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JULY 2010

Today In History Friday July 30, 2010
1729 - The city of Baltimore was founded in Maryland.
1733 - The first Freemasons lodge opened in what would later become the United States.
1898 - "Scientific America" carried the first magazine automobile ad. The ad was for the Winton Motor Car Company of Cleveland, OH.
1932 - Walt Disney's "Flowers and Trees" premiered. It was the first Academy Award winning cartoon and first cartoon short to use Technicolor.
1937 - The American Federation of Radio Artists (AFRA) was organized as a part of the American Federation of Labor.
1942 - The WAVES were created by legislation signed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The members of the Women's Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service were a part of the U.S. Navy.
1945 - The USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The ship had just delivered key components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian. Only 316 out of 1,196 men aboard survived the attack.
1956 - The phrase "In God We Trust" was adopted as the U.S. national motto.
1965 - U.S. President Johnson signed into law Social Security Act that established Medicare and Medicaid. It went into effect the following year.
1974 - The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted to impeach President Nixon for blocking the Watergate investigation and for abuse of power.
1975 - Jimmy Hoffa, former Teamsters union president, disappeared in Michigan. His remains were never found.
1990 - The first Saturn automobile rolled off the assembly line.
1996 - A federal law enforcement source said that security guard Richard Jewell had become the focus of the investigation into the bombing at Centennial Olympic Park. Jewell was later cleared as a suspect.
1997 - 14 Israelis were killed in a double suicide bombing in a Jerusalem marketplace. The Islamist group Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombings.
1998 - A group of Ohio machine-shop workers (who call themselves the Lucky 13) won the $295.7 million Powerball jackpot. It was the largest-ever American lottery.
2001 - Lance Armstrong became the first American to win three consecutive Tours de France.
2003 - In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagon Beetle rolled off an assembly line.

Gates Says Pentagon to Help Death-Benefits Inquiry
Defense Secretary Robert Gates pledged to help the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs probe how insurers reap profits from death benefits retained for the families of deceased military personnel. “I will be very interested in the outcome of the VA investigation,” Gates told a Pentagon press briefing. “We will do everything we can to help.” New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has begun a fraud probe into the life insurance industry and subpoenaed MetLife Inc. and Prudential Financial Inc. and, according to a person briefed on the action, six other companies for information about profits on the retained death benefits.

California Democrats Propose Raising Income Taxes to Plug $19 Billion Gap
California’s Democratic leaders plan to unveil a budget proposal to erase a $19.1 billion deficit as early as next week that may include a 1 percentage-point rise in the personal income-tax rate. The increase would affect all taxpayers except those in the highest tax bracket, according to Senate President Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat. To make it more palatable to voters, California’s highest-in-the-nation sales tax would be cut simultaneously by 2.5 percentage points. Unlike sales levies, state income taxes are deductible from federal returns. The swap would add as much as $3 billion to the general fund. Comment: The headline should read, "FDR New Deal Politics Kills California Economy". It always goes back to the FDR implementation of socialism in the United States.

California Comptroller: Every Day Brings the State Closer to Fiscal Meltdown
We mentioned yesterday how California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had declared a brand new budget emergency in California, where a $19.1 billion shortfall will force state employees to take time off, with the possibility that the state may bring back last summer IOUs to pay its debts.

GSE's and FHA Are Preparing Auto-Refi Program Taking Millions to Current Market Rates Overnight
The main story making waves this afternoon is the presentation by St. Louis Fed's James Bullard titled "Seven Faces of The Peril" in which the Fed president pledges that the Fed should immediately recommence purchasing Treasury's if the deflation scenario picks up, which he notes is an increasingly likely probability.

UCLA launches experimental hand transplant program
UCLA says it is launching a hand transplant study and is looking for amputees, including war veterans, willing to undergo the experimental surgery.

The New Normal: Americans Cutting Back — Even If They Don’t Have To
This week's grim report on consumer confidence confirmed what's obvious to many: Americans are fearful about the state of the economy. A recent survey by Deloitte and Harrison Group shows that 80% of Americans surveyed are focused on cutting back. Of that group, 55% say they haven't been directly affected by the recession but have changed their spending habits nonetheless.

China Conducts Naval Drill in Disputed Southern Seas
Chinese naval forces have carried out a series of drills in the South China Sea, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday, strategic waters which are disputed by a number of Southeast Asia countries.

Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims: Eight Months of Moving Sideways
In the week ending July 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 457,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 468,000.

White House Proposal Would Ease FBI Access to Records of Internet Activity
The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual's Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation.

Ariz. Files Appeal As Sheriff Launches New Sleep
The showdown over Arizona's immigration law played out in court and on Phoenix's sun-splashed streets on Thursday, as the state sought to reinstate key parts of the measure and angry protesters chanted that they refused to "live in fear." Dozens were arrested.

Mighty Oil-Eating Microbes Help Clean Up the Gulf
Where is all the oil? Nearly two weeks after BP finally capped the biggest oil spill in U.S. history, the oil slicks that once spread across thousands of miles of the Gulf of Mexico have largely disappeared. Nor has much oil washed up on the sandy beaches and marshes along the Louisiana coast.

Pharmaceutical Drug Contamination of Waterways Threatens Life on Our Planet
The President's Cancer Panel (PCP) recently released its yearly report to the President outlining the status of cancer in America.

5 Reasons Not to Pay Your Credit Cards
We live in a matrix that goes to unspeakable expense to nurture us from the teat to be good consumers.

Congressman Charles Rangel Faces 13 Ethics Violations
With the midterm elections just three months away, the House of Representatives ethics subcommittee formally charged Harlem Democrat Charles Rangel with 13 counts of violating ethics rules on Thursday.

Moms Can Reduce Risk Eczema in Their Babies By Taking Probiotics
About 20 percent of babies and toddlers have the condition known as eczema which causes red, swollen and intensely itchy skin.

Forget the Drugs, Treat Depression Naturally
Many people try to treat their depression by taking drugs and burrowing away by themselves, says Dr. Steve Ilardi, a clinical psychologist.

China Demands US Stop Meddling In Its Affairs, Wants Acceptance As World Power, Issues Thinly Veiled Threat
It has been a while since political bickering over who can piss the farthest was an issue of global concern.

House Republicans Giving Green Light for Israel Strike on Iran
Nearly one third of the Republican congressmen in the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced a resolution that would support Israel's right to use “all means necessary to confront and eliminate nuclear threats posed by Iran”, including military force.

Goldman Sachs eyes Slovenian top bank says report
Goldman Sachs (GS.N) is interested in taking over Slovenia's largest bank Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), daily paper Finance reported on Friday, citing unofficial government sources. The newspaper gave no details. It also said the government would approve a possible takeover of NLB by Belgian banking and insurance group KBC (KBC.BR), citing the sources. The government gave no immediate comment. Comment: The GS vulture keeps feasting on carcasses.

Republican concerns could stall START treaty
At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Republicans said the accord could impede U.S. plans for an anti-missile defense system and pressed the Obama administration to release the full treaty negotiating record to answer their questions. "We originally were told that there would be no references to missile defense in the treaty and no linkage drawn between offensive and defensive weapons," Senator John McCain said, adding that one section included a "clear, legally binding limitation on our missile defense options." "Why did the administration agree to this language after saying they would do no such thing?" he asked. "We're insisting on an opportunity to review the negotiating record for ourselves, specifically those parts dealing with the ambiguous references to missile defense." Comment: They agreed, since they're only puppets to ending our sovereignty.


Today In History Thursday July 29, 2010
1773 - The first schoolhouse to be located west of the Allegheny Mountains was built in Schoenbrunn, OH.
1786 - "The Pittsburgh Gazette" became the first newspaper west of the Alleghenies to be published.
1874 - Major Walter Copton Winfield of England received U.S. patent for the lawn-tennis court.
1890 - Artist Vincent van Gogh died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers, France.
1914 - The first transcontinental telephone service was inaugurated when two people held a conversation between New York, NY and San Francisco, CA.
1957 - Jack Paar began hosting the "Tonight" show on NBC-TV. The name of the show was changed to "The Jack Paar Show." Paar was host for five years.
1957 - The International Atomic Energy Agency was established.
1958 - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was authorized by the U.S. Congress.
1967 - Fire swept the USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin. 134 U.S. servicemen were killed.
1968 - Pope Paul VI reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's stance against artificial methods of birth control.
1975 - OAS (Organization of American States) members voted to lift collective sanctions against Cuba. The U.S. government welcomed the action and announced its intention to open serious discussions with Cuba on normalization.
1981 - England's Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were married.
1993 - The Israeli Supreme Court acquitted retired Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk of being Nazi death camp guard "Ivan the Terrible." His death sentence was thrown out and he was set free.
1997 - Minamata Bay in Japan was declared free of mercury 40 years after contaminated food fish were blamed for deaths and birth defects.
1998 - The United Auto Workers union ended a 54-day strike against General Motors. The strike caused $2.8 billion in lost revenues.
2005 - Astronomers announced that they had discovered a new planet larger than Pluto in orbit around the sun.

Universal National Service Act - HR 5741
Text of H.R. 5741 - To require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed services or in civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, to authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services, and for other purposes.
Click here to view in .pdf format

Schwarzenegger declares California fiscal emergency
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency over the state's finances on Wednesday, raising pressure on lawmakers to negotiate a state budget that is more than a month overdue and will need to close a $19 billion shortfall. In the declaration, Schwarzenegger ordered three days off without pay per month beginning in August for tens of thousands of state employees to preserve the state's cash to pay its debt, and for essential services.

Local Governments to Cut 500,000 People in 2010 and 2011
Ever wonder why according to the latest economic poll published by Reuters earlier the general public's satisfaction with Obama's handling of the economy is deteriorating faster than any other issue?

Fallen Soldiers' Families Denied Cash as Insurers Profit
A MUST READ!!!  Until public officials wake up, the bereaved will remain a secret profit center for the life insurance industry.  Can you get any MADDER at their despicable corruption!

Document Reveals Military Was Concerned About Gulf War Vets' Exposure to Depleted Uranium
A little-known 1993 Defense Department document written by then-Brigadier Gen. Eric Shinseki, now the secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), shows that the Pentagon was concerned about DU contamination and the agency had ordered medical testing on all personnel that were exposed to the toxic substance.

One in five Californians say they need mental health care
Almost 5 million California adults say they could use help with a mental or emotional problem, according to a survey released Wednesday by researchers at UCLA. About 1 million of them meet the criteria for "serious psychological distress." However, only one in three people who perceive a need for mental health services or are in serious distress have seen a professional for treatment, the survey found.

Foxconn Shuts Indian Plant After Workers Get Sick
Foxconn Technology Group temporarily shut down a plant in India on Monday after some 250 workers became sick, possibly from a pesticide sprayed at the facility. The Chennai, India, plant could end up suspending operations for about a week to address whatever caused the sickness, the company said in a statement. A pesticide was suspected, said Foxconn, which makes iPhones, iPads and other brand-name electronics for corporations including Apple Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. Comment: This (Foxconn) is the main reason why I've not given into getting an iPhone.

FBI director defends bureau over test cheating
FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress on Wednesday that he does not know how many of his agents cheated on an important exam on the bureau's policies, discussing an embarrassing investigation that raises questions about whether the FBI knows its own rules for conducting surveillance on Americans.

Cosmic threat ... asteroid headed for Earth
GIANT asteroid could be on course to hit Earth causing massive devastation, space boffins have revealed.

Operation Purple: Camp for Soldiers’ Kids
Ten thousand kids from military families have been enlisted this summer for "Operation Purple". Their mission: to attend a free week of camp at one of 68 locations nationwide...and have lots of fun! The campers are all aged 7-17, and many of their parents are fighting for our freedom on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Leaked files indicate U.S. pays Afghan media to run friendly stories
Buried among the 92,000 classified documents released Sunday by WikiLeaks is some intriguing evidence that the U.S. military in Afghanistan has adopted a PR strategy that got it into trouble in Iraq: paying local media outlets to run friendly stories.

On WikiLeaks, Pakistan and Afghanistan; the tip of an old iceberg
The danger of course – and that is one reason why the WikiLeaks uproar cannot be dismissed as old news – is that allegations will stoke already strong anti-American feeling in Pakistan, making it all the harder for Washington to persuade Pakistan to do more. As Chris quotes Pakistani political analyst Hasan-Askari Rizvi as saying: “The Islamic parties and the extreme political right in Pakistan already view the U.S. as a major threat to Pakistan. They don’t view the Taliban as a threat. Now these reports have given them a lot of ammunition.” Comment: In now studying this, it appears that this could be a globalist chess move to get other countries engaged against us, to hype the World War III scenario.

US-Canada pipeline leaks oil into Michigan river
A pipeline carrying oil from the US state of Indiana to Ontario, Canada has spilled more than 800,000 gallons (3m litres) of oil into a creek which flows into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan.

Will Gold Coins Suffer the Fate of the ,000 Bill?
Did you ever wonder what happened to $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 bills? Although the Federal Reserve claims on their website that they were withdrawn because of lack of use (Click here for the link), the word at the time was that they disappeared to clamp down on the mafia. In fact, the goal was to flush out income from the rest of us.

What is George Soros up to in the gold market? "It is the ultimate asset bubble." by Michael J. Kosares
The hubbub started when hedge fund guru George Soros proclaimed gold to be in a bubble, and it is still roiling nearly six months later. Gold advocates jumped to its defense, while critics took the offensive. As it turns out though, Soros was not really issuing a warning so much as he was explaining why he was making a considerable investment in gold bullion. Only days after calling gold the “ultimate asset bubble,” the financial press reported Soros had doubled his holdings of physical metal. Both the advocates and the critics had misinterpreted what Soros was trying to say. Jimm's Comment: Amazingly, I saw this Soros demon on the prowl for some time now (due to his spotlighted comments in the MSM).

Congress Gives Obama Long-Delayed Afghan War Funds
The U.S. Congress on Tuesday gave President Barack Obama long-delayed funding for his troop increase in Afghanistan despite opposition from many fellow Democrats, while Obama played down the gravity of leaked war documents.

Obama Pledges Swift Response After Battle Creek Oil Spill
President Barack Obama has pledged a swift response to requests for help in dealing with a spill that dumped more than 800,000 gallons of oil into waterways in southern Michigan.

Oil Spewing From Well Near La Marsh
Adding insult to the Gulf's injury, an oil platform hit by a tugboat early Tuesday is now spewing oil and natural gas near a Louisiana marsh area.

The Israel-Turkey-America Triangle
The reported success of the Obama - Netanyahu summit by the mainstream U.S. media overshadowed some recent important developments in the Middle East and the fears that the region is sinking into chaos.

National Ocean Council
Thirty states will be encroached upon by Obama's Executive Order establishing the National Ocean Council for control over America's oceans, coastlines and the Great Lakes. Under this new council, states' coastal jurisdictions will be subject to the United Nations' Law Of Sea Treaty (LOST) in this UN Agenda 21 program.

Tax Aversion Syndrome
Too many Americans are out of work. We need to address their hardships with targeted stimulus initiatives such as extending unemployment benefits, which are a very small part of our current deficit.

Reaction to Immigration Law Ruling
Reactions were both stern and mixed to Judge Sarah Bolton's striking down of controversials elements of Arizona's new immigration law. Here is a sampling:

Judge Blocks Vital Parts of Arizona Immigration Law
A federal judge this morning blocked several critical provisions of Arizona's new immigration law from taking effect, delivering a last-minute victory to opponents of the law that brought the state a flurry of mostly negative international attention.

Japanese Tanker Damaged Off Oman, Cause Unclear
A Japanese oil tanker damaged in an explosion in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important shipping lanes, was being diverted to a port in the UAE on Wednesday.

GE Pays $23m After Iraq Probe
General Electric has agreed to pay $23.5m to settle allegations from US regulators that its subsidiaries bribed Iraqi officials to win contracts under the United Nations Oil for Food Programme between 2000 and 2003.

Socially Active Environment Can Cause Cancer Tumors to Shrink and Even Disappear
If you or someone you know ever receives a cancer diagnosis, especially one that is labeled "incurable" or fatal, take heart in the fact spontaneous regression (remission) has been reported in the medical literature numerous times for virtually all cancers.

Does Eating Meat Lead to Weigh Gain?
According to a recent study out of Europe, eating lots of meat may be contributing to weight gain.

Officials believe woman's story, but she's going to jail anyway in helicopter fraud case
Lisa Michelle Hall will soon go to prison for preparing false invoices in 2004 and 2005 so that her employer could overcharge the U.S. government for work on Army helicopters. Yet even the government prosecutor and investigators handling the case believe that Hall, 34, was simply doing what she was told to do by her boss at the time -- a man who is now her stepfather, Tim Woodard, former president and co-owner of Texas Aviation Services of Fort Worth.
U.S. District Judge John McBryde called the circumstances "the most puzzling I've ever seen."

Why Cap-and-Trade Is Not Dead Yet
The officially recognized carbon exchange will likely be awarded to a privately held company called the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). As mysterious as the inner workings of the Federal Reserve, CCX was created as the first voluntary cap-and-trade system established in the U.S. And, as conspiratorial as it may sound, Barack Obama has been in on this for many years. In fact, before Obama was ever elected to public office he was recruited to the board of the radical, non-profit, Joyce Foundation, where he served from 1994-2001. Joyce gave over $1 million in two separate grants that were instrumental in developing and launching the privately owned Chicago Climate Exchange.

 

Today In History Wednesday July 28, 2010
1868 - The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was declared in effect. The amendment guaranteed due process of law.
1896 - The city of Miami, FL, was incorporated.
1914 - World War I officially began when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
1932 - Federal troops forcibly dispersed the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans who had gathered in Washington, DC. They were demanding money they were not scheduled to receive until 1945.
1941 - Plans for the Pentagon were approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.
1942 - L.A. Thatcher received a patent for a coin-operated mailbox. The device stamped envelopes when money was inserted.
1945 - A U.S. Army bomber crashed into the 79th floor of New York City's Empire State Building. 14 people were killed and 26 were injured.
1951 - The Walt Disney film "Alice in Wonderland" was released.
1965 - U.S. President Johnson announced he was increasing the number of American troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.
1976 - An earthquake northern China, killed at least 242,000 people.
1998 - Bell Atlantic and GTE announced $52 billion deal that created the second-largest phone company.
1998 - Serbian military forces seized the Kosovo town of Malisevo.
1998 - Monica Lewinsky received blanket immunity from prosecution to testify before a grand jury about her relationship with U.S. President Clinton.
2000 - Kathie Lee Gifford made her final appearance as co-host of the ABC talk show "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee."
2006 - Researchers announced that two ancient reptiles had been found off Australia. The Umoonasaurus and Opallionectes were the first of their kind to be found in the period soon after the Jurassic era.

7 New Skills Every Worker Needs
You're an expert at something? Hey, congratulations. Now, go become an expert at something else. Most Americans striving to find or keep a job know the sensation: It's getting harder to get ahead, and the demands keep intensifying. Everybody knows how the recession destroyed wealth and derailed careers, leaving millions in a hole they're trying to dig out of. Now we're beginning to see some of the longer-term changes in the way Americans live and work. Some are distressing, but there's also plenty of hope for people who are industrious and willing to do what's necessary to succeed.

Gel that can help decayed teeth grow back could end fillings
A gel that can help decayed teeth grow back in just weeks may mean an end to fillings. The gel, which is being developed by scientists in France, works by prompting cells in teeth to start multiplying. They then form healthy new tooth tissue that gradually replaces what has been lost to decay.

AUDIT: US Cannot Account for $8.7B in Iraqi Funds
A U.S. audit has found that the Pentagon cannot account for over 95 percent of $9.1 billion in Iraq reconstruction money,

Disputed chemical bisphenol-A found in paper receipts
As lawmakers and health experts wrestle over whether a controversial chemical, bisphenol-A, should be banned from food and beverage containers, a new analysis by an environmental group suggests Americans are being exposed to BPA through another, surprising route: paper receipts.

The Best—and Worst—Places to Build a Nest Egg
Still, even as workers throughout the country struggle to regain their footing, it's clear that not all states are created equal. With that in mind, U.S. News created an index to measure which states are the best for Americans who are saving for retirement. We've looked at each state's housing market, unemployment rate, per capita income, and taxes to get a sense of where Americans are most likely to be able to tuck away money for their nest eggs.

How The Latest Earnings Will Only Create More Rage At Corporate America
Rhetoric about there being "two Americas" divided into the "haves and have nots" is all too common, but you should probably expect to see an uptick in that very soon. Q2 earnings for American companies have been remarkable for how disconnected they seem from from the actual economy, as measured by the various weekly and monthly indicators. We don't have to list the various jobs and housing numbers that have been just short of abysmal.

1,300 shuttle workers get layoff notices
The first layoff notices were distributed Tuesday to 1,394 shuttle program employees at Kennedy Space Center. Officials said 902 of those jobs are being cut from Florida. Up to 8,000 KENNEDY SPACE CENTER workers could lose jobs by the time the shuttle program ends.

WikiLeaks Secret Records Dump Stays in Legal Clear
With his prematurely white hair and his Australia-tinged English, 39-year-old Julian Assange has become the face and voice of what is surely the most massive leak of U.S. classified documents in history. His online organization, WikiLeaks, devotes itself to government and corporate whistle-blowers and the documents they offer. It stands as a buffer between them and whomever had the secrets being bared, whether documents on Cayman Islands bank accounts, video showing Americans firing on civilians in Baghdad or Sarah Palin’s e-mail.

Oil Spewing From Well Near La Marsh
Adding insult to the Gulf's injury, an oil platform hit by a tugboat early Tuesday is now spewing oil and natural gas near a Louisiana marsh area.

Ohio Supreme Court: Rights of Biological Parents 'Precious and Fundamental'
This case out of the Ohio Supreme Court does little but suggests much (Leagle, 7/22/10). Reading the court’s dicta, i.e. the verbal embroidery with which it decorates its actual holding, fathers’ rights in adoption cases just got a huge boost.

Gulf Focus Shifts, But Where Is All the Oil?
With BP's leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico finally capped, the focus shifts to the surface clean-up and the question on everyone's lips is: where is all the oil?

Demonstrations in the Street
I’ve always been puzzled by the lack of action and reaction of the public to the mortgage crisis. As I write this, it gets worse, more people lose their homes, more homes are beset by adversary relations between family members, more alcohol abuse, more spousal abuse, more child abuse, more anxiety, depression, divorce and grief.

Pentagon Begins Full Criminal Probe of Leaks
A Pentagon spokesman says the Army is leading the Pentagon's inquiry into the source of leaked classified intelligence logs from the Afghanistan war.

Afghanistan War Logs: Massive Leak of Secret Files Exposes Truth of Occupation
A huge cache of secret US military files today provides a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fuelling the insurgency.

Ahmadinejad Says Expects US to Attack Mideast Soon
Iran expects the United States to launch a military strike on "at least two countries" in the Middle East in the next three months, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told state-run Press TV.

Russia Says New EU Sanctions on Iran Unacceptable
Russia condemned new EU sanctions on Iran on Tuesday, tempering hopes of closer cooperation between Moscow and the West over Iran's nuclear program.

Wikileaks Afghanistan: Osama bin Laden Alive
They disclose publicly for the first time that bin Laden is thought to be personally overseeing the work of suicide bombers and the makers of Taliban roadside bombs which have had a devastating effect on British and US troops.

HR 5741:Two Year Conscription for Americans Between Ages 18 and 42 for 'National Service'
Conscription typically means compulsory military service. That’s not necessarily the case here, but it’s close enough.

New York Times Reporters Met With White House Before Publishing Wikileaks Story
The White House was very upset with WikiLeaks for its decision to publish thousands of pages of classified reports and documents describing our mission in Afghanistan.

Wikileaks Founder 'Constantly annoyed that people are distracted by false conspiracies such a 911'
I haven’t shared this before, but in early 2008, someone from WikiLeaks wrote to me. This person wondered why I hadn’t mentioned WikiLeaks on Cryptogon. He wondered if maybe I hadn’t heard of it, or had concerns that it was a front of some sort.

All in the 'Family.' Global Drug Trade Fueled by Capitalist Elites
But now a Bloomberg Markets magazine report, "Wachovia's Drug Habit," reveals that drug traffickers bought that plane, and perhaps fifty others, "with laundered funds they transferred through two of the biggest banks in the U.S.," Wachovia and Bank of America.

Bath Entrepreneur 'Holds the Key' to Internet Security
Paul Kane has been chosen to look after one of seven keys, which will 'restart the world wide web' in the event of a catastrophic event.

Mass. Legislature Approves Plan to Bypass Electoral College
The Massachusetts Legislature has approved a new law intended to bypass the Electoral College system and ensure that the winner of the presidential election is determined by the national popular vote.

CBO Bomb: 'Deficits Will Cause Debt to Rise to Unsupportable Levels
In fiscal crises in a number of countries around the world, investors have lost confidence in governments’ abilities to manage their budgets, and those governments have lost their ability to borrow at affordable rates.

US Consumer Confidence Falls, Lowest Since February
U.S. consumer confidence sank in July to its lowest since February on job market worries, underscoring the slow path to economic recovery, and home prices rose in May but without signs of a sustained rebound, reports released Tuesday showed.

Home Vacancies Rise as US Ownership Falls to Lowest in Decade
About 18.9 million homes in the U.S. stood empty during the second quarter as surging foreclosures helped push ownership to the lowest level in a decade.

Collecting Rainwater Now Illegal in Many States As Big Brother Claims Ownership Over Our Water
I can't speak to the motivation of other states, but Coloradans not being allowed to collect rainwater has been in effect for decades. Having lived in Colorado for nearly 30 years, this issue has been on my mind – like illegal immigration – for quite some time.

Clif High (Webots) Calling for Major Pacific MW/CA Quake Last 2 Days of July
Heads up please. In working through the longer term data, i had to go through some of the last of the immediacy stuff due to cross links.

Accused Murderer Receives Liver Organ Transplant While Others Wait to Die
Johnny Concepcion is 42 years old. After divorcing his wife, she was found stabbed to death in their home, suffering at least 15 stab wounds.

Scientists Discover Olive Oil Directly Impacts Genes to Halt Inflammation
Research has been steadily accumulating that olive oil, a main component of the Mediterranean diet, has extensive health-protective properties.

One Third of Cancer Deaths in People and Dogs are Preventable Through Diet Changes
Here's good news for both you and your best friend: one out of three cancer deaths in humans as well as dogs can be prevented by simple, natural diet changes.


Today In History Tuesday July 27, 2010
1777 - The marquis of Lafayette arrived in New England to help the rebellious American colonists fight the British.
1778 - The British and French fleets fought to a standoff in the first Battle of Ushant.
1789 - The Department of Foreign Affairs was established by the U.S. Congress. The agency was later known as the Department of State.
1804 - The 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. Electors were directed to vote for a President and for a Vice-President rather than for two choices for President.
1866 - Cyrus Field successfully completed the Atlantic Cable. It was an underwater telegraph from North America to Europe.
1909 - Orville Wright set a record for the longest airplane flight. He kept it in the air for 1 hour 12 minutes and 40 seconds.
1914 - British troops invaded the streets of Dublin, Ireland, and began to disarm Irish rebels.
1918 - The Socony 200 was launched. It was the first concrete barge and was used to carry oil.
1921 - Canadian biochemist Frederick Banting and associates announced the discovery of the hormone insulin.
1940 - Bugs Bunny made his official debut in the Warner Bros. animated cartoon "A Wild Hare."
1944 - U.S. troops completed the liberation of Guam.
1953 - The armistice agreement that ended the Korean War was signed at Panmunjon, Korea.
1955 - The Allied occupation of Austria ended.
1964 - U.S. President Lyndon Johnson sent an additional 5,000 advisers to South Vietnam.
1965 - In the U.S., the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act was signed into law. The law required health warnings on all cigarette packages.
1974 - The U.S. Congress asked for impeachment procedures against President Richard Nixon.
1995 - The Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC, by U.S. President Clinton and South Korean President Kim Young-sam.
1996 - At the Atlanta Olympics a pipe bomb exploded at the public Centennial Olympic Park. One person was killed and more than 100 were injured.
1999 - The U.S. space shuttle Discovery completed a five-day mission. It was the first shuttle mission to be commanded by a woman.
2003 - It was reported by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corp.) that there was no monster in Loch Ness. The investigation used 600 separate sonar beams and satellite navigation technology to trawl the loch. Reports of sightings of the "Loch Ness Monster" began in the 6th century.
2006 - Intel Corp introduced its Core 2 Duo microprocessors.

Raid On Raw-Food Grocery Store Highlights a Hunger
With no warning one weekday morning, investigators entered an organic grocery with a search warrant and ordered the hemp-clad workers to put down their buckets of mashed coconut cream and to step away from the nuts.

Disputed chemical bisphenol-A found in paper receipts
As lawmakers and health experts wrestle over whether a controversial chemical, bisphenol-A, should be banned from food and beverage containers, a new analysis by an environmental group suggests Americans are being exposed to BPA through another, surprising route: paper receipts.

Collecting rainwater now illegal in many states as Big Government claims ownership over our water
You may not be aware of this, but many Western states, including Utah, Washington and Colorado, have long outlawed individuals from collecting rainwater on their own properties because, according to officials, that rain belongs to someone else.

EX CIA Chief Hayden - Military Strike Likely
It seems a chap who has spent his life in intelligence has smelled the roses and wishes to be not caught flat footed as the inevitable attack rolls in.

Ten Stock-Market Myths That Just Won't Die
At times like this, your broker or financial adviser may offer words of wisdom or advice. There are standard calming phrases you will hear over and over again. But how true are they? Here are 10 that need extra scrutiny.

AstraZeneca's Brilinta May Be Cleared By U.S. FDA
AstraZeneca needs to replenish revenue over the next four years as patents expire on top-sellers Nexium for heartburn and the anti-psychotic Seroquel, drugs that generated a combined $9.83 billion in 2009. The new study, recommended yesterday by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel, would seek to establish the drug’s long-term benefit after results from testing in North America fell short of those seen elsewhere. Brilinta sales could reach $1.47 billion by 2016, according to the average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Comment: It's not a coincidence that the comment about AZ being profitable superseded and comment about what this drug actually will do.

Portable Baby Recliners Recalled
Portable baby recliners that are supposed to help fussy babies sleep better are being recalled after the death of an infant. The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall Monday of 30,000 Nap Nanny recliners made by Baby Matters LLC of Berwyn, Pa.


Newspapers Chain's New Business Plan: Copyright Suits
Steve Gibson has a plan to save the media world’s financial crisis — and it’s not the iPad.

Drugs in Drinking Water Mind Control and Others Must Watch
In the Associated Press they did a report that over 41 million people are exposed to pharmaceutical drugs in TREATED drinking water.

Migrants Sell Up and Flee Arizona Ahead of Crackdown
Nicaraguan mother Lorena Aguilar hawks a television set and a few clothes on the baking sidewalk outside her west Phoenix apartment block.

Iran Will React If Ships Inspected
Iran will react swiftly if its commercial shipping or aviation are subjected to inspection, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday.

Russia says new EU sanctions on Iran unacceptable
Russia said on Tuesday that new EU sanctions on Iran undermined international efforts to resolve concerns over its nuclear program, tempering hopes of closer cooperation between Moscow and the West on the issue. EU foreign ministers on Monday approved a range of extra restrictions on Iran that went well beyond U.N. sanctions agreed last month, including a ban on dealing with Iranian banks and insurance companies as well as steps to prevent investment in Tehran's lucrative oil and gas sector. Comment: The global (war) chess game continues and it's end result is still "all about the oil" and who controls it.

Federal Government Working to Remove Sovereignty of States
It has been reported that 46 states are on the verge of bankruptcy. Since states are Constitutionally mandated to balance their budgets, and do not possess the ability to print money, they’re finding themselves in a critically weakened position to challenge the Federal Government.

Senate Backs Troop Funding But Rejects Money for Domestic Programs
The Senate on Thursday approved funds to pay for President Obama's Afghanistan troop increase, but refused to sign off on billions in extra nonmilitary spending sought by the House of Representatives.

BP Spill Costs Rile Gulf Towns Shut Out of $20 Billion Fund
Steve Theriot says he would like to seek compensation from Kenneth Feinberg and the $20 billion claims fund he oversees for victims of BP Plc’s oil spill. If Theriot were a Gulf shrimper, a fisherman or a beach hotel owner, he could. As president of Jefferson Parish, a community in coastal Louisiana, Theriot has to get payment from BP, which he says so far has given him “the runaround.” “We’re exposed to losing revenues, and we’re subsidizing the cleanup apparatus,” Theriot said in an interview. Local services soon may be impaired by a budget crunch, he said.

BP oil spill to cost U.S. taxpayer almost $10 billion
Oil giant BP said it plans to offset the entire cost of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill against its tax bill, reducing future contributions to U.S. tax coffers by almost $10 billion. BP took a pretax provision of $32.2 billion in its accounts for the period, for the cost of capping the well, cleaning up the spill, compensating victims and paying government fines. Jimm's Comment: How is it that this action has not been considered a terrorist act against the US? And, why (again) are the US taxpayers supposed to pay for something a corporation messed up on?

Analysis: WikiLeaks fuels negative war debate for Obama
Leaked documents on the Afghanistan conflict, including accusations that U.S. ally Pakistan is helping the Taliban, further complicate President Barack Obama's strategy at a time of mounting doubt over the war effort. While Pakistan's covert support for the Taliban has been reported for years, experts say that revelations about this support contained in documents made available by online whistle-blower WikiLeaks add to existing skepticism over the efficacy of the U.S. engagement with Pakistan.

Ron Paul editorial: On the Bloated Intelligence Bureaucracy
Recently the Washington Post ran an extensive report by Dana Priest and William M. Arkin on the bloated intelligence community. They found that an estimated 854,000 people hold top-secret security clearances. Just what are all these people up to? By my calculation this is about 11,000 intelligence workers per al Qaeda member in Afghanistan. This also begs the question – if close to 1 million people are authorized to know top secrets, how closely guarded are these secrets? Comment: Dr. Paul is mentioning something many PH listeners know: DHS and this "intelligence overkill" are part of the rise of the fourth reich.

The Daily Bell: The War Falls Apart?
We started writing our recent series of articles about the war in Afghanistan following comments by Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele who suggested at a Connecticut fundraiser that Afghanistan is "a war of Obama's choosing." We looked at the amateur videotape of Michael Steele making these remarks and saw that it was no off-the-cuff statement. It was smooth and polished oratory that flowed like a set piece. It sounded like something rehearsed. It was not accident. Something had changed.

Who Killed the Gulf?
If there’s ever to be an honest final analysis of what killed the Gulf of Mexico, it will not be Mother Earth’s crude oil and gases.

Geochemist in Gulf Says 'When it rains, a lot of junk comes down from the particulate.'
University of California Santa Barbara scientist and marine geochemistry expert Dr. David Valentine participated in a 10-day expedition to research the BP oil disaster.

US Rescue May Reach $23.7 Trillion
U.S. taxpayers may be on the hook for as much as $23.7 trillion to bolster the economy and bail out financial companies, said Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Pakistan Spy Service Aids Insurgents, Reports Assert
A trove of military documents made public on Sunday by an organization called WikiLeaks reflects deep suspicions among American officials that Pakistan’s military spy service has for years guided the Afghan insurgency with a hidden hand, even as Pakistan receives more than $1 billion a year from Washington for its help combating the militants.

Goldman Reveals Where Bailout Cash Went
Goldman Sachs sent $4.3 billion in federal tax money to 32 entities, including many overseas banks, hedge funds and pensions, according to information made public Friday night.

Homesteads And Other Sources of Tax Income
It hardly sounds like a prudent scheme. But in a bit of déjà vu, that is exactly what this small Nebraska city aims to do.

City Terminates All But Two in Police Force
Nearly every police officer for a small north Texas city was terminated from the payroll during a council meeting Saturday.

Big Payoff For Axed BP Boss Hayward
BP was last night poised to boot out boss Tony Hayward - with a near £15MILLION pay-off.

Earthquakes Are Increasing - It's Not Your Imagination
It's not your imagination. More earthquakes than usual have struck so far in 2010 – at least this early in the year. Because these events have clustered together in the first seven months, it has magnified the data. Whether this increased trend maintains throughout the year is the big question.

Psychiatric Drug Use Skyrockets in US Military
Use of prescription psychotropics has skyrocketed among U.S. military personnel in recent years, according to an investigation by Military Times.

Sweating in the Summer Heat Promotes Good Health
Summertime heat is an annoyance to some people, but according to Xu Qian, director of the infectious diseases department at the China-Japan Frienship Hospital in Beijing, sweating from the hot, summer heat is a natural part of keeping your body healthy, and avoiding this heat can actually cause health problems.

Louisiana Locals Continue to Fish Despite Oil Contamination Risk
Fishermen who live around the area affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have no qualms about the safety of their catch.


Today In History Monday July 26, 2010
1775 - A postal system was established by the 2nd Continental Congress of the United States. The first Postmaster General was Benjamin Franklin.
1788 - New York became the 11th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1881 - Thomas Edison and Patrick Kenny execute a patent application for a facsimile telegraph (U.S. Pat. 479,184).
1893 - Commercial production of the Addressograph started in Chicago, IL.
1907 - The Chester was launched. It was the first turbine-propelled ship.
1908 - U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte issued an order that created an investigative agency that was a forerunner of the FBI.
1945 - Winston Churchill resigned as Britain's prime minister.
1947 - U.S. President Truman signed The National Security Act. The act created the National Security Council, the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
1948 - Babe Ruth was seen by the public for the last time, when he attended the New York City premiere of the motion picture, "The Babe Ruth Story".
1948 - U.S. President Truman signed executive orders that prohibited discrimination in the U.S. armed forces and federal employment.
1952 - King Farouk I of Egypt abdicated in the wake of a coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.
1953 - Fidel Castro began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba. Castro eventually ousted Batista six years later.
1956 - Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal.
1964 - Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa and six others were convicted of fraud and conspiracy in the handling of a union pension fund.
1971 - Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy, FL.
1998 - AT&T and British Telecommunications PLC announced they were forming a joint venture to combine international operations and develop a new Internet system.
1999 - 1,500 pieces of Marilyn Monroe's personal items went on display at Christie's in New York, NY. The items went on sale later in 1999.

VA to allow veterans to use medical marijuana at clinics in the 14 states where it's legal
The directive from the Veterans Affairs Department in the coming week is intended to clarify current policy that says veterans can be denied pain medication if they use illegal drugs. Veterans groups have complained for years that this could bar veterans from VA benefits if they were caught using medical marijuana. The new guidance does not authorize VA doctors to begin prescribing medical marijuana, which is considered an illegal drug under federal law. But it will now make clear that in the 14 states where state and federal law are in conflict, VA clinics generally will allow the use of medical marijuana for veterans already taking it under other clinicians.

Florida Dengue Fever Outbreak Leads Back to CIA and Army Experiments
Unknown to most Americans is that dengue fever has been the intense focus of US Army and CIA biological warfare researchers for over 50 years. Read More...

Arizona to allow concealed carry without permit
In less than a week, Arizona residents will be allowed to carry a gun in their pocket or purse without needing paperwork to do so. Senate Bill 1108, which allows people to carry concealed guns with no permit or safety training, takes effect on July 29, the same day controversial immigration legislation is scheduled to begin enforcement. It makes Arizona the third state behind Alaska and Vermont, all supportive of gun rights, to enact a law that raises concerns for law enforcement.

CNN anchors attack the scourge of anonymity
Media attacks on "anonymous bloggers" somehow overlook that most anonymity comes from Real Journalists. Be sure to read the comment section. They are almost as good as the article! (Thanks Doug)

Pakistan secretly helping Taliban say Reuters
Pakistan was actively collaborating with the Taliban in Afghanistan while accepting U.S. aid, new U.S. military reports showed, a disclosure likely to increase the pressure on Washington's embattled ally. The revelations by the organization Wikileaks emerged as Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned of greater NATO casualties in Afghanistan as violence mounts over the summer. It also came as the Taliban said they were holding captive one of two U.S. servicemen who strayed into insurgent territory, and that the other had been killed. The reported capture will further erode domestic support for America's nine-year war.

Euro Bears Vanish as End of Stress Makes Goldman a Bull
“Weaker U.S. growth, reasonably solid euro-zone macro data and less political-fiscal disruptions than feared have been a feature of the past few weeks,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in the report dated July 14. Wells Fargo, based in San Francisco, raised its six-month euro forecast to $1.24 from $1.20 on July 14, said Vassili Serebriakov, a currency strategist in New York. “The main positives for the euro have been stronger-than- expected euro economic numbers and a recovery in risk appetite,” he said. Serebriakov said the euro will weaken longer term, falling to $1.18 in 12 months. Jimm's Comment: Amazingly, names from the 1929 crash are in the spotlight, once again.

CDC: 15 US Deaths Tied To Rare Tropical Fungus
There is a fungus among us and it’s deadly serious. Cryptococcus gattii has been blamed for 15 deaths over the last six years. The fungus is usually found in the tropics, but is now calling the Pacific Northwest home. And it’s airborne.

Analysis: New safe-haven currencies shine amid debt fears
Investors' love affair with the "other" currencies may be just beginning. The Canadian dollar, Australian dollar and Swedish crown are gaining in popularity as investors increasingly look for alternatives amid troubling outlooks for the United States, euro zone and Japan.

Analysis: Shift to U.S. dollar shorts not a sell signal
Investors should take data showing currency speculators started to bet against the U.S. dollar this month for the first time since March with a big grain of salt. While the turnaround in positioning from long to short on the dollar shows that sentiment on the U.S. currency has deteriorated sharply, analysts say it should not be interpreted as a sign the greenback is about to collapse. Jimm's Comment: This is the same crap the news media was feeding people in 1929, prior to the implosion of the stock market. Everything is fine, so go back to sleep.

Scouts To Celebrate 100th Anniversary In Virginia
The Boy Scouts of America are preparing to celebrate their 100th anniversary with a national jamboree in Virginia. Scouts ages 12 to 18 will spend 10 days doing everything from archery and fishing to robotics and testing their own DNA. Jimm's Comment: Where is that DNA info going to end up and what the **** does that have to do with scouting? I heard this on the news (this morning) and was instantly talking back to the radio.

Defense contractors face new cost climate
Defense budgets are flat or declining in the United States and Europe, making it vital for companies to find revenues overseas, cut production and overhead costs, and bring their businesses more in line with nimble commercial development practices. Research and development spending is also down, there are fewer program starts than ever, and defense departments around the world are less and less dependent on the flashy warplanes and military hardware that helped create today's giant defense companies as the focus shifts to cybersecurity and unmanned planes. Comment: Could Wall Street be demanding a war to happen, just to increase defense stock profits? It wouldn't be the first time.

The Poisoning
It's the biggest environmental disaster in American history – and BP is making it worse.

Harry and Nancy’s Last Stand
Think cap and trade and other unpopular bills are dead? Think again, no matter who wins at the ballot box in November.

Los Zetas Drug Cartel Seizes 2 US Ranches in Texas
In what could be deemed an act of war against the sovereign borders of the United States, Mexican drug cartels have seized control of at least two American ranches inside the U.S. territory near Laredo, Texas.

BP Crews in 'Cat and Mouse Game' With Weather
Crews hurried to get back to work on plugging BP's leaky oil well Saturday after Tropical Storm Bonnie fizzled, and engineers hoped for a window of clear weather long enough to stop the gusher for good.

Celente Says Populists Will Break the False Left-Right Political Paradigm
Trends Research Institute CEO, Gerald Celente, originally predicted the rise of a third party when he spoke with Libertarian radio talk show host, Alex Jones, in late 2009 and repeated this forecast last week on the same show.

CNN Anchors Call for Crackdown on Bloggers
Anchors Kyra Phillips and John Roberts discussed the “mixed blessing of the internet,” and agreed that there should be a crackdown on anonymous bloggers who disparage others on the internet.

China Calls Our Bluff
“The US is Insolvent and Faces Bankruptcy as a Pure Debtor Nation but [U.S.] Rating Agencies Still Give it High Rankings”

Iran to Shun Euro, Dollar in Oil Deals
Iran is to use any currency in its oil transactions as the country wants to move away from receiving payments in dollars and euros, Iranian vice president says.

BP Hires Prison Labor to Clean Up Spill While Coastal Residents Struggle
In the first few days after BP's Deepwater Horizon wellhead exploded, spewing crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, cleanup workers could be seen on Louisiana beaches wearing scarlet pants and white t-shirts with the words "Inmate Labor" printed in large red block letters.

North Korea Warns of Nuclear Response to Naval Exercises
North Korea said it would counter U.S. and South Korean joint naval exercises with “nuclear deterrence” after the Obama administration said the government in Pyongyang shouldn’t take any provocative steps.

Wal-Mart to Put Radio Tags on Clothes
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to roll out sophisticated electronic ID tags to track individual pairs of jeans and underwear, the first step in a system that advocates say better controls inventory but some critics say raises privacy concerns.

Departing UN Official Calls Ban's Leadership 'Deplorable' in 50 Page Memo
The outgoing chief of a U.N. office charged with combating corruption at the United Nations has issued a stinging rebuke of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, accusing him of undermining her efforts and leading the global institution into an era of decline, according to a confidential end-of-assignment report.

Pentagon Officials Tied to Pornography
Several Pentagon officials and defense contractors, including some with high-level security clearance, are under investigation for possessing child pornography, The Boston Globe reported today.

China May Switch to Currency Basket for Forex Rate
A top Chinese central bank official suggested switching away from the U.S. dollar as a benchmark for the yuan's foreign-exchange rate, switching instead to a basket of currencies, according to remarks published Thursday.

National Citizenship Service for 16 Year Olds Launched Today
The “National Citizen Service” will bring together 16-year-olds from different backgrounds and around the country to become community volunteers and join in outdoor pursuits.

Congress Ranks Last in Confidence in Institutions
Gallup's 2010 Confidence in Institutions poll finds Congress ranking dead last out of the 16 institutions rated this year.

Death Toll From German Music Festival Rises to 19
DUISBURG, Germany – The death toll rose to 19 on Sunday and police said that 342 had been injured in a panicked crush of partygoers in an overcrowded tunnel that served as the sole entrance to a German festival billed as the world's largest techno music party.

Axe Falls on NHS Services
Some of the most common operations — including hip replacements and cataract surgery — will be rationed as part of attempts to save billions of pounds, despite government promises that front-line services would be protected.

White House Sends 2010 Rescue Team to Florida
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The White House has quietly launched an effort to confront the political backlash along the Gulf Coast over its handling of the BP oil spill – giving special attention to Florida, the only state in the region President Barack Obama won in 2008 and one he will need again when he runs for re-election in 2012.

Bank Failures Total More Than 100 So Far in 2010
A Minnesota bank was closed by government regulators Friday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said, bringing the total number of failed banks this year past 100.

BP to Resume Oil Spill Work as Storm Eases
BP Plc moved ships and workers back to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill site as a storm eased on Saturday, and it could begin pumping mud into the blown-out well to try to plug the leak within three days.

Tony Hayward to Quit BP
BP is planning to announce the departure of chief executive Tony Hayward alongside its half-year financial results on Tuesday.

DEBUNKED: BP Gulf of Mexico Methane Bubble Extinction Level Event
A story has been floating around the internet recently, written by Terrence Aym, that references Gregory Riskin’s theory that several times over the course of the history of the world, explosive releases of methane gas from under the ocean have caused mass extinctions.

CROP KILLERS: Grasshoppers in Montana the Worst in 25 Years
On an abnormally cool summer morning at the Hjorth farm, grasshoppers seeking warmth form a thick stubble on the sunny face of a large barn.

Natural Compound in Bananas Prevents HIV Transmission
A kind of protein naturally occurring in bananas may hamper the spread of HIV, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Michigan and published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Patients Find Organ Transplants on Facebook
Popular social networking site Facebook is apparently good for a lot more than just chatting with friends and posting pictures.

Pool Chemicals Linked to Disease
A recent study out of the University of Illinois (U of I) links pool disinfectant chemicals with diseases like asthma and bladder cancer. According to researchers, pool chemicals react with organic matter in the water to form various toxic bonds that can lead to serious health problems.

Sunshine Helps Your Body Fight Disease
Getting more sun may directly boost your body's ability to fight disease, according to a groundbreaking study conducted by researchers from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and published in the journal Nature Immunology.


Today In History Friday July 23, 2010
1827 - The first swimming school in the U.S. opened in Boston, MA.
1829 - William Burt patented the typographer, which was the first typewriter.
1877 - The first municipal railroad passenger service began in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1886 - Steve Brodie, a New York saloonkeeper, claimed to have made a daredevil plunge from the Brooklyn Bridge into the East River.
1904 - The ice cream cone was invented by Charles E. Menches during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, MO.
1914 - Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Ferdinand by a Serb assassin. The dispute led to World War I.
1938 - The first federal game preserve was approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The area was 2,000 acres in Utah.
1945 - The first passenger train observation car was placed in service by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
1952 - Egyptian military officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew King Farouk I.
1954 - A law is passed that states that "The Secretary of the Navy is authorized to repair, equip, and restore the United States Ship Constitution, as far as may be practicable, to her original appearance, but not for active service, and thereafter to maintain the United States Ship Constitution at Boston, Massachusetts."
1958 - The submarine Nautilus departed from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, under orders to conduct "Operation Sunshine." The mission was to be the first vessel to cross the north pole by ship. The Nautils achieved the goal on August 3, 1958.
1962 - The "Telstar" communications satellite sent the first live TV broadcast to Europe.
1967 - In Detroit, MI, rioting that claimed some 43 lives.
1972 - The U.S. launched Landsat 1 (ERTS-1). It was the first Earth-resources satellite.
1977 - A jury in Washington, DC, convicted 12 Hanafi Muslims of charges stemming from the hostage siege at three buildings the previous March.
1984 - Miss America, Vanessa Williams, turned in her crown after it had been discovered that nude photos of her had appeared in "Penthouse" magazine. She was the first to resign the title.
1986 - Britain's Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in London. They divorced in 1996.
1997 - Police in Miami Beach, FL, found the body of Andrew Cunanan. He was the suspected killer of Gianni Versace.
1998 - U.S. scientists at the University of Hawaii turned out more than 50 "carbon-copy" mice, with a cloning technique.
2000 - Lance Armstrong won his second Tour de France.

"Homes For Our Troops" and "Spend A Day With a Vet" Fundraiser to be held Aug. 28th in Houston, Texas
Please help us raise funds by participating in the raffle...your chance to win 4 items and contribute to a good cause. 1st place: 45 Commemorative 45 Smith and Wesson, 2nd Place: Mossberg 500 Rolling Thunder Model Shotgun: 3rd Place: Mossberg 500 Rolling Thunder Model Shotgun, 4th Place 32 inch LCD HD TV. (If you win and do not want the guns, we will give you cash equivalent). Thanks so much!!! 

Two ³Mike Tawse Original² Thoughts For The Day
 * Boredom Is The Thief Of Enthusiasm
 * The Reward Of Time

Ten banks to fail European stress tests
Ten out of the 91 banks subjected to Europe's stress tests are expected to fail, according to a survey of investors conducted by Goldman Sachs.
In an effort to calm investors' jitters over the potential impact of the euro zone debt crisis on Europe's banking system, banking regulators are assessing how 91 banks across Europe would cope with another economic downturn, and the results are set to be published at 1600 GMT (12 noon
EDT) on Friday.

Unemployment Extension Bill Clears Hurdle, Stand Off Likely Over Until November
The Senate voted 60-40 on Tuesday to move forward with reauthorizing unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless, 2.5 million of whom have missed checks since the end of May as Republicans and conservative Democrats filibustered several bills to renew the aid. After a final Senate vote, the bill goes to the House, which will vote on Wednesday.

Do you support Arizona's immigration law?
This is a seriously interesting poll and map of who's backing/not backing Arizona's immigration legislation. I'm encouraged that the majority of the people appear to be fully awake and are backing Arizona's decision.

VIDEO:  Possible Movement of Oil During Tropical Storm

NSA Has Gotten So Big, Area Around It Has 112 Acres of Parking Spaces
In yet another terrifying expose, The Washington Post continues to lift the veil on just how massive the US government's spying operation has become.

Ships Ready to Leave Leaky Well as Storm Brews
Crew members aboard dozens of ships in the Gulf of Mexico prepared Thursday to evacuate as a tropical rainstorm brewing in the Caribbean brought the deep-sea effort to plug BP's ruptured oil well to a near standstill.

Workplace Bullying: New York Bill Targets Abusive Bosses
Workers' rights advocates have been campaigning for years to get states to enact laws against workplace bullying, and in May they scored their biggest victory.

The Daily Bell: Does War Make a Hero?
It is almost a truism by now that those in the US military are in some sense contemptuous of their civilian counterparts. They are in fact taught (in a sense) to be contemptuous because it is part of the process of breaking down a potential soldier's personality in order to remove the social, ethical and biological barriers to killing. The soldier during this process becomes profoundly "other' – which is one reason why so many have trouble reintegrating when they return to civilian life.  The US suicide rate among young military veterans is tragically high.

Goldman Sachs Said to Give AIG-Hedging List to Investigators
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. told U.S. investigators which counterparties it used to hedge the risk that American International Group Inc. would fail, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The list was sought by panels reviewing the beneficiaries of New York-based AIG’s $182.3 billion government bailout, said the people, who declined to be identified because the information is private. Goldman Sachs, which received $12.9 billion after the 2008 rescue tied to contracts with the insurer, has said it didn’t need AIG to be rescued because it was hedged against the firm’s failure. Comment: The "bail to fail" actions seemed pretty prevalent in the mysterious Land of TARP.

Success for Bank Stress Tests Hinges on Data, Not Failure Count
The success of the European Union’s bank stress tests hinges on how much detail regulators provide about the basis for their conclusions, not on the number of lenders that fail, investors said. “The more transparency, the more important that the results will be,” said Peter Braendle, who helps manage $51 billion at Swisscanto Asset Management in Zurich. “If the methodology is a black box and we just get some results, that will not be very helpful.” Comment: Trusting the banks to be transparent? Hahahahahahahaha, right!

Oil Drilling Workers Protest 'Flotel' Housing
BP told a New Orleans Fox affiliate that the flotels were useful for keeping workers close to cleanup sites, thereby eliminating travel time.

Almost Invisible Mirrored Tree House Built in Sweden
They said it couldn't be done. When we first wrote about the almost invisible tree house to be built in Sweden by Tham & Videgard, 899 commenter's thought it was computer-generated eye candy, impossible to build, and death for birds.

Analysis: Defense contractors face new cost climate
Defense budgets are flat or declining in the United States and Europe, making it vital for companies to find revenues overseas, cut production and overhead costs, and bring their businesses more in line with nimble commercial development practices. Research and development spending is also down, there are fewer program starts than ever, and defense departments around the world are less and less dependent on the flashy warplanes and military hardware that helped create today's giant defense companies as the focus shifts to cybersecurity and unmanned planes. Comment: Could Wall Street be demanding a war to happen, just to increase defense stock profits? It wouldn't be the first time.

Rangel to Face New Charges of Violating Ethics Rules
U.S. Representative Charles Rangel of New York faces new House ethics charges following a two-year investigation of his travel, personal finances and fundraising for a college center named for him. Rangel, a Democrat, stepped aside in March as chairman of the House tax-writing committee after the chamber’s ethics panel admonished him for accepting corporate-sponsored travel in violation of a House rule. The Committee on Standards and Official Conduct announced the new charges yesterday against Rangel, 80, though it didn’t disclose the nature of the allegations. Comment: It's amazing how this has NOT been a lead story in the MSM (mainstream media). Bottom line, republican or democrat, they ALL must be voted out.

Colorado man delivers pizza and saves heart attack victim
A laid off paramedic who turned to delivering pizzas to make ends meet is credited with saving the life of a man who went into cardiac arrest just as a pizza was delivered to his door. Christopher Wuebben, 22, was delivering a pizza late last week to the suburban Denver home of George Linn, when he heard the man's wife screaming for help, according to Wuebben's boss, John Keiley. "Chris told the woman that he was trained in CPR and knew what to do," Keiley, owner of Johnny's New York Pizza, said on Tuesday. "He got him on the floor and brought him back to life before the fire department showed up."

Leaked G20 documents Show Carbon Taxes Still High on Globalist Agenda
This week The Corbett Report was sent documents purported to be the notes of an attendee of the recent Toronto G20 meeting.

The CLEAR Act of Another Federal Land Grab
U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) addressed Congress on July 15th to report the Natural Resources Committee's passage of HR 3534, the Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act (CLEAR Act) of 2009. Congressman Gohmert said that the bill was to "deal with the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico" but it contains plans for the federal government to acquire land and was introduced in 2009.

Obama Signs US Financial Reform Into Law
President Barack Obama has signed legislation to reform the business practices of U.S. financial institutions. Passing the bill was one of the administration's major priorities.

Gulf Boats Having Trouble Finding Oil
Some 750 boats drafted in to scoop up oil from the Gulf of Mexico are having "trouble" finding any crude in the sea, a top US official said Wednesday, almost a week after a busted well was capped.

White House Backs Bill to Collect Employee Pay Information From Businesses
The Obama administration is backing legislation that includes regulations requiring U.S. businesses to provide to the government data about employee pay as it relates to the sex, race and national origin of employees.

New Jobless Claims Jump by 37,000 After Hitting 2 Year Low
New jobless claims in the U.S. jumped last week by the most since February, reversing a sharp fall two weeks ago. The rise is partly a result of seasonal factors but also reflects the job market's weakness.

Jindal Calls on Washington to End Drilling Ban
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal railed against the federal ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico at a rally on Wednesday, saying the "arbitrary moratorium" could cost the region hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Alabama Shoreline Faces Economic Disaster Without Aid, Say Mayors
If BP PLC fails to promptly pay claims, and relief doesn't come soon from financial institutions, a tsunami of foreclosures, small-business closings and bank failures will crash over Alabama's beaches by mid-August, the mayors of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach said Wednesday.

Consumer Group: Insurers Kept Surplus While Hiking Premiums
Non-profit Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans stockpiled billions of dollars during the past decade, yet continued to hit consumers with double-digit premium increases, Consumers Union found in an analysis of 10 of the plans' finances.

The Secrets Next Door
Along the main street, the signs in the median aren't advertising homes for sale; they're inviting employees with top-secret security clearances to a job fair at Cafe Joe, which is anything but a typical lunch spot.

China: The US Is Insolvent and Faces Bankruptcy
The common thought amongst even reasonably educated and economically literate Americans is that China is 'stuck with US Treasuries' and has no choice, so it must perform within the status quo and do as the US wishes, or face a ruinous decline in their reserve holdings of US Treasuries.

Tech Scientists Hold Nothing back in Battling Effects of Gulf Spill
Ron Kendall was breathing in the wetland beauty of the Laguna Madre on the Texas Gulf Coast a few weeks ago when the enormity of the far-distant disaster first gripped him.

Matt Simmons Says Gulf Clean Up Will Cost Over $1 Trillion, Sees BP at $1, Says We Have Now Killed the GoM
Matt Simmons shares some startling revelations in his latest Bloomberg TV interview, in which he says none of the propaganda matters on TV 24/7 (photoshopped or not) as the ultimate clean up cost will likely be well over $1 trillion, and a result he is unconcerned about his BP short. He ultimately see the stock going down to $1.

Large China Oil Spill Threatens Sea Life, Water
China's largest reported oil spill emptied beaches along the Yellow Sea as its size doubled Wednesday, while cleanup efforts included straw mats and frazzled workers with little more than rubber gloves.

Antioxidants Help Arteries Stay Healthy in People at Risk for Heart Disease
Antioxidants are substances that protect cells against the effects of free radicals -- molecules produced when the body breaks down food or is exposed to environmental toxins and radiation.

Sunlight Exposure is Good, Not Bad, Say Some Scientists
Exposure to sunlight, we are often told, is dangerous and can lead to melanoma, also known as skin cancer. But a group of U.K. researchers recently published a report in the British Journal of Dermatology decrying the scare campaigns put out by government and cancer societies that warn against the supposed dangers of sun exposure.

Gene-Test Services Mislead Public, U.S. Government Report Says
Four gene-testing companies are misleading U.S. consumers by providing unclear or conflicting information on the risk of disease, according to a government investigator who sampled the services on the Internet. Gregory Kutz led a probe for the Government Accountability Office by setting up customer accounts with Navigenics of Foster City, California, 23andMe Inc. of Mountain View, California, Pathway Genomics Corp. of San Diego and DeCode Genetics Inc. of Reykjavik, Iceland, and sending them DNA from five people. The companies’ reports assessing health risks were “medically unproven and so ambiguous as to be meaningless,” Kutz said in his report, presented today at a hearing in Washington. “The results show that the tests are not ready for prime time,” Kutz told the committee.


Today In History Thursday July 22, 2010
1796 - Cleveland was founded by Gen. Moses Cleveland.
1798 - The USS Constitution was underway and out to sea for the firs time since being launched on October 21, 1797.
1812 - English troops under the Duke of Wellington defeated the French at the Battle of Salamanca in Spain.
1916 - 10 people were killed when a bomb went off during a Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco, CA.
1926 - Babe Ruth caught a baseball at Mitchell Field in New York. The ball had been dropped from an airplane flying at 250 feet.
1933 - Wiley Post ended his around-the-world flight. He had traveled 15,596 miles in 7 days, 18 hours and 45 minutes.
1934 - John Dillinger was mortally wounded by FBI agents at the Biograph Theatre in Chicago, IL.
1937 - The U.S. Senate rejected President Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court.
1943 - American forces led by Gen. George S. Patton captured Palermo, Sicily.
1941 - Plans for the Pentagon were presented to the House Subcommittee on Appropriations.
1946 - 90 people were killed when Jewish extremists blew up a wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.
1955 - Vice-President Richard M. Nixon chaired a cabinet meeting in Washington, DC. It was the first time that a Vice-President had carried out the task.
1965 - "Till Death Us Do Part" debuted on England’s BBC-TV.
1975 - Confederate General Robert E. Lee had his U.S. citizenship restored by the U.S. Congress.
1991 - Desiree Washington, a Miss Black America contestant, charged she'd been raped by boxer Mike Tyson in an Indianapolis hotel room. Tyson was convicted and served 3 years in prison.
1991 - Police arrested Jeffrey Dahmer after finding the remains of 11 victims in his apartment in Milwaukee. He confessed to 17 murders and was sentenced to life in prison.
1992 - Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped from his luxury prison near Medellin. He was killed by security forces in December 1993.
1998 - Iran tested medium-range missile, capable of reaching Israel or Saudi Arabia.
2000 - Astronomers at the University of Arizona announced that they had found a 17th moon orbiting Jupiter.
2003 - In northern Iraq, Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai died after a gunfight with U.S. forces.
2003 - In Paris, France, a fire broke out near the top of the Eiffel Tower. About 4,000 visitors were evacuated and no injuries were reported.
2004 - The September 11 commission's final report was released. The 575-page report concluded that hijackers exploited "deep institutional failings within our government." The report was released to White House officials the day before.
2009 - The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurred over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean.

Give Me My Kombucha Back
If you haven't heard yet, the pro-biotic drink Kombucha is no longer available. Read More...

Huge List of Streaming Conspiracy Documentaries

Competing Currency Being Accepted Across Mid-Michigan
New types of money are popping up across Mid-Michigan and supporters say, it’s not counterfeit, but rather a competing currency.

New Gold-Backed Currency Could be in Use Next Month
Malaysia, well, at least its northern state of Kelantan, is putting the Islamic gold dinar and silver dirham into circulation as legal tender and it could be implemented as early as mid-August. It won’t be the first nation using gold coins — Indonesia has already minted about 25,000 pieces for use in Australia, Malaysia, and Singapore — but, they are going to be useable in a rather comprehensive fashion. Comment from Jimm: This could be the gold and silver rocket we've been waiting for. Stay tuned!

Senate OKs extension of unemployment aid
The Senate approved legislation to extend unemployment benefits Wednesday for 2.5 million jobless Americans, clearing the way for House passage and President Barack Obama's signature this week.

Iran Accuses US, Pakistan of Supporting Terrorism
Iran's foreign minister accused the U.S., Pakistan and allied forces of using Afghanistan to support terrorist strikes inside Iran, including bomb blasts last week that killed 28 people.

Rice farmer is awarded $500,000 in case over crop contamination
A federal jury in St. Louis awarded $500,248 on Wednesday to a farmer who claimed that he and his family had lost just over $1.5 million when genetically modified rice contaminated the U.S. rice supply.

Gov't watchdogs: mortgage program is not working
Government watchdogs told a Senate panel Wednesday that the Obama administration's effort to help homeowners avoid foreclosure isn't working and that the Treasury Department has failed to fix the program.

Thanks to Fannie and Freddie, Bailout Tab Hits $3.7 Trillion
Increased housing commitments swelled U.S. taxpayers' total support for the financial system by $700 billion in the past year to around $3.7 trillion, a government watchdog said on Wednesday.

Psychopaths On the Move: Big Brother Shuts Down 73,000 Blogs
The Satanic Psychopaths don't like sheep that whine when they are slaughtered. they prefer the ones that go to the butcher quietly and without a struggle.

Remember How We Saved Banks So They Could Keep Lending?
Speaking about bank lending, the broken credit machine is the challenge of the year. Bank lending has declined for six straight quarters.

Black Parent - White Baby
British Nmachi Ihegboro has amazed genetics experts who say the little girl is NOT an albino.

Loganville Man Alleges Police Brutality
A man says he called Loganville police to his home for help and ended up being beaten by officers. Kenny Dixon said Friday that he arrived home Wednesday to find that his son had committed suicide.

Key U.S. Democrat backs extending tax cuts for rich
Kent Conrad, a fiscally conservative Democrat who chairs the Senate's budget committee, on Wednesday said he backs extending all of the tax cuts that expire this year, including for the wealthy. The general rule of thumb would be you'd not want to do tax changes, tax increases for as long as until the recovery is on more solid ground," Conrad said in an interview with reporters outside the Senate chambers, adding he didn't believe the recovery is yet there. Comment: Washington DC's definition of wealthy is anyone they can steal money from, via taxation.

Condo foreclosures: Woodstock report shows condo foreclosures up in suburbs
Some of the most recent Chicago-area homes to enter foreclosure are hard to spot. There are no weedy front yards or plywood-covered windows. That's because they are condos. While single-family homes continue to represent the bulk of initial foreclosure filings in the Chicago area, the rate at which condominiums are entering the foreclosure process, particularly in parts of suburban Cook County, is startling, according to a study to be released Wednesday. Condo foreclosure filings within the city of Chicago rose 37.5 percent during the year's first half, but add in suburban condo foreclosures, particularly in northwestern Cook County, and regional condo foreclosures have swelled 53.8 percent compared with 2009's first half, the Woodstock Institute study found. Comment from Jimm: Having relatives still living in the Chicagoland area, I can personally say that these are affluent areas that are mentioned in this article.

US Deploys Aircraft Carrier to South Korea
The U.S. is sending the massive aircraft carrier the USS George Washington to South Korea this week, the military announced Monday.

Gold Coin Dealers Decry New Tax Law
Those already outraged by the president's health care legislation now have a new bone of contention -- a scarcely noticed tack-on provision to the law that puts gold coin buyers and sellers under closer government scrutiny.

National Poll: Obama Approval Drops to Lowest
A year after President Barack Obama's political honeymoon ended, his job approval rating has dropped to a negative 44 - 48 percent, his worst net score ever, and American voters say by a narrow 39 - 36 percent margin that they would vote for an unnamed Republican rather than President Obama in 2012, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

World court Kosovo ruling could have global impact
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is to issue a non-binding ruling on Serbia's 2009 claim that Kosovo's declaration of independence secession was a "flagrant violation" of its territorial integrity. "If the ICJ opinion establishes a new principle, an entire process of creating new states would open throughout the world, something that would destabilize many regions of the world," Serbian President Boris Tadic was quoted as saying by the Tanjug news agency. Comment: When/if the US finally breaks into six regions, look for those outside our borders to want to have a say in it. Meanwhile, where were all those mass graves that were used as an excuse for the Clinton administration to bomb this area in the 90's, justifying a commitment of US troops (again)?

Bernake Open to new Steps to Keep Recovery Going
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Wednesday the economic outlook remains "unusually uncertain," and the central bank is ready to take new steps to keep the recovery alive if the economy worsens.

United Flight Hits Severe Turbulence; Over 30 Injured
A United Airlines jetliner was diverted to Denver after 30 people onboard were injured, one critically, when the plane hit severe turbulence while flying over Kansas, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

White House Apologizes to Ousted Official
The White House apologized on Wednesday to a black Agriculture Department employee who was ousted for her remarks about race, acknowledging that officials did not know all the facts when she was fired.

US Spy Chief Nominee Warns of N. Korea Direct Attacks
James Clapper told a Senate hearing that Pyongyang might seek "to advance its internal and external political goals through direct attacks".

US Announces New Sanctions Against North Korea
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the sanctions after a visit to the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea

US Oil Spill Could Destroy 100,000 Jobs
The impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was thrown into sharp relief Tuesday, as US data showed rising unemployment in Louisiana and experts warned the disaster could cost up to 100,000 jobs.

Scientists Discover Most Massive Star
A huge ball of brightly burning gas drifting through a neighboring galaxy may be the heaviest star ever discovered -- hundreds of times more massive than the sun, scientists said Wednesday after working out its weight for the first time.

Economic Crisis Forces Local Governments to let Asphalt Roads Return to Gravel
A hulking yellow machine inched along Old Highway 10 here recently in a summer scene that seemed as normal as the nearby corn swaying in the breeze. But instead of laying a blanket of steaming blacktop, the machine was grinding the asphalt road into bits.

Oil Expert Simmons Insists '20 Million People Are Entrapped in Harms' Way'
Oil industry insider Matt Simmons blew the whistle on the made-for-TV capping of the so-called oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday, July 15, during an interview on KPFK radio, the NPR station in Los Angeles.

Will Thousands of Police Layoffs Unleash Chaos and Anarchy Across America?
Thousands of police officers have been laid off all across America since the current economic crisis began.

BP Oil Leak Threatens to Bust Bedrock
The US government has ordered oil giant BP to offer a plan for opening the capped oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, after a seep was found threatening to leak into the bedrock.

Avandia Fraud Explained: Why Big Pharma Keeps Lying About Its Drug
Sometimes the degree of fraud that takes place in the drug industry is so mind-boggling that it's hard to determine whether drug regulators and the media are paying attention at all.

Expectant Mothers Who Take Probiotics
Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) recently conducted a study on the effects of probiotic supplementation during pregnancy.

Being Overweight Causes Memory Problems
A new report published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society reveals that overweight people tend to have poorer memories.

The Path to Perdition - Casey's Daily Dispatch
As you can see, it compares gold as a percentage of global financial assets at the apex of gold’s last big bull market in 1980, to today.
Based on that, gold would seem to have a long way to go before reaching a top. Of course, things won’t roll out in exactly the same way this time around – but a solid case can be made that the economic problems are much worse today than they were in 1980. How high could the price of gold go? Given the price of gold is really just a reflection of the underlying currency unit it is priced in, the answer to the question is to ask yourself how well the government is handling fiscal and monetary policy. If we “go Zimbabwe,” then the price of gold could top $1,000,000 per ounce. Comment: Check out the chart, which is an eye-opener. Charts tell more of the story, typically, than the actual story itself.

Analysis: Asia's budding bankers no longer feel need to go West
Unlike many young, finance-focused Asian graduates before him, Boon Seong Lim is happy to stay close to home to launch his career. Lim, aiming for a mergers and acquisitions department, represents a new wave of Asian recruits who don't feel the pull of having to start on Wall Street or in London's City, partly mirroring a broader shift in the global banking sector where talent and transactions are migrating from West to East. "People used to think it was better to start your career in London or New York," said the 21-year-old Malaysian, speaking between sessions at a packed Asian investment banking conference hosted in Singapore this month by the London School of Economics. Comment: This is more evidence of the financial power being shifted away from the US.


Today In History Wednesday July 21, 2010
1733 - John Winthrop was granted the first honorary Doctor of Law Degree given by Harvard College in Cambridge, MA.
1831 - Belgium became independent as Leopold I was proclaimed King of the Belgians.
1861 - The first major battle of the U.S. Civil War began. It was the Battle of Bull Run at Manassas Junction, VA. The Confederates won the battle.
1873 - Jesse James and his gang pulled off the first train robbery in the U.S. They took $3,000 from the Rock Island Express at Adair, IA.
1930 - The Veterans’ Administration of the United States was established.
1931 - CBS aired the first regularly scheduled program to be simulcast on radio and television. It featured singer Kate Smith, composer George Gershwin and New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker.
1940 - Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia were annexed by the Soviet Union.
1944 - American forces landed on Guam during World War II.
1947 - Loren MacIver’s portrait of Emmett Kelly as Willie the Clown appeared on the cover of "LIFE" magazine.
1949 - The U.S. Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty.
1954 - The Geneva Conference partitioned Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
1959 - A U.S. District Court judge in New York City ruled that "Lady Chatterley’s Lover" was not a dirty book.
1961 - Capt. Virgil "Gus" Grissom became the second American to rocket into a sub-orbital pattern around the Earth. He was flying on the Liberty Bell 7.
1968 - Arnold Palmer became the first golfer to make a million dollars in career earnings after he tied for second place at the PGA Championship.
1969 - Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission.
1980 - Draft registration began in the United States for 19 and 20-year-old men.
1997 - The U.S.S. Constitution, which defended the United States during the War of 1812, set sail under its own power for the first time in 116 years.
1999 - The missing plane of John F. Kennedy Jr. was found off of the coast of Martha's Vineyard, MA. The bodies of Kennedy, his wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren Bessette were found on board. The plane had crashed on July 16, 1999.
2002 - WorldCom Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At the time it was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
2004 - White House officials were briefed on the September 11 commission's final report. The 575-page report concluded that hijackers exploited "deep institutional failings within our government." The report was released to the public the next day.
2007 - The seventh and last book of the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," was released.

Huge List of Streaming Conspiracy Documentaries

Unedited video supports Sherrod's claim she wasn't racist
USDA reconsiders firing of Ga. official over speech on race!

Foreclosure picture isn't much improved
The number of local foreclosure proceedings started by lenders dropped in June for the second straight month, but the number of completed foreclosures more than doubled from a year ago, the Warren Group reported today. “The foreclosure picture in Massachusetts hasn’t really improved that much," Warren Group chief executive Timothy M. Warren Jr. said in a statement. "The level of foreclosure starts for the first half of the year is only slightly lower than a year ago. We have been averaging just over 2,200 foreclosure petitions a month this year compared to about 2,300 a month last year.”

EPA Slaps Monsanto with Record Fine
In the largest fine ever levied under a U.S. pesticides law, Monsanto agreed to pay the Environmental Protection Agency $2.5 million. The agricultural giant was found to have been selling genetically modified cotton seeds without labeling them as such. Between 2002 and 2007, Monsanto's seeds were illegally sold in several Texas counties where the seeds are explicitly banned. So, while its nice lip service when the EPA holds the company accountable for their recent indiscretions, the company's sordid past goes to show that a fine of $2.5 million is toothless.

11-Year-Old Grows Tons of Veggies for the Homeless
It all began in third grade, when Katie Stagliano's 40-pound cabbage fed 275 homeless people. Now, Katie's six gardens have produced over 4,000 pounds of vegetables to feed the needy.

Six Million To Lose Homes In Next Two Years
Of the eight million homeowners currently not making mortgage payments, six million are expected to lose their homes over the next two years, according to the latest Market Intelligence newsletter from John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

Housing Start Decline In June
U.S housing starts for June came in at 549,000 vs. 575,000 expected. New building permits nonetheless beat expectations, coming in at 586,000 vs. 572,000 expected.

European Bank Stress Tests Said to Describe Three Scenarios
EU regulators are examining the strength of 91 banks to determine if they can survive potential losses from both a recession and a decline in the value of their government bond holdings. They are using the tests to reassure investors about the health of financial institutions from Germany’s WestLB AG and Bayerische Landesbank to Spanish savings banks as the debt crisis pummels the bonds of Greece, Spain and Portugal.

Analysis: European firms set to cut more costs
European companies in industries with low growth prospects such as airlines, retailers and utilities are set to seek more cost cuts to sustain profits and reassure investors in the absence of a strong economic recovery. They will have to walk a fine line between making further savings and damaging their businesses by cutting too deeply, having already slashed expenditure during the downturn last year. But many will not have any choice.

Urban Gardens Sprout in Mall Food Courts, on Office Rooftops
Think there's no suitable space left in your urban neighborhood for growing sustainable local food? Think again. As awareness grows about the positive impact environmentally sustainable, local food farms and gardens can have on local economies and public health, new urban and suburban food gardens are sprouting in some surprising places. Here are just a few innovative gardens in creative locations that may change the way city residents think about where good food comes from.....Read More....

`Test and Treat' HIV Prevention Strategy Gets Five-Year South Africa Trial
The experiment is designed to see whether starting treatment straight away can reduce or eliminate transmission of HIV, which infects 2.7 million people and kills 2 million every year. The World Health Organization recommends that patients start receiving HIV drugs when their infection-fighting cells fall to a certain level. The researchers have been planning the trial for two years, Hirschel said at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna today. Comment: And we all "know" the drug companies have a wonderful track record of curing people and saving lives. I don't have a good feeling about this.

Teen intern falls to his death at Foxconn affiliate amid string of Chinese worker suicides
A 19-year-old summer intern at a factory affiliated with the Foxconn Technology Group was found dead after falling from a six-story company dormitory in southern China, his employer said. The death adds to a string of worker suicides at factories in south China run by or linked to Foxconn, a supplier to Apple Inc. Chinese state media said the student from the Dongfang Vocational School of Technology in north China's Hebei province died early Tuesday.

China to End Yuan's Peg With US Dollar
China central bank made a move to end the Chinese currency yuan’s peg with the U.S. dollar. It is perceived to be in country’s long term interest. The People’s Bank of China gave a statement that ending yuan’s peg with the U.S. dollar is a move toward reforming the country’s foreign exchange structure.

Records Show Doubts on ’64 Vietnam Crisis
In an echo of the debates over the discredited intelligence that helped make the case for the war in Iraq, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday released more than 1,100 pages of previously classified Vietnam-era transcripts that show senators of the time sharply questioning whether they had been deceived by the White House and the Pentagon over the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Markets Braced for Turmoil After IMF and EU Withdraw 17 Billion Hungary Financing Deal
The move, which was described by economists as “very rare”, means that Hungary will not have access to standby funds that were secured as part of a 2008 loan deal. The credit line was suspended on Saturday after the European Commission voiced concerns over the newly-elected Hungarian government’s budget plans.

Facebook unrestrained amid NY ownership lawsuit
Facebook may continue business as usual while it fights a New York man's claim he has a contract with founder Mark Zuckerberg that entitles him to 84 percent ownership of the world's leading social networking site, a U.S. court heard on Tuesday. Paul Ceglia of Wellsville, New York, sued Zuckerberg and Facebook Inc last month claiming a 2003 contract with Zuckerberg to develop and design a website now entitled him to a majority stake in the privately-held company. A New York State judge in Allegany County put a temporary restraining order on company asset transfers, but that order was suspended on June 30 by Judge Richard Arcara of federal court in Buffalo, New York. Comment: How interesting that the whole debate is centered around who owns it. CIA perhaps?

Swine Flu Fizzles Out; WHO May Declare End to Pandemic Alert
Public health experts are likely to tell the world this month it can breathe easier: The swine flu pandemic is ending. The World Health Organization’s emergency committee may convene next week to review infection data from Argentina to New Zealand and recommend that the agency declare the century’s first flu pandemic to be over, said two people familiar with the matter. They declined to be identified because the deliberations are confidential.

Power company tells customer she is dead
An Austrian woman has had to convince her electricity supplier that she is alive after the company wrote to her asking for information about her contract following her "passing away." In a personally addressed letter, the Linz-based company said it had heard of her death through her bank, daily Oesterreich reported on Thursday. "I am not the dead one," 58-year-old Christine R. wrote back in a fax and email to the company, explaining that it was her neighbor who had died and she was the custodian. She eventually went to the customer center in person to prove her existence. Comment: So, the banks now determine who's alive and who's not?

Hillary Clinton: Pakistani government Knows Where Bin Laden Is
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks about the fight against terrorism on the Pakistan/Afghani border. Clinton says "I assume somebody in this [Pakistani] government, from top to bottom, does know where Bin Laden is, and I'd like to know too."

Oil Spill Threatened by Possible Tropical Storm This Weekend
A tropical wave with the potential to develop into a tropical storm over Florida this weekend could also impact the oil spill site in the Gulf of Mexico.

Here's What 'Obama Money' Is Doing For You
An investigation by three Republican congressmen has revealed the Obama administration has secretly spent $23 million of U.S. taxpayer dollars in Kenya to fund a "Yes" vote on a constitutional referendum scheduled for Aug. 4 that would increase access to abortions in Kenya and establish legal status for Islamic law tribunals.

US Gives BP 24 Hours to Monitor Capped Oil Well
Government gives oil company strict targets amid fears possible seepage beneath seabed could cause Macondo well to collapse.

They're Still Lying About Oil Disaster pt 1 - Matt Simmons

Fish Oil Reduces Risk of Breast Cancer
When you look at statistics about breast cancer, it's no wonder that the very mention of the disease causes dread in many women. After all, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) says about 210,000 Americans, almost all females, will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year and about 40,000 will die from the disease.

Radiation Scan Problems Only Noticed After Patients' Hair Falls Out
New concern over lack of regulation in medical radiation has been spurred by a case in which more than 300 patients received excessive levels of radiation, but doctors only uncovered the problem when patients' hair began to fall out.
 

Today In History Tuesday July 20, 2010
1810 - Colombia declared independence from Spain.
1861 - The Congress of the Confederate States began holding sessions in Richmond, VA.
1868 - Legislation that ordered U.S. tax stamps to be placed on all cigarette packs was passed.
1871 - British Columbia joined Confederation as a Canadian province.
1881 - Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull, a fugitive since the Battle of the Little Big Horn, surrendered to federal troops.
1908 - In the United States, the Sullivan Ordinance bars women from smoking in public facilities.
1917 - The draft lottery in World War I went into operation.
1942 - The first detachment of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, (WACS) began basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa.
1944 - An attempt by a group of German officials to assassinate Adolf Hitler failed. The bomb exploded at Hitler's Rastenburg headquarters. Hitler was only wounded.
1944 - U.S. President Roosevelt was nominated for an unprecedented fourth term of office at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
1969 - Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. became the first men to walk on the moon.
1974 - Turkish forces invaded Cyprus.
1976 - America's Viking I robot spacecraft made a successful landing on Mars.
1977 - A flash flood hit Johnstown, PA, killing 80 people and causing $350 million worth of damage.
1982 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan pulled the U.S. out of comprehensive test ban negotiations indefinitely.
1985 - Treasure hunters began raising $400 million in coins and silver from the Spanish ship "Nuestra Senora de Atocha." The ship sank in 1622 around the coast of Key West, FL.
1992 - Vaclav Havel, the playwright who led the Velvet Revolution against communism, stepped down as president of Czechoslovakia.
1993 - White House deputy counsel Vincent Foster Jr. was found shot to death, a suicide, in a park near Washington, DC.
1998 - Russia won a $11.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to help avert the devaluation of its currency.
2003 - In India, elephants used for commercial work began wearing reflectors to avoid being hit by cars during night work.

Glenn Beck Reveals He May Be Going Blind -- Fox News host Glenn Beck says he may be going blind because of macular dystrophy that prevents him from focusing his eyes. Beck made his tearful disclosure during a passionate speech at his "American Revival" meeting in Salt Lake City on Saturday.

FDIC: Failed Bank List
6 More This Past Friday

Homeowners Use Room-Renting Site to Dodge Foreclosure
Nichelle Morant was on the verge of losing her three-unit house in Brooklyn, New York, earlier this year, after tenants renting the second and third floors lost their jobs and moved out. With bills mounting and foreclosure looming, Morant converted the space into a bed and breakfast. Using the San Francisco-based rental site Airbnb.com to take reservations, she was soon raking in $4,500 a month, enough to cover her mortgage. “This has been our stimulus package,” said Morant, a pastry chef, who lives with her family on the ground floor of the home. “We were going to lose our house.” Comment: It's the Great Depression, all over again. My relatives in Chicago lived this way (in a two-flat) during the Depression.

NYC Heads to Hottest July Ever, Taxing Power Grid
New York’s Central Park is heading toward its warmest July on record after two heat waves this month, the National Weather Service reported. Extreme heat pushes aging power systems to their limits, increasing the odds of breakdown, according to grid monitors.

Test-tube kids face higher cancer risk, first big study says, but not likely due to procedure
For the first time, a large study suggests a higher rate of childhood cancer among test-tube babies, but researchers say the reason probably has nothing to do with how the infants were conceived. More likely, it's related to the genetics of the parents who turned to in vitro fertilization because of infertility, the study's Swedish authors and other experts say. Also, test-tube infants often are born prematurely and have breathing problems at birth - traits linked in other studies with increased cancer risks. Still, cancer in these children is rare despite any elevated risks. Comment: Could this be due to man trying to be God...and failing?

Pimco Sells Black Swan Protection as Wall Street Markets Fear
“Everyone is starting to realize that this is going to be a much longer, much more difficult path to recovery,” said William Cunningham, head of credit strategies and fixed-income research at Boston-based State Street Corp.’s investment unit, which oversees almost $2 trillion. “It’s really quite fragile and vulnerable in a way that we haven’t seen in our lifetime.” Demand for protection against so-called tail risks, extreme market moves that Wall Street’s financial models fail to detect, is increasing as investors react to events such as the May 6 stock market rout that briefly sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average down almost 1,000 points, or Greece’s sovereign debt crisis, which on June 7 sent the euro to a four-year low against the U.S. dollar. Comment: Did someone finally admit to what really happened on May 6th?

Ron Paul editorial: When There Is No Rule of Law
Regime uncertainty is the opposite of the rule of law. It is the rule of the whims of the people in charge and what mood they are in on any particular day. It is usually associated with third world dictatorships and plays a major role in why some countries remain poor. When a business cannot predict whether a government will issue a permit, confiscate or nationalize their capital investments, tax them into bankruptcy, or arbitrarily stall their operations, they tend to do business elsewhere. This type of government hostility is not conducive to wealth creation and it is tragic to see it chasing away businesses here when we need the jobs and productivity more than ever.

All Gold To Be Tracked?
Such a massive expansion of federal taxing authority, perhaps combined eventually with a VAT, moves the US government further away from what would seem to be the express wishes of its citizenry. The law allows this sort of movement to take place, but increasingly one could speculate that the law is not being grounded in "the will of the people." Combine this salient point with the communicative ability of the Internet itself, and one would expect a lively debate to ensue in the coming months over the kinds of demands that central government in the US is increasingly (and for some, illegitimately) making on its citizens.

The Social Security Squeeze Can Be Solved
"This debt is like a cancer," said Erskine Bowles, co-chair of President Obama's bipartisan panel on deficit reduction, at the annual meeting of the National Governors Assn. on July 11. Little wonder Americans seem gripped with dread about an aging society. And there are no magic elixirs or fiscal wands that will painlessly put the federal government's fiscal house in order. It will take political compromise to do that, a classic mix of higher taxes and reduced benefits to accomplish the deficit-and-debt reduction task.

Dems Start to Panic As Midterm Reality Sets In
Under pressure, the Democrats are cracking. On both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, there is a realization that Nancy Pelosi's hold on the speakership is in true jeopardy; that losing control of the Senate is not out of the question; and that time, once the Democrats' best friend, is now their mortal enemy.

Gulf Oil Spill: Too Many Coincidences
April 20: Deepwater Horizon explodes. 84 days later, the leak continues spewing a much debated number of gallons per day into the Gulf of Mexico (estimates range from 800,000 to 3 million gallons/day).

'Macondo' The Well From Hell is Facing a Blow Out: The Seep Looks Ugly
The federal government has ordered private company BP to unseal the cap on the Macondo well because of worries of underground leakage of oil that could grow into a bigger problem, but BP has refused to remove the cap, which would cause more oil to flow into the Gulf.

Obama Administration Announces Aug. 1 National Guard Deployment to Support Federal Law Enforcement Along the Southwest Border
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Defense (DOD) today announced that National Guard deployments to the Southwest border will begin on Aug. 1 as part of the administration’s unprecedented efforts to combat the transnational criminal organizations that smuggle weapons, cash and people across our Southwest border.

Will the Stock Market Crash Before the Mid-Term Elections?
As it stands, the Democrats face a potential wipeout in November. If the stock market crashes in July, August and September, that would seal a Democratic defeat of potentially epic proportions.

The Washington Post Reveals 'Top Secret America'
The Washington Post has unveiled its comprehensive, alarming, and much-anticipated report on "Top Secret America."

A Hidden World, Growing Beyond Control
The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.

US Military Says School Lunches are a Threat to National Security
A group of retired military officials recently expressed concern that school lunches are a threat to national security. According to them, the food being fed to children at public schools is making them "too fat to fight", leaving a potentially considerable gap in military recruitment.

Top Chinese Economist Call For China To Ditch US Treasuries and Buy Gold
A former advisor to the Chinese central bank, and influential economist, has called for his nation to diversify away from U.S. treasury holdings.

Donald Berwick: The Medical Care Terminator
Meet Donald Berwick, the man president Obama slipped into place at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services through a recess appointment.

Ahmadinejad: US Behind Terror Attacks
Iran’s president says US and NATO forces offer financial and material support to terrorists, yet US President Barack Obama, ironically enough, sends a condolence message on the recent deadly terrorist attacks in southeast Iran.

Israel Convinces Obama to Plan for Iran Attack
According to a report in Time magazine Israel has managed to convince Washington to put the option of a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities back on the table.

Pay-Per-Cop
Imagine coming home from a hard day’s work, only to find that your front door has been kicked in and your home ransacked.

Cameron Raids Dormant UK Accounts to Funds Projects
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans to use “hundreds of millions of pounds” from dormant bank accounts to fund community projects, while Business Secretary Vince Cable said lenders “ripped off” customers.

Videotaping Police is Often Cause for Arrest
That Anthony Graber broke the law in early March is indisputable. He raced his Honda motorcycle down Interstate 95 in Maryland at 80 mph, popping a wheelie, roaring past cars and swerving across traffic lanes.

National Guard to Deploy to Southwest Border Aug 1
Administration officials on Monday announced that the 1,200 National Guard troops pledged weeks ago by President Obama will deploy to the southwest border starting on Aug. 1 as part of an effort to bring the region "under control."

Airport Body Scanners Reveal All, But What About When It's Your Kid?
There's been lots of talk lately about body scanners — the new airport security tool that allows screeners to see through clothes. People are concerned about privacy, delayed flights, health effects.

Ireland's Credit Rating Downgraded by Moody's
Credit agency Moody's has downgraded Ireland's government bond ratings to Aa2, blaming banking liabilities, weak growth prospects and a substantial increase in the debt to GDP ratio.

Beet Juice Lowers Blood Pressure
The vegetable known as the beetroot in Great Britain (and usually called the table beet, garden beet, red beet or just plain beet in the U.S.) has been studied in recent years for its health-building properties.
 

Today In History Monday July 19, 2010
1788 - Prices plunged on the Paris stock market.
1799 - The Rosetta Stone, a tablet with hieroglyphic translations into Greek, was found in Egypt.
1848 - The Women's Rights Convention took place in Seneca Fall, NY. Bloomers were introduced at the convention.
1870 - France declared war on Prussia.
1909 - The first unassisted triple play in major-league baseball was made by Cleveland Indians shortstop Neal Ball in a game against Boston.
1939 - Dr. Roy P. Scholz became the first surgeon to use fiberglass sutures.
1942 - German U-boats were withdrawn from positions off the U.S. Atlantic coast due to effective American anti-submarine countermeasures.
1943 - During World War II, more than 150 B-17 and 112 B-24 bombers attacked Rome for the first time.
1946 - Marilyn Monroe acted in her first screen test.
1960 - Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants became the first pitcher to get a one-hitter in his major league debut.
1974 - The House Judiciary Committee recommended that U.S. President Richard Nixon should stand trial in the Senate for any of the five impeachment charges against him.
1975 - The Apollo and Soyuz spacecrafts separated after being linked in orbit for two days.
1984 - Geraldine Ferraro was nominated by the Democratic Party to become the first woman from a major political party to run for the office of U.S. Vice-President.
1985 - George Bell won first place in a biggest feet contest with a shoe size of 28-1/2. Bell, at age 26, stood 7 feet 10 inches tall.
1985 - Christa McAuliffe of New Hampshire was chosen to be the first schoolteacher to ride aboard the space shuttle. She died with six others when the Challenger exploded the following year.
1989 - 112 people were killed when a United Airline DC-10 airplane crashed in Sioux City, Iowa. 184 people did survive the accident.

FDIC: Failed Bank List
6 More This Past Friday

The Global Double Dip Has Arrived
The global economy, artificially boosted since the recession of 2008-2009 by massive monetary and fiscal stimulus and financial bailouts, is headed towards a sharp slowdown this year as the effect of these measures wanes.

The Jobless Effect: Is the Real Unemployment Rate 16.5%, 22%, or...?
The June poll turned up 27.8% of households with at least one member who's unemployed and looking for a job.

Ireland Credit Rating Cut by Moody's on Debt Outlook
Ireland had its credit rating cut one level at Moody’s Investors Service, which cited a “significant loss of financial strength” and the cost of bank bailouts. The company lowered Ireland to Aa2 from Aa1 and moved the country to a “stable” from a “negative” outlook, it said today in a statement. Ireland lost its top rating at Moody’s in April 2009. Irish bonds fell after the downgrade.

Teachers Get In Trouble for Teaching Students About Their Constitutional Rights
Two teachers at Norview High School in Norfolk, VA were recently put on administrative leave by the school after a parent complained about a video that she saw in Government class.

Louisiana Reopens Gulf Waters to Sport Fishing
Tossing a life preserver to its ailing tourism industry, the state of Louisiana has reopened most of its state waters in the Gulf of Mexico to recreational fishing.

Gulf Coast Fishermen Angry Over Oil Claims
Fishermen in Mississippi say they are angry that under the terms of BP's $20 billion oil spill fund, money they earn doing clean-up will be subtracted from their claim against the company.

Congressman Introduces Resolution to Protect Citizens Who Videotape Cops
A U.S. Congressman has introduced a resolution that would protect citizens who videotape cops in public from getting arrested on state wiretapping charges.

FDA Says Breast Cancer Drug Did Not Extend Lives
Federal health scientists said Friday that follow-up studies of a Roche breast cancer drug show it failed to slow tumor growth or extend patient lives, opening the door for a potential withdrawal in that indication. The Food and Drug Administration approved Roche’s blockbuster Avastin in 2008 based on early-stage trials showing it shrank tumors caused by breast cancer. The decision was controversial because drugs for cancer patients who have never been treated before must usually show evidence they extend lives.
Comment: This is why the word "harm" can still be found in the word pharmaceutical.

Insurers Push Plans Limiting Patient Choice of Doctors
As the Obama administration begins to enact the new national health care law, the country’s biggest insurers are promoting affordable plans with reduced premiums that require participants to use a narrower selection of doctors or hospitals.

SHOCK: Water 'Sample Exploded' When Chemist Tested for Oil
Kids playing in water found to be 221 parts per million oil and walking in sand that is 211 ppm; Normal is ‘none detected’

US Military Clash With China In Yellow Sea
Delayed until after the United States achieved a United Nations Security Council statement on July 9 condemning the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, Washington’s plans for naval maneuvers in the Yellow Sea near Chinese territorial waters are forging ahead.

VIDEO: Pain Pill Abuse Up 400% In 10 Years! video

BP Buys Gulf Scientists for Legal Defense, Roiling Academic Community
For the last few weeks, BP has been offering signing bonuses and lucrative pay to prominent scientists from public universities around the Gulf Coast to aid its defense against spill litigation.

Government Wants Your Individual Obesity Rating by 2014
All Americans, by 2014 will be required to have an individual obesity rating electronically recorded.

Carbon Trading Used as Money-Laundering Front: Experts
Organised crime gangs are using carbon emissions trading schemes as fronts for money-laundering, experts warned Friday. The experts who attended a meeting of the Asia Pacific Money Laundering Group (APG) said crime syndicates are resorting to new methods to hide their illegal proceeds.

Biggest Expansion of Government Power Over Banking, Markets Since Depression
Congress approved a rewrite of rules touching every corner of finance, from ATM cards to Wall Street traders, in the biggest expansion of government power over banking and markets since the Depression.

NSA Falsified Intercepted Communications in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident
In an echo of the debates over the discredited intelligence that helped make the case for the war in Iraq, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday released more than 1,100 pages of previously classified Vietnam-era transcripts that show senators of the time sharply questioning whether they had been deceived by the White House and the Pentagon over the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Biden Says Democrats Will 'Shock' Everyone in Midterms
Vice President Joe Biden brushed aside suggestions on Sunday that Democrats will suffer big losses in November midterm elections, vowing that Barack Obama's governing party will "shock the heck out of everybody."

Dow May Crash to 7,500 If 10,600 Not Breached
Seeing there's been quite a bit of interest in my recent comments on CNBC about the historical parallels between the Great Depression and the recent financial crisis, I thought it may be appropriate to elaborate further on the chart technicals behind the observation.

White House Wanderers Tour Acadia - Bo Flew in Separately
Julia Freifeld, of Raleigh, N.C., was absolutely certain she knew where the Obamas would make a stop during their weekend getaway on Mount Desert Island.

Obama Vacation Brings Rest, Relaxation and Rebuke
President Obama and his family arrived Friday for a weekend getaway in Maine, but along with a little rest and relaxation comes criticism that the president is taking it easy with the Gulf of Mexico oil crisis in a critical phase.

State Department Warns Employees New Website Highlighting Top Secret Facilities
The State Department is bracing for a potentially explosive new feature on the Washington Post website that would publish the names and locations of agencies and firms conducting Top Secret work on behalf of the U.S. government, according to the copy of an email obtained by The Cable.

Army Suicides Hit Record Number in June
Thirty-two soldiers took their own lives last month, the most Army suicides in a single month since the Vietnam era. Eleven of the soldiers were not on active duty. Of the 21 who were, seven were serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, the Department of Defense said.

VIDEO: Matt Simmons Still Says BP Covering Up MASSIVE HOLE Miles Away, Cap Test is Absurd

Raids Are Increasing on Farms and Private Food-Supply Clubs
Crime scene tapeWhen the 20 agents arrived bearing a search warrant at her Ventura County farmhouse door at 7 a.m. on a Wednesday a couple weeks back, Sharon Palmer didn't know what to say. This was the third time she was being raided in 18 months, and she had thought she was on her way to resolving the problem over labeling of her goat cheese that prompted the other two raids. (In addition to producing goat's milk, she raises cattle, pigs, and chickens, and makes the meat available via a CSA.)

Plant Extract Heals Ulcerative Colitis, May Prevent Colon Cancer
Ulcerative colitis is a serious disease that affects about a million people in the U.S., causing inflammation and sores in the lining of the rectum and colon that bleed, produce pus and cause frequent diarrhea.

Foods and Drinks Sweetened With Fructose Linked to High Blood Pressure
Fruits and vegetables contain relatively small amounts of the form of sugar known as fructose.

Top Clinton Official: Only a Terror Attack Can Save Obama
Bilderberger Shapiro says President needs new OKC or 9/11 as a way of “demonstrating that he is a leader” before November elections and reversing plunging approval ratings.

Dollar Weakens Most in 14 Months Versus Euro on Signs of Economic Slowdown
The dollar fell the most against the euro in 14 months and dropped to the lowest level this year versus the yen as economic reports added to evidence that the U.S. recovery is losing momentum. The greenback touched a level weaker than $1.30 versus the shared currency as minutes of the Federal Reserve meeting last month indicated policy makers trimmed their forecasts for growth. The euro rallied for a third straight week against the dollar before partial results of stress tests on the region’s banking system due on July 23.

$13 Trillion in Obligations Show Shadow Banks Still Threat to Financial System
A report issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that so-called "shadow banks" still hold more obligations than regular banks, representing a continuing threat to the financial system. Three years after the beginning of the financial crisis, the shadow banking system had about $16 trillion of obligations in the first quarter, compared with $13 trillion for banks, the report said. The gap has narrowed from 2008, when obligations were $20 trillion and $11 trillion, respectively. Throughout the early part of the decade, shadow banks grew in importance as they acted as intermediaries between investors and borrowers. Familiar examples of shadow institutions include Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, which were swallowed by the financial crisis, as well as Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE).

Top 5 Hurricane Vulnerable & Overdue Cities
So, it seems instructive to highlight examples of locations that are both vulnerable and overdue for a very significant hurricane impact. Doing so can help remind residents of any area that has escaped a hurricane disaster for quite some time that what has happened to others could happen to them too. (New Orleans, Gulfport-Biloxi, Galveston and Houston are examples of locations not on this list because they've recently been severely hit.) While certainly not an exhaustive list, the following five metropolitan areas have been selected based on a combination of the amount of people and property at high risk, and how long it has been since the area has been directly affected by a very strong hurricane. It is a matter of when, not if, these areas are struck next. Comment: I cannot be the only person questioning that a hurricane is overdue and actually stating cases for certain areas to get a hurricane.
 

Today In History Friday July 16, 2010
1790 - The District of Columbia, or Washington, DC, was established as the permanent seat of the United States Government.
1791 - Louis XVI was suspended from office until he agreed to ratify the constitution.
1862 - David G. Farragut became the first rear admiral in the U.S. Navy.
1875 - The new French constitution was finalized.
1912 - Bradley A. Fiske patented the airplane torpedo.
1918 - Czar Nicholas II and his family were executed by Bolsheviks at Ekaterinburg, Russia.
1926 - The first underwater color photographs appeared in "National Geographic" magazine. The pictures had been taken near the Florida Keys.
1935 - Oklahoma City became the first city in the U.S. to make use of parking meters.
1940 - Adolf Hitler ordered the preparations to begin on the invasion of England, known as Operation Sea Lion.
1942 - French police officers rounded up 13,000 Jews and held them in the Winter Velodrome. The round-up was part of an agreement between Pierre Laval and the Nazis. Germany had agreed to not deport French Jews if France arrested foreign Jews.
1944 - Soviet troops occupied Vilna, Lithuania, in their drive toward Germany.
1945 - The United States detonated the first atomic bomb in a test at Alamogordo, NM.
1950 - The largest crowd in sporting history was 199,854. They watched the Uruguay defeat Brazil in the World Cup soccer finals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
1957 - Marine Major John Glenn set a transcontinental speed record when he flew a jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds.
1964 - Little League Baseball Incorporated was granted a Federal Charter unanimously by the United States Senate and House of Representatives.
1969 - Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, FL, and began the first manned mission to land on the moon.
1970 - The Pittsburgh Pirates played their first game at Three Rivers Stadium.
1973 - Alexander P. Butterfield informed the Senate committee investigating the Watergate affair of the existence of recorded tapes.
1979 - Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq after forcing Hasan al-Bakr to resign.
1981 - After 23 years with the name Datsun, executives of Nissan changed the name of their cars to Nissan.
1990 - An earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter Scale devastated the Philippines, killing over 1600 people.
1999 - The plane of John F. Kennedy Jr. crashed off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, MA. His wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, were also on board the plane. The body of John Kennedy was found on July 21, 1999.
2004 - Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison for lying about a stock sale. She was also ordered to spend five months confined to her home and fined $30,000. She was allowed to remain free pending her appeal.
2005 - J.K. Rowling's book "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" was released. It was the sixth in the Harry Potter series. The book sold 6.9 million copies on its first day of release.

VIDEO: Hidden Health News by Mike Tawse
Health stories are a familiar part of news coverage, but the search for naturally sustained good health often means looking for the hidden background and detail that the media chooses not to focus upon. Still more important is finding, and understanding, the information that the mainstream media does not cover at all. Mike's "My Serrapeptase Adventure"  is only possible because of the courage of a few people who are willing to share hidden health news.

Lieberman's Modle for America: Purging the Internet of Dissent
When Senator Joe Lieberman attempted to justify draconian legislation that would provide President Obama with a figurative kill switch to shut down parts of the Internet, he cited the Chinese system of Internet policing as model which America should move towards.

Senate Passes Financial Overhaul Bill
The Senate passed the financial overhaul package in a final vote on Thursday, ending more than a year of wrangling over the shape of the landmark legislation. The focus now shifts to the monumental task of implementing the new regulations over coming weeks and months.

The Great Crash 1929
This book could've been written about today's economy.

The 'Well Integrity Test' Is a Sham' Can American's Figure Any of This Out?
Today, an oil and gas industry veteran with 30 years experience who goes by the alias Fishgrease says that the well integrity test is a PR stunt meant to fool the American people: Yesterday, Our Government bought in to BP's lies and maneuvering. Yesterday, Our Government approved the Integrity Test.

Four troubling things you didn’t know about financial reform
On its surface, the financial reform package looks tough on banks and Wall Street. Yet for individuals, the protections are much less pronounced and highly diluted. Granted, the massive, 2,300-page-plus Dodd-Frank bill may slow down some bank failures. It may even impede avaricious trading desks from tanking the global financial system. For average investors, though, it’s a pyrrhic victory at best. Here are four major problems.

Homes Lost to Foreclosure on Track for 1M for 2010
More than 1 million American households are likely to lose their homes to foreclosure this year, as lenders work their way through a huge backlog of borrowers who have fallen behind on their loans.

Winners and losers in the U.S. financial bill
These are some of the likely winners and losers under the regulation bill.

Election Looms for Democrats: How Bad Can It Be?
Battling a tough political climate fueled by economic fears and President Barack Obama's political difficulties, Democrats face an uphill struggle to retain control in the House of Representatives and avoid big losses in the Senate.

Gulf Oil Spill, Too Many Coincidences
April 20: Deepwater Horizon explodes. 84 days later, the leak continues spewing a much debated number of gallons per day into the Gulf of Mexico (estimates range from 800,000 to 3 million gallons/day).

Well Integrity Testing: Oil Industry Experts Ask 'What the Hell Are They Doing?'
Rob Cavner - who has been right about virtually everything so far, previously explaining that there is damage in the oil well beneath the seafloor, and that BP has to let the oil spill keep on gushing to avoid further damage to the well bore until the well can be killed with relief wells (subsequently confirmed by BP) - now says that he is worried that the well integrity test could further damage the well bore and could blow out the entire well:ndustry expert Rob Cavner - who has been right about virtually everything so far, previously explaining that there is damage in the oil well beneath the seafloor, and that BP has to let the oil spill keep on gushing to avoid further damage to the well bore until the well can be killed with relief wells (subsequently confirmed by BP) - now says that he is worried that the well integrity test could further damage the well bore and could blow out the entire well:

Expect Second-Half Housing and Durable Goods Crash
Those who think manufacturing is going to lead the way to a sustainable recovery need to think again. Data suggest durable goods sales are about to collapse.

Goldman agrees to carry on as usual
My favorite part of the SEC settlement with Goldman Sachs is the bit where Goldman agrees to “a permanent injunction from violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933″. Well, that’s reassuring, knowing that from now on Goldman has promised not to break the law. Goldman has also consented to an agreement that when it puts together new mortgage securities, it’ll run any prospectuses or term sheets by its legal or compliance departments. As if it wasn’t doing that already. And there’s lots more like that: people on the mortgage desk have to attend training seminars on disclosure! Goldman “shall provide for appropriate record keeping”! And so on and so forth. Meanwhile, the closest thing to an admission of wrongdoing coming from Goldman is this...

Goldman Settlement `Victory' Ushers Change to Wall Street
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s $550 million settlement with U.S. regulators yesterday will benefit the firm by ending three months of uncertainty at an affordable price. Now the rest of Wall Street begins calculating the cost. Investors welcomed the deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying the company won key points: The cost was below some analysts’ estimates of at least $1 billion; no management changes were required; and Goldman Sachs said the SEC indicated it doesn’t plan claims related to other mortgage- linked securities it examined. The stock’s late surge on anticipation of a settlement yesterday added more than $3 billion to the company’s market value, and it climbed further after New York trading closed.

Bank of America Offers Account That's Free If You Don't Visit Teller Again
Bank of America Corp. has a novel way to lure more customers: Free checking accounts for folks who never again enter the bank. The bank, the largest in the U.S. by assets, is introducing an account on Aug. 6 that won’t include a monthly fee or minimum balance requirement unless the customer wants to use a teller or receive a monthly statement through the mail, said David Owen, a senior vice president for checking and debit at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company. Visiting a branch to make a deposit will trigger an $8.95 fee per month, he said. Comment: This appears to be the first sign/move towards the cashless society.

Urban farm in Racine is no fish tale
Imagine raising vegetables in an abandoned, four-story manufacturing building. And doing it without soil. An old JI Case building once used to manufacture plows for farm fields is being transformed into a dirtless vertical farm where fish and lettuce are grown in a symbiotic system. The farm, in a part of the city that once was an industrial hub, potentially could produce the same amount of food as 40 acres of land without the use of pesticides or fertilizer, according to the entrepreneurs behind Natural Green Farms at 615 Marquette St. This particular method of growing food, using treated fish wastewater to grow lettuce, is nothing new. But it could be a cutting-edge venture if it turns an obsolete industrial building into a local model for a new industry that creates jobs and produces fresh food close to the people who would eat it.

Wisconsin warns residents about Gulf job scams
Well-intentioned job seekers around the country are being lured by the offer of decent wages, free room and board, and a chance to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead, their identities are being stolen, officials from the state Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection are warning Wisconsin residents. "Bogus job advertisements are showing up in newspapers and on computers across the country," said Janet Jenkins, administrator of the Trade and Consumer Protection Division. "Given the current economy, scammers know job seekers - especially young people - are vulnerable to appealing offers."

Wachovia's Drug Habit
The bank, now a unit of Wells Fargo, leads a list of firms that have moved dirty money for Mexico’s narcotics cartels--helping a $39 billion trade that has killed more than 22,000 people since 2006. Just before sunset on April 10, 2006, a DC-9 jet landed at the international airport in the port city of Ciudad del Carmen, 500 miles east of Mexico City. As soldiers on the ground approached the plane, the crew tried to shoo them away, saying there was a dangerous oil leak. So the troops grew suspicious and searched the jet. They found 128 black suitcases, packed with 5.7 tons of cocaine, valued at $100 million. The stash was supposed to have been delivered from Caracas to drug traffickers in Toluca, near Mexico City, Mexican prosecutors later found. Law enforcement officials also discovered something else. Comment: Note that Bank of America is one of the culprits involved in all of this.

Stocks and Bonds Are Now Hazardous to Your Wealth
Stocks and bonds in general simply will not behave as they have in the past as we enter a new world of constant economic shrinkage. Current discount models feed on earnings growth and compounding interest that will no longer be obtainable.

Brief for 9 States Backs Arizona Immigration Law
States have the authority to enforce immigration laws and protect their borders, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox said Wednesday in a legal brief on behalf of nine states supporting Arizona's immigration law.

SEC Settling Its Complaints With Goldman
Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $550 million to settle federal claims that it misled investors in a subprime mortgage product as the housing market began to collapse, officials said Thursday.

Pentagon Warns Congress: Accounts Running Dry
The Pentagon said on Wednesday it may be forced to take extreme measures -- like not paying salaries -- if the Democratic-led Congress fails to pass a $37 billion defense spending bill before lawmakers begin an August recess.

JP Morgan Profit Leaps Nearly 80%
US banking giant JPMorgan Chase on Thursday announced a net profit of 4.8 billion dollars in the second quarter, up nearly 80 percent from the same period last year.

UAE Ambassador Says Country May a US-Israeli Attack on Iran
The U.A.E. may be about to support the U.S. and Israel in their rumored plans to attack Iran, according to reports from Der Spiegel.

EPA Sets Unprecedented Foundation for Dust Regulation
In the latest step in its review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the foundation for unprecedented regulation of dust. According to EPA’s Second Draft Policy Assessment for Particulate Matter (PM), issued late last week, EPA may consider regulating coarse PM at levels as low as 65-85 µg/m3, twice as stringent as the current standard.

America Stands of Precipice of Total Collapse
There can be little doubt that America, along with the west as a whole, is being set up for a total collapse in which life as we know it will be fundamentally altered and rebuilt around a collectivist model managed and controlled by the same criminals who engineered the crisis in the first place.

Obama Violates Own Executive Order, Funds Abortions
WASHINGTON, July 14 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Department of Health and Human Services under radical abortion promoter Kathleen Sebelius has approved the first disbursement of federal tax dollars to pay for abortions, despite an Executive Order that promised the American people such abortion funding would not be permitted.

Gov't Says Abuse of Prescription Meds Skyrocketing
A new government study finds a 400 percent increase in the number of people admitted to treatment for abusing prescription pain medication.

The US Economy is a Dead Horse and the American People Are starting to Get Really Pissed Off and Frustrated
The economic frustration of the American people is reaching a fever pitch.

Big Pharma Nanotechnology Encoded Pills With Tracking Data That You Swallow
The emerging field of nanotechnology is currently gaining a lot of attention across many industries. Nanotechnology allows scientists to manipulate individual atoms and molecules to create unique materials and even micro-scale devices, and this is leading to a wide range of applications in clothing, textiles, electronics and even food and medicine.

Omega 3's Reduce Risk of Colon Cancer
A study released by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has found that high omega-3 consumption helps to prevent colon cancer. Dr. Sangmi Kim and her team discovered what many other studies have already found, mainly that omega-3s are anti-inflammatory cancer fighters.

Natural Compound in Broccoli and Brussels Spouts Halts Breast Cancer Cell Growth
Previous research has suggested cruciferous vegetables (which include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale and cabbage) have potent cancer-fighting properties. For example, there's evidence broccoli sprouts can stop the colonization of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a type of bacteria believed to trigger cases of stomach cancer as well as many ulcers

Road Warrior Collapse of Economy Eminent
There can be little doubt that America, along with the west as a whole, is being set up for a total collapse in which life as we know it will be fundamentally altered and rebuilt around a collectivist model managed and controlled by the same criminals who engineered the crisis in the first place.

US Paid Iranian Nuclear Scientist $5 Million for Aid to CIA Officials Say
The Iranian nuclear scientist who claimed to have been abducted by the CIA before departing for his homeland Wednesday was paid more than $5 million by the agency to provide intelligence on Iran’snuclear program, U.S. officials said.

National Guard's 'Homeland Response Force' to Patrol Missouri, Nine Other States
Homeland Response Forces are descending upon Missouri and nine other states, where National Guard units will be the face of Federal power in the regions in the event of a terrorist attack or disaster.


Today In History Thursday July 15, 2010
1789 - The electors of Paris set up a "Commune" to live without the authority of the government.
1806 - Lieutenant Zebulon Pike began his western expedition from Fort Belle Fountaine, near St. Louis, MS.
1813 - Napoleon Bonaparte's representatives met with the Allies in Prague to discuss peace terms.
1857 - British women and children were murdered in the second Cawnpore Massacre during the Indian Mutiny.
1863 - Confederate raider Bill Anderson and his Bushwhackers attacked Huntsville, MO, where they stole $45,000 from the local bank.
1870 - Georgia became the last of the Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.
1901 - Over 74,000 Pittsburgh steel workers went on strike.
1904 - The first Buddhist temple in the U.S. was established in Los Angeles, CA.
1916 - In Seattle, WA, Pacific Aero Products was incorporated by William Boeing. The company was later renamed Boeing Co.
1918 - The Second Battle of the Marne began during World War I.
1922 - The duck-billed platypus arrived in America, direct from Australia. It was exhibited at the Bronx Zoo in New York City.
1940 - Robert Wadlow died at the age of 22. At that time he was 8 feet, 11-1/10 inches tall and weighed 439 pounds.
1942 - The first supply flight from India to China over the 'Hump' was carried to help China's war effort.
1958 - Five thousand U.S. Marines landed in Beirut, Lebanon, to protect the pro-Western government. The troops withdrew October 25, 1958.
1965 - The spacecraft Mariner IV sent back the first close-up pictures of the planet Mars.
1968 - Commercial air travel began between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., when the first plane, a Soviet Aeroflot jet, landed at Kennedy International Airport.
1971 - U.S. President Nixon announced he would visit the People's Republic of China to seek a "normalization of relations."
1973 - Nolan Ryan of the California Angels became the first pitcher in two decades to win two no-hitters in a season.
2002 - John Walker Lindh pled guilty to two felonies. The crimes were supplying services to Afghanistan's former Taliban government and for carrying explosives during the commission of a felony. Lindh agreed to spend 10 years in prison for each of the charges.
2009 - "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" was released in theaters in the U.S. It was the sixth movie in the series.

After fits and starts, bank bill ready for passage -- A sweeping overhaul of the nation's financial regulations stands on the verge of reaching President Barack Obama's desk after a year of partisan struggles and delicate cross-party courtships that promised more and delivered less.

Marines Covertly Training With LAPD -- Why is the U.S. Marine Corp learning how to police American cities?

Manufacturing jobs keep slipping away -- A new Business First study shows that the Buffalo area has lost 35,600 manufacturing jobs in the past 10 years. That means, on average, that 300 manufacturing jobs are disappearing from Erie and Niagara County every week -- roughly 10 every day. We’re not alone, of course. Ninety-eight of the nation’s 100 biggest markets have fewer manufacturing jobs now than they did a decade ago. Six have lost more than 100,000 positions.

Finance Overhaul Casts Long Shadow on the Plains -- President Barack Obama's financial regulatory overhaul, which may pass Congress as early as Thursday, will leave tracks across the wide-open landscape of American industry.

Both parties mull raising retirement age -- In a rare departure from this year's intense political posturing over the soaring budget deficit, House leaders of both parties recently signaled that they are prepared to tackle a leading long-term liability — Social Security — by raising the retirement age.

Fears grow as millions lose jobless benefits -- The recession -- the worst U.S. downturn since the 1930s -- has left some 8 million people like Coleman out of work. Unemployment has remained stubbornly high at around 9.5 percent. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in June 6.8 million people or 45.5 percent of the total are long-term unemployed, or jobless for 27 weeks or more.

Sad analysis: Ohio manufacturing jobs pounded -- Six of Ohio’s seven largest metropolitan areas are among the nation’s biggest losers of manufacturing jobs since the turn of the millennium, an analysis of the latest federal work force data has found. The six metros, including Columbus, dropped a combined 233,200 manufacturing jobs between May 2000 and this past May, putting them among the 25 biggest percentage losers of production workers in the country. Only Cincinnati, which lost 39,800 manufacturing jobs in that period, or 27 percent of its production work force, wasn’t among the nation’s 25 biggest losers.

Homes lost to foreclosure on track for 1M in 2010 -- More than 1 million American households are likely to lose their homes to foreclosure this year, as lenders work their way through a huge backlog of borrowers who have fallen behind on their loans. Nearly 528,000 homes were taken over by lenders in the first six months of the year, a rate that is on track to eclipse the more than 900,000 homes repossessed in 2009, according to data released Thursday by RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing service. "That would be unprecedented," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac. By comparison, lenders have historically taken over about 100,000 homes a year, Sharga said.

Staggering Stats About Silver Supply by Richard Daughty -- If that is not enough of a supply/demand imbalance to make you jump to your feet in eagerness to buy silver, longer-term it gets more interesting, because “in 1900 there were 12 billion ounces of silver in the world. By 1990, that figure had been reduced to around 2.2 billion ounces,” and now “today, there are less than 1 billion ounces in above-ground refined silver.”

Gulf Gusher to Keep Flowing as Cap Test Delayed -- A pivotal moment in the Gulf oil crisis hit an unexpected snag Tuesday evening when officials announced they needed more time before they could begin choking off the geyser of crude at the bottom of the sea.

10 Ways We Are Being Tracked, Traced, and Databased -- Are technological advances infringing on our right to privacy?

Six More Policemen Charged in Katrina Killings -- Six more New Orleans police officers have been indicted in connection with the shooting deaths of two people and the wounding of four others who were walking on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.

Opponents Pack Hearing on Mosque Near Ground Zero -- Dozens of opponents and some supporters of a mosque planned near ground zero attended a raucous hearing Tuesday about whether the building where the Muslim place of worship would be created warrants designation as a city landmark and should be protected from development.

Israeli Military Prepares to Block Gaza-Bound Aid Ship -- Israel's military on Tuesday prepared to stop a Libyan aid ship that's en route to try to breach Israel's sea blockade of the Gaza Strip.

VIDEO: Empty Stores Shelves Coming to America

Pottery Barn Kids recalls 82,000 drop-side cribs -- Thousands of drop-side cribs from popular retailer Pottery Barn Kids are being recalled over safety concerns. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the 82,000 cribs on recall could pose a suffocation or entrapment risk to young children if the drop-side rail on the crib detaches because of faulty hardware. The recall involves all Pottery Barn Kids drop-side cribs regardless of model number.

Shadowy $145 Billion More Borrowed in June Than Needed to Cover Deficit -- Once again, as has been the case over the past four years, the US borrowed far more in any deficit month, then it needed simply to close the deficit.

Seven Congressmen Deliver Seeds to Artic doomsday Vault Over Fourth of July Weekend -- Why are our congressman spending their fourth of July weekends in the frozen arctic tundra putting seeds in a Doomsday Vault?

Rail Traffic Softens Further in June: Can You Say Double Dip? -- That said, an economy several months into a recovery from the worst recession in decades should be yielding rail traffic levels heading north, not south.

Rioters Hurl Petrol Bombs in New N. Ireland Unrest -- Rioters in Northern Ireland hurled petrol bombs at police and erected burning barricades at a Belfast flashpoint, as unrest that has left scores of police officers injured entered a third day.

Finance Overhaul Casts Shadow on Plains -- Farmer Jim Kreutz uses derivatives to soften the blow should the price of feed corn drop before harvest. His brother-in-law, feedlot owner Jon Reeson, turns to them to hedge the price of his steer.

Billboard Linking Obama, Hitler Draws Complaints -- A billboard created by an Iowa tea party group that compares President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin is drawing sharp criticism — even from fellow tea party activists who have condemned it as offensive and a waste of money.

Why BP is Readying a 'Super Weapon' to Avert Escalating Gulf Nightmare -- While the plan would admittedly only be executed if a worst case scenario seemed imminent, some geo-chemists have expressed concerns that detonating a nuke in the Gulf might ignite the methane.

Federal Deficit Tops $1 Trillion Through June -- The federal deficit has topped $1 trillion with three months still to go in the current budget year, showing the continued impact of a deep recession on the government's finances.

NAACP Resolution Designed to Wreck Tea Party Movement by Playing Race Card -- Before Obama was selected to be the next front man for the ruling elite, we said race would be used to shut down any opposition to government. During the NAACP convention this week, that is precisely what is happening.

Resveratol May Prevent Eye Disease, Blindness -- Resveratrol -- a natural compound found in red wine, grapes, blueberries, peanuts and other plants -- has been found to promote longevity and health in a variety of ways.

Sunbathing Boosts Men's Testosterone (Thanks to Vitamin D) -- By increasing circulating levels of vitamin D, sunbathing may help increase men's testosterone levels and thereby their sex drive, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Medical University of Graz, Austria, and published in the journal Clinical Endocrinology.

Obama Administration Ok's First Tax-Funded Abortions Under Health Care Law -- The Obama administration has officially approved the first instance of taxpayer funded abortions under the new national government-run health care program. This is the kind of abortion funding the pro-life movement warned about when Congress considered ...
 

Today In History Wednesday July 14, 2010
1789 - French Revolution began with Parisians stormed the Bastille prison and released the seven prisoners inside.
1798 - The U.S. Congress passed the Sedition Act. The act made it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the U.S. government.
1868 - Alvin J. Fellows patented the tape measure.
1891 - The primacy of Thomas Edison's lamp patents was upheld in the court decision Electric Light Company vs. U.S. Electric Lighting Company.
1900 - European Allies retook Tientsin, China, from the rebelling Boxers.
1911 - Harry N. Atwood landed an airplane on the lawn of the White House to accept an award from U.S. President William Taft.
1914 - Robert H. Goddard patented liquid rocket-fuel.
1933 - All German political parties except the Nazi Party were outlawed.
1940 - A force of German Ju-88 bombers attacked Suez, Egypt, from bases in Crete.
1941 - Vichy French Foreign Legionaries signed an armistice in Damascus, which allowed them to join the Free French Foreign Legion.
1945 - American battleships and cruisers bombarded the Japanese home islands for the first time.
1946 - Dr. Benjamin Spock’s "The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care" was first published.
1951 - The first sports event to be shown in color, on CBS-TV, was the Molly Pitcher Handicap at Oceanport, NJ.
1951 - The George Washington Carver National Monument in Joplin, MO, became the first national park to honor an African American.
1958 - The army of Iraq overthrew the monarchy.
1965 - The American space probe Mariner 4 flew by Mars, and sent back photographs of the planet.
1966 - In a Chicago dormitory, Richard Speck murdered eight student nurses.
1967 - Eddie Mathews of the Houston Astros hit his 500th career home run.
1968 - Hank Aaron, while with the Atlanta Braves, hit his 500th career home run.
1981 - The All-Star Game was postponed because of a 33-day-old baseball players strike. The game was held on August 9.
1998 - Los Angeles sued 15 tobacco companies for $2.5 billion over the dangers of secondhand smoke.
2001 - Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympics. It was the first time that the China had been awarded the games.
2009 - The iTunes Music Store reached 1.5 billion applications downloaded.

Pharmacists give themselves cancer from dispensing toxic chemotherapy chemicals -- Chemotherapy drugs are extremely toxic to the human body, and they are readily absorbed through the skin. The Seattle Times now reports the story of Sue Crump, a veteran pharmacist of two decades who spent much of her time dispensing chemotherapy drugs. Sue died last September of pancreatic cancer, and one of her dying wishes was that the truth would be told about how her on-the-job exposure to chemotherapy chemicals contributed to her own cancer.

Opponents pack hearing on mosque near ground zero -- Dozens of opponents and some supporters of a mosque planned near ground zero attended a raucous hearing Tuesday about whether the building where the Muslim place of worship would be created warrants designation as a city landmark and should be protected from development.

NAACP Resolution Calls on Tea Party to Repudiate 'Racist Elements' in Movement -- The NAACP adopted a resolution Tuesday condemning "racist elements" in the Tea Party movement and calling on the movement's leaders to repudiate bigotry, despite claims from Tea Partiers that the measure is just a political ploy.

China official warns more food safety scares likely -- China, which has seen a string of food safety scares in recent years, is likely to experience similar problems in the future due to the country's vast size, a top official was quoted Tuesday as saying. The comments by senior health ministry official Su Zhi came after authorities seized tonnes of milk powder tainted with melamine, the chemical responsible for the deaths of six babies in 2008, in at least three provinces. "With such a huge territory and population in China, it's hard to avoid all food safety threats and to put all unscrupulous businessmen under scrutiny," Su was quoted by the China Daily as saying at a food safety forum.
Comment: Let the poisoning continue! Yum!

Court rules FCC crackdown on broadcaster on air curse words is unconstitutional -- TV shows can get four-letter filthy after an appeals court ruling Tuesday declared the Federal Communications Commission's indecency rule unconstitutional.

Vitamin D Promotes Memory and Cognitive Function in Seniors -- A lack of vitamin D has already been linked in several studies to depression. Now it appears a deficiency of this crucial nutrient could also play a role in robbing the brain of the ability to process information correctly and clearly.

More than 1,000 exposed to dengue in Florida -- Five percent of the population of Key West, Florida -- more than 1,000 people -- have been infected at some point with the dengue virus, government researchers reported on Tuesday. Most probably did not even know it, but the findings show the sometimes deadly infection is making its way north into the United States, the researchers said.

Incredible Stories About Cayenne Pepper -- Hear from many people around the world discussing cayenne pepper and sharing their stories about its usage.
 * Related Article: Cayenne Pepper: The King of Medicinal Herbs

Another US Leading Indicator Collapses -- Well today another leading indicator is rolling over. It's the Pulse of Commerce Index (PCI), which basically tracks fuel consumption across the U.S. faster than many of the other leading indicator data sets can come out.

A Modern Day Gold Rush -- But "gold is real money," says Gerard Adams, president of the National Inflation Assn., a year-old group in Fort Lee, N.J., that seeks to warn about hyperinflation, which it considers inevitable. In Adams' view, the price of gold has not yet peaked.

Obama's Support Slides -- US voters' trust in President Barack Obama's ability to get his job done well has slid to a new low, a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Tuesday found.

Silver’s Historical Correlation with Gold Suggests A Parabolic Top As High As $714 per Ounce! -- History will look back at the artificially high silver to gold ratio of the past century as an anomaly, caused by the dollar bubble and the world being deceived into believing that fiat currencies are real money, when in fact they’re all an illusion. This fiat currency experiment will end badly in a currency crisis. The wealthiest people will be those who bought silver today and were smart enough to research and pick the best silver mining stocks and warrants. Comment: The gold to silver ratios, listed in this article, makes this a must read.

Cadmium Jewelry Recall -- Another big recall has been announced for jewelry sold at two stores popular with pre-teen girls. About 137,000 pieces of children’s jewelry sold at Justice and Limited Too have been recalled for high levels of the toxic metal cadmium. The voluntary recall was announced Tuesday by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and involves 19 different styles of necklaces, bracelets and earrings distributed by Tween Brands. This is the sixth recall of cadmium products since early June.

Baltic Dry Index Posts 33rd Consecutive Decline -- The CSX earnings surge can be easily explained now that the rail company has cornered the China-US transportation corridor (what's that, it's an ocean? that's ok - the president will enact a law changing that).

Many Americans will run short in retirement says study -- No matter their income level, a significant number of U.S. workers are likely to struggle to meet basic expenses during retirement, a new study of baby boomers and "generation Xers" released on Tuesday shows. Over 40 percent of people with the lowest incomes face prospects of depleted savings within 10 years after retirement, with that number climbing toward 60 percent after another decade, according to Washington-based Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). Comment: It's no wonder why Congress is currently working on bills to grab the 401Ks to fund Social Security.

From a Fishing Village, To an 'Oil Town': Hell Has Come to South Louisiana -- Clint Guidry is a shrimper from Lafitte, Louisiana. As we sit together, he shows me a picture of his house with 18 inches of water in it as a result of Hurricane Ike in 2008.

Americans in 70% Majority See More Jobless as Deficit Widens -- More than 7 out of 10 Americans say the economy is mired in recession, and the country is conflicted over how to balance concerns over joblessness and the federal budget deficit, according to a Bloomberg National Poll. Just like the experts, Americans are torn about whether the federal government should focus on curbing spending or creating jobs, the poll conducted July 9-12 shows. Seven of 10 Americans say reducing unemployment is the priority. At the same time, the public is skeptical of the Obama administration’s stimulus program and wary of more spending, with more than half saying the deficit is “dangerously out of control.”

Northrop Grumman to shut Louisiana shipyard; looks to spin off shipbuilding division -- Northrop Grumman said Tuesday that it will close down a Louisiana shipyard and may shed its entire division that makes warships as the Navy shifts its shipbuilding priorities. The company will close its Avondale facility by 2013 as it consolidates its shipyards on the Gulf Coast. The moves come as the shipyard winds down construction of Navy amphibious assault ships. Comment: Could the real reason be that Northrop Grumman doesn't want it's employees around the toxicity related to the oil spill in the gulf?

Discovery of Second Pipe in Deepwater Horizon Riser Stirs Debate Among Experts -- For the first time Friday, the Coast Guard and BP acknowledged that a mysterious second pipe, wedged next to the drill pipe in what remains of the Deepwater Horizon's riser, is fouling up the works where the well is spewing hundreds of millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Coast Guard Lifts Ban on News Coverage Near Booms -- The Coast Guard has modified a policy on safety zones around boom deployed on oiled coastlines, a policy news organizations had said unnecessarily restricted coverage of the impact of the BP oil spill and efforts to clean it up.

Republicans Sound Warnings Over Expiration of Bush Tax Cuts -- With the economy still sputtering, Republicans are drawing renewed attention to the looming expiration of Bush-era tax cuts and warning that the rollback will "clobber" everyone from small business owners to middle-class families.

IRS: We Don't Have the Resources to Handle Obamacare -- In the waning days of the ObamaCare debate, Republicans warned repeatedly that the IRS would need thousands of new agents to enforce the new health-insurance mandate, and that the bill didn’t provide enough resources to fund them.

Somalia's al Shabaab Claims Deadly Ugandan Attacks, Threatens More -- Somali Islamists said on Monday they had carried out two bomb attacks in Uganda that killed 74 soccer fans watching the World Cup final on television.

US Denies Abducting Missing Iran Nuclear Scientist Now in Washington -- The U.S. is strongly denying charges that it abducted a missing Iranian nuclear scientist who has taken refuge at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington and who Tehran says is asking to return to his homeland.

Suffer These Crimes in Oakland? Don't Call the Cops -- Oakland's police chief is making some dire claims about what his force will and will not respond to if layoffs go as planned.

BP Oil Spill: Containment Cap Reaches Leak, But Anger Surges Over slow Claims Payout -- BP has successfully lowered a new containment cap onto its leaking well, its latest attempt to control the gushing oil since the start of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico 84 days ago.

Chinese Rating Agency Strips Western Nations of AAA Status -- Dagong Global Credit Rating Co used its first foray into sovereign debt to paint a revolutionary picture of creditworthiness around the world, giving much greater weight to "wealth creating capacity" and foreign reserves than Fitch, Standard & Poor's, or Moody's.

Fiorina Leads Boxer for First Time in California Senate Race -- California Democratic senator Barbara boxer is trailing Republican challenger Carly Fiorina by 2 points--47% to 45%--in a new SurveyUSA poll of likely voters released this evening.

Obama to Attend Groundbreaking for LG Chem Plant in US -- U.S. President Barack Obama will attend a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday for an LG Chem plant in Holland, Michigan, the company said Sunday. It is very unusual for an incumbent U.S. president to appear at such an event for a foreign company, and it is the first time for a Korean firm.

The Dark Side of Nitrogen: Too Much Fertilizer is Destroying the Planet -- Reckless overuse of synthetic fertilizers is creating an ecological catastrophe, warns a recent feature in Grist magazine.

VIDEO: The day ahead: July 14, 2010 -- Prior to the release of the Department of Commerce's June retail sales report, there is speculation that U.S. retail sales in June fell for the second straight month, dragged down by a weak auto market. (Video included, discussing the "head and shoulders" we are headed into.) Comment: Well, when the "new Detroit" is functional in India, this problem should go away, right?

The Factory Rebound May Be Peaking -- A recent survey of trucking companies by Longbow Research showed that, while 93 percent of those surveyed said demand was up from a year earlier, many operators differed about prospects for the rest of the year. Factories, warehouses, and truck and train depots are humming now. But investors still have reasons to worry that economic activity will trail off as the summer passes and the holiday season approaches. Comment: Are they reporting that this is the obvious "head and shoulders" that we've been talking about for some time now?
 

Today In History Tuesday July 13, 2010
1754 - At the beginning of the French and Indian War, George Washington surrendered the small, circular Fort Necessity in southwestern Pennsylvania to the French.
1787 - The U.S. Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, enacted the Northwest Ordinance, which established the rules for governing the Northwest Territory, for admitting new states to the Union and limiting the expansion of slavery.
1812 - The first pawnbroking ordinance was passed in New York City.
1832 - Henry Schoolcraft discovered the source of the Mississippi River in Minnesota.
1835 - John Ruggles received patent #1 from the U.S. Patent Office for a traction wheel used in locomotive steam engines.
1863 - Opponents of the Civil War draft began three days of rioting in New York City, which resulted in more than 1,000 casualties.
1875 - David Brown patented the first cash-carrier system.
1878 - The Congress of Berlin divided the Balkans among European powers.
1931 - A major German financial institution, Danabank, failed. This led to the closing of all banks in Germany until August 5.
1941 - Britain and the Soviet Union signed a mutual aid pact, that provided the means for Britain to send war material to the Soviet Union.
1954 - In Geneva, the United States, Great Britain and France reached an accord on Indochina which divided Vietnam into two countries, North and South, along the 17th parallel.
1971 - The Army of Morocco executed ten leaders accused of leading a revolt.
1972 - Carroll Rosenbloom (owner of the Baltimore Colts) and Robert Irsay (owner of the Los Angeles Rams) traded teams.
1978 - Lee Iacocca was fired as president of Ford Motor Co. by chairman Henry Ford II.
1979 - A 45-hour siege began at the Egyptian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. Four Palestinian guerrillas killed two security men and seized 20 hostages.
1982 - The All-Star Game was played outside the United States for the first time. They played in Montreal, Canada.
1998 - "Image of an Assassination" went on sale. The video documentary is of Abraham Zapruder's home video of U.S. President Kennedy's assassination in Dallas.
2000 - The United States and Vietnam singed a major trade agreement. The pact still needed to be approved by the U.S. Congress.

BP Oil Spill: Containment Cap Installed on Leak, As Anger Surges Over Slow Claims Payouts -- BP has successfully lowered a new containment cap onto its leaking well, its latest attempt to control the gushing oil since the start of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico 84 days ago. Underwater video of the well showed the new 18-foot, 150,000-pound cap being placed onto the wellhead. The company will soon begin the process of testing the fit that could finally contain all of the leaking oil.

A New Detroit Rises in India's South -- This Indian port city, built around a former British fort, in many ways resembles Detroit circa 1910. The metropolis of about five million people is booming as scores of international car makers and suppliers have set up shop. Ford Motor Co., Hyundai Motor Co, Nissan Motor Co., Renault SA, Daimler AG and BMW AG all have converged here. They are spending billions of dollars to make Chennai one of the world's biggest hubs of small cars for export as well as for increasingly affluent Indians. Soon, the city will turn out close to 1.5 million vehicles a year, more than any one U.S. state made last year. Comment: I'm so glad our bailout money allowed the car companies (and manufacturing jobs) to go to India!

China Milk Tainted With Melamine Again - Are We At Risk? -- Milk it does a body good – unless it’s the melamine-flavored kind from China. Last month, Chinese officials discovered 76 tons of milk powder and dairy products laced with deadly melamine – an industrial chemical unscrupulous milk processors were accused of adding to watered-down milk to make it appear rich in protein in quality tests. These quality tests measure nitrogen, which is found in both melamine and protein. But while protein builds strong bodies, melamine can give you kidney stones and kidney damage. It can also kill children.

Think Gold Prices Have Peaked? Think Again -- If you think gold prices have peaked, think again. Gold may have fallen from its June 18 record high of $1258.30 an ounce, but the yellow metal is in for the long haul. In fact, Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE ADR: CS) has increased its long-range forecast for gold, arguing in a new report that prices should remain near current levels for at least the next four years.

Extra help hired to pare caseload -- "It seems like the goal of the judicial system is to process these cases as fast as possible," said Lisa Epstein, a West Palm Beach homeowner who is fighting a foreclosure and runs a website, foreclosurehamlet.org . "Doing a rush job at this point is benefiting one party and one party only, and that's the foreclosure entities."

Roger's Rules - Eric Holder and Federalist 45 -- Where is James Madison when you need him? Yesterday, the announcement came that the attorney general of the United States, at the direction of the president of the United States, is filing suit against the state of Arizona because . . . because why? The real reason is because they do not want Arizona to enforce the law with respect to illegal immigrants. The stated reason is that they do not want a state to be seen to usurp federal authority.

Hackers Break Into University of Maine Servers -- In the latest incident of an educational institution falling victim to a security breach, officials at the University of Maine this week are notifying thousands of students after hackers managed to infiltrate a pair of university servers. The compromised servers stored data on some 4,585 students who received counseling services at the school's on-campus counseling center between August 2002 and June 2010. Breached data included student names, social security numbers and clinical information related to every student who received counseling services during that time.

Arizona Freeway speed cameras to be turned off this week -- The photo-enforcement program, which was meant to catch speeders on Arizona's freeways, has been controversial from the beginning. The cameras first went up nearly two years ago.

Former BP Contractor: BP Not Interested In Cleaning Up Oil Spill -- “I saw something when I was out there,” he said. “I took pictures of something and I brought it to the attention of the command structure and whatever I took pictures of, 12 hours later I was gone.”

More Americans' credit scores sink to new lows -- Figures provided by FICO Inc. show that 25.5 percent of consumers — nearly 43.4 million people — now have a credit score of 599 or below, marking them as poor risks for lenders. It's unlikely they will be able to get credit cards, auto loans or mortgages under the tighter lending standards banks now use.

Get Ready for a Cataclysmic Market Crash! (Or Maybe Not) -- Could the Dow really drop 90%? Earlier this month, in an interview that was widely circulated online, market analyst Robert Prechter predicted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average will fall below 1000 within the next six years. The Dow promptly surged back above 10000, but it is worth asking whether Mr. Prechter might be right anyway.

FDIC's authority to review banks expands -- Federal bank regulators have agreed to give the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. unlimited authority to investigate banks, clarifying the agency's power that was in question during the financial crisis. The FDIC's board on Monday approved the agreement between the insurance agency and regulators at the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department. It clearly spells out the FDIC's authority to make special examinations of banks. It was approved 5-0.

Anger in Costa Rica Over Deal to 'Invite' 46 US Warships -- But opponents say this year's deal differs from previous ones in that it allows US warships to enter the country. Previously, opponents say, only US Coast Guard vessels were allowed to enter Costa Rican territory.

Crisis Awaits World's Banks as Trillions Come Due -- “There is a cliff we are racing toward — it’s huge,” said Richard Barwell, an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland and formerly a senior economist at the Bank of England, Britain’s central bank.

More Americans' Credit Scores Sink to New Lows -- Figures provided by FICO Inc. show that 25.5 percent of consumers — nearly 43.4 million people — now have a credit score of 599 or below, marking them as poor risks for lenders.

China Ratings Agency Downgrades US Debt -- The US sovereign debt gets a stiff downgrade, cut down from number one in the world, to a distant thirteenth place.

Saudi Oil Production Collapse at Hand? -- The Saudis have three generations of tip-top, Texas A&M educated oil men. And they don’t ask for help unless they desperately need it.

Retire at Age 70? Young People May Have To Under Plan -- Young Americans might not get full Social Security retirement benefits until they reach age 70 if some trial balloons that prominent lawmakers of both parties are floating become law.

US Marines Train With Los Angeles Police Department -- A tough-talking, muscular Los Angeles police sergeant steadily rattled off tips to a young Marine riding shotgun as they raced in a patrol car to a drug bust: Be aware of your surroundings. Watch people’s body language. Build rapport.

Iran Dumps A Glut of Oil Onto the Market -- Iran just released 40% of oil it had been storing in idle tankers, according to ship tracking data from AISLive. Six vessels of oil are expected to be hit Europe, creating a potential short-term glut situation for traders.

Pipe Bomb Detonates at Houston Oil Executive's Home -- A seemingly anonymous gift left on the front porch of a Houston home owned by an oil company executive has the city's affluent population of oil profiteers on edge this weekend, after that package exploded and seriously injured a 62-year-old woman.

Sunday Times Reports Exxon and Chevron Receive Green Light From Obama to Plot Takeover -- You know someone is losing (a lot of) money when the heavy artillery of the rumormill department goes into overdrive.

Al-Shabaab Islamists Suspected in Dead Ugandan World Cup Bombings -- Somali Islamists carried out two bomb attacks in Kampala, killing at least 64 people as they watched the World Cup final, Ugandan authorities said on Monday.

Russia Says Iran Close to Nuclear Weapons -- "Iran is moving closer to possessing the potential which in principle could be used for the creation of nuclear weapons," Medvedev told a meeting of ambassadors in Moscow.

Obama At Odds With Petraeus Doctrine on 'Islam' -- The White House's official policy of banning the word "Islam" in describing America's terrorist enemies is in direct conflict with the U.S. military's war-fighting doctrine now guiding commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Secret Gold Swap Has Spooked the Markets -- It takes a lot to spook the solid old gold market. But when it emerged last week that one or more banks had lent 380 tonnes of gold to the Bank of International Settlements in return for foreign currencies, there was widespread surprise and confusion

You Are Not Authorized to See These Pictures -- Preface: The title is a parody of the fact that the government has effectively made it a felony to take pictures of oiled wildlife.

A Diet Loaded With Antioxidant Rich Foods Improves Insulin Resistance -- According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDKD), insulin resistance is a condition in which the pancreas eventually can't keep up with the body's demand for insulin (a hormone that helps the body use glucose for energy).

Widespread Male Infertility Sweeping the Globe -- Nearly 20 years ago, Danish scientists first broke the news to the world that men from Western countries seem to be slowly becoming infertile.

Wall Street Bill Could Face Further Delay in Senate -- Senate Democrats have not yet abandoned their hope to give final congressional approval to the landmark measure this week and send it on to President Barack Obama to sign into law. They picked up an important Republican swing vote on Monday

Federal Reserve Worry List Gets Longer -- A fading recovery, persistently high unemployment, Europe's debt troubles and commercial real estate losses have garnered most of the attention.


Today In History Monday July 12, 2010
1790 - The French Assembly approved a Civil Constitution providing for the election of priests and bishops.
1806 - The Confederation of the Rhine was established in Germany.
1862 - The U.S. Congress authorized the Medal of Honor.
1864 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln witnessed the battle where Union forces repelled Jubal Early's army on the outskirts of Washington, DC.
1912 - The first foreign-made film to premiere in America, "Queen Elizabeth", was shown.
1931 - A major league baseball record for doubles was set as the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs combined for a total of 23.
1933 - A minimum wage of 40 cents an hour was established in the U.S.
1941 - Moscow was bombed by the German Luftwaffe for the first time.
1946 - "The Adventures of Sam Spade" was heard on ABC radio for the first time.
1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed a highway modernization program, with costs to be shared by federal and state governments.
1954 - The Major League Baseball Players Association was organized in Cleveland, OH.
1957 - The U.S. surgeon general, Leroy E. Burney, reported that there was a direct link between smoking and lung cancer.
1960 - The first Etch-A-Sketch went on sale.
1982 - "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" broke all box-office records by surpassing the $100-million mark of ticket sales in the first 31 days of its opening.
1982 - The last of the distinctive-looking Checker taxicabs rolled off the assembly line in Kalamazoo, MI.
1984 - Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale named U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his running mate. Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket.
1990 - Russian republic president Boris N. Yeltsin announced his resignation from the the Soviet Communist Party.
1998 - In Ballymoney, Northern Ireland, three young brothers were burned to death in an arson attack while they slept.
1998 - 1.7 billion people watched soccer's World Cup finals between France and Brazil. France won 3-0.
2000 - Russia launched the Zvezda after two years of delays. The module was built to be the living quarters for the International Space Station (ISS.)
2000 - A car bomb exploded in central Madrid injuring nine people. The attack was blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA.

Virginia Lawmaker Pushing Immigration Bill -- Corey Stewart is a man to be proud of, and as a Virginian – I salute him. I wish I lived close enough to vote for him.

Debt collectors get nasty -- Complaints of harassment by debt collectors surged 50% to 67,550 in 2009, according to the Federal Trade Commission. And they are on track to jump 13% this year, based on the number of FTC complaints filed in the first six months.

High rates, more fees - credit card traps here to stay -- More rules clamping down on abusive credit card practices are on their way. But even when the final phase of the CARD Act is in place this August, credit card issuers will still be able to blindside customers with unexpected fees.

The Financial Con Of The Decade Explained So Simply Even A Congressman Will Get It -- Sometimes, when chasing the bouncing ball of fraud and corruption on a daily basis, it is easy to lose sight of the forest for the millions of trees (all of which have a 150% LTV fourth-lien on them, underwritten by Goldman Sachs, which is short the shrubbery tranche). Luckily, Charles Hugh Smith, of oftwominds.com has taken the time to put it all into such simple and compelling terms, even corrupt North Carolina congressmen will not have the chance to plead stupidity after reading this.

This Is Terrence Aym,Author of One of the Article You Posted: Doomsday BP May Have Triggered a Mass Extinction Event -- BP has really got its 'hands' full. Yet the news blackout continues and the Obama administration has been hiding facts from oceanologists, the report from NOAA'a Thomas Jefferson and more using the Unified Area Command ...

Energy Efficient Light Bulbs May Not Only Destroy Your Health, They Change Your Behavior -- I knew they had been fast-tracked, and about the mercury, but I was shocked at just how bad the new lighting might be.

Barefootin' Is Good For you! -- When I was a child, my Dad encouraged me to go barefoot. Since I was born clubfooted and had to wear braces to straighten my legs and feet out, when I got them off, the docs wanted me to wear special supportive shoes.

Senator Joe Lieberman: 'US Will Attack Iran If Must' -- There is wide support in Congress for using all means to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear power, “through diplomatic and economic sanctions if we possibly can, through military actions if we must,” visiting US Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said Wednesday in Jerusalem. Lieberman, flanked at a Jerusalem press conference by his senate colleagues John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), used very tough language, saying the words “military action” in regards to stopping Iran’s nuclear program.

Toxicologists: Corexit 'Ruptures Red Blood Cells, Causes Internal Bleeding' -- If I can tell you what happens — because I was in the oil — to people… Shrimpers throwing their nets into water… [then] water from the nets splashed on his skin. … [He experienced a] headache that lasted 3 weeks… heart palpitations… muscle spasms… bleeding from the rectum… And that’s what that Corexit does, it ruptures red blood cells, causes internal bleeding, and liver and kidney damage. … This stuff is so toxic combined… not the oil or dispersants alone. … Very, very toxic and goes right through skin.

Don't Believe The Hyped-Up Same-Store Sales, Retail Sales Were Very Bad -- For one thing, notes Mike "MISH" Shedlock author of Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis, the same-store sales gainers benefited by the general reduction in store locations.

Concert Revenue is Collapsing: Down 17% From 2009 -- That's a 17 percent drop in an industry that seemed impervious to the weakening economy just a few years ago.

The Drums of War? Pentagon Provokes New Crisis With China -- Three news features appearing earlier this week highlight tensions between the United States and the People's Republic of China that, at least in relation to the language used to describe them, would have seemed unimaginable even a few months ago and are evocative more of the Korean War era than of any time since the entente cordiale initiated by the Richard Nixon-Mao Zedong meeting in Beijing in 1972.

Parts of Arizona Back to Mexico? -- VIDEO - Real News Tucson heads down to Buenos Aires National Park about 40 miles SW of Tucson to see if parts of Arizona were really being blocked off to Americans.

Artificial Sweetener Killing Americans -- Aspartame: The Pentagon listed it as a biochemical warfare agent, and the FDA gave its approval as a sweetener used in over 6,000 foods.

Central Banks to Abandon the US Dollar -- There are those who would argue that the financial crisis was caused by over-enthusiastic worship of the Almighty Dollar. Call it brutal financial karma, but that church is looking pretty empty these days.

Senate Bill Would Make Airport Body Scanners Mandatory -- A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate requiring all airports to use full-body scanners lacks sufficient privacy safeguards, says a prominent watchdog group.

The EU Banking System Is In Big Trouble -- The EU banking system is in big trouble. Many of the Union's largest banks are sitting on hundreds of billions of euros in dodgy sovereign bonds and non performing real estate loans.

Evidence Indicates Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster Was Engineered and Prolonged by Design -- The BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is obviously a situation of unprecedented proportions.

Mind Control? Scientists Hve Discovered How to Use Nanoparticles to Remotely Control Behavior! -- Are we moving into a time when the extraordinary advances that have been made in the fields of nanotechnology, neurology, psychology, computer science, telecommunications and artificial intelligence will be used by governmental authorities to control the population?

46 US Warships Plus 7,000 US Marines On Route to Costa Rica? -- On the 2nd July 2010 the Costa Rica Congress authorized the entry of 46 U.S. warships capable of carrying 200 helicopters and warplanes, plus 7,000 U.S. Marines "who may circulate the country in uniform without any restrictions" , plus submarine killer ships to the Costa Rican coast for "anti-narcotics operations and humanitarian missions' between 1st July 2010 until 31st December 2010.

'Liar Loans' Make a Comeback -- As I was reading this, I kept thinking, “Who’s going to buy these loans?” The answer, at least according to this, is nobody. The companies are going to hold these loans on their books:

Europe to Ban Food From Clones -- The European Parliament asked on Wednesday for a ban on the sale of foods from cloned animals and their offspring, the latest sign of deepening concern in the European Union about the safety and ethics of new food technologies.

Greenspan Says Economy May Be Undergoing a Pause -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. economy may be undergoing what he called a “pause,” and that he can’t rule out the possibility of a so- called double-dip recession.

Holder Floats Possibility of Racial Profiling Suit Against Arizona -- Attorney General Eric Holder, just days after filing a federal lawsuit against Arizona's immigration law, on Sunday floated the possibility of filing another suit on racial profiling grounds.

BP 'Cuts Payments to 40,000' Over Incomplete Claims Forms -- BP plans to reduce payments to some 40,000 oil-spill claimants, potentially making life more difficult for individuals and businesses affected by the Gulf oil spill, a Louisiana official has said.

More and More Americans Preparing for Social Unrest -- From the outside, Jerry Erwin's home in the northwestern US state of Oregon is a nondescript house with a manicured front lawn and little to differentiate it from those of his neighbors.

The Government War on Raw Milk is an Attack Against Food Freedom -- As a rule of thumb, I don't drink anything that comes out of a cow.

Spicy Peppers May Cause Your Body to Burn Calories -- Losing weight is just a few spicy peppers away, according to a recent report out of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. Researchers there say that the capsaicin compounds found in peppers that give them their spicy taste, actually help to burn calories as well.

FDA Allows Unsafe Drugs to be Fed to Livestock -- The FDA continues to allow use of a dangerous livestock drug banned in 160 countries, including across Europe, China and Taiwan, even though the agency itself admits that the chemical is highly toxic to humans.

US Opposes Honest Labeling of GMO Foods -- The official U.S. position on genetically-modified organisms, also known as GMs or GMOs, is that there is no difference between them and natural organisms.
 

Today In History Friday July 9, 2010
1776 - The American Declaration of Independence was read aloud to Gen. George Washington's troops in New York.
1790 - The Swedish navy captured one third of the Russian fleet at the naval battle of Svensksund in the Baltic Sea.
1816 - Argentina declared independence from Spain.
1847 - A 10-hour work day was established for workers in the state of New Hampshire.
1850 - U.S. President Zachary Taylor died in office at the age of 55. He was succeeded by Millard Fillmore. Taylor had only served 16 months.
1868 - The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment was designed to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves.
1872 - The doughnut cutter was patented by John F. Blondel.
1877 - Alexander Graham Bell, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Thomas Sanders and Thomas Watson formed the Bell Telephone Company.
1878 - The corncob pipe was patented by Henry Tibbe.
1900 - The Commonwealth of Australia was established by an act of the British Parliament, uniting the separate colonies under a federal government.
1910 - W.R. Brookins became the first to fly an airplane a mile in the air.
1922 - Johnny Weissmuller became the first person to swim the 100 meters freestyle in less than a minute.
1943 - American and British forces made an amphibious landing on Sicily.
1947 - The engagement of Britain's Princess Elizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten was announced.
1951 - U.S. President Truman asked Congress to formally end the state of war between the United States and Germany.
1953 - New York Airways began the first commuter passenger service by helicopter.
1968 - The first All-Star baseball game to be played indoors took place at the Astrodome in Houston, TX.
1971 - The United States turned over complete responsibility of the Demilitarized Zone to South Vietnamese units.
1982 - A Pan Am Boeing 727 crashed in Kenner, LA, all 146 people aboard and eight people on the ground were killed.
1985 - Herschel Walker of the New Jersey Generals was named the Most Valuable Player in the United States Football League (USFL).
1985 - Joe Namath signed a five-year pact with ABC-TV to provide commentary for "Monday Night Football".
1997 - Mike Tyson was banned from the boxing ring and fined $3 million for biting the ear of opponent Evander Holyfield.
2005 - Danny Way, a daredevil skateboarder, rolled down a large ramp and jumped across the Great Wall of China. He was the first person to clear the wall without motorized aid.

Song: I Am America by Krista Branch

Are hospitals deadlier in July? -- More than 16,000 U.S. medical school graduates are awarded M.D. degrees each year, and many enter their residency programs at teaching hospitals in July. Now, a growing body of research suggests that month might be a more deadly time in U.S. hospitals. According to a recent study from the University of California, San Diego, deaths from medication errors increase by 10 percent during July, a so-called July effect as students graduate from medical school and enter residency programs.

Buffett: 'We're Coming Back, No Question in My Mind' -- When Warren Buffett looks at America's economy, he sees recovery.

Russian, US Spy Suspects Brace for Possible Swap -- The largest Russia-U.S. spy swap since the Cold War appeared to be in motion Thursday, with a Russian convicted of spying for the United States reportedly plucked from a Moscow prison and flown to Vienna.

Compote of Chaos! Bin Laden's Chef Pleads Guilty at Gitmo -- Sleep soundly, America. The Obama administration has secured its first conviction in its revamped military tribunals. Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi — a Sudanese national who for years threatened U.S. citizens by, among other things, cooking for al-Qaeda jefe Osama bin Laden — has
pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to providing material support for terrorism.

Honey's Anti Bacterial Factor -- "We have completely elucidated the molecular basis of the antibacterial activity of a single medical-grade honey, which contributes to the applicability of honey in medicine," said Sebastian A.J. Zaat, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the

US Plans Cyber Shield for Utilities, Companies -- The federal government is launching an expansive program dubbed "Perfect Citizen" to detect cyber assaults on private companies
and government agencies running such critical infrastructure as the electricity grid and nuclear-power plants, according to people familiar with the program.

Judicial Watch Statement on the Obama Administration's Suit Over Arizona's Illegal Immigration Law -- Contact Information: Press Office 202-646-5172, ext 305 Washington, DC -- July 6 Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton issued the following statement in response to today’s lawsuit filed by the Obama Justice Department against Arizona over its illegal immigration law set to go into effect on July 29: “The Obama administration admits in today's lawsuit that it doesn't want to fully enforce our laws against illegal immigration — and that Arizona's law, SB 1070, gets in the way of this. In the end, this fight comes down to those who want our laws against illegal immigration enforced and those who don't,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

US Taxpayers' Afghan Aid Money Buys Rich Afghan's Dubai Villas -- What you might not have heard is that your hard earned taxpayer dollars are also being used to buy well-
connected Afghans posh villas in Dubai.

Lawsuit Filed Against Chicago's New Gun Laws -- Four Chicago residents and a gun sellers group have sued the city over a tough new gun control ordinance put in place after the U.S. Supreme Court made a decades-old firearms ban unenforceable.

Retail Sales 'Purportedly' Rise at Fastest Pace in Four Years -- Not only is it easy to beat record low comparisons of a year ago, same store sales are rising in part because stores are closing like mad.

DOW 1300? -- This is the scary chart I’ve been sitting on for about a year and I now reluctantly post it. It shows a potential head and shoulders pattern with a possible target of approximately 1,300

CODEX ALIMENTARIUS: The Elephant in the Room That Don't Want You to See -- Codex Isn’t Coming, It’s Here! Why is there so much denial by consumer advocate groups such as the National Health Federation(1) (NHF) about Barry Soetoro implementing the U.S. Codex council via Executive Order(2)? What is it that they don’t want you to see? Just do the research, and you will discover that we have been up to our eyeballs in Codex since 1962 and don’t even know it.

Ex-Congressman Accused of Ties to Terrorism Pleads Guilty to Obstruction -- A former Michigan congressman accused of accepting stolen funds to lobby on behalf of a charity with alleged ties to terrorism pleaded guilty Wednesday to two charges including obstruction of justice, but prosecutors said more serious charges would likely be dropped.

Louisiana Gov Jindal to Feds: No Is Not a Plan, Lead or Get Out of the Way -- On July 6, Governor Bobby Jindal blasted the federal government for again denying a defense plan proposed by local and state officials that would block oil from further damaging Louisiana’s fragile marshlands. Over the past weekend, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied a plan to place rocks in the water that would stop oil from hitting the coast near Grand Isle – which leaves the area nearly unprotected from further oil impact.

(Chipless Mark of the Beast?) Invisible RFID Ink Safe for Humans, Cattle Co. Says -- Mark of the Beast now available in Invisible to the eye INK? The process developed by Somark involves a geometric array of micro-needles and an ink capsule, which is used to 'tattoo' an animal. The ink can be detected from 4 feet away.

Military Men Moving Their Own Families Now!!! Snowplows Ready to Remove Abandoned Vehicles From Highways When Evacuations Occur -- It has been approximately three weeks since former State Trooper and Secret Service appointee Greg Evenson appeared on The Waterman Files to discuss what his inside sources are telling him about the situation in and around the Gulf of Mexico.

Chokeberry Extract Helps Maintain Proper Weight -- Researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released the results of a study which found that the chokeberry, a Native American fruit also known as Aronia, assists in regulating proper weight and helps balance out blood glucose levels.

Official Recommended Intake for Vitamin D Is Too Low -- Official government recommendations on vitamin D intake are far too low for optimal health, the director of the Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center has warned.

Democrats Want to Tax Your ATM Withdrawals -- You remember Lanny Davis, right? He’s the nice guy you sometimes get confused with Leon Panetta because they both worked for Clinton and their names both start with “L”.

Hundreds of Fishermen Missing Checks From BP -- Hundreds of fishermen from Lake Charles to Moss Point, Miss., were supposed to get checks from BP on Wednesday but didn’t.
 

Today In History Thursday July 8, 2010
1776 - Col. John Nixon gave the first public reading of the U.S. Declaration of Independence to a crowd at Independence Square in Philadelphia.
1794 - French troops captured Brussels, Belgium.
1815 - Louis XVIII returned to Paris after the defeat of Napoleon.
1865 - C.E. Barnes patented the machine gun.
1879 - The first ship to use electric lights departed from San Francisco, CA.
1881 - Edward Berner, druggist in Two Rivers, WI, poured chocolate syrup on ice cream in a dish. To this time chocolate syrup had only been used for making ice-cream sodas.
1889 - The Wall Street Journal was first published.
1919 - U.S. President Wilson returned from the Versailles Peace Conference in France.
1947 - Demolition work began in New York City for the new permanent headquarters of the United Nations.
1950 - General Douglas MacArthur was named commander-in-chief of United Nations forces in Korea.
1960 - The Soviet Union charged Gary Powers with espionage. He was shot down in a U-2 spy plane.
1963 - All Cuban-owned assets in the United States were frozen.
1969 - The U.S. Patent Office issued a patent for the game "Twister."
1981 - The Solar Challenger became the frist solar-powered airplane to cross the English Channel.
1986 - Kurt Waldheim was inaugurated as president of Austria despite controversy over his alleged ties to Nazi war crimes.
1993 - Charles Keating, chief of Lincoln Savings & Loan Association, was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in prison for violating California security and fraud laws.
1997 - The Mayo Clinic and the U.S. government warned that the diet-drug combination known as "fen-phen" could cause serious heart and lung damage.
1997 - NATO invited Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to join the alliance in 1999.
2000 - J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" was released in the U.S. It was the fourth Harry Potter book.

Raytheon to build a system dubbed "Perfect Citizen" -- This will involve placing "sensors" at critical points in the computer networks of private and public organizations that run infrastructure, organizations such as nuclear power plants and electric grid operators. In an email obtained by the Journal, an unnamed Raytheon employee describes the system as "Big Brother." Read More...

Biometric ATM gives cash via 'finger vein' scan -- Poland's cooperative BPS bank says it's the first in Europe to install a biometric ATM -- allowing customers to withdraw cash simply with the touch of a fingertip. The digit-scanning ATM, introduced in the Polish capital of Warsaw, runs on the latest in "finger vein" technology -- an authentication system developed by Japanese tech giant Hitachi. The company says that an infrared light is passed through the finger to detect a unique pattern of micro-veins beneath the surface - which is then matched with a pre-registered profile to verify an individual's identity.

U.S. military files charges against Wikileaks suspect -- The U.S. military has filed criminal charges against an Army intelligence analyst who has been accused of sending sensitive files to Wikileaks, including a controversial video showing troops firing on Reuters journalists. Pfc. Bradley Manning, 22, is charged with sending the video to a person not authorized to receive it and with obtaining "more than 150,000 diplomatic cables" from the State Department.

Gulf Coast Now a BP Police State as Law Enforcement Conspires With BP to Intimidate Journalists -- Normally I would open this article by explaining this is the story the mainstream media won’t dare report. Except in this case, they are reporting it. It’s right on CNN, on the Anderson Cooper “360″ report.

China Won't Dump US Treasuries or Pile Into Gold -- China on Wednesday ruled out the "nuclear" option of dumping its vast holdings of U.S. Treasury securities but called on Washington to be a responsible guardian of the dollar.

EU lawmakers call for ban on meat from cloned animals over safety concerns -- The European Parliament has called for a ban on meat from cloned animals, saying more tests are needed to prove it is safe for humans to eat. Kartika Liotard, the lawmaker in charge of steering rules on new foods through the assembly Wednesday, said most parliamentarians have "ethical objections to the industrial production of cloned meat for food" because the animals have more defects, age at a faster rate and die earlier than others.

California Implodes -- California is the wealthiest and most populous State in America, and Los Angeles County is the largest county in America, so both the State and LA County wield unbelievable power in Washington D.C. The corruption in California affects you directly.

New York National Guard Policing Streets and Using Gamma Ray Scanning Machines -- The New York National Guard has been a part of missions across the world, but they also have a very important one right here at home.

Warning Signs From the bond Market - Red Flag for the Economy -- Bonds are signaling that the recovery is in trouble. The yield on the 10-year Treasury (2.97 percent) has fallen to levels not seen since the peak of the crisis while the yield on the two-year note has dropped to historic lows.

Intelligent Cars Will Report Accidents to Authorities -- The car, which is being developed by researchers at computer chip giant Intel, will record information about the vehicle speed, steering and braking along with video footage from inside and outside the vehicle.

To Di For: Occult Jam Made from Princess Diana's Hair -- "Interestingly occult and esoteric practices have lead to some of the most significant developments in cooking techniques of the past millennia. The process of distillation used to manufacture spirits was discovered by the alchemists in their quest to turn base metal into gold.

Up to 400,000 Layoffs Expected at State, Local Level -- Here’s another headwind for a sputtering job market: State and local governments plan many more layoffs to close wide budget gaps.

Russia Offers 'Spy Swap' to US - With Deal to Take Place Via Britain -- Russia has offered a Cold War-style 'spy swap' deal to the U.S. - in a bid to bring home 10 of its operatives caught recently in the States.

Stressed out Argentines get modern take on siesta -- The once-cherished afternoon siesta is a thing of the past for most residents of Argentina's bustling capital Buenos Aires. But things might be about to change. Businesswoman Viviana Vega says she created Latin America's first dedicated "Siestario" (Siesta Zone) to help stressed workers in the financial district catch up on a little down time.

Deet Finally Exposed as Neurotoxic -- New research shows that the insect-repelling chemical deet actually functions in the same way as deadly nerve gases and dangerous pesticides, by attacking the nervous systems of both insects and mammals. "These findings question the safety of deet, particularly in combination with other chemicals," said researcher Vincent Corbel of Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement in Montpellier.

Viagra-popping seniors lead the pack for STDs -- The rate of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in older men taking erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra is twice as high as in their non-medicated peers. In both groups, however, the numbers are swelling. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more than six new cases of STDs per 10,000 men over 40 in 2008, up almost 50 percent since 1996.

Swedes, Norwegians pounce on Chinese garlic smuggler -- Nordic customs officials have arrested a truck driver after he tried to illegally import 28 tons of Chinese garlic into the European Union. The driver was intercepted last month as he drove the pungent truckload from Norway, which is outside the EU and where garlic is exempt from customs' duties, into Sweden, where garlic is subject to a 9.6 percent EU-wide duty. Comment: What's interesting in this article is that the EU imposes a duty (AKA tariff). No one is screaming at the EU about protectionism.

Obama Bypasses Senate for New Medicare Chief -- President Barack Obama bypassed the Senate Wednesday and appointed Dr. Donald Berwick, a Harvard professor and patient care specialist, to run Medicare and Medicaid.

Lt Gov Peter Kinder Files Lawsuit Against Federal Health Care Law -- JEFFERSON CITY -- Calling new health care regulations passed by Congress a violation of the U.S. and Missouri constitutions, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder today filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn sections of the sweeping law that mandates individual health care insurance coverage.

Obama Asks Court to Reinstate Ban on Deepwater Drilling -- The Obama administration has asked a federal court in Louisiana to reinstate the ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, saying the moratorium was a rational response to the unprecedented emergency of the BP oil spill.

NASA Chief: Next Frontier Better Relations With Muslim World -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview that his "foremost" mission as the head of America's space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world.

Obama Job Approval Rating Down to 38% Among Independents -- Thirty-eight percent of independents approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president, the first time independent approval of Obama has dropped below 40% in a Gallup Daily tracking weekly aggregate.

Gulf Awash in 27,000 Abandoned Wells - And No One At All Is Checking to See If Leaking -- More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades.

Relief Payments Get Slashed If Fishermen Refuse to Work for BP -- Any relief payment plan established in the wake of the worst environmental accident ever was bound to have its flaws, but this goes to a whole new level of wrong.

Obscure 1970's BP 'Offshore Oil Strike' Board Game Bears 'Spooky' Parallels to the Current Disaster -- The UK Metro reports that in the 1970s, there was a BP-endorsed board game called “Offshore Oil Strike” on the “thrills of drilling.” The game wasn’t very popular, but it now bears a “spooky” resemblance to what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico:

US Government Launches New Website on Gulf Oil Spill -- The US government Wednesday launched a new website to give information on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, moving away from the portal jointly run with oil giant BP.

Pecans Provide Neurological Protection, Could Help Fight ALS -- One of the hottest areas of medical research currently is also one of the nuttiest -- literally.

Damaged Brains Rewired by Signing -- The damaged brains of stroke patients can be "rewired" by singing, restoring the ability to speak to patients who have lost it, according to a study conducted by researchers from Harvard Medical School and presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego.

Sunlight Alone Does Not Cause Skin Cancer: The Truth You've Never Been Told -- We've all been told that sunlight causes skin cancer. This message has been drilled into our heads for so long that most people actually believe it. But what if this "truth" was actually a medical myth?


Today In History Wednesday July 7, 2010
1846 - U.S. annexation of California was proclaimed at Monterey after the surrender of a Mexican garrison.
1862 - The first railroad post office was tested on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad in Missouri.
1865 - Four people were hanged in Washington, DC, after being convicted of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate U.S. President Lincoln.
1885 - G. Moore Peters patented the cartridge-loading machine.
1898 - The United States annexed Hawaii.
1917 - Aleksandr Kerensky formed a provisional government in Russia.
1920 - A device known as the radio compass was used for the first time on a U.S. Navy airplane near Norfolk, VA.
1930 - Construction began on Boulder Dam, later Hoover Dam, on the Colorado River.
1937 - Japanese forces invaded China.
1946 - Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini was canonized as the first American saint.
1949 - "Dragnet" was first heard on NBC radio.
1950 - The UN Security Council authorized military aid for South Korea.
1969 - Canada's House of Commons gave final approval to a measure that made the French language equal to English throughout the national government.
1981 - U.S. President Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Judge Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
1987 - Public testimony at the Iran-Contra hearing began.
1999 - In Sierra Leone, President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and rebel leader Foday Sankoh signed a pact to end the nation's civil war.
2003 - In Liberia, a team of U.S. military experts arrived at the U.S. embassy compound to assess whether to deploy troops as part of a peacekeeping force in the country.
2005 - In London, at least 66 people were killed and at least 700 were injured when several bombs were set off in subway cars and double-decker buses.

With the US Trapped in Depression, This Really Is Starting to Feel Like 1932 -- The US workforce shrank by 652,000 in June, one of the sharpest contractions ever. The rate of hourly earnings fell 0.1pc. Wages are flirting with deflation.

Gulf Evacuee Help -- This was started by Griff and Kimberly Dawley as a meeting board for people that need help and people willing to help those affected by the Gulf Oil spill.

Oil seeps into New Orleans' Lake Pontchartrain -- For the first time since the accident, oil from the ruptured well is seeping into Lake Pontchartrain, threatening another environmental disaster for the huge body of water that was rescued from pollution in 1990s to become, once more, a bountiful fishing ground and a popular spot for boating and swimming. "Our universe is getting very small," Pete Gerica, president of the Lake Pontchartrain Fishermen's Association, said Tuesday. Over the July Fourth weekend, tar balls and an oil sheen pushed by strong winds from faraway Hurricane Alex slipped past lines of barges that were supposed to block the passes connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the lake.

Arizona GOP Candidate Calls for Cutting Off Illegal Immigrants Utilities -- Arizona's campaign against Mexican immigrants seems to intensify with every passing week. This latest round of escalation, however, has even some proponents of getting tough on illegal immigrants wondering if it's just gone a bit too far.

Exclusive Video: National Magazine says Obama not Born in U.S.
 * Impeach Obama Campaign - CLICK HERE: TO SIGN THE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT

Analysis: When in doubt on Wall St reform, order a study! -- The study bonanza "evidences a lack of understanding and vision by the Congress -- pathetic display in the face of bank lobbying blitz," said Christopher Whalen, managing director at Institutional Risk Analytics, a bank research firm. From early in the debate, reformers split between those who wanted to break up the big Wall Street firms and those who argued it would be sufficient to ring-fence the mega-firms with new regulations to reduce risk and bolster stability. The bank busters lost, but got a study on "the size and complexity of financial institutions."

Stocks and Bonds Are Now Hazardous to Your Wealth -- Within the next 20 years, the most profound changes in economic history will sweep the globe. The economic chaos and turbulence that we are now experiencing are merely the opening salvos in what will prove to be a long, disruptive period of adjustment. At least that's my theory, and careful investors owe it to themselves to hear me out. If I'm right, long-term investing in stocks and bonds will deliver lackluster returns at best and be destroyers of wealth at worst.

Hawaii's governor vetoes gay civil union bill -- Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle on Tuesday vetoed a domestic partnership bill that would have allowed same-sex couples to gain most of the benefits and protections of marriage by registering civil unions. The state, like many others in the United States, has debated fiercely whether gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to marry. Hawaii's supreme court in 1993 found banning gay marriage was unconstitutional, but voters in 1998 amended the state constitution to allow such a ban.

Why Have the Jobs Gone Away? -- Take a look at the chart on this website showing the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on private employment (from January 2008 through June 2010) compared to the chart on federal government employment for the same period. Comment: The charts in this article tell the complete story. Thanks Jimm!

America is 234 Years Old – Is It Finished? -- GE has $36Bn in sales and paid $431M in taxes (15% of net profits) in 2009. They also paid out $9Bn in dividends and over $24Bn in 2008 and 2007 and in 2007 they bought back their own stock but, in those three years, they paid -(NEGATIVE) $900M in taxes! Are you feeling victimized yet? Does GE use our infrastructure? Do they use our public airwaves? Are they protected by our police? Is our army out there fighting and dying to protect them? Do they take money from our government? Do we educate their employees? This is the INSANITY of the US tax system. Comment by Jimm: The corporations, funded through our 401Ks, are destroying the United States by design. We worry more about our monetary returns, than if we're going to have a job in the coming years.

UK: Water shortage: Millions of householders in the North-West will face a hosepipe ban from Friday -- This comes after after the driest start to the year in almost 71 years with water levels in many reservoirs and lakes plummeting.

The US: A Long Economic Winter Ahead -- The bond market is telling us that there could be hard economic times ahead and that deflation, for the time being, is more of a threat than inflation. Leading indicators are also pointing to possible economic weakness ahead.

Turmeric prevents benzene-induced hematoxicity -- CONCLUSIONS: (1) When the liver cytochrome P450 activity were altered, the hematotoxicity of benzene poisoning in mice underwent changes. (2) Alcohol increases the hematotoxicity induced by benzene poisoning in mice. (3) Curcuma longa has preventive effect against the hematotoxity of benzene.

Postal Rate Increase Announcement Expected -- The post office wants to increase the price of a stamp by 2 cents to 46 cents starting in January. The agency has been battered by massive losses and declining mail volume and faces a financial crisis.

Justice Dept. Expected to Sue Arizona on Immigration, Citing 'Preemption' Grounds -- The Justice Department has decided to file suit against Arizona on the grounds that the state's new immigration law illegally intrudes on federal prerogatives, law enforcement sources said Monday.

Tar Balls Hit Texas as BP Oil Cost Soars -- BP faced a broadening crisis Tuesday with tar balls from the Gulf oil spill turning up on Texas beaches, as the firm's clean-up costs soared and British officials reportedly mulled a possible BP collapse.

BP Collapse Potentially More Devastating Than Lehman! -- As horrific as the gulf environmental catastrophe is, an even more intractable and cataclysmic disaster may be looming.

Marine Biologist Claims US Coast Guard Involved in Corexit Spraying -- A marine biologist working with a group of environmentalists to save sea turtles claims the U.S. Coast Guard is involved in spraying a toxic chemical dispersant over the Gulf of Mexico; and he says it has already traveled inland.

Baltic Dry Index Dropping 4%, Posting Longest Consecutive Loss in 6 Years, Refutes Australian Optimisim -- The biggest reason for the runup in the JPYAUD and its immediate secondary carry derivative, the stock market, was the earlier announcement out of the RBA claiming all is clear, there is no bubble in China, there is no bubble in OZ real estate, and all the other usual talking points one would expect out of a central bank whose future is inextricably linked to the endless commodity stocking in China.

UN food safety meeting sets melamine limit -- An international food safety meeting set the first global limits for melamine contamination in food and infant formula, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. Melamine contamination in milk products was blamed for sickening nearly 300,000 babies and the deaths of at least six infants in China in 2008. Melamine is an industrial chemical used in making plastics, fertilizers and even concrete, but can also fool tests checking the protein content of dairy products. Around 130 countries at the annual meeting of the Codex Alimentarius Commission decided to limit melamine to 2.5 milligrams per kilogram, said WHO. The threshold for infant milk formula was set at 1 milligram per kilogram, equivalent to the U.S. limit of 1 part per million. Comment: They're determining how much poison in the food is acceptable?

Drug Manufacturing Jobs Shrink in the West -- Pharmaceuticals is the rare industry that still does a significant chunk of its manufacturing in Europe and the United States, and any further outsourcing is sure to be politically delicate. But big drug companies have already begun to trim jobs in the West to cut costs. As of May 2010, the latest figures available, 277,200 people in the United States were employed in “pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing,” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a figure that includes tens of thousands of scientists and production line workers.

Toxic jewelry may be in your home right now -- These two worlds collided in the spring when Garage recalled more than 4,000 bracelets manufactured in a Shenzhen factory by Betawin Enterprises Inc., made exclusively for Garage stores across Canada. Tests by Health Canada showed one, the Garage Beaded String pink bracelet, contained 87 per cent lead. The other, the Garage Antique Silver bracelet with a flower and key pendant, was 90 per cent lead. Wearing a necklace or bracelet with lead is not a health hazard, but sucking on it or swallowing a piece, even with low levels of lead, can wreak havoc with a young brain and cause permanent brain damage with long-term exposure. It can also kill.

The BP/Government Police State -- Last week, I interviewed Mother Jones' Mac McClelland, who has been covering the BP oil spill in the Gulf since the first day it happened.

Department of Homeland Security to Take Control of Spill Response Website -- The US government is expected to take over control of the central information website on the Gulf oil spill response that has been run jointly by various agencies and BP for the 2 1/2 months since the rig explosion.

Since 2007, At Least $3 Billion Has Left Afghanistan by Plane in Boxes and Suitcases -- Billions of dollars are being secreted out of Kabul to help well-connected Afghans buy luxury villas in Dubai. Amid concerns that the money could be the result of corruption, American politicians have temporarily cut off aid to the Afghan government.

Oil's Fingers Reach Into Louisiana's Inland Waters -- (AP) - An oil spill that was previously a problem for coastal Louisiana was trickling deeper inland Tuesday and toward the shores of New Orleans.

US Scores Dead Last in Global Health Survey -- The Commonwealth Fund recently released a report that places the U.S. last among six other developed countries in terms of quality of health care.

Brown Rice and Other Whole Grains Can Prevent Type-2 Diabetes -- Natural health advocates have long advocated nutrient-dense whole grains over the bleached and processed kinds, like white rice and white bread.

Acupuncture Treats Depression During Pregnancy (without chemical drugs) -- Acupuncture relives the symptoms of depression during pregnancy better than a placebo and potentially as well as pharmaceutical antidepressants, according to a study conducted by researchers from Stanford University and published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.


Today In History Tuesday July 6, 2010
1854 - In Jackson, MI, the Republican Party held its first convention.
1885 - Louis Pasteur successfully tested his anti-rabies vaccine. The child used in the test later became the director of the Pasteur Institute.
1893 - In northwest Iowa 71 people were killed by a tornado.
1905 - Fingerprints were exchanged for the first time between officials in Europe and the U.S. The person in question was John Walker.
1917 - During World War I, Arab forces led by T.E. Lawrence captured the port of Aqaba from the Turks.
1919 - A British dirigible landed in New York at Roosevelt Field. It completed the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship.
1923 - The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established.
1928 - "The Lights of New York" was previewed in New York's Strand Theatre. It was the first all-talking movie.
1932 - The postage rate for first class mail in the U.S. went from 2-cents to 3-cents.
1933 - The first All-Star baseball game was held in Chicago. The American League beat the National League 4-2.
1942 - Diarist Anne Frank and her family took refuge from the Nazis in Amsterdam.
1944 - A fire broke out in the main tent of the Ringling Brother, Barnum and Bailey Circus. 169 people died.
1945 - U.S. President Truman signed an order creating the Medal of Freedom.
1945 - Nicaragua became the first nation to formally accept the United Nations Charter.
1948 - Frieda Hennok became the first woman to serve as the commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission.
1966 - Malawi became a republic within the Commonwealth with Dr. Hastings Banda as its first president.
1967 - The Biafran War erupted. The war lasted two-and-a-half years. About 600,000 people died.
1981 - Former President of Argentina Isabel Peron was freed after five years of house arrest by a federal court.
1983 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that retirement plans could not pay women smaller monthly payments solely because of their gender.
1985 - The submarine Nautilus arrived in Groton, Connecticut. The vessel had been towed from Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
people were killed by the extremists.
1988 - 167 North Sea oil workers were killed by explosions and fires that destroyed the Piper Alpha drilling platform.
1988 - Several popular beaches were closed in New York City due to medical waste and other debris began washing up on the seashores.
1989 - The U.S. Army destroyed its last Pershing 1-A missiles at an ammunition plant in Karnack, TX. The dismantling was under the terms of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
1995 - In Los Angeles, the prosecution rested at the O.J. Simpson murder trial.
1997 - The Mars Pathfinder released Sojourner, a robot rover on the surface of Mars. The spacecraft landed on the red planet on July 4th.
1997 - In Cambodia, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen ousted First Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh and claimed to have the capital under his control.
1998 - Protestants rioted in many parts of Northern Ireland after British authorities blocked an Orange Order march in Portadown.
2000 - A jury awarded former NHL player Tony Twist $24 million for the unauthorized use of his name in the comic book Spawn and the HBO cartoon series. Co-defendant HBO settled with Twist out of court for an undisclosed amount.

Deet Finally Exposed as Neurotoxic -- New research shows that the insect-repelling chemical deet actually functions in the same way as deadly nerve gases and dangerous pesticides, by attacking the nervous systems of both insects and mammals.

BP launches search for new investors -- Oil major BP Plc is seeking a strategic investor to secure its independence in the face of any takeover attempts as it struggles with a devastating oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, newspapers said on Sunday. Britain's Sunday Times said the company's advisers were trying to drum up interest among rival oil groups and sovereign wealth funds to take a stake of between 5 and 10 percent in the company at a cost of up to 6 billion pounds ($9.1 billion).

THE GLOBE "TABLOID" MAGAZINE BREAKS THE OBAMA CITIZENSHIP SCANDAL! July 4, 2010 -- THE GLOBE “tabloid” has a front-page story on Obama’s citizenship status and details a recently WND story of a Government worker who is in a definite position to know who says Obama has no US birth certificate at all, native born, natural born or otherwise!!!

VIDEO: BP and Military on Panama Beach July 4

Gates Tightens Rules for Military and the Media -- Nine days after a four-star general was relieved of command for comments made to Rolling Stone magazine, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates issued orders on Friday tightening the reins on officials dealing with the news media.

Pensacola Tourism Industry Impacted Heavily by Disaster -- The iconic sign welcoming visitors to Pensacola, Fla., has become an ironic sign during the past few weeks.

HR 5618 - Extending Unemployment Benefits - A Bad Bill -- The House passed H.R. 5618 on Friday along party lines. This bill would extend unemployment benefits to November 2010. To see if your congressperson voted for this bad legislation see this list.

California State Workers Brace for Minimum Wage -- SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Map, News) - Some California state workers are preparing to tap into their savings while others already are cutting expenses as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's minimum wage order moved one step closer to reality.

VIDEO: Gerald Celente: The Crash is Underway

Dangerous Eastern Heat Wave Could Be Record Breaker -- A dangerous and record-challenging heat wave will affect much of the East this week as a once-delightful air mass turns ugly.

Dow Repeats Great Depression Pattern -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average is repeating a pattern that appeared just before markets fell during the Great Depression, Daryl Guppy, CEO at Guppytraders.com, told CNBC Monday.

Census Worker Taken to Court for Trespassing -- The case of a Hawaii Census worker arrested for trespassing while trying to do his job is heading to federal court.

VIDEO: Oil Spill Pushes Sharks and Fish Closer to the Beach

VIDEO: Oil in Lake Ponchartrain

VIDEO: BP Oil Disaster WORST CASE SCENARIO w/ Kindra Arnesan

How Much Oil Has BP Drilled Into? -- That is, according to a report from Wayne Madsen that the oil cavern that the BP rig tapped into is the size of Mt. Everest, we are looking at a whooping: FOUR QUADRILLION gallons of friggin' oil that could be released into the ocean.

Goldman Sachs: The Pirates of Poison in the Gulf -- The Hydra-like creature, Goldman Sachs, has surfaced from the Gulf oil volcano.

Deet Finally Exposed as Neurotoxic -- New research shows that the insect-repelling chemical deet actually functions in the same way as deadly nerve gases and dangerous pesticides, by attacking the nervous systems of both insects and mammals.

OCA Exposes Phony Organic Products -- The organic products sector continues to boom, but not everything with the word "organic" on its label is truly organic.

Beware of Umami - 'Taste No. 5' - It's Just Another Name for MSG -- The controversial food additive MSG may soon be making its way into consumers' diets in a new form, marketed as the so-called fifth taste, or umami.

Barack Obama: The Great Job Killer -- As former President Ronald Reagan might have said, "Obama, there you go again." The current occupant of the White House claims to know how to create jobs. He claims jobs have been created. But so far the score is Great Obama Depression 2.2 million lost jobs, Obama 0 -- a blowout.

‘Pass The Butter…Please!’ This is interesting. -- Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys.. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back..


Today In History Monday July 5, 2010
1811 - Venezuela became the first South American country to declare independence from Spain.
1814 - U.S. troops under Jacob Brown defeated a superior British force at Chippewa, Canada.
1830 - France occupied the North African city of Algiers.
1832 - The German government began curtailing freedom of the press after German Democrats advocate a revolt against Austrian rule.
1839 - British naval forces bombarded Dingai on Zhoushan Island in China and then occupied it.
1863 - U.S. Federal troops occupied Vicksburg, MS, and distributed supplies to the citizens.
1865 - William Booth founded the Salvation Army in London.
1892 - Andrew Beard was issued a patent for the rotary engine.
1935 - U.S. President Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act into law. The act authorized labor to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining.
1940 - During World War II, Britain and the Vichy government in France broke diplomatic relations.
1941 - German troops reached the Dnieper River in the Soviet Union.
1943 - The battle of Kursk began as German tanks attack the Soviet salient. It was the largest tank battle in history.
1946 - The bikini bathing suit, created by Louis Reard, made its debut during a fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris. Micheline Bernardini wore the two-piece outfit.
1948 - Britain's National Health Service Act went into effect, providing government-financed medical and dental care.
1950 - U.S. forces engaged the North Koreans for the first time at Osan, South Korea.
1962 - Algeria became independent after 132 years of French rule.
1989 - Former U.S. National Security Council aide Oliver North received a $150,000 fine and a suspended prison term for his part in the Iran-Contra affair. The convictions were later overturned.
1998 - Japan joined U.S. and Russia in space exploration with the launching of the Planet-B probe to Mars.
2002 - In Algeria, 35 people were killed in violent attacks on the day that the country celebrated its 40 years of independence from France.
2002 - Former Nazi SS officer Friedrich Engel was convicted of 59 counts of murder stemming from massacre of Italian resistance fighters on May 19, 1944.

Can you identify?  -- Amazing UFO Over NY.

BP has steady sales at Defense Department despite U.S. scrutiny -- The Defense Department has kept up its immense purchases of aviation fuel and other petroleum products from BP even as the oil company comes under scrutiny for potential violations of federal and state laws related to Gulf of Mexico well explosion, according to U.S. and company officials.

Risk-tolerant China investing heavily in Iraq as U.S. companies hold back -- In the past two years, Chinese companies have walked away with stakes in three of the 11 contracts the Iraqi Oil Ministry has signed in its bid to increase crude output by about 450 percent over the next seven years. They also renegotiated a $3 billion deal that dates to when Saddam Hussein was in power.

China Yuan Hits New Modern-Era High Late After Record Low Fixing -- The Chinese yuan rose to another modern-era high against the U.S. dollar Friday after the central bank set the dollar-yuan central parity rate at a record low.

Global stocks down for 4th day -- World equities fell for the fourth day running on Monday and the dollar traded close to two-month lows on growing concerns of slowdowns in the United States and China -- the two main pillars of global growth. The U.S. labor market, which shrank for the first time this year in June, slower Chinese manufacturing activity and euro zone austerity measures fueled concerns over prospects for the global economy.

The Homeless Recovery? -- As I have shown you in prior discussions and is important now, the NAHB data has shown us its own leading tendencies historically that have proven to be important watch points. Will it be so again? If housing "double dips", what impact will that have on the macro economy and by extension financial asset prices? And of course I use the characterization housing double dip very loosely as it assumes a prior period recovery, which itself is very much debatable. The charts do a lot of the talking here, so I'll try to keep the commentary brief. Comment: Being I'm also a chart person, this is not good! (Thanks Jimm)

The Tax Hazards of a U.S. Passport -- The moral of this story is that if you are a U.S. citizen, no matter where you live, you must file a U.S. tax return each year. You must also disclose details of every “bank, securities or ‘other’ financial account” to the U.S. Treasury each year, if their aggregate value exceeds $10,000 on Form TD F 90-22.1. Incidentally, the information on the TD F form may be shared with virtually any government or police agency anywhere in the world! Being a former U.S. citizen, I am no longer subject to these unreasonable and frankly dictatorial requirements. Nor am I subject to U.S. jurisdiction, except to the extent of my U.S. investments, or when I visit the United States.

Millions of vaccine doses to be burned -- About a quarter of the swine flu vaccine produced for the U.S. public has expired — meaning that a whopping 40 million doses worth about $260 million are being written off as trash. "It's a lot, by historical standards," said Jerry Weir, who oversees vaccine research and review for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The outdated vaccine, some of which expired Wednesday, will be incinerated. The amount, as much as four times the usual leftover seasonal flu vaccine, likely sets a record. And that's not even all of it.

BP Plc and the Administration Replace First Amendment With $40,000 Fine and a Class D Felony -- "The coast guard today announced new rules keeping photographers, reporters and anyone else from coming within 65 feet of any response vessel or booms, out on the water or on beaches.

Drought as a Weapon? -- Sec. 401. For an additional amount for ‘Water and Related Resources’, $10,000,000, for drought emergency assistance:

VIDEO: Gulf Drinking Water Contaminated by Dispersants

VIDEO: BP Oil Disaster WORST CASE SCENARIO

Budget in Red, Illinois Has Stopped Paying Its Bills -- Even by the standards of this deficit-ridden state, Illinois’s comptroller, Daniel W. Hynes, faces an ugly balance sheet.

House Holds Nose, Passes War Funding Bill After Pressure From Pelosi; Why the Afghan War is Lost -- The one thing that bothers me most is how the Democratic sheep go along with anything Obama wants, even if it is against their core beliefs.

Fewest Teen Jobs Added in June Since 1951 -- According to the BLS, only 497,000 teens (ages 16 to 19) found jobs in June 2010 NSA (June is the key months for summer employment). This is the fewest teen jobs added in June since 1951.

Pelosi: Unemployment Checks Fastest Way to Create Jobs -- Unemployment benefits are creating jobs faster than practically any other program, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.

Personal Bankruptcy Filings Up 14% in First 6 Months of 2010 -- From the American Bankruptcy Institute: Consumer Bankruptcy Filings up 14 percent through First Half of 2010.

Why is the Gulf Cleanup So Slow? -- As the oil spill continues and the cleanup lags, we must begin to ask difficult and uncomfortable questions.

USDA Reports Food Shortages: Wall Street 'Caught Off Guard' By Severity -- Several recent headlines indicate that food prices will continue their swift climb upward. These troubling new reports show that agriculture production and stored grains are critically low and experts are now predicting food shortages.

Tony Blair To Receive US Peace Medal -- Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is to receive a prestigious US medal and $100,000 (£67,000) prize for his work in conflict resolution.

US Stocks Decline After Reports on Manufacturing Home Sales -- U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 to an almost 10-month intraday low, as lower-than-estimated data on manufacturing and home sales fueled concern that the economic recovery is in peril.

Dubai Admits Nuclear Material Being Shipped Through Its Ports -- Officials have accepted for the first time that the country is being used as a transit point for smuggling both money and illegal goods.

Gulf Oil Spill Likely to Reach Florida Keys, Miami Report Says -- Those shorelines will probably see tar balls in the months ahead, NOAA finds. Also, skimming boats prepare to go back to work, and efforts to help turtles and migrating birds are announced.

Freeway Flag Update: Governor Criticizes Removal --  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday that he was unhappy that the California Department of Transportation has painted over a mural of an American flag on a concrete slab near the Sunol Grade section of Interstate Highway 680 in unincorporated Alameda County near Sunol.

Health Law Risks Turning Away Sick -- The Obama administration has not ruled out turning sick people away from an insurance program created by the new healthcare law to provide coverage for the uninsured.

Feds Taking the Weekend OFF in Oil Fight? -- One local official is voicing his frustration over what he calls a "nine-to-five" attitude by some federal authorities in the face of the oil disaster.

Oil Found in Gulf Crabs Raises New Food Chain Fears -- University scientists have spotted the first indications oil is entering the Gulf seafood chain — in crab larvae — and one expert warns the effect on fisheries could last “years, probably not a matter of months” and affect many species.

Democrats Push for New Internet Sales Taxes -- The halcyon days of tax-free Internet shopping will, if Rep. Bill Delahunt gets his way, soon be coming to an abrupt end.

FDIC Closes Three Banks This Weekend

Flu Vaccines, Pharma Fraud, Quack Science, the CDC and WHO -- A remarkable article was published today by authors Richard Gale and Dr. Gary Null of the Progressive Radio Network  ( http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com ). It may be the most shocking (and important) public health article published in the last two years. If you read just one health article this entire month, make it this one.

Bitter Melon Extracts Block Breast Cancer -- Extract of bitter melon appears to block growth and induce death of cancerous cells, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Colorado and Saint Louis University, and published in the journal Cancer Research.

High-Glycemic Carbohydrates Lead to Heart Disease -- A recent Italian study has found that women who eat diets rich in high-glycemic carbohydrates double their risk of developing coronary heart disease.

Can You Really Eat Your Way to Happiness? -- Yes, you really can eat your way to happiness, but perhaps not in the way you might first imagine.



Today In History Friday July 2, 2010
1776 - Richard Henry Lee’s resolution that the American colonies "are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States" was adopted by the Continental Congress.
1850 - Prussia agreed to pull out of Schlewig and Holstein, Germany.
1850 - B.J. Lane patented the gas mask.
1857 - New York City’s first elevated railroad officially opened for business.
1858 - Czar Alexander II freed the serfs working on imperial lands.
1881 - Charles J. Guiteau fatally wounded U.S. President James A. Garfield in Washington, DC.
1890 - The U.S. Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act.
1926 - The U.S. Congress established the Army Air Corps.
1937 - American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart disappeared in the Central Pacific during an attempt to fly around the world at the equator.
1939 - At Mount Rushmore, Theodore Roosevelt's face was dedicated.
1944 - American bombers, as part of Operation Gardening, dropped land mines, leaflets and bombs on German-occupied Budapest.
1947 - An object crashed near Roswell, NM. The U.S. Army Air Force insisted it was a weather balloon, but eyewitness accounts led to speculation that it might have been an alien spacecraft.
1961 - Ernest Hemingway shot himself to death at his home in Ketchum, ID.
1964 - U.S. President Johnson signed the "Civil Rights Act of 1964" into law. The act made it illegal in the U.S. to discriminate against others because of their race.
1967 - The U.S. Marine Corps launched Operation Buffalo in response to the North Vietnamese Army's efforts to seize the Marine base at Con Thien.
1976 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual.
1976 - North Vietnam and South Vietnam were reunited.
1979 - The U.S. Mint officially released the Susan B. Anthony coin in Rochester, NY.
1980 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter reinstated draft registration for males 18 years of age.
1981 - Soyuz T-6 returned to Earth.
1985 - General Motors announced that it was installing electronic road maps as an option in some of its higher-priced cars.
1994 - Colombian soccer player Andres Escobar was shot to death in Medellin. 10 days earlier he had accidentally scored a goal against his own team in World Cup competition.
1998 - Cable News Network (CNN) retracted a story that alleged that U.S. commandos had used nerve gas to kill American defectors during the Vietnam War.
2000 - In Mexico, Vicente Fox Quesada of the National Action Party defeated Francisco Labastida Ochoa of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the presidential election.

Louisiana Governor Seals Oil-Spill Records -- Elected officials in Louisiana and members of the public seeking details on how Mr. Jindal and his administration fared in their own response to the disaster are out of luck: late last week the governor vetoed an amendment to a state bill that would have made public all records from his office related to the oil spill.

VIDEO: Pensacola Councilman reports BP bringing in white sand to cover oil, has evidence -- Larry Johnson, Pensacola City Councilman appears on the June 30, 2010 edition of Hardball on MSNBC.

Schwarzenegger orders state workers' pay cut to minimum wage -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered about 200,000 state workers to be paid the federal minimum wage because the state Legislature has not passed a budget. Department of Personnel Administration Director Debbie Endsley sent the order Thursday in a letter to the state controller. Most state employees will be paid the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour for the July pay period.

House Rejects Ron Paul's Audit The Fed Bill -- Congress just shot down the potential audit of the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank.  There's still time to stop this Fed powergrab in the Senate. Find your senators. After you contact your congressman, please call your senators and demand they stand up for the American people by defeating H.R. 4173 and taking a standalone vote on S. 604, Audit the Fed.

House subcommittee cuts NAIS funding to zero -- The House Appropriations subcommittee that funds USDA and FDA programs announced a fiscal 2011 funding bill that would stop funding USDA’s voluntary National Animal Identification System (NAIS). “We have spent over $147 million on this program since 2004. And six years later, we still have not seen a clear plan from USDA on successful implementation, even after they shifted to a more fragmented system in 2010,” said Subcommittee Chairman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) in a statement. USDA had asked for $14.2 million for the program.

Bank stress test details vague as deadline looms -- Details of Europe-wide testing of banks' financial vulnerabilities are still being worked out as an end-of-July deadline to publish the stress test results for individual banks looms, the Bundesbank said on Thursday.

Factories Ready to Hire, but Skilled Workers Scarce -- Plenty of people are applying for the jobs. The problem, the companies say, is a mismatch between the kind of skilled workers needed and the ranks of the unemployed. Economists expect that Friday’s government employment report will show that manufacturers continued adding jobs last month, although the overall picture is likely to be bleak. With the government dismissing Census workers, more jobs might have been cut than added in June.

Obama Calls for Pentagon 'Civilian Component' -- Once again, Obama has called for a civilian component to work with the Pentagon.

Al Gore Sex Attack Scandal: Gore Scrambling After Latest Bad News -- The latest in the Al Gore Sex Attack Scandal: Gore was on Larry King and called it all a ‘misunderstanding’; Portland Police re-open case; more proof Gore’s accuser is credible; and, Gore’s now worried about Global COOLING?!? And not just Global Cooling, MAN-MADE Global Cooling. The Man-Without-Shame’s troubles continue.

Obama Calls for 'Civilian Force' as Large as the Military -- Speaking today at a town hall meeting, President Obama declared that the military was “overburdened’ by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, say that is among the reasons for his record military budgets as he contends with growing deficits.

How much further could stock markets fall? -- Indeed, it's been a pretty bad year so far in fact. The first quarter was fine, but since April markets have struggled. So far in 2010, reports the Financial Times, the FTSE All-World Share Index is down by more than 10%, while safe havens have been the big winners. US treasuries have returned 5.8%. The dollar is up 10.5% on a trade-weighted basis. And gold is one of the top performers, up 13%. And the bad news for stock market investors is that it's only set to get worse…worse…

Recession cut into employment for half of working adults, study says -- The economic shock has jolted many Americans into a new, more austere reality, which is likely to have lasting consequences for an economy fueled mostly by consumer spending. More than six in 10 Americans say they have cut down on borrowing and spending, the survey found. The reason: Nearly half of the survey's respondents say they are in worse financial shape as a result of the downturn, which destroyed 20 percent of Americans' wealth.

Biggest Monthly Pending Home Sales Drop on Record As ISM Manufacturing Index Misses Big -- Another big leg down into the recognition that i) the recession was really a depression all along and ii) we are smack back in it.

The End of the Age of Credit -- The picture becomes increasingly clearer as Washington lifts its veil. A financial overhaul that was supposed to be a momentous effort has finally been voted in, only to reveal that none of the Wall Street banks will be effectively affected until 2022, which is the sort of number that you can read as meaning: "never".

Banned Trailers Return for Latest Gulf Disaster -- In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, they became a symbol of the government’s inept response to that disaster: the 120,000 or so trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to people who had lost their homes.

1.3 Million Unemployed Won't Get Benefits Restored -- More than 1.3 million laid-off workers won't get their unemployment benefits reinstated before Congress goes on a weeklong vacation for Independence Day.

Initial Jobless Claims Worse To 472,000, Confirms Trend of Economic Stagnation -- The number: 472,000. That's worse than what analysts were expecting, and unfortunately, it indicates a drift towards 500K.

About All That Oil -- This is a good reality check on the ultimate impact of the messy oil leak. Sooner or later, the ocean and Mother Nature will digest the works. This helps understand why. No comfort if it is your favorite beach but otherwise it will disappear.

ACLU Issues Warnings for Travel to Arizona -- The nation's top civil liberties group on Wednesday issued travel alerts for Arizona, saying the state's new law cracking down on illegal immigrants could lead to racial profiling and warrantless arrests.

FEC Attempts to Shut Down Campaign for Liberty -- The FEC has launched a pair of investigations on Campaign for Liberty.

China Becoming Target of Credit Default Swaps -- As I noted on May 5th, France is in more trouble than most realize. And as I (and many others) have pointed out, China isn't necessarily the unstoppable powerhouse that people assume.

Healthy Food Obsession Sparks Rise in New Eating Disorder -- Eating disorder charities are reporting a rise in the number of people suffering from a serious psychological condition characterised by an obsession with healthy eating.

Obama Tries to Put Republicans on Immigration Hot Seat -- Seeking to inject urgency into the push for an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, President Obama on Thursday called on Republicans to join the effort, telling them he can't pass a bill without them.

Weight Loss Drugs Produce Only Minimal Weight Loss, Even After Taking Them for Years -- Weight loss drugs may result only in minor weight loss, even after long-term use, according to a new study conducted by Brazilian and Canadian researchers and published in the British Medical Journal.

Triclosan May Be Harmful to Health, Says FDA -- The FDA is reevaluating the safety of a popular chemical additive called triclosan, based on recent studies that seem to indicate it causes endocrine disruption in the body and leads to the emergence of drug-resistant "super" bacteria.

BPA Plastics Chemical Now Linked to Asthma -- The controversial chemical bisphenol-A (BPA), already linked to a wide array of health problems, may also increase the risk of asthma in children, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston and published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Man in New York Subway Plot Tied to Senior Qaeda Figure -- The central figure in a failed suicide plot to bomb three New York City subways lines last year had contact with an elusive and feared senior Qaeda operative who spent his youth in Brooklyn and has eluded American authorities for at least seven years, a counterterrorism official said on Wednesday.

How the Ultimate BP Gulf Disaster Could Kill Millions -- Disturbing evidence is mounting that something frightening is happening deep under the waters of the Gulf of Mexico—something far worse than the BP oil gusher.

VIDEO: Giant excavated ant colony reveals marvelous wonder. (This video is truly amazing!)

Happy Birthday America! -- "Do we really think that a government-dominated education is going to produce citizens capable of dominating their government, as the education of a truly vigilant self-governing people requires?"

Wal-Mart worker who was fired for legal pot smoking, sues -- A Michigan man has sued Wal-Mart Stores Inc for firing him after he tested positive for medical marijuana he was using legally to treat pain from an inoperable brain tumor and sinus cancer.


Today In History Thursday July 1, 2010
1798 - Napoleon Bonaparte took Alexandria, Egypt.
1847 - The U.S. Post Office issued its first adhesive stamps.
1862 - The U.S. Congress established the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
1863 - During the U.S. Civil War, the first day's fighting at Gettysburg began.
1867 - Canada became an independent dominion.
1874 - The Philadelphia Zoological Society zoo opened as the first zoo in the United States.
1876 - Montenegro declared war on the Turks.
1893 - The first bicycle race track in America to be made out of wood was opened in San Francisco, CA.
1897 - Three years after the first issue of "Billboard Advertising" was published, the publication was renamed, "The Billboard".
1898 - During the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders" waged a victorious assault on San Juan Hill in Cuba.
1905 - The USDA Forest Service was created within the Department of Agriculture. The agency was given the mission to sustain healthy, diverse, and productive forests and grasslands for present and future generations.
1909 - Thomas Edison began commercially manufacturing his new "A" type alkaline storage batteries.
1916 - The massive Allied offensive known as the Battle of the Somme began in France. The battle was the first to use tanks.
1934 - The Federal Communications Commission replaced the Federal Radio Commission as the regulator of broadcasting in the United States.
1940 - In Washington, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was opened to traffic. The bridge collapsed during a wind storm on November 7, 1940.
1941 - Bulova Watch Company sponsored the first TV commercial in New York City, NY.
1942 - German troops captured Sevestpol, Crimea, in the Soviet Union.
1943 - The U.S. Government began automatically withholding federal income tax from paychecks.
1945 - New York established the New York State Commission Against Discrimination to prevent discrimination in employment because of race, creed or natural origin. It was the first such agency in the U.S.
1946 - U.S. President Harry Truman signed Public Law 476 that incorporated the Civil Air Patrol as a benevolent, nonprofit organization. The Civil Air Patrol was created on December 1, 1941.
1946 - The U.S. exploded a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
1948 - The price of a subway ride in New York City was increased from 5 cents to 10.
1950 - American ground troops arrived in South Korea to stem the tide of the advancing North Korean army.
1951 - Bob Feller set a major league baseball record as he pitched his third no-hitter for the Cleveland Indians.
1960 - Somalia gained its independence from Britain through the unification of Somaliland with Italian Somalia.
1961 - British troops landed in Kuwait to aid against Iraqi threats.
1961 - The first community air-raid shelter was built. The shelter in Boise, ID had a capacity of 1,000 people and family memberships sold for $100.
1963 - The U.S. postmaster introduced the five-digit ZIP (Zoning Improvement Plan) code.
1966 - The Medicare federal insurance program went into effect.
1968 - The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty was signed by 60 countries. It limited the spreading of nuclear material for military purposes. On May 11, 1995, the treaty was extended indefinitely.
1974 - Isavel Peron became the president of Argentina upon the death of her husband, Juan.
1979 - Susan B. Anthony was commemorated on a U.S. coin, the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
1980 - "O Canada" was proclaimed the national anthem of Canada.
1980 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed legislation that provided for 2 acres of land near the Lincoln Memorial for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
1987 - John Kevin Hill, at age 11, became the youngest to fly across the U.S. when he landed at National Airport in Washington, DC.
1991 - The Warsaw Pact dissolved.
1994 - Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organization visited the Gaza Strip.
1997 - The sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from Great Britain to China. Britain had controlled Hong Kong as a colony for 156 years.
2003 - In Hong Kong, thousands of protesters marched to show their opposition to anti-subversion legislation.

VIDEO: If you like to eat seafood, you need to watch this......

Warning to Gulf Volunteers: Almost Every Cleanup Worker From the 1989 Exxon Valdez Disaster Is Now Dead -- Are you sure that you want to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? In a previous article we documented a number of the healthdangers from this oil spill that many scientists are warning us of, and now it has been reported on CNN that the vast majority of those who worked to clean up the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska are now dead.

A Missouri VA hospital may have infected 1,800 veterans with HIV -- John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis has recently mailed letters to 1,812 veterans telling them they could contract hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) after visiting the medical center for dental work, said Rep. Russ Carnahan.The issue stems from a failure to clean dental instruments properly, the hospital told CNN affiliate KSDK.

Katrina trailers revived for Gulf oil disaster -- These trailers have been showing up in mobile-home parks, open fields and local boatyards as thousands of cleanup workers have scrambled to find housing.

Russia Buys 22 Tons of Gold in May -- Ten days ago we reported the most recent data on gold reserve holdings as presented by the World Gold Council, where we pointed out that Russia had purchased 27.6 tons of gold in the most recent reporting period, bringing its total to 668.6 tons.

UK: Ryanair to sell standing room only tickets for £4...funded by charging passengers to use the toilet -- Ryanair plans to revolutionise air travel by introducing flights where passengers stand up for as little as £4 per ticket. The budget airline wants to charge travellers for using the toilet in order to 'change passenger behaviour' and fund the cheap standing tickets.

Treachery in the Gulf -- What has happened in the Gulf of Mexico was not by accident. It was most likely a design to support an agenda.

Blame Central Banking Not Obama -- Thus, we re-emphasize most strongly that no credible plan for reducing the size of government has been put into place for at least the last century if not longer in either Britain or America. Such a plan would include radical SPENDING cuts at the federal level but, just as importantly, would attempt to vastly diminish the power of mercantilist central banking or, preferably, eliminate it outright. In fact, if there were any one thing that could be done to help reduce government and revive the economy, it would be to get rid of the pernicious enterprise of central banking altogether and return to private money – which is almost inevitably gold and silver.

CORRECTED - UPDATE 1-US dollar share of global reserves slips in Q1 -- Meanwhile, unallocated reserves, in which China accounts for the bulk, rose to $3.7 trillion in the first quarter from $3.6 trillion previously. While China is said to be diversifying away from U.S. assets, the country reportedly holds 65 percent to 75 percent of its reserves in U.S. dollars. Comment: In reading the full text of this article, it's apparent that the dollar is quietly being dropped by other countries.

Gulf Beaches Hit As Distant Hurricane Pushes Oil -- Rough seas generated by Hurricane Alex pushed more oil from the massive spill onto Gulf coast beaches as cleanup vessels were sidelined by the far-away storm's ripple effects.

Oil Spill Visits Get Partisan -- Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) wanted to fly 10 lawmakers down to the Gulf of Mexico to see the damage caused by BP’s gigantic oil spill first hand.

Venezuela Govt to Nationalize 11 US-Owned Oil Rigs -- Venezuela's legislature has voted to nationalize 11 oil rigs owned by the US firm Helmerich & Payne.

Mississippi Blues: NASA Pic Shows BP Oil Surrounding Mississippi's Barrier Islands -- In spite of Haley Barbour’s initial happy talk (Oil? What Oil? Press Should Stop Scaring Tourists), BP Oil finally and inevitably hits the Mississippi coastline. Now he’s crying for help.

Panic Brews on Gulf Coast Under Suspicion of Oil Spill Media Blackout of Threats to Public Safety -- Panic is brewing among Gulf coast residents under suspicions of an oil spill media blackout and threats to public safety.

A Healthy Diet Cuts Alzheimer's Risk by 40% -- A recent study conducted by researchers at Columbia University in New York has found that people who eat a diet rich in olive oil, fish, nuts, poultry, and fruits and vegetables, lower their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by 40 percent.

President Declares State of Emergency In Texas -- President Barack Obama has declared a federal emergency exists in Texas as Tropical Storm Alex builds toward hurricane strength and approaches south Texas and northern Mexico.

Citigroups Recoups Loss After Circuit Breaker Ends -- A 17 percent plunge in Citigroup Inc. today triggered a five-minute trading pause, making the bank the second company halted by the two-week-old circuit- breaker program created to prevent market panics.

The Insane Overuse of Antibiotics in Industrial Meat Production -- Federal food regulators took a tentative step Monday toward banning a common use of penicillin and tetracycline in the water and feed given cattle, chickens and pigs in hopes of slowing the growing scourge of killer bacteria.

New Evidence Suggests the Oil Spill in Gulf Could Only Be the Beginning -- Could it be true that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is only the beginning of what is being touted as possibly the worst possible natural disaster known to man?

US Money Supply Plunges at 1930's Pace and Housing Index Dives -- The M3 money supply in the United States is contracting at an accelerating rate that now matches the average decline seen from 1929 to 1933, despite near zero interest rates and the biggest fiscal blitz in history.

USS Carrier Harry Truman Now Officially Just Off Iran -- As we first reported last week, in an article that was met with much original skepticism, the Pentagon has now confirmed that a fleet of 12 warships has passed the Suez Canal, and is now likely awaiting orders to support the escalation in the Persian Gulf.

Big, empty, and still standing -- Northeast Ohio's growing number of closed industrial sites can pose long-term problems. The massive Chrysler stamping plant in Twinsburg is heading into its final month before all operations there end. How the property will be maintained after that is a significant question for Twinsburg residents and local officials. (Audio of the story included).

Fed Made Taxpayers Junk-Bond Buyers Without Congress Knowing -- By using its balance sheet to protect an investment bank against failure, the Fed took on the most credit risk in its 96- year history and increased the chance that Americans would be on the hook for billions of dollars as the central bank began insuring Wall Street firms against collapse. The Fed’s secrecy spurred legislation that will require government audits of the Fed bailouts and force the central bank to reveal recipients of emergency credit. Comment: This is precisely why the spy stories came about; to divert the attention of the public from what the Fed has been up to.

California Cities Shutting Police Forces to Close Budget Gaps -- San Carlos, a Silicon Valley suburb that calls itself the City of Good Living, will hire contractors to maintain parks and negotiate with county officials to take over policing, becoming the latest California community eliminating basic services to close budget deficits. About 70 percent of U.S. municipalities are cutting jobs to cope with declining tax revenue, according to a survey published last month by the National League of Cities in Washington. One in five communities cut public-safety spending and revised union contracts, and almost one-quarter reduced health care.

Ohio's the place for deep-discount housing -- You’re likely to pay about 40-percent less for a foreclosed home in Ohio than one selling through a more conventional route. RealtyTrac says the average foreclosed home here sold for about $80,000 during the first three months of the year. Compared to sales prices on the open market, that’s the deepest discount in the country.

The Coming Hard Rain -- The recession is just starting, the stock market is set up for the biggest bear market crash ever, the government is going to be shocked when foreign lenders abandon it, and the dollar could devalue suddenly and catastrophically. There are a few voices from the Depression era still alive, and they are shouting a warning at the top of their lungs, hoping that someone, anyone, will listen.

How Far Underwater Do Borrowers Sink Before Walking Away? -- At what point do borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth decide to stop paying the mortgage? Read More...

Child welfare agency faces criticism over background checks -- After months of questions about cases that have ended in tragedy, Cuyahoga County's Department of Children and Family Services is now facing criticism for expanding criminal background checks of parents. Audio of the article is included.


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