Met Office Knew Big Freeze Was Coming But Hushed It Up

The Met Office warned ministers to expect an ‘exceptionally cold winter’ but then kept the prediction secret from the public.

The forecaster decided not to reveal the information because it was embarrassed after wrongly predicting a ‘barbecue summer’ in 2009, BBC analyst Roger Harrabin said.

Instead of a seasonal forecast, it offered only monthly snapshots.

Last night Mr Harrabin said: ‘With Britain shivering through a third winter in a row, shouldn’t the weather forecasters have warned us well in advance? Why didn’t the Met Office tell us?

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The Madness of a Lost Society: Final Warnings

Council Threatens Man with £1,000 Fine Over Lost Cat Posters

Mike Harding, 44, was issued with a 48 hour ''remove or pay up'' ultimatum by Bedfordshire Borough Council which accused the driving instructor of ''fly-posting''.

He was forced to drive around his local streets in the early hours of the morning ripping down his lost cat posters one by one to avoid the penalty.

He designed 20 posters in a last appeal to neighbours after seven-year-old Tabby cat Wookie disappeared in six weeks ago in November.'

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British Consulate Employees in Jerusalem Linked to Terror Attack

First of all read this article

Two Palestinians were charged by a court on Sunday with planning a rocket attack on Teddy Stadium, home to the Beitar football team.

Three more Palestinians, two of them maintenance men employed by the British Consulate General, were arrested on suspicion of supplying them with guns. All five were arrested in November but the details have only now emerged following Sunday’s court hearing.

A Foreign Office spokesman said that security and vetting procedures were being reviewed. He said all employees were vetted in co-ordination with the Israeli authorities “to a level appropriate to their job”.'

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Then read this one from June 2009

UK fury as staff arrested in Iran

The UK has demanded the immediate release of Iranian staff at its Tehran embassy who were arrested on Saturday.

Iranian media earlier reported that eight local staff at the mission had been detained for their "considerable role" in post-election riots.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband called the arrests "harassment" and dismissed the allegations as baseless.'

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NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE????

COMMENTS WELCOME!!!

Eco-Bulb Cost to Treble: Makers Cash in as the Ban on Old-Style Bulbs Kicks In

The price of energy-saving light bulbs will treble as the final supplies of traditional bulbs dry up, industry experts have warned.

The Government has ordered energy companies to scrap the subsidies that have kept the price of eco-bulbs artificially low for the last few years.

At the same time, manufacturers are increasing wholesale prices to take advantage of the European ban on ‘energy guzzling’ old-style bulbs.'

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US Students Drown in Sea of Debt

GM Strain Blows Organic Status Away

Mutant canola crops genetically engineered to survive repeated sprayings of herbicide have been approved for planting.
This is despite the furore over GM contamination of an organic farm.

The West Australian Minister for Agriculture and Food, Terry Redman, has called on the organic industry to bend its rules to permit some GM material, declaring purity to be "unrealistic".

WA grain farmer Steve Marsh was stripped of his organic certification this week after GM canola seeds allegedly blew 1.5km over his boundary from a neighbouring property at Kojonup, southeast of Perth. He is now setting an Australian precedent by threatening to sue for damages.'

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Tensions Rise as Israel Strikes Gaza Refugee Camps

Tensions are on the rise again in the Gaza Strip after Israeli attacks on two refugee camps left at least two civilians wounded. Israel insisted the attacks were “retaliation” for rocket fire from the strip.

Israel insisted the attacks on the refugee camps were aimed at targeting Hamas and that they blame Hamas for the rocket fire, even though officials have repeatedly conceded that Hamas is not the ones firing the rockets and are indeed struggling to prevent such fire by their rivals.'

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H1N1 in the UK - Sickening Pro-Vaccine Propaganda Aimed at Our Children

The Little Red Book That Swept France

Take a book of just 13 pages, written by a relatively obscure 93-year-old man, which contains no sex, no jokes, no fine writing and no startlingly original message. A publishing disaster? No, a publishing phenomenon.

