"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people"

- John Adams - Second President (1797 - 1801)

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Thursday Evening - January 28, 2010


It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.

-Samuel Adams



Thursday Evening - January 28, 2010





"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people"


- John Adams - Second President (1797 - 1801)



Source: CNN

January 28, 2010

Trafficking of children and human organs is occurring in the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated parts of Haiti, killed more than 150,000 people, and left many children orphans, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said Wednesday.

"There is organ trafficking for children and other persons also, because they need all types of organs," Bellerive said in an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

He did not give specifics, but asked by Amanpour if there is trafficking of children, Bellerive said, "The reports I received say yes."

Haiti is trying to locate displaced children and register them so they can either be reunited with other family members or put up for adoption, Bellerive said.

But, he said, illegal child trafficking is "one of the biggest problems that we have."

Many groups appear to be legitimate, "but a lot of organizations -- they come and they say there were children on the streets. They're going to bring them to the [United] States," he said.

READ MORE:





A Miracle


(French Army photo by Jerome Sales / January 27, 2010)
French military medical staff tend to Haiti's Darlene Etienne aboard the French medical ship Siroco, off Port au Prince. Etienne, 17, was pulled from the rubble in a stunning rescue 15 days after the earthquake was in stable condition, able to eat yogurt and mashed vegetables to the surprise of doctors, who said her survival was medically inexplicable.




GREED

DAVOS: Clinton, Others Seek Private Investment In Haiti

DAVOS, Switzerland (Dow Jones)--Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said the World Economic Forum will work to provide information to increase private-sector investment in Haiti.

Haiti could have larger oil reserves than Venezuela





True Slant | A new poll finds that Fox is now the most trusted name in news. This is not, shall we say, an intuitive finding. And if you guessed there’s a catch: You’re right. “Most trusted,” in the context of this particular poll means a 49%/37% trust/don’t trust split — meaning Fox beats out CNN a...




China now Japan's top trade partner

Asia News Network
January 28, 2010

Japan's exports to China have topped those to the United States for the first time since World War II, while Japan saw its largest year-on-year drop in both exports and imports, statistics released Wednesday by the Finance Ministry showed.


The United Nations is just a debating society and a 'front' for banksters

UNITED NATIONS TREATY CAUSES 150,000 IN PHILIPPINES TO LOSE LIVELIHOOD


With tuna ban, 150,000 may lose jobs


Philippine Daily Inquirer
Publication Date: 28-01-2010

At least 150,000 people who depend on the tuna industry in General Santos City could end up jobless as a result of a two-year ban on tuna fishing in Western and Central Pacific, a fishing magnate said.

The ban, which was decided upon by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), started on January 1 and did not exempt purse seine fishing, which is used by most of the fishermen based in General Santos City ...

Real motive

Tan earlier said the ban—covering areas parallel to Palau, above Papua New Guinea and below Micronesia and near the Solomon Islands—was supposedly to preserve whatever tuna is left in the seas
But he said he suspected that it was aimed at dislodging the Philippines and other Third World countries from tuna fishing grounds.“I suspect big countries, in the guise of conserving and preserving the remaining marine resources in the area, wanted to control the international fishing grounds because their own fishing grounds are already depleted,” Tan said.

He said Western and European countries had all the means to wrestle control of international fishing grounds.

At least 60 per cent of international tuna supply comes from the western and central Pacific.


The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) is a treaty-based organisation. It was established to conserve and manage tuna and other highly migratory fish stocks across the western and central areas of the Pacific Ocean and commenced operations in late 2005. Its full name is Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean.

It was established by the Convention for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, which entered into force in 2004. The WCPF Convention is the second regional fisheries management agreement negotiated since the conclusion of the 1995 U.N. Straddling Fish Stocks Agreement.

The Straddling Fish Stocks Agreement was created by the United Nations to enhance the cooperative management of fisheries resources that span wide areas, and are of economic and environmental concern to a number of nations.





Canada Free Press
Jan 20 2010


Critics who think that the U.S. dollar will be replaced by some new global currency are perhaps thinking too small.

On the world horizon looms a new global currency that could replace all paper currencies and the economic system upon which they are based.

The new currency, simply called Carbon Currency, is designed to support a revolutionary new economic system based on energy (production, and consumption), instead of price. Our current price-based economic system and its related currencies that have supported capitalism, socialism, fascism and communism, is being herded to the slaughterhouse in order to make way for a new carbon-based world.

READ MORE:




Senate permits gov't to borrow an additional $1.9T

Source: Breitbart

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Democratic-controlled Senate has muscled through a plan to allow the government to go a whopping $1.9 trillion deeper in debt.

The party-line 60-40 vote was successful only because Republican Sen.-elect Scott Brown has yet to be seated. Sixty votes were required to approve the increase. The measure would lift the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion. That's about $45,000 for every American.

READ MORE:





A Nation in Decline

Jan 27 2010

Many politicians are asking the question today: “Why are the American People so angry?” The following may lend a clue to the clueless.

According to the annual “Index on Economic Freedom,” produced by the Heritage Foundation, the United States now ranks 8th, just behind Canada. That’s a drop of two full points since last year, and the largest drop of all nations in overall economic freedom. .

The index ranking is based on 10 measures of economic openness, regulatory efficiency, the rule of law, and competitiveness. The basic principles of economic freedom emphasized in the index are individual empowerment, equitable treatment and the promotion of competition.

