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  Monday Morning - December 28, 2009 |
 Good morning ... Seems like Big Government - Big Corporation - Big Military are still sleeping in bed together this Monday morning. There are the big name corporations in the Military-Industrial complex paying for the advertising that promotes mercury laden vaccines for children ... corrupt governmental leaders worldwide (the puppets of banksters) getting together at the United Nations .. what can you say? Globalism ... overseen by the creeps behind multinational corporations - evidently born without a conscience. It's little wonder they speak of 'theaters of war' ... it is all so orchestrated to bring financial benefits for the globalist creeps. Yesterday I once again stated that I so often feel that I am only sending out a 'doom and gloom' report each day with my News Updates. However, look at the HUGE percentage of Americans diagnosed with depression and they all are NOT reading my news updates - rather they are drinking the kool-aid served by the government-corporate media. Perhaps gaining an understanding of what is going on to manipulate the American public to be consumer debt slaves - realizing the chemicals being dumped in our food and water - how our country is going through a planned financial collapse - and, the impending human response to being jobless, homeless and hungry - provides insight in to protecting not only yourself but also those you love. That is not even going into how we are facing more and larger wars ... and our military is not protecting Americans ... rather focusing now against them during 'upcoming civil unrest' ... they have been preparing for now for YEARS (gets you back into the planned financial collapse of our country). I won't also go into what is happening within our solar system - with the Sun's unusual activities - and the obvious effect upon weather, i.e., precipitation, unusual weather patterns, etc. |
| "Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people" - John Adams - Second President (1797 - 1801) |
SHOCK CLAIM: Man aided terror suspect onto plane without passport...  http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/flight_253_passenger_says_at_l.html Accused NORTHWEST Bomber Says More On the Way... PAPER: 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb airliners... BIG SIS FROM HOMELAND SECURITY: No indication of larger plot... Related - Just out this morning on the Washington Post: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano took to the Sunday shows yesterday to declare that the "system worked" in Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's alleged attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 as it descended into Detroit on Christmas Day. By this morning on the morning shows, Napolitano was back peddling faster than you can say, "non-stop." On the "Today Show," she told Matt Lauer that her remark was taken out of context. What she meant was that all the notifications that needed to happen once the incident was reported "worked." But when Lauer asked if the system "failed miserably" before the incident happened, Napolitano agreed. She later said, "Our system did not work in this instance" and that "an extensive review is underway." Much better -- but the damage is done. Our editorial today slammed Napolitano. "The attack was averted because of the luck of a faulty detonator and the quick response of alert passengers," we wrote. The Wall Street Journal editorial page makes a similar observation: "Janet Napolitano says the system worked. No, we were brave and lucky." More from me later. For now, check out the Atlantic Wire's round-up of opinion on what's next on security and terror now that disaster has been averted. |
22 and counting: Mystery fires rattle Houston...
2009 was supposed to be the year that federal budgeting was finally done smoothly and efficiently. It didn't happen. Spending on discretionary items, or those under White House and congressional control, is expected to run about 4 percent higher than last year, well above the rate of inflation. Still, that's less than the 7.5 percent annual average increase of the last 10 years. |
US Treasury Bonds a Ponzi Scheme Waiting to Crash
http://arabianmoney.net/2009/12/27/us-treasury-bonds-a-ponzi-scheme-waiting-to-crash/
 NEBRASKA NEWS |
| Lincoln Nebraska Live Traffic Cams More may be falling The snow and ice are causing more problems than getting from one place to another, roofs are straining under the weight of the snow, and in some cases, giving way. Fortenberry Comments on Senate Health Care Bill  Posted: 7:29 PM Dec 27, 2009 Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry commented on the U.S. Senate passing its version of health care legislation. "While Americans rightly enjoyed the holidays with their families, the U.S. Senate passed its version of health care legislation on Christmas Eve. Many Nebraskans may soon ask ‘What just happened?’ Click here to find out more! “Americans deserve an open policy making process that thoughtfully delivers a stronger health care system. As it appears, this bill, which is very complex, costly, and filled with special deals and significant tax implications, does not address the heart of escalating health care costs. Rather, it substantially relies on cost shifting and could significantly increase insurance costs for many, including younger working families. “As I have said, any true reform must meet the three-fold test of reducing costs, improving health outcomes, and protecting vulnerable persons. Comprehensive reform should focus on the underlying drivers of rising health care costs for the system to remain sustainable. While it is essential to address problems such as pre-existing conditions, we can do much better for Nebraska’s families and the American people. For a fuller perspective of my position on this important issue, please read the Fort Report titled “The House Health Care Bill” located at Fortenberry.house.gov.” Courtesy: Office of Rep. Jeff Fortenberry |