Indignez vous! (Cry out!), a slim pamphlet by a wartime French resistance hero, Stéphane Hessel, is smashing all publishing records in France. The book urges the French, and everyone else, to recapture the wartime spirit of resistance to the Nazis by rejecting the "insolent, selfish" power of money and markets and by defending the social "values of modern democracy".'

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Deceased Woman's Name Was Robo-Signed on Thousands of Affidavits

Martha Kunkle has come back to life.

She died in 1995. Yet her signature later appeared on thousands of affidavits submitted by one of the nation's largest debt collectors, Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc., in lawsuits filed against borrowers.

Some regulators complain that the use of Ms. Kunkle's name reflects an epidemic of mass-produced, sloppy and inaccurate documentation in the debt-collection industry. Lawsuits have surged as more borrowers fall behind on payments and collection firms turn to courts to get what they are owed.

After being sued for fraud, Portfolio Recovery Associates decided in early 2008 that any documents bearing Ms. Kunkle's name had "defects" and shouldn't be used when trying to collect debts, a company spokeswoman said.'

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Israel is Paying Internet Workers to Manipulate Online Content

BP-Paid Law Professor Vouches for Feinberg on Gulf Spill Work

A law professor being paid $950 an hour with BP's money has declared that the czar of the $20 billion claims fund for Gulf oil spill victims is independent of the oil giant.

Fund administrator Ken Feinberg said Thursday he has agreed to pay New York University professor Stephen Gillers for his advice. Since being hired, Gillers has written a letter stating that Feinberg is neutral and not subject to BP's direction or control.

Feinberg said the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, created to administer payments from the fund to people and businesses, is billing BP for Gillers' services.

Some victims, lawyers and state officials unhappy with the claims process have questioned Feinberg's independence and suggested he is a pawn in a BP effort to limit its liability.'

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J.P. Morgan Sued For Role In Hedge Fund Ponzi

A court-appointed receiver trying to recover funds for victims of Tom Petters' Ponzi scheme has sued JPMorgan Chase & Co. for more than $300 million, alleging the bank should have known that money it seized from Petters was the result of fraud.

The Minnesota businessman was convicted last year of perpetrating a $3.7 billion Ponzi scheme that counted hedge funds, pastors, missionaries and retirees among its victims. Prosecutors said the one-time owner of Polaroid Holding Co. and Sun Country Airlines orchestrated the plot, but Petters has blamed his associates and is appealing his 50-year prison sentence. JPMorgan, its affiliates and some individuals seized more than $300 million in assets from Petters in the wake of his arrest.



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Wayne Madsen: Sweden Co-opted by CIA/Pentagon to Launder Wikileaks Cables

WMR has learned from a long-time Republican Party consultant that the CIA used Sweden to launder the transfer to Wikileaks of carefully screened and redacted State Department cables and the subsequent release of the cables to pre-selected corporate news media entities. Sweden was chosen because of its so-called “press freedom and freedom of expression” traditions in an effort to make the release of the cables by Wikileaks appear to be unconnected to a covert CIA and Pentagon psychological operations program designed to place further controls on the Internet.'

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US State Governments Prepare Attacks on Jobs, Wages, Pensions

January 1 marked the beginning of a three-week period in which new governors take office in more than half the 50 American states, including three of the four largest—California, New York and Florida.

Whether Democratic or Republican, the new state chief executives are planning major attacks on public employees and public services, including huge budget cuts and mass layoffs. In the 26 states with new governors, 23 face budget deficits, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.'

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AIPAC Protests Disclosure of Its Secret Files

On Dec. 23, 2010, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee filed a 53-page motion asking Judge Eric Christian to sanction former employee Steven J. Rosen over the illicit possession and release of sensitive internal AIPAC documents. Rosen’s $20 million defamation suit against his former employer seeks compensation for derogatory public statements AIPAC made to justify firing him after he was indicted under the Espionage Act in 2005 and their joint defense agreement collapsed.'

