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Post by towhom on Jun 17, 2009 7:14:24 GMT 4
The Powers of the Big BanksHuffington Post Mike Lux, Author (The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be) Posted: June 16, 2009 08:38 AMwww.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/the-powers-of-the-big-ban_b_216068.htmlIssues related to high finance and the banking industry were never something I had spent a lot of time focusing on, but last September's financial collapse was a moment not unlike 9/11 and national security: suddenly it became really obvious to all people who care about their country that it was essential to understand and start being involved in the issue. I approached it from my perspective as a political strategist, and it was extremely clear that while some complicated economic issues were involved, the financial crisis was, at heart, a crisis of politics. Wall Street had gotten way too powerful and politicians were letting them have their way with us. Any private business that is "too big to fail" economically also holds an enormous amount of weight politically, and that political weight is at the heart of the problem.What's important to remember is that the power of these huge financial institutions takes of many forms. Progressives are keenly aware of all the political contributions the financial industry makes and the well-connected lobbyists they employ. That kind of power is certainly important, especially on Capitol Hill where members have to spend practically every day dialing for dollars to pay for absurdly expensive campaigns. But we need to be careful not to focus on only that kind of power when trying to decide how to win back out democracy from the financial industry. When you have the kind of size that the institutions behemoths do, your power stretches far beyond campaign contributions. - Bond traders have a huge amount to say about whether interest rates are lowered and raised.
- Stock speculators and investment banks can literally destroy companies overnight by combining to drive their stocks downward.
- Many in the media make snap judgments over how successful a presidential initiative on the economy is based on whether the stock rises or falls immediately following a new policy announcement.
- Perhaps most importantly, there's this free market, what's good for Wall Street is good for America mentality that has been bought into by many Democrats and pretty much all Republicans.
And then, of course, there's the whole "too big to fail" dynamic in and of itself. As we have just seen in the last eight months, if one of these giant companies is struggling -- even when it is due to their own bad decisions -- they can run to the government and say "give us all kinds of bailouts and tax breaks and special privileges, or else we will fail and destroy the entire economy". There is nothing more important to the long term political and economic health of our country than lessening the power and the size of the massive financial conglomerates on Wall Street. They have already destroyed our economy, and will again if we don't solve this problem. They are also the biggest single danger to our democracy.
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Post by fr33ksh0w2012 on Jun 17, 2009 17:52:20 GMT 4
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 » 05:52am Almost one-quarter of Australian children are overweight or obese, and tooth decay is also on the rise. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's 2009 snapshot of the nation's children, released on Wednesday, gives us a tick for declining asthma hospitalisation and better leukemia survival rates.
But we lag behind other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations on infant mortality and teenage births.
Australian children still don't eat enough fruit or vegetables, despite public health campaigns.
In 2007, 17 per cent of Australian children were estimated to be overweight and six per cent obese, according to the institute's report.
Obesity increases a child's risk of developing asthma and Type 2 diabetes.
If children continue to be overweight into adulthood, they are at a heightened risk of heart attack and some cancers.
The national guidelines recommend children aged between five and 18 years old should have at least one hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day.
They also recommend children be restricted to no more than two hours of non-educational screen time daily.
While 74 per cent meet the physical activity guidelines, only one-third of children meet the screen-time guidelines.
'Far too many children spend more than the recommended time in front of a video screen,' the institute says in the report.
Only 60 per cent of children aged four to eight and around half of nine to 13-year-olds eat enough fruit.
Just two per cent of nine to 13-year-olds eat the recommended daily serve of vegetables.
Tooth decay in children aged six and 12 declined in the early to mid-1990s but has climbed again in six-year-olds.
'In recent years, there has been a slight increase in tooth decay among children, which may be related to changes in dietary patterns, including less drinking of fluoridated mains water and increased sugar consumption, and changes in school dental programs,' the institute says.
Six-year-old children living in the poorest areas have twice the rate of tooth decay as those living in the wealthiest areas.
The rate of indigenous children who are decay-free at the age of six is much lower than non-indigenous children, at 21 per cent compared with 54 per cent respectively.
Babies born to teenage mothers in Australia make up five per cent of all births, at 18 births per 1,000, which is higher than the OECD average of 17.
Australia ranked 20th out of 30 OECD countries in 2002, with a much higher teen birth rate than Korea (2.7 per cent), Switzerland 5.5 per cent) and Japan (6.2 per cent).
The indigenous teenage birth rate is five times the non-indigenous rate.
Girls living in remote parts of the country are also five times more likely to be mothers than their city counterparts.
Teenage mothers face increased risks of miscarriage, pre-term delivery, low birth weight and perinatal mortality.
Children of teen mothers have a higher likelihood of becoming teenage mums themselves, according to the report.
Australia's infant mortality rate of 4.7 deaths for every 1,000 live births in 2006 is slightly better than the OECD average of 5.2, but still triple the rate of the best performing country, Iceland.
The infant death rate dropped by 40 per cent between 1986 and 2006 from 5.4 to 3.2 deaths per 1,000 live births.
One important achievement for Australia has been its drop in asthma hospitalisation rates, which are down by one-third since 1996/97.
In 2006/07, there was about 21,000 hospitalisations for asthma among children aged up to 14 - a rate of 520 per 100,000 children.
Advancements in early detection, treatment and research have contributed to a boost in the five-year leukaemia survival rate between 1992-97 and 1998-2004 from 72 per cent to 83 per cent.
The National Health and Preventative Taskforce is due to deliver its blueprint on improving Australians' health to the Rudd government by the end of June. WELL IF THEY WOULD STOP PUMPING SH*T INTO THE SOIL AND TOOK FLOURIDE OUT OF THE IRRADIATED WATER SUPPLY OVER HERE IN AUSTRALIA MAYBE KIDS TEETH WOULDN'T BE FALLING OUT OF THEIR F*CKING HEADS AND WE WOULDN'T BE SO FAT!!
