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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Global warming hits Viet Nam...



Cold weather in Hanoi, buffaloes freeze to death in Sapa

The weather in Sapa is usually colder than other regions in Vietnam but this year cold weather came early and unexpectedly.
The temperature in Sapa began falling on October 25, standing at over 16oC. It dropped to 13.8oC on October 27 and suddenly dropped to 10.2oC on October 28.
Local residents have had to drive their cattle to lower areas to avoid the cold spell.
As many buffaloes froze to death, buffalo meat is sold for very cheap along the road to Sapa.


Link:
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/society/898/cold-weather-in-hanoi--buffaloes-freeze-to-death-in-sapa.html

Connecticut a slave state?


New England’s hidden history

More than we like to think, the North was built on slavery.


If Concord was a slave town, historians say, Connecticut was a slave state. It didn’t abolish slavery until 1848, a little more than a decade before the Civil War. (A judge’s ruling ended legal slavery in Massachusetts in 1783, though the date is still hotly debated by historians.) It’s a history Connecticut author and former Hartford Courant journalist Anne Farrow knew nothing about — until she got drawn into an assignment to find the untold story of one local slave.

Read more:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/09/26/new_englands_hidden_history/?page=full

A good read...


Interpreting Jon Stewart's Politics

Stewart's rally strongly implied that instead of political conflict, everyone should join him in the reasonable political center. One of his concluding remarks was: "It's a shame we can't work together to get things done."

If only politics were that simple.

In reality, society is torn apart by economic and social inequality, dominated by giant corporations that benefit from low wages and foreign wars. These same corporations — owned by super-rich individuals — also benefit from the lies, anger, and insanity broadcast by the mainstream media. The phenomenon of scare tactics directly benefits giant corporations who want a subdued populace so they can pursue their business-friendly agenda.

Stewart does his audience a great disservice by not recognizing the profit-motive behind the right-wing fear-mongers, who are paid large salaries by corporations to divide and confuse working people.
We are instead led to believe that simple "insanity" is why our mainstream media allows figures such as Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin to preach hate and nonsense to millions of people.

In fact, these right-wingers are given such large venues because their politics are in line with the foreign and domestic policy interests of a number of very rich people who own TV channels and other corporations.

Stewart's rally signaled — whether consciously or not — a degree of political backpedaling on his part. During the Bush Administration, Stewart and Colbert's shows were incredibly radical, given the political circumstances; they exposed lies that cut deep into the Administration's heart. It was at this time that Stewart became globally famous, as millions around the world looked to his show to challenge the false narrative broadcast by the Bush government.

The Daily Show changed considerably when Obama became President. The criticisms became more mild mannered, even as Obama continued essentially the same policies as Bush. When Obama recently appeared on Stewart's Daily Show, not one question was asked about Obama's wars, while Obama was allowed to speak endlessly about all the great things he was doing for the country, in effect papering over his complete lack of action to create jobs.

Whether he acknowledges it or not, Jon Stewart is a political figure adored by millions on the left and ruthlessly hated by those on the right. The middle-ground that Stewart would like to base his politics on survives only in his head, and in the heads of others who would like to ignore the very real conflict between giant corporations versus tens of millions of working people.

Sides must be taken in this battle. But instead, Stewart preaches from the sidelines with a message that says, "No such battle is taking place." Unfortunately for Stewart, the politicians and mainstream media that he regularly thrashes fully embrace this perspective, for their own benefit.

Link:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21709

Now, how did we know this would happen?


Lawyer Says Female Bomb Suspect in Yemen Released, No Charges

Authorities in Yemen have released on bail a 22-year-old female engineering student whose name and phone number were on the shipping documents for the two bombs sent to the United States.

A lawyer for Hanan Samawi told ABCNews.com that the young woman had returned home after being held and questioned over the last 24 hours.

The lawyer said Samawi's father had been instructed to have his daughter avoid news reporters.

A Yemeni official briefed on the investigation said the suspect "is not allowed to leave the country pending further questioning."

The official said the shipping agent who received the packages was called in to identify her and said Samawi "was not the person who signed the shipping manifesto."


Link:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/mail-bombs-plot-lawyer-female-bomb-suspect-yemen/story?id=12017240

Song of the day: The Beach Boys

Dollar on the way out.


Gold Will Outlive Dollar Once Slaughter Comes: John Hathaway

The world’s monetary system is in the process of melting down. We have entered the endgame for the dollar as the dominant reserve currency, but most investors and policy makers are unaware of the implications.

The only questions are how long the denouement of the dollar reserve system will last, and how much more damage will be inflicted by new rounds of quantitative easing or more radical monetary measures to prop up the system.

Whether prolonged or sudden, the transition to a stable monetary system will become possible only when the shortcomings of the status quo become unbearable. Such a transition is, by definition, nonlinear. So central-bank soothsaying based on the extrapolation of historical data and the repetition of conventional wisdom offers no guidance on what lies ahead.

It’s amazing that there is no intelligent discourse among policy leaders on the subject of monetary rot and its implications for the future economic and political landscape. Until there is fundamental monetary reform on an international scale, most economic forecasts aren’t worth the paper on which they are written.

Telltale signs of future trouble aren’t hard to spot. Only a few months ago, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and a chorus of other high-ranking Fed officials were talking about exit strategies from the U.S. central bank’s bloated balance sheet and the financial system’s unprecedented excess liquidity. Now, those same officials are talking about pumping more money into the system to stimulate growth.


Link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-29/gold-will-outlive-dollar-once-slaughter-comes-commentary-by-john-hathaway.html

David Broder suggests war could save Obama...



The war recovery?

David S. Broder
Sunday, October 31, 2010


What else might affect the economy? The answer is obvious, but its implications are frightening. War and peace influence the economy.

Look back at FDR and the Great Depression. What finally resolved that economic crisis? World War II.

Here is where Obama is likely to prevail. With strong Republican support in Congress for challenging Iran's ambition to become a nuclear power, he can spend much of 2011 and 2012 orchestrating a showdown with the mullahs. This will help him politically because the opposition party will be urging him on. And as tensions rise and we accelerate preparations for war, the economy will improve.

I am not suggesting, of course, that the president incite a war to get reelected. But the nation will rally around Obama because Iran is the greatest threat to the world in the young century. If he can confront this threat and contain Iran's nuclear ambitions, he will have made the world safer and may be regarded as one of the most successful presidents in history.


Link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/29/AR2010102907404.html

Brazilians prepare for an American military strike...


Brazil finds massive oil field

A newly-tapped oil field off the coast of Brazil could contain up to 15 billion barrels of oil, officials say.

Brazil's national petroleum agency said the Libra field most probably held around 8 billion barrels.

That matches the size of the giant Tupi oil field, whose discovery in 2007 drew attention to Brazil's potential as a major oil producer.

If the 15 billion barrel figure were confirmed it would double Brazil's known oil reserves.

It would also be the biggest oil field discovered in the Americas since 1976, when Mexico found the giant Cantarell field in the Gulf of Mexico.


Link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11659582

These guys can't get their stories straight...