TENT CITY NEWSRenters Union Calls for Tent City in San Diegoby Rocky Neptun ( rockyneptun [at] gmail.com ) "I see these guys shuffling along in these prisons of poverty where their manhood, their independence, their very identity is stripped away by the desperation of accepting charity....stop criminalizing poverty and create a legal place of refuse for every homeless person....How can we call the homeless our sisters and brothers if we treat them like stray dogs or abandoned cats, forcing them into human kennels, stripping them of their dignity, telling them they are unworthy of a place of their own?”  dignity_village.jpg Can Life Be Lived in Dignity by Every San Diegan? BY Rocky Neptun November 12, 2009. East Village, San Diego……………Bill Foster rolls his tattered sleeping bag up carefully, not to disturb the layers of newspaper underneath, avoiding the dirt soiled sidewalk and looks at me with a smile. He knows I’ll be good for breakfast and plenty of coffee. Almost clean-shaven, ruddy-faced without many wrinkles to show his 54 years, Foster often panhandles enough change for only one meal a day. He tells me he’s just no good at it, even after all these years. He sleeps in the downtown because “there is safety in numbers;” having been attacked by territorial transients along the San Diego River bank and by neighborhood youth when he moved to a creek near Bancroft Street in Spring Valley. “I have enough left over to cover two coffees at the roach coach over at the construction site, want to join me?” he asked. To his relief, I suggested a nearby restaurant. But first, we hiked the nearly two miles to the only public restroom on the streets of downtown at 3rd Avenue and C Street, where he could change clothes and shave. Its stainless steel walls and stalls were clean, overseen by an attendant who told me that it took years for activists in support of the homeless to get the city to agree to this facility. “But, the no-fly zones, no bums allowed areas, continue to be pushed out, block by block as new condo projects go up, away from the toilet, so more and more folks just go where they are at, especially in the mornings when they can’t make it here. “ Over bacon and eggs, Foster tells me of his former home world in northern Ohio. Most of his life was centered roundabouts the neighborhood store one block over from his parent’s house. From childhood’s fetching cigarettes at twenty-five cents a pack for his parents to penny candy, he became an employee in junior high school making deliveries. Through high school he worked and dated the owner’s daughter, finally marrying her after he became a full-fledged clerk. Inheriting the title to the store, he and his wife worked 15 hours a day, seven days a week, to keep it afloat while the neighboring factories closed up and moved their jobs to Mexico. Carrying food debt for his neighbors split him from his terrified wife. After the 1980 divorce, he moved to San Diego with just under $1,000 in his pocket. Knowing retail, he went to work on the 11 p.m. shift at a corporate convenience store in Chula Vista; where he worked for several decades, never promoted because he was told he was “too slow,” but did manage to secure health insurance from a manager because she was afraid to work the graveyard shift. Yet, in spite of his years of service, he was terminated 6 years ago, when a new district manager decided to fire everyone with health insurance and altered the books to show Foster had stolen money. Without a previous “reference” for his work in Ohio and the “thief” jacket which effectively barred him from retail anywhere, he has been unable to find a job and lives on the streets. “Why don’t you go to a shelter at night?” I ask him rhetorically. He smiles, knowing I know why, but eyeing my notebook open, with pen ready, and the tape-player nearby, he senses my need to record his courage. “Shelters are fine institutions, but not everyone belongs in an institution,” he chortles. “I tried going a few times but it is such a demeaning process; some staff treat you as public vermin, criminals and sickos, while, others order you about like little children or mental retards.” READ MORE ... http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/12/26/18633631.php |
Obama 'Aloha Bobblehead' Doll
DrudgeReport.com linked the Obama 'Aloha Bobblehead' picture with linked caption "FUN IN THE SUN!" to the following news article:
Obamas enjoy private, secure Hawaii vaction
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-12-27-obama-vacation_N.htm
Now, Michelle Obama too is sliding in the polls...
| "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail" - Benjamin Franklin | |||
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Robin Hood of Las Vegas takes from the rich casinos to give to the poor  Their three-year-old daughter, Madison, had been diagnosed with a brain tumour and they were $35,000 (£21,000) in debt. |
2004 Tsunami Recovery Hit by Corruption, Apathy
Saturday 26 December 2009
by: Marwaan Macan-Markar | Inter Press Service
The Dec. 24 headline in the lead story of a Thai English Language daily, "The Nation," could not have expressed this concern more bluntly. "Where did our tsunami cash go?" it asked, referring to a letter written by seven Western countries to Bangkok's authorities, alleging that money sent to help this South-east Asian nation's victims "had been stolen".
See also: Tsunami Brings Sea Change in Coastal Lives
That tone was echoed Wednesday in the editorial of a Sri Lankan English language daily, "The Island." It accused "corrupt elements in the garb of public servants" having profited from the unprecedented death toll across the South Asian island following the walls of sea water that smashed the coastline on the morning of Dec. 26, 2004.
"The government's failure to bring those who have robbed the tsunami funds to book has led to a severe erosion of confidence of the public as well as the international donors who answered Sri Lanka's desperate call for help," the paper argued. "The distribution of tsunami relief is seriously flawed."
In India, the government was taken to task on the week before the tsunami memorials by the international development agency ActionAID for failing to build houses promised for the victims. "Across tsunami affected areas of India, just 28 percent of the total 98,447 required houses have been built. In the Andaman and Nicobar Island, where 9,174 homes are needed, reconstruction so far is less than one percent," the British-based agency revealed.
