical condition for several days.Rumors have flooded the newspapers and the internet with several sources reporting his death days earlier in a cruel attempt to fool the public and to upset the many people who have respect for this great humanitarian. The loss of the great man will be felt across the world.Earlier today one of our writers, Laura Oneale, wrote an article questioning whether or not Nelson Mandela was still alive. He had been in the hospital 19 days for a recurring lung infection. As speculation surrounding his health continued to grow with many asking whether he was still alive or if, in fact, he had died. Until recently authorities would only confirm that he was on a life support system and remained in a critical condition.Authorities have confirmed that Nelson Mandela has been taken off his life support machine, adding fuel to the speculation that he had died. Because of this, the rumor has been spreading that Nelson Mandela died last night and that the government and his family have ''kept a lid'' on the news because of American Present Obama's upcoming trip to South Africa. Obviously, the president's visit will be overshadowed by the announcement of the Noble Prize wining Mandela.The Noble Prize winning humanitarian Nelson Mandela had his life support shut down after he died last night aged 94 at the end of a long battle with illness that ended with his hospitalization and finally his death.http://beautifulnightmare- killumbus.blogspot.co.uk/
  Mandela was a myth
Mystery as Century-Old Swiss Watch Discovered in Ancient Tomb Sealed for 400 Years
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Conscious Life News
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 05:38
  Posted by cln_Featured_, Ancient Mysteries, Hidden TruthsThursday, June 27th, 2013Cher Thornhill|DailymialUK | June 28 2013
  Archaeologists are stumped after finding a 100-year-old Swiss watch in an ancient tomb that was sealed more than 400 years ago.
  They believed they were the first to visit the Ming dynasty grave in Shangsi, southern China, since its occupant's funeral.
  But inside they uncovered a miniature watch in the shape of a ring marked 'Swiss' that is thought to be just a century old.
  The mysterious timepiece was encrusted in mud and rock and had stopped at 10:06 am.
  Watches were not around at the time of the Ming Dynasty and Switzerland did not even exist as a country, an expert pointed out.
  The archaeologists were filming a documentary with two journalists when they made the puzzling discovery.
  'When we tried to remove the soil wrapped around the coffin, suddenly a piece of rock dropped off and hit the ground with metallic sound,' said Jiang Yanyu, former curator of the Guangxi Museum.
  [Read full article here]
Retired U.S. General Is Focus of Inquiry Over Iran Leak
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: NYT > Home Page
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 05:36
  WASHINGTON '-- The former second-ranking officer in the United States military, retired Gen. James E. Cartwright of the Marines, is a target of an investigation into the leak of classified information about American cyberattacks on Iran's nuclear program, a person familiar with the investigation confirmed Thursday night.
  Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated PressGen. James E. Cartwright in a Pentagon news briefing in Washington in 2011.
  The leak investigation, being carried out by the United States attorney for Maryland, Rod J. Rosenstein, was announced by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. after articles in The New York Times described an ambitious series of cyberattacks under the code name Olympic Games that were intended to slow Iran's progress toward a nuclear bomb. That General Cartwright is a focus of the leak inquiry was first reported by NBC News.
  The general, 63, who served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2007 to 2011, became a favorite adviser of President Obama and was considered an influential voice in the White House on security matters.
  A lawyer for General Cartwright, Gregory B. Craig, who served as White House counsel early in the Obama administration, declined to comment.
  Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman for Mr. Rosenstein, declined to confirm or deny whether General Cartwright was being investigated. ''We don't have any comment at all,'' Ms. Murphy said.
  Since his retirement in 2011, General Cartwright has joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies and has spoken in favor of major cuts in nuclear weapons and warned of possible ''blowback'' from the use of drone aircraft by the United States in Pakistan and Yemen.
  Asked about the NBC News report, Jill Abramson, executive editor of The New York Times, said, ''We don't comment on our confidential sources.''
  Since President Obama took office in 2009, seven current or former government officials or contractors have been charged under the Espionage Act with leaking classified information, compared with three under all previous presidents. The seventh person charged was Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has acknowledged giving classified documents to The Guardian and The Washington Post.
  Press advocates have criticized the unprecedented crackdown on leaks, in which F.B.I. investigators have used e-mail and telephone records to track exchanges between reporters and sources, saying it endangers reporting on national security. But Mr. Obama and Mr. Holder have said that leaks can put American security at risk.
The CIA's Campaign To Squash Leaks Has Already Been Leaked To The Media
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Conscious Life News
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 05:35
  Posted by cln_Featured_, Government, PoliticsThursday, June 27th, 2013Abby O | Businessinsider | June 27 2013
  The CIA's new campaign to prevent leakers among its ranks might have a ready-made starting point after a memo outlining details of the ''Honor the Oath'' campaign was ''obtained'' by the Associated Press. The inference that the memo may have itself been leaked is lending itself to some instantaneous and rather glaring irony:
  60 RETWEETS 14 FAVORITES
  The new campaign comes straight from CIA Director John Brennan, who himself has an allegedly interesting relationship with leaks of classified information. He, some have argued, played a secondary but important role in steering journalists towards the classified tactics behind a foiled al-Qaeda plot in 2012, when he was Obama's counter-terrorism advisor. Incidentally, that's the same plot that probably prompted the DOJ to secretly obtain phone records of Associated Press reporters after they wrote a story on it, in an attempt to identify their source or sources. The White House, in a Reuters piece chronicling Brennan's possible role in the classified information leak, strongly denied that Brennan had anything to do with conveying classified information to the AP or anyone else.
  The memo was unclassified but marked for official use only, according to the Associated Press, indicating that the agency didn't intend for it to become public. Here's how Brennan's memo explains his new campaign to stop the CIA's leakage :
  ''Brennan says the 'Honor the Oath' campaign is intended to 'reinforce our corporate culture of secrecy' through education and training'...Brennan writes that the campaign stems from a review of CIA security launched last summer by former director David Petraeus, following what Brennan calls 'several high-profile anonymous leaks and publications by former senior officers.'''
  [read full article here]
CO2 or CFCs: Is the Planet Warming or Cooling?
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: WTF RLY REPORT
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 05:33
  Occupy Corporatismby Susanne Posel
  James Taylor, editor of Environment & Climate News, has pointed out how alarmist James Cook published a paper claiming that 12,000 peer-reviewed studies were collected and it was determined that 97% of scientists were in accord that climate change is man-made.
  The survey quote by Cook was misleading because it did not ask direct questions about global warming, but whether or not it was the opinion of those participants if humans caused climate change. Despite scientific data, subjective opinions are not empirical data and cannot be considered consensus.
  Apologists will say that there is a degree of uncertainty when predicting climate change; however instances where alarmists simply mislead and falsify information is a completely different level of simply getting a prediction wrong.
  New research into discovering the cause of global warming has uncovered that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are to blame for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since the 1970s.
  Qing-Bin Lu, professor and co-author of the study explains: ''Conventional thinking says that the emission of human-made non-CFC gases such as carbon dioxide has mainly contributed to global warming. But we have observed data going back to the Industrial Revolution that convincingly shows that conventional understanding is wrong. In fact, the data shows that CFCs conspiring with cosmic rays caused both the polar ozone hole and global warming.''
  In a press release for a the study: ''The conventional warming model of CO2, suggests the temperatures should have risen by 0.6°C over the same period, similar to the period of 1970-2002.''
  Lu continues: ''Most conventional theories expect that global temperatures will continue to increase as CO2 levels continue to rise, as they have done since 1850. What's striking is that since 2002, global temperatures have actually declined '' matching a decline in CFCs in the atmosphere. My calculations of CFC greenhouse effect show that there was global warming by about 0.6 °C from 1950 to 2002, but the earth has actually cooled since 2002. The cooling trend is set to continue for the next 50-70 years as the amount of CFCs in the atmosphere continues to decline.''
  It was pointed out that the temperature of the planet has been steadily cooling since 2002 and this ''cooling trend is sent to continue for the next 50-70 years as the amount of CFCs in the atmosphere continues to decline.''
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explains that CFCs ''are nontoxic, nonflammable chemicals containing atoms of carbon, chlorine, and fluorine'' that are used to make ''aerosol sprays, blowing agents for foams and packing materials, as solvents, and as refrigerants.''
  Anthony Watt, alarmist blogger claims that ''this may be nothing more than coincidental correlation. But to determine if his proposed cosmic-ray-driven electron-reaction mechanism is valid, I'd say it is a case of 'further study is needed', and worth funding.''
  Climate scientists assert that since the study ''run contrary to well-accepted understanding of the forces at work in the atmosphere'' than it is wrong.
  Based on Michael Mann's hockey stick graph , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that ''new evidence'' that ''the increase in temperature in the 20th century was likely to have been the largest of any century during the past 1,000 years.''
  In reality, Mann's graph was invented to coerce the public into buying the lie of man-made climate change. Mann intentionally manipulated scientific data to make global warming appear direr than it actually is.
  New data published shows that rising temperatures between 1997 and August of 2012 have shown no discernible aggregation and demonstrate a ''plateau'' on global warming. Figures prior to that period were observed as stable or declining for the previous 4 decades.
  The research shows a clear cooling trend while alarmists continue to claim that the planet is heating up and because of human activity and greenhouse gas emissions, there must be severe restrictions in industrialized nations before we cross ''the tipping point''.
  Last year, Harvard University published a study claiming that certain thunderstorms expel water vapor miles into the stratosphere, called convective injection, and that this phenomenon is causing the ozone layer to break apart.
  The study was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The US being an industrialized nation is a major polluter and therefore thinning the ozone layer over the North American continent, claim the researchers.
  This destruction is the justification behind banning CFCs to reduce pollution.
  James Anderson, professor of atmospheric chemistry at Harvard and lead researcher for the study decries that this new discovery directly links human activity to the destruction of our ozone which will quickly become a global issue.
  However, going back several decades, Anderson has been supporting colleagues who say that CFCs are the reason for the destruction of the earth's ozone layer. Now, this new study, which he was a part of, proves his long held theory and adds to the demonization of humanity in favor of saving the planet.
  Mario Molina, was influential in having CFCs banned in the 1980s with the support of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the UN and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) because this data backed-up their agenda against human innovation by controlling industry using the dangers of climate change as justification.
  In May, a study was released by scientists at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory which showed that pollutants added to the atmosphere by chemtrails is causing not only the toxins to rain down in thunderstorms, but also trap heat within the clouds which is causing a tremendous change in the planet's natural weather patterns.
  Via Occupy Corporatism
Personal Energy Grid | Victory Gasworks: Woodgas Generator, Turn-key Home Solar Power, CHP Natural Gas Generators, Gasifier, Biomass Energy
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 05:16
  Victory Renewable Energy GridPackage #1
  This 5 kw AC power package sells for $34,950Includes: Victory Grid pictured above under the ''System Layout.''
  Victory GasifierFeed Hopper (6 cubic feet)Heat ExchangersSpace age filterCoolerEngine genset & air controlsGenset enclosureFeed dryerStep & handrail12 volt system batteries
  PurchaseContact Us to order your Victory Grid. Lead times vary. Please keep in mind that this is a finely crafted heirloom with thousands of parts, being sold at an aggressive price to empower YOU the individual. We go as fast as the supply chain allows.
  We accept:CashCheckWire transferGold BarterMoney OrderDue to security and privacy concerns we do not accept credit card payments.
  FAQWhat allows biomass to become a fuel?Answer- When biomass is heated in a low oxygen environment the plant matter releases oils, gases, charcoal, ash and water vapor. We use the heat of the charcoal to refine the gases, oils and water vapor into a hydrogen rich fuel gas, similar to natural gas. It is hot enough inside to split water vapor.Can I store the gas? Answer- Technically yes, it has been done. A biogas storage membrane is the best option, but storing large volumes of gas can be both dangerous and unnecessary. Using batteries and hot water storage is safer and more convenient. If you attempt this you should have previous experience with gas compression.Can I pump the gas into my house? Answer- No, but you can cook with it outside. Indoor gases are required to have an odor added to them for safety. Part of the gas contains carbon monoxide which burns very cleanly, but can kill you quickly in an enclosed space.How long will it run?Answer- The Victory Grid will run unattended for 4-6 hours on a fill. The density of the feedstock and the engine load determine true rate of use.Can I power a diesel?Answer- You can run up to 80% Victory Gas and operate an un-modified diesel. To run 100% Victory Gas you must add spark ignition.What is the difference between clean gas and dirty gas?Answer- Clean gas has been broken down to a molecular level. It's just hydrogen and burnable carbon gases. Dirty gas has residual burned oils that didn't get fully broken down. Virtually every competing gasifier system you are likely to see will suffer from this problem. You can burn the oily gas, but the burned oils, called tar, will stick on valves and cause them to stop functioning when used in engines. It is very important that you understand this. Our systems produce no tar when used as directed. This gives your engine longer life and it gives you piece of mind. There are many people on the internet making wild claims about their machines and really they are tar machines. Hope you don't have to find out the hard way.What is the maintenance process?Answer- Empty the ash bin twice a week. Empty the water condensate after 8 hours use. Change the dry filter system after 8 hours use. Total maintenance time is less than 4 minutes per day.What is the power output?Answer- The system can be tuned for various power ranges for optimal output. For efficiency the Victory Grid produces 5kw electric. The system includes tuning components, so you can dial in the optimal performance for a wide range of engines.See our main FAQ for additional questions.
  2o Year Lifetime Warranty
  At Victory Gasworks we believe that quality matters. The quality of the products you use has an effect on the quality of your life, that's why we build them to last. The truth of that statement is born in our Victory Grid.
  VICTORY GASWORKS
  LIMITED WARRANTY ON GASIFIERAND REPLACEMENT PARTS EFFECTIVE AUGUST 1, 2011OUR WARRANTY TO YOU
  We warrant to you, the original purchaser, that all parts (except those referred to below) of your new gasifier and replacement partspurchased from Victory Gasworks in the United States will be free from defects in materials or workmanship during the followingperiods. (Refer to Service Policy for further details)
  1. Major Body Parts for 20 years that we build and we offer, without any modification or changes from its original condition.
  2. Minor parts, 1 year or 5,000 hours, whichever occurs first. Covers motors, switches, controllers and chokeplates. It does not cover replacement parts: seals, rings, gaskets, accessory parts, hoses, filters.
  3. Replacement parts for 90 days.
  WHAT WE WILL DO
  We will, at our option, repair or replace any part covered by this warranty which becomes defective, malfunctions or otherwise failsto conform with this warranty under normal use and service as stated in the owners manual during the term of the warranty at nocharge for parts or labor. (Parts only for minor parts or replacement parts).
  WHAT YOU MUST DO TO OBTAIN WARRANTY SERVICE
  In order to obtain warranty repairs, you must deliver the product, together with proof of purchase, to Victory Gasworks at yourexpense. Please go to our website: http://www.VictoryGasworks.com to find out the proper address to send it to or call our phonenumber that is found on our website.
  WHAT THE WARRANTY DOES NOT COVER
  This warranty does not cover:
  Damage, malfunctions or failures resulting from accidents, abuse, misuse, modifications, alteration, improper servicing, or lack ofperformance of required maintenance service.Normal maintenance services or replacement of maintenance items such as filters, gaskets, seals, hoses, accessory parts orrings.Installation of replacement parts, unless originally installed by Victory Gasworks.Non-genuine Victory Gasworks parts.Any damage that occurred by use of either non-specified biomass or any use of the gasifier except for its stated use in the ownersmanual to produce syngas from the specified biomass.Injection nozzle wear or any damage caused by injection nozzle wear.Damage caused by flooding, fire, or natural disaster.Used Products.Any damage caused by overheating that is not a direct result of a defect in materials or workmanship.Damage caused to any electrical component due to overload.THIS IS THE ONLY EXPRESS WARRANTY ON OUR GASIFIER PRODUCTS
  We neither assume nor authorize anyone to assume for us any other express warranty.
  LIMITATIONS ON OUR RESPONSIBILITY WITH RESPECT TO PRODUCTS PURCHASED AND USED FOR PERSONAL,FAMILY OR HOUSEHOLD USE.
  Our responsibility is to repair or replace defective parts as stated above. We will not be responsible for any other expenses, lossesor inconvenience which you may sustain as a result of the purchase, use, malfunction or defective condition of our products. ANYIMPLIED WARRANTIES INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSESHALL BE LIMITED IN DURATION TO THE PERIOD SET FORTH ABOVE AND IN NO EVENT WILL WE BE LIABLE FOR ANYSPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER. Some states do not allow limitation of incidental orconsequential damages, so the above limitations or exclusions may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights,and you may have other rights which vary from state to state.
  LIMITATIONS ON OUR RESPONSIBILITY WITH RESPECT TO PRODUCTS USED FOR RENTAL OR FOR COMMERCIAL,INDUSTRIAL OR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES.