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Russian Opposition Leader Jailed

Russian opposition leader and former first deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov has been sentenced to 15 days in prison for participating in an opposition rally on New Year's Day in Moscow.

Nemtsov was convicted in a Moscow court on Sunday for failing to follow police instruction during the demonstration at a central Moscow square, AFP reported.

Russian police arrested Nemtsov along with nearly 130 others during an opposition rally on Friday. At least 300 protesters participated in the demonstration, chanting anti-government slogans, AFP reported.'

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Israel Blames US for Settlement Issue

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed US President Barack Obama for cancelling a package of incentives in exchange for a three-month settlement freeze.

"The United States asked us to consider extending the freeze by three months and the truth is that we were prepared to do so," Netanyahu was quoted as saying by Ha'aretz on Monday.

The US agreed to give twenty F-35 warplanes to Israel and to veto any anti-Israeli resolution at the United Nations Security Council if Israel extends its partial settlement freeze for 90 days.'

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Cholera Spreads All Over Dominican Republic

The cholera outbreak has now spread to all provinces in the Dominican Republic as an outbreak of the water-borne disease in neighboring Haiti has claimed thousands of lives.

"The number of people receiving medical treatment in Haiti has exceeded 150,000 and over 3,300 people have died. Another 139 have contracted the disease in the Dominican Republic," RIA Novosti news agency quoted Russia's chief sanitary doctor, Gennady Onishchenko, as saying on Monday.

He also warned Russian tourists of the possibility of the epidemic spreading there from Haiti.'

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How the Government Wants to Change the Way We Think

Shame, vanity, laziness and the desire to fit in are all to be used as tools of Government policy by ministers acting on the advice of a new psychology unit in Whitehall.

The first glimpse into the confidential work of the Cabinet Office's Behavioural Insight Team came on Tuesday when ministers suggested members of the public should be able to make small charitable donations when using cashpoints and their credit cards.

On Friday, the Cabinet Office again followed the unit's advice in proposing that learner drivers be opted in to an organ donation scheme when they apply for a licence, and also floated the idea of creating a lottery to encourage people to take tests to prove they have quit smoking.

These initiatives are examples of the application of mental techniques which, while seemingly paradoxical to the Coalition's goal of a smaller state, are likely to become a common feature of Government policy.'

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Prospect of Fuel Protests Rises

A campaign group of farmers and hauliers which was behind the fuel blockades a decade ago has threatened new action against the rises, while a cross-party group of MPs has called for the Government to help motorists and essential road users by cutting fuel duty.

The Scottish and Welsh Assembly governments have also joined calls for a cut in duty.

On Saturday fuel duty rose by 0.76p a litre, while on Tuesday VAT will go up from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent.

The combination of both tax hikes will put around 3.5p on the average cost of a litre of unleaded petrol, which had already hit a record high of 124.16p last week – more than 14 per cent on a year ago.

Diesel stood at an average of 128.35p a litre. Further increases in fuel duties are planned in April.'

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Gerald Celente: What’s in Store for 2011

Bankers Trick? - Cell Phone Banking For The Poor

What stands in the way of global access to financial services? It may come as a surprise, but the single biggest obstacle is cash. In short, cash is expensive.

The poor tend to live in an entirely cash-based economy. But banks find it too costly to sustain branches in disadvantaged areas to collect the small amounts of hard cash that poor people can save. So poor customers have to travel miles just to make a deposit – wasting time and running up transport costs.

We can’t make cash go away. But we can make it easier to transform cash into electronic information, which is all a bank account is, really. Once money is “de-materialized,” it can be sent around electronically at very low cost. The fastest, most convenient way to achieve this transformation globally is to use the stores that exist in every neighborhood and every village as banking surrogates.'

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Obama Sidesteps Hill With EPA Carbon Limits

The Obama administration will use government agencies and the Clean Air Act to push through its global warming agenda after failing in Congress. FoxNews.com reports that on Jan.2 new carbon limits will be set and the Environmental Protection Agency will then draw up regulations requiring companies to get permits to release greenhouse gases.