AUSTRALIANS IN THE NEXT 150 YEARS IF THEY DON'T TAKE THE RUBBISH OUT OF THE SOIL (GOB THE "GHOUL")
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Post by kiek on Jun 17, 2009 18:44:34 GMT 4
WELL IF THEY WOULD STOP PUMPING SH*T INTO THE SOIL AND TOOK FLOURIDE OUT OF THE IRRADIATED WATER SUPPLY OVER HERE IN AUSTRALIA MAYBE KIDS TEETH WOULDN'T BE FALLING OUT OF THEIR F*CKING HEADS AND WE WOULDN'T BE SO FAT!!
AUSTRALIANS IN THE NEXT 150 YEARS IF THEY DON'T TAKE THE RUBBISH OUT OF THE SOIL (GOB THE "GHOUL")
[/quote] Edited for length only! Yes Fr33, you are completely right! Don't forget the soda's and the sweeteners + the chewinggum and the rest of the stuff that children nowadays get/eat! Not only out of the soil but also out of the air!!! I will post some pictures in Chemtrails thread this evening because this morning we were under attack her in A'dam again!! Much Love and look at the bright side!! ;D (I know, it's very difficult at times! ) ;-))
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Post by avid on Jun 18, 2009 0:41:41 GMT 4
beta.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22871/A Stem-Cell Therapy for BlindnessAdvanced Cell Technology will seek approval for human trials of its treatment for vision loss. By Courtney Humphries WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2009 "An experimental therapy using human embryonic stem cells to treat degenerative eye diseases has proved safe and effective in animal studies, and may begin early human trials in the next few months if it receives approval from the Food and Drug Administration. If granted approval, the therapy will be the second embryonic-stem-cell-based treatment to progress to human trials, and it will provide a test case for further applications of stem cells. While scientists have made huge advances using stem cells to treat diseases in animal models, testing these experimental therapies in humans poses some unique challenges. One is proving that the cells are safe: embryonic stem cells, which can develop into any tissue type in the body, carry the risk of forming tumors. Another challenge is the threat of immune rejection of the transplanted cells; in most cases, introducing foreign cells would require a patient to take powerful drugs for life to suppress the immune system, as is the case with organ transplants. For that reason, the first stem-cell therapies have focused on the eye and nervous system, so-called immune-privileged sites that do not experience this response to foreign cells. Geron, a biotech company based in Menlo Park, CA, received FDA approval in January for a trial to treat patients with acute spinal-cord injuries with cells derived from embryonic stem cells. This latest treatment for eye disease, developed by Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), based in Worcester, MA, uses human embryonic stem cells to re-create a type of cell in the retina that supports the photoreceptors needed for vision. These cells, called retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), are often the first to die off in age-related macular degeneration and other eye diseases, which in turn leads to loss of vision. Several years ago, scientists found that human embryonic stem cells could be a source of RPE cells, and subsequent studies found that these cells could restore vision in mouse models of macular degeneration. In a recent study published online in the journal Stem Cells, researchers from ACT and Oregon Health Sciences University show that their stem-cell therapy provides a long-term benefit in animal models of vision loss. A second experiment tested the long-term safety of the cells in mice--an important requirement for moving into human testing--and found no evidence that the cells cause tumors. To test the efficacy of the cell transplants, the researchers injected RPE cells derived from embryonic-stem-cell lines into the eyes of rats with a genetic defect in their RPE that causes their vision to gradually deteriorate. After three months, the retinas of treated rats had many more photoreceptors than those of untreated diseased rats, and the treated animals performed better in vision tests; however, their performance in the tests diminished with time. The transplants were also able to improve vision in a mouse model of Stargardt's disease, a rare but untreatable illness that causes blindness early in life." Much more on link
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Post by towhom on Jun 18, 2009 0:46:55 GMT 4
Pentagon kills $6.3 billion missile technology projectZDNet News & Blogs / Government Posted by Michael Krigsman June 15th, 2009 @ 6:06 pmblogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures/?p=4246&tag=nl.e539[Image showing advanced technology from Gizmodo. The Pentagon canceled Northrop Grumman’s Kinetic Energy Interceptor program amid accusations by Defense Secretary, William Gates, that the system’s design would not accomplish key military objectives. It’s not an IT failure, per se, but certainly a great example of poor fit-to-purpose between technology and business requirements, leading to project abandonment and failure. Northrop Grumman had completed approximately $1.2 billion of work at the time of cancellation. The Pentagon said it terminated the project for the “convenience of the government” and not because of problems with Northrop. Northrop Grumman describes the system: KEI is the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) element that is being designed to destroy enemy ballistic missiles during their boost and early midcourse phases of flight. It is also the first ballistic missile defense weapon system to be developed without the constraints of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Reuters said Gates stopped the program because: Gates and the Missile Defense Agency said the system had limited capability, would have been difficult to fire from ships because of its large size, cost too much and would have to have been launched from close to the target. To make sense of the termination, the Preventing Project Failure blog compares Department of Defense rhetoric with that of Northrop Grumman: Northrop Grumman | Department of Defense | Deployment flexibility | Must be too close to the target when firing | Small temporary footprint | Too big | Easy to deploy | Difficult to fire from ships |
Based on this brief comparison, it’s obvious that substantial expectation gaps existed between the technical supplier and its “business” customer (in this case, the government). The Tribune-Democrat, a local newspaper in Pennsylvania, where Northrop has a facility, notes the cancellation took effect before the government even tested the system: Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., grilled Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates about the administration’s decision to kill the project.
“Six years of development and testing, with most of the more than $1 billion of funding spent to date, was to culminate in the first booster flight in the fall of ’09,” Lewis said. “With the issuance of the stop-work order, the department is walking away from this investment without benefit of knowing what the technology has to offer.”
