Trucker Website -- TheAmericanDriver.com - keep updated on the current Trucker Strike.

ED & Elaine Brown Contact Information -- The Latest information as of Nov. 30, 2009.

Patriots Question 9/11 - List of Senior Military, Intelligence, and Government Critics of 9/11    

SONG: Building 7 Music Video -- Music video by Martin Noakes.
NOW listen to the: Re-mix of ‘9/11 building 7’

"Matt Letterman, A Soldier's Soldier" -- Missouri Gulf War Veteran Driving Tractor to DC

A Soldier’s Protest By: JOHN ALAN COEY - A BIG Thanks to David Deschesne, editor of the Fort Fairfield Journal for publishing some of John's works.

The Power Hour On YouTube: YouTube: The Power Hour Channel's Channel

YouTube: The Bob Chapman Channel on YouTube!
 

THE POWER HOUR NEWS:

MARCH  2010 (Refresh your browser for newly added news articles added during the program)

Today in History Friday March 19, 2010
1628 - The Massachusetts colony was founded by Englishmen.
1687 - French explorer La Salle was murdered by his own men while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, in the Gulf of Mexico.
1822 - The city of Boston, MA, was incorporated.
1831 - The first bank robbery in America was reported. The City Bank of New York City lost $245,000 in the robbery.
1895 - The Los Angeles Railway was established to provide streetcar service.
1903 - The U.S. Senate ratified the Cuban treaty, gaining naval bases in Guantanamo and Bahia Honda.
1906 - Reports from Berlin estimated the cost of the German war in S.W. Africa at $150 million. 
1917 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Adamson Act that made the eight-hour workday for railroads constitutional.
1918 - The U.S. Congress approved Daylight-Saving Time.
1918 - A German seaplane was shot down for the first time by an American pilot.
1920 - The U.S. Senate rejected the Versailles Treaty for the second time maintaining an isolation policy.
1931 - The state of Nevada legalized gambling.
1945 - About 800 people were killed as Japanese kamikaze planes attacked the U.S. carrier Franklin off Japan.
1953 - The Academy Awards aired on television for the first time.
1954 - The first rocket-driven sled that ran on rails was tested in Alamogordo, NM.
1963 - In Costa Rica, U.S. President John F. Kennedy and six Latin American presidents pledged to fight Communism.
1977 - France performed a nuclear test at Muruora Island.
1977 - The last episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" aired.
1981 - During a test of the space shuttle Columbia two workers were injured and one was killed.
1985 - IBM announced that it was planning to stop making the PCjr consumer-oriented computer.
1985 - The U.S. Senate voted to authorize production of the MX missile.
1990 - The first world ice hockey tournament for women was held in Ottawa.
1998 - The World Health Organization warned of tuberculosis epidemic that could kill 70 million people in next two decades.
1999 - 53 people were killed and dozens were injured when a bomb exploded in a market place in southern Russia.
2001 - California officials declared a power alert and ordered the first of two days of rolling blackouts.
2002 - Operation Anaconda, the largest U.S.-led ground offensive since the Gulf War, ended in eastern Afghanistan. During the operation, which began on March 2, it was reported that at least 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters were killed. Eleven allied troops were killed during the same operation.
2003 - U.S. President George W. Bush announced that U.S. forces had launched a strike against "targets of military opportunity" in Iraq. The attack, using cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs, were aimed at Iraqi leaders thought to be near Baghdad.

Idaho first to sign law aimed at health care plan -- Idaho took the lead in a growing, nationwide fight against health care overhaul Wednesday when its governor became the first to sign a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government if residents are forced to buy health insurance. Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.

Obama Postpones Asia Trip to Focus on Health Care -- President Barack Obama has postponed his trip to Asia until June so he can stay in Washington for a possible Sunday vote on his health care overhaul plan.

Democrats Post Health Care Bill On-Line, Setting Up Possible Sunday Vote -- House Democrats on Thursday unveiled their highly anticipated package of changes to the health care reform bill, setting up a potential floor vote for Sunday and putting pressure on Republicans to figure out a way to stop it.

Pelosi Tactic for Health-Care Vote Would Raise Legal Questions -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may be creating new grounds for a court challenge to the proposed U.S. health-care overhaul as she considers using a mechanism that would avoid a vote on the full legislation.

Judicial Watch Announces List of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2009 list of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians." The list, in alphabetical order, includes....Read More....

Federal Employees Owe IRS Back Taxes -- That's why Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, is irked that nearly 100,000 civilian federal employees owe the IRS $962 million in back taxes. He thinks they should pay up or be fired.

Newly signed jobs bill unlikely to spur hiring -- Don't look for a burst of hiring by small businesses in Wisconsin as a result of the federal jobs bill signed into law on Thursday. A number of small-business owners in the state say they make hiring decisions based on the business they generate, not whether they can save nine months' worth of Social Security payroll taxes per newly hired worker, which is the main feature of the law.

Judge allows genetically engineered beet harvest -- A federal judge on Tuesday said farmers can harvest their genetically engineered sugar beets this year, ruling the economic impact too great and that environmental groups waited too long to request that the crop be yanked from the ground and otherwise barred from the market. Nearly all sugar beets planted are genetically engineered and the crop accounts for half the nation's sugar supply.

Census 2010 Plagued by Technical Difficulties -- But certain "delete" operations malfunctioned, causing some major glitches. And after the successful completion of the address verification phase, the devices were phased out for any further use. The total cost, meanwhile, grew from an original $600 million computer contract to up to $3 billion.

Obama Surrenders Gulf Oil to Moscow -- The Obama administration is poised to ban offshore oil drilling on the outer continental shelf until 2012 or beyond. Meanwhile, Russia is making a bold strategic leap to begin drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. While the United States attempts to shift gears to alternative fuels to battle the purported evils of carbon emissions, Russia will erect oil derricks off the Cuban coast.

Rebellion in America Heats Up as 5th State Exempts Guns -- A fifth state – South Dakota – has decided that guns made, sold and used within its borders no longer are subject to the whims of the federal government through its rule-making arm in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and two supporters of the growing groundswell say they hope Washington soon will be taking note.

Health-Care 'Trickery' Called Overthrow of Constitution -- America's system of government based on the U.S. Constitution is being overthrown through illegal legislative "trickery" Congress is using to pass controversial health-care reform.

Rise in Tuition Breaks for Illegal Immigrants -- Amid a budget crisis that’s negatively impacted public education across the country, the number of illegal immigrants benefiting from discounted tuition at colleges and universities in Texas continues rising, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in the last few years.

Man Puts Infant in Cold Oven for 2 Hours -- Charges have been filed against a Kentucky man accused of putting his infant in an oven.

Govt Rewarded Bank Auditors with Big Bonuses -- As banks gambled on the risky mortgages that helped create the worst financial crisis in generations, the U.S. government handed out millions of dollars in bonuses to regulators at agencies that missed or ignored warning signs that the system was on the verge of a meltdown.

Ex-Pfizer Worker Cites Genetically Engineered Virus in Lawsuit Over Firing -- Medical experts will be watching closely Monday when a scientist who says she has been intermittently paralyzed by a virus designed at the Pfizer laboratory where she worked in Groton opens a much anticipated trial that could raise questions about safety practices in the dynamic field of genetic engineering.

Germany Mulls Sending Spies to Wall Street -- Germany's finance minister says his government is considering sending spies to London and New York to monitor the activities of currency speculators.

TSA To Make Full Body Scans Mandatory at US Airports -- In a new attempt to curb terrorism on airplanes and in airports, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced this week that they plan on making full body scanners mandatory.

Hundreds of Americans File Complaints Over Naked Body Scanners -- Despite establishment media spin that naked body scanners are being meekly accepted by a compliant public, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that there have been more than 600 formal complaints about the devices in the last year.

Iranian Warships Set Sail for Gulf of Aden -- Iran has sent a naval battle group to international waters, including the Gulf of Aden, to confront threats to the country's shipping lanes.

Boeing Completes Design of Shipboard Laser -- The U.S. military is bankrolling all kinds of projects to harness the power of directed energy, from laser-equipped aircraft that can shoot down ballistic missiles to smaller beam weapons mounted on Humvees that could zap mortars or artillery shells.

Carte Blanche for the Banksters: The Next Big Bailout "Any Day Now" -- The Fed has indicated that it's finished helping the banks for the time being. Now it's Treasury's turn. Bernanke will keep the Fed funds rate at zero, but he is not going to expand the Fed's balance sheet anymore. Geithner understands this and is working frantically to put together the next bailout that will reduce the mortgage principal for underwater homeowners.

Families Face Fine for Using Wrong Bin in Household Waste Crackdown -- Householders could be fined up to £1,000 if they fail to comply with complex new rules on refuse sorting.

CBO (CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE) HR 4872 -- The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have completed a preliminary estimate of the direct spending and revenue effects of an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 4872, the Reconciliation Act of 2010; that amendment (hereafter called “the reconciliation proposal”) was made public on March 18, 2010. The estimate is presented in three ways:   Read More....

Southern California City Says Home Bible Group Must Get Permit -- For the second time in six months, a Southern California city has ordered a group of Christian worshippers who meet inside homes to get a permit or shut down.

Obama Endorses Immigration Blueprint -- President Obama on Thursday gave a thumbs-up to the framework of a plan to legalize illegal immigrants and create a flow of low-skilled foreign workers for the future, saying the bill being worked on by a Republican lawmaker and his Democrat counterpart is "promising."

Putin Vexes Us Over Iran Nuclear Power -- Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, promised on Thursday that Moscow would help Iran complete a civil nuclear power station by this summer, drawing criticism from Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state.

Hacker Disables More Than 100 Cars -- More than 100 drivers in Austin, Texas found their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control, after an intruder ran amok in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system normally used to get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments.

Money Out of Thin Air: Now Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernake Wants to Eliminate Reserve Requirements Completely? -- The Federal Reserve believes it is possible that, ultimately, its operating framework will allow the elimination of minimum reserve requirements, which impose costs and distortions on the banking system.

Tracking Electric Use Could Allow Utilities to Track You too -- Smart electric grids are championed by the federal government, conservation groups and industry as good for the economy and the environment. The digital meters in homes enable measurement and two-way communication with utilities so consumers can trim electricity use. But some technology policy organizations worry that smart meters pose a potential threat to privacy and could be exploited by online marketers, government agencies, criminals and others.

VIDEO: The DHS Global Biometric Plan

Corn Madness - title misleading - this is by a Russian living in the US -- I hope you don't mind that this is in Russian. I think that this way I can be more completely honest. I am a relatively recent graduate of one of the many faceless post-Soviet institutions of higher learning, with a degree in philosophy. Last year I moved to the USA and married an American woman. The question of when the modern capitalist system is going to collapse has interested me since my student years, and I have approached it from various directions: from the commonplace conspiracy theories to the serious works of Oswald Spengler and Noam Chomsky.

To Fill Budget Gaps, 'Stealth' Taxes are Creeping Up -- As a result, analysts say, taxpayers from California to Copenhagen should brace themselves for more “stealth taxes” — indirect levies like sales taxes, or microcharges on services once provided free, like registering a pet.

'Wall Street' Sequel an Omen of US Collapse -- He says he can't predict the future. Don't believe him: Even if he's unaware of his "source," it's stirring again, rising from deep in what Carl Jung would call the "collective unconscious" of the "American Soul," warning us again of a collapse, using Stone as a stock trader's "alert."


Today in History Thursday March 18, 2010
1766 - Britain repealed the Stamp Act.
1813 - David Melville patented the gas streetlight.
1818 - The U.S. Congress approved the first pensions for government service.
1834 - The first railroad tunnel in the U.S. was completed. The work was in Pennsylvania.
1850 - Henry Wells & William Fargo founded American Express.
1874 - Hawaii signed a treaty giving exclusive trading rights with the islands to the U.S.
1881 - Barnum and Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth opened in Madison Square Gardens.
1909 - Einar Dessau of Denmark used a short wave transmitter to become the first person to broadcast as a "ham" operator.
1910 - The first opera by a U.S. composer performed at the Met in New York City.
1911 - Theodore Roosevelt opened the Roosevelt Dam in Phoenix, AZ. It was the largest dam in the U.S. at the time.
1931 - Schick Inc. displayed the first electric shaver.
1938 - Mexico took control of all foreign-owned oil properties on its soil.
1942 - The third military draft began in the U.S. because of World War II.
1944 - The Russians reached the Rumanian border in the Balkans during World War II.
1945 - 1,250 U.S. bombers attacked Berlin.
1948 - France, Great Britain, and Benelux signed the Treaty of Brussels.
1949 - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was ratified.
1959 - U.S. President Eisenhower signed the Hawaii statehood bill.
1961 - The Poppin' Fresh Pillsbury Dough Boy was introduced.
1963 - France performed an underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria.
1968 - The U.S. Congress repealed the requirement for a gold reserve.
1969 - U.S. President Nixon authorizes Operation Menue. It was the ‘secret’ bombing of Cambodia.
1970 - The U.S. Postal Service experienced the first postal strike.
1971 - U.S. helicopters airlifted 1,000 South Vietnamese soldiers out of Laos. .
1975 - Saigon abandoned most of the Central Highlands of Vietnam to Hanoi.
1977 - Vietnam turned over an MIA to a U.S. delegation.
1981 - The U.S. disclosed that there were biological weapons tested in Texas in 1966.
1986 - Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson.
1986 - The U.S. Treasury Department announced that a clear, polyester thread was to be woven into bills in an effort to thwart counterfeiters.
1987 - The U.S. performed nuclear tests at a Nevada test site.
1989 - 12 paintings were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The value was $100 million making it the largest art robbery in history.
1989 - A 4,400-year-old mummy was discovered at the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.
1990 - The 32-day lockout of baseball players ended.
1992 - White South Africans voted for constitutional reforms that would give legal equality to blacks.
1997 - A Russian AN-24 crashed killing 50 people.
2003 - China's new president, Hu Jintao, announced that his country must deepen reforms and raise living standards of workers and farmers.

Copblock.org -- Standing Your Ground Against Police.

Walgreens: No New Medicaid Patients as of April 16 -- Effective April 16, Walgreens drugstores across the state won't take any new Medicaid patients, saying that filling their prescriptions is a money-losing proposition — the latest development in an ongoing dispute over Medicaid reimbursement.

Washington lobbyists cashing in despite recession -- While Americans across the country tightened their belts, companies, organizations and other entities spent an average of 5% more on Washington lobbyists last year. The total amount spent on federal lobbying reached a record $3.5 billion in 2009, according to the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics.

Modified raw milk legislation moves ahead -- State legislation to allow the sale of raw farm milk to the general public moved a step forward Wednesday with some key changes, including the removal of an immunity clause for farmers. By a 5-0 vote, the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Higher Education recommended approval of the bill that would allow raw-milk sales direct from farms.

No CBO (Congressional Budget Office) Score Wednesday Night; Saturday Healthcare Vote Unlikely -- House Democratic leaders on Wednesday night said the long-awaited Congressional Budget Office score of the reconciliation bill will not come out until Thursday, forcing an acknowledgement that a Saturday healthcare vote is likely off the table.

New Health Care Whip Count: 190 YES, 206 NO -- The leadership says they have the votes, but projecting an aura of confidence has been a key to their pressure strategy. Bart Stupak says Democrats are 16 votes short, but pessimism has been, well, part of his strategy. So I prefer to actually, you know, count the votes.

Obama's HealthCare Plan Picks Up Support -- Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, long a supporter of Medicare-for-all, voted against the House Democratic bill in November because it did not go far enough in creating a robust government-run plan to compete with private insurance. But Kucinich said Wednesday that the bill coming before the House represents the best chance to expand coverage to the uninsured, even if it does not include a public plan.

Healthcare Bill Not Yet Law, but Republicans Already Organizing to Repeal It -- Can Republicans win election this fall by campaigning to repeal the health-care legislation now nearing passage in Congress?

Detroit Family Homes Sell for Just $10 -- He said there were homes on the market for $100 (£61), but an offer of just $10 (£6) would be likely to be accepted.

Virtually all kidney disease patients on dialysis have vitamin D deficiency -- Research abounds that adequate vitamin D is essential for good health. Unfortunately, however, millions of Americans are not getting enough of this so-called "sunshine" vitamin. Read the full story...

High-dose vitamin C therapy proven effective -- There is a double standard in Western medicine when it comes to assessing the efficacy of vitamins compared to pharmaceutical drugs. While medical science recognizes that dose levels affect how well a drug works, the same principle is not considered valid for vitamins. As a result, 75 years of physician reports and clinical studies about the success of high-dose vitamin C therapy has been largely ignored.

Gov't bank auditors got big bonuses -- Banks weren't the only ones giving big bonuses in the boom years before the worst financial crisis in generations. The government also was handing out millions of dollars to bank regulators, rewarding "superior" work even as an avalanche of risky mortgages helped create the meltdown.

FEMA's Sale of Katrina Trailers Sparks Criticism -- Consumer advocates and environmentalists are outraged that the government resold products it deemed unsafe to live in, saying warning stickers attached to the units will not keep people from misusing them. Besides formaldehyde, units might be plagued by mold, mildew and propane gas leaks, FEMA acknowledged.

Meet the 'Chubby Boy with the Curly Hair' -- Grinning happily at the camera, this is Barry Soetoro, the cherubic little boy who went on to become America's first black president.

Newsweek: US in Terminal Decline -- Why would the Anglo-American power elite want to convince Americans that their country is on the way down? Because the elite is apparently after global consolidation and if Americans are convinced that the US is finished, they may be more amenable to joining forces with, say, Canada and Mexico in a super-state. This sounds strange to some, but remember, please, that the Bush administration, a so-called conservative administration, attempted basically to begin a merger of America and Mexico by legislative means only a few years ago. In Texas, Republican Governor Rick Perry spent a good deal of time in the mid-2000s trying to push forward a trans-continental superhighway between Mexico and Canada that would have cut America in two.

DARPA MIND’S EYE PROGRAM -- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will conduct a briefing to Industry, on April 20, 2010, in support of the anticipated Mind’s Eye program Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). This announcement serves as a pre‐solicitation notice and is issued solely for information and program planning purposes. Read More...

Gov't orders recall of 1.2 million high chairs -- The government is announcing a recall of some 1.2 million high chairs, saying they pose a fall hazard to children. The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the voluntary recall Thursday involving the product made by Graco Children's Products, Inc., of Atlanta.

Who Could Eat All This? -- Jesse Martin camped out overnight this month outside a San Marcos, Texas, Chick-fil-A for a chance to win a year's worth of chicken sandwiches. The Atlanta-based fast-food chain gives away free meals for a year to the first 100 customers at new stores' grand openings. So far, Mr. Martin, a 34-year-old college pastor from Austin, Texas, has been to five Chick-fil-A grand openings and won at four of them. (Comment: How sad that people are camping out for free fast food.) Thanks Jimm!

Darpa Wants Self-Guiding, Storytelling Cameras -- Darpa is already after all kinds of highly intelligent robo-critters. In the past few months, they’ve launched projects to create a real-life C3PO and a surveillance system to pinpoint threats in heaps of visual data. Now, the agency wants artificial intelligence-powered cameras that can recognize objects — and then tell a story about them. Next month, Darpa will host a one-day conference to launch the project, which has been given a slightly Orwellian title: “The Mind’s Eye.” (.pdf) The idea is to create machines that are endowed with what remains an exclusively human ability: visual intelligence.

US Shipping Arms Ahead of Strike on Iran -- Hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean ahead of a possible attack on Iran, The Herald reported Wednesday.

Pelosi Calls All Female Democratic Members into Meeting -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is asking all female Democratic Members to attend a hastily called meeting Wednesday morning but isn’t saying what the meeting is about.

Wal-Mart worker fired over medical marijuana -- A Michigan man says he was fired from his Wal-Mart job for using medical marijuana. The use of medical marijuana is legal in Michigan, but Wal-Mart claims it did nothing wrong.

Census Threat: $5,000 -- How many people live in your home? Are any of them Hispanic? Are the people who live in your home citizens? How big is your home? Do you have difficulty making decisions or climbing stairs? How much do you pay for your sewage system? Are you married? What's your rent or mortgage payment? Do you own an automobile? Are you on food stamps? How much money do you make?

Census Law -- I pass this along letter on the census for your information, only. I do not counsel anyone to break the law. Of course, I’m not real sure of what the law is. A direct and literal reading of the U.S. Constitution it seems to me, a non lawyer, is clear as to what the law is: people are legally obligated, only, to cooperate in a head count for political representation purposes.

Economy Kept On Life Support While Global Governance is Organized -- While the mainstream media puts on the recovery song and dance, the fundamental problems of the collapse remain the same, and in some cases are growing ever more precarious. Subsections of the public, unaware of the real issues at hand, are holding a misguided jubilee in the tranquil eye of a hurricane, wrongly assuming that the storm has passed.

Food Shortage 'The Next Global Challenge' -- Climate change, rising fuel costs, water shortages: now experts are warning Australia's food producers have a new crisis to consider: Food Insecurity.

Foreclosure Starts Up Nearly 20% in California -- After reaching the lowest level in a year in January, Notice of Defaults, the start of the foreclosure process, increased by 19.7 percent in February, according to a report Monday from ForeclosureRadar Inc., a Discovery Bay-based foreclosure information company that says it tracks every California foreclosure.

Senate Bill Wipes Out Indian Tobacco Industry -- Handing big tobacco corporations a huge victory, the U.S. Senate has passed the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act – an act tribal leaders say is an attack on tribal sovereignty and economies that will devastate Indian tobacco businesses across the country.

Did the CIA Test LSD in the New York Subway System? -- But 22 years later, the Rockefeller Commission report was released, detailing a litany of domestic abuses committed by the CIA. The ugly truth emerged: Olson’s death was the result of his having been surreptitiously dosed with LSD days earlier by his colleagues.

New RFID Tech Tracks You to the Tomb -- A new product, the RosettaStone (www.personalrosettastone.com), guarantees that RFID will follow you straight to your grave.

Slaughter House Rules -- We're not sure American schools teach civics any more, but once upon a time they taught that under the U.S. Constitution a bill had to pass both the House and Senate to become law. Until this week, that is, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi is moving to merely "deem" that the House has passed the Senate health-care bill and then send it to President Obama to sign anyway.

Sony Chairman Michael Lynton Calls for Healthy Alternative to Popcorn in Cinemas -- For many, a night out at the movies would not be complete without the sound of popcorn and chocolate wrappers from the stalls. One of the most powerful studio bosses in Hollywood, however, would like to see cinemas selling healthier snacks. (Can we not have some choices left in Amerika?)

Mass. Dentist Used Paper Clips in Root Canals -- A former Massachusetts dentist is accused of placing paper clips instead of stainless steel posts inside the teeth of root canal patients while billing Medicaid for the more expensive parts.

Bernake to Wage Fresh Battle for Fed Powers -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke plans to wage a fresh battle against Senate efforts to scale back the Fed's role in supervising the nation's banks. (Let's see, give the fox even more powers over the sheeple?? NOT. I say audit the fed and then get rid of Bernake!)

Internet Rehab Clinic for 'Screenager' Children Hooked on Modern Technology -- Children who are hooked on computer games, the internet and mobile phones are to be offered help at what is thought to be the first dedicated technology addiction service for young people in Britain.

Hawaii Considering Law to Ignore Obama Birthers -- As the state continues to receive e-mails seeking Obama's birth certificate, the state House Judiciary Committee heard a bill Tuesday permitting government officials to ignore people who won't give up.

States May Hold Onto Tax Refunds for Months -- Residents eager to get their state tax refunds may have a long wait this year: The recession has tied up cash and caused officials in half a dozen states to consider freezing refunds, in one case for as long as five months.

Code Red Moves Cardoza and Costa to 'YES' Votes on Gov't Healthcare Takeover After Water Deal -- As a vote approaches on Obama and Pelosi’s government takeover of healthcare, Code Red is now considering two supposedly “undecided” California Democrats, Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa, to now be “yes” votes.

Hand Germs Could Join Fingerprints, DNA Forensics Labs -- Researchers led by Noah Fierer of the University of Colorado at Boulder swabbed individual keys on three personal computer keyboards, extracted bacterial DNA from the swabs and compared the results with bacteria on the fingertips of the keyboards' users. (And we all know how accurate they are with DNA now eh?)

Riots Erupt Across Jerusalem as Hamas Leader Calls for Renewed 'Intifada' -- Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces across east Jerusalem on Tuesday in the worst rioting in years, as a senior Hamas leader called for a new "intifada" or uprising.

Revealed: Ashcroft, Tenet, Rumsfeld Warned 911 Commission About 'Line it Should Not Cross' -- Senior Bush administration officials sternly cautioned the 9/11 Commission against probing too deeply into the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, according to a document recently obtained by the ACLU.

Hurt Dog Limps Into NW ER -- The patient was only slightly injured when he limped into a hospital in the northwest New Mexico city of Farmington.

PG&E Customer Refuses to Take a Smart Meter -- When Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announced it was installing smart meters, they weren't exactly giving customers the option of turning down the device. But one Bay Area man demanding his constitutional rights told CBS5 that he doesn't want a new meter. Period.

Obama: 'Procedural' Spat Over Health Bill Vote Doesn't Worry Me -- Instead, under a process called a "self-executing rule," the House could simultaneously approve the Senate bill while voting on a package of changes to it. This would "deem" the Senate bill to be passed, without compelling members to vote for it directly.

Sheriff: Man Sold His Wife for Sex on Craigslist -- Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says 32-year-old Clinton Danner from Rockford, Minn., convinced his wife she would never see their preschooler again if she didn't have sex with strangers for money.


Today in History Wednesday March 17, 2010 - Saint Patrick's Day!
1756 - St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in New York City for the first time. The event took place at the Crown and Thistle Tavern.
1766 - Britain repealed the Stamp Act that had caused resentment in the North American colonies.
1776 - British forces evacuated Boston to Nova Scotia during the Revolutionary War.
1868 - Postage stamp canceling machine patent was issued.
1870 - Wellesley College was incorporated by the Massachusetts legislature under its first name, Wellesley Female Seminary.
1884 - John Joseph Montgomery made the first glider flight in Otay, California.
1891 - The British steamer Utopia sank off the coast of Gibraltar.
1909 - In France, the communications industry was paralyzed by strikes.
1910 - The Camp Fire Girls organization was founded by Luther and Charlotte Gulick. It was formally presented to the public exactly 2 years later.
1914 - Russia increased the number of active duty military from 460,000 to 1,700,000.
1917 - America’s first bowling tournament for ladies began in St. Louis, MO. Almost 100 women participated in the event.
1930 - Al Capone was released from jail.
1941 - The National Gallery of Art was officially opened by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington, DC.
1942 - Douglas MacArthur became the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in the Southwestern Pacific.
1944 - During World War II, the U.S. bombed Vienna.
1950 - Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley announced that they had created a new radioactive element. They named it "californium". It is
 also known as element 98.         
1958 - The Vanguard 1 satellite was launched by the U.S.
1961 - The U.S. increased military aid and technicians to Laos.
1962 - Moscow asked the U.S. to pull out of South Vietnam.
1966 - A U.S. submarine found a missing H-bomb in the Mediterranean off of Spain.
1970 - The U.S. Army charged 14 officers with suppression of facts in the My Lai massacre case.
1972 - U.S. President Nixon asked Congress to halt busing in order to achieve desegregation.
1973 - Twenty were killed in Cambodia when a bomb went off that was meant for the Cambodian President Lon Nol.
1973 - The first American prisoners of war (POWs) were released from the "Hanoi Hilton" in Hanoi, North Vietnam.
1982 - In El Salvador, four Dutch television crewmembers were killed by government troops.
1989 - A series of solar flares caused a violent magnetic storm that brought power outages over large regions of Canada.
1992 - White South Africans approved constitutional reforms to give legal equality to blacks.
1999 - A panel of medical experts concluded that marijuana had medical benefits for people suffering from cancer and AIDS.
1999 - The International Olympic Committee expelled six of its members in the wake of a bribery scandal.
2000 - In Kanungu, Uganda, a fire at a church linked to the cult known as the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments killed more than 530.
2009 - The iTunes Music Store reached 800 million applications downloaded.

Two Original Thoughts For The Day from our friend Mike Tawse in the UK -- To Be Truly Free and Every Day Is A gift.

Chinese Inflation - the Final Unraveling? -- But as we have pointed out umpteen times, the Chinese miracle may be, at least to a degree, something of a fiat-money mirage. Economies in the modern era can certainly be fueled by the endless over-printing of paper money and the immediate "wealth effect" that large-scale, central-bank money-printing can, and often does, generate. But woe betide such an economy in the ensuing decades as the distortive effects of fiat money printing take hold. A crash is seemingly inevitable. And the higher the economy has rocketed, the farther it has to fall.

5th state exempts guns. Is Washington noticing? -- A fifth state – South Dakota – has decided that guns made, sold and used within its borders no longer are subject to the whims of the federal government through its rule-making arm in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and two supporters of the growing groundswell say they hope Washington soon will be taking note.

FDA Approved Diabetes Drug Despite Hints at Cancer Risk -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is defending its decision in late January to approve a new diabetes drug, Victoza (liraglutide), even though animal studies suggest it might increase the risk for a rare thyroid cancer.

Break the law and your new 'friend' may be the FBI -- The Feds are on Facebook. And MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, too. U.S.law enforcement agents are following the rest of the Internet world into popular social-networking services, going undercover with false online profiles to communicate with suspects and gather private information, according to an internal Justice Department document that offers a tantalizing glimpse of issues related to privacy and crime-fighting.

Many Canadian firms learning to cope with strong dollar says think tank report -- With the loonie once again nearing parity with the U.S. dollar, a new report on the currency is giving hope it may not be the menace to the economy many believe it to be. The Conference Board weighed in on the subject Monday with a surprising argument - a strong loonie and currency volatility are a net negative for the economy, but not a major impediment, particularly if firms take steps to adapt.

U.S. Intelligence planned to destroy WikiLeaks -- Wikileaks.org specifically cited 2,000 pages of leaked US Army documents with information on the Tables of Equipment (TOEs) for US and Coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. These documents provided information on the US forces, a description of equipment and total number of equipment that were assigned to actual military units assigned to US Central Command in April 2007. Not a good thing!!

Pelosi Says Democrats to Have Votes for Health Bill -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, still shoring up support for legislation to overhaul the U.S. health- care system, vowed that Democrats will be ready to pass the bill when the time comes. “When we bring the bill to the floor, we will have the votes,” Pelosi told reporters.

Pelosi: "Once we kick through this door, more reform will follow" -- "My biggest fight has been between those who wanted to do something incremental and those who wanted to do something comprehensive," Pelosi said, according to an account by Washington Post reform advocate Ezra Klein. "We won that fight, and once we kick through this door, there'll be more legislation to follow."

House May Try to Pass Senate Health-Care Bill Without Voting On It -- After laying the groundwork for a decisive vote this week on the Senate's health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without having members vote on it.

Kucinich in Obama's Crosshairs -- Obama invited Kucinich and undecided Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) to the ultimate pressure cooker as he tries to nail down a majority for his top domestic priority.

Drug Industry Preparing Pro-Reform Ads - COMING SOON –- The drug industry, which has held off running ads until officials sign off on the final reconciliation bill, is growing more comfortable with the emerging legislation and is preparing a substantial pro-reform ad buy in 43 Democratic districts, according to a senior industry source.

Obama Runs Out of Patience with Israel -- The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday strongly defended Jewish settlement construction in East Jerusalem in the face of US pressure and what one of his own top diplomats described as the worst crisis in relations with Washington for more than three decades.

Clinton: Israel Must Prove Commitment to Peace -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says Israel must prove it is committed to the Mideast peace process with actions, but brushed aside suggestions that U.S.-Israeli relations are in crisis.

US Israel Criticism Ignites Firestorm in Congress -- The Obama administration's fierce denunciation of Israel last week has ignited a firestorm in Congress and among powerful pro-Israel interest groups who say the criticism of America's top Mideast ally was misplaced.

ACORN Branches Rename, Rebrand After Video Scandal -- Affiliates of the once mighty liberal activist group ACORN are remaking themselves in a desperate bid to ditch the tarnished name of their parent organization and restore federal grants and other revenue streams that ran dry in the wake of a video scandal.

