FEBRUARY 2010

Today in History Friday February 26, 2010
1863 - U.S. President Lincoln signed the National Currency Act.
1870 - In New York City, the first pneumatic-powered subway line was opened to the public.
1907 - The U.S. Congress raised their own pay to $7500.
1916 - Mutual signed Charlie Chaplin to a film contract.
1919 - In Arizona, the Grand Canyon was established as a National Park with an act of the U.S. Congress.
1930 - New York City installed traffic lights.
1933 - A ground-breaking ceremony was held at Crissy Field for the Golden Gate Bridge.
1945 - In the U.S., a nationwide midnight curfew went into effect.
1952 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed an atomic bomb.
1986 - Corazon Aquino was inaugurated president of the Philippines. Long time President Ferdinand Marcos went into exile.
1987 - The Tower Commission rebuked U.S. President Reagan for failing to control his national security staff in the wake of the Iran-Contra affair.
1987 - The U.S.S.R. conducted its first nuclear weapons test after a 19-month moratorium period.
1991 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced on Baghdad Radio that Iraqi troops were being withdrawn from Kuwait.
1993 - Six people were killed and more than a thousand injured when a van exploded in the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center in New York City. The bomb had been built by Islamic extremists.
1998 - A Texas jury rejected an $11 million lawsuit by Texas cattlemen who blamed Oprah Winfrey for price drop after on-air comment about mad-cow disease.
1998 - In Oregon, a health panel rules that taxpayers must help to pay for doctor-assisted suicides.
2009 - Former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic was acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding war crimes during the Kosovo War.

McCain bill threatens access to vitamins and supplements -- Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) has introduced a new bill called The Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA) of 2010 (S. 3002), that, if enacted, would severely curtail free access to dietary supplements. Cosponsored by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), the bill would essentially give the FDA full control over the supplement industry.

VA to Reopen "Gulf War Illness" Cases -- The Veterans Affairs Department will re-examine the disability claims of what could be thousands of Gulf War veterans suffering from ailments they blame on their war service, the first step toward potentially compensating them nearly two decades after the war ended.

Frankincense: Could it be a cure for cancer? -- Scientists have observed that there is some agent within frankincense which stops cancer spreading, and which induces cancerous cells to close themselves down. He is trying to find out what this is.

VIDEO: Census 2010 - Do Census questioners have the Constitutional right to ask all the personal questions they do? Watch the video below for the answers.

Shocking Poll: Grade Obama's First Year in Office

Jobless Claims Up 12% in Past Two Weeks -- The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance surged to just below the 500,000 level last week, and have climbed more than 12% over the past two weeks, the government said Thursday.

Caught on Tape: Selling America's Secrets -- Rare Video Obtained By "60 Minutes" Shows Pentagon Employee Selling Secrets to Chinese Spy

CDC Panel Call for Flu Vaccine for All -- The CDC almost certainly will make universal flu vaccination official U.S. policy for this fall's 2010-2011 flu season, as it consistently follows the advice of the panel of outside experts, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

Man Takes Chicago to Supreme Court Over Hand Gun Ban -- A grandfather is taking his 2nd Amendment fight to the U.S. Supreme Court in what is expected to be a landmark case. Otis McDonald, 76, is suing the city of Chicago over its handgun ban.

Latvian 'Robin Hood' Hacker Leaks Bank Details to TV -- Using the alias "Neo" - a reference to The Matrix films - the hacker claims he wants to expose those cashing in on the recession in Latvia.

Senate Approved Patriot Act Reauthorization -- The Senate endorsed by voice vote Wednesday night legislation that would temporarily extend three Patriot Act provisions set to expire at the end of this month.

Frustrated Owner Bulldozes Home -- The Moscow man used a bulldozer two weeks ago to level the home he'd built, and the sprawling country home is now rubble, buried under a coating of snow.

Racist Birth Control? Claims Israel Culling Ethiopian Jews -- A feminist movement has accused the Israeli government of adopting a racist policy towards the country’s Ethiopian Jews. Activists believe black women are deliberately being given a controversial contraceptive, to bring about a drop in the population – a claim the government denies.

US War Machine Kills Over 1 Million Iraqi's -- Over one million Iraqis have met violent deaths as a result of the 2003 invasion, according to a study conducted by the prestigious British polling group, Opinion Research Business (ORB).

EPA Head: No Warming Since 1995 Doesn't Mean Warming Isn't Occurring -- “The science regarding climate change is settled, and human activity is responsible for global warming,” Jackson said, adding that the EPA needs more funding to ensure climate change legislation is passed.

Greenspan: Worst Financial Crisis EVER -- Greenspan just said that the current credit crunch is “by far the greatest financial crisis, globally, ever” — including the 1930s Great Depression. (Meanwhile Greenspan covertly pats himself on the back 

Obama Campaign Logos Cause Internet Stir -- The Internet is abuzz with comparisons of the "strikingly similar" logos of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the ubiquitous Obama 2008 campaign..
 * Related Article: Symbols Talk - No Doubt About Where America Is Going...Check out the DOD's NEW Missile Defense Agency Logo

Supreme Court Sets Aside Strict Ruling on Miranda Right to Remain Silent -- Reporting from Washington - A crime suspect who invokes his "right to remain silent" under the famous Miranda decision can be questioned again after 14 days, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. And if he freely agrees to talk then, his incriminatory statements can be used against him.

Obama Rejects Criticism of Agenda as Socialism -- "Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, I am an ardent believer in the free market," Obama said in prepared remarks.

Census Bureau to Kids: Tell Your Parents We Won't Tell INS -- Bennett went to great pains to describe the measures taken at every level of the bureaucratic chain to ensure that Census Bureau officials do not obtain identification of respondents, much less pass it on to immigration officials. Such assurances about confidentiality are repeated in the letter sent home with students. (But while the feds have put their efforts into educating students about keeping parents safe from immigration officials, they seem not to have done such a good job in ensuring that census canvassers do not have criminal records.)

$150 Million Anthrax Vaccine Contract Goes to Firm with Close Dem Ties -- The Obama administration has steered up to $150 million in federal funding for the development and production of an anthrax vaccine to a bio-defense firm with strong Democratic Party ties, Fox News has learned.

Gasoline Heading Above $3 a Gallon by Summer -- Retail gas prices likely bottomed out last week, and they're again headed to above $3 a gallon this summer, experts said Monday.

Venezuela on Verge of Collapse, Thanks to Hugo Chavez -- His country is falling apart. How, for example, did Venezuela find itself plagued with electricity shortages so severe that the government imposed blackouts nationwide for several hours each day? After all, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has among the world's largest oil and natural gas reserves.

Contractors Outnumber Full-Time Workers at DHS; Lawmakers 'Astounded' -- The Department of Homeland Security has more contractors working for it than full-time employees, a situation two members of Congress said Tuesday was "unacceptable, untenable and unsustainable."

Blue Cross Parent Hiked Rates After Paying Out $39 Million in Bonuses -- California's Anthem Blue Cross justified its whopping 39 percent insurance premium hike by citing rising medical costs. But, it turns out, its parent company Wellpoint, Inc. has been spending tens of millions on large executive bonuses and fancy retreats.

Mainstream Media Refuses to Disclose that Independent Pundits Are Actually Lobbyists -- And many other "pundits" interviewed by the mainstream news are really high-level lobbyists for giant companies, pushing their agendas.

Cryptome Forced Down Over Microsoft Law Enforcement Surveillance Compliance Document -- Microsoft has managed to do what a roomful of secretive, three-letter government agencies have wanted to do for years: get the whistleblowing, government-document sharing site Cryptome shut down.

Obama Finds Something to Cut Out of Big Government -- The Obama administration has apparently come up with a creative way to deal with the increasingly bleak news regarding the economic position of the United States in the world. It proposes to eliminate the office in the Bureau of Labor Statistics that collects and publishes the comparative data on employment, unemployment, manufacturing productivity and labor costs, among other things.

Organic Feed Influences Chicken Gene Expression --A differential expression of 49 genes among a total of twenty thousand chicken genes may seem subtle, says De Greeff. But if you consider the fact that the cultivation method is the only difference in the feed, this is in fact a big difference. Moreover, seven of the 49 genes are involved in cholesterol biosynthesis, when only thirty genes are involved in total in the process.

Fed/Treasury Covert Tightening Alert - $200 Billion in Liquidity to be Withdrawn in the Next 8 weeks -- With the brunt of the $200 billion cash management bill sales expected to be picked up primary dealers, this will have the same effect as adding up to $200 billion to bank nonborrowed excess reserves (NBER) on deposit with the Fed. As bank NBER is just north of $1 trillion, a 20% increase over eight weeks in the amount of non-borrowed money locked up at the Fed is material. At a time when Agency and Agency MBS are drawing to a close, and with M2 money supply flat, this de factotightening move is a bit alarming.

Assisted suicide: Debbie Purdy welcomes new guidelines -- The guidelines published today make clear that anyone assisting suicide who benefits from the death is unlikely to be prosecuted as long as compassion was the "driving force" behind their actions. Mr Starmer said: "The policy is now more focused on the motivation of the suspect rather than the characteristics of the victim. "The policy does not change the law on assisted suicide. It does not open the door for euthanasia.


Today in History Thursday February 25, 2010
1570 - England's Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope Pius V.
1793 - The department heads of the U.S. government met with U.S. President Washington for the first Cabinet meeting on U.S. record.
1836 - Samuel Colt received a patent for a "revolving gun".
1901 - The United States Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.
1913 - The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It authorized a graduated income tax.
1919 - The state of Oregon became the first state to place a tax on gasoline. The tax was 1 cent per gallon.
1928 - The Federal Radio Commission issued the first U.S. television license to Charles Jenkins Laboratories in Washington, DC.
1930 - The bank check photographing device was patented.
1933 - The first aircraft carrier, Ranger, was launched.
1940 - The New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens played in the first hockey game to be televised in the U.S. The game was aired on W2WBS in New York with one camera in a fixed position. The Rangers beat the Canadiens 6-2.
1948 - Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.
1956 - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev criticized the late Josef Stalin in a speech before a Communist Party congress in Moscow.
1972 - Germany gave a $5 million ransom to Arab terrorist who had hijacked a jumbo jet.
1986 - Filippino President Ferdinand E. Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule after a tainted election.
1999 - William King was sentenced to death for the racial murder of James Byrd Jr in Jasper, TX. Two other men charged were later convicted for their involvement.
2000 - In Albany, NY, a jury acquitted four New York City police officers of second-degree murder and lesser charges in the February 1999 shooting death of Amadou Diallo.

Buffet's Partner Says America Is Finished -- Charlie Munger (pictured left with Buffet), Warren Buffett's longtime business partner in Berkshire Hathaway, warns in a new column that the U.S. economic empire is crumbling before our eyes, thanks to federal debt and poor planning.

Choking on Hot Dogs? It's not the shape, it's the ingredients -- The American Academy of Pediatrics is making headlines this week with a bizarre recommendation that hot dogs should be re-shaped to make them less of a choking hazard for children. But there's no mention of all the cancer-causing chemical ingredients that actually go into the hot dogs

UK: Terror as mall shark tank -- A HUGE shark-filled aquarium at the famous Dubai shopping mall is leaking forcing part of the shopping centre to be evacuated, reports say. The tank is one of the largest in the world and features the huge 32.8m wide and 8.3m high viewing panel.

School shooting suspect called erratic; said macaroni and cheese too noisy -- The man accused of wounding two middle school students in a community still haunted by the Columbine massacre had become increasingly erratic in recent weeks, yelling at imaginary friends and complaining that eating macaroni and cheese made too much noise, his father said Wednesday.

Census Jobs - Taking the 2010 Census Practice Test

More young people having strokes -- Experts are raising health concerns after observing increasing number of stroke incidents among younger adults. Buzz up!Data from Ohio and Kentucky showed that more young people were having strokes while the number was decreasing among older people.

Rachel Corrie's family bring civil suit over human shield's death in Gaza -- Parents want case to highlight events that led to American activist's death under Israeli army bulldozer.

Bill requiring citizenship proof for presidential contenders passes House committee -- The House Government Committee voted Tuesday to require presidential contenders to prove to Arizona's secretary of state they're "natural born citizens" to get their names on the ballot. The 6-1 vote came on the proposal by Rep. Judy Burges, R-Skull Valley, who said it's only fair to require those who want to lead our country prove they meet the standards of the U.S. Constitution. She said that, at the very least, it means producing a birth certificate.

Deposit Money By Taking A Photo??? -- Here's how it works. When you take a picture of a check, a computer that receives the image looks for the amount, the check number and the digits on the bottom with information on the check writer's account number and the bank's routing number. A photo of the back of the check verifies that it's been signed by the recipient. A banking clearinghouse then routes the funds from the check writer's account to that of the recipient. That also prevents the same check from being deposited multiple times. Remote-deposit capture started as a way for big companies and financial institutions to process huge numbers of checks without having to ship them around the country.

VIDEOS: Military Biological Weapons Exposed by Don Scott

Darpa-funded Researchers: Tobacco vs. Viral Terror -- Darpa’s been funding fast-tracked medication production since 2005, when the agency launched their Accelerated Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals (AMP) program. Although Darpa was already funding research into Avian Flu protection, they realized that H1N1 was a more pressing priority. “In response to the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic, AMP’s plant-based platform redirected its rapid scale-up processes that were initially developed for avian influenza,” Darpa’s announcement states.
**Related Article: A&M gets big grant to make tobacco-based vaccine -- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, looking for better responses to outbreaks of infectious disease and bioterrorist acts, last summer requested proposals for vaccine options made from plants, which don't contain the harmful pathogens of some animal sources. The grant calls for the production of an initial 10 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine. Giroir said the consortium will ramp that up to 100 million doses a month.

Mom Finds Snake Head in Frozen Green Beans -- A mother of four found a snake head in a bag of frozen green beans while cooking for her family in Houston, Texas, MyFoxPhoenix.com reported Monday.

Chrysler to begin safety campaign to replace faulty crash sensors in 355,000 minivans -- Chrysler Group LLC on Wednesday asked the owners of more than 355,000 of its popular minivans to take them to dealers in a few months to replace crash sensors that help to control the air bags. The sensors can crack and fail in 2005 and 2006 Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan models, Chrysler said in a statement. It is asking owners to wait until June to contact dealers because it needs time to distribute repair parts.

Freeze in Crops Leave Fast-food Chains in a Major Bind -- Supply problems are likely to continue until Florida’s tomato production returns to normal levels, which may not be until late this month or early next.

Serious Birth Defects Linked to the Agricultural Chemical Atrazine -- Researchers think they've found the answer. The culprit behind the suffering of babies born with this condition appears to be the agricultural chemical atrazine. That's the conclusion of a study just presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) held in Chicago.

American Indian Reservation Reaping Oil Benefits -- An oil boom on American Indian land has brought jobs, millions of dollars and hope to long-impoverished tribal members who have struggled for more than a century on the million-acre Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

Regulators Report 27% Jump in Problem Banks -- The number of "problem" U.S. banks jumped 27 percent during the fourth quarter of 2009 to 702, the highest level since 1993 and a sign the industry's recovery is still shaky, regulators reported on Tuesday.

Russia Warns West Against "Crippling" Iran Sanctions -- A senior Russian diplomat warned the West on Wednesday against trying to paralyze Iran by targeting the Islamic Republic’s energy and banking sectors with crippling sanctions.

Top Bush Adviser Defends Using Nuclear Weapons on Civilians -- He also suggested that the decision to use America's nuclear arsenal is the president's alone.

Mass Layoffs by US Manufacturers Surge in January -- By definition, a mass layoff in the United States is those job cuts that involve 50 or more workers from the same company. Those types of events increased by 35 in January 2010 to 1,761, according to data released.

McCain's Dietary Supplement Bill: an Attempt to Implement Codex Alimentarius -- It would also allow for the arbitrary banning of nutritional supplements by the FDA and the introduction of deceitful reporting of adverse events related to them.

Son of Hamas Founder Spied for Israel for More Than a Decade -- The son of one of Hamas’s founding members was a spy in the service of Israel for more than a decade, helping prevent dozens of Islamist suicide bombers from finding their targets, it emerged today.

Children to Be Given Identity Numbers - Australia -- A program in which every school child in Australia would be given an identity number so their academic progress could be tracked through their school life is expected to be announced by the federal government as early as today.

EPA Prepares to Take Lead on Regulating CO2 -- But there is a Plan B. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gases like CO2 could be considered pollutants and gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the power to regulate them under the Clean Air Act. Although that authority went unused in the waning days of former President George W. Bush’s Administration, the Obama EPA has spent much of the past year preparing the groundwork for regulation. In the absence of a climate bill, the EPA has the power — and is legally mandated by the Supreme Court — to step in and address carbon emissions.

Treasury to Expand Supplemental Financing Program -- The Treasury Department announced Tuesday that it is expanding its Supplementary Financing Program to help the Federal Reserve manage its enormous balance sheet.

Bernie Sanders Compares Climate Change Skeptics to Nazi Deniers -- Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is comparing climate change skeptics to those who disregarded the Nazi threat to America in the 1930s, adding a strident rhetorical shot to the already volatile debate over climate change.

Panic at the Fed or Back to Normalcy? -- The decision of the US Federal Reserve to raise its key interest rate was definitely not a sign of confidence in the US economic recovery or a signal that Fed policy is slowly returning to normal as claimed. It was rather a signal of panic over the weakness in US Government bond markets, the heart of the dollar financial system.

Blackwater Took Hundreds of Guns from US Military  -- Employees of the CIA-connected private security corporation Blackwater diverted hundreds of weapons, including more than 500 AK-47 assault rifles, from a U.S. weapons bunker in Afghanistan intended to equip Afghan policemen, according to an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee. On at least one occasion, an individual claiming to work for the company evidently signed for a weapons shipment using the name of a “South Park” cartoon character. And Blackwater has yet to return hundreds of the guns to the military.

Q4 Report: 11.3 Million US Properties with Negative Equity -- First American CoreLogic reported today that more than 11.3 million, or 24 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages, were in negative equity at the end of the fourth quarter of 2009, up from 10.7 million and 23 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2009.

Scouts, the New Hitler Youth! -- The gist of it is that the explorer scouts (a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America) are now being trained to chase down illegal border-crossers, face down terrorists and take out “active shooters”.

Houston Police Chief Wants Surveillance Cameras in Private Homes -- "HOUSTON Houston's police chief is suggesting putting surveillance cameras in apartment complexes, downtown streets and even private homes."

The Future of Energy? Bloom Energy Box -- Over the past several years, there’s been no shortage of talk about alternative energy, and its potential to change the world. The problem is that most of it is just that — talk. But tonight, a report that aired on 60 Minutes showed one alternative that is not only real, it’s already being tested by companies such as Google and eBay. You simply have to watch this.

Cities Shortening Yellow Traffic Lights -- Some cities have been shortening yellow lights to nab drivers with a ticket. But studies show that they're raking in the bucks at the expense of public safety.

State Tax Revenues Decline in Q4 -- State tax revenues declined by 4.1 percent nationwide during the final quarter of calendar 2009, the fifth consecutive quarter of reduced collections, according to a report issued today by the Rockefeller Institute of Government.

Concerns Grow Over China's Sale of US Bonds -- Evidence is mounting that Chinese sales of US Treasury bonds over recent months are intended as a warning shot to Washington over escalating political disputes rather than being part of a routine portfolio shift as thought at first.

FDIC Hits Record "Default" Level As Deposit Insurance Fund Plunges by $12.7 Billion to NEGATIVE $20.9 Billion -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Tuesday that its deposit-insurance fund fell to $20.9 billion at the end of 2009, a $12.6 billion drop in the final three months of the year, as bank failures continued at a pace not seen since the savings and loan crisis. The fund's reserve ratio was -0.39% at the end of the quarter, the lowest on record for the combined bank and thrift fund.

Greeks Scrambled To Pull Out 8 Billion from Local Banks -- We previously wrote about the possibility of a bank run in Greece following unsubstantiated reports that Greek citizens don't trust the Greek financial system all that much anymore, courtesy of the whole bailout and GDP reporting fraud thing. The rumor was not only just confirmed and also quantified: Dow Jones reports that in the past three months Greeks have moved about €8 billion out of local banks "fearing a possible new tax on bank accounts, increased government scrutiny on assets and a run on the banks if Athens is forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund."


Today in History Wednesday February 24, 2010
1848 - The Communist Manifesto was published.
1857 - The first shipment of perforated postage stamps was received by the U.S. Government.
1863 - Arizona was organized as a territory.
1866 - In Washington, DC, an American flag made entirely of American bunting was displayed for the first time.
1868 - The first parade to use floats occurred in New Orleans at Mardi Gras.
1868 - The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson due to his attempt to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The U.S. Senate later acquitted Johnson.
1900 - New York City Mayor Van Wyck signed the contract to begin work on New York's first rapid transit tunnel. The tunnel would link Manhattan and Brooklyn. The ground breaking ceremony was on March 24, 1900.
1903 - In Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an area was leased to the U.S. for a naval base.
1925 - A thermit was used for the first time. It was used to break up a 250,000-ton ice jam that had clogged the St. Lawrence River near Waddington, NY.
1938 - The first nylon bristle toothbrush was made. It was the first time that nylon yarn had been used commercially.
1942 - The U.S. Government stopped shipments of all 12-gauge shotguns for sporting use for the wartime effort.
1942 - The Voice of America (VOA) aired for the first time.
1945 - During World War II, the Philippine capital of Manilla, was liberated by U.S. soldiers.
1956 - The city of Cleveland invoked a 1931 law that barred people under the age of 18 from dancing in public without an adult guardian.
1980 - NBC premiered the TV movie "Harper Valley P.T.A."
1981 - Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Britain's Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.
1983 - The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 1100 mark for the first time.
1983 - A U.S.congressional commission released a report that condemned the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
1987 - An exploding supernova was discovered in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy.
1989 - A United Airlines 747 jet rips open in flight killing 9 people. The flight was from Honolulu to New Zealand.
1997 - The U.S. The Food and Drug Administration named six brands of birth control as safe and effective "morning-after" pills for preventing pregnancy.
1999 - In southeast China, a domestic airliner crashed killing all 64 passengers.

Action Items Progress Print out -- This is the document to track your action item progress.

Hackers expose security flaws with 'Elvis Presley' Passport -- In the name of improved security a hacker showed how a biometric passport issued in the name of long-dead rock 'n' roll king Elvis Presley could be cleared through an automated passport scanning system being tested at an international airport. Using a doctored passport at a self-serve passport machine, the hacker was cleared for travel after just a few seconds and a picture of the King himself appeared on the monitor's display.

Toyota president: We grew too big, too fast in US -- Toyota's president says the automaker compromised quality by growing too quickly in the U.S., but it will take steps to improve quality control.

Uh-oh...There's More to the story on Joe Stack -- Joe Stack’s 9/11, NSA, and Homeland Security Related Defense Contractor Clients -- The client list from the software programmer believed to have crashed his plane into the Echelon* building in Austin Texas reads like a guidebook to defense contractors with connections to 9/11, NSA and Homeland Security.
 Related Article: Joe Stack’s Intriguing Connections With Defense Contractors, Intelligence Agencies

FTC warns firms organizations of widespread data breach -- The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Monday it has notified nearly 100 companies and organizations of data breaches involving personal information about customers or employees. The FTC declined to identify the companies or organizations involved, but said they were both "private and public entities, including schools and local governments."

Frozen Fetuses Found During Doctor's Office Raid -- Philadelphia and federal authorities who raided a doctor's office after allegations a woman died following an abortion made a shocking discovery: more than two dozen frozen fetuses.

Suit possible over baby DNA sent to military lab for national database -- An Austin lawyer threatened to pursue a new federal lawsuit Monday after learning that some newborn blood samples in Texas went to the U.S. military for potential use in a database for law enforcement purposes.

CHART of the DAY: Banks Continue To Pull the Rug Out from Under the Economy Can the economy revive if banks don't start to lend again? -- Can the economy revive if banks don't start to lend again? Today the St. Louis Fed released its latest monthly look at commercial and industrial loans at major banks -- a measure that some would say represents the essence of the US banking system.

A Desperate FDIC Begs Americans to Open Savings Accounts During "America Saves Week" -- Just in case Americans weren't schizophrenic enough, listening to Obama and CNBC telling them to spend, spend, spend, even if that means maxing out all credit cards (relax, Uncle Sam will take care of that 1,800 day delinquent account by covering 99.999% of principal losses once hyperinflation hits a few quadrillion % per day), here comes the FDIC, with the other side of the coin, imploring "consumers across the nation to  consider establishing a basic savings account or boosting existing savings."

The Daily Bell: Going to the Roots of the Problem by Edwin Vieira (PART 1 of 4) -- When America's economy slips into the free-fall of hyperinflation or depression, impoverished people will rebel. First, against ever-worsening conditions, by demanding that public officials correct the situation. Then, when their protests accomplish little or nothing, they will rebel against incumbent officials at the next election. Finally, when they discover that the two major political parties are really one party with an empty cranium and a pair of duplicitous faces, and that changing the political personalities in office does not ameliorate the conditions that arise out of the government's hare-brained economic policies, they will rebel against this country's A general disdain for legality will become the order of the day.

Scott Brown's yes vote raises eyebrows and disappoints supporters -- “I am so disappointed in you, Scott Brown,” said one commentator who believed the bill would do nothing to create long-term jobs. “Way to put partisanship aside and vote something other than ‘No’,” said another.
 Related Article: GOP's Scott Brown branded turncoat for jobs bill vote -- A month after being crowned the darling of national conservatives, Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts is being branded "Benedict Brown" for siding with Democrats in favor of a jobs bill endorsed by the Obama administration.

What’s going on with Walmart Special Kitty Cat Food -- If there is a problem with the food, I am certain we will discover it. If the food is being discontinued, no love loss here. If the cat food is soon to be back on store shelves made by a new manufacturer, I hope they decide to remove the risk ingredients (by-product meal, animal fat, and BHA). Time will tell.

Psychiatrist charged with stabbing woman with sword -- A psychiatrist in northern Kentucky has been charged with stabbing a woman with a sword in his office. The Kentucky Enquirer reports that 51-year-old Douglas H. Rank of Cincinnati was charged with first-degree assault after being arrested Sunday night.

