Sunday, April 29, 2012
Fukushima: Hanging by a Thread
After writing my essay “Radioactive Hell on Earth”—actually I wanted to change that title to “Fukushima on Steroids”—I see Christina Consolo’s essay “Fukushima is Falling Apart”:
Are you ready—it is becoming clear that we, our children and our entire civilization is hanging by a thread. It is a very sorry thing to report that we have literally shot ourselves in the foot with a big nuclear shotgun full of radioactive particles of the worst conceivable kind.
It has taken a year but finally “a U.S. Senator finally got off his ass and went to Japan to see what is going on over there. What he saw was horrific. Reactor No. 4 building is on the verge of collapsing.
Seismicity standards rate the building at a zero, meaning even a small earthquake could send it into a heap of rubble. And sitting at the top of the building, in a pool that is cracked, leaking, and precarious even without an earthquake, are 1,565 fuel rods.”
If an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain, this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire that could wipe out most of the northern hemisphere; certainly it would be a massive civilization-breaking event.
After an onsite tour of what remains of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear facilities, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, sent a letter to Japanese Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki saying, “The scope of damage to the plants and to the surrounding area was far beyond what I expected.
The precarious status of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear units and the risk presented by the enormous inventory of radioactive materials and spent fuel in the event of further earthquake threats should be of concern to all and a focus of greater international support and assistance.”
Friday, April 27, 2012
Insanity: CISPA Just Got Way Worse, And Then Passed On Rushed Vote
Up until this afternoon, the final vote on CISPA was supposed to be tomorrow. Then, abruptly, it was moved up today—and the House voted in favor of its passage with a vote of 248-168. But that's not even the worst part.
The vote followed the debate on amendments, several of which were passed. Among them was an absolutely terrible change (pdf and embedded below—scroll to amendment #6) to the definition of what the government can do with shared information, put forth by Rep. Quayle. Astonishingly, it was described as limiting the government's power, even though it in fact expands it by adding more items to the list of acceptable purposes for which shared information can be used. Even more astonishingly, it passed with a near-unanimous vote. The CISPA that was just approved by the House is much worse than the CISPA being discussed as recently as this morning.
Previously, CISPA allowed the government to use information for "cybersecurity" or "national security" purposes. Those purposes have not been limited or removed. Instead, three more valid uses have been added: investigation and prosecution of cybersecurity crime, protection of individuals, and protection of children. Cybersecurity crime is defined as any crime involving network disruption or hacking, plus any violation of the CFAA.
Basically this means CISPA can no longer be called a cybersecurity bill at all. The government would be able to search information it collects under CISPA for the purposes of investigating American citizens with complete immunity from all privacy protections as long as they can claim someone committed a "cybersecurity crime". Basically it says the 4th Amendment does not apply online, at all. Moreover, the government could do whatever it wants with the data as long as it can claim that someone was in danger of bodily harm, or that children were somehow threatened—again, notwithstanding absolutely any other law that would normally limit the government's power.
Somehow, incredibly, this was described as limiting CISPA, but it accomplishes the exact opposite. This is very, very bad.
There were some good amendments adopted too—clarifying some definitions, including the fact that merely violating a TOS does not constitute unauthorized network access—but frankly none of them matter in the light of this change. CISPA is now a completely unsupportable bill that rewrites (and effectively eliminates) all privacy laws for any situation that involves a computer. Far from the defense against malevolent foreign entities that the bill was described as by its authors, it is now an explicit attack on the freedoms of every American.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
U.S.-backed Internet restrictions could be destroyed in France
François Hollande, the French socialist candidate expected to best President Nicholas Sarkozy following the national runoff election held Sunday, told national media recently that he would replace the country’s harsh Internet restrictions with a wholly different scheme that strengthens the relationship between artists and their fans.
The French Internet law, strongly supported by Sarkozy, bans users from going online for one year after three individual violations of copyright law. U.S. industry played a key role in lobbying for the “Creation and Internet law,” whereas French socialists played a key role in opposing it.
The law created an Internet regulator called the “High Authority of Diffusion of the Art Works and Protection of the Rights on the Internet” (HADOPI), with the aim of detecting up to 150,000 incidents of copyright infringement per day and intercepting individual users with messages about the consequences of piracy, up to and including a year of disconnection for a third offense.
And that’s precisely what Hollande said he wants to end.
Speaking to French film website AlloCiné last month, Hollande said that HADOPI sows “injustice” by disconnecting people from the Internet. “Further, I don’t consider piracy to be a minor problem,” he reportedly said. “That’s why I’m proposing to replace HADOPI by voting on a law based on Act 2 of the Cultural Exception which will guarantee financing of French cinema and protection of authors’ rights. I want to break with destructive simplism that has not solved anything and which has uselessly contributed to separating artists from their audience. There is no simple solution, but a new model to be invented.”
Weather Derivatives: Hedging on Mother Nature
For some industries, the weather plays a significant role in determining revenue. Unexpected weather events can often cause significant financial losses. For instance, a drought can yield a severe impact on an agribusiness’ amount and quality of produce; unseasonably mild winters can similarly diminish the profit margins of utility companies. So, how can companies – particularly those at the mercy of Mother Nature – protect themselves against the elements and limit their exposure to financial risk?