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  Stare Armageddon in the Face'... and Laugh!Declare victory over uncertainty.There is no shortage of very real threats to modern life: EMP, solar flare, financial collapse, storms, riots, and other general calamity. And the first thing to go down is the power grid. A big centralized hulk of 1950'²s thinking that is simply outdated. Pretty soon you realize how much our lives depend directly on energy. Heating your home, fueling your car, powering your voracious appetite for electricity.
  The world is undergoing a massive change in philosophy from a top down, centrally planned system, to a model that is decentralized, more resilient and based on local resources. It's being driven by technology and by the need for individuals to have some certainty in their world. It's about being in control and in balance with what the environment can actually provide.
  So who controls your energy?How many gatekeepers does your fuel and electricity pass through before you can enjoy it? The answer is lot's of people: Saudi Royals, Venezuelan democratic dictators, oil drillers, coal miners, refiners, pipelines & powerlines, bureaucrats, diplomats and oh yeah' the power company and the gas station too.
  What happens when there is a hick-up in that long supply chain? You are out of power. Your well won't pump, you freezer defrosts and turns $772 worth of meat into trash. Your power dependent life becomes a struggle. We developed the Victory Gasifier to give you a fuel and energy source that you control, so the lights don't have to go out. Think of it as energy insurance. It's the investment that keeps giving.
US-Japan war games off the California coast imitate Chinese invasion '-- RT USA
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 03:24
  The US and Japan are preparing for a possible Chinese invasion of the Senkaku Islands. Using a small island off the coast of California, US and Japanese forces are mimicking an armed invasion and an amphibious assault to prepare for a real-life scenario.
  The unprecedented drills, code-named Dawn Blitz, are being conducted on San Clemente Island, which is 75 miles northwest of San Diego, the Christian Science Monitor reports. They began with an assault led by 80 US Marines and three MV-22 Osprey aircraft, and were followed by a Japanese counterattack using 1,000 troops and two warships. Although Japanese officials claim they are not preparing to target a third country, the exercises have made Chinese officials uncomfortable.
  China and Japan have long disputed the Senkaku Islands, which are located in the East China Sea but which the Japanese government purchased from private owners in 2012. The islands are uninhabited, but believed to hold rich oil and gas deposits. The purchase triggered violent protests that tens of thousands of Chinese took part in, and harmed Sino-Japanese relations.
  In the months after the purchase, the Chinese navy practiced military exercises near the islands, and joint US-Japanese naval drills subsequently occurred in the waters of the island chain. The latest drills off the California coast are only adding to tensions regarding the Senkaku Islands. Chinese officials reportedly objected to the drills, but their concerns were ignored by Washington, the Christian Science Monitor reports.
  "We're aware of China's objections, but from a Japanese and US perspective, the object of the exercise is to build a powerful deterrent and demonstrate that the two forces are seamlessly connected '' to show the Chinese that they are battle-ready," an official source familiar with Dawn Blitz told the Monitor on condition of anonymity. "There is nothing unusual in that."
  The exercises began just two days after President Obama met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a California summit on June 8. But even though some believe the US is in a tricky position, the official does not believe the US is in the wrong, since the US-Japan security treaty requires the country to help Japan deter any attacks on its territory.
  "I don't think Dawn Blitz puts the US in a tricky position," the official said. "They started the drill just after the Obama-Xi summit to avoid any diplomatic repercussions. But the fact that Japan and the US went ahead with the exercise also sends a message '' that they are on the same page when it comes to deterring possible Chinese aggression."
  Lt. Gen. Koichi Isobe, Japan's vice chief of staff, told reporters that Japan's self-defense forces (SDF) need to develop the capabilities to ward off any attacks that might occur on the remote islands.
  "The defense of remote islands is a pressing issue, but the SDF [Japan's self-defense forces] has just begun training to develop such capabilities, which are required of US Marines," Japan's vice chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Koichi Isobe, told reporters. "Japan needs to determine its defense strategy and procure necessary equipment and train SDF members for this purpose."
  The US has publicly refused to take sides regarding the Senkaku Islands, but its training exercises with Japan may inadvertently cause a shift in its neutrality.
the tap: Home Abortion Needs Just One 12 oz Bottle Coca Cola.
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  Source: pg.chrys news feed
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 03:10
  Thought of as a soft drink. Strong enough to kill.Yes. One 12 oz oca Cola is all it takes to end a human life. Many women when late try to end their pregnancy, in poor countries, and over a period of time, they've worked out the best way to do it.
  All they need is a 12 oz bottle of Coca Cola. This they boil for fifteen minutes. Then they leave it out in the midday sun from morning til afternoon.
  This must do something to alter the chemical composition, because that alone, when drunk, can be fully effective to cause an abortion. They only add headache pills to beef up the solution, and whack, the pregnancy's over. It works in about half of cases, my partner assures me. Her friends have used it successfully.
  What chemicals are there inside Coca Cola which achieves this outcome, I wonder?
  Another report says that a metal coin left in Coca Cola for a week will dissolve into the liquid. You put an egg in Coca Cola and the shell disappears.
  What's in that drink, for God's sake?
  We know that sodas like Coca Cola cause huge increases in obesity and diabetes. It's not just the calories, you know.
  Julia added this.What's actually in a bottle of Coca Cola? And what does it do to your body?
  WASP writes - I started a reply to your Coke Article, but have temporarily lost it, as it was placed in a wrong folder, & I have hundreds of them, so if I find it I will post it on, I haven't done any Chemistry for a long time, but I can tell you there is a lot of stuff in Coke & many other Soft Drinks it is better to do without. I haven't drunk Coke for years.
  Sunday, 10 March 2013 07:19'A leading British expert has called for an investigation into serious health concerns over the artificial sweetener aspartame '' after the EU food watchdog insisted it was safe.The European Food Safety Authority has published a draft scientific opinion effectively rubbishing more than 20 studies which have identified potential problems with the sweetener, ranging from premature births to cancer.The authority's view will be welcomed by manufacturers who use aspartame and similar sweeteners in fizzy drinks such as Diet Coke, and diet foods consumed by millions of people every day.'
Gold falls below $1,200 an ounce
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 03:09
  27 June 2013Last updated at22:40 ETGold has continued its drop, falling to its lowest level in almost three years, after the US Federal Reserve said it would wind down its stimulus programme.
  Gold fell to $1,191.21 an ounce in Asia trade, after breaching the $1,200 mark in New York on Thursday for the first time since August 2010.
  The US Fed said last week that its bond purchases would start to "taper off" in coming months as the economy recovers.
  Analysts said investors had been anticipating further price falls.
  As a result there was a sell-off, resulting in a big drop in prices in recent days.
  "You don't want to catch a falling knife, so people who might be buyers are stepping aside and don't want to show gold at their quarter-end statement," said Axel Merk, chief investment officer at Merk Funds.
  Losing its lustre?Gold prices have had a remarkable run over the past few years, driven by two key factors.
  Continue reading the main storyGold's major attribute as a potential hedge against a major global crisis has been diluted''
  End QuoteMark MatthewsJulius BaerThe first has been the uncertainty surrounding the global economic situation after the global financial crisis and the sovereign debt problems in the eurozone.
  That saw many investors turn to gold - seen as a traditional safe haven asset in times of uncertainty.
  At the same time, the slowdown in the global economy, prompted central banks across the world to lower interest rates - to historic lows in many cases - in an attempt to try to boost growth.
  Analysts said that with interest rates so low, investors have been favouring gold.
  However, things have started to change in the past few months.
  The US economy has been recovering; as a result, the Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has said that the US central bank will scale back its $85bn a month bond buying programme.
  Analysts said that such a move may see interest rates rise again - making gold a less attractive option.
  At the same time, the risks surrounding the eurozone crisis seem to have abated as well, which has also hurt gold prices.
  "Gold's major attribute as a potential hedge against a major global crisis has been diluted," Mark Matthews of Julius Baer told the BBC.
  Mr Matthews said that given these factors the gold price may fall further.
'Derivatenstrop dreigt voor Itali' | RTL | Volg het nieuws terwijl het gebeurt
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 03:06
  'Derivatenstrop dreigt voor Itali'Itali dreigt miljarden te verliezen op derivaten die vorig jaar werden geherstructureerd. Dat meldde de Britse krant Financial Times (FT) woensdag op basis van documenten van het Italiaanse ministerie van Financin.
  Die tonen volgens de krant hoe Itali zijn financile positie in de jaren 90 aanzienlijk wist te verbeteren door derivatencontracten te sluiten met buitenlandse banken. Die contracten werden vorig jaar verlengd, waardoor Itali langer de tijd kan nemen om zijn schulden te betalen. In sommige gevallen gebeurt dit echter tegen ongunstiger voorwaarden voor Itali dan voorheen. Deskundigen die op verzoek van FT naar de documenten keken, schatten in dat het verlies voor Itali op de contracten kan oplopen tot 8 miljard euro.
  De derivaten hielpen Itali eind vorige eeuw zijn overheidstekort drastisch terug te dringen, zonder dat daar een flinke verhoging van de belastinginkomsten of verlaging van de overheidsuitgaven tegenover stond. Hierdoor wist het land op tijd te voldoen aan de voorwaarden om direct bij de invoering van de euro deel uit te maken van de Europese muntunie.
  Volgens de krant werden de contracten afgesloten in de tijd dat de huidige president van de Europese Centrale Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, topambtenaar was op het Italiaanse ministerie van Financin. De ECB wilde tegenover FT geen commentaar geven op de berichten.
Ex-Pentagon general target of leak investigation, sources say - Investigations
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:49
  Retired Marine Gen. James "Hoss" Cartwright was the second-highest ranking member of the U.S. military, and a key Obama adviser who served as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Legal sources tell NBC News Cartwright has been notified he's the target of a Justice Department criminal investigation into a leak about a covert U.S. cyberattack on Iran's nuclear program. NBC's Michael Isikoff reports.
  By Michael IsikoffNational Investigative Correspondent, NBC News
  Legal sources tell NBC News that the former second ranking officer in the U.S. military is now the target of a Justice Department investigation into a politically sensitive leak of classified information about a covert U.S. cyber attack on Iran's nuclear program.
  According to legal sources, Retired Marine Gen. James ''Hoss'' Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has received a target letter informing him that he's under investigation for allegedly leaking information about a massive attack using a computer virus named Stuxnet on Iran's nuclear facilities. Gen. Cartwright, 63, becomes the latest individual targeted over alleged leaks by the Obama administration, which has already prosecuted or charged eight individuals under the Espionage Act.
  Last year, the New York Times reported that Cartwright, a four-star general who was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 2007 to 2011, conceived and ran the cyber operation, called Olympic Games, under Presidents Bush and Obama. According to the front-page story by chief Washington correspondent David Sanger, President Obama ordered the cyber attacks sped up, and in 2010 an attack using the Stuxnet worm temporarily disabled 1,000 centrifuges that the Iranians were using to enrich uranium.
  The Times story included details of the Olympic Games operation, including the cooperation of Israeli intelligence and the way the virus was introduced to an Iranian nuclear facility. It described meetings in the White House Situation Room and was based on interviews with ''current and former American, European and Israeli officials involved in the program.''
  As soon as the Times report appeared, Congressional leaders demanded a criminal probe, and president Obama said he had ''zero tolerance'' for ''these kinds of leaks.'' Republicans charged that senior administration officials had leaked the details to bolster the president's national security credentials during the 2012 campaign.
  But, said legal sources, while the probe that Attorney General Eric Holder ordered initially focused on whether the information came from inside the White House, by late last year FBI agents were zeroing in on Cartwright, who had served as one of the president's ''inner circle'' of national security advisors. Two sources said prosecutors were able to identify Cartwright as a suspected leaker without resorting to a secret subpoena of the phone records of New York Times reporters.
  Related story
  The worm that turned: How Stuxnet helped heat up cyberarms race
  One source familiar with the probe said the Justice Department has not made a final decision on whether to charge Cartwright.
  Cartwright, who retired from the military in August 2011, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. His attorney, former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig, said Thursday, ''I have no comment.''
  But at Craig's urging, others called NBC News to defend Cartwright's reputation, while acknowledging they had no direct knowledge of the investigation. ''He's a great American,'' said former Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D.-Calif., who served as undersecretary of state for arms control in the Obama administration. ''All I know is he's always been one who acted in a way to defend the country and do so in a way that is beyond reproach.''
  The White House declined to comment, as did Justice Department officials.
  A member of the administration's Defense Policy Board, however, described the Stuxnet leak as ''very damaging.''
  ''Clearly what was going on here was a method and it should have been protected,'' said former California congresswoman Jane Harman. ''I think it's had devastating consequences.''
  More from NBC News Investigations:
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Alle ogen gericht op mogelijk bezoek Obama aan Mandela
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  Source: VK: Home
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:43
  Bewerkt door: redactie '' 28/06/13, 04:33 '' bron: Reuters
  (C) ap. Barack Obama in Senegal
  De Amerikaanse president Barack Obama reist vrijdag van Senegal naar Zuid-Afrika in de hoop op een laatste ontmoeting met zijn held Nelson Mandela. De voormalige president van Zuid-Afrika ligt op sterven, maar wordt nog kunstmatig in leven gehouden.
  (C) ap.
  (C) ap.
  (C) reuters.
  Obama is bezig aan een drielandentoer door Afrika. Met het officile bezoek hoopt de eerste zwarte president van Amerika iets goed te maken voor zijn jarenlange afwezigheid in het Afrikaanse continent.
  Voor hij Dakar vrijdag verlaat, staat er nog een ontmoeting met boeren en lokale ondernemers op de agenda. Maar de dag zal toch vooral in het teken staan van een mogelijk bezoek aan de 94-jarige Mandela. Of een ontmoeting tot de mogelijkheden behoort, is helemaal aan de familie, zo heeft het Witte Huis laten weten.
  Obama beschouwt Mandela, zoals zoveel anderen, als een held. Of ze elkaar nu zullen treffen of niet, de reis dient hoe dan ook als eerbetoon aan de voormalige leider van de anti-apartheid beweging. 'Als hij overlijdt is er (C)(C)n ding waarvan we allemaal overtuigd zijn. Zijn nalatenschap zal nooit verloren gaan', aldus Obama donderdag.
  De president zal vrijdagavond in Zuid-Afrika aankomen. Voor die avond staan geen openbare evenementen gepland. Een bezoek aan het ziekenhuis zou dus tot de mogelijkheden behoren.
Four Star General Close To Obama Under Investigation For Leaking Info About Cyber Attack On Iran
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Julian Assange's Attorney On NSA Spying On ALL Americans
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EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS SINCE 9/11 or TERROR WAR PROFITEERING 101
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New EU Plan Will Make Every Bank Account In Europe Vulnerable To Cyprus-Style Wealth Confiscation
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  Source: Activist Post
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:34
  Michael SnyderActivist PostDid you actually believe that they were not going to use the precedent that they set in Cyprus? On Thursday, EU finance ministers agreed to a shocking new plan that will make every bank account in Europe vulnerable to Cyprus-style bail-ins. In other words, the wealth confiscation that we just witnessed in Cyprus will now be used as a template for future bank failures all over Europe. That means that if you have a bank account in Europe, you could wake up some morning and every penny in that account over 100,000 euros could be gone.
  That is exactly what happened in Cyprus, and now EU officials plan to do the same thing all over Europe. For quite a while EU officials insisted that Cyprus was a "special case", but now we see that was a lie. International outrage over what happened in Cyprus has died down, and now they are pushing forward with what they probably had planned all along. But why have they chosen this specific moment to implement such a plan? Are they anticipating that we will see a wave of bank failures soon? Do they know something that they aren't telling us?
  Amazingly, this announcement received very little notice in the international media. The fact that bank account confiscation will now be a permanent part of the plan to bail out troubled banks in Europe should have made headline news all over the globe. The following is how CNN described the plan...
  European Union finance ministers approved a plan Thursday for dealing with future bank bailouts, forcing bondholders and shareholders to take the hit for bank rescues ahead of taxpayers.
  The new framework requires bondholders, shareholders and large depositors with over 100,000 euros to be first to suffer losses when banks fail. Depositors with less than 100,000 euros will be protected. Taxpayer funds would be used only as a last resort.
  According to this new plan, bondholders will be the first to be required to "contribute" when a bank bailout is necessary.Do you want to guess what that is going to do to the price of European bank bonds?
  Shareholders of the bank will be the next in line to get hit when a bank bailout happens.
  After that, they will go after those that have more than 100,000 euros in their bank accounts.
  EU officials say that such a plan is needed because bailing out banks with taxpayer money was creating too many problems...
  The European Union spent the equivalent of a third of its economic output on saving its banks between 2008 and 2011, using taxpayer cash but struggling to contain the crisis and - in the case of Ireland - almost bankrupting the country.
  But a bailout of Cyprus in March that forced losses on depositors marked a harsher approach that can now, following Thursday's agreement, be replicated elsewhere.