The tsunami, which was triggered by a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 9.3 on the Richter, off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, flattened the coastlines of 11 Indian Ocean countries. Indonesia's northern province of Aech was among the worst hit, with 165,000 deaths, followed by Sri Lanka where over 35,000 died, then southern India, where 12,405 died, Thailand, where 8,212 died and the Maldives, which recorded 82 deaths.
READ MORE ....
Banker's ties to Congress to be probed WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Possible ties between a banker accused of stealing billions and U.S. politicians he contributed money to are under investigation, federal officials say. Justice Department agents say financier Allen Stanford contributed millions of dollars to lawmakers while building his offshore banking empire in Antigua, The Miami Herald reported Sunday. Stanford is charged with fleecing investors of $7 billion in what federal prosecutors call one of the country's biggest Ponzi schemes. Federal agents want to determine if Stanford got special favors from politicians, and are looking at the campaign contributions as well as costly Caribbean trips for politicians and their wives, complete with caviar and lobster dinners, the Herald said. Read More ... |
LewRockwell.com | Your Big Brother Has Now Become ‘Big Brother’
The easiest way for the Masters on top to control us is to have us control ourselves. In the Nazi concentration camps, select prisoners were chosen to watch over the rest of the prison population.
In the latest move towards One World Government, it seems that the entire world has now become a “neighborhood watch”:
ARMCHAIR DEPUTIES ENLISTED TO PATROL US-MEXICO BORDER
When John Spears gets home from his sales job in New York, he sits down at his computer with a bottle of beer and starts patrolling the US border. And to do it, he does not need to stir from his sofa. He is one of tens of thousands of people around the world who are volunteering to patrol the 1250-mile long (2000 km) stretch between Texas and Mexico via the web.
The controversial $4m (£2.5m) Texas Virtual Border Watch Programme invites civilians to log on to Blueservo.net. There they can monitor live feeds 24/7 from 21 hidden surveillance cameras placed at intervals along the border. Supporters see the initiative as a step forward in US efforts to curb illegal immigration, drug smuggling and border violence. Critics say it is encouraging vigilantism and stoking anti-immigrant feeling.
Since the site went live in November 2008, it has received more than 50 million hits, and more than 130,000 people have registered to become ” virtual deputies”. They are located as far afield as Australia, Mexico, Colombia, Israel, New Zealand and the UK. So far, some 21 arrests have been made under the programme which is operated by the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition (TBSC).
Armchair deputies enlisted to patrol US-Mexico border
IS CRITICISM OF ISRAEL ANTI-SEMITIC? December 27th, 2009 By Rev. Ted Pike Five hundred international lawmakers, diplomats and academics met in Jerusalem Dec. 16-17 to consider the threat of “mushrooming” criticism of Israel. “The Global Forum for Combating Global Anti-Semitism” was hosted by the government of Israel. Its premise is that criticism of Israel, her government, and military policies toward Palestinians is anti-Semitic if it is “strong” or uses Nazi/apartheid imagery. This criterion for anti-Semitism is shared by the Anti-Defamation League and its Office of Global Anti-Semitism in the US State Department. In fact, ADL head Abe Foxman and the State Department’s Hannah Rosenthal (Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism) were honored guests at the conference. Israel’s Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman quoted Foxman and said much of the world has “crossed the line” from legitimate criticism to an epidemic of anti-Semitism. Diaspora Foreign Minister Yuli Edelstein also spoke for Israel. He warned that global anti-Semitism “has been able to gain endorsement from academics, media outlets, and even political parties.” Edelstein went so far as to say: to be ‘anti-Israel’ is to be anti-Semitic. To boycott Israel, Israeli professors and Israeli businesses, these are not political acts, these are acts of hate, acts of anti-Semitism!...Look at the reality Israelis face when traveling to international athletic, business and academic events. More and more, when they arrive in Sweden, Turkey, England, and even the United States, they must lecture and perform before hostile or even violent crowds, requiring police protection. We must not hesitate to expose this hatred for what it is. It is a strong and vile form of xenophobia [fear of foreigners]. It expresses itself through violence, mockery and exclusion. It is directed toward the outside, toward that which is different, in appearance, speech or prayer." "It is discrimination against Jews, because they are Jews. In short, it is anti-Semitism." (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 16, 2009, “Verbatim: Anti-Semites Have Warped Tiny Israel Into Goliath”) In its 2008 report to Congress, the Office of Global Anti-Semitism says "classic anti-Semitism" is the New Testament belief that Jews masterminded the crucifixion of Christ 2000 years ago. (See U.S. Government, Talmud Mock New Testament) ADL says anti-Semitism is harsh criticism of Israel. ADL agrees with the State Department and the government of Israel that anti-Semitism is visual or verbal comparison of Israeli leaders or military to Nazis. Webster’s New 20th Century Dictionary defines anti-Semitism as “fearing Jews or Jewish things.” Israel is a quintessentially Jewish thing. Thus, fearing Israel, its leaders, or military is anti-Semitic. Are beliefs of Christians and critics of Israel’s policies really an ominous scourge which should be silenced by governments worldwide? Lest We Forget In 1982, largely in response to sporadic rocket attacks from the north, Israel killed at least 19,500 in three days of saturation bombing of refugee camps in southern Lebanon. ADL was Israel's PR bulldog then, as it is today. ADL and the Israeli government downplayed the casualties and damages at Sidon as well as Beirut. |
Can We Rescue the Republic Before the Dark Politics Take Over?
