BuildingWhat? on Geraldo Nov 13 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
First evidence Yemen bomb scare was false flag op
With the eyes of the world on Yemen and officials pointing the finger squarely at the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) group based in the nation’s south, Yemen’s government is cautioning against jumping to conclusions, and denying that the bomb plot packages came from Yemen at all.
“No UPS or DHL cargo packages heading to Chicago through Yemen took place in the last 48 hours,” insisted Yemenia Airways’ Air Cargo Director Mohammed Shaibah. Officials with the nation’s Civil Aviation Authority insisted that ono US cargo aircrafts left the nation at all in the past 48 hours.
All reports have indicated that the packages were marked as having come from Yemen. It is unclear exactly how to reconcile this with the Yemeni government’s claims that they couldn’t possibly have originated there.
Read full story from Antiwar.com
“No UPS or DHL cargo packages heading to Chicago through Yemen took place in the last 48 hours,” insisted Yemenia Airways’ Air Cargo Director Mohammed Shaibah. Officials with the nation’s Civil Aviation Authority insisted that ono US cargo aircrafts left the nation at all in the past 48 hours.All reports have indicated that the packages were marked as having come from Yemen. It is unclear exactly how to reconcile this with the Yemeni government’s claims that they couldn’t possibly have originated there.
Read full story from Antiwar.com
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Obama going solar on White House...again
America's most famous home, already growing organic vegetables, is going greener with rooftop solar panels.
The Obama administration announced Tuesday that the White House will have solar panels to generate electricity and a solar water heater atop the living quarters by spring 2011.
"President Obama has said the federal government has to lead by example in creating opportunity and jobs in clean energy," said Nancy Sutley, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The Department of Energy will begin a competitive bid process to select a company to do the work.
Obama, who has promoted renewable energy, has come under pressure from environmentalists and the solar industry to install photovolotaic roof panels at the White House. President Jimmy Carter did so in 1979, but the panels were removed during the Reagan administration.
Read full story from USA Today.
The Obama administration announced Tuesday that the White House will have solar panels to generate electricity and a solar water heater atop the living quarters by spring 2011.
"President Obama has said the federal government has to lead by example in creating opportunity and jobs in clean energy," said Nancy Sutley, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The Department of Energy will begin a competitive bid process to select a company to do the work.
Obama, who has promoted renewable energy, has come under pressure from environmentalists and the solar industry to install photovolotaic roof panels at the White House. President Jimmy Carter did so in 1979, but the panels were removed during the Reagan administration.
Read full story from USA Today.
Nobel Prize for strongest, thinnest man-made material
By MALCOLM RITTER and KARL RITTER
Associated Press Writers
NEW YORK (AP) -- It is the thinnest and strongest material known to mankind - no thicker than a single atom and 100 times tougher than steel. Could graphene be the next plastic? Maybe so, says one of two scientists who won a Nobel Prize on Tuesday for isolating and studying it.
Faster computers, lighter airplanes, transparent touch screens - the list of potential uses runs on. Some scientists say we can't even imagine what kinds of products might be possible with the substance, which hides in ordinary pencil lead and first was extracted using a piece of Scotch tape.
Two Russian-born researchers shared the physics Nobel for their groundbreaking experiments with graphene, which is a sheet of carbon atoms joined together in a pattern that resembles chicken wire.
Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov of the University of Manchester in England used Scotch tape to rip off flakes of graphene from a chunk of graphite, the stuff of pencil leads. That achievement, reported just six years ago, opened the door to studying what scientists say should be a versatile building block for electronics and strong materials.
"It has all the potential to change your life in the same way that plastics did," Geim, 51, a Dutch citizen, told The Associated Press. "It is really exciting."
Read full story from Associated Press.
Associated Press Writers
NEW YORK (AP) -- It is the thinnest and strongest material known to mankind - no thicker than a single atom and 100 times tougher than steel. Could graphene be the next plastic? Maybe so, says one of two scientists who won a Nobel Prize on Tuesday for isolating and studying it.
Faster computers, lighter airplanes, transparent touch screens - the list of potential uses runs on. Some scientists say we can't even imagine what kinds of products might be possible with the substance, which hides in ordinary pencil lead and first was extracted using a piece of Scotch tape.
Two Russian-born researchers shared the physics Nobel for their groundbreaking experiments with graphene, which is a sheet of carbon atoms joined together in a pattern that resembles chicken wire.
Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov of the University of Manchester in England used Scotch tape to rip off flakes of graphene from a chunk of graphite, the stuff of pencil leads. That achievement, reported just six years ago, opened the door to studying what scientists say should be a versatile building block for electronics and strong materials.
"It has all the potential to change your life in the same way that plastics did," Geim, 51, a Dutch citizen, told The Associated Press. "It is really exciting."
Read full story from Associated Press.
Redditor finds FBI tracking device on friend's car
Want to know if the government is really tracking you? If you find one of these tucked underneath your car, you can start freaking out.
A routine visit to the mechanic by a Redditor and his friend turned up this ominous-looking device nestled right next to the exhaust on his friend’s car.
After promptly ruling out a bomb, other Redditors helped correctly identify the black device as a Guardian ST820 – a GPS-tracking unit made by Cobham and used exclusively by the army and law enforcement. According to the poster, the friend’s (now dead) father had ties to the Muslim religious community and was the subject of quite a bit of FBI interest. That interest also extended to the son, who has supposedly been on an FBI watchlist since last year.
“Why my friend is being tracked is anyone’s guess, but the only thing I think it could be is his connection to his father,” he says. “The FBI tried to get in touch with my friend a few months ago and he referred them to his lawyer and hasn’t heard from them since.” Redditors have thus far suggested sending the unit to France, Uganda, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Yemen, Oceania, United Kingdom, Fiji, Estonia, Denmark and Somalia (in that order), the Chilean mine and Ron Paul’s car.
Read full story from Gizmodo.
A routine visit to the mechanic by a Redditor and his friend turned up this ominous-looking device nestled right next to the exhaust on his friend’s car.
After promptly ruling out a bomb, other Redditors helped correctly identify the black device as a Guardian ST820 – a GPS-tracking unit made by Cobham and used exclusively by the army and law enforcement. According to the poster, the friend’s (now dead) father had ties to the Muslim religious community and was the subject of quite a bit of FBI interest. That interest also extended to the son, who has supposedly been on an FBI watchlist since last year.
“Why my friend is being tracked is anyone’s guess, but the only thing I think it could be is his connection to his father,” he says. “The FBI tried to get in touch with my friend a few months ago and he referred them to his lawyer and hasn’t heard from them since.” Redditors have thus far suggested sending the unit to France, Uganda, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Yemen, Oceania, United Kingdom, Fiji, Estonia, Denmark and Somalia (in that order), the Chilean mine and Ron Paul’s car.
Read full story from Gizmodo.
Buffett: Cut taxes for all but rich
Buffett, the billionaire investor who runs Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA), said Tuesday at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington that the nation's tax code "has gotten distorted to a huge extent," by levying higher taxes on secretaries and janitors than on CEOs and private equity whiners.
He called, as he has in the past, for policymakers to redress that iniquity by raising taxes on the rich. Buffett said taxes will have to rise in general in coming years if we want to dig our way out of a giant budget deficit.
"We are not taking in enough money at the federal government level," he said. He said tax collections (see chart, right) will have to rise back into the 18-20% range from below 15% lately.
Read full story from CNN Money.
He called, as he has in the past, for policymakers to redress that iniquity by raising taxes on the rich. Buffett said taxes will have to rise in general in coming years if we want to dig our way out of a giant budget deficit.
"We are not taking in enough money at the federal government level," he said. He said tax collections (see chart, right) will have to rise back into the 18-20% range from below 15% lately.
Read full story from CNN Money.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Fox helped Hitler create propaganda
In 1932, the German newsreel subsidiary of Fox News Channel’s corporate ancestor, Fox Films, intervened in national elections in Germany.
The candidate Fox supported was Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
The basic facts are available in German historian Hans Mommsen’s authoritative study entitled The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy, which is translated into English and widely available in over five hundred libraries in this country. Mommsen, one of the most distinguished postwar German historians, is now Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Bochum. In Mommsen’s account of Nazi propaganda techniques, we find the following: “There was nothing that escaped the ingenuity of Nazi propagandists. A case in point was the use of film. Under Goebbels’ influence the party had begun to exploit the potential of the political propaganda film to an unprecedented extent as early as 1930. Such films were shown mostly in places where Hitler and other prominent party leaders were not able to appear as speakers. For the manufacture of outdoor sound film, the NSDAP turned to an American company, Twentieth Century Fox.“1
Scholar William G. Chrystal confirms this account and provides further important details in his 1975 article on “Nazi Party Election Films, 1927-1938.” Chrystal writes: “Support for two additional 1932 election films, Der Führer (The Leader), and Hitlers Kampf um Deutschland (Hitler’s Struggle for Germany) came from the German-based subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Tönende Wochenschau (Fox Weekly Sound Newsreel [i.e., Fox Movietone News]). In addition, they also supplied some mobile sound film vans to be used during the campaign. Thus at least part of Hitler’s support in that critical time was the result of Fox’s help. The background for this assistance is unknown since Fox Tönende Wochenschau records were destroyed during the war,” according to a July 9, 1974 letter to Chrystal from Joseph Bellfort, who was at that time the vice president of the Twentieth Century Fox International Film Corporation.
The last Fox Movietone newsreels appeared in the United States in 1963. According to the Wikipedia article on Movietone News, parts of the Fox Movietone newsreel collection are still “owned and managed by the Fox Film Corporation’s corporate successor (and namesake), Fox News Channel. The majority of the collection is stored in New Jersey, mostly unseen since the newsreels were originally shown in theatres.
Read full story from Tarpley.net
The candidate Fox supported was Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
The basic facts are available in German historian Hans Mommsen’s authoritative study entitled The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy, which is translated into English and widely available in over five hundred libraries in this country. Mommsen, one of the most distinguished postwar German historians, is now Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Bochum. In Mommsen’s account of Nazi propaganda techniques, we find the following: “There was nothing that escaped the ingenuity of Nazi propagandists. A case in point was the use of film. Under Goebbels’ influence the party had begun to exploit the potential of the political propaganda film to an unprecedented extent as early as 1930. Such films were shown mostly in places where Hitler and other prominent party leaders were not able to appear as speakers. For the manufacture of outdoor sound film, the NSDAP turned to an American company, Twentieth Century Fox.“1
Scholar William G. Chrystal confirms this account and provides further important details in his 1975 article on “Nazi Party Election Films, 1927-1938.” Chrystal writes: “Support for two additional 1932 election films, Der Führer (The Leader), and Hitlers Kampf um Deutschland (Hitler’s Struggle for Germany) came from the German-based subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox, Fox Tönende Wochenschau (Fox Weekly Sound Newsreel [i.e., Fox Movietone News]). In addition, they also supplied some mobile sound film vans to be used during the campaign. Thus at least part of Hitler’s support in that critical time was the result of Fox’s help. The background for this assistance is unknown since Fox Tönende Wochenschau records were destroyed during the war,” according to a July 9, 1974 letter to Chrystal from Joseph Bellfort, who was at that time the vice president of the Twentieth Century Fox International Film Corporation.
The last Fox Movietone newsreels appeared in the United States in 1963. According to the Wikipedia article on Movietone News, parts of the Fox Movietone newsreel collection are still “owned and managed by the Fox Film Corporation’s corporate successor (and namesake), Fox News Channel. The majority of the collection is stored in New Jersey, mostly unseen since the newsreels were originally shown in theatres.
Read full story from Tarpley.net
FOX News ratings drop 21% year-to-year
Fox News dominated the cable news landscape in third quarter of 2010 and had the top 11 programs in cable news for the month of September, though the network was down -21% in Total Viewers and down -26% in younger viewers compared to Sept. 2009 (Total Day, Mon-Sun)
“The O’Reilly Factor” was the top program in cable news, averaging more than 2.8 million Total Viewers and 680,000 A250-54 demo viewers, but the show was down -12% (Total Viewers) and -21% (demo) compared to Sept. 09. “Hannity,” “Glenn Beck,” ”Special Report” and “On the Record” rounded out the top five — but all shows were also down double digits compared to Sept. ’09.
Read full story from TV Newser.
Total Day (Mon-Sun): 1.016m total/267k A25-54
Prime (Mon-Sun): 1.831m total/443k A25-54
“The O’Reilly Factor” was the top program in cable news, averaging more than 2.8 million Total Viewers and 680,000 A250-54 demo viewers, but the show was down -12% (Total Viewers) and -21% (demo) compared to Sept. 09. “Hannity,” “Glenn Beck,” ”Special Report” and “On the Record” rounded out the top five — but all shows were also down double digits compared to Sept. ’09.
Read full story from TV Newser.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Osbournes expose ignorance over Israeli human rights abuses
JERUSALEM (AFP) – British rocker Ozzy Osbourne, the "Prince of Darkness," was to perform in Israel on Tuesday despite a string of recent cancellations by other artists protesting its occupation of Palestinian lands.
When asked on Sunday whether he had any hesitation about performing in Israel on account of the conflict, Osbourne said he avoided politics because "I wouldn't know what I was talking about," according to the Ynet news service.
His wife and manager Sharon Osbourne added that "Britain has the IRA and no one cancels concerts there," referring to the Irish Republican Army, which fought British rule in northern Ireland until the 1990s.
When asked why he hadn't visited Israel before, Osbourne replied: "I don't know, I was drunk for years."
Read full story from Raw Story.
When asked on Sunday whether he had any hesitation about performing in Israel on account of the conflict, Osbourne said he avoided politics because "I wouldn't know what I was talking about," according to the Ynet news service.
His wife and manager Sharon Osbourne added that "Britain has the IRA and no one cancels concerts there," referring to the Irish Republican Army, which fought British rule in northern Ireland until the 1990s.
