Pages

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Mandelson, an Oligarch and a £500m Deal Over Dinner That Cost 300 British Jobs


Damning questions about Lord Mandelson's role in a controversial Russian oligarch's £500million deal which undermined British manufacturing jobs are raised today. The former Business Secretary was a 'valuable extra' as a dinner guest as billionaire Oleg Deripaska entertained American aluminium executives in Moscow. The meeting, also attended by British-born financier Nat Rothschild, resulted in a deal to sell two of Deripaska's giant Russian-based RUSAL factories to a U.S. firm, Alcoa

But the 2005 agreement had grave consequences for hundreds of British jobs. Mandelson - who was the EU Trade Commissioner - was in a position to allay 'concerns' over tariffs on imports from Eastern Europe. Indeed, over the following three years, they were slashed. This prompted the dumping of cheap aluminium on the European market, forcing at least four British factories to the wall. Within a year of the Russian deal, Alcoa closed its South Wales aluminium rolling plant with the loss of 300 jobs.'

Read more...

New UK Govt to Curb CCTV, Scrap ID Cards, Help Open Source


The Britain of today is watched constantly by CCTV cameras, is preparing for a national ID card, slaps a "crown copyright" on most government data, and can now censor websites and eventually boot people off the Internet.

According to the new Liberal Democrat/Tory coalition government, that's all about to change. The coalition today released its unified policy statement (PDF), and for techies and privacy advocates, there's lots to like.

•We will scrap the ID card scheme, the National Identity register and the ContactPoint database, and halt the next generation of biometric passports.
•We will outlaw the fingerprinting of children at school without parental permission.
•We will adopt the protections of the Scottish model for the DNA database.
•We will review libel laws to protect freedom of speech.
•We will further regulate CCTV.
•We will end the storage of internet and e-mail records without good reason.
•We will create a level playing field for open-source software and will enable large ICT projects to be split into smaller components.
•We will create a new "right to data" so that government-held datasets can be requested and used by the public, and then published on a regular basis.
•We will introduce measures to ensure the rapid roll-out of superfast broadband across the country. We will ensure that BT and other infrastructure providers allow the use of their assets to deliver such broadband, and we will seek to introduce superfast broadband in remote areas at the same time as in more populated areas. If necessary, we will consider using the part of the TV license fee that is supporting the digital switchover to fund broadband in areas that the market alone will not reach.
That last bit about broadband is a change from current Labour policies, which proposed a (hugely unpopular) 50p per month tax on broadband connections to help fund universal broadband infrastructure. The new proposal draws that money from the already-existing TV license fee.

In addition, the Lib Dems have separately pledged to roll back the worst excesses of the recent Digital Economy bill that brought Web censorship and possible Internet disconnection to the UK. At a party conference over the weekend, they asked ministers to "take all possible steps to ensure the repeal of those sections of the Digital Economy Act 2010 which are inconsistent with the policy motion 'Freedom, creativity and the internet'."

That document condemned, as its first point, "website-blocking and disconnecting Internet connections as a response to copyright infringement," and it trashed the Digital Economy bill "for focusing on illegal file-sharing rather than on nurturing creativity."

The document supported "the principle of net neutrality, through which all content, sites and platforms are treated equally by user access networks participating in the Internet."

Most of these policies sound like good ones, though talk is easy enough; execution may prove more difficult. Still, it's a reminder that conservatives and liberals can find common ground on issues surrounding privacy, open-source software in government, the need for universal broadband, and the importance of open government data.

US Begins Massive Military Build Up Around Iran, Sending Up To 4 New Carrier Groups In Region


As if uncontrollable economic contagion was not enough for the administration, Obama is now willing to add geopolitical risk to the current extremely precarious economic and financial situation. Over at Debkafile we read that the president has decided to “boost US military strength in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf regions in the short term with an extra air and naval strike forces and 6,000 Marine and sea combatants.” With just one aircraft carrier in proximity to Iran, the Nobel peace prize winner has decided to send a clear message that peace will no longer be tolerated, and has decided to increase the US aircraft carrier presence in the region by a 400-500% CAGR.'

Read more...

Dr. Cass Sunstein Wants to Turn Off the Lights


Paul Joseph Watson, a writer at Prison Planet whom I greatly respect, gave us a reminder Monday May 17th that Obama Czar Wants Mandatory Government Propaganda On Political Websites. The Big Brother Czar is also a Harvard Professor currently dishing up the pabulum for Obama’s White House that “conspiracy theories” should be banned from the Internet; so much for Harvard, Czar-Dr. Cass Sunstein and intellectual freedom.

Sunstein’s tonality is reminiscent of Joseph Goebbels New Years Address for 1939.

What’s more Sunstein wants to “legally force” Americans “to do what’s best for our society” and water down their free speech (granted by the US Constitution), by mandating websites with pop-up links to opposing government propaganda be “forcibly included on political blogs.” Could we have such pop-ups when the President is speaking, Henry Kissinger, Bibi Netanyahu, AIPAC, Larry Silverstein, NIST, Fox News, Lloyd Blankfein?'

Read more...