  Oh wonderful - the "Cyprus solution" can now be "replicated" everywhere in Europe.This plan will now be submitted to the European Parliament for final approval. The goal is to have this plan finalized by the end of this year.
  If you have a bank account in Europe with over 100,000 euros in it, get your money out now. I am not sure how else to say it.
  In Cyprus, there were retirees and small businesses that lost hundreds of thousands of euros overnight.
  Do not let that happen to you.
  And without a doubt, we are going to see a lot of banks fail in Europe over the next few years. This will especially be true once the next great financial crisis strikes.
  But even though we haven't even gotten to the next great financial crisis yet, the economic depression in Europe just continues to get even worse. Just consider these facts...
  -Car sales in Europe have hit a 20-year low.
  -Overall, the unemployment rate in the eurozone is sitting at 12.2 percent. That is a brand new all-time record high.
  -An average of 134 retail outlets are shutting down in Italy every single day. Overall, 224,000 retail establishments have closed down in Italy since 2008.
  -It is being projected that Italy will need to ask for an EU bailout within 6 months.
  -Consumer confidence in France has dropped to an all-time low.
  -The unemployment rate in France is up to 10.4 percent. That is the highest that it has been in 15 years.
  -Government is now responsible for 57 percent of all economic output in France.
  -In May, household lending in Europe declined at the fastest pace in 11 months.
  -During the first quarter, disposable income in the UK declined at the fastest pace in 25 years.
  -It is being projected that the unemployment rate in Spain will hit 28.5 percent next year.
  -Just a few years ago, the percentage of bad loans in Spain was under 2 percent. Now it is sitting at 10.87 percent.
  -The national debt in Spain has grown by 19.1 percent over the past 12 months alone.
  -The Greek government says that the Greek economy will shrink by 4.5 percent this year.
  -It is being projected that the unemployment rate in Greece will rise to 30 percent in 2014.
  And it certainly does not help that China has essentially declared a trade war on Europe. That is not going to help struggling European industries at all.
  I hope that more Americans will start paying attention to what is happening in Europe. The crippling economic problems that are sweeping across that continent will come here too.
  And at some point there is a very good chance that we will also see Cyprus-style bank account confiscation in this country.
  So don't put all of your eggs in one basket. It is good to have your assets spread around a bunch of different places. That makes it much harder for them to be wiped out all at once.
  What we are watching in Europe right now is really unprecedented in modern times. They are declaring open season on large bank deposits. In the end, a lot of people in Europe are going to lose a lot of money.
  Make sure that you are not one of them.
  This article first appeared here at the Economic Collapse Blog. Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here.
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Asthma research in gene test hope
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:31
  27 June 2013Last updated at21:45 ETResearch into the genetic risks for asthma could lead to a test which predicts which children will never grow out of it, says a study in The Lancet.
  Scientists found that those at higher genetic risk of asthma were 36% more likely to develop serious, life-long asthma than those with lower risk.
  But they said it was too soon to be used as a reliable clinical test.
  Asthma UK says the findings could help identify people whose asthma could become severe.
  Earlier studies had linked several genes to small increases in asthma risk.
  This study, led by researchers from Duke University in North Carolina, identified 15 separate locations in the human genome which are associated with asthma.
  Using this knowledge combined with data from a major New Zealand health study of more than 1,000 people since birth, the researchers were able to calculate the genetic risk score for 880 individuals.
  They then tracked the development and progression of their asthma from early childhood through to their late 30s.
  Continue reading the main story''Start QuoteGenetic risk prediction for asthma is still in its infancy.''
  End QuoteDr Daniel BelskyDuke UniversityThose with higher genetic risk scores were more likely to have severe asthma which continued into adulthood, and they more often developed problems with lung function.
  They were also more likely to miss school or work and to be admitted to hospital because of their asthma.
  At present, there are no tests that can predict which children will recover as they grow older.
  'Long way'Continue reading the main storyWhat is asthma?Asthma affects the airways in the lungs and can cause a cough, wheezing and breathlessness.
  It is one of the most common long-term medical conditions in the UK.
  Dr Daniel Belsky, a post-doctoral fellow at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, said it was too early to talk about a predictive test for severe asthma.
  "Although our study revealed that genetic risks can help to predict which childhood-onset asthma cases remit and which become life-course-persistent, genetic risk prediction for asthma is still in its infancy.
  "As additional risk genes are discovered, the value of genetic assessments is likely to improve."
  He said there was still a long way to go before genetic risk scores could be used routinely in medical practice.
  But the study could lead to a better understanding of asthma and how to treat it, he said.
  Leanne Reynolds, from the charity Asthma UK, said it was misleading to assume that some children 'grow out' of the condition.
  "We know that some children with asthma no longer experience symptoms when they reach adulthood, however... the underlying tendency still remains and so symptoms can still return in later life."
  However, she said further research in this area would be welcomed.
  "This could mean that in the future we're able to identify those people whose asthma will put them at greatest risk so we can ensure they get the support they need."
"If The NSA Is Monitoring Those Type Communications" Why Didn't They Stop Boston Bombing?
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:30
"American People Want The NSA Collecting Every Text Message Their Teenage Daughter Ever Sent"
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:29
Meteor shockwave circled globe twice
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:29
  27 June 2013Last updated at21:29 ETBy Simon RedfernReporter, BBC NewsThe shock wave from an asteroid that burned up over Russia in February was so powerful that it travelled twice around the globe, scientists say.
  Using a system of sensors set up to detect evidence of nuclear tests, they said it was the most powerful event ever recorded by the network.
  More than 1,000 people were injured when a 17m, 10,000-tonne space rock burned up above Chelyabinsk.
  The study appears in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
  The researchers studied data from the International Monitoring System (IMS) network operated by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO).
  The detection stations look out for ultra-low frequency acoustic waves, known as infrasound, that could come from nuclear test explosions. But the system can also detect large blasts from other sources, such as the Chelyabinsk fireball.
  Alexis Le Pichon, from the Atomic Energy Commission in France and colleagues report that the explosive energy of the impact was equivalent to 460 kilotonnes of TNT. This makes it the most energetic event reported since the 1908 Tunguska meteor in Siberia.
  Irons in the fireMeanwhile, another team of scientists has published a study focusing on the Tunguska event.
  The 1908 fireball, the biggest space impact of modern times, was probably caused by an iron-rich meteorite, a study in the journal Planetary and Space Science has confirmed.
  The Tunguska air blast is estimated to have been equivalent to three to five megatonnes of TNT, hundreds of times more energetic than the Hiroshima explosion, and it flattened trees across 2,000 sq km of forest.
  Victor Kvasnytsya, from Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences, and colleagues studied microscopic samples of mineral debris from the blast area that have been trapped in peat.
  In their paper, they describe the mineralogy of samples recovered from the peat in the 1970s and 80s. High-resolution imaging and spectroscopy identified carbon minerals such as diamond, lonsdaleite and graphite.
  Lonsdaleite in particular is found in carbon-rich material subjected to a shock wave, and is typically formed in meteorite impacts.
  The lonsdaleite fragments contain smaller inclusions of iron sulphides and iron-nickel alloys, troilite and taenite, which are also characteristic meteorite minerals.
  The iron to nickel ratio and the precise combinations of minerals assembled in these small fragments all point to a meteorite source, and are nearly identical to similar minerals found in the Canyon Diablo meteor that impacted Barringer Crater (Meteor Crater) in Arizona.
  The findings would appear to rule out a theory that the Tunguska airburst was caused by a large fragment of Comet Encke. This comet is responsible for a meteor shower called the Beta Taurids, which cascade into Earth's atmosphere in late June and July - the time of the Tunguska event.
RE: Field Day 2013 - PSK31 conduct
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:27
  K5TEDMemberPosts: 337
  Saturday, June 22, 2013.. 1800 UTC... Wham! I don't remember a Field Day when there were so many streams on 20m PSK31 in the first hour. By the second hour, the waterfall was packed solid, wall to wall with hundreds of signals. I'd set up my station on battery power, running 30w into a tripod mounted magloop, and things looked very promising.However, along with the huge turnout came a huge disappointment with some operators. It's understandable that in this contest there would be crowding, and working crowded PSK slots with a solar or battery powered station is not something foreign to me, but this was different.
  Having decided to bite the bullet and resist the urge to point and click on CQ FD streams, I opted instead to park on a slot and call, hoping they would come to me. They did. Only problem was, "those guys" showed up. The bad actors.
  I stopped keeping track of the times where I would call CQ, get a reply, and watch as another station would immediately start calling the station that was replying to me, on "my slot".
  Yeah, yeah, I get that the slot doesn't belong to anyone, but in this case, it had to be very obvious to the offending station that they were in effect breaking into an ongoing QSO. If I could see them, they could almost certainly see me, notwithstanding the fact that the other station was CALLING ME BY CALLSIGN.
  To top it off, the station calling me would ask for a resend, by my callsign, and the lids would continue to call them or worse, not getting a response from that station, would commit the ultimate insult, to try calling me, proving that they could, indeed, see me.. It was Just Like Phone Pileups, but more irritating, since there is no way to separate two PSK streams on the same slot. It's all Cheerios..
  What should have been a banner day for domestic PSK contacts turned into mostly an exercise in resending or ditching a potential contact point.
  W6DPSMemberPosts: 17
  I had that experience also.I heard several stations calling CQ on PSK were basically moved from 'their' spot because other stations would pop in and call to the stations that had originally answered the CQ, in some cases jumping in in the midst of a QSO asking the answering station to resend the exchange, and then replying with theirs.
  I noticed a couple of local stations that would apparently wait while another station answered a CQ, but then answer the same CQ before the calling station could respond, or continue to answer the CQ during a QSO.
  Or launch a CQ immediately following some else's. It might be that they couldn't hear the first stations, but when they consistently follow immediately after the first station ends transmission it sure looks suspicious.
  I wonder if it is simply not knowing better, or being so focused on the points that courtesy takes a hit...
  Don't even get me started on the stations running strong wide signals and de-sensing the whole passband.
  So what is the best way to get the word around on the polite way to operate (which should continue during Field Day and any other activities..).
  Dave, W6DPS (Operated PSK-31 as part of W6SCE)
  K5TEDMemberPosts: 337
  I know of one other channelized band where operators routinely call over each other and carry on contacts on top of each other with certain glee. Maybe the bad actors would fit in there..
  KO7IMemberPosts: 93
  Thank God it is to much work for the idiots to learn CW. Because of the problems stated, if I am field chairman at my club next year, the only thing the DIG modes will be used for is picking up the ARRL FD message. I gave our DIG guys a 12 hr slot on a 3 el yagi @ 40ft & a 40/80M fanned inverted vee at 70ft, netting us a whopping 150 qso's (12 - 13 qso's/hr). It was a wasted allocation of precious air time.
  Don KO7i
  N2MGAdministratorPosts: 35
  Did you guys run into really BROAD signals - our digital guys had that complaint. Seems like a lot of noob behavior as well as downright "bad actors".Mike N2MG
  N0IUOnly problem was, "those guys" showed up. The bad actors.
  This is what happens when you try and put 10 lbs. of "manure" in a 5 lb. bag! The bottom line is that PSK is a really horrible mode for Field Day. On any other day, seeing 10-12 stations on the waterfall is considered to be crowded, but when there are literally hundreds of PSK stations all trying to use 3000Hz of bandwidth, that is just a recipe for disaster. The math doesn't work. There just isn't enough room.N3QEMemberPosts: 1401
  I was extremely disappointed there wasn't more RTTY action, I had several easy FD RTTY QSO's and conditions on RTTY were perfectly straightforward. (I am a somewhat experienced RTTY contester). I struggled to make any PSK31 QSO's in the FD conditions on the same bands.Remember, especially on the high bands, just because you hear station A call CQ, doesn't mean that station B can hear station A calling CQ. Band awareness in digital modes can be difficult to come by - this is not CW with QSK.
  Tim.
  AJ4RWMemberPosts: 430
  This is what happens when you try and put 10 lbs. of "manure" in a 5 lb. bag! The bottom line is that PSK is a really horrible mode for Field Day. On any other day, seeing 10-12 stations on the waterfall is considered to be crowded, but when there are literally hundreds of PSK stations all trying to use 3000Hz of bandwidth, that is just a recipe for disaster. The math doesn't work. There just isn't enough room.
  AMEN to that. IMO, has anyone ever thought about using a secondary set of frequencies for the psk bunch. On 20 meters as an example, it seems like the psk crowd likes to conjugate around 14070 to 14075 with an emphasis on 14070 to 14073. Anything beyond that and you're interfering with another mode. As time progresses, more and more amateurs are using psk especially the QRP and antenna restricted guys. These frequencies are just a gentleman's agreement since no one owns a frequency but it does give direction to others wanting to work someone else using psk. I know HRD gives 14080 as a second frequency for psk but now that goes into RTTY territory. Maybe the psk guru's could designate another frequency set to alleviate the over crowding during contest. This is just a suggestion.
  KB3LIXMemberPosts: 927
  Did you guys run into really BROAD signals - our digital guys had that complaint. Seems like a lot of noob behavior as well as downright "bad actors".Mike N2MG
  BROAD Signals...That is an UNDERSTATEMENT !Lots of the "All knobs to the RIGHT" syndrome.Lots of clowns. Ran into three that sent me their brag files along withthe proper FD exchange.AND, why can't the PSK guys SPREAD OUT a bit.It isn't like they cannot go above 7070 or 14070.
  The PSK segments were downright CRAZY !I went back to CW just for the sanity factor.
  K5TEDMemberPosts: 337
  I was extremely disappointed there wasn't more RTTY action, I had several easy FD RTTY QSO's and conditions on RTTY were perfectly straightforward. (I am a somewhat experienced RTTY contester). I struggled to make any PSK31 QSO's in the FD conditions on the same bands.Remember, especially on the high bands, just because you hear station A call CQ, doesn't mean that station B can hear station A calling CQ. Band awareness in digital modes can be difficult to come by - this is not CW with QSK.
  Tim.
  Actually, Tim, it went more like this... :Station A - CQ FD de K5TEDStation B - K5TED, K5TED de STATIONBStation C - STATIONB, STATIONB de STATIONCStation B - K5TED, K5TED de STATIONB, PSE AGN WITH EXCHANGEStation A - STATIONB, STATIONB de K5TED, PSE CPY 1A STXStation C - STATIONB, STATIONB de STATIONC, PSE CPY 1A MORONSStation B - K5TED, K5TED de STATIONB, PSE AGNStation C - K5TED, K5TED de STATIONC, STATIONC 1A MORONS QSL QSL QSL
  ad nauseum...
  N9AOPMemberPosts: 86
  That's a shame that this has to happen. Being a CW man, I think that PSK is like watching paint dry. But when trying to interest younger folks to ham radio the computer assisted digital modes peak their interest more than the old men pounding the brass and talking into the mike. The condition of the PSK segment of the band this FD was a disaster. On another note, when the reporter comes for a story and pic of your operation, please grab a couple of teenagers and put them in front of the radio. I don't like to give the general public the impression that ham radio is an old mans hobby.Art
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Gov. Rick Perry 'slut-shames' Sen. Wendy Davis by noting her accomplishments
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  Archived Version
  Source: Twitchy » US Politics
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:26
  Yes, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is still allowed to talk, and the public at large is still free to wildly mischaracterize his words. The latest salvo in Perry's ''war on women'' consists of his direct ''attack'' on Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, whose filibuster Tuesday helped derail legislation that would restrict abortions in the state after 20 weeks and require physicians who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
  Think Progress is tonight leading the charge, leveled by Davis herself, that Perry attacked her in a statement today at the National Right to Life Convention, and it even has the video to prove it, as well as a transcript. Perry made reference in his remarks to the fact that both Davis and her mother were single mothers who overcame difficult circumstances, with Davis herself managing to graduate from Harvard Law School and be elected a state senator. ''Who are we to say that children born into the worst of circumstances can't grow to live successful lives?'' Perry asked.
  That was the attack, by the way.
  You right-wingers misunderstand, as usual. While it might seem as though Perry was saying Davis' own accomplishments are proof that every life has potential, his noting of her own motherhood was actually an example of passive-aggressive slut-shaming.
  Hey, why stop at claiming Perry was trying to imply it, even passively?
The NSA Can't Tell the Difference Between an American and a Foreigner
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Hacker News
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:25
  The National Security Agency has said for years that its global surveillance apparatus is only aimed at foreigners, and that ordinary Americans are only captured by accident. There's only problem with this long-standing contention, people who've worked within the system say: it's more-or-less technically impossible to keep average Americans out of the surveillance driftnet.
  "There is physically no way to ensure that you're only gathering U.S. person e-mails," said a telecommunications executive who has implemented U.S. government orders to collect data on foreign targets. "The system doesn't make any distinction about the nationality" of the individual who sent the message.