Did America slip into a semiliterate, polarized, pre-fascist state over the past decade or so, allowing greedy oligarchs and corporate elites to run the government?
Two books I recently read offer reasonably persuasive evidence and arguments that the country did, and a third suggests that dictatorial mindsets could besiege Americans, with an assist from the Internet, if they don't come to their more deliberative senses. Each of the books offers an informed diagnosis of the dangers that widespread ignorance and ideological polarization pose for American democracy, though none offers a comprehensive treatment for the malaise.
I read the three books in less than two weeks; friends ask how that was possible. The trick is to avoid not only Facebook and Twitter but also: celebrity news, cable news, Oprah, Jerry Springer, American Idol, The Swan, other reality-TV shows, professional wrestling, violent pornography, positive psychology and right-wing Christian fundamentalism.
The latter list includes some of the spectacularly mind-numbing American pursuits that Chris Hedges examines in Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. Hedges submits that while they mesmerized large portions of the American citizenry, CEOs being paid millions of dollars a year to run companies that feed on taxpayer money usurped our government — with the help of elected officials bought by campaign contributions and tens of thousands of corporate lobbyists who now write many of the nation's laws.
"Those captivated by the cult of celebrity do not examine voting records or compare verbal claims with written and published facts and reports," Hedges writes. "The reality of their world is whatever the latest cable news show, political leader, advertiser, or loan officer says is reality. The illiterate, semiliterate, and those who live as though they are illiterate are effectively cut off from the past. They live in an eternal present. They do not understand the predatory loan deals that drive them into foreclosure and bankruptcy. They cannot decipher the fine print on credit card agreements that plunge them into unmanageable debt. They repeat thought-terminating clichés and slogans. They seek refuge in familiar brands and labels. ... Life is a state of permanent amnesia, a world in search of new forms of escapism and quick, sensual gratification."
Of course, they did not get into this clueless state by themselves. They were manipulated by "agents, publicists, marketing departments, promoters, script writers, television and movie producers, advertisers, video technicians, photographers, bodyguards, wardrobe consultants, fitness trainers, pollsters, public announcers, and television news personalities who create the vast stage for illusion," Hedges continues. "They are the puppet masters. ... The techniques of theater have leeched into politics, religion, education, literature, news, commerce, warfare, and crime."
I know those fools are out there — many millions of them. I might even be one. But what is absolutely maddening about this book is Hedges' penchant for stating sweeping, generalized claims as absolutes. And yet this master of divinity turned New York Times war correspondent become sociological scholar often bolsters his summations with just enough research, statistical data and anecdotal evidence to make them plausible. The book takes readers to Madison Square Garden for an exegesis of professional wrestling; to the Adult Video News Expo in Las Vegas for lengthy interviews with porn actors and producers and an inflatable doll vendor; and to Claremont Graduate University in California for a seminar on positive psychology, which Hedges terms a "quack science" that "is to the corporate state what eugenics was for the Nazis."
As a resident of Miami Beach, where the pornographic sensibility is a way of life, I wasn't shocked to read that annual porn sales in the United States "are estimated at $10 billion or higher" or that DIRECTV distributes "more than 40 million streams of porn into American homes every month." But I shuddered when Hedges documented not just a growing appetite for violent forms of porn in America but their remarkable visual similarity to photos of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. "Porn reflects the endemic cruelty of our society," he writes. "The violence, cruelty, and degradation of porn are expressions of a society that has lost the capacity for empathy. ... The Abu Ghraib images that were released, and the hundreds more disturbing images that remain classified, could be stills from porn films."
Unfortunately, Empire of Illusion won't enlighten or offend the large swaths of functionally illiterate Americans transfixed by smut, pro wrestling, reality TV or celebrity gossip, because those people won't read the book. But this scholarly 193-page diatribe, which draws from a 100-author bibliography ranging from the late neo-Marxist Frankfurt School icon Theodor Adorno (The Culture Industry) to Princeton professor emeritus Sheldon Wolin (Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism), would surely madden many proud affiliates and alumni of America's elite university system.