Increasingly, companies have been managing weather risk by using derivatives, which provide the means for businesses to protect themselves against adverse financial affects that are due to variations in climate. According to industry body, the Weather Risk Management Association, trading volume of weather derivatives in 2010-2011 increased by 20 percent on the previous year.
How it Works
Derivative contracts generally represent a contract to trade a specified quantity of an underlying asset, at an agreed price and time. By making a payment to a separate company that will assume the financial weather risk for them, organizations are buying a type of insurance: the company assuming the risk will pay the purchaser a pre-set amount of money that will correspond to the loss or cost increase caused by the disruptive weather. As such, risk exposure can be managed in a wide range of settings.
Weather derivatives derive their value from climatic conditions such as temperature, snowfall, hurricanes or rainfall. An important set of contracts traded at CME Group are temperature-based futures contracts. Contracts are offered for trade based on the temperature across a range of U.S., European and Australian cities such as Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
The most common of these contracts come in the form of either Heating Degree Day (HDD) or Cooling Degree Day (CDD) contracts. The payoff of these contracts is based on the cumulated difference in daily temperatures relative to 18⁰C (about 64⁰F) over a fixed period such as a month. The fixed level of 18⁰C is the temperature at which the energy sector believes little heating or cooling occurs in households. The buyer of a HDD or CDD contract benefits from a positive payoff if cumulative temperature is below or above a specified level. While this nomenclature may seem counter-intuitive, heating (or cooling) occurs when temperatures are lower (higher).
Major participants in this market include utilities and insurance companies, whose costs and or revenues are dependent upon weather conditions. In an Australian setting, an electricity supplier normally provides its customers with electricity at a fixed price irrespective of the wholesale price in the National Electricity Market. However, the wholesale price of electricity can fluctuate wildly with extreme weather conditions. CDD contracts can provide a hedging tool for such fluctuations in electricity prices in the wholesale market during periods of extremely high temperatures. Similar arguments apply in the northern hemisphere, where utilities face risk from increased demand during periods of low temperatures and hence HDD contracts are a natural hedging tool.
Monday, April 23, 2012
US skies to be full of drones
The American skies may soon be full of drones after it was disclosed that domestic law enforcement agencies – from the FBI to local police – have been granted permission to deploy the unmanned aircraft.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show that show that more than 50 non-military organisations have asked to fly drone aircraft, many of which can carry cameras and surveillance equipment for spying within the US.
The figures from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group pledged to defending Americans from digital snooping by government, showed that major agencies like the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice had been cleared to launch drones.
But more alarmingly, the documents reveal that individual city police forces are also drawing up plans to use the reconnaissance aircraft more regularly associated with top secret missions against terror suspects in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen.
Police chiefs in Miami, Seattle and even North Little Rock – a city in Arkansas of less than 70,000 people – were all cleared by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to launch drones within their jurisdictions.
A spokesman for the North Little Rock Police Department told the Wall Street Journal that it was only using its unmanned helicopter for training over unpopulated areas but hoped to eventually fly it above crime-ridden neighbourhoods and use it to gather intelligence for major drug cases.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Greek Town Implements Revolutionary Barter System Without Euro
Greece continues along a path toward self-sufficiency that could very well see them break free from their debt servitude.
In the wake of their pillaging by international financiers, Greeks who have realized that protesting is likely to bring little relief have begun to implement barter systems to meet their local community needs. Through a combination of decentralization from the Euro, free markets, local cooperation, and the creation of a new currency based on productivity, markets like the one below in Volos are leading the charge to a restoration of the principles that build truly sustainable economies.
This is an encouraging sign, and one that is replicating throughout austerity-ridden economies the world over. International currencies are increasingly being rejected in the face of reduced living standards through inflation and outright theft by global banksters.
Americans would do well to learn from the truly revolutionary actions taken by individuals in deliberately collapsed countries, because if global (mis)managers have their way, a similar scenario is guaranteed to unfold in the United States.
Monsanto threatens Vermont legislature over GMO labeling bill, says it will sue state
Things are heating up on the genetic engineering front in the state of Vermont, where an overwhelming 96 percent of Vermonters vehemently support "right to know" legislation that mandates full disclosure of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) on food labels. But according to Ronnie Cummins from the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), Monsanto is now threatening to sue the state of Vermont should it dare to pass such legislation, which has stalled it in committee.
H.722, also known as the Vermont Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act, would require any food product that contains GMOs to be labeled as such. It would also prohibit GMO-containing foods from being labeled "all natural" or "naturally grown," which is quite common today, including even on some food products sold at health food grocers.
If passed, H.722 will make Vermont the first U.S. state to take a stand for transparency in food labeling, which will set a precedent for the other 49 states to mimic. And since numerous polls have showed that the vast majority of Americans from all states are in favor of GMO labeling, it will only be a matter of time before every state legislature is forced to come to terms with the GMO issue, or at least address it.