  While it's technically true that the NSA is not "targeting" the communications of Americans without a warrant, this is a narrow and legalistic statement. It belies the vast and indiscriminate scooping up of records on Americans' phone calls, e-mails, and Internet communications that has occurred for more than a decade under the cover of "foreign intelligence" gathering.
  The NSA is routinely capturing and storing vast amounts of the electronic communications of American citizens and legal residents, even though they were never individually the subject of a terrorism or criminal investigation, according to interviews with current and former intelligence officials, technology experts, and newly released government documents.
  A significant portion of this secret information-gathering is the result of so-called "incidental collection" of U.S. persons' information; Americans' communications just happen to be in the way when foreigners' data is scooped up.
  This incidental collection is partly the result of the way the global communications network is constructed. When the agency receives authorization from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to collect a broad range of e-mails or electronic communications that it believes are coming out of a foreign country, it's inevitable that it will collect some U.S. persons' information, too.
  "There are U.S. persons in every country," said a former intelligence official. "The NSA knows that when it collects great gobs [of communications] there are going to be U.S. persons in that country. They know that happens."
  But new documents reveal that the NSA has also deliberately gathered communications metadata that it had reason to believe was associated with Americans.
Apple Spells Out iTunes Radio Terms
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: LIVE@LEEDS
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:11
  Hannah Karp and Jessica E. Lessin 06/26/13
  Ahead of its launch of an online radio service Apple circulated terms to independent record labels last week, many of them more generous to the music companies than what rival Pandora Media currently pays.
  Apple intends to pay royalties to labels based on a blend of how many times listeners hear their songs and how much advertising Apple sells, according to the terms, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
  During iTunes Radio's first year, Apple will pay a label 0.13 cents each time a song is played, as well as 15% of net advertising revenue, proportionate to a given label's share of the music played on iTunes. In the second year, that bumps up to 0.14 cents per listen, plus 19% of ad revenue.
  That compares to the 0.12 cents Pandora pays labels per listen on its free service. Apple is also offering music publishers more than twice as much in royalties than Pandora does.
  Apple won't have to pay royalties for some performances of songs that are already in listeners' iTunes libraries, or songs that might be on an album that a listener owns just part of. Similarly, ''Heat Seeker'' tracks selected by iTunes for special promotions, are also exempted. Apple also doesn't have to pay for songs listeners skip before 20 seconds have elapsed. The company only gets to avoid paying royalties for two songs per hour for any given user.
  The terms for independent labels are similar but not identical to those given to the three major record companies '' Vivendi SA 's Universal Music Group, Access Industries Inc.'s Warner Music Group and Sony Corp. 's Sony Music Entertainment '' which are expected to receive cash advances against future royalties.
  An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
  Pandora was criticized by members of the band Pink Floyd in a recent USA Today opinion piece for complaining it pays too much in royalties to make a profit and asking artists to support its efforts to get a law passed that would cut the fees it pays.
  Pandora founder Tim Westergren said Wednesday that it isn't fair to compare Apple's royalty rates with Pandora's because the services work differently, and that different features on the two services could trigger different royalty payments.
  ''It's apples and oranges,'' said Mr. Westergren, referring to the two services.
  The ad revenue iTunes Radio generates might not necessarily be more significant than Pandora's. People familiar with Apple's thinking said the company is primarily hoping that iTunes Radio will encourage listeners to buy the tracks they like at the iTunes Store and help the tech giant sell more iPhones, iPods and other hardware.
  Though music sales are slipping fast across the industry with the growth of subscription streaming services that offer unlimited music for a monthly fee, Apple is likely to stick for now to its business model of selling songs on iTunes. That business has become marginally profitable in recent years, these people said '' as long as that model remains sustainable.
  The new radio service gives Apple a venue to develop its iAd system '' a mobile advertising platform for Apple devices that allows third-party developers to embed their apps with ads, these people added.
  The iTunes Radio licensing document also includes several references to terms for the use of music in talk, weather, sports and news programming on the new service. The agreement said Apple wouldn't have to pay the independent labels royalties for snippets of music used in the background of those sorts of programs. But it's unlikely Apple will invest much in creating such programming, given that it has long shied from creating its own content.
  Clear Channel Communications Inc. Chief Executive Bob Pittman said recently that only a tiny fraction of the people who listen to iHeartRadio, Clear Channel's digital service, listen online to such programming.
  Copyright 2013 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Ed Snowden beware: U.S. State Dept. has confirmed history of running covert abductions of Americans in Ecuador
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:08
  By Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
  (NaturalNews) As reported by the Associated Press, Edward Snowden managed to evade U.S. authorities and fly to Ecuador where he is apparently being granted political asylum.
  As AP reports:
  The former National Security Agency contractor and CIA technician fled Hong Kong and arrived at the Moscow airport, where he planned to spend the night before boarding an Aeroflot flight to Cuba. Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his government received an asylum request from Snowden, and the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said it would help him.
  What AP doesn't know -- and neither do most Americans -- is that the U.S. government has a well-established track record of running covert kidnapping and abduction operations in Ecuador to capture anyone they want.
  And the reason I know this is because I am the journalist who used to live in Ecuador and who broke the bombshell story of herbalist Greg Caton being kidnapped by U.S. authorities in Ecuador in 2009. He was then stuffed onto a U.S.-bound jet at the airport in Guayaquil and flown to Miami. That full story is published here on Natural News:
  www.naturalnews.com/027750_Greg_Caton_FDA.html
  What's fascinating is that at the time, in 2009, nobody believed this story was true. But today, in light of all the revelations that have surfaced about illegal, covert, rogue government groups doing whatever they want, this story on the abduction and kidnapping of a U.S. citizen living in Ecuador sounds astonishingly feasible. In fact, it is true.As I wrote in 2009, the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) managed to twist the arm of the State Department to have Greg Caton -- an herbalist -- added to Interpol's "red list." This list is normally reserved for extreme war criminals and international murderers, but because Greg Caton was selling anti-cancer salves made with Amazon rainforest herbs that really do eliminate many types of topical cancers, the U.S. government designated him as an enemy of the state (to protect the lucrative cancer industry, obviously).
  Keep in mind that Greg Caton's activities were not illegal in Ecuador. The U.S. government, however, wanted to destroy this man's business and cut off the supply of anti-cancer salves to U.S. customers. So they dispatched a covert team of government operatives to Ecuador who proceeded to bribe all the right people to have Caton arrested at gunpoint as he was driving down his own driveway.
  This process of abducting and kidnapping Caton was done completely outside of law, with no extradition request and with no due process whatsoever. It was an example of the U.S. government engaging in the kind of raw criminality we're increasingly seeing exposed week after week. In 2009, of course, most Americans still believed in Obama and thought their government would never engage in widespread criminal actions against the People. Today, however, we all know better.
  What makes this all the more hilarious today in 2013 is that U.S. officials are now lecturing Hong Kong on the "rule of law". As Time.com reported today:
  A senior U.S. official delivered a terse statement to Hong Kong on Saturday about Snowden, saying, "If Hong Kong doesn't act soon, it will complicate our bilateral relations and raise questions about Hong Kong's commitment to the rule of law."
  The rule of law? Give me a break. The U.S. violates all law -- both domestic and international -- any time it wants. The abduction and kidnapping of Greg Caton was a gross violation of law, but that didn't seem to bother the FDA nor the State Dept. back in 2009.
  It did bother Dr. Brian O'Leary, however. He was a NASA astronaut and globally-recognized scientist, and before he passed away, he gave me this statement on the record:
  I was shocked to hear about his kidnapping and illegal deportation to the U.S., regardless of perceptions of his legal status within the U.S., something I understand to be a mild violation at most. He is a legal resident of Ecuador and conducts a legal alternative health product [company] here. I thoroughly support his work in healing untold thousands of people of cancer and other serious diseases.
  Two years after this event, I obtained documents further proving that the U.S. State Department ran the abduction operation to kidnap Greg Caton in Ecuador. That story is outlined here:http://www.naturalnews.com/033573_FDA_abduction.html
  In that story, I wrote:
  NaturalNews has now acquired documentation proving that Greg Caton was illegally stalked and then abducted in Ecuador by U.S. State Department agents who bribed local officials and military personnel in Ecuador to help carry out the criminal acts. As part of its effort to criminalize Caton, the FDA conspired with the U.S. Dept. of Justice to provide false information to Interpol, the international criminal investigation group. Through this false information effort, the FDA managed to get Greg Caton listed as an international fugitive who was wanted for "drug-related crimes." He was even given a "red notice" status which is normally reserved for mass murderers, serial rapists and escaped war criminals.
  The reason all this matters is because Edward Snowden is obviously going to be a target for the criminal U.S. government (yes, an illegitimate occupying lawless government whose top people belong behind bars, not running the country). Most Americans incorrectly assume that once Snowden is safely in Ecuador, there is no way the U.S. government can force his return to "stand trial" in the USA (a total joke, as the trial will be charade of injustice, all carried out in total secrecy under the Big Brother excuse of "national security").
  They are WRONG in that assumption.
  The U.S. government can and will kidnap anyone it wants from Ecuador or any other country. The Obama administration, in particular, respects no law whatsoever. It will use secret military prisons, drone strikes, kidnappings, abduction, assassinations and anything else it wishes to use in order to eliminate enemies of the state. People like Ed Snowden.
  To truly understand all this, it helps to realize that the current actors who have seized control of the United States federal government are entirely illegitimate. There is no longer even the theater of acting like they abide by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Under their control, the government has become a sociopathic serial killer that hunts down and destroys anyone who tries to expose its deepest, darkest secrets.How do you think Rolling Stones journalist Michael Hastings died? Hours before his car exploded, he contacted Wikileaks and told them the FBI was following him. He also sent an email which has now surfaced, talking about how he needed to "go off the radar for a bit," obviously to avoid being stalked and assassinated.
  The body count of the Obama administration is rapidly exceeding even the Clinton body count. How do you think Breitbart died? And now, Breitbart's coroner has been found mysteriously dead from arsenic poisoning.
  If you think these are all coincidences, you're a fool. This is the Obama administration running its day-to-day operations, murdering anyone who has any real dirt that could threaten the criminal operatives running the White House, State Department, IRS and the NSA. Obama will no doubt bring this same system of mass murder and assassinations against Edward Snowden.
  Another problem with Snowden escaping to Ecuador is that it's very, very easy to kill an American in Ecuador. For starters, it's difficult to hide there. You don't blend in with the crowd when you're a tall white guy. (I know this from personal experience.)Secondly, Ecuador is a country where you can bribe your way past any security. Bribery and corruption is an everyday part of the way things get done in Ecuador, and while Correa has done a lot to clean up policing and government, corruption is so deeply embedded in the culture that there's no way to effectively stop it. The city of Guayaquil, in particular, is a hotbed of kidnapping and ransom, murder, violence and theft.
  What this means is that somebody is going to talk about Snowden's location. There will be a payoff and this information will be provided to U.S. intelligence authorities. They can then use this information to carry out anything from a covert deadly gas attack to a stealth bomber mission that drops a large cardboard bomb on Snowden's apartment. One way or another, U.S. government operatives will find a way to get to Snowden, and if they can't kidnap him, they will kill him.
  Make no mistake: Snowden is putting himself at grave personal risk to relocate to Ecuador. There is a very high likelihood that he will either be abducted or assassinated there. We can only hope that he realizes this and is putting out the Ecuador narrative as a cover story while actually relocating somewhere else. The first rule of dealing with covert intelligence operatives is never give them an easy target. Never tell them where you are, in other words, even if you think you're safely far away.
  Because as Greg Caton experienced, the U.S. can literally have men with assault rifles waiting for you at your doorstep... anywhere in the world, at any time, completely outside of law. The United States government respects no international law whatsoever. Like any bully, it resorts to the threat of violence to achieve its own criminal aims.
Ed Snowden beware: In Ecuador, U.S. will covertly abduct or kill you.
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:07
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Pentagon Is Updating Conflict Rules in Cyberspace
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: NYT > Home Page
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 01:34
  WASHINGTON '-- The Pentagon is updating its classified rules for warfare in cyberspace for the first time in seven years, an acknowledgment of the growing threat posed by computer-network attacks '-- and the need for the United States to improve its defenses and increase the nimbleness of its response, the nation's top military officer said Thursday.
  The officer, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said that, globally, new regulations were needed to govern actions by the world community in cyberspace. He said that the Chinese did not believe that hacking American systems violated any rules, since no rules existed.
  Discussing efforts to improve the Pentagon's tools for digital defense and offense, General Dempsey said the military must be ''able to operate at network speed, rather than what I call swivel-chair speed.''
  ''Cyber has escalated from an issue of moderate concern to one of the most serious threats to our national security,'' he said. ''We now live in a world of weaponized bits and bytes, where an entire country can be disrupted by the click of mouse.''
  Under a presidential directive, the Pentagon developed ''emergency procedures to guide our response to imminent, significant cyberthreats,'' and is ''updating our rules of engagement '-- the first update for cyber in seven years,'' he said. This effort has resulted in the creation of what General Dempsey called an interagency ''playbook for cyber.''
  During a speech at the Brookings Institution, a policy research center, General Dempsey said these new ''standing rules of engagement'' for military actions remained in draft form, and had not yet been approved.
  In his first major address on the new, virtual domain of computer warfare, General Dempsey gave an outline of what a significant attack might look like, and how the United States might respond.
  If the nation's critical infrastructure came under attack from poisonous code over a computer network from overseas, the first effort would be gathering information on the malware and the systems under attack. Network defenses would be in place, as ''our first instinct will be to pull up the drawbridge and prevent the attack, that is to say, block or defend,'' he said.
  If the attack could not be repulsed, the new playbook calls for ''active defense,'' which General Dempsey defined as a ''proportional'' effort ''to go out and disable the particular botnet that was attacking us.'' It is notable that, in this situation, the line between active defense and offense might be blurry.
  ''If it became something more widespread and we needed to do something beyond that, it would require interagency consultation and authorities at a higher level in order to do it,'' he said. Although these plans are classified, his statement indicated that the rules for responding in an escalated manner in cyberspace, or with a conventional retaliation, would require decisions by the civilian leadership.
  General Dempsey's speech drew a clear distinction between the nation's two major efforts in cyberspace. The military's role is in defending computer networks and, if so ordered by the president, carrying out offensive attacks. That is related to, but separate from, the intelligence community's efforts to gather intelligence in cyberspace. Several of those highly classified intelligence-gathering programs were exposed via leaks from a former contract worker for the National Security Agency.
  Assessing adversaries in cyberspace, General Dempsey said that China, in particular, had chosen a niche in stealing intellectual property. ''Their view is that there are no rules of the road in cyber,'' General Dempsey noted. He said American and Chinese officials would meet over coming days to discuss ways to ''to establish some rules of the road, so that we don't have these friction points in our relationship.''
  The military headquarters responsible for computer-network warfare, the United States Cyber Command, will grow by 4,000 personnel with an additional investment of $23 billion, General Dempsey said. (Cyber Command and the National Security Agency are led by the same officer, Gen. Keith B. Alexander.)
  ''We are doing all of this not to address run-of-the mill cyberintrusions, but to stop attacks of significant consequence '-- those that threaten life, limb and the country's core economic functioning,'' General Dempsey said.
UK government backs three-person IVF
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: BBC News - Home
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 01:33
  27 June 2013Last updated at19:33 ETBy James GallagherHealth and science reporter, BBC NewsThe UK looks set to become the first country to allow the creation of babies using DNA from three people, after the government backed the IVF technique.
  It will produce draft regulations later this year and the procedure could be offered within two years.
  Experts say three-person IVF could eliminate debilitating and potentially fatal mitochondrial diseases that are passed on from mother to child.
  Opponents say it is unethical and could set the UK on a "slippery slope".
  They also argue that affected couples could adopt or use egg donors instead.
  Mitochondria are the tiny, biological "power stations" that give the body energy. They are passed from a mother, through the egg, to her child.
  Continue reading the main storyEvery time Sharon Bernardi became pregnant, she hoped for a healthy child.
  But all seven of her children died from a rare genetic disease that affects the central nervous system - three of them just hours after birth.
  When her fourth child, Edward, was born, doctors discovered the disease was caused by a defect in Sharon's mitochondria.
  Edward was given drugs and blood transfusions to prevent the lactic acidosis (a kind of blood poisoning) that had killed his siblings.
  Five weeks later Sharon and her husband, Neil, were allowed to take Edward to their home in Sunderland for Christmas - but his health slowly began to deteriorate.
  Edward survived into adulthood, dying in 2011 at the age of 21.
  Now Sharon is supporting medical research that would allow defective mitochondria to be replaced by DNA from another woman.
  Defective mitochondria affect one in every 6,500 babies. It can leave them starved of energy, resulting in muscle weakness, blindness, heart failure and death in the most extreme cases.
  Research suggests that using mitochondria from a donor egg can prevent the diseases.
  It is envisaged that up to 10 couples a year would benefit from the treatment.
  However, it would result in babies having DNA from two parents and a tiny amount from a third donor as the mitochondria themselves have their own DNA.