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| About Real-Time Magnetosphere Simulation http://www2.nict.go.jp/y/y223/simulation/realtime/index.html DECEMBER 28, 2009 AT 8:57 AM CDT   Click to view Animated Magnetosphere on YouTube: DATE Click to view Animated Magnetosphere on YouTube: DECEMBER 26, 2009 WAS AN INTERESTING DAY MAGNETICALLY  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/sunspots/ http://solarcycle24.com/ Classification of Solar Flares Magnetic fields trigger solar wind Active Regions: 11039 11037  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| National Severe Weather Map Surface Temperature Forecast Map www.511nebraska.org  WEATHER: Advisories issued for WyomingThe Daily News Online - 44 minutes ago The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory until 6 pm for parts of Western New York, including Wyoming County. |
 GLOBAL FASCISM NEWS"Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power." Benito Mussolini | ||
China On the Verge of a Freat Crash and Its Impact on Crude Oil Price Dec 27, 2009 - 06:23 AM Dr. Raju M. Mathew writes: China is always a mystery. Nobody knows the depth and complexity of the problems of the Chinese Economy and Society, including the scholars and bureaucrats in China. Their words or expressions are confusing and self contradictory. The Chinese mind has been shaped by Confucius, then a series of wars, defeats and external dominances; then Mao and Chinese Communism and finally the Market Economy and Globalization. Globalization made a small group in China as super-rich who want to have all the pleasures enjoyed by the western billionaires. READ MORE .... | ||
| The United Nations is just a debating society and a 'front' for banks |
UK protesters blast Israeli blockage
Changing the Jewish State and the State of Jews: J Street and the Future of Israel
From the other Web Bot George Ure on UrbanSurival.com this morning:
So let me see here...scratching on the back of an envelope, we have the US warring in Yemen to some degree, a developing schism over how far Israel should expand borders and whether a two-state solution is a solution at all, and then we have the messes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, toss into that demonstrations in Iran where a round-up of anti-government protesters is expected, and
the report in the Jerusalem Post that a "Maverick Iraqi politician claims Iran could go nuclear within weeks" at a time when the "US to push for Iran sanctions in January."
The question is pretty simple: With Iran having trouble at home and with a schism developing on territorial expansion, how long will Israel wait?
My guess is not very. Reason? Little noticed in the Western/corpgov press is that Israel is holding a first-ever ambassador's conference in Jerusalem. While on the surface, one agenda item is to talk about tense relations and whether Turkey could moderate talks with Palestinian leaders, I'd bet there's another item being discussed in background: How will Israel's diplomatic corp respond when Israel moves proactively against Iran?
From putting together a few more stories, like the most informative one in the Jerusalem Post today under the banner (foreign minister) "Lieberman: No peace deal in next 10 to 20 years" we learn that Israel has "the country's 140 ambassadors and consul-generals who are participating."
Was it worth flying most all of the Israeli diplomatic upper crust to Jerusalem to hear a headline grabbing speech about "no peace deal in 10 to 20 years"? No, since some foreign media have noted this is the first ever meeting of it's kind.
Best guess: Israel isn't going to wait for US sanctions which will no doubt be a long time coming and hotly debated even then. Especially when the pro-bomb-Iran groups now have a headline that claims Iran will be nuclear capable 'within weeks."
If I were a betting man - not just a nut-job in the outback of East Texas, I'd wager that the Iranian - and rest of world - response to an Israeli launch is the real agenda at Jerusalem and that this is a planning meeting for how to communicate Israel's regional security concerns. Especially if, as linguistics have previously suggested, there's more than just political fallout from the attack.
The intrepid investor, faced with a mountain of detail, may be able to watch the two indicators this week that should foreshadow military action against Iran: The price of oil - which seems to be holding over $78 a barrel today and the price of gold, which has popped up a few more dollars.
Should I mention that the "Iraqi and Iranian forces stand off in oil well row" sets up the Iranian army invading Iraq if Israel throws bombs its way? In the linguistics there have been references to massive military casualties and an Iranian army move into Iraq
One more indicator? Sure...I'm having an after-Christmas special on them, LOL Copper is up more than 2½ percent in early trading. And you know what copper's used for making, right?
Oh - all this is not lost on the Iranians. Iran's Press-TV headlines it as "Israel summons envoys from all over the world" and then notes in their story:
"This is the first time a conference for all of Israel's heads of missions has been held."
And that would include the Six Days War, a couple of oil embargoes and more. Is it wise to expect fallout shortly? You get to decide how to define 'fallout', but my expectation is yes to at least one definition and soon enough. I think Israel is unlikely to accept sanctions as an alternative, especially when Iran has been running the clock for over a year.
The reason I expect and Israeli launch on Iran would go nuclear from the outset? The US may be running the clock a bit as the Iranian press is also reporting that "Financial problem delay new US bunker buster bomb" while other headlines advise that deployment is a year out - next December.
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THE RISING TIDE
REVOLUTION IS IN THE AIR
By: Justin Raimondo
It's hard being a neocon these days. Discredited by the utter failure of the Iraq war, and thoroughly exposed in the media as having played the key role in lying us into that disastrous conflict, the neoconservative project seems to have come to a standstill.