Junk Bond Avalanche Looms for Credit Markets -- Maybe they should have, because 2012 also is the beginning of a three-year period in which more than $700 billion in risky, high -yield corporate debt begins to come due, an extraordinary surge that some analysts fear could overload the debt markets.

Monsanto Admits Their Technology Doesn't Work -- In a setback for genetically engineered cotton, Monsanto, innovator of the strain, confirmed what skeptics had said might well happen, that the pests it was supposed to resist better than natural cotton would also innovate.

Climate 'Fix' Could Poison Sea Life -- Fertilizing the oceans with iron to absorb carbon dioxide could increase concentrations of a chemical that can kill marine mammals, a study has found.

Future Bio-Nanotechnology Will Use Computer Chips Inside Living Cells -- Continuing miniaturization has moved the semiconductor industry well into the nano realm with leading chip manufacturers on their way to CMOS using 22nm process technology.

Can You Alter Your Memory? -- Is it possible to permanently change your memories? A group of scientists thinks so. And their new techniques for altering memories are raising possibilities of one day treating people who suffer from phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety-related conditions.

In Bizarre, Soviet Style Move, White House Threatens to Veto Intelligence Budget Unless FBI's Anthrax Frame-Up Is Accepted -- In a bizarre, Soviet-style move, the White House has threatened to veto the intelligence budget unless everyone accepts the FBI frame up of Dr. Bruce Ivins.

Nationwide Study Finds More People Growing Edibles -- There was an increase in edibles gardening in 2009 from both experienced and new gardeners. Among those that grew edibles in 2009, 92% were experienced and 7% were new to edibles gardening.

Day of Rage - Jerusalem -- The day dubbed "the day of rage" by Hamas and extremist Islamic groups opened with riots – both in the holy city and on the way to it.

City That Banned Bible Studies Has Judgment Day -- Officials in an Arizona city where workers recently told members of a small church they are not allowed to hold Bible studies in a home and then backed up the warning with an official opinion from the city planner – an issue on which WND reported – say they now hope to make changes that will allow such religious activity.

Construction Unemployment Rate Hits 27.1% As Another 64,000 Construction Workers Lost Jobs in February 2010 -- The construction unemployment rate jumped to 27.1% and construction employment dropped to a 14-year low as another 64,000 construction workers lost jobs in February, according to federal employment figures released recently.

Solar Flare Alert -- A solar wind stream is heading for Earth, and so is a coronal mass ejection (CME). Together, they add up to a geomagnetic storm alert for March 17th and 18th. The impact of the solar wind plus CME will brighten Arctic skies already alive with Northern Lights.

Is the US Preparing For "The Total Destruction of Iran?" -- Is war just around the corner? While in theory it would make perfect sense to distract Americans from the long road to US insolvency, and other more pressing issues such as the endless criminality all around us, in practice we have so far heard merely rumors.

US Consulate Aid, Husband Die in Mexico Border Violence -- Gunmen believed linked to drug traffickers shot and killed an American consulate worker and her husband in the violence-racked border town of Ciudad Juárez over the weekend, leaving their baby wailing in the back seat of their car, authorities said Sunday.

Dictyostelium Found in Morgellons -- The reason that dictyostelium discoidium is important is because this cellular slime mold has unique properties that lend itself to mutating other substances. These eukaryotic microorganisms have a simplistic genetic makeup and produces what are know as chemotaxis.

HR 646: US Preparing for Civil Unrest -- A bill entitled the National Emergency Centers Establishment Act (HR 645) was introduced in the US Congress in January. It calls for the establishment of six national emergency centers in major regions in the US to be located on existing military installations.

Jihad Jane: Terror by Reason of Insanity -- And so who is Jihad Jane? Is she a real terrorist, or is she a disturbed woman who never played the cards of life very well — and perhaps not with a full deck?

Top Ratings Agency Warns Austerity Riots Could Hit America and UK -- Top ratings agency Moody’s has predicted that the U.S. and the UK could witness similar riots to those seen in Greece in response to emergency austerity measures imposed by governments in an effort to retain their AAA credit status.

FBI Uses Phony Profiles on Social Networking Sites -- The FBI and other federal agencies are going undercover on Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and other social networks with phony profiles to gather information and communicate with suspects, according to an internal Justice Department document. (COINTELPRO anyone?)

California's Budget Crisis Could Cost Nearly 22,000 Teachers Their Jobs -- California's budget crisis could cost nearly 22,000 teachers their jobs this year.

Arizona To Approve Real ID, Mandatory ID Today -- The legislature declares that the intent of this act is to make attrition through enforcement the public policy of all state and local government agencies in Arizona. The provisions of this act are intended to work together to discourage and deter the unlawful entry and presence of aliens and economic activity by persons unlawfully present in the United States.

Humans Have Sixth Sense for Fat -- New research suggests that humans may have a previously unidentified sixth taste sense — for fat.

Babies Are Born to Dance -- "Our research suggests that it is the beat rather than other features of the music, such as the melody, that produces the response in infants," said researcher Marcel Zentner, a psychologist at the University of York in England.

Contestants Turn Tortures in French TV Experiment -- Game show contestants turn torturers in a new psychological experiment for French television, zapping a man with electricity until he cries for mercy -- then zapping him again until he seems to drop dead. (There is a DVD out now called "Live" that goes along with these - only in "Live" the contestants play Russian Roulette - sadly the people love and accept the game show. Is there where we are going mankind?)

$17.5 Billion Jobs Bill Nears Final OK -- The first of several Democratic job-creation efforts cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate on Monday and appeared to be headed toward final congressional approval.

Detroit to City Workers: Leave Smelly Perfumes, Deodorants, and Candles at Home -- Detroit officials are telling workers in city offices to leave smelly perfumes, deodorants, and other strongly scented toiletries and items at home. The signs are going up in response to a federal lawsuit, which also awarded $100,000 to Susan McBride, who sued the city under the Americans with Disabilities Act, claiming a coworker's perfume made it difficult for her to breathe and do her job.

Bland CBO Memo, or Smoking Gun? -- This weekend, the Congressional Budget Office released “a very strange memo” titled, “Budgetary Treatment of Proposals to Regulate Medical Loss Ratios.” You wouldn’t know it from the title, but that little memo is the smoking gun that shows how congressional Democrats have very carefully hidden more than half the cost of their health care bills.

Medical Pot Patient Robbed, Beaten; Cops take the Plants While He is Dying -- A Washington medical marijuana patient has died after being attacked by robbers who were after his pot crop. When local police were called to the scene, rather than investigating the assault, they started questioning mortally injured Michael Shane Howard about how many plants he had.

Blog: Questions for Thoughtful ObamaCare Supporters, Part III

Stifling Innovation with Subsidies

ObamaCare Cost Estimate Watch: Day #180
 

Today in History Tuesday March 16, 2010
1802 - The U.S. Congress established the West Point Military Academy in New York.
1836 - The Republic of Texas approved a constitution.
1850 - The novel "The Scarlet Letter," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was published for the first time.
1871 - The State of Delaware enacted the first fertilizer law.
1882 - The U.S. Senate approved a treaty allowing the United States to join the Red Cross.
1883 - Susan Hayhurst graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. She was the first woman pharmacy graduate.
1907 - The world's largest cruiser, the British Invincible was completed at Glasgow.
1909 - Cuba suffered its first revolt only six weeks after the inauguration of Gomez.
1913 - The 15,000-ton battleship Pennsylvania was launched at Newport News, VA.
1915 - The Federal Trade Commission began operation.
1926 - Physicist Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid-fuel rocket.
1928 - The U.S. planned to send 1,000 more Marines to Nicaragua.
1935 - Adolf Hitler ordered a German rearmament and violated the Versailles Treaty.
1945 - Iwo Jima was declared secure by the Allies. However, small pockets of Japanese resistance still existed.
1950 - Congress voted to remove federal taxes on oleo margarine.
1964 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson submitted a $1 billion war on poverty program to Congress.
1968 - U.S. troops in Vietnam destroyed a village consisting mostly of women and children. The event is known as the My-Lai massacre.
1982 - Russia announced they would halt their deployment of new nuclear missiles in Western Europe.
1984 - William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by gunmen. He died while in captivity.
1985 - Terry Anderson, an Associated Press newsman, was taken hostage in Beirut. He was released in December 4, 1991.
1988 - Indictments were issued for Lt. Colonel Oliver North, Vice Admiral John Poindexter of the National Security Council, and two others for their
          involvement in the Iran-Contra affair.
1993 - In France, ostrich meat was officially declared fit for human consumption.
1994 - Tonya Harding pled guilty in Portland, OR, to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for covering up the attack on her skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. She  
          was fined $100,000. She was also banned from amateur figure skating.
1994 - Russia agreed to phase out production of weapons-grade plutonium.
1995 - NASA astronaut Norman Thagard became the first American to visit the Russian space station Mir.
1998 - Rwanda began mass trials for 1994 genocide with 125,000 suspects for 500,000 murders.
1999 - The 20 members of the European Union's European Commission announced their resignations amid allegations of corruption and financial
          mismanagement.

What You Do Not Know About Fish Oil Supplements Will Hurt You -- A group of three plaintiffs very recently filed a suit against eight supplement companies for violating California Proposition 65, which mandates that consumers must be warned on product labels of dangerous toxins beyond established "safe harbor" limits. The plaintiffs intend to prove that the eight supplement manufacturers knowingly passed on PCB contaminated fish oils without Prop 65's required warnings.

$5.4 million dollars for crystal stemware for American embassies!! -- Hillary Rodham Clinton's State Department is spending $5.4 million to buy fine crystal stemware for American embassies -- but it won't give the US economy much of a boost. The contract was given to a tiny Washington, DC, interior designer, which in turn subcontracted the crystal work to a Swedish firm -- snubbing such US companies as the famous manufacturer in Clinton's own back yard, Steuben Crystal of upstate Corning.

Guns Used in Pentagon and Las Vegas Courtroom Shootings Originated with Tennessee Police -- Talk about improbable odds. The guns used in the Pentagon and Las Vegas courthouse shootings came from the police and court system in Memphis, Tennessee. “Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that both guns were once seized in criminal cases in Memphis. The officials described how the weapons made their separate ways from an evidence vault to gun dealers and to the shooters.”

Bees Busier Than Ever as Disease Besieges Colonies -- These are not normal times for bees, or for commercial beekeepers, so Hackenberg's pollinators will skip the citrus gig to reduce their exposure to pesticides and get some rest. "Everybody is seeing [bee] losses this winter," said Hackenberg, of Lewisburg, Pa. "This was probably the worst year ever."

7 Deaths Reported Across Northeast -- A torrential rainstorm that brought heavy winds to the Northeast, causing damage and flooding, created some minor headaches for commuters Monday.

VIDEO: Sugar: The Bitter Truth -- Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin. Series: UCSF Mini Medical School for the Public [7/2009] [Health and Medicine]

Magnitude 6.6 Quake Sways Buildings in Tokyo -- A strong magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit off the eastern coast of Japan on Sunday, rattling buildings across a broad swath of the country, including the crowded capital.

Indonesia Earthquake -- Indonesia Earthquake 2010 a 6.4 Quake Rocks Indonesia.  Earthquakes are happening everywhere, and the country of Indonesia experienced a 6.4 earthquake today.  In addition to their event, Japan also incurred a 6.6 quake earlier in the day.

Judge Kithil Highlights Most Atrocious Sections of Health Care Reform -- "I have reviewed selected sections of the bill, and find it unbelievable that our Congress, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, could come up with a bill loaded with so many wrong-headed elements."

PDF File of the Healthcare Reform Reconciliation

House Democrats Short on Healthcare -- House Democratic leaders still do not have enough votes to pass health care reform, the chamber's top vote counter said Sunday, even though the administration is aiming to have the bill passed this week. (Yet another episode of 'Healthcare Takeover')

Hilary Rodham Clinton's Harsh Words Stun Israel -- Beginning as a spat over a single housing project, a dispute this week between the Obama administration and Israel has ballooned into the biggest U.S.-Israeli clash in 20 years, adding to months of strain between Washington and one of its closest allies.

Israeli Envoy: US Ties in 'Crisis of Historic Proportions' -- U.S.-Israeli relations have hit a 35-year low over a contentious east Jerusalem building project that threatens to derail peacemaking efforts with the Palestinians, Israel's envoy to Washington was quoted as saying Monday.

Obama Administration Monitors Jews on Temple Mount -- A member of the U.S. government met with organizers of Tuesday's "International Temple Mount Awareness Day" to pepper the activists about their intentions regarding Jewish ascent to the holy site.

Asian Fruit Fly Invasion Could Ruin Oregon Crops -- Farmers, researchers and entomologists are racing to battle a destructive new fruit fly that first appeared in Oregon last summer and quickly wiped out much of the late-season peach and berry crops.

US, UK Move Closer to Losing AAA Credit Rating -- The U.S. and the U.K. have moved “substantially” closer to losing their AAA credit ratings as the cost of servicing their debt rose, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Gender-Bender Chemicals are Turning Boys into Girls -- The report centers on chemicals like PVC, flame retardants, phthalates, dioxins, PCBs and bisphenol-A, all of which mimic the action of estrogen in the body. The researchers concluded that due to the prevalence of these chemicals, children could easily be exposed to high enough levels to place them at “critical risk” of harm.

Child Rape Charge Rocks TSA -- A Transportation Security Agency worker who pats down members of the flying public was charged with multiple child sex crimes targeting an underage girl yesterday.

Man in 'Freedom or Die' Shirt Told to Turn Inside Out at Airport -- London's Gatwick Airport has apologized after a man wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Freedom or Die" was asked to turn it inside-out because it could be threatening, a spokesman said Monday.

Corporpate Entity Becomes 'Candidate,' Kicks Off Bid -- "Until now, corporations only influenced politics with high-paid lobbyists and backroom deals," the company's YouTube account declares. "But today, thanks to an enlightened supreme court, corporations now have all the rights the founding fathers meant for us. That's why Murray Hill Incorporated is taking democracy's next step-- running for Congress."

Secretive Catholic Order Founded by Accused Pedophile Under Fire -- As sex abuse scandals rock the Vatican, the results of an investigation into a rich, ultra-conservative and secretive Roman Catholic order founded by a priest accused of pedophilia and incest are due to be filed in Rome tomorrow.

Proposal for European Monetary Fund Meets Resistance -- The German proposal to establish a European monetary fund ran into skepticism at home and abroad Tuesday, highlighting the political and legal hurdles that such an undertaking would face.

Panic in Georgia (the country) After Mock News Broadcast -- Some people placed emergency calls reporting heart attacks, others rushed in a panic to buy bread and residents of one border village staggered from their homes and dashed for safety — all after a television station in Georgia broadcast a mock newscast on Saturday night that pretended to report on a Russian invasion of the country. (WTH??)

US to Lobby for Endangered Species Listing for Polar Bear -- This time, the tale comes with an unexpected twist. This weekend, the US will warn that the threat from climate change to the survival of the polar bear is so great that the world must grant it the highest possible protection. (Pull the empathy card, uh huh.)

Cocaine Users 'Making Global Warming Worse' -- Group chairman Keith Vaz said: "We were horrified to learn for every few lines of cocaine snorted in a London club, four square metres of rainforest is destroyed." (Gimme a break!)

Central Figure in CDC Vaccine Cover-Up Absconds with $2 Million -- A central figure behind the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) claims disputing the link between vaccines and autism and other neurological disorders has disappeared after officials discovered massive fraud involving the theft of millions in taxpayer dollars. Danish police are investigating Dr. Poul Thorsen, who has vanished along with almost $2 million that he had supposedly spent on research.

New Syndrome Affecting Potentially Thousands of Hospital Patients -- Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have identified a new syndrome affecting potentially thousands of hospital inpatients. Coined SHAKE (Supplement-associated Hyperammonemia After C(K)achetic Episode), the condition, which results in altered mental status and difficulty walking, can be prevented by excluding high protein dietary supplements in a patients' diet if they have experienced poor eating for more than a week prior to their admittance.

Hillary Rodham Clinton Contracts Purchases of $5.4 Million in Crystal Stemware for American Embassies to Swedish Firm -- Hillary Rodham Clinton's State Department is spending $5.4 million to buy fine crystal stemware for American embassies -- but it won't give the US economy much of a boost.

Google '99 Certain to Shut China Engine -- In a hardening of positions on both sides, the Chinese government also on Friday threw down a direct public challenge to the US search company, with a warning that it was not prepared to compromise on internet censorship to stop Google leaving.

China Trims Holdings of Treasury Securities -- China retained its spot as the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury debt in January although it trimmed its holdings for a third straight month. The string of declines are likely to underscore worries that the U.S. government could face much higher interest rates to finance soaring budget deficits.

NYT: Probe Finds Widespread US Fraud in Iraq -- Investigators looking into corruption involving reconstruction in Iraq say they have opened more than 50 new cases in six months by scrutinizing large cash transactions — involving banks, land deals, loan payments, casinos and even plastic surgery — made by some of the Americans involved in the nearly $150 billion program.

Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill Militants -- Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill suspected militants, according to military officials and businessmen in Afghanistan and the United States.

Banished! City Forbids Bible Studies in Homes -- The city of Gilbert, Ariz., has ordered a group of seven adults to stop gathering for Bible studies in a private home because such meetings are forbidden by the city's zoning codes.

NASA Finds Shrimp Dinner on Ice Beneath Antartica -- In a surprising discovery about where higher life can thrive, scientists for the first time found a shrimp-like creature and a jellyfish frolicking beneath a massive Antarctic ice sheet.

Dodd Unveils Bill That Puts Consumer Agency at Fed -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd on Monday unveiled a bill to revamp U.S. financial rules that would place a consumer protection agency within the Federal Reserve and give the central bank new powers over non-bank financial firms.

International Community Seems to Be Comfortable with Afghan Drug Trafficking -- “There is nothing surprising about that. The USA refuses to destroy narcotic plantations in Afghanistan, and the effectiveness of the international cooperation in the destruction of the infrastructure of the Afghan drug production declines considerably,” the official said.

Is China's Politiburo Spoiling for a Showdown with America? -- Within a month the US Treasury must rule whether China is a "currency manipulator", triggering sanctions under US law. This has been finessed before, but we are in a new world now with America's U6 unemployment at 16.8pc.

To War, To War, America's Going to War with Iran -- At least it sure looks like it according to this news release. It seems that the United States has shipped 387 “Blu” bombs to a U.S. military base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. These “Blu” bombs are used specifically for destroying hardened and underground structures (like, uh, alleged underground nuclear bomb facilities in Iran?).

Beck, Palin Kick Off 'Taking Our Country Back Tour' -- Conservative superstars Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck called for Americans to demand a smaller government that adheres to the principles of its founding fathers during a rally in downtown Tulsa on Saturday.

George Soros Conspires with United Nations to Kill Second Amendment -- In the video below, we learn that Rebecca Peters, director of of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), is working with the United Nations and governments around the world to grab guns. Peters and IANSA are funded by the globalist George Soros.


Today in History Monday March 15, 2010
1493 - Christopher Columbus returned to Spain after his first New World voyage.
1820 - Maine was admitted as the 23rd state of the Union.
1864 - Red River Campaign began as the Union forces reach Alexandria, LA.
1875 - The Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York, John McCloskey, was named the first American cardinal.
1892 - New York State unveiled the new automatic ballot voting machine.
1904 - Three hundred Russians were killed as the Japanese shelled Port Arthur in Korea.
1907 - In Finland, woman won their first seats in the Finnish Parliament. They took their seats on May 23.
1909 - Italy proposed a European conference on the Balkans.
1910 - Otto Kahn offered $500,000 for a family portrait by Dutch artist Frans Hals. Kahn had outbid J.P. Morgan for the work.
1913 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson held the first open presidential news conference.
1916 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent 12,000 troops, under General Pershing, over the border of Mexico to pursue bandit Pancho Villa. Mission failed.
1917 - Russian Czar Nicholas II abdicated himself and his son. His brother Grand Duke succeeded as czar.
1919 - The American Legion was founded in Paris.
1922 - Fuad I assumed the title of king of Egypt after the country gained nominal independence from Britain.
1934 - Henry Ford restored the $5 a day wage.
1937 - In Chicago, IL, the first blood bank to preserve blood for transfusion by refrigeration was established at the Cook County Hospital.
1938 - Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia.
1939 - German forces occupied Bohemia and Moravia, and part of Czechoslovakia.
1951 - General de Lattre demanded that Paris send him more troops for the fight in Vietnam.
1955 - The U.S. Air Force unveiled a self-guided missile.
1968 - The U.S. mint halted the practice of buying and selling gold.
1977 - The U.S. House of Representatives began a 90-day test to determine the feasibility of showing its sessions on television.
1985 - In Brazil, two decades of military rule came to an end with the installation of a civilian government.
1989 - The U.S. Food and Drug administration decided to impound all fruit imported from Chili after two cyanide-tainted grapes were found in Philadelphia.
1989 - The U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs became the 14th Department in the President's Cabinet.
1990 - Mikhail Gorbachev was elected the first executive president of the Soviet Union.
1991 - Four Los Angeles police officers were indicted in the beating of Rodney King on March 3, 1991.
1994 - U.S. President Clinton extended the moratorium on nuclear testing until September of 1995.
2002 - Libyan Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi began his life sentence in a Scottish jail for his role in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on 12/ 21/1988.
2002 - In the U.S., Burger King began selling a veggie burger. The event was billed as the first veggie burger to be sold nationally by a fast food chain.
2002 - In Texas, Andrea Yates received a life sentence for drowning her five children on June 20, 2001.
2002 - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Associated Press that the U.S. would stand by a 24-year pledge not to use nuclear arms against states that don't have them.

Two Thoughts of the Day from our friend Mike Tawse in the UK -- True Belief In Freedom and Defend The Rights Of Others,

Fosamax, Actonel, Didronel & Boniva Linked To Esophageal Cancer -- According to the FDA, several osteoporosis drugs are now being linked with esophageal cancer. Among them are Merck & Company’s Fosamax, Proctor & Gamble’s Actonel and Didronel and Roche’s Boniva. Read More...

3 Banks failed this weekend -- Statewide Bank Covington LA - Old Southern Bank Orlando FL - The Park Avenue Bank
 * Related Website: Comptroller of the Currency -- The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) charters, regulates, and supervises all national banks. It also supervises the federal branches and agencies of foreign banks. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the OCC has four district offices plus an office in London to supervise the international activities of national banks. Check out your bank!!

FDA targets processing of spices in bid to make supply safer -- Jeff Farrar, the FDA's associate commissioner for food safety, said the government wants the spice industry to do more to prevent contamination. That would include using one of three methods to rid spices of bacteria: irradiation, steam heating or fumigation with ethylene oxide, a pesticide.

US court rules again against vaccine-autism claims -- Vaccines that contain a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal cannot cause autism on their own, a special U.S. court ruled on Friday, dealing one more blow to parents seeking to blame vaccines for their children's illness. The special U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled that vaccines could not have caused the autism of an Oregon boy, William Mead, ending his family's quest for reimbursement. (and we're suppose to believe this)??????
 * Related Article: 3 Rulings Find No Link to Vaccines and Autism -- In a further blow to the antivaccine movement, three judges ruled Friday in three separate cases that thimerosal, a preservative containing mercury, does not cause autism.

US to Roll Out Major Broadband Policy -- U.S. regulators will announce a major Internet policy this week to revolutionize how Americans communicate and play, proposing a dramatic increase in broadband speeds that could let people download a high-definition film in minutes instead of hours.

Ron Paul Defends Oath Keepers -- Ron Paul Defends Oath Keepers March 8, 2010 Newport Music Hall near Ohio State University.

Brain scan can read people's thoughts say researchers -- A scan of brain activity can effectively read a person's mind, researchers said Thursday. British scientists from University College London found they could differentiate brain activity linked to different memories and thereby identify thought patterns by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Prepare for What May Be the Largest Food Recall in American History -- A large batch of the flavor enhancer known as hydrolyzed vegetable protein or HVP, supplied by Basic Food Flavors, a North Las Vegas food ingredient company, was found to be laced with salmonella. Thus far, over one hundred products containing the ingredient have been recalled in both the U.S. and Canada. The company produces about 20 million pounds of the food additive annually. (Laced????)
 * List of items in HVP Recall

FEMA's Sale of Katrina Trailers Sparks Criticism -- Consumer advocates and environmentalists are outraged that the government resold products it deemed unsafe to live in, saying warning stickers attached to the units will not keep people from misusing them. Besides formaldehyde, units might be plagued by mold, mildew and propane gas leaks, FEMA acknowledged.

The Video That Will Put Geithner Behind Bars -- "If this doesn’t convince you that the Timothy Geithner knew about the securities shenanigans that were going on at Lehman, than I don’t know what will."

Drugs in Our Drinking Water -- No, not just fluoride, which is bad enough - much of our drinking water, in the U.S., Canada and U.K. at least, is contaminated with Prozac and a "vast array" of other drugs. And you wonder why everyone around is sleepwalking and/or sick?

Unemployment rate for young veterans hits 21.1 percent -- The unemployment rate last year for young veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars hit 21.1 percent, the Labor Department said Friday, reflecting a tough obstacle that combat veterans face as they make the transition home from war.

US Mercenaries Hired to Track and Kill Suspected Militants -- Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill suspected militants, according to military officials and businessmen in Afghanistan and the United States. Read More...

Oh so stupid - Stinky Feet Plague Florida Airport Workers -- Security Personnel at Palm Beach International Airport Complain of Stench Left by Passengers' Bare Feet. (What did they expect)???

IPCC Rainforest Eco-tastrophe Claim Confirmed as Bunk -- The UN body came under attack earlier this year for suggesting that 40 per cent of the Amazonian rainforests – dubbed the “lungs of the planet” by some for their ability to turn CO2 into oxygen, and also seen as vital on biodiversity grounds – might disappear imminently. This disaster would be triggered, according to the IPCC’s assessment, by a relatively slight drop in rainfall of the sort to be expected in a warming world. Unfortunately it now appears that just such conditions have already occurred, and in fact the Amazonian jungles were unaffected.

Social Security to Start Cashing Uncle Sam's IOU's -- The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal government, payable to the Social Security Administration. It's time to start cashing them in. (The death rattle of social security???)

Primary Schoolchildren in Tears After They are Told They Will Be Removed From Families As Part of Holocaust Game -- A group of stunned primary schoolchildren began crying when their teacher told them during a bizarre Holocaust game that they were to be taken away from their families.

IRS Visits Sacramento Carwash in Pursuit of Four Cents -- The really odd part of this: The letter that was hand-delivered to Zeff’s on-site manager showed the amount of money owed to the feds was … 4 cents. Inexplicably, penalties and taxes accruing on the debt – stemming from the 2006 tax year – were listed as $202.31, leaving Harv’s with an obligation of $202.35. (Another "Oh so STUPID" story)

Search for Death Star That Throws Out Deadly Comets -- Nasa scientists are searching for an invisible 'Death Star' that circles the Sun, which catapults potentially catastrophic comets at the Earth.

Putin in Deal to Build Nuclear Reactors for India -- India and Russia today signed a nuclear co-operation agreement, which paves the way for the building of about a dozen nuclear reactors in India, with Russian help, over the next few decades.

Forests are a Planetary Asset and No Longer the Concern of Individual Countries -- The conference, with closed-door working groups, is looking to translate measures adopted at the U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen in December into concrete mechanisms - and funds. World Bank representatives and lending nations were also attending the meeting.

Obama Supports DNA Sampling Upon Arrest -- Gerstein posts a televised interview of Obama and John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted. The nation’s chief executive extols the virtues of mandatory DNA testing of Americans upon arrest, even absent charges or a conviction. Obama said, “It’s the right thing to do” to “tighten the grip around folks” who commit crime. (Can anyone say 'police state'?)

Mexican Military Copter Over US Neighborhood -- The Zapata County sheriff Thursday was questioning why a Mexican military helicopter was hovering over homes on the Texas side of the Rio Grande.

Pentagon Gun was from Tenn. Police -- Two guns used in high-profile shootings this year at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse both came from the same unlikely place: the police and court system of Memphis, Tenn.

China Wants US Reassurance Over Dollar -- China's premier expressed concern about the U.S. dollar and called on Washington on Sunday to take "concrete steps" to reassure Beijing about the safety of its huge Treasury bond holdings.

Arrogant Senator Marsh Spits in the Eye of a Virginia Giant -- The controversy began when Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax) and Courts of Justice Chairman Henry Marsh (D-Richmond) created a special subcommittee to consider several gun bills passed by the Republican-controlled House, including an attempt to repeal Virginia’s ban on buying more than one handgun a month.

Americans Are Still 21 Percent Poorer Than Before the Recession -- Even with the gain, Americans' net worth would have to rise an additional 21 percent to get back to its pre-recession peak of $65.9 trillion. That shows the vast loss of wealth people have suffered from the worst downturn since the 1930s.

Detroit Family Homes Sell for Just $10 -- He said there were homes on the market for $100 (£61), but an offer of just $10 (£6) would be likely to be accepted.

Underwater Homeowners Leave Behind Mortgages, but Lenders Can Still Come Calling -- People are walking away from their mortgages by the thousands, making a financial decision that it's better to take the hit on their credit score than try to recover $300,000 of negative equity on a $600,000 home purchased at the peak of the housing bubble. They're called "strategic defaults."

Massachusetts SIC Rules 2nd Amendment Does Not Apply to States -- The right to bear arms as defined in the Second Amendment does not apply to the states, so Massachusetts can regulate who can have firearms and how those weapons are to be stored, the state's high court ruled Wednesday.

Girls Scouts Distribute Planned Parenthood Sex Guide at UN Meeting -- The World Association of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides hosted a no-adults-welcome panel at the United Nations this week where Planned Parenthood was allowed to distribute a brochure entitled “Healthy, Happy and Hot.” The event was part of the annual United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) which concludes this week. (Oh my gosh - people should be outraged at this?? Is this how we want our girls to act and behave??)

Georgia Considers Outlawing Abortions Based on Race -- Are health care providers using abortion to curb the growth of the U.S. black population? That question will be at heart of a debate among Georgia lawmakers, who are poised to take up a controversial bill that would outlaw abortions prompted by the baby's race or gender.

Big Ax Looming at the New York City Fire Department: Threat of 1,000 Layoffs, Closing of 62 Companies -- The department will be forced to close a staggering 62 fire companies and lay off more than 1,000 firefighters if the bad-news state budget becomes reality, Commissioner Salvatore Cassano told the City Council Wednesday.

Weight Watchers Says Eat at McDonalds to Lose Weight -- Weight Watchers has now officially endorsed Chicken McNuggets as a "healthy meal" in New Zealand, where McDonald's restaurants will begin carrying the Weight Watchers logo on several menu items.

Free Greg Caton from FDA Tyranny -- Herbalist Greg Caton remains under arrest in the United States after having been illegally kidnapped and extradited from Ecuador by the FDA. He faces a hearing on March 17th in a Louisiana court, and he needs your help.
 * Related Article: FDA dupes Interpol to achieve illegal kidnapping and deportation of herbal formulator Greg Caton

Suit grows out of florists law -- In Louisiana, you don't need a license to peddle pets, paintings or cars — but sell no flowers. A 7-decades-old state law requires florists to pass a test and get a license to arrange and sell flowers, making Louisiana the only state in the USA with such a requirement. Supporters of the law say it ensures florists know what they're doing and deliver quality products.