When asked why he hadn't visited Israel before, Osbourne replied: "I don't know, I was drunk for years."
Read full story from Raw Story.
GOP blocks senate bill to stop job outsourcing
The Senate on Tuesday blocked tax legislation that would have punished U.S. firms that export jobs. But the political symbolism of trying to save American jobs, not passing a bill, was the Democrats' closing argument on the economy in the waning weeks of the congressional elections.
Republicans complained that the vote used a serious subject — economic recovery — to score points with voters five weeks before the balloting in which all 435 House seats, 37 Senate seats and the Democratic majority are on the line. The bill in question, Republicans said, would make U.S. companies less competitive.
Read full story from Raw Story.
Republicans complained that the vote used a serious subject — economic recovery — to score points with voters five weeks before the balloting in which all 435 House seats, 37 Senate seats and the Democratic majority are on the line. The bill in question, Republicans said, would make U.S. companies less competitive.
Read full story from Raw Story.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Future Volvo may be made OF batteries
Here's one problem companies face when trying to build practical electric cars: Batteries are heavy. If you want to give an electric car more range, that means you need a bigger battery, which means a heavier car, which means it takes more energy to move it. It's a tricky problem.
Volvo might have a solution. The Swedish car company recently announced that it has been working with Imperial College in London to develop a "composite blend of carbon fibers and polymer resin" that can serve as a car's body panels while also functioning as a battery, storing and releasing energy. Future Volvos could be literally made out of batteries. The company's press release candidly admits that "at the moment this is just a fascinating idea," but it does add that "tests are currently under way to see if the vision can be transformed into reality."
If it can, electric cars might get a whole lot cheaper, and the same material could be used to shrink the size of anything that requires a battery: think cell phones and laptops.
Read full story from Grist.
Volvo might have a solution. The Swedish car company recently announced that it has been working with Imperial College in London to develop a "composite blend of carbon fibers and polymer resin" that can serve as a car's body panels while also functioning as a battery, storing and releasing energy. Future Volvos could be literally made out of batteries. The company's press release candidly admits that "at the moment this is just a fascinating idea," but it does add that "tests are currently under way to see if the vision can be transformed into reality."
If it can, electric cars might get a whole lot cheaper, and the same material could be used to shrink the size of anything that requires a battery: think cell phones and laptops.
Read full story from Grist.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Redesigned Pizza Box Breaks Down Into Plates and Smaller Leftover Box
Read full story from Good.
Gulf Sea Food Not Tested for Heavy Metals
Despite claims from President Barack Obama and federal officials that Gulf seafood is safe and poses no long-term health risks, no testing for heavy metals is occurring in fish or shellfish in areas that have been reopened to commercial and recreational fishing.
Both National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and FDA officials told Raw Story that fish and shellfish being tested for the purpose of reopening waters to commercial and recreational fishing are not being tested for heavy metals.
Whenever Raw Story raised the lack of heavy metal testing, FDA and NOAA officials routinely referenced a “Mussel Watch” program. Yet neither agency seemed to have a clear grasp on how this program actually collected useful data related to the heavy metal levels in the seafood currently being fished and sold to market.
Read full story from Raw Story.
Both National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and FDA officials told Raw Story that fish and shellfish being tested for the purpose of reopening waters to commercial and recreational fishing are not being tested for heavy metals.
Whenever Raw Story raised the lack of heavy metal testing, FDA and NOAA officials routinely referenced a “Mussel Watch” program. Yet neither agency seemed to have a clear grasp on how this program actually collected useful data related to the heavy metal levels in the seafood currently being fished and sold to market.
Read full story from Raw Story.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
U.S. Senators Want Power to Shut Down Foreign Websites
A bill introduced in the US Senate on Monday would give US law enforcement authorities more tools to crack down on websites engaged in piracy of movies, television shows and music.
The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act has received support from both parties and was introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, and Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah.
The bill gives the Justice Department an expedited process for cracking down on websites engaged in piracy including having a court issue an order against a domain name that makes pirated goods available.
Read full story from Raw Story.
The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act has received support from both parties and was introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, and Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah.
The bill gives the Justice Department an expedited process for cracking down on websites engaged in piracy including having a court issue an order against a domain name that makes pirated goods available.
Read full story from Raw Story.
Blue Dog Democrats Push to Keep Bush Tax Cuts for Wealthy
With Congress poised for a showdown over the Bush tax cuts, 24 members of the Blue Dog Coalition – a group of House Democrats who tout "fiscal responsibility" as their core belief – are championing the extension of $70-billion-per-year tax cuts for the highest income-earners.
The Democrats voiced their positions in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), both of whom – along with President Barack Obama – support allowing the high-end Bush tax cuts expire as scheduled at the end of this year.
"We believe in times of economic recovery it makes good sense to maintain things as they are in the short term," they wrote.
Thirty-one House Democrats signed the letter – their names were first reported by Christina Bellantoni of Talking Points Memo. All but seven are Blue Dogs, Raw Story has learned.
Read full story from Raw Story.
Below is the list of the 24 Blue Dogs, as compiled by Raw Story, who opposing letting the high-end Bush tax cuts expire.
Rep. Allen Boyd (FL)
Rep. Jim Costa (CA)
Rep. Jim Matheson (UT)
Rep. Glenn Nye (VA)
Rep. Lincoln Davis (TN)
Rep. Brad Ellsworth (IN)
Rep. Dan Boren (IN)
Rep. Mike McIntyre (NC)
Rep. John Barrow (GA)
Rep. Zack Space (OH)
Rep. Jason Altmire (PA)
Rep. Jim Cooper (TN)
Rep. Joe Donnelly (IN)
Rep. John Salazar (CO)
Rep. Frank Kratovil (MD)
Rep. Earl Pomeroy (ND)
Rep. Jim Marshall (GA)
Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (SD)
Rep. Sanford Bishop (GA)
Rep. Mike Ross (AR)
Rep. Travis Childers (MS)
Rep. Walt Minnick (ID)
Rep. Harry Mitchell (AZ)
The Democrats voiced their positions in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), both of whom – along with President Barack Obama – support allowing the high-end Bush tax cuts expire as scheduled at the end of this year.
"We believe in times of economic recovery it makes good sense to maintain things as they are in the short term," they wrote.
Thirty-one House Democrats signed the letter – their names were first reported by Christina Bellantoni of Talking Points Memo. All but seven are Blue Dogs, Raw Story has learned.
Read full story from Raw Story.
Below is the list of the 24 Blue Dogs, as compiled by Raw Story, who opposing letting the high-end Bush tax cuts expire.
Rep. Allen Boyd (FL)
Rep. Jim Costa (CA)
Rep. Jim Matheson (UT)
Rep. Glenn Nye (VA)
Rep. Lincoln Davis (TN)
Rep. Brad Ellsworth (IN)
Rep. Dan Boren (IN)
Rep. Mike McIntyre (NC)
Rep. John Barrow (GA)
Rep. Zack Space (OH)
Rep. Jason Altmire (PA)
Rep. Jim Cooper (TN)
Rep. Joe Donnelly (IN)
Rep. John Salazar (CO)
Rep. Frank Kratovil (MD)
Rep. Earl Pomeroy (ND)
Rep. Jim Marshall (GA)
Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (SD)
Rep. Sanford Bishop (GA)
Rep. Mike Ross (AR)
Rep. Travis Childers (MS)
Rep. Walt Minnick (ID)
Rep. Harry Mitchell (AZ)
Monday, September 20, 2010
Pushing For a Global Internet Treaty
The proposal was presented at the Internet Governance Forum in Lithuania last week, and outlined 12 “principles of internet governance”, including a commitment from countries to sustain the technological foundations that underpin the web’s infrastructure.
The draft law has been likened to the Space Treaty, signed in 1967, which stated that space exploration should be carried out for the benefit of all nations, and guaranteed “free access to all areas of celestial bodies”.
Under the proposed terms of the law, there would be cross-border co-operation between countries to identify and address security vulnerability and protect the network from possible cyber attacks or cyber terrorism.
It would also uphold rights to freedom of expression and association, and the principle of net neutrality, in which all internet traffic is treated equally across the network.
"The fundamental functions and the core principles of the internet must be preserved in all layers of the internet architecture with a view to guaranteeing the interoperability of networks in terms of infrastructures, services and contents," reads the proposal.
"The end-to-end principle should be protected globally.”
Read full story from the Telegraph UK.
The draft law has been likened to the Space Treaty, signed in 1967, which stated that space exploration should be carried out for the benefit of all nations, and guaranteed “free access to all areas of celestial bodies”.
Under the proposed terms of the law, there would be cross-border co-operation between countries to identify and address security vulnerability and protect the network from possible cyber attacks or cyber terrorism.
It would also uphold rights to freedom of expression and association, and the principle of net neutrality, in which all internet traffic is treated equally across the network.
"The fundamental functions and the core principles of the internet must be preserved in all layers of the internet architecture with a view to guaranteeing the interoperability of networks in terms of infrastructures, services and contents," reads the proposal.
"The end-to-end principle should be protected globally.”
Read full story from the Telegraph UK.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Former O'Donnell Aides Claim She's Bad with Money
Attention Vermonters! Before you entrust Christine O'Donnell with helping fix the nation's economy, you should take a look at how she handles her own finances, both personal and campaign.
I personally would encourage you to read the following article from Politico before considering casting your vote her way!
Christine O'Donnell criticized by former aides
O’Donnell’s undisciplined approach to her campaign’s finances in 2008 foreshadowed the criticism she endured this year after reports of her own shaky personal finances surfaced.
At one point in 2008, the candidate traveled to California for a luncheon fundraiser organized by a friend in Los Angeles. Keegan said in addition to spending $3,000 on a trip for herself and two aides, the event itself failed to yield more than a few hundred dollars in contributions.
And a few days before the event, according to Keegan, half of the 500 invites came back to the campaign's PO Box address, requesting postage due.
Keegan, whose job was to oversee the campaign budget, said he repeatedly clashed with O'Donnell over expenses.
He said O'Donnell's phone service got cut off because she had failed to keep up with her payments, forcing her to trek to relatives’ homes to make campaign calls.
"It was always a misunderstanding," he said, describing her explanation when he would confront her about the recurring problems.
When O'Donnell wanted to place an order for hundreds of campaign T-shirts, Keegan said, she asked him to put the charge on his personal credit card.
"I said, ‘No, how are we going to pay for them? Her famous quote was always, 'have them invoice it.' I said, ‘We can't do that. In 20 days, we're going to have to pay for it.’ And it's not like we had all this money coming in," he explained. "Whenever Christine wanted money for something, she wanted everyone to stop paying somebody else."
That included halting payment of checks to staffers, which eventually led to several of them leaving, including Murray and Keegan before summer's end.
But before Keegan finished his projects in August 2008, he made sure he called all the vendors the campaign was using.
"I said, ‘Don't take any orders from her unless you get cash upfront,’" he warned.
Her campaign staffers weren’t the only ones who had issues with O'Donnell. Bill Lee, the 2008 GOP gubernatorial nominee who shared the ticket with her in November, said he attended many of the same political events as she did but decided to seek distance from her campaign.
"She would get off message and just be bizarre, so it reached the stage where I stopped making appearances with her. It was embarrassing,” Lee said. “More than that, I was asking for money from the same people and we went as a team and I really didn't want to be on her team after a couple of those things."
Read full story from Politico.
I personally would encourage you to read the following article from Politico before considering casting your vote her way!
Christine O'Donnell criticized by former aides
O’Donnell’s undisciplined approach to her campaign’s finances in 2008 foreshadowed the criticism she endured this year after reports of her own shaky personal finances surfaced.
At one point in 2008, the candidate traveled to California for a luncheon fundraiser organized by a friend in Los Angeles. Keegan said in addition to spending $3,000 on a trip for herself and two aides, the event itself failed to yield more than a few hundred dollars in contributions.
And a few days before the event, according to Keegan, half of the 500 invites came back to the campaign's PO Box address, requesting postage due.
Keegan, whose job was to oversee the campaign budget, said he repeatedly clashed with O'Donnell over expenses.
He said O'Donnell's phone service got cut off because she had failed to keep up with her payments, forcing her to trek to relatives’ homes to make campaign calls.
"It was always a misunderstanding," he said, describing her explanation when he would confront her about the recurring problems.
When O'Donnell wanted to place an order for hundreds of campaign T-shirts, Keegan said, she asked him to put the charge on his personal credit card.
"I said, ‘No, how are we going to pay for them? Her famous quote was always, 'have them invoice it.' I said, ‘We can't do that. In 20 days, we're going to have to pay for it.’ And it's not like we had all this money coming in," he explained. "Whenever Christine wanted money for something, she wanted everyone to stop paying somebody else."
That included halting payment of checks to staffers, which eventually led to several of them leaving, including Murray and Keegan before summer's end.
But before Keegan finished his projects in August 2008, he made sure he called all the vendors the campaign was using.
"I said, ‘Don't take any orders from her unless you get cash upfront,’" he warned.
Her campaign staffers weren’t the only ones who had issues with O'Donnell. Bill Lee, the 2008 GOP gubernatorial nominee who shared the ticket with her in November, said he attended many of the same political events as she did but decided to seek distance from her campaign.
"She would get off message and just be bizarre, so it reached the stage where I stopped making appearances with her. It was embarrassing,” Lee said. “More than that, I was asking for money from the same people and we went as a team and I really didn't want to be on her team after a couple of those things."
Read full story from Politico.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
L.A. Launches "Divest From Israel" Campaign
On April 1, 2010, in a no-holds-barred interview with the Christian Science Monitor, Israeli peacemaker Jonathan Ben Artzi, a PhD candidate at Brown University and nephew to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, made clear his belief that equality and social justice will prevail in Israel when the government and people of the United States adopt a no-tolerance stance toward Israel’s abuse of Palestinians. Ben Artzi, whose family has lived in the region for nine generations, and who’s seen a lifetime of Israel’s abuse of Palestinians, declared:
“Sometimes it takes a good friend to tell you when enough is enough. As they did with South Africa two decades ago, concerned citizens across the US can make a difference by encouraging Washington to get the message to Israel that this cannot continue.”