Shooting at Luke Air Force Base Kills 1, Injures Another -- One man was killed and another man injured late Monday when they drove a stolen car through the Luke Air Force Base security gate and were shot by guards there, officials said.

GlaxoSmithKline Deliberately Hid Evidence of Avandia Harm -- GlaxoSmithKline, maker of the diabetes drug Avandia, knew the drug was linked to tens of thousands of heart attacks but went out of its way to hide this information from the public, says a 334-page report just released by the Senate Finance Committee.

Plastic Bags in US to Pay or Not to Pay? -- For decades the standard question at U.S. grocery store check-out counters has been "Paper or Plastic?" But since January, consumers in the U.S. capital have faced a different question: "Will you pay 5 cents for a bag?"

Lawmakers Consider an Animal Abuse Registry -- California may soon place animal abusers on the same level as sex offenders by listing them in an online registry, complete with their home addresses and places of employment.

Deadly Hybrid Flu Possible -- Research in mice suggests the avian flu virus and the ordinary seasonal flu virus could combine to create a new deadly kind of flu, researchers say.

Hospital Infections Killed 48,000 -- Pneumonia and blood-borne infections caught in U.S. hospitals killed 48,000 patients and cost $8.1 billion in 2006, according to a report released on Monday.

Justice Department Clears Bush Lawyers for Torture Memos -- Two former high-level Bush administration officials who provided legal justification for harsh interrogations of overseas terror suspects are likely to escape any formal punishment now that the Justice Department has concluded they should not be held legally responsible.

Marc Faber: Buy Farmland and Gold -- The world’s most powerful investors have been advised to buy farmland, stock up on gold and prepare for a “dirty war” by Marc Faber, the notoriously bearish market pundit, who predicted the 1987 stock market crash.

Hamid Karzai Takes Control of Afghanistan Election Watchdog -- The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, has unilaterally taken control of the country's top electoral watchdog, provoking outrage from western diplomats, the Guardian has learnt.

Saudi Prince Quizzed Over Murder of Servant Who Slept at Foot of Bed -- More evidence of the "elite's" inherent sociopathy, abusing and even killing slaves (seems to be how this 'servant' was treated) for sadistic fun has always gone on in the upper echelons of society.

VIDEO: Strategic Denial of Oil in Haiti?

The Uranium Coup -- U.S. House of Representative Alan Grayson led a Congressional delegation that just happened to be in Niger at the time of the recent military coup last Thursday that deposed the legitimate elected government of the Uranium-rich nation.

Debt Dynamite Dominoes: The coming Financial Collapse -- In short, the financial oligarchy is in absolute control of the United States government. Concurrently, the military structure of the American empire has firmly established its grip over foreign policy, as America’s wars are expanded into Pakistan, Yemen, and potentially Iran. Make no mistake, a crisis is coming to America, it is only a question of when, and how severe. (EXCELLENT ARTICLE - VERY LONG.)

VIDEO: Ron Paul on CNBC Squawk Box Part 2 - Feb 22nd, 2010.

Goldman Sachs Says Greek Swaps Not Inappropriate -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. did “nothing inappropriate” when it arranged currency swaps for Greece that reduced the nation’s national debt by 2.37 billion euros ($3.2 billion), a top executive said.

So, who's right??? - Conflicts abound!
  * Home Prices in 20 US Cities Rose for Seventh Month -- Home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose in December for a seventh consecutive month, indicating the industry at the heart of the worst recession since the 1930s is stabilizing.
  * Home Prices Unexpectedly Dip -- The S&P composite index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas declined 0.2 percent in December, matching the dip in November, for a 3.1 percent annual drop.

Obama Looks on Bright Side of Ugly Jobs Picture -- Tell it like it is and it could demoralize already glum consumers who might curb spending just when the economy needs a boost. Sugarcoat the outlook and you risk paying the price at the polls if the employment picture does not improve.

Consumer Confidence in US Fell More Than Forecast in February -- Confidence among U.S. consumers fell in February to the lowest level since April 2009 as the outlook for jobs diminished, a sign spending may be slow to gain traction as the economy recovers.

NY Says Wall St. Bonuses Up 17% to 20.3 Billion -- Speaking on CNBC television, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said profit for all of Wall Street could top $55 billion for 2009, when the economy began to stabilize and as lenders raced to repay federal bailout money they had come to view as a stigma.

US to Unveil Broadband Plan March 17 -- The Federal Communications Commission said on Tuesday that the long-awaited National Broadband Plan will try to help connect 93 million Americans to high-speed Internet to find jobs, access educational and healthcare services, and reduce household energy costs.

DHS and Pentagon Flex Media Muscle On Domestic Terror -- On Issues of Domestic Terrorism and Cyber Security we have seen a rash of blatant over the top Pentagon fed news pieces and headlines into the main stream media with in this last week.

US Wants to Surround China with Missile Defenses -- Chinese defense analysts have said the United States' commitment to provide Taiwan with Patriot missile batteries and other weapons is part of Washington's strategy to surround China with missile defense systems, Asian News International reported yesterday.

Chavez: Saboteurs Targeting Venezuela's Power Grid -- President Hugo Chavez accused his adversaries on Sunday of sabotaging Venezuela's electricity grid as part of a broader plan aimed at bringing about the system's collapse — and his downfall.

'Obama and His Magic Beans' is Just Another TV Show for Americans -- President or Clown?  "He is doing a better job than Osama! I never knew there were so many incompetent people (white and black) that would vote for such a paper mache man." (this is FROM PRAVDA)

Doctor Gets Court Order to Confine Pregnant Woman Against Her Will -- With issues like the Stupak Amendment and Nevada's Personhood Initiative in the national spotlight, I am aware that a woman's right to choose whether or not to carry a fetus to full-term is under attack.

Mossad Death Squad Operations in Austria -- It is worth to mention that Austria, which recently the mossad use its territory as a base of operations for the assassination of al-Mabhouh, is considered a safe place for the mossad. The Israeli mossad continues to choose Austria, this beautiful and quite country, which appears to be safe for visitors and Austrian residents alike, as a central for its bloody terrorist operations. For decades, the mossad has been using Austrian territory as a base for carrying out assassinations in Arab countries.

New US Senator Helps Democrats Advance Job Bill -- A modest job-creation bill advanced in the U.S. Senate on Monday as the chamber’s newest Republican bucked his party and sided with Democrats on a $15 billion package of tax cuts and highway spending.

Inhofe Weighs Criminal Probe of Scientists Climate Change Emails -- The Senate’s top global warming skeptic on Tuesday is calling for a possible criminal investigation into the scientists accused of manipulating the data once used as the centerpiece of international climate change research.

UN Climate Talks to Resume in April in Germany -- The United Nations says formal negotiations on an international treaty to control global warming will resume in Bonn in April, four months after the failed climate change summit in Copenhagen.

FTC Warns Firms, Organizations of Widespread Data Breach -- The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Monday it has notified nearly 100 companies and organizations of data breaches involving personal information about customers or employees.


Today in History Tuesday February 23, 2010
1792 - The Humane Society of Massachusetts was incorporated.
1813 - The first U.S. raw cotton-to-cloth mill was founded in Waltham, MA.
1821 - The Philadelphia College of Apothecaries established the first pharmacy college.
1822 - Boston was incorporated as a city.
1836 - In San Antonio, TX, the siege of the Alamo began.
1847 - Santa Anna was defeated at the Battle of Buena Vista in Mexico by U.S. troops under Gen. Zachary.
1861 - U.S. President-elect Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take his office after an assassination attempt in Baltimore.
1861 - Texas became the 7th state to secede from the Union.
1870 - The state of Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.
1875 - J. Palisa discovered asteroid #143 (aka Adria).
1883 - Alabama became the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
1886 - Charles M. Hall completed his invention of aluminum.
1896 - The Tootsie Roll was introduced by Leo Hirshfield.
1904 - The U.S. acquired control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million.
1905 - The Rotary Club was founded in Chicago, IL, by Attorney Paul Harris and three others.
1910 - In Philadelphia, PA, the first radio contest was held.
1915 - Nevada began enforcing convenient divorce law.
1927 - The Federal Radio Commission began assigning frequencies, hours of operation and power allocations for radio broadcasters.
1940 - Walt Disney's animated movie "Pinocchio" was released.
1954 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio began in Pittsburgh, PA.
1963 - The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It prohibited poll taxes in federal elections.
1970 - Guyana became a republic. 1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demanded $4 million more for the release of Patty Hearst. Hearst had been kidnapped on February 4th.
1991 - During the Persian Gulf War, ground forces crossed the border of Saudi Arabia into the country of Iraq. Less than four days later the war was over due to the surrender or withdraw of Iraqi forces.
1993 - Gary Coleman won a $1,280,000 lawsuit against his parents.
1995 - The Dow Jones Industrial closed about 4,000 for the first time at 4,003.33.
1997 - NBC-TV aired "Schindler's List." It was completely uncensored.
1998 - In central Florida, tornadoes killed 42 people and damaged and/or destroyed about 2,600 homes and businesses.
1999 - White supremacist John William King was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering James Byrd Jr. Byrd was dragged behind a truck for two miles on a country road in Texas.
2005 - The New York, NY, city medical examiner's office annouced that it had exhausted all efforts to identify the remains of the people killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, due to the limits of DNA technology. About 1,600 people had been identified leaving more than 1,100 unidentified.

Buffett's Partner: It's Over for the US Economy -- Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner in Berkshire Hathaway, warns in a new column that the U.S. economic empire is crumbling before our eyes, thanks to federal debt and poor planning.

Pentagon Quietly Explores De-Citizenship of US Citizen Terrorist -- At the highest levels of the US military, a quiet discussion is going on about putting in place a legal framework that would permit the US government to strip American citizenship from terrorists.

'Doomsday is here for the state of Illinois' -- To become solvent, the state must enact the largest tax-increase package in Illinois history, whack another $2 billion from already starved government programs and wrest major financial concessions from the state's unionized work force, a nonpartisan government watchdog contends. In a new analysis of Illinois' "horrific" finances, the Civic Federation lays out the painful choices awaiting Gov. Quinn and the Legislature as they stare down an epic $12.8 billion budget deficit that has choked the flow of state cash to public universities and schools, transit systems and social-service agencies to the point of economic collapse.

Two Ways to Play: Soros Doubts Euro's Future -- George Soros called the euro “patently flawed” and said that the currency of the 27-member region faces a bigger test than just Greece. Soros said the situation was brought to a climax by Greece and worsened by the credit default swaps market, which favors bearish investors.

The Little Told Story of How the US Poisoned Alcohol During Prohibition -- I learned of the federal poisoning program while researching my new book, The Poisoner's Handbook, which is set in jazz-age New York. My first reaction was that I must have gotten it wrong. "I never heard that the government poisoned people during Prohibition, did you?" I kept saying to friends, family members, colleagues.

Schwarzenegger Dismisses Tea Party "As Anger and Dissatisfaction" -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger criticized fellow Republicans on Sunday as being hypocritical when they trash the federal stimulus program, and he dismissed the “tea party” movement as “just an expression of anger and dissatisfaction.”

Anointed Leader of Conservative Movement Glenn Beck Now Believes in Global Warming -- The stunning duplicity of Fox News host Glenn Beck has been exposed once again after the talk show host told USA Weekend magazine that he now believes in man-made global warming, after years of assuring his viewers that he was on the side of skeptics who questioned the science behind AGW claims.

POTUS to Sign Executive Order to Form Debt Commission on Thursday -- A White House official tells ABC News that President Obama on Thursday will sign an executive order establishing the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, to make recommendations on how to reduce the skyrocketing national debt.

IRS Bomber in a Long Line of Haters -- Its buildings across the country are fenced, with 24-hour security guards and other measures. Degen, of the NAEA, said he thinks IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman always travels with a bodyguard. Agency spokesman Bruce Friedland said IRS commissioners are provided security protection as deemed appropriate.

US Teachers Fall Victim to Tidal Wave of Pink Slips -- “I am very, very concerned about layoffs going into the next school year starting in September. Good superintendents are going to start sending out pink slips in March and April, as they start to plan for their budgets,” said Duncan, referring to the slips of paper included in some paychecks to notify a person of being fired.

Argentina Set to Win New Backing in Falklands Row -- BUENOS AIRES — Argentina was anticipating Monday to broaden regional support in its escalating row with Britain over the disputed Falkland Islands after winning immediate backing from Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Putin Calms Greece, Says US Debt Big Too -- “As we all know, the global economic crisis started neither in Greece, nor in Russia, nor in Europe,” Mr. Putin told a news conference after talks with George Papandreou. “It came to us from across the ocean,” he said in a clear reference to the United States.

Real, Uglier American Unemployment -- Ten times worse unemployment in the lowest class than in the highest class! Truly amazing and disheartening, don't you think? And you can also infer that in some hard hit geographical areas the poorest people and people of color are being even more adversely impacted. And don't think for a minute that things have really improved in 2010.

Denver Shuttle Driver Pleads Guilty in Plot to Attack NY Subways -- Najibullah Zazi, a 25-year-old former Denver airport shuttle driver, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support to Al Qaeda.

New Obama Health Care Proposal Borrows Heavily from Senate Bill -- The president's proposal would give the government the power to deny egregious premium increases, roll them back, or demand rebates for consumers, officials say.

New Issa Report Exposes Criminal Enterprises Within ACORN -- The new report “adds new evidence confirming these previous findings of ACORN’s misconduct in addition to a closer examination of ACORN’s financial transactions and fundraising that define the organization as a political machine.

IAEA: Iran's Nukes Also for Army -- Israel praised an International Atomic Energy Agency report released on Thursday that says Iran may be developing a nuclear warhead.

Iran to Build Two New Nuclear Sites This Year -- The head of Iran's nuclear programme has said the country will build two new uranium enrichment facilities within the next year.

Double CME Explodes Off Sun -- NASA spacecraft and amateur astronomers alike are monitoring a staggeringly-long filament of magnetism on the sun. It stretches more than a million kilometers around the sun's southeastern limb.

Kangaroos Victims of Factory Fluoride -- SCORES of starving and pain-ridden kangaroos have been culled after developing tooth and bone deformities from breathing and ingesting fluoride emissions.

Using Facebook or Twitter Could Raise Your Insurance Premiums -- Services such as Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Buzz can alert criminals when users are not home, according to Confused.com, the price comparison service. Foursquare, for example, shows that people are in a specific spot and, more importantly, that the user is definitely not at home, Confused.com added. It predicted that the new wave in social media could eventually lead to big rises in home insurance premiums.

DARPA Plans for Hypersonic Weapon -- The Pentagon’s far-out science arm is planning an April test flight for a prototype of a hypersonic weapon that — in theory — could cross the Pacific Ocean in under two hours.

The IMF Destroys Iceland and Latavia -- The International Monetary Fund operates primarily as a banker bailout machine. They cajole and tempt and confuse and threaten the leaders of governments worldwide to pay off the failed bets of the big bankers using the taxpayer funds of their countries. This has been going on a long time, at least since the early 1980s.

Homeland Security Chief: Domestic Extremism is Top Concern -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says terrorists who are U.S. citizens or live in the country legally and plot against the U.S. are just as big of a concern as international terrorists.

Plane Attack Prompts Debate Over Terrorism Label -- When a man fueled by rage against the U.S. government and its tax code crashes his airplane into a building housing offices of the Internal Revenue Service, is it a criminal act or an act of terrorism?

WH Press Core Forbidden to Ask Certain Questions -- WMR has learned from a veteran member of the White House Press Corps that the Obama administration has made it known through White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and other White House Communications officials that certain questions posed by the reporters who cover the White House are definitely off-limits. On the banned list are any questions about Obama’s post-Columbia University employment with Business International Corporation (BIC), a global financial and political information company that WMR previously reported was a front for the CIA.

EXPOSED: Dark Secret of the Farm Where Tigers Bodies are Plundered to Make Wine -- Behind rusted bars, a skeletal male tiger lies panting on the filthy concrete floor of his cage, covered in sores and untreated wounds. His once-fearsome body is so emaciated it is little more than a pitiful pile of fur and bones. After death, their bones are collected to make tiger wine that can sell for £185 a bottle.

Was Stack an Illuminati Programmed Multiple? -- I would like to thank the "Lets Roll Community Forum" for providing the above info. But, before we get distracted by "thermite and thermate" lets remember that Joe Stack was a government contractor that also worked for Homeland Security on a variety of projects. The guy was "home grown" within the intelligence community.

ADL's Public School Hate Bill -- The Anti-Defamation League is determined to establish federally-enforced promotion and protection of homosexuality in America’s primary and secondary public schools. This year ADL repeatedly boasted it was the driving force behind the pro-homosexual federal hate crimes bill. Now ADL is making another attempt to sodomize America. Their latest legislative poison is called The Student Nondiscrimination Act of 2010.

Relic Reveals Noah's Ark Was Circular -- In his translation, the god who has decided to spare one just man speaks to Atram-Hasis, a Sumerian king who lived before the flood and who is the Noah figure in earlier versions of the ark story. "Wall, wall! Reed wall, reed wall! Atram-Hasis, pay heed to my advice, that you may live forever! Destroy your house, build a boat; despise possessions And save life! Draw out the boat that you will built with a circular design; Let its length and breadth be the same."

Dig Supports Biblical Account of King Solomon's Wall -- Even as Muslim spokesmen try to deny Jewish claims to the Holy Land, archaeological discoveries have recently been coming in fast and furious proving the veracity of the Biblical account of history.

Police Search for Publisher Behind Boozy Textbook Image of Jesus Christ -- Christians in India's northeast are outraged after a picture showing Jesus Christ holding a beer can and a cigarette was discovered in primary school textbooks.
 

Today in History Monday February 22, 2010
1630 - Quadequine introduced popcorn to English colonists at their first Thanksgiving dinner.
1784 - "Empress of China", a U.S. merchant ship, left New York City for the Far East.
1819 - Spain ceded Florida to the United States.
1855 - The U.S. Congress voted to appropriate $200,000 for continuance of the work on the Washington Monument. The next morning the resolution was tabled and it would be 21 years before the Congress would vote on funds again. Work was continued by the Know-Nothing Party in charge of the project.
1859 - U.S. President Buchanan approved the Act of February 22, 1859, which incorporated the Washington National Monument Society "for the purpose of completing the erection now in progress of a great National Monument to the memory of Washington at the seat of the Federal Government."
1860 - Organized baseball’s first game was played in San Francisco, CA.
1865 - In the U.S., Tennessee adopted a new constitution that abolished slavery.
1879 - In Utica, NY, Frank W. Woolworth opened his first 5 and 10-cent store.
1885 - The Washington Monument was officially dedicated in Washington, DC. It opened to the public in 1889.
1892 - "Lady Windermere's Fan", by Oscar Wilde, was first performed.
1920 - The first dog race track to use an imitation rabbit opened in Emeryville, CA.
1923 - The first successful chinchilla farm opened in Los Angeles, CA. It was the first farm of its kind in the U.S.
1924 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge delivered the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House.
1954 - ABC radio’s popular "Breakfast Club" program was simulcast on TV for the first time.
1969 - Barbara Jo Rubin became the first woman to win a U.S. thoroughbred horse race.
1973 - The U.S. and Communist China agreed to establish liaison offices.
1984 - The U.S. Census Bureau statistics showed that the state of Alaska was the fastest growing state of the decade with an increase in population of 19.2 percent.
1994 - The U.S. Justice Department charged Aldrich Ames and his wife with selling national secrets to the Soviet Union. Ames was later convicted to life in prison. Ames' wife received a 5-year prison term.
1997 - Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut and colleagues announced that an adult sheep had been successfully cloned. Dolly, the first cloned sheep to be born was born in July 1996.
2002 - In the Philippines, An MH-47E Chinook helicopter crashed into the ocean. All 10 men aboard were killed.

ACTION ALERT: Hands off My Vitamins! -- Congress will ban your free access to dietary supplements unless you ACT NOW!! Suzanne Sommers has a take Action and call your Senators, on her website. A listener writes in to say " I made 300 copies and took them to Health Food Stores and chiropractors around my area and no one was aware of this Bill except one Astute Store Owner that listens to alternative Media. That frightened me, that this will go unnoticed and get in. We need Folks to take action on this otherwise we will not be able to get all the wonderful things that we buy from the Power Hour and will instead have to get Poison prescriptions from our Doctors. Maybe The Power Hour Listeners can get Active on this one and GET IT OUT THERE, in Numbers and have Family, Friends, Neighbors, call their Senators."

Cocktail of five vitamins may give cancer patients an extra two years -- Cancer patients with terminal disease who take a daily cocktail of vitamins could extend their lives by two years or even longer, claim researchers. Three out of four in a pilot study survived an average of five months longer than the expected one year, and some were still alive three years after treatment started.

Banks in California, Ill, Fla and Texas Shut Down -- Regulators shut four banks from California to Florida on Friday, boosting to 20 the number of U.S. bank failures this year following the 140 closures last year in the worst financial climate in decades.

Congress Is Looting Federal Worker, Military Retirement Funds -- As of January 1, 2010, the amount of money owed to federal civilian and military pension trust funds passed the $1 trillion mark as Congress continues to loot all of the federal government's trust funds to pay for deficit spending.

Bush Lawyer Said President Could Order Civilians to Be 'Massacred' says report -- The chief author of the Bush administration's "torture memo" told Justice Department investigators that the president's war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be "massacred," according to a report released Friday night by the Office of Professional Responsibility.

Fall of Dutch government bodes ill for Afghanistan -- A furious dispute over the war in Afghanistan brought down the Dutch government Saturday, bitterly divided on whether its forces should stay or go as NATO deepens its engagement against the Taliban.

Citigroup Warns Customers It May Refuse Allow Withdrawals -- "Effective April 1, 2010, we reserve the right to require (7) days advance notice before permitting a withdrawal from all checking accounts. While we do not currently exercise this right and have not exercised it in the past, we are required by law to notify you of this change," Citigroup said on statements received by customers all over the country.

Frustrated Owner Bulldozes Home -- The Moscow man used a bulldozer two weeks ago to level the home he'd built, and the sprawling country home is now rubble, buried under a coating of snow.

Only 21% Say the US Government Has Consent of the Governed -- The founding document of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, states that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Today, however, just 21% of voters nationwide believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed.

CNN Broadcasts Major Cyber War Game Propaganda -- CNN rolled out a slick propaganda presentation this evening. It is called “Cyber Shockwave” and it posits a cyber attack on the United States.

Iran Attack: It's About Mass Murder, Not Nukes -- If you think Israel or the United States will simply bomb Iran’s nuclear facility at Bushehr like something out of a Hollywood movie, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. If Iran is attacked — and with every passing day it looks more and more like it will be — the military will take down the country’s entire infrastructure (military and civilian) like Iraq’s was taken down in 2003.

Missouri Gov: We Must Be Ready for Big Quake -- NW MADRID, Mo. | Most experts believe it's just a matter of time before another big earthquake strikes along the New Madrid fault line, and Gov. Jay Nixon says Missouri and neighboring states need to be ready. Nixon on Friday convened a panel of a dozen state and local officials who are on the front lines of disasters. The panel of emergency managers, law enforcement officials and faith-based leaders gathered in New Madrid — at the epicenter of the fault line that runs through southeast Missouri and into parts of Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas.

Part 1: The Dawning of a New Age of Food Control -- Furthermore all countries must legislate and implement: surveillance, early detection, transparency, notification, rapid response to animal disease, biosecurity measures, compensation, and vaccination. Should you not comply with inspection, testing, vaccination and identification to global standards you are deemed a menace to society and your property will be quarantined and depopulated.

Playstation 3: The Future of Big Brother Surveillance? -- A U.S. Military research team recently built a supercomputer with over 2,000 PlayStation 3 game consoles. The 500 TeraFLOPS Heterogeneous Cluster is almost 100,000 times faster than any high-end processors in existence today.

Law Change Allows for Guns at US Parks -- Starting Monday, a new federal law will allow guns to be carried into national parks and wildlife refuges across the country, including the Gateway Arch grounds and Missouri's Ozark National Scenic Riverways.

British Military Insider: World War III is Being Staged Starting with Israel and Iran -- US “leadership” and their corporate media minions are pushing juvenile-level propaganda for war with Iran; lies that anyone can verify with a few moments’ attention. If you haven’t already confirmed the Orwellian-level disinformation, stop and read the above two links now.

Russia to Supply Iran with S-300 Defense Systems -- Russia intends to fulfill a contract to supply S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran, Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Friday.

Founder of Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods Transfers Business to Employees -- Moore, whose mutual loves of healthy eating and old-world technologies spawned an internationally distributed line of products, responded with a gift of his own -- the whole company. The Employee Stock Ownership Plan Moore unveiled means that his 209 employees now own the place and its 400 offerings of stone-ground flours, cereals and bread mixes.

Hamas Warns West Against Assisting Israel -- Following the assassination of a senior Hamas official in Dubai — a move which is widely believed to have been carried out by Israel's spy agency, Mossad — the resistance movement warned the West against assisting the Tel Aviv regime in its unlawful operations against Palestinians.

Alexander Haig: Reagan's Doctor Strangelove, Dies -- Alexander Haig, the four-star general who played a crucial role as White House chief of staff at the climax of the Watergate scandal, and later served as secretary of state during Ronald Reagan's presidency, died yesterday in Baltimore. He was 85.

Program Offering Muslims Quick Path to Citizenship -- Five Muslim soldiers under investigation for plotting to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, according to CBN News, are part of a military program that offers foreign nationals a quick path to U.S. citizenship in exchange for even just a single day of active duty.

Psychiatrists Want to Call Being Angry a Mental Illness -- Other new conditions identified as possibly needing professional help include binge eating - which is said to affect many people who are seriously obese - and ‘cognitive tempo disorder’, which seems very like laziness (symptoms include dreaminess and sluggishness). There’s also ‘intermittent explosive disorder’, which involves occasionally becoming very angry suddenly. Most bizarre of the proposed additions is one defined as ‘getting a thrill at being outraged by pornography’.