First it was a UPS plane out of Yemen. Then no explosives were found. Then it became two planes with very sophisticated explosives. Then we found out no UPS planes fly out of Yemen. Now this...


Qatar Airways says Dubai bomb parcel flown on its aircraft

Qatar Airways confirmed on Sunday that a suspected Al-Qaeda package intercepted in Dubai was flown on one of its aircraft and only discovered after an intelligence tip-off.

"Qatar Airways can confirm that a recent courier consignment was carried aboard one of its aircraft from Sanaa to Dubai via Doha International Airport," it said in a statement.

"The explosives discovered were of a sophisticated nature whereby they could not be detected by x-ray screening or trained sniffer dogs. The explosives were only discovered after an intelligence tip-off," the airline added.

However, "it is not the responsibility of the country in which the cargo transits to x-ray or inspect" it. This is the responsibility of "the country from where the consignment originates," it said.

Two suspected Al-Qaeda packages from Yemen intercepted on aircraft in Dubai and Britain on Friday and addressed to synagogues in Chicago contained powerful explosives and could have exploded, authorities said.


Link:
http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidANA20101031T104906ZCDB60/Qatar%20Airways%20Says%20Dubai%20Bomb%20Parcel%20Flown%20On%20Its%20Aircraft

Related story...

THE UPS TERROR FLIGHT FROM YEMEN THAT NEVER WAS!

Obama's "scare the Americans into voting Democratic" plan is already in trouble. The official story on Friday October 29th was that an unnamed ally issued a warning for British authorities to be on the lookout for a suspicious package sent from Yemen to Great Britain on a UPS flight. A search of the UPS flighty on the ground in Britain yielded a package containing a printer toner cartridge sprayed with a white substance that looks like plastic Christmas tree snow.

Link:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/UPSYemen.php

Another attempt...

Bomb may have flown on passenger planes

Qatar Airways, which said earlier Sunday that it had flown the device from Yemen to Dubai for FedEx, is no longer certain that is true, a senior airline source said. The airline is investigating the possibility that the explosives flew on another airline after finding inconsistencies in information it was given, the source said.

Link:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/31/security.concern/index.html

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Some history for those interested...


I was recently watching C-Span TV which was airing a law school lecture about the Dred Scott Decision. I missed about half the program but caught the part where the professor went into detail about Chief Justice Taney's ruling. Taney actually claimed the court had no jurisdiction in the case but went on to rule against Scott anyway, and open up all the territories to slavery by striking down the Missouri Compromise and any other congressional measures that regulated slavery anywhere in the territories. I did a search on the internet to find out a bit more about the case and came across this paper which explains the case in very simplistic terms which could be used by any teacher teaching the subject to high school age students. Here's the link:

http://cochise.az.gov/uploadedFiles/Court_Administration/Special_Events_and_Lectures/DredScott.pdf

UPS does not fly out of Yemen...



See for yourself. Go to UPS website and search which countries UPS flies to...

Link:

http://www.upslogisticstech.com/pub/worldwide/EMEA/

I guess they were so sophisticated, they didn't go off...

Come on, do they think we are idiots? I guess so...



Terror bombs were primed to down cargo planes in mid-air

Security officials say explosive packages found on US-bound aircraft in UK and Dubai were meant to bring them down


One was linked to a mobile phone, while the other was attached to a timer. The Observer understands that the East Midlands device was so sophisticated an examination by experts initially suggested it did not contain explosives. "Even when it was examined, the sniffer dogs couldn't detect it," a security source said. "It was only when they [forensic experts] had a second look at it they realised what it was."

Link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/30/cargo-plane-bombs-explode-midair

Watch this...

New Feature: Random Thoughts...



Why would anyone vote for a single incumbent Congressman or Senator on Tuesday? They have had their chance and they have wasted it. I feel we need to shake things up a bit. How much worse can they be?

Isn't it time we get past the Left/Right paradigm that prevents any meaningful change in this country? It seems those in power enjoy dividing and distracting us with this bullshit while they rob us blind and lead us down the path of destruction.

When will educational leaders realize that the answers to improved education are right there in the teaching staff they are maligning and obstructing everyday. Once in a while ask them what they think might be done to improve our schools. The current wave of so-called reforms is nothing but top-down driven crap with little or no input from those in the trenches.

Another thought about education; anyone looking to become an administrator should have at least 15 years of uninterrupted classroom teaching experience on the same level of the position in which they are applying. Another thing, if you don't like kids, find another career.

How about establishing truth commissions to investigate 9/11, global warming, affects of globalization, banking fraud, etc. and let the chips fall where they will. We can handle the truth, don't you think?

Wouldn't it be nice if no one watched CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, NBC and ABC to get their news? There is much to be learned by turning the TV off and searching for alternative news sources on the internet.

Who cares that people were smoking pot at the World Series? Did it hurt beer sales or something?

Wilco is the best live band of this era. Period. If you don't believe me, go to one of their concerts if you can score a ticket. Jeff Tweedy belongs right up there with Bob Dylan and Neil Young as one of the best singer/song writers of our time. Unfortunately, he probably won't get the recognition he deserves until long after he is gone.

Rolling Stone Magazine sucks since it has become more like People Magazine. Who the hell wants to read articles about the cast of Glee?

I think it's time for the Red Sox to say goodbye to Tim Wakefield, Jason Varitek, David Ortiz, and Dice K. The first three have given all they could have given and the last one has nothing to give.

Will VHS tapes and VCR's make a come back in twenty years like vinyl and record players are today? Will we be singing the praises of the warmth of the picture that we used to get in the old days as compared to crystal clear image of HD?

Why don't we celebrate Christmas every other year and cut out the one year when all one hundred members of my wives' family come to my house. It's not that I don't want to see them. My kitchen and family room aren't big enough to fit them all in anymore.

How's that new World Trade Center and memorial coming along? Going on ten years and nothing built yet? So much for honoring the memory of the victims while their families are still around to remember them. I guess the insurance settlement was all they were really after.

If global warming means that the leaves on the trees would stay green all year round and not fall off in autumn, sign me up for it today. I spent the morning cleaning up the yard and it looks worse than it did before I started.

I recently checked the stats for this blog and noticed that many visitors to this site come from the following countries: Slovenia, Romania, Moldova, Luxembourg, Pakistan, India, Brazil, Denmark, Russia, Indonesia, Lebanon, The Netherlands, Germany, Russia, France, Canada and the UK. Thanks for taking a look and for coming back every once in a while. I hope you find what I post useful, entertaining and enlightening. I guess there must not be too much worth watching on television in your countries. Only, kidding. Don't be afraid to make a comment or to let us know how things are going in your neck of the world.

This was harder than I thought it would be. I don't know how someone can write a column everyday or so and not run out of things to say that are worth someone's time and effort to read. Don't expect this too often. I'll have to save them up over time and post them occasionally. It's not easy being creative or original. Stealing other people's work and posting it here is much easier.

Hi, Cindy. Haven't seen you in a while. Hope all is well. Don't think I don't think of you guys every now and then.

Oh,and before I forget, Joe Lieberman is a dickhead.