Jonathan’s reference to South Africa is a testament to the powerful roll played by valiant Americans who participated in protests, boycotts and divestment actions nationwide, most between 1984 and 1989, which ultimately forced the white minority South African government to relinquish control over its oppressed Black majority.
Ben Artzi, a man of conscience and compassion, served 18 months in prison for refusing his mandatory service in Israel’s military. Ben Artzi goes on to say:
“If Americans truly are our friends, they should shake us up and take away the keys, because right now we are driving drunk, and without this wake-up call, we will soon find ourselves in the ditch of an undemocratic, doomed state.”
This week, Jonathan Ben Artzi should be pleased to know that a concerned and energized coalition of Americans has heeded the call to rescue out of control Israel from driving deeper into its ditch.
“Sometimes it takes a good friend to tell you when enough is enough. As they did with South Africa two decades ago, concerned citizens across the US can make a difference by encouraging Washington to get the message to Israel that this cannot continue.”
Jonathan’s reference to South Africa is a testament to the powerful roll played by valiant Americans who participated in protests, boycotts and divestment actions nationwide, most between 1984 and 1989, which ultimately forced the white minority South African government to relinquish control over its oppressed Black majority.
Ben Artzi, a man of conscience and compassion, served 18 months in prison for refusing his mandatory service in Israel’s military. Ben Artzi goes on to say:
“If Americans truly are our friends, they should shake us up and take away the keys, because right now we are driving drunk, and without this wake-up call, we will soon find ourselves in the ditch of an undemocratic, doomed state.”
This week, Jonathan Ben Artzi should be pleased to know that a concerned and energized coalition of Americans has heeded the call to rescue out of control Israel from driving deeper into its ditch.
Former Police Chief Argues FOR Prop 19
As San Jose's retired chief of police and a cop with 35 years experience on the front lines in the war on marijuana, I'm voting yes on Prop. 19.
Like an increasing number of law enforcers, I have learned that most bad things about marijuana -- especially the violence made inevitable by an obscenely profitable black market -- are caused by the prohibition, not by the plant. Legal marijuana is long overdue, but leading up to November, wrongheaded opponents will implore Californians with the same old mistaken arguments to stay the course. Prohibition advocates will promote fear, and they will ignore the vast bulk of law enforcement and medical experience on marijuana. People should not be fooled by cannabis opponents' appeal to prejudices and emotions when they argue:
1. Regulating cannabis will result in an explosion of use by young people.
On the contrary, pot smoking may decrease. Experience and research show that the United States has among the world's harshest marijuana laws, yet our consumption rate leads the world and is twice that of the Netherlands, where cannabis sales to adults have been allowed for decades. Prohibition doesn't keep marijuana away from young people. Annual U.S. government surveys consistently show that more than 80 percent of teenagers say that marijuana is "easy" or "very easy" to obtain. In a recent study from Columbia University, teenagers said it is easier to get illegal marijuana than age-regulated alcohol. Under today's laws, pot-dealing criminals getting rich on marijuana Prohibition don't ask for ID, but licensed dealers selling alcohol do.
2. Legalizing marijuana will just add one more harmful legal substance to the mix.
Marijuana is already in the mix. No one can dispute that marijuana already is widely available. At least 1 in 10 Californians consumed it in the past year, despite expensive government efforts. The November ballot's Proposition 19: The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 acknowledges this reality and enables us to manage the cannabis market. Furthermore, taxing legal cannabis sales will provide steady funding for local governments that may help avoid layoffs of police and teachers.
3. Drug gangs will keep selling marijuana even under legalization.
Silly. Who would buy pot on dangerous streets if they could get it at regulated stores without unsafe impurities? Al Capone and his rivals made machine-gun battles a staple of 1920s city street life when they fought to control the illegal alcohol market. No one today shoots up the local neighborhood to compete in the beer market. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that Mexican cartels derive more than 60 percent of their profits from marijuana. How much did the cartels make last year dealing in Budweiser, Corona or Dos Equis? Legalization would seriously cripple their operations. With more than 20,000 people in Mexico killed in the past three years in drug turf battles, which are spreading north of the border, undercutting the cartels is an urgent priority for both Mexicans' and Americans' safety.
Read full story from Alternet.org
Buyer Beware: High Fructose Corn Syrup Changing Name to Corn Sugar
As the mounting pile of evidence that high fructose corn syrup is unhealthier than ordinary table sugar continues to grow, industry executives have buckled down and decided it's time for action. Honoring a longstanding American tradition, HFCS industry representatives have responded to that sprawling body of scientific research by doing what they do best -- launching a re-branding campaign. "High fructose corn syrup" may have (rightfully) acquired something of a stigma. But perhaps the public will forget all about the health ills associated with the stuff when it's called by its benign new name: "Corn Sugar".
Yes, the Corn Refiners Association (the lobbying group and manufacturing association that represents makers of high-fructose corn syrup) have embarked on an effort to ditch the troublesome name tag that even a slew of expensive TV ads couldn't spruce up. It had seemed that the public had made up its mind on HFCS, and recognized that the stuff was unhealthy; but maybe that was simply a semantics issue.
Read full story from Treehugger.com
Bravo comment: New name, same harmful effects on your health!
Yes, the Corn Refiners Association (the lobbying group and manufacturing association that represents makers of high-fructose corn syrup) have embarked on an effort to ditch the troublesome name tag that even a slew of expensive TV ads couldn't spruce up. It had seemed that the public had made up its mind on HFCS, and recognized that the stuff was unhealthy; but maybe that was simply a semantics issue.
Read full story from Treehugger.com
Bravo comment: New name, same harmful effects on your health!
Dead Fish Clogging Mississippi Near Gulf
According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the fish were found and photographed in a bayou on the west side of the Mississippi late last week, in the Plaquemines Parish of Louisiana. Plaquemines was one of the earliest areas to be impacted by the BP Gulf spill, and it was also one of the heaviest hit. Now, this happening with alarming frequency:
Read full story from Treehugger.com
North America's Largest Lithium-Ion Battery Plan Opens in Michigan
A123 Systems, the makers of advanced lithium-ion batteries, have just opened a new battery factory in Livonia, Michigan. They claim that "based on available data" it is the largest battery plant in North-America (some manufacturer might be keeping their capacity secret). This new facility should increase A123's manufacturing capabilities by "up to 600MW hours per year when fully operational, contributing to the company's plan to expand global final cell assembly capacity to more than 760MW hours annually by the end of 2011. " That's a lot of batteries! And, as previously noted, it should help drive prices down.
Read full story from Treehugger.com
Read full story from Treehugger.com
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Prof. Steven Jones finds evidence of thermitic reaction in WTC dust
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Friday, September 10, 2010
Former US Senator Joins 1,200+ Architects & Engineers in Questioning 9/11 Commission Report
At a press conference in Washington DC, Thursday, the group Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth offered evidence "that all three WTC skyscrapers on September 11, 2001, in NYC were destroyed by explosive controlled demolition."
The third building the group referred to was World Trade Center 7, a skyscraper that collapsed about eight hours after the main WTC towers fell. For many 9/11 "truthers," WTC7's collapse despite not being hit by a plane is the "smoking gun" proving that something other than airplanes brought down the towers. The WTC7 collapse was not addressed in the official 9/11 Commission report.
"That building fell completely into its own footprint," blogger Andrew Steele told WKTV in Utica. "You can watch on YouTube yourself and use your own common sense. Even if you don't have a scientific background ... if you have two eyes, you can see that fire alone did not bring down that building."
His claims, and those of the 1,270 architects and engineers who have signed on to the effort, were bolstered by the support of former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, who said in a press release that "critically important evidence has come forward after the original government building reports were completed."
Gravel has been concerned with the events of September 11, 2001, for some time now. He has called for an independent investigation into 9/11.
"Unlike the first investigation, this commission should be granted subpoena power and full access to all governmental files and personnel," Gravel wrote. "George Bush should be forced to testify ALONE."
San Francisco architect Richard Gage said the way the towers collapsed was consistent with a controlled demolition, not a chaotic structural collapse.
"The official FEMA and NIST reports provide insufficient, contradictory, and fraudulent accounts of the circumstances of the towers' destruction," Gage said. "We are therefore calling for a grand jury investigation of NIST officials."
But Gage added that "government investigators at the NIST have been forced to acknowledge the free-fall descent, an indicting fact, after being presented with analysis by AE911Truth petition signers."
On its Web site, the architects' and engineers' group lists facts that suggest explosives were used to take down the towers.
-- Rapid onset of "collapse"
-- Sounds of explosions at ground floor - a second before the building's destruction
-- Symmetrical "structural failure" -- through the path of greatest resistance -- at free-fall acceleration
-- Massive volume of expanding pyroclastic dust clouds
-- Expert corroboration from the top European Controlled Demolition professional
-- FEMA finds rapid oxidation and intergranular melting on structural steel samples
WTC7 exhibited none of the characteristics of destruction by fire, i.e.
-- Slow onset with large visible deformations
-- Asymmetrical collapse which follows the path of least resistance (laws of conservation of momentum would cause a falling, to the side most damaged by the fires)
-- High-rise buildings with much larger, hotter, and longer lasting fires have never "collapsed".
Read full story from Raw Story.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Physical Laws Possibly Not Constant Across Universe
New evidence supports the idea that we live in an area of the universe that is "just right" for our existence. The controversial finding comes from an observation that one of the constants of nature appears to be different in different parts of the cosmos.
If correct, this result stands against Einstein's equivalence principle, which states that the laws of physics are the same everywhere. "This finding was a real surprise to everyone," says John Webb of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Webb is lead author on the new paper, which has been submitted to Physical Review Letters.
Even more surprising is the fact that the change in the constant appears to have an orientation, creating a "preferred direction", or axis, across the cosmos. That idea was dismissed more than 100 years ago with the creation of Einstein's special theory of relativity.
Moreover, the team's analysis of around 300 measurements of alpha in light coming from various points in the sky suggests the variation is not random but structured, like a bar magnet. The universe seems to have a large alpha on one side and a smaller alpha on the other.
This "dipole" alignment nearly matches that of a stream of galaxies mysteriously moving towards the edge of the universe. It does not, however, line up with another unexplained dipole, dubbed the axis of evil, in the afterglow of the big bang.
Earth sits somewhere in the middle of the extremes for alpha. If correct, the result would explain why alpha seems to have the finely tuned value that allows chemistry – and thus life – to occur. Grow alpha by 4 per cent, for instance, and the stars would be unable to produce carbon, making our biochemistry impossible.
Even if the result is accepted for publication, it is going to be hard to convince other scientists that the laws of physics might need a rewrite. A spatial variation in the fine-structure constant would be "truly transformative", according to Lennox Cowie, who works at the Institute for Astronomy in Hawaii. But, he adds, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence: "That's way beyond what we have here." He says the statistical significance of the new observations is too small to prove that alpha is changing.
If the interpretation of the light is correct, it is "a huge deal", agrees Craig Hogan, head of the Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics in Batavia, Illinois. But like Cowie, he suspects there is a flaw somewhere in the analysis. "I think the result is not real," he says.
Read full story from New Scientist.
Bravo comment: "As Above, So Below". Why is it difficult for scientists to conceive the idea that the Universe itself may have a pole when all other spheres and galaxies do? Seems a pretty elementary concept to me.
If correct, this result stands against Einstein's equivalence principle, which states that the laws of physics are the same everywhere. "This finding was a real surprise to everyone," says John Webb of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Webb is lead author on the new paper, which has been submitted to Physical Review Letters.
Even more surprising is the fact that the change in the constant appears to have an orientation, creating a "preferred direction", or axis, across the cosmos. That idea was dismissed more than 100 years ago with the creation of Einstein's special theory of relativity.
Moreover, the team's analysis of around 300 measurements of alpha in light coming from various points in the sky suggests the variation is not random but structured, like a bar magnet. The universe seems to have a large alpha on one side and a smaller alpha on the other.
This "dipole" alignment nearly matches that of a stream of galaxies mysteriously moving towards the edge of the universe. It does not, however, line up with another unexplained dipole, dubbed the axis of evil, in the afterglow of the big bang.
Earth sits somewhere in the middle of the extremes for alpha. If correct, the result would explain why alpha seems to have the finely tuned value that allows chemistry – and thus life – to occur. Grow alpha by 4 per cent, for instance, and the stars would be unable to produce carbon, making our biochemistry impossible.
Even if the result is accepted for publication, it is going to be hard to convince other scientists that the laws of physics might need a rewrite. A spatial variation in the fine-structure constant would be "truly transformative", according to Lennox Cowie, who works at the Institute for Astronomy in Hawaii. But, he adds, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence: "That's way beyond what we have here." He says the statistical significance of the new observations is too small to prove that alpha is changing.
If the interpretation of the light is correct, it is "a huge deal", agrees Craig Hogan, head of the Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics in Batavia, Illinois. But like Cowie, he suspects there is a flaw somewhere in the analysis. "I think the result is not real," he says.
Read full story from New Scientist.
Bravo comment: "As Above, So Below". Why is it difficult for scientists to conceive the idea that the Universe itself may have a pole when all other spheres and galaxies do? Seems a pretty elementary concept to me.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Geologists Embracing Reality of Polar Shifts
Just north of a truck stop along Interstate 80 in Battle Mountain, Nev., lies evidence that the Earth’s magnetic field once went haywire.
Magnetic minerals in 15-million-year-old rocks appear to preserve a moment when the magnetic north pole was rapidly on its way to becoming the south pole, and vice versa. Such “geomagnetic field reversals” occur every couple hundred thousand years, normally taking about 4,000 years to make the change. The Nevada rocks suggest that this particular switch happened at a remarkably fast clip.