There are funds available in the 2009 budget to complete the test, Lewis continued.
“Why would the department kill a program four months before its booster flight?” he demanded. “Why not allow the program to execute the (fiscal-year) ’09 funds?”
The Kinetic Interceptor Program was on its way out before Obama took office, Gates told the subcommittee.
Besides the slow-developing technology, Missile Defense Agency leaders saw deployment logistics issues, he said.
“A big part of the problem with this program is that it needs to be close to the launch site to be able to be effective,” Gates said. “The only potential country where it could have a role with some confidence would be North Korea. It has poor capability against Iran and virtually no capability against either Russia or Chinese launch facilities. And so you have a very limited capability here at considerable cost.” Despite differing views between vendor and customer, one thing is certain: the government wasted over a billion dollars before deciding this system didn’t meet requirements. This missile program parallels the experience of many IT projects in the private sector, despite the large numbers involved. I suspect that failures driven by the “alignment gap” between technical and business groups are far more common than one might think. Some thoughts (based on extensive experience):
There are too many situations whereby a large vendor (when contract is in the "open bid" stage) or contractor (when contract has been signed and executed between a vendor and a business customer) promotes the sale of "goods" and/or "processes" based on their POTENTIAL. This does NOT mean that the "item" exists or is further along than the "conceptual" stage. It does NOT guarantee the "item" will be fully operational AS STATED. It does NOT limit the budgetary requirements - in fact, there are "discretionary fund" and "early termination fee" loopholes built into every contract to guarantee payment EVEN IF THE PRODUCT / PROCESS FAILS TO MEET THE NEGOTIATED REQUIREMENTS.
I can't begin to list the "crapola" that was sold by vendors to my "large clients" in the Telcom industry that were NOT COMPATIBLE with: 1) their existing infrastructure; 2) forced "special assembly" transmission platform designs and their corresponding tariff proposals for billing; 3) required "additional equipment", complete with non-recurring installation and recurring (monthly) billing charges, to support the "new product/process", etc. To add insult to injury, there were many cases where, no matter what was done on the Telcom end, the stupid thing DIDN'T work. Why? Because a vendor Marketing group pays NO ATTENTION to their R&D group. They (Marketing Reps) are, simply put, a bunch of people with sales quotas out to sell "something". It makes no difference that the product/process has yet to reach "the marketable stage". This would include DETAILED EQUIPMENT (including software) SPECIFICATIONS AND TECHNICAL GUIDELINES TO SUPPORT "IT" along with the COMPLETE (and "undoctored") TESTING DATA and a list of KNOWN ISSUES addressing INCOMPATIBILITY PROBLEMS and their workarounds (if they're even possible).
So, Rep. Lewis, before you blast the Department of Defense for (finally) exerting some fiscal responsibility by nixing a "doomed project" that had all the markings of a "ideological pipe dream" from the onset, you may want to look at the "pipe dreams" that you've proposed and/or backed during your tenure at the "Hill of Beans". That's the REAL source of the "SWAMPGAS" classification as determined by the now defunct "Project Blue Book".
Have a lovely "streamlined budget" day.
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Post by towhom on Jun 18, 2009 2:26:51 GMT 4
Murphy collezioniZDNet News & Blogs / Government Posted by Paul Murphy June 13th, 2009 @ 12:15 amblogs.zdnet.com/Murphy/Huh?I spent last Saturday at the Wildrose Alliance (think Republican) annual meeting in Calgary. More than 300 people in one room almost all of whom agree with me on most issues. Wow! - I mean, seriously, how often do you think that happens? Anyway, at one point (apparently apropos of an egg salad sandwich) a guy I’ve never seen before tells me he “digs Linux”. “Digs”? Say again? Anyway, I think there’s a bottom line lesson here: this world is getting way too small and too interconnected. Interesting weather too: 30cm of snow in the Cypress hills, heavy snow and hail in Calgary -obviously global warming, as I think Ed Morrisey said somewhere, now really is something you can shovel. The 21st CzarThis week was marked by a need to spend a little bit of time reviewing the mandates various national network control authorities have. In both Canada and most of Europe undisclosed police access to just about everything networkish is taken for granted, but the formal centralization of political power to hunt for and shutdown offending network operators or users is something few countries have undertaken - in fact, here’s a list of of the ones I found with internet security czars with that kind of mandate: Communist China Vietnam Iran North Korea Cuba Venezuela The United States of America Bringing down airplanesAbsent “black box” information - and one of the many things I don’t understand is why those are kept on board airplanes instead of having live telemetry recorded at an airline operated central site - the recent Air France crash now seems likely to go down to the unhappy coincidence of one too many natural factors. On the other hand, I wonder whether airplanes will soon need much better internal electronic shielding to prevent the insane from bringing them down by frying the (non optical) pump controllers all fly by wire aircraft depend on. Notice that I’m not suggesting this happened, only that the technology both in airplanes and at Radio Shack has evolved to make this possible. Model based managementA couple of phrases from junk I was scanning earlier - things that had people “executing well against our model” in a context of “intensified mandates” and the desperate need to “implement the most agile BI strategies” - reminded me of a comment I’d seen, by “Jeremy”, on watts up with that: The photo is priceless. This to me summarizes the complete lack of scientific approach to everything these days. Everyone sits round a PC and blindly believes whatever nonsense it spews out.