Oh sure, they're still around, thanks to the op ed page of the Washington Post – which they seem to own – and also due to Fox News, which trots out Charles Krauthammer and Bill Kristol any time commentary a cut above Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity is required. However, their pronouncements don't carry the same weight they once did: after all, these are the same people whose predictions of a "cakewalk" in Iraq echo down through the years, mocking their credentials as credible spokesmen for anything. Yet the neocons are nothing if not persistent, and especially persistent is David Frum, the author of the infamous "axis of evil" speech, a phrase that rightly came to be seen as the war cry of Bushian militarism run amok.
After the post-Bush implosion of the GOP, Frum, unchastened and unchanged, left National Review – whose editors, no doubt, had grown weary of his self-appointed role as the Vyshinsky of the Right – and went on to found a new web site dedicated to "reforming" the conservative movement, which, in his view, had deviated from the neocon party line sufficiently to require extensive reeducation. Thus was born the "New Majority" web site (which Frum has since changed to FrumForum, after having discovered that he's not representative of anything close to a majority, but more like a party of one). He also wrote a book which recommended that the GOP back off of all this "limited government" rhetoric, and resign itself to the growth of the Leviathan that had taken such a gigantic leap forward during the reign of his former boss: the most Republicans can hope for, he avers, is to trim the growth of government around the edges. However, Frum's real concern, as usual – as is true of all neocons – is foreign policy
With Obama in the White House, and two wars on the presidential agenda, what the neocons fear most is a revival of what they call "isolationism" on the Right. Viscerally hostile to the "tea partiers" in any event – too libertarian, and too populist for Frum's refined tastes – he has lately begun sniffing around for signs of "isolationism" and "resentment" among the conservative grassroots. The latter is bad because it indicates disdain for the elites, and neocons are philosophically committed to an elitism of a sort that neither Russell Kirk nor Albert Jay Nock (and perhaps not even the late Bill Buckley) would recognize. (The Straussian connection to neoconservatism is too well-documented to be discussed at length here. See this, this, and this
http://www.etherzone.com/2009/raim122409.shtml
Thomas Woods : States Can Nullify Unconstitutional Federal Laws! |
Hey Travelers, You Won't Believe The Draconian Security Measures Coming Your Way
Yesterday's failed terrorist attack on board a flight into Detroit can only mean one thing: more intense security measures.
What they will entail is not yet clear, but from the rumors going around, if you thought that eliminating little water bottles and taking off your shoes seemed excessive, then you ain't seen nothin' yet.
International flights, in particular, are going to be brutal.
Blogger Xeni Jardin is tweeting some of the new rules being announced on a Delta international flight.
Among them:
- No electronics in the last hour of the flight.
- No getting up in last hour of the flight (at all, not even to go to the bathroom).
- No helping kids or the elderly in adjacent rows during the last hour of the flight.
Basically this is going to suck. Watch the airline stocks Monday, and maybe think about upgrading your teleconferencing technology at the office.
RELATED:
New Flight Security Rules Now Official: No Standing Up, Working, Or Holding Things During Last Hour Of Flights
New rules imposed by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration also limit on-board activities by customers and crew in U.S. airspace that may adversely impact on-board service.
Among other things, during the final hour of flight customers must remain seated, will not be allowed to access carry-on baggage, or have personal belongings or other items on their laps.
Nothing specific about "electronics" yet, though they presumably qualify as "personal belongings."
The new rules presumably mean that for flights of 90 minutes or less, you can't get up, move, or work.
We guess we're glad the TSA is getting serious about making it harder to blow up planes. But here's our question:
What's so special about the last hour of flight? If you're dead-set on blowing up a plane, can't you just do it earlier in the flight?
By NewsWithViews.com News writer Jim Kouri A passenger onboard a flight from the Netherlands to the United States allegedly attempted to blow up the aircraft as it was landing at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, according to a source with the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force. Within minutes of the news breaking about the attempt, an NYPD detective told NewsWithViews.com that the suspect-passenger claimed to be acting on behalf of al-Qaeda in the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight #253 from Amsterdam-to-Detroit. The suspect attempted to detonate a device as the plane landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, according to the official report. While the details are still sketchy, the NYPD detective said that when passengers observed the suspect attempting to detonate the explosive device, they subdued him and held him for law enforcement. Flight #253 was carrying 278 passengers and no one was seriously injured during the incident. The White House immediately labeled the incident "an attempted terrorist act." Some Obama critics believe the president may attempt this alleged attack as a rationale to increase his power and might within U.S. borders. For example, when the Obama administration announced that enemy combatants and terrorists will be given Miranda Warnings when they are captured, many Americans wondered how that would improve war fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq or other terrorist havens. However, upon examining this latest directive by President Barack Obama, perhaps there is an ulterior motive for his directive. Blurring the lines between law enforcement and the military appears to be the goal sought by Obama and the progressives. More federal control of local law enforcement while at the same time cross-training soldiers to perform the police function within the U.S appears to be Obama’s plan., according to the former intelligence