FBI Closes 911 Anthrax Investigation -- A source close to the investigation told the Associated Press said the FBI was finally satisfied it had identified that Dr Irvins acted alone.

Palestinians Dressed as the Na'vi from Avatar Stage a Protest Against Israel's Separation Barrier -- Protesters dressed as Na'vi characters from the movie Avatar march in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah.

California City to Charge $300 to Call 911 -- Tracy residents will now have to pay every time they call 9-1-1 for a medical emergency. But there are a couple of options. Residents can pay a $48 voluntary fee for the year which allows them to call 9-1-1 as many times as necessary. Or, there’s the option of not signing up for the annual fee. Instead, they will be charged $300 if they make a call for help.

Canada to Approve GM Enviropigs -- A Canadian government department is poised to approve genetically modified pigs for the food supply, the Canwest News Service reported Friday.

BofA Sued Over Unsolicited 'Privacy Assist Monthly Charges -- Customers of Bank of America are claiming the bank charges $8.99 a month for identity-theft protection and credit monitoring without authorization. Lead plaintiff Steven Chavez says in his class action lawsuit that BofA hit him with monthly costs for “Privacy Assist” without asking him first, and when he complained, the bank denied any affiliation with the services for credit monitoring and free access to online credit reports. But Chavez insists Privacy Assist is owned by BofA. Other plaintiffs say they have endured bank overdrafts as a result of Privacy Assist charges being applied to their accounts.

Iraq War to be Rebranded "Operation New Dawn" -- President Barack Obama's administration plans to rebrand its military operation in Iraq "Operation New Dawn," beginning September 1, a Pentagon memorandum shows.

Are Mandatory Vaccines Acts of Violence Against Children -- Are Mandatory Vaccines Acts of Violence Against Children -- (NaturalNews) This article refers to the parody cartoon found at ( http://www.naturalnews.com/028211_vaccines_Merck.html) . This parody cartoon grew out of the idea that vaccines are "shots" that are being increasingly forced upon children and teens.

Bank of Israel Governor Fischer to Woo China on Iran -- Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has decided to send Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer to China to try to convince the government there to support sanctions against Iran in the face of its insistence on developing nuclear weapon capacity.

Are Dalai Lama Visists with US, UK, France a Provacation For China Staged Role in WW!!!? -- The Dalai Lama confessed to receive CIA funds in their revolutionary attempts to split from China. As US and Israel lying rhetoric for war with Iran escalate and are echoed by US corporate media, as Iran is considered a main source of oil for China, as WW3 is a real threat given that WW2 sprung from a series of smaller occupations cumulating with a false flag attack on Poland and WW1 sprung from a single political assassination in a context of competing empires, the “chess masters” behind the scenes of politics might have more in mind than a simple visit between President Obama and an exiled religious feudal-system divine monarch (and here).
 

Today in History Friday February 19, 2010
1807 - Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested in Alabama. He was later tried and acquitted on charges of treason.
1846 - The formal transfer of government between Texas and the United States took place. Texas had officially become a state on December 29, 1945.
1878 - Thomas Alva Edison patented a music player (the phonograph).
1922 - Ed Wynn became the first big-name, vaudeville talent to sign on as a radio talent.
1942 - U.S. President Roosevelt signed an executive order giving the military the authority to relocate and intern Japanese-Americans.
1942 - The New York Yankees announced that they would admit 5,000 uniformed servicemen free to each of their home ball games during the coming season.
1945 - During World War II, about 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima.
1949 - Bollingen Foundation and Yale University awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry ($5,000) to Ezra Pound.
1953 - The State of Georgia approved the first literature censorship board in the U.S. Newspapers were excluded from the new legislation.
1959 - Cyprus was granted its independence with the signing of an agreement with Britain, Turkey and Greece.
1963 - The Soviet Union informed U.S. President Kennedy it would withdraw "several thousand" of its troops in Cuba.
1985 - Mickey Mouse was welcomed to China as part of the 30th anniversary of Disneyland. The touring mouse played 30 cities in 30 days.
1985 - William Schroeder became the first artificial-heart patient to leave the confines of the hospital.
1985 - Cherry Coke was introduced by the Coca-Cola Company.
1986 - The U.S. Senate approved a treaty outlawing genocide. The pact had been submitted 37 years earlier for ratification.
1986 - The Soviet Union launched the Mir space station.
987 - A controversial, anti-smoking publice service announcement aired for the first time on television. Yul Brynner filmed the ad shortly before dying of lung cancer. Brynner made it clear in the ad that he would have died from cigarette smoking before ad aired.
1997 - Deng Xiaoping of China died at the age of 92. He was the last of China's major revolutionaries.
1999 - Dennis Franz received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2001 - The museum at the Oklahoma City National Memorial Center was dedicated.
2002 - NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft began using its thermal emission imaging system to map Mars.

Pilot Angry at IRS Crashes Plane Into Austin Office Building -- An Austin, Texas, resident with an apparent grudge against the Internal Revenue Service set his house on fire Thursday and then crashed a small plane into a building housing an IRS office with nearly 200 employees, officials said.
  Manifesto of Joseph Andrew Stack -- Suicide Letter Written By Joe Stack - Austin Plane Crash Pilot
    Related Articles:
     * Joe Stack Pictures: First Photos of Alleged Austin IRS Plane Crasher
     * Austin Plane Crash Labeled "Right-Wing" Domestic Terror Attack -- In anticipation of evening cable news shows exploiting one man’s grievances  against the IRS to smear the entire liberty movement, websites on both sides of the political equation are being flooded with messages from what appear to be Obama supporters calling the Austin plane crash an act of “right-wing domestic terror” committed by Tea Party activists.
     * Austin Suicide Pilot Posted Anti-IRS Screed -- If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken.
     * As Bell Predicted: IRS Plane Attack Hits Freedom -- We note that Time inserted the parenthetical comment "See the making of the Tea Party movement" into the middle of the article. We think it's sad from a strictly human perspective that the article - and others like it rushed into print yesterday - don't seem to provide us with much of a human dimension for this tragic tale. There's not much on the IRS workers in the building, some of whom were badly injured - not even an expression of concern. And certainly no tears are shed for Stack or his family. We say a little prayer for those involved.

VIDEO: Bill O'Reilly Interviews Oath Keepers Founder Stewart Rhodes

Online Tax Revolt to Storm Washington to Demand Tax Reform -- The first-ever Online Tax Revolt, a free, interactive march on Washington was launched today. Using state of the art technology, concerned Americans can have a voice on tax policy, culminating on April 15 with events in Washington, D.C.

Army Investigates Alleged Attempt By Soldiers to Poison Food at Ft. Jackson -- The U.S. Army is investigating allegations that soldiers were attempting to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson in South Carolina.

VIDEO: Peter Schiff, Currency crisis imminent

Coming Soon: 5 Million More Foreclosures -- The latest estimates are for another five million delinquent mortgages to go through foreclosure (or alternatively, short sales) over the next few years. Currently, there is an estimated 7.7 million households in some stage of pre-default delinquency. Thus, whatever grudging progress that has been made in clearing out some of the excess housing inventory will likely suffer a set back as these 5 million homes come out of the shadows and enter the real estate inventory of homes of for sale. 5 million homes represent approximately one years sales.

Massive Hack Attack Shows Major Flaws in Today's Cybersecurity -- "The ZeuS Compromise" may sound like a great movie, but it's actually a newly uncovered, massive hacking network -- and it's a doozy, affecting more than 74,000 PCs in 2,400 business and government systems around the world. 

Pakistan Avalanche Buries Village and Kills at Least 38 -- At least 38 people are dead after an avalanche buried an entire village in north-west Pakistan.

Magnitude 6.7 Earthquake Hits North Korea's Northeast Border -- A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck close to North Korea’s northeastern border with China and Russia today. The depth of the temblor indicated that it was unlikely to have caused extensive damage.

The mystery of the blue lines on the ski slope at the 2010 Winter Olympics -- One of the most popular queries so far during the 2010 Winter Olympics has been about the blue lines that are painted on the downhill skiing course at Whistler. Try watching Lindsey Vonn race without wondering what they're for, why they're there and, most importantly, why the heck they're painted blue.

The Middle Class Two Income Trap -- Now, even with two income households many with rising job losses are finding they now have to make it with one income while inflation has eroded their buying power over the decades. In this recession 3 out of 4 job losses have been men. The government will sit back and let the middle class get fleeced because they are part of the problem. They speak a good game but are bought by the industry. Prove us wrong if this isn’t the case. Enough talk, time for action. If you can, take you money out of the big banks and put them in local regional banks.

1001 Reasons to Own Gold -- In spite of gold’s recent correction, the reasons haven’t decreased. In fact, the case for holding gold is stronger than ever. And over the past two weeks, a few “reasons” have surfaced that have fallen mostly under the radar. These, I believe, portend a higher gold price. In fact, it is catalysts like these that could end up in our children’s history books that, in retrospect, were obvious to see.

Top UN Climate Official Yvo de Boer Resigning -- Yvo de Boer, the top U.N. climate change official, is resigning after nearly four years -- mere months before 193 nations are due to reconvene in Mexico for another attempt to reach a worldwide agreement on controlling greenhouse gases.

Red Pepper Suspected in Salmonella Outbreak -- Crushed red pepper may have been an accomplice to black pepper in the Salmonella outbreak that continues to befuddle food safety authorities in the United States.

Suit: Pa. School Used Webcams To Spy On Students -- A suburban Philadelphia school district used the webcams in school-issued laptops to spy on students at home, potentially catching them and their families in compromising situations, a family claims in a federal lawsuit.
 * School Spies on Students at Home With Webcams

State vs. Federal: The Nullification Movement -- There can be no mistake that the present-day federal government bears little resemblance to the extremely limited national government designed by our Founders, where the majority of domestic governing was to be left to the state and local levels.

Russia to Deploy Additional Air Defenses -- Russia plans in 2010 to equip two additional military regiments with its S-400 Triumph air-defense system, Interfax reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 17, 2009).

Revolt! Robbed of Their Right to Buy Traditional Light Bulbs -- Millions of Britons are finally waking up to the fact that their beloved light bulb will disappear for good after 120 years.

Is This Incredible Thing in Heavens a Sign From God? -- While scientists don't think it's a comet, they're not exactly sure of the precise origin of the incredible object soaring some 90 million miles from Earth, snapped just a few weeks ago by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Obama's Stimulus One Year Out -- Did the stimulus work or not? A year after Congress passed President Barack Obama's huge economic revival plan, the results are mixed — and hardly final.

Help Wanted - Arrogant Americans Need Not apply -- The advertisement, posted by Viva USA on behalf of Exelon, has since been removed. 'An arrogant American will not work well in this role,' it read.

Breakdown in Gold Market -- "There is going on a lot more than meets the eye. The physical system is actually consolidating bigtime and is organizing itself with lightning speed, totally hidden from pretty much anyone, even the so-called insiders. The paper precious metal market and the physical precious metal market have defacto disconnected. The paper and physical gold markets currently operate in parallel universes. The outflow of physical metal from bank vaults is happening at a mind bending pace."

Napolitano meets with Muslim Brotherhood -- Last month, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and her senior staff privately met in Washington, D.C., with a select group of Muslim, Arab, and Sikh organizations. Among the mix were three organizations directly associated with an outlawed terrorist entity — the Muslim Brotherhood.

South Carolina Lawmaker Seeks to Ban Federal Currency -- South Carolina Rep. Mike Pitts has introduced legislation that would mandate that gold and silver coins replace federal currency as legal tender in his state.

General Growth Rebuffs Offer from Simon -- General Growth Properties Inc. on Thursday rebuffed Simon Property's recent overtures, suggesting that the bankrupt real estate company may be holding out for a better deal.

Video: Jim Rogers: The US and China Are On a Serious Political Collision Course -- In a grainy, video interview with Russia Today, Jim Rogers expresses his fear that the US and China are on a permanent collision course -- the latest Dalai Lama fracas being the latest example.

New Underground Economy: Avoidance of Bank Accounts -- The underground or "black" economy is rapidly rising, and the fault is mainly due to government policies.

Jobless Claims, Inflation Jump as Economy Wobbles -- The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance unexpectedly surged last week, while producer prices increased sharply in January, raising potential hurdles for the economic recovery.

Gold Tumbles as IMF Reaffirms Plans to Sell 191.3 Metric Tons Gold Over Time -- The IMF just announced it would resume selling the balance of its preapproved for sale gold, of which 191.3 tons remains. The sales would be in a phased manner over time to avoid disrupting the gold markets. This is not major news as this is inline with the IMF’s September 2009 announcement to sell 403.3 metric tons of gold. As is well known the IMF has already sold 212 metric tons. Nonetheless, gold is selling off after hours. As gold was bought via dollar shorts, the current unwind is sending the dollar proportionately higher.

US State Pension Funds Have $1 Trillion Shortfall -- U.S. states face a total shortfall of at least $1 trillion in their funds for employees' pensions and retirement benefits, and their financial problems are quickly mounting, according to a report released by the Pew Center on the States on Thursday.

Big Pharma Researcher Admits to Faking Dozens of Research Studies -- It's being called the largest research fraud in medical history. Dr. Scott Reuben, a former member of Pfizer's speakers' bureau, has agreed to plead guilty to faking dozens of research studies that were published in medical journals.

FDIC Opens A Massive New Office Near Chicago Just to Handle The Coming Tidal Wave of Midwest Bank Closings They are Expecting -- Is the Midwest about to see a massive wave of bank closings? That is apparently what the FDIC is expecting. The FDIC is opening up a massive new satellite office in the Chicago area that will be dedicated to managing receiverships and liquidating assets from failed Midwest banks.

Fox News Abandons Patriotic Americans By Selling Out to Muslim Interest -- Old favorites on Fox that once preached good old fashioned American values and candidates such as O’Reilly, Beck, Hannity and others are now, according to a fresh blog from Neil Turner, Citizens for the Constitution on February 15, 2010, “in the enemy camp, and will be promoting ISLAM, a political system that is abhorrent to our Constitution, as it advocates the overthrow of our Government and our Sovereignty BY FORCE!”

British Threat to Israel Over Dubai Hamas Assassination -- Britain will consider severing its intelligence-sharing agreement with Israel if Mossad agents are proved to have stolen the identities of British passport holders, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.

Can We Dispose of Radioactive Waster in Volcanoes? -- Dumping all our nuclear waste in a volcano does seem like a neat solution for destroying the roughly 29,000 tons of spent uranium fuel rods stockpiled around the world.

Biden Israel has 'Sovereign Right' to Attack Iran -- Israel is free to do whatever it deems necessary to remove the Iranian nuclear threat, US Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday.


Today in History Thursday February 18, 2010
1564 - The artist Michelanglelo died in Rome.
1735 - The first opera performed in America. The work was "Flora" (or "Hob in the Well") was presented in Charleston, SC.
1861 - Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the President of the Confederate States.
1885 - Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published in the U.S. for the first time.
1930 - Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane.
1930 - The planet Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh. The discovery was made as a result of photographs taken in January 1930.
1932 - Sonja Henie won her 6th world women’s figure skating title in Montreal, Canada.
1938 - "The Big Broadcast of 1938" was released.
1952 - Greece and Turkey became members of NATO.
1953 - "Bwana Devil" opened. It was the first three-dimensional feature.
1953 - Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz signed a contract worth $8,000,000 to continue the "I Love Lucy" TV show through 1955.
1964 - "Any Wednesday" opened at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. The play established Gene Hackman as an actor.
1970 - The Chicago Seven defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention.
1972 - The California Supreme Court struck down the state's death penalty.
1977 - The space shuttle Enterprise went on its maiden "flight" sitting on top of a Boeing 747.
1987 - The executives of the Girl Scout movement decided to change the color of the scout uniform from the traditional Girl Scout green to the newer Girl Scout blue.
1998 - In Russia, money shortages resulted in the shutting down of three plants that produced nuclear weapons.
1998 - In Nevada, two white separatists were arrested and accused of plotting a bacterial attack on subways in New York City.
2000 - The U.S. Commerce Department reported a deficit in trade goods and services of $271.3 billion for 1999. It was the largest calender-year trade gap in U.S. history.
2001 - NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was killed in a crash during the Daytona 500 race.
2003 - In South Korea, at least 120 people were killed when a man lit a fire on a subway train.

BREAKING NEWS: Pilot Angry at IRS Crashes Plane Into Austin Office Building -- An Austin, Texas, resident with an apparent grudge against the Internal Revenue Service set his house on fire Thursday and then crashed a small plane into a building housing an IRS office with nearly 200 employees, officials said.
  Manifesto of Joseph Andrew Stack -- Suicide Letter Written By Joe Stack - Austin Plane Crash Pilot


Dr. Mehmet Oz is a quack Claims Dr. Stephen Barrett --"One part of Dr. Oz is highly rational and scientific, but I think he's also loaded with near-delusional ideas and gives some very bad advice," said Dr. Stephen Barrett, a North Carolina-based psychiatrist who is vice president of the National Council Against Health Fraud, and co-author of The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America.

3 Tesla Auto workers killed in Calif. plane crash -- A small plane crashed Wednesday in a fog-shrouded East Palo Alto neighborhood, killing the three employees of electric-car manufacturer Tesla Motors on board.

TSA to Swab Passengers Hands in Search for Explosives -- The Transportation Security Administration soon will begin randomly swabbing passengers' hands at checkpoints and airport gates to test them for traces of explosives. ( And what "things" could we have on our hands that would react similar to explosive powder???)

Another Recall: Salami recall increased due to salmonella risk -- A Rhode Island meat company is recalling an additional 115,000 lbs of salami and salami products that may be contaminated with salmonella, the USDA said in a statement.

U.S. Economy Grinds To Halt As Nation Realizes Money Just A Symbolic, Mutually Shared Illusion -- "This is hilarious and more honest than what the real news media is telling us. What is sad is that PH listeners know all of this to be true, yet it's being explained through sarcasm. Actually, politicians might have credibility if they spoke the way this article reads."  Thanks Jimm!!!

Jennifer's website: Check out an amazing Power Hour listener website - http://www.theflopside.com

Quake Rocks China, Russia, North Korea Border Region -- A magnitude 6.7 earthquake rocked the region where China, Russia and North Korea meet Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. (HMMM.....)

Many patients may not fill new prescriptions says study -- Researchers found that among more than 75,000 Massachusetts patients given drug prescriptions over one year, 22 percent of the prescriptions were never filled. The rate was even higher -- 28 percent -- when the researchers looked only at first-time prescriptions.

Jobless Suffer as Corporate Cash Hit $1.18 Trillion -- A majority of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index increased cash to a combined $1.18 trillion while simultaneously reducing spending, keeping a jobs recovery on hold.

Germany Growls as Greece Balks at Immolation -- Germany's Bundestag has drafted an opinion deeming aid to Greece illegal. State bodies may not purchase the debt of another state, in whatever guise.

ABC 7 I-Team Investigates: Organic Grown Foods from China -- A 2008 article but worth a reminder. WOULD YOU BELIEVE *ORGANICALLY GROWN* IN CHINA? HOW ORGANIC CAN THAT BE? One Shopper says: “Honestly I never would have flipped it over to see that it was from China.”

USAID Steers No-Bid Haiti Contract to Politically Connected Firm of Bill Clinton Friend -- The U.S. Agency for International Development has awarded another lucrative no-bid contract, Fox News has learned -- this time to a "politically connected" lobbyist and high-profile friend of former President Bill Clinton.

Party Grid-Lock in D.C. Feeds Fear of Debt Crisis -- Senator Evan Bayh’s comments this week about a dysfunctional Congress reflected a complaint being directed at Washington with increasing frequency, and there is broad agreement among critics about Exhibit A: The unwillingness of the two parties to compromise to control a national debt that is rising to dangerous heights.

Stimulus Tracker -- Large parts of the $787 billion federal stimulus package to help the U.S. economy are being spent on entitlement programs such as unemployment benefits and Medicaid, but hundreds of billions will go toward contracts, grants and loans to restore infrastructure. Click on the map and categories below to track that spending down to the county level.

Mike Tawse's latest update of his website "My Serrapeptase Adventure" -- Prescription Free, Vaccine Free And Feeling Great!

Why chuckles greeted Hillary's Gulf tour -- American secretaries of state have been coming to the Middle East to create all sorts of complex alliances against Iran for most of my recent happy life, but every time this show passes through our region I learn again the meaning of the phrase “lack of credibility.” Hillary Clinton is the latest to undertake this mission, and like her predecessors her comments are often difficult to take seriously.

Afghanistan: If the Enemy Vanishes - Kill Civilians -- But, with very few enemy to engage, it wasn't long -- two days in fact-- before tragedy struck when a missile attack looking for Taliban to kill managed to slaughter 12 civilians, five of them children -- the very people this war was supposedly tailored to keep out of harm's way.

Graph of the Day for Feb 17, 2010 -- "This economic downturn is not your garden-variety recession. It is indeed the ‘Great Recession,' and it is far from over." Thomas F. Cooley and Peter Rupert at Forbes.

Suburban Homeless: Rising Tide of Women, Families -- Homelessness in rural and suburban America is straining shelters this winter as the economy founders and joblessness hovers near double digits—a "perfect storm of foreclosures, unemployment and a shortage of affordable housing," in one official's eyes.

US Networks and Power Grid Under (MOCK) Cyber-Attack -- Unknown hackers have taken out US cellphone networks in an ongoing cyber-attack that will soon knock out parts of the nation's electricity grid – say the officials who helped plan today's mock assault on the nation's defences.

CNN Poll: 52% Say Obama Doesn't Deserve Reelection -- 52 percent of Americans said President Barack Obama doesn't deserve reelection in 2012, according to a new poll.

Iran Defiant as Russia Joins US and France in Nuclear Sanctions Push -- The three countries raised a fresh alarm on Tuesday in a statement to the International Atomic Energy Agency which is preparing a report on Iran's compliance with atomic inspectors.

Barack Obama Faces Mid-Term Humiliation After Senate Exodus -- President Barack Obama is facing humiliation in this year's mid-term elections after a wave of desertions by Democratic senators who have retreated from tough challenges for their seats from a resurgent Republican party.

Americans Stock Up To Be Ready for End of World -- Certainly, Tom Martin agrees. He runs the American Preppers Network, which helps provide a wide range of resources. Martin, a truck driver who lives in Idaho, believes that more and more people will become preppers. "Millions of people now have the mindset that they want to be prepared for something, but don't know what to call it," he said.

Food Stamps Create Jobs ...In India -- Michele Brown has seen Americans' struggles with jobs first hand. She lives in hard-hit Florida, spent 20 years in the real estate business and recently had her days as a nanny cut back after her boss had his own hours reduced.

Greece is Ready to Explode -- Greece is a boiling pot ready to explode. Things are going to turn ugly and soon as society here is fed up with illegal immigration and the deconstruction of our founding values. And I dont mean the "orange" riots of December 2008. I mean real riots... Read how we got to this crisis...

FDA Declares War on Alternative Health -- This is the week for attacks on alternative medicine as the FDA just sent a well known and respected medical doctor Dr. Andrew Weil a threatening letter. First viewers were shocked to see the NBC corporation do a hatchet job on Suzanne Somers in her new book ” Knockout” and now they are after Dr. Andrew Weil.

Rule of Law Removes Rise Up Radio -- To me, the removal of the audio files of the January 27th Rise Up Radio program broadcast is censorship on the part of Rule of Law Radio. It appears that because Catherine Belish and John Bush have the journalistic integrity to report on less than leader-like behavior of one of the so-called patriot movement's loudest "leaders"; they pay by being censored. The report was pulled off the Internet, the story silenced. That doesn't seem too scripture-like either, now that I think about it. Is Alex Jones somehow a sacred cow to Rule of Law Radio?

Once Again Clinton Hits Out at Iran -- In my current series I have written about the military aspects of any attack on Iran by the US and or Israel. I again repeat that Israel cannot carry out this attack without the help of the US.

China To Allow Yuan to Rise -- China could be on the verge of letting the yuan appreciate in order to attempt to put a brake on growth, a leading economist has said, in a move that has spread concern in international currency markets.

Is Biden's Terror Attack Warning Related to a Possible Assassination Attempt on Obama? -- VP Joe Biden is not worried about a concerted al-Qaeda attack against the United States. He is concerned about a lone individual. “Am I less worried about an attack? No, I’m worried. Am I less worried about a catastrophic event? Yes,” Biden told CBS News.

Soros Doubled Gold ETF Investment, Buys Citi, Monsanto -- Billionaire investor George Soros' hedge fund more than doubled its bet on the price of gold during the fourth quarter, a portion of the firm's total U.S.-listed equity holdings of $8.8 billion at the end of 2009.

Former Mexican Foreign Minister Calls for North American Union -- "Well, my sense is that we’re moving closer and closer to forms of economic integration with the United States and Canada and conceivably Central America and Caribbean could become part of that in the coming years," he said. "I don’t see Mexico as a Latin American country. Too much of trade, investment, tourism, immigration, remittances, absolutely everything is concentrated exclusively with the United States. So, Mexico has to be part of a North American community, a North American union, which at some point probably should include some type of monetary union along European lines with a free flow of labor, with energy being on the table, etc."

Obama to Establish Fiscal Commission on Thursday -- "So, I will be creating this commission by executive order."

Dr. Milton: Stop Obama Care - Says Obama's Cousin -- Dr. Milton Wolf was moved to start blogging to highlight his opposition to ObamaCare. Dr. Wolf wouldn’t be the first physician to oppose Obama’s attempted take-over of the U.S. health care system. But he would be the first physician in Obama’s family to do so.

National Debt, Budget Deficit Scary Forecast for Taxpayers -- But now the problem of mounting national debt is worse than it ever has been before with -- potentially dire consequences for taxpayers, according to a report by the nonpartisan Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform.

Greece Loses EU Voting Power -- The European Union has shown its righteous wrath by stripping Greece of its vote at a crucial meeting next month, the worst humiliation ever suffered by an EU member state.

Hazelwood Man Dies After 10 Calls to 911 -- By the time his longtime girlfriend made a 10th call nearly 30 hours later, she was frantic. He wasn't breathing. He was cold to the touch.