"H.722 is a simple but powerful bill -- it will give all Vermonters the right to know if their food has been genetically engineered," said Andrea Stander, Executive Director of Rural Vermont, about the bill. "Whether their need to know is based on health concerns such as new allergens, religious beliefs, or concerns for the impacts the production of genetically engineered food crops are having on farmers and the environment, a huge majority of Vermonters are demanding the right to know what's in their food."
Monsanto bullies Vermont with threats of legal action if it passes GMO labeling bill But with GMO labeling comes widespread awareness about the presence of untested, unsafe ingredients throughout the food supply, which is sure to turn most people away from buying or eating them. At least 70 percent of the "inner aisle" food supply, or packaged, processed foods found in the center aisles at the grocery store, now contain GM ingredients.
Monsanto knows that if GMOs are labeled, its business would quickly crumble. So to stop this from happening, the biotechnology giant has reportedly resorted to bullying the Vermont House Agriculture Committee (VHAC), which just so happens to support GMO labeling by a 6 - 5 majority, into stonewalling until the legislature adjourns for the year at the end of April.
According to OCA, VHAC members are thus far refusing to take a vote on the bill, even after a recent hearing in which hundreds of farmers and members of the public testified as to the need for GMO labeling. It appears as though they will continue to hold hearings on the bill until the legislative session ends, which will force H.722 into hibernation, or even kill it altogether.
Since this important issue affects us all, it is vitally important that the VHAC vote to pass H.722 as soon as possible. Along with California, Washington, and several other states that also have their own GMO labeling bills moving through the legislative process, Vermont has the chance to lead the way in deconstructing Monsanto's "Frankenfood" monopoly, and restore freedom of food choice for all Americans.
So will the state's legislators have the courage to actually follow through with passing it, or will they cave to pressures from the most evil company in the world?
SOPA mutates into much worse CISPA, the latest threat to internet free speech
(NaturalNews) Just because SOPA and PIPA, the infamous internet "kill switch" bills, are largely dead does not mean the threat to internet free speech has become any less serious. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), also known as H.R. 3523, is the latest mutation of these internet censorship and spying bills to hit the U.S. Congress -- and unless the American people speak up now to stop it, CISPA could lead to far worse repercussions for online free speech than SOPA or PIPA ever would have.
CNET, the popular technology news website that was among many others who spoke up against SOPA and PIPA earlier in the year, is also one of many now sounding the alarm about CISPA, which was authored by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.). Though the bill's promoters are marketing it as being nothing like SOPA or PIPA, CISPA is exactly like those bills, except worse.
What CISPA will do, if passed, is remove all the legal barriers that currently stop internet service providers, government agencies, and others from arbitrarily spying on internet users. In the name of "cybersecurity," a term that is undefined in the bill, CISPA will essentially allow internet users to be surveilled by the government without probable cause or a search warrant, which is a clear violation of users' constitutional civil liberties.
Additionally, it will allow websites like Google, Facebook, and Twitter to intercept emails, text messages, and other private information that might be considered a threat to "cybersecurity." The government can then demand access to this information, even if it has nothing to do with copyright infringement, which is one of the excuses being used for why such a bill is needed in the first place.
Internet users are already required to abide by the same laws as everyone else "Just because you commit a crime on the internet doesn't immunize you from liability just because it's on the internet," said Kendall Burman from the Center for Democracy & Technology, an internet freedom of speech advocacy group, to Russia Today (RT) in a recent interview. "Law enforcement has many tools to go after crimes that are committed anywhere, including the internet."
And Burman is right. Contrary to what former presidential candidate Rick Santorum and others have inferred about the internet being an unregulated "free for all," internet users are already required to abide by the same rules as everyone else. And those who commit crimes online are subject to the same legal obligations as those who commit them offline.
"When you talk about using information that the government receives that's purportedly for the purpose of protecting cybersecurity, and you're using it for law enforcement purposes or national security purposes that don't have anything to do with cybersecurity, well law enforcement has tools already to go after those crimes," added Burman. "And we very much fear that the information sharing machine that's related to cybersecurity could very much become a backdoor wiretap or a surveillance program by another name."
You can watch the full RT interview with Burman here: http://rt.com/usa/news/cispa-bill-sopa-internet-175/
In truth, there is no legitimate need to pass any "cybersecurity" bills because legal mechanisms to address internet crimes are already in place.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), another internet civil rights group, has created an Action Alert page where you can learn more about CISPA, and also petition your Congressmen to oppose it: https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8444
Friday, April 20, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Obama officially ineligible
A crushing situation is emerging for, not only Barack Obama, but also for the American people as a landmark statement has been made by the Obama administration that is going to turn the entire 2012 Presidential race and potentially much more on its head.
Lawyers representing the current sitting President of the United States of America have been forced, under penalty of perjury, to admit that the long-form birth certificate presented by the White House in April of 2011 is a total forgery.
In a NJ ballot access eligibility case spawned by Tea Party activists, attorneys representing Obama had to admit the document presented to the American people by Obama himself is actually knowingly faked and was used to fool the American public into believing a complete fabrication.
What could be the most shocking aspect of the situation, however, may be the fact that Obama and his attorneys have crafted an argument that truly boggles the mind.