MoD Blew up 119 Live Pigs in Explosive Tests


Animal rights campaigners expressed outrage last night after the Ministry of Defence admitted blowing up 119 live pigs in explosives tests. The MoD defended the experiments, saying they had 'saved many lives' in Afghanistan and Iraq. They have led to improvements in body armour and the medical treatment of soldiers injured by roadside bombs, it said.

But animal welfare activists criticised the 'unethical' practice of causing 'massive mutilation and injury' to the pigs.

The research took place at the Government's secret military research laboratory Porton Down, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, between 2006 and 2009.

Read more...

17 States Now Filing Versions of Arizona's Immigration Bill SB 1070

One of America's national organizations fighting against illegal immigration is announcing that 17 states are now filing versions of Arizona's SB 1070 law which is designed to help local police enforce America's existing immigration laws.

Numerous national and local polls indicated that 60-81% of Americans support local police enforcing immigration laws.

"Our national network of activists have been working overtime trying to help the state of Arizona and the brave Arizonans who have passed this bill," said William Gheen, President of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC. "Arizona no longer stands alone and we have now documented state lawmakers filing, or announcing they will file, versions of the Arizona bill in seventeen states! We will not stop until all states are protected from invasion as required by the US Constitution".'

Read more...

New U.S. Taxpayer Funded Website: 'There is No Conspiracy'


In a move that shows just how stupid our government thinks we really are, a new website, America.Gov, loudly proclaims that "there are no conspiracies". We have their word on it.

"Conspiracy theories exist in the realm of myth, where imaginations run wild, fears trump facts, and evidence is ignored. As a superpower, the United States is often cast as a villain in these dramas."

Translation, it is unpatriotic to question the "official story" on anything. Its too bad that the Founders wrote in that "Freedom of the Press" and "Freedom of Speech" provisions to the Constitution. Otherwise, there would be no need for a taxpayer funded website to debunk "Conspiracy Theorists".'

Read more...

Germans To Fork Over 66% Of Taxes To Bankers


Germany’s parliament today passed a bill that will mean that about 66 per cent of the country’s income tax revenue each year will go to banks in the form of interest payments on souvereign dent bonds held by Greece, Portugal and other eurozone nations.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right coalition government voted to give 123 billion as Germany’s portion of a 750-billion euro loan guarantee package prepared by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to enable governments to keep up interest payments to banks on souvereign debt.'

Read more...

The Mysterious CAFRs

For over a decade, accountant Walter Burien has been trying to rouse the public over what he contends is a massive conspiracy and cover-up, involving trillions of dollars squirreled away in funds maintained at every level of government. His numbers may be disputed, but these funds definitely exist, as evidenced by the Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs) required of every government agency. If they don't represent a concerted government conspiracy, what are they for? And how can they be harnessed more efficiently to help allay the financial crises of state and local governments?'

Read more...

Presidents In Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones


President Felipe Calderon of Mexico, the largest contributor of illegal aliens now living and working in America in the vicinity of 12 to 15 million, threw several nasty verbal rocks at Arizona for passing SB 1070. His illegal Mexican citizens residing in the United States contribute $24 billion back to his financial coffers annually in cash transfers. At the same time, their lawlessness costs American taxpayers $346 billion yearly across 15 U.S. federal agencies.

Amazingly, Calderon and his countrymen cannot and will not provide jobs and a valid economy for Mexico's own people. Additionally, his country transports and provides $75 billion in drugs that his cronies ship into the United States annually. It's quite like a leper spreading his disease into his neighbor's front yard! The USA proves an eager neighbor for drugs!'

Read more...

Britain's Biggest Insurer Imposes 'Ash Tax' on Travellers


Britain's biggest insurer is to impose an 'ash tax' on travellers who fear their holidays may be cancelled.

Just a week before thousands of families jet off on breaks during the school half-term, Aviva has become the first firm to impose the levy.

Other big insurance companies are set to follow suit.

Read more...

House Votes to Expand National DNA Arrest Database


Millions of Americans arrested for but not convicted of crimes will likely have their DNA forcibly extracted and added to a national database, according to a bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday.

By a 357 to 32 vote, the House approved legislation that will pay state governments to require DNA samples, which could mean drawing blood with a needle, from adults "arrested for" certain serious crimes. Not one Democrat voted against the database measure, which would hand out about $75 million to states that agree to make such testing mandatory.'

Read more...

Hidden Government Papers Expose Lies About Measles Vaccines for Infants


How a mother is supposed to decide what vaccines are safe, when the governments change their minds so frequently, is anyone’s guess. One minute the government makes it categorically clear that the measles vaccine should never, under any circumstances, be given to a child under the age of nine months, the next minute they are saying the complete opposite and actually advising it.'

Read more...

Palestinian Economic Boycott Hits Israeli Settlers


Israeli settlers are beginning to feel the bite of an economic boycott campaign launched by the Palestinian Authority (PA) against goods produced in the illegal Israeli settlements dotting the occupied West Bank.

"This is economic terrorism," complained the Yesha Council (YC), an umbrella organisation of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Several international companies have already boycotted illegal settler goods or produce, often sold overseas under false 'Made in Israel' labels.

PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad launched an official campaign called House-to-House to rid Palestinian homes and stores of the goods on Tuesday.

This followed PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ new law on Monday banning settlement products in PA-controlled areas.'

Read more...

Growing Homelessness in America


In the world's richest country, the trend is shocking, disturbing and appalling. In its 2009 report on "Hunger and Homelessness in US Cities," the US Conference of Mayors stated:

"Hunger and homelessness (are) at record levels in US cities," citing an overall 26% demand increase over the past year and 19% more homelessness. Yet worsening conditions leave millions on their own and out of luck because Washington has other priorities excluding them.

"At a time of historic economic crisis, the issues of hunger and homelessness in America are more prevalent than ever." Cities are hard-pressed to handle them, and planned budget cuts and revenue shortfalls will strap them well into the future.'

Read more...

Palestinian Children Tortured in Israeli Occupation Jails


Hiba Masalha, a Palestinian lawyer who visited child-prisoners at the Majedo and Rimonim prisons said that a number of them were subjected to barbaric torture before being questioned or charged.

Masalha said on Thursday that she met with 17-year-old Ahmad Farouq Jaara from Nablus who was arrested on 14 January 2010 at the Za'tara roadblock. He told her that he was subjected to a harsh interrogation at Betah Tekva detention centre where he was tied to a stool with both hands and feet tied. He was interrogated and tortured for 21 days causing his health to deteriorate.

She also met with 16-year-old Salama Abdel-Jawad from the Askar refugee camp who was arrested at the Hamra roadblock on 14 February 2010. He told her that on his arrest the soldiers kicked and beat him mercilessly using rifle butts bruising him all over and causing him to bleed from the face and legs.'

Read more...

Friday, May 21, 2010

Goddess Symbolism Within Freemasonry


A few years ago I came across a illustrated Freemasonry book in my local library and glanced through it, out of idle curiosity, I was surprised to find I was able to pick out Goddess symbolism within Mason images. Which was a surprise, because Freemasonry is suppose to be a male dominated secret society. So why would a organization that has steadfastly refused to allow female members within its ranks for hundreds of years, use Goddess symbolism? It didn't make sense. I began to read more about Freemasonry and found enough information about the connection between Freemasonry and Goddess worship to fill a book. This article is a taste of what I have discovered so far.'

Read more...

London Unveils Creepy-Looking Mascots for 2012 Olympics


When the official logo of the 2012 London Olympics was released three years ago, the odd puzzle-piece design was the object of so much scorn that organizers were desperate to avoid similar criticism when they unveiled the mascots for the Games on Wednesday. With the introduction of Wenlock and Mandeville (above), London 2012 organizers realized their goal. The criticism of the mascots won’t be similar to the complaints about the logo. No, they’ll be much, much worse.'

Read more...

BP Fails Booming School

Woman’s Home Confiscated Over Small Water Bill


One raw day in early February, Vicki Valentine stood by helplessly as real estate investors snatched her West Baltimore home over what began with an unpaid city water bill of $362.

As snow threatened to fall, she watched a work crew hired by the new owners punch out the lock on her front door. A sheriff’s deputy was on the scene while Valentine and her teenage son piled whatever they could into a borrowed car.

Running out of time, Valentine scrambled to pack up clothing and mementos. The home had been her family’s for nearly three decades, and her father had paid off the mortgage in 1984. “It’s hard to say goodbye to this house,” she said. “It’s like someone forcing you out of something that belongs to you. I don’t get it.”

Valentine lost the two-story brick row home after the city sold her debt to investors through a contentious and byzantine legal process called a “tax sale.” This little-known type of foreclosure can enrich investors as growing numbers of property owners struggle to pay their bills.'

Read more...

National Broadcaster Openly Rejects Question On Trilateral Meeting


Here’s a short clip showing the national broadcaster, the equivalent in Ireland of the BBC outright refusing to discuss anything to do with the Trilateral Commission meeting recently held in Dublin.

In a blatant example of mainstream media censorship, by the national broadcaster in Ireland RTE, who have an obligation to inform the public and to give a fair and balanced viewpoint, Monday nights airing of The Frontline on RTE 1, hosted by Pat Kenny, we witnessed the type of censorship one would expect from a Third World dictatorship. Up to the point where the lady in the audience mentions the Bilderberg Group and Trilateral Commission meeting in Dublin last week, Kenny remains silent but immediately steps in to talk over the questioner.'

Read more...

The Correction is Coming and It Will Be a Bloodbath

The correction, soon to be crash, is here: the market had a bigger relative open to close move today than it did on May 6. We closed at the day’s lows on massive volume, despite definitive central bank intervention, regardless whether it was the SNB, the ECB, or the Fed. The central planners have lost control of the market, and all thanks to the inevitable collapse of hyper capitalist Keynesianism coming out of the formerly most communist country in the world. A day of ironies. And it’s not over. Futures are already down another 4 handles. The correction is coming, and it will be a bloodbath. The Fed can not push rates lower. It will print. It is inevitable. It is our destiny.'