No first principles. No cause and effect. No understanding of physics. mathematics or even statistics. Just run any number of widely available computer modeling programs, fit the historical data and hey presto another science breakthrough. It would be funny if it wasn’t so very pathetically sad. (FYI: the article spoofed climate modeling by reproducing a press release from 2006 - proudly celebrating predictions that proved entirely wrong - but how many times have you seen otherwise smart people impressed with some “corporate c'o'ckpit” BI display where, in reality, the second letter should be an “S”?) Fun with the drupalI’m not sure I want to say that I, uh, “dig” Solaris and open source, but I did have an interesting demonstration of the power of the two come out of Saturday’s meetings. This particular agency has spent well into seven figures on a custom consumer information site that another agency now runs for it on a mainframe IFL. Response, of course, is pretty poor but the big issues she complained about are things that reflect the differences in thought processes and priorities between editors and data processing managers - and the thing that struck me during the conversation was that drupal will do most of what she wants out of the box - and the CCK (content construction kit) should make implementing the rest pretty easy. So I did a very basic drupal demo (not, please understand, that I understand Drupal - in fact, it’s often so backwards to my thinking that it takes a very frustrating time to see the retroactively obvious) - downloaded and installed a clean 6.12, gave it a private database and apache virtual server address, added the modules she needed, added some time and date information others think she needs, copied and restructured some sample content from her site, and turned her loose - all in just under three hours and fully justified in terms of amusement value when she reported that her home access to the demo running on my ancient Sun 150 via Shaw cable was significantly faster than her access to the z9 IFL at the office. Out of which an abberant thought: there are lots of editorial professionals out there facing daily frustration because the people who built their website tools simply don’t think like them (and, admittedly the notion that editors think is a bit overboard, but go with me on this, ok?) - and could therefore improve their own lives, along with system reliability and flexibility, simply by replacing all that eons evolved home grown stuff in favor of open source products like Drupal and Apache on Solaris or Linux. And one more thingFrom newsmax: La. House Backs 15-Cent Charge on Internet Access
BATON ROUGE, LA — A 15-cent monthly surcharge should be levied on Internet access across Louisiana to fight online criminal activity, the House voted 81-9 Thursday, over the opposition of Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Rep. Mack “Bodi” White, R-Denham Springs, said he sponsored the bill for Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, to raise money to finance a division in Caldwell’s office that investigates Internet crimes, particularly online sex crimes against children.
The measure would raise $2.4 million a year for Caldwell’s department, according to a financial analysis.
“I don’t think that 15 cents per month is too much to ask for our children’s protection,” said Rep. Simone Champagne, D-Jeanerette. So, quick question: if you just use your iphone -or cableco VoIP phone- for phone calls, do you pay the tax?
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Post by locoaz2009 on Jun 18, 2009 5:16:10 GMT 4
“Why don’t somebody print the truth about our present economic condition? We spent years of wild buying on credit, everything under the sun, whether we needed it or not, and now we are having to pay for it, howling like a pet coon. This would be a great world to dance in if we didn’t have to pay the fiddler.” - Quote by Will Rogers The world has accumulated a great deal of debt, and it will take a long time for the savings rate to get to the point where debt can be managed. Rather than implement rational solutions to the debt bomb, we think politicians will dither and financial manipulators will continue to try to make money in the current crisis, therefore we expect there will be many more asset bubbles in coming years. A few reasons why we say this: 1. Money supply growth is out of control, everywhere. Often this is due to pressure on central banks by politicians. 2. The velocity of money is starting to increase after a period of decline. Due to the resurgence of the shadow banking system. 3. The problems that have caused the present crisis (unregulated derivatives) are still continuing to be manufactured because they are very profitable to the manufacturers. Derivatives expand the shadow banking system, which further expands the supply of money and credit, thus adding more fuel to the bubble creating machine. When derivative manufacturers are confronted with the fact that they are sowing the seeds of another bubble…and then another disaster, their refrain is that “it will be different this time.” Amazingly, people can be made to believe that stuff! Politicians and central bankers worldwide are expanding the money supply at astounding rates, and the eventual outcome that we can see is inflation. We recommend that our readers invest accordingly. We own oil shares, natural gas shares, gold and silver stocks, agriculture related investments, strong non-U.S. currencies and foreign stocks from fast growing countries [China, India, and other emerging markets]. We are currently getting a pullback in these markets, and we want to use these corrections to add to our positions at $60 a barrel for oil we will get particularly bullish. FEDERAL RESERVE Last week, the CEO of Bank of America was on television in front of Congressional leaders testifying under oath about conversations he had with the Federal Reserve Chairman and the U.S. Treasury Secretary before Bank of America had completed its purchase of the ailing investment bank, Merrill Lynch. To put it politely, the reason for airing it publicly was to gather data in order to prosecute someone. The U.S. Congress is comprised mostly of lawyers. They may be terrible at financial and economic decision-making, but they know how to prosecute someone. IS IT POLITICS, OR AN ATTACK ON THE FEDERAL RESERVE? 