According to the Heritage Index, the U.S. lost ground in seven of the ten categories. Losses were particularly significant in the areas of financial and monetary freedom and property rights. Driving it all were the massive bailouts, government intervention in such things are the auto and banking industries, and runaway environmental protection policies.

While the United States is among the “most declined” nations, Mexico ranks among the “most improved.” The United States was once the bastion of economic and personal freedom for its citizens, making it the wealthiest economy and the highest standard of living in the world. Today, it has chosen to abandon that model of freedom, instead seeking economic security through government programs and controls.

As a result, our nation stands on the edge of economic collapse; more than 10% of our people are out of work; costs are skyrocketing, and goods and services are becoming harder to come by.

READ MORE:




OBAMA

Obama tries to take credit for success in Iraq despite opposition to troop surge

By Move America Forward

Sacramento, Calif. – Move America Forward, the nation’s largest grassroots pro-troop organization took offense last night as President Obama tried to take credit for the success of the Iraq War when he was a bitter opponent of the successful troop surge implemented by President George W. Bush. Obama proclaimed “I promised I would end this war, and that is what I am doing as President. “



Obama Still Backs Job-Destroying Global-Warming Agenda

By EPW Blog
The great public backlash against this tax on electricity, gasoline and just about everything else

Obama Laughed at When Referring to The Overwhelming Scientific Evidence on Climate Change (video)

Watch as Obama is laughed at during his state of the union address after referring to the “overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change”. First the audience laughs, then Pelosi, next Biden and finally Obama himself smirks at the insanity of his remark.


Obama criticizes Supeme Court for unlimited campaign funding ruling.


Wayne Madson Report
January 28, 2010

Sammy "the Snake" Alito shakes his head and says "not true." Obama says U.S. elections now open to funding by foreign corporations. The right-wing is supporting Alito and is citing 2 U.S.C. Section 441e which prohibits foreign corporations from "making any contribution or donation to any committee of any political party." But what about all those dual U.S.-Israeli, U.S.-Indian, and U.S.-Turkish nationals who have vested interests in foreign corporations? Obama has a valid point. He can always ask a loophole expert, Rahm Emanuel, a dual national, about this legal work-around.

From the DrudgeReport.com:






Democrat Congressman on No-Show Cabinet Official: ‘Where the Hell is Secretary Napolitano?’

Terence P. Jeffrey
CNSNews
January 28, 2010

Top Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee publicly reprimanded Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano today for failing to show up at a hearing where the committee examined the attempted Christmas Day suicide bombing of Northwest Flight 253. One Democrat on the committee said he wanted to know “where the hell” Napolitano was.

Napolitano sent Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Jane Holl Lute to testify in her place. The Homeland Security Committee is the congressional panel with primary oversight over Napolitano’s department.


Appearing on CNN two days after the attempted Christmas Day suicide bombing, Napolitano had said: “And one thing I’d like to point out is that the system worked.” Republican sources on the committee said they believe Napolitano did not show up today because she did not want to explain why she said those words.

Read entire article






Israel Not Allowing U.N. To Complete Housing Projects In Gaza!

January 26, 2010 BBC World






The vast majority of Americans do not have a loved one in the military.

Veterans Today

January 28, 2010

As supplement to Mike Leon’s take on Obama’s State of the Union in his article Obama Bring the Troops Home, Support Veterans, Veterans Today has also received this call to action from Military Families Speak Out (MFSO). Despite the patronizing of America’s veterans and military families and attempts to placate us by sending forth Michelle... Read more of this article



DRONES

"Every one of these dead non-combatants represents an alienated family, a new revenge feud,

and more recruits for a militant movement that has grown exponentially

even as drone strikes have increased."

- David Kilcullen (Counterinsurgency Expert) Center for New American Security


Pentagon Master Plan: Super-Size My Drone Fleet


Wired

January 28, 2010

The U.S. military already has plans in the works to grow its fleet of Predators and Reapers, the long-loitering, armed surveillance drones that have become a defining feature of the air war over Central Asia and the Middle East. Now, according to a draft version of the Pentagon’s new master strategy plan, the military wants to dramatically up the number of “orbits,” or air patrols, of the unmanned aircraft.

Courtesy of Inside Defense (subscription only), we’ve taken an early look at a “pre-decisional” copy of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, due for release on Monday. According to that draft, the Department of Defense is “is on track” to field and sustain 50 drone orbits by Fiscal Year 2013. What’s more, the Pentagon “will continue to expand the force to at least 65 orbits by FY 15.”

Just to give a sense of how significant this is, some context. On a visit to an “undisclosed location” in Southwest Asia last year, Noah got the inside scoop on current Predator and Reaper operations: The Air Force, he reported, has a total of 39 orbits in the Central Command region. And those orbits include the CIA’s controversial drone operations over Pakistan, which are technically compartmentalized from — but overlap with — the military’s efforts in Afghanistan. (“There are 39 orbits, that’s it. No wink, wink,” a military officer memorably told Noah.)





China still leery on US sanctions push for Iran


Reuters
- ‎1 hour ago‎
LONDON (Reuters) - China called on Thursday for efforts to resume dialogue with Iran over its nuclear programme, stalling US Secretary Hillary Clinton's efforts to win public commitment for a new round of UN sanctions.