Read more...

Mexican President Wants to Disarm Americans


Mexican President Felipe Calderón called upon the United States Congress to re-enact the assault weapons ban in a bid to disarm the American people as they are integrated into the North American Union system. Further, he placed blame for fueling drug cartels and gang violence squarely on the United States and their supply of firearms.

Calderón made these outrageous and anti-American remarks from the floor of the U.S. Congress during an official visit, and also renewed attacks on the immigration legislation passed by Arizona.

President Obama joined in his cause, making the startling declaration that “We are not defined by our borders” during a press conference welcoming Calderón on the White House lawn. Such a statement with immigration AND “weapons” problems on the border? Whatever happened to the Robert Frost adage ‘Good fences make good neighbors‘?'

Read more...

Scotland's Bane: The Curse of Freemasonry


It is generally agreed that Freemasonry originated with the Knights Templar that had fled to Scotland to avoid the French Inquisition of their once powerful order. From there, it has spread throughout the world as the revolutionary means to establish the overthrow of religions and monarchies. Yet, Freemasonry holds a deep, dark secret. Its ordinances and symbols all direct the initiate to the worship of Lucifer.

Freemasonry is controlled by the descendants of the Knights Templar, and their alliance with the Illuminati Jews. In fact, the 30-33rd degrees are reserved for the Illuminati. The Illuminati, through Freemasonry, created Napoleon, the French Revolution, the guillotine, Robespierre, and the "Reign of Terror". They also created modern Fascism and Communism to bring about their "New World Order".

They have allied themselves with Satanism and Science (which they believe came from Lucifer) and battled through the centuries against Islam and Christianity for world domination.

Ninety percent of Freemasons are unaware of these little secrets about their Fraternities. They provide the Ying, through their charitable works, for the Illuminati/Satanist Yang. The Illuminati actually believe they can cancel out their gross wickedness through financial generosity, a belief that traces its way back to the sale of Indulgences in the Catholic Church. Thus we see that the most evil men also operate some of the world's biggest charities.

Read more...

Statins: The Side Effects 'Are Worse Than Feared'


The side effects of statins can be far worse than previously thought, a study suggests. For the first time, the level of harm posed by the cholesterol-lowering drugs has been quantified by researchers.

They found some users are much more likely to suffer liver dysfunction, acute kidney failure, cataracts and muscle damage known as myopathy.

For some patients, the risk is eight times higher than among those not taking statins. Overall, the risk of myopathy - which may be irreversible - is six times higher for men on statins and three times higher for women.'

Read more...

Don't Tread On Me: Rise of the Republic

How Bush's DOJ Killed a Criminal Probe Into BP That Threatened to Net Top Officials

West was the special agent-in-charge at the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Criminal Investigation Division who had been probing alleged crimes committed by BP and the company's senior officials in connection with a March 2006 pipeline rupture at the company's Prudhoe Bay operations in Alaska's North Slope that spilled 267,000 gallons of crude oil across two acres of frozen tundra - the second largest spill in Alaska's history - which went undetected for nearly a week.

West was confident that the thousands of hours he invested into the criminal investigation would result in felony charges against BP and the company's senior executives who received advanced warnings from dozens of employees who worked at its Prudhoe Bay facility that unless immediate steps were taken to repair the severely corroded pipeline, a disaster on par with that of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill was only a matter of time.'

Read more...

Iraq: US Troops Slaughter Defiant Elderly Man

Two-year-old Toddlers Being Dosed Up With Antipsychotic Drugs


Children between the ages of two and five are being treated with antipsychotics at twice the rate they were ten years ago, according to a study conducted by researchers from Columbia University and published in the journal Health Affairs.

"It is a worrisome trend, partly because very little is known about the short-term, let alone the long-term, safety of these drugs in this age group," researchers Mark Olfson said.'

Read more...

Grotesque Global Financial System: Greece. Economic Theft on an Unprecedented Scale


As Britain's political class pretends that its arranged marriage of Tweedledee to Tweedledum is democracy, the inspiration for the rest of us is Greece. It is hardly surprising that Greece is presented not as a beacon, but as a "junk country" getting its comeuppance for its "bloated public sector" and "culture of cutting corners" (Observer). The heresy of Greece is that the uprising of its ordinary people provides an authentic hope unlike that lavished upon the warlord in the White House.

The crisis that has led to Greece's "rescue" by European banks and the International Monetary Fund is the product of a grotesque financial system that itself is in crisis. Greece is a microcosm of a modern class war rarely reported as such, but waged with all the urgency of panic among the imperial rich.

What makes Greece different is that it has experienced, within living memory, invasion, foreign occupation, military dictatorship and popular resistance. Ordinary people are not cowed by the corrupt corporatism that dominates the European Union. The right-wing government of Kostas Karamanlis that preceded the present Pasok (Labour) government of George Papandreou was described by the sociologist Jean Ziegler as "a machine for systematically pillaging the country's resources".'

Read more...

Non-Crew in Cockpit of Polish Plane


The international committee responsible for investigating the Polish President's plane crash has revealed there were extra people in the cockpit of the plane.