Anyone carrying a compass would have seen its measurements skew by about a degree a week — a flash in geologic time. A paper describing the discovery is slated to appear in Geophysical Research Letters.
It is only the second report of such a speedy change in geomagnetic direction. The first, described in 1995 based on rocks at Steens Mountain, Ore., has never gained widespread acceptance in the paleomagnetism community. A second example could bolster the theory that reversals really can happen quickly, over the course of years or centuries instead of millennia.
“We’re trying to make the case that [the new work] is another record of a superfast magnetic change,” says lead author Scott Bogue, a geologist at Occidental College in Los Angeles.
The last stable reversal occurred 780,000 years ago. Some geologists argue the Earth is overdue for a reversal and might even be entering one now, as the geomagnetic field has been getting weaker over the past 150 years or more.
Read full story from Science News.
Magnetic minerals in 15-million-year-old rocks appear to preserve a moment when the magnetic north pole was rapidly on its way to becoming the south pole, and vice versa. Such “geomagnetic field reversals” occur every couple hundred thousand years, normally taking about 4,000 years to make the change. The Nevada rocks suggest that this particular switch happened at a remarkably fast clip.
Anyone carrying a compass would have seen its measurements skew by about a degree a week — a flash in geologic time. A paper describing the discovery is slated to appear in Geophysical Research Letters.
It is only the second report of such a speedy change in geomagnetic direction. The first, described in 1995 based on rocks at Steens Mountain, Ore., has never gained widespread acceptance in the paleomagnetism community. A second example could bolster the theory that reversals really can happen quickly, over the course of years or centuries instead of millennia.
“We’re trying to make the case that [the new work] is another record of a superfast magnetic change,” says lead author Scott Bogue, a geologist at Occidental College in Los Angeles.
The last stable reversal occurred 780,000 years ago. Some geologists argue the Earth is overdue for a reversal and might even be entering one now, as the geomagnetic field has been getting weaker over the past 150 years or more.
Read full story from Science News.
How the right taints America's image even when NOT in control
A delegation of Pakistani military officers was on a flight from Washington D.C. to Tampa, FL for a meeting with US Central Command when the officers were pulled off the flight for talking – because apparently when foreign people talk to one another on a plane, it’s best to jump to the conclusion that they are terrorists and then treat them as such.
Part of the strategy to success in Afghanistan involves a partnership with the Pakistani government. We are very much relying on the Pakistani military and police to help stamp out Taliban influence. When this delegation, which is trying to help us fight terrorists, is harassed as a result of one particular woman’s assumption upon hearing someone say that they are tired and looking forward to arriving at their final destination, that doesn’t exactly engender good feelings in the relationship that is already a little rocky.
All of the fear mongering and Islamophobia of those on the right is now having an impact on our ability to work with our allies.
Read full story from Blue Wave News.
Bravo comment: Add the fear-mongering over the non-Ground Zero non-Mosque, news of other mosques being denied in smallminded, er - I mean small town America, and the constant barrage of hate against Muslims from Fox News and you get a pretty good picture why the Taliban might be having some success recruiting these days.
Pakistani officials said the officer, weary from the journey to the US, had said, “I hope this is the final plane to the destination” causing a female passenger, who believed he was threatening the aircraft, to panic.
Major General Athar Abbas, a spokesman for the Pakistan military, said the officers had been cleared by subsequent security inspections.
“However, as a result of these checks, military authorities in Pakistan decided to cancel the visit and called the delegation back,” the army said in a statement.
Part of the strategy to success in Afghanistan involves a partnership with the Pakistani government. We are very much relying on the Pakistani military and police to help stamp out Taliban influence. When this delegation, which is trying to help us fight terrorists, is harassed as a result of one particular woman’s assumption upon hearing someone say that they are tired and looking forward to arriving at their final destination, that doesn’t exactly engender good feelings in the relationship that is already a little rocky.
All of the fear mongering and Islamophobia of those on the right is now having an impact on our ability to work with our allies.
Read full story from Blue Wave News.
Bravo comment: Add the fear-mongering over the non-Ground Zero non-Mosque, news of other mosques being denied in smallminded, er - I mean small town America, and the constant barrage of hate against Muslims from Fox News and you get a pretty good picture why the Taliban might be having some success recruiting these days.
Contaminated Oysters Found in Gulf
NEW ORLEANS -- Sampling by environmental groups has found oysters contaminated with oil along the Louisiana coast befouled by the BP PLC oil spill, a finding that casts doubt on statements by state and federal officials that all seafood tested here is safe to eat.
Batches of oysters were sampled on Aug. 2 and 3 near the mouths of the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers and laboratory tests revealed the animals were tainted by oil, according to Wilma Subra, a well-known Louisiana chemist working for environmental groups. The oysters were obtained from a reef and an old crab trap, she said.
She said oil was found in the animals even though there was no obvious sign of oil on them. She said the oil -- which she believes comes from the BP oil spill -- at the levels found in lab tests is very unusual.
"We found oysters in the shell and they appeared to have accumulated the hydrocarbons," Subra said. "I would think that these are indications that there is contamination in the oysters and additional sampling should be performed."
Read full story from WWLTV.
Batches of oysters were sampled on Aug. 2 and 3 near the mouths of the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers and laboratory tests revealed the animals were tainted by oil, according to Wilma Subra, a well-known Louisiana chemist working for environmental groups. The oysters were obtained from a reef and an old crab trap, she said.
She said oil was found in the animals even though there was no obvious sign of oil on them. She said the oil -- which she believes comes from the BP oil spill -- at the levels found in lab tests is very unusual.
"We found oysters in the shell and they appeared to have accumulated the hydrocarbons," Subra said. "I would think that these are indications that there is contamination in the oysters and additional sampling should be performed."
Read full story from WWLTV.
Surprised? Richest Legislators, Mostly Democrats, Got Richer
The rest of the country is still struggling with high unemployment amid a sluggish-at-best economic recovery -- but the wealthiest members of Congress are in high cotton. Indeed, the top 50 wealthiest lawmakers saw their combined net worths increase last year, according to the Hill's annual analysis of financial disclosure documents.
Combined, the 50 lawmakers were worth $1.4 billion in 2009 -- an $85.1 million increase over their 2008 total -- the Hill reports. The members' total combined assets depreciated by nearly $36 million last year -- but Congress' well-to-do set also reduced their debts by a combined $120 million.
The list of 50 lawmakers spans both parties (27 Democrats and 23 Republicans) and both chambers of Congress (30 House members, 20 senators), the Hill reports.
Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts topped the list for the second year in a row; Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas made his debut in the top 10.
Here are profiles for the 10 most flush Hill power-and-money brokers:
1. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.): $188.6 million. Kerry's worth, which grew by $20 million in 2009, stems from his wife's assets. Teresa Heinz Kerry, of the Heinz ketchup family, inherited hundreds of millions upon the death of her previous husband, Sen. John Heinz.
2. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.): $160.1 million. Issa actually saw his minimum net worth drop by $4 million, partly due to the poor performance of a single investment fund. Issa's fortune stems from investments he and his wife made in the electronics market. Their company eventually became the largest producer of car anti-theft devices in the country. They sold the business in 2000.
3. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.): $152.3 million. Harman is married to audio-equipment mogul Sidney Harman; stock holdings from his company, Harman International Industries, helped Harman's net worth grow by $40 million last year. Sidney Harman is in the process of purchasing Newsweek; the magazine's massive debts will presumably drag down Harman's 2010 disclosure numbers a bit.
4. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa.): $83.7 million. No surprise here: The Rockefeller family name has for generations been a byword for fabulous riches. (Rockefeller's great-grandfather John Rockefeller was an oil magnate; inflation-adjusted figures still peg the founder of the Rockefeller fortune as the wealthiest man in history.) But the senator's uptick in personal wealth last year came mainly from his wife's investments.
5. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas): $73.8 million. McCaul saw his net worth double last year, mostly owing to stocks held by his wife. McCaul's father-in-law founded the radio empire Clear Channel Communications.
6. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.): $70.2 million. Warner made millions through investments in the cell phone industry, including the Nextel company.
7. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.): $56.5 million. Before his 2008 election to Congress, Polis made a fortune in online enterprises, transforming his family's greeting card company into BlueMountain.com and founding ProFlowers.com.
8. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.): $53.5 million. Buchanan grew wealthy as the owner of multiple auto dealerships in Florida.
9. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.): $49.7 million. Lautenberg co-founded a payroll services company in the 1950s that became one of the industry's global leaders.
10. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.): $46.1 million. Most of the California lawmaker's wealth comes from real-estate holdings and investments made by her husband.
Read full story from Yahoo!
Bravo comment: It's important to note that most gains seemed to come from the lawmakers' spouses and so were not direct gains. Still, it's no wonder Democrats aren't big on the idea of repealing the Bush tax cuts...
Combined, the 50 lawmakers were worth $1.4 billion in 2009 -- an $85.1 million increase over their 2008 total -- the Hill reports. The members' total combined assets depreciated by nearly $36 million last year -- but Congress' well-to-do set also reduced their debts by a combined $120 million.
The list of 50 lawmakers spans both parties (27 Democrats and 23 Republicans) and both chambers of Congress (30 House members, 20 senators), the Hill reports.
Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts topped the list for the second year in a row; Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas made his debut in the top 10.
Here are profiles for the 10 most flush Hill power-and-money brokers:
1. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.): $188.6 million. Kerry's worth, which grew by $20 million in 2009, stems from his wife's assets. Teresa Heinz Kerry, of the Heinz ketchup family, inherited hundreds of millions upon the death of her previous husband, Sen. John Heinz.
2. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.): $160.1 million. Issa actually saw his minimum net worth drop by $4 million, partly due to the poor performance of a single investment fund. Issa's fortune stems from investments he and his wife made in the electronics market. Their company eventually became the largest producer of car anti-theft devices in the country. They sold the business in 2000.
3. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.): $152.3 million. Harman is married to audio-equipment mogul Sidney Harman; stock holdings from his company, Harman International Industries, helped Harman's net worth grow by $40 million last year. Sidney Harman is in the process of purchasing Newsweek; the magazine's massive debts will presumably drag down Harman's 2010 disclosure numbers a bit.
4. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa.): $83.7 million. No surprise here: The Rockefeller family name has for generations been a byword for fabulous riches. (Rockefeller's great-grandfather John Rockefeller was an oil magnate; inflation-adjusted figures still peg the founder of the Rockefeller fortune as the wealthiest man in history.) But the senator's uptick in personal wealth last year came mainly from his wife's investments.
5. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas): $73.8 million. McCaul saw his net worth double last year, mostly owing to stocks held by his wife. McCaul's father-in-law founded the radio empire Clear Channel Communications.
6. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.): $70.2 million. Warner made millions through investments in the cell phone industry, including the Nextel company.
7. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.): $56.5 million. Before his 2008 election to Congress, Polis made a fortune in online enterprises, transforming his family's greeting card company into BlueMountain.com and founding ProFlowers.com.
8. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.): $53.5 million. Buchanan grew wealthy as the owner of multiple auto dealerships in Florida.
9. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.): $49.7 million. Lautenberg co-founded a payroll services company in the 1950s that became one of the industry's global leaders.
10. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.): $46.1 million. Most of the California lawmaker's wealth comes from real-estate holdings and investments made by her husband.
Read full story from Yahoo!
Bravo comment: It's important to note that most gains seemed to come from the lawmakers' spouses and so were not direct gains. Still, it's no wonder Democrats aren't big on the idea of repealing the Bush tax cuts...
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Second Oil Rig in 6 Mos Explodes in Gulf of Mexico
[Posted at 11:53 a.m.] U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough tells CNN that 12 people from the production platform are in water immersion suits as they await rescue.
Colclough told CNN there are reports the production platform is still on fire.
"We don't know what caused the rig to catch on fire," he told CNN, noting the incident is under investigation.
Asked about concerns regarding oil leaks or pollution, Colclough said "there are reports the rig was not actively producing any product, so we don't know if there's any risk of pollution."
The incident comes nearly five months after a separate explosion on a BP rig in the Gulf triggered oil leak disaster.
Breaking news from CNN.
Colclough told CNN there are reports the production platform is still on fire.
"We don't know what caused the rig to catch on fire," he told CNN, noting the incident is under investigation.
Asked about concerns regarding oil leaks or pollution, Colclough said "there are reports the rig was not actively producing any product, so we don't know if there's any risk of pollution."
The incident comes nearly five months after a separate explosion on a BP rig in the Gulf triggered oil leak disaster.
Breaking news from CNN.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
CEOs of Top 50 Job-Cutting Corps Earned $598 Million
The nation's biggest job-cutting companies paid their top executives an average of $12 million last year, according to a report released today.
The 50 U.S. chief executives who laid off the most employees between November 2008 and April 2010 eliminated a total of 531,363 jobs, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, a research group that works for social justice and against wealth concentration.
In "CEO Pay and the Great Recession," the institute said the $598 million in combined pay for the 50 executives would have paid one month's worth of average-sized unemployment benefits for each of the laid-off workers.
Read full story from McClatchy.
The 50 U.S. chief executives who laid off the most employees between November 2008 and April 2010 eliminated a total of 531,363 jobs, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, a research group that works for social justice and against wealth concentration.
In "CEO Pay and the Great Recession," the institute said the $598 million in combined pay for the 50 executives would have paid one month's worth of average-sized unemployment benefits for each of the laid-off workers.
Read full story from McClatchy.
Israeli Captain Who Admitted Killing Palestinian Girl Found Not Guilty
An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his automatic rifle into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl and then said he would have done the same even if she had been three years old was acquitted on all charges by a military court yesterday.
The soldier, who has only been identified as "Captain R", was charged with relatively minor offences for the killing of Iman al-Hams who was shot 17 times as she ventured near an Israeli army post near Rafah refugee camp in Gaza a year ago.