If anyone has stayed with me this far, you have a lot of time on your hands and should seek help immediately. Until next time, peace.

Remember this? From July...


Top Clinton Official: Only A Terror Attack Can Save Obama

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A former senior advisor to President Bill Clinton says that the only thing which can rescue Barack Obama’s increasingly tenuous grip on power as his approval figures continue to plunge is a terror attack on the scale of Oklahoma City or 9/11, another startling reminder that such events only ever serve to benefit those in authority.

Buried in a Financial Times article about Obama’s “growing credibility crisis” and fears on behalf of Democrats that they could lose not only the White House but also the Senate to Republicans, Robert Shapiro makes it clear that Obama is relying on an October surprise in the form of a terror attack to rescue his presidency.

“The bottom line here is that Americans don’t believe in President Obama’s leadership,” said Shapiro, adding, “He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.”

Shapiro’s veiled warning should not be dismissed lightly. He was undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs dung Clinton’s tenure in the Oval Office and also acted as principal economic adviser to Clinton in his 1991-1992 campaign. Shapiro is now Director of the Globalization Initiative of NDN and also Chair of the Climate Task Force. He is a prominent globalist who has attended numerous Bilderberg Group meetings over the past decade.

Shapiro is clearly communicating the necessity for a terror attack to be launched in order to give Obama the opportunity to unite the country around his agenda in the name of fighting terrorists, just as President Bush did in the aftermath of 9/11 when his approval ratings shot up from around 50% to well above 80%.


Link:
http://www.infowars.com/top-clinton-official-only-a-terror-attack-can-save-obama/

I just finished reading this guys' book. Earth's cooling trend continues...


Bottom Falling Out of Global Ocean Surface Temps?

Roy W. Spencer, Ph.D.

Having just returned from another New Orleans meeting – this time, a NASA A-Train satellite constellation symposium — I thought I would check the latest sea surface temperatures from our AMSR-E instrument.

The following image shows data updated through yesterday (October 27). Needless to say, there is no end in sight to the cooling. (Click on image for the full-size version).

Since these SST measurements are mostly unaffected by cloud cover like the traditional infrared measurements are, I consider this to be the most accurate high-time resolution SST record available…albeit only since mid-2002, when the Aqua satellite was launched.

I won’t make any predictions about whether SSTs will go as low as the 2007-08 La Nina event. I’ll leave that to others.


Link:
http://www.activistpost.com/2010/10/bottom-falling-out-of-global-ocean.html

And they think it's shocking that most want Obama out in 2012?


Homeowners Get The Boot For Bad Paperwork While Banks Get Millions For Same

Mortgage companies enrolled in the Obama administration's signature foreclosure-prevention initiative may be receiving taxpayer funds despite not having a legal right to the home or to the mortgage, a top Treasury Department official revealed Wednesday.

But despite faulty or missing paperwork, the Obama administration allows mortgage companies to boot homeowners from the program, sticking the borrowers with massive bills that often leave them worse off.

During an oversight hearing, Phyllis Caldwell, Treasury's housing rescue chief, acknowledged during questioning that Treasury doesn't know whether mortgage companies and the owners of mortgages are receiving public money under "false pretenses." Treasury is investigating, she said.

The contradiction highlights what many critics of the past two administrations' policies have claimed for some time: they exert overwhelming force when it comes to saving financial institutions, but merely modest assistance when it comes to distressed homeowners.

More than $535 billion in taxpayer money went to firms and toxic assets as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to the latest quarterly figures from two federal auditors. About $992 million has gone to homeowners, the same data show.

President Barack Obama's promise to "enable as many as three to four million homeowners to modify the terms of their mortgages to avoid foreclosure," which he detailed in a February 2009 speech, was "always modest compared to the incredible scale of the problem," Senator Ted Kaufman, a Delaware Democrat and chairman of the Congressional Oversight Panel, a bailout watchdog, said Wednesday during the hearing with Caldwell. "Certainly, it was modest compared to the boldness shown in rescuing AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bank of America, Citigroup and the auto companies."


Link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/29/money-first-questions-later_n_776135.html

What's so shocking about that?


Shock poll: Nearly half of Dems want a different nominee in 2012

Democratic voters are closely divided over whether President Barack Obama should be challenged within the party for a second term in 2012, an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks Poll finds.

That glum assessment carries over into the nation at large, which is equally divided over whether Obama should be a one-term president.

The AP-KN poll has tracked a group of people and their views since the beginning of the 2008 presidential campaign. Among all 2008 voters, 51 percent say he deserves to be defeated in November 2012 while 47 percent support his re-election — essentially a tie.

Among Democrats, 47 percent say Obama should be challenged for the 2012 nomination and 51 percent say he should not be opposed. Those favoring a contest include most who backed Hillary Rodham Clinton's unsuccessful faceoff against Obama for the 2008 nomination. The poll did not ask if Democrats would support particular challengers.


Link:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/shock-poll-dems-nominee-2012/

"I did not know that!" As Johnny used to say...


The Reality About the People Who Want to “Restore Sanity”

Since 1999, Political satirist Jon Stewart has hosted The Daily Show on Comedy Central, owned by Viacom – the fourth largest media conglomerate in the U.S. Jon has gained considerable attention and respect for his ability to “deliver truth through humor”. Many articles have been written about how his Daily Show delivers and assesses the news more accurately than the networks and cable. In recent times Jon was credited by the Huffington Post, NPR and other left-leaning outlets for his “hard hitting” interview with Mad Money’s Jim Cramer. Now to be sure, Cramer is a suspect individual who is alleged to have used his show to “pump and dump” stocks (not mentioned by Jon). However, while Stewart took on Cramer for putting entertainment before journalism, did we ever hear Jon mention the Chief Operating Officer of the NYSE who presided over the infamous “flash crash” of May, 2010 – who just happened to be his brother, Larry Leibowitz? (Jon changed his last name.) Certainly not. On the day of that “flash crash” Jon had some pretty good zingers about “fat fingers”, but alas an opportunity for some real insight from a real insider – his brother – was passed over. Larry Leibowitz is a former international investment banker who has served on a number of market and industrial committees, and again – is the current COO of the NYSE.

Link:
http://www.wearechange.org/?p=4330

Going through an airport now is like being an alter boy back in the 60's and 70's...


If You Want To Board An Airplane In America You Now Have Two Options: Let Airport Security Gawk At Your Exposed Body Or Let Airport Security Feel You Up

In America today, we have become so spooked by "terror threats" that now we will submit to just about anything in the name of security. At this point, we are allowing ourselves to be treated as little more than cattle. Procedures that would once be considered an affront to human dignity are now accepted as "the new normal". If you want to get on an airplane in America today, you must either go through one of the incredibly intrusive full body scanners that are going into all U.S. airports and let airport security gawk at your exposed body, or you must allow airport security to feel you up using the new "enhanced pat-down" techniques they are being instructed to employ. As you will see below, these new pat-down procedures are incredibly intrusive. If anyone tried to touch us like that out on the street they would be put in prison. But this is the new America where all of us must give up all of our privacy and all of our dignity just so that everyone can feel a little bit safer.