In a direct assault on everything the citizens of the USA take for granted, in layman’s terms, his attorneys literally made the argument during a hearing on April 10th that because the document was so obviously faked and could not possibly be considered proof of citizenship, the document itself should not be allowed as evidence in the case.
Obama is now basically asserting that only a legitimate document should be allowed as evidence in this case and therefore this one should be thrown out due to the fact that it’s not real. The Judge agreed.
In what may turn out to be one of the biggest scandals in the history of the United States, the Obama administration itself has now virtually admitted to High Crimes and Misdemeanors and to deceiving the public into believing a lie that was ironically intended to distract awareness from the actual issue that truly determines his eligibility, or lack thereof.
Moody’s Fired by Danish Banks as Investors Show Support
Denmark’s biggest banks are firing Moody’s Investors Service as they win assurances from some of the country’s biggest investors that the opinions of ratings companies hold limited value.
Nykredit A/S, Denmark’s biggest mortgage lender and Europe’s largest issuer of covered bonds backed by home loans, terminated its contract with Moody’s on April 13, citing its “volatile” views. Danske Bank A/S (DANSKE)’s mortgage unit Realkredit Danmark A/S, the country’s second-largest home-loan provider, dropped Moody’s in June. Jyske Bank A/S, Denmark’s second- biggest listed bank, is looking into ending its dealings with Moody’s, according to Steen Nygaard, its head of treasury. Enlarge image Moody’s Fired by Danish Banks as Investors Support Rebellion
Nykredit A/S , Denmark’s biggest mortgage lender and Europe’s largest issuer of covered bonds backed by home loans, terminated its contract with Moody’s on April 13, citing its “volatile” views. Photographer: Ulrik Jantzen/Bloomberg Enlarge image Moody’s Fired by Danish Banks as Investors Support Rebellion
Moody’s in June criticized Denmark’s $470 billion mortgage-bond industry, the world’s third largest after the U.S. and Germany, for failing to curb refinancing risks fueled by a mismatch in funding and lending maturities. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg Enlarge image Moody’s Fired by Danish Banks as Investors Support Rebellion
“They have just crossed the line for fairness,” Nygaard said in an interview. “It’s not just that we have an opinion and if they rule against us, we are mad and walk away. It is about the fundamentals where we simply cannot follow Moody’s arguments.”
Moody’s in June criticized Denmark’s $470 billion mortgage- bond industry, the world’s third largest after the U.S. and Germany, for failing to curb refinancing risks fueled by a mismatch in funding and lending maturities. Since then, Nykredit’s benchmark index of Denmark’s most-traded mortgage bonds has risen 6.3 percent to a record, signaling investors are disregarding the warnings.
Blamed for Bee Collapse, Monsanto Buys Leading Bee Research Firm
Monsanto, the massive biotechnology company being blamed for contributing to the dwindling bee population, has bought up one of the leading bee collapse research organizations. Recently banned from Poland with one of the primary reasons being that the company’s genetically modified corn may be devastating the dying bee population, it is evident that Monsanto is under serious fire for their role in the downfall of the vital insects. It is therefore quite apparent why Monsanto bought one of the largest bee research firms on the planet.
It can be found in public company reports hosted on mainstream media that Monsanto scooped up the Beeologics firm back in September 2011. During this time the correlation between Monsanto’s GM crops and the bee decline was not explored in the mainstream, and in fact it was hardly touched upon until Polish officials addressed the serious concern amid the monumental ban. Owning a major organization that focuses heavily on the bee collapse and is recognized by the USDA for their mission statement of “restoring bee health and protecting the future of insect pollination” could be very advantageous for Monsanto.
In fact, Beelogics’ company information states that the primary goal of the firm is to study the very collapse disorder that is thought to be a result — at least in part — of Monsanto’s own creations. Their website states:
While its primary goal is to control the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) infection crises, Beeologics’ mission is to become the guardian of bee health worldwide.
What’s more, Beelogics is recognized by the USDA, the USDA-ARS, the media, and ‘leading entomologists’ worldwide. The USDA, of course, has a great relationship with Monsanto. The government agency has gone to great lengths to ensure that Monsanto’s financial gains continue to soar, going as far as to give the company special speed approval for their newest genetically engineered seed varieties. It turns out that Monsanto was not getting quick enough approval for their crops, which have been linked to severe organ damage and other significant health concerns.
Steve Censky, chief executive officer of the American Soybean Association, states it quite plainly. It was a move to help Monsanto and other biotechnology giants squash competition and make profits. After all, who cares about public health?
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Traders Walk Out of CME Eurodollar Pit to Protest Trade
Local traders in the CME Group Inc. (CME)’s Eurodollar options pit walked off the job today to protest a block trade yesterday.
“These guys that stand in there all day and make prices would have loved to participate in that particular price, but they weren’t able to,” Rocco Chierici, a broker at R.J. O’Brien & Associates on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, said in a telephone interview. Enlarge image Traders Walk Out of CME Eurodollar Pit to Protest Trade
Prices for the block trades of options on Eurodollar futures were higher than offers in the pit, which wouldn’t be allowed in open-outcry trading, Chierici said. Local traders buy and sell for their own account and in the process help add liquidity to a market. Block trades are privately negotiated transactions that are conducted outside the normal pit or via computer-based trading systems used by exchanges.