Fox said the administration, which points to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling for its authority, plans to have preliminary rules in place by the summer with final rules set for 2012. American Enterprise Institute scientist Ken Green told Fox the regulations are “job killers".'

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As We Count the Cost of the Freeze, Government Prepares for Global Warming

As we emerge, temporarily perhaps, from weeks of the coldest weather since records began – with snow disasters right round the northern hemisphere, from the US and Europe to China and Mongolia – more examples come to light of how the cost of extreme cold is far greater than that of warming. We already have a £9.6 billion backlog to cover repairs to roads damaged in previous winters, and the price of repairing the potholes and crumbling asphalt caused by this winter’s even more intense cold threatens to raise that by billions more (even though Government cuts will trim that budget by 15 per cent).

In Northern Ireland, 80,000 households were deprived of water by burst mains operated by the state-owned Northern Ireland Water. Yet as recently as October it published a strategic plan wholly obsessed by the need to transform its infrastructure to meet the challenge of global warming.'

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Israel Preparing for 'Large Scale War'

Israel's army chief told a US Congress delegation in late 2009 he was preparing for a large war in the Middle East, probably against Hamas or Hezbollah, leaked US diplomatic cables showed on Sunday.

"I am preparing the Israeli army for a large scale war, since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the opposite," Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi was quoted as saying in a cable from the US embassy in Tel Aviv.'

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Obama's IQ Faces Another Challenge

Tax Holiday For Huge Corporations?

Huge New Screening (and Drug Treatment) Push for Alzheimer's Disease

'Alzheimer's researchers are pushing for the disease to be redefined so that treatment can begin years earlier than under current practices.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, and can currently be conclusively diagnosed only with an autopsy. It already affects more than 26 million people around the world, and this number is expected to triple by 2050.'

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Why Washington Hates Hugo Chavez

In late November, Venezuela was hammered by torrential rains and flooding that left 35 people dead and roughly 130,000 homeless. If George Bush had been president, instead of Hugo Chavez, the displaced people would have been shunted off at gunpoint to makeshift prison camps--like the Superdome--as they were following Hurricane Katrina. But that's not the way Chavez works. The Venezuelan president quickly passed "enabling" laws which gave him special powers to provide emergency aid and housing to flood victims. Chavez then cleared out the presidential palace and turned it into living quarters for 60 people, which is the equivalent of turning the White House into a homeless shelter. The disaster victims are now being fed and taken care of by the state until they can get back on their feet and return to work.

The details of Chavez's efforts have been largely omitted in the US media where he is regularly demonized as a "leftist strongman" or a dictator. The media refuses to acknowledge that Chavez has narrowed the income gap, eliminated illiteracy, provided health care for all Venezuelans, reduced inequality, and raised living standards across he board. While Bush and Obama were expanding their foreign wars and pushing through tax cuts for the rich, Chavez was busy improving the lives of the poor and needy while fending off the latest wave of US aggression.'

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Official: US, NATO Now in Control of Narcotic Trade in Afghanistan

A senior Iranian judiciary official blasted the West's performance in fighting drugs in Afghanistan, and stressed that the western states, particularly the US, are now in control of the drug trade in the war-torn country.

"Today, Afghans have no special influence in the issue of narcotics but the NATO and western states control drug production and dealings and are busy in this fields," First Deputy Head of the Judiciary Ebrahim Raeesi said at a conference of the anti-drug police chiefs here in Tehran on Tuesday.

"Today, the drug movements and networks are controlled by the Americans and the hegemonic system and Afghans are acting as their agents," Raeesi noted.'

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IDF: Palestinian Killed at Checkpoint was Unarmed

An IDF soldier guarding the West Bank checkpoint of Bekaot shot and killed a Palestinian man despite observing that he was unarmed, an initial investigation of Sunday's incident showed.

It appears that eight bullets were fired at the 20-year-old Tubas resident, Mohammad Dragma, when more soldiers rushed to help the first soldier in the shooting.