In a news conference in Moscow, the committee presented their first detailed report, leaving the main cause of the tragedy yet to be discovered.

On 10 April 2010, Polish President Lech Kaczynski died in the crash of a Polish Air Force Tu-154. Ninety six people, mostly Poland's high-ranking officials, lost their lives in this accident.'

Read more...

US House Backs Israel Missile Aid Bill


The US House of Representatives has endorsed President Barack Obama's plans to give Israel over $200 million for an anti-missile system.

The lawmakers have overwhelmingly supported the bill that gives Obama a free hand to fund Israel's plans for deploying a controversial short-range missile system called the "Iron Dome." '

Read more...

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Euro in Danger: Germans Trigger Panic Over Future of Single Currency


Shocked European ministers are preparing for emergency talks to shore up the euro after markets fell in reaction to panic measures in Germany.

Angela Merkel stunned EU capitals by warning that the euro was in danger and triggered fears of a fresh financial meltdown by announcing a ban on risky trading practices by speculators. The German Chancellor’s actions opened up new cracks in the single currency, drawing sharp criticism from France and prompting Brussels to issue an appeal for unity.'

Read more...

Feds Move to Throw Pot Smokers in Prison for Impaired Driving


If you smoked marijuana last week or even last month and you drive a car, you may be sent to prison under new guidelines drafted by the federal government.

The Obama administration released its National Drug Control Strategy guidelines last week. The federal government wants all of the states to adopt its authoritarian and draconian diktat and expand the drug war.

Read more...

Arizona Official Threatens to Cut Off Los Angeles Power as Payback for Boycott


If Los Angeles wants to boycott Arizona, it had better get used to reading by candlelight.

That’s the message from a member of Arizona’s top government utilities agency, who threw down the gauntlet Tuesday in a letter to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa by threatening to cut off the city’s power supply as retribution.

Gary Pierce, a commissioner on the five-member Arizona Corporation Commission, wrote the letter in response to the Los Angeles City Council’s decision last week to boycott the Grand Canyon State — in protest of its immigration law — by suspending official travel there and ending future contracts with state businesses.'

Read more...

Media Ignores Goldman Sachs' Ties to Toxic Corexit Oil Dispersant

In a recent New York Times’ article “Less Toxic Dispersants Lose Out in BP Oil Spill Cleanup”, journalist Paula Quinlan questions why BP is using the toxic dispersant Corexit to clean up the oil when twelve other dispersants proved more effective in EPA testing.

Nowhere in the article does it mention that Goldman Sachs, the Blackstone Group and Apollo Management own Nalco, the producer of the 54 % effective, 100% toxic dispersant.'

Read more...

US Coastguard Threatens CBS News Crew With Arrest For Filming Oil Spill Disaster

Kelly Cobiella reports that a CBS News team was threatened with arrest by Coast Guard officials in the Gulf of Mexico who said they were acting under the authority of British Petroleum.


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Dow Theorist Richard Russell: Sell Everything, You Won't Recognize America By The End Of The Year


Richard Russell, the famous writer of the Dow Theory Letters, has a chilling line in today's note:

Do your friends a favor. Tell them to "batten down the hatches" because there's a HARD RAIN coming. Tell them to get out of debt and sell anything they can sell (and don't need) in order to get liquid. Tell them that Richard Russell says that by the end of this year they won't recognize the country. They'll retort, "How the dickens does Russell know -- who told him?" Tell them the stock market told him.'

Read more...

Leaked Recording at US / Canadian Border Crossing

Ex-Bundesbank Chief Says Greece Will Never Repay Debt, Says Bailout All About 'Rescuing Banks And Rich Greeks'


Finally someone speaks the truth. In an interview with Spiegel Magazine, former Bundesbank chief Karl Otto Pohl, says it how it is: "Without a "haircut," a partial debt waiver, [Greece] cannot and will not ever [repay its debt]. So why not immediately? That would have been one alternative. The European Union should have declared half a year ago -- or even earlier -- that Greek debt needed restructuring." As for the reason for the bailout, Pohl's observation will not be a surprise to our readers "It was about protecting German banks, but especially the French banks, from debt write offs." Is there any hope for Europe now? It appears no, as the right decision was to let Greece go bankrupt: "Investors would quickly have seen that Greece could get a handle on its debt problems. And for that reason, trust would quickly have been restored. But that moment has passed.

Read more...

Pig Virus Contaminates Rotavirus Vaccines, But FDA Says No Problem


Rotavirus vaccines are commonly given to children, and this year's batch of vaccines made by GlaxoSmithKline and Merck are contaminated with a pig virus, the FDA recently discovered. So the FDA called a meeting to determine whether injecting a pig virus into the bodies of young children might be some sort of problem requiring a recall of the vaccines.

Can you guess what conclusion the agency reached? As reported by Reuters, the FDA concluded "...it was safe for doctors to resume giving patients Glaxo's Rotarix and continue using Merck's Rotateq. The agency said there was no evidence the contamination caused any harm..." '

Read more...

Big Brother UC Berkeley Now Taking DNA Samples From New Students

UC Berkeley is adding something a little different this year in its welcome package -- cotton swabs for a DNA sample.