  'Clearly sensitive'Earlier this year, a public consultation by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) concluded there was "general support" for the idea and that there was no evidence that the advanced form of IVF was unsafe.
  The chief medical officer for England, Prof Dame Sally Davies, said: "Scientists have developed ground-breaking new procedures which could stop these disease being passed on, bringing hope to many families seeking to prevent their future children inheriting them.
  "It's only right that we look to introduce this life-saving treatment as soon as we can."
  She said there were "clearly some sensitive issues here" but said she was "personally very comfortable" with altering mitochondria.
  Scientists have devised two techniques that allow them to take the genetic information from the mother and place it into the egg of a donor with healthy mitochondria.
  Continue reading the main storyThe result is a baby with genetic information from three people.
  They would have more than 20,000 genes from their parents and 37 mitochondrial genes from a donor.
  It is a change that would have ramifications through the generations as scientists would be altering human genetic inheritance.
  Objections to the procedure have been raised ever since it was first mooted.
  Dr David King, the director of Human Genetics Alert, said: "These techniques are unnecessary and unsafe and were in fact rejected by the majority of consultation responses.
  'Designer baby'"It is a disaster that the decision to cross the line that will eventually lead to a eugenic designer baby market should be taken on the basis of an utterly biased and inadequate consultation."
  One of the main concerns raised in the HFEA's public consultation was of a "slippery slope" which could lead to other forms of genetic modification.
  Draft regulations will be produced this year with a final version expected to be debated and voted on in Parliament during 2014.
  Newcastle University is pioneering one of the techniques that could be used for three-person IVF.
  Prof Doug Turnbull, the director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research at the university, said he was "delighted".
  Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
  He said: "This is excellent news for families with mitochondrial disease.
  "This will give women who carry these diseased genes more reproductive choice and the opportunity to have children free of mitochondrial disease. I am very grateful to all those who have supported this work."
  The fine details of the regulations are still uncertain, yet it is expected to be for only the most severe cases.
  It is also likely that children would have no right to know who the egg donor was and that any children resulting from the procedure would be monitored closely for the rest of their lives.
  Sir John Tooke, the president of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said: "Introducing regulations now will ensure that there is no avoidable delay in these treatments reaching affected families once there is sufficient evidence of safety and efficacy.
  "It is also a positive step towards ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of cutting-edge research in this area."
"There Should Be NO SYMPATHY" For Boston Bombing SUSPECT Because "He's The Younger Brother"
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API - AOL Reader.
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  Description: Retrieves all of user's subscribed feeds and information.
  Accepted Method TypeGET
  Required Parameterstoken
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  Return Codes200
  successful
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  fail due to invalid authentication/authorization
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  500
  fail due to internal error
  Example :{"subscriptions":[{"id":"feed/529695ee83ba1748c960edd720609f50","url":"http://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/huffingtonpost/LatestNews","title":"Huffington Post Latest News","categories":[{"id":"user/1/label/News","label":"News"}],"htmlUrl":"","sortid":"","firstitemmsec":""},{"id":"feed/e49c83a0aa8aedcd86382f052e42d8bf","url":"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/feeds/verticals/business/index.xml","title":"Huffington Post Business News","categories":[{"id":"user/1/label/News","label":"News"}],"htmlUrl":"","sortid":"","firstitemmsec":""}]}
Planned Parenthood : 'We'll Be Ready' for TX Special Session
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  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 01:30
  Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards was at the Texas State Capitol until the early hours of Wednesday morning as protesters and Democratic lawmakers successfully blocked passage of a bill that would have shut down nearly all of the state's abortion clinics and banned abortion after 20-weeks post-fertilization.
  State Senator Wendy Davis filibustered the bill for nearly 11 hours before Republican senators interrupted her. As the midnight deadline for the special session drew near, hundreds of protesters in the gallery erupted into cheers that drowned out the proceedings, but Republican lawmakers attempted to claim they had passed the bill anyway. Hours later, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst conceded the vote had not followed legislative procedures, blaming what he called an "unruly mob using Occupy Wall Street tactics." Shortly after 3 a.m., Richards delivered news of the pro-choice victory to protesters in the Capitol rotunda, an area that also houses the portrait of Richards' mother, former Texas Governor Ann Richards.
  Democracy Now! spoke to Cecile Richards as she boarded a plane Wednesday morning and asked her what happens next. "With the thousands of people who were mobilized this time around, they will be doubly that way if in fact Gov. [Rick Perry] tries to push [the bill] through again in another special session. And if he does, we'll be ready," Richards says.
Obama: Not Going to Send Jets for Force Down Snowden's Plane
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 01:30
  President Obama sought to downplay his administration's oft-bellicose efforts to acquire whistleblower Edward Snowden, saying that he isn't ''going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker.''
  It's not entirely a rhetorical point, as White House Press Secretary Jay Carney conspicuously dodged questions about whether or not the US might militarily attack a civilian airliner carrying Snowden, fueling speculation that it was at least a possibility under consideration.
  Obama also appeared to pout about the Russian government's refusal to hand Snowden over, saying he didn't feel like he should have to personally ask Russia or China to capture Snowden for him, and that his ''continued expectation'' is that Russia will eventually knuckle under.
  Obama's comments typified the administration's reaction, as he simultaneously tried to downplay the revelations while seeming baffled and somewhat angered that the US government's hope to punish Snowden for revealing their abusive surveillance wasn't universally shared.
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European Council
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Extract on MFF
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"Is The CIA Protecting Edward Snowden?"
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Planned Parenthood : 'We'll Be Ready' for TX Special Session | Occupy America
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 01:25
  Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards was at the Texas State Capitol until the early hours of Wednesday morning as protesters and Democratic lawmakers successfully blocked passage of a bill that would have shut down nearly all of the state's abortion clinics and banned abortion after 20-weeks post-fertilization.
  State Senator Wendy Davis filibustered the bill for nearly 11 hours before Republican senators interrupted her. As the midnight deadline for the special session drew near, hundreds of protesters in the gallery erupted into cheers that drowned out the proceedings, but Republican lawmakers attempted to claim they had passed the bill anyway. Hours later, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst conceded the vote had not followed legislative procedures, blaming what he called an "unruly mob using Occupy Wall Street tactics." Shortly after 3 a.m., Richards delivered news of the pro-choice victory to protesters in the Capitol rotunda, an area that also houses the portrait of Richards' mother, former Texas Governor Ann Richards.
  Democracy Now! spoke to Cecile Richards as she boarded a plane Wednesday morning and asked her what happens next. "With the thousands of people who were mobilized this time around, they will be doubly that way if in fact Gov. [Rick Perry] tries to push [the bill] through again in another special session. And if he does, we'll be ready," Richards says.
WikiLeaks Volunteer Was a Paid Informant for the FBI | Threat Level | Wired.com
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 01:13
  Thordarson with Julian Assange. Photo: Courtesy Sigurdur Thordarson
  On an August workday in 2011, a cherubic 18-year-old Icelandic man named Sigurdur ''Siggi'' Thordarson walked through the stately doors of the U.S. embassy in Reykjav­k, his jacket pocket concealing his calling card: a crumpled photocopy of an Australian passport. The passport photo showed a man with a unruly shock of platinum blonde hair and the name Julian Paul Assange.
  Thordarson was long time volunteer for WikiLeaks with direct access to Assange and a key position as an organizer in the group. With his cold war-style embassy walk-in, he became something else: the first known FBI informant inside WikiLeaks. For the next three months, Thordarson served two masters, working for the secret-spilling website and simultaneously spilling its secrets to the U.S. government in exchange, he says, for a total of about $5,000. The FBI flew him internationally four times for debriefings, including one trip to Washington D.C., and on the last meeting obtained from Thordarson eight hard drives packed with chat logs, video and other data from WikiLeaks.
  The relationship provides a rare window into the U.S. law enforcement investigation into WikiLeaks, the transparency group newly thrust back into international prominence with its assistance to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Thordarson's double-life illustrates the lengths to which the government was willing to go in its pursuit of Julian Assange, approaching WikiLeaks with the tactics honed during the FBI's work against organized crime and computer hacking '-- or, more darkly, the bureau's Hoover-era infiltration of civil rights groups.
  ''It's a sign that the FBI views WikiLeaks as a suspected criminal organization rather than a news organization,'' says Stephen Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy. ''WikiLeaks was something new, so I think the FBI had to make a choice at some point as to how to evaluate it: Is this The New York Times, or is this something else? And they clearly decided it was something else.''
  The FBI declined comment.
  Thordarson was 17 years old and still in high school when he joined WikiLeaks in February 2010. He was one of a large contingent of Icelandic volunteers that flocked to Assange's cause after WikiLeaks published internal bank documents pertaining to that country's financial crisis.
  When a staff revolt in September 2010 left the organization short-handed, Assange put Thordarson in charge of the WikiLeaks chat room, making Thordarson the first point of contact for new volunteers, journalists, potential sources, and outside groups clamoring to get in with WikiLeaks at the peak of its notoriety.
  In that role, Thordarson was a middle man in the negotiations with the Bradley Manning Defense Fund that led to WikiLeaks donating $15,000 to the defense of its prime source. He greeted and handled a new volunteer who had begun downloading and organizing a vast trove of 1970s-era diplomatic cables from the National Archives and Record Administration, for what became WikiLeaks' ''Kissinger cables'' collection last April. And he wrangled scores of volunteers and supporters who did everything from redesign WikiLeaks' websites to shooting video homages to Assange.
  He accumulated thousands of pages of chat logs from his time in WikiLeaks, which, he says, are now in the hands of the FBI.
  Thordarson's betrayal of WikiLeaks also was a personal betrayal of its founder, Julian Assange, who, former colleagues say, took Thordarson under his wing, and kept him around in the face of criticism and legal controversy.
  ''When Julian met him for the first or second time, I was there,'' says Birgitta Jonsdottir, a member of Icelandic Parliament who worked with WikiLeaks on Collateral Murder, the Wikileaks release of footage of a US helicopter attack in Iraq. ''And I warned Julian from day one, there's something not right about this guy'... I asked not to have him as part of the Collateral Murder team.''
  In January 2011, Thordarson was implicated in a bizarre political scandal in which a mysterious ''spy computer'' laptop was found running unattended in an empty office in the parliament building. ''If you did [it], don't tell me,'' Assange told Thordarson, according to unauthenticated chat logs provided by Thordarson.
  ''I will defend you against all accusations, ring [sic] and wrong, and stick by you, as I have done,'' Assange told him in another chat the next month. ''But I expect total loyalty in return.''
  Instead, Thordarson used his proximity to Assange for his own purposes. The most consequential act came in June 2011, on his third visit to Ellingham Hall '-- the English mansion where Assange was then under house arrest while fighting extradition to Sweden.
  For reasons that remain murky, Thordarson decided to approach members of the Lulzsec hacking gang and solicit them to hack Islandic government systems as a service to WikiLeaks. To establish his bona fides as a WikiLeaks representative, he shot and uploaded a 40-second cell phone video that opens on the IRC screen with the chat in progress, and then floats across the room to capture Asssange at work with an associate. (This exchange was first reported by Parmy Olson in her book on Anonymous).
  Unfortunately for Thordarson, the FBI had busted Lulzsec's leader, Hector Xavier Monsegur, AKA Sabu, a week earlier, and secured his cooperation as an informant. On June 20, the FBI warned the Icelandic government. ''A huge team of FBI came to Iceland and asked the Icelandic authorities to help them,'' says Jonsdottir. ''They thought there was an imminent Lulzsec attack on Iceland.''
  The FBI may not have known at this point who Thordarson was beyond his screen names. The bureau and law enforcement agencies in the UK and Australia went on to round up alleged Lulzsec members on unrelated charges.
  Having dodged that bullet, it's not clear what prompted Thordarson to approach the FBI two months later. When I asked him directly last week, he answered, ''I guess I cooperated because I didn't want to participate in having Anonymous and Lulzsec hack for Wikileaks, since then you're definitely breaking quite a lot of laws.''
  That answer doesn't make a lot of sense, since it was Thordarson, not Assange, who asked Lulzsec to hack Iceland. There's no evidence of any other WikiLeaks staffer being involved. He offered a second reason that he admits is more truthful: ''The second reason was the adventure.''
  Thordarson's equivocation highlights a hurdle in reporting on him: He is prone to lying. Jonsdottir calls him ''pathological.'' He admits he has lied to me in the past. For this story, Thordarson backed his account by providing emails that appear to be between him and his FBI handlers, flight records for some of his travels, and an FBI receipt indicating that he gave them eight hard drives. The Icelandic Ministry of the Interior has previously confirmed that the FBI flew to Iceland to interview Thordarson. Thordarson also testified to much of this account in a session of the Icelandic Parliament, with Jonsdottir in attendance.
  Finally, he has given me a substantial subset of the chat logs he says he passed to the FBI, amounting to about 2,000 pages, which, at the very least, proves that he kept logs and is willing to turn them over to a reporter disliked by Julian Assange.
  Thordarson's ''adventure'' began on August 23, 2011, when he sent an email to the general delivery box for the U.S. embassy in Reykjav­k ''Regarding an Ongoing Criminal investigation in the United States.''
  ''The nature of the intel that can be brought to light in that investigation will not be spoken over email conversation,'' he wrote cryptically.
  An embassy security officer called him the same day. ''He said, 'What investigation?' I said the Wikileaks,'' says Thordarson. ''He denied there was such an investigation, so I just said we both know there is.''
  Thordarson was invited to the embassy, where he presented a copy of Assange's passport, the passport for Assange's number two, Kristinn Hrafnsson, and a snippet of a private chat between Thordarson and Assange. The embassy official was noncommittal. He told Thordarson they might be in touch, but it would take at least a week.
  It happened much faster.
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Anderson Cooper Plugs Texas Legislator's Pro-Choice Filibuster; Asks Her If She'll Do It Again
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 00:12
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  Despite a busy news night by his own admission, CNN's Anderson Cooper made time to highlight a Texas Democratic state senator's filibuster against pro-life legislation.
Supreme Court Throws Out Ruling Blocking Texas Voter ID Law'...
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  Nice.
  WASHINGTON (AP) '-- The Supreme Court has thrown out lower court rulings that blocked a Texas voter identification law and the state's political redistricting plans as discriminatory.
  The court's action Thursday was a predictable result of its major ruling two days earlier that effectively ended the federal government's strict supervision of elections in Texas and other states with a history of discrimination in voting.
  The justices ordered lower courts to reconsider in light of Tuesday's ruling.
  In both the voter ID and redistricting cases, the court stopped the state from putting in place the laws under the advance approval requirement of the Voting Rights Act.
Surveillance 'partnership' between NSA and telcos points to AT&T, Verizon
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  Source: CNET News - Politics and Law
  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 00:10
  Newly disclosed classified document suggests firms allowed spy agency to access e-mail and phone call data by tapping into their "fiber-optic cables, gateway switches, and data networks."
  The National Security Agency entered into "collection partnerships" with a pair of telecommunications companies that permitted tapping their fiber links. Evidence suggests it's AT&T and Verizon.
  Want to play a game of "guess who?"
  A newly disclosed top secret document lauds the National Security Agency's "productive" and long-standing surveillance "partnership" with a pair of telecommunications providers -- that permitted tapping into their fiber links -- but without naming names.
  This is where things get interesting for clue sleuths.
  Even in the top-secret document published by the Guardian today, the firms are described only as "Company A" and "Company B." But the NSA's inspector general did disclose that, at the time the program was being formed in the wake of the September 11 attacks, the agency entered into the partnerships because Company A had access to 39 percent of international phone calls, and Company B had access to 28 percent.
  Those figures closely correspond with Federal Communications Commission data (PDF). The most recent figures publicly available in late 2001, when the carrier "partnerships" were being expanded, reveal that AT&T carried 38.2 percent of international minutes billed to U.S. carriers. MCI, now part of Verizon, carried 29.1 percent.
  Verizon spokesman Ed McFadden would not confirm or deny his employer's identity as company B, and told CNET today that the company "always requires appropriate legal process" when responding to requests from any government agency. AT&T did not respond to questions.
  "Collection partnerships" with these two firms have allowed the spy agency to vacuum up e-mail and phone call content by tapping into their "fiber-optic cables, gateway switches, and data networks," says the 2009 report. That's consistent with previous reports that AT&T permitted the NSA to tap into its telecommunications facilities.
  The disclosures, part of a 2009 report prepared by the NSA's Office of the Inspector General, emphasize how crucial -- and sensitive -- the agency's relationships with U.S. telecommunications companies have become.
  These relationships also allowed the NSA to take advantage of the United States' role as an international Internet hub, which meant that an outsize share of worldwide traffic flows through the networks of AT&T, Verizon, and other U.S. providers. Even e-mail messages between Latin American and African countries, for instance, are typically routed through U.S. switches because of the lower cost.