North Atlantic Treaty Organization


The London Conference on Afghanistan: Rebranding an Unpopular War
January 28, 2010

Lawrence Cannon, Canada's foreign minister, is on his way to London for a major international conference on the future of Afghanistan, January 28. Hilary Clinton and other high level representatives from the NATO countries will be present, as will embattled Afghan President Hamid Karzai. One wonders if this major global media focus on Afghanistan was part of the Harper government’s calculation in proroguing Parliament. The torture and abuse of Afghan detainees is also an issue in several European countries, and so the less riled up the Canadian press corps is from any fresh revelations back home, the better.

The agenda of the London gathering has recently been expanded to include a special session on Yemen. This in itself ironically exposes the illogic with which the expansion of the war in Afghanistan has been sold to the western public.

After all, Obama's announcement of an additional 30,000 troops to the occupation of Afghanistan was explained with the rationale that it was vital for national security. Without a ramping up of the war, the world was told, a “safe haven” for terrorists might emerge. ‘Fight them over there or you will have to fight them over here.’ And yet Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the thwarted, Nigerian-born “underwear” bomber is said to have links to Yemen, so we must fight them there as well.

The “deny Al-Qaeda a safe heaven” justification opens up nearly infinite new potential fronts in the global “war on terror,” a term that has been dropped from White House press releases while its aggressive and counter-productive mentality remains in place.

On Afghanistan, the London conference is not the first of its kind, and likely won't be the last. Its real raison d'être is to help rebrand the Afghan War, which remains unpopular in the majority of NATO countries. As Robin Beste of the UK Stop the War Coalition argues, “It's a makeover aimed at turning the tide of public opinion, running so strongly against a war which is clearly futile and unwinnable. In reality the warmongers are gathering for a war council masquerading as a peace conference.”



What is the Purpose of the London Conference on Afghanistan?

Jan 27 2010 - All the players in the world claim that they want to get it right in Afghanistan, so that the Afghan people might be freed from the burdens of the thirty year war, which keeps them in the Stone Age. The problem with Afghanistan is that everyone invokes false piety, claiming concerns for the well-being of the Afghan people, while promoting war as the solution to their problems. We head into an international conference looking for these answers through the prism of the same old lies.

Afghanistan will never have a chance as long as everyone keeps treating it as an international arena, in which to fight-out all their problems. As long as Americans treat it as a staging area to launch expeditionary resource wars from, and as long as Pakistan and India are allowed to continue using Afghan men to fight their proxy war, then there will be no peace in the world and no rest for the war-weary Afghans. Neither peace for the world, nor peace for Afghanistan is truly being considered in London.




NATO killing of Afghan cleric prompts demonstration at U.S. base in Kabul.

Mullah Muhammad Yonus shot in a parked car by NATO forces while waiting for a convoy to pass.


Four in five Germans oppose Afghanistan troop hike: poll

Daily Times - ‎Jan 27, 2010‎

A conference in London Thursday on mapping out the way forward in BERLIN: Nearly 80 percent of Germans oppose Berlin’s plans to hike the number of troops in Afghanistan, according to a poll released Wednesday on the eve of a major international conference. Four out of five Germans said they disagreed with a stronger military role for Berlin in Afghanistan, the survey by the independent polling institute Forsa indicated. Even among supporters of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Union, 77 percent said they objected to adding soldiers to the 4,300-strong force now in the war-ravaged country.






Senate confirms Bernanke for second term at Fed






Cold Case Democracy and the Doctrine of "Corporate Personhood"

Part II: Smash and Grab
- by Vi Ransel - 2010-01-28

Corporations have been a successful means to minority rule because they are a stunningly efficient means of accumulating and concentrating wealth and property, which can then be translated into political power. As long as the ownership of property determined eligibility to vote, minority rule remained intact, but as more people got the right to vote the threat of real democracy hung over minority rule like the Sword of Damocles.

Under the Constitution, corporations had no rights. They had only the privileges granted them by the people of their chartering states, because there are only two parties to the Constitution, the people, who are sovereign and have constitutional rights, and the government, which is accountable to the people, and has duties it must perform to their satisfaction.

The word “corporation” appears nowhere in the Constitution. Corporations are a creation of government, and government must perform to the satisfaction of the people. This meant that property - corporations - would have to discontinue being a creation of government – which serves the people - and, in effect, become people, entitled to the rights of the sovereign under the Constitution, if wealthy corporate shareholders were to continue minority rule.

READ MORE:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17201





Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government | 28 Jan 2010


Breaking: Bernanke wins second term as Fed chairman --MSNBC -Critical test vote passed by wider margin than had been predicted 28 Jan 2010 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke earned a second term Thursday as the Senate confirmed him to the post. The Senate voted earlier in the day to overcome a delaying tactic that would have doomed his nomination. [The vote was 70-30.]

Drug firms 'drove swine flu pandemic warning to recoup £billions spent on research' 27 Jan 2010 DailyMail.co.uk - Drug companies manipulated the World Health Organisation into downgrading its definition of a pandemic so they could cash in on a swine flu outbreak, it is claimed. An inquiry heard yesterday that the WHO allegedly softened its criteria for declaring a H1N1 flu pandemic last spring - just weeks before announcing there was a worldwide outbreak. Critics said the decision was driven by pharmaceutical companies desperate to recoup the billions of pounds they had invested in researching and developing pandemic vaccines [not to mention, the pandemics themselves] after the bird flu scares in 2006 and 2007.