The manner of Iman's killing, and the revelation of a tape recording in which the captain is warned that she was just a child who was "scared to death", made the shooting one of the most controversial since the Palestinian intifada erupted five years ago even though hundreds of other children have also died.
After the verdict, Iman's father, Samir al-Hams, said the army never intended to hold the soldier accountable.
"They did not charge him with Iman's murder, only with small offences, and now they say he is innocent of those even though he shot my daughter so many times," he said. "This was the cold-blooded murder of a girl. The soldier murdered her once and the court has murdered her again. What is the message? They are telling their soldiers to kill Palestinian children."
Read full story from The Guardian UK.
Bravo comment: One good thing about America - if this had happened here, the defendent would have been publicly exposed, not protected with anonymity. As long as Israel continues to condone this sort of thing, they can be neither surprised nor offended by Palestinian retaliation.
The soldier, who has only been identified as "Captain R", was charged with relatively minor offences for the killing of Iman al-Hams who was shot 17 times as she ventured near an Israeli army post near Rafah refugee camp in Gaza a year ago.
The manner of Iman's killing, and the revelation of a tape recording in which the captain is warned that she was just a child who was "scared to death", made the shooting one of the most controversial since the Palestinian intifada erupted five years ago even though hundreds of other children have also died.
After the verdict, Iman's father, Samir al-Hams, said the army never intended to hold the soldier accountable.
"They did not charge him with Iman's murder, only with small offences, and now they say he is innocent of those even though he shot my daughter so many times," he said. "This was the cold-blooded murder of a girl. The soldier murdered her once and the court has murdered her again. What is the message? They are telling their soldiers to kill Palestinian children."
Read full story from The Guardian UK.
Bravo comment: One good thing about America - if this had happened here, the defendent would have been publicly exposed, not protected with anonymity. As long as Israel continues to condone this sort of thing, they can be neither surprised nor offended by Palestinian retaliation.
33 Proven Conspiracy Theories (And Why You Shouldn't Discount 9/11 Truth)
Bravo comment: The following is an intelligently written argument for looking past skeptics' denials of conspiracy theories when those skeptics use the official story as their argument - or when skeptics cherry pick the most fringe and improbable aspects to attack and discredit the entire theory. It also contains a compilation of several conspiracy theories that proved to be true. Will you read with an open mind?
Most people can't resist getting the details on the latest conspiracy theories, no matter how far-fetched they may seem. At the same time, many people quickly denounce any conspiracy theory as untrue ... and sometimes as unpatriotic or just plain ridiculous. Lets not forget all of the thousands of conspiracies out of Wall Street like Bernie Madoff and many others to commit fraud and extortion, among many crimes of conspiracy. USA Today reports that over 75% of personal ads in the paper and on craigslist are married couples posing as single for a one night affair. When someone knocks on your door to sell you a set of knives or phone cards, anything for that matter, do they have a profit motive? What is conspiracy other than just a scary way of saying “alternative agenda”? When 2 friends go to a bar and begin to plan their wingman approach on 2 girls they see at the bar, how often are they planning on lying to those girls?“ I own a small business and am in town for a short while.Oh yeah, you look beautiful.”
Conspiracy theory is a term that originally was a neutral descriptor for any claim of civil, criminal or political conspiracy. However, it has come almost exclusively to refer to any fringe theory which explains a historical or current event as the result of a secret plot by conspirators of almost superhuman power and cunning. To conspire means "to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act or to use such means to accomplish a lawful end. "The term "conspiracy theory" is frequently used by scholars and in popular culture to identify secret military, banking, or political actions aimed at stealing power, money, or freedom, from "the people".
To many, conspiracy theories are just human nature. Not all people in this world are honest, hard working and forthcoming about their intentions.Certainly we can all agree on this.So how did the term “conspiracy theory” get grouped in with fiction, fantasy and folklore? Maybe that’s a conspiracy, just kidding. Or am I?
Skeptics are important in achieving an objective view of reality, however, skeptism is not the same as reinforcing the official storyline. In fact, a conspiracy theory can be argued as an alternative to the official or “mainstream” story of events. Therefore, when skeptics attempt to ridicule a conspiracy theory by using the official story as a means of proving the conspiracy wrong, in effect, they are just reinforcing the original “mainstream” view of history, and actually not being skeptical. This is not skeptism, it is just a convenient way for the establishment view of things to be seen as the correct version, all the time, every time. In fact, it is common for "hit pieces" or "debunking articles" to pick extremely fringe and not very populated conspiracy theories. This in turn makes all conspiracies on a subject matter look crazy. Skeptics magazine and Popular Mechanics, among many others, did this with 9/11. They referred to less than 10% of the many different conspiracy theories about 9/11 and picked the less popular ones, in fact, they picked the fringe, highly improbable points that only a few people make. This was used as the "final investigation" for looking into the conspiracy theories. Convenient, huh?
In fact, if one were to look into conspiracy theories, they will largely find that thinking about a conspiracy is associated with lunacy and paranoia. Some websites suggest it as an illness. It is also not surprising to see so many people on the internet writing about conspiracy theories in a condescending tone, usually with the words "kool-aid," "crack pot," or "nut job" in their articulation. This must be obvious to anyone that emotionally writing about such serious matter insults the reader more than the conspiracy theorist because there is no need to resort to this kind of behavior. It is employed often with an "expert" who will say something along the lines of, "for these conspiracies to be true, you would need hundreds if not thousands of people to be involved. It's just not conceivable."
I find it extremely odd that the assumption is on thousands of participants in a conspiracy. I, for one, find it hard to believe any conspiracy involving more than a handful of people but the fact remains that there have been conspiracies in our world, proven and not made up, that involved many hundreds of people. It's not a matter of opinion, it's a matter of fact.
One more thing to consider, have you noticed that if the conspiracy is involving powerful interests with the ability to bribe, threaten or manipulate major institutions (like the mafia, big corporations or government) then don't you find it odd when people use one of those as the "credible" counter-argument? What I mean is, if you are discussing a conspiracy about the mafia, and someone hands you a debunking article that was written by the mafia, it doesn't seem like it would take rocket science to look at that with serious criticism and credibility. This is the case with many conspiracies. In fact, I am handed debunking pieces all the time written in many cases by the conspirators in question. Doesn't this seem odd to anybody else but me?
While intelligent cynicism certainly can be healthy, though, some of the greatest discoveries of all time were initially received (often with great vitriol) as blasphemous conspiracy theories -- think of the revelation that the earth was not the center of the universe, or that the world was not flat but actually round.
What follows are some of these most shocking modern conspiracy theories that turned out true after thorough investigation by our society. Some through congressional hearings, others through investigative journalism. Many of these, however, were just admitted to by those involved. These are just 33 of them, and I still had a long list of others to add. There are a total of 33 in this article. Many of these are listed with original and credible news clips on the matter, as well as documentaries.
Read full story from New World Order Report.
Most people can't resist getting the details on the latest conspiracy theories, no matter how far-fetched they may seem. At the same time, many people quickly denounce any conspiracy theory as untrue ... and sometimes as unpatriotic or just plain ridiculous. Lets not forget all of the thousands of conspiracies out of Wall Street like Bernie Madoff and many others to commit fraud and extortion, among many crimes of conspiracy. USA Today reports that over 75% of personal ads in the paper and on craigslist are married couples posing as single for a one night affair. When someone knocks on your door to sell you a set of knives or phone cards, anything for that matter, do they have a profit motive? What is conspiracy other than just a scary way of saying “alternative agenda”? When 2 friends go to a bar and begin to plan their wingman approach on 2 girls they see at the bar, how often are they planning on lying to those girls?“ I own a small business and am in town for a short while.Oh yeah, you look beautiful.”
Conspiracy theory is a term that originally was a neutral descriptor for any claim of civil, criminal or political conspiracy. However, it has come almost exclusively to refer to any fringe theory which explains a historical or current event as the result of a secret plot by conspirators of almost superhuman power and cunning. To conspire means "to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act or to use such means to accomplish a lawful end. "The term "conspiracy theory" is frequently used by scholars and in popular culture to identify secret military, banking, or political actions aimed at stealing power, money, or freedom, from "the people".
To many, conspiracy theories are just human nature. Not all people in this world are honest, hard working and forthcoming about their intentions.Certainly we can all agree on this.So how did the term “conspiracy theory” get grouped in with fiction, fantasy and folklore? Maybe that’s a conspiracy, just kidding. Or am I?
Skeptics are important in achieving an objective view of reality, however, skeptism is not the same as reinforcing the official storyline. In fact, a conspiracy theory can be argued as an alternative to the official or “mainstream” story of events. Therefore, when skeptics attempt to ridicule a conspiracy theory by using the official story as a means of proving the conspiracy wrong, in effect, they are just reinforcing the original “mainstream” view of history, and actually not being skeptical. This is not skeptism, it is just a convenient way for the establishment view of things to be seen as the correct version, all the time, every time. In fact, it is common for "hit pieces" or "debunking articles" to pick extremely fringe and not very populated conspiracy theories. This in turn makes all conspiracies on a subject matter look crazy. Skeptics magazine and Popular Mechanics, among many others, did this with 9/11. They referred to less than 10% of the many different conspiracy theories about 9/11 and picked the less popular ones, in fact, they picked the fringe, highly improbable points that only a few people make. This was used as the "final investigation" for looking into the conspiracy theories. Convenient, huh?
In fact, if one were to look into conspiracy theories, they will largely find that thinking about a conspiracy is associated with lunacy and paranoia. Some websites suggest it as an illness. It is also not surprising to see so many people on the internet writing about conspiracy theories in a condescending tone, usually with the words "kool-aid," "crack pot," or "nut job" in their articulation. This must be obvious to anyone that emotionally writing about such serious matter insults the reader more than the conspiracy theorist because there is no need to resort to this kind of behavior. It is employed often with an "expert" who will say something along the lines of, "for these conspiracies to be true, you would need hundreds if not thousands of people to be involved. It's just not conceivable."
I find it extremely odd that the assumption is on thousands of participants in a conspiracy. I, for one, find it hard to believe any conspiracy involving more than a handful of people but the fact remains that there have been conspiracies in our world, proven and not made up, that involved many hundreds of people. It's not a matter of opinion, it's a matter of fact.
One more thing to consider, have you noticed that if the conspiracy is involving powerful interests with the ability to bribe, threaten or manipulate major institutions (like the mafia, big corporations or government) then don't you find it odd when people use one of those as the "credible" counter-argument? What I mean is, if you are discussing a conspiracy about the mafia, and someone hands you a debunking article that was written by the mafia, it doesn't seem like it would take rocket science to look at that with serious criticism and credibility. This is the case with many conspiracies. In fact, I am handed debunking pieces all the time written in many cases by the conspirators in question. Doesn't this seem odd to anybody else but me?
While intelligent cynicism certainly can be healthy, though, some of the greatest discoveries of all time were initially received (often with great vitriol) as blasphemous conspiracy theories -- think of the revelation that the earth was not the center of the universe, or that the world was not flat but actually round.
What follows are some of these most shocking modern conspiracy theories that turned out true after thorough investigation by our society. Some through congressional hearings, others through investigative journalism. Many of these, however, were just admitted to by those involved. These are just 33 of them, and I still had a long list of others to add. There are a total of 33 in this article. Many of these are listed with original and credible news clips on the matter, as well as documentaries.
Read full story from New World Order Report.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Trucker Killed in Semi VS Bison Accident
A South Hutchinson (Kansas) man was killed when his semi hit a bison on a Colorado highway.
The accident happened around 3:30 Tuesday morning, a semi hauling salt was traveling westbound on Highway 36 NE of the town of Byers, which about 30 miles east of Denver.
A bison was standing in the roadway and was struck by the semi. After hitting the bison, the semi went off the right side of the road and overturned. The driver, 74-year-old Manard Bontrager of South Hutchinson was killed.
The bison was also killed in the accident.
Read full story from KAKE.
The accident happened around 3:30 Tuesday morning, a semi hauling salt was traveling westbound on Highway 36 NE of the town of Byers, which about 30 miles east of Denver.
A bison was standing in the roadway and was struck by the semi. After hitting the bison, the semi went off the right side of the road and overturned. The driver, 74-year-old Manard Bontrager of South Hutchinson was killed.
The bison was also killed in the accident.
Read full story from KAKE.
68% of Voters Want Government to Hold Polluters Accountable
In spite of massive astroturfing campaigns by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and major industrial polluters, a clear majority of Americans support the regulation of greenhouse gases, according to a poll commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Remarkably, just 34 percent said they oppose the plan, while 60 percent were in favor, according to Bloomberg.
A smaller majority, 54 percent, said they felt confident in the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to effectively regulate greenhouse gases. Just 51 percent said they support the agency actually issuing the regulations, while 40 percent were opposed.
An overwhelming majority of respondents, 68 percent, said the government must "do more to hold corporations accountable for their pollution."
Read full story from Raw Story.
Remarkably, just 34 percent said they oppose the plan, while 60 percent were in favor, according to Bloomberg.
A smaller majority, 54 percent, said they felt confident in the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to effectively regulate greenhouse gases. Just 51 percent said they support the agency actually issuing the regulations, while 40 percent were opposed.
An overwhelming majority of respondents, 68 percent, said the government must "do more to hold corporations accountable for their pollution."
Read full story from Raw Story.
12 U.S. Troops Killed in 2 Days in Afghanistan
19 killed since Saturday.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Five U.S. troops were killed by roadside bombs and insurgent fire in southern and eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the latest casualties in a particularly bloody spell that has left 12 service members dead in two days, and 19 since Saturday.
Meanwhile, on the southern outskirts of the capital, Kabul, a gunman opened fire on a busload of Afghan Supreme Court clerks, killing three and wounding 12, the Interior Ministry reported.