“There are rules that prohibit that in the pit, but you can circumvent the pit” in a block trade, Chierici said. “I believe they wanted to make the point that the system is not fair.”
Six block trades totaling 215,200 options traded at 8:11 a.m. Chicago time yesterday, according to CME Group’s website. The trade was rolling positions from April contracts, which expired today, into June contracts.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Ex-Mossad Chief warns of dangers of current political system
"Do you think that we are able, for a very long time, to maintain a government that has 28 ministers?" former Mossad chief says.
Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, who has downplayed the urgency of the Iranian nuclear threat, played up the threat posed to Israel by its own political system in an interview last week with The Jerusalem Post.
“I believe our system is reaching a point where the government is almost incapable of running the country," Dagan warned. “We are on the edge of – I would not say a disaster because that is a bit exaggerated – but we are facing a very bad prognosis of what will happen in the future.”
US sues Apple and publishers over e-book prices
Technology giant Apple and major book publishers are being sued by the US Department of Justice over the pricing of e-books.
The US accuses Apple and Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon and Schuster and Penguin of colluding over the prices of e-books they sell.
This lawsuit is over the firms' move to the agency model where publishers rather than sellers set prices.
But Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon and Schuster have already settled.
The case will proceed against Apple, Macmillan and Penguin "for conspiring to end e-book retailers' freedom to compete on price", the Justice Department said.
"As a result of this alleged conspiracy, we believe that consumers paid millions of dollars more for some of the most popular titles," Attorney General Eric Holder said.
Explosive: Monsanto ‘Knowingly Poisoned Workers’ Causing Devastating Birth Defects
In a developing news piece just unleashed by a courthouse news wire, Monsanto is being brought to court by dozens of Argentinean tobacco farmers who say that the biotech giant knowingly poisoned them with herbicides and pesticides and subsequently caused ”devastating birth defects” in their children. The farmers are now suing not only Monsanto on behalf of their children, but many big tobacco giants as well. The birth defects that the farmers say occurred as a result are many, and include cerebral palsy, down syndrome, psychomotor retardation, missing fingers, and blindness.
The farmers come from small family-owned farms in Misiones Province and sell their tobacco to many United States distributors. The family farmers say that major tobacco companies like the Philip Morris company asked them to use Monsanto’s herbicides and pesticides, assuring them that the products were safe. Through asserting that the toxic chemicals were safe, the farmers state in their claim that the tobacco companies ”wrongfully caused the parental and infant plaintiffs to be exposed to those chemicals and substances which they both knew, or should have known, would cause the infant offspring of the parental plaintiffs to be born with devastating birth defects.”
The majority of the farmers in the area used Monsanto’s Roundup, an herbicide with the active ingredient glyphosate that has shown to be killing human kidney cells. What’s more, the farmers say that the tobacco companies pushed Monsanto’s Roundup on the farmers despite a lack of protective equipment. In other words, these farmers — many in dire economic conditions — were being directly exposed to Roundup in large concentrations without any protective gear (or even experience or skills in handling the substance). Still, the farmers say the tobacco giants required the struggling farmers to ‘purchase excessive quantities of Roundup and other pesticides’.
Most shocking, the farmers were ordered to discard leftover herbicides and pesticides in locations in which they leached directly into the water supply. With Monsanto’s Roundup already known to be contaminating the groundwater, this comes as a serious threat to pure water supplies.
The farmers end their landmark case with an explanation as to why the tobacco companies allowed Monsanto’s herbicides and pesticides to be unloaded on the small family farms in such vast quantities and purchased in excessive amounts. In their claim, the farmers state that the tobacco companies were ”motivated by a desire for unwarranted economic gain and profit,” with zero regard for the farmers and their infant children — many of which are now suffering from severe birth defects from Monsanto’s products.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Factory-Farmed Chickens Fed Prozac, Caffeine and Banned Antibiotics
It’s no surprise that conventionally factory farmed chickens aren't fed the best diet. We already knew that they were routinely fed arsenic.
In fact, a 2004 study from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy showed that more than half of store-bought and fast-food chickens contained elevated levels of arsenic. Roughly 2.2 million pounds of it are being used every year to produce 43 billion pounds of poultry. It's called roxarsone and it's used to fight parasites and increase growth in chickens.
New research not only confirms use of arsenic, but finds the addition of a frightening elixir of drugs that includes caffeine, banned antibiotics, and even Prozac. Researchers started off testing just for banned antibiotics but went ahead and looked for other substances because it didn’t add to the cost of the test. What they found even surprised them, according to a story in The New York Times. Their Feathers Tell the Tale
By doing a test on their feathers, which is similar to that of human fingernails in the way it accumulates chemicals, they found caffeine, antihistamines, acetaminophen, fluroquinolones (banned antibiotics), arsenic, and even Prozac (in chicken imported from China). Fluroquinolones are illegal because they have been proven to cause antibiotic resistant superbugs.