  NSA Director Keith Alexander believed, according to the inspector general's report, "if the relationships with these companies were ever terminated," the agency's eavesdropping ability would be "irrevocably damaged, because NSA would have sacrificed America's home field advantage as the primary hub for worldwide telecommunications."
  Many of these relationships predated the September 11 attacks that dramatically increased the NSA's authority in a warrantless surveillance program secretly authorized by President Bush. A 1981 presidential executive order, for instance, authorized the collection of "signals intelligence information" for foreign intelligence purposes, which the NSA views as authorizing the interception of phone calls "transiting" the United States.
  Soon after the 2001 attacks, according to the report, representatives of both Company A and Company B "contacted NSA and asked 'What can we do to help?'" Both had previously been "providing telephony content to NSA before 2001" under the 1981 executive order and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
  Initially, under the Bush-era program, the NSA was temporarily authorized to intercept "communications with at least one communicant outside the United States or for which no communicant was known to be a citizen of the United States." Then, in 2007, the Justice Department secretly authorized the agency to "analyze communications metadata associated with United States persons and persons believed to be in the United States."
  Metadata is defined, according to the inspector general's report, as encompassing phone call records and "Internet Protocol" communications, which would include a person's IP address and what company or service they're communicating with. (Verizon turns over metadata of all customer calls to the NSA, meaning the logs of who called whom, every day.)
  The Guardian's report today also cited a December 2012 document prepared by the NSA's Special Source Operations (SSO) directorate discussing classified programs codenamed EvilOlive and ShellTrumpet, which had "processed its one-trillionth metadata record" at the time. The newspaper, which did not make the SSO document public, summarized it as:
  With this new system, the NSA is able to direct more than half of the internet traffic it intercepts from its collection points into its own repositories. One end of the communications collected are inside the United States. The NSA called it the "One-End Foreign (1EF) solution". It intended the program, codenamed EvilOlive, for "broadening the scope" of what it is able to collect....This new system, SSO stated in December, enables vastly increased collection by the NSA of Internet traffic. "The 1EF solution is allowing more than 75% of the traffic to pass through the filter," the SSO December document reads. "This milestone not only opened the aperture of the access but allowed the possibility for more traffic to be identified, selected and forwarded to NSA repositories."
  One interpretation of EvilOlive is that the NSA is acquiring the majority of Americans' confidential Internet and phone communications -- or at least the majority flowing through the networks of its partner telecommunications companies -- and archiving them for years. Any subsequent restrictions on access by intelligence analysts would be policy-based, not technology-based, and could be modified in the future to be more permissive.
  The Obama administration has declined to discuss the NSA's vast collection apparatus in any detail. A statement last week from James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said an analyst cannot "can eavesdrop on domestic communications without proper legal authorization" -- but, pointedly, did not say what "proper legal authorization" meant.
  In an online chat earlier this month, Snowden said there were few practical restrictions on analysts' ability to target American citizens:
  NSA likes to use "domestic" as a weasel word here for a number of reasons....The reality is that due to [a 2008 federal law known as FAA 702], Americans' communications are collected and viewed on a daily basis on the certification of an analyst rather than a warrant. They excuse this as "incidental" collection, but at the end of the day, someone at NSA still has the content of your communications....If I target for example an email address, for example under FAA 702, and that email address sent something to you, Joe America, the analyst gets it. All of it. IPs, raw data, content, headers, attachments, everything. And it gets saved for a very long time -- and can be extended further with waivers rather than warrants."
  A document previously leaked by Snowden, the former NSA contractor believed to be staying in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, described "upstream" data collection from "fiber cables and infrastructure as data flows past."
  Documents that came to light in 2006 in a lawsuit brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation offer insight into the spy agency's relationship with AT&T and other Tier 1 providers. Mark Klein, who worked as an AT&T technician for over 22 years, disclosed (PDF) that he witnessed domestic voice and Internet traffic being surreptitiously "diverted" through a "splitter cabinet" to secure room 641A in one of the company's San Francisco facilities. The room was accessible only to NSA-cleared technicians.
  "This is a complete vindication," Klein, now retired and living in the San Francisco bay area, told Wired today. "They are collecting everything on everybody."
  During a hearing earlier this month, Alexander, the NSA director, said his agency's surveillance programs were valuable intelligence gathering techniques that have helped to keep Americans safe:
  Virtually all countries have lawful intercept programs under which they compel communications providers to share data about individuals they believe represent a threat to their societies. Communications providers are required to comply with those programs in the countries in which they operate. The United States is not unique in this capability. The U.S., however, operates its program under the strict oversight and compliance regime that was noted above, with careful oversights by the courts, Congress and the administration....We have created and implemented and continued to monitor a comprehensive mission compliance program inside NSA.
  Alexander said that an analyst who wants to "target the content of a U.S. person anywhere in the world" must get a specific court warrant."
  Today's disclosures about the NSA's so-called EvilOlive and other programs highlight the lack of strong encryption that would armor the communications of Internet users against warrantless surveillance.
  A CNET article last week reported that, with the exception of Google, few large e-mail providers use encryption to protect their customers' privacy. And few, another article yesterday reported, use strong encryption that would shield their customers' Web browsing from government snoops.
NSA collected Americans' email records in bulk for two years under Obama.
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  Fri, 28 Jun 2013 00:09
  The Obama administration for more than two years permitted the National Security Agency to continue collecting vast amounts of records detailing the email and internet usage of Americans, according to secret documents obtained by the Guardian.
  The documents indicate that under the program, launched in 2001, a federal judge sitting on the secret surveillance panel called the Fisa court would approve a bulk collection order for internet metadata "every 90 days". A senior administration official confirmed the program, stating that it ended in 2011.
  The collection of these records began under the Bush administration's wide-ranging warrantless surveillance program, collectively known by the NSA codename Stellar Wind.
  According to a top-secret draft report by the NSA's inspector general '' published for the first time today by the Guardian '' the agency began "collection of bulk internet metadata" involving "communications with at least one communicant outside the United States or for which no communicant was known to be a citizen of the United States".
  Eventually, the NSA gained authority to "analyze communications metadata associated with United States persons and persons believed to be in the United States", according to a 2007 Justice Department memo, which is marked secret.
  The Guardian revealed earlier this month that the NSA was collecting the call records of millions of US Verizon customers under a Fisa court order that, it later emerged, is renewed every 90 days. Similar orders are in place for other phone carriers.
  The internet metadata of the sort NSA collected for at least a decade details the accounts to which Americans sent emails and from which they received emails. It also details the internet protocol addresses (IP) used by people inside the United States when sending emails '' information which can reflect their physical location. It did not include the content of emails.
  "The internet metadata collection program authorized by the Fisa court was discontinued in 2011 for operational and resource reasons and has not been restarted," Shawn Turner, the Obama administration's director of communications for National Intelligence, said in a statement to the Guardian.
  "The program was discontinued by the executive branch as the result of an interagency review," Turner continued. He would not elaborate further.
  But while that specific program has ended, additional secret NSA documents seen by the Guardian show that some collection of Americans' online records continues today. In December 2012, for example, the NSA launched one new program allowing it to analyze communications with one end inside the US, leading to a doubling of the amount of data passing through its filters.
  What your email metadata revealsThe Obama administration argues that its internal checks on NSA surveillance programs, as well as review by the Fisa court, protect Americans' privacy. Deputy attorney general James Cole defended the bulk collection of Americans' phone records as outside the scope of the fourth amendment's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
  "Toll records, phone records like this, that don't include any content, are not covered by the fourth amendment because people don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy in who they called and when they called," Cole testified to the House intelligence committee on June 18. "That's something you show to the phone company. That's something you show to many, many people within the phone company on a regular basis."
  But email metadata is different. Customers' data bills do not itemize online activity by detailing the addresses a customer emailed or the IP addresses from which customer devices accessed the internet.
  Internal government documents describe how revealing these email records are. One 2008 document, signed by the US defense secretary and attorney general, states that the collection and subsequent analysis included "the information appearing on the 'to,' 'from' or 'bcc' lines of a standard email or other electronic communication" from Americans.
  In reality, it is hard to distinguish email metadata from email content. Distinctions that might make sense for telephone conversations and data about those conversations do not always hold for online communications.
  "The calls you make can reveal a lot, but now that so much of our lives are mediated by the internet, your IP [internet protocol] logs are really a real-time map of your brain: what are you reading about, what are you curious about, what personal ad are you responding to (with a dedicated email linked to that specific ad), what online discussions are you participating in, and how often?" said Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute.
  "Seeing your IP logs '' and especially feeding them through sophisticated analytic tools '' is a way of getting inside your head that's in many ways on par with reading your diary," Sanchez added.
  The purpose of this internet metadata collection program is detailed in the full classified March 2009 draft report prepared by the NSA's inspector general (IG).
  One function of this internet record collection is what is commonly referred to as "data mining", and which the NSA calls "contact chaining". The agency "analyzed networks with two degrees of separation (two hops) from the target", the report says. In other words, the NSA studied the online records of people who communicated with people who communicated with targeted individuals.
  Contact chaining was considered off-limits inside the NSA before 9/11. In the 1990s, according to the draft IG report, the idea was nixed when the Justice Department "told NSA that the proposal fell within one of the Fisa definitions of electronic surveillance and, therefore, was not permissible when applied to metadata associated with presumed US persons".
  How the US government came to collect Americans' email recordsThe collection of email metadata on Americans began in late 2001, under a top-secret NSA program started shortly after 9/11, according to the documents. Known as Stellar Wind, the program initially did not rely on the authority of any court '' and initially restricted the NSA from analyzing records of emails between communicants wholly inside the US.
  "NSA was authorized to acquire telephony and internet metadata for communications with at least one communicant outside the United States or for which no communicant was known to be a citizen of the United States," the draft report states.
  George W Bush briefly "discontinued" that bulk internet metadata collection, involving Americans, after a dramatic rebellion in March 2004 by senior figures at the Justice Department and FBI, as the Washington Post first reported. One of the leaders of that rebellion was deputy attorney general James Comey, whom Barack Obama nominated last week to run the FBI.
  But Comey's act of defiance did not end the IP metadata collection, the documents reveal. It simply brought it under a newly created legal framework.
  As soon as the NSA lost the blessing under the president's directive for collecting bulk internet metadata, the NSA IG report reads, "DoJ [the Department of Justice] and NSA immediately began efforts to recreate this authority."
  The DoJ quickly convinced the Fisa court to authorize ongoing bulk collection of email metadata records. On 14 July 2004, barely two months after Bush stopped the collection, Fisa court chief judge Collen Kollar-Kotelly legally blessed it under a new order '' the first time the surveillance court exercised its authority over a two-and-a-half-year-old surveillance program.
  Kollar-Kotelly's order "essentially gave NSA the same authority to collect bulk internet metadata that it had under the PSP [Bush's program], except that it specified the datalinks from which NSA could collect, and it limited the number of people that could access the data".
  How NSA gained more power to study Americans' online habitsThe Bush email metadata program had restrictions on the scope of the bulk email records the NSA could analyze. Those restrictions are detailed in a legal memorandum written in a 27 November 2007, by assistant attorney general Kenneth Wainstein to his new boss, attorney general Michael Mukasey, who had taken office just a few weeks earlier.
  The purpose of that memorandum was to advise Mukasey of the Pentagon's view that these restrictions were excessive, and to obtain permission for the NSA to expand its "contact chains" deeper into Americans' email records. The agency, the memo noted, already had "in its databases a large amount of communications metadata associated with persons in the United States".
  But, Wainstein continued, "NSA's present practice is to 'stop' when a chain hits a telephone number or [internet] address believed to be used by a United States person."
  Wainstein told Mukasey that giving NSA broader leeway to study Americans' online habits would give the surveillance agency, ironically, greater visibility into the online habits of foreigners '' NSA's original mandate.
  "NSA believes that it is over-identifying numbers and addresses that belong to United States persons and that modifying its practice to chain through all telephone numbers and addresses, including those reasonably believed to be used by a United States person," Wainstein wrote, "will yield valuable foreign intelligence information primarily concerning non-United States persons outside the United States."
  The procedures "would clarify that the National Security Agency (NSA) may analyze communications metadata associated with United States persons and persons believed to be in the United States", Wainstein wrote.
  In October 2007, Robert Gates, the secretary of defense, signed a set of "Supplemental Procedures" on internet metadata, including what it could do with Americans' data linked in its contact chains. Mukasey affixed his signature to the document in January 2008.
  "NSA will continue to disseminate the results of its contact chaining and other analysis of communications metadata in accordance with current procedures governing the dissemination of information concerning US persons," the document states, without detailing the "current procedures".
  It was this program that continued for more than two years into the Obama administration.
  Turner, the director of national intelligence spokesman, did not respond to the Guardian's request for additional details of the metadata program or the reasons why it was stopped.
  A senior administration official queried by the Washington Post denied that the Obama administration was "using this program" to "collect internet metadata in bulk", but added: "I'm not going to say we're not collecting any internet metadata."
Spy program gathered Americans' Internet records
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  Source: Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories
  Thu, 27 Jun 2013 23:59
  Spy program gathered Americans' Internet recordsJavascript is currently disabled in your web browser. For full site functionality, it is necessary to enable Javascript. In order to enable it, please see these instructions.1 hour ago by Kimberly Dozier(AP)'--The Obama administration gathered U.S. citizens' Internet data until 2011, continuing a spying program started under President George W. Bush that revealed whom Americans exchanged emails with and the Internet Protocol address of their computer, documents disclosed Thursday show.
  The National Security Agency ended the program that collected email logs and timing, but not content, in 2011 because it decided it didn't effectively stop terrorist plots, according to the NSA's director, Gen. Keith Alexander, who also heads the U.S. Cyber Command. He said all data was purged in 2011.
  Britain's Guardian newspaper on Thursday released documents detailing the collection, though the program was also described earlier this month by The Washington Post.
  The latest revelation follows previous leaks from ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who is presumed hiding at a Moscow airport transit area, waiting to hear whether Ecuador, Iceland or another country might grant him asylum. He fled Hong Kong over the weekend and flew to Russia after being charged with violating American espionage laws.
  The collection appears similar to the gathering of U.S. phone records, and seems to overlap with the Prism surveillance program of foreigners on U.S. Internet servers, both revealed by Snowden. U.S. officials have said the phone records can only be checked for numbers dialed by a terrorist suspect overseas. According to the documents published by The Guardian on Thursday, the Internet records show whom they exchanged emails with and the specific numeric address assigned to a computer connected to the Internet, known as the IP, or Internet Protocol, address.
  The program, described in a top secret draft report from the NSA inspector general, described the efforts of then-NSA Director Gen. Mike Hayden to fill gaps in intelligence gathering after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. One NSA officer quoted in the report described "NSA standing at the U.S. border looking outward for foreign threats" and "the FBI looking within the United States for domestic threats. But no one was looking at the foreign threats coming into the United States. That was the huge gap that NSA wanted to cover."
  The draft added that the sweeping phone and Internet data-gathering programs were meant to speed up the process of surveillance of a terrorist suspect overseas, because "the average wait time was between four and six weeks" to get a court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. "Terrorists could have changed their telephone numbers or Internet addresses" before the NSA received permission to spy on them on U.S.-based phone or Internet systems.
  Alexander said at a Baltimore conference on cybersecurity that the NSA decided to kill the Internet data gathering program because "it wasn't meeting what we needed and we thought we could better protect civil liberties and privacy by doing away with it."
  He said the program was conducted under provisions of the Patriot Act, and that NSA leaders went to the Obama administration and Congress with the recommendation to shut it down.
  Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the director of national intelligence, said the program has not resumed.
  The Washington Post had described the Internet surveillance in an earlier report, without publishing the documents or releasing as many details. The Post described it as part of four secret surveillance programs'--two aimed at phone and Internet metadata, while two more target contents of phone and Internet communications.
  Alexander, who has been in Congress frequently for hearings and meetings since the NSA phone and email surveillance was made public, laid out a broad defense of the programs.
  He said he worries that more leaks are coming, adding that "every time a capability is revealed we lose our ability to track those targets."
  While never mentioning Snowden by name, Alexander said his irresponsible releases of classified information "will have a long term detrimental impact on the intelligence community's ability to detect future attacks."
  He declined to provide more details on what the NSA is doing to prevent such leaks in the future. He has said that the agency is changing passwords and improving its ability to track what system administrators are doing.
  On Thursday, he said he was looking at how the leak happened and the people involved. He said the NSA can't do its job without contractors because it doesn't have all the talent or access it needs to do the job.
  Explore further:US spy chief: Plot against Wall Street foiled
  (C) 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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  Spy program gathered Americans' Internet recordsJavascript is currently disabled in your web browser. For full site functionality, it is necessary to enable Javascript. In order to enable it, please see these instructions.1 hour ago by Kimberly Dozier(AP)'--The Obama administration gathered U.S. citizens' Internet data until 2011, continuing a spying program started under President George W. Bush that revealed whom Americans exchanged emails with and the Internet Protocol address of their computer, documents disclosed Thursday show.