The initial inquiry also shows that the first soldier that reached Dragma saw that he was not carrying a gun, but only glass bottle. Regardless of this observation the soldier chose to shoot at the man's upper body. During the questioning the soldier said that he felt his life was in danger when he decided to fire his weapon. Two of his battalion companions, who joined him in the shooting, admitted that they were not in the danger zone, but just wished to aid their friend.'

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Britain Carrying 'Trademark of Despots'

A coalition of human rights organizations worldwide has condemned Britain for keeping in place one of the “most serious violations” of natural justice, namely 'control orders', which allows suspects to be put under home arrest through electronic tagging, depriving them from having a mobile phone or internet and imposing curfews on them without any trial.

The alliance includes British human rights group Liberty, the American Civil Liberties Union, Canadian Civil Liberties Union, the Kenya Human Rights Commission, Argentina's Centro de Estudios Legales Sociales and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union among others.

Liberty's director Shami Chakrabarti described the controversial regulations introduced in 2005 as an “international embarrassment”.'

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'US to Stay in Afghanistan Forever'

A senior Republican senator has suggested that the US should devise a plan to permanently keep American troops in war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina, told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that Republicans would push for indefinite US stay in Afghanistan in the years ahead.

"We have had air bases all over the world and a couple of air bases in Afghanistan would allow the Afghan security forces an edge against the Taliban in perpetuity. It would be a signal to Pakistan that the Taliban are never going to come back. In Afghanistan they could change their behavior. It would be a signal to the whole region that Afghanistan is going to be a different place".'

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Israel Arrests Protesters in Tel Aviv

Israeli forces have arrested 19 activists protesting the death of a 36-year-old Palestinian woman, who died from tear gas inhalation at a rally in the occupied West Bank.

The demonstrators gathered outside the home of the US ambassador to Israel, James Cunningham, in northern Tel Aviv on Sunday.

Police arrested eleven activists, accusing them of throwing an empty tear gas canister and a chain toward the ambassador's residence, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

The demonstration was held against the death of Jawaher Abu Rahma, who died after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli troops at demonstrators, who were protesting the construction of the West Bank barrier near Ramallah city on Friday.'

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'Big Brother' Police Keep Millions of Innocent People on File Who Dial 999 to Report a Crime

Millions of innocent people have their details stored on police databases after reporting a crime, it emerged today.

Forces across England and Wales have amassed data about people who dial 999 or non-emergency numbers to report their concerns or pass on information.

West Midlands Police, the UK's second largest force, holds 1.1 million records of people who have reported offences over the past 12 years.'

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Cameron Faces Commons Defeat Over Europe

Conservative backbenchers are preparing to ambush the controversial European Union Bill which goes before the Commons when MPs return from their Christmas break.

Eurosceptic Tories will table radical changes to the legislation, which they claim does not deliver on its promise of a referendum on future transfers of powers to the European Union.

If the changes strengthening the legislation are not accepted by the Government, some Conservatives said they might even vote down the entire Bill.

Last night Labour sources signalled that Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, will order his MPs to oppose the legislation too.'

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Area Of Thick Arctic Ice Has Doubled In The Last Two Years

US Navy PIPS data shows that the area of ice greater than 2.5 metres thick – has doubled since the same date in 2008

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Biometric ID Checks On UK School Children As Young As Four

Dozens of Scottish schools have introduced “intrusive” biometric systems, such as fingerprinting, to identify pupils as young as four.

New figures show 68 schools are now using technology to manage meals, control library books and even allow access to toilets.

Almost two-thirds are primaries, where fingerprinting and palm recognition can be used to identify young children. And another 10 schools in Midlothian have the capability for biometric ID but are not yet using it.'

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Now Coastal Queensland Braces for 30-ft Flood Waters

'Floods that have inundated 22 Australian towns and forced more than 200,000 from their homes headed towards the northeast coast on New Year's Day, forcing further evacuations and warnings of 30-ft flood waters.'