Ex-Prime Minister Blair Faces Iraq Inquiry -Sky.com -Mr Blair, who has been called "Bush's poodle", will also be questioned about whether he gave the US President [sic] an early assurance that British troops would join the invasion without consulting Parliament or the public. 28 Jan 2010 Tony Blair will be questioned for six hours tomorrow on his decision to take Britain into war with Iraq in 2003. The former Prime Minister's testimony is expected to be the highlight of the Iraq Inquiry. The audience will include family members of soldiers and civilians killed or missing in the country. Mr Blair is expected to be quizzed about accusations that he and his inner circle were so determined to topple Saddam Hussein that they exaggerated intelligence reports about Iraqi weapons and pressured the then-Attorney General to conclude that the invasion would not be a violation of international law.

Pakistan seeks role as mediator in possible Taliban-Afghanistan peace talks Washington Post - 28 Jan 2010 Pakistan, which once sponsored Taliban forces but turned against them under American pressure [bribery, threats] in 2001, now hopes to play a role as a broker in proposed negotiations among Taliban leaders and the Afghan government, with support from the United States. As leaders of 60 countries meet in London on Thursday to discuss how to help Afghanistan stop its [US-engendered] downward spiral into instability, the possibilities for reconciliation and talks with both Taliban leaders and foot soldiers will top the agenda.

'Even those who took part in attacks involving the deaths of British or US soldiers would be rehabilitated.' The new Afghan plan: buy off Taliban --Leaders back multimillion-pound fund and consider an olive branch for leadership 28 Jan 2010 Britain and the US are backing a new strategy to buy off "soft" supporters of the Taliban in a radical attempt to end nine years of war in Afghanistan. The plan, to be approved at a 60-nation conference in London today, comes amid unexpected signs of growing political support for the equally high-risk idea of talks leading to a political settlement with the Taliban leadership. The multimillion-pound "peace and reintegration" [aka Stimulus] fund would seek to lure low ranking Taliban fighters, who join out of poverty rather than ideology, by giving them jobs, schooling or land for farming. An effective amnesty for these men, now believed to make up 75 per cent of the insurgency's ranks, means that even those who took part in attacks involving the deaths of British or US soldiers would be rehabilitated.

The Taliban Stimulus: Nato says Afghanistan conference will raise millions to pay off Taliban --The Nato Secretary General has said the London Conference on Afghanistan will be used to raise millions of pounds to pay off bribe the Taliban leadership. 26 Jan 2010 Anders Fogh Rasmussen said it was necessary to "establish a trust to finance the reintegration programme" that would persuade the militants to lay down their weapons. The Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who will pledge to tackle government corruption [LOL!], will present a plan to reconcile senior Taliban leaders at tomorrow's meeting. But the proposals will require huge amounts of money to pay for new jobs, pensions, land and even fund the relocation of senior militants abroad. [The GOP is thrilled. They're thinking: Thank *God* the money won't be spent on jobs and pensions (or health care) in the US! This way, many of the Taliban can take the $$$ and raise arms against the US invaders, and the war can continue for eons! Think of how much Blackwater and DynCorp can make!

Obusha opens new, illegal secret war front: US runs 'secret' military operations in Yemen 27 Jan 2010 PressTV - Washington has involved in secret joint operations in Yemen after President Barack Obama approved US military and intelligence teams to be dispatched to the country, the Washington Post revealed Wednesday. The operations begun six weeks ago, involving troops from the US military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), whose main mission is tracking and killing suspected terrorists, the Post reported. The American agents are helping the Yemeni army develop tactics and providing Sana'a forces with electronic and video surveillance, as well as three-dimensional terrain maps, the report said.

American added to 'shortlist' of U.S. citizens targeted for killing or capture by JSOC -Washington Post --U.S. military teams, intelligence deeply involved in aiding Yemen on strikes 27 Jan 2010 U.S. military teams and intelligence agencies are deeply involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops who in the past six weeks have killed scores of people, among them six of 15 top leaders of a regional al-Qaeda affiliate numerous civilians, according to senior administration officials. The operations, approved by President Obama and begun six weeks ago, involve several dozen troops from the U.S. military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), whose main mission is tracking and killing suspected terrorists... As part of the operations, Obama approved a Dec. 24 strike against a compound where a U.S. citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, was thought to be meeting with other regional al-Qaeda leaders. Although he was not the focus of the strike and was not killed, he has since been added to a shortlist of U.S. citizens specifically targeted for killing or capture by the JSOC, military officials said.

UN removes Taliban officials from blacklist PressTv.ir - 27 Jan 2010 The United Nations has removed five former Taliban officials from its blacklist as part of reconciliation efforts in war-weary Afghanistan. The de-listing, which came on Wednesday, was approved by a special Security Council committee. The UN said in a statement that the five Afghan nationals would no longer be subject to a freeze on their assets and a travel ban.

Al-Qaeda seeks WMD, US unprepared: reports 26 Jan 2010 The United States has not done enough to protect the country against the threat of weapons of mass destruction even as Al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] appears intent on staging a large-scale attack, reports said. A bipartisan panel warned that the government had failed to adopt measures to counter the danger posed by extremists using WMD, saying the administration lacked plans for a rapid response to a possible biological attack.

Trial date set for former Xe worker charged in Kabul shooting HamptonRoads - 28 Jan 2010 A federal magistrate judge today set a Sept. 14 trial date for a former Xe worker charged in the shooting deaths of two Afghans in a case that could carry the death penalty. Chris Drotleff pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. The Virginia Beach man has been in jail without bond since his arrest earlier this month on charges of killing two Afghan civilians during a traffic incident in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital. Justin Cannon, a second security worker with Drotleff that day last May, remains in Texas awaiting extradition to face the same charges.