In the past, incoming freshman and transfer students have received a rather typical welcome book from the College of Letters and Science's "On the Same Page" program, but this year the students will be asked for more.

The students will be asked to voluntarily submit a DNA sample. The cotton swabs will come with two bar code labels. One label will be put on the DNA sample and the other is kept for the students own records.

Read more...

The Greek People are the Victims of a Carefully Engineered Financial Extortion Racket


What is happening in Greece concerns all of us. The people are paying for a crisis and a debt that are not their own. Today it is the Greeks, tomorrow it will be others, for the same causes will produce the same effects if we allow it.

First and above all, we express our full and unconditional solidarity with the people who are suffering from an austerity plan without precedent combined with contempt and an arrogance bordering on racism. The strikes and demonstrations are legitimate, and we support them. This is not the crisis of the Greek people, it is the crisis of the world capitalist system. What the Greek people are experiencing is revealing of today’s capitalism. The plan dictated by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rides roughshod over the most elementary rules of democracy.

If this plan is implemented, it will result in a collapse of the economy and of peoples’ incomes without precedent in Europe since the 1930s. Equally glaring is the collusion of markets, central banks and governments to make the people pay the bill for the arbitrary caprice of the system. [French President] Nicolas Sarkozy still dares to talk of the need to regulate the market, although all the measures he implements are more liberal than ever. The movement is accompanied by a deadening consensus of the Right and the Left. The plan is designed by European governments of the Right and Left – and by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the IMF, an institution that has ravaged the Third World for decades and is now attacking Europe. A plan that is implemented by a Socialist government, [Greek Prime Minister] George Papandreou's, the French side of which is adopted by the UMP [Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, a centre-right party] and the SP [Socialist Party of France] members of parliament combined.

Read more...

Israel's Nuclear Weapons Capabilities: Secret Report Reveals Weapons-grade Uranium Diversions from the U.S. to Israel


The 2010 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is underway at UN Headquarters in New York. A working paper calls for a nuclear-free Middle East. It would require member states of the NPT to “disclose in their national reports on the implementation of the resolution on the Middle East all information available to them on the nature and scope of Israeli nuclear facilities and activities, including information pertaining to previous nuclear transfers to Israel.” On May 6, 2010, the Government Accountability Office (formerly known as the General Accounting Office) released the previously secret 1978 report “Nuclear Diversion in the U.S.? 13 Years of Contradiction and Confusion” [.pdf]. It fills in important historic gaps about weapons-grade uranium diversions from the U.S. to Israel.

U.S. presidents have long acquiesced to “strategic ambiguity” – a policy of neither confirming nor denying that Israel even possesses nuclear weapons. This pretext has allowed the U.S. to deliver the lion’s share of its foreign assistance budget to Israel, despite clear legal prohibitions imposed by the Glenn and Symington amendments to the Foreign Assistance Act. UN member countries have long suspected that the United States either turns a blind eye or actively supports the transfer of know-how, weapons-grade uranium, and dual-use technology to Israel. The 62-page General Accounting Office investigation and correspondence confirms the United States refuses to mount credible investigations that would enable warranted prosecutions of the perpetrators.

“Nuclear Diversion in the U.S.? 13 Years of Contradiction and Confusion” investigates the period between 1957 and 1967 when the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) received over 22 tons of uranium-235 – the key material used to fabricate nuclear weapons. NUMEC’s founder and president Zalman M. Shapiro was head of a local Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) chapter and a sales agent for the Defense Ministry of Israel in the U.S. In the early 1960s the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) began documenting suspicious lapses in security at NUMEC’s plant at Apollo, Pa. In 1965 an AEC audit found NUMEC could no longer account for over 200 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Subsequent estimates spiraled to almost 600 pounds.

Read more...

US Adamant on Iran Sanctions Despite Swap Declaration


In a meeting with 37 American Jewish Congressmen, US President Barack Obama underscored his support for Israel. One way Obama wants to demonstrate his commitment to the Israeli regime is by insisting on new sanctions against Iran.

The US, supported by its European allies, has prepared a draft resolution in the UN Security Council that calls on Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities or face a fourth round of sanctions.

The draft resolution came just two days after Iran issued a joint nuclear declaration with Turkey and Brazil that declared its readiness to engage in a nuclear fuel swap with the West under which Tehran would send some 1,200 kg of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey for a timely exchange with 120 kg of higher enriched uranium that would serve as the fuel required by the Tehran Nuclear Reactor to produce medical isotopes.'

Read more...

Rigi: US, Israel Paid for Assassination


Captured Jundallah leader Abdolmalek Rigi has said that while in Morocco, suspected Israeli or US agents had given him a list of people to assassinate in Tehran.

In a recent interview, Rigi told Press TV that before his arrest Jundallah had held a series of meetings in Casablanca with a group who had claimed to be NATO contacts.

"When we looked back at all the things that had happened we felt that two things were unclear. First, if they are from NATO why did they not meet with us in Afghanistan where they have bases and where they can contact us in a much more easy and secure manner," said Rigi.'