Assailants on two motorcycles halted the bus Tuesday morning in the Musayi district, an area where insurgents are active, court spokesman Abdul Malik Kamawi said. One gunman then boarded the bus and opened fire with an automatic weapon, killing two people, Kamawi said. A third died later in a hospital.
Read full story from L.A. Times.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Five U.S. troops were killed by roadside bombs and insurgent fire in southern and eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the latest casualties in a particularly bloody spell that has left 12 service members dead in two days, and 19 since Saturday.
Meanwhile, on the southern outskirts of the capital, Kabul, a gunman opened fire on a busload of Afghan Supreme Court clerks, killing three and wounding 12, the Interior Ministry reported.
Assailants on two motorcycles halted the bus Tuesday morning in the Musayi district, an area where insurgents are active, court spokesman Abdul Malik Kamawi said. One gunman then boarded the bus and opened fire with an automatic weapon, killing two people, Kamawi said. A third died later in a hospital.
Read full story from L.A. Times.
Greenpeace Blocks Oil Drilling in Greenland
Greenpeace forced a Scottish company to stop drilling off Greenland on Tuesday by having four activists climb onto an oil rig.
The activists, having breached a 1,650-feet (500-meter) security perimeter around the Stena Don rig off western Greenland, climbed up the rig and fastened themselves to it, police spokesman Morten Nielsen told The Associated Press.
The breach triggered an automatic shutdown of the rig's operations.
The activists are still on the rig and will be arrested, said Nielsen.
Read full story from Raw Story.
The activists, having breached a 1,650-feet (500-meter) security perimeter around the Stena Don rig off western Greenland, climbed up the rig and fastened themselves to it, police spokesman Morten Nielsen told The Associated Press.
The breach triggered an automatic shutdown of the rig's operations.
The activists are still on the rig and will be arrested, said Nielsen.
Read full story from Raw Story.
Canadians Developing Electric Car with Hemp Body
An electric car made of hemp is being developed by a group of Canadian companies in collaboration with an Alberta Crown corporation.
The Kestrel will be prototyped and tested later in August by Calgary-based Motive Industries Inc., a vehicle development firm focused on advanced materials and technologies, the company announced.
The compact car, which will hold a driver and up to three passengers, will have a top speed of 90 kilometres per hour and a range of 40 to 160 kilometres before needing to be recharged, depending on the type of battery, the company said in an email to CBC News Monday.
Read full story from CBC News.
The Kestrel will be prototyped and tested later in August by Calgary-based Motive Industries Inc., a vehicle development firm focused on advanced materials and technologies, the company announced.
The compact car, which will hold a driver and up to three passengers, will have a top speed of 90 kilometres per hour and a range of 40 to 160 kilometres before needing to be recharged, depending on the type of battery, the company said in an email to CBC News Monday.
Read full story from CBC News.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
California Primed For The Big One
Southern California is long overdue for a major earthquake along the San Andreas fault, according to a landmark study of historic seismic activity released Friday.
The study, produced after several years of field studies in the Carrizo Plain area about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, found that earthquakes along the San Andreas fault have occurred far more often than previously believed.
For years, scientists have said major earthquakes occurred every 250 to 450 years along this part of the San Andreas. The new study found big temblors on the fault every 88 years, on average.The last massive earthquake on that part of the fault was in 1857, leading scientists to warn that another such temblor is likely in Southern California.
Read full story from the L.A. Times.
The study, produced after several years of field studies in the Carrizo Plain area about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, found that earthquakes along the San Andreas fault have occurred far more often than previously believed.
For years, scientists have said major earthquakes occurred every 250 to 450 years along this part of the San Andreas. The new study found big temblors on the fault every 88 years, on average.The last massive earthquake on that part of the fault was in 1857, leading scientists to warn that another such temblor is likely in Southern California.
Read full story from the L.A. Times.
Bush Administration Overlooked Pfizer Pfraud; Too Big to Nail
(NaturalNews) When the world's largest pharmaceutical company was found to have engaged in a massive illegal marketing campaign, federal prosecutors decided the company was too big to punish -- so they let it set up a shell corporation to take the blame.
In 2001, the FDA approved Bextra for the relief of arthritis and menstrual cramps, but did not approve it for more severe surgical pain. Yet Pfizer aggressively promoted the drug to anesthesiologists and surgeons -- "anyone that use[d] a scalpel for a living," in the words of one internal company document. Company employees also told doctors that the FDA had approved Bextra as safe in doses as high as 40 milligrams, whereas the agency had actually only approved doses up to 20 milligrams.
Yet when the government threatened Pfizer with prosecution for off-label marketing fraud, it realized that a conviction would, under federal law, require that Pfizer be excluded from Medicare and Medicaid -- and that this would probably put the company out of business.
"If we prosecute Pfizer, they get excluded," said federal prosecutor Mike Loucks. "A lot of the people who work for the company who haven't engaged in criminal activity would get hurt."
Prosecutors were also concerned that forcing the company out of business might take important drugs off the market.
"We have to ask whether by excluding the company, are we harming our patients," said Lewis Morris of the Department of Health and Human Services.
So Pfizer and the government agreed that a subsidiary of the company would plead guilty instead. That subsidiary, Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. Inc., was formed in 2007 to plead guilty to another charge and has never conducted any business.
"It is true that if a company is created to take a criminal plea, but it's just a shell, the impact of an exclusion is minimal or nonexistent," Morris said.
Read full story from Natural News.
In 2001, the FDA approved Bextra for the relief of arthritis and menstrual cramps, but did not approve it for more severe surgical pain. Yet Pfizer aggressively promoted the drug to anesthesiologists and surgeons -- "anyone that use[d] a scalpel for a living," in the words of one internal company document. Company employees also told doctors that the FDA had approved Bextra as safe in doses as high as 40 milligrams, whereas the agency had actually only approved doses up to 20 milligrams.
Yet when the government threatened Pfizer with prosecution for off-label marketing fraud, it realized that a conviction would, under federal law, require that Pfizer be excluded from Medicare and Medicaid -- and that this would probably put the company out of business.
"If we prosecute Pfizer, they get excluded," said federal prosecutor Mike Loucks. "A lot of the people who work for the company who haven't engaged in criminal activity would get hurt."
Prosecutors were also concerned that forcing the company out of business might take important drugs off the market.
"We have to ask whether by excluding the company, are we harming our patients," said Lewis Morris of the Department of Health and Human Services.
So Pfizer and the government agreed that a subsidiary of the company would plead guilty instead. That subsidiary, Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. Inc., was formed in 2007 to plead guilty to another charge and has never conducted any business.
"It is true that if a company is created to take a criminal plea, but it's just a shell, the impact of an exclusion is minimal or nonexistent," Morris said.
Read full story from Natural News.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Artist Uses Genetic Engineering to Create Actual Soundgarden
Acoustic Botany uses genetically modified plants to produce a "fantastical acoustic garden," where sounds literally grow on trees. "Desired traits such as volume, timbre and harmony are acquired through selective breeding techniques," the artist explains.
There are thus "singing flowers," "modified agrobacteria" that ingeniously take "sugars and nutrients from the host plant to encourage the growth of parasitic galls and fill them with gas to produce sound," and "string-nut bugs" that have been "engineered to chew in rhythm" inside hollow gourds.
Read full story from BLDGBLOG.
There are thus "singing flowers," "modified agrobacteria" that ingeniously take "sugars and nutrients from the host plant to encourage the growth of parasitic galls and fill them with gas to produce sound," and "string-nut bugs" that have been "engineered to chew in rhythm" inside hollow gourds.
Read full story from BLDGBLOG.
Swimming Pool Feeds Family of Four
A family living in Mesa, Arizona, has decided to convert an old unused backyard swimming pool into a very productive DIY urban greenhouse, which they named Garden Pool. Within a small, mostly enclosed space, they grow all kinds of vegetables and herbs, as well as raise chickens and tilapia fish. They started this project in 2009 and expected to be "self-sufficient" by 2012, but they've reached that goal this year, getting "8 fresh eggs a day, unlimited tilapia fish, organic fruit, veggies, and herbs 365 days a year" (though I'm not sure if by self-sufficient they mean that they could theoretically live off the amount of food the Garden Pool produces, or if they actually do it).
Read full story from Treehugger.com.
Read full story from Treehugger.com.
School Food Trends Toward Healthy
That delicious-smelling breakfast sausage? It’s turkey. And that pizza crust that doesn’t have a hint of healthy-looking brown in its coloring? Fooled ya’ – chances are it’s made of nutritious whole grains. Even salads are getting a makeover, with cafeterias gradually increasing the percentage of heartier greens mixed into the crispy iceberg lettuce kids are used to.
The School Nutrition Association (SNA) reports progress as students head back to school. According to a new survey completed by nutrition directors in 538 districts around the country:
95 percent are increasing whole-grain offerings
90 percent are providing more fresh fruits and vegetables
69 percent are reducing sodium
66 percent are reducing added sugar
67 percent of those with vending services are making healthier drinks more available
Among the new menu items schools are serving up for 2010-11: jicama, star fruit, sweet potato puffs, collard greens, edamame, egg-white omelets, and fish tacos.
Read full story from the Christian Science Monitor.
The School Nutrition Association (SNA) reports progress as students head back to school. According to a new survey completed by nutrition directors in 538 districts around the country:
95 percent are increasing whole-grain offerings
90 percent are providing more fresh fruits and vegetables
69 percent are reducing sodium
66 percent are reducing added sugar
67 percent of those with vending services are making healthier drinks more available
Among the new menu items schools are serving up for 2010-11: jicama, star fruit, sweet potato puffs, collard greens, edamame, egg-white omelets, and fish tacos.
Read full story from the Christian Science Monitor.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Walmart Raises Prices
Wal-Mart Stores, which for years has touted its prowess at lowering prices, has been doing the opposite as it tries to bolster its bottom line amid stagnating sales.
A JPMorgan Chase study of a Walmart Supercenter in Virginia found that the world's largest retailer has raised prices by nearly 6% on average over the past six weeks, according to the New York Post. Reuters says it was the biggest sequential increase since JPMorgan started the study in January 2009.
Some of the price hikes were considerably larger. For instance, the price of a 32-ounce bottle of Windex household cleaner jumped 50%, a 12-ounce box of Quaker Oats instant grits climbed 65% and a 50-ounce container of Tide detergent rose by more than 50%. A spokesperson for the Bentonville, Ark., company could not immediately be reached for comment.
READ FULL STORY from Daily Finance.
A JPMorgan Chase study of a Walmart Supercenter in Virginia found that the world's largest retailer has raised prices by nearly 6% on average over the past six weeks, according to the New York Post. Reuters says it was the biggest sequential increase since JPMorgan started the study in January 2009.
Some of the price hikes were considerably larger. For instance, the price of a 32-ounce bottle of Windex household cleaner jumped 50%, a 12-ounce box of Quaker Oats instant grits climbed 65% and a 50-ounce container of Tide detergent rose by more than 50%. A spokesperson for the Bentonville, Ark., company could not immediately be reached for comment.
READ FULL STORY from Daily Finance.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Meditation Elevates Brain Function
A Chinese-influenced meditation technique appears to help the brain regulate behavior after as little as 11 hours of practice, according to a study released Monday.
Researchers at the University of Oregon and Dalian University of Technology charted the effects of integrative body-mind training (IBMT), a technique adapted in the 1990s from traditional Chinese medicine and practiced by thousands in China.
The research to be published in the upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences involved 45 test subjects, about half of whom received IBMT, while a control group received relaxation training.
Imaging tests showed a greater number of connections in the anterior cingulate -- the part of the brain which regulates emotion and behavior -- among those who practiced meditation compared to subjects in the control group.
Read full story from Raw Story.
Researchers at the University of Oregon and Dalian University of Technology charted the effects of integrative body-mind training (IBMT), a technique adapted in the 1990s from traditional Chinese medicine and practiced by thousands in China.
The research to be published in the upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences involved 45 test subjects, about half of whom received IBMT, while a control group received relaxation training.
Imaging tests showed a greater number of connections in the anterior cingulate -- the part of the brain which regulates emotion and behavior -- among those who practiced meditation compared to subjects in the control group.
Read full story from Raw Story.
Sierra Club's Top 100 Green Colleges
The headline's pretty self-explanatory, right? CLICK HERE to see if your favorite school made the list!
Sharp Decline in UK Breast Cancer Rate
Death rates from breast cancer have fallen more dramatically in the UK than any other European county, cancer researchers have said.
The study, which examined mortality rates in 30 countries over the past two decades, challenges claims that survival rates in the UK are worse than anywhere else in western Europe. Researchers, who reported a fall in death rates of about a fifth across all countries, said that the apparently poor survival rates in the UK are misleading because of the way cancer patients are registered, whereas population-based mortality rates are more reliable.
England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland had the second, third, and fourth largest decreases of 35%, 29%, and 30%, coming after Iceland with a 45% drop, according to the study, published in the British Medical Journal. In France, Finland, and Sweden, death rates decreased by 11%, 12% and 16% in comparison.
Anna Gavin, one of the report's authors, said: "We were very pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Despite the fact that the number of cases are going up, and the population is getting older, deaths have still fallen."
Read full story from The Guardian UK.
The study, which examined mortality rates in 30 countries over the past two decades, challenges claims that survival rates in the UK are worse than anywhere else in western Europe. Researchers, who reported a fall in death rates of about a fifth across all countries, said that the apparently poor survival rates in the UK are misleading because of the way cancer patients are registered, whereas population-based mortality rates are more reliable.
England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland had the second, third, and fourth largest decreases of 35%, 29%, and 30%, coming after Iceland with a 45% drop, according to the study, published in the British Medical Journal. In France, Finland, and Sweden, death rates decreased by 11%, 12% and 16% in comparison.
Anna Gavin, one of the report's authors, said: "We were very pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Despite the fact that the number of cases are going up, and the population is getting older, deaths have still fallen."