NATO-led air strike kills 20 in Afghanistan -PressTv.ir -NATO air strikes against suspected Taliban militants have killed hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan over the past few months. 28 Jan 2010 A NATO-led air strike in Afghanistan's northern province of Baghlan has killed up to 20 people. The Western military alliance claimed in a statement that the dead were all militants. NATO forces had to call in air support after coming under attack from what they allege was a large number of militants.

NATO troops shoot cleric in Afghanistan 28 Jan 2010 A convoy of troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has shot dead a Muslim cleric in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Muhammad Yonus, the prominent imam of a mosque in central Kabul, was killed in a morning shootout on Thursday.

Gunmen murder cleric outside Baghdad mosque 28 Jan 2010 Unidentified armed men [Blackwater terrorists] have opened fire on a cleric outside a mosque in a Sunni neighborhood of Baghdad, killing him on the spot. "Militants on Thursday afternoon killed a clergyman in a shooting outside a mosque in Baghdad's western Sunni neighborhood of al-Adl," an anonymous Iraqi police source was quoted as saying, according to Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Israeli tanks target Gaza homes, farmlands 28 Jan 2010 Israeli army Tanks have opened fire on houses and farmlands in the eastern parts of the Gaza Strip, according to a report by the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC). A number of Israeli Tanks invaded lands located near al-Shojayia district and fired at Palestinian farmers near the northern Gaza-Israeli borders on Thursday afternoon, reported IMEMC.

South and North Korea exchange fire along sea border 27 Jan 2010 North and South Korea have engaged in a short artillery duel along their disputed western sea border as efforts continue to restart the stalled six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament. No casualties or damage were reported after the exchange in which the two sides fired into the air, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Secretary of State Says No to Second Term 28 Jan 2010 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she will not serve a full eight years in her position if President Barack Obama is elected to a second term. In a nationally televised interview with PBS television's Tavis Smiley Wednesday, Clinton she could not imagine serving a full eight years. She told her interviewer that, considering the demands of the job, she would find that extremely challenging.

Obama Vows to Restore a 'Tested' Nation 28 Jan 2010 President Obama said Wednesday night that leaders in Washington face a "deficit of trust," as he used his first State of the Union address to try to restore public confidence in his administration and to convince the American people that he is intensely focused on the issues that concern them most: jobs and the economy. In a nationally televised speech before a joint session of Congress, Mr. Obama appealed for an end to the "tired old battles" that have divided the country and stalled his legislative agenda.

Text: Obama's State of the Union Address 28 Jan 2010 Following is the prepared text of President Obama's State of the Union address, delivered Jan. 27, 2010, as released by the White House.

Bad news for polar bears: Obama: We 'need' offshore drilling, nuclear power plants 28 Jan 2010 'But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. That means building a new generation of safe, clean [sic] nuclear power plants in this country. It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development.'

Feinstein says Obama should move terror trials from NYC 28 Jan 2010 President Barack Obama should order the trial for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other accused terrorists moved out of New York City, Sen. Dianne Feinstein ('D'-Calif.) said Thursday. Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is the highest-ranking DemocRAT to urge the administration to reverse course on its decision to bring the terror leaders to Manhattan for trial.

House Homeland Security Committee blasts AG Holder for terrorist handling 28 Jan 2010 A member of Michigan's congressional delegation accused U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday of treating the war on terrorism "like a simple police action" as the Obama administration came under more fire for treating the man accused of trying to blow up Flight 253 like a criminal [as Bush did with Richard Reid] with rights rather than an enemy combatant. "I was stunned that this terrorist wasn't turned over to the military," said U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Hypocrite-Mich., a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, which held a hearing on the Dec. 25 incident at Detroit Metro Airport.

Chicago man pleads not guilty to Mumbai terrorism charges 27 Jan 2010 A Chicago man who’s accused of helping to plot the deadly 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India, pleaded not guilty this morning to terrorism charges. David Coleman Headley entered the formal plea in federal court in Chicago even as he continues to cooperate with authorities in the investigations into the Mumbai attack and also a plot to assassinate a Danish newspaper cartoonist.

Air Terminal at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Busy in Haiti Relief Effort 26 Jan 2010 As U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay and Joint Task Force Guantanamo continue support of disaster relief efforts following the devastating earthquake in Haiti Jan. 12, a joint logistics hub at the naval station and the air terminal has been established to coordinate and lead humanitarian relief efforts to the island. During operations, the air terminal tempo is practically non-stop.

Vaccination Without Doctor Approval In a US Hospital By S. Humphries, MD 22 Jan 2010 H1N1 and seasonal influenza vaccines are now being given to sick hospital patients with or without their doctor’s consent. This is being done despite there being no data on the safety of doing so. I am a licensed, board-certified nephrologist, otherwise known as a kidney specialist, working in a large, city-based hospital. Because I rarely admit patients to the hospital other than for specific procedures, such as a kidney biopsy, I only recently became aware of my hospital’s policy regarding flu shots for sick people. Waking up to this new rule made me realize that Big Pharma is getting closer and closer to bypassing doctors completely to deliver direct patient "care".

Canada donates excess swine flu vaccines to WHO 28 Jan 2010 Canada announced Thursday it has donated five million swine flu vaccine doses and six million Canadian dollars (5.6 million US) to the World Health Organization for its pandemic relief efforts. The doses, which represent 10 percent of Canada's total H1N1 flu vaccine order, are intended to support immunization programs in developing countries.