Read more...

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

UK Nanny State to Perform Home Inspections on Families with Children Under Five


Parents of children under five are to get home checks to ensure they are keeping their children safe from harm.

Inspectors will check whether parents have fitted smoke alarms, stair gates, locks on medicine cupboards, windows and ovens, and temperature controls to stop bath water getting too hot.

Recommendations for home health and safety inspections have been drawn up on the instructions of the Department of Health in a bid to prevent unintentional injuries among under 15s in the home.'

Read more...

CFR Meeting: Zbigniew Brzezinski Fears The Global Awakening

Zbigniew Brzezinski giving the CFR branch in Montreal a presentation discussing world government and his fears of the mass global awakening that has taken place.

Rule Britannia: Magick in Service to The Crown


It was perhaps the high point for Germany in World War II. France lay prostrate under the boot of the German war machine. The only thing that stood between England and Germany was the Royal Air Force. Or so it seemed.

We know what traditional history books tell us. The Royal Air Force withstood the repeated savagery of the German Luftwaffe and Hitler grew increasingly restive with the idea of an amphibious assault.

The reality, of course, is more complex. The British utilized the forces of occult technology--of Magick--and it would not be the first time the English Crown had availed itself of the power of its most infamous magicians.

The British Crown, the shareholders of the Bank of England, overlapping with the Illuminati, are Satanists. It stands to reason their Intelligence services would use witchcraft to further their ends. The Lion's share of the world's evil originates from this source.'

Read more...

Norman Finkelstein on Chomsky and Israel

Activist Facing Eight Years in Prison After Videotaping Officers Outside Courthouse


George Donnelly, the Pennsylvania videographer who was arrested last week for videotaping federal officers in front of an Allentown courthouse, is facing eight years in prison for his deed.

He is specifically being accused of striking one of the officers.

Anybody who has seen the two previous videos where Donnelly was confronted by federal officers in front of a courthouse will find these charges hard to believe.

The evidence, of course, lies in the videotape they confiscated from him. We’ll be lucky if that ever makes the light of day.'

Read more...

Massacre in Thailand and Obama’s Foreign Policy Stance


When the White House is quiet as protestors are butchered in the streets of Bangkok Thailand, suspicions are raised. Silence often equals complicity. One can only imagine what the U.S.’ response would be to a Venezuelan government slaughter: the U.S. media and Obama would loudly condemn such an act, in contrast to the muted response to Thailand’s blood bath.

The history of U.S.-Thailand relations explains why. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. used Thailand as one of the main “anti-communist” bulwarks in an area that included China, Vietnam, Burma, and other countries that were challenging capitalism.

Thailand was thus transformed into a U.S. client state and given money, guns, and U.S. government intelligence to battle Thailand’s “communists.” This relationship has equaled numerous Thai dictatorships that have a very bloody history, including the shooting of untold numbers of protestors that the Thai government named “communists,” or their modern equivalent, “terrorists.”

Read more...

Attorney: Video Shows Police Fired Into Home


Police who carried out a raid on a family home that left a 7-year-old girl dead over the weekend were accompanied by a camera crew for a reality television show, and an attorney says video of the siege contradicts the police account of what happened.

Police have said officers threw a flash grenade through the first-floor window of the two-family home, and that an officer's gun discharged, killing the girl, during a struggle or after colliding with the girl's grandmother inside the home.

But Fieger said the video shows an officer lobbing the grenade and then shooting into the home from the porch.

"There is no question about what happened because it's in the videotape," Fieger said. "It's not an accident. It's not a mistake. There was no altercation."

Read more...

Hail Storm Oklahoma City May 16th

Top Secret Gorbachev Files Unveil Globalist Agenda


In 1999, the Moscow office of the Gorbachev Foundation granted access to its vast digital archive to a limited number of vetted Russian history researchers. One of them was Pavel Stroilov. Parts of the archive were password restricted, but Stroilov noticed he could see the password by peeking whenever the office archivist booted the system. He memorized it and for several visits managed to access and secretly copy volumes of folders amounting to 50,000 documents.

Stroilov couldn't believe what he read. The restricted documents were the KGB transcripts of private and secret conversations of Mikhail Gorbachev during his years as leader of the Soviet Union (1985-1992.)

In a recent interview with urban policy magazine City Journal, he said they "tell a completely new story about the end of the Cold War. The 'commonly accepted' version of history of that period consists of myths almost entirely. These documents are capable of ruining each of those myths".'

Read more...

Defiant Magistrate Falls Victim of PC Culture Obsession


When Austin Molloy woke up on the 13th of May and prepared for his magistrate duty at Blackburn Magistrates Court, little did he realise that he’d woken into a politically correct nightmare.

Four days later and Mr Molloy has had his position as bench chairman revoked as the Judicial Office of Communications conduct an investigation into him for his actions on that fateful Thursday.

So what heinous events of misjustice did he direct? Given that I’ve mentioned political correctness you can probably guess that it’s something that would make 99% of normal Brits (apart from self-obsessed PC generals in Whitehall) want to smash their face into their desk in despair. And you’d be right.'