  The National Security Agency ended the program that collected email logs and timing, but not content, in 2011 because it decided it didn't effectively stop terrorist plots, according to the NSA's director, Gen. Keith Alexander, who also heads the U.S. Cyber Command. He said all data was purged in 2011.
  Britain's Guardian newspaper on Thursday released documents detailing the collection, though the program was also described earlier this month by The Washington Post.
  The latest revelation follows previous leaks from ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who is presumed hiding at a Moscow airport transit area, waiting to hear whether Ecuador, Iceland or another country might grant him asylum. He fled Hong Kong over the weekend and flew to Russia after being charged with violating American espionage laws.
  The collection appears similar to the gathering of U.S. phone records, and seems to overlap with the Prism surveillance program of foreigners on U.S. Internet servers, both revealed by Snowden. U.S. officials have said the phone records can only be checked for numbers dialed by a terrorist suspect overseas. According to the documents published by The Guardian on Thursday, the Internet records show whom they exchanged emails with and the specific numeric address assigned to a computer connected to the Internet, known as the IP, or Internet Protocol, address.
  The program, described in a top secret draft report from the NSA inspector general, described the efforts of then-NSA Director Gen. Mike Hayden to fill gaps in intelligence gathering after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. One NSA officer quoted in the report described "NSA standing at the U.S. border looking outward for foreign threats" and "the FBI looking within the United States for domestic threats. But no one was looking at the foreign threats coming into the United States. That was the huge gap that NSA wanted to cover."
  The draft added that the sweeping phone and Internet data-gathering programs were meant to speed up the process of surveillance of a terrorist suspect overseas, because "the average wait time was between four and six weeks" to get a court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. "Terrorists could have changed their telephone numbers or Internet addresses" before the NSA received permission to spy on them on U.S.-based phone or Internet systems.
  Alexander said at a Baltimore conference on cybersecurity that the NSA decided to kill the Internet data gathering program because "it wasn't meeting what we needed and we thought we could better protect civil liberties and privacy by doing away with it."
  He said the program was conducted under provisions of the Patriot Act, and that NSA leaders went to the Obama administration and Congress with the recommendation to shut it down.
  Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the director of national intelligence, said the program has not resumed.
  The Washington Post had described the Internet surveillance in an earlier report, without publishing the documents or releasing as many details. The Post described it as part of four secret surveillance programs'--two aimed at phone and Internet metadata, while two more target contents of phone and Internet communications.
  Alexander, who has been in Congress frequently for hearings and meetings since the NSA phone and email surveillance was made public, laid out a broad defense of the programs.
  He said he worries that more leaks are coming, adding that "every time a capability is revealed we lose our ability to track those targets."
  While never mentioning Snowden by name, Alexander said his irresponsible releases of classified information "will have a long term detrimental impact on the intelligence community's ability to detect future attacks."
  He declined to provide more details on what the NSA is doing to prevent such leaks in the future. He has said that the agency is changing passwords and improving its ability to track what system administrators are doing.
  On Thursday, he said he was looking at how the leak happened and the people involved. He said the NSA can't do its job without contractors because it doesn't have all the talent or access it needs to do the job.
  Explore further:US spy chief: Plot against Wall Street foiled
  (C) 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Jon Corzine charged over MF Global collapse.
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Thu, 27 Jun 2013 23:58
  Jon Corzine spent 20 years on Wall Street and was one of President Obama's top fundraisers. Photograph: Chip East /Reuters
  US regulators have charged Jon Corzine, former MF Global boss and New Jersey governor, over the alleged misuse of over $1bn in customers' funds.
  The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) suit charges Corzine, the company and former assistant treasurer Edith O'Brien in the collapse of the commodities broker, the eighth largest bankruptcy in US history.
  The hard-hitting CFTC suit produced emails and transcripts of phone calls it said show Corzine's culpability. In a separate action MF Global agreed to repay all $1bn missing from customer accounts plus a $100m penalty, and pay all the funds still owed to commodity customers.
  The news is the latest blow to the reputation of Corzine, a Wall Street veteran and one of president Barack Obama's top fundraisers. Corzine spent 20 years on Wall Street and was co-chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs before going on to represent New Jersey as a senator and then governor.
  Andy Levander, counsel for Corzine, said: "This is an unprecedented lawsuit based on meritless allegations that Mr Corzine failed to supervise an experienced back-office professional who was located in a different city and who did not report to Mr Corzine or even to anyone who reported to Mr Corzine.
  "After 20 months of thorough investigations by the Department of Justice, two bankruptcy trustees, and the CFTC, no evidence has been found that contradicts Mr Corzine's sworn testimony before Congress.
  "Mr Corzine did nothing wrong, and we look forward to vindicating him in court."
  The suit is highly unusual, as US regulators tend to prefer a settlement to a lawsuit, and the case could potentially drag on for years.
  "Turning a profit is not the only job of the person at the top of a CFTC-regulated firm. Particularly in times of crisis, the person in control, like the CEO here, must do what's necessary to prevent unlawful uses of customer money, so that customers' money is still there if and when the music stops," said CFTC enforcement director David Meister in a statement.
  MF Global collapsed in October 2011 as its bets on some of Europe's most troubled economies turned sour. According to the complaint, Corzine, who joined MF Global as CEO in March 2010, planned to transform the firm from a futures broker into a major investment bank. "Corzine's strategy called for making increasingly risky and larger investments of the firm's money," said the CFTC. In late 2011 the regulator alleges "MF Global's need for cash was rising and its sources of cash were diminishing."
  As the cash crunch approached Corzine failed in his duty to ensure that clients money was ring-fenced from the broker's funds, said the regulator. "Ultimately, these failures contributed to the massive customer losses," said the CFTC.
  In one of many recorded phone calls obtained by the CFTC, an executive at the firm said MF Global was "skating on the edge," without "much ice left." The CFTC said Corzine was warned of impending disaster. In another call obtained by the CFTC an executive said: "We have to tell Jon that enough is enough. We need to take the keys away from him."
  Corzine and O'Brien could face fines and possibly a ban from trading commodities if they are found liable. Corzine has indicated that he will fight the charges. When news of the suit was first reported by The New York Times this week a spokesman for Corzine called the suit an "unprecedented and meritless civil enforcement action." The spokesman said the anticipated lawsuit "is not surprising considering the political pressure to hold someone liable for the failure of MF Global."
Can Wi-Fi let you see people through walls?
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: CNET News
  Thu, 27 Jun 2013 23:57
  It isn't exactly Superman-like X-ray vision, but cheap, low-power Wi-Fi technology is gaining more attention as a remote sensing tool.
  Wi-Fi can give us all Superman-like vision, according to boffins at MIT.
  (Credit: Screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET)Do you really wish you had X-ray vision? Sure, it would be fun to see what your neighbors are doing behind those walls -- until you see something you wish you hadn't.
  Regardless, researchers at MIT have developed a sensing technology that uses low-power Wi-Fi to detect moving people. It follows other wall-penetrating sensor tech using radar and heavy equipment.
  The Wi-Vi system by Dina Katabi and Fadel Adib sends out a low-power Wi-Fi signal and tracks its reflections to sense people moving around, even if they're in closed rooms or behind walls.
  Part of a Wi-Fi signal transmitted at a wall will penetrate it and reflect off people on the other side. The MIT system ignores all the other reflects, such as from objects, to focus on those from moving people only. It can determine the number of moving people in the room and their relative locations.
  The system sends out two nearly identical signals, but one is the inverse of the other, and thus they cancel each other out.
  "So, if the person moves behind the wall, all reflections from static objects are cancelled out, and the only thing registered by the device is the moving human," Adib, a graduate student in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was quoted as saying in a release.
  The Wi-Vi receiver uses changes in the signal reflection time to calculate where a moving person is behind a wall. It can also detect gestures such as arm waving and could be used to control home lighting or appliances in another room. It could also let people communicate with the outside using hand signals alone.
  British researchers have also been investigating how to use Wi-Fi for surveillance and urban warfare, but the MIT system could be used in applications such as search and rescue, law enforcement, or personal security.
  "If you are walking at night and you have the feeling that someone is following you, then you could use it to check if there is someone behind the fence or behind a corner," said Katabi, a professor in the department.
  Or the NSA could use it to see how badly you dance in front of your mirror.
  The research (PDF) will be shown at the Sigcomm conference in Hong Kong in August. Check out a brief demo in the vid below.
The Fed's Assault On Gold: ''Short Selling'' and the Rigging of the Gold Market
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Global Research
  Thu, 27 Jun 2013 23:50
  I was the first to point out that the Federal Reserve was rigging all markets, not merely bond prices and interest rates, and that the Fed is rigging the bullion market in order to protect the US dollar's exchange value, which is threatened by the Fed's quantitative easing. With the Fed adding to the supply of dollars faster than the demand for dollars is increasing, the price or exchange value of the dollar is set up to fall.
  A fall in the dollar's exchange rate would push up import prices and, thereby, domestic inflation, and the Fed would lose control over interest rates. The bond market would collapse and with it the values of debt-related derivatives on the ''banks too big too fail'' balance sheets. The financial system would be in turmoil, and panic would reign.
  Rapidly rising bullion prices were an indication of loss of confidence in the dollar and were signaling a drop in the dollar's exchange rate. The Fed used naked shorts in the paper gold market to offset the price effect of a rising demand for bullion possession. Short sales that drive down the price trigger stop-loss orders that automatically lead to individual sales of bullion holdings once their loss limits are reached.
  According to Andrew Maguire, on Friday, April 12, the Fed's agents hit the market with 500 tons of naked shorts. Normally, a short is when an investor thinks the price of a stock or commodity is going to fall. He wants to sell the item in advance of the fall, pocket the money, and then buy the item back after it falls in price, thus making money on the short sale. If he doesn't have the item, he borrows it from someone who does, putting up cash collateral equal to the current market price. Then he sells the item, waits for it to fall in price, buys it back at the lower price and returns it to the owner who returns his collateral. If enough shorts are sold, the result can be to drive down the market price.
  A naked short is when the short seller does not have or borrow the item that he shorts, but sells shorts regardless. In the paper gold market, the participants are betting on gold prices and are content with the monetary payment. Therefore, generally, as participants are not interested in taking delivery of the gold, naked shorts do not need to be covered with the physical metal.
  In other words, with naked shorts, no physical metal is actually sold.
  People ask me how I know that the Fed is rigging the bullion price and seem surprised that anyone would think the Fed and its bullion bank agents would do such a thing, despite the public knowledge that the Fed is rigging the bond market and the banks with the Fed's knowledge rigged the Libor rate. The answer is that the circumstantial evidence is powerful.
  Consider the 500 tons of paper gold sold on Friday. Begin with the question, how many ounces is 500 tons? There are 2,000 pounds to one ton. 500 tons equal 1,000,000 pounds. There are 16 ounces to one pound, which comes to 16 million ounces of short sales on Friday.
  Who has 16 million ounces of gold? At the beginning gold price that day of about $1,550, that comes to $24,800,000,000. Who has that kind of money?
  What happens when 500 tons of gold sales are dumped on the market at one time or on one day? Correct, it drives the price down. Investors who want to get out of large positions would spread sales out over time so as not to lower their sales proceeds. The sale took gold down by about $73 per ounce. That means the seller or sellers lost up to $73 dollars 16 million times, or $1,168,000,000.
  Who can afford to lose that kind of money? Only a central bank that can print it.
  I believe that the authorities would like to drive the gold price down further and will, if they can, hit the gold market twice more next week and put gold at $1,400 per ounce or lower. The successive declines could perhaps spook individual holders of physical gold and result in actual net sales of physical gold as people reduced their holdings of the metal.
  However, bullion dealer Bill Haynes told kingworldnews.com that last Friday bullion purchasers among the public outpaced sellers by 50 to 1, and that the premiums over the spot price on gold and silver coins are the highest in decades. I myself checked
  with Gainesville Coins and was told that far more buyers than sellers had responded to the price drop.
  Unless the authorities have the actual metal with which to back up the short selling, they could be met with demands for deliveries. Unable to cover the shorts with real metal, the scheme would be exposed.
  Do the authorities have the metal with which to cover shorts? I do not know. However, knowledgeable dealers are suspicious. Some think that US physical stocks of gold were used up in sales in efforts to disrupt the rise in the gold price from $272 in December 2000 to $1,900 in 2011. They point to Germany's recent request that the US return the German gold stored in the US, and to the US government's reply that it would return the gold piecemeal over seven years. If the US has the gold, why not return it to Germany?
  The clear implication is that the US cannot deliver the gold.
  Andrew Maguire also reports that foreign central banks, especially China, are loading up on physical gold at the low prices made possible by the short selling. If central banks are using their dollar holdings to purchase bullion at bargain prices, the likely results will be pressure on the dollar's exchange value and a declining market supply of physical bullion. In other words, by trying to protect the dollar from its quantitative easing policy, the Fed might be hastening the dollar's demise.
  Possibly the Fed fears a dollar crisis or derivative blowup is nearing and is trying to reset the gold/dollar price prior to the outbreak of trouble. If ill winds are forecast, the Fed might feel it is better positioned to deal with crisis if the price of bullion is lower and
  confidence in bullion as a refuge has been shaken.
  In addition to short selling that is clearly intended to drive down the gold price, orchestration is also indicated by the advance announcements this month first from brokerage houses and then from Goldman Sachs that hedge funds and institutional investors would be selling their gold positions. The purpose of these announcements was to encourage individual investors to get out of gold before the big boys did. Does anyone believe that hedge funds and Wall Street would announce their sales in advance so the small fry can get out of gold at a higher price than they do?
  If these advanced announcements are not orchestration, what are they?
  I see the orchestrated effort to suppress the price of gold and silver as a sign that the authorities are frightened that trouble is brewing that they cannot control unless there is strong confidence in the dollar. Otherwise, what is the point of the heavy short selling and orchestrated announcements of gold sales in advance of the sales?
  NOTE: Gold weights are based on metric tons and Troy ounces. 500 metric tons of gold would be 16,075,000 troy ounces.
CBS Fawns Over Pro-Abortion State Senator Turned 'Political Star' in Texas; All But Encourage Her to Run For Governor
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: MRCTV - News & Politics
  Thu, 27 Jun 2013 23:48
  If the player does not load, please check that you are running the latest version of Adobe Flash Player.
  The 27 June 2013 broadcast of CBS This Morning heralded pro-abortion Texas State Senator Wendy Davis as a "new star in Democratic politics" for her "marathon filibuster that went viral". Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell tossed softball questions at Davis, and wondered if she would "run for governor or for national office now" because of her "new role in the national spotlight".
  The transcript of the relevant portion of the interview:
  ROSE: It has also catapulted you in the political limelight. Will you run for governor or for national office now?
  DAVIS: You know, right now, I have my hands full, honestly. As we go into this next special session, we have a tremendous amount of work to do, and I'm focused fully on that. I don't know what the future will hold, but I'm honored to have people talking about that.
  O'DONNELL: But I did hear you say you'd be lying to say that it '' that it '' it has crossed your mind about running for higher office, right?
  DAVIS: Well, yes, it certainly has. (Rose and O'Donnell laugh) But I don't know if now is the right time for me. We'll see.
  O'DONNELL: Well, there isn't a seat until 2014, right?
  DAVIS: Yes. (O'Donnell laughs)
Robertson Warns on LGBT Marriages: God Could Do Something 'Drastic' Like Sodom and Gomorrah
  Link to Article
  Archived Version
  Source: Crooks and Liars
  Thu, 27 Jun 2013 23:46
  Televangelist Pat Robertson on Thursday reacted to two landmark Supreme Court decisions favoring same sex marriage by suggesting that the court's swing vote, Justice Anthony Kennedy, may have law clerks "who happen to be gays."
  After ignoring two rulings that struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California Proposition 8 on Wednesday, Robertson returned on Thursday's edition of the 700 Club with a theory.
  "Let me ask you about Anthony Kennedy, does he have some clerks who happen to be gays?" the TV preacher asked American Center for Law and Justice Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow.
  "I have no idea," the conservative attorney replied. "I think what Justice Kennedy did, if you look at a series of cases that he's been involved in, he's taken the view that sexual orientation is a special class."
  Robertson later complained that what had been "called a an abomination in the Bible has been given the status of a constitutionally-protected class."
  "Unfortunately it's been cast as a civil rights struggle, and once you say civil rights, you look back to Martin Luther King and the others and say we've got to stand for the oppressed," he shrugged. "So ladies and gentlemen, your liberties are in danger because read the Bible about Sodom and Gomorrah. That's where the term comes from, Sodom."
  "Look what happened to Sodom. After a while, there wasn't any other way, and God did something pretty drastic."
  Last year, Robertson told his viewers that homosexuality "is somehow related to demonic possession."