'Dead' Columbian Woman Moves Arm at Funeral Home -- A Colombian woman declared dead of a heart attack moved one of her arms just as an undertaker was about to embalm her, doctors said Wednesday.

Celebrity Chef Beppe Bigazzi Upsets Viewers with His Cat Casserole -- A top Italian food writer has been suspended indefinitely from the country’s version of the television programme Ready Steady Cook for recommending stewed cat to viewers as a “succulent dish”.

Today in History Wednesday February 17, 2010
1817 - The first gaslit streetlights appeared on the streets of Baltimore, MD.
1865 - Columbia, SC, burned. The Confederates were evacuating and the Union Forces were moving in.
1876 - Julius Wolff was credited with being the first to can sardines.
1878 - In San Francisco, CA, the first large city telephone exchange opened. It had only 18 phones.
1924 - Swimmer Johnny Weissmuller set a world record in the 100-yard freestyle. He did it with a time of 52-2/5 seconds in Miami, FL.
1933 - "Newsweek" was first published.
1933 - Blondie Boopadoop married Dagwood Bumstead three years after Chic Young’s popular strip first debuted.
1934 - The first high school automobile driver’s education course was introduced in State College, PA.
1944 - During World War II, the Battle of Eniwetok Atoll began. U.S. forces won the battle on February 22, 1944.
1947 - The Voice of America began broadcasting to the Soviet Union.
1964 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that congressional districts within each state had to be approximately equal in population. (Westberry v. Sanders)
1965 - Comedienne Joan Rivers made her first guest appearances on "The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson" on NBC-TV.
1985 - U.S. Postage stamp prices were raised from 20 cents to 22 cents for first class mail.
1992 - In Milwaukee, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to life in prison. In November of 1994, he was beaten to death in prison.
1995 - Colin Ferguson was convicted of six counts of murder in the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings. He was later sentenced to a minimum of 200 years in prison.
1997 - Pepperdine University announced that Kenneth Starr was leaving the Whitewater probe to take a full-time job at the school. Starr reversed the announcement four days later.
2005 - U.S. President George W. Bush named John Negroponte as the first national intelligence director.

The 545 People Responsible For All of America's Woes -- 545 vs 300,000,000 EVERY CITIZEN NEEDS TO READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS JOURNALIST HAS SCRIPTED IN THIS MESSAGE. READ IT AND THEN REALLY THINK ABOUT OUR CURRENT POLITICAL DEBACLE.

Marine Corps To Use More Lethal Ammo In Afghanistan -- The Marine Corps is dropping its conventional 5.56mm ammunition in Afghanistan in favor of new deadlier, more accurate rifle rounds, and could field them at any time.

Another case of TSA overkill -- 4 year old Ryan was taking his first flight, to Walt Disney World, for his fourth birthday. It turned hectic when TSA said he wasn't allowed to pass through airport security unless he took off his leg braces? Read More...

Ron Paul: Are US Taxpayers Bailing Out Greece? -- Is it possible that our Federal Reserve has had some hand in bailing out Greece? The fact is, we don’t know, and current laws exempt agreements between the Fed and foreign central banks from disclosure or audit.

Goldman Sachs: The Greek Connection -- Goldman Sachs, the giant investment bank, is today at the centre of the row over the Greek government's finances, amid recriminations over complex financial deals that allowed the eurozone nation to skirt its debt limits.

Eurozone May Ban Goldman, Humiliate Fed -- Tonight we're reminded by Calculated Risk of yet another byproduct of the greatest looting of the underclasses in our country's history: Unemployment Benefits for 5,000,000 Americans Will Expire by June. Concurrently, it now appears that there's a good chance that, as Simon Johnson over at the Baseline Scenario blog is also telling us late tonight, Goldman-Sachs is about to get blacklisted in the Eurozone; and, in the process of that travesty, this reality will simultaneously and totally trash the Federal Reserve's remaining [read: our entire country's financial] credibility--what little that pathetic institution has left--along with 'em.

Goldman Goes Rogue –- Special European Audit To Follow.

Animal ID system halted after $142M -- The National Animal Identification System, first proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2004, has been abandoned after costing $142 million to develop. In turn, the USDA has proposed to develop a new, flexible framework for animal disease traceability in the U.S. and undertake several other actions to further strengthen its disease prevention and response capabilities.

Climate bill gets flurry of attention -- Activists on both sides of cap and trade legislation used this week's major snowstorm as a talking point.

Three Big US Firms Leave Climate Change Coalition -- Three major US companies said Tuesday they were leaving a coalition pushing for action on climate change, dealing a potential fresh blow to landmark legislation to cut carbon emissions. The companies -- oil groups ConocoPhillips and BP America and equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. -- said they backed efforts for a green economy but felt that proposed laws were unfair to them.

Nuclear Power Aids White House Climate Push -- The White House is working hard to advance climate change legislation in Congress and hopes an announcement to jumpstart the nuclear power industry will appeal to Republican skeptics, a top adviser to President Barack Obama said.

Dead Stowaway on Delta Air Flight Shows Security Risk -- A body found in the landing-gear compartment of a Delta Air Lines Inc. jet that flew to Tokyo’s Narita Airport from New York may spur a fresh review of U.S. aviation security.

TURF releases Voter Guide on transportation issues today -- Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom released its primary election Voter Guide today. The Guide reflects the candidatesʼ positions on transportation issues like the best way to fund roads as well as positions on toll roads, public private partnerships (where private corporations gain control of public infrastructure, called CDAs in Texas), and the Trans Texas Corridor. Candidates are still returning surveys, so TURF expects to update its guide prior to election day, March 2. Itʼs also posted on its web site under “Important Info.”
 * Remember Who Voted to Toll You!

Ford lays off 900 workers at Mustang plant -- DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday that it plans to cut 900 workers at the Michigan plant that makes the Mustang, which saw sales drop sharply last year, but most will get positions at other facilities.

A Thought For The Day from our friend Mike Tawse in the UK -- The Paradox Of Truth.

Bomb explodes outside JP Morgan Athens office -- "The explosion damaged the outside door and smashed some windows." No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, the official said.

What to Say to a Global Warming Alarmist -- At your next dinner party, here are some of the latest talking points to bring up when someone reminds you that Al Gore and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won Nobel prizes for their work on global warming.

No Guns Allowed, Declares City, It's a Snow Emergency -- Residents of King, N.C., were startled earlier this month when a declared snow emergency triggered a law forbidding the possession of firearms in public.

911 Third Tower - Mystery Solved -- Investigators are expected to say ordinary fires on several different floors caused the collapse.

'Influenza vaccine has no effect' says study -- There is no evidence to support the contention that the influenza vaccine administered to the over 65s is of any more use than opening the windows and washing hands, a new study from the Cochrane Collaboration claims, according to a report in the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper. The institute has concluded from the studies that there is no clear evidence to suggest that the flu jab offers any more protection than cheaper, hygiene-based methods such as hand-washing.

Full-body airport security scanners to fry travelers with ionizing radiation -- These large, expensive machines emit a hefty dose of ionic radiation that can cause DNA damage and may contribute to the development of cancer. Aside from the fact that the new protocol is grossly invasive of personal privacy and an obstruction of individual liberty, the ionizing radiation emitted from the machines threatens to damage chromosomal DNA and human cell proteins which can lead to cancer and other problems.

Can FBI Secretly Track Your Cell Phone? -- It may come as a surprise to most of the owners of the country's 277 million cell phones, but their cell-phone company retains records of where their device has been at all times—either because the phones have tiny GPS devices embedded inside or because each phone call is routed through towers that can be used to pinpoint the phones' location to within areas as small as a few hundred feet.

Dick Cheney: Obama's Worst Nightmare -- Former Vice President Dick Cheney stormed the beachheads of the liberal US media again today with a fiery performance on ABC’s This Week. He offered a stinging rebuke to current VP Joe Biden’s ludicrous claim that Iraq may end up as one of Barack Obama’s “great achievements”, as well as blistering criticism of the Obama administration’s handling of terrorist suspects. He also launched a strike on Biden’s recent comment that another 9/11 scale attack was “unlikely.”

Hollywood Director Kicked Off Plane for Being too Fat -- Smith, 39, the director of films including Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Clerks, had purchased two tickets to comply with Southwest Airlines policy that requires larger passengers to buy two seats.

Video: Police Brutality Caught on Tape -- A lawsuit has emerged after police stopped a man and allegedly allowed a dog to bit him and planted drugs on him. The incident was caught on video.

British Scientists Discover 'Secret to Ageing -- The breakthrough could also offer an explanation as to why skin ages and provide hope that new drugs could be developed to tackle diseases such as heart disease and diabetes and remove unwanted side-affects from cancer.

Sheriff Runs Campaign on Upholding US Constitution -- I began to look at how the power struggle for the upcoming sheriff’s election was heating up and I realized that I have no choice but to jump into an area where I never expected to go- politics. I am running as an Independent for the Office of Sheriff for Lake County Montana. My campaign will be unique in that I am basing the first "plank" of my campaign on upholding the Oath of Office to defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Montana from all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Biofuel Scam -- U.S. Department of Agriculture figures reveal that a quarter of U.S. cereals grown in 2009 went to biofuel, turning cheap food into expensive fuel.This pushes up food prices and damages the environment yet President Barack Obama promised ``continued investment in advanced biofuels'' in his recent State of the Union address.

Joe the Plummer Says McCain 'Screwed Up My Life' -- Mr Wurzelbacher said he now supports the Tea Party movement, but does have some respect for Barack Obama: "I think his ideology is un-American," he said, "but he's one of the more honest politicians. At least he told us what he wanted to do."

US Dollar to Stay Reserve Currency -- The Saudi central bank chief said he believes the U.S. dollar will remain the world's key foreign reserve currency, offering the endorsement at a meeting of business leaders taking stock of the global financial crisis.

China Dumping Has Begun -- China's holdings of US Treasury bonds tumbled in December, allowing Japan to take over as the top holder of American government debt, according to Treasury data released Tuesday.

The Real Reason Eric Holder is Friendly to Terrorists -- What kind of evil? Whether you try to understand it by labeling it "anti-Americanism," "leftist radicalism" or something else, in the end it boils down to this: There are people among us, including in high places – Eric Holder is far from the only one – who are somehow repelled by genuine justice and common sense, and mysteriously sympathetic toward corruption, criminality and tyranny. Until we face this admittedly painful truth, we will not truly understand much of what we see unfolding in Washington today.

BPA Plastic Linked to Aggression -- Prenatal exposure to the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA) may increase aggressive behavior in toddler girls, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Help Now and Say No to GM Alfalfa -- (NaturalNews) In 2006, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved Monsanto's genetically modified (GM), "Roundup Ready" alfalfa without conducting a proper Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

Kiss That V-Shaped Recovery Good-Bye: The U.S. "Worse Than Greece," Says Economist -- Pento is negative on America's near term economic prospects for three main reasons: too little bank lending, too few jobs and too much public and private debt. "I've never seen a v-shaped recovery occur when commercial bank lending was down 7% year over year. So, small business are not getting loans to create capital goods and to expand and hire individuals," he observes.

Obama's Challenge: Anger Is Replacing Hope -- So it was telling when Obama offered this take on Republican Scott Brown's Senate win in Massachusetts last month, one that weakened the president's hand: "The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office. People are angry, and they're frustrated."

Sweetheart Mortgage Deals That Will Infuriate You -- Next, in order to “sweeten the pot,” the FDIC stepped in and guaranteed the following: For any residential mortgages where OneWest experiences a loss, the FDIC will step in and cover anywhere from 80-95 percent of the loss. The loss is calculated using the ORIGINAL LOAN BALANCE, not the amount that OneWest paid for the loan. (This WILL make you so mad, but it explains a lot!)

Bank of America Forecloses on Houses Without Mortgages -- No home is safe from foreclosure, even the ones already paid for. Bank of America decided last year to seize a home in Spring Hill, Florida, owned by Charlie and Maria Cardoso of Massachusetts. The Cardosos had purchased the home with cash in 2005 and were renting it out to a single mother when workers hired by BofA showed up in July 2009 to kick the renter out of the home, saying the bank was foreclosing.

Dubai Debt Strategy Sends Stocks Tumbling -- Stock markets in Dubai were down this morning as investors reacted nervously to the latest proposed solution to Dubai World’s $22 billion (£14 billion) debt crisis.

Mossad Assassination Squad Used British Passports -- Six suspects in the assassination of a senior Hamas official in Dubai entered the country using British passports, it emerged yesterday.

Mortgage Delinquencies Rise for 12th Straight Quarter -- Mortgage delinquencies of 60 or more days rose for the 12th straight quarter, hitting a record high 6.89% in Q409, according to market research by credit bureau TransUnion.
 

Today in History Tuesday February 16, 2010
1741 - Benjamin Franklin published America’s second magazine, "The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle".
1804 - A raid was led by Lt. Stephen Decatur to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia. The ship had been taken by pirates.
1857 - The National Deaf Mute College was incorporated in Washington, DC. It was the first school in the world for advanced education of the deaf. T
1862 - During the U.S. Civil War, about 14,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Fort Donelson, TN.
1883 - "Ladies Home Journal" began publication.
1914 - The first airplane flight between Los Angeles and San Francisco took place.
1918 - Lithuania proclaimed its independence.
1932 - The first fruit tree patent was issued to James E. Markham for a peach tree which ripens later than other varieties.
1937 - Wallace H. Carothers received a patent for nylon. Carothers was a research chemist for Du Pont.
1938 - The U.S. Federal Crop Insurance program was authorized.
1945 - During World War II, U.S. troops landed on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines.
1946 - The first commercially designed helicopter was tested in Connecticut.
1948 - NBC-TV began airing its first nightly newscast, "The Camel Newsreel Theatre", which consisted of Fox Movietone newsreels.
1959 - Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba after the overthrow of President Fulgencio Batista.
1968 - In the U.S., the first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated in Haleyville, AL.
1972 - Wilt Chamberlain (Los Angeles Lakers) reached the 30,000-point mark in his NBA career during a game against the Phoenix Suns.
1985 - "Kojak" returned to network television after an absence of seven years with the CBS-TV special, "Kojak: The Belarus File."
1999 - A bomb exploded at the government headquarters in Uzbekistan. Gunfire followed the incident. The event apparently was an attempt on the life of President Islam Karimov.
1999 - Kurds seized embassies and held hostages across Europe following Turkey's arrest of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.
2002 - The operator of a crematory in Noble, GA, was arrested after dozens of corpses were found stacked in storage sheds and scattered around in the surrounding woods.
2005 - The NHL announced the cancellation of the 2004-2005 season due to a labor dispute. It was the first time a major sports league in North America lost an entire season to a labor dispute.

Are Sobriety Checkpoints Police Profit Centers? -- An investigation by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley with California Watch has found that impounds at checkpoints in 2009 generated an estimated $40 million in towing fees and police fines—revenue that cities divide with towing firms. In addition, police officers received about $30 million in overtime pay for the DUI crackdowns, funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety.

Vancouver Olympics Protest Takes Violent Twist -- Indeed, the games have cost the city well over $6 billion in unexpected spending, even though the initial public cost projection were less than $700 million. Added to the city's troubles was a startling lack of frozen precipitation, for which officials compensated by having over 5,000 cubic meters of snow airlifted by helicopter, requiring some 750 workers according to Reuters Canada.

Greece Debt Bailout: EU Leaders Split Over Euro Crisis -- The European single currency is facing an 'inevitable break-up' a leading French bank claimed yesterday. Strategists at Paris-based Société Générale said that any bailout of the stricken Greek economy would only provide 'sticking plasters' to cover the deep- seated flaws in the eurozone bloc.

Minot AFB prepares for biological and chemical attacks -- The simulated attack began at 11:39 in the morning with the sound of mortars hitting. Airmen at the base climbed into their chemical gear as if the attack were real in an effort to build muscle memory for an attack in the field, making preparation for the attack second nature to them.
 * Related Article: Prairie Knight Exercise 10-1 at Minot Air Force Base

State crackdown on raw milk sale stirs protest -- A crackdown on raw milk sales has drawn criticism from a legislator and a local sheriff who say the state has been too rough on family farms that sell unpasteurized dairy products. State Rep. Chris Danou (D-Trempealeau) said Monday that regulators have subjected Midvalleyvu Family Farm, in Pepin County, to harassment and excessive requests for information. The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection asked the farm's owners for bank records including signature cards, monthly statements, canceled checks and deposit tickets.

Florida's Wildlife Freezing to Death -- Manatees, sea turtles and fish in the Sunshine State are dying in record numbers because of the unusually long cold snap.

S. Indiana homeless shelter shut down, auctioned by IRS -- Jeffersonville's only homeless shelter, in fact the only homeless shelter for a 14 county area in southern Indiana, will soon close. The IRS will sell the shelter for back taxes.

Student Loan Burdens -- As Default Rates on Borrowing for Higher Education Rise, Some Borrowers See No Way Out.

Why Senator Evan Bayh's retirement is a warning sign for the country -- Sen Evan Bayh (D-IN) resignation is certainly a loss for Democrats but more importantly his resignation is a very bad sign for the country.

Wisconsin company erects billboard calling for President Obama's impeachment -- The billboard along Highway 41 in Oshkosh reads, "Impeach Obama." The tagline says: "America's small businesses are failing; help us spread the message."

Taliban’s 2nd-in-command nabbed in Pakistan -- The Taliban's top military commander has been arrested in a joint CIA-Pakistani operation in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday.

China V. World as a Trade War Comes -- “WHEN some foreign nation restrains ... the importation of some of our manufactures ... revenge naturally dictates retaliation.”

Video:  Martial Law Warning! Police Chiefs Resigning and Secret Meeting in Australia

Dr Oz: Toxins in Our Foods; Foods that Should Be Nourishing Us Could be Killing Us -- Dr. Oz says we are in a worldwide crisis due to the toxic pollution in our food supply. New studies show that we are more at risk now than ever before. The environmental crisis is now affecting our food through mercury, pesticides and bisphenol A. These toxins can wreak havoc on our bodies, causing damage to vital organs as well as cancer.

The Media Response to the Growing Influence of the 911 Truth Movement -- In the past year, in response to emerging independent science on the 9/11 attacks, nine corporate, seven public, and two independent media outlets aired analytic programs investigating the official account.

America's Shadowy Base World -- Once is an anomaly; twice is the beginning of a pattern. Right now, we’re seeing the same sequence of events for the second time in less than a decade, and it looks like the signature American way of war in our time is coming into focus.

Biden Says Expects China Support on Iran Sanctions -- Vice President Joe Biden said on Sunday the United States expects to gain China's support for imposing sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

Card Game Mocks Obama Administration -- A fresh new card game called Obama Nation from the seller Twisted Entertainment has hit the online marketplace. Obama Nation, described as a cross between Go Fish and Old Maid, calls itself the "trillion dollar bailout" game. The object of the game is to spend the U.S. government into bankruptcy.

Sarah Palin as Warrior Messiah -- Fear Palin, a warrior messiah on a mission. Sarah Palin’s speech last weekend revealed a woman driven by a sense of divine destiny.

Cap and Trade Nullification: Arizona’s “Freedom to Breathe Act” -- Known as the “Freedom to Breathe Act” -- Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen (R) of District 5 needs your help! She and Senators Gould and Grey are the primary sponsors for Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 1050. Together, they have made Arizona the fourth state to introduce Cap and Trade nullification legislation, and this bill has “teeth”!

More Homeless Americans Living in Cars and Campers -- Tim Barker never thought he'd have to live in his truck. Four months ago, the plumber was in a one-bedroom apartment in California's San Fernando Valley, with a pool and a Jacuzzi. Then, on his birthday in October, he and 199 other plumbers were laid off by their union.

US Government Abdicates -- Nevertheless, I'm very pleased by this abdication of government, by being placed beyond the power of the government. The government is making war on me, which makes it unnecessary for me to take any action with respect to the government. I don't need to overthrow my government of myself—that would be silly. Nor would I need to overthrow the United States government—it has abdicated.

Will Israel Run Obama's Red Light? -- The thinking within the Israeli military community is that when the chips are down, at the precise moment when Israel believes it has no choice but to attack Iran and no better operational window within which to do it, the US cannot stand in Israel’s way, cannot give Jerusalem a red light.

Gum Ingredient May Cause Cancer -- A substance used to make chewing gum could soon be declared toxic by the federal government after an international agency found that it might cause cancer in lab rats.

Hillary Clinton: Iran is Becoming a Dictatorship -- Iran is becoming a military dictatorship, Hillary Clinton declared today as the US prepared fresh sanctions against the Islamic Republic that would specifically target the Revolutionary Guard.

Calls in Britain to Change Anti-War Protestors with Treason -- There have been calls for the UK’s treason laws to be used against radical Muslim groups such as Islam4UK in response to their protests about the British army’s campaign in Afghanistan.

Obama Breaks Yet Another Key Campaign Promise -- In the face of rapidly growing populist anger, the Obama administration has signaled that it will fall back on a form of power well known to all successful dictators – rule by decree – and that Obama will use the very instrument he campaigned against to ram through the new world order agenda – Executive Orders, and lots of them.

Know Your Conspiracies -- Like recurring nightmares, conspiracy theories aren't necessarily gone for good just because they disappear for a while. They often come back, sometimes in slightly different forms. Their last golden age came during the middle of the Bush administration, which saw rumors from the political left about connections between the Bushes and the bin Ladens, insinuations about the military-industrial complex and the Patriot Act.

Attack on Iran's Nuclear Facilities Worries US Admiral -- The chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said on Sunday he was concerned about the consequences of any attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Indian Official Calls for Global Governance -- Mr. Narayanan, back from the Munich Security Conference, said global connectivity and inter-dependence added to the complexities and made the future more uncertain. To achieve the kind of global governance needed to deal with the formidable challenges, he said a rule-based international society was imperative. He, however, pointed out that durable peace and security could not be built without sustainable economic and social development. “Development must go hand in hand with addressing internal extremism.”

Child Mini-Marketeers Paid by Junk Food Firms to Push Products Among Their Friends -- Children are being paid up to £25 a week to promote sugary soft drinks and other products through social networking sites and playground chat.

Spying for Dollars: Military Contractors and Security Firms Reap Huge Profits -- Considering that the Pentagon hands out some $396 billion annually to contractors, outsourcing everything from "in theatre" construction in places like Afghanistan and Iraq to pricey "intelligence analysts" at secret state agencies, cash not spent on payroll taxes by dodgy firms slices another hole into the already-shredded social safety net.

Challenges to US Rebound Emerge from Overseas -- Reports on the U.S. economy this week should offer the same confusing mix of strength and fragility that has kept investors guessing, further muddling the prospects for monetary policy as a string of Federal Reserve officials hits the speaking circuit.

Two Commuter Trains Crash Head-On in Belgium -- Two commuter trains crashed head-on near Brussels during the morning rush hour on Monday, killing at least 18 people.
 

Today in History Monday February 15, 2010
1758 - Mustard was advertised for the first time in America.
1764 - The city of St. Louis was established.
1799 - Printed ballots were authorized for use in elections in the state of Pennsylvania.
1842 - Adhesive postage stamps were used for the first time by the City Dispatch Post (Office) in New York City.
1879 - U.S. President Hayes signed a bill that allowed female attorneys to argue cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
1903 - Morris and Rose Michtom, Russian immigrants, introduced the first teddy bear in America.
1932 - George Burns and Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on "The Guy Lombardo Show" on CBS radio.
1933 - U.S. President-elect Roosevelt escaped an assination attempt in Miami. Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak was killed in the attack.
1942 - During World War II, Singapore surrendered to the Japanese.
1946 - Edith Houghton, at age 33, was signed as a baseball scout by the Philadelphia Phillies becoming the first female scout in the major leagues.
1953 - The first American to win the women’s world figure skating championship was 17-year-old Tenley Albright.
1961 - A Boeing 707 crashed in Belgium killing 73 people.
1962 - CBS-TV bought the exclusive rights to college football games from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for a figure of $10,200,000.
1965 - Canada displayed its new red and white maple leaf flag. The flag was to replace the old Red Ensign standard.
1982 - During a storm, the Ocean Ranger, a drilling rig, sank off the coast of Newfoundland. 84 men were killed.
1985 - The Center for Disease Control reported that more than half of all nine-year-olds in the U.S. showed no sign of tooth decay.
1989 - After nine years of intervention, the Soviet Union announced that the remainder of its troops had left Afghanistan.
1991 - The leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland signed the Visegard agreement, in which they pledged to cooperate in transforming their counties to free-market economies.
1995 - The FBI arrested Kevin Mitnick and charged him with cracking security in some of the nation's most protected computers. He served five years in jail.
2002 - U.S. President George W. Bush approved Nevada's Yucca Mountain as a site for long-term disposal of radioactive nuclear waste.

Could You Pass the 8th Grade Exam of 1895? -- Questions: What percentage of this year's seniors and last year's high school graduates could pass the following 8th grade test required in 1895, even if the few outdated questions were modernized? How many college students could pass it? For that matter, what percentage of high school teachers could pass it? And - - what percentage of today's schools have standards for promotion from 8th grade equal to or tougher than those required in 1895?

Clinton tackles Mideast peace, Muslim ties in Gulf -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Sunday for more pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear program on a Gulf visit aimed at promoting Arab-Israeli peace and improving U.S. ties with the Islamic world.

FDIC Broke and Selling Real Estate -- How $13 Trillion in Assets is Protected by no Deposit Insurance Fund. FDIC Selling Properties to Replenish Fund and Collecting Early Fees.

Revisit The Past:
Halliburton Charged with Selling Nuclear Technologies to Iran -- According to journalist Jason Leopold, sources at former Cheney company Halliburton allege that, as recently as January of 2005, Halliburton sold key components for a nuclear reactor to an Iranian oil development company. Leopold says his Halliburton sources have intimate knowledge of the business dealings of both Halliburton and Oriental Oil Kish, one of Iran’s largest private oil companies.

US Ships Cigarettes, Bras, More to Iran -- U.S. exports to Iran grew more than tenfold during President Bush's years in office even as he accused Iran of nuclear ambitions and helping terrorists. America sent more cigarettes to Iran, at least $158 million worth under Bush, than any other products.