officer and NYPD detective. The decorated detective, Michael Snopes, believes Iraq and Afghanistan may be training for U.S. forces to bring their skills back to the United States. “Obama won election partly because he promised to bring the American troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Now he’s sending more troops to Afghanistan and Iraq appears to go unnoticed by the news media,” said Snopes. In a recent report released to the US Congress, analysts assessed what they termed “preparedness tests” between the U.S. military and government agencies at the federal, state and local levels. U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) exercises to test preparedness to perform its homeland defense and civil support missions. The Government Accountability Office was asked to assess the extent to which NORTHCOM is consistent with Department of Defense guidelines for training and exercise requirement involving interagency partners and states in its exercises. NORTHCOM’s exercise program is generally consistent with the requirements of DOD’s Joint Training System, but its exercise reporting is inconsistent. Since the command was established in 2002, NORTHCOM has conducted 13 large-scale exercises and generally completed exercise summary reports within the required time frame. However, those reports did not consistently include certain information, such as areas needing improvement, because NORTHCOM lacks guidance that specifies exercise reports’ content and format, potentially impacting its ability to meet internal standards for planning and execution of joint exercises, and to compare and share exercise results over time with interagency partners and states. “While the rationale for using the US military domestically had been debated for years, President Barack Obama appears intent on using our military at least until he can create his promised 'Civilian Security Force' which he said would be as big and powerful as the military,” said political strategist Mike Baker.“The fact that the military — in this instance NORTHCOM — is being trained to operate with our borders should be setting off alarms throughout this nation. But it’s being ignored even by those who profess to be conservatives,” he said. Nineteen federal agencies and organizations and 17 states and the District of Columbia have participated in one or more of the seven large-scale exercises that NORTHCOM has conducted since September 2005. However, NORTHCOM faces challenges in involving states in the planning, conduct, and assessment of its exercises, such as adapting its exercise system and practices to involve other federal, state, local, and tribal agencies that do not have the same practices or level of planning resources. Inconsistencies with how NORTHCOM involves states in exercises are occurring in part because NORTHCOM officials lack experience dealing with states and do not have a consistent process for including states in exercises. Without such a process, NORTHCOM increases the risk that its exercises will not provide benefits for all participants, impact the seamless exercise of all levels of government, and potentially affect NORTHCOM’s ability to provide civil support capabilities. "It is up to the residents of individual states to tell their governors they do not want the federal government intruding on law enforcement and public safety issues," said former NYPD detective and Marine intelligence officer Sid Frances. "This is especially true if their governors share the same political philosophy as the President and his minions in Washington," he added. NORTHCOM has a systematic lessons learned and corrective action program to improve preparedness, but gaps remain with collecting and sharing lessons with agency and state partners and managing corrective actions. Access to the system NORTHCOM uses for managing exercise observations is limited for non-DOD participants, and DOD believes that the Homeland Security Department's system is not adequately protected from unauthorized users. NORTHCOM’s mitigation steps have not resolved the issues. In addition, about 20 percent of the corrective actions tracked by NORTHCOM were being closed prematurely due to gaps in oversight. Closing issues prematurely increases the risk that issues will reoccur and limits the knowledge gained and value of the exercise. The Government Accountability Office is making recommendations to DOD to direct NORTHCOM to consistently involve the states in planning, executing, and assessing exercises and improve oversight of corrective actions. READ MORE .... |
NaturalNews.com | Today's Featured Stories - December 28, 2009
| Acute Pharma Toxicity killed Brittany Murphy - Could it be killing millions more? (NaturalNews) The entire pharma industry is based on the idea that for whatever's wrong with you, there's a patented chemical pill that can make it better. Feeling some anxiety? There's a pill for that. Have high blood pressure? There's a pill... |
| Advancements in solar technology will allow more people to power their own homes (NaturalNews) A recent issue of Inorganic Chemistry contains a report about the many advancements being made in the field of solar energy production. The concept of "personalized solar energy", a model by which people power their own homes using the energy... |
| Ethanol burns dirtier than gasoline, study finds (NaturalNews) A recent study conducted by researchers at Stanford University has revealed that ethanol fuel produces more ozone that regular gasoline. When ethanol is burned through combustion, it produces emissions that are substantially higher than... |
| Funeral Workers Have Increased Risk of Cancer From Exposure to Formaldehyde (NaturalNews) A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has revealed that morticians who use formaldehyde to embalm dead bodies have an increased risk of developing leukemia. A sampling of 400 funeral workers found that... |
| Organic Milk Linked to Lower Rates of Allergies, Asthma and Eczema (NaturalNews) Young children who consume exclusively organic dairy products are significantly less likely to develop allergies, asthma or eczema by the age of two, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Louis Bolk Institute in the Netherlands... |
| Low Leptin Levels Increase Risk of Age-Related Mental Decline Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine recently discovered that individuals with lower levels of circulating leptin had an increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer Disease (AD). Leptin, a hormone produced by the visceral and... |