Prozac was added to feed because stressed out chickens produce tough meat and brutal conditions often mean a constantly nervous bird. Chickens are fed coffee pulp and green tea powder to keep them up longer so they eat more food, according to a story in The New York Times. Farmers Often Unaware
But even more surprising is that many farmers aren’t even aware that they are feeding their chickens this extreme elixir, rather, they use a certain food mix mandated by the food companies that buy their products.
Organic chicken feed prohibits the use of roxarsone as an additive, so while this is currently your best bet, it's no perfect remedy because one organic brand tested still showed traces of arsenic. So the next most rational step is to give up the bird completely.
Police Can Copy Your Cell Phone’s Contents In Under Two Minutes
It has emerged that Michigan State Police have been using a high-tech mobile forensics device that can extract information from over 3,000 models of mobile phone, potentially grabbing all media content from your iPhone in under two minutes.
The CelleBrite UFED is a handheld device that Michigan officers have been using since August 2008 to copy information from mobile phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The device can circumvent password restrictions and extract existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags.
Learning that the police had been using mobile forensic devices, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has issued freedom of information requests which demand that state officials open up the data collected, to better assess if penalised motorists warrant having their data copied.
Michigan State Police were more than happy to provide the information – as long as the ACLU paid $544,680. Obviously not pocket change.
Middle America Is Experiencing a Massive Increase in 3.0+ Earthquakes
A new United States Geological Survey study has found that middle America between Alabama and Montana is experiencing an "unprecedented" and "almost certainly manmade" increase in earthquakes of 3.0 magnitude or greater. In 2011, there were 134 events of that size. That's six times more than were normally seen during the 20th century.
While the changes in the area's seismicity began in 2001, the trend has really accelerated since 2009, the geologists note. That happens to coincide with increased oil and gas production using new extraction techniques in some parts of the area.
The new work is being presented at the Seismology Society of America's conference later this month. An abstract for the presentation is available online.
In some regions, the increase in earthquakes is even greater than six fold. For example, in Oklahoma over the past half-century, there were an average of 1.2 quakes of greater than 3.0 magnitude per year. Since 2009, there have been more than 25 per year.
"A naturally-occurring rate change of this magnitude is unprecedented outside of volcanic settings or in the absence of a main shock, of which there were neither in this region," the scientists write.
The conclusion that at least one environmental group has drawn from this data is that fracking, in one way or another, has caused these earthquakes. The Environmental Working Group notes that more than 400,000 wells were drilled between 2001 and 2010, a 65% increase over the previous ten-year period. They also note that the new extraction techniques require vast amounts of water to be injected into the ground: major producer Chesapeake estimates that it uses about 5 million gallons of water per well. Lots of wells plus lots of water injected underground could change the subterranean conditions and lead to more earthquakes.
That, at least, was the United States' Army's experience in doing deep well injection during the 1960s. "If you are doing deep well injection, you are altering the stress on the underlying rocks and at some point, the stress will be relieved by generating an earthquake," seismologist Dave Wolny explained back in 2007. "The events are generally small, but there is no way to predict how the injection process has altered stresses on the fault system in the area, and thus, no way to predict how large the events may get."
The USGS scientists aren't willing to draw the causal connection between fracking and earthquakes. "While the seismicity rate changes described here are almost certainly manmade, it remains to be determined how they are related to either changes in extraction methodologies or the rate of oil and gas production," they conclude.
But if it is not fracking, then ... What is it? At the moment, we don't have a whole lot of other hypotheses, just a lot of unexplained earthquakes in places where they don't normally strike.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Scandalous BlackWater Leaked Video
LEAKED video: BlackWater / Academi Contractors Randomly Killing Civilians No human blood is worthless. Plenty of US citizens have good hearts, but they are not shaping policy. We must be more insistent and vocal in speaking for justice. You must deal with the radicals in your ranks. Those who love peace and justice must shape policy. We would do well to frame such words and deeds as aid each other in our work we should stop these mercenaries and hired to kill guns!!
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Is Sugar Toxic? Researchers Say ‘Yes’.
One of the most important health video you will watch this year. Among other negative health effects discussed, scientists present new evidence which clearly links processed sugar – to cancer.
More proof activism works: Kraft, Coca-Cola and Pepsi all say they will leave ALEC
For those who are unaware, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a corporate front group which enables corporate members to help craft “model” legislation which they then give to their allies in state legislatures to put forth as their own.
Essentially, it allows America’s largest corporations to ghostwrite legislation which is later proposed by legislators without the public ever knowing that ALEC had a hand in crafting the bill. They have been linked to many corporations with less-than-admirable intentions, one of the more troubling being Corrections Corporation of America.
A great resource to learn more about the corrupt and deplorable actions of ALEC is ALEC Exposed, a project of the Center for Media and Democracy. They expose ALEC corporations, politicians, state chairmen, who funds ALEC as well as a breakdown of all of the so-called “model bills” they create.
A coalition of citizen groups led by the group Color of Change have begun a campaign to pressure the corporations behind ALEC to quit the group and thus cease providing them with massive funding.