  (h/t: Media Matters)
James Gandolfini's funeral: David Chase's eulogy | Inside TV
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  Source: Dave Winer's linkblog feed
  Thu, 27 Jun 2013 23:46
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  Earlier this morning, friends, family, and hundreds of fans gathered to pay their respects to James Gandolfini at Manhattan's Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine. Four mourners '-- Gandolfini's wife, Deborah Lin Gandolfini; his assistant, Thomas Richardson; his acting coach, Susan Aston; and his old boss, Sopranos creator David Chase '-- delivered eulogies at the service.
  A transcript of Chase's speech, which he structured as a letter to his late friend, is reprinted below.
  Dear Jim,
  Your family asked me to speak at this service. I am so honored and touched. I'm also really scared, and I say that because you, of all people, understand this. I would like to run away and then call you four days from now from the beauty parlor. [Ed. note: That's a reference to a 2002 incident in which Gandolfini disappeared from the set ofThe Sopranos, eventually calling the show's production office four days later from a beauty salon in Brooklyn.]
  I want to do a good job because I love you, and because you always did a good job.
  I think the deal is, I'm supposed to speak about the actor, the artist, the work part of your life. Others will have spoken beautifully about the other beautiful and magnificent parts of you '-- father, brother, friend. That's what I was told. I'm supposed to also speak for your cast mates, who you loved; for your crew that you loved so much; the people at HBO; and Journey. I hope I can speak for all of them and pay credit to them and to you.
  Experts told me to start with a joke, recite a funny anecdote. Ha ha ha. But as you yourself so often said, ''I'm not feelin' it.'' I'm too sad and full of despair. I'm running too partly because I would like to have had your advice, because I remember how you did speeches. I saw you do a lot of them at awards shows and stuff, and invariably, I think you would scratch two or three thoughts on a sheet of paper and put it in your pocket, and then not really refer to it. And consequently, a lot of your speeches didn't make sense.
  I think that could happen here. Except in your case, it didn't matter if it didn't make sense because the feeling was real. The feeling was real. The feeling was real. I can't say that enough.
  I tried to write a traditional eulogy, but it came out like bad TV. So I'm writing you this letter and I'm hoping it's better. But it is being done to and for an audience, so we'll give the funny opening a try. I hope it is funny. It is to me; I know it is to you.
  One day toward the end of the show, fourth season '-- four or five '-- we were on the set shooting a scene with you and Steven Van Zandt. I think the setup was that Tony had received news of the death of someone and it was inconvenient for him. And it said, ''Tony opens the [refrigerator] door angrily, and Tony starts to speak.'' And the cameras rolled, and you opened the refrigerator door, and you slammed it really hard. You slammed it hard enough that it came open again. And so then you slammed it again, and it came open again. You kept slamming it, and slamming it, and slamming it, and slamming it. You went apesh-t on that refrigerator.
  And the funny part for me was, I remember Steven Van Zandt '-- because the cameras were going, and we had to play this whole scene with the refrigerator door open. And I remember Steven Van Zandt staying there, standing, and trying to figure out, ''Well, what should I do first as Silvio? Because he just ruined my refrigerator.'' And also as Steven the actor, because we were going to play a scene with the refrigerator door open; people don't do that. And I remember him going, sort of trying to tinker with the door, fix the door.
  And so we finally had to call ''cut,'' and we had to fix the refrigerator door '-- and it never really worked, because the gaffer tape showed, we couldn't get a new refrigerator, and it was a problem all day long. I remember you saying, ''This role, this role. The places it takes me to, the things I have to do. It's so dark.'' And I remember saying to you, ''Did I tell you to destroy the refrigerator? Did it say anywhere in the script, 'Tony destroys a refrigerator'? It says 'Tony angrily shuts the refrigerator door.' That's what it says. You destroyed the refrigerator.''
  Another memory that comes to mind is, very early on '-- might have been the pilot '-- we were shooting in that really hot summer, humid New Jersey heat. And I looked over and you were sitting in an aluminum beach chair, with your slacks rolled up to your knees, and black socks, black shoes. And a damp, wet handkerchief on your head. And I remember looking over there and going, ''Well, that's really not a cool look.''
  I was filled with love, and I knew then that I was in the right place. Because I said, ''Wow, I haven't seen that done since my father used to do it, and my Italian uncles used to do it, and my Italian grandfather used to do it. They were laborers in the same hot sun in New Jersey, and they were stonemasons '-- your father, I know, worked with concrete. I don't know what it is with Italians and cement.
  I was so proud of our heritage. [His voice breaks.] It made me so proud of our heritage, seeing you do that. I said before that you were my brother. This has a lot to do with that. Italian-American, Italian worker, builder, the Jersey thing. The same social class. I really feel, even though I'm a lot older than you, I've always felt that we are brothers, hardly from another mother. It was really based on that day. I was filled with so much love for everything that we were doing, that we were about to embark on.
  I also feel you're my brother in that we had different tastes, but the things that we both loved '-- which was family, work, the people in all their imperfection, food, alcohol, talking, rage, and a desire to bring the whole structure crashing down. We amused each other.
  The image of my uncles and father reminded me about something that happened between us one time. Because these guys were such men '-- that was the point of it. Your father, and these men from Italy. And you were going through a crisis of faith, about yourself, and a few other things. Very upset. I went to meet you on the banks of the Hudson River, and you told me, you said, ''You know what I want to be? I want to be a man. That's all. I want to be a man.''
  Now, this is so odd, because you were such a man. You're a man in ways many men, including myself, wish they could be a man. The paradox about you as a man is that I always felt personally that with you, I was seeing a young boy. A boy about Michael [Gandolfini]'s age right now. Because you were very boyish. And about that age when humankind and life on the planet are opening up and putting on a show, really revealing themselves in all their beautiful and horrible glory. And I saw you as a boy, as a sad boy, amazed and confused and loving and amazed by all that.
  And that was all in your eyes. And that was why, I think, you were a great actor '-- is because of that boy that was inside. It was a child reacting. Of course you were intelligent, but it was a child reaction, and your reactions were often childish. And by that I mean they were pre-school, they were pre-manners, they were pre-intellect. They were just simple emotions, straight and pure. And I think your talent is that you can take in the immensity of humankind and the universe and shine it back out to the rest of us like a huge, bright light. And I believe that only a pure soul, like a child, could do that really well. And that was you.
  Now, to talk about a third guy between us '-- there was you and me and this third guy. People always say, ''Tony Soprano. Why do we love him so much when he was such a prick?'' And my theory was they saw the little boy. They felt and they loved the little boy, and they sensed his love and hurt. And you brought all of that to him.
  You were a good boy. Your work with the Wounded Warriors is just one example. And I'm going to say something because I know you'd want me to say it '-- that no one should forget Tony Sirico's efforts in this. He was there with you all the way, and in fact, you said to me just recently, ''You know, it's more Tony than me.'' And I know you, and I know you would want me to turn the spotlight on him, or you couldn't be satisfied.
  So Tony Soprano never changed, people say. He got darker. I don't know how they could misunderstand that. He tried, and he tried, and he tried. And you tried, and you tried, more than most of us, and harder than most of us, and sometimes you tried too hard. That refrigerator is one example. Sometimes your efforts were a cost to you and to others. But you tried. And I'm thinking about the fact, like, how nice you were to strangers on the street, fans, photographers. You would be patient and loving and personable. And then finally, you would just do too much, and then you'd snap. And that's of course what we read about, the snapping.
  I was asked to talk about the work, and so I'll talk about the show we used to do and how we used to do it. I guess everybody knows we always ended an episode with a song. And that was kind of like, letting the great geniuses do the heavy lifting '-- Bruce [Springsteen] and Nick [Lowe] and Keith [Richards] and Howling Wolf, and a bunch of them.
  So if this was an episode, we would end with a song. And the song, as far as I'm concerned, would be Joan Osborne's ''What If God Was One of Us.'' And the setup for this '-- we never did this, you never even heard of this. But the setup was, Tony was somehow lost in the Meadowlands. He didn't have his car and his wallet, and his car keys. And I forget how he got there '-- there was some kind of a story. But he had nothing in his pocket but some change. He didn't have his guys with him. He didn't have his gun.
  And so mob boss Tony Soprano is like one of the working stiffs, getting in line to get on the bus. And the way we were going to film it, he was going to get on the bus. And the lyric that would have gone over that would have been '-- we don't have Joan Osborne here to sing it '-- ''If God had a face/What would it look like?/And would you want to see/If seeing meant that you would have to believe?/And yeah, yeah/God is great/Yeah, yeah/God is good/Yeah, yeah, yeah.''
  So Tony would get on the bus, and he would sit there, and the bus would pull out of this big billowy haze of smoke. And then the key lyric would come on, and it was: ''What if God was one of us/Just a slob like one of us/Just a stranger on the bus/Trying to make his way home?'' And that would be playing over your face, Jimmy.
  But then '-- and this is where it gets kind of strange '-- now, we would have to update it, because of the events of the last week. And I would let the song play further, and the lyrics would be, ''Just trying to make his way home/Like a holy rollin' stone/Back up to heaven all alone/Nobody callin' on the phone/Except the pope, maybe in Rome.''
  Love,David
  Read more:TV: 10 All-Time GreatestJames Gandolfini: He did for television what Marlon Brando did for the moviesJames Gandolfini was 'the glue that kept us together,' says lifelong friend Karen Duffy
European Council
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  Source: Uploads by HermanVanRompuy
  Thu, 27 Jun 2013 23:41
Statement from the President on the Confirmation of Anthony Foxx as the next Secretary of Transportation
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  Source: White House.gov Press Office Feed
  Thu, 27 Jun 2013 23:37
  The White House
  Office of the Press Secretary
  For Immediate Release
  June 27, 2013
  I am pleased that the Senate today voted unanimously to confirm Anthony Foxx as the next Secretary of Transportation. Anthony knows firsthand that investing in our roads, bridges and transit systems is vital to creating good jobs and ensuring American businesses can grow and compete in a 21st century global economy. I welcome Anthony to my team, and I look forward to working with him as we aim to modernize the infrastructure that powers our economy.
US Military Deaths in Afghanistan at 2,109
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  Thu, 27 Jun 2013 16:23
  As of Tuesday, June 25, 2013, at least 2,109 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count.
  The AP count is two less than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT.
  At least 1,749 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
  Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 124 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action.
  The AP count of total OEF casualties outside of Afghanistan is four more than the department's tally.
  The Defense Department also counts three military civilian deaths.
  Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 18,795 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department.
  ---
  The latest identifications reported by the military:
  -Sgt. Corey E. Garver, 26, of Topsham, Maine, died June 23, in Zormat, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, Fort Campbell, Ky.
  -Spc. Javier Sanchez Jr., 28, of Greenfield, Calif., died June 23, in Sar Rowzah, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his unit was attacked with an improvised explosive device while on mounted patrol; assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
  -Four soldiers died June 18, in Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with indirect fire; killed were: Sgt. Justin R. Johnson, 25, of Hobe Sound, Fla., assigned to the 10th Transportation Battalion, 7th Sustainment Brigade, Fort Eustis, Va.; Spc. Ember M. Alt, 21, of Beech Island, S.C.; Spc. Robert W. Ellis, 21, of Kennewick, Wash.; and Spc. William R. Moody, 30, of Burleson, Texas, all three assigned to 68th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 43rd Sustainment Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
  (C) Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Former US Commander in Libya Disputes Diplomat
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  Thu, 27 Jun 2013 16:20
  WASHINGTON - The former commander of a four-member Army special forces unit in Tripoli, Libya, denied on Wednesday that he was told to stand down during last year's deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.
  In a closed-door session with the House Armed Services Committee, Lt. Col. S.E. Gibson said his commanders told him to remain in the Libyan capital of Tripoli to defend Americans in the event of additional attacks and to help survivors being evacuated from Benghazi.
  "Contrary to news reports, Gibson was not ordered to `stand down' by higher command authorities in response to his understandable desire to lead a group of three other special forces soldiers to Benghazi," the Republican-led committee said in a summary of its classified briefing with military officials, including Gibson.
  Four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed in two separate attacks several hours apart on the night of Sept. 11, 2012.
  Republicans insist that the Obama administration is guilty of a cover-up of the events despite a scathing independent report that faulted the State Department for inadequate security at the diplomatic mission. They have accused the administration of misleading the American people about the cause of the terrorist incident during the heat of a presidential campaign, blaming a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islam video.
  In nearly nine months since the attack, GOP lawmakers have repeatedly asked why the military couldn't get aircraft or forces to Benghazi in time to thwart the second attack after the first incident that killed Stevens.
  The committee summary said Gibson acknowledged that if he had left Tripoli, Americans in the Libyan capital would have been without protection.
  "He also stated that in hindsight, he would not have been able to get to Benghazi in time to make a difference, and as it turned out his medic was needed to provide urgent assistance to survivors once they arrived in Tripoli," said the summary from the Armed Services Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee.
  Gregory Hicks, a former diplomat in Tripoli at the time of the attack, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in May that the unit was told to stand down.
  After the first word of the attack in Benghazi, a seven-member security team, including two military personnel, flew from Tripoli to Benghazi. Upon their arrival, they learned that Stevens was missing and the situation had calmed after the first attack, according to a Pentagon timeline released last year.
  Meanwhile, a second team was preparing to leave on a Libyan C-130 cargo plane from Tripoli to Benghazi when Hicks said he learned from the Libyan prime minister that Stevens was dead. The Libyan military agreed to transport additional personnel as reinforcements to Benghazi on its cargo plane, but Hicks complained the special forces were told not to make the trip.
  "They were told not to board the flight, so they missed it," Hicks said. Pressed on why, he said, "I guess they just didn't have the right authority from the right level."
  Earlier this month, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress there was never a stand down order.
  "They weren't told to stand down. A `stand down' means don't do anything," he said. "They were told that the mission they were asked to perform was not in Benghazi, but was at Tripoli airport."
  Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the House panel, said based on congressional testimony and the independent Accountability Review Board report, the military provided "every asset at its disposal ... and responded as appropriately as it could in a fast-moving crisis."
  "In particular, this briefing unquestionably reaffirmed that there was absolutely no military order to stand down any of our forces as has been claimed," she said in a statement.
  The House panel received testimony from retired Gen. Carter Ham, the former commander for the Africa region; Rear Adm. Brian Losey, the former commander for Special Operations Command Africa, and Gibson.
  The summary said John Brennan, then counterterrorism adviser, headed a review of security measures worldwide in advance of the Sept. 11 anniversary. However, Ham told the panel that he was not consulted regarding this review.
  "When questioned about this process today, Gen. Ham, the combatant commander responsible for one of the most volatile threat environments in the world, stated that neither he nor anyone working for him was consulted as part of the Brennan 9/11 planning process," the summary said.
  (C) Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
US Looks to Send Training Teams to Lebanon, Iraq
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  Thu, 27 Jun 2013 16:07
  WASHINGTON - U.S. military commanders have been told to explore ways to increase security assistance to Lebanon and Iraq, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs said Wednesday, as the violence in Syria spills across the borders and the Iraqis face growing threats from the local al-Qaida offshoot.
  Gen. Martin Dempsey said the assistance is aimed at improving the two nations' military capabilities and could include sending in U.S. training teams and accelerating foreign military sales of weapons and equipment to Iraq and Lebanon.
  Dempsey made the recommendation to U.S. Central Command in recent weeks, according to Air Force Col. Ed Thomas, a spokesman for the Army general. There have been no U.S. military trainers in Iraq since troops left at the end of 2011, as the war there ended. But the U.S. has provided military training and assistance to Lebanon for a number of years.
  "Militarily, what we're doing is assisting our partners in the region, the neighbors of Syria, to ensure that they're prepared to account for the potential spillover effects," Dempsey said during a Pentagon briefing Wednesday. "As you know, we've just taken a decision to leave some Patriot missile batteries and some F-16s in Jordan as part of the defense of Jordan. We're working with our Iraqi counterparts, the Lebanese Armed Forces and Turkey through NATO."
  He said that as he looked at the challenges being faced by Syria's neighbors, including the re-emergence of al-Qaida in Iraq, he determined that the U.S. should help them build up their military abilities. He said the assistance would not involve sending U.S. combat troops into Lebanon or Iraq.
  The U.S. last week left about a dozen F-16 fighter jets in Jordan, where they will be flying and conducting training operations. The Pentagon also left a Patriot missile battery there, bringing the total number of American forces in Jordan to about 1,000.
  U.S. officials said the increased show of military might in Jordan was a signal to Syria that it must confine its civil war within its borders. The officials said it is meant to show that the U.S. was committed to its defense relationship with Jordan and that America intended to maintain a strong presence in the region. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the planning publicly.
  Dempsey and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel declined to provide any additional information about U.S. plans to provide weapons to Syrian rebels, other than to say that the U.S. military has no role so far in that program.
  According to officials, the CIA was coordinating the effort to arm the rebel groups.
  (C) Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.