Read more...

Breast Cancer Breakthrough: Broccoli Component Zaps Cells That Fuel Tumor Growth


University of Michigan (U-M) Comprehensive Cancer Center scientists say they've found a compound that could help prevent and potentially treat breast cancer. It's not a drug or a new radiation treatment but a natural component of broccoli and broccoli sprouts. And it has the remarkable ability to target cancer stem cells -- the specific cells responsible for fueling the growth of cancerous breast tumors.

The researchers tested the broccoli compound, known as sulforaphane, in animal studies as well as in breast cancer cell cultures in the lab. Their findings, which were recently published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, showed sulforaphane not only targeted and killed cancer stem cells, but it also prevented any new malignancies from growing.'

Read more...

Hamas Demolished Homes In Rafah

Local sources have reported that the Hamas security forces in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, demolished several homes, Sunday, and intends to demolish more homes under the claim that they were built without permits.

The sources that clashes took place between a number of residents and the security forces leading to several injuries.'

Read more...

Criminal Negligence: Despite Knowing It Had a Damaged Blowout Preventer, BP STILL Cut Corners By Removing the Single Most Important Safety Measure


UC Berkeley engineering professor Bob Bea told 60 Minutes that a damaged blowout preventer not only may lead to a catastrophic accident like the Gulf oil spill, but leads to inaccurate pressure readings, so that the well operator doesn't know the real situation, and cannot keep the rig safe.

Bea also said that - despite the damage - BP ordered the rig operator to ignore an even more critical safety measure. Specifically, BP ordered the rig operator to remove the "drilling mud" - a heavy liquid used to keep oil and gas from escaping - before the well was sealed.

According to Bea, the accident would not have occurred had drilling mud been used.'

Read more...

Baghdad to Enclose City With 15ft Wall

Baghdad is to resort to one of the oldest forms of defence by building a massive wall around the capital to keep out insurgents, The Times has learnt.

A series of recent suicide bombings has driven the governor of the Iraqi capital to propose the concrete barrier, which will be 15ft (4.5m) high and 70 miles (112km) long. Every man, beast and vehicle entering will be searched at one of only eight gates along the main highways.

Baghdad, roughly the same size as London and with approximately five million inhabitants, will face severe disruption as a result. Freedom of movement will be limited and workers and visitors alike will probably have to wait for at least an hour to enter. Once inside, though, it is hoped they will be much safer. Shatha al-Obeidi, an aide to Salah Abdul Razzaq, the governor, said: "We want to stop the terrorist from sneaking in. With the wall it will be much easier".'

Read more...

Clinton: Deal Made on Iran Sanctions




The US claims to have made an agreement with all veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council on a draft sanctions resolution against Iran.

"We have reached agreement on a strong draft with the cooperation of Russia and China," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, referring to talks with permanent members of the UN Security Council Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany.

Russia and China have long resisted the US campaign for sanctions and urged other powers to seek a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program. Both countries welcomed the nuclear declaration issued by Iran, Turkey and Brazil.

"We attach importance to and support this agreement," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said on Tuesday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also welcomed the declaration as "the politics of a diplomatic solution."

Moscow has stressed that it would never support sanctions meant to "strangle Iran" or harm the Iranian people.'

Read more...

Israel 'Mulling Reoccupation of Gaza'


With the settlement row still rumbling on, the Israeli army is reportedly preparing several scenarios for a possible reoccupation of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli military officials held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss a possible full occupation of Gaza, Israel's Maariv daily said on its website.

The officials also mulled over appointing a "military governor" should Israel decide to redeploy its army to the coastal sliver.'

Read more...

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Senator: Kagan Argued Government Could Ban Books


In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Senator Mitch McConnell pointed out that Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan once argued that the government should have the power to ban books and censor political pamphlets, as yet more alarming information on Kagan’s hostility towards the First Amendment comes to light.'

Read more...

Hull City Council Residents Asked to Report Neighbours for Putting Rubbish Out Too Early


Residents are being asked to report neighbours for 'environmental crimes' such as putting their bins out too early or late. A council is urging householders to snoop on fellow residents and fill in 'diary sheets' to log incidents - the same way it tackles violent anti-social behaviour. Such 'crimes' can be committed by putting bins out at the wrong times or leaving them in the wrong place.

Householders could face a £100 fixed penalty notice or be fined up to £1,000 in court for leaving rubbish next to a bin or blocking a path with a bin. The clampdown, by Hull City Council, has provoked a furious reaction, with residents insisting they won't do officials' 'dirty work' for them.

Read more...

Obama Czar Wants Mandatory Government Propaganda On Political Websites


Disturbing audio has emerged of White House information czar Cass Sunstein, who in a previous white paper called for banning “conspiracy theories,” demanding that websites be mandated by law to link to opposing information or that pop ups containing government propaganda be forcibly included on political blogs.

In an audio excerpt of an interview which was posted on the Breitbart.tv website today, Sunstein discusses how conservative websites should provide links to liberal websites and vice versa or even how political blogs should be made to include pop ups that show “a quick argument for a competing view”.'

Read more...