Accused shooter says "It didn't happen - There's no way...They are still alive" -- More details emerge from Alabama professor’s past linking her to cases.

USDA sharpens rules for organic milk, meat -- New rules mean livestock must have grazed in pastures 4 months of year. New rules announced Friday say organic milk and meat must come from livestock grazing on pasture for at least four months of the year, and that 30 percent of their feed must come from grazing. The old rules said only that animals must have “access to pasture.”
 *Related Article: Pennsylvania... Food Police Invade Non-Commercial Amish Farm!

Congressional Tug-of-War Over Veterans' Healthcare? -- The Department of Defense (DOD)’s refusal to accept responsibility for the health effects of exposure to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, has left veterans and their dependents, many without health care, out in the cold.
 *Related Article: Marine Base's Ex-Residents, Many Ill, Only NOW Learning of Toxic Water -- He saw a half-page ad from the Marine Corps, alerting former residents of Camp Lejeune, N.C., that if they lived on the base between 1957 and 1987, they might have been exposed to contaminated water.

Dueling Vice Presidents Trade Barbs -- Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and former Vice President Dick Cheney engaged in the latest round of their war of words on Sunday in dueling television appearances, in which each offered sharply different positions on national security and forceful defenses of their administrations’ policies.

49 out of 50 U.S. states show snow on Friday -- Forget red and blue — color America white. There was snow on the ground in 49 states Friday. Hawaii was the holdout.

How much does the Average American Make? Breaking Down the U.S. Household Income Numbers -- The median household income in the United States is $46,326. Here in California people have a hard time understanding that yes, 50 percent of our population live on $46,000 or less a year. Even today, all the elixirs and remedies being thrown around fail to focus on income and the big brother of income, solid employment. Dual earner households have a higher median income at $67,348.

HIGHLIGHTS-Greek FinMin unveils tax reform, wage policy -- "From 1. Jan. 2011, every transaction above 1,500 euros between natural persons and businesses, or between businesses, will not be considered legal if it is done in cash. Transactions will have to be done through debit or credit cards". Comment: Is this an implosion by design to get a cashless society?

Congressional Oversight Panel: Commercial Real Estate Losses and the Risk to Financial Stability -- The Congressional Oversight Panel's February oversight report, "Commercial Real Estate Losses and the Risk to Financial Stability," expresses concern that a wave of commercial real estate loan losses over the next four years could jeopardize the stability of many banks, particularly community banks. Nearly half are at present "underwater," meaning the borrower owes more on the loan than the underlying property is worth.
 * The actual report is more chilling than the press release: http://cop.senate.gov/documents/cop-021110-report.pdf

Regulator waffles on bisphenol A -- Eight days after chemical industry lobbyists met with Obama administration officials, federal regulators delayed action on including bisphenol A in a new effort to better regulate dangerous chemicals.

Organizing for America - the website of Barack Obama -- BLOG: Just 24 hours Organizing for America announced the "You fight, we'll fight" campaign, OFA supporters have already committed more than 3 million hours of their time to help candidates who fight for health reform -- and that number is continuing to grow. In fact, OFA supporters smashed through the initial goal of 1,000,000 hours pledged within hours of the announcement. Today those commitments are continuing to roll in.

Obama's Plan Will Up Cost of Power, Gas and Food -- Consumers, get ready for a massive increase in your power bills, gasoline prices and food costs if President Barack Obama’s energy and economic proposals pass the House and Senate.

Obama Making Plans to Use Executive Order -- With much of his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities. Note Israeli blue tie and background. Interesting colors to announce exec orders.

Obama a Marxist in College? -- Drew had an encounter with Obama to specifically discuss Marxism. He was dating a girl who knew Barack Obama. His girlfriend came home one day excited wanting Drew to meet this man, knowing their philosophical views were similar. They eventually went out to dinner, drinks, partied, and discussed each other's Marxist views. Drew discusses more about the conversation in the video interview below.

US Economy Growing; Dollar Good for Saudi -- The United States economy should keep growing this year despite a fragile global recovery, a top Treasury official said at an economic conference on Sunday.

Bank Of America The Least Trusted Bank -- Customers of the biggest banks in the United States are the least likely to believe their financial institution does what's best for them as opposed to what's best for the bottom line, according to a new report from Forrester Research

Prepare to Pay More for Poultry: Chicken Farms Crushed by Snow -- Snowstorms that hit the Eastern Seaboard this week could mean shortages and high prices at the grocery store -- not just for milk and bread, but for chicken. At least a dozen poultry houses at chicken farms on Maryland's Eastern Shore and in Delaware, as well as one in Shenandoah, Va., suffered collapsed roofs due to heavy snow over the weekend, causing damage in the millions of dollars. And that was before the week's second storm, which dumped around another foot or more on the region. Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Ed Kee predicted far more damage to come this week. **Take this coupled with the disaster in the south due to the weather - freezing tempts and snow - and we will see VERY high prices soon in the markets. This will add to our woes concerning availability of food and prices people will have to pay and the economy worsens. Not good.**

More Than a Million Remain With No Shelter -- It was a flash flood, and a portent of the rains and devastation to come. The day after, Bernard Seraphin was collecting clothes for her three children from the remains of her house on Port-au-Prince's Route ­de Delmas 30.

Bribes For Taking Gardasil Jab -- Teenage girls are being rewarded with shopping vouchers for having the cervical cancer jab.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York Subpoenaed in AIG Fraud Case -- Here’s the latest in the question of the New York Fed, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and the AIG bailout, as we’ve covered here at Big Government before.

Americans Stock Up to Be Ready for End of the World -- Tess Pennington, 33, is a mother of three children, and lives in the sprawling outskirts of Houston, Texas. But she is not taking the happy safety of her suburban existence lightly. Like a growing army of fellow Americans, Pennington is learning how to grow her own food, has stored emergency rations in her home and is taking courses on treating sickness with medicinal herbs.

Spectators Hurt by Rogue Wave at Surfing Event -- Unexpected waves breaking on shore Saturday swept dozens of spectators from their perches on the man-made jetty at the southern tip of Mavericks beach.

Weather Halts Alaska Search for Avalanche Victim -- An avalanche around noon Saturday near Seward buried Jim Bowles, head of ConocoPhillips Alaska, and Alan Gage, part of the company's capital projects team in Anchorage.

Global Warming Debate Heats in Wake of Record Snowstorms -- Scientists and politicians on both sides of the climate change debate have been pointing to the record-breaking snowstorms in the Mid-Atlantic states to promote their theories on the earth's changing temperatures -- and the debate is getting downright nasty.

Climategate U-Turn: Astonishment as Scientist at Center of Global Warming Email Row Admits Data Not Well Organized -- The academic at the centre of the ‘Climategate’ affair, whose raw data is crucial to the theory of climate change, has admitted that he has trouble ‘keeping track’ of the information.

Double CME Explodes Off of the Sun -- This morning, Feb. 14th, one and possibly two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) billowed over the sun's western limb.

Failure of Health Care Overhaul Will Add More Woes -- It's anybody's guess whether Obama's health remake will survive in Congress, but there's no doubting the consequences if lawmakers fail to address the problems of costs, coverage and quality.

E. Coli Fears Spark Massive Meat Recall -- MONTEBELLO, California - A Southern California meatpacking firm has significantly expanded its recall of ground beef and veal that might be contaminated with E. coli.

Beware: Aspartame Has Been Renamed "Aminosweet" (a repeat but worth mentioning again -- In response to growing awareness about the dangers of artificial sweeteners, what does the manufacturer of one of the world's most notable artificial sweeteners do? Why, rename it and begin marketing it as natural, of course. This is precisely the strategy of Ajinomoto, maker of aspartame, which hopes to pull the wool over the eyes of the public with its rebranded version of aspartame, called "AminoSweet".

Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Military Operations Against the Kafirs, Munifiqs, and the Worroshippers of Idols -- 19 American invading terrorists killed, 7 injured in a martyrdom operation in Kandahar About nineteen US invading terrorists were killed and seven wounded in a martyrdom operation carried out on U.S. invading terrorists in eastern Kandahar, on Saturday morning, according to a recent report from Kandahar province.

Online Voyeurs Flock to the Random Thrills of Chatroulette -- A new website that has been described as "surreal", "addictive" and "frightening" is proving a sensation around the world – and attracting a reputation as a haven for no-holds-barred, explicit material. (Creepy and perverted - what happened to old-fashioned dating? What happened to dinner and a movie where the man held the doors for his date?)

Control Freaks Want Web Licenses to To End Bloggers Anonymity -- The American blogosphere is going increasingly “viral” about a proposal advanced at the recent meeting of the Davos Economic Forum by Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer for Microsoft, that an equivalent of a “driver’s licence” should be introduced for access to the web. This totalitarian call has been backed by articles and blogs in Time magazine and the New York Times.

Greece Debt Bailout: EU Leaders Split Over Euro Crisis -- The European single currency is facing an 'inevitable break-up' a leading French bank claimed yesterday. Strategists at Paris-based Société Générale said that any bailout of the stricken Greek economy would only provide 'sticking plasters' to cover the deep- seated flaws in the eurozone bloc.

Spanish Intelligence Probing Debt Attacks -- Spain's intelligence services are investigating the role of investors and media in debt market turbulence over the last few weeks, El Pais reported on Sunday.


Today in History Friday February 12, 2010
1541 - The city of Santiago, Chile was founded.
1554 - Lady Jane Grey was beheaded after being charged with treason. She had claimed the throne of England for only nine days.
1733 - Savannah, GA, was founded by English colonist James Oglethorpe.
1870 - In the Utah Territory, women gained the right to vote.
1878 - Frederick W. Thayer patented the baseball catcher’s mask.
1879 - The first artificial ice rink opened in North America. It was at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY.
1880 - The National Croquet League was organized in Philadelphia, PA.
1892 - In the U.S., President Lincoln's birthday was declared to be a national holiday.
1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded.
1915 - The cornerstone of the Lincoln Memorial was laid in Washington, DC.
1918 - All theatres in New York City were shut down in an effort to conserve coal.
1924 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge made the first presidential political speech on radio.
1924 - "The Eveready Hour" became radio’s first sponsored network program. The National Carbon Company was the first sponsor of a network show.
1940 - Mutual Radio presented the first broadcast of the radio play "The Adventures of Superman."
1973 - The State of Ohio went metric, becoming the first in the U.S. to post metric distance signs.
1973 - American prisoners of war were released for the first time during the Vietnam conflict.
1985 - Johnny Carson surprised his audience by shaving the beard he had been wearing on "The Tonight Show."
1998 - A U.S. federal judge declared that the presidential line-item veto was unconstitutional.
1999 - U.S. President Clinton was acquitted by the U.S. Senate on two impeachment articles. The charges were perjury and obstruction of justice.
2001 - The space probe NEAR landed on the asteroid Eros. It was the first time that any craft had landed on a small space rock.
2002 - Kenneth Lay, former Enron CEO, exercised his constitutional rights and refused to testify to the U.S. Congress about the collapse of Enron.
2002 - Pakistan charged three men in connection with the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi.
2003 - The U.N. nuclear agency declared North Korea in violation of international treaties. The complaint was sent to the Security Council.
2004 - Mattel announced that "Barbie" and "Ken" were breaking up. The dolls had met on the set of their first television commercial together in 1961.

Frankincense: Could it be a cure for cancer? -- The gift given by the wise men to the baby Jesus probably came across the deserts from Oman. The BBC's Jeremy Howell visits the country to ask whether a commodity that was once worth its weight in gold could be reborn as a treatment for cancer. Oman's Land of Frankincense is an 11-hour drive southwards from the capital, Muscat.
  * Related Article: Frankincense 'can ease arthritis'

Judicial Watch Announces List of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" for 2009 -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2009 list of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians."

Journalists Detained, Deported at Canadian Border -- Rochester Indymedia journalist, Dawn Zuppelli, was interrogated and detained for over an hour by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) on her way to cover protests at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC.

700 Military Bases Spread Across Afghanistan -- Nearly a decade after the Bush administration launched its invasion of Afghanistan, TomDispatch offers the first actual count of American, NATO, and other coalition bases there, as well as facilities used by the Afghan security forces.

Claim: Blackwater Billed US for ‘Morale Welfare Recreation’ Provided by Prostitute -- Two former employees have accused Blackwater Worldwide of defrauding the government for years with phony billing, including charging for a prostitute, alcohol and spa trips.

Why the EU Had to Bail Out Greece -- Are we witnessing the first, nervous steps by the euro currency countries to move to a European "economic government"?

A Greek crisis is coming to America -- For the world's biggest economy, the US, the day of reckoning still seems reassuringly remote. The worse things get in the eurozone, the more the US dollar rallies as nervous investors park their cash in the "safe haven" of American government debt. This effect may persist for some months, just as the dollar and Treasuries rallied in the depths of the banking panic in late 2008. Yet even a casual look at the fiscal position of the federal government (not to mention the states) makes a nonsense of the phrase "safe haven." US government debt is a safe haven the way Pearl Harbor was a safe haven in 1941.

China Urges US to Cancel Obama-Dalai Lama Meeting -- The White House had said on Thursday that Obama would meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader on February 18, despite China's repeated warnings that such talks would hurt ties.

TEXAS, NEW MEXICO -- How are you feeling? Any health symptoms since Feb. 10?

Does "thinking outside the box" drive you mad? -- Nearly two-thirds of them said their stress levels had been increased by office irritations and one in 10 had left a job because of them. "Thinking outside the box" and "Let's touch base" were the most hated buzz phrases among the 1,836 people surveyed by Opinium research.

National Pandemic Flu Service Closed --Yesterday, it was announced that The National Pandemic Flu Service is to close, due to a drop in the number of swine flu cases and in the number of people using the service. (Thanks to Mike Tawse)

Feds Push for Tracking Cell Phones -- In that case, the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that "a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records" that show where a mobile device placed and received calls.

TGF's - NASA - Are TGF's Hazardous to Air Travel -- Instruments scanning outer space for cataclysmic explosions called gamma-ray bursts are detecting intense flashes of gamma-ray energy right here in the friendly skies of Earth. These terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, or TGFs, blast through thunderstorms close to the altitude where commercial airliners fly.

Paramilitary Thugs Steal Private Arms Collection -- Since it is unacceptable for people to believe that government agents will carry out paramilitary raids to confiscate firearms, a paramilitary force was sent to Girard’s home to confiscate his firearms.

German halt, Italian reverse hit euro zone recovery -- Forecasters for now believe that the euro zone will have a weaker recovery than the United States this year, just as it fell harder than America in 2009. Part of Europe's problem is that it needs a reasonable pace of economic growth to help limit the surge in sovereign debt caused by the recession of 2008-2009.

Chris Christie declares fiscal 'state of emergency,' paving way for N.J. spending cuts -- Calling New Jersey on "the edge of bankruptcy," Gov. Chris Christie today declared a fiscal emergency, seizing broad powers to freeze aid to more than 500 school districts and cut from higher education, hospitals and the Public Advocate. "New Jersey has been steaming toward financial disaster for years," the Republican governor said in a speech to both houses of the Legislature. "The people elected us to end the talk and to act decisively. Today is the day for the complaining to end and for statesmanship to begin."

Geithner, Bernanke, and Mr. Market All Say Buy Gold Stocks Now -- At this point, the short-term outlook for gold isn’t looking too bright. Since the December highs, the price of gold has fallen more than 10% from recent highs. Meanwhile, the largest gold stocks are down more than 25%. The medium and long-term outlook, however, hasn’t changed much at all. Consumer credit is declining signaling Bernanke will keep interest rates far too low for far too long. The U.S. government seems over-confident about the tremendous appetite from a government whose debt is growing at nearly three times rate as GDP.The combination of bearish short-term sentiment and outstanding long-term fundamentals are likely creating another opportunity in gold stocks.

Police Chiefs Resigning -- WHY? Does anyone find this weird? This report was dated on Feb.7th, 2010.

Marvel Comics Depiction of Anti-Tax Protestors Inspires Anger, Apology -- Since 1941, Captain America has been one of the most popular comic book characters around. The fictional super-patriot fought Nazis during World War II, took on those who burned the American flag during the Vietnam era, and raked in hundreds of millions of dollars for Marvel Comics along the way. Now, the appearance that he is taking on the Tea Party Movement in a storyline about investigating white supremacists has forced Marvel to apologize for the comic hero.

Obama Open on Middle Class Tax Increases -- President Barack Obama said he is “agnostic” about raising taxes on households making less than $250,000 as part of a broad effort to rein in the budget deficit.

TARP Panel: Small Banks Are Facing Loan Woes -- Nearly 3,000 small U.S. banks could be forced to dramatically curtail their lending because of losses on commercial real-estate loans, a congressional inquiry concluded.

Fed in Talks With Money Market Funds to Help Drain $1 Trillion -- The Federal Reserve is in talks with money-market mutual funds on agreements to help drain as much as $1 trillion from the financial system as policy makers prepare for the first interest-rate increase since June 2006, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Congressional Panel Deeply Concerned Over Commercial Real Estate -- Over the next few years, a wave of commercial real estate loan failures could threaten America‘s already-weakened financial system. The Congressional Oversight Panel is deeply concerned that commercial loan losses could jeopardize the stability of many banks, particularly the nation‘s mid-size and smaller banks, and that as the damage spreads beyond individual banks that it will contribute to prolonged weakness throughout the economy.

Joe Biden Rules Out Large Scale Terrorist Attack on US -- Vice President Joe Biden made his latest eyebrow-furrowing prediction Wednesday night, declaring confidently that another Sept. 11-size terror attack is “unlikely” in the U.S., despite signs that Al Qaeda and and other terrorist groups are actively planning more attacks.

Insiders, Neocons Plan Simulated Cyber Attack -- The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) plans to simulate a cyber attack on America’s infrastructure on February 16, 2010. Dubbed Cyber ShockWave, the simulation “will provide an unprecedented look at how the government would develop a real-time response to a large-scale cyber crisis affecting much of the nation,” according to a BPC press release issued today.

Sign along Kenya highway -- Welcome to Kenya - "Birthplace of Barack Obama"

Health-care plan redoubles 'marriage penalty' -- Congressional proposals could penalize couples $10,000 for saying 'I do'. Bills pending in Congress that would nationalize health care by setting up mandatory insurance purchases and fines for not complying could penalize married couples $10,000 annually and are a direct attack on marriage, families and the church because of their discriminatory provisions, according to a congressional candidate.

Former US President Bill Clinton Undergoes Heart Operation -- NEW YORK: Former US president Bill Clinton was hospitalized Thursday with chest pains, US media reported.

Shreveport Child Diagnosed with Rare Disease -- Hannah got an swine flu shot in early December. The Pham family is worried that's what caused the illness, but the CDC hasn't reported any cases of Tranverse Myelitis following swine flu shots.

Mumps Outbreak Spreads Among People Who Got Vaccinated against Mumps -- Reality tells a different story, however: It is the vaccinated people who are causing these outbreaks and spreading disease!

Senators Unveil Long Awaited Jobs Bill -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pared back a wide range of job-creating proposals to craft a relatively modest $15 billion measure focused on tax breaks and construction, with the aim of overcoming the partisan gridlock that has stalled many major initiatives in this session of Congress.

Wrong Kind of Buzz Over Google Buzz -- However, what tech pundits have mostly overlooked is a peculiar privacy choice made by Google's designers: unless you tinker with Buzz's settings, a partial list of your most-emailed Gmail contacts might be automatically made public (see this post over at Silicon Alley Insider; it appears that contacts are made public to those who already had a Google Profile account before Buzz; also see this excellent and very angry post at CNet for additional background).

Reid's Office Wins Best Lie of the Year -- Judy Wallman, a professional genealogy researcher in southern California, was doing some personal work on her own family tree. She discovered that Congressman Harry Reid's great-great uncle, Remus Reid, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. Both Judy and Harry Reid share this common ancestor.

Climate-Change Debate Is Heating Up in Deep Freeze -- As millions of people along the East Coast hole up in their snowbound homes, the two sides in the climate-change debate are seizing on the mounting drifts to bolster their arguments.

De Facto Military Occupation of Pennsylvania -- WPXI in Pittsburgh reported on February 9 that the Army National Guard will remain in the city “indefinitely” in response to the weather. “The guardsmen are paired up with police and medics across town, turning dozens of humvees into welcome wagons,” the news channel reported.

Carbon Fast for Lent -- Tearfund, a UK-based religious organization working in 64 countries around the globe, is calling on its supporters (and all Christians) to do a Carbon Fast for Lent, the 40-day liturgical season of fasting and prayer prior to Easter. From February 25th to April 11th, the religious organization is encouraging its supporters to undertake a daily eco-action to reduce their carbon footprint.

Bill Nye the Science Guy: Climate Change Deniers are Unpatriotic -- Nye, however, jacked his assessment of meteorology into the realm of partisanship, scoffing on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show on Wednesday night that climate change deniers are "unpatriotic" in parroting simple minded, anti-science propaganda.

Claws bared in row over shelter for Auschwitz cat -- A cat living at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz has caused fur to fly between an animal care group and Polish authorities refusing to allow a shelter to be built for it. The cat is believed to have arrived at the camp about six months ago and started to attract the attention of visitors after Polish newspapers and websites reported on the animal's attachment to the site and the campaign to build a shelter.


Today in History Thursday February 11, 2010
1752 - The Pennsylvania Hospital opened as the very first hospital in America.
1878 - The first U.S. bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, was formed.
1929 - The Lateran Treaty was signed. Italy now recognized the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City.
1936 - Pumping began the process to build San Francisco's Treasure Island.
1937 - General Motors agreed to recognize the United Automobile Workers Union, thereby ending the current sit-down strike against them.
1943 - General Dwight David Eisenhower was selected to command the allied armies in Europe.
1945 - During World War II, the Yalta Agreement was signed by U.S. President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
1957 - The NHL Players Association was formed in New York City.
1958 - Ruth Carol Taylor was the first black woman to become a stewardess by making her initial flight.
1960 - Jack Paar walked off while live on the air on the "Tonight Show" with four minutes left. He did this in response to censors cutting out a joke from the show the night before.
1968 - The new 20,000 seat Madison Square Garden officially opened in New York. This was the fourth Garden.
1972 - McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. and Life magazine canceled plans to publish an autobiography of Howard Hughes. The work turned out to be fake.
1979 - Nine days after the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran (after 15 years in exile) power was seized by his followers.
1984 - The tenth Space Shuttle mission returned to Earth safely.
1989 - Rev. Barbara C. Harris became the first woman to be consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church.
1990 - Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity.
1990 - In Tokyo, Japan, James "Buster" Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson in the tenth round to win the heavyweight championship.
1993 - Janet Reno was appointed to the position of attorney general by U.S. President Clinton. She was the first female to hold the position.
2000 - The space shuttle Endeavor took off. The mission was to gather information for the most detailed map of the earth ever made.
2000 - Great Britain suspended self-rule in Northern Ireland after the Irish Republican Army (IRA) failed to begin decommissioning (disarming) by a February deadline.
2002 - The six stars on NBC's "Friends" signed a deal for $24 million each for the ninth and final season of the series.

Recent CEO/CFO/Other Resignments (150+) -- Compiled list of Resignations from top corporations and other various fields. (The substance of the article is page 25-29 for printing).

POLL: 75% 'Angry' at Government -- Three-quarters of the nation’s voters are “angry” at the federal government’s policies, according to a new Rasmussen Reports survey out Monday.

Fresh Blizzard Pummels East Coast -- Snow was falling from northern Virginia to Connecticut by early Wednesday. The storm started in the Midwest, where it was blamed for three traffic accident deaths in Michigan on Tuesday. The Weather Channel reported early Wednesday that blizzard warnings had been issued for New York City and parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. New York City was expected to get up to 12 inches of snow.

VIDEO: Snow Grounds Thousands of Flights

Cold Storm Drubs Southern California -- A cold storm belted Southern California with rain and snow Tuesday, flooding streets and leaving residents in foothill neighborhoods wondering whether saturated hillsides would withstand the latest onslaught of wet weather.

Possible cancer cure found in blushwood shrub -- Scientists have identified a compound in the fruit of the native blushwood shrub that appears to "liquefy and destroy cancer with no side-effects", according to latest research.

Army National Guard In Pittsburgh For Recovery Efforts -- Hundreds of soldiers from the Army National Guard arrived in Pittsburgh on Sunday and are staying in the city indefinitely. “This mission was approved by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agent, so we work hand-in-hand, several military relations there,” said Grey Berrier. “I know there’s a lot of concern, if you will, about this impending snowstorm that may be coming in on the heels.”

Arsonists on Rampage in Texas as 11 Churches Burn -- Residents of eastern Texas are on edge, worried in the wake of what may be a serial arsonist on the loose with an appetite for burning churches to the ground.

Earthquake Shakes Chicagoland -- A 3.8 magnitude earthquake rattled Chicago-area homes early Wednesday, and woke up residents from Indiana to Wisconisn, at around The quake struck at 3:59 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

World bankers meet in Sydney as recovery fears intensify -- THE world's top central bankers began arriving in Australia for high-level talks as renewed fears about the strength of the global economic recovery gripped world share markets. Representatives from 24 central banks and monetary authorities, including the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank, landed in Sydney to meet tomorrow at an undisclosed location.

PHOTOS: New Aerial Photos of 911 Released
 * Related: Dramatic images of World Trade Centre collapse on 9/11 released for first time

The Dumping Begins: Chinese Reserve Managers Notified That Any NON-USG Guaranteed Securities Must be Divested -- It appears that this time China's posturing is for real. Following up on our earlier post that Chinese military officials want to "punish" America by selling Treasuries, Asia Times Online is reporting that an explicit directive by the Chinese government has notified reserve managers to sell all risky US assets, including asset backed and corporates, and just hold on to explicitly guaranteed Treasuries and Agency debt. And from following TIC data we know that China's enthusiasm for MBS/Agencies over the past year has been matched solely by that of one Bill Gross.

Haiti judge will free 10 Americans -- A Haitian judge has decided to release 10 U.S. missionaries accused of kidnapping 33 children and trying to spirit them out of the earthquake-stricken country, a judicial source told Reuters Wednesday.