Read full story from The Guardian UK.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Irony: Biochar Could Reduce CO2 Emissions
ScienceDaily (Aug. 12, 2010) — As much as 12 percent of the world's human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be sustainably offset by producing biochar, a charcoal-like substance made from plants and other organic materials. That's more than what could be offset if the same plants and materials were burned to generate energy, concludes a study published August 10 in the journal Nature Communications.
For their study, the researchers looked to the world's sources of biomass that aren't already being used by humans as food. For example, they considered the world's supply of corn leaves and stalks, rice husks, livestock manure and yard trimmings, to name a few. The researchers then calculated the carbon content of that biomass and how much of each source could realistically be used for biochar production.
With this information, they developed a mathematical model that could account for three possible scenarios. In one, the maximum possible amount of biochar was made by using all sustainably available biomass. Another scenario involved a minimal amount of biomass being converted into biochar, while the third offered a middle course. The maximum scenario required significant changes to the way the entire planet manages biomass, while the minimal scenario limited biochar production to using biomass residues and wastes that are readily available with few changes to current practices.
Read full story from Science Daily.
For their study, the researchers looked to the world's sources of biomass that aren't already being used by humans as food. For example, they considered the world's supply of corn leaves and stalks, rice husks, livestock manure and yard trimmings, to name a few. The researchers then calculated the carbon content of that biomass and how much of each source could realistically be used for biochar production.
With this information, they developed a mathematical model that could account for three possible scenarios. In one, the maximum possible amount of biochar was made by using all sustainably available biomass. Another scenario involved a minimal amount of biomass being converted into biochar, while the third offered a middle course. The maximum scenario required significant changes to the way the entire planet manages biomass, while the minimal scenario limited biochar production to using biomass residues and wastes that are readily available with few changes to current practices.
Read full story from Science Daily.
New Chinese Bus Straddles Cars, Holds 1300
Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment Co., Ltd, proposed the bus idea. They say the bus will travel at up to 60 km/h (about 37mph). Construction of the 186 km of rails that will carry the bus will begin at the end of the year.
And the end of the year is by no means too soon for greenhouse gas-reducing technology. In terms of CO2, we're at 380 parts per million -- that's 100 ppm higher than it was at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. According to the chairman of the Shenzhen Hashi, their bus can save up to 860 tons of fuel per year, which would prevent the emission of 2,640 tons of carbon.
Read full story from Care 2.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Health Insurance Execs Cash In, Plan Fee Hikes
Leaders of Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealth, WellPoint and Aetna received nearly $200 million in compensation in 2009, according to a report, while the companies sought rate increases as high as 39%.
Read full story from L.A. Times.
Read full story from L.A. Times.
WHO Reveals Financial Ties to Pharma, Insurance Companies
(NaturalNews) After months of stalling, the World Health Organization (WHO) has finally revealed the names of key pandemic advisors who influenced its decision to declare a phase six pandemic last year -- a decision that resulted in a financial windfall for vaccine manufacturers. As you'll see here, that list includes at least five expert advisors received money from vaccine companies.
Read full story from Natural News.
Read full story from Natural News.
GM Plants Invade American Wild
US farmers have dramatically increased their use of GM crops since the plants were introduced in the early 1990s. Last year, nearly half the world's transgenic crops were grown in US soil — Brazil, the world's second heaviest user, grew just 16%. GM crops have broken free from cultivated land in several countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan, but they have not previously been found in uncultivated land in the United States.
"The extent of the escape is unprecedented," says Cynthia Sagers, an ecologist at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, who led the research team that found the canola (Brassica napus, also known as rapeseed).
Read full story from Nature.com.
"The extent of the escape is unprecedented," says Cynthia Sagers, an ecologist at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, who led the research team that found the canola (Brassica napus, also known as rapeseed).
Read full story from Nature.com.
U.S. Court Rejects Turkish-American Genocide Denial
A US appeals court has upheld a ruling that blocks schools in the state of Massachusetts from teaching literature that denies the mass killing of Armenians in Turkey in 1915 was a genocide.
The ruling came in response to a 2005 lawsuit filed by the Assembly of Turkish American Associations, a US lobbying group. A lower court dismissed the suit in June, and the appeals court upheld that decision on Wednesday.
State curriculum in Massachusetts requires schools to teach a unit about the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and other "recognised human rights violations and genocides."
The appeals court ruled that "law would not allow the genocide denial actions that the plaintiffs sought."
Turkish-American groups have lobbied schools to include materials that question whether the 1915 killings were, in fact, a genocide.
Read full story from Aljazeera.
Bravo comment: And I reject America's denial of the genocide it committed against Native Americans.
The ruling came in response to a 2005 lawsuit filed by the Assembly of Turkish American Associations, a US lobbying group. A lower court dismissed the suit in June, and the appeals court upheld that decision on Wednesday.
State curriculum in Massachusetts requires schools to teach a unit about the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and other "recognised human rights violations and genocides."
The appeals court ruled that "law would not allow the genocide denial actions that the plaintiffs sought."
Turkish-American groups have lobbied schools to include materials that question whether the 1915 killings were, in fact, a genocide.
Read full story from Aljazeera.
Bravo comment: And I reject America's denial of the genocide it committed against Native Americans.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Breaking: Plane Carrying Alaska Senator Ted Stevens Crashes
A U.S. government official says former Sen. Ted Stevens is believed to have been aboard the airplane that has crashed in Alaska.
The official tells The Associated Press Alaska authorities have been told the former longtime Republican senator is among several passengers on the plane. The official, who spoke on grounds of anonymity, says Stevens' condition is unknown.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigative team has been dispatched from Washington, D.C., and was expected on the ground Tuesday morning.
The federal official declined to be publicly identified because the crash response and investigation are under way. The Alaska National Guard has said there are possible fatalities.
Bravo comment: Ted Stevens has lived a long, full lie. I mean life. But seriously, while it's not cool to hope for someone's death our democracy would be better off without him.
My only remaining question is: Did he take any energy lobbyists with him?
The official tells The Associated Press Alaska authorities have been told the former longtime Republican senator is among several passengers on the plane. The official, who spoke on grounds of anonymity, says Stevens' condition is unknown.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigative team has been dispatched from Washington, D.C., and was expected on the ground Tuesday morning.
The federal official declined to be publicly identified because the crash response and investigation are under way. The Alaska National Guard has said there are possible fatalities.
Bravo comment: Ted Stevens has lived a long, full lie. I mean life. But seriously, while it's not cool to hope for someone's death our democracy would be better off without him.
My only remaining question is: Did he take any energy lobbyists with him?
Monday, August 9, 2010
Report: Pharma-Funded Studies Almost Always Favor Releasing Drug
(NaturalNews) A recent study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine has revealed that industry-funded clinical trials -- that is, drug trials funded by pharmaceutical companies -- almost always show positive results for the drugs they test. In contrast, only about half of government-funded studies show the same drugs to be safe and effective.
The results of the study may not come as much of a surprise to many who already recognize the corruption inherent in drug company-funded clinical trials. But they do broadcast this reality to a much larger audience than ever before.
Read full story from Natural News.
The results of the study may not come as much of a surprise to many who already recognize the corruption inherent in drug company-funded clinical trials. But they do broadcast this reality to a much larger audience than ever before.
Read full story from Natural News.
Pharma Fraud Researcher Claims Bipolar Disorder Made Him Do It
(NaturalNews) Defense attorneys for the perpetrator of one of the largest research frauds in history have claimed that their client, Scott S. Reuben, MD, suffered from "serious, but undiagnosed" bipolar disorder that led him to fabricate data and otherwise falsify his research.
More than 20 of Reuben's papers have since been retracted. He has pleaded guilty to fabricating data and patients, and has also been accused of adding the names of uninvolved co-authors without their permission. He has agreed to repay $361,932 in research funding to several pharmaceutical companies, and $50,000 in penalties to the U.S. government.
Seeking a light sentence for Reuben -- who faces up to 10 years in prison for his crimes -- defense attorneys have argued that his undiagnosed bipolar disorder caused Reuben to commit suicide twice, be hospitalized three times, and fabricate his data.
Glenn J. Treisman, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, expressed skepticism that Reuben, an MD married to a psychiatrist, could suffer from undiagnosed bipolar disorder for so long.
"By the time someone's tried suicide twice, their psychiatrist wife would have known something was going on," he said.
Read full story from Natural News.
More than 20 of Reuben's papers have since been retracted. He has pleaded guilty to fabricating data and patients, and has also been accused of adding the names of uninvolved co-authors without their permission. He has agreed to repay $361,932 in research funding to several pharmaceutical companies, and $50,000 in penalties to the U.S. government.
Seeking a light sentence for Reuben -- who faces up to 10 years in prison for his crimes -- defense attorneys have argued that his undiagnosed bipolar disorder caused Reuben to commit suicide twice, be hospitalized three times, and fabricate his data.
Glenn J. Treisman, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, expressed skepticism that Reuben, an MD married to a psychiatrist, could suffer from undiagnosed bipolar disorder for so long.
"By the time someone's tried suicide twice, their psychiatrist wife would have known something was going on," he said.
Read full story from Natural News.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Animal Cruelty at KU Med
The University of Kansas Medical Center has become known for violating the Animal Welfare Act. In fact, recent inspections for the period from September 2007 to June of 2009 catalogue 58 pages of violations, many of which involve primates and their deaths. The USDA inspectors who wrote these documents uncovered heinous acts of cruelty which prolonged the pain these animals endured. One monkey was allowed to deteriorate so severely that his/her weight dropped by 26.8%, or just over ¼. Another primate, whose skull had been opened to have a recording chamber put into place, did not receive anything close to adequate treatment. These recording chambers can harbor serious bacterial infections which can lead to brain abscesses, and so they are supposed to be cleaned regularly. The chamber of one animal at this facility had not been cleaned for three weeks. It is amazing that s/he was still alive.
Internal records from the University of Kansas Medical Center reveal that a rhesus monkey, #3A5, endured terrible pain on 8/4/2009: “increased agitation and stress from morphine withdrawal.” Other observations from the same day reveal continued agony: “Patient is agitated and vocalizing more. Appears to be more aggressive and keeps moving from perch to floor and back. … Patient is screeching very loudly when moving and grimacing a lot. Muscle tremors noted along with lying down in cage. … P.M. (8:00): Severe muscle tremors noted to the point that animal could not control his right leg and started to bite it; no lacerations or punctures noted.”
Read full blog.
Internal records from the University of Kansas Medical Center reveal that a rhesus monkey, #3A5, endured terrible pain on 8/4/2009: “increased agitation and stress from morphine withdrawal.” Other observations from the same day reveal continued agony: “Patient is agitated and vocalizing more. Appears to be more aggressive and keeps moving from perch to floor and back. … Patient is screeching very loudly when moving and grimacing a lot. Muscle tremors noted along with lying down in cage. … P.M. (8:00): Severe muscle tremors noted to the point that animal could not control his right leg and started to bite it; no lacerations or punctures noted.”
Read full blog.
Latest NATO Strike Kills More Civilians
NATO officials acknowledged preliminary reports that four to a dozen or more civilians were killed in a coalition airstrike Thursday in Nangarhar Province. Afghan accounts put the civilian deaths as high as 32.
“Coalition forces deeply regret that our joint operation appears to have resulted in civilian loss of life and we express our sincerest condolences to the families,” Rear Adm. Greg Smith, the international force’s director of communication, said in a statement.
At the scene, in the village of Hashim Khail Wadi in the Khogyani district, a reporter for The New York Times counted 12 fresh graves. Residents said that they had just buried civilian victims of the bombing and that a total of 32 people had been killed there and in another village nearby, Nakrro Khail, in the Sherzad district.
Read full story from New York Times.
Bravo comment: Hearts and minds. Hearts and minds.
“Coalition forces deeply regret that our joint operation appears to have resulted in civilian loss of life and we express our sincerest condolences to the families,” Rear Adm. Greg Smith, the international force’s director of communication, said in a statement.
At the scene, in the village of Hashim Khail Wadi in the Khogyani district, a reporter for The New York Times counted 12 fresh graves. Residents said that they had just buried civilian victims of the bombing and that a total of 32 people had been killed there and in another village nearby, Nakrro Khail, in the Sherzad district.
Read full story from New York Times.
Bravo comment: Hearts and minds. Hearts and minds.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Majority of Americans Now Accept Gay Relations
Americans' support for the moral acceptability of gay and lesbian relations crossed the symbolic 50% threshold in 2010. At the same time, the percentage calling these relations "morally wrong" dropped to 43%, the lowest in Gallup's decade-long trend.
Read full story from Gallup.
Read full story from Gallup.
U.S. taxpayers pitch in $22 million to train foreigners for outsourced jobs
Despite President Obama's pledge to retain more hi-tech jobs in the U.S., a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $22 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia.
Following their training, the tech workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent's low labor costs.
Under director Rajiv Shah, the United States Agency for International Development will partner with private outsourcers in Sri Lanka to teach workers there advanced IT skills like Enterprise Java (Java EE) programming, as well as skills in business process outsourcing and call center support. USAID will also help the trainees brush up on their English language proficiency.
Read full story from Information Week.
Following their training, the tech workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent's low labor costs.
Under director Rajiv Shah, the United States Agency for International Development will partner with private outsourcers in Sri Lanka to teach workers there advanced IT skills like Enterprise Java (Java EE) programming, as well as skills in business process outsourcing and call center support. USAID will also help the trainees brush up on their English language proficiency.
Read full story from Information Week.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Tea Party Kills Career of Conservative Republican Congressman
It was the middle of a tough primary contest, and Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) had convened a small meeting with donors who had contributed thousands of dollars to his previous campaigns. But this year, as Inglis faced a challenge from tea party-backed Republican candidates claiming Inglis wasn't sufficiently conservative, these donors hadn't ponied up. Inglis' task: Get them back on the team. "They were upset with me," Inglis recalls. "They are all Glenn Beck watchers." About 90 minutes into the meeting, as he remembers it, "They say, 'Bob, what don't you get? Barack Obama is a socialist, communist Marxist who wants to destroy the American economy so he can take over as dictator. Health care is part of that. And he wants to open up the Mexican border and turn [the US] into a Muslim nation.'" Inglis didn't know how to respond.