1. Was it politics, driven by a desire of the U.S. Congress to make the banks look bad? 2. Was it a desire of the Congressional Democrats to attack the Republican holdovers, Dr. Ben Bernanke and the Republican former Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson? Or, more frightening… 3. Was it a shot across the bow of the entire Federal Reserve Board by the current administration? Or was it all 3? Number 1 would be typical. The U.S. Congress who is highly culpable in this crisis wants to shift blame elsewhere. Number 2 is very probable. Democrats want to take any opportunity to smack down Republicans and shift blame for the economic meltdown to the Republicans [in our opinion, both parties deserve blame]. Number 3 is the frightening alternative. Today, the Obama administration is expected to unveil their new plan for financial regulation. After it is unveiled, we will be able to comment more. Details Set for Remake of Financial Regulations Wall Street Journal-June 15, 2009 By: Damian Paletta WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is expected Wednesday to propose the most sweeping reorganization of financial-market supervision since the 1930s, a revamp that would touch almost every corner of banking from how mortgages are underwritten to the way exotic financial instruments are traded. At the center of the plan, which administration officials are referring to as a "white paper," is a move to remake powers of the Federal Reserve to oversee the biggest financial players, give the government the power to unwind and break up systemically important companies — much like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. does with failed banks — and create a new regulator for consumer-oriented financial products, according to people involved in the process. The plan stops short of the complete consolidation of power that some lawmakers have advocated. For example, it will allow several agencies to continue supervising banks. It also won’t place specific limits on the size or scope of financial institutions, but it will make it much harder for large companies to be so overleveraged that they threaten the broader economy. What if Congress and the Obama administration are looking for more Fed buying of government bonds, known as Quantitative Easing? Thus far, the U.S. Federal Reserve and its board of Governors have resisted and board members have stated that no more Quantitative Easing is necessary. THE ADMINISTRATION AND CONGRESS ARE IN A TIGHT SPOT Congress and the Obama administration need to sell trillions of dollars of U.S. Government bonds to finance the current and expected deficits. [a.] They do not want to cut spending. Too many constituents enjoy the handouts. [b.] They do not want to raise taxes, as it might cause the economy to collapse even more. However, they have a multi-trillion dollar problem this year, next year, and in the foreseeable future….Bond sales must be made. China, Brazil, Russia and other potential bond buyers have been saying that they are concerned about U.S. deficits and U.S. anti-business rhetoric. For many years, the U.S. has sold smaller amounts of bonds to foreign governments. Currently, foreign governments can be expected to take a much smaller part of the large quantities that need to be sold in the foreseeable future. The government needs do either a. or b…or more probably will do c. What is c? [c.] More Quantitative Easing; a type of printing money where the Treasury sells bonds to the Federal Reserve. Quantitative Easing is admitting that no one else in the world will buy the bonds needed to finance our spending without a big increase in interest rates. The U.S. Federal Reserve buying treasury bonds temporarily solves the problem of how to finance the deficit while keeping interest rates low…thus helping the administration with a very big political problem. THE FEDERAL RESERVE GOVERNORS ARE ECONOMISTS Some of the Federal Reserve Governors are Democrats and some are Republicans…BUT ALL ARE ECONOMISTS. They know well the pitfalls of financing government largesse by the technique of printing money. They have seen how the same actions that Congress wants to pressure them into have historically destroyed many economies. We are certain that they do not want to go down in history as the people who sowed the seeds of destruction of the U.S. financial system. The integrity and independence of the Federal Reserve must be preserved from the politicians’ desire to give too many gifts to potential voters, if the U.S. and world are to grow and prosper in coming decades. Ben Bernanke is up for re-appointment or replacement in January. We believe that if he is not re-appointed, the U.S. dollar will fall and interest rates in the U.S. will eventually rise more rapidly, and rise higher than they would otherwise. In any case, we anticipate that interest rates must rise. www.guildinvestment.com/jsmineset.com/LOCOAZ
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Post by nodstar on Jun 18, 2009 8:22:03 GMT 4
FORUM NOTICE
Hi Everyone ..
I've received several PMs re the private section for members only My apologies for the hold up with the arrangements for this.
Please be patient, as soon as we have the details sorted out the members will be notified via PM.
BEST WISHES TO YOU ALL
Nodstar*
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Post by avid on Jun 18, 2009 13:25:17 GMT 4
Hi all I've just purchased the Half Past Human latest Alta Report - "The Shape of Things to Come". Interesting information about disclosure and 2 people from USA...!!! Loads more on issues 'electrical' - hopefully we can be free soon. It also proves that with this sort of information we CAN effect a positive future for ourselves and society. I wish I could post it, but it's copyright. I realise some of the basics are logical conclusions to current situations, but the additional detail is fascinating. If anyone else has read it - what are your thoughts? Avid
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Post by avid on Jun 18, 2009 13:59:44 GMT 4
science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/19feb_nlc.htmStrange CloudsThe crew of the ISS have been observing electric-blue "noctilucent" clouds hovering on the edge of space. February 19, 2003: They hover on the edge of space. Thin, wispy clouds, glowing electric blue. Some scientists think they're seeded by space dust. Others suspect they're a telltale sign of global warming. They're called noctilucent or "night-shining" clouds (NLCs). And whatever causes them, they're lovely. "Over the past few weeks we've been enjoying outstanding views of these clouds above the southern hemisphere," said space station astronaut Don Pettit during a NASA TV broadcast last month. "We routinely see them when we're flying over Australia and the tip of South America." Electric blue clouds viewed from the ISS. Photo credit: Don Pettit and NASA TV. Sky watchers on Earth have seen them, too, glowing in the night sky after sunset, although the view from Earth-orbit is better. Pettit estimated the height of the noctilucent clouds he saw at 80 to 100 km ... "literally on the fringes of space." "Noctilucent clouds are a relatively new phenomenon," says Gary Thomas, a professor at the University of Colorado who studies NLCs. "They were first seen in 1885" about two years after the powerful eruption of Krakatoa hurled plumes of volcanic ash as much as 80 km high in Earth's atmosphere. Ash from the Indonesian volcano caused such splendid sunsets worldwide that evening sky watching became a popular past time. One sky watcher in particular, a German named T.W. Backhouse who is often credited with the discovery of noctilucent clouds, noticed something odd. He stayed outside after the sun had set and, on some nights, saw wispy filaments glowing electric blue against the black sky. Scientists of the day figured they were some curious manifestation of volcanic ash. Eventually the ash settled and the vivid sunsets of Krakatoa faded. Yet the noctilucent clouds remained. "It's puzzling," says Thomas. "Noctilucent clouds have not only persisted, but also spread." A century ago the clouds were confined to latitudes above 50o; you had to go to places like Scandinavia, Russia and Britain to see them. In recent years they have been sighted as far south as Utah and Colorado. Astronaut Don Pettit is a long-time noctilucent cloud-watcher. As a staff scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory between 1984 and 1996, he studied noctilucent clouds seeded by high-flying sounding rockets. "Seeing these kinds of clouds [from space] ... is certainly a joy