Link:
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/if-you-want-to-board-an-airplane-in-america-you-now-have-two-options-let-airport-security-gawk-at-your-exposed-body-or-let-airport-security-feel-you-up

Yeah, but now we've got the excuse we need to give Yemen some "shock and awe"...


No U.S. Commercial or Private Plane left Yemen to the U.S. over last 48 hours; Yemeni Official

A Yemeni official told Yemen Post that no U.S. cargo aircraft of any American company flew out of Yemen over the last 48 hours.

“Whether UPS, Fed Ex, DHL or any other U.S. cargo company left Yemen over the last 48 hours.”

Hamed Farg, Head of the Yemen Civil Aviation Authority told Yemen Post that the Yemeni government will distribute a press release in the next hour with the latest updates concerning the matter.

International media reported the suspicious package, which contained a “manipulated” toner cartridge, tested negative for explosive material, the source said, but it led to heightened inspection of arriving cargo flights in Newark, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a UPS truck in New York.

Link:
http://www.yemenpost.net/Detail123456789.aspx?ID=3&SubID=2707&MainCat=3

Suspicious Package to U.S. not from Yemen; Yemenia Air Cargo Director

Mohammed al-Shaibah, Air Cargo Director for Yemenia Airways said to Yemen Post, "No UPS cargo plane left Yemeni lands over the land 48 hours. These accusations are false and baseless."
He added, "No UPS or DHL cargo packages heading to Chicago through Yemen took place in the last 48 hours as well."


"All packages are checked very carefully in Yemen, and there is no evidence to prove that this package came through Yemen."


Link:
http://www.yemenpost.net/Detail123456789.aspx?ID=3&SubID=2705&MainCat=3

Friday, October 29, 2010

Song of the day: The Beatles

Creating thoughtless zombies...


ADHD Misdiagnosed In Nearly 1 Million U.S. Kids Say Researchers

Two studies published recently suggest there could be something wrong with the way ADHD is diagnosed in young children in the US, one found that nearly 1 million kids are potentially misdiagnosed just because they are the youngest in their kindergarten year, with the youngest in class twice as likely to be on stimulant medication, while the other study confirmed that whether children were born just before or just after the kindergarten cutoff date significantly affected their chances of being diagnosed with ADHD.

Papers on both studies by US researchers are in press, to be published in the Journal of Health Economics, the first being a corrected proof that was first available online in June, and the other appeared online on 4 August.

In the first paper, Dr Todd Elder, assistant professor of economics at Michigan State University, looked at a sample of nearly 12,000 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort, which is funded by the National Center for Education Statistics. He analysed the difference in ADHD diagnosis and medication rates between the youngest and the oldest children in a kindergarten grade.

He found that the youngest children were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD and to be prescribed behavior-modifying stimulants such as Ritalin than their older classmates. He told the press that the "smoking gun" was that the diagnoses depended on the children's age relative to classmates and the teacher's perceptions of whether they had symptoms.


Link:
http://preventdisease.com/news/10/102910_adhd_misdiagnosed.shtml

Another victory?


UN Agrees on Moratorium to Stop Chemtrailing

In a landmark consensus decision, the 193-member UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will close its tenth biennial meeting with a de facto moratorium on geoengineering projects and experiments. “Any private or public experimentation or adventurism intended to manipulate the planetary thermostat will be in violation of this carefully crafted UN consensus,” stated Silvia Ribeiro, Latin American Director of ETC Group.

The agreement, reached during the ministerial portion of the two-week meeting which included 110 environment ministers, asks governments to ensure that no geoengineering activities take place until risks to the environment and biodiversity and associated social, cultural and economic impacts have been appropriately considered. The CBD secretariat was also instructed to report back on various geoengineering proposals and potential intergovernmental regulatory measures.


Link:
http://www.activistpost.com/2010/10/un-agrees-on-moratorium-to-stop.html#more

Spending money on security that could be better put to use?

A real threat or just intimidation?


Why Is Indiana Putting Armed Security Guards Into 36 Unemployment Offices Across The State?

This is not a good trend. As you go through your daily life, just start taking note of the places that now have armed security that did not have armed security five or ten years ago.

Unfortunately, as the U.S. economy goes downhill even further, the amount of security that people feel is "necessary" is likely to go up even more.

So is America going to become an armed camp where the people and institutions with money are protected by armed guards from the hordes of frustrated unemployed workers that can't feed themselves or their families?

Americans are certainly not in a good mood about the economy. According to a recent poll conducted by CNBC, 92 percent of Americans believe that the performance of the U.S. economy is either "fair" or "poor".

The lack of jobs is the main thing that the American people are so mad about. In fact, it is hard for even highly educated people to find work in 2010. In America today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.

People are really hurting and they are getting to the end of their ropes. Over 41 million Americans are now on food stamps, and one out of every six Americans is enrolled in at least one federal anti-poverty program. It is getting hard to believe that this is even America anymore. For many more statistics that reveal the economic horror we are now facing as a nation, please see my previous article entitled "30 Reasons Why People Should Be Getting Really Nervous About The State Of The U.S. Economy".

But it is not just unemployment that is the problem. In recent years, millions upon millions of Americans have been forced to take reduced hours or a cut in pay due to the economy. Millions of others have had to take jobs that barely enable them to survive. In fact, the number of Americans working part-time jobs "for economic reasons" is now the highest it has been in at least five decades.

So why aren't there even close to enough jobs for everyone? Well, there are a number of contributing factors, including the fact that we have been "offshoring" and "outsourcing" millions of our jobs and now it is really starting to catch up with us. I have discussed this so many times now that I am starting to sound like a broken record.

But instead of fixing the fundamental problems with our economy, the Federal Reserve wants to print yet another gigantic pile of paper money and throw it at the problem. It is called "quantitative easing", and it may help smooth things over for a few months, but it is also going to make our long-term problems even worse.


Link:
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/why-is-indiana-putting-armed-security-guards-into-36-unemployment-offices-across-the-state

Terror scares are good for business...


Total U.S. intelligence bill revealed for first time

The annual cost of U.S. intelligence is public for the first time: just over $80 billion for 2010.

Figures released by the government Thursday show $27 billion goes to military intelligence and $53.1 billion covers the CIA and some of the other 16 intelligence agencies.


Link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39898511/ns/us_news-security/

Turn your head and cough...


Airport Pat-Down Technique Updated: TSA Moves To Hand-Sliding Motion

The Transportation Security Administration is changing the way it pats down passengers at airports – moving from the screener's traditional hand pat to more of a hand-sliding motion, a law enforcement official said Thursday.

The TSA regularly reviews and updates its screening procedures, agency spokeswoman Kristin Lee said. And screeners will continue to use the pat-down method to help detect hidden and dangerous items like explosives or bomb parts.

Lee said the procedure will continue to be conducted by screeners who are the same gender as the passenger. The TSA, for security reasons, would not provide details about the differences in the new technique for pat-downs.

The law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the security procedure, said the new hand-sliding technique is already in use in some airports across the country.