As he tells this story, the veteran lawmaker is sitting in his congressional office, which he will have to vacate in a few months. On June 22, he was defeated in the primary runoff by Spartanburg County 7th Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy, who had assailed Inglis for supposedly straying from his conservative roots, pointing to his vote for the bank bailout and against George W. Bush's surge in Iraq. Inglis, who served six years in Congress during the 1990s as a conservative firebrand before being reelected to the House in 2004, had also ticked off right-wingers in the state's 4th Congressional District by urging tea-party activists to "turn Glenn Beck off" and by calling on Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) to apologize for shouting "You lie!" at Obama during the president's State of the Union address. For this, Inglis, who boasts (literally) a 93 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, received the wrath of the tea party, losing to Gowdy 71 to 29 percent. In the weeks since, Inglis has criticized Republican House leaders for acquiescing to a poisonous, tea party-driven "demagoguery" that he believes will undermine the GOP's long-term credibility. And he's freely recounting his frustrating interactions with tea party types, while noting that Republican leaders are pushing rhetoric tainted with racism, that conservative activists are dabbling in anti-Semitic conspiracy theory nonsense, and that Sarah Palin celebrates ignorance.
Read full story from Mother Jones.
Bravo comment: I highly recommend reading this piece in its entirety. I also recommend you send it to all your Republican friends. What do you mean you don't have any? Even I have Republican friends. When a conservative with a 93% lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union is too liberal just because he won't support Glenn Beck's lies, GOP Mission Control has a problem.
As he tells this story, the veteran lawmaker is sitting in his congressional office, which he will have to vacate in a few months. On June 22, he was defeated in the primary runoff by Spartanburg County 7th Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy, who had assailed Inglis for supposedly straying from his conservative roots, pointing to his vote for the bank bailout and against George W. Bush's surge in Iraq. Inglis, who served six years in Congress during the 1990s as a conservative firebrand before being reelected to the House in 2004, had also ticked off right-wingers in the state's 4th Congressional District by urging tea-party activists to "turn Glenn Beck off" and by calling on Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) to apologize for shouting "You lie!" at Obama during the president's State of the Union address. For this, Inglis, who boasts (literally) a 93 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, received the wrath of the tea party, losing to Gowdy 71 to 29 percent. In the weeks since, Inglis has criticized Republican House leaders for acquiescing to a poisonous, tea party-driven "demagoguery" that he believes will undermine the GOP's long-term credibility. And he's freely recounting his frustrating interactions with tea party types, while noting that Republican leaders are pushing rhetoric tainted with racism, that conservative activists are dabbling in anti-Semitic conspiracy theory nonsense, and that Sarah Palin celebrates ignorance.
Read full story from Mother Jones.
Bravo comment: I highly recommend reading this piece in its entirety. I also recommend you send it to all your Republican friends. What do you mean you don't have any? Even I have Republican friends. When a conservative with a 93% lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union is too liberal just because he won't support Glenn Beck's lies, GOP Mission Control has a problem.
Miss NY to promote gay rights
She’s like the anti-Carrie Prejean. I’ve never liked beauty pageants and am certain I never will, but I’m rooting for Miss New York to win the title for Miss America next year.
Claire Buffie won the competition for Miss New York this summer, with her platform being gay rights. Below is a recent interview where she discusses what she’s looking to achieve.
Read full story from Feministing.com
Claire Buffie won the competition for Miss New York this summer, with her platform being gay rights. Below is a recent interview where she discusses what she’s looking to achieve.
Read full story from Feministing.com
Friday, July 30, 2010
Scientists: Last Decade Warmest on Record
WASHINGTON — Not only was the past decade the warmest on record, but climate indicators being tracked globally are worsening, scientists reported Wednesday in their annual "State of the Climate."
"A comprehensive review of key climate indicators confirms the world is warming and the past decade was the warmest" since recordkeeping began in 1870, declares the report, which was released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Compiled by more than 300 scientists from 48 countries, the report said its analysis of 10 indicators that are "clearly and directly related to surface temperatures, all tell the same story: Global warming is undeniable."
Read full story from MSNBC.
Bravo comment: I'd like to point out that this is the 100th post for the Bravo News Feed. Fitting that it's about the most important issue facing humanity!
"A comprehensive review of key climate indicators confirms the world is warming and the past decade was the warmest" since recordkeeping began in 1870, declares the report, which was released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Compiled by more than 300 scientists from 48 countries, the report said its analysis of 10 indicators that are "clearly and directly related to surface temperatures, all tell the same story: Global warming is undeniable."
Read full story from MSNBC.
Bravo comment: I'd like to point out that this is the 100th post for the Bravo News Feed. Fitting that it's about the most important issue facing humanity!
MoveOn.org: 5 Myths About Social Security
Myth #1: Social Security is going broke.
Reality: There is no Social Security crisis. By 2023, Social Security will have a $4.6 trillion surplus (yes, trillion with a 'T'). It can pay out all scheduled benefits for the next quarter-century with no changes whatsoever.1 After 2037, it'll still be able to pay out 75% of scheduled benefits—and again, that's without any changes. The program started preparing for the Baby Boomers' retirement decades ago.2 Anyone who insists Social Security is broke probably wants to break it themselves.
Myth #2: We have to raise the retirement age because people are living longer.
Reality: This is a red-herring to trick you into agreeing to benefit cuts. Retirees are living about the same amount of time as they were in the 1930s. The reason average life expectancy is higher is mostly because many fewer people die as children than they did 70 years ago.3 What's more, what gains there have been are distributed very unevenly—since 1972, life expectancy increased by 6.5 years for workers in the top half of the income brackets, but by less than 2 years for those in the bottom half.4 But those intent on cutting Social Security love this argument because raising the retirement age is the same as an across-the-board benefit cut.
Myth #3: Benefit cuts are the only way to fix Social Security.
Reality: Social Security doesn't need to be fixed. But if we want to strengthen it, here's a better way: Make the rich pay their fair share. If the very rich paid taxes on all of their income, Social Security would be sustainable for decades to come.5 Right now, high earners only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,000 of their income.6 But conservatives insist benefit cuts are the only way because they want to protect the super-rich from paying their fair share.
Myth #4: The Social Security Trust Fund has been raided and is full of IOUs
Reality: Not even close to true. The Social Security Trust Fund isn't full of IOUs, it's full of U.S. Treasury Bonds. And those bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.7 The reason Social Security holds only treasury bonds is the same reason many Americans do: The federal government has never missed a single interest payment on its debts. President Bush wanted to put Social Security funds in the stock market—which would have been disastrous—but luckily, he failed. So the trillions of dollars in the Social Security Trust Fund, which are separate from the regular budget, are as safe as can be.
Myth #5: Social Security adds to the deficit
Reality: It's not just wrong—it's impossible! By law, Social Security's funds are separate from the budget, and it must pay its own way. That means that Social Security can't add one penny to the deficit.8
Sources:
1."To Deficit Hawks: We the People Know Best on Social Security," New Deal 2.0, June 14, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89703&id=22136-3014064-Gh4U.Ox&t=4
2. "The Straight Facts on Social Security," Economic Opportunity Institute, September 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89704&id=22136-3014064-Gh4U.Ox&t=5
3. "Social Security and the Age of Retirement," Center for Economic and Policy Research, June 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89705&id=22136-3014064-Gh4U.Ox&t=6
4. "More on raising the retirement age," Washington Post, July 8, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89706&id=22136-3014064-Gh4U.Ox&t=7
5. "Social Security is sustainable," Economic and Policy Institute, May 27, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89707&id=22136-3014064-Gh4U.Ox&t=8
6. "Maximum wage contribution and the amount for a credit in 2010," Social Security Administration, April 23, 2010
http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/240
7. "Trust Fund FAQs," Social Security Administration, February 18, 2010
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/fundFAQ.html
8."To Deficit Hawks: We the People Know Best on Social Security," New Deal 2.0, June 14, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89703&id=22136-3014064-Gh4U.Ox&t=9
Reality: There is no Social Security crisis. By 2023, Social Security will have a $4.6 trillion surplus (yes, trillion with a 'T'). It can pay out all scheduled benefits for the next quarter-century with no changes whatsoever.1 After 2037, it'll still be able to pay out 75% of scheduled benefits—and again, that's without any changes. The program started preparing for the Baby Boomers' retirement decades ago.2 Anyone who insists Social Security is broke probably wants to break it themselves.
Myth #2: We have to raise the retirement age because people are living longer.
Reality: This is a red-herring to trick you into agreeing to benefit cuts. Retirees are living about the same amount of time as they were in the 1930s. The reason average life expectancy is higher is mostly because many fewer people die as children than they did 70 years ago.3 What's more, what gains there have been are distributed very unevenly—since 1972, life expectancy increased by 6.5 years for workers in the top half of the income brackets, but by less than 2 years for those in the bottom half.4 But those intent on cutting Social Security love this argument because raising the retirement age is the same as an across-the-board benefit cut.
Myth #3: Benefit cuts are the only way to fix Social Security.
Reality: Social Security doesn't need to be fixed. But if we want to strengthen it, here's a better way: Make the rich pay their fair share. If the very rich paid taxes on all of their income, Social Security would be sustainable for decades to come.5 Right now, high earners only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,000 of their income.6 But conservatives insist benefit cuts are the only way because they want to protect the super-rich from paying their fair share.
Myth #4: The Social Security Trust Fund has been raided and is full of IOUs
Reality: Not even close to true. The Social Security Trust Fund isn't full of IOUs, it's full of U.S. Treasury Bonds. And those bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.7 The reason Social Security holds only treasury bonds is the same reason many Americans do: The federal government has never missed a single interest payment on its debts. President Bush wanted to put Social Security funds in the stock market—which would have been disastrous—but luckily, he failed. So the trillions of dollars in the Social Security Trust Fund, which are separate from the regular budget, are as safe as can be.
Myth #5: Social Security adds to the deficit
Reality: It's not just wrong—it's impossible! By law, Social Security's funds are separate from the budget, and it must pay its own way. That means that Social Security can't add one penny to the deficit.8
Sources:
1."To Deficit Hawks: We the People Know Best on Social Security," New Deal 2.0, June 14, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89703&id=22136-3014064-Gh4U.Ox&t=4
2. "The Straight Facts on Social Security," Economic Opportunity Institute, September 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89704&id=22136-3014064-Gh4U.Ox&t=5
3. "Social Security and the Age of Retirement," Center for Economic and Policy Research, June 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89705&id=22136-3014064-Gh4U.Ox&t=6
4. "More on raising the retirement age," Washington Post, July 8, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89706&id=22136-3014064-Gh4U.Ox&t=7
5. "Social Security is sustainable," Economic and Policy Institute, May 27, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89707&id=22136-3014064-Gh4U.Ox&t=8
6. "Maximum wage contribution and the amount for a credit in 2010," Social Security Administration, April 23, 2010
http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/240
7. "Trust Fund FAQs," Social Security Administration, February 18, 2010
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/fundFAQ.html
8."To Deficit Hawks: We the People Know Best on Social Security," New Deal 2.0, June 14, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89703&id=22136-3014064-Gh4U.Ox&t=9
Toxic Gulf Oil Dispersant Enters Foodchain
Scientists have found signs of an oil-and-dispersant mix under the shells of tiny blue crab larvae in the Gulf of Mexico, the first clear indication that the unprecedented use of dispersants in the BP oil spill has broken up the oil into toxic droplets so tiny that they can easily enter the foodchain.
Marine biologists started finding orange blobs under the translucent shells of crab larvae in May, and have continued to find them "in almost all" of the larvae they collect, all the way from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to Pensacola, Fla. -- more than 300 miles of coastline -- said Harriet Perry, a biologist with the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.
And now, a team of researchers from Tulane University using infrared spectrometry to determine the chemical makeup of the blobs has detected the signature for Corexit, the dispersant BP used so widely in the Deepwater Horizon
Read full story from the Huffington Post.
Marine biologists started finding orange blobs under the translucent shells of crab larvae in May, and have continued to find them "in almost all" of the larvae they collect, all the way from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to Pensacola, Fla. -- more than 300 miles of coastline -- said Harriet Perry, a biologist with the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.
And now, a team of researchers from Tulane University using infrared spectrometry to determine the chemical makeup of the blobs has detected the signature for Corexit, the dispersant BP used so widely in the Deepwater Horizon
Read full story from the Huffington Post.
Obama opens breach for expanding arms exports
The United States is currently the world biggest weapons supplier — holding 30 per cent of the market — but the Obama administration has begun modifying export control regulations in hopes of enlarging the U.S. market share, according to U.S. officials.
President Barack Obama already has taken the first steps by tucking new language into the Iran sanctions bill signed in early July. His aides are now compiling the "munitions list," which regulates the sale of military items.
The administration's stated reason for the changes is to simplify the sale of weapons to U.S. allies, but potential spinoffs include generating business for the U.S. defense industry, creating jobs and contributing to Obama's drive to double U.S. exports by 2015.
Critics say the reforms are being rushed and warn that the expedited procedures could allow weapons technology to fall into the wrong hands.
Read full story from McClatchy.
President Barack Obama already has taken the first steps by tucking new language into the Iran sanctions bill signed in early July. His aides are now compiling the "munitions list," which regulates the sale of military items.
The administration's stated reason for the changes is to simplify the sale of weapons to U.S. allies, but potential spinoffs include generating business for the U.S. defense industry, creating jobs and contributing to Obama's drive to double U.S. exports by 2015.
Critics say the reforms are being rushed and warn that the expedited procedures could allow weapons technology to fall into the wrong hands.
Read full story from McClatchy.
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