| Try Healthy Party and Finger Food Recipes Hosting a party is about relaxing with friends. The last thing a host wants is to spend long, grueling hours preparing fiddly party snacks. With a little advance preparation, cheese trays and dips can quickly be produced, allowing the guests... |
| James Cameron's Avatar delivers a powerful message of connectedness with Mother Nature (NaturalNews) If you see just one film this holiday season (or even this year), make it James Cameron's Avatar. It's a powerful, inspiring film that demonstrates movie-making at its best, and it delivers a crucial message for our time: That all... |
| Fish Farming Makes Diseases More Virulent (NaturalNews) A 23-year Finnish study has concluded that decades of fish farming have led to the prevalence of increasingly lethal strains of disease that thrive in an enclosed environment. Dr. Katja Pulkkinen from the University of Jyvaskyla stressed... |
| Lobster Wars! As Seafood Stocks Decline, Tensions Flare Among Fishermen (NaturalNews) A sharp drop in lobster prices has pushed tensions among Maine fishermen to the breaking point, leading to the first recorded shooting from a fishing ground dispute. Eighty percent of U.S.-fished lobster, almost 70 million pounds, is... |
| Acceptance is the Key to Change Most are familiar with the Serenity Prayer of Alcoholics Anonymous, presumably written by Reinhold Niebuhr in the mid twentieth century. Shortly after the adoption of the Serenity Prayer, another important observation was brought to light... |
| Use Essential Oils to Add Natural Holiday Fragrance to Your Home, Part II When choosing natural essential oils to scent your home for the holidays, think of the smells that conjure your fondest memories of the season. Fresh Christmas trees, gingerbread, spiced cider, and candy canes may all be captured by spice... |
| Use Hypnosis to Research Creativity and Imagination Creativity is defined as the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc. Creativity is easy to define, but researchers often... |
Today's health headlines from across the 'net
(Hand-picked by the Health Ranger for your education and amusement)
- Plants are actively intelligent: What does this mean for vegetarians?
- Even "green" technologies depend on dirty, destructive mining operations for rare metals
- EPA may soon require pesticide manufacturers to finally disclose secret toxic ingredients
- Six reasons why planet Earth won't cope for much longer
- New drug-resistant bacteria emerging in hospitals
- Vitamin C is key to creating stem cells
- Breast cancer is not a single disease
- Why conventional cancer treatments don't work: Cancers can re-seed themselves after chemo, surgery or radiation
- Factory ranching operations try to fight back with P.R. offensive against animal welfare groups
- Now they claim pain pills reduce *emotional* pain, too...
- S.C. Attorney General to lead legal attack on health care reform bill
- US Senate passes health care reform bill
See all Top Headlines...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — He's 95. She's 90. Roy and Marcia Zahrobsky met when he walked into her dad's grocery store in Hampton, Iowa, back in the '30s to get some lunch. Then one day he came up and asked her if she was going to the dance. "She was a cute little girl," he says. Before you know it, a depression, a world war and a few decades later, here they are, celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary in a nursing home in Muldoon -- still together. They were married Dec. 28, 1939. They've been married longer than some people live, she notes. The couple live in the Prestige Care and Rehabilitation Center of Anchorage, formerly the Mary Conrad Center. They still argue a lot about everyday stuff, he says. Including, for example, which one of them is responsible for resolving the arguments. "I give in a lot," she says. "I give in a lot," he says. She's more outgoing, with the same personality she had when they met, says Roy Zahrobsky. Sitting in a commons area at the nursing home, her wavy hair still showing a hint of dark, Marcia waves and chats with people. While being interviewed, she interviews the interviewer: "Where do you live?" she asks. He's got the better memory and moves around more easily. He gets up early every day, then goes to tidy up her room while she sleeps in. They have lunch in her room together. Both of them grew up in Iowa, he in Fort Dodge and Mason City and she in Hampton. A plumbing job brought him to Hampton, where they met. The wedding wasn't much of a ceremony. Roy had gotten a job on the West Coast, and knew he'd have to leave Iowa. He picked her up from work, and parked the car. "I guess I gave her a nudge, and said, 'You want to get married?' " She did. They soon drove off for Washington state in his new, gray Pontiac sports coupe, stopping along the way in Grand Island, Neb., to marry. They wore the clothes they were driving in. The preacher called in some people to witness the occasion. And that was that, a 70-plus-year union was formed. Roy was a plumber in the beginning, and a foreman in charge of pipe jobs for most of his career. He came up to Kodiak and worked on construction of a military base in 1940. She followed. But after Dutch Harbor was bombed, the women and children were evacuated to the states in a troop ship. She returned to her hometown and worked as a bank teller. Roy worked all over the place in the years following, including in the Aleutians and in Whitehorse, Yukon territory. The couple came to Anchorage in 1949. They lived downtown a few years. In 1970, they moved to Campbell Lake in West Anchorage, where he built a house and kept a float plane. Marcia worked, too, for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Whitehorse, where the Corps was engineering a pipeline to Fairbanks and working on pieces of the Alaska Highway, then as secretary to the general manager of the Alaska Railroad for many years in Anchorage. Marcia says the fact that they were apart quite a bit may have helped them stay together. They kept rediscovering they were in love, she says. They gave up the house and most of their possessions after first Marcia, then Roy moved to the nursing home. Roy's been there for two years, Marcia for four. "We're pretty fortunate to have each other," said Marcia. |
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