for us on the ISS," he said on NASA TV. "Although NLCs look like they're in space," continues Thomas, "they're really inside Earth's atmosphere, in a layer called the mesosphere ranging from 50 to 85 km high." The mesosphere is not only very cold (-125 C), but also very dry--"one hundred million times dryer than air from the Sahara desert." Nevertheless, NLCs are made of water. The clouds consist of tiny ice crystals about the size of particles in cigarette smoke. Ice crystals in clouds need two things to grow: water molecules and something for those molecules to stick to--dust, for example. Water gathering on dust to form droplets or ice crystals is a process called nucleation. It happens all the time in ordinary clouds. Ordinary clouds, which are close to Earth, get their dust from sources like desert wind storms. It's hard to waft wind-blown dust all the way up to the mesosphere, however. "Krakatoa may have seeded the mesosphere with dust in 1883, but that doesn't explain the clouds we see now," notes Thomas. "Perhaps the source is space itself," he speculates. Every day Earth sweeps up tons of meteoroids--tiny bits of debris from comets and asteroids. Most are just the right size to seed noctilucent clouds. The source of water vapor is less controversial. "Upwelling winds in the summertime carry water vapor from the moist lower atmosphere toward the mesosphere," says Thomas. This is why NLCs appear during summer. One reason for the recent spread of noctilucent clouds might be global warming. "Extreme cold is required to form ice in a dry environment like the mesosphere," says Thomas. Ironically, global warming helps. While greenhouse gases warm Earth's surface, they actually lower temperatures in the high atmosphere. Thomas notes that noctilucent clouds were first spotted during the Industrial Revolution--a time of rising greenhouse gas production. Are NLCs a thermometer for climate change? A telltale sign of meteoroids? Or both? "So much about these clouds is speculative," says Thomas. A NASA spacecraft scheduled for launch in 2006 will provide some answers. The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere satellite, or AIM for short, will orbit Earth at an altitude of 550 km. Although it's a small satellite, says Thomas, there are many sensors on board. AIM will take wide angle photos of NLCs, measure their temperatures and chemical abundances, monitor dusty aerosols, and count meteoroids raining down on Earth. "For the first time we'll be able to monitor all the crucial factors at once." Meanwhile, all we can do is wait ... and watch. There's never been a better time to see noctilucent clouds. "During the summer months, look west perhaps 30 minutes to an hour after sunset when the Sun has dipped 6o to 16o below the horizon," advises Thomas. If you see luminous blue-white tendrils spreading across the sky, you've probably spotted an NLC. Observing sites north of 40o latitude are favored. One more thing: don't forget your camera. According to astronaut Don Pettit, "you can never have too many pictures of noctilucent clouds." more on link spaceweather.com/nlcs/gallery2009_page5.htm?PHPSESSID=hl2lql5qn6j6v2u6kl5pmmgpa3Intriguing up-to-date gallery.... Noctilucent clouds..Observing tips: Look west 30 to 60 minutes after sunset when the Sun has dipped 6o to 16o below the horizon. If you see luminous blue-white tendrils spreading across the sky, you've probably spotted a noctilucent cloud. Although noctilucent clouds appear most often at arctic latitudes, they have been sighted in recent years as far south as Colorado, Utah and Virginia. NLCs are seasonal, appearing most often in late spring and summer. In the northern hemisphere, the best time to look would be between mid-May and the end of August. See also 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 They look a bit 'unnatural' in some of the gallery pix... hmmmmm?
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Post by avid on Jun 18, 2009 14:14:37 GMT 4
www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Financial-Industry/Nanotechnology-The-new-asbestos/?c=TJ6pZf%2BpD7cnzSRDBzLw1w%3D%3D&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BDailyDISPATCHES FROM IFT Nanotechnology: The new asbestos?By Caroline Scott-Thomas, 17-Jun-2009 Related topics: Financial & Industry, Food safety and labeling The safety risks of nanotechnology use by the food industry could make it “the new asbestos”, says toxicologist Dr George Burdock of the Burdock Group. Nanotechnology refers to controlling matter at an atomic or molecular scale measured in nanometers, or millionths of millimeters. In the food industry, the technology has excited manufacturers as its potential uses are explored, including detecting bacteria in packaging, or producing stronger flavors and colorings. But Dr Burdock claims that manufacturers lack understanding about how particles can change when they are shrunk to nano-size, and the current economic situation has exacerbated potential dangers, as some cost-cutting companies could look to cheaper, less reliable safety assessments. Altered properties One of the major safety worries about nanotechnology has been the suggestion that such small particles could feasibly cross cellular membrane barriers, meaning that an ingredient that is currently GRAS (generally recognized as safe) could become dangerous if it is nano-sized – a worry that Dr Burdock shares. He told FoodNavigator-USA.com: “The problem is that a lot of food ingredient manufacturers are looking at ingredients and saying that a product is GRAS, but if it’s nano-sized it’s going to have different properties. “The answer is that if you nano-size the particle you have to test it like a new substance. This is what could make nanotechnology the new asbestos.” His views were echoed in a new report from the Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN) released on Tuesday which discusses what it terms “disturbing asbestos-nanotech parallels”. According to the report, “some of these technologies are showing signs of posing serious hazards to human health and the environment, including the same kind of grave threats resulting from exposure to asbestos.” FDA testing However, Dr Burdock agreed with the FDA’s view that it already has the tools it needs to test the technology’s safety, saying: “Even though a nanotech particle takes on different properties you can still test its safety with standardized testing.” But problems could arise, he said, because – unlike genetic engineering – nanotechnology is “very cheap to get into”, a situation that further opens up the potential for unethical practices, such as not testing a newly nano-sized ingredient. “Manufacturers have a moral and ethical responsibility to test. Eighty percent of people play by the rules but you still have the bottom feeders,” he said. For those manufacturers that do choose to explore the uses of nanotechnology, Dr Burdock said: “Once food manufacturers get something approved their job isn’t over. They have got to be very proactive…New data is being developed all the time and when it is, they need to make sure the person checking their product knows what they are doing.” I wouldn't trust the FDA ever.... Also, all the nanotech ( NONOtechnology) chucked at us from the chemtrails. It's in sun creams, make-up and fancy moisturisers with stupid 'scientifically-sounding' made-up names, baby products, et al - we can't seem to avoid it unless we look very very carefully at the teeny print in some cases.