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USDA Certified Organic’s Dirty Little Secret: Neotame

Just when we thought that buying “Organic” was safe, we run headlong into the deliberate poisoning of our organic food supply by the FDA in collusion with none other than the folks who brought us Aspartame. NutraSweet, a former Monsanto asset, has developed a new and improved version of this neurotoxin called Neotame.

Neotame has similar structure to aspartame — except that, from it’s structure, appears to be even more toxic than aspartame. This potential increase in toxicity will make up for the fact that less will be used in diet drinks. Like aspartame, some of the concerns include gradual neurotoxic and immunotoxic damage from the combination of the formaldehyde metabolite (which is toxic at extremely low doses) and the excitotoxic amino acid.'

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BP Oil Disaster Exclusive - Kindra Arnesen's Explosive New Revelations and Message to the World

'Activist, Mother, and Voice of the Gulf People, Kindra Arnesen sat down with the Project Gulf Impact team, Matt Smith, Heather Rally, and Gavin Garrison recently to reveal shocking new information about the BP oil disaster and why the whole world should be paying attention to the Gulf. A must watch for anyone wanting new information on the Gulf of Mexico, she reveals shocking new information sure to send waves through the country.'

How Fritz Springmeier Was Framed

In 2003, Illuminati researcher Fritz Springmeier was sentenced to 12 years in prison on the basis of no evidence. His experience suggests that at any time the Illuminati can put away anyone who irritates them.

Springmeier was convicted because a bank robber, Forrest E. Bateman Jr. testified that Springmeier visited his house on the same day as Bateman discussed the robbery with two accomplices.

Bateman received a reduced sentence for this testimony. He did not say he had discussed the robbery with Springmeier.'

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Woman Arrested After Trying To Return Wallet

Deborah Heinrich said she opened it to find who it belonged to and then started making phone calls.

"I left messages at his home phone after I found his number on the Internet," Heinrich said. "I called his bank and a Harley Davidson dealer listed on a business card in his wallet."

When asked if she had intended to keep the wallet, Heinrich replied, "No, not at all."

Heinrich said she even contacted police and asked them for help tracking down the owner.'

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Citing Facebook Posts, Fox News Turns in Indiana Grandmother for ‘Terror Link’

Apparently no longer content to simply shill for a growing police state, Fox News decided to take what passes for the law these days into its own hands today, turning in a 46 year-old grandmother from Indianapolis, Indiana for having a “possible terrorist link.”

The entire case against the woman, one Kathie Smith, appears to have been based around data culled off of her Facebook page and the content of emails they exchanged with her. The Department of Homeland Security in Indiana confirmed that their first information about Mrs. Smith was when Fox News sent them a video in which she allegedly makes “anti-American comments".'

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Prison Riot: Smashed Windows, Burnt Buildings as Inmates Rampage in UK

'Rioting inmates caused heavy damage to a low-security prison on Saturday, smashing windows and setting fires that engulfed buildings and spewed clouds of black smoke. Mark Freeman, deputy general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, said the riot started after some prisoners refused to take breath tests. At the time, only two prison officers and four support staff were on duty.'

Haiti: Obama Does Not Like Black People

As the year 2010 closes the United Nations is facing a serious crisis of credibility. Whether in Ivory Coast , in the Congo or in Haiti , U.N. troops sent to “keep the peace” are repeatedly accused of perpetrating grave human rights violations, including mass murders. This note shall focus on the track record of the Mission des nations unies pour la stabilisation d’Haiti (MINUSTHA), which has been in operation in this Caribbean island nation for the past six years.'

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Big Brother: America's Police State Mentality in the Electronic Age

Pushed to the extreme and without clear democratic oversight, it becomes the mark of a totalitarian state, when authorities feel that they never have enough information on the people. It is because information is power and state bureaucrats and politicians naturally like to be in control; on the one hand, releasing as little information about their own actions through an imposed secrecy, and on the other, accumulating as much information as possible about the citizens.

And today, modern governments have all the tools to transform their country into a creeping police state, more so now then ever before, in this electronic age. They have access to information technology that previous full-fledged “police state” governments could only have dreamed about.'

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