Is the Internet Becoming the Bot Net?
Internet%20bot%20net Is the Internet Becoming the Bot Net? Dominic Basulto on April 2, 2012, 10:27 PM
On the Internet, we’ve reached a tipping point where more than 50% of all Internet traffic is no longer generated by humans – instead, it's generated by a motley mix of search engine spiders, bots, scrapers, scammers, hackers and, yes, spies. We are no longer talking about the Internet, we are talking about the Bot Net – a “bot-mediated reality” where algorithms and bots influence where we go, how long we spend there and with whom we communicate. This has enormous consequences not just for our day-to-day Web experience (“Does the Internet feel a little bit slow today?”) but also for the way we manage our social identities online and the way that we respond to the development of an underground Bot Economy.
To a larger degree than we might realize, our social identities online are in the hands of algorithms and bots. This is not part of a sinister plot in Silicon Valley, it is simply a reality that on the Internet, our lives have become so complex that we need some kind of filter to make sense of them. We've all exceeded our personal Dunbar's Numbers and have been forced to accept the benign algorithm. Whenever we use Facebook, algorithms known as Edgerank and Graph Rank have already filtered and ranked the information that we see on our Timeline. Whenever we use Google, the ubiquitous Google PageRank algorithm has ranked, filtered and displayed the results that Google thinks are most appropriate, based on our prior Web behavior. When you consider that social networking and search are the two primary ways that we make sense of the Internet, it’s a sobering thought that bots and algorithms have created a shadowy “algo-world” and given us a false sense of comfort with the Filter Bubble.
What’s alarming is the extent to which bots (for lack of a better word) now control major segments of economic activity. According to The Guardian, algorithms and computerized trading programs already account for 70% of all trading on Wall Street. When we turn on CNBC to check on the stock market, we may look for traders down in the pits, but all the real action is happening inside computerized black boxes. The quants have won. Trillions of dollars of market value are being traded between computers, with many holding positions in time periods measured by nanoseconds. The faster your computer, the more money that you make - humans simply can not keep up.
Monsanto threatens the sue the entire state of Vermont
Lawmakers in Vermont are looking to regulate food labels so customers can know which products are made from genetically modified crops, but agricultural giants Monsanto say they will sue if the state follows through.
If the bill in question, H-722 (the “VT Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act”) passes the state Senate and House, manufacturers will be required to label products that are created either partially or in full from a genetically modified organism, or GMO. Such man-made crops have become a trademark of the billion-dollar Monsanto corporation, and in the past the company has gone to great lengths to keep themselves the number-one name in American agriculture, even if those profits are made possible from playing God.
Monsanto is going mad over the proposal, however, which would also make them unable to label their productions as “natural,” “naturally made,” “naturally grown” or “all natural,” if, in fact, they are not. For the corporation, it would seem that moving products and making money is much more of a worthwhile venture than telling its customers what exactly they are consuming.
With Vermont legislators now standing in the way of what could mean even more money for Monsanto, the company says they will sue the state if H-722 is approved. Now in fear of a lawsuit in the future, lawmakers in Vermont have put a hold on any future voting regarding the bill. If history is any indication, Monsanto is more than likely to have their way and win yet another battle.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Poland to ban Monsanto’s genetically modified maize
WARSAW — Poland will impose a complete ban on growing the MON810 genetically modified strain of maize made by US company Monsanto on its territory, Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki said Wednesday.
“The decree is in the works. It introduces a complete ban on the MON810 strain of maize in Poland,” Sawicki told reporters, adding that pollen of this strain could have a harmful effect on bees.
On March 9, seven European countries — Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ireland and Slovakia — blocked a proposal by the Danish EU presidency to allow the cultivation of genetically-modified plants on the continent.
Seven days after that, France imposed a temporary ban on the MON810 strain.
Talks on allowing the growing of genetically-modified plants on EU soil are now deadlocked as no majority has emerged among the 27 member states.
Thousands of Dolphins Dying in Gulf Waters
The dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico are in the midst of a massive die-off. The reasons why remain a complicated and mysterious mix of oil, bacteria and the unknown.
Normally an average of 74 dolphins are stranded on the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico each year, especially during the spring birthing season. But between February 2010 and April 1, 2012, 714 dolphins and other cetaceans have been reported as washed up on the coast from the Louisiana/Texas border through Franklin County, Fla., reported the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Ninety-five percent of the mammals were dead.
BLOG: Why Are Dolphins Beaching Themselves?
Since many of the dead dolphins sink, decompose or are eaten by scavengers before washing up, NOAA believes that 714 may represent only a fraction of the actual death count. NOAA declared the die-off an “Unusual Mortality Event” as per the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.
Although the timing of the die-off largely coincides with BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill and its aftermath, the deaths actually started increasing about two months before the April 20, 2010, explosion, which started the monthslong oil spill.
Before the spill, 112 dolphins had already been reported stranded on the shore.
In the summer of 2011, NOAA tested 32 live dolphins in Barataria Bay, an area heavily impacted by the oil spill. The dolphins were underweight, anemic, and had low blood sugar and/or some symptoms of liver and lung disease. Nearly half had abnormally low levels of hormones that help with stress response, metabolism and immune function.