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Post by kiek on Jun 18, 2009 15:56:00 GMT 4
I have never used suntanlotion, ever, and never had a problem! Just logical thinking and not be out in the full sun at certain hours. One must realize that a human needs sun, direct, no filters (so no suntanlotion and no haze from chemtrails!) for at least 15 min. per day on you skin, face and hand/arms or bare back, for your body to be able to make enough Vit. D3 to avoid healthproblems. Vit D3 is great against viruses and good for y'r bones!! Or take high doses of VitD3 (It's not dangerous, that's a lie! One can take up to 15000 (!) Iu per day, I have heard from a reliable source!) Maybe one should check ones doctor, but who do you trust nowadays!! ;D
As for cosmetics and creams: Buy natural products, the rest is pure chemical stuff!! Look for a good brand like Dr. Hauschka or Weleda, they are certified organic/biologic!
Have a great day! ;-))
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Post by kiek on Jun 18, 2009 17:51:59 GMT 4
Mystery of the Missing Sunspots, Solved? WWW.NIBURU.NLJune 17, 2009: The sun is in the pits of a century-class solar minimum, and sunspots have been puzzlingly scarce for more than two years. Now, for the first time, solar physicists might understand why. At an American Astronomical Society press conference today in Boulder, Colorado, researchers announced that a jet stream deep inside the sun is migrating slower than usual through the star's interior, giving rise to the current lack of sunspots. Rachel Howe and Frank Hill of the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Tucson, Arizona, used a technique called helioseismology to detect and track the jet stream down to depths of 7,000 km below the surface of the sun. The sun generates new jet streams near its poles every 11 years, they explained to a room full of reporters and fellow scientists. The streams migrate slowly from the poles to the equator and when a jet stream reaches the critical latitude of 22 degrees, new-cycle sunspots begin to appear. Above: A helioseismic map of the solar interior. Tilted red-yellow bands trace solar jet streams. Black contours denote sunspot activity. When the jet streams reach a critical latitude around 22 degrees, sunspot activity intensifies. [larger image] [more graphics] Howe and Hill found that the stream associated with the next solar cycle has moved sluggishly, taking three years to cover a 10 degree range in latitude compared to only two years for the previous solar cycle. The jet stream is now, finally, reaching the critical latitude, heralding a return of solar activity in the months and years ahead. "It is exciting to see", says Hill, "that just as this sluggish stream reaches the usual active latitude of 22 degrees, a year late, we finally begin to see new groups of sunspots emerging." The current solar minimum has been so long and deep, it prompted some scientists to speculate that the sun might enter a long period with no sunspot activity at all, akin to the Maunder Minimum of the 17th century. This new result dispells those concerns. The sun's internal magnetic dynamo is still operating, and the sunspot cycle is not "broken." Because it flows beneath the surface of the sun, the jet stream is not directly visible. Hill and Howe tracked its hidden motions via helioseismology. Shifting masses inside the sun send pressure waves rippling through the stellar interior. So-called "p modes" (p for pressure) bounce around the interior and cause the sun to ring like an enormous bell. By studying the vibrations of the sun's surface, it is possible to figure out what is happening inside. Similar techniques are used by geologists to map the interior of our planet. In this case, researchers combined data from GONG and SOHO. GONG, short for "Global Oscillation Network Group," is an NSO-led network of telescopes that measures solar vibrations from various locations around Earth. SOHO, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, makes similar measurements from space. "This is an important discovery," says Dean Pesnell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "It shows how flows inside the sun are tied to the creation of sunspots and how jet streams can affect the timing of the solar cycle." There is, however, much more to learn. "We still don't understand exactly how jet streams trigger sunspot production," says Pesnell. "Nor do we fully understand how the jet streams themselves are generated." To solve these mysteries, and others, NASA plans to launch the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) later this year. SDO is equipped with sophisticated helioseismology sensors that will allow it to probe the solar interior better than ever before. Above: An artist's concept of the Solar Dynamics Observatory. [more] "The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on SDO will improve our understanding of these jet streams and other internal flows by providing full disk images at ever-increasing depths in the sun," says Pesnell. Continued tracking and study of solar jet streams could help researchers do something unprecedented--accurately predict the unfolding of future solar cycles. Stay tuned for that! Source NASA
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Post by avid on Jun 19, 2009 1:00:28 GMT 4
I know this is ludicrous - but recycling madness - or 'goodness' is visually disturbing sometimes....www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1193528/Wheelie-bin-revolt-Householders-fight-monster-plastic-bins-blighting-gardens.htmlWheelie bin revolt: Householders fight back over monster plastic bins blighting our front gardensHouseholders are rising up in rebellion against the scourge of the wheelie bin. "Protesters say the bins blight their streets, warning council chiefs: 'Not in my front yard.' The issue has triggered petitions and public demonstrations, with residents in one town marching on the council offices. Wheelie bins are often parked outside front doors because many families have nowhere else to put them and binmen want to reach them easily from the road. The rise of recyling has left some residents with as many as three wheelie bins - one for household rubbish, another for recyclables and a third for garden waste. There can also be boxes for glass and tin. Last night Doretta Cocks, an environmental campaigner who opposed fortnightly bin collections, said: 'People are fighting back. 'There is growing anger among residents. We've become too complacent in recent years - too used to the sight of wheelie bins in towns, cities and villages but they are an eyesore and people are beginning to realise that. 'This wave of anger will undoubtedly spread. People are fed up with the sheer number of wheelie bins they have been given and the expectation that they will simply accommodate them. 