Howard Zinn, author of 'People's History' and left-wing historian, dies in California 27 Jan 2010 Howard Zinn, an author, teacher and political activist whose leftist "A People's History of the United States" became a million-selling alternative to mainstream texts, died Wednesday. He was 87. Zinn died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, Calif., daughter Myla Kabat-Zinn said. The historian was a resident of Auburndale, Mass.

4 Arrested in Phone Tampering at Landrieu Office 27 Jan 2010 Federal officials charged four men on Tuesday with plotting to tamper with the telephone system in the New Orleans office of Senator Mary Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana. One of the men was a conservative activist who gained fame last year by secretly recording members of the community group Acorn giving him advice on how to set up a brothel. All four of the men arrested Monday in New Orleans, each in his mid-20s, were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Pennsylvania Capital Should Weigh Bankruptcy, Controller Says 26 Jan 2010 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the capital of the sixth-largest U.S. state by population, should skip a $2.2 million debt service payment due Feb. 1 and consider bankruptcy, City Controller Dan Miller said. Harrisburg faces $68 million in payments this year in connection with a waste-to-energy incinerator and should weigh Chapter 9 protection from creditors or state oversight through a program known as Act 47, Miller said today.

Previous lead stories: Iraq war was a crime of aggression: The damning verdict of top Whitehall lawyers which No. 10 refused to accept 27 Jan 2010 Tony Blair and Jack Straw brushed aside repeated warnings from Government lawyers that they would not have a 'leg to stand on' if Britain invaded Iraq. Devastating evidence at the Iraq inquiry yesterday revealed that every senior legal adviser at the Foreign Office believed the conflict was in breach of international law. Astonishingly, Downing Street asked lawyers to assess what the consequences would be if Britain toppled Saddam Hussein without legal authority. When they received the lawyers' memo, No.10 demanded: 'Why has this been put in writing?' Sir Michael Wood, then the Foreign Office's senior legal adviser, warned ministers again and again that to go to war without approval from a UN Security Council resolution would constitute a 'crime of aggression' in international law.

Mission accomplished! ExxonMobil to redevelop, expand Iraq's West Qurna 1 field 25 Jan 2010 ExxonMobil Iraq Ltd. signed an agreement with the Iraq Ministry of Oil to redevelop and expand West Qurna 1 field in southern Iraq. The agreement was signed in Baghdad in the presence of the Iraq Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani and Rob Franklin, president of ExxonMobil upstream ventures. The consortium members are ExxonMobil as the lead contractor with 60% interest, Oil Exploration Co. (owned by the Iraq government) with 25% interest, and Royal Dutch Shell PLC with 15% interest.

Report faults State Department, DynCorp for missing $1 billion By Josh Rogin 25 Jan 2010 The State Department cannot account for more than $1 billion it paid out to contractor DynCorp to train police during the first years of the Iraq war, in just one example of management shortcomings that have put at risk $2.5 billion worth of money spent on training policemen around the world, according to a damning new report. The office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) especially laid into the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), known as the "Drugs and Thugs" bureau], in an audit released Monday, for mishandling DynCorp. [See: DynCorp Disgrace By Kelly Patricia O'Meara 14 Jan 2002 Middle-aged men having sex with 12- to 15-year-olds was too much for Ben Johnston, a hulking 6-foot-5-inch Texan, and more than a year ago he blew the whistle on his employer, DynCorp, a U.S. contracting company doing business in Bosnia. See: State Dept. Can't Account For $1.2B Paid to DynCorp: Audit --Review identifies $29 million in overcharges by DynCorp in past year 23 Oct 2007. YES, it goes without saying that Obusha keeps hiring DynCorp.]



"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail"
- Benjamin Franklin


*****2010 Food Crisis for Dummies*****

http://www.marketskeptics.com/2009/12/2010-food-crisis-for-dummies.html
If you read any economic, financial, or political analysis for 2010 that doesn’t mention the food shortage looming next year, throw it in the trash, as it is worthless. There is overwhelming, undeniable evidence that the world will run out of food next year. When this happens, the resulting triple digit food inflation will lead panicking central banks around the world to dump their foreign reserves to appreciate their currencies and lower the cost of food imports, causing the collapse of the dollar, the treasury market, derivative markets, and the global financial system. The US will experience economic disintegration.

SurvivalBlog.com

StanDeyo.com
Holly Deyo's 'Dare to Prepare'

100 Items to Disappear First


Sprouting

A free ebook as to what may result if the electrical grid goes down:

"Lights Out" pdf


Move Your Money
Find community banks in your neighborhood now!







US Debt Clock

FDIC:
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation


FDIC "insurance" is a Ponzi scheme, except in this case Mr. Ponzi has the power to create money and bail himself out indefinitely




Mudslides in Peru



(AP photo by Martin Mejia / January 28, 2010)
Workers repair the train tracks in the Machu Picchu Pueblo archeological site in Cuzco, Peru. Heavy rains and mudslides in Peru have blocked the train route to the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, leaving nearly 2,000 tourists stranded. At left is the Urubamba river.




Toyota extends recall to Europe, China





THINK Poised To Enter U.S. Automobile Market




The Norwegian electric carmaker THINK is set to enter the US market with a new assembly facility -- thanks to a new quick charging system.