Stop Selling Unlicensed Natural Health Remedies says pharmacy regulators-- Makers of natural-health products say they are bracing for widespread layoffs and millions of dollars in losses after Canada's pharmacy regulators issued a surprise directive recently urging druggists to stop selling unlicensed natural remedies.

Defibrillator Safety Questioned -- Two defibrillator brands made by Boston Scientific Corp. have a design flaw that can result in the devices delivering potentially life-threatening shocks to the hearts of patients, authors of a medical journal article say. The defect can cause the Cognis and Teligen brand defibrillators to deliver the shocks when they aren't needed in the many patients who get the devices implanted just under the skin, according to an article in the journal HeartRhythm. The potential malfunction, while appearing to be extremely rare, could in theory affect any of the more than 90,000 devices implanted, said the authors.

Arizona quits Western climate endeavor -- Arizona will no longer participate in a groundbreaking attempt to limit greenhouse-gas emissions across the West, a change in policy by Gov. Jan Brewer that will include a review of all the state's efforts to combat climate change. Brewer stopped short of pulling Arizona out of the multistate coalition that plans to regulate greenhouse gases starting in 2012. But she made it clear in an executive order that Arizona will not endorse the emission-control plan or any program that could raise costs for consumers and businesses.

Investigators Declare Obama Never Attended Columbia University -- American Grand Jury has archived extensive records over the past year which we used in our jury hearings. We now believe beyond a reasonable doubt that Obama is not a “natural born” citizen and it is even possible that he may be an illegal alien. We also have records showing the Democratic National Convention fraudulently declared Obama constitutionally eligible while never vetting the “natural born” requirement with the electorate. Now, new evidence has come to light whereby Dr. James Manning has declared that Obama never attended Columbia University [New York].

For Old, Rare Plants, Gardeners Turn to Seed Exchanges -- Garden catalogs might top 100 pages of flower, vegetable and herb varieties. For some gardeners—where the line between dedication and obsession can sometimes blur—that's not enough.

Death Toll 230,000 in Haiti -- Haiti's government has raised the death toll for the Jan. 12 earthquake to 230,000 from 212,000 and says more bodies remain uncounted.

MSG-Like 'Senomyx" Being Hidden in Food -- If you haven't heard about Senomyx think of a flavor enhancer like MSG. The bad news doesn't stop there, but the FDA says they don't have to label it. It comes under artificial flavors. Of course, we've told all consumers never to use processed foods, and especially anything that says artificial and/or natural flavors which is where they hid aspartame and MSG.

People Admitted to Hospital for Obesity up 60 Percent in a Year -- The number of people admitted to hospital for obesity shot up almost 60 per cent last year while the number having weight-loss surgery rose 55 per cent, new figures showed.

Teenage Girls Live on Junk Food -- Teenage girls are eating a worse diet than they did ten years ago and putting their long-term health at risk, a national nutrition survey suggests.

In the Future of Eating, Could We Put Ourselves on the Menu -- Whether we are headed for another great ergonomic leap forward, or refrigerators fully stocked with (legal) human meat, one thing is for certain — when it comes to predictions, it's the everyday things that are usually the hardest to get right. (Can anyone say "Soylent Green?")

Yellowstone Update -- The recent earthquake swarms at Yellowstone's "Super Volcano" are the longest spate of these swarms to hit Yellowstone in recent memory. The USGS is downplaying these earthquake swarms as "normal," and it's possible they are. The truth is that our knowledge of Super Volcanoes is extremely limited; there has not been an eruption of a Super Volcano in recorded history, and as dangerous as this phenomena is (Super Volcanoes), there is no established scientific record that scientists can use to properly evaluate whether or not an eruption is eminent.

China Threatens World Health by Unleashing Waves of Super Bugs -- Studies in China show a “frightening” increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus bacteria, also know as MRSA . There are warnings that new strains of antibiotic-resistant bugs will spread quickly through international air travel and international food sourcing.

Animal Shelters Face Shortage of Supplies as Housing Crisis Results in Increase in Abandoned Pets -- You can find stories about the thousands of animals displaced as a result of foreclosure and the housing crisis but it’s not talked about as much as it should be. The increase in abandoned animals is straining the resources of community animal shelters.

Time's Up to Stop Iran's Nuclear Bomb -- It’s not that unusual to hear hostile remarks directed at the United States from the Iranian regime -- but lately, it’s been getting not only personal but frankly contemptuous. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki recently let it be known that “we do not take [U.S. Secretary of State] Mrs. Clinton seriously.” Hostility is normal between mortal enemies. Contempt means they think we’re so weak, we don’t even rate the effort hostility would take.

VIDEO: General Petraeus' Address Preempted by student Protests

Video - Ron Paul "I wouldn't be surprised if the FED is involved in the Greece bailout."

Video - Ron Paul "Republicans want a neo-con influence in the Tea Party Movement."

Marvel Comics: Captain America Says Tea Parties are Dangerous and Racist -- Marvel Comic’s Captain America is the mightiest soldier with the super powerful secret soldier formula that makes him a super man. Sadly, this muscle bound hero that took on the whole Nazi army during WWII seems to be afraid of those American people who’ve joined the Tea Party movement. Not only is Cappy quaking in his little red booties, but he’s sure that the Tea Party folks are dangerous racists, too.

Globalization Is Killing The Globe: Return to Local Economies -- Globalization is killing Europe, just as it’s already wiped out much of the American middle class. Spain and Greece are facing immediate crises that many other European nations see on the near horizon: aging boomer workers are retiring with healthy benefit packages, but the younger workers who are paying for those benefits aren’t making anything close to the income (or, therefore, paying the taxes) that their parents did.

Umami: Tubes of Taste No 5 Set to Revolutionize Cooking with Fifth Taste -- Umami was discovered 102 years ago by a Japanese scientist but until now has only graced the shelves of Michelin-starred restaurants. It is the secret to making anything taste fantastic, so much so it is known as the 'fifth taste'.
 * Umami definition

Hillary's Eligibility Challenged in Supreme Court -- A brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court by Judicial Watch, which investigates and prosecutes government corruption, questions whether members of the "political branches of the government" can "evade the clear and precise language of a provision of the Constitution through the use of a legislative 'fix.'" The dispute is over former Sen. Hillary Clinton's eligibility to be Secretary of State.

China Dumps US Asset Backeds and Corporates -- Dollar-denominated risk assets, including asset-backed securities and corporates, are no longer wanted at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), nor at China’s large commercial banks. The Chinese government has ordered its reserve managers to divest itself of riskier securities and hold only Treasuries and US agency debt with an implicit or explicit government guarantee. This already has been communicated to American securities dealers, according to market participants with direct knowledge of the events.

Citi Plans Crisis Derivatives -- Credit specialists at Citi are considering launching the first derivatives intended to pay out in the event of a financial crisis. The firm has drawn up plans for a tradable liquidity index, known as the CLX, on which products could be structured that allow buyers to hedge a spike in funding costs.

Bernake Says Trial Reserve Drains May Launch Exit -- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve could begin pulling back its unprecedented stimulus for the U.S. economy by first removing some cash from the financial system and then raising interest rates, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday.

Archaeological Findings Unveil 1,500 Jerusalem Road -- The Israel Antiquities Authority and Jerusalem Development Authority on Wednesday unveiled archaeological findings from the Byzantine era that confirm an ancient map of Jerusalem.

Think the PIGS Are in Trouble? These 7 US States Could be Headed for Something Worse -- The inevitable coming of the sovereign debt panic finally engulfed Europe this week as the derisively (or perhaps affectionately) named PIGS spilled their slop on the continent. But Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain are hardly worthy of so much attention. In truth, they are little more than the currently favored proxies among the leveraged speculator community (cough) for the larger problem of all sovereign debt.

FEAR DAVOS 2010, Into the Bomb Shelter -- Their concern is genuine, similar to that of plantation owners whose slaves are falling prey to disease and death brought on by age and overwork. That such was inevitable did not occur to them so inured were they from living off the labor of others; and, now, while their dilemma is obvious the solution is not. Were it not for the trillions of dollars of government aid in 2009, the global banking system would have already collapsed and the world would again be deep in the throes of another depression, where credit-driven demand sinks in an ocean of debt and settles on the bottom where it slowly drowns. But the collapse has not been averted, it has only been delayed. The trillions of dollars spent to postpone the day of reckoning were borrowed and soon the bill will be proffered and payment demanded for having done so.
 

Today in History Wednesday February 10, 2010
1763 - The Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War. In the treaty France ceded Canada to England.
1846 - Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began their exodus to the west from Illinois.
1863 - In New York City, two of the world’s most famous midgets, General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren were married.
1863 - The fire extinguisher was patented by Alanson Crane.
1870 - The YWCA was founded in New York City.
1879 - The electric arc light was used for the first time.
1897 - "The New York Times" began printing "All the news that's fit to print" on their front page.
1923 - Ink paste was manufactured for the first time by the Standard Ink Company.
1925 - The first waterless gas storage tank was placed in service in Michigan City, IN.
1933 - The singing telegram was introduced by the Postal Telegraph Company of New York City.
1934 - The first imperforated, ungummed sheets of postage stamps were issued by the U.S. Postal Service in New York City.
1935 - The Pennsylvania Railroad began passenger service with its electric locomotive. The engine was 79-1/2 feet long and weighed 230 tons.
1942 - The Normandie, the former French liner, capsized in New York Harbor. The day before the ship had caught fire while it was being fitted for the U.S. Navy.
1967 - The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment required the appointment of a vice-president when that office became vacant and instituted new measures in the event of presidential disability.
1997 - The U.S. Army suspended its top-ranking enlisted soldier, Army Sgt. Major Gene McKinney following allegations of sexual misconduct.
1998 - A man became the first to be convicted of committing a hate crime in cyberspace. The college dropout had e-mailed threats to Asian students.
1998 - Voters in Maine repealed a 1997 gay rights law. Maine was the first state to abandone such legislation.
2005 - North Korea publicly announced for the first time that it had nuclear arms.
2009 - A Russian and an American satellite collide over Siberia.

Debut of Cabool's Community Dollar -- Deep in the Missouri Ozarks, a new community currency has appeared to meet the needs of the people. Joshua Deatherage, a local contractor who wears a half-dozen hats to feed his family of four children in Cabool, Missouri, is responsible for creating the new silver based Community Dollar. And it's neither a Jed and Boys nor a Liberty Dollar venture.  Website: http://www.communitydollar.net

Troops Randomly Patrol Streets In Pittsburgh, Respond To “Domestic Disputes” -- Americans are once again being conditioned to accept the sight of troops patrolling the streets and dealing with domestic law enforcement issues under the pretext of National Guard soldiers “helping” recovery efforts after the deluge of snow that has hit the East coast, the same soldiers who just months ago were also “helping” authorities to brutalize innocent people during the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.

Mid-Atlantic Braces for Snowstorm - Food Supplies Iffy -- Safeway, which has 176 supermarkets from New Jersey to Virginia, is having a hard time keeping shelves stocked with milk, eggs and bread, spokesman Craig Muckle said. "There may be challenges there," he said.

10's of Thousands Without Power Since Friday - Second Major Storm Bares Down -- A second major storm in less than a week was blowing Tuesday toward the Mid-Atlantic region, where plows still hadn't touched some roads, utility workers were struggling to restore power and shovels were in short supply.

Man Pulled from Rubble in Haiti Nearly 4 weeks After Earthquake -- PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A 28-year-old man was pulled from the rubble of a market in Port-au-Prince on Monday and has been admitted to the University of Miami's field hospital in the capital, adjacent to the airport, according to hospital officials.

Haiti Numbers - 27 Days After Quake -- 90 million. Amount of international debt that Haiti owes creditors. Finance ministers from developing countries announced they will forgive $290 million. Source: Wall Street Journal.

European Governments Agree to Help Greece -- BERLIN (Reuters) - European governments have agreed in principle to help heavily indebted Greece, a senior German coalition source said on Tuesday, in what would be the first rescue of a euro zone member in the currency's 11-year history.

California wants Target to pull Valentine bears over lead concerns -- Target Corp. said Tuesday it was pulling its Valentine's Day "Message Bears" from store shelves after California's attorney general raised concerns that the toys have illegal levels of lead. Another made in china product!!

China calls for new checks amid milk scare -- State media reports on Monday said authorities were hunting for nearly 100 tonnes of tainted milk powder that should have been destroyed earlier. The powder has found its way back onto the market, casting new doubts on China's scandal-prone food industry more than a year after the authorities had declared the 2008 milk threat over.

India refuses genetically modified crops, citing ‘inadequate’ science -- India refused to grant permission Wednesday for the commercial cultivation of its first genetically modified (GM) food crop, citing problems of public trust and "inadequate" science. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said he was imposing a moratorium on the introduction of an aubergine modified with a gene toxic to pests that regularly devastate crops across India.
 * Related Article: India Rejects First GM Vegetable, Hampering Monsanto

Brasscheck TV: Trying to make fascism funny -- Millions of dollars were spent conceiving, producing and running this ad during last Sunday's Super Bowl.

American Airlines Blankets Will Cost 8 DOLLARS -- If you want a pillow and blanket in coach on American Airlines, it's going to cost you. The airline will charge $8 for a pillow and blanket in coach class for domestic trips and some international flights longer than two hours.

Depression 2010 - Western Fiat-Money Finished? -- But today, dear reader, we would propose that the West, and the entire globe, is living through a fiat money collapse. Economies all over the world have been inflated to their fullest and people can buy no more useless gadgets and work at no more superfluous jobs. Too many useful endeavors have been marginalized and phony ones have been elevated. An implosion is taking place.

Forbes: Hard Assets For The Road Ahead -- Gold remains in the middle of a long-run bull market. Gold rose to over $1,226 an ounce in 2009, even though it's pulled back below $1,100. The global financial fundamentals are in place for a weaker U.S. dollar and a rising price of gold for several years.

Exposed: Naked Body Scanner Images of Film Star Printed, Circulated -- Claims on behalf of authorities that naked body scanner images are immediately destroyed after passengers pass through new x-ray backscatter devices have been proven fraudulent after it was revealed that naked images of Indian film star Shahrukh Khan were printed out and circulated by airport staff at Heathrow in London.

Rash of Retirements Pushes Social Security to Brink -- WASHINGTON — Social Security's annual surplus nearly evaporated in 2009 for the first time in 25 years as the recession led hundreds of thousands of workers to retire or claim disability.

Military Communications Alert -- MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS OVERNIGHT WERE HOT AND HEAVY WITH MULTIPLE COMMAND UNITS UP AND OVER SIX 200+ CHARACTER MESSAGES WERE SENT TO OUT TO U.S. FORCES WORLD WIDE . ALSO, ANOTHER COMMAND SENT LONG MESSAGES TO ALL UK FORCES WORLD WIDE.

Satan's Video Game Makes Super Bowl Appearance -- The Super Bowl ad claimed, "Hell awaits," and players who fire up "Dante's Inferno" on their Xbox 360 can dive right in to slay all sorts of demons and dark lords to save the girl from Satan's grasp.

Online Game Lets 5 Year Olds Play Prostitute -- Young girls aspiring to be fashion queens may find more than they bargain for in a new, free, online game called "My-Minx," which permits players to role play … as prostitutes. (This country is beyond the point of repentance - gone to far - what happened to innocence during childhood?)

License to Kill? Intelligence Chief Says US Can take Out American Terrorists -- The director of national intelligence affirmed rather bluntly today that the U.S. intelligence community has authority to target American citizens for assassination if they present a direct terrorist threat to the United States. (Covered previously but worth a repeat)! Top 10 Problems with Americans Assassinating Americans - Dennis Blair, the director of U.S. national intelligence, told the House Intelligence Committee this week that the government has the right to kill Americans abroad.

Companies Paying More in Unemployment Taxes -- NEW YORK - Employers are getting hit with a massive tax hike at a time when they can least afford it.

Sugar Shortage May Turn Acute in Third Quarter -- A global sugar shortage, which drove prices to the highest level in three decades, may peak in the third quarter this year on demand from the U.S., Mexico, India and Pakistan, according to U.S.-based Tropix Capital Management.

Unprecedented Challenges in Financial History - Jim Sinclair -- I doubt there has ever been a time in financial history when there has been challenges of this magnitude.

1,000 Architects and Engineers Call for a Real 911 Investigation -- AE911Truth will hold a press conference on Friday, February 19, at 11:00 AM at the Marines Memorial Club and Hotel in San Francisco. We will announce and honor the milestone of our achievement of obtaining 1,000 architects and engineers (A/E's) petitioning for a real investigation into the destruction of the 3 World Trade Center skyscrapers.

Iran Says to Unveil Air Defense Equal to Russia -- TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will soon unveil a domestically-made air defence system with at least the same capability as Russia's S-300 anti-aircraft hardware, an Iranian air force commander was quoted as saying on Monday.

Toyota Customers Defend Brand Despite Recall -- Toyota said today is recalling 437,000 of its fuel-efficient Prius and other cars due to brake problems, the latest in a string of safety woes at the embattled automaker.

US Economy To Be Hit By Second Wave of Mortgage Defaults -- As we have been forecasting for the last two years, the second wave of mortgage defaults and foreclosures will hit the economy this year. Not only will we have failure in prime loans and option-arm loans, but we are faced with a new crop of subprime and ALT-A loans put into motion by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae and FHA. In addition, we find it of great interest that the FHA is changing the rules to purchase homes. That, of course, means less homes will be purchased.

The Treasury Is Soliciting Your Feedback Regarding The Proposed Annuitization of 401 K's -- Yes, slowly but surely it is happening. In a federal notice filed earlier, the DOL and Treasury are soliciting a response on what has been on many investors' mind, namely the process of converting 401(k)s into annuity-like products.

Yemen's al-Qaeda Calls for Jihad Against Jews and Christians -- The Yemen-based wing of al-Qaeda called on Muslims in the Arabian Peninsula to wage jihad, or holy war, against Christians and Jews in the region.

Growing Hunger in America -- In January 2010, Feeding America (FA, formerly America's Second Harvest) released its disturbing new report on growing hunger titled, "Hunger in America 2010." The Chicago-based organization is the nation's "leading domestic hunger-relief charity," serving the needy "through a nationwide network of member food banks, over 200 in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico."

Obama Hits Lowest Approval Mark -- Independent voters see Pres. Obama in a negative light by a nearly 2-1 margin, according to a new Marist College survey, while almost half of voters say he has failed to meet their expectations.

China PLA Officers Urge Economic Punch Against US -- Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust PLA deployments, and possibly sell some U.S. bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan.

Chicago Mayor Moves to Shut Down All Gun Stores in Illinois -- 1. Require all Illinois gun shops to secure a license to operate issued by the Illinois State Police. Under this bill, the State Police “may” issue a license to a gun shop and would establish all rules and regulations required to keep the license. You know what that means – either nobody would be granted a license, or those who did get licenses would be so burdened by regulations that they could not make a profit. BOTTOM LINE: HB 180 would shut down all gun shops in Illinois.

Republican Tea Party Movement Takes Aim at Ron Paul -- There is more than a little irony in the fact that congressman Ron Paul is facing three primary challengers this year, all of them linked in some way to the Tea Party movement.

Age of Mother Affects Child's Autism Risk -- They found that a 40-year-old woman's risk of having a child later diagnosed with autism was 50 percent greater than that of a woman between 25 and 29.

Senate Releases Job-Creation Bill -- (Reuters) - A draft bill aimed at boosting job creation that could pass the U.S. Senate this week proposes a payroll tax holiday for employers that hire workers and would renew business tax breaks, among other provisions, according to a draft obtained by Reuters.


Today in History Tuesday February 9, 2010
1825 - The U.S. House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president.
1870 - The United States Weather Bureau was authorized by Congress.
1885 - The first Japanese arrived in Hawaii.
1895 - Volley Ball was invented by W.G. Morgan.
1895 - The first college basketball game was played as Minnesota State School of Agriculture.
1909 - The first forestry school was incorporated in Kent, Ohio.
1942 - The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff held its first formal meeting to coordinate military strategy during World War II.
1942 - Daylight-saving "War Time" went into effect in the U.S.
1943 - During World War II, the battle of Guadalcanal ended with an American victory over Japanese forces.
1953 - The movie "Superman" premiered.
1960 - The first star was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star was for Joanne Woodward.
1969 - The Boeing 747 flew its inaugural flight.
1971 - The San Fernando Valley experienced the Sylmar earthquake that registered 6.4 on the Richter Scale.
1971 - The Apollo 14 spacecraft returned to Earth after mankind's third landing on the moon.
1997 - "The Simpsons" became the longest-running prime-time animated series. "The Flintstones" held the record previously.
2001 - "Hannibal," the sequel to "Silence of the Lambs", opened in theaters.

Polyphenols and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Contribute to Building New Brain Cells -- A diet containing high levels of polyphenols and polyunsaturated fatty acids has been found not only to aid in building new brain cells, but also to prevent deterioration of brain cells already in existence. The study comes from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), in which mice were fed a diet rich in polyphenols and polyunsaturated fatty acids over a period of forty days.

Vitamin D Found To Stimulate A Protein That Inhibits The Growth Of Breast Cancer Cells -- Calcitrol, the active form of vitamin D, has been found to induce a tumor suppressing protein that can inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells, according to a study by researcher Sylvia Chistakos, Ph.D., of the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School.

Will Baby Boomers Bankrupt Social Security? -- By 2017, Social Security is expected to start paying out more than it collects in payroll taxes, according to the 2009 Annual Report from the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees. There is currently a large surplus, but it will be drained by the year 2037. At that point, Social Security will only be able to pay out 75 percent of its benefits.

Fish oil supplements prevent mental illness; safe and effective alternative to antipsychotic drugs -- An important new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry reveals that fish oil supplements beat mental illness.

Security chip that does encryption in PCs hacked -- Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including classified government reports and confidential business plans. Now a former U.S. Army computer-security specialist has devised a way to break those locks.

AIG-Gate: The World's Greatest Insurance Heist -- Rumor has it that Timothy Geithner is on his way out as Treasury Secretary, due to his involvement in the AIG scandal that is now unraveling in hearings before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. . Bob Chapman writes in The International Forecaster: Each day brings more revelations of efforts of the NY Fed and Goldman Sachs to hide the details of the criminal conspiracy of the AIG bailout ... This is a real crisis on the scale of Watergate. Corruption at its finest.

Secret summit of top bankers -- THE world's top central bankers began arriving in Australia yesterday as renewed fears about the strength of the global economic recovery gripped world share markets.

Chrysler pledges $550M to build Fiat 500 in Mexico -- Our bailout money is hard at work...in Mexico!

Canada: Sales Halt Ordered for Thousands of Natural Health Products -- Makers of natural-health products say they are bracing for widespread layoffs and millions of dollars in losses after Canada’s pharmacy regulators issued a surprise directive recently urging druggists to stop selling unlicensed natural remedies. The order affects thousands of herbal treatments, multi-vitamins and other products, most of them waiting for approval from Health Canada under a backlogged, five-year-old program to regulate natural-health goods.

Donald Rumsfeld Makes $5 Million Killing on Bird Flu Drug -- NOTE: This article dates back to 2006!!  Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu. The US Defence Secretary has made more than $5m (£2.9m) in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu, the drug being bought in massive amounts by Governments to treat a possible human pandemic of the disease.

FDA Agents Invade Amish Farm in PA -- At 9:40 a.m. Thursday, February 4, only a few miles from the scene of the Nickel Mines Amish massacre of 2006, another drama against the Amish began as agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) came onto the property of Amish farmer Dan Allgyer, without permission, claiming to be conducting an investigation.

China aims to put man on moon in 15 years -- Fresh from its second manned space mission, China’s space program wants to be able to put a man on the moon and build a space station in 15 years, an official said Sunday.

Top Canadian military official charged with murder -- The commander of Canada's largest Air Force base, who once flew dignitaries around the country, has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of two women Ontario Provincial Police Det. Insp. Chris Nicholas said Monday that Col. Russell Williams, 46, was also charged in the sexual assaults of two other women. Williams was arrested Sunday in Ottawa.

Former Spy Bosses, Goldman Exec Behind Full-Body Scanner -- It turns out that one of the scanner’s strongest advocate, Michael Chertoff, former Homeland Security Czar, stands to gain by the sale of the scanner, via his security consulting outfit, Chertoff Group.

Expectations Low For Obama's Health Care Summit -- President Obama's plan to hold a televised health overhaul summit with Republicans and Democrats is still more than two weeks away, but reviews of the get-together are already in. And they're not optimistic.
  * Related Article: Obama's Healthcare Summit Sets Stage for End-Game -- Obama asked Republicans to bring their best healthcare ideas to the February 25 conference in hopes of rejuvenating the issue, which has floundered since Democrats lost their crucial 60th Senate vote last month.

New 'Reality' Show Lets You Decide If Women Get Abortions? -- A new show lets viewers weigh in on whether the characters have abortions. Is it a smart way to spark discussion about abortion, or tone deaf and callous?

Thoughts For The Day from our friend Mike Tawse in the UK -- If We Are To Live In Peace and Empathy And Patience. Read More....

Sarah Palin Has Her Sights on the White House -- Sarah Palin has given the clearest indication yet that her ambition is to become President of the United States, rather than merely the leader of the radical grassroots Tea Party movement that adores her.

India Awaits Go-Ahead on First GM Corn -- India will decide tomorrow whether to approve its first genetically modified (GM) food crop. It is a move that supporters argue will help to avert a global food crisis but which critics say is being rushed through recklessly.

Iran to Make Attack Drones -- Iran has begun making 'advanced' unmanned drones capable of carrying out 'assaults with high precision'.

Anthrax Contaminated Heroine Spreads -- BRITISH authorities today warned drug users that heroin in London was highly likely to be contaminated with anthrax, after a first confirmed case there and following nine deaths in Scotland.

Mass Vaccination Planned in Haiti, Death Toll Continues Way Up -- PORT-AU-PRINCE — As fear for post-disaster epidemics haunts, doctors from some countries and international organizations are orchestrating vaccination efforts against diseases that may spread in the tent cities of quake-hit Haiti.