'Some people have nowhere else to put them other than in their front garden or on the pavement and are being prevented from enjoying the small space they actually have. 'Others simply can't sit outside any more because of the bins and the great number of flies that follow.' In South Oxfordshire, residents plan to march on Henley-on-Thames town hall next month in protest at the wheelie bins delivered to terraced properties and apartment blocks earlier this month. They say the bins are ugly, unmanageable and damage the scenic town's image. Craig Nayman, 50, who has lived in Henley for 27 years, said: 'I don't think I have ever felt strongly enough about anything in Henley to complain about until now. 'Henley is a beautiful town with a conservation area. It stands in an area of outstanding natural beauty. 'Now, because of the insensitive way the district council has handled the matter, we are faced with a blight on Henley's good looks. 'When I complained to the council it sent out two people who told me that in their judgment there was "no aesthetic element" in the process as far as Henley was concerned. 'How can you not care about how the town looks? Everyone here works very hard to make it look good and the council seems bent on destroying these values.' The business consultant says he now has to use three bins that were 'dumped' outside his riverfront apartment last week. Ian Pettman, a software developer who also lives in Henley, said: 'My concern is for elderly or disabled people. 'There are many people living in my road who will not be able to move these bins. 'There has been a total lack of thought where the district council is concerned. 'Many of the houses in Henley were simply not designed to cope with wheelie bins. They are actually bigger than my mother, who is in her eighties.' Henley residents also claim the bins have been dumped carelessly in streets, blocking pavements outside terrace homes. In Chester, residents say the council has given them three bins when it had assured them it would not. Dewi Birmingham, a 51-year-old engineer, said: ' People are effectively being forced to keep bins in their front garden. For those living in mid-terraces it's impossible not to. 'Otherwise they would have to walk three bins all the way down the street, round the corner and into the back yard. Imagine doing that with three bins? It's just crazy. 'Chester is a beautiful town and attracts lots of tourists but these bins are just destroying that beauty. One lady described her front garden as a gift to passers-by but now she's got the bins in the front yard it is nothing more than an industrial estate.' Rubbish fines were imposed on 44,000 households in 2006. Others have been spied on if suspected of failing to recycle. As highlighted by the Daily Mail's Great Bin Revolt campaign, anger has been growing over the number of councils switching to fortnightly collections. Almost half of England's 350 local authorities have abandoned the weekly rounds that were established by law in 1875. A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: 'Councils want to run bin collections that work for local people and make it as easy as possible to recycle more waste because it keeps council tax down. 'Councils pay £40 in taxes to the government for every ton of rubbish that goes into the ground. 'Cutting back on waste going to landfill is good for the environment and good for the council taxpayer.' Some councils admit however that a large percentage of the separated waste can be taken to landfill because of cross-contamination." I'm glad we have recycling, but it depends on where you are and what receptacles you have... We have 2 giant black wheelie bins (unrecyclable cat litter etc ), 2 large green wheelie bins for gardening/composting waste, 1 large brown wheelie for plastics/glass/metal, and 1 large blue wheelie bin for paper/cardboard. Thankfully I store them in my back garden until the correct collection day!
However - olde parents' bins are just as large, but are different colours - so 'green' means 'paper etc' in their area, no glass, plastics/metals chucked into black bins, and the very very large green bin is for compost (slightly paler than 'green bin'),
then I'm off to Edinburgh - thank goodness the 'green bin' is for compost, but there are strange frilly-covered small boxes for glass and metals... (Going off to suck my 'baby-thumb' in desperation... - but NO it's 'green bin' day at 7-00am so 'weeds-away time' - at our address anyway - POOP!!) ;D
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Post by locoaz2009 on Jun 19, 2009 2:56:44 GMT 4
Washington is unable to call all the shots Jim Sinclair’s Commentary I could not have said this better. The dollar will not survive this Fall and will fall sharply this winter. "US officials wanted to attend Yekaterinburg as observers. They were told no. It is a word that Americans will hear much more in the future."Financial Times By Michael Hudson Published: June 15 2009 03:00 | Last updated: June 15 2009 03:00 Challenging the American empire will be the focus of meetings in Yekaterinburg, Russia, today and tomorrow for Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other leaders of the six-nation Shanghai Co-operation Organisation. The alliance comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajiki-stan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, with observer status for Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia. The attendees (who will be joined on Tuesday by Brazil for trade discussions) have assured American diplomats that dismantling the US financial and military hegemony is not their aim. They simply want to discuss mutual aid - but in a way that has no role for the US or for the dollar as a vehicle for trade among these countries. The meeting is an opportunity for China, Russia and India to "build an increasingly multipolar world order", as Mr Medvedev put it in a St Petersburg speech this month. What he meant was this: we have reached our limit in subsidising the US military encirclement of Eurasia while also allowing the US to appropriate our exports, companies and real estate in exchange for paper money of questionable worth.An "artificially maintained unipolar system", Mr Medvedev said, was based on "one big centre of consumption, financed by a growing deficit, and thus growing debts, one formerly strong reserve currency, and one dominant system of assessing assets and risks". Keen observers of America, if not effective managers of their own economies, these countries argue that the root of the global financial crisis is that the US makes too little and spends too much. Especially upsetting is US military expenditure - such as military aid to Georgia or the presence in the oil-rich Middle East and central Asia - using money that foreign central banks recycle. jsmineset.com/LOCOAZ
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