Pat-downs are used when something on the passenger sets off the metal detector, when the imaging technology detects something suspicious on the passenger and when the passenger opts out of the electronic screening methods.

"Passengers should continue to expect an unpredictable mix of security layers that include explosives trace detection, advanced imaging technology, canine teams, among others," Lee said.

Counterterrorism officials say commercial aviation continues to be an attractive target for terrorists and terror operatives are constantly trying to find ways to evade security.


Link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/28/airport-patdown-technique_n_775740.html

I keep agreeing with Pat Buchanan...


Obstructionism reaps its reward

Tuesday's election, too, will be no embrace of the GOP, but rather a repudiation of what Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have come to represent. All are seen as power-hungry politicians of an out-of-touch regime that is seizing control of private wealth and private lives as it fails in its duty to win our wars, balance our budgets and secure our borders.

Republicans will be the beneficiaries of this repudiation, as Republicans are, almost everywhere, the only alternative on the ballot, and because they are seen correctly as having opposed the Obama agenda with near-drill-team solidarity.

Every Republican in the Senate but Arlen Specter and the ladies from Maine voted against Obama's stimulus bill. Every Republican in the House, save eight, voted no on cap-and-trade. Every Republican on Capitol Hill voted no on Obamacare. More GOP senators opposed Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan than opposed any Supreme Court nominee in memory.

Tuesday, obstructionism reaps its reward.

On Tuesday, the nation, including millions of Obama voters, will come out to empower the Party of No, even as the nation voted in 2006 and 2008 to throw out that party. While many did respond positively to Obama's politics of hope and change in 2008, as they ousted the Republicans, the nation, after Tuesday, will have voted in three straight elections in four years to be rid of its ruling regime.

The United States is starting to look like the French Fourth Republic.

After France lost Indochina, began losing Algeria and was flipping from one premier and one party to another, the call went forth from an exasperated nation to Gen. DeGaulle to come and take charge of affairs.

Consider the critical issue facing America today – the budget and trade deficits, the soaring national debt, an unemployment near 10 percent for 14 straight months – and how neither party seems to have the cure.

While George Bush's tax cuts did not cause this, they did not prevent it. And if Republicans believe that his deficits did cause it, why have those Republicans not addressed the causes of those deficits – Bush's wars, Bush's tax cuts and Bush's social spending on No Child Left Behind and Medicare drug benefits?

Yet, if liberal Democrats are right and deficits are the correct Keynesian cure for recession, why have Obama deficits of $1.4 and $1.3 trillion failed so dismally? Paul Krugman says they are not large enough. Perhaps, but the country is about to end the experiment.

The Federal Reserve, having used and broken every tool in its toolbox, including doubling the money supply and setting interest rates at near zero, will now bet the farm on inflation, starting Nov. 3.

Both parties have lost the mandate of heaven, and neither knows if its economic philosophy even works anymore.

We are in uncharted waters. The country is up for grabs.


Link:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=221125

Global carbon tax is the goal...

Health news: Good read...


Pancreatic cancer takes 20 years to grow into detectable tumors - here's how to halt it today

New research published in the journal Nature reveals that pancreatic cancer takes 20 years to grow to the point where it is diagnosed by conventional medical doctors. This was determined by sequencing the DNA of cancer tumor cells from deceased patients. Because cancer mutations occur in growing tumors at a known rate, scientists were able to map the timing of the development of full-blown pancreatic cancer tumors.

Here's what the scientists at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute found (and here's why this matters in a huge way to people interested in healthy living):

• It takes 11.7 years for one mutation in a pancreas cell to grow into a "mature" pancreatic tumor (which might show up on a medical scan).

• It takes another 6.8 years for the pancreatic tumor to spread and cause tumors to appear in other organs of the body.

In all, it takes about 20 years for a person to grow a cancer tumor and see it spread to the point where their doctor will diagnose them with pancreatic cancer.

In other words, by the time doctors diagnose you with cancer, you've already been growing it for two decades.

Here's why this matters
This is a huge story for five very important reasons:

Reason #1) The idea thrown around by cancer doctors that cancer is a "spontaneous disease" that strikes randomly and without warning is pure bunk. In order to "get" cancer, you actually have to GROW cancer for two decades! It doesn't just suddenly appear like magic.

Reason #2) When cancer doctors diagnose you with pancreatic cancer and say things like, "Good thing we caught it early!" they are full of bunk yet again. They didn't catch it early -- they caught it late! Almost 20 years too late.

Reason #3) If it takes 20 years to grow cancer tumors to the point where you get diagnosed with aggressive pancreatic cancer, then that means you have 20 years to change your lifestyle and stop the cancer!

That's the most important point of all, of course. In order to grow cancer tumors for 20 years, you have to feed the cancer for 20 years while keeping it alive. And how do you do that?

How to grow and feed a cancer tumor
First of all, to grow a cancer tumor, you need to eat lots of sugar. Liquid sugars are the best (soda, anyone?), but any form of refined sugar will do. You have to eat sugar daily if you really want to support cancer cell division and growth.

Next, you have to be vitamin D deficient for the entire 20 years. That's because vitamin D halts 77 percent of all cancers (including pancreatic cancer), and when combined with other nutrients like selenium, you can halt even more cancers. (http://www.naturalnews.com/021892.html)

If you combine vitamin D and selenium nutrition with other anti-cancer nutrients such as fresh vegetable juice (on a daily basis), omega-3 fatty acids, a wide variety of fresh fruits (including citrus and berries), and even red wine (rich with resveratrol), you will create an internal biological environment in which cancer tumors just can't grow at all. (http://www.naturalnews.com/023655_I...)

This is especially true if you pursue a more alkaline diet that's rich in vegetables and green foods rather than acidic substances such as sugar, fried foods and caffeine.

Combine all this with some regular exercise, good sleep, stress reduction habits and strict avoidance of cancer-causing chemicals, and you've got a recipe for blocking virtually all tumor growth in your body.


Link:
http://www.naturalnews.com/030219_pancreatic_cancer_tumors.html

The real debt?

And of course the solution is austerity fascism. Take it out on the people after giving trillions away to the banksters for nothing...


The scary actual U.S. government debt

Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff says U.S. government debt is not $13.5-trillion (U.S.), which is 60 per cent of current gross domestic product, as global investors and American taxpayers think, but rather 14-fold higher: $200-trillion – 840 per cent of current GDP. “Let’s get real,” Prof. Kotlikoff says. “The U.S. is bankrupt.”

Writing in the September issue of Finance and Development, a journal of the International Monetary Fund, Prof. Kotlikoff says the IMF itself has quietly confirmed that the U.S. is in terrible fiscal trouble – far worse than the Washington-based lender of last resort has previously acknowledged. “The U.S. fiscal gap is huge,” the IMF asserted in a June report. “Closing the fiscal gap requires a permanent annual fiscal adjustment equal to about 14 per cent of U.S. GDP.”

This sum is equal to all current U.S. federal taxes combined. The consequences of the IMF’s fiscal fix, a doubling of federal taxes in perpetuity, would be appalling – and possibly worse than appalling.

Prof. Kotlikoff says: “The IMF is saying that, to close this fiscal gap [by taxation], would require an immediate and permanent doubling of our personal income taxes, our corporate taxes and all other federal taxes.

America’s fiscal gap is enormous – so massive that closing it appears impossible without immediate and radical reforms to its health care, tax and Social Security systems – as well as military and other discretionary spending cuts.


Read more:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/commentary/neil-reynolds/the-scary-actual-us-government-debt/article1773879/

Couldn't put it any better myself...


What’s More Important: Liberty Or The Entity That Protects It?

Let me ask readers a question. What’s more important: freedom and its undergirding principles, or the entity meant to protect it? A word of caution: be careful how you answer that question, because the way you answer marks your understanding (or lack thereof) of both freedom and the purpose of government.

Thomas Jefferson–and the rest of America’s founders–believed that freedom was the principal possession, because liberty is a divine–not human–gift. Listen to Jefferson:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.” (Declaration of Independence)

Jefferson could not be clearer: America’s founders desired a land in which men might live in liberty. By declaring independence from the government of Great Britain (and instituting new government), Jefferson, et al., did not intend to erect an idol (government) that men would worship. They created a mechanism designed to protect that which they considered to be their most precious possession: liberty. In other words, the government they created by the Constitution of 1787 was not the object; freedom’s protection was the object.

Again, listen to Jefferson: “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.” In other words, government is not the end; it is the means. Government is not the goal; it is the vehicle used to reach the goal. Nowhere did Jefferson (and the rest of America’s founders) express the sentiment that government, itself, was the objective. Listen to Jefferson once more:

“That whenever ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” (Declaration) (Emphasis added.)

Jefferson is clear: people have a right to alter or abolish ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT that becomes destructive to liberty. To America’s founders, there was no such thing as a sacred cow when it came to government. Government had but one purpose: “to secure these rights.” When ANY FORM of government stops protecting sacred, God-given liberties, it is the right and duty of people to do whatever they deem appropriate to secure their liberties–even to abolishing the government.

To America’s founders, patriotism had everything to do with the love of liberty, not the love of government!


Read more:
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=2494

James Cameron, the expert...

Anyone who questions the global warming hoax is a criminal according to this guy...

James Cameron and Google CEO: Questioning Warming Science is “Criminal”



So, according to these two high priests of the scientific community, if you point out that the warming trend observed predominantly throughout the 1980s and 90s stopped over a decade ago, as admitted recently by both Professor Phil Jones, the figure at the head of the Climategate scandal, as well as one of the most prominent AGW advocate groups in existence, The Royal Society, you should be locked up.

Presumably the two would want to see thousands and thousands of scientists have their rights taken away and their freedoms eliminated, for merely expressing disagreement or dissent with the much lauded, rarely present “consensus”.

After all, questioning hypotheses and presenting counter-evidence and alternative theories has nothing at all to do with science – no no no, that’s the behaviour of morally corrupt criminals.

Cameron is of course, another green celebrity hypocrite. The man owns three large houses in Malibu, totaling 24,000 square feet – ten times the average US home. He also owns a 100 acre ranch in Santa Barbara and numerous private luxuries such as helicopters, Harley motorbikes, super cars, a yacht, and even a fleet of submarines. Nevertheless he demands that we all “live with less” because it is us that are responsible for killing the planet.


Earlier this year, Cameron said he wanted to debate the “deniers”, but then pulled out at the last minute even after the “criminals” agreed to endless dubious stipulations he kept demanding, such as no recording of the debate and no media coverage.

Cameron has also just given $1m to help defeat California’s Prop23 which will overturn the Global Warming Bill, legislation that critics have argued would cause unemployment to sky rocket, effectively killing dead the already crippled economy.

One wonders what punishments Cameron and Schmidt have in mind for global warming denying criminals? Perhaps execution, in line with the recent 10/10 propaganda campaign.


Link:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/james-cameron-and-google-ceo-questioning-warming-science-is-criminal.html

Everyone take a deep breath, this is nothing but a contrived incident to distract you on the eve of elections...

Obama takes one from the neocon playbook. By the way, where were those NORAD planes on 9/11? Are you scared enough yet to vote for the incumbents who helped bring on this economic collapse we are currently being distracted from?


Obama Issues Fake Terror Alert On Eve Of Elections

As we predicted on four separate occasions would happen, the Obama White House has deliberately contrived a fake terror scare on the eve of the mid-term elections in an effort to subdue the rampaging political appetite for anti-big government candidates that threatens to sweep aside establishment incumbents next week.

Despite the fact that the so-called suspicious package discovered on a flight in the United Kingdom tested negative for any explosive material, President Obama, after being informed of the apparent “threat” yesterday, “directed U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and the Department of Homeland Security” to launch a full-scale security alert, according to a White House press release, which in turn was helpfully elevated to levels of hysteria by the corporate media today.

The scaremongering was focused around two UPS planes that landed at Philadelphia International Airport and another at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, but just like the incident in the UK, both were soon given the “all clear,” reports CNN, and no bombs were found.

Despite the fact that no explosives at all were found on any of the planes, the establishment media is still feverishly running with the story that this was a “mail bomb” plot targeting the United States and that it was run out of Yemen, which coincidentally is also the US Military-Industrial Complex’s number one target for attack.

Quite how a “mail bomb plot” can succeed without any actual bombs is something the hysterical press has failed to properly explain. Like every other single major terror scare targeting the United States that we have covered, this smacks of an engineered political ploy.

As the video at the top of this article highlights, the terror scare also arrives just days after British Airways Chairman Martin Broughton attacked US authorities for the continuation of “completely redundant” airport security checks. It also comes amidst an increasing backlash against naked body scanners.

Just as former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge admitted that fake terror alerts were issued by the Bush administration for political gain, Obama is taking a leaf out of the Neo-Con’s playbook – and his timing couldn’t be better – just four days before the mid-term elections on Super Tuesday.

Over the last few months, on four separate occasions, we warned that the Obama White House would pull a terror stunt on the eve of the election in an effort to corral an increasingly resentful and angry electorate into acquiescence.As we reported back in July, former Clinton advisor Robert Shapiro wrote that Obama was relying on an October surprise in the form of a terror scare to rescue his presidency.

“The bottom line here is that Americans don’t believe in President Obama’s leadership,” wrote Shapiro, adding, “He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.”

Last month we reported on how the Obama administration’s threat that a “small scale terror attack” was on the cards was just another political ploy to instill fear within Americans. In another subsequent article we again highlighted the probability of the government contriving a terror scare for political grist.

We repeated our warning about Obama seeking to exploit terror earlier this month in the aftermath of the supposed airport lobby bombing plot, which again turned out to be nothing but hot air.

We’d be loathe to forget that the media and the government have been totally discredited over and over again by their complicity in issuing phony terror alerts designed to manipulate elections and frighten the public into slavish obedience, accepting naked body scanners, an intensification of the police state and any other indignity in the name of the government protecting them from terrorists like Christmas Day bomber Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was allowed to board the airliner he tried to attack by order of the US State Department.

Within hours of this new terror scare breaking every indication, most notably the fact that Obama was informed last night and decided to go ahead with a full security alert despite the UK package being a dud, screams out that this is a contrived political stunt designed to sway the many key undecided voters in anticipation of next week’s mid-terms.


Link:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-issues-fake-terror-alert-on-eve-of-elections.html

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Song of the day: The Drive-By Truckers

Drive-By Truckers "Used To Be A Cop" from Jason Thrasher on Vimeo.

Worth posting the whole article...


Baby Boomers: Get Out of the Stock Market Now, the Rug is Being Pulled Out By Insiders

If you're a baby boomer who still believes in the stock market since the financial collapse of 2008, listen up. The floor of this Ponzi scheme is about to drop out, leaving you punching a clock for some time to come and holding an empty retirement bag for your effort. The engineered crash is coming and the elite are jumping ship in droves -- you should join them and get out ASAP.

Stock market insider selling has now reached record highs. The trend has been increasing for the last several years, but now the ratios are getting beyond ridiculous. Earlier this month, Zero Hedge reported that the insider selling-to-buying ratio is 2341 to 1. Tyler Durden wrote:

After last week saw an insider selling to buying ratio of 1,411 to 1, this week the ratio has nearly doubled, hitting a ridiculous 2,341 to 1. And while Wall Street's liars and CNBC's clowns will have you throw all your money into "leading" techs like Oracle and Google, insiders in these names sold a combined $200 million in stock in the last week alone.

Today, CNBC reported that the insider selling activity at some of the largest traded companies is at an all-time high. This can't be a good sign of things to come. The article points to the analysis of Alan Newman, a market strategist who tracks insider trading: "The overwhelming volume of sell transactions relative to buy transactions by company insiders over the last six months in key leading sectors of the market is the worst . . . ever." CNBC reported that industry leaders have a staggering 3177 to 1 insider sell-to-buy ratio:

The largest companies in three of the most important leading sectors of the market have seen their executives classified as insiders sell more than 120 million shares of stock over the last six months. Top executives at these very same companies bought just 38,000 shares over that same time period, making for an eye-popping sell to buy ratio of 3,177 to one.

The grand total for the three sectors are “as awful as we have ever seen since we began doing this exercise years ago,” said Newman, who was ahead on such trends as the dangers of high-frequency trading and ETFs before the ‘Flash Crash’. “Clearly, insiders are seeing great value only in cash. Their actions speak volumes for the veracity for the current rally.”

Also quoted in the CNBC piece was Simon Baker, CEO of Baker Asset Management, who said the insider data “is good reason for considerable caution once the price action fades,” and “insiders normally buy early and sell early too. Longer term -- 12 months out -- it is more of a red flag.”


It's pretty difficult to excuse these levels of insider looting, but the experts are doing their best to claim that these poor executives (the titans of their industries) must take profits from stock sales because their salaries and bonuses have been cut. Who do they think they are kidding? Wall Street is still paying record salaries and bonuses, reportedly worth $144 billion (about a $1000 for every working American). There also has been very little news of other industry executives taking pay cuts, as American companies are holding record levels of cash to the tune of over a trillion dollars. In fact, the flush-with-cash CEOs continue to blame the consumer class for joblessness.

Despite the mass exodus of executives from their own company's stock, the S&P continues to remain somewhat stable since gaining 16% from July lows. Well, those gains seem somewhat pathetic since the value of the dollar -- measured against the human inflation indexes such as food and oil -- has plummeted. Major food commodities are up over 50% since their July lows, while oil prices have climbed $10 to over $81/bbl, or around 14% for the same time period, with predictions to break the $100/bbl mark very shortly.

Barely covering the cost of real inflationary measures is hardly success, especially with the current risks involved with being in the stock market. These risks have only increased since the 2008 financial collapse that eventually caused the stock market to bottom out the mid-6000 range. The market has been propped up with TARP funds and driven by scandalous front-running by Goldman Sachs and other large firms leading to 70% of stock purchases to be held for an average of 11 seconds. Consequently, these robo-trading programs have also been blamed for the freak "Flash Crash" in May where the stock market plummeted over 900 points in just minutes.

The charade is almost up, as the bad-but-getting-even-worse main street economy is not remotely factored in to Wall Street's casino calculations. Truth is, most states are approaching bankruptcy, unemployment continues to worsen, and yet another major scandal is playing out with Fraudclosure Gate. Newman, the insider trading expert, says, “At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we expect a significant correction."

Unless you are an ultra-sophisticated trader with access to front-running software, it is time to follow these insiders out of the stock market and into real assets. As the Fed announces plans for QE2, which the stock market actually views as a good thing, the elite seem to be flocking to precious metals, commodities, and large agricultural land purchases on the expectation of an even weaker dollar. This appears to make gold, food, and oil pretty safe bets for the average bloke.


Link:
http://www.activistpost.com/2010/10/baby-boomers-get-out-of-stock-market.html

Entrapment?

Foiled or Faked: FBI ‘entrapment’ tactics fuel home-grown terror?



Link:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/foiled-or-faked-fbi-entrapment-tactics-fuel-home-grown-terror.html

Good guy finally recognized...


Wakefield wins Roberto Clemente award

Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield has been named the recipient of the 2010 Roberto Clemente award, an award given annually to the player who "combines a dedication to giving back to the community with outstanding skills on the baseball field."

It was the eighth nomination for Wakefield, a player who has given tirelessly to charities ranging from the Jimmy Fund to his "Pitching in for Kids" organization to the Space Coast Early Intervention Center in his hometown of Melbourne, Fla., among other organizations.

"Every one of those definitions [he fits]," said Mike Andrews, chairman of the Jimmy Fund. "I would say this is long overdue. He should have gotten it by now."

In talking to Andrews, it appears that he could go on and on about Wakefield. As he said yesterday, "I would have to say in my years of baseball playing and then my 31 years with the Jimmy Fund, I have never seen anybody exceed his charitable generosity. Giving his time, giving his money, and really caring, he's one of those very, very unique people that come along every now and then. You always know with Tim that it's heartfelt. It isn't something that he feels an obligation to do it, he really gets into it."

Wakefield was selected from a list of 30 nominees, one from each club, by a panel that includes Commissioner Bud Selig and Clemente's wife, Vera. Wakefield follows past winners such as Derek Jeter (2009), Albert Pujols (2008), and Craig Biggio (2007), along with 13 Hall of Famers. He is the first member of the Red Sox to have received the award.

Wakefield will be presented with the award this afternoon in San Francisco, before Game 2 of the World Series.

Andrews tells a story, about a spring training visit that Jimmy Fund patients made a couple of years ago. A group was sitting in the stands, and Wakefield joined them, sat with them. When it was time to leave, he got up, shook their hands, and noticed there was one teenaged boy who wouldn't be able to get down the stands, as he had lost a leg. Wakefield put the kid on his back, and walked him down the stands, as it would have been difficult for the boy to get down on his own.

"That's the kind of thing he does, and he doesn't do it because cameras are running," Andrews said. "He just said, well, this is tough for him and I should help. That's just the way he is."

And that hasn't changed as Wakefield has gotten older, as he has gotten toward the end of his 18-year career, 16 years of which have been spent in Boston.

"From the day he got here," Andrews said. "I sometimes try to figure out why somebody like Tim Wakefield is like Tim Wakefield is. I doubt this has anything to do with it, but he had the hard knocks getting to the big leagues, really the hard knocks. He was an infielder and got released and had a knuckleball and came back. I think it wasn't a free ride to the big leagues for Tim Wakefield. Did that make him more of a down to earth guy than a lot of them are? Maybe.

"But I think it goes much deeper than that, honestly. I just think it was the way he was brought up. I just think it's the way he is. He's very unique, and I don't mean to single him out as the only giving ballplayer that we've had. There are so many that have given so much, but Tim just gives a little bit more and continuously."


Link:
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2010/10/wakefield_wins_1.html

Austerity fascism coming to America...


McGrath: ‘Austerity Will Hit America Like An Eight Pound Sledgehammer’

Look at what’s going on around the world. We have riots in Greece, riots in France, we have massive job cuts in England [which are] probably going to lead to social unrest there. It is our time to have austerity flung upon us. That’s what this election is going to be used for.

A week from now when Republicans control the house, maybe the Senate, it really doesn’t matter. Everything’s going to come to a grinding halt. Every talk of extending unemployment benefits is going to come to a grinding halt and austerity is going to be implemented on the American people. Like it or not, it’s coming.



This is the plan. We’re going to know that we are in a great depression, very very soon.



There’s going to be a lot of people in your life, maybe even yourself, who are facing these difficult, tough decisions when it comes to how to make ends meet…

…The fact is, economic hard times [are] coming your way - like it or not. You have to change your mindset. You have to wrap your head around the fact that it might be your only option to strategically default on your house. It might be your only option to go ahead and file bankruptcy.

…When austerity becomes vogue in this country, it’s going to hit like an eight pound sledgehammer and a lot of people are not going to be able to take it.

…They would have no problem whatsoever walking away from you and letting you wither and die on the vine. You can not have a heart for these people. You need to have a heart for your family. You need to make strategic decisions that benefit yourself and your family. The crime of shifting their debt on to you is complete. It’s time for you to look out for you and your own.


Link:
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/mcgrath-austerity-will-hit-america-like-an-eight-pound-sledgehammer_10272010

From those crazy conspiracists at CNN...


Military wants to scan communications to find internal threats

The Pentagon wants computers to see into the future -- and stop crimes before they happen.

As the U.S Army considers whether Maj. Nidal Hasan, the suspect in last year's Fort Hood massacre, should face a court-martial, it also is looking at whether the military missed signals that might have indicated what was about to happen.

Now a Pentagon research arm is asking scientists to create a way to scan billions of e-mails to identify suspects in advance so that crimes can be stopped before they are committed.

That's the goal of the latest $35 million project announced by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is credited with breakthroughs like the internet, GPS and stealth technology.

But this latest idea is already is drawing fire from privacy and security experts.

Bruce Schneier, author of "Secrets and Lies" and other books on security technology, criticized the DARPA idea as "un-American" and a police state ploy.

"This is what a police state does -- everyone watching what everyone does and the police watching your every move," Schneier told CNN in a telephone interview. "And what we learn from history is that police states never work. It never is safer."

He added, "We are American. We don't spy on everybody else. And as a security guy, it works great in the movies but in real life you aren't going to be any safer. ... The false claims are going to kill you."


Link:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/10/27/pentagon.e.mail.profiling/index.html?hpt=T2

Well, calling it global warming didn't work...

It's just another name for global taxation folks...


'Biodiversity': the new Big Lie

And so it begins. With all the shamelessness of a Goldman Sachser trading in his middle-aged wife for a hot, pouting twentysomething called Ivanka, the green movement is ditching “Climate Change”. The newer, younger, sexier model’s name? Biodiversity. (Mega hat tips to: Hilary Ostrov and Ozboy at Libertygibbet)

When I say shameless, I’m talking so amoral it makes the Whore of Babylon look like Mother Theresa; so flagrant it makes Al Gore’s, ahem, alleged drunken “Love poodle” assault on the Portland Masseuse look like an especially delicate passage from Andreas Capellanus’s The Art of Courtly Love.

Consider this summary of the UN’s two-week Convention On Biodiversity, launched on Monday:

Delegates from nearly 200 countries are being asked to agree to new 2020 targets after governments largely failed to meet a 2010 target of achieving a significant reduction in biological diversity losses, a goal set at the last biodiversity conference in 2002. And one of the same issues that led to failure the first time around could jeopardize this meeting: money.

Developing nations say more funding is needed from developed countries to share the effort in saving nature. Much of the world’s remaining biological diversity is in developing nations such as Brazil, Indonesia and in central Africa.

Do you see what’s going on here?


Link:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100060132/biodiversity-the-new-big-lie/

Thanks to both the Democrats and the Republicans...


22 Statistics That Prove The Elite Are Becoming Fabulously Wealthy While The Middle Class Is Being Ripped To Shreds

The following are 22 statistics that prove that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer in America today....

#1 Half of all American workers now earn $505 or less per week.

#2 In 2009, total wages, median wages, and average wages all declined in the United States.

#3 The only group that saw their household incomes increase in 2009 was those making $180,000 or more.

#4 According to one recent study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010.

#5 In 2009, the median annual wage for a U.S. worker was just $26,261.

#6 In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.

#7 In 2009, the 74 Americans that earned over 50 million dollars combined to bring in as much as the 19 million lowest paid Americans combined.

#8 According to Harvard Magazine, 66% of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.

#9 Total student loan debt in the United States is climbing at a rate of approximately $2,853.88 per second.

#10 1.41 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009 – a 32 percent increase over 2008.

#11 In 1976, the top 1 percent of earners in the United States took in 8.9 percent of all income. By 2007, that number had risen to 23.5 percent.

#12 According to a poll taken in 2009, 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck. That was up significantly from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.

#13 New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says that Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.

#14 One out of every six Americans is now enrolled in at least one anti-poverty program run by the federal government.

#15 The number of Americans enrolled in the food stamp program passed the 41 million mark for the first time ever in June.

#16 The number of Americans in the food stamp program increased a staggering 55 percent from December 2007 to June 2010.

#17 Over 50 million Americans are on now Medicaid. That figure is up more than 17 percent since the beginning of the economic downturn.

#18 Only the top 5 percent of all U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.

#19 According to one recent survey, 28% of all U.S. households have at least one member that is looking for a full-time job.

#20 A recent Pew Research survey found that 55 percent of the U.S. labor force has experienced either unemployment, a pay decrease, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work since the economic downturn began.

#21 The number of Americans working part-time jobs "for economic reasons" is now the highest it has been in at least five decades.

#22 The bottom 40 percent of all income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.


Link:
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/22-statistics-that-prove-the-elite-are-becoming-fabulously-wealthy-while-the-middle-class-is-being-ripped-to-shreds