Today in History Monday February 8, 2010
1587 - Mary, the Queen of Scots, was executed.
1861 - The Confederate States of America was formed.
1910 - William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America.
1918 - "The Stars and Stripes" newspaper was published for the first time.
1693 - A charter was granted for the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA.
1922 - The White House began using radio after U.S. President Harding had it installed.
1924 - The first U.S. execution to make use of gas took place in Nevada State Prison.
1963 - The Kennedy administration prohibited travel to Cuba and made financial and commercial transactions with Cuba illegal for U.S. citizens
1965 - The Supremes' "Stop in the Name Of Love" was released.
1969 - The last issue of the "Saturday Evening Post" was published.
1971 - The Nasdaq stock-market index debuted.
1973 - U.S. Senate leaders named seven members of a select committee to investigate the Watergate scandal.
1978 - The U.S. Senate deliberations were broadcast on radio for the first time. The subject was the Panama Canal treaties.
1980 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced a plan to re-introduce draft registration.
1985 - "The Dukes of Hazzard" ended its 6-1/2 year run on CBS television.
1993 - General Motors sued NBC, alleging that "Dateline NBC" had rigged two car-truck crashes to show that some GM pickups were prone to fires after certain types of crashes. The suit was settled the following day by NBC.

STUPID NEWS: Five-dollar registration fee for persons planning to overthrow US government  -- Terrorists who want to overthrow the United States government must now register with South Carolina's Secretary of State and declare their intentions -- or face a $25,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison. (Would someone PLEASE show me the way to reality?)

Stop selling unlicensed natural health remedies says pharmacy regulators -- Makers of natural-health products say they are bracing for widespread layoffs and millions of dollars in losses after Canada's pharmacy regulators issued a surprise directive recently urging druggists to stop selling unlicensed natural remedies.

Emergency Food Providers Short On Supplies -- The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is one of the lesser known but important parts of our safety net. In fact, I knew virtually nothing about it until I started working on this posting.

Gun owners hit the road to arm America -- Gun rights activists, claiming that obtaining a concealed carry permit in some states is next to impossible, are planning to hit the road with a plan to help frustrated applicants around the country obtain permits for packing heat.

Forum Chatter Hyping Imminent Attack on US -- Terrorists actively are discussing another attack on the United States that could come within the next three to six months, and they even have included photographs of some government targets in their e-mails, including the Langley, Va., headquarters of the CIA.

Brasscheck TV: What REALLY happened in New Orleans

Mitch Landrieu wins New Orleans mayor's race -- When he takes office May 6, Landrieu will become the city's first white chief executive since his father, Moon Landrieu, left the job in 1978. Early analysis shows that Mitch Landrieu's victory owed to widespread crossover voting by African-Americans, who make up two-thirds of the city's residents

Haiti: Still Starving 23 Days Later -- February 06, 2010 -- You can walk down many of the streets of Port au Prince and see absolutely no evidence that the world community has helped Haiti. Twenty three days after the earthquake jolted Haiti and killed over 200,000 people, as many as a million people have still not received any international food assistance.

Haiti Riots: UN blue well fed soldiers spraying the hungry...scenes we are not seeing on TV

Rape on the Rise In Haiti's Camps -- In one of the great unmentioned effects of the earthquake in Haiti, women and young girls are suffering a rising number of rapes and sexual assaults, according to leading aid agencies. So widespread are the reports – and they include the rape of a girl of 12 by her rescuer after she was pulled out from the rubble – that emergency measures are now being taken.

Secret Summit of Top Bankers -- THE world's top central bankers began arriving in Australia yesterday as renewed fears about the strength of the global economic recovery gripped world share markets.

Next in Line for a Bailout -- Don't look now. But even as the bank bailout is winding down, another huge bailout is starting, this time for the Social Security system. A report from the Congressional Budget Office shows that for the first time in 25 years, Social Security is taking in less in taxes than it is spending on benefits. Instead of helping to finance the rest of the government, as it has done for decades, our nation's biggest social program needs help from the Treasury to keep benefit checks from bouncing -- in other words, a taxpayer bailout.

America is Ready for Another Revolution - Sarah Palin -- Sarah Palin declared 'America is ready for another revolution' at a rally last night for activists of the grassroots Tea Party movement which has swept the U.S.

Fatalities Reported After Massive Explosion at Connecticut Power Plant -- Mass casualties and multiple injuries were reported Sunday after a huge explosion at a Connecticut power plant, police confirmed to Fox News.

VICTORY! U.S.D.A. Plans to Drop Program to Trace Livestock -- Faced with stiff resistance from ranchers and farmers, the Obama administration has decided to scrap a national program intended to help authorities quickly identify and track livestock in the event of an animal disease outbreak.

VACCINES KILL TWO CHILDREN EVERY YEAR -- TWO children a year die after routine vaccinations, research has shown.

Why Has the FDA Allowed a Drug Marked 'Not Safe for Use in Humans' to Be Fed to Livestock Right Before Slaughter? -- There's a good chance you may be eating a livestock drug banned in 160 nations.

FBI Wants Records of Web Sites Visited -- WASHINGTON--The FBI is pressing Internet service providers to record which Web sites customers visit and retain those logs for two years, a requirement that law enforcement believes could help it in investigations of child pornography and other serious crimes.

Snowmageddon -- "Snowmageddon," President Barack Obama called it. And even the president's motorcade - which featured SUVs instead of limousines - fell victim as a tree limb snapped and crashed onto a motorcade vehicle carrying press. No one was injured.

Obama Won't Walk Away from Healthcare Overhaul -- President Barack Obama vowed he won’t abandon his effort to overhaul the U.S. health-care system, as Democratic Party leaders try to figure out how to revive stalled legislation.

February - Bank Closures -- 1st American State Bank of Minnesota, Hancock, MN with approximately $18.2 million in assets and approximately $16.3 million in deposits was closed. Community Development Bank, FSB, Ogema, MN has agreed to assume all deposits.

Ken Lewis: If I am Going Down, Hank Paulson and Ben Bernake are Coming Down with Me -- No WAY is Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis going to be the only one to answer for the acquisition of crappy Merrill Lynch and its crappy bonuses, “a person close to Lewis’s defense team” (who may or may not be Ken Lewis himself) tells Charlie Gasparino today on the Daily Beast. NO WAY will he be a scapegoat, alone, for the people who twisted his arm to go through with the Merrill deal by telling him he would be fired if he didn’t. “If this thing goes to trial you can expect both Paulson and Bernanke to be on the witness list.”

King Declares State of Emergency Due to Weather -- There will be no sale, consumption, transportation or possession of alcoholic beverages, except for possession of consumption on a person's own residential premises. There will also be no sale or purchase of any type of firearm, ammunition, explosive or any possession of such items off a person's own premises.

Iran Says CIA Agents Arrested Ahead of Feb 11 Rally -- Iran said Saturday it arrested seven people, including two Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives, who planned to stoke unrest and violence on a march scheduled for February 11.

Priest Checks Fingerprints for Mass Attendance -- A Polish priest has installed an electronic reader in his church for schoolchildren to leave their fingerprints in order to monitor their attendance at mass, the Gazeta Wyborcza daily said on Friday.

The Battle of the Titans - JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs -- We are witnessing an epic battle between two banking giants, JPMorgan Chase (Paul Volcker) and Goldman Sachs (Geithner/Rubin). Left strewn on the battleground could be your pension fund and 401K.

Michael Douglas's Son Faces More Time Than a Murderer or a Rapist for a Nonviolent Drug Charge -- Who benefits from Cameron Douglas getting at least 10 years in prison? No one. But the government is hell-bent on punishing him for the crime of being an addict.

VIDEO: Government Has Your Babies DNA

School Bombing Exposes Obama's Secret War Inside Pakistan -- THE discovery of three American soldiers among the dead in a suicide bombing at the opening of a girls’ school in the northwestern Pakistan town of Dir last week reignited the fears of many Pakistanis that Washington was set on invading their country.

Bayer to Pay 1.5 Million in 2nd Lawsuit Over GM Rice -- Germany's Bayer (BAYGn.DE) was ordered by a jury in the United States to pay $1.5 million in damages to three farmers for losses they incurred because of contaminations of Bayer's genetically modified rice, the second in about 500 similar cases pending.

Pepsi With H1N1 Flavoring -- First, there was Pepsi Vanilla. Then there was Pepsi Lime. Now, exclusively at Walgreens, you can get the latest special flavor of Pepsi: Pepsi H1N1. It is also available in frozen pizza, Buffalo wing, and ice cream form.

AP Impact: Credibility in 911 Trials -- As the first cases in a massive battle over illnesses linked to 9/11 near trial, an Associated Press investigation has found that several of the initial 30 suits contain inconsistent or exaggerated claims about how the workers got sick or how much time they spent at ground zero.

Geithner Says US Credit Rating Safe -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (GYT'-nur) says the U.S. government "will never" lose its sterling credit rating despite big budget deficits and a newly increased debt limit that now tops $14 trillion.

India Successfully Tests Nuclear-Capable Missile -- India again successfully test-fired a nuclear-capable missile Sunday that can hit targets across much of Asia and the Middle East, a defense ministry press release said.

Skrunda, Soviet Ghost Town, Sold At Auction in Lativa -- Latvia sold a deserted town built around a Soviet-era radar station to a Russian investor who bid $3.1 million at an unusual auction Friday, officials said. (One must wonder why this sold for more than the asking price?)

Veiled Threats Directed Against Russia -- When Romanian President Traian Basescu disclosed on February 4 that his nation’s Supreme Defense Council had “approved a U.S. proposal that Romania takes part in the anti-rocket shield system” and that “Terrestrial interceptors will be located inside the national territory,” [1] many readers may have been taken by surprise. They need not have been, though, as the expansion of the U.S. global, layered, integrated interceptor missile system into the Black Sea was as foreseeable as it is inevitable.

A U.S. Soldier Waterboarded His Own 4 year old Daughter because she could not recite the alphabet -- A U.S. soldier has been accused of ‘waterboarding’ his four-year-old daughter because she couldn’t recite the alphabet. Joshua Tabor admitted to police that he used the CIA torture technique because he was so angry.

Not Your Father's Army -- Most of us Americans have a deep and abiding respect and admiration for our country’s fighting men who have served–and are serving–within the US Armed Forces. We appreciate their willingness to put themselves in harm’s way for the preservation of our nation’s liberty and independence. We honor their sacrifice.

Citizens Occupy the Republic: Meet the Enemy Head On -- As the celestial clock ticks down on history, there are millions upon millions who still do not know whether it is day or night. Among these are many who are just not capable of understanding the events which are crowding us into a corner from which there is only one way out and that is into the giant fan blades covering the exit.

Military Confrontation Rising -- Foreign policy and war issues have taken a back seat to the Democratic administration's push to cram a health care reform bill down our throats. But the world won't wait any longer as it reacts to US provocations on several fronts. The Iran crisis is ripening towards a military confrontation after Obama's diplomacy charade collapsed in failure. It was never intended to succeed. Israel is going to be a major player, if not the instigator, of the coming Iran war but it currently has its hands full with the growing unrest in Gaza.

US Wave 3 Start Confirmed by H1N1 Increases in Region 4 -- The latest CDC report shows an overall rise (from 8.9% to 13%) in samples positive for H1N1 in Region 4 in the week 4 report, providing additional evidence for the start of wave 3 in the United States.

VIDEO: Male Police Stripping Woman Completely Naked (Infuriating!)

Vitamin Lawyer Health Freedom Blog -- The "Accepted Dietary Ingredient List" is especially troubling since such a code provision moves us away from our Common Law Right to access the foods we choose to a Civil Law.

Singing the Blues: Deeper and Deeper -- They may be singing the same old song, but the pitch of the blues is changing and nobody knows why. Blue whales – the largest creatures to have lived – are now singing at increasingly lower frequencies all over the world.

Few remain as 1962 Pa. coal town fire still burns -- Standing before the wreckage of his bulldozed home, John Lokitis Jr. felt sick to his stomach, certain that a terrible mistake had been made. He'd fought for years to stay in the house. It was one of the few left standing in the moonscape of Centralia, a once-proud coal town whose population fled an underground mine fire that began in 1962 and continues to burn.

Space UFO Baffles Boffins -- This amazing UFO has left scientists baffled — after boffins claimed it was NOT a comet streaking through space.It was first spotted early last month so astronomers turned the Hubble telescope on it last week to get these close up images. (Cool pic)


Today in History Friday February 5, 2010
1861 - Samuel Goodale patented the moving picture peep show machine.
1881 - Phoenix, AZ, was incorporated.
1917 - Mexico's constitution was adopted.
1924 - The BBC time signals, or "pips", from Greenwich Observatory were heard for the first time. They are broadcast every hour.
1931 - Maxine Dunlap became the first woman licensed as a glider pilot.
1937 - U.S. President Roosevelt proposed enlarging the U.S. Supreme Court. The plan failed.
1953 - The Walt Disney’s film "Peter Pan" opened at the Roxy Theatre in New York City.
1961 - The first issue of the "Sunday Telegraph" was published.
1962 - French President Charles De Gaulle called for Algeria's independence.
1972 - Bob Douglas became the first black man elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA.
1987 - The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 2,200-point for the first time. The market closed at 2201.49.
1988 - A pair of indictments were unsealed in Florida, accusing Panama's military leader, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, of bribery and drug trafficking.
1997 - Switzerland's "Big Three" banks announced they would create a $71 million fund for Holocaust victims and their families.
1997 - Investment bank Morgan Stanley announced a $10 billion merger with Dean Witter.
1999 - Mike Tyson was sentenced to a year in jail for assaulting two people after a car accident on August 31, 1998. Tyson was also fined $5,000, had to serve 2 years of probation, and had to perform 200 hours of community service upon release.
2001 - It was announced the Kelly Ripa would be Regis Philbin's cohost. The show was renamed to "Live! With Regis and Kelly."
2003 - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell presented evidence to the U.N. concerning Iraq's material breach of U.N. Resolution 1441.

Study finds vitamins boost mental health -- People with mental illness made "remarkable" improvements by taking a daily dose of nutritional supplements rather than conventional medicines, a trial has found.
 * Related Article: Fish Oil Supplements Prevent Mental Illness

OOPS! ­ U.S. Government Unemployment Numbers Have To Be Revised Because They Were Off By Almost One MILLION -- The U.S. government has been telling us that the unemployment rate in the U.S. is somewhere around 10 percent, while everyone knows that the "real" number is somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-22 percent.

Intelligence chief acknowledges U.S. may target Americans involved in terrorism -- Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair acknowledged Wednesday that government agencies may kill U.S. citizens abroad who are involved in terrorist activities if they are "taking action that threatens Americans.

YouTube: Ron Paul: Chaos in The Streets and Poverty Coming To the USA

House Overwhelmingly Passes Cybersecurity Bill -- Following the Halloweenesque scare fest on Capitol Hill earlier this week — where National Intelligence director Dennis Blair and CIA director Leon Panetta warned of impending terrorist doom — the has House has The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act (H.R. 4061). (there goes the free-net)
 * Google to Enlist NSA for Cybersecurity -- The world's largest Internet search company and the world's most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity.

Ten Americans Charged with Child Kidnapping in Haiti -- Ten Americans jailed in Haiti for trying to take 33 children out of the country after the earthquake were charged on Thursday with kidnapping. (Is the UN backing them??? How much money are these kids worth?)

Chlorophyll Blocks Absorption of Toxic Carcinogens -- (NaturalNews) A recent study conducted by researchers from Oregon State University (OSU) has found that chlorophyll works effectively to block bodily absorption of aflatoxin, a fungal contaminant found in many grain and legume stocks.

Showdown at High Noon: Sheriff Paul vs. Redflex -- Redflex was already shaking in their boots, but this one should send them running for the hills. Sheriff Paul Babeu has called for a protest of Redflex Traffic Systems unconstitutional and dangerous contract with the State of Arizona. The code name for this event is #CF2010. When it’s all over, only the reputation of one will remain standing. The showdown will be held at High Noon, 12:00 PM on February 6th, across the street from Redflex headquarters.

Profound Disconnect of Congress From Its Constituents -- Our U.S. Congress causes most Americans of both parties intellectual trauma, emotional fits and mental anguish. Every week, 545 individuals misdirect, obfuscate, cloud, suppress, deny or avoid dealing with serious issues facing our civilization. Fact: they don't solve much, but they do perpetuate most of our problems.
Related Article: 545 People by Charlie Reese -- Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

In China Underworld, Hacking for Fun and Profit -- Internet security experts say China has legions of hackers just like Majia, and that they are behind an escalating number of global attacks to steal credit card numbers, commit corporate espionage and even wage online warfare on other nations, which in some cases have been traced back to China.

Georgia Senate Opposes Forcing Microchips Into People -- Georgians worried about having miniature computer circuits inserted into their bodies without their consent can rest a little easier now that their state lawmakers have taken action.

Nuclear Missile Threats to US Mounts -- North Korea is expected to deploy a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching parts of the United States in the next decade, despite two long-range missile flight-test failures, according to the Pentagon's ballistic-missile defense review.

Is Obama unraveling? -- With his newly minted presidential power he expected the world to be his oyster and America to be his pearl to reconstruct as he saw fit. But, he very quickly found the American people would only let themselves be pushed so far. Read More...

Obama's Aunt Fights Deportation -- President Barack Obama's African aunt is due before an immigration judge for a second time on Thursday to argue she should be allowed to stay in the United States.

Obama Hate Crimes in Lawsuit Bullseye -- A team of Christian activists and pastors today filed a civil rights lawsuit against Attorney General Eric Holder over the "hate crimes" law that President Obama signed into law late last year, alleging it violates their civil rights.

Senate Passes AIPAC Sponsored Iran Sanctions -- Last week the Senate passed legislation to impose economic sanctions against Iran. The House version of the bill sponsored by Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) passed in December. There is a separate Petroleum Sanctions act sponsored by Ileana Ros Lehtinen (R-FL) and Howard Berman (D-CA) that passed the House in October. The Senate bill was sponsored by Democrat Chris Dodd and Republican Richard Shelby.

HIV Researches Solve Key Puzzle After 20 Years of Trying -- ScienceDaily (Feb. 2, 2010) — Researchers have made a breakthrough in HIV research that had eluded scientists for over 20 years, potentially leading to better treatments for HIV, in a study published January 30 in the journal Nature.

Laura Timoney Fumes After Son Patrick 9, is Busted for Bringing 2 inch Long Toy Gun to School -- An irate Staten Island mom blasted a grade school principal Wednesday for treating her son like a pint-sized Plaxico Burress after he brought a 2-inch-long toy gun to school.

Tea Party Conference Hit by Allegations of Profiteering and Hijacking -- Disgruntled critics within the grassroots conservative movement have become particularly incensed by the $100,000 (£63,000) fee to be paid to Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate who will be the star of the event as its keynote speaker.

Poor New Zealand Student Sells Virginity to Stranger -- A poor university student in New Zealand who offered her virginity on an auction site has accepted a £20,000 offer to sleep with a stranger.

New Research Rejects 80 Year Theory of 'Primordial Soup' as the Origin of Life -- ScienceDaily (Feb. 3, 2010) — For 80 years it has been accepted that early life began in a 'primordial soup' of organic molecules before evolving out of the oceans millions of years later. Today the 'soup' theory has been over turned in a pioneering paper in BioEssays which claims it was the Earth's chemical energy, from hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, which kick-started early life.

Sovereign Debt Fears, Economy Sinks Stock -- Stocks tumbled on Thursday as the number of Americans claiming jobless benefits rose unexpectedly and renewed fears of sovereign debt problems in Europe led investors to dump riskier assets.
Related Article: Dow Dips Below 10,000 Mark on Eurozone Debt and Job Data -- The Dow briefly fell below the crucial 10,000 mark on Thursday as stocks suffered their worst losses in more than nine months. Escalating sovereign debt problems in Europe and an unexpected rise in jobless claims put investors on the defensive just ahead of Friday's crucial payrolls report.


Today in History Thursday February 4, 2010
1783 - Britain declared a formal cessation of hostilities with its former colonies, the United States of America.
1789 - Electors unanimously chose George Washington to be the first president of the United States.
1824 - J.W. Goodrich introduced rubber galoshes to the public.
1847 - In Maryland, the first U.S. Telegraph Company was established.
1932 - The first Winter Olympics were held in the United States at Lake Placid, NY.
1936 - Radium E. became the first radioactive substance to be produced synthetically.
1941 - The United Service Organizations (USO) was created.
1952 - Jackie Robinson was named Director of Communication for NBC. He was the first black executive of a major radio-TV network.
1953 - "The Stooge" premiered at the Paramount Theatre in New York City.
1974 - Patricia (Patty) Hearst was kidnapped in Berkeley, CA, by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
1999 - Warplanes from Israel attacked south Lebanon just after rockets were fired toward Israel. No casualies were claimed on either side.
2003 - Yugoslavia was formally dissolved by lawmakers. The country was replaced with a loose union of its remaining two republics, Serbia and Montenegro.

Study: Babies' low serotonin levels cause SIDS -- Researchers say infants who died of SIDS may have had low levels of serotonin, a brain chemical that helps the brainstem regulate breathing, temperature, sleeping, waking and other automatic functions, according to an autopsy study in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Next in Line for a Bailout: Social Security -- Don't look now. But even as the bank bailout is winding down, another huge bailout is starting, this time for the Social Security system. No one has officially announced that Social Security will be cash-negative this year. But you can figure it out for yourself, as I did, by comparing two numbers in the recent federal budget update that the nonpartisan CBO issued last week.

NON-GMO SHOPPING GUIDE -- How to avoid foods made with genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

China Issued Record Number of Patents in 2009 -- China revised its national patent law in October 2009 and then issued implementation guidelines in January, which went into effect Monday. The revisions were an attempt to decrease patent fraud and streamline the filing process, but critics say many aspects of the new rules remain unclear. These critics also say the new patent guidelines and a number of other policies-known under the rubric of "indigenous innovation"-include government procurement regulations that favor local companies, national homegrown technology standards for mobile networks, and limits on royalties paid for foreign technology.

Influence Industry on 'Fake Pandemic' Investigated -- The initial enthusiasm for the dynamic approach of the Swine Flu by virologist Ab Osterhaus and Dutch Minister Ab Klink has given rise to criticism. Also beyond The Netherlands the question is being raised over whether the large-scale acquisition of vaccines made sense. The Council of Europe began an investigation into this question last Tuesday. Dutch MP Pieter Omtzigt is the vice chairman of the commission carrying out the investigation and says in an NOS radio broadcast: ‘A number of members of the Council of Europe have expressed exceptionally harsh criticism of the World Health Organization and are asking themselves out loud whether drug manufacturers had too much influence in this decision’.

Vitamin D, Curcumin May Help Clear Amyloid Plaques Found In Alzheimer's Disease -- UCLA scientists and colleagues from UC Riverside and the Human BioMolecular Research Institute have found that a form of vitamin D, together with a chemical found in turmeric spice called curcumin, may help stimulate the immune system to clear the brain of amyloid beta, which forms the plaques considered the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

Why Are Americans Passive as Millions Lose Their Homes, Jobs, Families and the American Dream? -- This article looks at each of five collaborators in the crisis in order to answer the following questions: How did this happen? What forces are responsible? Why are Americans passive as millions lose their homes, their jobs, their families, their hopes of justice, and the American dream?

PHOTOS: Stunning Rice Crop Art In Japan - Stunning crop art has sprung up across rice fields in Japan . But this is no alien creation - the designs have been cleverly planted.

Google to enlist National Security Agency to fight off cyberattacks -- Under an agreement that is still being finalized, the National Security Agency would help Google analyze a major corporate espionage attack that the firm said originated in China and targeted its computer networks, according to cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter. The objective is to better defend Google — and its users — from future attack.

Expect al Qaeda attack soon says CIA -- Al Qaeda can be expected to attempt an attack on the United States in the next three to six months, senior intelligence officials told Congress yesterday.

VIDEO: Ron Paul - Chaos in The Streets and Poverty Coming to the USA

Afghanistan: US and British to launch biggest offensive since 2001 -- American commanders gave notice on Wednesday that the assault is imminent. US, British and Afghan forces will flood into a Taliban enclave in southern Helmand province in a massive show of force intended as a decisive start to President Barack Obama's "surge" of 30,000 extra troops.

Backdoor Taxes to Hit Middle Class -- The Obama administration's plan to cut more than $1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade relies heavily on so-called backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families.

Iran urged to submit 'updated' nuclear swap proposal -- The West has urged Iran to submit a formal offer to the UN nuclear watchdog after the Iranian president said his government was ready to negotiate over a fuel swap deal.

Intelligence chief acknowledges U.S. may target Americans involved in terrorism -- Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair acknowledged Wednesday that government agencies may kill U.S. citizens abroad who are involved in terrorist activities if they are "taking action that threatens Americans.

Toyota admits to design problems with Prius brake system -- Toyota acknowledged design problems with the brakes in its prized Prius, adding to the catalog of woes for the Japanese automaker as it reels from massive gas-pedal recalls in the U.S.

U.S. Mint silver, gold, platinum coin revenue hits $1.7bn record high in FY 2009 -- Uncertainty surrounding traditional investment and inflation concerns drove investor demands for bullion coins to exceptional highs last year, the U.S. Mint said in its recently issued annual report.

U.S. Expanding Missile Defenses in Gulf -- The United States has expanded land- and sea-based missile defense systems in and around the Gulf to counter what it sees as Iran's growing missile threat, U.S. officials said.

GMO Corn Linked to Liver, Kidney and Heart Damage -- New research suggests that varieties of Monsanto genetically engineered corn cause organ toxicity, raising concerns anew about the safety of genetically modified foods.

No Viable Threat, but Officials Guard Against "Lone Wolf" at Super Bowl -- MIAMI (AP) — The vast security operation protecting the Super Bowl and surrounding events ranges from Air Force F-16s patrolling the skies above Miami on game day to a buffer zone extending at least 100 yards out from the stadium.

U.S. Agrees to Timetable for UN Gun Ban -- The United Nations and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are moving forward with their plan to confiscate your guns.