Defense Secretary Cohen's 1997 Warning about Scalar EM Geotechnical Terrorism

“Others [terrorists] are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves… So there are plenty of ingenious minds out there that are at work finding ways in which they can wreak terror upon other nations…It's real, and that's the reason why we have to intensify our [counterterrorism] efforts.”

- Secretary of Defense William Cohen at an April 1997 counterterrorism conference sponsored by former Senator Sam Nunn. Quoted from DoD News Briefing, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, Q&A at the Conference on Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and U.S. Strategy, University of Georgia, Athens, Apr. 28, 1997.

Haiti: The U.S. Created the Earthquake in Haiti? Pravda.ru




OUR PLANET'S PROTECTIVE MAGNETOSPHERE UPDATE
About Real-Time Magnetosphere Simulation
http://www2.nict.go.jp/y/y223/simulation/realtime/index.html

JANUARY 25, 2010 AT 5:45 PM CDT











MOON UPDATE
Current Moon Phase
http://www.die.net/moon/

BIGGEST FULL MOON OF THE YEAR: This Friday night, if you think the Moon looks unusually big, you're right. It's the biggest full Moon of 2010. Astronomers call it a "perigee Moon," some 14% wider and 30% brighter than lesser full Moons of the year.







SUN UPDATE
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/sunspots/
http://solarcycle24.com/

Classification of Solar Flares

Magnetic fields trigger solar wind


Sunspot 1041 is currently the only numbered region on the face of the sun. The solar X-Rays have been quiet. There is no chance for strong solar flares.




NASA Images Earth-Sized Objects Inside Corona Of SUN



NASA Images Earth Sized Spherical Objects Inside Corona of SUN


EARTHQUAKE UPDATES


**Note the volcanoes near this earthquake

RSOE | 5.0 mag earthquake hits Lake Edward Region, Dem Rep of the Congo - Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 23:52 at night at epicenter

MAP 5.0 2010/01/28 23:52:31 -0.869 29.289 10.0 LAKE EDWARD REGION, DEM REP OF THE CONGO


Airport(s):
Location Airport ICAO Type Distance
RwandaKamembe AirportHRZA
93.35 km
ZaireBukavu Kavumu AirportFZMA
83.02 km
RwandaGisenyi AirportHRYG
46.33 km
ZaireGoma AirportFZNA
45.22 km
Volcanoes:
Location Volcano Type Last eruption Distance
Africa-CKatungaTuff cone
98.80 km
Africa-CTshibindaCinder cones
84.18 km
Africa-CBufumbiraCinder cones
57.21 km
Africa-CMuhavuraStratovolcano
56.33 km
Africa-CVisokeStratovolcano
47.83 km
Africa-CKarisimbiStratovolcano
46.54 km
Virunga MountainsNyiragongoStratovolcano200837.22 km
Africa-CMay-ya-motoFumarole field
32.18 km
Africa-CentralNyamuragiraShield volcano201029.19 km


Latest Earthquakes Magnitude 2.5 or Greater in the United States and Adjacent Areas and Magnitude 4.5 or Greater in the Rest of the World

Update time = Fri Jan 29 0:08:08 UTC 2010


MAG UTC DATE-TIME
y/m/d h:m:s
LAT
deg
LON
deg
DEPTH
km
Region
MAP 5.0 2010/01/28 23:52:31 -0.869 29.289 10.0 LAKE EDWARD REGION, DEM REP OF THE CONGO
MAP 2.6 2010/01/28 23:42:20 37.469 -121.802 8.7 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 2010/01/28 23:36:17 36.096 -117.864 4.2 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.8 2010/01/28 18:03:36 44.574 -110.969 9.4 YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYOMING
MAP 4.8 2010/01/28 16:12:52 4.655 96.831 8.9 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
MAP 4.6 2010/01/28 15:07:21 28.598 141.694 59.5 BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
MAP 3.3 2010/01/28 10:30:40 32.738 -115.406 15.0 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.1 2010/01/28 09:55:24 3.123 126.670 76.5 KEPULAUAN TALAUD, INDONESIA
MAP 4.9 2010/01/28 09:37:22 -29.111 -174.911 35.0 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
MAP 4.9 2010/01/28 09:11:46 9.844 126.076 107.3 MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
MAP 3.2 2010/01/28 08:46:16 44.572 -110.972 9.7 YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYOMING
MAP 3.0 2010/01/28 08:19:08 51.464 -176.794 37.9 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.8 2010/01/28 08:04:03 -23.409 -66.729 106.0 JUJUY, ARGENTINA
MAP 2.6 2010/01/28 06:34:15 38.816 -122.817 2.5 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 2010/01/28 05:48:19 61.489 -150.651 58.4 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.5 2010/01/28 04:36:01 -8.039 -74.361 149.6 CENTRAL PERU
MAP 4.9 2010/01/28 04:05:48 46.868 152.360 77.5 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 5.0 2010/01/28 04:01:21 -9.833 108.842 34.2 SOUTH OF JAVA, INDONESIA
MAP 4.6 2010/01/28 02:34:08 11.716 -86.885 91.1 NEAR THE COAST OF NICARAGUA




VOLCANISM NEWS

Yellowstone Volcano Observatory

YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO OBSERVATORY INFORMATION STATEMENT

Thursday, January 28, 2010 9:57 AM MST (Thursday, January 28, 2010 1657 UTC)

There have been 1,497 located earthquakes in the swarm of magnitude 0.4 to 3.8 up to 9AM January 28, 2010



http://volcano.wr.usgs.gov/yvo/publications/2010/10swarm.php

Yellowstone Volcano
44°25'48" N 110°40'12" W, Summit Elevation 9203 ft (2805 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

The earthquake swarm on the northwest edge of Yellowstone Caldera that began on January 17, 2010 continues. There is still no indication of premonitory volcanic or hydrothermal activity.