The symptoms are consistent with those seen in animals exposed to oil.
BLOG: Whale, Dolphin Deaths in Gulf Spill Underestimated
But the mystery remains as to why the dolphins started dying before the spill. One possible culprit is Brucella bacteria. Since an initial find of five infected dolphins, NOAA has found an additional 11 infected dolphins washed up on the Gulf Coast. But dozens more showed no signs of infection.
NOAA's investigation into the dolphin tragedy continues.
Microsoft’s Kinect Spy System
A very special report on Microsoft's Kinect and the potential intrusion of this device on privacy.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Monsanto’s GMO Seeds Contributing to Farmer Suicides Every 30 Minutes
n what has been called the single largest wave of recorded suicides in human history, Indian farmers are now killing themselves in record numbers. It has been extensively reported, even in mainstream news, but nothing has been done about the issue. The cause? Monsanto’s cost-inflated and ineffective seeds have been driving farmers to suicide, and is considered to be one of the largest — if not the largest — cause of the quarter of a million farmer suicides over the past 16 years.
According to the most recent figures (provided by the New York University School of Law), 17,638 Indian farmers committed suicide in 2009 — about one death every 30 minutes. In 2008, the Daily Mail labeled the continual and disturbing suicide spree as ‘The GM (genetically modified) Genocide’. Due to failing harvests and inflated prices that bankrupt the poor farmers, struggling Indian farmers began to kill themselves. Oftentimes, they would commit the act by drinking the very same insecticide that Monsanto supplied them with — a gruesome testament to the extent in which Monsanto has wrecked the lives of independent and traditional farmers.
To further add backing to the tragedy, the rate of Indian farmer suicides massively increased since the introduction of Monsanto’s Bt cotton in 2002. It is no wonder that a large percentage of farmers who take their own lives are cotton farmers, the demographic that is thought to be among the most impacted. Dr. Mercola, an osteopathic doctor that has been educating the world about natural health for many years, recently saw the destruction of traditional Indian farmers first hand. Dr. Mercola found out about the notorious ‘suicide belt’ of India, where 4,238 farmer suicides took place in 2007 alone.
Many families are now ruined thanks to the mass suicides, and are left to economic ruin and must struggle to fight off starvation:
‘We are ruined now,’ said one dead man’s 38-year-old wife. ‘We bought 100 grams of BT Cotton. Our crop failed twice. My husband had become depressed. He went out to his field, lay down in the cotton and swallowed insecticide.’
In India, around 60 percent of the population (currently standing at 1.1 billion) are directly or indirectly reliant on agriculture. Monsanto’s intrusion into India’s traditional and sustainable farming community is not only concerning for health and wellness reasons, but it is now clear that the issue is much more serious.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Financiers and Sex Trafficking
THE biggest forum for sex trafficking of under-age girls in the United States appears to be a Web site called Backpage.com.
This emporium for girls and women — some under age or forced into prostitution — is in turn owned by an opaque private company called Village Voice Media. Until now it has been unclear who the ultimate owners are.
That mystery is solved. The owners turn out to include private equity financiers, including Goldman Sachs with a 16 percent stake.
Goldman Sachs was mortified when I began inquiring last week about its stake in America’s leading Web site for prostitution ads. It began working frantically to unload its shares, and on Friday afternoon it called to say that it had just signed an agreement to sell its stake to management.
“We had no influence over operations,” Andrea Raphael, a Goldman Sachs spokeswoman, told me.
Let’s back up for a moment. There’s no doubt that many escort ads on Backpage are placed by consenting adults. But it’s equally clear that Backpage plays a major role in the trafficking of minors or women who are coerced. In one recent case in New York City, prosecutors say that a 15-year-old girl was drugged, tied up, raped and sold to johns through Backpage and other sites.
Backpage has 70 percent of the market for prostitution ads, according to AIM Group, a trade organization.
Police Are Using Phone Tracking as a Routine Tool
Law enforcement tracking of cellphones, once the province mainly of federal agents, has become a powerful and widely used surveillance tool for local police officials, with hundreds of departments, large and small, often using it aggressively with little or no court oversight, documents show.
The practice has become big business for cellphone companies, too, with a handful of carriers marketing a catalog of “surveillance fees” to police departments to determine a suspect’s location, trace phone calls and texts or provide other services. Some departments log dozens of traces a month for both emergencies and routine investigations.
With cellphones ubiquitous, the police call phone tracing a valuable weapon in emergencies like child abductions and suicide calls and investigations in drug cases and murders. One police training manual describes cellphones as “the virtual biographer of our daily activities,” providing a hunting ground for learning contacts and travels.
A Must See Documentary: Children Full of Life
PLEASE WATCH. In the award-winning documentary Children Full of Life, a fourth-grade class in a primary school in Kanazawa, northwest of Tokyo, learn lessons about compassion from their homeroom teacher, Toshiro Kanamori. He instructs each to write their true inner feelings in a letter, and read it aloud in front of the class. By sharing their lives, the children begin to realize the importance of caring for their classmates.
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