Senate Burglary: CIA Domestic Black-Op Team Arrested -- Last week’s breakin at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office in the New Orleans Federal Building was more than it seemed, much more. All of the 4 arrested had been trained by the CIA and, possibly, Israel. One arrested, Stan Dai, is listed as an Operations Officer of the Department of Defense Irregular Warfare Program and a known expert and lecturer on, not only surveillance but explosives training, assassinations and “false flag operations.” If you wanted a plane to crash, an enemy to get sick and die or a building to blow up, Dai would be the man to know how to make it happen. Problem is, his skills were being used as part of a criminal conspiracy inside the United States against members of our own government.

Pentagon's Black Budget Tops $56 Billion -- The Defense Department just released its king-sized, $708 billion budget for the next fiscal year. Much of the proposed spending is fairly detailed — noting exactly how many helicopters the Pentagon plans to buy and how many troops it plans on playing. But about $56 billion goes simply to “classified programs,” or to projects known only by their code names, like “Chalk Eagle” and “Link Plumeria.” That’s the Pentagon’s black budget.

More Tainted Milk Products Found in China Shops -- Melamine-laced milk products have been found on sale in China, state media said on Monday, more than a year after the chemical was blamed for six deaths in a huge scandal over contaminated dairy goods.

Establishment Run Medical Journal Retracts Study Linking Vaccines to Autism -- The prestigious British medical journal The Lancet on Tuesday formally retracted a highly controversial study that had linked the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism and gastrointestinal problems.

Island Residents Sue US, Saying Military Made Them Sick -- Hear from residents of Vieques, where thousands of people say U.S. weapons testing has made them seriously ill, on tonight's "Campbell Brown," 8 ET

Tedbits 2010 Outlook -- This is the epicenter of the unfolding financial crisis and inflationary/deflationary depression. The developed world is BANKRUPT and the policies of INSOLVENCY are entrenched in its leaders and citizens in such a way as to make the final destination of financial system destruction UNAVOIDABLE.

Migrants Struggling for Work in Texas Return to Mexico as a Burden -- The leader of this community has a message for its native sons and daughters who work in Texas and dream of returning home: Don't do it. You'll regret it.

IRS is Purchasing Shotguns -- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) intends to purchase sixty Remington Model 870 Police RAMAC #24587 12 gauge pump-action shotguns for the Criminal Investigation Division. The Remington parkerized shotguns, with fourteen inch barrel, modified choke, Wilson Combat Ghost Ring rear sight and XS4 Contour Bead front sight, Knoxx Reduced Recoil Adjustable Stock, and Speedfeed ribbed black forend, are designated as the only shotguns authorized for IRS duty based on compatibility with IRS existing shotgun inventory, certified armorer and combat training and protocol, maintenance, and parts.

Sex Change Surgery Tax Deductible -- The US Tax Court ruled yesterday that a Massachusetts woman should be allowed to deduct the costs of her sex-change operation, a decision that could have wide implications for transgender people. (You got to be kidding me)!!!!?????

More Than 65,000 US Flights Took Off Despite Safety Problems -- "Many repairs are not being done or done properly, and too many flights are leaving the ground in what the FAA calls 'unairworthy', or unsafe, condition," he told USA Today.

Eustace MUllins Passes On -- Legendary author of scores of books and pamphlets demolishing the lies of warmaking mainstream media, historian Eustace Mullins died Tuesday, Feb. 2, at the home of his caretaker in a small town in Texas.


Today in History Wednesday February 3, 2010
1690 - The first paper money in America was issued by the Massachusetts colony. The currency was used to pay soldiers that were fighting in the war against Quebec.
1783 - Spain recognized the independence of the United States.
1809 - The territory of Illinois was created.
1815 - The world's first commercial cheese factory was established in Switzerland.
1900 - In Frankfort, KY, gubernatorial candidate William Goebels died from an assassin's bullet wounds
1900, Ex-Sec. of State Caleb Powers was found guilt of conspiracy to murder Gov. Goebels
1913 - The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It authorized the power to impose and collect income tax.
1916 - In Ottawa, Canada's original parliament buildings burned down.
1945 - Russia agreed to enter World War II against Japan.
1966 - The first rocket-assisted controlled landing on the Moon was made by the Soviet space vehicle Luna IX.
1969 - At the Palestinian National Congress in Cairo, Yasser Arafat was appointed leader of the PLO.
1984 - Challenger 4 was launched as the tenth space shuttle mission.
1998 - Texas executed Karla Faye Tucker. She was the first woman executed in the U.S. since 1984.
1998 - In Italy, a U.S. Military plane hit a cable causing the death of 20 skiers on a lift.

Depleted Uranium – One Of The Greatest Environmental Horrors In The History Of The World -- Most Americans have no idea that depleted uranium munitions used by the U.S. military are causing one of the greatest environmental nightmares in the history of the world.
Iraq to sue US, Britain over depleted uranium bombs -- Iraq's Ministry for Human Rights will file a lawsuit against Britain and the US over their use of depleted uranium bombs in Iraq, an Iraqi minister says. According to the reports, during the first year of the US and British invasion of Iraq, both countries had repeatedly used bombs containing depleted uranium.

Electromagnetic signals' link to gas pedals probed -- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating whether electromagnetic signals such as those from radar and cellphones could interfere with electronic gas-pedal controls in vehicles including Toyotas.

Budget-strapped states avoid the word 'taxes' -- Faced with severe budget shortfalls after a steep economic recession, state legislatures and governors are trying to raise money without raising taxes — at least not technically.

Senate Burglary: CIA Domestic Black-Op Team Arrested -- Last week’s breakin at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office in the New Orleans Federal Building was more than it seemed, much more. All of the 4 arrested had been trained by the CIA and, possibly, Israel. One arrested, Stan Dai, is listed as an Operations Officer of the Department of Defense Irregular Warfare Program and a known expert and lecturer on, not only surveillance but explosives training, assassinations and “false flag operations.” If you wanted a plane to crash, an enemy to get sick and die or a building to blow up, Dai would be the man to know how to make it happen. Problem is, his skills were being used as part of a criminal conspiracy inside the United States against members of our own government.

Pentagon’s Black Budget Tops $56 Billion -- The Defense Department just released its king-sized, $708 billion budget for the next fiscal year. Much of the proposed spending is fairly detailed — noting exactly how many helicopters the Pentagon plans to buy and how many troops it plans on playing. But about $56 billion goes simply to “classified programs,” or to projects known only by their code names, like “Chalk Eagle” and “Link Plumeria.” That’s the Pentagon’s black budget.

Cost of Energy After Cap and Trade -- The energy cost calculator can show you how much your energy costs are projected to be under a cap and trade scheme.

MORGELLONS : A NEW CLASSIFICATION by Clifford E Carnicom -- As such, it appears that we are dealing with an "organism" that transcends the structural existence that has been defined for life itself. The Morgellons condition appears, by the best information and analysis to date, to be an orchestrated synthesis that crosses the lines of the three established Domains of life on this planet. Read More...

UK: Heinz recalls baby food over choking fears after plastic pieces found in some of its products -- Heinz is recalling thousands of pots of baby food because they could contain small pieces of plastic. A batch of its Fruity Custard Fruit Medley (sold in pack of four pots) baby food has been identified as a choking hazard to babies.

Cat predicts 50 deaths in RI nursing home -- A cat with an uncanny ability to detect when nursing home patients are about to die has proven itself in around 50 cases by curling up with them in their final hours, according to a new book.

AIG plans to pay about $100 million in bonuses -- Division to receive money was the one that led to need for federal bailout.

Troops in Afghanistan Will See Through Walls in 2010 -- TiaLinx, the company behind the Eagle sensors, told Defense News that the scanners can detect a person or animal 20 feet behind an 8-inch thick slab of concrete. That technology has piqued the interest of the military, as well as the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and other organizations from police bureaus to utility companies.

13 Careers for the Next Decade -- U.S. companies, saddled with increasingly onerous costs of employing people, are downsizing, cutting employees' hours, hiring temps, automating jobs and sending work offshore. Meanwhile, technology is redefining existing jobs and demanding new skills from an aging workforce, and new competition for jobs looms in the form of 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants likely to get legalized in the years ahead. Perhaps most potent, the U.S. is experiencing the largest transfer of gross domestic product from the private sector to the government sector in history -- and shifting jobs along with it.
 * Related Article: Radical Shifts Take Hold in U.S. Manufacturing -- The latest moves are accelerating the U.S. manufacturing economy's longer-term decline, as well as its shift away from heavy sectors, such as automobiles and basic chemicals, toward higher-tech products like super-fast computer chips. In some cases, as with auto makers, companies are shrinking to adjust to diminished U.S. demand or investing in smaller, more efficient facilities. In others, companies such as chemical makers are relocating labor-intensive operations to countries where workers are cheaper.

Seed shortages could imperil home gardens -- Gardeners may have hard time finding seeds for cucumbers, carrots, onions.

Damning verdict on doctor who linked MMR with autism -- Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who suggested the MMR vaccine might cause autism, leading to a collapse in immunization levels nationwide, "showed a callous disregard" for the suffering of children and "abused his position of trust" during the conduct of his research, a disciplinary panel ruled yesterday.

Military Weapons That Save Lives? -- How Nonlethal 'Medical Weapons' May Make for Less Bloodshed. Read More...

VIDEO: This Common Food Ingredient Can Really Mess Up Your Metabolism -- The hazards of sugar.

MI5 hunting breast implants of death -- Authorities alarmed by possibility of surgically placed bombs.

Editorial: Equality in the Military -- More than 16 years after their predecessors helped impose the odious “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the nation’s two top defense officials called on Congress to repeal the law that bans gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

Continuing The Attack On Natural Health Care -- Health care is your choice. Natural remedies like herbs and supplements can do an effective job helping you heal when you do not wish to choose or cannot tolerate prescription drugs.

China warns of 'serious damage' if Barack Obama meets Dalai Lama -- China has warned of "serious damage" to US-China political relations if US President Barack Obama goes ahead with an anticipated meeting with the Dalai Lama in Washington later this month.

'Little Barry' Obama to return to Indonesia -- President Obama will make what will be an emotional journey with his family to his childhood home of Indonesia next month, as part of a trip that will also include a visit to Australia.

Studies Reveal Why Kids Get Bullied and Rejected -- Kids who get bullied and snubbed by peers may be more likely to have problems in other parts of their lives, past studies have shown. And now researchers have found at least three factors in a child's behavior that can lead to social rejection. The factors involve a child's inability to pick up on and respond to nonverbal cues from their pals.

Internet addiction linked to depression -- Heavy internet surfing can have destructive effects on people and reflect a tendency toward depression, UK psychologists have said. The results of a study concluded those who show symptoms of Internet addiction are likely to engage proportionately more than the normal population in sites that serve as a replacement for real-life socializing.

Fish oil can ward off psychosis -- According to the study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, taking fish oil supplements lowers the risk of developing psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia by one quarter in individuals with weak or transient psychotic symptoms as well as those with schizophrenia-like brain changes.

Packaged Salad Bacteria: New Study Finds Salad Can Contain High Levels of Fecal Bacteria -- Latest tests of packaged leafy greens found bacteria that are common indicators of poor sanitation and fecal contamination, in some cases, at rather high levels.

Google Tuesday announced the first round of Google Focused Research Awards -- funding research in areas of study that are of key interest to Google as well as the research community: energy efficiency in computing, machine learning, privacy, and the use of mobile phones as data collection devices for public health and environmental monitoring. Included is $1 million awarded to a consortium of researchers at University of Michigan, Rutgers University, University of Virginia, and the University of California Santa Barbara.


Today in History Tuesday February 2, 2010 - Groundhog Day
1848 - The Mexican War was ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
1848 - The first shipload of Chinese emigrants arrived in San Francisco, CA.
1876 - The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs was formed in New York.
1878 - Greece declared war on Turkey.
1887 - The beginning of groundhog day in Punxsutawney, PA.
1892 - William Painter patented the crown-cork bottle cap.
1897 - The Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg was destroyed by fire.
1913 - Grand Central Terminal officially opened at 12:01 a.m. Even though construction was not entirely complete more than 150,000 people visited the new terminal on its opening
day.
1935 - Leonard Keeler conducted the first test of the polygraph machine, in Portage, WI.
1946 - The first Buck Rogers automatic pistol was made.
1962 - The 8th and 9th planets aligned for the first time in 400 years.
1967 - The American Basketball Association was formed by representatives of the NBA.
1998 - U.S. President Clinton introduced the first balanced budget in 30 years.
1999 - Hugo Chávez Frías took office. He had been elected president of Venezuela in December 1998.
2004 - It was reported that a white powder had been found in an office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. The CDC later confirmed that the powder was the poison ricin.

The Groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, saw his shadow today -- Therefore, predicts 6 more weeks of winter!!

A Study Finds Mental Benefit of Fish Oil -- Fish oil pills may be able to spare some young people with signs of mental illness from a progression into fully developed schizophrenia, according to a preliminary study of 81 patients in Austria.

Jim Cramer says on TV that the illuminati is not all that bad -- Cramer goes into how he fell in love with Bernanke & Geithner after they "saved" the day
Then in reference to the scandal about Geithner & AIGd he states "You know what, the Bavarian Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, Goldman Sachs, & The Queen of England are not all bad!"

Concorde trial starts in France 10 years after crash -- Was an abandoned scrap of metal on the runway really the main culprit in the fiery crash of an Air France Concorde shortly after takeoff?

Iraq to sue US, Britain over depleted uranium bombs -- Iraq's Ministry for Human Rights will file a lawsuit against Britain and the US over their use of depleted uranium bombs in Iraq, an Iraqi minister says. According to the reports, during the first year of the US and British invasion of Iraq, both countries had repeatedly used bombs containing depleted uranium.

Israel admits dropping phosphorous bombs on Gaza -- In Israel's response to the Goldstone report on war crimes in Gaza, the regime admitted that its military forces fired white phosphorous bombs at a heavily populated area on January 15, 2009 in Gaza, Reuters reported.

US anti-missile test of 'Iran or N Korea' attack fails -- A US missile defence test designed to shoot down long-range missiles was aborted when the radar system failed.

U.K. Airports Start 'No Scan, No Fly' Policy -- Britain's Heathrow and Manchester airports started conducting full body scans of travelers Monday and those who refuse the security procedure will not be allowed to board their flight

Hearing will tackle 'Don't ask, don't tell' military policy -- Democrats in Congress hope to ignite a drive to reverse the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy Wednesday with the first hearing on the subject since 1993, when President Clinton said gays could serve in uniform if they kept quiet about their sexual orientation.

U.S. halts flights of quake victims -- The U.S. military has halted flights carrying Haitian earthquake victims to the United States because of an apparent cost dispute, though a doctor warned that some injured patients faced imminent death if the flights don't resume.

Obama's 2010 budget: deficit soars amid job spending -- President Barack Obama pledged on Monday to halve a record 2010 budget deficit by the end of his first term in office, but made tackling double-digit unemployment his immediate priority with a spending plan that risked public ire and a rough battle in Congress.

Heists Targeting Truckers On Rise -- Robberies Are "Wreaking Havoc" on U.S. Highways, Endangering Consumers. Thieves are swiping tractor-trailers filled with goods, triggering a spike in cargo theft on the nation's highways."In the past two months, we've just seen such an increase that it's to the point where criminals are just wreaking havoc," said Sandor Lengyel, a detective sergeant and squad leader in New Jersey State Police's cargo-theft unit.

UN chief calls for treaty to prevent cyber war -- DAVOS, Switzerland - The world needs a treaty to prevent cyber attacks becoming an all-out war, the head of the main UN communications and technology agency warned Saturday. With attacks on Google from China a major talking point in Davos, Toure said the risk of a cyber conflict between two nations grows every year. He proposed a treaty in which countries would engage not to make the first cyber strike against another nation. “A cyber war would be worse than a tsunami — a catastrophe,” the UN official said, highlighting examples such as attacks on Estonia last year.

D.C. Metro system to stage anti-terrorism exercise at a rail station Tuesday Feb. 2, 2010 -- Metro Transit Police will hold a "major anti-terrorism show of force" Tuesday during rush hour at one of the agency's "busiest Metrorail station," according to a media advisory released by the agency. Metro will conduct the exercise from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. The agency won't release the location until Tuesday morning.

VERMONT: US bracing for secessionist sentiments -- Last week, a group of Vermont State secessionists declared their intention to seek political power in a quest to quit the Union altogether.

US starts large war game in Pacific -- The US launches its largest military exercise in the Pacific in cooperation with Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore with South Korea also joining in. The "Cobra Gold" exercise is to run until February 11 and will see soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen from the six countries taking part in operations across Thailand.

Canadians Contract Guillain-Barre Syndrome After Swine Flu Shot In Same Doctor’s Office -- Two residents of Markham in Ontario, Canada have been diagnosed with the debilitating nerve disease Guillain-Barré Syndrome, after both taking the H1N1 flu shot in the same doctor’s office just two days apart.

Wiccans get worship area at Air Force Academy -- The Air Force Academy has set aside an outdoor worship area for Pagans, Wiccans, Druids and other Earth-centered believers, school officials said Monday. A double circle of stones atop a hill on the campus near Colorado Springs has been designated for the group, which previously met indoors.

Cat predicts 50 deaths in RI nursing home -- A cat with an uncanny ability to detect when nursing home patients are about to die has proven itself in around 50 cases by curling up with them in their final hours, according to a new book.

The Depressing News About Antidepressants -- Studies suggest that the popular drugs are no more effective than a placebo. In fact, they may be worse.

Today in History Monday February 1, 2010
1788 - Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patented the steamboat.
1790 - The U.S. Supreme Court convened for the first time in New York City.
1793 - France declared war on Britain and Holland.
1861 - Texas voted to secede from the Union.
1862 - "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," by Julia Ward Howe was first published in the "Atlantic Monthly."
1893 - Thomas A. Edison completed work on the world's first motion picture studio in West Orange, NJ.
1898 - The Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, CT, issued the first automobile insurance policy.
1900 - Eastman Kodak Co. introduced the $1 Brownie box camera.
1913 - Grand Central Terminal (also known as Grand Central Station) opened in New York City, NY. It was the largest train station in the world.
1919 - The first Miss America was crowned in New York City.
1930 - The Times published its first crossword puzzle.
1951 - The first telecast of an atomic explosion took place.
1951 - The first X-ray moving picture process was demonstrated.
1960 - Four black college students began a sit-in protest at a lunch counter in Greensboro, NC. They had been refused service.
1979 - Patty Hearst was released from prison after serving 22 months of a seven-year sentence for bank robbery. Her sentence had been commuted by U.S. President Carter.
1996 - Visa and Mastercard announced security measures that would make it safe to shop on the Internet.
1999 - Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky gave a deposition that was videotaped for senators weighing impeachment charges against U.S. President Clinton.
2001 - Three Scottish judges found Abdel Basset al-Mergrahi guilty of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people. The court said that Megrahi was a member of the Libyan intelligence service. Al-Amin Khalifa, who had been co-accused, was acquitted and freed.
2003 - NASA's space shuttle Columbia exploded while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. All seven astronauts on board were killed.

China protests US arms sales, warns of 'serious' impact -- China on Friday protested the US decision to sell 6.4 billion dollars in weapons to Taiwan and warned of "serious" damage to relations and cooperation with Washington.

The Sharp Dressed Man Who Aided Mutallab Onto Flight 253 Was U.S. Government Agent -- “Patrick F. Kennedy, an undersecretary for management at the State Department, said Abdulmutallab’s visa wasn’t taken away because intelligence officials asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist over concerns that a denial would’ve foiled a larger investigation into al-Qaida threats against the United States. Read More...

US raises stakes on Iran by sending in ships and missiles -- Tension between the US and Iran heightened dramatically today with the disclosure that Barack Obama is deploying a missile shield to protect American allies in the Gulf from attack by Tehran.

Air Force: Test missile misses its Pacific target -- The Air Force says a missile-intercept test failed when a long-range missile launched from California missed a target missile launched from a Pacific island because of radar problems.

Why the Government Wants to Hijack Your 401(k) -- It's bad enough that we've been forced to bail out Wall Street. But now the Obama administration is hatching plans to raid our retirement savings, too. Don't be surprised to see your 401K turned into a government run annuity in the next two years. (Thanks Jimm)

Massive Layoffs Coming in NYC, Nevada, California, Colorado, Arizona, Everywhere -- Cities, states, and municipalities are sinking by the minute. And unless unions agree to concessions (which they won't) massive layoffs are coming everywhere you look. New York City is a prime example. New York City will have to lay off more than 10,000 public workers, in addition to 8,500 teachers, if the state legislature approves the $1.3 billion of cuts the governor proposed in his deficit-closing budget, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday.

Euro Proving No Reserve Asset as Central Banks Shift -- “The euro can fall further,” said Neil Mackinnon, a former U.K. Treasury official who is a London-based economist at VTB Capital Plc, the investment-banking unit of Russia’s second- biggest lender. “Sovereign-debt risk will continue to be a key theme,” he said. “The stresses created by the fiscal situation in Greece won’t go away quickly.”

Afghan, Iraq wars shape Pentagon budget, US strategy -- This in from the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner) The Obama administration plans to unveil a defense budget on Monday that pours billions into drones, helicopters and special forces, reflecting a focus on fighting Islamist extremists rather than conventional armies.

1 Billion payoff to the Taliban -- a plan is being considered to pay up to $1bn to Taliban fighters to persuade them to lay down their arms.

Strategic Default and Walk Away from that Albatross of a Mortgage -- In reality, in law school they teach people that contracts are purely economic decisions. That is, if a contract states that if you stop paying the bank gets the home back then that is really all there is to it. Yet there is still a social stigma and recent research shows that people stay in their home for this reason. If people would simply run the numbers, it would be obvious that they should walk away.

Can Police Search Your Cell Phone without a Warrant? -- Modern cell phones do a great deal more than simply send and receive calls. They're sophisticated personal computers with the same capabilities, and more, of a laptop PC. You can use them to send and receive e-mail and instant messages, browse the Internet, keep track of your appointments, take photos and videos, etc. If you think that any of this information is "private" in the sense that it's legally protected, think again. In most cases, it's not, especially if you're arrested.

Roubini Sees ‘Dismal’ Growth as Summers Rues ‘Human Recession’ -- “The headline number will look large and big, but actually when you dissect it, it’s very dismal and poor,” Roubini said in a Jan. 30 Bloomberg Television interview following a U.S. Commerce Department report that showed economic expansion of 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter. “I think we are in trouble.” Roubini, who chairs New York-based Roubini Global Economics LLC, has become famous for his pessimistic projections. In 2007, he correctly predicted a “hard landing” for the world economy. He said last year that the global recession would shrink through 2009, only for growth to resume in the middle of the year.

Rising Corporate Debt Could Bankrupt Firms, Crash Market by 2013 -- "You're going to see more downgrades, and spreads are going to re-expand," Lekas warned. "The light at the end of the tunnel is a train."

Beware Counterfeiters -- Today’s gold market is significantly different from the gold market of the 1970s for two reasons: 1) Central Banks are more likely to be buyers of gold today and 2) They clearly have little ability to dramatically raise interest rates with the massive increases in government issued debt. Thus, it is easy to envision a similar twenty-five fold increase in the gold price that was seen between 1970 and 1980, which would result in a gold price today above $6,000 per ounce.

Ron Paul bill seeks gold & bullion tax ban -- Coin Legislation on Capital Building Congressman Ron Paul [R-TX] on Wednesday introduced legislation that would, if signed into law, end taxes on coins and bullion and repeal legal tender laws.

Rescue worker blasts Haitian relief -- In his own words.

The fateful geological prize called Haiti -- Behind the smoke, rubble and unending drama of human tragedy in the hapless Caribbean country, a drama is in full play for control of what geophysicists believe may be one of the world’s richest zones for hydrocarbons-oil and gas outside the Middle East, possibly orders of magnitude greater than that of nearby Venezuela.

Are they going to send Katrina toxic trailers to Haiti now? -- The trailer industry and lawmakers are pressing the government to send Haiti thousands of potentially formaldehyde-laced trailers left over from Hurricane Katrina — an idea denounced by some as a crass and self-serving attempt to dump inferior American products on the poor.

6 more banks seized on Friday, total now 15 for 2010 -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) said First Regional Bank in Los Angeles, Florida Community Bank, First National Bank of Georgia, American Marine Bank in Washington, Marshall Bank in Minnesota and Community Bank and Trust in Georgia had failed -- pushing the tally to 15 banks that have failed this year.

Bill Gates pledges 10 billion for decade of vaccine -- Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder and philanthropist, is to make the largest ever single charitable donation with a pledge of $10 billion (£6 billion) for vaccine work over the next decade.

South Dakota, Tennessee consider traffic camera bans -- A number of states are considering legislation that would outlaw the use of photo enforcement. Last year alone, Maine, Mississippi and Montana added themselves to the list of fifteen states where red light cameras and speed cameras are no longer welcome.

Gun confiscation in Canada -- Officer K. reminded me that my firearms license had expired. He said I could turn the gun over to them for storage, or they could take the gun and destroy it.

What are they up to now? Obama hosts Bushes in Oval Office -- President Obama hosted a pair of Bushes this morning in the Oval Office: former President George H.W. Bush and his son, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

They don't own shovels, crowbars or even gloves -- Long story cut short; Recapitalization is being conducted by those who destroyed our economy, the International Monetary/Banking Cartel, by buying up our nation’s natural resources, our water, and our infrastructure, with about 10 cents on a very inflated dollar.

Hiding Lockheed during WWII; what are they hiding now? -- If the military-industrial complex could go to these lengths 65-70 years ago to hide HUGE industrial plants, how much is being hidden today? On just as massive a scale, or even larger?

Doctors are addicted to every drug under the sun -- In its first year the clinic has treated NHS staff hooked on drugs including heroin, ketamine, a horse tranquillizer, and methadone, a drug linked to amphetamines, said Dr Clare Gerada, medical director of the Practitioner Health Programme.

Barack Obama opponents urge census boycott -- Conservative opponents of the Obama administration are urging supporters to resist the upcoming US census, saying it asks too many questions and reflects increasing government intrusion into private matters.
 

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