READ MORE: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/

Today's Yellowstone National Park Earthquakes:

Update time = Thu Jan 28 16:00:04 MST 2010
Here are the 30 most recent earthquakes and all M>3 earthquakes on this map...
MAG DATE LOCAL-TIME LAT LON DEPTH LOCATION
y/m/d h:m:s deg deg km

1.4 2010/01/28 11:05:55 44.569N 110.962W 11.0 15 km (10 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.6 2010/01/28 11:05:14 44.569N 110.962W 10.3 15 km (10 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.7 2010/01/28 11:04:40 44.571N 110.962W 9.3 15 km ( 9 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
2.8 2010/01/28 11:03:36 44.574N 110.969W 9.4 15 km ( 9 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.1 2010/01/28 08:10:35 44.565N 110.961W 9.9 16 km (10 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.2 2010/01/28 07:38:19 44.652N 110.439W 3.1 48 km (30 mi) SSE of Gardiner, MT
2.4 2010/01/28 01:47:41 44.570N 110.961W 10.1 15 km (10 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.2 2010/01/28 01:46:15 44.572N 110.972W 9.7 15 km ( 9 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT



Ecuador volcano spews ash across province

AMBATO, Ecuador, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Wind shifts brought volcanic ash to a wide area of central Ecuador, including a provincial capital, after a once-dormant volcano erupted, authorities said.

The ash from the Tungurahua volcano, which will likely lead to heavy crop loss, could also cause health problems, officials said.

But most residents of the provincial capital Ambato, in Ecuador's central Andean valley, ignored government recommendations to wear masks, health officials said.

"People have to protect your nose and eyes, because the volcanic dust causes problems in the respiratory system," provincial health Director Maria de Lourdes Freire told Quito's El Comercio newspaper.

No ash-related illnesses were reported.

Residents and city workers swept blankets of ash from the streets, the newspaper said.

"Since the reactivation of the volcano this year, this is the first time that the dust has fallen on the streets of the city," city worker Luis Miniguano told the newspaper.

The volcano, whose name means "Throat of Fire," is located about 112 miles south of Quito.

It spewed ash columns as high as 2 1/2 miles more than 20 times Wednesday after a massive eruption Jan. 11, Daniel Andrade of the country's Institute of Geophysics told the newspaper.



CHANG
ING WEATHER PATTERNS - NEWS
National Severe Weather Map
Surface Temperature Forecast Map
www.511nebraska.org





Road Closures and Power Outages Rolling East with the Storm


Ice will be widespread

A major storm with heavy snow, debilitating ice, flooding rain and thunderstorms has gotten underway over the southern Plains. The storm threatens to shut down portions of the Interstate 40 corridor as it slides eastward into the Tennessee Valley through the end of the week. The storm will then affect part of the mid-Atlantic coast early this weekend. Millions will be impacted by the travel stopping and power robbing storm in the days ahead. Full Story



National Association of Radio-Distress Signalling and Infocommunications
Emergency and Disaster Information Services (EDIS)
Budapest Hungary



GLOBAL FASCISM NEWS

"Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power."
Benito Mussolini

Chicago CO2 Carbon Trading Exchange

"When you ask who’s the biggest winner if the bill goes through, you’ll find the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), co-founded by Hank Paulson and Al Gore. Members include Amtrak, DuPont, Ford, Oakland, Chicago, and the Iowa Farm Bureau."
http://whiskeyandgunpowder.com/cap-and-trade-shenanigans-with-the-chicago-climate-exchange/

Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) is 10% owned by Goldman Sachs (GS) and 10% owned by Generation Investment Management (GIM), an investment firm founded & chaired by Al Gore. GIM was co-founded by the former Treasury Secretary under George W. Bush and former Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson.

(USA) http://www.chicagoclimatex.com/
(Europe) http://www.ecx.eu/
(China) http://www.climateexchangeplc.com/

Senators try to raise climate bill from ashes

Reuters - Alan Elsner, Chris Wilson - ‎3 hours ago‎
The House of Representatives last year tackled global warming when it passed a bill that relies on a cap-and-trade system under which companies could trade ...



The United Nations is just a debating society and a 'front' for banks

"Today, America would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order. Tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told that there were an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by the World Government."
Dr. Henry Kissinger, Bilderberger Conference, Evians, France, 1991





PET NEWS


Puppies Headed To Shelter Take Detour To Chase Suspect



KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Two puppies in an unmarked police car were getting a ride to Wayside Waifs when the car they were in was redirected to chase a burglary suspect in south Kansas City on Wednesday.

Ashlee Parker with Wayside Waifs said two undercover officers saw the puppies almost get hit by a car at 63rd and Park. The officers were on their way to Wayside when the chase broke out around 9 a.m. Kansas City Police were pursuing a burglary suspect and the chase reached speeds of 100 mph.

Police eventually pulled the suspect over in south Kansas City at 71 Highway and Blue Ridge.

The puppies, now named Starsky and Hutch, apparently slept through the entire thing.



TALK AT YOU ALL LATER!!



My News blog: The Cave

Published Version of my News Updates: Surviving the Revolution and Earthchanges




No comments:

Post a Comment

FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed