JUNE 2010

Today In History Wednesday June 30, 2010
1841 - The Erie Railroad rolled out its first passenger train.
1894 - Korea declared independence from China and asked for Japanese aid.
1913 - Fighting broke out between Bulgaria and Greece and Spain. It was the beginning of the Second Balkan War.
1930 - France pulled its troops out of Germany’s Rhineland.
1934 - Adolf Hitler purged the Nazi Party by destroying the SA and bringing to power the SS in the "Night of the Long Knives."
1936 - Margaret Mitchell’s book, "Gone with the Wind," was published in New York City.
1950 - U.S. President Harry Truman ordered U.S. troops into Korea and authorizes the draft.
1953 - The first Corvette rolled off the Chevrolet assembly line in Flint, MI. It sold for $3,250.
1957 - The American occupation headquarters in Japan was dissolved.
1958 - The U.S. Congress passed a law authorizing the admission of Alaska as the 49th state in the Union.
1964 - The last of U.N. troops left Congo after a four-year effort to bring stability to the country.
1971 - The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified when Ohio became the 38th state to approve it. The amendment lowered the minimum voting age to 18.
1974 - Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defected in Toronto, Canada.
1974 - The July 4th scene from the Steven Spielberg movie "Jaws" was filmed.
1977 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced his opposition to the B-1 bomber.
1985 - Thirty-nine American hostages were freed from a hijacked TWA jetliner in Beirut after being held for 17 days.
1985 - Yul Brynner left his role as the King of Siam after 4,600 performances in "The King and I."
1986 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states could outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults.
1994 - The U.S. Figure Skating Association stripped Tonya Harding of the 1994 national championship and banned her from the organization for life for an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan.
1998 - Officials confirmed that the remains of a Vietnam War serviceman buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery were identified as those of Air Force pilot
2000 - U.S. President Clinton signed the E-Signature bill to give the same legal validity to an electronic signature as a signature in pen and ink.

Where's the Gold! By Arnold Bock -- Gold, the precious metal most often thought of as money, is in short supply. In fact, the existing above ground horde is so small one has to question whether it is realistic to think of it as having a serious role as money in the future. The fact is there just isn’t enough of it and - once institutional and private investors realize that the supply is so disarmingly, and alarmingly, insignificant - prices will go parabolic.

Fiscal 2011 could be hardest yet for states -- U.S. states in fiscal 2011 could be facing the worst budget situation since the recession began in 2007, according to a think-tank report released on Tuesday. States' cumulative budget shortfall "will likely reach $140 billion in the coming year, the largest shortfall yet in a string of huge annual gaps that date back to the beginning of the recession," said the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Fiscal 2011 begins on Thursday for most states, which have turned to another round of cuts and tax increases to try to wipe out the gap. All states with the exception of Vermont must balance their budgets.

Foreclosed Homes in U.S. Sell at 27% Discount as Distressed Supply Grows -- Homes in the foreclosure process sold at an average 27 percent discount in the first quarter as almost a third of all U.S. transactions involved properties in some stage of mortgage distress, according to RealtyTrac Inc. A total of 232,959 homes sold in the period had received a default or auction notice or were seized by banks, RealtyTrac said in a report today. That’s down 14 percent from the fourth quarter and 33 percent from the peak a year earlier, the company said. The average price of a distressed property was $171,971, according to the Irvine, California-based data seller.

China denies military exercise aimed at U.S. -- The 6-day, live ammunition exercise starting on Wednesday in the East China Sea off China's coast was seen by some analysts as a "response to a (planned) joint exercise between the United States and Republic of Korea navies in the Yellow Sea," said the China Daily, the country's official English-language newspaper. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said there was no such link and a Chinese military officer said the timing was coincidental.

Glaxo's Avandia Faces Potential Recall in U.S. Advisers' Vote -- Glaxo’s treatment, approved in 1999, generated $1.1 billion in revenue last year. Avandia was linked to heart attacks and other cardiovascular complications in two new studies published yesterday that the authors say should prompt U.S. regulators to block its sale. Outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will meet for two days beginning July 13 and are likely to consider whether the pill should remain on the market, deputy commissioner Joshua Sharfstein said. A second study, from the scientists who first raised the alarm about Avandia, found one of every 52 patients taking the drug was harmed.

VIDEO: BP Slick Covers Dolphins and Whales

Obama, Bernake Believe Economy is Strengthening -- The U.S. economy is strengthening but there's still much to be done to put Americans back to work, President Barack Obama said Tuesday after meeting Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at the White House.

Consumer Confidence Collapses Massively in June -- The Conference Board's consumer confidence index for June dropped sharply to 52.9, which is a horrible underperformance of expectations given that consensus had forecast a reading of 62.

Bill Clinton: 'We May Have to Blow Up the Well' -- Little noticed comments from former President Bill Clinton over the weekend which he made in South Africa are perhaps -- well -- a bit explosive.

Scrap Dollar As Sole Reserve Currency: U.N. Report -- A new United Nations report released on Tuesday calls for abandoning the U.S. dollar as the main global reserve currency, saying it has been unable to safeguard value.

Pre-Crime? Try Pre-Diagnose and Pre-Drug: Psychiatrists Target Infants as Mental Patients -- A new study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry and headed by psychiatrist John H. Gilmore, professor of psychiatry and Director of the UNC Schizophrenia Research, claims to be able to detect “brain abnormalities associated with schizophrenia risk” in infants just a few weeks old.

Banks Financing Mexico Drug Gangs Admitted in Wells Fargo Deal -- 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.

'Dozens' of US Citizens on Assassination List, White House Adviser Hints -- When it was confirmed last winter by then-Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair that the Obama administration had authorized the assassination of American citizens working with terrorist groups overseas, it appeared that no more than three Americans were being targeted in this manner.

Obama Doctrine: Congress Just Declared Preemptive War on Iran -- War with Iran has already been decided by the powers that be and the modern-day quasi-declaration happened last Thursday.

US Espionage Claims Recall Cold War 'Spy Mania' Russia Says -- The U.S. Justice Department’s claims that it broke up a Russian spy ring are “regrettable” and reminiscent of the Cold War at a time when relations are improving, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

BP Oil Disaster Costing $4M an Hour -- The first major storm of the Atlantic season looked set to miss the oil spill as it barreled through the Gulf of Mexico yesterday, offering some respite to BP as its disaster costs soar.

Activist Post: CATEGORY 5 ALERT! Katrina Planned FEMA Planning Forced Evacuations -- It has been reported that our well-oiled government is planning mass evacuations of Gulf coast cities.

Oil Spill Dispersants Present Concern -- Some folks are still questioning the effectiveness, and safety of dispersants being used in the Gulf. Dr. Robert Shipp, from the University of South Alabama is one of them.

Low Vitamin D Levels Linked to Poor Blood Sugar Control in Type-2 diabetes -- According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), almost 11 percent of Americans age 20 or older have diabetes.

Doctors Test Cure for Peanut Allergy -- Doctors from Cambridge University are testing a technique that they believe may functionally cure people who suffer from inconvenient and dangerous peanut allergies, researcher Andrew Clark announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego.

Vitamin B6 and Methionine Slash Lung Cancer Risk by 50% -- Lung cancer, which usually develops in the cells lining air passages, will be diagnosed in about 222,520 Americans this year, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Choosing Healthy Foods Now Called a Mental Disorder -- In its never-ending attempt to fabricate "mental disorders" out of every human activity, the psychiatric industry is now pushing the most ridiculous disease they've invented yet: Healthy eating disorder.

US Accepts International Assistance for Gulf Spill -- The United States is accepting help from 12 countries and international organizations in dealing with the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the State Department said Tuesday.

Wall St Sinks as Economic Alarm Escalates -- Investors fled the U.S. stock market on Tuesday and the S&P 500 tumbled to its lowest level in eight months in a sell-off triggered by a wave of increasing alarm over the global economic outlook.

Airport Scanners Deliver Radiation Dose 20 Times Higher Than First Thought -- Full body scanners at airports could increase your risk of skin cancer, experts warn. The X-ray machines have been brought in at Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow.

Social Security. or Insecurity? -- This presentation briefly reviews the history of social security, examine its problems, and I will suggest a solution in the conclusion. Please bear in mind my suggestion is merely a suggestion – a mature, nationwide discussion on social security needs to be held. This presentation can be downloaded in PDF format from Scribd or from here. Some of the graphics are a bit blurry – my apologies – but at the bottom of the article there is a slideviewer embedded.

The $5 trillion rollover -- Banks around the world must refinance more than $5 trillion of debts in the coming three years, a massive rollover that poses threats to financial stability and growth. The need to replace these debts, which are medium and long term, will place pressure on bank profit spreads and in turn may either prompt deleveraging, where banks sell assets that they can no longer economically finance, or simply lead to a bout of credit rationing, where borrowers must pay more to borrow, thus crimping investment and economic growth.

Mansion Foreclosures Surge -- The percentage of $1 million-plus loans more than 90 days delinquent rose to 13.3% in February, half again as high as the 8.6% overall delinquency rate, according to First American CoreLogic, which tracks U.S. real estate and mortgages. The statistic, from this Reuters article, points to a sobering reality amid the happy talk of newly minted millionaires. Many affluent and wealthy can't keep up with their mortgage payments. Last month, there were 205 foreclosure filings for mortgages of $5 million or more, the third straight month such filings rose, according to RealtyTrac. The 205 foreclosures totaled $813 million.

Fractional Gold and Silver Accounts - Deceit becomes fraud only when you can’t deliver -- On June 25, 2010, an article in the Wall Street Journal noted: Individual investors are increasingly demanding to take possession of their gold holdings, rather than just owning shares in a mining company or a gold-related fund. What the Wall Street Journal failed to report is the possibility that many gold investors may not, in fact, actually have the gold or silver they purchased and believe to be safely stored in a bank vault. Gold and silver investors are discovering that banks possess only a small fraction of the gold and silver allegedly bought by banks for customers.

Suspicious Activity Report Awareness: No More Transaction Reports -- One way to control when you enter the Matrix is to transact anonymously with gold and silver. There are very few monetary transactions that are completely anonymous. Using plastic cards leaves a trail in transactional databases for the Matrix to find and involves a lot of third parties. So does writing a check. Cash is usually very good for protecting privacy in transactions, but even cash is subject to SAR Report requirements, Currency Transaction Reports, Currency Controls and other restrictions. Comment: An excellent and concise read.
 

Today In History Tuesday June 29, 2010
1776 - The Virginia constitution was adopted and Patrick Henry was made governor.
1860 - The first iron-pile lighthouse was completed at Minot’s Ledge, MA.
1880 - France annexed Tahiti.
1888 - Professor Frederick Treves performed the first appendectomy in England.
1897 - The Chicago Cubs scored 36 runs in a game against Louisville, setting a record for runs scored by a team in a single game.
1903 - The British government officially protested Belgian atrocities in the Congo.
1905 - Russian troops intervened as riots erupted in ports all over the country. Many ships were looted.
1917 - The Ukraine proclaimed independence from Russia.
1925 - Marvin Pipkin filed for a patent for the frosted electric light bulb.
1926 - Fascists in Rome added an hour to the work day in an economic efficiency measure.
1932 - Siam’s army seized Bangkok and announced an end to the absolute monarchy.
1946 - British authorities arrested more than 2,700 Jews in Palestine in an attempt to end alleged terrorism.
1950 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman authorized a sea blockade of Korea.
1951 - The United States invited the Soviet Union to the Korean peace talks on a ship in Wonson Harbor.
1953 - The Federal Highway Act authorized the construction of 42,500 miles of freeway from coast to coast.
1954 - The Atomic Energy Commission voted against reinstating Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer's access to classified information.
1955 - The Soviet Union sent tanks to Pozan, Poland, to put down anti-Communist demonstrations.
1966 - The U.S. bombed fuel storage facilities near the North Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Haiphong.
1967 - Israel removed barricades, re-unifying Jerusalem.
1972 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty could constitute "cruel and unusual punishment." The ruling prompted states to revise their capital punishment laws.
1982 - Israel invaded Lebanon.
1995 - The shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space station Mir docked, forming the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit the Earth.
1998 - With negotiations on a new labor agreement at a standstill, the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced that a lockout would be imposed at midnight.
2007 - The Apple iPhone went on sale.

Your Current Local Weather Situation Report link -- Click on "Your Local Radar Link" and it will take you straight to your area.
  * National Severe Weather Map - http://www.emergencyemail.org/weathermapWANG3.asp?ref=forecastem
  * Gulf Oil Situation Page Launched - http://www.vuetoo.com/vue1/SituationPageNews.asp?sit=6572
  * Tropical Storm ALEX Situation Page - http://www.emergencyemail.org/newsemergency/anmviewer.asp?a=534&z=34&ref=fem 

Banks Financing Mexico Drug Gangs Admitted in Wells Fargo Deal -- “Wachovia’s blatant disregard for our banking laws gave international cocaine cartels a virtual carte blanche to finance their operations,” says Jeffrey Sloman, the federal prosecutor who handled the case. The smugglers had bought the DC-9 with laundered funds they transferred through two of the biggest banks in the U.S.: Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America Corp., Bloomberg Markets reports in its August 2010 issue. This was no isolated incident. Wachovia, it turns out, had made a habit of helping move money for Mexican drug smugglers. Wells Fargo & Co., which bought Wachovia in 2008, has admitted in court that its unit failed to monitor and report suspected money laundering by narcotics traffickers -- including the cash used to buy four planes that shipped a total of 22 tons of cocaine.

Supreme Court affirms fundamental right to bear arms -- The Second Amendment provides Americans a fundamental right to bear arms that cannot be violated by state and local governments, the Supreme Court ruled Monday in a long-sought victory for gun rights advocates. The 5 to 4 decision does not strike down any gun-control laws, nor does it elaborate on what kind of laws would offend the Constitution. One justice predicted that an "avalanche" of lawsuits would be filed across the country asking federal judges to define the boundaries of gun ownership and government regulation.

10 Alleged Russian Secret Agents Arrested For Spying In U.S. -- The FBI has arrested 10 people who allegedly spied for Russia for up to a decade – posing as innocent civilians while trying to infiltrate U.S. policymaking circles and learn about U.S. weapons, diplomatic strategy and political developments. An 11th defendant – a man accused of delivering money to the agents – remains at large.

Doctors call for total NHS ban on homoeopathy -- Doctors will this week call for a total ban on all homoeopathic treatment on the NHS. Hundreds of delegates to the British Medical Association's conference are expected to support seven motions all opposed to the use of public money to pay for remedies which they claim are, at best, scientifically unproven and, at worst, ineffective.

Congress Puts Out `Sell' Order on American Banks -- Ignoring evidence that investors were defrauded by subprime mortgage instruments that even bank bosses didn’t understand, lawmakers are refusing to rein in the culprits. Now we can be sure that soon we will be hoodwinked again by some cockamamie investment good for nothing but commanding commissions and promising trading profits for the banks. How about a package of exchange-traded funds, peppered with ones that use leverage and derivatives?

New York Fed probes Wall Street exposure to BP -- The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been probing major financial firms' exposure to BP Plc to ensure that if the oil giant buckles under the costs of the Gulf oil spill, it won't put Wall Street or the global financial system at risk, according to two sources familiar with the matter. After poring over documents and asking banks about their exposure to BP over the past two weeks, the Fed found no systemic risk, and hasn't asked firms to alter their credit relationships with BP, the sources told Reuters. "The Fed gave banks' exposure to BP a passing grade," said one of the sources on condition of anonymity.

Home Prices in U.S. Probably Rose, Consumer Confidence Declined -- Eroding home equity may limit household spending, the biggest part of the economy, even as gains in income help revive demand. “The worst is behind us but the potential for further price declines still exists,” said David Semmens, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank in New York. “With the expiration of the tax credit, demand has collapsed. Why would consumers commit to buying a house when they’re feeling nervous about job prospects?” Command: I love the comment that the worst is behind us but the potential for declines exists. Talk about double speak in plain view.

The U.S. Economy is Headed For a Second-Half Slowdown -- Most textbook economists say that the U.S. economy is engaged in a broad-based recovery. But while there's a consensus that there's no "double-dip" recession on the horizon, the evidence suggests the nation's economy is headed for a slowdown in the second half of 2010. The reason: In a market that derives 70% of its growth from consumer spending, the last half of this year will be all about those consumers - and about the economy's inability to generate enough jobs to keep the nation's cash registers ringing.

The Third Depression -- Recessions are common; depressions are rare. As far as I can tell, there were only two eras in economic history that were widely described as “depressions” at the time: the years of deflation and instability that followed the Panic of 1873 and the years of mass unemployment that followed the financial crisis of 1929-31.

46 States Facing Greek-Like budget Crisis -- It's not just California, Illinois, and New York. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 46 states are facing a severe "Greek-like" debt problem.

RBS Tells Clients To Prepare for 'Monster Money-Printing' by the Federal Reserve -- As recovery starts to stall in the US and Europe with echoes of mid-1931, bond experts are once again dusting off a speech by Ben Bernanke given eight years ago as a freshman governor at the Federal Reserve.

Cancer Therapy Goes Viral -- This article tells us that a flood of viral based cancer therapies is becoming available and also that we are getting pretty clever about it all. However, so far it appears we are mostly making cancer cells sick.

CIA Director Panetta: 'There May Be Less Than 100 Al-Qaeda in Afghnaistan' -- Can this be true? This morning on This Week CIA director Leon Panetta told Jake Tapper that there were less than 100 Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Less than 100.

President Obama Urges G-20 Nations to Spend; They Pledge to Halve Deficits -- President Obama warned Sunday that the world economic recovery remains "fragile" and urged continued spending to support growth, an expansionist call at the end of a summit marked by an agreement among developed nations to halve their annual deficits within three years.

Police Arrest More Than 600 at Toronto Summit -- Police raided a university building and rounded up hundreds of protesters Sunday in an effort to quell further violence near the G-20 global economic summit site a day after black-clad youths rampaged through the city, smashing windows and torching police cars.

White House Preparing Online National ID Plan -- The Obama administration is set to propose a new system for authenticating people, organizations and infrastructure on the Web.

Alabama State Troopers Moonlighting as BP Security Guards -- WMR's sources on the Gulf coast report that BP Security personnel are being augmented by off-duty Alabama state troopers and G4S Wackenhut private security guards.

Gun Rights Must Be Honored by States, Cities, Hig Court Rules in 5-4 Vote -- The U.S. Supreme Court extended the reach of the constitutional right to bear arms by saying it binds state and local governments as well as the federal government.

VIDEO: LA Police doing BP's Dirty Work -- Everyone knows by now that BP is still blocking press access to oil-spill sites even though they’re not supposed to anymore.

Oil Washes Onto Mississippi Coast for First Time -- Large patches of thick oil washed ashore in Mississippi on Sunday, the first time crude from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico has hit the state's coast.

Obama Administration Works to Meet Deadline -- Three months after the $938 billion health care bill was signed into law, questions abound about whether the Obama administration can meet all the deadlines in the massive law while dealing with the political pressures of Congress.

Obama 'Internet Kill Switch' Plan Approved -- A US Senate committee has approved a wide-ranging cybersecurity bill that some critics have suggested would give the US president the authority to shut down parts of the Internet during a cyberattack.

Emergency Evacuation of US Gulf Coast Imminent? -- When the first reports broke, multiple websites were attacked for reporting on an imminent evacuation and now, a month later, this possibility is widely accepted. The Washington Post has even quoted Matt Simmons as saying, “20 million to be evacuated.”

How BP Wants to Start Over in Bid to Contain Gulf Oil Spill -- Even before tropical storm Alex came on the scene, BP wanted to revamp how it collects oil from the leaking well at the center of the Gulf oil spill. Those plans could take shape this week.

EPA Opening Public 'Decontamination Stations' -- The Escambia County Health Department lifted a health advisory on Pensacola Beach on Friday on the advice of a beach official and against the advice of a federal environmental official. …

The Coming Gulf Coast Firestorms: How the BP Oil Catastrophe Could Destroy a Major US City -- It's hurricane season in the Atlantic, and that means Mother Nature could be whipping up fierce storms and sending them charging into the Gulf Coast any day now.

US Government Panel Now Pushing 'Vaccinations For All' -- An advisory panel to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended that every person be vaccinated for the seasonal flu yearly, except in a few cases where the vaccine is known to be unsafe.

BP Says Hayward Remains CEO as Storm Alex Looms -- BP Plcdefended its chief executive on Monday after Russia's deputy prime minister said he expected Tony Hayward to resign soon, as a strengthening storm threatened efforts to capture more oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Gulf Coast Toxicity Syndrome IMVA Emergency Alert by Dr. Mark Sircus -- The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has wrought havoc on sea and on land. But attention is now turning to the long-term effects the disaster will have on the coastlines, on businesses, and on American men, women and children. Read More...

Illinois Borrowing $900 Million as Credit-Default Insurance Cost Doubles -- Illinois plans to add $900 million in Build America Bonds to the $755 million in securities it sold in June as the cost of insuring the state’s debt against default reached a record high. The cost of an Illinois credit-default swap has more than doubled since April 5 to a record of 370 basis points, or $370,000 to protect $10 million of debt, according to CMA DataVision. The state rescheduled the Build America sale for mid-July, after originally planning it for as early as this week, Dow Jones reported, citing John Sinsheimer, Illinois’s capital markets director.

Is Chinese Drywall Making Habitat for Humanity’s Houses Uninhabitable? -- For more than a year, the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity has insisted there were no defects in the Chinese drywall it used to build nearly 200 houses for victims of Hurricane Katrina, including many in its heavily publicized “Musicians’ Village’’ development in the Upper Ninth Ward. But a house-by-house canvas of Musicians’ Village by reporters from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and ProPublica found several homeowners who reported serious problems and one who said she had complained to Habitat for more than a year about corrosion and electronics failures believed to be related to her drywall.

YouTube: Alyssa Thomas 6 Year Girl in No Fly List of Federal U S Homeland Security -- Alyssa Thomas, 6, is a little girl who is already under the spotlight of the federal government. Her family recently discovered that Alyssa is on the "no fly" list maintained by U.S. Homeland Security. "We were, like, puzzled," said Dr. Santhosh Thomas. "I'm like, well, she's kinda six-years-old and this is not something that should be typical." The Federal Bureau of Investigations in Cleveland will confirm that a list exists, but for national security reasons, no one will discuss who is on the list or why.

Angry House lawmaker cuts aid to Afghanistan -- Representative Nita Lowey, who heads the House appropriations subcommittee on foreign aid, vowed not to spend "one more dime" on aid to Afghanistan until she can be sure it is not being abused. The Democrat also announced hearings on corruption in Afghanistan, where the Obama administration is trying to work with the government of President Hamid Karzai to confront the Taliban insurgency. "I do not intend to appropriate one more dime for assistance to Afghanistan until I have confidence that U.S. taxpayer money is not being abused to line the pockets of corrupt Afghan government officials, drug lords, and terrorists," she said.

Maimed cat walks again with artificial paws -- A cat that had both its back legs severed by a combine harvester can walk again after being fitted with prosthetic limbs in a world-first operation. Two-year-old Oscar has been given a pair of artificial limbs by veterinary surgeon Noel Fitzpatrick, using a technique developed by a University College London team.
 

Today In History Monday June 28, 2010
1776 - American Colonists repulsed a British sea attack on Charleston, SC.
1869 - R. W. Wood was appointed as the first Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy.
1894 - The U.S. Congress made Labor Day a U.S. national holiday.
1902 - The U.S. Congress passed the Spooner bill, it authorized a canal to be built across the isthmus of Panama.
1919 - The Treaty of Versailles was signed ending World War I exactly five years after it began. The treaty also established the League of Nations.
1921 - A coal strike in Great Britain was settled after three months.
1930 - More than 1,000 communists were routed during an assault on the British consulate in London.
1939 - Pan American Airways began the first transatlantic passenger service.
1938 - The U.S. Congress created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to insure construction loans.
1942 - German troops launched an offensive to seize Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus and the city of Stalingrad.
1945 - U.S. General Douglas MacArthur announced the end of Japanese resistance in the Philippines.
1949 - The last U.S. combat troops were called home from Korea, leaving only 500 advisers.
1950 - North Korean forces captured Seoul, South Korea.
1954 - French troops began to pull out of Vietnam’s Tonkin Province.
1965 - The first commercial satellite began communications service. It was Early Bird (Intelsat II).
1967 - Fourteen people were shot in race riots in Buffalo, New York.
1967 - Israel formally declared Jerusalem reunified under its sovereignty following its capture of the Arab sector in the June 1967 war.
1976 - The first women entered the U.S. Air Force Academy.
1996 - The Citadel voted to admit women, ending a 153-year-old men-only policy at the South Carolina military school.
1998 - Poland, due to shortage of funds, is allowed to lease, U.S. aircraft to bring military force up to NATO standards.
2000 - Six-year-old Elián González returned to Cuba from the U.S. with his father. The child had been the center of an international custody dispute.
2001 - Slobodan Milosevic was taken into custody and was handed over to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. The indictment charged Milosevic and four other senior officials, with crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war in Kosovo.
2001 - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit set aside an order that would break up Microsoft for antitrust violations. However, the judges did agree that the company was in violation of antitrust laws.
2004 - The U.S. turned over official sovereignty to Iraq's interim leadership. The event took place two days earlier than previously announced to thwart insurgents' attempts at undermining the transfer.
2004 - The U.S. resumed diplomatic ties with Libya after a 24-year break.

Sen. Robert Byrd, longest-serving member of Congress, dies -- The W.Va. lawmaker was elected in 1952 and cast 18,000 votes during career.

A floating city springs up to contain gulf oil spill -- More than 60 vessels are trying to capture the oil, burn it and disperse it while two giant rigs are drilling relief wells in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP oil spill costs hit $100 million/day -- BP said it had spent $300 million on its Gulf of Mexico oil spill response effort in the past three days, hitting the $100 million/day spend rate for the first time and bringing its total bill to $2.65 billion so far.

DAY 70 - Review Of The Gulf Oil Eruption, And What The Future Holds That You Are Not Being Told -- Let's face the fact that this gusher is going to go on gushing every second of every day formonths to come.BP and the government are batting 100 per cent failure when it comes to stopping it. This leaves us with a number of scenarios and outcomes which require unemotional attention. Unemotional, because they're all as scarey as hell, and if we give in to fear in any way, we're more screwed than if we'd just elected another
President of Promises.

Oil washes onto Mississippi coast for first time -- June 27 (Reuters) - Large patches of thick oil washed ashore in Mississippi on Sunday, the first time crude from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico has hit the state's coast.

Failed Bank List -- we're up to 86 already!!
 * Related Article: Three more failed banks this past weekend

As 1.3 Million Americans Are About To Lose Their Jobless Benefits This Week, The Unemployment Rate Will Surge To 10.5% -- As a result of this huge hit to endless governmental spending of future unearned money, the WSJ reports that "a total of 1.3 million unemployed Americans will have lost their assistance by the end of this week." Furthermore, the cumulative number of people whose extended benefits are set to run out absent this extension, will reach 2 million in two weeks, and continue rising: as a reminder the DOL reported over 5.2 million Americans currently on Extended Benefits and EUC (Tier 1-4).

Biden Calls Custard Shop Manager a 'Smartass' After Taxes Comment -- Vice President Biden called the manager of a custard shop outside of Milwaukee, Wis., a "smartass" after the man asked him to lower taxes.

Airline food preparation: Live roaches and dead roach carcasses 'too numerous to count' -- Six months ago, Food and Drug Administration inspectors say, they found live roaches and dead roach carcasses "too numerous to count" inside the Denver facility of the world's largest airline caterer, LSG Sky Chefs. Read More...

G20 offers no big boost for fearful markets -- Deficit pledges made by Group of 20 leaders on Sunday won't provide a big boost for financial markets, with uncertainty about the strength of global economic recovery still the larger concern for investors. Analysts said that while targets for debt and deficit ratios included in a communique issued by G20 leaders were a mild positive, they were skeptical about their implementation and warned markets are focused on broader issues right now. Comment: The word to those who choose to listen is to get out of the market now, before impending collapse occurs.

Indiana Whirlpool plant producing final refrigerators - Hundreds of people worked their final shifts Friday at a Whirlpool Corp. refrigerator factory in southern Indiana that has been the site of protests over its closure. The Evansville plant's production line was shutting down after turning out refrigerators for 54 years, meaning the loss of some 600 jobs. About 450 other workers were laid off in March when Whirlpool ended its second production shift. The company announced last year that it would shut down the factory and move production to Mexico. Whirlpool will still have a presence in the city, with 300 employees at its refrigeration design center. Comment: Viva La NAFTA!

Oklahoma officers Taser 86-year-old bedridden woman who scared them -- Police in Oklahoma Tasered an 86-year-old bedridden woman after she “took an aggressive posture in her bed,” causing ten officers to fear for their lives, according to a lawsuit.

Police clash with G20 protesters, end in standoff -- During Saturday's violence police used tear gas against the public for the first time ever in Canada's most populous city. Among those detained, on charges ranging from mischief to assaulting police, were four people who climbed through the sewer system and emerged near the lock-down area where world leaders were attending the summit. About 70 people also were detained after police raided the University of Toronto's downtown campus. Police said they seized weapons, including bricks, rocks and sticks. A local TV station said that four of its reporters were also among those arrested at the Sunday evening standoff.

Dollar Gains Buckle as Strategists Draw Line at $1.20 -- “The euro at $1.20 is fair value, so we’ve taken away one of the big arguments for why the euro will fall against the dollar,” said Richard Benson, who oversees $14 billion of currency funds as an executive director of Millennium Asset Management in London. “The other is that the U.S. economy will do a lot better, but it hasn’t done much better. People are worried about a double dip in the U.S.” While Millennium has trades that would benefit from a decline in the dollar, it reduced the size of those positions “quite a lot,” Benson said in a telephone interview.

Vitamin D deficiency likely cause of increased rheumatoid arthritis cases among Caucasian women -- A recent study from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, has found that rheumatoid arthritis is on the increase among Caucasian women. And the culprit is likely an environmental one, like vitamin D deficiency, rather than a genetic one.

The Chilling Truth About Foreclosures in the US -- The larger problem is that millions of delinquent loans are still on banks' books and in mortgage pools. Banks seem unwilling to take more write-downs or to incur the high cost of maintaining repossessed homes. So they have taken to hiding behind federal and state government-foreclosure moratoriums and a host of modification programs designed to keep borrowers in their homes. Some of you will remember my quote from my DC travelogue where my comment on the modification programs was..." stacking up the bodies outside the morgue doesn't make them alive". Comment: This article is concise, an easy read, and very well written. (Thanks Jimm)

Deflationary Depression: Ultimate Status Symbol -- The 1929 crash began the Great Depression and severe economic deflation. The turn in psychology led to profoundly more frugal habits for millions of people in the years that followed. The difference between the 1930s and today is that the credit expansion of this generation has been far greater. Does that mean a deflation to come that's even more severe than in the '30s?

Court to rule on Sarbanes-Oxley and gun rights -- The Supreme Court could strike down a key part of a 2002 corporate reform law and extend gun rights in the United States on Monday when the justices issue their final rulings of the term. In eagerly awaited rulings, the nation's highest court is expected to decide the constitutionality of a national board that polices auditors of public companies and whether gun rights extend to every state and city in the nation. Comment: It seems those in Washington DC do not understand that the federal government cannot regulate what the states can and cannot do.

Suiting Up for a Post-Dollar World -- There is fresh evidence that time is running out for the dollar-centric global monetary order. In fact, central banks outside the US are already making swift and discrete preparation for a post-dollar era. To begin, the People's Bank of China has just this week decided to permit a wider trading range between the yuan and the dollar. This is the first step toward ending the infernal yuan-dollar peg. While the impetus behind this abrupt change remains a mystery, I have a sneaking suspicion that, as my colleague Neeraj Chaudhary explained in his commentary last week, the nationwide labor strikes were a prime motivator. Comment: I was mentioning this very subject to friends, over this past weekend, and they had no idea this had occurred. Hold on tight, October is just around the corner. (Thanks Jimm)

CIA chief says Al-Qaida at weakest point in years -- The U.S. has driven al-Qaida into hiding and undermined its leadership, but is struggling to oust its primary sympathizer, the Taliban, from Afghanistan, the nation's spymaster said Sunday.

Greece starts putting island land up for sale to save economy -- Greece is raising cash by selling off an area of state-owned land on Mykonos for luxury tourism...making it easier for the rich and famous to fulfill their dreams by preparing to sell, or offering long-term leases on, some of its 6,000 sunkissed islands in a desperate attempt to repay its mountainous debts.

Gov. Schwarzenegger halts use of welfare debit cards at casinos -- Spurred by a newspaper's report that California's welfare debit cards can be used to withdraw cash in more than half the casinos in the state, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday issued an immediate ban on state-provided cash assistance at ATMs in gambling establishments.
 

Today In History Friday June 25, 2010
1788 - Virginia ratified the U.S. Constitution and became the 10th state of the United States.
1864 - Union troops surrounding Petersburg, VA, began building a mine tunnel underneath the Confederate lines.
1867 - Lucien B. Smith patented the first barbed wire.
1868 - Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina were readmitted to the Union.
1876 - Lt. Col. Custer and the 210 men of U.S. 7th Cavalry were killed by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians at Little Big Horn in Montana. The event is known as "Custer's Last Stand."
1910 - The U.S. Congress authorized the use of postal savings stamps.
1917 - The first American fighting troops landed in France.
1941 - Finland declared war on the Soviet Union.
1946 - Ho Chi Minh traveled to France for talks on Vietnamese independence.
1948 - The Soviet Union tightened its blockade of Berlin by intercepting river barges heading for the city.
1950 - North Korea invaded South Korea initiating the Korean War.
1951 - In New York, the first regular commercial color TV transmissions were presented on CBS using the FCC-approved CBS Color System. The public did not own color TV's at the time.
1962 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the use of unofficial non-denominational prayer in public schools was unconstitutional.
1964 - U.S. President Lyndon Johnson ordered 200 naval personnel to Mississippi to assist in finding three missing civil rights workers.
1973 - White House Counsel John Dean admitted that U.S. President Nixon took part in the Watergate cover-up.
1981 - The U.S. Supreme Court decided that male-only draft registration was constitutional.
1986 - The U.S. Congress approved $100 million in aid to the Contras fighting in Nicaragua.
1996 - Outside the Khobar Towers near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia a truck bomb exploded. The bomb killed 19 Americans and injured over 500 Saudis and Americans.
1997 - The Russian space station Mir was hit by an unmanned cargo vessel. Much of the power supply was knocked out and the station's Spektr module was severely damaged.
1997 - U.S. air pollution standards were significantly tightened by U.S. President Clinton.
1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the line-item veto thereby striking down presidential power to cancel specific items in tax and spending legislation.
1999 - Germany's parliament approved a national Holocaust memorial to be built in Berlin.
2000 - A Florida judge approved a class-action lawsuit to be filed against American Online (AOL) on behalf of hourly subscribers who were forced to view "pop-up" advertisements.

Military’s Mental Health Treatment Leader Steps Down -- Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton, the director of the military’s top center for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, announced she is resigning, after ongoing criticism of the facility’s inability to cope with the thousands of troops suffering from the “signature wounds” of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
*** Related: VIDEO: Brigadier General Loree Sutton and Patty Shinseki discuss "Living In The New Normal"

Man arrested near G20 security site -- A 53-year-old Toronto man is under arrest after a G20 bike patrol found a cache of weapons, including a crossbow, in a car that was pulled over near the secure zone of this weekend's summit. Officers found three arrows, containers of gas, a slingshot, chainsaw, fire axe, saws, a tire iron and other items in the vehicle.  Read George Freund's Comment...
Associated Photos: http://www.torontosun.com/news/g20/2010/06/24/14501761.html#/news/g20/2010/06/24/pf-14501876.html

Hurricane Darby becomes a Category 2 storm -- Hurricane Darby has strengthened to a Category 2 storm in the Pacific off Mexico's coast. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Darby's maximum sustained winds early Friday are near 105 mph (165 kph) and the storm could become a major hurricane later in the day.

Caribbean Storms Strengthen, May Head for Oil Spill -- The first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season has a 60 percent chance of forming this weekend, with one computer model indicating it could head into the Gulf of Mexico where BP Plc has a flotilla of vessels trying to clean up an oil spill. A collection of thunderstorms was intensifying in the Caribbean off Honduras and Nicaragua, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said at 2 a.m. Miami time today. The center said its forecast for the system turning into a tropical storm would evolve over the next 48 hours as it heads toward Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.

VIDEO: Gulf Coast Mayor Tony Kennon Looking for 'Sense of Urgency'

The Coming U.S. Real Estate Crash -- Right now the United States is heading for another real estate crash. The only thing that has been holding it back was the huge bribe (called a tax credit) that the U.S. government was giving people to buy houses. Now that the tax credit has expired, there is no artificial incentive to buy homes and the real estate market has fallen through the floor. Unfortunately, there is every indication that things are going to get even worse. Read on to find out why....

Methane in Gulf "astonishingly high": U.S. scientist -- As much as 1 million times the normal level of methane gas has been found in some regions near the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, enough to potentially deplete oxygen and create a dead zone, U.S. scientists said on Tuesday.

No Extension of Unemployment Compensation -- The 57-41 vote fell three votes short of the 60 required to crack a GOP filibuster, delivering a major blow to President Barack Obama and Democrats facing big losses of House and Senate seats in the fall election. The rejected bill would have provided $16 billion in new aid to states, preserving the jobs of thousands of state and local government workers and providing what White House officials called an insurance policy against a double-dip recession. It included dozens of tax breaks sought by business lobbyists and tax increases on domestically produced oil and on investment fund managers.

Lunar Eclipse Graces Sky Saturday, June 26 -- Best time to view lunar eclipse will be 5:17am-8am CDT (between 3:17am-6am PDT) this Saturday, June 26. A solar eclipse will follow in a few weeks on July 11 and there will be a total lunar eclipse on December 10. While the eclipse will even be visible in Hawaii, most folks who live along the East Coast won't be able to see it because it will occur while the moon is below the horizon.

To see the latest fishery closure map of GULF COAST

Brawl erupts at Calif. kindergarten graduation -- School placed on lockdown after fight involving 20 adults; 2 women held.

Open letter to President Obama -- "It is time for your administration to come up with a serious plan that can be implemented immediately in order to alleviate the deepening impact this disaster is having on the American people. I have some suggestions for what the Federal Government’s response should be." Read More...

Rise Of The New Gold Rush -- They called us “kooks” and “crackpots”. They said our ideas were outdated and incompatible with modern finance. They said it wouldn’t last. Oh yes, Gold, they said, was a silly investment with no inherent value, and soon, precious metals investors would be “wiped out” by the “inevitable implosion of the gold bubble” (gold bubble….?). Mainstream establishment economists and Keynesians have been yipping and snarling like overanxious Chihuahuas for the past two years against gold and silver, most specifically their use as a hedge against collapse in stocks and currencies. As it turns out (and just as we expected), gold and silver have held strong and even made record gains. Gold is one of the top performing investments of the decade, rising over 277% in value from 1999 to 2009.

VIDEO REPORT: Schiff Wants A Gold Standard -- Peter Schiff, President of Euro Pacific Capital and author of "How an Economy Grows And Why It Crashes", reveals why he wants the return of the gold standard and how he's buying gold.

10 Tip-Offs You're Heading for a Debt Disaster -- Like most of life's major problems, a debt disaster doesn't happen overnight. There are clear warning signs that crushing debt could grow out of control. Here are 10 Tip-Offs that you're heading for a debt disaster. See how you score.

Unique Job Search Tactics That Work -- Doing something very different seems to be the name of the game in a job market in which unemployment remains stubbornly high. Nearly a quarter of hiring managers say they are seeing unique tactics by candidates -- up from 12 percent in 2008, according to a recent survey by CareerBuilder.com.

Boeing Says 787s May Need New Tail Parts After Inspections -- Boeing Co., more than two years behind schedule in delivering the 787 Dreamliner, said it will inspect 23 aircraft after discovering that tail parts on some planes had been improperly installed. Boeing recently identified a “workmanship issue” with the 787’s horizontal stabilizers, the Chicago-based airplane maker said in a statement yesterday. The stabilizers, which are part of the tail section of the plane, are used to keep the aircraft level during flight. Comment: This is why I always say, "If I cannot drive there, I don't need to go there."  (Thanks Jimm)!

Half of all modified mortgages redefault within a year -- More than half of all homeowners with modified mortgages fell at least two months behind in their payments a year after the adjustment was made, according to a federal report released Wednesday. However, the data also shows that modifications made in 2009, which emphasized reduced monthly payments, may perform better. Only 40.7% of loans modified in the second quarter last year were delinquent after nine months, compared to 51.6% of those adjusted at the end of 2008, according to the report, published by the Office of Thrift Supervision and Comptroller of the Currency.

Carnegie Mellon University Bombardier in high-tech venture -- A new Carnegie Mellon University venture will try to make Pittsburgh an international focal point for advanced research on smart infrastructure systems, like sensors that monitor bridges and pipelines and robotic systems that control transit vehicles. The university and the Bombardier transportation company will open a $2.2 million research center on advanced infrastructure systems this fall, the university announced Thursday.
 

Today In History Thursday June 24, 2010
1861 - Federal gunboats attacked Confederate batteries at Mathias Point, Virginia.
1862 - U.S. intervention saved the British and French at the Dagu forts in China.
1896 - Booker T. Washington became the first African American to receive an honorary MA degree from Howard University.
1910 - The Japanese army invaded Korea.
1913 - Greece and Serbia annulled their alliance with Bulgaria following border disputes over Macedonia and Thrace.
1931 - The Soviet Union and Afghanistan signed a treaty of neutrality.
1940 - France signed an armistice with Italy.
1940 - TV cameras were used for the first time in a political convention as the Republicans convened in Philadelphia, PA.
1941 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt pledged all possible support to the Soviet Union.
1947 - Kenneth Arnold reported seeing flying saucers over Mt. Rainier, Washington.
1948 - The Soviet Union began the Berlin Blockade.
1953 - John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier announced their engagement.
1955 - Soviet MIG's down a U.S. Navy patrol plane over the Bering Strait.
1962 - The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-7, after 22 innings.
1964 - The Federal Trade Commission announced that starting in 1965, cigarette manufactures would be required to include warnings on their packaging about the harmful effects of smoking.
1968 - "Resurrection City," a shantytown constructed as part of the Poor People's March on Washington D.C., was closed down by authorities.
1970 - The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly to repeal the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
1970 - The movie "Myra Breckinridge" premiered.
1971 - The National Basketball Association modified its four-year eligibility rule to allow for collegiate hardship cases.
1975 - 113 people were killed when an Eastern Airlines Boeing 727 crashed while attempting to land during a thunderstorm at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
1997 - 18-year-old Melissa Drexler was charged with murder in the death of her baby. Drexler had given birth during her prom.
1997 - The U.S. Air Force released a report on the "Roswell Incident," suggesting the alien bodies witnesses reported seeing in 1947 were actually life-sized dummies.
1998 - Walt Disney World Resort admitted its 600-millionth guest.
2002 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that juries, not judges, must make the decision to give a convicted killer the death penalty.

Federal Gov't Halts Sand Berm Dredging -- The federal government has shut down the dredging that was being done to create protective sand berms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Petraeus replaces McChrystal -- President Barack Obama has picked General David Petraeus to replace Gen. Stanly McChrystal as the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The appointment came after President Obama fired, Gen. McChrystal over criticizing White House officials in an interview with Rolling Stone.

June deadliest month in Afghanistan -- Six more US-led soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, making June the deadliest single month for foreign troops in the nearly nine-year-long conflict.

Inmates Get Homebuyer Tax Credits: Gov't Report -- Nearly 1,300 prison inmates wrongly received more than $9 million in tax credits for homebuyers despite being locked up when they claimed they bought a home, a government investigator reported Wednesday. The investigator said 241 of the inmates were serving life sentences.

Over 2 million cribs recalled amid safety concerns -- More than 2 million cribs from seven companies were recalled Thursday amid concerns that babies can suffocate, become trapped or fall from the cribs. Most of the cribs were drop-sides, which have a side rail that moves up and down so parents can lift children from them more easily. That movable side, however, can malfunction or detach from the crib, creating a dangerous gap where babies' heads can become trapped, leading to suffocation or strangulation. The companies involved in the recall were Evenflo, Delta Enterprises Corp., Child Craft, Jardine Enterprises, LaJobi, Million Dollar Baby and Simmons Juvenile Products Inc.

We Created a Culture of Job Insecurity -- People used to have stable, permanent jobs. Now we live in constant dread of losing their jobs to foreign competition and outsourcing. This Increased job competition has led to reduction in wages and consequently lower standards of living. People around the globe are more connected to each other then ever before.

More oil gushing into Gulf after problem with cap -- Tens of thousands of gallons more oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday after an undersea robot bumped a venting system, forcing BP to remove the cap that had been containing some of the crude. The setback, yet another in the nine-week effort to stop the gusher, came as thick pools of oil washed up on Pensacola Beach in Florida and the Obama administration tried to figure out how to resurrect a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling.

Human remains are STILL being found at Ground Zero: Nine years on, 72 remains found under debris -- It's been nearly nine years since the Towers came crashing down, killing nearly 3,000 people. But there will be fresh heartache for the families of victims today as it emerged that, despite the years, investigators are still finding human remains in the debris. Read More...

Last South Dakota code talker buried -- The last of the American Indian code talkers of South Dakota who served during World War II has been laid to rest. Clarence Wolf Guts of Wanblee was buried Tuesday in Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis. The 86-year-old Wolf Guts died June 16 at the South Dakota Veterans Home in Hot Springs. Wolf Guts was one of 11 Lakota, Nakota and Dakota code talkers from South Dakota. During the war, they transmitted messages from an Army general to his chief of staff in the field using their native tongue, which the Germans and the Japanese could not translate.

Does The Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill Mean That The U.S. Is Headed For Gas Lines, Higher Food Prices And A Broken Economy? -- As the Gulf of Mexico oil spill crisis enters a third month, the economic impact of this environmental nightmare is starting to become clearer. The truth is that the “oil volcano” spewing massive amounts of oil into the Gulf has absolutely decimated the seafood, tourism and real estate industries along the Gulf coast.

U.S. sending aerial drone to Texas border -- The Obama administration announced Wednesday that it will station an aerial drone in Texas as part of its stepped-up surveillance of criminal trafficking along the Mexican border. Federal authorities also have signed an agreement to allow local police from non-border communities to temporarily "deploy" to the border region to assist with security, said Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Tarmac fiasco renews call for international rules -- A hot, dark and miserable four-hour stretch spent by hundreds of travelers parked in a diverted trans-Atlantic plane renewed calls Wednesday to add international travel to a months-old federal rule limiting how long airlines can keep passengers trapped on the tarmac. Read More...

Gulf oil spill: Boat captain, despondent over spill, commits suicide -- William Allen Kruse, 55, a charter boat captain recently hired by BP as a vessel of opportunity out of Gulf Shores, Ala., died Wednesday morning before 7:30 a.m. of a gunshot to the head, likely self-inflicted, authorities said. "He had been quite despondent about the oil crisis," said Stan Vinson, coroner for Baldwin County, which includes Gulf Shores.

Mass. school district under fire for condom policy -- A new policy in a Massachusetts public school district that makes condoms available to all students, even those in elementary school, is drawing criticism from some who say it goes too far.

Beloved Connecticut Priest Accused of Stealing $1 Million from Parish -- A Connecticut priest with a reputation of caring for the poor has shocked his parishioners after being accused of faking a terminal illness to cover up the alleged theft of $1 million from his diocese.

Missouri hospital subjects brain cancer patients to massive overdose of radiation -- A Missouri hospital has admitted that it subjected 76 patients to 50 percent overdoses of brain radiation because a medical device had been programmed improperly. Read More...

Over 2 million cribs recalled amid safety concerns -- More than 2 million cribs from seven companies were recalled Thursday amid concerns that babies can suffocate, become trapped or fall from the cribs. Most of the cribs were drop-sides, which have a side rail that moves up and down so parents can lift children from them more easily. That movable side, however, can malfunction or detach from the crib, creating a dangerous gap where babies' heads can become trapped, leading to suffocation or strangulation. The companies involved in the recall were Evenflo, Delta Enterprises Corp., Child Craft, Jardine Enterprises, LaJobi, Million Dollar Baby and Simmons Juvenile Products Inc.

Mass. school district under fire for condom policy -- A new policy in a Massachusetts public school district that makes condoms available to all students, even those in elementary school, is drawing criticism from some who say it goes too far.

Beloved Connecticut Priest Accused of Stealing $1 Million from Parish -- A Connecticut priest with a reputation of caring for the poor has shocked his parishioners after being accused of faking a terminal illness to cover up the alleged theft of $1 million from his diocese.

Myth of a CIA War -- But we are aware of course, that the effort is not only determined, it is one of great sophistication as well. We know this because we are told over and over that the CIA runs both sides of the war – helping harvest poppy crops (along with Marines) in order to provide funding as necessary. Yes, this is increasingly reported with requisite eagerness and cynicism by both the mainstream and alternative media. True or not, some reporters simply cannot fathom the idea that the US military-industrial complex, and the Anglo-American axis generally, is not in control of a given situation. The US always wins, of course, except when it chooses to lose.

A Look At Gibson's Paradox And Gold -- Yes, lowering interest rates ignited the stock market in the 1990s. We also got an epic bull market in bonds. By suppressing the gold price, we got a "Strong Dollar." However, we got some other things as well. We got serial speculative bubbles which inflated and then collapsed. The dotcom and real estate bubbles each vaporized TRILLIONS of dollars of wealth. We also got malinvestment, as artificially low interest rates conveyed a FALSE picture of the economy to businesses and to ordinary investors.

New Doctor Intern Inspections to Cost Hospitals $15,000 Yearly -- Hospitals will be required to reduce physician interns’ working hours and be inspected yearly to ensure the first-year doctors are properly supervised and getting enough time off under newly proposed rules. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, a nonprofit organization that evaluates more than 8,800 U.S. residency programs, outlined the proposed policies in a paper published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The procedures would trim the length of time interns can be on call to 16 hours from 30 previously and require greater supervision of the new doctors.

Illinois Leaps Ahead of California in Default Risk, Better than Iraq, Worse than Portugal; Pension Fraud in Milwaukee -- CMA data shows Illinois and California are in the top ten list of sovereign default risks, with Illinois leapfrogging California in terms of increasing risk.

Gold Report - Ominous Signs! -- My experience is that hope is food for the masses, and it is the last asset you have on your balance sheet before you come to the realization you're bankrupt! The average investor ignores the fact that his IRA is worth less than it was two or three years ago, Social Security is bankrupt, Medicare is worthless, he is swimming in debt and his dollar buys less than it did 10 years ago. He reads his Sunday paper and takes relief from the fact that Obama will "kick some ass." Then he goes to sleep Sunday night hoping that somehow it will all work out. Lately he's been waking up at 3 a.m. with an uneasy feeling, but he keeps telling himself to ignore it.

Bin Laden hunter arrives home in Colorado -- In Pakistan, he told officials he was out to kill the al-Qaeda leader. Faulkner, who is unemployed, sold his construction tools to finance six trips on what relatives have called a Rambo-type mission to kill or capture bin Laden. Scott Faulkner said last week that his brother wasn't crazy, just determined to find the man America's military has failed to capture nearly a decade after the 9/11 attacks. Comment: Perhaps this misguided person needs Scooby Doo to help work on this mystery. Or, maybe the ghost whisperer.

Today In History Wednesday June 23, 2010
1760 - The Austrians defeated the Prussians at Landshut, Germany.
1757 - Robert Clive defeated the Indians at Plassey and won control of Bengal.
1836 - The U.S. Congress approved the Deposit Act, which contained a provision for turning over surplus federal revenue to the states.
1860 - The U.S. Secret Service was created to arrest counterfeiters.
1865 - Confederate General Stand Watie, who was also a Cherokee chief, surrendered the last sizable Confederate army at Fort Towson, in the Oklahoma Territory.
1868 - Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention that he called a "Type-Writer."
1884 - A Chinese Army defeated the French at Bacle, Indochina.
1902 - Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy renewed the Triple Alliance for a 12 year duration.
1931 - Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from New York on the first round-the-world flight in a single-engine plane.
1934 - Italy gained the right to colonize Albania after defeating the country.
1938 - The Civil Aeronautics Authority was established.
1938 - Marineland opened near St. Augustine, Florida.
1947 - The U.S. Senate joined the House in overriding President Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act.
1951 - Soviet U.N. delegate Jacob Malik proposed cease-fire discussions in the Korean War.
1952 - The U.S. Air Force bombed power plants on Yalu River, Korea.
1956 - Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected president of Egypt.
1964 - Henry Cabot Lodge resigned as the U.S. envoy to Vietnam and was succeeded by Maxwell Taylor.
1966 - Civil Rights marchers in Mississippi were dispersed by tear gas.
1972 - U.S. President Nixon and White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman discussed a plan to use the CIA to obstruct the FBI's Watergate investigation.
1985 - All 329 people aboard an Air-India Boeing 747 were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland. The cause was thought to be a bomb.
1992 - John Gotti was sentenced in New York to life in prison after being convicted of racketeering charges.
1997 - Betty Shabazz, the widow of Malcolm X, died in New York of burns suffered in a fire set by her 12-year old grandson. She was 61.
2003 - Apple Computer Inc. unveiled the new Power Mac desktop computer.
2004 - The U.S. proposed that North Korea agree to a series of nuclear disarmament measures over a three-month period in exchange for economic benefits.

BREAKING NEWS: Obama to relieve McChrystal of command -- AP reports Gen. David Petraeus to be named as top Afghan commander

McChrystal's Fate in Limbo as He Prepares to Meet Obama -- President Obama plans to decide the fate of his top commander in Afghanistan Wednesday after a firestorm over remarks the general and members of his staff made that were contemptuous of senior administration officials. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal has prepared a letter of resignation, though President Obama had not made up his mind whether to accept it when they meet Wednesday morning.

White House's offshore-drilling moratorium blocked by judge -- A federal judge in New Orleans on Tuesday blocked a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects imposed in response to the massive Gulf oil spill. The White House promised an immediate appeal. President Barack Obama's administration had halted approval of any new permits for deepwater drilling and suspended drilling of 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf.

US Dollar Value Falls and Gold Goes Higher by End of Year -- Last week, three stories acted as signposts for the direction of the U.S. Dollar value. The first is about a letter President Obama sent to members of the G20 (Group of 20 major industrial countries) in advance of next weekend’s meeting in Canada.

Ron Paul editorial: Too Much Government in the Gulf -- The real problem is not so much a lack of government assistance, but government getting in the way of those who have solutions. We witnessed the same phenomenon during hurricanes Katrina and Ike. It seems government's main role in these situations is to find excuses to stall relief, hold meetings and press conferences, waste money, punish the wrong people, and over-regulate. Yet even after many examples of past incompetence, people still look to government to solve problems in the wake of disasters. A government that tries to be all things to all people might engender a lot of learned dependence, but ultimately it only harms the very people it is supposed to serve as they wait helplessly for salvation from Washington.

Bees fitted with tiny ID tags for study -- Bees are being fitted with tiny radio ID tags to monitor their movements as part of research into whether pesticides could be giving the insects brain disorders, scientists said.

In Budget Crisis, States Take Aim at Pension Costs -- Many states are acknowledging this year that they have promised pensions they cannot afford and are cutting once-sacrosanct benefits, to appease taxpayers and attack budget deficits.

Air tests from the Louisiana coast reveal human health threats from the oil disaster -- Today the Louisiana Environmental Action Network released its analysis of air monitoring test results by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA's air testing data comes from Venice, a coastal community 75 miles south of New Orleans in Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish. The findings show that levels of airborne chemicals have far exceeded state standards and what's considered safe for human exposure.

Judge who nixed drilling ban has oil investments -- The Louisiana judge who struck down the Obama administration's six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has reported extensive investments in the oil and gas industry, according to financial disclosure reports. He's also a new member of a secret national security court.

Road Built With Stimulus Cash Named “President Barack Obama Parkway -- It’s official: An 800-foot stretch of Orlando road is now named “President Barack Obama Parkway.” The City Council voted Monday to rename a short section of Mission Road between Cason Cove Drive and Conroy Road in Obama’s honor.

Monsanto GM seed ban is overturned by US Supreme Court -- The bio-tech company Monsanto can sell genetically modified seeds before safety tests on them are completed, the US Supreme Court has ruled. A lower court had barred the sale of the modified alfalfa seeds until an environmental impact study could be carried out.

Now scientists read your mind better than you can -- Brain scans may be able to predict what you will do better than you can yourself, and might offer a powerful tool for advertisers or health officials seeking to motivate consumers, researchers said on Tuesday.

New Moon Map Shows Uranium in Short Supply -- A new map of uranium on the moon has revealed the lunar surface to be a poor source of the radioactive stuff, but it could help solve mysteries as to how the moon formed. This new moon uranium map dampens hopes of a nuclear power industry on the lunar surface, researchers said.

VIDEO: Bailout with UPS - Brownbailout.com -- Why does a company that brings in so much money need a bailout from Congress?

Top 10 Greatest Explosions Ever -- Scroll through the pages to see the top ten explosions. (Just keep clicking the "next" button to all of them).

Run to the Canadian Border -- For some time now, we’ve been advocating higher than normal allocations to both cash and gold. That’s because, during this transitory phase, both cash and gold offer protection against deflationary threats and crisis in general. In time, as monetary inflation begins to morph into price inflation, you’ll want to phase out of your cash and into gold and other tangibles. For now, however, the low carrying cost of cash, that is the result of low yields (and therefore a lower lost opportunity cost) and tame price inflation, make it a relatively low risk and useful asset.

Soros says Germany could cause euro collapse -- German's budget savings policy risks destroying the European project and a collapse of the euro cannot be ruled out, billionaire investor George Soros said in a newspaper interview released on Wednesday. "German policy is a danger for Europe, it could destroy the European project," he told German weekly Die Zeit. Soros, who earned $1 billion in 1992 by betting against the British pound, added that he "could not rule out a collapse of the euro."

HUMAN EVENTS Exclusive: Senator Jim DeMint - Balance or Crumble -- The Democrats still believe they can spend their way out of the recession. They’re wrong, but they may bankrupt the country proving their critics right. The only way Congress will ever get serious about cutting spending is by adding a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. I introduced a bill to do this last February. If ratified the amendment would prohibit the federal government from spending more than it collects each year. It would require a two-thirds majority vote to raise taxes. And Congress would be able to waive the balanced-budget requirement with a two-thirds majority only in limited circumstances, like during time of war. Comment: I think it's interesting that DeMint includes the idea that balanced budgets can be waved "in time of war". When the US is in perpetual war, this seems like a smoke screen for nothing changing. (Thanks Jimm)

Web site to view speed traps -- The maps will show you speed traps around the world. It works in the same manner that Mapquest (or any map program) works. Pretty interesting.
 

Today In History Tuesday June 22, 2010
1772 - Slavery was outlawed in England.
1807 - British seamen board the USS Chesapeake, a provocation leading to the War of 1812. 
1868 - Arkansas was re-admitted to the Union.
1870 - The U.S. Congress created the Department of Justice.
1911 - King George V of England was crowned.
1915 - Austro-German forces occupied Lemberg on the Eastern Front as the Russians retreat.
1925 - France and Spain agreed to join forces against Abd el Krim in Morocco.
1933 - Germany became a one political party country when Hitler banned parties other than the Nazis.
1940 - France and Germany signed an armistice at Compiegne, on terms dictated by the Nazis.
1941 - Under the codename Barbarossa, Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
1942 - A Japanese submarine shelled Fort Stevens at the mouth of the Columbia River.
1942 - V-Mail, or Victory-Mail, was sent for the first time.
1944 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the "GI Bill of Rights" to provide broad benefits for veterans of the war.
1945 - During World War II, the battle for Okinawa officially ended after 81 days.
1946 - Jet airplanes were used to transport mail for the first time.
1964 - The U.S. Supreme Court voted that Henry Miller’s book, "Tropic of Cancer", could not be banned.
1969 - Judy Garland died from an accidental overdose of prescription sleeping aids. She was 47.
1970 - U.S. President Richard Nixon signed 26th amendment, lowering the voting age to 18.
1973 - Skylab astronauts splashed down safely in the Pacific after a record 28 days in space.
1977 - John N. Mitchell became the first former U.S. Attorney General to go to prison as he began serving a sentence for his role in the Watergate cover-up.
1978 - James W. Christy and Robert S. Harrington discovered the only known moon of Pluto. The moon is named Charon.
1980 - The Soviet Union announced a partial withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan.
1981 - Mark David Chapman pled guilty to killing John Lennon.
1989 - The government of Angola and the anti-Communist rebels of the UNITA movement agreed to a formal truce in their 14-year-old civil war.
1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that evidence illegally obtained by authorities could be used at revocation hearings for a convicted criminal's parole.
1998 - The 75th National Marbles Tournament begins in Wildwood, NJ.
1999 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that persons with remediable handicaps cannot claim discrimination in employment under the Americans with Disability Act.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal recalled to Washington after controversial remarks in article -- Gen. Stanley McChrystal, America's top military commander in Afghanistan, has been recalled to Washington amid his controversial remarks about colleagues in a Rolling Stone article, officials said. Read More...

Vast amounts of methane in Gulf spill pose threat -- Vast amounts of natural gas contained in crude escaping from the blown Gulf of Mexico oil well could pose a serious threat to marine life by creating "dead zones" where oxygen is so depleted that nothing lives.

Is Gold Really in a Bubble? -- There is nothing magical about it. The overprinting of fiat money causes economies to break down. Then the only solution for these debt-based money systems is the printing of more money to counteract the inevitable price deflation. But when the business cycles are severe, and fiat money loses considerable and obvious value, gold (and silver) rise, relatively speaking. In fact, gold and silver, being money metals, are merely reflecting the loss of value of paper and electronic fiat money.

North America faces years of toxic oil rain from BP oil spill chemical dispersants -- When you pour more than a million gallons of toxic chemical dispersants on top of an oil spill, it doesn’t just disappear. In this case, it moves to the atmosphere, where it will travel hundreds, if not thousands of miles from the site of the BP oil spill, in the form of toxic rain. BP’s oil spill-fighting dispersant of choice is Corexit 9500. It has been banned in Europe for good reason. Corexit 9500 is one of the most environmentally enduring, toxic chemical dispersants ever created to battle an oil spill. Add to that the millions of gallons of oil that have been burned, releasing even more toxins into the atmosphere, and you have a recipe for something much worse than acid rain.

Explosion at California water fuel research company kills inventor -- 28-year-old inventor, Tyson Larson was killed in an explosion that ripped a hole in the roof and blew out the back doors to a Simi Valley building of the family member's company, Realm Industries, which was seeking to develop his water fuel technology.

Sen Kyl: President Admitted He Purposely Doesn’t Secure Mexican Border;Wants it Open for Leverage -- rizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl told the audience at a North Tempe Tea Party town hall meeting that during a private, one-on-one meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office, the President told him, regarding securing the southern border with Mexico.

UN vehicles in Florida getting ready? -- Remember, Northcom carried out that Operational Readiness Inspection from May 16-23, getting ready for mass evacuations and mass casualties from a chemical attack.

BEHOLD THE PALE HORSE IN THE GULF -- eerily prophetic? behold a pale horse. ORIGINAL CAPTION: And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. —Revelation 6:8

Gassed in the Gulf (Part I): New Gulf War Syndrome -- The petro-chemical-military-industrial complex is gassing Gulf Coast residents with poisonous Benzene and Corexit dispersant at dangerously high levels in the largest U.S. domestic military operation to date. The military and FEMA are engaged in Emergency Plans for 36 urban areas from Texas to Florida due to the unstoppable Gulf oil volcano the size of Mt. Everest, as WMR reports, indicating evacuations. Some people are advised to relocate now.

Gulf Oil Spill Pictures: Birds, Fish, Crabs Coated -- Nearly 800 dead birds, sea turtles, dolphins, and other animals have been found in the Gulf and on its shores, according to federal authorities cited by the Associated Press. But the real story may be the rate at which animals are being affected by oil, which appears to have accelerated drastically in recent days.

Council on Foreign Relations Warns US Dollar and Debt Structure at Tipping Points -- In a paper that may very well be viewed as the most important paper warning about the current financial debt situation in the United States, Francis E. Warnock argues, in a paper published by the Council on Foreign Relations, that the United States was at the tipping point in 2009 of a collapse of its bond market, but was saved, ironically enough, by the Greek financial crisis, which caused a flight into the U.S. Treasury market.

Armada of US and Israeli Warships Head for Iran -- More than twelve U.S. and Israeli warships, including an aircraft carrier, passed through the Suez Canal on Friday and are headed for the Red Sea. “According to eyewitnesses, the U.S. battleships were the largest to have crossed the Canal in many years,” reported the London-based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi on Saturday.

Skull and Bones Bank Warns on Deterioration In State and Local Government Deficits -- When Brown Brothers merged with Harriman Brothers and Company, Time Magazine noted that of the company's 16 founding partners a total of 11 were graduates from Yale University. Eight of the ten initial partners were members of Skull and Bones.

Israel Agrees to Loosen Gaza Blockade, 'Civilian' Goods Now Permitted -- Israel announced on Sunday it will allow all strictly "civilian" goods into Gaza while preventing certain weapons and dual-use items from entering the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave.

Obama Administration in Court That Individual Mandate Is a Tax -- In order to protect the new national health care law from legal challenges, the Obama administration has been forced to argue that the individual mandate represents a tax -- even though Obama himself argued the exact opposite while campaigning to pass the legislation.

World Stock Markets Soar After Chinese Yuan Move -- Global equities surged on Monday when investors welcomed a promise by China to relax constraints on the yuan, ahead of this weekend’s G20 summit of world leaders in Canada.

BP Burning Sea Turtles Alive -- A rare and endangered species of sea turtle is being burned alive in BP's controlled burns of the oil swirling around the Gulf of Mexico, and a boat captain tasked with saving them says the company has blocked rescue efforts.

Rahm Emanuel Expected to Quit White House -- Washington insiders say he will quit within six to eight months in frustration at their unwillingness to "bang heads together" to get policy pushed through.

As Tar Balls Hit More Beaches, Politicians Make More Waves -- The effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill continued to spread eastward Sunday, leaving tar balls along the white beaches of the Florida Panhandle, while Washington lawmakers maneuvered through the tricky political currents of the unprecedented environmental disaster.

8 Dead Among 52 Shot Across City Over Weekend -- Eight people were killed and at least 44 others were shot across the city Friday night into early Monday, including a baby girl who suffered a graze wound to the neck when gunfire erupted at a Near West Side barbecue

Nebraska Town to Vote on Illegal Immigrations Measures -- Angered by a recent influx of Hispanic workers attracted by jobs at local meatpacking plants, voters in the eastern Nebraska city of Fremont will decide Monday whether to ban hiring or renting property to illegal immigrants.

VIDEO: Obama Labor Chief: Illegals Have a Right to Fair Wages

Senator: Obama Told Me He's Not Securing Border on Purpose -- Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl told the audience at a North Tempe Tea Party town hall meeting that during a private, one-on-one meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office, the President told him, regarding securing the southern border with Mexico.

Anti-seizure drug linked to birth defect -- The FDA has issued a warning that certain anti-seizure drugs have been linked to an elevated risk of birth defects and should be avoided by pregnant women.

Frozen Yogurt is Not Health food -- It did not even occur to me that people thought frozen yogurt was a "health food" until I spent some time in the USA.

Evidence Mounts on Links Between Cell Phones and Brain Tumors -- A growing body of evidence, dating back to the 1960s, suggests that brain tumors may be only one of the many health problems produced by our new wireless society will produce.

Acid Gel Could Replace Dentist's Drills -- A painless alternative to dental drills is already on the market in some parts of Europe, suggesting that drills may become altogether obsolete within the next few years.

Chester Placed Under a State of Emergency -- The city’s 11th homicide Saturday prompted Mayor Wendell N. Butler Jr., to declare a “state of emergency” and institute a police crackdown on five high-crime areas.

Japan, Russia and US warships to Dock in S.F. -- San Francisco will host sailors from three different navies this weekend, including a port call by a U.S. cruiser, a Japanese training squadron and a rare visit by a Russian guided missile cruiser.


Today In History Monday June 21, 2010  -   It's the first day of SUMMER!!
1788 - The U.S. Constitution went into effect when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it.
1859 - Andrew Lanergan received the first rocket patent.
1913 - Georgia Broadwick became the first woman to jump from an airplane.
1937 - In Paris, Leon Blum's Popular Front Cabinet resigned.
1938 - In Washington, U.S. President Roosevelt signed the $3.75 billion Emergency Relief Appropriation Act.
1939 - Lou Gehrig quit baseball due to illness.
1941 - German troops entered Russia on a front from the Arctic to Black Sea.
1945 - Pan Am announced an 88-hour round-the-world flight at a cost of $700.
1954 - The American Cancer Society reported significantly higher death rates among cigarette smokers than among non-smokers.
1958 - In Arkansas, a federal judge let Little Rock delay school integration.
1963 - France announced that they were withdrawing from the North Atlantic NATO fleet.
1964 - Three civil rights workers disappeared in Philadelphia, MS. Their bodies were found on August 4, 1964 in an earthen dam. Eight Ku Klux Klan members later went to federal prison on conspiracy charges.
1973 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states may ban materials found to be obscene according to local standards.
1982 - A jury in Washington, DC, found John Hinckley Jr. innocent by reason of insanity in the shootings of U.S. President Reagan and three other men.
1989 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag as a form of political protest was protected by the First Amendment.
2001 - In Alexandria, VA, a U.S. federal grand jury indicted 13 Saudis and a Lebanese in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American servicemen.
2003 - The fifth Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," was published by J.K. Rowling. Amazon.com shipped out more than one million copies on this day making the day the largest distribution day of a single item in e-commerce history. The book set sales records around the world with an estimated 5 million copies were sold on the first day.

Possible oily rain in Texas -- "I have no idea what was in the rain collected earlier, but I know we have never seen anything like this before. We've been collecting rain water for many years due to droughts in our area in the last couple of years."

New Bill Gives Obama 'Kill Switch' to Shut Down the Internet -- Government would have “absolute power” to seize control of the world wide web under Lieberman legislation.

Officer Blocked Us From ER During Bride's Stroke -- A patient, believed to be having a stroke, says an officer with the Chattanooga Police Department blocked her husband from taking her to the emergency room at Erlanger Wednesday night.

Napolitano: Internet Monitoring Needed to Fight Homegrown Terrorism -- Fighting homegrown terrorism by monitoring Internet communications is a civil liberties trade-off the U.S. government must make to beef up national security, the nation's homeland security chief said Friday.

Republican Candidate: Obama, BP 'Colluded' To Make Spill Happen -- Bill Randall, a North Carolina Republican candidate for Congress, is calling for a “thorough investigation” into whether President Barack Obama’s administration colluded with BP to allow the Gulf oil spill.

VIDEO: Toxic Oil Spill Rains Warned Could Destroy North America Gulf of Mexico

Obama Administration Argues in Court That Individual Mandate is a Tax -- In order to protect the new national health care law from legal challenges, the Obama administration has been forced to argue that the individual mandate represents a tax -- even though Obama himself argued the exact opposite while campaigning to pass the legislation.

BP Oil and the Political Agenda -- According to F. William Engdahl, author of 'A Century of War' about oil and politics, he states in his latest article from June 10th, that, "The Obama Administration and Senior BP officials are frantically working not to stop the world's worst oil disaster, but to hide the true extent of the actual ecological catastrophe."

Gulf Oil Showing Radiation In New Test -- Initial radiation tests on a sample of oil washing ashore near Shalimar Florida conducted on Friday seem to confirm that the oil coming from the Deep Horizon blow out is carrying some radiation.

BP's Gulf Well Holds Enough Oil to Spew Out for More Than Two Years, Claim Experts -- BP's out-of-control well will go on spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico for the next two years or more if all attempts to contain or plug the gusher fail, oil industry experts said today.

California on 'Verge of System Failure' -- Case files piling up by the thousands, phones ringing off the hook, forced midweek courthouse closings and occasional brawls as frustrated citizens queue for hours to pay parking fines.

Trade War? Bill Would Ban Government From Buying Chinese -- The US government would be barred from buying any Chinese goods or services under legislation unveiled Friday by US senators angry at Beijing's policy of buying only from domestic sources.

China Officially Disses the Dollar -- The Peoples Bank of China has announced that it will no longer fix its currency in terms of the dollar. Instead it will manage the yuan against a basket of currencies.

Gulf Residents Outraged by BP's CEO Yacht Outing -- Just when it seemed Gulf residents couldn't get any more outraged about the massive oil spill fouling their coastline, word came Saturday that BP's CEO was taking time off to attend a glitzy yacht race in England.

Obama Hits Golf Course with Biden on a Another Hot, Humid Weekend -- President Barack Obama hit the golf course Saturday with Vice President Joe Biden.

Medvedev Pushes Ruble Reserve Currency -- Russia wants the ruble to be one of the world’s reserve currencies as President Dmitry Medvedev renews his push to reduce the dollar’s dominance and make Moscow a global financial hub.

Ken Feinberg Promises Money, ABC Cameras See Workers Turned Away from BP Claims Center -- Kenneth Feinberg arrived at the Louisiana State Capitol today in Baton Rouge with a mandate from President Obama -- get the money flowing to the people of the Gulf.

How Public Education Cripples Our Kids and Why? -- I taught for thirty years in some of the worst schools in Manhattan, and in some of the best, and during that time I became an expert in boredom.

Will Genetic Modification Usher In A New Age Of Prosperity Or Will It Unleash Health, Environmental And Economic Nightmares Of Unprecedented Magnitude? -- In recent years, scientists around the globe have made absolutely stunning advances in the field of genetic modification.

U.S. Troops, Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan Suspected of Corruption -- The U.S. government, which is pressing Iraqi and Afghan leaders to get tough on internal corruption, is doing the same in its ranks.

Armada of U.S. and Israeli Warships Head for Iran -- More than twelve U.S. and Israeli warships, including an aircraft carrier, passed through the Suez Canal on Friday and are headed for the Red Sea.

Bank failure is 83rd in '10; pace more than double last year's -- Regulators on Friday shut down a Nevada bank, raising to 83 the number of U.S. bank failures this year.

Jailed for Debt in the U.S. in the 21st Century -- More than a hundred and fifty years ago, Americans were thrown into jail for not paying their debts, until the country did away with so-called debtors’ prisons in 1833. Today, similar punishments have returned for those in over their heads in debts.

Blackwater Firm Gets $120M U.S. Gov't Contract -- CBS News has learned in an exclusive report that the State Department has awarded a part of what was formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide a contract worth more than $120 million for providing security services in Afghanistan.

The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Is Making A Lot of People Really Sick -- The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is already the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, but what most people don't know is that it is rapidly turning into a public health disaster of frightening proportions.

Intel Memos Warn Radical Cleric's Call to Kill Americans May Inspire Attacks -- Two new intelligence memos obtained by Fox News point to increasing alarm over radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki's recent call to kill American civilians.

Honeybee Collapse: Stung from Behind -- Distracted by a mysterious rash of dying bees, researchers may be overlooking a more insidious pollinator crisis. It has little to do with bees and everything to do with booming markets for raspberries, pears, and chocolate.

17 big questions about the handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill -- That's clear about the BP oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is that the independent journalists are doing a better job of asking the really tough questions than the mainstream media.

Anti-seizure drug linked to birth defect -- The FDA has issued a warning that certain anti-seizure drugs have been linked to an elevated risk of birth defects and should be avoided by pregnant women.

Childhood Cancer Survivors Have 10 Times Greater Risk of Heart Disease (Because radiation damages the heart!) -- Survivors of childhood cancers are nearly 10 times more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease as adults than people who did not have cancer as children, according to a study conducted by researchers from Emory University and published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

FDA Finally Admits That Drugs for Crohn's Disease and Arthritis May Promote Cancer -- The FDA has ordered makers of drugs for a variety of inflammatory diseases to add a "black box warning" about an increased risk of cancer in children and adolescents.
 

Today In History Friday June 18, 2010
1778 - Britain evacuated Philadelphia during the U.S. Revolutionary War.
1812 - The War of 1812 began as the U.S. declared war against Great Britain. The conflict began over trade restrictions.
1815 - At the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon was defeated by an international army under the Duke of Wellington.
1817 - London's Waterloo Bridge opened. The bridge, designed by John Rennie, was built over the River Thames.
1873 - Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote for a U.S. President.
1898 - Atlantic City, NJ, opened its Steel Pier.
1915 - During World War I, the second battle of Artois ended.
1918 - Allied forces on the Western Front began their largest counter-attack against the German army.
1925 - The first degree in landscape architecture was granted by Harvard University.
1927 - The U.S. Post Office offered a special 10-cent postage stamp for sale. The stamp was of Charles Lindbergh’s "Spirit of St. Louis."
1928 - Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean as she completed a flight from Newfoundland to Wales.
1936 - Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano was found guilty on 62 counts of compulsory prostitution.
1936 - The first bicycle traffic court was established in Racine, WI.
1939 - The CBS radio network aired "Ellery Queen" for the first time.
1942 - The U.S. Navy commissioned its first black officer, Harvard University medical student Bernard Whitfield Robinson.
1953 - Egypt was proclaimed to be a republic with General Neguib as its first president.
1959 - A Federal Court annulled the Arkansas law allowing school closings to prevent integration.
1959 - The first telecast received from England was broadcast in the U.S. over NBC-TV.
1979 - In Vienna, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) 2.
1983 - Dr. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the space shuttle Challenger.
1996 - Richard Allen Davis was convicted in San Jose, CA, of the 1993 kidnap-murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas.
1997 - Sirhan Sirhan was denied parole for the 10th time. He had assissinated presidential candidate Robert Kennedy in 1968.
2000 - In Algiers, Algeria, the foreign ministers of Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a preliminary cease-fire accord and agreed to work toward a permanent settlement of their two-year border war.
2002 - In Jerusalem, a suicide bomber killed 19 people and injured at least 50 more on a city bus. Militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
2009 - NASA launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS probes to the Moon. It was the first American lunar mission since Lunar Prospector in 1998.

SONG: GoD And DoG by Wendy J Francisco

Mystery Meat Macrophotography -- Here is a 2x magnification shot, showing you a bit more detail of the salami texture. Here, you can see the fat blobs in greater detail. Note, too, that the redness of the meat in this picture comes primarily from the sodium nitrite additive, an ingredient I've written about extensively on NewsTarget.com due to its well-documented link to various health problems.

12 Cities Where Home Sellers Are Being Forced to Cut Prices Like Mad -- One measure of the health of a housing market is the number of homes where the price is being sold at a discount.

National Guard Training for Riot Control, Mass Detentions -- In a previous story we noted that Reports Surfacing of Multi-State National Guard Mobilizations. Further information made available after our report, much of which was published in the comment section by contributors who scoured the web for more information on the subject, suggests that the report was true and that national guard units had indeed been called up for training and possible deployment for domestic emergencies.

Huge Miss From Philly Fed: Comes in at 8, Expected at 20 -- Philly Fed drops from 21.4 to 8, worst since August of 2009. Expected at 20.Why is the market down on this? This means that the Fed will soon have its Congress OpCo legalize a) negative interest rates and b) make holding any cash in deposit or money market funds treason.

Oil Spill Animations -- This animation shows one scenario of how oil released at the location of the Deepwater Horizon disaster on April 20 in the Gulf of Mexico may move in the upper 65 feet of the ocean.

Uptick in Violence Forces Closing of Parkland Along Mexico Border to Americans -- About 3,500 acres of southern Arizona along the Mexican border is closed to U.S. citizens due to increased violence in the region.

More Than 90 Banks Miss TARP Payments -- More than 90 U.S. banks and thrifts missed making a May 17 payment to the U.S. government under its main bank bailout program, signaling a rising number of lenders are struggling to meet their obligations.

Initial Jobless Claims SURGE to 472,000 -- The number: And the number is out at 472,000, which is way too high for comfort. That's a 12,000 sequential hike, and about 22K ahead of expectations. If this number really starts creeping towards 500K again, watch out.

Climate Change Legislation Teetering After Setbacks From Oval Office and Congress -- Climate change legislation appears dead after two setbacks in quick succession — first from the Oval Office and then from Congress.

Hidden Menace in the Gulf of Mexico -- The Gulf of Mexico spill is vastly larger than the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989, but where is all the oil? While efforts to protect coastlines have been making the headlines, the real ecological catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico is unfolding deep beneath the water's surface.

British Pensioners Will Pick Up The Bill For BP Compensation Funds -- The crisis engulfing BP has plumbed new depths as President Obama bullied the company into depositing £13.5billion into a fund to settle compensation claims for the calamitous Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Heads on a Plane! -- A Southwest Airlines employee called police after finding human heads in a package set to be transported to a Fort Worth medical research company, the airline said.

Iran to Retaliate if Planes, Ships Inspected -- Iran's Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani warned the West and certain countries with retaliation if they try to inspect Iranian planes and ships following last week's UN Security Council sanctions resolution against Tehran, the English language satellite Press TV reported on Wednesday.

Toxic Airline Cabin Air Could Be Making You Sick -- Have you ever flown on an airplane and later become mysteriously ill?

Chocolate Milk Beats Sports Drinks for Post Exercise Muscle Recovery -- After an intense workout, instead of downing a commercial sports drink loaded with artificial colors and sugar, you'd be better off just having a glass of chocolate milk.

AstraZeneca Denied Drug's Link to Diabetes For years After Admitting Link to Japanese -- Drug giant AstraZeneca attempted to obscure the connection between one of its blockbuster drugs and diabetes risk for years after it knew of the problem, according to documents recently unsealed as part of lawsuits against the company.

FDA Reverses Position on BPA in Plastics, Now Admits Concern Over the Chemical -- Following its 2008 declaration that the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) is a safe additive in food and beverage plastics, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received criticism from consumer advocacy groups and others for neglecting scientific evidence that indicated the contrary.


Today In History Thursday June 17, 2010
1799 - Napoleon Bonaparte incorporated Italy into his empire.
1837 - Charles Goodyear received his first patent. The patent was for a process that made rubber easier to work with.
1854 - The Red Turban revolt broke out in Guangdong, China.
1856 - The Republican Party opened its first national convention in Philadelphia.
1861 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln witnessed Dr. Thaddeus Lowe demonstrate the use of a hydrogen balloon.
1872 - George M. Hoover began selling whiskey in Dodge City, Kansas. The town had been dry up until this point.
1876 - General George Crook’s command was attacked and bested on the Rosebud River by 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne under the leadership of Crazy Horse.
1879 - Thomas Edison received an honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the trustees of Rutgers College in New Brunswick, NJ.
1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City aboard the French ship Isere.
1913 - U.S. Marines set sail from San Diego to protect American interests in Mexico.
1917 - The Russian Duma met in a secret session in Petrograd and voted for an immediate Russian offensive against the German Army.
1926 - Spain threatened to quit the League of Nations if Germany was allowed to join.
1928 - Amelia Earhart began the flight that made her the first woman to successfully fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
1930 - The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Bill became law. It placed the highest tariff on imports to the U.S.
1931 - British authorities in China arrested Indochinese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh.
1932 - The U.S. Senate defeated the bonus bill as 10,000 veterans massed around the Capitol.
1940 - The Soviet Union occupied Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
1940 - France asked Germany for terms of surrender in World War II.
1941 - WNBT-TV in New York City, NY, was granted the first construction permit to operate a commercial TV station in the U.S.
1942 - Yank, a weekly magazine for the U.S. armed services, began publication. The term "G.I. Joe" was first used in a comic strip by Dave Breger.
1944 - French troops landed on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean.
1944 - The republic of Iceland was established.
1950 - Dr. Richard H. Lawler performed the first kidney transplant in a 45-minute operation in Chicago, IL.
1953 - Soviet tanks fought thousands of Berlin workers that were rioting against the East German government.
1963 - The U.S. Supreme Court banned the required reading of the Lord's prayer and Bible in public schools.
1965 - Twenty-seven B-52’s hit Viet Cong outposts but lost two planes in South Vietnam.
1970 - North Vietnamese troops cut the last operating rail line in Cambodia.
1972 - Five men were arrested for burglarizing the Democratic Party Headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, DC. The men all worked for the reelection of President
Nixon. The event was the beginning of the Watergate affair.
1981 - In Cairo, Egypt, riots between Muslim and Coptic Christians result in the deaths of 17 people.
1987 - American journalist Charles Glass was kidnapped. He was held captive for 62 days until he escaped on August 18, 1987.
1991 - The Parliament of South Africa repealed the Population Registration Act. The act had required that all South Africans for classified by race at birth.
1994 - O.J. Simpson drove his Ford Bronco across Los Angeles with police in pursuit and millions of people watching live on television. After the slow speed chase ended Simpson was arrested and charged with the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

The Nuclear Option: It may happen now by Gary Vey -- It's so surreal... like a sci-fi movie. The earth is threatened by a huge hole in its crust, leaking crude oil like a highly pressurized volcano and threatening to kill all life in the oceans. The solution?

The Oil Drum - Deepwater Oil Spill - A Longer Term Problem -- Read it and weep, America. Editors' note for first-time visitors: What follows is a comment from a The Oil Drum reader.

BP comment about 'small people' causes anger -- The BP chairman's comment that the oil giant cares about "the small people" received an icy reception on Wednesday from residents along the Gulf Coast.

NOAA Expands Fishing Closed Area in Gulf of Mexico -- NOAA has expanded the closed fishing area in the Gulf of Mexico to capture portions of the oil slick moving beyond the area’s current northern boundary, off the Florida panhandle’s federal-state waterline. This boundary was moved to Panama City Beach. This federal closure does not apply to any state waters. Closing fishing in these areas is a precautionary measure to ensure that seafood from the Gulf will remain safe for consumers.

Internet 'kill switch' proposed for US -- A new US Senate Bill would grant the President far-reaching emergency powers to seize control of, or even shut down, portions of the internet. Read Much More...

4 Ways BP and Officials Are Working to Suppress the Outrageous Facts About the Gulf Disaster -- From intimidating reporters to trying to enforce no-fly zones, there seems to be a concerted effort to block public access to information.

Huge Number of Disaster Drills Held Throughout America -- America is on high alert. Over the past several weeks to the present, more than 35 major disaster drills are taking place throughout America. It makes one wonder what's prompting all of these emergency exercises and planning venues. Was it confusion over Gov. Palin's oft-quoted "drill, baby, drill?" No, it's recognition that the Feds are leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves. States aren't happy about this.

NRA Makes Deal With the Devil: Agrees to Back 1st Amendment Restrictions for Exclusive Exceptions -- Though they at first objected to the DISCLOSE Act, which would radically limit the free speech of organizations and thus, gun owners, the NRA has now agreed to an exemption for their organization (and other mammoth, mostly liberal, organizations like AARP and probably Moveon.org) in exchange for support of the Democrats’ bill.

Gulf Crisis Implodes Presidency -- Flanked above his left shoulder by what looked like a pair of turkey legs dressed in a red-striped diaper, the President of the United States spent twenty minutes Tuesday night capitulating in a fight that he refuses to win.

State Dept Wants Own 'Combat Force' for Iraq -- Tenuous though it may be, the Obama Administration maintains that it still intends to complete the Iraq military pullout by the end of December 2011. Even that won’t be the end of combat operations, however.

Fed Dodges Bullet as House Drops Audit Idea -- The Federal Reserve scored a political victory on Wednesday as Democrats mulling financial reform backed off measures that would expose monetary policy to audits and make the head of the New York Fed a political appointee.

Look How Much Worse the Slick Has Now Gotten -- President Obama made a speech last night intending to quell nerves over the future of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill crisis.

16 Burning Questions About the Oil Spill That We Deserve to Have Answered -- The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a national nightmare that seems to have no ending. Every day new details come out that are even more shocking than what we learned the day before.

Bp's 'Bottom kill' Solution Just Might Cause More Oil to Spill -- For those of you assuming that the ultimate solution will come from a relief well, Der Spiegel throws some cold water on "Bottom Kill," and why it's no sure thing.

Here's The Real Reason BP's Oil Leak Estimate Keeps Increasing -- Leak estimates have gone from 1,000 barrels a day to 5,000 bbl to 25,000 bbl to 60,000 bbl. While many take this as evidence of a BP coverup, it could also be that the hole is getting bigger.

Oil Spill's Collateral Damage: Regional Banks -- The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has damaged shorelines, destroyed wildlife, and spurred unemployment and now its contagion is reaching regional banks in the gulf, Kevin O'Brien, chief executive of Revere Data, told CNBC Tuesday.

Housing Starts Plummet in May -- Total housing starts were at 593 thousand (SAAR) in May, down 10% from the revised April rate of 659,000 (revised down from 672 thousand), and up 24% from the all time record low in April 2009 of 477 thousand (the lowest level since the Census Bureau began tracking housing starts in 1959).

BP Admits That - It It Tries to Cap the Leak - the Whole Well May Blow -- As I previously noted, oil industry expert Rob Cavner said that BP must "keep the well flowing to minimize oil and gas going out into the formation on the side":

The Fed's Purchase of US Sovereign Debt -- Were it not for the Federal Reserves purchase of Treasury and Agency bonds the US would already be unable to raise funds to service debt and issue new debt, and it would already have descended into national bankruptcy. It is no wonder the Fed does not want to be audited.

Bank of America Ordered Traders: No Oil Deals With BP Beyond 2011 -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC.N) has ordered its traders not to enter into oil trades with BP Plc (BP.L) that extend beyond June 2011, a market source familiar with the directive told Reuters.

Aftershocks Rattle Calif-Mexico Border Region -- Hundreds of aftershocks jiggled the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday after a moderate earthquake struck the seismically active region that was still recovering from a deadly Easter jolt.

In Ocotillo, the Shaking Has Been 'Nonstop' -- The 300 or so people who live in Ocotillo, Calif., had been on edge ever since a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Easter Sunday just across the Mexico border, causing minor damage in the tiny desert town.

VIDEO: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, Scientists Frightened

North Korea Rejects Torpedo Findings, Threatens War -- North Korea on Tuesday rejected international findings that it sank a South Korean ship, warning at the United Nations the dispute could lead to war.

BP Hires Mercs to Block Oily Beaches -- Last week, we all voted here on who should buy Blackwater now that it’s up for sale. In addition to Steve Jobs and the Salvation Army, one of the top finalists was British Petroleum. “Somebody is gonna have to keep all those sunbathers away from the beach,” one commenter noted.

VIDEO: Obama Gives Part of Arizona to Mexicans

Chemicals in Antibacterial Soaps Produces Toxic Dioxins -- Dioxins are a group of highly toxic compounds that are persistent environmental pollutants.

Sunflower Lecithin, the New Alternative to Soy Lecithin -- Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status to sunflower lecithin, opening up the market to an option other than soy lecithin.

US Government Loans Money to Build World's Largest Solar Power Plant -- The U.S. federal government recently approved a $1.4 billion loan to California-based BrightSource Energy to build a massive solar power complex in the Mojave Desert of California.

Millions of Patients Should Never Be Prescribed Antidepressants, Scientists Say -- Roughly half the population should never be prescribed antidepressant drugs because they are only likely to become more depressed, according to a new study conducted by researchers from Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute and published in the journal Neuron.

Today In History Wednesday June 16, 2010
1890 - The second Madison Square Gardens opened.
1897 - The U.S. government signed a treaty of annexation with Hawaii.
1903 - Ford Motor Company was incorporated.
1909 - Glenn Hammond Curtiss sold his first airplane, the "Gold Bug" to the New York Aeronautical Society for $5,000.
1910 - The first Father's Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington.
1922 - Henry Berliner accomplished the first helicopter flight at College Park, MD.
1925 - France accepted a German proposal for a security pact.
1940 - Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain became the prime minister of the Vichy government of occupied France.
1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the closure of all German consulates in the United States. The deadline was set as July 10.
1952 - "Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl" was published in the United States.
1952 - A Swedish rescue plane was shot down by Soviet fighters over Swedish territorial waters. The rescue plane was searching for a lost aircraft.
1955 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted to extend Selective Service until 1959.
1955 - Argentine naval officers launched an attack on President Juan Peron's headquarters. The revolt was suppressed by the army.
1958 - Hungarian prime minister Imre Nagy was hanged for treason. He was the prime minister during the 1956 uprising that was crushed by Soviet tanks.
1961 - Rudolf Nureyev defected from the Soviet Union while in Paris, traveling with the Leningrad Kirov Ballet.
1963 - 26-year-old Valentina Tereshkova went into orbit aboard the Vostok 6 spacecraft for three days. She was the first female space traveler.
1975 - The Simonstown agreement on naval cooperation between Britain and South Africa ended. The agreement ended by mutual agreement after 169 years.
1977 - Leonid Brezhnev was named the first Soviet president of the USSR. He was the first person to hold the post of president and Communist Party General Secretary. He replaced Nikolai Podgorny.
1978 - U.S. President Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos ratified the Panama Canal treaties.
1981 - The "Chicago Tribune" purchased the Chicago Cubs baseball team from the P.K. Wrigley Chewing Gum Company for $20.5 million.
1987 - A jury in New York acquitted Bernhard Goetz of attempted murder in the subway shooting of four young blacks he said were going to rob him. He was convicted of illegal possession of a weapon. Also, in 1996 a civil jury ordered Goetz to pay $43 million to one of the people he shot.
1992 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush welcomed Russian President Boris Yeltsin to a meeting in Washington, DC. The two agreed in principle to reduce strategic weapon arsenals by about two-thirds by the year 2003.
1993 - The U.S. Postal Service released a set of seven stamps that featured Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Clyde McPhatter, Otis Redding, Ritchie Valens, Dinah Washington and Elvis Presley.
1996 - Russian voters had their first independent presidential election. Boris Yeltsin was the winner after a run-off.
2000 - U.S. federal regulators approved the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE Corp. The merger created the nation's largest local phone company.
2000 - U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson reported that an employee at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico had discovered that two computer hard drives were missing.
2008 - California began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

YouTube: President Obama Speaks to Military Personnel in Pensacola, FL -- Hear and read the part especially when he says: "Our prayers are with the families and friends of the crews that you lost in that training exercise two months ago." What training exercises?! Like the kind that almost always concur with and mirror government-sponsored terror. (For this quote go to time index 10:50.)
 * Read the Full transcript by clicking here

Johnson & Johnson Unit Recalls Additional Over-the-Counter Drugs -- The Johnson & Johnson unit whose recall of liquid children’s Tylenol and other pediatric medicines is under Congressional investigation said on Tuesday evening that it was recalling additional over-the-counter drugs. McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the Johnson & Johnson unit, said that it was recalling four lots of certain Benadryl allergy tablets and one lot of Extra Strength Tylenol gel pills. McNeil did not respond to a reporter’s query about how many bottles those lots amounted to.

The Relief Well Will Fail, And An Undersea Oil Lake May Be Covering 40% of Gulf -- Matthew Simmons is on Bloomberg, living up to his moniker as the "Dr. Doom" of the oil spill.

American Claiming to be Hunting Bin Laden Arrested -- An American armed with a pistol and a 40-inch sword was detained in northern Pakistan and told investigators he was on a solo mission to kill Osama bin Laden, a police officer said Tuesday.

Federal Reserve Very Concerned About Double Dip Recession -- The Federal Reserve appears to have serious concerns that the economy is heading into a double dip recession. That's the only way to read a report coming from WSJ reporter Jon Hilsenrath.

6-Story Jesus Statue in Ohio Struck by Lightening -- A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said.

Soros: European recession next year almost inevitable -- Europe faces almost inevitable recession next year and years of stagnation as policymakers' response to the euro zone crisis causes a downward spiral, billionaire investor George Soros said on Tuesday. Flaws built into the euro from the start had become acute, Soros told a seminar, warning that the euro crisis could have the potential to destroy the 27-nation European Union.
Comment: Something is happening in the media, where Soros is getting all this positive face time. Be cautious of this around election time.

Analysis: Old scars emerge as U.S. and Europe part economic ways -- Mindful of the Great Depression, U.S. policymakers insist economic recovery is a prerequisite for repairing public finances. European leaders fearful of runaway inflation argue fiscal restraint is required for restoring the confidence that is necessary for growth. "This very moment is not the time to radically reduce our spending or raise our taxes because the economy is still in recovery mode and needs that support," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week.

SEC: Government Destroyed Documents Regarding Pre-911 Put Options -- Sources tell CBS News that the afternoon before the attack, alarm bells were sounding over unusual trading in the U.S. stock options market.

Russia to Buy Canadian, Aussie Dollars for First Time -- Russia may add the Australian and Canadian dollars to its international reserves for the first time after fluctuations in the U.S. dollar and euro. “Adding the Australian dollar is being discussed,” Alexei Ulyukayev, the central bank’s first deputy chairman, said in an interview at an event hosted by Bloomberg in Moscow last night. “There are pros and cons. We have added the Canadian dollar but haven’t yet begun operations” with the currency.

BP is Building Long-Term Hotels, Because This is Going to Take WAY Longer Than You Think -- Nothing says 'no quick fix' like building long-term accommodations for the responders:

Are These Two Charts Showing a Sudden Stop in Economic Growth? -- In his morning note, Gluskin-Sheff's David Rosenberg provides (without too much comment), these two economic growth charts. Note that both are year-over-year charts, so the latest results show growth flagging, though not actually dipping just yet.

How Much Further Do We Let This Go? -- This was an emergency Destin City Council Meeting this evening. If you've had a few stiff drinks or want to throw up, read the entire thing at the above link.

BP Hires Private Security Contractors to Guard 'Blackwater' -- If they had hired Blackwater, the firm would have had a particularly appropriate sounding name for the job: guarding tar-stained beaches.

Gulf Oil Spill 'Could Go on Years and Years -- This piece is hardly optimistic regarding the gulf oil spill and introduces some controversial ideas under the label of abiotic science.

What's Wrong With The Sun? -- SUNSPOTS come and go, but recently they have mostly gone. For centuries, astronomers have recorded when these dark blemishes on the solar surface emerge, only for them to fade away again after a few days, weeks or months.

UK Eugenicists Demand We Need a Global Initiative for Population Reduction -- A growing number of scientists are going where politicians fear to tread by calling for a wider public debate on the sensitive issue of the global human population, which is set to rise from the present 6.8 billion to perhaps 9 billion by 2050.

Bilderberg 2010: What We Have Learned -- Weary and bramble-scratched, elated by the press coverage, and sick of riot vans and lukewarm Spanish omelette baguettes, we return from Bilderberg 2010 with the following thoughts uppermost in our tired mind:

Copyright Bill Could Digitally Lock Us All -- Do you see what I see in the new copyright Bill C-32? Amid all the noise about new rights for users, upon closer scrutiny, this bill, rather than granting new rights, can effectively block users from making use of any and all of their rights, even existing ones.

Obama Pledges Clean Energy Policy to Cut American's on Oil -- President Obama likened the impact of the oil spill disaster on the nation’s psyche to the September 11 terrorist attacks as he made his first multi-state tour yesterday of the Gulf of Mexico.

BP Death Clouds Already Onshore! Benzene - 3400 ppb and Hydrogen Sulfide - 1200 ppb

Volcker Warns: We Are Running Out of Time -- America is running out of time to fix its huge economic and fiscal problems, warns former Fed chair Paul Volcker, who now heads a financial advisory board to President Obama.

Earthquake, Aftershocks Rumble Across Southern California -- A magnitude-5.7 earthquake shook the U.S.-Mexico border area Monday night, the largest of dozens of quakes that rattled Southern California and briefly halted a San Diego Padres game, according to reports. No major damage was reported.

Oil Spill Poses Risk to Gulf Power Plants -- Even before the big Deepwater Horizon spill, an oil boom stretched across the intake canal at the Anclote power plant near Holiday, Florida, just east of the Gulf of Mexico.

'Ominous' Pre-Katrina Conditions Now in Atlantic -- It's already been forecast to be "extremely active," but the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season may be shaping up to be something even worse: a replay of 2005, the most active and destructive Atlantic basin hurricane season in history.

Why Organic Palm Sugar is the Next Big Thing in Natural Sweeteners -- The search for healthy, natural sweeteners sometimes seems to involve a whirlwind of information.

Sugar Industry Acting More and More Like Big Tobacco in It's Ridiculous Defense of HFCS -- It is likely a no-brainer to many in natural health world that processed, refined sweeteners like white sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are unhealthy.

US Hospitals Secretly Promote Black Market Trading of Harvested Organs for Transplants -- Many hospitals in the United States are tacitly participating in the illegal organ transplant industry by not scrutinizing potential donors too closely, experts worry.

Patient Dies in Waiting Room at NYC Hospital After Waiting 24 Hours With Blood Clot -- A New York City hospital where a Jamaican immigrant died from a blood clot after waiting nearly 24 hours to be seen has agreed to a legal settlement that will place it under federal supervision for five years.

Today In History Tuesday June 15, 2010
1775 - George Washington was appointed head of the Continental Army by the Second Continental Congress.
1836 - Arkansas became the 25th U.S. state.
1844 - Charles Goodyear was granted a patent for the process that strengthens rubber.
1846 - The United States and Britain settled a boundary dispute concerning the boundary between the U.S. and Canada, by signing a treaty.
1864 - An order to establish a military burial ground was signed by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The location later became known as Arlington National Cemetery.
1877 - Henry O. Flipper became the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
1898 - The U.S. House of representatives approved the annexation of Hawaii.
1909 - Benjamin Shibe patented the cork center baseball.
1911 - The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. was incorporated in the state of New York. The company was later renamed International Business Machines (IBM) Corp.
1916 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America.
1932 - Gaston Means was sentenced to 15 years for fraud in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping.
1944 - American forces began their successful invasion of Saipan during World War II.
1958 - Greece severed military ties to Turkey because of the Cypress issue.
1964 - The last French troops left Algeria.
1978 - King Hussein of Jordan married 26-year-old American Lisa Halaby, who became Queen Noor.
1981 - The U.S. agreed to provide Pakistan with $3 billion in military and economic aid from October 1982 to October 1987.
1983 - The U.S. Supreme Court reinforced its position on abortion by striking down state and local restriction on abortions.
1992 - It was ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court that the government could kidnap criminal suspects from foreign countries for prosecution.
1992 - U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle instructed a student to spell "potato" with an "e" on the end during a spelling bee.
1996 - The Irish Republican Army set of a truck bomb in a retail district in Manchester England. The explosion wounded more than 200 people.
1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state prison inmates are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
1999 - South Korean naval forces sank a North Korean torpedo boat during an exchange in the disputed Yellow Sea.
2006 - The U.S. Supreme Court said that judges cannot throw out evidence collected by police who have search warrants but do not properly announced their arrival.

White powder mailed to federal buildings in Northwest -- The FBI is investigating letters containing a white powder that were mailed to at least seven federal offices in the states of Washington and Idaho, FBI representatives said Monday.

Obama ordering art classes, bingo, and fresh veggies for detained illegal aliens -- The Houston Chronicle has reported the details of an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement email, that though seem laughable, have been confirmed by an ICE official. The email lists changes which have been ordered at several immigration detainment centers…changes that will make the facilities seem more like extended-stay hotels than jails. Read more...

State's raw milk ban at stake in lawsuits -- Wisconsin dairy farmers who believe they have found a way to legally sell raw milk in the state will make their case in court on Tuesday. Read More...

Russian, Japanese warships due in San Francisco next week -- Four foreign warships are expected to sail into San Francisco Bay on the same day later this month. In a rare visit to the city, the Russian guided missile cruiser Varyag is due to arrive June 20 for a five-day stay in San Francisco. Hmmmm????

9/11 families furious as Obama compares BP oil spill to Twin Towers attack -- British families of 9/11 victims described Barack Obama as ‘cruel’ yesterday for comparing the terrorist outrage to the BP oil spill.

Ron Paul Editorial: Authoritarianism Is Bad for Your Health -- Polls show that a large majority of Americans don't want Obamacare. Congress should seize the opportunity to repeal the very worst aspect of this new legislation, namely the mandate that forces every American either to purchase health insurance or face an IRS penalty. This mandate represents nothing more than an unconstitutional, historically unprecedented gift to the insurance industry. I introduced the "End the Mandate Act" (HR 4995) expressly to prevent the administration from ever putting this provision into effect.

Stocks Party Like Its 2009, but Soros Sees Ghosts of the 30s -- While the banking system was stabilized by massive bailouts starting in 2008 and continuing today, the next phase of the crisis began when "the financial markets started losing confidence in the credibility of sovereign debt," Soros declared in a speech in Vienna. "Greece and the euro have taken center stage, but the effects are liable to be felt worldwide." Moreover, "we find ourselves in a situation eerily reminiscent of the 1930s," Soros declared. "Keynes has taught us budget deficits are essential for counter-cyclical policies, yet many governments have to reduce them under pressure from financial markets. This is liable to push the global economy into a double-dip."
Comment: A globalist is admitting that a financial hell is awaiting us, while defending Keynesian economics.

Congressman Attacks Student -- Last week I reported on the crude reception that Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) gave students who were protesting against high spending in Congress. Apparently, just two blocks away on that very same day, things really got out of hand.

Feds Under Pressure to Open US Skies To Drones -- Unmanned aircraft have proved their usefulness and reliability in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the pressure's on to allow them in the skies over the United States.

Big 401(k) Mistakes That Hurt Savings -- Despite persistent guidance not to do so, an increasing number of employees are pulling money out of their retirement accounts. During 2009, 7.1% of participants withdrew from their retirement plans, the highest level since 2002. More than a quarter of employees had a loan outstanding at the end of 2009. "A concern we have with our younger generation is the likelihood of them cashing out," Hess says. "We are spenders by nature, not savers and often the focus is on near-term wants versus long term needs."
Comment: No, the younger people see the writing on the wall with the stock market!  (Thanks Jimm)

Tide of Anger May Turn an Ecological Tragedy Into a Political Nightmare -- Fifty days in, the backlash from the BP oil spill is being felt on both sides of the Atlantic.

Euro Turmoil Drives Borrowers to Issue in Loonies, Francs: Credit Markets -- A drop in the euro to near its lowest level in four years means Canadian dollars and Swiss francs are accounting for record shares of global bond sales as investors flee turmoil in Europe’s government debt market.

Proof US Knew In 1979 Corexit Was Dangerous -- Here is proof that the US knew back in 1979 that the dispersants using Corexit 9527 were dangerous and had an inability to treat weathered oil.

One Ton Tarball -- One of two one-ton masses of tarball material recovered south of Perdido Pass, Fla., by the crew of the lift boat Sailfish, a Vessel of Opportunity working in the largest oil spill response in U.S. history, on Saturday, June 11, 2010. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class John Walker, USCG.

Perdido Pass Closed as Tarballs Threaten Inland Waters at Perdido and Pensacola Pass -- Oil sheen and tar balls have been reported outside the Pensacola Pass, the main entry from the Gulf of Mexico into Pensacola Bay, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

VIDEO: BP Death Clouds Already Onshore! Benzene - 3400 PPB and Hydrogen Sulfide 1200 PPB TOXIC AIR ALERT!

Is The White House for Sale? -- Obviously this is an error but..."As we looked through the latest properties to hit the market this weekend, we came across a rather famous address that is apparently now for sale: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW -- aka The White House." Aside from the price per square foot calculation, the thing that we like best about the listing is that it is for sale by owner.

As Businesses Collapse, Claimants Still Waiting for Checks From BP -- The oil giant says 20,000 of the 42,000 claims filed have been -- paid. But many affected financially by the oil spill report no responses, answers or relief.

US Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan -- The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

CFS Fighting Monsanto in the Supreme Court! -- On Tuesday April 27, 2010 the United States Supreme Court heard argument in the Center for Food Safety’s case against Monsanto (Monsanto v Geertson Seed Farms), the first-ever Supreme Court case about genetically engineered crops.

Engineers Say Interior Changed Oil Report After They Signed It -- A group of engineers and oil experts said Friday that the Interior Department changed the language of a high-profile oil spill report after they'd signed it, falsely signaling their support for a drilling moratorium that they thought went too far.

World Cup Organiser Mulls Vuvuzela Ban -- World Cup organising committee head Danny Jordaan on Sunday did not rule out banning vuvuzelas, the noisy plastic trumpets which have proved a hit with fans in South Africa but threaten to deafen players and viewers alike.

Iranian Aid Ships Head for Gaza -- * First ship left Iran Sunday, another leaves this week * Iran says will continue until Gaza blockade lifted * 100,000 Iranians volunteer to crew ships - report

BP oil spill: Largest shareholders cut stake as price falls -- BP's largest shareholders have cut their holdings in the troubled oil giant – with five of the group's top 10 shareholders selling shares in recent weeks.

White House Takes Cues from Liberal Think Tank on Spill -- If you want to see where President Barack Obama’s response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster is heading, try following the urgings of the Center for American Progress.

President to Push for Energy Bill During Oval Address -- Good Monday morning. Although it won’t be his main point, President Obama plans to use his Oval Office address Tuesday night, the first of his presidency, to argue for a comprehensive new energy-climate law that goes beyond “spill bill” provisions designed to rein in the oil industry.

Dems Assure Gov't Shutdown Will Be Avoided -- A showdown is scheduled in Albany today as the Legislature decides either to approve an emergency spending bill or possibly let New York state government shut down.

North Korea Threatens 'All Out Military Strike' on South's Loudspeakers -- North Korea warned of an “all-out military strike” to destroy South Korean loudspeakers and other propaganda tools along their fortified border, according to the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.

'I am a Muslim,' Obama Tells Egyptian Foreign Minister Gheit Islamic Coup on the White House -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said he had a one-on-one meeting with Obama, in which President Obama told him that he was still a Muslim, the son of a Muslim father, the stepson of Muslim stepfather, that his half brothers in Kenya are Muslims, and that he was sympathetic towards the Muslim agenda.

Oil Slaps Alabama Coast; Boat Traffic Shut Down -- As unprecedented amounts of oil slathered Alabama's coastline Friday, officials closed stretches of water in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida to most boat traffic to aid containment efforts.

Huge Number of Disasters Drills Held Throughout America -- From terrorist attacks and hurricane evacuations to submarine base and nuclear power plant mishaps; bomb blasts, plane crashes, dirty bombs, hazmat spills, earthquakes, medical disasters and train derailments, America is on high alert. Over the past several weeks to the present, more than 35 major disaster drills are taking place throughout America.

Big Pharma Lies About Statin Drugs Exposed in British Medical Journal -- To hear Big Pharma tell it, statin drugs are "miracle" medicines that have prevented millions of heart attacks and strokes.

Foodbourne Illness Scare Stories Set Agenda for Food Irradiation Scheme by FDA -- A recent report issued by several consumer and public health groups has found that foodborne illness costs the U.S. about $152 billion a year in health-related expenses.

Flavonoid Quercetin Fights Viral Infections, Protects Against Chronic Lung Diseases -- Asthma, cystic fibrosis (CF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are serious and even life-threatening conditions.


Today In History Monday June 14, 2010
1775 - The Continental Army was founded by the Second Continental Congress for purposes of common defense.
1777 - The Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted the "Stars and Stripes" as the national flag of the United States.
1834 - Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent for his reaping machine.
1834 - Isaac Fischer Jr. patented sandpaper.
1864 - Alois Alzheimer was born. He was a psychiatrist/pathologist, and in 1907 he wrote an article describing the disease that is named for him.
1893 - Philadelphia observed the first Flag Day.
1900 - Hawaii became a U.S. territory.
1927 - Nicaraguan President Adolfo Diaz signed a treaty with the U.S. allowing American intervention in his country.
1932 - U.S. Representative Edward Eslick died on the floor of the House of Representatives while pleading for the passage of the bonus bill.
1940 - The Nazis opened their concentration camp at Auschwitz in German-occupied Poland.
1940 - German troops entered Paris. As Paris became occupied loud speakers announced the implementation of a curfew being imposed for 8 p.m.
1944 - Sixty U.S. B-29 Superfortress' attacked an iron and steel works factory on Honshu Island. It was the first U.S. raid against mainland Japan.
1945 - Burma was liberated by Britain.
1949 - The state of Vietnam was formed.
1952 - The Nautilus was dedicated. It was the first nuclear powered submarine.
1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an order adding the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.
1954 - Americans took part in the first nation-wide civil defense test against atomic attack.
1965 - A military triumvirate took control in Saigon, South Vietnam.
1967 - Mariner 5 was launched from Cape Kennedy, FL. The space probe's flight took it past Venus.
1985 - The 17-day hijacking of TWA flight 847 began. The hijackers were Lebanese Shiite Muslim extremists.
1990 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld police checkpoints that are used to examine drivers for signs of intoxication.
1994 - The New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Vancouver Canucks. It was the first time the Rangers had won the cup in 54 years.
1996 - The FBI released that the White House had done bureau background reports on at leat 408 people without justification.
2002 - Twelve people were killed and 50 were injured when a car bomb was used to attack the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.

Power Hour Chatter on Tanks spotted being hauled in Texas....??

Another ‘Mike Tawse Original’ Thought For The Day -- Your Talents And Skills Do Not Belong To You...Read More....

Wisconsin tea party movement flexes muscles with unpredictability -- While its thousands of activists lean heavily Republican, many distrust career politicians of both parties and pledge to hold elected officials of all stripes accountable after November's balloting. New groups are popping up every week, ranging from family-run organizations that would loosen gun controls to broader-based organizations pushing fiscal conservatism, transparency in government and allegiance to constitutional principles. Last fall, following congressional town hall meetings packed by those protesting health care reform, about 24 local groups attended the first meeting of the Coalition of Wisconsin Patriot Groups.

Oil Spill 'Could Go Years' If Not Dealt With -- The Obama Administration and senior BP officials are frantically working not to stop the world’s worst oil disaster, but to hide the true extent of the actual ecological catastrophe.

Bank-Implode! Washington First International Bank, Seattle, Washington -- Washington First International Bank, Seattle, Washington, became the 82nd ailing bank to be closed by the FDIC this year. The agency estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $158.4 million.

Gold rush on but sellers beware -- From gold-selling parties to billboards to radio ads, more businesses have popped up alongside established jewelers, all seeking your gold. The growth is so rapid the City of Milwaukee has proposed a four-month moratorium on new licenses for gold-buying businesses in order to regulate the industry.

Worst Locust Plague in Two Decades Threatens Australian Harvest -- The worst locust plague in more than two decades is threatening to strike Australia, the world’s fourth-largest wheat exporter, after rainfall boosted egg-laying by the insects in major crop growing regions. “There are hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crops and pastures that are potentially at risk,” Chris Adriaansen, director at the Canberra-based Australian Plague Locust Commission said in an interview by phone. “Tens of millions of dollars” will be spent during the southern hemisphere spring to reduce the affects of the infestation, he said.

Seven State Pension Plans Out of Money by 2020 -- Seven states will run out of money to pay public pensions by 2020. That hasn’t stopped them from hiring new employees. The seven are Illinois, Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, Hawaii, Louisiana and Oklahoma, according to Joshua D. Rauh of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Combined, they added 9,700 workers to both state and local government payrolls between December 2007 and April of this year, says the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Ghost Town Detroit -- Detroit was, in its heyday just after World War II, when the US auto industry was literally firing on all cylinders, the fourth largest in the U.S., Its population was 1.85 million in 1950. Today, fewer than half that number reside in the city.

Obama Officially Begins Push for New Bailout of States -- It's clear from recent news and official government stats that the budget cutting at the state level is proving to be a real drag on growth, via lost jobs.

Piece of Deepwater Horizon Washes Ashore on PCB -- Bay County's first tangible landfall from the Deepwater Horizon crisis is not tar balls or oil plumes. Instead, it’s a storage tank officials think was onboard the Deepwater Horizon rig when it exploded and sank off the coast of Louisiana in April.

Antidepressant use rises as recession feeds wave of worry -- The number of antidepressants prescribed by the NHS has almost doubled in the last decade, and rose sharply last year as the recession bit, figures reveal.

Is US Funding Both Sides in Afghan War? -- Is the United States indirectly funding the Taliban insurgents who are killing our troops in Afghanistan?

BP and Government Blocking Coverage of Oil Damage -- It is becoming apparent that efforts to prevent the oil gushing out of BP's blown-out Deepwater Horizon rig from ravaging the Gulf Coast may be largely ineffective

Situation is Out of Control: Risk of Blowout on Norway's Offshore Gullfaks C Platform -- Two gas leaks were detected at Norway’s the Gullfaks C oil platform Wednesday afternoon, and the situation worsened Thursday when the well was destabilized due to a loss of formation pressure. Eighty nine people were evacuated from the platform.

BP Official Admits to Damage BENEATH THE SEA FLOOR -- As I noted Tuesday, there is growing evidence that BP's oil well - technically called the "well casing" or "well bore" - has suffered damage beneath the level of the sea floor.

VIDEO: BP Blocking Media Access?

Soros: Financial Crisis, 'Act II' -- Love or hate his politics, there is no doubt George Soros is one of the brightest investment minds of the past few generations.

Coast Guard to BP: Speed It Up, Stop the Spill -- The Coast Guard has demanded that BP step up its efforts to contain the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico by the end of the weekend, telling the British oil giant that its slow pace in stopping the spill is becoming increasingly alarming as the disaster fouled the coastline in ugly new ways Saturday.

VIDEO: Flight Over BP Oil Disaster Day 52 With Marine Biologist, Dr. Carl Safina

Oil Spill in Red Butte Creek Threaten Waters, Wildlife -- Containment of a crude oil spill estimated at around 20,000 gallons into Red Butte Creek is expected to last well into the night and continue through Sunday as multiple agencies work to mitigate impacts to the stream and wildlife.

Obama Issues Executive Order Mandating 'Lifestyle Behavior Modification' -- White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is fond of saying, “You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.”

EPA Takes a Giant Leap into Tyranny -- Yesterday, the EPA won a victory over the American people and took a giant leap toward tyranny, in a Senate vote 47- 53 against blocking action by the corrupt EPA.

Saudia Arabia Gives Israel Clear Skies to Attack Iranian Nuclear Sites -- Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal.

FAA Imposes Flight Restrictions Over Oil Spill Area

BP Chose Riskier, Cheaper Casing for Well -- BP Plc installed a type of cement casing on its now-ruptured undersea well that it knew ran the risk of leaking gases in order to save money, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing a BP document it received from a congressional investigator.

The Death of Las Vegas -- There are quite a few U.S. cities that are complete and utter economic disaster zones in 2010 (Detroit for example), but there is something about the demise of Las Vegas that is absolutely stunning.

Greeks Preparing for a New Wave of Anti-Austerity Agents -- A new poll shows that 7 out of 10 Greeks expect the economy to deteriorate over the next few months.

Homeland Security's Cyber Bill Would Codify Executive Emergency Powers -- At the beginning of the year, the chances that some sort of cybersecurity legislation would reach the president's desk by the end of 2010 were remote.

Vermont Medicare Checks: Seniors Asked to Refund $250 Rebate -- The federal government is mailing $250 Medicare rebate checks this week, but Vermont is asking its seniors to send the money back to the state.

NY Hospitals Agree to Stop Flushing Pharmaceuticals Down the Drain and Polluting Watershed -- Five health care facilities have signed an agreement with the New York Attorney General's Office to settle charges that they polluted the state's watersheds by dumping pharmaceutical products down sinks and toilets.

Toxic Corexit Dispersant Chemicals Remained Secret As Feds Colluded with Big Business -- After weeks of silence on the issue, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally decided to go public with the list of ingredients used to manufacture Corexit, the chemical dispersant used by BP in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.

Swedish Girl Grows Her Face Back After Side Effect to Pharmaceuticals Caused Her Face to Fall Off -- Four years after a rare drug reaction caused her face to turn black and fall off, 19-year-old Eva Uhlin has beaten the odds and made a nearly full recovery.

Electropollution Can Cause Diabetes (type-3) -- Most people are familiar with type-1 diabetes and type-2 diabetes, but did you know researchers have discovered a third type of diabetes?
 

Today In History Friday June 11, 2010
1776 - In America, the Continental Congress formed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence from Britain.
1880 - Jeanette Rankin was born. She became the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress.
1889 - The Washington Business High School opened in Washington, DC. It was the first school devoted to business in the U.S.
1895 - Charles E. Duryea received the first U.S. patent granted to an American inventor for a gasoline-driven automobile.
1912 - Silas Christoferson became the first pilot to take off from the roof of a hotel.
1915 - British troops took Cameroon in Africa.
1919 - Sir Barton became the first horse to capture the Triple Crown when he won the Belmont Stakes in New York City.
1927 - Charles A. Lindberg was presented the first Distinguished Flying Cross.
1936 - The Presbyterian Church of America was formed in Philadelphia, PA.
1937 - Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a purge of Red Army generals.
1940 - The Italian Air Force bombed the British fortress at Malta in the Mediterranean.
1942 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union signed a lend lease agreement to aid the Soviets in their effort in World War II.
1943 - During World War II, the Italian island of Pantelleria surrendered after a heavy air bombardment.
1947 - The U.S. government announced an end to sugar rationing. 
1963 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in Florida for trying to integrate restaurants.
1963 - Buddhist monk Quang Duc immolated himself on a Saigon street to protest the government of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.
1963 - Alabama Gov. George Wallace allowed two black students to enroll at the University of Alabama.
1967 - Israel and Syria accepted a U.N. cease-fire.
1977 - In the Netherlands, a 19-day hostage situation came to an end when Dutch marines stormed a train and a school being held by
South Moluccan extremist. Two hostages and the six terrorists were killed.
1981 - The first major league baseball player's strike began. It would last for two months.
1982 - Steven Spielberg's movie "E.T." opened.
1985 - Karen Ann Quinlan died at age 31. Quinlan was a comatose patient whose case prompted a historic right-to-die court decision.
1987 - Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in 160 years to win a third consecutive term of office.
1990 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a law that would prohibit the desecration of the American Flag.
1991 - Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted. The eruption of ash and gas could be seen for more than 60 miles.
1993 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people who commit "hate crimes" could be sentenced to extra punishment. The court also ruled in favor of religious groups saying that they indeed had a constitutional right to sacrifice animals during worship services.
1994 - A car bomb blew up in Guadalajara, Mexico killing five people. The bombing was believed to be drug related.
1998 - Mitsubishi of America agreed to pay $34 million to end the largest sexual harassment case filed by the U.S. government. The
federal lawsuit claimed that hundreds of women at a plant in Normal, IL, had endured groping and crude jokes from male workers.
1998 - Pakistan announced moratorium on nuclear testing and offered to talk with India over disputed Kashmir.
2001 - Timothy McVeigh was executed by the U.S. federal government for his role in the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City.

Guard Readies as Gulf Braces for Oil Spill -- April 30, 2010 – At least three states along the Gulf of Mexico are preparing for a potential call for thousands of National Guard members as the nation ramps up its response to an oil spill that’s threatening the coast. Read More...

Farmer fires home-made cannon to defend land -- A Chinese farmer has declared war on property developers who want his land, building a cannon out of a wheelbarrow and pipes and firing rockets at would-be eviction teams, state media said on Tuesday. Yang Youde, who lives on the outskirts of bustling Wuhan city, in central Hubei province, says he has fended off two eviction attempts with his improvised weapon, which uses ammunition made from locally sold fireworks.

Gold close to boiling point -- Gold came down but it is only temporary.

2 Original 'Thoughts For The Day’ from our friend Mike Tawse in the UK. :
  * Focus Upon Your Potential
  * The Greatest Gift You Can Share.

NYPD Can Keep Surveillance Documents on Protesters Secret, Court Rules -- A federal appeals court has dealt a blow to a civil-liberties lawsuit against the New York Police Department, saying the police force is within its rights to keep secret some 1,800 pages of documents about its surveillance of protesters ahead of the Republican National Convention in 2004

France selling 1,700 buildings to help cut debt -- Fancy setting up house in a French government ministry? Or retiring to a royal hunting lodge? Line up now for a supersize sale of 1,700 properties by the French state, seeking to shed dilapidated, expensive-to-maintain buildings and chip away at the country's record-high debt.

Nouriel Roubini on Financial Downsizing -- Roubini makes the case for substantially breaking up the financial system as presently concentrated. I fully support just that. In fact it is a concept that needs to be applied throughout the global economy.

Most Foreclosures Have Positive Equity -- Of all of the foreclosures in the RealtyTrac online database, less than 50% have mortgages worth less than what is owed, said Rick Sharga, senior vice president at RealtyTrac, during a session at REO Expo, which concludes in Dallas Wednesday….

VIDEO: Devastation as Toxic Filth Spreads

Bernake Warns Congress Not to Cut Spending, Cautions About Fragile Recovery -- While the conventional wisdom in Washington appears to focus largely on the need to lower the federal government's budget deficit, rather than on reducing the nation's nearly 10 percent unemployment rate, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sent a message Wednesday to lawmakers: Now's not the time.

TSA Thugs Make People Drop Pants to Go Through Airport Body Scanners -- New body-scanning machines have detected hidden weapons like ceramic knives and flagged illegal drugs. But they’ve also tested the patience—and vanity—of some passengers.

Chariman of Goldman Sachs International Was - Until Last Year - Also Chairman of BP -- Janine Wedel has written extensively on how the “shadow elite” rule the world and about the “flexians” – the movers and shakers of the shadow elite who glide across borders, and structure overlapping (and not fully revealed) roles in government, business, media, and think tanks to serve their own agendas.

USNORTHCOM Gears Up for Potential Attack On US Soil -- USNORTHCOM admits that they are preparing military operations within the United States. This is the first time in history this has been done. They will be working with DHS, state and local law enforcement on U.S. soil.

Climate Change Showdown -- Democratic leaders are scrambling to prevent the Senate from delivering a stinging slap to President Barack Obama on climate change.

Stocks Surge on US Jobs Data, China Trade Growth -- Stocks surged Thursday after reports on the U.S. job market and Chinese exports lifted anxiety about the global economic recovery.

Gulf Oil Spill 'May Top 100,000 Barrels a Day' -- BP’s oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico may be up to four times the scale estimated by a government scientific panel, pumping out 100,000 barrels a day in what equates to the company’s “worst case scenario” and prompting new accusations that executives are stonewalling the truth.

Taliban Using HIV Bombs -- TALIBAN fighters are burying dirty needles with their bombs in a bid to infect British troops with HIV, The Sun can reveal.

RED ALERT! MSM Reports 'DOOMSDAY Scenario' About New Oil Spill Developments

Total Sellout: Leading Agricultural Scientist Says 'Organic' Farmers Should Plant GM Crop -- A former British agricultural government advisor has said that organic farming should embrace genetically modified (GM) crops as a way to make large-scale agriculture more environmentally sustainable.


Today In History Thursday June 10, 2010
1776 - The Continental Congress appointed a committee to write a Declaration of Independence.
1854 - The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, held its first graduation.
1898 - U.S. Marines landed in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.
1909 - The SOS distress signal was used for the first time. The Cunard liner SS Slavonia used the signal when it wrecked off the Azores.
1920 - The Republican convention in Chicago endorsed woman suffrage.
1924 - The Republican National Convention was broadcast by NBC radio. It was the first political convention to be on radio.
1935 - Alcoholic Anonymous was founded by William G. Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith.
1940 - Italy declared war on France and Britain. In addition, Canada declared war on Italy.
1942 - The Gestapo massacred 173 male residents of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, in retaliation for the killing of a Nazi official.
1943 - Laszlo Biro patented his ballpoint pen. Biro was a Hungarian journalist.
1943 - The Allies began bombing Germany around the clock.
1946 - Italy established a republic replacing its monarchy.
1948 - Chuck Yeager exceeded the speed of sound in the Bell XS-1.
1967 - Israel and Syria agreed to a cease-fire that ended the Six-Day War.
1970 - A fifteen-man group of special forces troops began training for Operation Kingpin. The operation was a POW rescue mission in North Vietnam.
1971 - The U.S. ended a 21-year trade embargo of China.
1977 - James Earl Ray escaped with 6 others from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Tennessee. Ray was recaptured June 13, 1977.
1984 - The U.S. Army successfully tested an antiballistic missile.
1985 - The Israeli army pulled out of Lebanon after 1,099 days of occupation.
1987 - An earthquake hit 15 states from Iowa to South Carolina.
1990 - Bulgaria's former Communist Party won the country's first free elections in more than four decades.
1994 - U.S. President Clinton intensified sanctions against Haiti's military leaders. U.S. commercial air travel was suspended along with most financial transactions between Haiti and the U.S.
1996 - Britain and Ireland opened Northern Ireland peace talks. The IRA's political arm Sinn Fein was excluded.
1997 - Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot killed his defense chief Son Sen and 11 members of his family. He then fled his northern stronghold.
1998 - The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that poor children in Milwaukee could attend religious schools at taxpayer expense.
1999 - NATO suspended air strikes in Yugoslavia after Slobodan Milosevic agreed to withdraw his forces from Kosovo.

FDA warns Pfizer for not reporting side effects -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned Pfizer Inc for failing to quickly report serious and unexpected potential side effects from its drugs already on the market. In a 12-page warning letter to Pfizer Chief Executive Jeffrey Kindler, the FDA cited numerous examples involving some of the company's top-known brands, including impotence drug Viagra, cholesterol pill Lipitor and seizure medicine Lyrica.

Des Moines named best U.S. city to raise a family -- If you are looking for the best city to raise a family in the United States, head to Des Moines in Iowa. That Midwestern metropolitan area was named the best city for families by Forbes.com because of its good schools, reasonable housing, short commuting times and sense of community.

Why no price is too high for gold -- The gold price has more than quadrupled during the last ten years. So is it too late to buy the stuff? My short answer is, "No." Admittedly, gold is not like any other investment. It is not merely a financial asset; it is the ultimate form of money. But that doesn't mean it is always a good investment. Many investors make a case for gold laden with ideological fury over the government's printing press. These investors are always saying buy gold. Their arguments are timeless, but not always timely.

Banks Face Short-Sale Fraud as Home 'Flopping' Schemes Spread -- Two Connecticut real estate agents found a way to profit in the U.S. housing bust: Buy low, sell fast. Their tactic was also illegal. Sergio Natera and Anna McElaney are scheduled to be sentenced in Hartford’s federal court in August after pleading guilty to fraud. Their crime involved persuading lenders to approve the sale of homes for less than the balance owed -- known as a short sale -- without disclosing that there were better offers. They then flipped the houses for a profit.

Going to Jail for Credit Card Debts -- People are routinely being thrown in jail for failing to pay debts. In Minnesota, which has some of the most creditor-friendly laws in the country, the use of arrest warrants against debtors has jumped 60 percent over the past four years, with 845 cases in 2009, a Star Tribune analysis of state court data has found.

Watch Out For Foreclosure Rescue Scams -- As usual, if a rescue plan sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Of course, I'd be a little skeptical about the "Keep paying your mortgage and listen to your lender" advice. That one doesn't always work out either. In the end, every situation is different and it's important to "Know when to hold, and when to fold". "Saving" your home isn't as critical as saving your personal finances. Doing your own research is critical. Don't gamble with your family's future. (Video included)

Ron Paul Dollar -- Check out the Ron Paul Dollar. The Ron Paul Dollar is 1/2 troy ounce .999 Fine Silver @ 32mm round.

Britain's Unofficial One Child Policy -- Yvette Garside wanted to take her children for a swim. But pool attendants in Bolton insisted that Ryan and Jordanna, aged five and two respectively, each had to be accompanied by an adult.

Critics: 'BP' Needs to Stand for 'Bills Paid' -- The massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico has devastated much of the region's tourism and fishing industries.

Building More Homes to Drive Up Prices -- Last week, three House members introduced a $15 billion stimulus bill to provide homebuilders with construction loans.

Mortgage Purchase Applications Decline 35% Over Last Four Weeks -- “Purchase and refinance applications dropped this week, even after an adjustment for the Memorial Day holiday.

ALERT: T-Bills Flashing Trouble -- Treasury bill yields on 4-week paper closed at 0.09% at auction today, this is down from the last auction at 0.15%.

Clinton: Iran Sanctions 'Most Significant' Ever -- The looming UN Security Council vote on new sanctions against Iran will implement the “most significant sanctions” ever, according to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

State Department Anxious About Diplomatic Secrets Bradley Manning Allegedly Downloaded -- The State Department and American embassies around the world are bracing for what officials fear could be the massive, unauthorized release of secret diplomatic cables in which U.S. diplomats harshly evaluate foreign leaders and reveal the inner-workings of American foreign policy.

4th Grader Wins the National Science Competition for Disproving Global Warming -- Fourth-grader Julisa Castillo has been named the junior division champion for the 2010 National Science Fair for her project, "Disproving Global Warming." The project beat 50,000 other submission from across the US, but the clincher is that the panel of Judges included Al Gore.

BP Won't Last the Summer, And There's Another Big Hole 7 Miles Away -- Matthew Simmons is sticking by his story that there's another giant leak in the Gulf of Mexico blowing massive amounts of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf Oil Fire/ Times Square Car Bomb/ Occult Dates April 19 - May 1 -- Two events in the region of the United States are coincidently occurring during the prime occult spring dates of April 19 through May 1—April 19, 20, 30, and May 1 are said to be important dates for the illuminati satanic occult.

New Health Law Could Ban Low-Cost Plans -- Part of the health care overhaul due to kick in this September could strip more than 1 million people of their insurance coverage, violating a key goal of President Barack Obama’s reforms.

How Bad Could BP Oil Spill Get for the Gulf and the Nation -- A cap placed over the leaking BP well in the Gulf of Mexico last Thursday began to capture about half the estimated 25,000 barrels a day flowing into the Gulf by Sunday.

VIDEO: ANOTHER Oil Rig Leaking into Gulf of Mexico - BP Workers Only Working 15Mins/HOUR!

New Comet Visible in Early Morning Sky -- A recently discovered comet is surprising skywatchers by becoming brighter than predictions had first suggested and can now be seen with the unaided eye during the next few weeks.

Obama Wastes Millions of Taxpayer Dollars on Personal Entertainment -- The same hypocrite who says our energy costs must “necessarily skyrocket” to fund his political ambition, is giving Marie Antoinette a run for her money when it comes to spending national treasure on personal luxuries.

Two Tech Chiefs Triumph -- Republican voters in California sent two former Silicon Valley chief executives, Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, into the races for governor and U.S. Senate against establishment Democrats.

Turkey Insists on Diplomatic Solution to Iran After Sanctions Vote -- Ankara on Wednesday continued to insist that a diplomatic solution to the row over Iran's nuclear programme could be found, even after the UN Security Council voted to impose further sanctions on the country.

Only a Fraction of Those in Need File for Bankruptcy -- Bankruptcy filings are nearing the record 2 million of 2005, when a new law took effect that was aimed at curbing abuse of the system.

Amish Farming Draws Rare Government Scrutiny -- With simplicity as their credo, Amish farmers consume so little that some might consider them model environmental citizens.

Study Shows How Radiation Causes Breast Cancer -- It's well-established that exposure to ionizing radiation can trigger mutations and other genetic damage and cause normal cells to become malignant.

FDA Declares War on Ozone Generators -- Declaring ozone generators an unapproved and untested medical device, the FDA seized the inventory of a California manufacturer on January 29.

Sales of Alternative Medicine Products are Booming -- Sales of alternative medical products are on the rise in spite of -- and perhaps in part because of -- tough economic times.


Today In History Wednesday June 9, 2010
1534 - Jacques Cartier became the first to sail into the river he named Saint Lawrence.
1790 - John Barry copyrighted "Philadelphia Spelling Book." It was the first American book to be copyrighted.
1923 - Bulgaria’s government was overthrown by the military.
1931 - Robert H. Goddard patented a rocket-fueled aircraft design.
1934 - Donald Duck made his debut in the Silly Symphonies cartoon "The Wise Little Hen."
1940 - Norway surrendered to the Nazis during World War II.
1943 - The withholding tax on payrolls was authorized by the U.S. Congress.
1945 - Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki declared that Japan would fight to the last rather than accept unconditional surrender.
1946 - Mel Ott (with the New York Giants) became the first manager to be ejected from a doubleheader (both games).
1959 - The first ballistic missile carrying submarine, the USS George Washington, was launched.
1972 - American advisor John Paul Vann was killed in a helicopter accident in Vietnam.
1978 - Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints struck down a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men from the Mormon priesthood.
1980 - Richard Pryor was severely burned by a "free-base" mixture that exploded. He was hospitalized more than two months.
1985 - Thomas Sutherland, an American educator, was kidnapped in Lebanon. He was not released until November 1991.
1986 - The Rogers Commission released a report on the Challenger disaster. The report explained that the spacecraft blew up as a
result of a failure in a solid rocket booster joint.
1998 - In Jasper, TX, three white men were charged in the dragging death of African-American James Byrd Jr.
1999 - NATO and Yugoslavia signed a peace agreement over Kosovo.
2000 - The U.S. Justice Department announced that it had not uncovered reliable evidence of conspiracy behind 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
2000 - Canada and the United States signed a border security agreement. The agreement called for the establishment of a border-enforcement team.
2000 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted to repeal gift and estate taxes. The bill called for the taxes to be phased out
over 10 years.

BARACK OBAMA'S KENYAN BIRTH CERTIFICATE -- This is part of what Obama has spent almost $2M to hide... you decide...! What part of "here it is" do they not understand?"  Thanks George!

Question survey on Arizona law: Do you support Arizona's tough new law on illegal immigration? -- Just click on site, check off your answer...then see results...

Study shows how radiation causes breast cancer -- Common sense suggests there is plenty of reason to be worried about radiation causing breast cancer. And now there's a new reason to be concerned. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have discovered that radiation exposure can alter cells' microenvironment (the environment surrounding cells). And that greatly raises the odds future cells will become cancerous. Read More...

GM Recalls 1.53 Million Cars, Trucks for Fire Risk -- General Motors Co. is recalling 1.53 million cars and trucks worldwide because fires can be ignited by components that heat windshield-washer fluid. The company will disable the heating mechanism in the washers of Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer and Saturn brands from model years 2006 to 2009, according to an e-mailed statement today. It said it will pay owners $100 for each vehicle because the feature won't be available and the maker of the units is out of business.

Food Safety Should Be Regulated by One U.S. Agency Says Report -- Food safety in the U.S. would improve if a single agency were responsible for oversight of produce, poultry and meat, a report ordered by Congress said. The Food and Drug Administration, which monitors 80 percent of the U.S. food supply, should create a single food-safety agency and establish a formal system for evaluating which issues pose the biggest risk to public health, the Institute of Medicine, an independent group that is part of the National Academy of Sciences, said today in its report. Comment: Another agency...gee, that's going to solve everything.

File your claims! Or BP won't pay -- In response to a growing perception that filing a claim for compensation from BP is more trouble than it's worth, officials in Alabama announced a program Tuesday to help workers affected by the oil spill get the money they're entitled to. Read More...

Chemtrails and Monsanto's New Aluminum Resistant Gene -- Monsanto is currently marketing an aluminum resistance gene. Here’s the spin, folks:

REMEMBER: In 1930, They Didn't Know It Was 'The Great Depression' Yet -- In the past year, we've written a lot about the similarity between the rally of early 1930 and the one we had through April of this year.

Beijing Says North Korea Killed Three Chinese at Border -- North Korean border guards shot and killed three Chinese suspected smugglers and wounded a fourth last week, prompting a complaint from Pyongyang's only major ally, China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Obama Seeking Five Percent Cuts in Some Programs -- President Barack Obama is asking government agencies to develop plans for 5 percent reductions in array of domestic programs, the White House said on Tuesday.

Bernake: I Don't Know Yet How the US Will Fix It's Deficit -- Fed chairman Ben Bernanke has warned about a tough recovery ahead, in an interview with CNN

Investment Banker: It's Going to Get Nasty - Buy Land, Barbed Wire and Guns -- Bond markets could get very nasty over the coming months, while stock investors could take a few months off and stop attempting to trade volatile swings in the markets, Anthony Fry, senior managing director at Evercore Partners, told CNBC Monday.

Senator Confirms Reports That Wellbore is Pierced: Oil Seeping From Seabed in Multiple Places -- Senator Bill Nelson was interviewed by Andrea Mitchell this morning on MSNBC and confirmed reports of oil seeping up from additional leak points on the seafloor.

Afghan War Overtakes Vietnam to Become the Longest Conflict in US History -- Afghanistan has become the longest conflict in American history - surpassing even the Vietnam war.

China's 'Cancer Villages' Reveal Dark Side of Economic Boom -- Polluting factories in rural communities are forming a deadly toxic cocktail for villagers, leading to surging rates of cancer

Long-Term Unemployed Now 46 Percent of Unemployed, Highest Percentage on Record -- If you lose your job these days, it's worth scrambling to find a new one � fast. After six months of unemployment, your chances of landing work dwindle.

America Today: Medicated Drivers, Toxic Foods and Counterfeit Money Supply -- There are a great many reasons to love America. For one thing, Freedom of Speech remains largely intact in the USA (although the FDA has struck a serious blow to the principle with its ongoing censorship of free speech about nutritional supplements). We also have a diverse culture of people who are by and large friendly people.

Doctors are Addicted to 'Every Drug Under the Sun' -- Doctors suffer in secret from a wide range of physical and mental health problems including addiction, according to the findings of a new health program in the United Kingdom.

Western Diet Promotes Depression in Women -- Women who eat a typical Western diet high in junk food may increase their risk of suffering from mood disorders such as depression, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Melbourne and published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Breast Cancer Cells Destroyed by Peach and Plum Extracts -- Even the most aggressive types of breast cancer cells couldn't stand up to treatments with peach and plum extracts. That's the outcome of a natural fruit-derived treatment tested in the Texas AgriLife Research Lab which resulted in cancer cells dying while normal cells were not harmed at all.

BP is using stuff that is toxic to sea life -- The principal health effects following acute exposure to 2-butoxyethanol are irritation of the eyes and respiratory tract. The critical effect identified in repeated dose animal studies is haematotoxicity.

Gulf Oil Spill: How BP's Dispersants May Contaminate Seafood for Years -- Oil Dispersants Will Contaminate Seafood and crops for years -- "Not only will the oil, benzene, and Corexit contaminate seafood, but eventually all the crops on land. Will farmers not be able to sell their crops due to very high benzene levels? I wonder if the government will try to ignore all the poison crops. I won't be surprised to hear next that BP bought a huge amount of Corexit just before the oil leak." Thanks sgam!!

Photo gallery: Ripple effects of the BP oil spill -- Clean-up crews are removing blobs of oil that have washed ashore in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. Meantime, the disaster is taking a toll on the oil-drenched sea life and birds, especially brown pelicans.

Obama Warns Oil Spill Will Substantially Impact Economy -- President Barack Obama Obama has met with Cabinet and other officials dealing with the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The president says it is clear there will be substantial ongoing economic effects from the spill.

Fickle Oil Spill Scatters Its Threats Across Gulf -- Oil from the BP spill is slathering some areas in a tarry mess while leaving others unscathed, even as a device collects more and more crude gushing from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

Gold Price Hits New Record As It Breaks Through $1,250 -- The price of gold rose to an all-time high point above $1,250 an ounce on Tuesday, as investors nervous about the weak state of the global economy sought safety in the precious metal.


Today In History Tuesday June 8, 2010
1861 - Tennessee voted to secede from the Union and joined the Confederacy.
1869 - Ives W. McGaffey received a U.S. patent for the suction vacuum cleaner.
1872 - The penny postcard was authorized by the U.S. Congress.
1904 - U.S. Marines landed in Tangiers, Morocco, to protect U.S. citizens.
1915 - U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigned in a disagreement over U.S. handling of the sinking of the Lusitania.
1947 - "Lassie" debuted on ABC radio. It was a 15-minute show.
1948 - Milton Berle hosted "Texaco Star Theater" NBC-TV. It was the show's debut.
1953 - The U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregated restaurants in Washington, DC.
1961 - The Milwaukee Braves set a major league baseball record when four consecutive home runs in the seventh inning.
1965 - U.S. troops in South Vietnam were given orders to begin fighting offensively.
1967 - Israeli airplanes attacked the USS Liberty in the Mediterranean during the 6-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
34 U.S. Navy crewmen were killed. Israel later called the incident a tragic mistake due to the mis-identification of the ship. The U.S. has never publicly investigated the incident.
1968 - James Earl Ray was captured at the London Airport. He was suspected of assassinating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
1969 - U.S. President Richard Nixon met with President Thieu of South Vietnam to tell him 25,000 U.S. troops would pull out by August.
1978 - A jury in Clark County, Nevada, ruled that the "Mormon will," was a forgery. The work was supposedly written by Howard Hughes.
1982 - U.S. President Reagan became the first American chief executive to address a joint session of the British Parliament.
1987 - Fawn Hill began testifying in the Iran-Contra hearings. She said that she had helped to shred some documents.
1991 - A victory parade was held in Washington, DC, to honor veterans of the Persian Gulf War.
1994 - The warring factions in Bosnia agreed to a one-month cease-fire.
1995 - U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady was rescued by U.S. Marines after surviving alone in Bosnia after his F-16 fighter was shot down on June 2.
1996 - China set off an underground nuclear test blast.
1998 - The National Rifle Association elected Charlton Heston to be its president.
1998 - Honda agreed to pay $17.1 million for disconnecting anti-pollution devices in 1.6 million cars.
1998 - The space shuttle Discovery pulled away from Mir, ending America's three-year partnership with Russia.
2000 - The Dallas Stars and the New Jersey Devils played the NHL's longest scoreless game in Stanley Cup finals history. The fifth game of the series lasted 106 minutes and 21 seconds. The game ended with a goal by Mike Madano that allowed the Stars to play a game six back in Dallas.
2001 - In Japan, a knife-wielding man murdered eight children at an elementary school.
2004 - Nate Olive and Sarah Jones began the first known continuous hike of the 1,800-mile trail down the U.S. Pacific Coast. They completed the trek at the U.S.-Mexico border on September 28.

Shallow-Water Oil Drilling Plans Must Be Resubmitted -- The U.S. suspended shallow-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico until oil and gas producers resubmit plans to meet revised safety and environmental rules. The Obama administration is “pulling back” the exploration applications and requiring updated information for waters less than 500 feet deep to “ensure that new safety standards and risk considerations are incorporated,” said Bob Abbey, acting director of the Minerals Management Service

Statement from Jim Purcey's family - The immediate family would like to make the following statements which are based on facts surrounding the findings of the Coroner’s and Police investigations. For those who haven't heard yet, on Memorial Day Monday May 31st Jim was found in his car mortally burned after a severe fire.

Apache attack video update -- A troop who allegedly leaked the Apache attack video to Wikileaks has been arrested.
 * Related Article: Army Intelligence Analyst Detained in WikiLeaks Case

America’s War in Afghanistan Now Officially Longer than Vietnam -- As of yesterday, June 7, 2010, the war in Afghanistan has lasted 104 months, surpassing Vietnam as the longest war in American history.

BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Gulf of Mexico -- Great map on this Gov site. This site has been established to track what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico and provide information on how Washington State is providing assistance.

Military Support Continues on Gulf Coast -- Military support continues today as part of an interagency response force that’s working to clean up an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
 * Related article: Louisiana Guard continues to push in Grand Isle -- Heavy equipment operators from the Louisiana National Guard's 922nd Horizontal Engineer Company, 769th Engineer Battalion, bulldoze sand to close a strait between two peninsulas near Grand Isle, La., May 10, 2010. The closure will be a secondary defense in addition to the boom line in the Gulf of Mexico to prevent any oil from reaching further inland.

No letup in Marine attempted suicides -- Eighty-nine Marines tried to commit suicide through May, most commonly by overdose or lacerations, according to statistics and the Marine Corps suicide prevention program officer,Eighty-nine Marines tried to commit suicide through May, most commonly by overdose or lacerations, according to statistics and the Marine Corps suicide prevention program officer.

Journalist Helen Thomas Retires Amid Controversy -- Longtime Washington journalist Helen Thomas abruptly retired Monday as a columnist for Hearst News Service following remarks she made about Israel that were denounced by the White House and her press corps colleagues.
 * Related Article: Helen Thomas Quits After Israel Comments -- Journalist Helen Thomas, who has covered every administration since Eisenhower's and occupies front-row center in the White House briefing room is taking heat for comments she recently made on Israel.

Goldman Subpoenaed After FCIC Says Firm Slowed Probe -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was subpoenaed by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission after panel members said the most profitable firm in Wall Street history engaged in a document “dump” to hinder a probe. Goldman Sachs sent more than a billion pages of documents, FCIC Vice Chairman Bill Thomas said on a conference call with reporters today. Not all of the information is what the panel requested, and Goldman Sachs didn’t cooperate with requests to interview Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn and Chief Financial Officer David Viniar, FCIC Chairman Phil Angelides said.

Bank of America Employees Say Bank Stole $100 Million from Paychecks -- But, by now the excitement is just too much… you just have to be stealing and screwing someone in order to feel normal. You look around for virgin ground… customers… no, nothing more you can do to them… already stole most of their houses. And then it dawns on you… the employees… you haven’t tapped the employees yet. Yeah, that’s the ticket… how can you steal from the employees. And start at the bottom, where they’ll be scared to even bring it up. Then move upward to the branch managers… ooohhh… this is getting exciting, don’t you think?

European Stocks, Pound Decline on Deficit Woes; Gold at Record -- European stocks fell for the third day and the pound weakened after Fitch Ratings said Britain’s deficit challenge is “formidable,” adding to concerns that the region’s fiscal crisis is spreading. U.S. futures climbed and copper and oil erased gains, while gold rose to a record.

Fifty Statistics About The U.S. Economy -- Our greed and our debt are literally eating our economy alive. Total government, corporate and personal debt has now reached 360 percent of GDP, which is far higher than it ever reached during the Great Depression era. We have nearly totally dismantled our once colossal manufacturing base, we have shipped millions upon millions of middle class jobs overseas, we have lived far beyond our means for decades and we have created the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world. A great day of financial reckoning is fast approaching, and the vast majority of Americans are totally oblivious.

"Who Controls the Gold Market?" by Julian Phillips -- When gold price are slammed down in one day, as they were on Friday by more than $20 it is certain that some sort of concerted action was taken to push the price down. Fingers point at the leading U.S. banks. But then later on Friday, before its close, there came a huge surge in buying that took the gold price up to $1,220 from $1,192. This pressure equaled or bettered the downward pressures seen in that day. This bodes well this week for pressures between these two blocs to continue or even heighten until the gold price breaks one way or the other. It’s time to look at who is controlling the gold market?

Corexit is Killing the Gulf -- Let us set aside the possibility of provable intent or gross criminal negligence of governmental regulators and oil company executives causing or allowing the worse humanly caused catastrophe in world history.

BP Buys Google, Yahoo Search Words to Keep People Away From Real News on Gulf Oil Spill -- In their most tenacious effort to control the ‘spin’ on the worst oil spill disaster in the history, BP has purchased top internet search engine words so they can re-direct people away from real news on the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe.

Deepwater Well Integrity May Be Shot Meaning Oil Could Be Leaking Straight Up From Seabed -- This may be the real nightmare scenario in the Gulf. Some have speculated that the inner integrity of the Deepwater well could be blown (not just the top) and that oil could be leaking out from the side, making it hard to imagine how you might go about plugging the thing.

Doctors Group Says Bush Administration Conducted Medical Experiments on Detainees -- A new report by the watchdog group Physicians for Human Rights alleges Monday that the Bush Administration experimented on terrorism suspects during their enhanced interrogation program put in force starting in 2002.

Let's Hope the Current Dollar Move Is Nothing Like the Last Dollar Spike -- In his latest note on comparisons between the current state of the economy and the Great Depression, Martin Armstrong provides a nice look at the dollar index between 1900-1950.

Bilderberg Wants Americans Disarmed and Dependent on Government -- As part of Bilderberg’s agenda to “Europeanize” America and turn it into a socialist welfare state wherein its citizens are completely dependent on the government, the elite are celebrating President Obama’s support for a UN small arms treaty, which many fear could be used to impinge on the right to keep and bear arms.

Anti-Speed Camera Activist Nabs Bluff City PD's Expiring Domain -- Brian McCrary found the perfect venue to gripe about a $90 speeding ticket when he went to the Bluff City Police Department’s website, saw that its domain name was about to expire, and bought it right out from under the city’s nose.

Obama Seeking 'Ass to Kick' -- "I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."

California-Nevada Fault Map Centered at 34 Degrees North, 118 Degrees West -- Maps show events recorded in the past 7 days. These Maps are updated whenever a new earthquake has been located.

DJIA Falls Through 'Flash Crash' Low -- Stocks fell on Monday in a late-day selloff that took the Dow Jones Industrial Average below its lows of the May 6 "flash crash."

Oiled Birds Found in Texas, Battle Likely to Stretch Into Fall -- A containment cap was capturing more and more of the crude pouring from a damaged oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, but that bit of hope was tempered by a sharp dose of pragmatism as the federal government's point man warned the crisis could stretch into the fall.

Bombshell Expose' The Real Reason the Oil Still Flows Into The Gulf of Mexico -- As you know, the Deep Water Horizon has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. It has been spewing oil from a ruptured wellpipe for over a month.

1 Missing After Natural Gas Line Blast in Texas -- A large natural gas line in north Texas erupted Monday after utility workers accidentally hit the line, sending a massive fireball into the air and leaving one worker missing hours after the blast, officials said.

Antidepressants During Pregnancy Cause Alarming 68 Percent Increased Risk of Miscarriage -- Back in 2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that exposure to the antidepressant paroxetine (sold as Paxil, Paxil CR, and Pexeva) in the first trimester of pregnancy might increase the risk for birth defects, especially heart problems.

Palm Fruit Oil is the Richest Source of Tocotrienols, the Other Half of the Vitamin E Equation -- Many people are already aware of the fact that vitamin E helps to rid the body of free radicals and protect it from cancer, cardiovascular disease, heart disease and other serious illness.


Today In History Monday June 7, 2010
1775 - The United Colonies changed their name to the United States.
1863 - Mexico City was captured by French troops.
1900 - Boxer rebels cut the rail links between Peking and Tientsin in China.
1903 - Professor Pierre Curie revealed the discovery of Polonium.
1929 - The sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome.
1932 - Over 7,000 war veterans marched on Washington, DC, demanding their bonuses.
1935 - Pierre Laval received emergency powers to save the franc.
1939 - King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, arrived in the U.S. It was the first visit to the U.S. by a reigning British
monarch.
1942 - The Battle of Midway ended. The sea and air battle lasted 4 days. Japan lost four carriers, a cruiser, and 292 aircraft,
and suffered 2,500 casualties. The U.S. lost the Yorktown, the destroyer USS Hammann, 145 aircraft, and suffered 307 casualties.
1942 - Japan landed troops on the islands of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutians. The U.S. invaded and recaptured the Alutians one
year later.
1944 - Off of the coast of Normandy, France, the Susan B. Anthony sank. All 2,689 people aboard survived.
1948 - The Communists completed their takeover of Czechoslovakia.
1966 - Sony Corporation unveiled its brand new consumer home videotape recorder. The black and white only unit sold for $995.
1965 - In the U.S., the Gemini 4 mission was completed. The mission featured the first spacewalk by an American.
1968 - In Operation Swift Saber, U.S. Marines swept an area 10 miles northwest of Danang in South Vietnam.
1976 - "The NBC Nightly News", with John Chancellor and David Brinkley, aired for the first time.
1981 - Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers destroyed Iraq’s only nuclear reactor.
1994 - The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia declared the RMS Titanic, Inc. (RMST) salvor-in-
possession of the wreck and the wreck site of the RMS Titanic.
1998 - James Byrd Jr., at age 49, was murdered in Jasper, TX. Byrd had been dragged to death behind a pickup truck. On February
25, 1999 William King was sentenced to the death penalty for the racial crime while two other men charged awaited trial.
2000 - U.S. Federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered the breakup of Microsoft Corporation.

Remembering Jim Purcey - FUNERAL SERVICES Announced for James (Jim) M. Purcey -- Please feel free to sign the guest book.
 * Related Article: http://deadlinelive.info/2010/06/04/freedom-activist-jim-purcey-suicided/

Original Thought For The Day from Our Friend Mike Tawse in the UK -- The Paradox Of Knowledge - Your knowledge is of no use to you if you do not accept its potential to change everything that you know. Be sure and check out his websites!

Utah: Judge has stopped all foreclosure proceedings in the State of Utah by Bank of America Corporation -- The Court Order if allowed to become permanent will force Bank of America and other mortgage companies with home loans in Utah to adhere to the Utah laws requiring lenders to register in the state and have offices where home owners can negotiate face-to-face with their lenders as the state lawmakers intended (Utah Code ‘ 57-1-21(1)(a)(i).).

Bilderberg 2010: Final List of Participants -- This is the official participant list direct from Bilderberg. We have to remember that many participants request that their names not be added, as we covered in 2008 when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama attended the Bilderberg meeting in Chantilly Virginia under a cloak of secrecy, so there are likely to be more attendees who were not included on the list.

FDIC Bank Closure # 81 -- The Big Picture.

Many Gulf federal judges have oil links -- More than half of the federal judges in districts where the bulk of Gulf oil spill-related lawsuits are pending have financial connections to the oil and gas industry, complicating the task of finding judges without conflicts to hear the cases, an Associated Press analysis of judicial financial disclosure reports shows.

Time for law-abiding American citizens to stop paying taxes, start a new government? -- The evidence is now overwhelming. The United States government has facilitated the theft of trillions of dollars of national wealth and 99% of the US population no longer has political representation. Now that I have your attention, I want to make it clear to you that I am being rational and serious when I ask this question: Is it time for law abiding American citizens to stop paying their taxes and start a new government?

Surging costs hit food security in poorer nations -- Scraping to afford the next meal is still a grim daily reality in the developing world even though the global food crisis that dominated headlines in 2008 quickly faded in the U.S. and other rich countries. With food costing up to 70 percent of family income in the poorest countries, rising prices are squeezing household budgets and threatening to worsen malnutrition, while inflation stays moderate in the United States and Europe. Compounding the problem in many countries: prices hardly fell from their peaks in 2008, when global food prices jumped in part due to a smaller U.S. wheat harvest and demand for crops to use in biofuels.

Top 10 Songs About Unemployment -- Comment: Who said that musicians shouldn't be allowed to sing about this stuff?

Headwinds, still, for a tumultuous year -- No one said 2010 was going to be an easy year in the markets and for economic growth worldwide. And it hasn't been. The gruesome U.S. stock market performance in May, the worst in 15 months, is the latest evidence of a tumultuous year that started with cautious optimism for investors trying to navigate between signs of economic recovery, crisis and policy reforms.

Kellogg's drops Rice Krispies health claims -- The Federal Trade Commission said the company had agreed in February 2009 to stop claiming that its Frosted Mini Wheats were "clinically shown to improve kids' attentiveness by nearly 20 percent." In an advertising campaign that began in about July 2009, Kellogg began advertising on cereal boxes that Rice Krispies "now helps support your child's immunity."

Obama's FTC Plan to Reinvent America's News Media -- What's widely-known is that Americans are not buying newspapers anymore in droves.

WHO Scandal Exposed: Advisors Received Kickbacks From H1N1 Vaccine Manufacturers -- A stunning new report reveals that top scientists who convinced the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare H1N1 a global pandemic held close financial ties to the drug companies that profited from the sale of those vaccines.

Nearly 100,000 Protest For Closure of US Military Base in Japan -- A protest on the Japanese island of Okinawa calling for the closure of a United States military base attracted almost 100,000 people on Sunday, after speculations that the Japanese government may back out of an election promise to force it off the island entirely.

Britain Will Open Door to Frankenstein Food -- Genetically modified crops were last night given enthusiastic backing by the Environment Secretary.

US Debt Approaches Reinhart-Rogoff Line -- Research by economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff suggests that once a developed nation’s debt crosses 90% of annual economic output that annual economic growth tends to be about one percentage point lower.

FDIC Massive Problems Ahead With Smaller Bank Failures -- The FDIC went ahead and closed another handful of banks this Friday.

Three banks Closed -- FDIC Failed Bank List

Ari Fleisher: Fire Helen Thomas 'She is Advocating Religious Cleansing' -- Longtime White House scribe Helen Thomas caused more than a few eyebrows to perk up when video surfaced on Friday of her declaring that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and go back to Germany and Poland.

BP Chief Tony Hayward Sold Shares Weeks Before Oil Spill -- The chief executive of BP sold £1.4 million of his shares in the fuel giant weeks before the Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused its value to collapse.

Obama Under Fire for Backing Deal to Lift Global Ban on Commercial Whaling -- Environmentalists, already peeved with the administration’s handling of the Gulf oil spill, are accusing President Obama of breaking his campaign pledge to end the slaughter of whales.

Israel Diverts Gaza Aid Ship Racheal Corrie to Ashod -- An aid ship intercepted by the Israeli military while trying to break the blockade of Gaza has arrived in the Israeli port of Ashdod.

Gulf Oil Spill Breakthrough? Cap Collecting 'Majority' of Oil? -- BP reported Sunday that its containment cap is now collecting 420,000 gallons a day, saying that was a 'majority' of the oil. But the flow rate in the Gulf oil spill is still uncertain, and BP has failed to live up to its optimistic predictions in the past.

Oil Stains Beaches and Tourists as Slick Spreads -- Beachgoers gawked at tar balls, discolored seashells and orange foam that washed up on the Gulf Coast's once-pristine white sand shores Saturday, the crude from a busted oil well deep underwater appearing in greater quantities and farther east.

Contractor: BP Is Trying to Hide Dead Animals, Since the Ocean Will Eventually Wash Away the Evidence -- 'In recent weeks, reporters and photographers for major news organizations around the country have been speaking out about the attempts by BP to prevent them from getting a first-hand look at the Gulf Coast oil spill.

BP Cleanup Program Reportedly Helping 'Weekend Warriors' Not Fishermen -- A BP program to hire the owners of small boats to help clean the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has reportedly resulted in windfalls for rich pleasure-craft owners -- and not commercial fishermen who have seen their livelihoods covered in crude.

AP Impact: Many Gulf Federal Judges Have Oil Links, Complicating Assignments on Spill Lawsuits -- More than half of the federal judges in districts where the bulk of Gulf oil spill-related lawsuits are pending have financial connections to the oil and gas industry, complicating the task of finding judges without conflicts to hear the cases, an Associated Press analysis of judicial financial disclosure reports shows.

Scientists Say Lab Tests Confirm Underwater Plumes of Gulf Oil -- Scientists with the University of South Florida say laboratory tests have confirmed that oil from a spewing Gulf of Mexico well has accumulated in at least two extensive plumes deep underwater.

Runaway Census Cost is Frightening Preview of True Obamacare Price Tag -- Friday’s May jobs figure is vastly skewed because of the hundreds of thousands of temporary census employees—approximately 411,000—hired to perform the decennial enumeration of the U.S. population and gather concomitant vital information.

White House Linked to Flotilla Organizers -- A top adviser to President Obama is the contact person within the White House for communications with the Free Gaza Movement over plans to challenge Israel's blockade of the terrorist Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, according to a reputable source close to the Netanyahu government.

FDA Defeated in Federal Court Over Censorship of Truthful Health Claims -- Health freedom has just been handed a significant victory by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which ruled last week that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) violated the First Amendment rights of a nutritional supplement company when it censored truthful, scientifically-backed claims about how selenium can help reduce the risk of cancer.

How Crazy Can It Get? Scientists Propose Sun Block for Entire Planet to Save It -- In an article published in the journal Nature, three scientists have called for governments to fund a massive research effort in ways to shield the planet from solar radiation as a way to stave off global warming.

Letting Babies Swim in Chlorinated Pools Harms Their Health For Life -- Young children who swim in chlorinated pools may suffer an increased risk of lung infections and even lifelong asthma and respiratory allergies, according to a study conducted by researchers from Catholic University Louvain in Brussels, Belgium, and published in the European Respiratory Journal.

California to Ban Plastic Bags -- Shoppers will have to bring their own reusable bags or pay at least 5 cents (3p) each for recycled paper ones under the ban which was approved by state politicians.


REMEMBER D-DAY JUN 6, 1944
Today is the 66th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of France on the Normandy coast. It was probably the most amazing feat of arms
in world military history made possible only by the incredible valor showed by the troops who took part. The operation was the largest amphibious invasion of all time, with over 160,000 troops landing on 6 June 1944. 195,700 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000 ships were involved. The invasion required the transport of soldiers and material from the United Kingdom by troop-laden aircraft and ships, the assault landings, air support, naval interdiction of the English Channel and naval fire-support. The landings took place along a 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UacLcmRWBkU 


Today In History Friday June 4, 2010
1717 - The Freemasons were founded in London.
1792 - Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound for Britain.
1794 - British troops captured Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
1805 - Tripoli was forced to conclude peace with U.S. after conflicts over tribute.
1812 - The Louisiana Territory had its name changed to the Missouri Territory.
1816 - The Washington was launched at Wheeling, WV. It was the first stately, double-decker steamboat.
1878 - Turkey turned Cyprus over to Britain.
1896 - Henry Ford made a successful test drive of his new car in Detroit, MI. The vehicle was called a quadricycle.
1918 - French and American troops halted Germany's offensive at Chateau-Thierry, France.
1919 - The U.S. Senate passed the Women's Suffrage bill.
1924 - An eternal light was dedicated at Madison Square in New York City in memory of all New York soldiers who died in World War I.
1931 - The first rocket-glider flight was made by William Swan in Atlantic City, NJ.
1935 - "Invisible" glass was patented by Gerald Brown and Edward Pollard.
1939 - The first shopping cart was introduced by Sylvan Goldman in Oklahoma City, OK. It was actually a folding chair that had been mounted on wheels.
1940 - The British completed the evacuation of 300,000 troops at Dunkirk, France.
1942 - The Battle of Midway began. It was the first major victory for America over Japan during World War II. The battle ended on June 6 and ended Japanese expansion in the Pacific.
1943 - In Argentina, Juan Peron took part in the military coup that overthrew Ramon S. Castillo.
1944 - The U-505 became the first enemy submarine captured by the U.S. Navy.
1944 - During World War II, the U.S. Fifth Army entered Rome, which began the liberation of the Italian capital.
1944 - "Leonidas Witherall" was first broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System.
1946 - Juan Peron was installed as Argentina's president.
1947 - The House of Representatives approved the Taft-Hartley Act. The legislation allowed the President of the United States to intervene in labor disputes.
1954 - French Premier Joseph Laniel and Vietnamese Premier Buu Loc initialed treaties in Paris giving "complete independence" to Vietnam.
1960 - The Taiwan island of Quemoy was hit by 500 artillery shells fired from the coast of Communist China.
1974 - Sally Murphy became the first woman to qualify as an aviator with the U.S. Army.
1989 - 645 people were killed in the Soviet Union when a gas explosion engulfed two passing trains.
1989 - In Beijing, Chinese army troops stormed Tiananmen Square to crush the pro-democracy movement. It is believed that hundreds, possibly thousands, of demonstrators were killed.
1998 - Terry Nichols received a life sentence for his role in the bombing of an Oklahoma City Federal Building.
2003 - Martha Stewart was indicted on federal charges of using illegal privileged information and then obrstructing an investigation. She resigned as chairman and chief executive officer of her company the same day.
2003 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban "partial birth" abortions with a 282-139 vote.
2008 - The United Kingdom and Canada became the first countries to be able to buy and rent films at the iTunes Store.

Power Hour Chatter: Body found in burned Huntington Beach car -- Investigators found a body inside a vehicle that was burned in a parking structure at a condominium complex on Monday, authorities said. At 2:55 p.m. Monday, firefighters responded to a call of a vehicle fire in the underground parking garage of the Pelican Cove complex, 16960 Algonquin St., said Deputy Fire Marshal  Rumors have it that the body found was that of Mr. Jim Purcey.

McDonald’s Recalls ‘Shrek’ Drinking Glasses in U.S. -- McDonald’s Corp., the world’s biggest restaurant chain, said it recalled drinking glasses promoting the new “Shrek” movie in the U.S. The glasses were found to be tainted with cadmium, the Associated Press reported, citing the company. Brief inhalation of high concentrations of cadmium may cause lung disease, according to the website of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Cadmium is normally used in the manufacturing of batteries, metal coatings and plastic.

Spill could mean dark times for Sunshine State -- Already reeling from a real-estate crisis and deep economic slump, Florida faces yet another financial cataclysm if oil from the Gulf spill mars its famous shores, scaring away crucial tourist traffic and wreaking havoc on its fisheries. Beaches are big business in the Sunshine State. At stake there alone are hundreds of thousands of jobs and perhaps billions of dollars in revenue, depending on when and where the oil from BP PLC's /quotes/comstock/13*!bp/quotes/nls/bp (BP 39.27, +1.61, +4.28%) runaway well makes landfall. Comment: The video (with the computer simulation) is chilling.

BofA: Mortgage Walkaways Have Huge Incentive -- On the conference call to announce the program this morning, BofA's credit loss mitigation executive, Jack Schakett, said the amount of strategic defaulters (those who can pay their loans but opt not to) are "more than we have ever experienced before." He went on to say, "there is a huge incentive for customers to walk away because getting free rent and waiting out foreclosure can be very appealing to customers."

Surprising Healing Benefits of Spices -- In this article you will find out which additives can burn fat, ease a sore throat or help you get to sleep, and how you can incorporate them into your daily diet.

They Are Poisoning Our Gulf for Personal Profit! -- The following piece is about INC the BEAST engaged in its most horrifically greedy destructive behavior.

The Dark Heart of the US Government -- Six days ago, we released our cover story presenting Sydney Schanberg's stunning account of the American abandonment of hundreds of POWs in Vietnam, their presumed later death at Communist hands, and the decades-long governmental cover-up which thereafter ensued.

EXTEND AND PRETEND: Confirming the Flash Crash Omen -- The highly discussed and quickly forgotten Flash Crash was an omen of what lies ahead for the financial markets. It was a uniquely distinctive occurrence relative to anything we've ever experienced. Likewise, what we are about to witness will be startling and never before observed by this generation of investors. After only thirty days the Flash Crash signal has become unambiguous and historians will wonder why the public didn’t react sooner to its clarion call.

ECONOMICROT: $1,500 Silver -- "If this is the case, everyone who begins buying silver today could see their investments go up slightly less than 100X." (Thanks Jimm)

Looking for A Fake 700,000 May Non-Farm Payroll Number -- This Friday the NFP report from the BLS could easily surpass 700,000 people, driven primarily by temporary census hirings and by Birth/Death adjustments.

Paintballs to Pistols, Israel Admits Ship Blunders -- Wrong intelligence, wrong guns, wrong tactics.

Officials baffled by Intense Dust Storms on I-40 -- The wind in northern Arizona is older than Meteor Crater, but the blinding dust storms that have crippled nearby Interstate 40 are new.

ADP May Jobs Report Misses Expectations on Job Creation -- First the bad news, nonfarm private employment grew by 55,000 in April, vs. expectations for 60,000 new jobs.

Gold and Silver Price Manipulation Efforts Failed This Week -- Again I remind you that the price of gold is actually a report card on the value of the US dollar, and the American government and economy.

Initial Jobless Claims In Line But Still to High -- Initial claims rose 453,000 on a seasonally-adjusted basis in the week ending May 29th, vs. an expected value of 455,000.

Worst Money Supply Plunge Since Depression -- This should end the foolish inflation fears of many commentators. That was never going to be a problem. This decline was going to be the problem and it is now upon us.

North Korean Envoy Warns War Could Erupt Soon -- North Korean envoy said on Thursday that war could erupt at any time on the divided Korean peninsula because of tension with Seoul over the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.

Lieberman Bill Gives Feds 'Emergency' Powers to Secure Civilian Nets -- Joe Lieberman wants to give the federal government the power to take over civilian networks’ security, if there’s an “imminent cyber threat.”

Strategic Defaults: Is It Morally Right To Decide to Simply Stop Paying Your Mortgage? -- In 2010, record numbers of Americans are defaulting on their mortgages.

Al-Qaeda's Number 3 Reported Dead in 2008 and Again in 2010 -- Abu Saeed al-Masri, said to be among the top leadership in the terror group, was killed in fighting in the hotly disputed border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Slick Nears Florida Panhandle Beaches -- As oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill neared Florida's Panhandle beaches Wednesday, its effects were already rippling through the politics and troubled economy of the nation's largest swing state.

Some Gulf Oil Spill Workers Encountering Breathing Problems, Nausea, Headaches; Cause Probed -- For days now, Dr. Damon Dietrich has seen patients come through his emergency room at West Jefferson Medical Center with similar symptoms: respiratory problems, headaches and nausea.

China Freaks Out the World By Announcing Restrictions on Exports of Metals Crucial For National Defense -- China appears to be making moves that several folks had been fearing for some time: It is considering stricter limits on the export of so-called rare-earth metals.

China Ready to Say Goodbye to Dollar -- The head of China's Central Bank has declared that the country is ready to end pegging its currency in dollars, but said that any changes would be gradual.

10 Things You Need (but don't want) To Know About the BP Oil Spill -- Though BP officially admits to only a few thousand barrels spilled each day, expert estimates peg the damage at 60,000 barrels or over 2.5 million gallons daily.

Catastrophe in the Gulf -- Five major hurricanes are forecast to slam into the United States this year, potentially hampering efforts to clean up the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill, scientists reported Wednesday.

Nine Meals From Anarchy: What the Coming Food Collapse Means to Civilization -- A growing reliance on imported food and other necessities is making First World nations such as the United Kingdom increasingly vulnerable to social collapse, warns Andrew Simms, policy director of the "think-and-do tank" of the New Economic Foundation, writing in The Guardian.

California County Sues Glaxo For False Advertising of Avandia Drug -- Recent reports revealing the dangers of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) diabetes drug, Avandia, have not gone unnoticed. Santa Clara County in Northern California recently filed a lawsuit against the drug giant for suppressing evidence that the drug increases heart attack risk.

Feds Halt New Drilling in Gulf -- The Obama administration is blocking all new offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a day after regulators approved a new permit for drilling in shallow water.

Federal Debt Tops $13 Trillion Mark -- The federal government is now $13 trillion in the red, the Treasury Department reported Wednesday, marking the first time the government has sunk that far into debt and putting a sharp point on the spending debate on Capitol Hill.

BP Oil Leak May Last Until Christmas in Worst Case Scenario -- BP Plc’s failure since April to plug a Gulf of Mexico oil leak has prompted forecasts the crude may continue gushing into December in what President Barack Obama has called the greatest environmental disaster in U.S. history.



Today In History Thursday June 3, 2010
1784 - The United States Congress created the United States Army.
1800 - John Adams moved to Washington, DC. He was the first President to live in what later became the capital of the United States.
1805 - A peace treaty between the U.S. and Tripoli was completed in the captain's cabin on board the USS Constitution.
1851 - The New York Knickerbockers became the first baseball team to wear uniforms.
1856 - Cullen Whipple patented the screw machine.
1864 - About 7,000 Union troops were killed within 30 minutes during the Battle of Cold Harbor in Virginia during the U.S. Civil War.
1871 - Jesse James, then 24, and his gang robbed the Obocock bank in Corydon, Iowa. They stole $15,000.
1918 - The Finnish Parliament ratified its treaty with Germany.
1923 - In Italy, Benito Mussolini granted women the right to vote.
1928 - Manchurian warlord Chian Tso-Lin died as a result of a bomb blast set off by the Japanese.
1932 - Lou Gehrig set a major league baseball record when he hit four consecutive home runs.
1940 - German bombed Paris, killing 254 people. Most of the people killed were civilians and school children.
1952 - A rebellion by North Korean prisoners in the Koje prison camp in South Korea was put down by American troops.
1959 - The first class graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO.
1965 - Edward White became the first American astronaut to do a "space walk" when he left the Gemini 4 capsule.
1968 - Andy Warhol was shot and critically wounded in his New York film studio by Valerie Solanas.
1989 - Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died.
1989 - Chinese army troops positioned themselves to began a sweep of Beijing to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.
1999 - Slobodan Milosevic's government accepted an international peace plan concerning Kosovo. NATO announced that airstrikes would continue until 40,000 Serb forces were withdrawn from Kosovo.
1999 - Dennis Muren received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2003 - Toys "R" Us, Inc. announced that it had signed a multi-year agreement with Albertson to become the exclusive toy provider for all of all of Albertson's food and drug stores.

Milwaukee panel considers moratorium on gold -- Milwaukee aldermen, overwhelmed by the number of businesses seeking to buy used gold jewelry, are proposing a four-month moratorium on granting licenses for the firms and a revamping of city zoning rules and state laws that govern them. The initiative, in a measure scheduled to come before the city's licensing committee Wednesday, is aimed at coming to terms with a major boom in gold-buying, as the price of the precious metal hovers in record territory, at more than $1,200 per ounce.

Offshore Corporate Tax Havens: Why Are They Still Allowed? -- The bracing reality that America has two sets of rules -- one for the corporate class and another for the middle class -- has never been more indisputable. Read More...

A New Euro to Save the Old One? -- Once rulers start to speak the language of violence, the context changes. Now violence is seen as part and parcel of the conversation. And there are a lot more of the ruled than the rulers. For these reasons among others, we believe the ability of those who have placed themselves in charge of the EU will find at some point that it is simply too hard to manufacture a consensus to continue on with business as usual.

Experts Puzzled at Red Gulf Oil Slick -- The oil spill taking place in the Gulf of Mexico for the last month has covered the waters of the Atlantic Ocean with a reddish slick (not black as usual), which has left scientists puzzled. They infer that the mixing process currently taking place between water and oil must have something to do with this peculiar event, but a connection is not immediately visible, LiveScience reports. Read more...

Slimmer wallets, richer lives? -- We are about to find out – because hidden in economic data is a mild decline in the American obsession with spending money. People are spending somewhat less, even when unemployment isn’t an issue. Americans are paying down credit-card debt, the worst kind of debt, while saving somewhat more. As growth rebounds, we may awaken to a new economic reality in which consumer demand mildly slackens on a long-term basis. This is exactly what social philosophers said would be good for us!

BP Ownership, Institutional Ownership, 5% Ownership -- Goldman Sachs sold 44% of its BP Stock, Three weeks before the Oil Rig disaster. Want Proof?

IPhone Workers Say `Meaningless' Life Sparks Suicides -- “Life is meaningless,” said Ah Wei, his fingernails stained black with the dust from the hundreds of mobile phones he has burnished over the course of a 12-hour overnight shift. “Everyday, I repeat the same thing I did yesterday. We get yelled at all the time. It’s very tough around here.” Conversation on the production line is forbidden, bathroom breaks are kept to 10 minutes every two hours and constant noise from the factory washes past his ear plugs, damaging his hearing, Ah Wei said. The company has rejected three requests for a transfer and his monthly salary of 900 yuan ($132) is too meager to send home to his family, said the 21-year-old, who asked that his real name not be used because he is afraid of his managers.

Bond Deals Disappear -- The market for new bond issues is eerily quiet, and dead in the U.S.. Fewer companies are attempting to issue debt perhaps for fear of instigating a visible negative market reaction towards their creditworthiness.

Detecting a Crime Before It Happens -- Could the blink of an eye or the curl of a lip give away a terrorist? Government scientists are trying to find out.

U.S. Inflation to Approach Zimbabwe Level, Faber Says -- Prices may increase at rates “close to” Zimbabwe’s gains, Faber said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate reached 231 million percent in July, the last annual rate published by the statistics office. “I am 100 percent sure that the U.S. will go into hyperinflation,” Faber said. “The problem with government debt growing so much is that when the time will come and the Fed should increase interest rates, they will be very reluctant to do so and so inflation will start to accelerate.”

World Currency Unit Intended to Rival US Dollar for Supremacy -- A new currency is intended to challenge the U.S. dollar as the world's foremost reserve currency.

12 Charts That Show The Real State of Unemployment in America -- All eyes this week are on this Friday's jobs report.

As Obama Wavers, Congressmen Cheer Aidship Massacre -- President Obama’s reluctance to comment in any but the most vague terms of the massacre of 19 aid workers by Israeli commandos late Sunday night has left many wondering exactly where the US government will fall on an issue which has been blanketly condemned by virtually every government in the civilized world and virtually every government outside the civilized world.

Obama's USDA to Deceive Americans Over GM Crops -- The Obama administration’s Department of Agriculture (USDA) is attempting to downplay the risks of genetically modified alfalfa, a crop previously banned by numerous federal courts.

Fears of New Flashpoint As Defiant Israel Prepares for Showdown With 2 More Gaza Aid Ships -- Israel is facing another potentially explosive confrontation at sea as pro-Palestinian activists sent two more boats to challenge its blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Iran to Dump 45 Billion For Gold Bullion and Dollars -- As the stagnant European economy weighs heavily on the euro forcing it into a downward spiral, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) unveils a major plan for converting 45 billion of its euro reserves into dollar and gold ingots.

German President Resigns After War With Economic Interest Comment -- In an interview he gave during his recent visit to the strife-torn country, Köhler appeared to say that the public debate about the war in Afghanistan was gradually facing up to the fact that protecting foreign trade was a legitimate reason for military action.

ECB Warns of $239 Billion in Further Bank Loan Losses -- The European Central Bank warned on Monday that euro zone banks face up to 195 billion euros in a "second wave" of potential loan losses over the next 18 months due to the financial crisis, and disclosed it had increased purchases of euro zone government bonds.

US Military Rejects Calls to Take Control of Oil Spill -- Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they had no more tactics left in their arsenal following BP’s latest failure to plug the leak.

Europe's Coming Summer of Discontent -- The summer of 2010 promises to be the most tumultuous summer in the short history of the European Union.

Foreclosure is Becoming a Way of Life for Many -- For Alex Pemberton and Susan Reboyras, foreclosure is becoming a way of life — something they did not want but are in no hurry to get out of.

FCC Asked to Monitor 'Hate Speech,' 'Misinformation' Online -- Over thirty organizations want the Federal Communications Commission to open up a probe on "hate speech" and "misinformation" in media. "Hate has developed as a profit-model for syndicated radio and cable television programs masquerading as 'news'," they wrote to the FCC earlier this month.

The Taste of Tiny: Putting Nanofoods on Menu -- NOTHING says summer holidays quite like ice cream. On a hot afternoon by the sea, there's little to beat the simple pleasure of a cooling scoop of your favourite flavour. Can food get much more satisfying than this?

Scientists Breed Goats That Produce Spider Silk -- Researchers from the University of Wyoming have developed a way to incorporate spiders' silk-spinning genes into goats, allowing the researchers to harvest the silk protein from the goats’ milk for a variety of applications. For instance, due to its strength and elasticity, spider silk fiber could have several medical uses, such as for making artificial ligaments and tendons, for eye sutures, and for jaw repair.

Why the Fluoridation of Public Water Supplies is Illegal -- Municipalities all across America are currently dripping fluoride chemicals into their public water supply, dosing over a hundred million Americans with a chemical that they claim "prevents cavities."

Dirty, Contaminated Beef Fed to Children Through School Lunch Programs -- The USDA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently issued a shocking report  about the condition of the nation's industrial meat supply.

UK Government Now Pushing Shingles Vaccine for Elderly -- A British government committee has recommended vaccinating everyone between the ages of 70 and 79 against shingles.

Scientists Warn of Unseen Deepwater Oil Disaster -- Independent scientists and government officials say there's a disaster we can't see in the Gulf of Mexico's mysterious depths, the ruin of a world inhabited by enormous sperm whales and tiny, invisible plankton.

Oil Closes in on Fla. as BP Tries Risky Cap Move -- As submersible robots made another risky attempt to control the underwater Gulf oil gusher, the crude on the surface spread, closing in on Florida.

Do You Call Mocking Jesus Comedy? -- Comedy Central, a popular cable TV channel, is planning on doing an entire animated series mocking and ridiculing Jesus Christ entitled "JC."


Today In History Tuesday June 1, 2010
1851 - Maine became the first U.S. state to enact a law prohibiting alcohol.
1886 - Grover Cleveland became the second U.S. president to get married while in office. He was the first to have a wedding in the White House.
1897 - Mark Twain, at age 61, was quoted by the New York Journal as saying "the report of my death was an exaggeration." He was responding to the rumors that he had died.
1910 - Charles Stewart Roll became the first person to fly across the English Channel.
1924 - All American Indians were granted U.S. citizenship by the U.S. Congress.
1933 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the first swimming pool to be built inside the White House.
1946 - Italians voted by referendum to form a republic instead of a monarchy.
1953 - Elizabeth was crowned queen of England at Westminster Abbey.
1954 - U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy charged that there were communists working in the CIA and atomic weapons plants.
1957 - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was interviewed by CBS-TV.
1966 - Surveyor 1, the U.S. space probe, landed on the moon and started sending photographs back to Earth of the Moon's surface. It was the first soft landing on the Moon.
1969 - Australian aircraft carrier Melbourne sliced the destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half off the shore of South Vietnam.
1979 - Pope John Paul II arrived in his native Poland on the first visit by a pope to a Communist country.
1995 - Captain Scott F. O'Grady's U.S. Air Force F-16C was shot down by Bosnian Serbs. He was rescued six days later.
1997 - Timothy McVeigh was found guilty of the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in which 168 people were killed.
1998 - Royal Caribbean Cruises agreed to pay $9 million to settle charges of dumping waste at sea.
1998 - Voters in California passed Proposition 227. The act abolished the state's 30-year-old bilingual education program by requiring that all children be taught in English.
1999 - In South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) won a major victory. ANC leader Thabo Mbeki was to succeed Nelson Mandela as the nation's president.
2003 - In the U.S., federal regulators voted to allow companies to buy more television stations and newspaper-broadcasting combinations in the same city. The previous ownership restrictions had not been altered since 1975.
2003 - In Seville, Spain, a chest containing the supposed remains of Christopher Columbus were exhumed for DNA tests to determine whether the bones were really those of the explorer. The tests were aimed at determining if Colombus was currently buried in Spain's Seville Cathedral or in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
2003 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that companies could not be sued under a trademark law for using information in the public domain without giving credit to the originator. The case had originated with 20th Century Fox against suing Dastar Corp. over their use of World War II footage.
2003 - William Baily was reunited with two paintings he had left on a subway platform. One of the works was an original Picasso rendering of two male figures and a recreation of Picasso's "Guernica" by Sophie Matisse. Sophie Matisse was the great-granddaughter of Henri Matisse.

Thought For The Day from our friend Mike Tawse in the UK -- Learning From Success And Failure...Read More...

Earthquakes Booming in Diverse Places -- Check out all the latest earthuake action. The most recent earthquakes are at the top of the list.

10 Things You Need To Know About the BP Oil Spill -- How the owner of the exploded oil rig has made $270 million off the disaster, and nine other shocking, depressing facts about the oil spill. Read More...

Dirty, Contaminated Beef Fed to Children Through School Lunch Programs -- The USDA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently issued a shocking report  about the condition of the nation's industrial meat supply.

America's junkiest cities -- Think Greece and Spain are drowning in debt? Look a little closer to home. Seven U.S. cities recently had their municipal bonds downgraded below investment grade. Their debt is now junk, considered more worthless than that of the so-called PIIGS. "America's short-term budget crises, long-term growth perspectives and needs for austerity are similar [to Greece]," said Matt Fabian, managing director at Concord, Mass.-based consulting firm Municipal Market Advisors.

MarketWatch: History paints a bleak picture -- While the market never completely repeats itself, there are major similarities between past severe market dislocations and the current one. We've been tracking the parallels between 1938-1939 and 2009-2010 in our newsletters and lectures for some time now. In addition, we've made some references to longer-term parallels between the current markets and those of the past.

IMF Economist Argues Home Prices Still Have Far To Fall -- Dour predictions about the housing market aren’t the norm anymore, as many economists have grown optimistic that home prices will begin rebounding strongly next year. But International Monetary Fund economists Prakash Loungani has found plenty of reasons to remain glum. Loungani, at a National Economists Club luncheon in Washington Thursday, presented his analysis of housing busts since 1970 in the countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. His prediction: Home prices will fall much farther and for much longer.

Veteran got polite answers — but no help -- "I have talked to many very polite operators who have apologized and promised to resolve (my) and their problem, but there is no follow-up. I do not think the system is broken; I think there is no system."
Read More...

Finally, lawmakers to hear 'Bilderberg conspiracy' -- Once considered a "conspiracy" theory, the secretive story of the Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission and Bilderbergs – tycoons worth more than the combined wealth of all Americans – will be told in public before the European Parliament. Daniel Estulin, author of the hot-selling book, "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group," has been invited to present an unprecedented speech before the European Parliament in Brussels June 1 on the subject of the secretive cabal.

Jimmy On The Spot: Can You Get To The Other Side of the River? -- God is faithful to what He places in your heart and in your mind. God operates outside of our time and all happens in His time. Most everyone is aware of that promise in Ecclesiastes. Dreams and things placed in the heart are not happenstance. Maintain the prayers, keep in faith, and trust that you'll see the stepping stones. He truly wants you to get to the other side of the river.

Oil Could Hit Florida Panhandle by Wednesday -- A Florida beach might get hit with oil from the Deepwater Horizon accident for the first time Wednesday as sheen likely caused by the accident was reported less than 10 miles off Pensacola Beach.

Robots Succeed, Cut Well Pipe; Oil Gushes into Gulf -- A new flow of oil emerged from BP's damaged undersea well in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday evening after a remote-controlled submarine successfully cut into the well's riser pipe.

Iran Has Over 2 Tons Enriched Uranium -- Iran has amassed more than two tons of enriched uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday in a report that heightened Western concerns about the country preparing to produce a nuclear weapon.

Federal Government Opens Criminal Investigation of Gulf Oil Spill -- BP's stock plummeted and took much of the market down with it Tuesday as the federal government announced criminal and civil investigations into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

IDF: Global Jihad on Flotilla -- Dozens of passengers who were aboard the Mavi Marmara Turkish passenger ship are suspected of having connections with global jihad-affiliated terrorist organizations, defense officials said on Tuesday, amid growing concerns that Turkish warships would accompany a future flotilla to the Gaza Strip.

Soaring Costs Force Canada to Reassess Health Model -- Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system.

West Poised for Worst Grasshopper Outbreak in 30 Years -- The worst grasshopper outbreak in decades may envelop the western states this summer, scientists warn.

Euro Hits 4-Year Low Against Dollar -- The euro hit another four-year low against the dollar on Tuesday as worries that European banks could still face large loan losses next year added to concerns about the continent's economic outlook.

Flotillas and the Wars of Public Opinion -- On Sunday, Israeli naval forces intercepted the ships of a Turkish nongovernmental organization (NGO) delivering humanitarian supplies to Gaza.

Arctic Sea Ice Volume Increases 25% -- This is a complete reversal of what snippets of data we have been receiving since 2007.

Spain Government is Struggling in Crisis -- Spain's Socialist government is seeing its political power erode as it struggles to chart a path out of deep financial trouble, failing so far to satisfy conflicting demands to cut its budget and stimulate job creation.

South Korea Dials Back Tough Talk Over Cheonan Sinking -- One day after China refused to take a stand against North Korea over the March 26 sinking of South Korea's naval ship, Cheonan, South Korea appears to be moderating its rhetoric against the North over the sinking.

Bank of International Settlements Warns to Ignore Banker 'Doomsday Scenario' Fearmongering and Racketeering -- Over the past two years, the one strategy that has elicited the greatest amount of anger in the general population has been the traditional resolution to the "lowest common denominator" strategy of fearmongering or racketeering by the financial elite, any time it was faced with a status quo extinction event.

Turkey's PM Says Israel Should Be Punished -- Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called Tuesday for Israel to be punished for storming a Turkish aid ship and said "nothing would ever be the same" in relations between the two allies.

Police Arrest Census Taker -- A battle is brewing between the state and federal governments over a Census taker arrested in Puna for misdemeanor trespassing.

Activists Send New Boat to Challenge Gaza Blockade -- Pro-Palestinian activists sent another boat to challenge Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and Egypt declared it was temporarily opening a crossing into the Palestinian territory after a botched raid on an aid flotilla that ended with Israeli soldiers killing nine activists.

Poll Finds Debt-Dogged Americans Stressed Out -- The economy trudges ahead yet debt dogs many Americans, stressing them out even as they firm up their own financial foundations.

Relief Well Best Hope for Sealing Oil Leak -- The best hope for stopping the flow of oil from the blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico has been compared to hitting a target the size of a dinner plate more than two miles into the earth, and is anything but a sure bet on the first attempt.

BP Disputes Existence of Underwater Oil Plumes -- Researchers said they found at least two huge underwater plumes of what appears to be oil.

Gulf Oil Spill Threat Widens, BP Shares Drop, Protests Planned in 50+ Cities -- Oil from BP's out-of-control Gulf of Mexico oil spill could threaten the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this week, U.S. forecasters said on Monday, as public anger surged over the country's worst environmental disaster.

The Best Organic Pet Food Brands Revealed -- A stroll down the pet food aisle at the local pet store can be overwhelming. The shelves are full of countless brands all claiming to have the best formulations for your furry friend.

Diet Drug Alli Linked to Severe Liver Damage -- The FDA has started an investigation into whether the diet drug orlistat, marketed as both Alli and Xenical, has been causing serious liver damage in some patients.

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