Today in History Friday March 12, 2010
1789 - The U.S. Post Office was established.
1809 - Britain signed a treaty with Persia forcing the French to leave the country.
1884 - The State of Mississippi authorized the first state-supported college for women. It was called the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College.
1863 - President Jefferson Davis delivered his State of the Confederacy address.
1889 - Almon B. Stowger applied for a patent for his automatic telephone system.
1894 - Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time.
1904 - After 30 years of drilling, the tunnel under the Hudson River was completed. The link was between Jersey City, NJ, and New York, NY.
1909 - The British Parliament increased naval appropriations for Britain.
1909 - Three U.S. warships were ordered to Nicaragua to stem the conflict with El Salvador.
1912 - The Girl Scout organization was founded. The original name was Girl Guides.
1923 - Dr. Lee DeForest demonstrated phonofilm. It was his technique for putting sound on motion picture film.
1933 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt presented his first presidential address to the nation. It was the first of the "Fireside Chats."
1940 - Finland surrendered to Russia ending the Russo-Finnish War.
1944 - Britain barred all travel to Ireland.
1947 - U.S. President Truman established the "Truman Doctrine" to help Greece and Turkey resist Communism.
1959 - The U.S. House joined the U.S. Senate in approving the statehood of Hawaii.
1966 - Bobby Hull, of the Chicago Blackhawks, became the first National Hockey League (NHL) player to score 51 points in a single season.
1974 - "Wonder Woman" debuted on ABC-TV. The show later went to CBS-TV.
1980 - In Chicago, IL, a jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys.
1984 - Lebanese President Gemayel opened the second meeting in five years calling for the end to nine-years of war.
1985 - The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. began arms control talks in Geneva.
1985 - Larry Bird, of the NBA’s Boston Celtics, scored a club-record 60 points against the Atlanta Hawks.
1985 - Former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announced that he planned to drop Secret Service protection and hire his own bodyguards in an effort to lower the deficit by $3 million.
1989 - About 2,500 veterans and supporters marched at the Art Institute of Chicago to demand that officials remove an American flag placed on the floor as part of an exhibit.
1992 - Mauritius became a republic but remained a member of the British Commonwealth.
1993 - In the U.S., the Pentagon called for the closure of 31 major military bases.
1993 - Several bombs were set of in Bombay, India. About 300 were killed and hundreds more were injured.
1993 - Janet Reno was sworn in as the first female U.S. attorney general.
1994 - A photo by Marmaduke Wetherell of the Loch Ness monster was confirmed to be a hoax. The photo was taken of a toy submarine with a head and neck attached.
1994 - The Church of England ordained its first women priests.
1997 - Police in Los Angeles arrested Mikail Markhasev for the shooting of Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son, Ennis. He was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
2002 - In Houston, Andrea Yates was convicted of murdering her five children in the family bathtub.
2002 - U.S. homeland security chief Tom Ridge unveiled a color-coded system for terror warnings.
2002 - Conoco and Phillips Petroleum stockholders approved a proposed merger worth $15.6 billion.
2003 - In Utah, Elizabeth Smart was reunited with her family nine months after she was abducted from her home. She had been taken on June 5, 2002, by a drifter that had previously worked at the Smart home.
2003 - The U.S. Air Force announced that it would resume reconnaissance flights off the coast of North Korea. The flights had stopped on March 2 after an encounter with four armed North Korean jets.
2004 - In Spain, millions of people marched to protest train bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people the day before.
2009 - It was announced that the Sear Tower in Chicago, IL, would be renamed Willis Tower.

NYC to pay up to $657M to settle WTC health cases -- A settlement that could pay up to $657.5 million to more than 10,000 ground zero rescue and recovery workers sickened by dust from the destroyed World Trade Center goes before a judge Friday, and he has said he favored a settlement but planned to analyze it carefully to make sure it was fair.

Dept of Education buying shotguns!! -- The U.S. Department of Education (ED) intends to purchase twenty-seven (27) REMINGTON BRAND MODEL 870 POLICE 12/14P MOD GRWC XS4 KXCS SF. RAMAC #24587 GAUGE: 12 BARREL: 14" - PARKERIZED CHOKE: MODIFIED SIGHTS: GHOST RING REAR WILSON COMBAT; FRONT - XS CONTOUR BEAD SIGHT STOCK: KNOXX REDUCE RECOIL ADJUSTABLE STOCK FORE-END: SPEEDFEED SPORT-SOLID - 14" LOP are designated as the only shotguns authorized for ED based on compatibility with ED existing shotgun inventory, certified armor and combat training and protocol, maintenance, and parts. The required date of delivery is March 22, 2010.

CDC uses shopper-card data to trace salmonella -- As they scrambled recently to trace the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds around the country, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention successfully used a new tool for the first time — the shopper cards that millions of Americans swipe every time they buy groceries.

Fed. appeals court upholds 'under God' in pledge -- A federal appeals court upheld the use of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency, rejecting arguments Thursday that the phrases violate the separation of church and state.

Defaulted Loans May Haunt Seniors -- A little–noticed law could soon result in smaller Social Security checks for hundreds of thousands of the elderly and disabled who owe the U.S. money from defaulted loans and other debts more than a decade old.

New Zealand's internet filter goes live -- New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs' (DIA) internet filter is now operational and is being used by ISPs Maxnet and Watchdog. "Filtering out child pornography is also very much in line with our company values -- our customers would be disappointed to hear if we weren't participating. So participation for us has always been a no-brainer."

Internet helped Flight 253 suspect radicalize, attack plane 'within weeks' -- The Internet allowed extremists to contact, recruit, train and equip the suspect responsible for the attempted Flight 253 bombing on Christmas Day "within weeks," a top Pentagon official told lawmakers Wednesday.

Iran Said to Deploy For Gulf Attack -- Iran was said to have been deploying a range of naval assets for a massive strike on its Gulf neighbors.

IF You Are Going To "Demonstrate".... -- Then aim your "demonstrating" at the people who are bankrupting your state - and you personally. I speak specifically of people such as those that The Daily Illini pointed out - all employees for the University of Illinois. Let's see what we have here....The head of the football team - the coach - makes $1 million. For coaching a college football team. (Seems to be the ways things go today - mega bucks for ball players and college professionals that teach nothing).

Gates Clarifies US Iran Policy in Riyadh After Biden Fails in Israel -- US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates arrived in Riyadh Wednesday, March 10, flying in unexpectedly from Kabul in Afghanistan, after the Saudis demanded urgent clarifications of the Obama administration's Iran policy. debkafile's military sources report that the demand followed the failure of US Vice President Joe Biden's talks with Israeli leaders to resolve their differences on Iran.

Final 'Reform' Push: Twisting Arms -- President Obama's attempts to ram health- care reform through an increasingly reluctant Congress are starting to resemble a really eventful episode of "The Sopranos."

Fox News on 'Swinging' -- “Swinging saves you from cheating – there’s no lies and deception. It’s letting people have the variety they crave, but their partners get to have power and choice in the matter.”

DHS: Cell-All: Super Smartphones that Sniff Out Suspicious Substances -- When a threat is sensed, a virtual ah-choo! ensues in one of two ways. For personal safety issues such as a chlorine gas leak, a warning is sounded; the user can choose a vibration, noise, text message, or phone call. For catastrophes such as a sarin gas attack, details—including time, location, and the compound—are phoned home to an emergency operations center. (Knowing that this was spearheaded by Dept. of Homeland Security - one has to wonder what they are up to??? Could it be more false flags that will make everyone paranoid?)

Obama Relies on a 'Spiritual Cabinet' for Prayer, Inspiration -- President Obama, who rarely attends public church services, turns often to a wide range of Baptists, Mainline Protestants, Catholics, Muslims and Jews for prayer and spiritual and moral discussion, according to a new report.

Scientists Reveal Negative Impact of Roundup Ready GM Crops -- Five studies published in the October 2009 issue of The European Journal of Agronomy reveal the negative impacts of using Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, a formula developed specifically for the company’s line of genetically modified (GM) “Roundup Ready” crops. The papers, which were not released in the United States, offer a solid indictment against GM crops and the plight of using the Roundup herbicide.

Inside Norway's 'Doomsday Vault' -- In a remote mountainside on the Norwegian tundra sits the "doomsday vault," a backup against disaster -- manmade or otherwise. Inside lives the last hope should the unthinkable occur: a global seedbank that could be used to replant the world.

Review of UN Panel's Report on Climate Change Won't Reexamine Errors -- An outside review of a U.N. panel -- promised after flaws were uncovered in the panel's most recent report on climate change -- will not recheck that report's conclusions and will instead focus on improving procedures for the future, officials said Wednesday.

Subprime Lending Crisis: Auto Loans Thrive, Housing Down -- The financial crisis was supposed to ring the death knell for companies that make loans to people who have had problems with debt. But a year and a half later, so-called subprime lending is alive and well.

World Airlines See Blues Skies Ahead -- Global airlines are undergoing a surprisingly strong recovery with Asian and Latin American carriers leading the way, the leading industry group said Thursday as it halved its loss forecast for 2010 to $2.8 billion. (Maybe in their dreams.)

Animal Suicide Sheds Light on Human Behavior -- Whether it's a grieving dog, a depressed horse or even a whale mysteriously beaching itself, there is a long history of animals behaving suicidally, behavior that can help explain human suicide, says newly published research.

Mystery as Scores of Starlings Fall Out of the Sky and lay Dying -- It was like a grisly scene from a horror film. On Sunday night, over a quiet Somerset house, scores of swooping starlings tumbled out of the sky and fell, dead, into a single front garden. Covering an area 12ft across, more than 100 birds carpeted the garden, each with blood oozing from its beak and curled up claws. (Gosh, are they playing with their scalar weapons?)

Billionaires and Mega-Corporations Behind Immense Land Grab in Africa -- Ethiopia is one of the hungriest countries in the world with more than 13-million people needing food aid, but paradoxically the government is offering at least 7.5 million acres of its most fertile land to rich countries and some of the world's most wealthy individuals to export food for their own populations.

Taxpayers Footing the Bill for Breast Augmentation -- The U.S. military keeps plastic surgeons on the payroll to help restore those soldiers badly wounded during their service. But in some cases the doctors are performing cosmetic surgeries and letting the government pay for it.

French Bread Spiked with LSD in CIA Experiment -- For decades it was assumed that the local bread had been unwittingly poisoned with a psychedelic mould. Now, however, an American investigative journalist has uncovered evidence suggesting the CIA peppered local food with the hallucinogenic drug LSD as part of a mind control experiment at the height of the Cold War. (Mystery solved!)

Nationwide Strike Brings Greece to Standstill -- Public and private sector unions ground flights and halt services in a second national strike against government plans to cut spending and raise taxes to shrink the huge deficit and get Greece's faltering economy back on track. (Please remember the National strike in America next month - listen to The Power Hour for updates from Karen Tostado!)

NSA Communication System Interfering with Garage Door Openers -- Thinking he might be closing in on an answer, Lopez called the office of Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, who was hearing complaints, too. Gonzalez called the NSA, which acknowledged that a Land Mobile Radio antenna used by construction and security personnel at the NSA site was operating on a radio frequency also used by many garage door manufacturers. It turned out the same problem had arisen near federal facilities elsewhere.

Parents Angry Over CCTV In School Toilets -- Outraged parents have hit out at a school in Birmingham after pupils discovered CCTV cameras in the school's toilets.

US Monthly Budget Deficit Balloons to a Record $651.60 Billion -- The U.S. government ran its largest ever monthly budget deficit in February as the country's fiscal year-to-date deficit ballooned more than 10% to a record of $651.60 billion. (YIKES!)

Bowles Says "We're Going to Mess with Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid -- Erskine Bowles, co-chairman of the commission on U.S. deficit reduction, said entitlement programs such as Social Security will turn the nation into a “second- rate power” if their costs aren’t reduced.

Brain Scan Can Read People's Thoughts -- A SCAN of brain activity can effectively read a person's mind, researchers say.

Detroit Attempts to Sell $250 Million In Bonds Without Financial Disclosure Via Goldman -- Here comes the first municipal Hail Mary: Detroit is attempting to sell $250 million in debt, while disclosing in the associated prospectus of the possibility of filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection.

Minneapolis Schools Remain On Lockdown Thursday -- Minneapolis Public Schools remain on lockdown after an Internet threat raised suspicious Wednesday morning.

Gov't Plan Mandate 'Low-Flow' Xboxes and PS3's -- Even when we're not playing, millions of us are using more electricity on our Xboxes, PlayStations and other gaming gizmos than on appliances like refrigerators and washing machines. And Congress and the Obama administration may be ready to do something about it.

VIDEO: Message from Judge Napolitano

Oregon Dept. of Pre-Crime Detains Man for Mental Health Evaluation After Buying Guns -- Concerns about an Oregon Department of Transportation employee who purchased several guns after being placed on leave prompted law enforcement across Southern Oregon to step in. Negotiators and a SWAT team from Medford police safely took a man — whose name wasn’t released — into protective custody Monday morning in the 500 block of Effie Street, Medford police said in a news release. (SHEESH!)

Congress, Ariz. School District Sues Taxpayers to Stop Questions -- A handful of taxpayers in a small community north of Wickenburg, Arizona are being targeted by the local school district in a lawsuit that asks a judge to declare they have no right to request public records, sue the district, or complain to outside agencies.


Today in History Thursday March 11, 2010
1861 - A Confederate Convention was held in Montgomery, Alabama, where a new constitution was adopted.
1865 - Union General William Sherman and his forces occupied Fayetteville, NC.
1888 - The "Blizzard of '88" began along the U.S. Atlantic Seaboard shutting down communication and transportation lines. More than 400 people died.
1901 - Britain rejected an amended treaty to the canal agreement with Nicaragua.
1901 - U.S. Steel was formed when industrialist J.P. Morgan purchased Carnegie Steep Corp. The event made Andrew Carnegie the world's richest man.
1905 - The Parisian subway was officially inaugurated.
1907 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt induced California to revoke its anti-Japanese legislation.
1927 - Samuel Roxy Rothafel opened the famous Roxy Theatre in New York City.
1927 - The Flatheads Gang stole $104,250 in the first armored-car robbery near Pittsburgh, PA.
1930 - Babe Ruth signed a two-year contract with the New York Yankees for the sum of $80,000.
1930 - U.S. President Howard Taft became the first U.S. president to be buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, VA.
1935 - The German Air Force became an official organ of the Reich.
1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the Lend-Lease Act, which authorized the act of providing war supplies to the Allies.
1964 - U.S. Senator Carl Hayden broke the record for continuous service in the U.S. Senate. He had worked 37 years and seven days.
1965 - The American navy began inspecting Vietnamese junks in an effort to end arms smuggling to the South.
1965 - The Rev. James J. Reeb, a white minister from Boston, died after being beaten by whites during a civil rights disturbances in Selma, Alabama.
1966 - Three men were convicted of the murder of Malcolm X.
1969 - Levi-Strauss started selling bell-bottomed jeans.
1977 - More than 130 hostages held in Washington, DC, by Hanafi Muslims were freed after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined the negotiations.
1978 - Palestinian guerrillas on the Tel Aviv Haifa highway killed 34 Israelis.
1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev was named the new chairman of the Soviet Communist Party.
1986 - Popsicle announced its plan to end the traditional twin-stick frozen treat for a one-stick model.
1988 - A cease-fire was declared in the war between Iran and Iraq.
1990 - Lithuania declared its independence from the Soviet Union. It was the first Soviet republic to break away from Communist control.
1990 - In Chile, Patricio Aylwin was sworn in as the first democratically elected president since 1973.
1991 - In South Africa a curfew was imposed on black townships after fighting between political gangs had left 49 dead.
1992 - Former U.S. President Nixon said that the Bush administration was not giving enough economic aid to Russia.
1993 - Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the first female attorney general.
1993 - North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty refusing to open sites for inspection.
1994 - In Chile, Eduardo Frei was sworn in as President. It was the first peaceful transfer of power in Chile since 1970.
1997 - An explosion at a nuclear waste reprocessing plant caused 35 workers to be exposed to low levels of radioactivity. The incident was the worst in Japan's history.
1998 - The International Astronomical Union issued an alert that said that a mile-wide asteroid could come very close to, and possibly hit, Earth on Oct. 26, 2028. The next day NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that there was no chance the asteroid would hit Earth.
2002 - Two columns of light were pointed skyward from ground zero in New York as a temporary memorial to the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
2003 - Fort Drum, NY, 11 troops were killed and two were injured during a training mission when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed.
2004 - In Madrid, Spain, several coordinated bombing attacks on commuter trains killed at least 190 people and injured more than 2,000.

Thought For The Day from our friend Mike Tawse in the UK -- It Is Necessary To Change Your Mind

Amish farmer wins livestock registration case -- An Amish farmer in Clark County, Wisconsin has won his fight against the state's livestock registration law, which he argued violates his religious beliefs. Read More...

Bank of America sued for seizing parrot -- Bank of America has apologised to a woman in Pennsylvania after one of its contractors entered her house, damaged furniture and confiscated her parrot. A BoA spokesman said it had erroneously believed Ms Iannelli was defaulting on her mortgage and the house was vacant. Forty-six-year-old Angela Iannelli sued the bank Monday. She claims her mortgage was up-to-date when one of the banking giant's contractors damaged furniture, took her pet parrot, Luke, and padlocked her Allison Park door in October.

Airlines Will Cancel Flights to Avoid Risk of Fines for Delays -- Several airlines, including Fort Worth-based American and Houston-based Continental, say they will cancel flights rather than risk paying stiff penalties for delaying passengers on the runway.

Citibank exposes 600,000 customers' Social Security numbers -- In late January, Citibank mailed year-end tax statements to 600,000 Citi customers via the U.S. Postal Service that included the customers' Social Security numbers ... on the outside of the envelope. Citi called the mistake a "processing error." (WHAT!? A processing 'mistake?')

Canadian dollar likely to trump US greenback says experts -- The Canadian dollar, or loonie as it is affectionately called here, is likely to soar above parity with the US greenback this year, experts at a Canadian bank said Wednesday.

Hundreds pack raw milk hearing in Eau Claire -- Hundreds of raw milk advocates packed a legislative hearing Wednesday, demanding the right to buy and sell unpasteurized dairy products that some claim have powerful health benefits but that detractors call dangerous. Raw milk advocates want the law changed, saying consumers should be able to decide whether the health benefits of drinking unpasteurized milk outweigh the risks. "It is not the role of the state to protect people by eliminating all risks and intruding unnecessarily into their lives," testified Margo Redmond, a raw milk consumer from Madison. "Please don't protect me from myself, telling me what I can and cannot drink."

Father caught in legal morass dies of pneumonia -- Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia are medical conditions. But combative patients can find themselves placed by the courts into mental health facilities. Even near the end of Richard Petersen's life, his family was almost left in the dark. They had been notified earlier Tuesday that he was going to be released from the county mental health facility and placed at Waukesha Memorial Hospital, where a bed in a behavioral unit had become available. It was only when one of his daughters called the county mental health facility that the family learned his condition had worsened.
 * Related Article: 3 daughters battle health system, legal maze as father fights Alzheimer’s

Alphabetic Index of Websites of the United Nations System of Organizations -- Thanks to Bill Mauldin!

'Jihad Jane' : Arrest of Colleen LaRose Raises Fears About Homegrown Terrorists -- The arrest of a suburban Pennsylvania woman known by the alias Jihad Jane, who allegedly plotted with Islamic radicals abroad to kill a Swedish cartoonist, has raised fears about homegrown terrorists in the United States who may be difficult to spot.

Obama Calls 'Entrepreneurship Summit' with Muslims -- In the closely watched address, Obama said the United States was seeking a "new beginning" with the Islamic world to rebuild relations that had sharply deteriorated over the past decade. (Yet they continue to call everyone 'terrorists.')

Silver Bullet from US States Kills 'Mandatory' Obamacare -- At least 36 state legislatures are considering legislation that would allow citizens to opt out of a key component of President Obama's health-care "reform" – an "individual mandate" requiring that all Americans have health insurance.

Obama Using 'Bounty Hunters' to Root Out Fraud -- The bounty hunters in this case would be private auditors armed with sophisticated computer programs to scan Medicare and Medicaid billing data for patterns of bogus claims. The auditors would get to keep part of any funds they recover for the government. The White House said a pilot program run by Medicare in California, New York and Texas recouped $900 million for taxpayers from 2005-2008.

Texas Textbook Wars Would Affect All of Our Nations Students -- The Texas State Board of Education is considering history curriculum standards that would change the way certain events are taught to children – if they are taught at all.

Increased Seismic Activity Near South Iceland Volvcano -- After decreasing seismic trends in the past days, earthquakes are growing in strength and number in the area around Eyjafjallajökull glacier, which covers an active volcano, in south Iceland.

Israel Warns That 'Bad Options' are Nearing -- UNITED NATIONS — The two "bad options" for Iran — letting the country develop nuclear weapons or using force to destroy its nuclear capabilities — are closer than they were a year ago, Israel's U.N. ambassador warned Tuesday.

Sun Begins New Solar Cycle, Flinging Radiation at the Earth -- As a new solar cycle of activity begins this year, the Earth will once again be bombarded with increased radiation from the sun. This effect may damage satellites and interfere with GPS, television and communications.

Cell-Phone Radiation Health Warning Alarm Spurs Studies -- In March, Maine's legislature will begin debating a bill she submitted that would require manufacturers to put a warning label on every cell phone sold in the state declaring, "This device emits electromagnetic radiation, exposure to which may cause brain cancer."

Inside the Cat and Dog Meat Market in China -- But these local restaurants may have to find a new specialty. The Chinese government is considering legislation that would make eating cats and dogs illegal.

LHC to Shut Down for a Year To Address Design Faults -- The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) must close at the end of 2011 for up to a year to address design issues, according to an LHC director. (Oh something isn't right, but don't shut it down for over a year, then we'll fix it?)

The Mayor of Detroit's Radical Plan To Bulldoze One Quarter of the City -- So his plan is to bulldoze approximately 10,000 houses and empty buildings over the next 3 years and direct new investment into stronger neighborhoods.  In the areas that the city plans to bulldoze, the residents would be offered the opportunity to relocate to a better area.  For buildings that have already been abandoned, the city could simply use tax foreclosure proceedings to reclaim them.  Of course if there were some residents that did not want to move, eminent domain could be used to force them out.

US Housing Giants Are City-Sized Property Owners -- It’s a tiny part of their operations for now. But if the housing market doesn’t turn around soon, they could find themselves reluctantly managing more properties. And no-one expected — or wants — Fannie and Freddie to become giant public sector landlords.

US Cap and Trade Rebranded Pollution Reduction -- Like a savvy Madison Avenue advertising team, senators pushing climate-control legislation have decided to scrap the name "cap and trade" and rebrand their product as "pollution reduction targets."

Pacific North American Regional Integration and Control -- The Pacific Coast Leaders signed two action plans. The first being- Innovation, the Environment and the Economy which, “sets out a series of co-operative initiatives to promote renewable and low-carbon energy and energy conservation, including developing Interstate 5/Highway 99 as a green transportation corridor. It also promotes development of high-speed rail from San Diego to Vancouver and the move to ‘Green Ports’ through co-operation to reduce local air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.” (Oh my gosh!! This is NAU with a heaping addition of Agenda 21!)

Four Bronx Buddies Facing Year in Jail After Hitting Off-Duty Transit Cop - With a Snowball! -- Four Bronx buddies are facing a year in jail for criminal possession of a weapon - a snowball that hit an off-duty transit cop.

Chief Exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth Says Devil is in the Vatican -- Father Gabriele Amorth, 85, who has been the Vatican's chief exorcist for 25 years and says he has dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession, said that the consequences of satanic infiltration included power struggles at the Vatican as well as "cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon".

Drudge Report Malware Accusations Coincides With Cybersecurity Agenda -- Democrats in the Senate are attempting to scare people away from alternative news websites by falsely claiming the sites contain dangerous software viruses.

FCC May Set Aside Free Wireless Spectrum for Internet Broadband -- Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn during a speech at the Digital Inclusion Summit suggested that the FCC may look at some wireless spectrum being set aside for at little or no cost for anyone’s use.

Billboard Watches You Shop -- Cameras in the advert hoardings identify the age and sex of passers-by then display relevant products.

Minneapolis Schools on Lockdown Amid Internet Threat -- All schools across the busy midwestern US city of Minneapolis were put on lockdown early Wednesday after a vague threat was posted on two social networking sites, a spokeswoman said. The lockdown, which affected around 50 schools in the Minneapolis public school district, meant children were told to remain in their classrooms while access to outside visitors was strictly limited.

VIDEO: Ron Paul on National ID Issue -- states clearly that there may be a GPS Chip in them! Must hear!!!

VIDEO: Will Nancy Pelosi bring health care to vote by March 18?

Riots in Athens As Thousands Protest Against Cutbacks -- Masked youths stoned police outside Greece’s parliament today in protest at cutbacks proposed to try to end the country’s debt crisis.

Federally Funded Ticketing Blitz in Virginia -- A federally funded ticketing blitz in the state of Virginia landed a total of 6996 traffic tickets this weekend. The blitz, dubbed “Operation Air, Land & Speed” coincided with frantic efforts by state officials to close a$2.2 billion budget deficit.

Stop The Federal Reserve From Shredding Its Records -- Should the policymaking committee of the most powerful peacetime entity in the United States government be allowed to destroy their source records? The Federal Open Market Committee of the nation’s central bank, an intricate part of the United States government may be continuing to destroy its source records, a policy it began in 1995 with an unrecorded vote -no fingerprints – conducted by then Chairman Alan Greenspan.

Dr. Gabriel Cousens Reveals Method for Reversing Diabetes with Raw Living Foods -- In this audio interview, you'll hear Dr. Cousens describe why and how consuming raw foods really works to initiate dramatic reductions in fasting blood sugar levels, effectively reversing diabetes in a matter of just a few weeks. (Of course The Power Hour Listeners already know this)!!

Moviegoer Tells California Woman to Stop Talking On Cell Phone, Gets Stabbed in the Neck -- The woman's boyfriend allegedly attacked and stabbed the "shusher" in the neck with a meat thermometer.

Hormone replacement therapy now linked to cataracts -- For decades, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was pushed by the medical establishment as a kind of youth elixir that offered all sorts of remarkable benefits. Take the hormones Big Pharma concocts from pregnant horses' urine and chemicals and middle-aged and older women would supposedly have better sex lives, fewer wrinkles, protection from heart attacks and no more hot flashes. Only, it was all a huge myth.
 

Today in History Wednesday March 10, 2010
1776 - "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine was published.
1785 - Thomas Jefferson was appointed minister to France. He succeeded Benjamin Franklin.
1792 - John Stone patented the pile driver.
1804 - The formal ceremonies transferring the Louisiana Purchase from France to the U.S. took place in St. Louis.
1814 - In France, Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by a combined Allied Army at the battle of Laon.
1848 - The U.S. Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war with Mexico.
1849 - Abraham Lincoln applied for a patent for a device to lift vessels over shoals by means of inflated cylinders.
1864 - Ulysses S. Grant became commander of the Union armies in the U.S. Civil War.
1876 - Alexander Graham Bell made the first successful call with the telephone. He spoke the words "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."
1880 - The Salvation Army arrived in the U.S. from England.
1893 - New Mexico State University canceled its first graduation ceremony because the only graduate was robbed and killed the night before.
1903 - In New York's harbor, the disease-stricken ship Karmania was quarantined with six dead from cholera.
1912 - China became a republic after the overthrow of the Manchu Ch'ing Dynasty.
1924 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a New York state law forbidding late-night work for women.
1927 - Prussia lifted its Nazi ban allowing Adolf Hitler to speak in public.
1933 - Nevada became the first U.S. state to regulate drugs.
1945 - American B-29 bombers attacked Tokyo, Japan, 100,000 were killed.
1947 - The Big Four met in Moscow to discuss the future of Germany.
1969 - James Earl Ray pled guilty in Memphis, TN, to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Ray later repudiated the guilty plea and maintained his innocence until his death in April of 1998.
1971 - The U.S. Senate approved an amendment to lower the voting age to 18.
1975 - The North Vietnamese Army attacked the South Vietnamese town of Ban Me Thout.
1980 - Iran's leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, lent his support to the militants holding American hostages in Tehran.
1987 - The Vatican condemned surrogate parenting as well as test-tube and artificial insemination.
1991 - "Phase Echo" began. It was the operation to withdraw 540,000 U.S. troops from the Persian Gulf region.
1994 - White House officials began testifying before a federal grand jury about the Whitewater controversy.
1995 - U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher told Yasser Arafat that he must do more to curb Palestinian terrorists.
1998 - U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf began receiving the first vaccinations against anthrax.
2003 - North Korea test-fired a short-range missile. The event was one of several in a patter of unusual military maneuvers.

Limbaugh ‘leaving the country’ if health reform passes -- The decidedly non-liberal Rush Limbaugh has made a move, telling his audience he will move to Costa Rica if health care reform becomes law. And now the only question that remains is whether Limbaugh will make good on his word, or join the ranks of the empty-promisers.

Radio legend George Noory to run for president?? -- Among the possible candidates is Coast to Coast AM radio talk-show host George Noory, who told WND right away that there would be no questions about his eligibility as there are about Obama's qualifications under the Constitution's requirement that a president be a "natural born citizen."

South Korea does what the US refuses to do: Restrict junk food advertising to children -- The health ministry of South Korea has announced that advertisements for foods that are high in fat, sugar, and salt, will be limited during the prime time television hours of 5 and 7 p.m. and during any children's programming. In support of national efforts to curb childhood obesity, the limitations will include foods such as hamburgers, instant noodles, and pizza as well as desserts like chocolate, candy, and ice cream.

'Jihad Jane's' Arrest Raises Concern About Homegrown Terrorists -- Experts Say Suburban Pennsylvania Woman Was Easy to Find but There Could be More Like Her. The arrest of a suburban Pennsylvania woman known by the alias Jihad Jane, who allegedly plotted with Islamic radicals abroad to kill a Swedish cartoonist, has raised concerns about homegrown terrorists in the United States who may be difficult to spot.

Researchers back cancer-fighting properties of papaya -- Researchers said Tuesday that papaya leaf extract and its tea have dramatic cancer-fighting properties against a broad range of tumors, backing a belief held in a number of folk traditions.

Chevron shedding 2,000 jobs -- Chevron Corp. said today it will cut 2,000 jobs this year and sell some overseas operations as it revamps its struggling refinery, marketing and transportation operations. The job cuts represent almost 12 percent of its 17,000 workers in the so-called downstream part of its business and just over 3 percent of its overall work force.

UK: Patients' medical records go online without consent -- At present 1.29 million people have had their details placed on the system. A further 8.9 million records are due to be added by June. Doctors have accused the Government of rushing the project through, meaning that patients have had their details uploaded to the database before they have had a chance to object.

SENATE WARNS EMPLOYEES TO AVOID THE DRUDGE REPORT -- Just as the healthcare drama in the capitol reaches a grand finale, congressional officials are warning employees to avoid the DRUDGE REPORT! The Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works issued an urgent email late Monday claiming the DRUDGE REPORT is 'responsible for the many viruses popping up throughout the Senate.' Seems like a lot of folks in government read visit the Drudge website - The site was seen 149,967 times since March 1st from users at senate.gov and 244,347 times at house.gov. [10,825 visits from the White House, eop.gov]

2 of the oldest people in US die: in NH 114, Mich. 113 -- Two of the oldest people in the world have died on the same day. Mary Josephine Ray, who was certified as the oldest person living in the United States, died Sunday at age 114 years, 294 days. Daisey Bailey, who was 113 years, 342 days passed away the very same day. "It's very rare that two of our supercentenarians die on the same day."

Microsoft warns of new IE bug; attacks under way -- Microsoft Corp. warns of a critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer that is already being exploited by hackers; it was the company's second such admission in the past two months.Internet Explorer 6 and its 2006 successor, IE7, contain a vulnerability that can be used by attackers to inject malicious code into a Windows PC. The oldest and newest of Microsoft's supported browsers, IE 5.01 and IE8, respectively, are not vulnerable to such attacks.

Israeli Banks Urge America Clients to Close Israeli Accounts -- Obedient to intensifying U.S. government pressure to crack down on offshore tax evaders, in January Israeli banks began ordering clients they identify as "Americans" or "U.S. tax residents" to close investment accounts they hold in Israel. It is apparently an anticipatory measure, ahead of changes in U.S. law. Local banks are apparently responding to changes in American regulations as their legal counsels interpret them.

Tom Delay: People Are Unemployed Because They Want to Be -- Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay called Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) "brave" on Sunday for launching a one-man filibuster of unemployment benefits, arguing that they dissuaded people from going out and finding work. (One has to wonder if he has tried to find a job that you make enough money to pay for the gas??)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy. Furthermore, we believe that health care reform, again I said at the beginning of my remarks, that we sent the three pillars that the President’s economic stabilization and job creation initiatives were education and innovation—innovation begins in the classroom—clean energy and climate, addressing the climate issues in an innovative way to keep us number one and competitive in the world with the new technology, and the third, first among equals I may say, is health care, health insurance reform. (Um, what happened to transparency BEFORE anything was passed? Guess they forget that.)
 * RELATED: VIDEO: Pelosi: we have to pass the health care bill so that you can find out what is in it.

FDIC: Hackers took more than $120M in three months -- Ongoing computer scams targeting small businesses cost U.S. companies $25 million in the third quarter of 2009, according to the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Online banking fraud involving the electronic transfer of funds has been on the rise since 2007 and rose to over $120 million in the third quarter of 2009, according to estimates presented Friday at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, by David Nelson, an examination specialist with the FDIC.

Dire Warning: Israel Must Strike Iran Now -- The only action that can stop Iran from building nuclear weapons is an Israeli strike on Tehran's nuclear facilities, argued John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under the Bush administration.

Proof That 911 Truthers Are Dangerous -- (Read carefully as the title is a bit misleading) - Most Americans don't know what kind of people 9/11 truthers really are. So they can't figure out whether or not they are dangerous. Below is a list of people who question what our Government has said about 9/11. The list proves - once and for all - that people who question 9/11 are dangerous. Email this list to everyone you know, to prove to them that 9/11 truthers are all dangerous nut cases.

Cyberwar Declared as China Hunts for West's Intelligence Secrets -- Urgent warnings have been circulated throughout Nato and the European Union for secret intelligence material to be protected from a recent surge in cyberwar attacks originating in China.

Massa: Rahm Emanuel "Would Sell His Own Mother for Votes" -- "Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil's spawn, Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) said. "He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive."

Vitamin D 'Triggers and Arms' the Immune System -- The so-called sunshine vitamin, which can be obtained from food or manufactured by human skin exposed to the sun, plays a key role in boosting the immune system, researchers believe.

First Big Twister of Season Destroys Five Homes in Oklahoma -- Five homes were destroyed and several others damaged Monday when a tornado passed through Hammon in Roger Mills County, authorities reported. The storm also destroyed a county barn and caused other debris about 6 p.m.

Chile Quake Moved the Earth 10 Feet -- This is the preliminary solution obtained by Project CAP (Central and Southern Andes GPS Project) for the coseismic displacement field associated with the recent M 8.8 Maule earthquake in south-central Chile. Peak measured displacement is 3.04 m near the city of Concepcion, Chile. Significant displacements are evident as far east as Buenos Aires, Argentina (2-4 cm) and as far north as the Chilean border with Peru.

High Waves Wound 5 on Cruise Ship -- In the Strait of Gibraltar is a cruise ship struck again yesterday by high waves.

Dark Magnetic Filament Curling Over Sun -- For the 4th day in a row, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is tracking a dark magnetic filament curling over the sun's northeastern limb.

Poll Shows Obama, Dems Losing Ground -- The Democracy Corps-Third Way survey released Monday finds that by a 10-point margin -- 51 percent to 41 percent -- Americans think the standing of the U.S. dropped during the first 13 months of Mr. Obama's presidency.

How Long Can You Live Without Food? -- Although not as critical as going without water, missing even just a few meals can cause a host of undesirable complications for the would-be survivor. Although we will not starve while going without food for several days or even a week, being underfed for even just one day can cause.

Water is Life, Not a Commodity -- WWC's agenda is profits through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) wanting to privatize global water resources, sell them to the highest bidder, promote destructive dam and water diversion projects, extort high prices, and make an element of life available only to those who can afford it.

New Zealand Woman Sells Souls to Highest Bidder -- She said they were the spirits of an old man who lived in the house during the 1920s, and a powerful, disruptive little girl who turned up after a session with a spirit-calling Ouija board. Since an exorcism at the property last July led to their capture, there has been no further spooky activity in the house, she said.

US Slams Jerusalem Housing Plan -- "I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in east Jerusalem. The substance and timing of the announcement ... is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I've had here in Israel," Biden said in a statement issued by his office Tuesday afternoon.

New Regulations Will Ban Sport Fishing -- Obama’s latest assault on your rights – He wants to ban sport fishing.

Europe Bars Wall Street Banks From Government Bond Sales -- European countries are blocking Wall Street banks from lucrative deals to sell government debt worth hundreds of billions of euros in retaliation for their role in the credit crunch.

Don't Blame Fast Food For Making You Fat -- Because there's probably more at work here than just calories in/calories out. More and more research is indicating that America's obesity crisis can't be blamed entirely on too much fast food and too little exercise. (Or on these seven habits of highly obese people.) A third factor may be in play: a class of natural and synthetic chemicals known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), or as researchers have begun to call them, obesogens.

Failed Banks May Get Pension-Fund Backing as FDIC Seeks Cash -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is trying to encourage public retirement funds that control more than $2 trillion to buy all or part of failed lenders, taking a more direct role in propping up the banking system, said people briefed on the matter.

Vilsack Announces New Budget for 2011 for USDA -- Vilsack made clear in his speeches that although NAIS was said to be dead, it would continue under its new name, “National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA)”.  Going on to cite the fact that premises ID had seen less than 35% participation (he never mentions that a large percentage of those claimed to be participating had been enrolled either without their knowledge or under threat) he then claimed that USDA had little to no opposition from sheep herders, poultry & pork producers.

Tax Soda, Pizza to Cut Obesity, Researchers Say -- U.S. researchers estimate that an 18 percent tax on pizza and soda can push down U.S. adults' calorie intake enough to lower their average weight by 5 pounds (2 kg) per year. (They just want to take their 'fat' in money.)

Census Spends $52 Million On Letter Alerting Americans That They'll Be getting Another Letter -- That $52 million number is a calculation I did based on the reported 120 million letters that were reportedly sent out at a cost of $0.44/letter.

Utah Senate Votes to Grade US Senators -- The Utah Senate continued its session long pursuit of states' rights Monday by passing a bill that would seek to rein in U.S. senators who otherwise might ignore the state government's wishes. SB250 would allow political parties to develop bylaws asking their caucuses within the state House and Senate to evaluate the performance of U.S. senators and create a ratings system for Senate candidates.

Worker ID Card at Center of Immigration Plan -- Lawmakers working to craft a new comprehensive immigration bill have settled on a way to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants: a national biometric identification card all American workers would eventually be required to obtain. (Last time I knew anything, Obama wanted to legalize the aliens - so why the ID?? Could it be for us??)

H1N1 'Protection' Added to Next Season's Flu Shots -- That shouldn’t be a problem during the next flu season, as the Food and Drug Administration has decided to include a pandemic 2009 H1N1 virus in the Northern Hemisphere’s 2010-11 seasonal influenza vaccine.

Senate Tells Employees Not to Read Drudge Report -- The Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works issued an urgent email late Monday claiming the DRUDGE REPORT is ‘responsible for the many viruses popping up throughout the Senate.’


Today in History Tuesday March 9, 2010
1788 - Connecticut became the 5th state to join the United States.
1793 - Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first balloon flight in North America. The event was witnessed by U.S. President George Washington.
1820 - The U.S. Congress passed the Land Act that paved the way for westward expansion of North America.
1822 - Charles M. Graham received the first patent for artificial teeth.
1832 - Abraham Lincoln announced that he would run for a political office for the first time. He was unsuccessful in his run for a seat in the Illinois state legislature.
1839 - The French Academy of Science announced the Daguerreotype photo process.
1860 - The first Japanese ambassador to the U.S. was appointed.
1863 - General Ulysses Grant was appointed commander-in-chief of the Union forces.
1905 - In Manchuria, Japanese troops surrounded 200,000 Russian troops that were retreating from Mudken.
1906 - In the Philippines, fifteen Americans and 600 Moros were killed in the last two days of fighting.
1909 - The French National Assembly passed an income tax bill.
1911 - The funding for five new battleships was added to the British military defense budget.
1916 - Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico. 17 people were killed by the 1,500 horsemen.
1933 - The U.S. Congress began its 100 days of enacting New Deal legislation.
1936 - The German press warned that all Jews who vote in the upcoming elections would be arrested.
1945 - During World War II, U.S. B-29 bombers launched incendiary bomb attacks against Japan.
1949 - The first all-electric dining car was placed in service on the Illinois Central Railroad.
1954 - WNBT-TV (now WNBC-TV), in New York, broadcast the first local color television commercials. The ad was Castro Decorators of New York City.
1957 - Egyptian leader Nasser barred U.N. plans to share the tolls for the use of the Suez Canal.
1964 - The first Ford Mustang rolled off of the Ford assembly line.
1965 - The first U.S. combat troops arrived in South Vietnam.
1975 - Work began on the Alaskan oil pipeline.
1975 - Iraq launched an offensive against the rebel Kurds.
1977 - About a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington, DC. They killed one person and took more than 130 hostages. The siege ended two days later.
1986 - U.S. Navy divers found the crew compartment of the space shuttle Challenger along with the remains of the astronauts.
1989 - The U.S. Senate rejected John Tower as a choice for a cabinet member. It was the first rejection in 30 years.
1989 - In Maylasia, 30 Asian nations conferred on the issue of "boat people".
1989 - In the U.S., a strike forced Eastern Airlines into bankruptcy.
1989 - In the U.S., President George H.W. Bush urged for a mandatory death penalty in drug-related killings.
1993 - Rodney King testified at the federal trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused of violating his civil rights.
1995 - The Canadian Navy arrested a Spanish trawler for illegally fishing off of Newfoundland.
2000 - In Norway, the coalition government of Kjell Magne Bondevik resigned as a result of an environmental dispute.

Auditors find misuse of stimulus money in California -- Officials in the heart of recession-battered central California misspent about $1 million in federal stimulus funds that were supposed to help adults and teenagers find jobs, state auditors said Tuesday. California's Inspector General Laura Chick said the Tulare County Workforce Investment Board used nearly $1 million in Recovery Act funds to pay for their own rent and utility bills, when the bulk of the money should have gone to finding youth summer jobs.

Utah base dealing with rash of suicides - mostly civilians!!! -- Utah’s Hill Air Force Base has hired a psychologist to deal with a rash of suicides, mostly among civilians complaining of harsh working conditions. Nearly 75 percent of the people at the base are civilian employees or contractors, and they make up 21 or 22 of at least 25 confirmed suicides since 2006, according to its senior ranking officer, Maj. Gen. Andrew Busch, commander of the Ogden Air Logistics Center.

Solar Industry Learns Lessons in Spanish Sun -- Armed with generous incentives from the Spanish government to jump-start a national solar energy industry, the city set out to replace its failing coal economy by attracting solar companies, with a campaign slogan: “The Sun Moves Us.”

Increase tax on soda, pizza to reduce obesity, US researchers suggest -- The US researchers estimate that an 18 percent tax on pizza and soda can push down the US adults’ calorie intake enough to lower their average weight by 5 pounds (two kilograms) per year.

N. Korea Says It Is Ready to 'Blow Up' US -- North Korea's army said Monday it is ready to "blow up" South Korea and the U.S., hours after the allies kicked off annual military drills that Pyongyang has slammed as a rehearsal for attack.

Growing Low-Oxygen Zones in Oceans Worry Scientists -- Lower levels of oxygen in the Earth's oceans, particularly off the United States' Pacific Northwest coast, could be another sign of fundamental changes linked to global climate change, scientists say.

Vitamin D deficiency now so widespread that rickets is on the rise once again -- A clinical review paper published in the British Medical Journal is warning the public that widespread vitamin D deficiency is resurrecting the once-obsolete disease called rickets. According to Professor Simon Pearce and Dr. Time Cheetham, authors of the paper, people are getting far too little sunlight exposure which is necessary for the body to produce adequate levels of vitamin D. Rickets is a disease in which a person's bones do not properly develop and harden, results when a person is getting too little vitamin D and most likely not enough calcium.

Celery Juice Every Day Keeps High Blood Pressure at Bay -- One of the most common vegetables we use today - celery - with its stringy stems and crisp texture provides a natural way to lower blood pressure. It decreases a potentially dangerous situation without the risk of possible side effects that might accompany prescribed medication.

University of California Campus Erupts in Riots; Student Loan Scam Drives Up Cost of Education: Expect More Riots -- Students at the University of California’s flagship Berkeley campus took to the streets on Friday night, vandalizing university buildings, burning trash cans and clashing with police in the latest expression of frustration over cuts to the educational budget in California.

Philippines: Food Security Warnings Over El Nino -- Warnings have been raised over food security in the Philippines as the El Niño phenomenon wreaks havoc across vast agricultural areas, leaving staple crops such as rice dying in parched earth, officials say. (More great possible food-shortage news.)

Ionia Kindergartener Suspended for Making Gun with Hand!!! -- To the little boy's mother, it was just a 6-year-old boy playing around. But when Mason Jammer, a kindergarten student at Jefferson Elementary in Ionia, curled his fist into the shape of a gun Wednesday and pointed it at another student, school officials said it was no laughing matter. They suspended Mason until Friday, saying the behavior made other students uncomfortable, said Erin Jammer, Mason's mother.

Climate Change: Methane Escaping from Arctic Faster Than Expected and Could Stoke Global Warming -- The potent greenhouse gas methane, is bubbling out of the frozen Arctic much faster than expected and could stoke global warming.

Eric Massa Details 'Salty' Comment that Led to Resignation, Slams Dems Leaders -- A "salty" comment made in the company of drunken staff members at a wedding reception on New Year's Eve was all the Democratic "forces that be" needed to push him out of the House of Representatives and prevent him from possibly casting the vote that would kill health care reform, says outgoing New York Rep. Eric Massa.
 * Related Article: Former congressman Massa says Democrats set him up over health care

Monsanto 'Warrior' Grant Fights Anti-Trust Accusations -- For a man trying to feed the world, Monsanto Co.’s Hugh Grant has no shortage of people trying to disrupt his dinner plans, from activists fighting genetically modified crops to the U.S. Department of Justice probing his company’s sales practices.

Attack of the GMO's: GMO Alfalfa Will Make Organic Dairy Impossible -- Genetically engineered alfalfa would be the first perennial GM crop, and would result in a huge increase of toxic RoundUp in the environment. It would widely expose livestock to both genetically-engineered genes and pesticide residues. It would especially affect cows and horses - their health, their reproduction, and their byproducts, particularly milk.

US Voting Machine Makers' Merger Nears Approval -- At a value of $5 million, the deal was too small to trigger a federal antitrust review. It has generated opposition from election officials and others concerned it would deprive voting precincts of choice and leave the country's election system more vulnerable to failures.

How Do you Plead, Guilty or Not Guilty? 'I Plead Muslim' -- The situation here is not whether Faleh Hassan Almaleki deserves the death penalty. It is totally irrelevant which side of the death penalty argument you advocate. This decision should concern each and every one of us because of the big picture. By removing the death penalty from this case, Maricopa County is setting a precedent that will have ramifications far reaching and far beyond the death penalty. This is only the beginning of a slippery slope that none of us should allow. (how about wrong is wrong and law is law no matter your religion?)

US Currency Soon to be Radically Altered -- the American Council of the Blind (ACB) filed a lawsuit interpreting the Act as requiring the government to design its currency in such a way as to be easily identifiable by the blind and the visually-impaired. This change is being forced on the American people because of creative advocacy by a special-interest organization which was able to convince a handful of unelected federal appeals court judges to expansively interpret a federal statute, that arguably was not even intended to reach an issue such as currency design. (Gosh, all those people that have stashed money back will now have to exchange it - so now banksters will know how much 'cash' one has.)

Greek Debt Crisis: Germany 'Will Not Offer Greece a Cent' -- But this was the scene in Athens yesterday as riot police clashed with protesters outraged by cutbacks designed to slash the country's huge budget deficit. The violence came as Germany ruled out offering Greece 'a cent' of financial aid, insisting it should sort out it own problems.

AIG Bankers Caught on Tape Complaining About the Bailout and Idiot Americans -- Yet they did see that money, at least most of it. Last month, under a deal in which employees agreed to take a cut in their upcoming retention bonuses in return for an accelerated payment, AIG paid out about $100 million to employees at the firm. AIG is scheduled to pay the last of the bonuses this month. Even so, neither time nor money has softened the employees' feelings of wrongful persecution and their anger over becoming the subjects of scorn and ridicule. Seldom was that sense of victimhood more clear or more visceral than in the conference call of March 23, 2009.

And Now: US Government Program Pays People to Sell Homes at a Loss -- Taking effect on April 5, the program could encourage hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers who have not been rescued by the loan modification program to shed their houses through a process known as a short sale, in which property is sold for less than the balance of the mortgage. Lenders will be compelled to accept that arrangement, forgiving the difference between the market price of the property and what they are owed. (Then the FDIC pays the banks - so the banksters win all the way around.)

Fed Announces Expansion of Reverse Repo Program; Adds Money Market Funds to List of Eligible Counterparties -- Today, the Fed goes one step further, after noting increasing pressure by its own members to commence a tightening policy, and has announced the expansion of its reverse repo program with Primary Dealers, by adding additional counterparties. And guess who the first expansion wave focuses on - why Money Market mutual funds of course. Let's just do all we can to drain the money market system asap, shall we.

FDA Recalls Some Foods with Flavor Enhancer HVP -- Federal health authorities announced Thursday the recall of a commonly used flavor enhancer after samples of the product were found to contain salmonella.

Video: How Goldman Sachs runs the government! -- Great Video!

IMF Suggests How to Raise Climate Change Funds -- The head of the International Monetary Fund on Monday proposed a plan for the world's governments to pool together to raise money needed to adapt to climate change, a rare step for an organization that normally does not develop environmental policies. IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the Fund is concerned about the huge amount of funding needed and the effect that will have on the global economy. He added that the proposal may help efforts to reach a binding agreement on climate change later this year.

Large Hadron Collider Performing Well -- A detailed check of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) running at a low energy has showed that it is "performing well," the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) said on its website Thursday.

13 Magical Uses for Cucumbers -- The humble cucumber is actually a little gem. And not just for its nutritional benefits...

FBI Warns Brewing Cyberwar May Have Same Impact as "Well Placed Bomb" -- NATO and America's European allies are sounding the alarm over what they say are increased cyber attacks originating from China that are targeting key government and intelligence computers.

Shooting Hurts 3 at Dallas Office Tower -- There has been a shooting at an 18-story office tower in North Dallas housing the United Texas Bank, among other businesses.

Another shooting in Texas - This time at a Wal-Mart -- Texas Wal-Mart Shooting: Suspected Gunman Killed By Police -- In Commerce, Texas a man walked into a Wal-Mart in Texas carrying at least two guns before engaging in a shootout with police outside the store, authorities said. The man was killed and an off-duty officer in the store who had tried to stop him was injured. (Thanks Erin)


Today in History Monday March 8, 2010
1702 - England's Queen Anne took the throne upon the death of King William III.
1853 - The first bronze statue of Andrew Jackson is unveiled in Washington, DC.
1855 - A train passed over the first railway suspension bridge at Niagara Falls, NY.
1880 - U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes declared that the United States would have jurisdiction over any canal built across the isthmus of Panama.
1887 - The telescopic fishing rod was patented by Everett Horton.
1894 - A dog license law was enacted in the state of New York. It was the first animal control law in the U.S.
1907 - The British House of Commons turned down a women's suffrage bill.
1909 - Pope Pius X lifted the church ban on interfaith marriages in Hungary.
1911 - In Europe, International Women's Day was celebrated for the first time.
1917 - Russia's "February Revolution" began with rioting and strikes in St. Petersburg.
1921 - French troops occupied Dusseldorf.
1933 - Self-liquidating scrip money was issued for the first time at Franklin, IN.
1942 - During World War II, Japanese forces captured Rangoon, Burma.
1943 - Japanese forces attacked American troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville. The battle lasted five days.
1945 - Phyllis Mae Daley received a commission in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. She later became the first African-American nurse to serve duty in WWII.
1946 - The French naval fleet arrived at Haiphong, Vietnam.
1948 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that religious instruction in public schools was unconstitutional.
1953 - A census bureau report indicated that 239,000 farmers had quit farming over the last 2 years.
1954 - France and Vietnam opened talks in Paris on a treaty to form the state of Indochina.
1959 - Groucho, Chico and Harpo made their final TV appearance together.
1961 - Max Conrad circled the globe in a record time of eight days, 18 hours and 49 minutes in the Piper Aztec.
1965 - The U.S. landed about 3,500 Marines in South Vietnam. They were the first U.S. combat troops to land in Vietnam.
1966 - Australia announced that it would triple the number of troops in Vietnam.
1973 - Two bombs exploded near Trafalgar Square in Great Britain. 234 people were injured.
1982 - The U.S. accused the Soviets of killing 3,000 Afghans with poison gas.
1985 - The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reported that 407,700 Americans were millionaires. That was more than double the from just five years before.
1986 - Four French television crewmembers were abducted in west Beirut. All four were eventually released.
1988 - In Fort Campbell, KY, 17 U.S. soldiers were killed when two Army helicopters collided in midair.
1999 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Timothy McVeigh for the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
1999 - The White House, under President Bill Clinton, directed the firing of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee from his job at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The firing was a result of alleged security violations.
2001 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted for an across-the-board tax cut of nearly $1 trillion over the next decade.
2005 - In norther Chechnya, Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was killed during a raid by Russian forces.
2008 President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.

Mike Tawse, our friend from the UK, with his original 'Thought For The Day' -- Inspired by our mutual friend, Jennifer Allie Friedrich of  http://www.theflopside.com - "Neither success nor failure will ever be assured, but each becomes more likely for anyone who believes that it is possible. To make something possible, you must believe that it can be."

Iceland Voters Reject Repayment Plan -- Iceland’s voters expressed their outrage on Saturday against bankers, the government and what they saw as foreign bullying, overwhelmingly rejecting a plan to pay $5.3 billion to Britain and the Netherlands to reimburse customers of a failed Icelandic bank, Sarah Lyall reported in The New York Times.

Vitamin D deficiency is why you get flu and other infections -- A new study led by researchers at the University of Copenhagen has confirmed that vitamin D plays an important role in activating immune defenses against infectious diseases like flu. Vitamin D deficiency has already been linked to a wide spectrum of diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression, autoimmune disease and many others.

Obama to nominate retired Army general for TSA -- President Barack Obama plans to nominate retired Army Major Gen. Robert Harding to head the Transportation Security Administration after his first pick withdrew under political pressure, an administration official said Sunday.

F-16s intercept aircraft over restricted D.C. airspace -- A slow-moving small private airplane violated the restricted airspace over the Washington region Sunday morning, causing the U.S. military to send Blackhawk helicopters and two F-16 fighter jets to intercept it.

MCCAIN'S DRACONIAN DIETARY SUPPLEMENT BILL DEAD -- Hundreds of thousands of messages poured into the Senate opposing Senator McCain's bill, the bill that would have wiped out current legislative protections for dietary supplements. More and more messages were arriving by the day. The entire Congress began to take note. Senator McCain was embarrassed by our ad whose headline pointed out that he was misrepresenting and did not seem to understand his own bill.

6.0 earthquake hits eastern Turkey, kills 57 -- A strong, pre-dawn earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6 struck eastern Turkey on Monday, killing 57 people as it knocked down stone or mud-brick houses and minarets in at least six villages, the government said.

Drill Held at D.C. Transit Station Day Before Pentagon Shooting -- Coincidence? Several days before John Patrick Bedell attacked two Pentagon cops and was killed, D.C. police staged a drill at the Friendship Heights Metro station in in Northwest Washington.

Iran's Ahmadinejad Call Sept 11 "Big Fabrication" -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday called the September 11 attacks on the United States a "big fabrication" that was used to justify the U.S. war on terrorism, the official IRNA news agency reported.

5 Surprising Ways Your TV is Slowly Killing You -- You’ve accepted the idea that TV makes you dumber. You know there are lots of more edifying things you could be doing with your time than cheering on the contestants on "Survivor."

McCain's Draconian Dietary Supplement Bill Dead -- Word is now racing around Capitol Hill that Senator McCain met with Senator Orin Hatch, a champion of natural medicine, and told him that he is withdrawing his support for the bill he authored, the so-called Dietary Supplement Safety Act (S 3002). This means that the bill as written is now dead. (Expect this to come back renamed.)

Met Office Claims to Have Found AGW Fingerprint -- In fact, there are two articles in the Guardian that “know” in advance that the Met Office will “strengthen” the case for human-induced climate change: the witches and prophets told them. The second article has a title that unmasks what is the real motivation behind the Met Office report.

Pentagon Shooting: Now Everyone's A Terrorist -- But the most disturbing aspect surrounding yesterday’s incident is the fact that people like Glenn Beck on the establishment right and establishment liberal media outlets like CNN and MSNBC on the left have been aggressively promoting for months the notion that people who express dissent against the government are intent on killing people. It’s no coincidence that the last two targets of low-level domestic terrorism were the IRS and the Pentagon, and in both cases the propaganda victory enjoyed in the aftermath by the same establishment registered a far greater impact than the actual attacks.

Obama Czar's Shocking Communist Connections -- John Holdren, President Obama's "science czar," served on the board of editors of a magazine whose personnel were accused of providing vital nuclear information that helped the Soviet Union build an atom bomb.

Anti-Lobbyist' Obama Administration Recruited Left-Wing Lobbyists to Sell Bogus 'Green Jobs' -- After two studies refuted President Barack Obama’s assertions regarding the success of Spain’s and Denmark’s wind energy programs, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request reveals the Department of Energy turned to George Soros and to wind industry lobbyists to attack the studies.

Iceland Voters Reject Repayment Plan -- Iceland’s voters expressed their outrage on Saturday against bankers, the government and what they saw as foreign bullying, overwhelmingly rejecting a plan to pay $5.3 billion to Britain and the Netherlands to reimburse customers of a failed Icelandic bank, Sarah Lyall reported in The New York Times.

Wall Street Took Your House and Your Retirement, Now They are After Your Social Security -- The Peterson/Walker plan would have slashed social security entitlements at a time when Wall Street has destroyed the home equity and private retirement accounts of potential retirees. Worse, it would have increased the Social Security tax, disguised as a "mandatory savings tax." This added tax would be automatically withdrawn from your paycheck and deposited to a "Guaranteed Retirement Account" managed by the Social Security Administration.

China Ready to End Dollar Peg -- Many economists expect China to allow the yuan to appreciate slightly this year, but the cautious tone by Mr Zhou means that any change may not happen for some time. He said that the central bank would maintain the “basic stability” of the currency. So, despite the fact that the Chinese economy grew by 10.7pc in the fourth quarter of last year, the country’s loose monetary policy looks set to continue.

Postal Service Urged to Weigh Three-Days-a-Week Mail -- The U.S. Postal Service, facing a $238 billion budget deficit by 2020, should consider cutting delivery to as few as three days a week as the agency attempts to pare costs, a consulting firm said.

YouTube: Obama Denies Flyover -- from last summer just in case you missed it!

Birth Defects in Fallujah on the Rise Since US Operation -- A high number of children are being born with birth defects in an Iraqi city where U.S. forces may have used chemical weapons during a fierce battle in 2004. Children in Fallujah are being born with limb, head, heart and nervous system defects. There is even a claim that a baby was born with three heads. The number of heart defects among newborn babies is said to be 13 times higher than the rate in Europe.

Vaccines are Making Our Dogs Sick -- 'The latest scientific research shows that after the first course of injections as a puppy most dogs are immune against these diseases for at least seven years, if not for life. (As an RVT, I can tell you the good vets vaccinate when necessary and do not give vaccines if not warranted. There is such thing as toooo many vaccines for animals as well.)

Sugary Soft Drinks Lead to Diabetes -- More people now drink soft, sport and fruit drinks daily, and the increase has led to thousands more diabetes and heart disease cases over the past decade, according to research presented to the American Heart Association's annual conference. (Duh...really?)

US Public Will Pay Obama's $90 Bn Bank Levy -- In a report on the White House's plan to impose a 0.15pc fee on liabilities of banks with more than $50bn in assets in order to recoup money lost through the $700bn Troubled Assets Relief Programme, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the impact on banks would be "small".

CFTC to Shutdown Currency Trading for Individuals -- The Commodities Futures Commission is proposing new rules that would, for all practical purposes, shutdown the ability of individuals to trade in foreign currencies.

The Last Straw: HB 3200 pg 429, line13 -25: Govt to Specify which doctors can write an end-of-life order -- So Much for Choice. Check it out for yourself. Population control.

The Self- Sustainers Herbal Garden -- Before you begin to cultivate your herb garden, it’s helpful to know something about the soil conditions. As with almost any garden plant, herbs want soil that drains well, has good organic matter like compost and other materials, and a correct PH balance suited to each plant.

Obama Plans 10 Million Acre Land Grab -- As I have warned in previous posts the agenda to “fundamentally transform America” is following the Cloward/Piven handbook of community organizing. While the attention of the nation is focused on the health care debate, the administration has multiple agenda items moving full speed ahead and going relatively unnoticed. Their strategy is an elaborate shell game designed to keep us off balance and unable to keep up with the all changes in motion at any given time. Their plan to grab over 10 million acres of land is an excellent example of one such item. (Can anyone say Agenda 21 and Sustainability???)

Firearms Freedom Act Passes -- Legislation asserting that firearms made, sold and kept only in Wyoming are exempt from all federal gun laws is set to become law after it easily cleared the Wyoming Legislature on Wednesday.

Ariz. Senate Backs Bill to Restrict Local Local Gun Laws -- It would prohibit local governments from enacting laws more restrictive than state law and specifically prohibit ordinances that limit possession of guns in parks.  Also, local governments could not regulate the discharge of firearms.

Once Again Just Perusing the Latest Updates from the St. Louis Fed -- What is completely related and totally relevant is DEBT to INCOME. In fact, in regards to debt, income is the only thing that really matters. Our Nation’s Income is crashing as shown in this chart expressed in year over year (yoy) change in Billions of dollars.

Banks Shuttered in Fla, Ill, Md, Utah -- Regulators on Friday shuttered banks in Florida, Illinois, Maryland and Utah, boosting to 26 the number of bank failures in the U.S. so far this year following the 140 brought down in 2009 by mounting loan defaults and the recession

Obama, Politics and Nuclear Waster - Closes Yucca Mtn -- Yucca Mountain’s death by budgetary axe defies logic. It coincides with Obama’s stated support for expanding nuclear power. More reactors mean more waste, now piling up above-ground at sites scattered around the country. In February, Obama announced $8.3 billion in government loan guarantees for two nuclear reactors in Georgia. They would be the first new plants since the 1979 nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, an accident that caused no casualties but became a rallying symbol for the anti-nuclear movement.

Indiana Faces a Wave of 'Sovereign Citizens' -- An increasing number of Indiana residents are declaring themselves "sovereign citizens" and personally seceding from the United States, says a report from ABC channel 6 in Indianapolis. (Uh, I don't think that declaring your home an embassy is really the right way to go...)

YouTube: Fake Money Circulating at an Alarming Rate.

Seeds of Action Community Support Program -- The Heirloom Organics Seeds of Action! program provides seeds and assistance, free of cost, to non-profit groups and organizations throughout North America, who are using seeds for community service projects.

Votes Uncertain as Healthcare Endgame Looms -- U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said a new Goldman Sachs report, which says profits are rising and competition decreasing for private health insurers, showed the need for reform at a time when 15,000 Americans lose their coverage each day. (Does anyone trust Sebelius or Goldman Sachs???)



Today in History Friday March 5, 2010
1623 - The first alcohol temperance law in the colonies was enacted in Virginia.
1624 - In the American colony of Virginia, the upper class was exempted from whipping by legislation.
1750 - "King Richard III" was performed in New York City. It was the first Shakespearean play to be presented in America.
1766 - The first Spanish governor of Louisiana, Antonio de Ulloa, arrived in New Orleans.
1770 - "The Boston Massacre" took place when British troops fired on a crowd in Boston killing five people. Two British troops were later convicted of manslaughter.
1793 - Austrian troops defeated the French and recaptured Liege.
1836 - Samuel Colt manufactured the first pistol (.34-caliber).
1842 - A Mexican force of over 500 men under Rafael Vasquez invaded Texas for the first time since the revolution. They briefly occupied San Antonio, but soon headed back to the Rio Grande.
1845 - The U.S. Congress appropriated $30,000 to ship camels to the western U.S.
1868 - The U.S. Senate was organized into a court of impeachment to decide charges against President Andrew Johnson.
1900 - The American Hall of Fame was founded.
1901 - Germany and Britain began negotiations with hopes of creating an alliance.
1902 - In France, the National Congress of Miners decided to call for a general strike for an 8-hour day.
1905 - Russian troops began their retreat from Mukden in Manchuria, China. Over 100,000 had been killed in 3 days of fighting.
1910 - In Philadelphia, PA, 60,000 people left their jobs to show support for striking transit workers.
1918 - The Soviets moved the capital of Russia from Petrograd to Moscow.
1922 - Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee broke all existing records for women's trap shooting. She hit 98 out of 100 targets.
1933 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered a four-day bank holiday in order to stop large amounts of money from being withdrawn from banks.
1943 - Germany called fifteen and sixteen year olds for military service due to war losses.
1946 - Winston Churchill delivered his "Iron Curtain Speech".
1946 - The U.S. sent protests to the U.S.S.R. on incursions into Manchuria and Iran.
1953 - Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin died. He had been in power for 29 years.
1956 - The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the ban on segregation in public schools.
1970 - A nuclear non-proliferation treaty went into effect after 43 nations ratified it.
1976 - The British pound fell below the equivalent of $2 for the first time in history.
1977 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter appeared on CBS News with Walter Cronkite for the first "Dial-a-President" radio talk show.
1982 - John Belushi died in Los Angeles of a drug overdose at the age of 33.
1984 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities had the right to display the Nativity scene as part of their Christmas display.
1984 - The U.S. accused Iraq of using poison gas.
1993 - Cuban President Fidel Castro said that Hillary Clinton is "a beautiful woman."
1997 - North Korea and South Korea met for first time in 25 years for peace talks.
1998 - It was announced that Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins would lead crew of Columbia on a mission to launch a large X-ray telescope. She was the first woman to command a space shuttle mission.
2004 - Martha Stewart was found guilty of lying about the reason for selling 3,298 shares of ImClone Systems stock, conspiracy, making false statement and obstruction of justice.

THE 9/11 MASS MURDER IS EXPLODING IN THEIR DIRTY FACES -- " I was surprised to learn on February 24 that the most popular story on the paper's website (The Washington Times) for the past three days was the "Inside the Beltway" report, "Explosive News", about the 31 press conferences in cities in the US and abroad on February 19 held by Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, an organization of professionals which now has 1,000 members." The newspaper reports that Richard Gage, the spokesperson for the architects and engineers said: "Government officials will be notified that "Misprision of Treason,' US Code 18 (Sec. 2382) is a serious Federal offense, which requires those with evidence of treason to act. The implications are enormous and may have profound impact on the forthcoming Khalid Sheik Mohammed trial".

Vitamins stored in bathrooms, kitchens may become less effective -- The high humidity present in bathrooms and kitchens can degrading the vitamins and health supplements stored in those rooms, even if the lids are on tight, a Purdue University study shows. Crystalline substances like vitamin C, some vitamin B forms and other dietary supplements, are prone to a process called deliquescence in which humidity causes a water-soluble solid to dissolve. Keeping those supplements away from warm, humid environments can help ensure their effectiveness. "In a week you can get complete loss of vitamin C in some products," said Lisa Mauer, an associate professor of food science.

How to determine organically grown fruit in your supermarket by PLU code
 * Also check out: http://www.plucodes.com/docs/IFPS-plu_codes_users_guide.pdf

Wag The Dog Story?? - Ex-Gitmo detainee now a Taliban commander -- A man who was freed from the Guantanamo Bay after he claimed he only wanted to go home and help his family is now a senior commander running Taliban resistance to the US-led offensive in southern Afghanistan, two senior Afghan intelligence officials said.

The 2009 Financial Report Of The U.S. Government Is Out - America's Economic Goose Is Cooked -- The 2009 Financial Report Of The U.S. Government has finally been released, and the news is not good. It basically confirms much of what we already know - that the United States government is a complete financial mess.

Fake Weed, Real Drug: K2 Causing Hallucinations in Teens -- Teens are getting high on an emerging drug called "fake weed," a concoction also known as K2 and "spice" that is also causing hallucinations, vomiting, agitation and other dangerous effects.

DoD Releases Records of Illegal Surveillance -- Defense Department agencies improperly collected and disseminated intelligence on Planned Parenthood and a white supremacist group called the National Alliance, an Air Force briefing improperly included intelligence on an antiwar group called Alaskans for Peace and Justice, and Army Signals Intelligence in Louisiana unlawfully intercepted civilian cell phone conversations.

More fake gold -- Largest Private Refinery Discovers Gold-Plated Tungsten Bar.

One in Three Killed by US Drones in Pakistan is a Civilian -- One in three "militants" killed in US Predator Drone attacks in Pakistan's remote tribal areas is in fact a civilian, according to a report by an American think tank.

FDA: Labels Misleading on Major Food Brands -- The FDA today warned 17 food makers -- including POM Nestle -- that their "misleading" product labels violate federal law.

Area Shaken by Two Different Earthquakes Saturday - New Madrid -- A couple of earthquakes happened Tuesday afternoon in Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri. The US Geological Survey reports a 3.2 magnitude earthquake happened near Cairo, IL shortly before 1:40 pm Tuesday. Then a 3.7 magnitude quake rocked the area around Sikeston and New Madrid, MO around that same time. No word if any damage was done from both quakes at this time.

Gold Going Higher, Even George Soros Agrees With Marc Faber -- Last month it was revealed that Soros more than doubled his fund's holding in the biggest gold exchange-traded fund (GLD) in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Soros Fund Management LLC held nearly 6.2 million shares of GLD valued at about US$663 million as of December 31, adding 3.728 million shares valued at US$421 million That’s up from roughly 2.5 million shares at the end September. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, on the fringe of the World Economic Forum, Soros said: "When interest rates are low we have conditions for asset bubbles to develop, and they are developing at the moment". The ultimate asset bubble is gold," he added.

Will the US Devalue the Dollar? -- The three hundred year economic expansion fueled by debt-based capital markets is coming to an end and with it, the hegemony of the West over the East. During that period, debt-based paper money propelled first England then the US to world dominion because of the ability to wage war on credit and to print money ad infinitum.

More Consumers File for Bankruptcy Protection -- The economic recovery effort has not slowed consumer bankruptcy filings. They surged 14% in February compared with a year earlier, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute.

Is Moving Out of the United States A Way to Escape the Coming Economic Collapse -- First of all, it is very important to realize that moving some to another country can cause a massive culture shock. Even a nation that you would think would be somewhat similar such as the U.K. can be radically different from what most Americans are accustomed to. In addition, in some cases there can be huge taxes and fees imposed on those moving to a new country.

100% of Fish in US Streams Found Contaminated with Mercury -- In a new study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), every single fish tested from 291 freshwater streams across the United States was found to be contaminated with mercury.

VIDEO: Rogue Waves Part 1

Freak Tsunami-Like Waves Kills Two in Spain -- Freak tsunami-like waves measuring almost 30ft high have ploughed into a Mediterranean cruise ship, sweeping two passengers to their deaths and injuring many others.

Over 250 Significant Earthquakes Shook the World in Past 7 Days -- In the past seven days there have been more than 258 recorded earthquakes of a magnitude higher than 4.5 on the Richter's scale.

159 Ways the Senate Bill Is a Government Takeover of Health Care -- Here is a list of new boards, bureaucracies, and programs created in the 2,733 page Senate health care bill, which serves as the framework for President Obama’s health proposal:

Obama Now Selling Judegeships for Health Care Votes? -- Tonight, Barack Obama will host ten House Democrats who voted against the health care bill in November at the White House; he's obviously trying to persuade them to switch their votes to yes. One of the ten is Jim Matheson of Utah. The White House just sent out a press release announcing that today President Obama nominated Matheson's brother Scott M. Matheson, Jr. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Anti-Obama Sentiment Sweeps the Nation -- Obama’s relationship with Republicans has chiefly consisted of a few meetings in which he’s reminded them he’s president and they’re not. He’s offered them the opportunity to endorse Democratic legislation as written. Not much room for compromise there.

Chilean Earthquake's Tremors May Be Felt in American Consumers Stomachs -- But due to the quake, fewer varieties of Chilean apples, pears, and plums will be harvested this year, says Chile-based market analyst Isabel Quiroz of IQonsulting. And although the Chilean harvest is not over -- it's now the end of summer in the Southern Hemisphere -- the damage done to Chile's roads, irrigation systems, electric grid, packing houses, and other infrastructure will hamper the task of getting the fruit to market in the coming weeks.

New Wave of Adoption of GM Crops -- The countries that grow GM crops in descending order are: US, Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada, China, Paraguay, South Africa, Uruguay, Bolivia, Philippines, Australia, Burkina Faso, Spain, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Czech Republic, Portugal, Romania, Poland, Costa Rica, Egypt, and Slovakia.

Russia, India to Sign $4 Billion Military Technical Cooperation Contract -- Russia and India are expected to sign three contracts in military technical cooperation totaling $4 billion, including retrofitting the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to India, Vedomosti Russian daily reported.

Fidel Castro Is Back in Charge of Cuba -- Fidel—who relinquished his titles as head of the Council of State and Council of Ministers, but remains leader of the Communist Party—still has taken no additional government post since his return fitness. But he has made leadership changes that some analysts suspect are aimed at preserving his vision of the revolution. Key among them is the promotion of Ramiro Valdés, a former Interior minister regarded as a diehard Fidel loyalist and a brutal enforcer. Despite a history of strained relations with Raúl, Valdés is now effectively the No. 3 man in the regime after the Castro brothers. "That was a Fidel appointment," says Gomez. Valdés "is Fidel's eyes and ears on a daily basis within the inner circle."

Weekly Jobless Claims Fall 29,000 to 469,000 -- New claims for jobless benefits in the United States fell last week in a sign that layoffs may be easing as the economy slowly recovers. The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 29,000 to a seasonally adjusted 469,000. That nearly matches Wall Street analysts' estimates of 470,000. Still, any improvement in the job market is likely to be slow, as companies remain reluctant to hire. Last week's drop only partly reverses a sharp rise in claims in the previous two weeks

US Debt-Based Money Printing Biggest Theft in History -- Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asserts that the lingering global financial crisis has exposed the dark side of the capitalist economic system in the West, adding that the US will go down in history as the biggest thief ever.

Christian Couple Touches the Koran With Dirty Hands; Gets 25 Years in Prison -- A court in Kasur district, Punjab, convicted a Christian couple, Munir Masih and Ruqqiya Bibi, to 25 years in prison. According to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), Judge Ajmal Hussein convicted the couple for touching the Koran without washing their hands.

Rain to be Created in Drought Provinces -- In an effort to create rain, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said that weather bureaus in the affected regions are ready to "bomb clouds" with 2,116 doses of silver iodide, a compound used in cloud seeding, for which 2 million yuan ($294,000) has been allocated.

Iraq Early Voting Shattered by Deadly Blasts -- A string of deadly blasts shattered an early round of voting in Iraq Thursday, killing 17 people and highlighting the fragile nature of the country's security gains ahead of crucial parliamentary elections this Sunday.

Man Sues to Protect His Right to Flip Off Cops - Twice in 2007, Robert Ekas flipped off police in Oregon for no apparent reason than to express his First Amendment right to do so. And twice he was pulled over.

Taxpayers Hit as TARP Takes a New Turn -- Midwest Banc Holdings Inc (MBHI.O) agreed to swap $84.8 million of preferred shares it sold to the U.S. government in 2008 for securities that will convert into about $15.5 million of common shares -- roughly an 80 percent loss to taxpayers.

US Steps Up Diplomatic Pressure on China Over Iran Sanctions -- Chinese and Russian opposition derailed attempts to impose across-the-board financial and trade sanctions on Iran to punish Tehran for its nuclear programme. But in recent days Moscow has signalled its readiness to back measures targeting the Iranian regime and its central bank.

How 12 Year Old Girl Saved Her Chilean Island -- Martina Maturana, the daughter of the community's policeman, was at home when she felt a tremor, according to Chile's La Tercera newspaper. Her father was on the telephone to the mainland when Martina peered out of the window at the pitching boats and acted decisively. She ran 400 metres from her home to the town square to ring the emergency bell and rouse the fishing community from their sleep.

California Man Gets Eight Years for Stealing Cheese -- A California man has been sentenced to up to eight years in prison for stealing a $3.99 (£2.60) bag of shredded cheese in a case critics say shows the need for reform of the state's criminal justice system and the overcrowded state of its prisons.

Barack Obama: I'll Steamroll Health Reforms Through Congress -- President Obama declared for the first time yesterday that he was prepared to steamroller his troubled health reform legislation through Congress with only Democratic support; a move Republicans denounced as the “nuclear option”.
 

Today in History Thursday March 4, 2010
1634 - Samuel Cole opened the first tavern in Boston, MA.
1766 - The British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, which had caused bitter and violent opposition in the U.S. colonies.
1778 - The Continental Congress voted to ratify the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance. The two treaties were the first entered into by the U.S. government.
1789 - The first Congress of the United States met in New York and declared that the U.S. Constitution was in effect.
1791 - Vermont was admitted as the 14th U.S. state. It was the first addition to the original 13 American colonies.
1794 - The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. The Amendment limited the jurisdiction of the federal courts to automatically hear cases brought against a state by the citizens of another state. Later interpretations expanded this to include citizens of the state being sued, as well.
1826 - The first railroad in the U.S. was chartered. It was the Granite Railway in Quincy, MA.
1837 - The state of Illinois granted a city charter to Chicago.
1861 - The Confederate States of America adopted the "Stars and Bars" flag.
1877 - Emile Berliner invented the microphone.
1904 - In Korea, Russian troops retreated toward the Manchurian border as 100,000 Japanese troops advanced.
1908 - The New York board of education banned the act of whipping students in school.
1914 - Doctor Fillatre successfully separated Siamese twins.
1917 - Jeanette Rankin of Montana took her seat as the first woman elected to the House of Representatives.
1925 - Calvin Coolidge took the oath of office in Washington, DC. The presidential inauguration was broadcast on radio for the first time.
1933 - U.S. President Roosevelt gave his inauguration speech in which he said "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself."
1933 - Labor Secretary Frances Perkins became the first woman to serve in a Presidential administrative cabinet.
1947 - France and Britain signed an alliance treaty.
1952 - U.S. President Harry Truman dedicated the "Courier," the first seagoing radio broadcasting station.
1954 - In Boston, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital reported the first successful kidney transplant.
1974 - "People" magazine was available for the first time.
1977 - More than 1,500 people were killed in an earthquake that affected southern and eastern Europe.
1993 - Authorities announced the arrest of Mohammad Salameh. He was later convicted for his role in the World Trade Center Bombing in New York City.
1994 - Four extremists were convicted in the World Trade Center bombing in which six people were killed and more than a thousand were injured.
1997 - U.S. President Clinton barred federal spending on human cloning.
1998 - Microsoft repaired software that apparently allowed hackers to shut down computers in government and university offices nationwide.
1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court said that federal law banned on-the-job sexual harassment even when both parties are the same sex.
1999 - Monica Lewinsky's book about her affair with U.S. President Clinton went on sale in the U.S.
1999 - U.S. Marine Captain Richard Ashby was acquitted in a military court of the charge of recklessly flying his jet. 20 people were killed in Italy when his jet hit a gondola cable.
2002 - Canada banned human embryo cloning but permitted government-funded scientists to use embryos left over from fertility treatment or abortions.
2005 - Martha Stewart left federal prison after serving five months for her role in a stock scandal.
2009 - The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

YouTube: US Policy To Assassinate US Citizens -- Congressman Paul speaks on the floor about assassinations of Americans by their own government.

Windows XP users: Don't press F1 -- If you're browsing the web today and see a notice that you should press the F1 key (the traditional button used to get "help" in any application), don't do it. Read More...

Illegal Immigrants Caught Sabotaging American Train Tracks -- Americans for Legal Immigration PAC is requesting that Federal authorities charge the illegal aliens caught stealing over 500 railroad spikes in North Carolina with terrorism charges, since they entered America illegally and worked to sabotage train tracks in a way that could have resulted in mass casualties.

Several Got Yellow Fever Contaminated Blood -- The CDC has reported that, in March 2009, several people accidentally received blood products with yellow fever vaccine in them. The investigation documents evidence for transmission of vaccine virus through infected blood products.

Child Cocaine Treatment Rises by More Than 65% -- The number of under-18s receiving treatment for cocaine addiction in England has increased by more than 65%, NHS figures reveal.

Army Awards Lucrative Iraq Support Contact to KBR -- Defense giant KBR Inc. was awarded a contract potentially worth $2.8 billion for support work in Iraq as U.S. forces continue to leave the country, military authorities said Tuesday.

New Psychiatric Disorders Flag Normal Human Behaviors as Diseases -- Another new disease is "Oppositional Defiant Disorder" (ODD), which includes anyone who disagrees with authority. All those who are skeptical about the safety of vaccines, for example, are about to be diagnosed with ODD.

How to Get Genetically Modified Foods Out of Your Diet -- Disbelief? Sadness? Fear? Anger? Retribution? All of the above? Well, surely the first thing you should do is: STOP EATING THEM! Genetically modified crops such as corn, canola and soy are being used in over 70% of the processed foods available in your local grocery store. So you might be forgiven for thinking that if genetically modified ingredients are so widespread, they must be safe to eat, right? Wrong. It’s just a shame the FDA and the corporate-controlled North American mainstream media persist in turning a blind eye.

Obama Takes Charge, Demands Vote -- The end game at hand, President Barack Obama took command Wednesday of one final attempt by Democrats to enact bitterly contested health care legislation, calling for an "up or down vote" within weeks under rules denying Republicans the ability to kill the bill with mere talk.

Taliban Cave Network Found in Pakistan -- The tunnels, which are thought to have been created over five to seven years, were carved into sheer rock within view of the snow-capped peaks of eastern Afghanistan. The network was found during an offensive against Islamist militants in the country's semi-autonomous tribal areas in which 75 militants were killed.

Zero Tolerance Bill Moves to Senate Rules Committee -- A bill that would give principals and school systems more discretion in how they handle disciplinary cases in their schools passed a key Georgia Senate committee Tuesday, pushing it closer to a full Senate vote.

Lots of Anger, Some Aid, in Chile Disaster -- Facing angry survivors who had little warning of the coming tsunami, and who still are waiting for aid three days after the devastating earthquake, Chile's government used helicopters and boats to step up food deliveries on Tuesday as the death toll rose to nearly 800.

Foodbourne Illness Costs US $52 Billion Annually -- It turns out that tainted food can not only make people sick, but it can also cost them a bundle in the process.

Some Companies Drop Health Insurance, Don't Tell Employees -- As if having to pay higher health insurance premiums each year isn't bad enough, now workers have another worry: companies that drop their health insurance coverage and don't bother to tell employees.

An 'Astonishing' Rise in Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Government Groups -- On Tuesday, the SPLC released its quarterly intelligence report, titled "Rage on the Right," in which it charted what officials described as "an astonishing" rise in "nativist extremist" and anti-government "Patriotic" groups. The former, which includes institutions that "go beyond mere advocacy of restrictive immigration policy to actually confront or harass suspected immigrants," saw its numbers bulge from 173 groups in 2008 to 309 in 2009.

Strong Earthquake Hits Taiwan -- A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Taiwan on Thursday morning causing buildings to sway hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the north. Local news reports said at least one person was injured.

Huge Wave Kills 2 on Cruise Ship in Mediterranean -- A 26-foot wave smashed into a cruise ship carrying nearly 2,000 people in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, smashing glass windshields and killing two passengers, according to officials and news reports.

Stocks End Mixed as Fed Points to Slow Recovery -- Early gains in stocks unraveled Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled that the economic recovery will be slow. Stocks ended mixed after the Fed's announcement that economic activity has improved in nine of its 12 districts but that the gains are "modest."

Scientists Catalog Zoo of Bacteria in Our Guts -- The human gut is a virtual zoo, full of a wide variety of bacteria, a new study found. And scientists say that's a good thing. The first results of an international effort to catalog the millions of non-human genes inside people found about 170 different bacteria species thriving in the average person's digestive tract. The study also found that people with inflammatory bowel disease had fewer distinct species inside the gut.

JFK Airport: Boy Directs Air Traffic Control Caught on Tape -- "Jet Blue 171, clear for takeoff," the young boy said, according to audio recordings from LiveATC.net. The boy was speaking to Sacramento bound Airbus A320 that departed JFK airport at 7:56pm, according to flightstats.com, a Website that tracks flight information.
   * Related Article: FAA Suspends Pair After Kids Radio Pilots at JFK -- Authorities suspended the controller and a supervisor Wednesday after a recording of the radio calls was posted on the Internet, then reported by a Boston television station.

"Coffee Party" Founder is Obama Campaign Operative -- The slogan is “Wake Up and Stand Up.” The mission statement declares that the federal government is “not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges we face as Americans.”

VIDEO: Gun Control in Mojave County, Arizona

Israeli Raid Called Off After Facebook Slip -- The Israeli military says a planned raid on a West Bank village was called off after an Israeli soldier disclosed its details online. The military says the combat soldier posted the time and location of the raid on his Facebook page saying that troops were planning on "cleaning up" the village.

Pelosi Laid Groundwork for Obama's Transformation of America -- Like Pelosi, many of her Dem cohorts including Senators Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid, Diane Feinstein among others,  are long past their due date.  In ending their careers for ObamaCare they have nothing to lose.  How many of them will live out the rest of their lives in fabulous wealth?  Are Dems being paid off with funds stolen from the American till during the destructive Obama administration?

How They Distort Global Temperatures: The Urban Heat Island Effect -- How much do calculations of global temperatures represent the real temperature of the Earth? Every day new stories appear about temperature records with errors or deliberate omissions.

Water and the War on Terror -- While leaders in Washington have been war-gaming the national security risks of climate change, they’ve only started to connect the dots to the closely related threats emanating from the growing crisis of global freshwater scarcity.

President Obama to Say Democrats Will Use Reconciliation to Pass Senate Health Care Reform Fix -- White House officials tell ABC News that in his remarks tomorrow President Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans on some issue to get a health care reform bill passed but will suggest that if it is necessary, Democrats will use the controversial "reconciliation" rules requiring only 51 Senate votes to pass the "fix" to the Senate bill, as opposed to the 60 votes to stop a filibuster and proceed to a vote on a bill.

Dubai Police Chief Says to Seek Netanyahu Arrest -- Dubai's police chief plans to seek the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of Israel's spy agency over the killing of a Hamas leader in the emirate, Al Jazeera television reported.

Did They Know? Israel-US Startup Linked to Dubai Hit -- Employees at the Payoneer are still trying to understand what hit them: the Israeli startup company has faced a wave of unwanted publicity after Dubai police claimed that suspects in the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh used its credit card technology.

Muslim Woman Barred from Flight After Refusing Body Scan -- She was warned she would not be allowed to board the Pakistan International Airlines flight if she did not comply with the request but she decided to forfeit her ticket.

UK Muslim Leader: Islam Is Not a Religion of Peace -- "You can't say that Islam is a religion of peace," Choudary told CBN News. "Because Islam does not mean peace. Islam means submission. So the Muslim is one who submits. There is a place for violence in Islam. There is a place for jihad in Islam."

How Chinese Hacked Google, and Why India Should Be Worried -- The recent announcement by the United States giant search engine Google that it might withdraw from China made the headlines in world media. The Google decision highlighted the aggressiveness of the Chinese hackers who had been penetrating cyber fortresses like the Pentagon or the White House (as well as the PMO or the MEA in India!).

IMF "Economic Medicine" Comes to America -- In addition to mandatory private health insurance premiums, we may soon be hit with a “mandatory savings” tax and other belt-tightening measures urged by the President’s new budget task force.  These radical austerity measures are not only unnecessary, however, but will actually make matters worse.  The push for “fiscal responsibility” is based on bad economics.

'Revolution' Warning Over EU Bailout -- A revolution will erupt if billions of euro more in taxpayers' money is handed over to Anglo Irish Bank, Enda Kenny has warned. The Fine Gael leader said people can no longer tolerate massive public funding of the nationalised bank as it stands. Expected record losses at the bank, to be announced later this month, have fuelled speculation it will seek another six billion euro from the Government, on top of the four billion it has already pumped in.

Suspected Colorado School Gunman Participated in Strange NASA Funded Medical Study in 2005 -- In 2005, Eastwood participated in a NASA-funded medical study in which he spent 10 days in a hospital bed so scientists could study muscle wasting, an affliction experienced by astronauts during long flights, according to a story in the Rocky Mountain News at the time.

White House Declassifies Secretive Cyber-Security Plan -- Since the existence of the document was revealed, privacy advocates have also raised concerns about the plan's implementation and have pressured the government to see it. President Obama promised last year that he would appoint someone to ensure the plan is carried out without violating civil liberties.

Greenhouse Gas Tax to Push Gasoline to $7 Gallon -- To meet the Obama administration’s targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, some researchers say, Americans may have to experience a sobering reality: gas at $7 a gallon. To reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the transportation sector 14 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, the cost of driving must simply increase, according to a forthcoming report by researchers at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

US Deficit: Higher Taxes Needed to Cut Rising Debt -- Never mind about mortgaging the future. By running up a monster deficit as it struggles to keep the economy growing, the Obama Administration is setting the stage for sharply higher taxes down the road. Of course, it's not an absolute certainty. The easier option is even more quantitative easing - a euphemism for printing money, which is a dirty phrase economists never like to use. This would devalue the country's currency and sovereign debt, triggering a cycle of hyperinflation of the likes the U.S. has never seen.

Jerusalem Mayor Plans to Raze Palestinian Homes for Tourist Park -- Jerusalem's mayor yesterday unveiled details of a controversial and long-expected plan to demolish Palestinian homes and make way for an Israeli-sponsored tourist park in a neighborhood of the city's Arab eastern sector.

Oz Ban on Freedom of Speech Worsens -- Dear Henry, I am an avid reader of your posts on www.rense.com. However, as of 3rd March 2010, the Australian government have decided that the Rense website is not longer suitable for access by free-thinking Aussies. It has been censored. It is no longer accessible.

Olberman to Be Axed? -- Dwindling ratings, erratic behavior, and a bloated salary are leaving television insiders to conclude that cable news network MSNBC may soon fire its lead talker, the left-leaning Keith Olbermann.

Stephen Hawking 'Considers Leaving Britain Over Cuts -- Prof Hawking, who is almost completely paralysed by motor neurone disease, would follow his former colleague Neil Turok, an authority on mathematical physics, who left for the institute in 2008.

Barack Obama's Top Insults Against Britain -- Last week’s appalling declaration by Washington that the US would remain neutral in the conflict between Britain and Argentina over the Falklands, has prompted this list of the ten biggest insults so far by the Obama administration against America’s closest friend and ally.

Alleged Iranian Spies in Italian Arms Trading Arrest -- Two more Iranians on the run as police hold seven people on suspicion of conspiring to illegally export weapons.

FUSION CENTERS: A Locally Owned and Operated Intelligence Machine -- The Department of Homeland Security’s network of fusion centers operate under the auspices of state police or even large local police forces, thus sidestepping the guidelines enacted under the Privacy Act of 1974 that limit information sharing by federal agencies.

NY Gov Paterson Mum as Scandal Claims Top Cop -- New York Gov. David Paterson remains defiant in the midst of a rapidly growing domestic violence scandal that has now claimed two top law enforcement officials and threatens to take down his administration.

Inquiry Is Told of Paterson's Bid to Quiet Sherr-una Booker -- A key figure in the domestic abuse scandal bedeviling Gov. David A. Paterson told investigators that the governor phoned to enlist her help in quieting the accuser, according to a person with knowledge of her account.

Money Supply Growth Grinds to a Halt -- The latest money supply numbers show that non-seasonally adjusted money supply has gonad to a near complete halt. For the three month period ended January 31, 2010, non-seasonally adjusted money is growing at only 1.2% on an annualized basis. The seasonally adjusted number, which is the number the Fed watches, actually recorded an annualized decline of 0.9% for the three month period.

The Latest Ramlinology -- The implication, of course, is that Rahm met with the two Republicans on his own. If so, at the very time Rahm was letting Lindsey Graham demand the shredding of the Constitution, Greg Craig was executing the ham-handed report that, though transparently lame, managed to free Rahm of the taint of Rod Blagojevich.

Dodd Proposes Putting Consumer Protection Agency at the FED -- I felt certain when I read the Financial Times headline, “Proposal sees consumer watchdog role for Fed,” that I must have woken up in a bizarre parallel universe (but that is probably unfair to pretty much all universes parallel to ours: I imagine it would be very difficult to have one more perverse than ours). But no, sadly, this headline is for real; the only possible good news in this account it that this dreadful idea is far from a done deal.

Massive Pharaoh Head Unearthed in Egypt -- The leader of the expedition that discovered the head described it as the best preserved sculpture of Amenhotep III’s face found to date.
 

Today in History Wednesday March 3, 2010
1791 - The U.S. Congress passed a resolution that created the U.S. Mint.
1803 - The first impeachment trial of a U.S. Judge, John Pickering, began.
1812 - The U.S. Congress passed the first foreign aid bill.
1817 - The first commercial steamboat route from Louisville to New Orleans was opened.
1845 - Florida became the 27th U.S. state.
1849 - The U.S. Congress created the territory of Minnesota.
1851 - The U.S. Congress authorized the 3-cent piece. It was the smallest U.S. silver coin.
1857 - Britain and France declared war on China.
1863 - Free city delivery of mail was authorized by the U.S. Postal Service.
1875 - The U.S. Congress authorized the 20-cent piece. It was only used for 3 years.
1885 - The American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) was incorporated in New York as a subsidiary of the American Bell Telephone Company.
1885 - The U.S. Post Office began offering special delivery for first-class mail.
1900 - Striking miners in Germany returned to work.
1903 - In St. Louis, MO, Barney Gilmore was arrested for spitting.
1903 - The U.S. imposed a $2 head tax on immigrants.
1906 - A Frenchman tried the first flight in an airplane with tires.
1908 - The U.S. government declared open war on on U.S. anarchists.
1909 - Aviators Herring, Curtiss and Bishop announced that airplanes would be made commercially in the U.S.
1923 - The first issue of Time magazine was published.
1931 - The "Star Spangled Banner," written by Francis Scott Key, was adopted as the American national anthem. The song was originally a poem known as "Defense of Fort McHenry."
1945 - During World War II, Finland declared war on the Axis.
1952 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld New York's Feinberg Law that banned Communist teachers in the U.S.
1959 - The San Francisco Giants had their new stadium officially named Candlestick Park.
1969 - Apollo 9 was launched by NASA to test a lunar module.
1969 - Sirhan Sirhan testified in a Los Angeles court that he killed Robert Kennedy.
1974 - About 350 people died when a Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashed just after takeoff from Orly Airport in Paris.
1978 - The remains of Charles Chaplin were stolen from his grave in Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. The body was recovered 11 weeks later.
1980 - The submarine Nautilus was decommissioned. The vessels final voyage had ended on May 26, 1979.
1991 - Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers. The scene was captured on amateur video.
1994 - The Mexican government reached a peace agreement with the Chiapas rebels.
1995 - A U.N. peacekeeping mission in Somalia ended. Several gunmen were killed by U.S. Marines in Mogadishu while overseeing the pull out of peacekeepers.

How to Get Rid of Head Lice Naturally -- Head lice are easily transmitted by head-to head contact or by sharing combs, brushes or caps. Infestations are common in school children but this is not an indication of poor hygiene or dirty hair. Lice lay their eggs along the base of the hair shaft, close to the scalp. Conventional cures include the application of strong smelling insecticides or shampoos which can be harmful to health, especially in the case of small children. Go the natural route in preventing and treating head lice infestations.

Unemployment Map -- Just click "play" to view.

Officials Puzzle Over Millions of Dollars Leaving Afghanistan by Plane for Dubai -- A blizzard of bank notes is flying out of Afghanistan -- often in full view of customs officers at the Kabul airport -- as part of a cash exodus that is confounding U.S. officials and raising concerns about the money's origin.

Oops! Brain Cancer Patients Over-Irradiated with Miscalibrated Radiotherapy Machine -- Numerous patients have already been killed by miscalibrated chemotherapy pumps that drip poison in to the bodies of patients. And now there's news from Springfield Missouri where an actively-used brain cancer

Merck's cervical cancer vaccine ads are inaccurate and misleading -- Several doctors and women's groups in India are lambasting advertisements puts out by drug giants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Merck for their human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine. Objecting to the claims being made that the vaccine protects against cervical cancer, The Sama Resource Centre for Women and Health, Saheli Women's Resource Centre, and a group of doctors are sounding the alarm that the ads are misleading and inaccurate. irradiation machine has been miscalibrated since 2004.

California couple who removed lawn plead not guilty -- A California man who tried to save water and money by removing his front lawn is being taken to court. Quan Ha pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to a misdemeanor count for violating Orange city code. He faces up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

NAIS is Not Dead, Just Renamed -- On February 10, 2010 USDA announced that it will revise the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) policy and offer a new approach to achieving animal disease traceability.
 * USDA APHIS Factsheet - Questions and Answers: New Animal Disease Traceability Framework

Apple admits child labouor was used to build iPods and Iphones in Chinese factories -- At least eleven 15-year-old children were discovered to be working last year in three factories which supply Apple.

Postal Service Seeks 5-Day Delivery -- The U.S. Postal Service will move this month toward reducing mail delivery from six days a week to five, a change Postmaster General John Potter has said is critical to reducing its massive debt.

Russian Oil, Gas Company's Top Manager Found Shot Dead in Moscow Office -- The board chairman of Russian oil and gas company Trans Nafta was found dead in his company office in the Russian capital on Saturday, a source in Moscow police said.

Extended Jobless Benefits Start Ending -- Because the Senate did not act, the jobless will now stop getting checks once they run out of their state benefits or current tier of federal benefits. (Perhaps the senate was distracted by the health care fiasco on purpose? Hasten the demise?)

Bankruptcy Looms, Greek PM Warns -- Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said Tuesday his country was fighting for survival against bankruptcy and urged civil servants and pensioners to accept sacrifices to save the debt-burdened nation.

Quake Torn Haiti Hit by Floods -- Heavy rain has caused flooding in Haiti, killing at least 13 people as swollen rivers forced people on to roofs and trapped people in cars and homes.

Justices signal they're ready to make gun ownership a national right -- The Supreme Court justices, hearing a 2nd Amendment challenge to Chicago's ban on handguns, signaled Tuesday that they were ready to extend gun rights nationwide, clearing the way for legal attacks on state and local gun restrictions.

New IAEA Chief Takes Hardline Towards Iranian Nuclear Program -- In his first board meeting as the new chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr. Yukiya Amano made clear that he does not believe Iran has been cooperating with the agency’s efforts to assess the current state of the Iranian nuclear program.

Mandatory ID in Germany -- A new electronic personal identity card will be introduced in Germany on 1 November 2010. The complex overall system for managing the mandatory card and its contactless chip is on display at CeBIT 2010. The card has three functions: 1. biometric identity verification, 2. electronic identity verification, 3. authenticated electronic signature.

Nine Congressmembers Who Voted Against Health Care Reform Could Flip -- A small number of House Democrats who opposed health overhaul legislation on the first go-round may be President Barack Obama's most important constituency when he unveils a revised proposal on Wednesday.

Mossad Agents Fled to US After Killing in Dubai of Hamas Leader -- At least two suspected Israeli agents behind the murder of a senior Hamas official fled to the US during their escape, Dubai police now believe.

There Was a War Council in Damascus -- “The timing of the meeting, the way it was undertaken and the ensuing press conference that was held at its conclusion, all point to a strategic coalition being reinforced. This is the build-up of a new front that will spearhead the confrontation with the US-Israeli alliance and whichever Arab countries that may, expressly or implicitly, be affiliated with it.”

Voodoo Priest Announces War on Christians -- Haiti’s supreme Voodoo leader and hundreds of his followers intend to wage “war” upon Christian Evangelicals after they attacked a Voodoo ceremony in which chickens were beheaded to honor the Haitians killed in last month’s massive earthquake.

Secret Service Uses Outdated Computers -- A classified review of the United States Secret Service's computer technology found that the agency's computers were fully operational only 60 percent of the time because of outdated systems and a reliance on a computer mainframe that dates to the 1980s, according to Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.

Chile Quake May Have Tipped Earth's Axis -- The massive earthquake that struck Chile on Saturday may have shifted the Earth's axis and created shorter days, scientists at NASA say. (Makes one wonder what's next)?

Whistleblower: Pursuit of Madoff Was a Death Sentence -- For almost ten years Harry Markopolos tried, and failed, to alert regulators and investors of Bernie Madoff's $65 billion dollar Ponzi scheme.

Bitter Melon Stops Breast Cancer Cells From Growing and Spreading -- A vegetable commonly eaten in India and China called bitter melon (also known by the botanical name Momordica charantia), has been shown in previous studies to have a beneficial impact on blood sugar and cholesterol levels. It turns out that's not all the health benefits bitter melon offers. A new study by Saint Louis University scientists provides evidence the vegetable triggers a chain of events on a cellular level that stops breast cancer cells from multiplying and also kills them.

Free Porn On 'Tube Sites' Puts a Big Dent in Industry -- "We're dealing with the perfect storm: declining DVD sales, rampant piracy, free content and a weak economy," says Steven Hirsch, founder of porn heavyweight Vivid Entertainment. He says its DVD sales plunged 20% last year. "This is the worst I've seen in this industry in 25 years."

Most Detailed Pictures of Earth Revealed by NASA -- The space agency produced the stunning series images using thousands of “satellite-based observations” hundreds of miles above the planet. (Looks peaceful, but looks are deceiving.)

UK Muslim Leader to Put Fatwa on Jihad -- A revered mainstream Muslim scholar is set to announce in London on Tuesday a fatwa (Muslim ruling) against terrorism and suicide bombing in the name of Islam.

Afghanistan Censors Coverage of Taliban Attacks -- Afghanistan on Monday announced a ban on news coverage showing Taliban attacks, saying such images embolden the Islamist militants, who have launched strikes around the country as NATO forces seize their southern strongholds.

15 Years Ago, the Combined Assets of the 6 Biggest Banks Totaled 17% of GDP -- Fifteen years ago, the combined assets of our six biggest banks totaled 17 percent of our GDP. By 2006, that number was 55 percent. Right now, it stands at 63 percent.

Baby Girl Survives After Being Shot in the Chest by Parents in Global Warming Suicide Pact -- A seven-month-old baby girl survived three days alone with a bullet in her chest beside the bodies of her parents and toddler brother. Argentines Francisco Lotero, 56, and Miriam Coletti, 23, shot their children before killing themselves after making an apparent suicide pact over fears about global warming.

US-Canada Border Security and Military Partnership -- Under the pretext of the war on terror and through initiatives such as the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), as well as other commitments, there has been an ongoing effort to further harmonize North American security priorities.  The militarization of the continent, along with U.S.-Canada integration is taking place in areas of law enforcement, border services and the armed forces.

German Gold Foundry Apparently Discovered a Tungsten Filled Gold Bar that was Due for Melt -- German TV station ProSieben finds what appears to be some evocative proof of gold counterfeiting, in the form of tungsten gold substitutes coming to the W.C.Heraeus foundry, which is the world’s largest privately-owned precious metals refiner and fabricator, located in Hanau, Germany. The foundry has isolated at least one 500-gram tungsten bar due for melting, originating from a (so far) unnamed bank, which as the head of the foundry stated made the unpleasant discovery that “not all the glitters is gold.”

Now You Can Wear Your Windows -- Imagine your smartphone feeding information to a 15-inch virtual Microsoft Windows PC display that sits in front of one eye (leaving the other free) while you speak commands using a hands-free natural speech recognition interface to control your phone and wireless access to the Internet.

Corporate Lobbyists and Public Relations Firms Behind Cable News Outlets -- Since 2007, at least 75 registered lobbyists, public relations representatives and corporate officials have appeared on cable news broadcasts "with no disclosure of the corporate interests that paid them," The Nation magazine (March 1) reveals.

Soros: I am Not Satisfied with Barck Obama, But He Saved the Country from Recession -- “He is paying a very heavy price for actually saving the country from going into a very deep recession or a depression, because people don’t — haven’t experienced it,” Soros said. “He wanted to be the great uniter and he wanted to carry the country, sort of bring it together. But the other side has absolutely no incentive to do it. So it takes two to tango. So that approach has failed.”

Common Weedkiller Turns Male Frogs into Females -- Atrazine, one of the most commonly used and controversial weedkillers, can turn male frogs into females, researchers reported.

Millions of Tons of Water Ice Found at Moon's North Pole -- A moon probe has found millions of tons of water on the moon’s north pole, NASA reported Monday. The vast source of water could one day be used to generate oxygen or sustain a moon base.

Farrakhan Predicts White Right Trouble for Obama -- Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, boasting his divine stature, on Sunday predicted trouble ahead for President Barack Obama and urged him to do more to improve the lives of blacks and the downtrodden.

UK: Open Wi-fi 'Outlawed' By Digital Economy Bill -- This would leave many organizations open to the same penalties for copyright infringement as individual subscribers, potentially including disconnection from the internet, leading legal experts to say it will become impossible for small businesses and the like to offer Wi-Fi access.

CERN Nuclear Team Restarts Large Hadron Collider -- Operators of the world's largest atom smasher restarted their massive machine today in a run-up to experiments probing secrets of the universe. After a cautious trial period, Cern (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research) plans to ramp up the energy of the proton beams travelling around the 17-mile tunnel housing the Large Hadron Collider under the Swiss-French border at Geneva to unprecedented levels – and start record-setting collisions of protons by late March.

Hazmat Crews, FBI Storm IRS Building in Utah, White Powder Found -- Ogden, United States - Early news report found that Hazmat crews and the FBI were called to the scene in Utah to deal with a "a possible chemical situation". A powder may have been found in the mail at the facility but that information has not yet been confirmed.

Cyberware Hype Intended to Destroy the Open Internet -- The biggest threat to the open internet is not Chinese government hackers or greedy anti-net-neutrality ISPs, it’s Michael McConnell, the former director of national intelligence.

US Special Forces in the Congo; Coup in Niger -- In February 2010 we learned that U.S. special forces have begun training Congolese troops.
These same Congolese troops have been accused of attacking civilians and committing extreme abuses. "The government army came to the village... They raped and killed people and burned them in their houses."


Today In History Tuesday March 2, 2010
1836 - Texas declared its independence from Mexico and an ad interim government was formed.
1861 - The U.S. Congress created the Territory of Nevada.
1877 - In the U.S., Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election by the U.S. Congress.
Samuel J. Tilden, however, had won the popular vote on November 7, 1876.
1897 - U.S. President Cleveland vetoed legislation that would have required a literacy test for immigrants entering the country.
1899 - U.S. President McKinley signed a measure that created the rank of Admiral for the U.S. Navy. The first admiral was George Dewey.
1900 - The U.S. Congress voted to give $2 million in aid to Puerto Rico.
1901 - The first telegraph company in Hawaii opened.
1901 - The U.S. Congress passed the Platt amendment, which limited Cuban autonomy as a condition for withdrawal of U.S. troops.
1903 - The Martha Washington Hotel opened for business in New York City. The hotel had 416 rooms and was the first hotel exclusively for women.
1906 - A tornado in Missouri killed 33 and did $5 million in damage.
1908 - In Paris, Gabriel Lippmann introduced three-dimensional color photography at the Academy of Sciences.
1917 - The Russian Revolution began with Czar Nicholas II abdicating.
1917 - Citizens of Puerto Rico were granted U.S. citizenship with the enactment of the Jones Act.
1925 - State and federal highway officials developed a nationwide route-numbering system and adopted the familiar U.S. shield-shaped, numbered marker.
1929 - The U.S. Court of Customs & Patent Appeals was created by the U.S. Congress.
1933 - The motion picture King Kong had its world premiere in New York.
1939 - The Massachusetts legislature voted to ratify the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution.
1946 - Ho Chi Minh was elected President of Vietnam.
1949 - The B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II landed in Fort Worth, TX. The American plane had completed the first non-stop around-the-world flight.
1969 - In Toulouse, France, the supersonic transport Concorde made its first test flight.
1985 - The U.S. government approved a screening test for AIDS that detected antibodies to the virus that allowed possibly contaminated blood to be kept out of the blood supply.
1986 - Corazon Aquino was sworn into office as president of the Philippines.
1989 - Representatives from the 12 European Community nations all agreed to ban all production of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) by the end of the 20th century.
1995 - Nick Leeson was arrested for his role in the collapse of Britain's Barings Bank.
1998 - The U.N. Security Council endorses U.N. chief Kofi Annan's deal to open Iraq's presidential palaces to arms inspectors.
1998 - Images from the American spacecraft Galileo indicated that the Jupiter moon Europa has a liquid ocean and a source of interior heat.
2000 - In Great Britain, Chile's former President Augusto Pinochet Ugarte was freed from house arrest and allowed to return to Chile. Britain's Home Secretary Jack Straw had concluded that Pinochet was mentally and physically unable to stand trial. Belgium, France, Spain and Switzerland had sought the former Chilean leader on human-rights violations.
2003 - Over the Sea of Japan, there was a confrontation between four armed North Korean fighter jets and a U.S. RC-135S Cobra Ball. No shots were fired in the encounted in international airspace about 150 miles off North Korea's coast. The U.S. Air Force announced that it would resume reconnaissance flights on March 12.
2004 - NASA announced that the Mars rover Opportunity had discovered evidence that water had existed on Mars in the past.

Doritos Ads Represent Sick, Demented Nature of Junk Food Companies -- One Doritos ad portrays a man backing out of a parking lot when his car strikes an innocent person who drops a bag of Doritos and falls to the ground behind the car. Rather than trying to help the innocent victim, this man throws his car into reverse and drives over the victim, killing him with the vehicle and stealing the bag of Doritos.
Doritos YouTube Videos:
* A second Doritos ad shows two loser-looking gym bums being attacked by an insane junk food ninja who uses Doritos chips as throwing stars to murder the guy who stole his bag of Doritos. The message here? Doritos are so valuable that it's okay to kill others to defend your snack. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bRS)
* A third Doritos ad shows one elderly man attacking a young man with a stun gun in order to buy the last bag of Doritos from a vending machine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4YN...). Same gratuitous violence. Same message: Committing violent acts against others is perfectly acceptable when you're pursuing a bag of Doritos.
* Yet another Doritos ad shows two grown men smacking each other in the face to decide which loser has to go buy more Doritos. The loser ends up with a black eye after being punched so hard he flies through the air and lands on a coffee table, shattering it. Gee, why not just use the women in this role and make it a wife-beating commercial? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpRb...)

ACT TODAY! Or Kiss Your Organics Goodbye! -- ACT TODAY: comments are due by close of business Wednesday, March 3rd.

GMO Alfalfa Will Devastate Organic Dairy Industry -- Organic Valley farmers are joining the Center for Food Safety in a fight against the sale of Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) alfalfa seed. The 869 dairy and beef farmers of Organic Valley "feed their animals an all-organic diet that is on average 60 percent alfalfa. Each cow eats approximately 32.5 pounds of certified organic alfalfa a day." Siemon goes on to say "contamination of organic alfalfa stands or seed stock will devastate the organic farmers who market milk."

Brownfield Man Going to Prison for Selling Conventional Crops as Organic -- During an investigation by the TDA in late June 2008, Coronado furnished the TDA investigator several false documents/statements relating to his source of organic commodities. These documents/statements were false in that they represented that Sel-Cor was purchasing/selling large quantities of organic grain, beans, and peas when in fact, the products were not organic. The documents/statements included....

US manufacturers face skills shortages -- Manufacturing companies in the US are struggling to find workers with technical skills even though the sector has shed more than 2m jobs in the past two years. The shortage of skilled staff could restrict companies’ ability to step up production as the economic recovery gathers pace. In interviews with the Financial Times, groups ranging from Boeing – one of the US’s biggest manufacturers and exporters – to small companies also said they faced a wave of skilled workers reaching retirement age in the next few years, with a shortage of younger workers to replace them.

Concern as baby-boomers prepare for retirement -- The “skills gap” results from the confluence of two trends. First, the “baby-boomers” who have made up the bulk of US skilled manufacturing labor in recent decades have started to reach retirement age – a demographic pattern that will accelerate over the coming decade. Second, young people are increasingly spurning both manufacturing jobs and education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. With signs of industrial demand recovering, many expect this to spark a “war for talent” in the coming years, pushing up labor costs and forcing some companies to make do with less qualified workers. “As manufacturers recover, as they ramp up capacity, the skills gap could get more acute,” says John Oleniczak, Midwest leader of PwC’s audit practice.

LIBERTY DOLLAR NEWS: February 2010 Vol. 12 No. 02 -- For articles such as: 1. Aspen Silver Dollar Shines Forth - 2. South Carolina Questions the Currency - 3. Ron Paul - Is at it Again - 4. Tea Party Lights Fuse for Rebellion on Right. Read More.....

Chile Troops Impose Curfew in Quake-Stricken Towns -- In Concepcion, angry survivors camping along roads took out their frustration on firefighters who were distributing drinking water in thermoses and tea kettles, damaging their vehicles. Police arrested scores of people for looting and violating the curfew.

Fed Vice Chairman Says He Will Step Down -- Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn's decision to step down at the end of June gives President Barack Obama a chance to put a bigger imprint on the central bank.

Why did Sgt. Thomas die? -- His death leaves a medical mystery, one similar to those posed by hundreds of other American military personnel battling exotic cancers or struggling with rare respiratory problems.

Depleted Uranium for Dummies -- The Most Toxic Battle In Western Military History by Irving Wesley Hall. Be sure to check out the many articles on our Depleted Uranium section at: http://www.thepowerhour.com/du.htm

Military Suicides are Causing Civilian Casualties too -- Last month, the Defense Department reported that there were 160 reported active-duty Army suicides in 2009, up from 140 in 2008. Of these, 114 have been confirmed, while the cause of death in the remaining 46 has yet to be determined.

Bonuses for Wall Street and Unemployment Elsewhere Continue to Grow -- The troubles that countries are having with sovereign debt are growing exponentially.

Unemployment Benefits Denied! Over a Million Families Destroyed -- They did it! The government of your nation did it! They just turned their backs on over a million people on unemployment and denied the extensions! Congress, in the most nefarious and pernicious move seen since “post economic collapse period,” has walked away, went home for the weekend and did not extend unemployment benefits to over a million America families.

Chinese Fluoride is a Homeland Security Matter -- Recently, it has come to my attention in an engineering report for the city of Boulder, Colo., that they did an evaluation of fluoridation chemicals and sources and found that much of the fluoride chemicals used for water fluoridation are now coming out of China with arsenic and lead levels of 50 and 40 milligrams respectively per bag and non-existent regulatory monitoring of the salt or acid compounds from these imports.

Commercial Real Estate: More Trouble Ahead -- “The largest commercial real estate loan losses are projected for 2011 and beyond; losses at banks alone could range as high as $200-$300 billion. The stress tests conducted last year for 19 major financial institutions examined their capital reserves only through the end of 2010. Even more significantly, small and mid-sized banks were never subjected to any exercise comparable to the stress tests, despite the fact that small and mid-sized banks are proportionately even more exposed than their larger counterparts to commercial real estate loan losses.”

American Reliance on Government At All-Time High -- Without record levels of welfare, unemployment and other government benefits as well as tax cuts last year, the income of U.S. households would have plunged by an astonishing $723 billion — more than four times the record $167 billion drop reported last month by the Commerce Department.

Al Gore Takes Aim at Climate Change Skeptics -- Former Vice President Al Gore took aim at skeptics who doubt the reality of human-caused climate change, saying he wished it were an illusion but that the problem is real and urgent.

Plastic Chemical Triggers Allergic Asthma -- A plastic chemical commonly used in baby bottles and the lining of food and beverage cans may at least partially responsible for allergic asthma, a new study suggests.

Germany and France Agree to Rescue Greece, With Conditions -- Sources close to the German finance ministry said Germany’s state-owned KfW bank will buy Greek bonds or provide guarantees to other banks to buy them. France’s state-owned Caisse des Depots will also be involved in the aid package, according to Greek newspaper Ta Nea.

Now the Government Wants Competence Test Before You Can Be a Dog Owner -- Every dog owner will have to take a costly ‘competence test’ to prove they can handle their pets, under new Government proposals designed to curb dangerous dogs.

Euro Has Become a 'Subprime' Currency  -- The euro has become another "subprime" currency, afflicted by debts, funny bookkeeping, regulatory failure and widespread street protests in Greece and Spain. It's ironic that more violence-prone Americans didn't hit the streets, and throw rocks, when their living standards were sliced dramatically. Not yet anyway.

US Sponsors Terrorists to Overthrow Iran's Government Again! -- Abdolmalek Rigi, leader of the assassination/terrorist group, Jundallah, was announced as captured by Iran’s government on February 23, 2010. Iran televised Mr. Rigi making a statement that the US government funds Jundallah, provides weapons, and assists with logistical management.

Bush's Torture Psychologists Wanted to Use 'Mock Burials' -- "Yet after mock burial was specifically excluded as a torture technique, CIA torturers went on to threaten detainees with a power drill and a gun. In other words, someone at that CIA had already been told, specifically, that they could not use the threat of imminent death on detainees. But on at least two occasions, they did so anyway."

China Insiders Sees Revolution Brewing -- China's top expert on social unrest has warned that hardline security policies are taking the country to the brink of ''revolutionary turmoil''.

Nanotech May Tap into Your Mind -- New sensors built using nanotechnology could read and write information directly into the brain.

Augmented Identity App Helps You Identify Strangers on the Street -- By this point, we're all familiar with augmented reality, but Swedish mobile software firm The Astonishing Tribe is taking information overload to the next logical step: augmented identity. Mashing up face recognition technology, computer vision, cloud computing, and augmented reality with the complex digital lives many of us lead on the Internet, TAT has created an app that allows you to gather information on a person and their social networking life simply by pointing your camera phone at their face.

Step Aside Greece: How Gustavo Pigs Exposed Europe's Enron in 2001 -- Yet a 2001 report prepared by Gustavo Piga, in collaboration with the Council of Foreign Relations and the International Securities Market Association, not only fits that particular smoking gun description, but the report itself was damning enough of another country, a country which used precisely the same off-market swap arrangement to end up with an interest expense of LIBOR minus 16.77% (in essence the counteparty was paying Italy 16.77% of notional each year as a function of the swap mechanics), in that long ago year of 1995. The country - Italy (for confidentiality reasons referred to in the report as Country M), was at the time panned as the Enron of the European Union due to precisely this kind of off-balance sheet arrangement by the Counsil of Foreign Relations.

Russian Politician Says Wants to be Cloned for Nation's Sake -- Leader of the Russian Liberal Democrats Vladimir Zhirinovsky said on Friday cloning should be permitted in Russia and proposed cloning himself "for the nation's benefit."

Internet Overtakes Newspapers As Primary Source of News -- National and local TV stations still dominate the news cycle for most Americans, but the Internet now stands third in the list, ahead of national and local newspapers. Additionally, the majority of news consumers say they use two to five websites per day to get their fix—a number we think sounds about right—but a surprisingly high number (21 percent) rely on that one favorite site to get everything they need.

Supreme Court Gun Case Could Imperil State Laws on Everything -- But the case goes much further than the typical bickering over the Second Amendment. That's because it has more to do with the 14th Amendment than it does with the Second.

Senate Panel Said to Scrap Obama's Consumer Agency -- The negotiations focused on President Barack Obama’s Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which stalled talks on the overhaul, with Dodd proposing a bureau in the Treasury and Senator Richard Shelby, the committee’s top Republican, suggesting such powers go to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Neither proposal advanced, a Senate aide said. Talks between the two lawmakers on the bill collapsed last month.

Senate Panel Said to Scrap Obama’s Consumer Agency -- Senate Banking Committee negotiators, working through the weekend, agreed to drop the stand-alone consumer agency sought by the Obama administration and opposed by the banking industry, removing an obstacle that has stalled new U.S. financial rules.

The US and UK Lost Three Nuclear Weapons Each! -- UK, March 1, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) -When one reads about the pressure that the US and UK Governments put on such countries as Iran and North Korea I find it hard to believe that they themselves are so negligent in taking care of their own weapons. I also find it so hard to believe that they have such high moral standards when trying to stop Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) but are prepared to use such evil weapons themselves.

California Delays Payments, Ponders IOU's Again, Demands 80% Income Tax Before it it Even Earned -- Tactics in California to shore up its municipal bond rating are quite humorous. Supposedly, by delaying payments to schools, California can boost confidence in its bonds.

Why Pharmaceuticals Might Be Called Weapons of Mass Prescription -- Most people are familiar with traditional weapons of mass destruction such biological weapons, nuclear weapons and chemical weapons. The point of all such weapons of mass destruction is to inflict a large number of casualties on civilian populations as a way to cripple a nation into political or military submission.

Jerusalem Teeters on the Brink of Violent Revolution -- Israeli defense officials on Sunday warned that Jerusalem and the rest of Judea and Samaria are teetering on the brink of a new Palestinian explosion of violence, and charged "moderate" Palestinian leaders like Prime Minister Salam Fayyad with fueling the unrest.

Winter-Damaged Crops Drive up Tomato Prices -- The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, an agricultural cooperative, reports that much of the crop has been devastated by the freezing temperatures. And some retailers in Michigan and elsewhere are turning to Mexican tomatoes to stock their shelves.

5,200 Australians Bare All In Sydney Photo Shoot -- About 5,200 naked people embraced each other on the steps of Sydney's iconic Opera House on Monday for a photo shoot by Spencer Tunick. (Anyone remember modesty?)

It's Raining Frogs and Fish -- What's the real explanation of frogs and fish raining from the sky? Hint: It's not waterspouts.

Legal drugs have deadly impact -- While the investigation found one community could have done more to prevent the death of one girl, it also suggests that misuse of prescription drugs poses a threat to young and old across the metropolitan area. Of the 1,200 deaths, which do not include suicides, just more than half were caused by prescription drugs.
 

Today In History Monday March 1, 2010
1692 - In Salem Village, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Salem witch trials began. Four women were the first to be charged.
1781 - In America, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation.
1790 - The U.S. Congress authorized the first U.S. census.
1803 - Ohio became the 17th U.S. state.
1811 - Egyptian ruler Mohammed Ali massacred the leaders of the Mameluke dynasty.
1845 - U.S. President Tyler signed the congressional resolution to annex the Republic of Texas.
1864 - Louis Ducos de Hauron patented a machine for taking and projecting motion pictures. The machine was never built.
1867 - Nebraska became the 37th U.S. state.
1869 - Postage stamps with scenes were issued for the first time.
1872 - The U.S. Congress authorized the creation of Yellowstone National Park. It was the world's first national park.
1873 - E. Remington and Sons of Ilion, NY, began the manufacturing the first practical typewriter.
1900 - In South Africa, Ladysmith was relieved by British troops after being under siege by the Boers for more than four months.
1907 - In Odessa, Russia, there were only about 15,000 Jews left due to evacuations.
1907 - In New York, the Salvation Army opened an anti-suicide bureau.
1912 - Captain Albert Berry made the first parachute jump from a moving airplane.
1932 - The 22-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh was kidnapped. The child was found dead in May.
1937 - U.S. Steel raised workers’ wages to $5 a day.
1937 - In Connecticut, the first permanent automobile license plates were issued.
1941 - FM Radio began in Nashville, TN, when station W47NV began operations.
1947 - The International Monetary Fund began operations.
1954 - The United States announced that it had conducted a hydrogen bomb test on the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
1954 - Five U.S. congressmen were wounded when four Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives.
1961 - The Peace Corps was established by U.S. President Kennedy.
1966 - The Soviet probe, Venera 3 crashed on the planet Venus. It was the first unmanned spacecraft to land on the surface of another planet.
1966 - Ghana ordered all Soviet, East German and Chinese technicians to leave the country.
1969 - Mickey Mantle announced his retirement from major league baseball.
1974 - Seven people were indicted in connection with the Watergate break-in. The charge was conspiring to obstruct justice.
1987 - S&H Green Stamps became S&H Green Seals. The stamps were introduced 90 years earlier.
1989 - In Washington, DC, Mayor Barry and the City council imposed a curfew on minors.
1990 - In Cairo, 16 people were killed in a fire at the Sheraton Hotel.
1992 - King Fahd of Saudi Arabia announced major political reforms that ceded some powers after 10 years of disciplined rule.
1993 - The U.S. government announced that the number of food stamp recipients had reached a record number of 26.6 million.
1994 - Israel released about 500 Arab prisoners in an effort to placate Palestinians over the Hebron massacre.
1995 - The European Parliament rejected legislation that would have allowed biotechnology companies to patent new life forms.
1995 - Yahoo! was incorporated.
2002 - Operation Anaconda began in eastern Afghanistan. Allied forces were fighting against Taliban and Al Quaida fighters.
2003 - In the U.S., approximately 180,000 personnel from 22 different organizations around the government became part of the Department of Homeland Security.

FDIC Bank Closures - Two Closed Friday Feb 26 2010

Commercial Mortgage Default Rate in U.S. More Than Doubles -- The default rate for loans on office, retail, hotel and industrial properties surged to 3.8 percent from 1.6 percent a year earlier, the New York-based real estate research firm said yesterday in a report. The default rate for loans on apartment buildings climbed to 4.4 percent from 1.8 percent.

Bernake Delivers Blunt Warning on US Debt -- With uncharacteristic bluntness, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned Congress on Wednesday that the United States could soon face a debt crisis like the one in Greece, and declared that the central bank will not help legislators by printing money to pay for the ballooning federal debt.

Obama signs one-year extension of Patriot Act -- President Barack Obama has signed a one-year extension of several provisions in the nation's main counterterrorism law, the Patriot Act. Provisions in the measure would have expired on Sunday without Obama's signature Saturday.

Chile quake toll limited by good planning -- Chileans accelerated their rescue, aid and security efforts in damaged regions Sunday but also took pride in the comparatively low death toll, a result widely attributed to the country's meticulous planning and preparation.
Chile sends 10,000 troops to quash looting -- Chile's government scrambled on Monday to provide aid to thousands of homeless in coastal towns devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunamis as 10,000 troops moved into stricken areas to quell looting.

2010 Census: 10 Questions in 10 Minutes -- Look For Your Census Form In Mid-March.

IMF Chief Suggests Look at New Reserve Currency -- The I.M.F. leader, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, also floated the idea of creating a global reserve currency that could serve as an alternative to the dollar.

Toxic towns: People of Mossville, Louisiana 'are like an experiment' -- Community suspects 14 chemical plants play a role in cancer and diseases in area. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will investigate pollution and health in Mossville, Louisiana, and across the country.

1 in 4 parents believes unproven vaccine-autism link, but most do what doctor says is best -- A statement from a group practice near Philadelphia outlines its doctors' adamant support for government recommended vaccines and their belief that "vaccines do not cause autism or other developmental disabilities." "Furthermore, by not vaccinating your child you are taking selfish advantage of thousands of other who do vaccinate their children ... We feel such an attitude to be self-centered and unacceptable," the statement says, urging those who "absolutely refuse" vaccines to find another physician. "We call it the manifesto," said Dr. Bradley Dyer of All Star Pediatrics in Lionville, Pa. (Comment: Manifesto as in "Communist Manifesto"?)

Simple home saliva test that tells your risk of going blind -- A saliva sample is sent off for analysis to assesses a person's genetic risk of developing Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of blindness in the UK, which affects more than half-amillion people.

College Students Urged: Trade Bible for Playboy -- In the lobby of the University of Texas at San Antonio's humanities building, a hand-drawn poster announces, "Free porn: Just trade in your holy books (Bible, Koran, Vedas) for porn."

Short Selling Restrictions: A Great Indicator of Imminent Market Crashes -- Inquiring minds are investigating Fannie Mae's stunning $72 billion loss for 2009 as well as new short selling curbs. The two are actually related. Let's take a look.

Rescuers Search for Chile Quake Survivors; Death Toll Jumps to 708 -- The death toll nearly doubles as rescuers reach isolated and devastated towns. About 2 million people are hurt or without their homes in the aftermath of the 8.8 quake.

2/3 In Poll Think US Women Should Fight in Combat -- Every day, CNN has a feature called, "Quick Vote." They post a question and viewers can vote by clicking one of the buttons. Most of the time, the questions are lame, but today's question grabbed my attention. CNN asked, "Should the Pentagon allow women to serve in full combat roles?" I was shocked, but not really surprised. Two-thirds responded, YES.

CNN Poll: Majority Says Government a Threat to Citizen's Rights -- A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to rights of Americans, according to a new national poll.

Cybersecurity Bill to Give President New Emergency Powers -- The president would have the power to safeguard essential federal and private Web resources under draft Senate cybersecurity legislation.

23 CIA Officials Convicted in Italy -- An Italian court has convicted 23 Americans of abducting an Egyptian terror suspect under the CIA's so-called "extraordinary rendition" programme. Investigative journalist Wayne Madsen discusses the news with RT.

Greece's Worst Fears Confirmed -- "Our duty today is to forget about the political cost and think only about the survival of our country. Past policies make it necessary to proceed to brutal changes and reduce accumulated privileges."

Man who broke the Bank of England, George Soros, 'at centre of hedge funds plot to cash in on fall of the euro' -- A secretive group of Wall Street hedge fund bosses are said to be behind a plot to cash in on the decline of the euro.

City of Angels on Brink of Abyss -- "The city is facing a budget crisis unlike any it has ever experienced … The enormity of our current fiscal crisis forces the City to take swift action now and lay out a financial plan for the future."

Louisiana Sheriff Launches Operation Exodus -- The Bossier Parish sheriff's office is launching a program called "Operation Exodus," a policing plan for an end-of-the-world scenario involving a mostly white group of ex-police volunteers and a .50-caliber machine gun, inspired in part from the Book of Exodus in the Bible.

Bill Gates: Lower World Population with Vaccines -- “Now, if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services—we could lower that perhaps ten or fifteen percent.”

1997 DoD Briefing: 'Others' can set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely using electromagnetic waves
  * Transcript: DoD News Briefing: Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen

It's Raining Fish...No Really! -- WHILE the Top End and Central Australia have been battered by torrential rains, a Territory town has had fish falling from the sky.

Obama to Seek New Assault Weapons Ban -- The Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.

Oops! Brain Cancer Patients Over-Irradiated with Miscalibrated Radiotherapy Machine -- Numerous patients have already been killed by miscalibrated chemotherapy pumps that drip poison in to the bodies of patients. And now there's news from Springfield Missouri where an actively-used brain cancer irradiation machine has been miscalibrated since 2004.

Massive Bank Failures Due -- Close to 3,000 banks are currently classified as having a risky concentration of commercial real estate loans, according to a recent report by the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP). All of them are small to mid-sized banks, already weakened by the financial crisis.

Officials Puzzle Over Millions of Dollars Leaving Afghanistan By Plane -- A blizzard of bank notes is flying out of Afghanistan -- often in full view of customs officers at the Kabul airport -- as part of a cash exodus that is confounding U.S. officials and raising concerns about the money's origin.

UN Still Pushing for Global Environmental Control -- Despite the debacle of the failed Copenhagen climate change conference last December, the United Nations is pressing full speed ahead with a plan for a greatly expanded system of global environmental governance and for a multitrillion-dollar economic transfer scheme to ignite the creation of a "global green economy."

Weaponizing Mozart -- In recent years Britain has become the Willy Wonka of social control, churning out increasingly creepy, bizarre, and fantastic methods for policing the populace. But our weaponization of classical music—where Mozart, Beethoven, and other greats have been turned into tools of state repression—marks a new low.

US Refuses to Endorse British Sovereignty In Falkland Oil Dispute -- Washington refused to endorse British claims to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands yesterday as the diplomatic row over oil drilling in the South Atlantic intensified in London, Buenos Aires and at the UN.

Doritos Ads Represent Sick, Demented Nature of Junk Food Companies -- One Doritos ad portrays a man backing out of a parking lot when his car strikes an innocent person who drops a bag of Doritos and falls to the ground behind the car. Rather than trying to help the innocent victim, this man throws his car into reverse and drives over the victim, killing him with the vehicle and stealing the bag of Doritos.

Guns at Starbucks? Pushing the Right to Bear Arms in Public -- Gun owners in California have been wearing their handguns in coffee shops and restaurants. The guns are unloaded and legal, but some citizens and police departments are wary.

GOP Blacks Better Off Under Slavery -- "And yet today, half of all black children are aborted. Half of all black children are aborted. Far more of the African American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by the policies of slavery."

Bountiful Baskets Food C0-op Now in Vegas -- Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op is a group buy using the power of bulk purchasing to get great prices on produce and other goods from wholesalers. This group operates in the southwest states and was recently expanded to include Las Vegas. Produce is delivered twice monthly and the reception was so great, you can expect new locations next time around and the option for an organic basket for $10 more. What a fantastic new food option for us all in southern Nevada!

Supreme Court Scrutinizes State. Local Gun Control -- The justices will be deciding whether the right to possess guns guaranteed by the Second Amendment — like much of the rest of the Bill of Rights — applies to states as well as the federal government. It's widely believed they will say it does.

Farmers, Others Sue USDA Over Monsanto GMO Alfafa -- Opening another front in the battle over genetically modified crops, the lawsuit contends that the US Department of Agriculture improperly is allowing Monsanto Co to sell an herbicide-resistant alfalfa seed while failing to analyze the public health, environmental, and economic consequences of that action.

Bribes Let Tomato Vendor Sell Tainted Food -- Days later, federal agents descended on Kraft’s offices near Chicago and confronted Mr. Watson. He admitted his role in a bribery scheme that has laid bare a startling vein of corruption in the food industry. And because the scheme also involved millions of pounds of tomato products with high levels of mold or other defects, the case has raised serious questions about how well food manufacturers safeguard the quality of their ingredients.

ATF Seizes 30 Toy Guns -- A local business owner is flabbergasted after a shipment of 30 toy guns for his store was confiscated by ATF agents in Tacoma.

License Plate Software Stirs Privacy Concerns -- “It’s a huge Pandora’s box,” Jack Gillis, a spokesman for the Consumer Federation of America, said. “There are possibilities for tremendous violations if it is used to find out where people are at a given time. Until the access to this technology can be controlled, it has scary potential.”

How Mobile Phones Let Spies See Our Every Move -- The technology ’sees’ the shapes made when radio waves emitted by mobile phone masts meet an obstruction. Signals bounced back by immobile objects, such as walls or trees, are filtered out by the receiver. This allows anything moving, such as cars or people, to be tracked. Previously, radar needed massive fixed equipment to work and transmissions from mobile phone masts were thought too weak to be useful.

Israeli troops storm and encircle Aqsa Mosque -- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Sunday stormed the courtyards of the Aqsa Mosque and cordoned off its premises where dozens of Palestinian worshipers are still maintaining a vigil and refusing to leave for fear of attacks by Israeli extremists.

US to Spend $50 Million on Media in Pakistan -- The Obama administration plans to spend nearly $50 million on Pakistani media this year to reverse anti-American sentiments and raise awareness of projects aimed at improving quality of life, confirms a Washington insider.

Iran Unexpectedly Surfaces Hidden Nuclear Stockpile -- Iran has left international weapons inspectors stunned over the past two weeks as it suddenly moved virtually all of its underground nuclear fuel stockpile to an above-ground plant, and now the international community is struggling to determine what the country might be planning.

FEBRUARY 2010

Today in History Friday February 26, 2010
1863 - U.S. President Lincoln signed the National Currency Act.
1870 - In New York City, the first pneumatic-powered subway line was opened to the public.
1907 - The U.S. Congress raised their own pay to $7500.
1916 - Mutual signed Charlie Chaplin to a film contract.
1919 - In Arizona, the Grand Canyon was established as a National Park with an act of the U.S. Congress.
1930 - New York City installed traffic lights.
1933 - A ground-breaking ceremony was held at Crissy Field for the Golden Gate Bridge.
1945 - In the U.S., a nationwide midnight curfew went into effect.
1952 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed an atomic bomb.
1986 - Corazon Aquino was inaugurated president of the Philippines. Long time President Ferdinand Marcos went into exile.
1987 - The Tower Commission rebuked U.S. President Reagan for failing to control his national security staff in the wake of the Iran-Contra affair.
1987 - The U.S.S.R. conducted its first nuclear weapons test after a 19-month moratorium period.
1991 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced on Baghdad Radio that Iraqi troops were being withdrawn from Kuwait.
1993 - Six people were killed and more than a thousand injured when a van exploded in the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center in New York City. The bomb had been built by Islamic extremists.
1998 - A Texas jury rejected an $11 million lawsuit by Texas cattlemen who blamed Oprah Winfrey for price drop after on-air comment about mad-cow disease.
1998 - In Oregon, a health panel rules that taxpayers must help to pay for doctor-assisted suicides.
2009 - Former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic was acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding war crimes during the Kosovo War.

McCain bill threatens access to vitamins and supplements -- Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) has introduced a new bill called The Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA) of 2010 (S. 3002), that, if enacted, would severely curtail free access to dietary supplements. Cosponsored by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), the bill would essentially give the FDA full control over the supplement industry.

VA to Reopen "Gulf War Illness" Cases -- The Veterans Affairs Department will re-examine the disability claims of what could be thousands of Gulf War veterans suffering from ailments they blame on their war service, the first step toward potentially compensating them nearly two decades after the war ended.

Frankincense: Could it be a cure for cancer? -- Scientists have observed that there is some agent within frankincense which stops cancer spreading, and which induces cancerous cells to close themselves down. He is trying to find out what this is.

VIDEO: Census 2010 - Do Census questioners have the Constitutional right to ask all the personal questions they do? Watch the video below for the answers.

Shocking Poll: Grade Obama's First Year in Office

Jobless Claims Up 12% in Past Two Weeks -- The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance surged to just below the 500,000 level last week, and have climbed more than 12% over the past two weeks, the government said Thursday.

Caught on Tape: Selling America's Secrets -- Rare Video Obtained By "60 Minutes" Shows Pentagon Employee Selling Secrets to Chinese Spy

CDC Panel Call for Flu Vaccine for All -- The CDC almost certainly will make universal flu vaccination official U.S. policy for this fall's 2010-2011 flu season, as it consistently follows the advice of the panel of outside experts, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

Man Takes Chicago to Supreme Court Over Hand Gun Ban -- A grandfather is taking his 2nd Amendment fight to the U.S. Supreme Court in what is expected to be a landmark case. Otis McDonald, 76, is suing the city of Chicago over its handgun ban.

Latvian 'Robin Hood' Hacker Leaks Bank Details to TV -- Using the alias "Neo" - a reference to The Matrix films - the hacker claims he wants to expose those cashing in on the recession in Latvia.

Senate Approved Patriot Act Reauthorization -- The Senate endorsed by voice vote Wednesday night legislation that would temporarily extend three Patriot Act provisions set to expire at the end of this month.

Frustrated Owner Bulldozes Home -- The Moscow man used a bulldozer two weeks ago to level the home he'd built, and the sprawling country home is now rubble, buried under a coating of snow.

Racist Birth Control? Claims Israel Culling Ethiopian Jews -- A feminist movement has accused the Israeli government of adopting a racist policy towards the country’s Ethiopian Jews. Activists believe black women are deliberately being given a controversial contraceptive, to bring about a drop in the population – a claim the government denies.

US War Machine Kills Over 1 Million Iraqi's -- Over one million Iraqis have met violent deaths as a result of the 2003 invasion, according to a study conducted by the prestigious British polling group, Opinion Research Business (ORB).

EPA Head: No Warming Since 1995 Doesn't Mean Warming Isn't Occurring -- “The science regarding climate change is settled, and human activity is responsible for global warming,” Jackson said, adding that the EPA needs more funding to ensure climate change legislation is passed.

Greenspan: Worst Financial Crisis EVER -- Greenspan just said that the current credit crunch is “by far the greatest financial crisis, globally, ever” — including the 1930s Great Depression. (Meanwhile Greenspan covertly pats himself on the back 

Obama Campaign Logos Cause Internet Stir -- The Internet is abuzz with comparisons of the "strikingly similar" logos of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the ubiquitous Obama 2008 campaign..
 * Related Article: Symbols Talk - No Doubt About Where America Is Going...Check out the DOD's NEW Missile Defense Agency Logo

Supreme Court Sets Aside Strict Ruling on Miranda Right to Remain Silent -- Reporting from Washington - A crime suspect who invokes his "right to remain silent" under the famous Miranda decision can be questioned again after 14 days, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. And if he freely agrees to talk then, his incriminatory statements can be used against him.

Obama Rejects Criticism of Agenda as Socialism -- "Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, I am an ardent believer in the free market," Obama said in prepared remarks.

Census Bureau to Kids: Tell Your Parents We Won't Tell INS -- Bennett went to great pains to describe the measures taken at every level of the bureaucratic chain to ensure that Census Bureau officials do not obtain identification of respondents, much less pass it on to immigration officials. Such assurances about confidentiality are repeated in the letter sent home with students. (But while the feds have put their efforts into educating students about keeping parents safe from immigration officials, they seem not to have done such a good job in ensuring that census canvassers do not have criminal records.)

$150 Million Anthrax Vaccine Contract Goes to Firm with Close Dem Ties -- The Obama administration has steered up to $150 million in federal funding for the development and production of an anthrax vaccine to a bio-defense firm with strong Democratic Party ties, Fox News has learned.

Gasoline Heading Above $3 a Gallon by Summer -- Retail gas prices likely bottomed out last week, and they're again headed to above $3 a gallon this summer, experts said Monday.

Venezuela on Verge of Collapse, Thanks to Hugo Chavez -- His country is falling apart. How, for example, did Venezuela find itself plagued with electricity shortages so severe that the government imposed blackouts nationwide for several hours each day? After all, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has among the world's largest oil and natural gas reserves.

Contractors Outnumber Full-Time Workers at DHS; Lawmakers 'Astounded' -- The Department of Homeland Security has more contractors working for it than full-time employees, a situation two members of Congress said Tuesday was "unacceptable, untenable and unsustainable."

Blue Cross Parent Hiked Rates After Paying Out $39 Million in Bonuses -- California's Anthem Blue Cross justified its whopping 39 percent insurance premium hike by citing rising medical costs. But, it turns out, its parent company Wellpoint, Inc. has been spending tens of millions on large executive bonuses and fancy retreats.

Mainstream Media Refuses to Disclose that Independent Pundits Are Actually Lobbyists -- And many other "pundits" interviewed by the mainstream news are really high-level lobbyists for giant companies, pushing their agendas.

Cryptome Forced Down Over Microsoft Law Enforcement Surveillance Compliance Document -- Microsoft has managed to do what a roomful of secretive, three-letter government agencies have wanted to do for years: get the whistleblowing, government-document sharing site Cryptome shut down.

Obama Finds Something to Cut Out of Big Government -- The Obama administration has apparently come up with a creative way to deal with the increasingly bleak news regarding the economic position of the United States in the world. It proposes to eliminate the office in the Bureau of Labor Statistics that collects and publishes the comparative data on employment, unemployment, manufacturing productivity and labor costs, among other things.

Organic Feed Influences Chicken Gene Expression --A differential expression of 49 genes among a total of twenty thousand chicken genes may seem subtle, says De Greeff. But if you consider the fact that the cultivation method is the only difference in the feed, this is in fact a big difference. Moreover, seven of the 49 genes are involved in cholesterol biosynthesis, when only thirty genes are involved in total in the process.

Fed/Treasury Covert Tightening Alert - $200 Billion in Liquidity to be Withdrawn in the Next 8 weeks -- With the brunt of the $200 billion cash management bill sales expected to be picked up primary dealers, this will have the same effect as adding up to $200 billion to bank nonborrowed excess reserves (NBER) on deposit with the Fed. As bank NBER is just north of $1 trillion, a 20% increase over eight weeks in the amount of non-borrowed money locked up at the Fed is material. At a time when Agency and Agency MBS are drawing to a close, and with M2 money supply flat, this de factotightening move is a bit alarming.

Assisted suicide: Debbie Purdy welcomes new guidelines -- The guidelines published today make clear that anyone assisting suicide who benefits from the death is unlikely to be prosecuted as long as compassion was the "driving force" behind their actions. Mr Starmer said: "The policy is now more focused on the motivation of the suspect rather than the characteristics of the victim. "The policy does not change the law on assisted suicide. It does not open the door for euthanasia.


Today in History Thursday February 25, 2010
1570 - England's Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope Pius V.
1793 - The department heads of the U.S. government met with U.S. President Washington for the first Cabinet meeting on U.S. record.
1836 - Samuel Colt received a patent for a "revolving gun".
1901 - The United States Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.
1913 - The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It authorized a graduated income tax.
1919 - The state of Oregon became the first state to place a tax on gasoline. The tax was 1 cent per gallon.
1928 - The Federal Radio Commission issued the first U.S. television license to Charles Jenkins Laboratories in Washington, DC.
1930 - The bank check photographing device was patented.
1933 - The first aircraft carrier, Ranger, was launched.
1940 - The New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens played in the first hockey game to be televised in the U.S. The game was aired on W2WBS in New York with one camera in a fixed position. The Rangers beat the Canadiens 6-2.
1948 - Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.
1956 - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev criticized the late Josef Stalin in a speech before a Communist Party congress in Moscow.
1972 - Germany gave a $5 million ransom to Arab terrorist who had hijacked a jumbo jet.
1986 - Filippino President Ferdinand E. Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule after a tainted election.
1999 - William King was sentenced to death for the racial murder of James Byrd Jr in Jasper, TX. Two other men charged were later convicted for their involvement.
2000 - In Albany, NY, a jury acquitted four New York City police officers of second-degree murder and lesser charges in the February 1999 shooting death of Amadou Diallo.

Buffet's Partner Says America Is Finished -- Charlie Munger (pictured left with Buffet), Warren Buffett's longtime business partner in Berkshire Hathaway, warns in a new column that the U.S. economic empire is crumbling before our eyes, thanks to federal debt and poor planning.

Choking on Hot Dogs? It's not the shape, it's the ingredients -- The American Academy of Pediatrics is making headlines this week with a bizarre recommendation that hot dogs should be re-shaped to make them less of a choking hazard for children. But there's no mention of all the cancer-causing chemical ingredients that actually go into the hot dogs

UK: Terror as mall shark tank -- A HUGE shark-filled aquarium at the famous Dubai shopping mall is leaking forcing part of the shopping centre to be evacuated, reports say. The tank is one of the largest in the world and features the huge 32.8m wide and 8.3m high viewing panel.

School shooting suspect called erratic; said macaroni and cheese too noisy -- The man accused of wounding two middle school students in a community still haunted by the Columbine massacre had become increasingly erratic in recent weeks, yelling at imaginary friends and complaining that eating macaroni and cheese made too much noise, his father said Wednesday.

Census Jobs - Taking the 2010 Census Practice Test

More young people having strokes -- Experts are raising health concerns after observing increasing number of stroke incidents among younger adults. Buzz up!Data from Ohio and Kentucky showed that more young people were having strokes while the number was decreasing among older people.

Rachel Corrie's family bring civil suit over human shield's death in Gaza -- Parents want case to highlight events that led to American activist's death under Israeli army bulldozer.

Bill requiring citizenship proof for presidential contenders passes House committee -- The House Government Committee voted Tuesday to require presidential contenders to prove to Arizona's secretary of state they're "natural born citizens" to get their names on the ballot. The 6-1 vote came on the proposal by Rep. Judy Burges, R-Skull Valley, who said it's only fair to require those who want to lead our country prove they meet the standards of the U.S. Constitution. She said that, at the very least, it means producing a birth certificate.

Deposit Money By Taking A Photo??? -- Here's how it works. When you take a picture of a check, a computer that receives the image looks for the amount, the check number and the digits on the bottom with information on the check writer's account number and the bank's routing number. A photo of the back of the check verifies that it's been signed by the recipient. A banking clearinghouse then routes the funds from the check writer's account to that of the recipient. That also prevents the same check from being deposited multiple times. Remote-deposit capture started as a way for big companies and financial institutions to process huge numbers of checks without having to ship them around the country.

VIDEOS: Military Biological Weapons Exposed by Don Scott

Darpa-funded Researchers: Tobacco vs. Viral Terror -- Darpa’s been funding fast-tracked medication production since 2005, when the agency launched their Accelerated Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals (AMP) program. Although Darpa was already funding research into Avian Flu protection, they realized that H1N1 was a more pressing priority. “In response to the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic, AMP’s plant-based platform redirected its rapid scale-up processes that were initially developed for avian influenza,” Darpa’s announcement states.
**Related Article: A&M gets big grant to make tobacco-based vaccine -- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, looking for better responses to outbreaks of infectious disease and bioterrorist acts, last summer requested proposals for vaccine options made from plants, which don't contain the harmful pathogens of some animal sources. The grant calls for the production of an initial 10 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine. Giroir said the consortium will ramp that up to 100 million doses a month.

Mom Finds Snake Head in Frozen Green Beans -- A mother of four found a snake head in a bag of frozen green beans while cooking for her family in Houston, Texas, MyFoxPhoenix.com reported Monday.

Chrysler to begin safety campaign to replace faulty crash sensors in 355,000 minivans -- Chrysler Group LLC on Wednesday asked the owners of more than 355,000 of its popular minivans to take them to dealers in a few months to replace crash sensors that help to control the air bags. The sensors can crack and fail in 2005 and 2006 Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan models, Chrysler said in a statement. It is asking owners to wait until June to contact dealers because it needs time to distribute repair parts.

Freeze in Crops Leave Fast-food Chains in a Major Bind -- Supply problems are likely to continue until Florida’s tomato production returns to normal levels, which may not be until late this month or early next.

Serious Birth Defects Linked to the Agricultural Chemical Atrazine -- Researchers think they've found the answer. The culprit behind the suffering of babies born with this condition appears to be the agricultural chemical atrazine. That's the conclusion of a study just presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) held in Chicago.

American Indian Reservation Reaping Oil Benefits -- An oil boom on American Indian land has brought jobs, millions of dollars and hope to long-impoverished tribal members who have struggled for more than a century on the million-acre Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

Regulators Report 27% Jump in Problem Banks -- The number of "problem" U.S. banks jumped 27 percent during the fourth quarter of 2009 to 702, the highest level since 1993 and a sign the industry's recovery is still shaky, regulators reported on Tuesday.

Russia Warns West Against "Crippling" Iran Sanctions -- A senior Russian diplomat warned the West on Wednesday against trying to paralyze Iran by targeting the Islamic Republic’s energy and banking sectors with crippling sanctions.

Top Bush Adviser Defends Using Nuclear Weapons on Civilians -- He also suggested that the decision to use America's nuclear arsenal is the president's alone.

Mass Layoffs by US Manufacturers Surge in January -- By definition, a mass layoff in the United States is those job cuts that involve 50 or more workers from the same company. Those types of events increased by 35 in January 2010 to 1,761, according to data released.

McCain's Dietary Supplement Bill: an Attempt to Implement Codex Alimentarius -- It would also allow for the arbitrary banning of nutritional supplements by the FDA and the introduction of deceitful reporting of adverse events related to them.

Son of Hamas Founder Spied for Israel for More Than a Decade -- The son of one of Hamas’s founding members was a spy in the service of Israel for more than a decade, helping prevent dozens of Islamist suicide bombers from finding their targets, it emerged today.

Children to Be Given Identity Numbers - Australia -- A program in which every school child in Australia would be given an identity number so their academic progress could be tracked through their school life is expected to be announced by the federal government as early as today.

EPA Prepares to Take Lead on Regulating CO2 -- But there is a Plan B. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gases like CO2 could be considered pollutants and gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the power to regulate them under the Clean Air Act. Although that authority went unused in the waning days of former President George W. Bush’s Administration, the Obama EPA has spent much of the past year preparing the groundwork for regulation. In the absence of a climate bill, the EPA has the power — and is legally mandated by the Supreme Court — to step in and address carbon emissions.

Treasury to Expand Supplemental Financing Program -- The Treasury Department announced Tuesday that it is expanding its Supplementary Financing Program to help the Federal Reserve manage its enormous balance sheet.

Bernie Sanders Compares Climate Change Skeptics to Nazi Deniers -- Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is comparing climate change skeptics to those who disregarded the Nazi threat to America in the 1930s, adding a strident rhetorical shot to the already volatile debate over climate change.

Panic at the Fed or Back to Normalcy? -- The decision of the US Federal Reserve to raise its key interest rate was definitely not a sign of confidence in the US economic recovery or a signal that Fed policy is slowly returning to normal as claimed. It was rather a signal of panic over the weakness in US Government bond markets, the heart of the dollar financial system.

Blackwater Took Hundreds of Guns from US Military  -- Employees of the CIA-connected private security corporation Blackwater diverted hundreds of weapons, including more than 500 AK-47 assault rifles, from a U.S. weapons bunker in Afghanistan intended to equip Afghan policemen, according to an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee. On at least one occasion, an individual claiming to work for the company evidently signed for a weapons shipment using the name of a “South Park” cartoon character. And Blackwater has yet to return hundreds of the guns to the military.

Q4 Report: 11.3 Million US Properties with Negative Equity -- First American CoreLogic reported today that more than 11.3 million, or 24 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages, were in negative equity at the end of the fourth quarter of 2009, up from 10.7 million and 23 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2009.

Scouts, the New Hitler Youth! -- The gist of it is that the explorer scouts (a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America) are now being trained to chase down illegal border-crossers, face down terrorists and take out “active shooters”.

Houston Police Chief Wants Surveillance Cameras in Private Homes -- "HOUSTON Houston's police chief is suggesting putting surveillance cameras in apartment complexes, downtown streets and even private homes."

The Future of Energy? Bloom Energy Box -- Over the past several years, there’s been no shortage of talk about alternative energy, and its potential to change the world. The problem is that most of it is just that — talk. But tonight, a report that aired on 60 Minutes showed one alternative that is not only real, it’s already being tested by companies such as Google and eBay. You simply have to watch this.

Cities Shortening Yellow Traffic Lights -- Some cities have been shortening yellow lights to nab drivers with a ticket. But studies show that they're raking in the bucks at the expense of public safety.

State Tax Revenues Decline in Q4 -- State tax revenues declined by 4.1 percent nationwide during the final quarter of calendar 2009, the fifth consecutive quarter of reduced collections, according to a report issued today by the Rockefeller Institute of Government.

Concerns Grow Over China's Sale of US Bonds -- Evidence is mounting that Chinese sales of US Treasury bonds over recent months are intended as a warning shot to Washington over escalating political disputes rather than being part of a routine portfolio shift as thought at first.

FDIC Hits Record "Default" Level As Deposit Insurance Fund Plunges by $12.7 Billion to NEGATIVE $20.9 Billion -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Tuesday that its deposit-insurance fund fell to $20.9 billion at the end of 2009, a $12.6 billion drop in the final three months of the year, as bank failures continued at a pace not seen since the savings and loan crisis. The fund's reserve ratio was -0.39% at the end of the quarter, the lowest on record for the combined bank and thrift fund.

Greeks Scrambled To Pull Out 8 Billion from Local Banks -- We previously wrote about the possibility of a bank run in Greece following unsubstantiated reports that Greek citizens don't trust the Greek financial system all that much anymore, courtesy of the whole bailout and GDP reporting fraud thing. The rumor was not only just confirmed and also quantified: Dow Jones reports that in the past three months Greeks have moved about €8 billion out of local banks "fearing a possible new tax on bank accounts, increased government scrutiny on assets and a run on the banks if Athens is forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund."


Today in History Wednesday February 24, 2010
1848 - The Communist Manifesto was published.
1857 - The first shipment of perforated postage stamps was received by the U.S. Government.
1863 - Arizona was organized as a territory.
1866 - In Washington, DC, an American flag made entirely of American bunting was displayed for the first time.
1868 - The first parade to use floats occurred in New Orleans at Mardi Gras.
1868 - The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson due to his attempt to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The U.S. Senate later acquitted Johnson.
1900 - New York City Mayor Van Wyck signed the contract to begin work on New York's first rapid transit tunnel. The tunnel would link Manhattan and Brooklyn. The ground breaking ceremony was on March 24, 1900.
1903 - In Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an area was leased to the U.S. for a naval base.
1925 - A thermit was used for the first time. It was used to break up a 250,000-ton ice jam that had clogged the St. Lawrence River near Waddington, NY.
1938 - The first nylon bristle toothbrush was made. It was the first time that nylon yarn had been used commercially.
1942 - The U.S. Government stopped shipments of all 12-gauge shotguns for sporting use for the wartime effort.
1942 - The Voice of America (VOA) aired for the first time.
1945 - During World War II, the Philippine capital of Manilla, was liberated by U.S. soldiers.
1956 - The city of Cleveland invoked a 1931 law that barred people under the age of 18 from dancing in public without an adult guardian.
1980 - NBC premiered the TV movie "Harper Valley P.T.A."
1981 - Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Britain's Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.
1983 - The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 1100 mark for the first time.
1983 - A U.S.congressional commission released a report that condemned the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
1987 - An exploding supernova was discovered in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy.
1989 - A United Airlines 747 jet rips open in flight killing 9 people. The flight was from Honolulu to New Zealand.
1997 - The U.S. The Food and Drug Administration named six brands of birth control as safe and effective "morning-after" pills for preventing pregnancy.
1999 - In southeast China, a domestic airliner crashed killing all 64 passengers.

Action Items Progress Print out -- This is the document to track your action item progress.

Hackers expose security flaws with 'Elvis Presley' Passport -- In the name of improved security a hacker showed how a biometric passport issued in the name of long-dead rock 'n' roll king Elvis Presley could be cleared through an automated passport scanning system being tested at an international airport. Using a doctored passport at a self-serve passport machine, the hacker was cleared for travel after just a few seconds and a picture of the King himself appeared on the monitor's display.

Toyota president: We grew too big, too fast in US -- Toyota's president says the automaker compromised quality by growing too quickly in the U.S., but it will take steps to improve quality control.

Uh-oh...There's More to the story on Joe Stack -- Joe Stack’s 9/11, NSA, and Homeland Security Related Defense Contractor Clients -- The client list from the software programmer believed to have crashed his plane into the Echelon* building in Austin Texas reads like a guidebook to defense contractors with connections to 9/11, NSA and Homeland Security.
 Related Article: Joe Stack’s Intriguing Connections With Defense Contractors, Intelligence Agencies

FTC warns firms organizations of widespread data breach -- The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Monday it has notified nearly 100 companies and organizations of data breaches involving personal information about customers or employees. The FTC declined to identify the companies or organizations involved, but said they were both "private and public entities, including schools and local governments."

Frozen Fetuses Found During Doctor's Office Raid -- Philadelphia and federal authorities who raided a doctor's office after allegations a woman died following an abortion made a shocking discovery: more than two dozen frozen fetuses.

Suit possible over baby DNA sent to military lab for national database -- An Austin lawyer threatened to pursue a new federal lawsuit Monday after learning that some newborn blood samples in Texas went to the U.S. military for potential use in a database for law enforcement purposes.

CHART of the DAY: Banks Continue To Pull the Rug Out from Under the Economy Can the economy revive if banks don't start to lend again? -- Can the economy revive if banks don't start to lend again? Today the St. Louis Fed released its latest monthly look at commercial and industrial loans at major banks -- a measure that some would say represents the essence of the US banking system.

A Desperate FDIC Begs Americans to Open Savings Accounts During "America Saves Week" -- Just in case Americans weren't schizophrenic enough, listening to Obama and CNBC telling them to spend, spend, spend, even if that means maxing out all credit cards (relax, Uncle Sam will take care of that 1,800 day delinquent account by covering 99.999% of principal losses once hyperinflation hits a few quadrillion % per day), here comes the FDIC, with the other side of the coin, imploring "consumers across the nation to  consider establishing a basic savings account or boosting existing savings."

The Daily Bell: Going to the Roots of the Problem by Edwin Vieira (PART 1 of 4) -- When America's economy slips into the free-fall of hyperinflation or depression, impoverished people will rebel. First, against ever-worsening conditions, by demanding that public officials correct the situation. Then, when their protests accomplish little or nothing, they will rebel against incumbent officials at the next election. Finally, when they discover that the two major political parties are really one party with an empty cranium and a pair of duplicitous faces, and that changing the political personalities in office does not ameliorate the conditions that arise out of the government's hare-brained economic policies, they will rebel against this country's A general disdain for legality will become the order of the day.

Scott Brown's yes vote raises eyebrows and disappoints supporters -- “I am so disappointed in you, Scott Brown,” said one commentator who believed the bill would do nothing to create long-term jobs. “Way to put partisanship aside and vote something other than ‘No’,” said another.
 Related Article: GOP's Scott Brown branded turncoat for jobs bill vote -- A month after being crowned the darling of national conservatives, Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts is being branded "Benedict Brown" for siding with Democrats in favor of a jobs bill endorsed by the Obama administration.

What’s going on with Walmart Special Kitty Cat Food -- If there is a problem with the food, I am certain we will discover it. If the food is being discontinued, no love loss here. If the cat food is soon to be back on store shelves made by a new manufacturer, I hope they decide to remove the risk ingredients (by-product meal, animal fat, and BHA). Time will tell.

Psychiatrist charged with stabbing woman with sword -- A psychiatrist in northern Kentucky has been charged with stabbing a woman with a sword in his office. The Kentucky Enquirer reports that 51-year-old Douglas H. Rank of Cincinnati was charged with first-degree assault after being arrested Sunday night.

Shooting at Luke Air Force Base Kills 1, Injures Another -- One man was killed and another man injured late Monday when they drove a stolen car through the Luke Air Force Base security gate and were shot by guards there, officials said.

GlaxoSmithKline Deliberately Hid Evidence of Avandia Harm -- GlaxoSmithKline, maker of the diabetes drug Avandia, knew the drug was linked to tens of thousands of heart attacks but went out of its way to hide this information from the public, says a 334-page report just released by the Senate Finance Committee.

Plastic Bags in US to Pay or Not to Pay? -- For decades the standard question at U.S. grocery store check-out counters has been "Paper or Plastic?" But since January, consumers in the U.S. capital have faced a different question: "Will you pay 5 cents for a bag?"

Lawmakers Consider an Animal Abuse Registry -- California may soon place animal abusers on the same level as sex offenders by listing them in an online registry, complete with their home addresses and places of employment.

Deadly Hybrid Flu Possible -- Research in mice suggests the avian flu virus and the ordinary seasonal flu virus could combine to create a new deadly kind of flu, researchers say.

Hospital Infections Killed 48,000 -- Pneumonia and blood-borne infections caught in U.S. hospitals killed 48,000 patients and cost $8.1 billion in 2006, according to a report released on Monday.

Justice Department Clears Bush Lawyers for Torture Memos -- Two former high-level Bush administration officials who provided legal justification for harsh interrogations of overseas terror suspects are likely to escape any formal punishment now that the Justice Department has concluded they should not be held legally responsible.

Marc Faber: Buy Farmland and Gold -- The world’s most powerful investors have been advised to buy farmland, stock up on gold and prepare for a “dirty war” by Marc Faber, the notoriously bearish market pundit, who predicted the 1987 stock market crash.

Hamid Karzai Takes Control of Afghanistan Election Watchdog -- The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, has unilaterally taken control of the country's top electoral watchdog, provoking outrage from western diplomats, the Guardian has learnt.

Saudi Prince Quizzed Over Murder of Servant Who Slept at Foot of Bed -- More evidence of the "elite's" inherent sociopathy, abusing and even killing slaves (seems to be how this 'servant' was treated) for sadistic fun has always gone on in the upper echelons of society.

VIDEO: Strategic Denial of Oil in Haiti?

The Uranium Coup -- U.S. House of Representative Alan Grayson led a Congressional delegation that just happened to be in Niger at the time of the recent military coup last Thursday that deposed the legitimate elected government of the Uranium-rich nation.

Debt Dynamite Dominoes: The coming Financial Collapse -- In short, the financial oligarchy is in absolute control of the United States government. Concurrently, the military structure of the American empire has firmly established its grip over foreign policy, as America’s wars are expanded into Pakistan, Yemen, and potentially Iran. Make no mistake, a crisis is coming to America, it is only a question of when, and how severe. (EXCELLENT ARTICLE - VERY LONG.)

VIDEO: Ron Paul on CNBC Squawk Box Part 2 - Feb 22nd, 2010.

Goldman Sachs Says Greek Swaps Not Inappropriate -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. did “nothing inappropriate” when it arranged currency swaps for Greece that reduced the nation’s national debt by 2.37 billion euros ($3.2 billion), a top executive said.

So, who's right??? - Conflicts abound!
  * Home Prices in 20 US Cities Rose for Seventh Month -- Home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose in December for a seventh consecutive month, indicating the industry at the heart of the worst recession since the 1930s is stabilizing.
  * Home Prices Unexpectedly Dip -- The S&P composite index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas declined 0.2 percent in December, matching the dip in November, for a 3.1 percent annual drop.

Obama Looks on Bright Side of Ugly Jobs Picture -- Tell it like it is and it could demoralize already glum consumers who might curb spending just when the economy needs a boost. Sugarcoat the outlook and you risk paying the price at the polls if the employment picture does not improve.

Consumer Confidence in US Fell More Than Forecast in February -- Confidence among U.S. consumers fell in February to the lowest level since April 2009 as the outlook for jobs diminished, a sign spending may be slow to gain traction as the economy recovers.

NY Says Wall St. Bonuses Up 17% to 20.3 Billion -- Speaking on CNBC television, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said profit for all of Wall Street could top $55 billion for 2009, when the economy began to stabilize and as lenders raced to repay federal bailout money they had come to view as a stigma.

US to Unveil Broadband Plan March 17 -- The Federal Communications Commission said on Tuesday that the long-awaited National Broadband Plan will try to help connect 93 million Americans to high-speed Internet to find jobs, access educational and healthcare services, and reduce household energy costs.

DHS and Pentagon Flex Media Muscle On Domestic Terror -- On Issues of Domestic Terrorism and Cyber Security we have seen a rash of blatant over the top Pentagon fed news pieces and headlines into the main stream media with in this last week.

US Wants to Surround China with Missile Defenses -- Chinese defense analysts have said the United States' commitment to provide Taiwan with Patriot missile batteries and other weapons is part of Washington's strategy to surround China with missile defense systems, Asian News International reported yesterday.

Chavez: Saboteurs Targeting Venezuela's Power Grid -- President Hugo Chavez accused his adversaries on Sunday of sabotaging Venezuela's electricity grid as part of a broader plan aimed at bringing about the system's collapse — and his downfall.

'Obama and His Magic Beans' is Just Another TV Show for Americans -- President or Clown?  "He is doing a better job than Osama! I never knew there were so many incompetent people (white and black) that would vote for such a paper mache man." (this is FROM PRAVDA)

Doctor Gets Court Order to Confine Pregnant Woman Against Her Will -- With issues like the Stupak Amendment and Nevada's Personhood Initiative in the national spotlight, I am aware that a woman's right to choose whether or not to carry a fetus to full-term is under attack.

Mossad Death Squad Operations in Austria -- It is worth to mention that Austria, which recently the mossad use its territory as a base of operations for the assassination of al-Mabhouh, is considered a safe place for the mossad. The Israeli mossad continues to choose Austria, this beautiful and quite country, which appears to be safe for visitors and Austrian residents alike, as a central for its bloody terrorist operations. For decades, the mossad has been using Austrian territory as a base for carrying out assassinations in Arab countries.

New US Senator Helps Democrats Advance Job Bill -- A modest job-creation bill advanced in the U.S. Senate on Monday as the chamber’s newest Republican bucked his party and sided with Democrats on a $15 billion package of tax cuts and highway spending.

Inhofe Weighs Criminal Probe of Scientists Climate Change Emails -- The Senate’s top global warming skeptic on Tuesday is calling for a possible criminal investigation into the scientists accused of manipulating the data once used as the centerpiece of international climate change research.

UN Climate Talks to Resume in April in Germany -- The United Nations says formal negotiations on an international treaty to control global warming will resume in Bonn in April, four months after the failed climate change summit in Copenhagen.

FTC Warns Firms, Organizations of Widespread Data Breach -- The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Monday it has notified nearly 100 companies and organizations of data breaches involving personal information about customers or employees.


Today in History Tuesday February 23, 2010
1792 - The Humane Society of Massachusetts was incorporated.
1813 - The first U.S. raw cotton-to-cloth mill was founded in Waltham, MA.
1821 - The Philadelphia College of Apothecaries established the first pharmacy college.
1822 - Boston was incorporated as a city.
1836 - In San Antonio, TX, the siege of the Alamo began.
1847 - Santa Anna was defeated at the Battle of Buena Vista in Mexico by U.S. troops under Gen. Zachary.
1861 - U.S. President-elect Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take his office after an assassination attempt in Baltimore.
1861 - Texas became the 7th state to secede from the Union.
1870 - The state of Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.
1875 - J. Palisa discovered asteroid #143 (aka Adria).
1883 - Alabama became the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
1886 - Charles M. Hall completed his invention of aluminum.
1896 - The Tootsie Roll was introduced by Leo Hirshfield.
1904 - The U.S. acquired control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million.
1905 - The Rotary Club was founded in Chicago, IL, by Attorney Paul Harris and three others.
1910 - In Philadelphia, PA, the first radio contest was held.
1915 - Nevada began enforcing convenient divorce law.
1927 - The Federal Radio Commission began assigning frequencies, hours of operation and power allocations for radio broadcasters.
1940 - Walt Disney's animated movie "Pinocchio" was released.
1954 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio began in Pittsburgh, PA.
1963 - The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It prohibited poll taxes in federal elections.
1970 - Guyana became a republic. 1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demanded $4 million more for the release of Patty Hearst. Hearst had been kidnapped on February 4th.
1991 - During the Persian Gulf War, ground forces crossed the border of Saudi Arabia into the country of Iraq. Less than four days later the war was over due to the surrender or withdraw of Iraqi forces.
1993 - Gary Coleman won a $1,280,000 lawsuit against his parents.
1995 - The Dow Jones Industrial closed about 4,000 for the first time at 4,003.33.
1997 - NBC-TV aired "Schindler's List." It was completely uncensored.
1998 - In central Florida, tornadoes killed 42 people and damaged and/or destroyed about 2,600 homes and businesses.
1999 - White supremacist John William King was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering James Byrd Jr. Byrd was dragged behind a truck for two miles on a country road in Texas.
2005 - The New York, NY, city medical examiner's office annouced that it had exhausted all efforts to identify the remains of the people killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, due to the limits of DNA technology. About 1,600 people had been identified leaving more than 1,100 unidentified.

Buffett's Partner: It's Over for the US Economy -- Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner in Berkshire Hathaway, warns in a new column that the U.S. economic empire is crumbling before our eyes, thanks to federal debt and poor planning.

Pentagon Quietly Explores De-Citizenship of US Citizen Terrorist -- At the highest levels of the US military, a quiet discussion is going on about putting in place a legal framework that would permit the US government to strip American citizenship from terrorists.

'Doomsday is here for the state of Illinois' -- To become solvent, the state must enact the largest tax-increase package in Illinois history, whack another $2 billion from already starved government programs and wrest major financial concessions from the state's unionized work force, a nonpartisan government watchdog contends. In a new analysis of Illinois' "horrific" finances, the Civic Federation lays out the painful choices awaiting Gov. Quinn and the Legislature as they stare down an epic $12.8 billion budget deficit that has choked the flow of state cash to public universities and schools, transit systems and social-service agencies to the point of economic collapse.

Two Ways to Play: Soros Doubts Euro's Future -- George Soros called the euro “patently flawed” and said that the currency of the 27-member region faces a bigger test than just Greece. Soros said the situation was brought to a climax by Greece and worsened by the credit default swaps market, which favors bearish investors.

The Little Told Story of How the US Poisoned Alcohol During Prohibition -- I learned of the federal poisoning program while researching my new book, The Poisoner's Handbook, which is set in jazz-age New York. My first reaction was that I must have gotten it wrong. "I never heard that the government poisoned people during Prohibition, did you?" I kept saying to friends, family members, colleagues.

Schwarzenegger Dismisses Tea Party "As Anger and Dissatisfaction" -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger criticized fellow Republicans on Sunday as being hypocritical when they trash the federal stimulus program, and he dismissed the “tea party” movement as “just an expression of anger and dissatisfaction.”

Anointed Leader of Conservative Movement Glenn Beck Now Believes in Global Warming -- The stunning duplicity of Fox News host Glenn Beck has been exposed once again after the talk show host told USA Weekend magazine that he now believes in man-made global warming, after years of assuring his viewers that he was on the side of skeptics who questioned the science behind AGW claims.

POTUS to Sign Executive Order to Form Debt Commission on Thursday -- A White House official tells ABC News that President Obama on Thursday will sign an executive order establishing the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, to make recommendations on how to reduce the skyrocketing national debt.

IRS Bomber in a Long Line of Haters -- Its buildings across the country are fenced, with 24-hour security guards and other measures. Degen, of the NAEA, said he thinks IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman always travels with a bodyguard. Agency spokesman Bruce Friedland said IRS commissioners are provided security protection as deemed appropriate.

US Teachers Fall Victim to Tidal Wave of Pink Slips -- “I am very, very concerned about layoffs going into the next school year starting in September. Good superintendents are going to start sending out pink slips in March and April, as they start to plan for their budgets,” said Duncan, referring to the slips of paper included in some paychecks to notify a person of being fired.

Argentina Set to Win New Backing in Falklands Row -- BUENOS AIRES — Argentina was anticipating Monday to broaden regional support in its escalating row with Britain over the disputed Falkland Islands after winning immediate backing from Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Putin Calms Greece, Says US Debt Big Too -- “As we all know, the global economic crisis started neither in Greece, nor in Russia, nor in Europe,” Mr. Putin told a news conference after talks with George Papandreou. “It came to us from across the ocean,” he said in a clear reference to the United States.

Real, Uglier American Unemployment -- Ten times worse unemployment in the lowest class than in the highest class! Truly amazing and disheartening, don't you think? And you can also infer that in some hard hit geographical areas the poorest people and people of color are being even more adversely impacted. And don't think for a minute that things have really improved in 2010.

Denver Shuttle Driver Pleads Guilty in Plot to Attack NY Subways -- Najibullah Zazi, a 25-year-old former Denver airport shuttle driver, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support to Al Qaeda.

New Obama Health Care Proposal Borrows Heavily from Senate Bill -- The president's proposal would give the government the power to deny egregious premium increases, roll them back, or demand rebates for consumers, officials say.

New Issa Report Exposes Criminal Enterprises Within ACORN -- The new report “adds new evidence confirming these previous findings of ACORN’s misconduct in addition to a closer examination of ACORN’s financial transactions and fundraising that define the organization as a political machine.

IAEA: Iran's Nukes Also for Army -- Israel praised an International Atomic Energy Agency report released on Thursday that says Iran may be developing a nuclear warhead.

Iran to Build Two New Nuclear Sites This Year -- The head of Iran's nuclear programme has said the country will build two new uranium enrichment facilities within the next year.

Double CME Explodes Off Sun -- NASA spacecraft and amateur astronomers alike are monitoring a staggeringly-long filament of magnetism on the sun. It stretches more than a million kilometers around the sun's southeastern limb.

Kangaroos Victims of Factory Fluoride -- SCORES of starving and pain-ridden kangaroos have been culled after developing tooth and bone deformities from breathing and ingesting fluoride emissions.

Using Facebook or Twitter Could Raise Your Insurance Premiums -- Services such as Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Buzz can alert criminals when users are not home, according to Confused.com, the price comparison service. Foursquare, for example, shows that people are in a specific spot and, more importantly, that the user is definitely not at home, Confused.com added. It predicted that the new wave in social media could eventually lead to big rises in home insurance premiums.

DARPA Plans for Hypersonic Weapon -- The Pentagon’s far-out science arm is planning an April test flight for a prototype of a hypersonic weapon that — in theory — could cross the Pacific Ocean in under two hours.

The IMF Destroys Iceland and Latavia -- The International Monetary Fund operates primarily as a banker bailout machine. They cajole and tempt and confuse and threaten the leaders of governments worldwide to pay off the failed bets of the big bankers using the taxpayer funds of their countries. This has been going on a long time, at least since the early 1980s.

Homeland Security Chief: Domestic Extremism is Top Concern -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says terrorists who are U.S. citizens or live in the country legally and plot against the U.S. are just as big of a concern as international terrorists.

Plane Attack Prompts Debate Over Terrorism Label -- When a man fueled by rage against the U.S. government and its tax code crashes his airplane into a building housing offices of the Internal Revenue Service, is it a criminal act or an act of terrorism?

WH Press Core Forbidden to Ask Certain Questions -- WMR has learned from a veteran member of the White House Press Corps that the Obama administration has made it known through White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and other White House Communications officials that certain questions posed by the reporters who cover the White House are definitely off-limits. On the banned list are any questions about Obama’s post-Columbia University employment with Business International Corporation (BIC), a global financial and political information company that WMR previously reported was a front for the CIA.

EXPOSED: Dark Secret of the Farm Where Tigers Bodies are Plundered to Make Wine -- Behind rusted bars, a skeletal male tiger lies panting on the filthy concrete floor of his cage, covered in sores and untreated wounds. His once-fearsome body is so emaciated it is little more than a pitiful pile of fur and bones. After death, their bones are collected to make tiger wine that can sell for £185 a bottle.

Was Stack an Illuminati Programmed Multiple? -- I would like to thank the "Lets Roll Community Forum" for providing the above info. But, before we get distracted by "thermite and thermate" lets remember that Joe Stack was a government contractor that also worked for Homeland Security on a variety of projects. The guy was "home grown" within the intelligence community.

ADL's Public School Hate Bill -- The Anti-Defamation League is determined to establish federally-enforced promotion and protection of homosexuality in America’s primary and secondary public schools. This year ADL repeatedly boasted it was the driving force behind the pro-homosexual federal hate crimes bill. Now ADL is making another attempt to sodomize America. Their latest legislative poison is called The Student Nondiscrimination Act of 2010.

Relic Reveals Noah's Ark Was Circular -- In his translation, the god who has decided to spare one just man speaks to Atram-Hasis, a Sumerian king who lived before the flood and who is the Noah figure in earlier versions of the ark story. "Wall, wall! Reed wall, reed wall! Atram-Hasis, pay heed to my advice, that you may live forever! Destroy your house, build a boat; despise possessions And save life! Draw out the boat that you will built with a circular design; Let its length and breadth be the same."

Dig Supports Biblical Account of King Solomon's Wall -- Even as Muslim spokesmen try to deny Jewish claims to the Holy Land, archaeological discoveries have recently been coming in fast and furious proving the veracity of the Biblical account of history.

Police Search for Publisher Behind Boozy Textbook Image of Jesus Christ -- Christians in India's northeast are outraged after a picture showing Jesus Christ holding a beer can and a cigarette was discovered in primary school textbooks.
 

Today in History Monday February 22, 2010
1630 - Quadequine introduced popcorn to English colonists at their first Thanksgiving dinner.
1784 - "Empress of China", a U.S. merchant ship, left New York City for the Far East.
1819 - Spain ceded Florida to the United States.
1855 - The U.S. Congress voted to appropriate $200,000 for continuance of the work on the Washington Monument. The next morning the resolution was tabled and it would be 21 years before the Congress would vote on funds again. Work was continued by the Know-Nothing Party in charge of the project.
1859 - U.S. President Buchanan approved the Act of February 22, 1859, which incorporated the Washington National Monument Society "for the purpose of completing the erection now in progress of a great National Monument to the memory of Washington at the seat of the Federal Government."
1860 - Organized baseball’s first game was played in San Francisco, CA.
1865 - In the U.S., Tennessee adopted a new constitution that abolished slavery.
1879 - In Utica, NY, Frank W. Woolworth opened his first 5 and 10-cent store.
1885 - The Washington Monument was officially dedicated in Washington, DC. It opened to the public in 1889.
1892 - "Lady Windermere's Fan", by Oscar Wilde, was first performed.
1920 - The first dog race track to use an imitation rabbit opened in Emeryville, CA.
1923 - The first successful chinchilla farm opened in Los Angeles, CA. It was the first farm of its kind in the U.S.
1924 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge delivered the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House.
1954 - ABC radio’s popular "Breakfast Club" program was simulcast on TV for the first time.
1969 - Barbara Jo Rubin became the first woman to win a U.S. thoroughbred horse race.
1973 - The U.S. and Communist China agreed to establish liaison offices.
1984 - The U.S. Census Bureau statistics showed that the state of Alaska was the fastest growing state of the decade with an increase in population of 19.2 percent.
1994 - The U.S. Justice Department charged Aldrich Ames and his wife with selling national secrets to the Soviet Union. Ames was later convicted to life in prison. Ames' wife received a 5-year prison term.
1997 - Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut and colleagues announced that an adult sheep had been successfully cloned. Dolly, the first cloned sheep to be born was born in July 1996.
2002 - In the Philippines, An MH-47E Chinook helicopter crashed into the ocean. All 10 men aboard were killed.

ACTION ALERT: Hands off My Vitamins! -- Congress will ban your free access to dietary supplements unless you ACT NOW!! Suzanne Sommers has a take Action and call your Senators, on her website. A listener writes in to say " I made 300 copies and took them to Health Food Stores and chiropractors around my area and no one was aware of this Bill except one Astute Store Owner that listens to alternative Media. That frightened me, that this will go unnoticed and get in. We need Folks to take action on this otherwise we will not be able to get all the wonderful things that we buy from the Power Hour and will instead have to get Poison prescriptions from our Doctors. Maybe The Power Hour Listeners can get Active on this one and GET IT OUT THERE, in Numbers and have Family, Friends, Neighbors, call their Senators."

Cocktail of five vitamins may give cancer patients an extra two years -- Cancer patients with terminal disease who take a daily cocktail of vitamins could extend their lives by two years or even longer, claim researchers. Three out of four in a pilot study survived an average of five months longer than the expected one year, and some were still alive three years after treatment started.

Banks in California, Ill, Fla and Texas Shut Down -- Regulators shut four banks from California to Florida on Friday, boosting to 20 the number of U.S. bank failures this year following the 140 closures last year in the worst financial climate in decades.

Congress Is Looting Federal Worker, Military Retirement Funds -- As of January 1, 2010, the amount of money owed to federal civilian and military pension trust funds passed the $1 trillion mark as Congress continues to loot all of the federal government's trust funds to pay for deficit spending.

Bush Lawyer Said President Could Order Civilians to Be 'Massacred' says report -- The chief author of the Bush administration's "torture memo" told Justice Department investigators that the president's war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be "massacred," according to a report released Friday night by the Office of Professional Responsibility.

Fall of Dutch government bodes ill for Afghanistan -- A furious dispute over the war in Afghanistan brought down the Dutch government Saturday, bitterly divided on whether its forces should stay or go as NATO deepens its engagement against the Taliban.

Citigroup Warns Customers It May Refuse Allow Withdrawals -- "Effective April 1, 2010, we reserve the right to require (7) days advance notice before permitting a withdrawal from all checking accounts. While we do not currently exercise this right and have not exercised it in the past, we are required by law to notify you of this change," Citigroup said on statements received by customers all over the country.

Frustrated Owner Bulldozes Home -- The Moscow man used a bulldozer two weeks ago to level the home he'd built, and the sprawling country home is now rubble, buried under a coating of snow.

Only 21% Say the US Government Has Consent of the Governed -- The founding document of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, states that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Today, however, just 21% of voters nationwide believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed.

CNN Broadcasts Major Cyber War Game Propaganda -- CNN rolled out a slick propaganda presentation this evening. It is called “Cyber Shockwave” and it posits a cyber attack on the United States.

Iran Attack: It's About Mass Murder, Not Nukes -- If you think Israel or the United States will simply bomb Iran’s nuclear facility at Bushehr like something out of a Hollywood movie, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. If Iran is attacked — and with every passing day it looks more and more like it will be — the military will take down the country’s entire infrastructure (military and civilian) like Iraq’s was taken down in 2003.

Missouri Gov: We Must Be Ready for Big Quake -- NW MADRID, Mo. | Most experts believe it's just a matter of time before another big earthquake strikes along the New Madrid fault line, and Gov. Jay Nixon says Missouri and neighboring states need to be ready. Nixon on Friday convened a panel of a dozen state and local officials who are on the front lines of disasters. The panel of emergency managers, law enforcement officials and faith-based leaders gathered in New Madrid — at the epicenter of the fault line that runs through southeast Missouri and into parts of Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas.

Part 1: The Dawning of a New Age of Food Control -- Furthermore all countries must legislate and implement: surveillance, early detection, transparency, notification, rapid response to animal disease, biosecurity measures, compensation, and vaccination. Should you not comply with inspection, testing, vaccination and identification to global standards you are deemed a menace to society and your property will be quarantined and depopulated.

Playstation 3: The Future of Big Brother Surveillance? -- A U.S. Military research team recently built a supercomputer with over 2,000 PlayStation 3 game consoles. The 500 TeraFLOPS Heterogeneous Cluster is almost 100,000 times faster than any high-end processors in existence today.

Law Change Allows for Guns at US Parks -- Starting Monday, a new federal law will allow guns to be carried into national parks and wildlife refuges across the country, including the Gateway Arch grounds and Missouri's Ozark National Scenic Riverways.

British Military Insider: World War III is Being Staged Starting with Israel and Iran -- US “leadership” and their corporate media minions are pushing juvenile-level propaganda for war with Iran; lies that anyone can verify with a few moments’ attention. If you haven’t already confirmed the Orwellian-level disinformation, stop and read the above two links now.

Russia to Supply Iran with S-300 Defense Systems -- Russia intends to fulfill a contract to supply S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran, Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Friday.

Founder of Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods Transfers Business to Employees -- Moore, whose mutual loves of healthy eating and old-world technologies spawned an internationally distributed line of products, responded with a gift of his own -- the whole company. The Employee Stock Ownership Plan Moore unveiled means that his 209 employees now own the place and its 400 offerings of stone-ground flours, cereals and bread mixes.

Hamas Warns West Against Assisting Israel -- Following the assassination of a senior Hamas official in Dubai — a move which is widely believed to have been carried out by Israel's spy agency, Mossad — the resistance movement warned the West against assisting the Tel Aviv regime in its unlawful operations against Palestinians.

Alexander Haig: Reagan's Doctor Strangelove, Dies -- Alexander Haig, the four-star general who played a crucial role as White House chief of staff at the climax of the Watergate scandal, and later served as secretary of state during Ronald Reagan's presidency, died yesterday in Baltimore. He was 85.

Program Offering Muslims Quick Path to Citizenship -- Five Muslim soldiers under investigation for plotting to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, according to CBN News, are part of a military program that offers foreign nationals a quick path to U.S. citizenship in exchange for even just a single day of active duty.

Psychiatrists Want to Call Being Angry a Mental Illness -- Other new conditions identified as possibly needing professional help include binge eating - which is said to affect many people who are seriously obese - and ‘cognitive tempo disorder’, which seems very like laziness (symptoms include dreaminess and sluggishness). There’s also ‘intermittent explosive disorder’, which involves occasionally becoming very angry suddenly. Most bizarre of the proposed additions is one defined as ‘getting a thrill at being outraged by pornography’.

FBI Closes 911 Anthrax Investigation -- A source close to the investigation told the Associated Press said the FBI was finally satisfied it had identified that Dr Irvins acted alone.

Palestinians Dressed as the Na'vi from Avatar Stage a Protest Against Israel's Separation Barrier -- Protesters dressed as Na'vi characters from the movie Avatar march in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah.

California City to Charge $300 to Call 911 -- Tracy residents will now have to pay every time they call 9-1-1 for a medical emergency. But there are a couple of options. Residents can pay a $48 voluntary fee for the year which allows them to call 9-1-1 as many times as necessary. Or, there’s the option of not signing up for the annual fee. Instead, they will be charged $300 if they make a call for help.

Canada to Approve GM Enviropigs -- A Canadian government department is poised to approve genetically modified pigs for the food supply, the Canwest News Service reported Friday.

BofA Sued Over Unsolicited 'Privacy Assist Monthly Charges -- Customers of Bank of America are claiming the bank charges $8.99 a month for identity-theft protection and credit monitoring without authorization. Lead plaintiff Steven Chavez says in his class action lawsuit that BofA hit him with monthly costs for “Privacy Assist” without asking him first, and when he complained, the bank denied any affiliation with the services for credit monitoring and free access to online credit reports. But Chavez insists Privacy Assist is owned by BofA. Other plaintiffs say they have endured bank overdrafts as a result of Privacy Assist charges being applied to their accounts.

Iraq War to be Rebranded "Operation New Dawn" -- President Barack Obama's administration plans to rebrand its military operation in Iraq "Operation New Dawn," beginning September 1, a Pentagon memorandum shows.

Are Mandatory Vaccines Acts of Violence Against Children -- Are Mandatory Vaccines Acts of Violence Against Children -- (NaturalNews) This article refers to the parody cartoon found at ( http://www.naturalnews.com/028211_vaccines_Merck.html) . This parody cartoon grew out of the idea that vaccines are "shots" that are being increasingly forced upon children and teens.

Bank of Israel Governor Fischer to Woo China on Iran -- Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has decided to send Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer to China to try to convince the government there to support sanctions against Iran in the face of its insistence on developing nuclear weapon capacity.

Are Dalai Lama Visists with US, UK, France a Provacation For China Staged Role in WW!!!? -- The Dalai Lama confessed to receive CIA funds in their revolutionary attempts to split from China. As US and Israel lying rhetoric for war with Iran escalate and are echoed by US corporate media, as Iran is considered a main source of oil for China, as WW3 is a real threat given that WW2 sprung from a series of smaller occupations cumulating with a false flag attack on Poland and WW1 sprung from a single political assassination in a context of competing empires, the “chess masters” behind the scenes of politics might have more in mind than a simple visit between President Obama and an exiled religious feudal-system divine monarch (and here).
 

Today in History Friday February 19, 2010
1807 - Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested in Alabama. He was later tried and acquitted on charges of treason.
1846 - The formal transfer of government between Texas and the United States took place. Texas had officially become a state on December 29, 1945.
1878 - Thomas Alva Edison patented a music player (the phonograph).
1922 - Ed Wynn became the first big-name, vaudeville talent to sign on as a radio talent.
1942 - U.S. President Roosevelt signed an executive order giving the military the authority to relocate and intern Japanese-Americans.
1942 - The New York Yankees announced that they would admit 5,000 uniformed servicemen free to each of their home ball games during the coming season.
1945 - During World War II, about 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima.
1949 - Bollingen Foundation and Yale University awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry ($5,000) to Ezra Pound.
1953 - The State of Georgia approved the first literature censorship board in the U.S. Newspapers were excluded from the new legislation.
1959 - Cyprus was granted its independence with the signing of an agreement with Britain, Turkey and Greece.
1963 - The Soviet Union informed U.S. President Kennedy it would withdraw "several thousand" of its troops in Cuba.
1985 - Mickey Mouse was welcomed to China as part of the 30th anniversary of Disneyland. The touring mouse played 30 cities in 30 days.
1985 - William Schroeder became the first artificial-heart patient to leave the confines of the hospital.
1985 - Cherry Coke was introduced by the Coca-Cola Company.
1986 - The U.S. Senate approved a treaty outlawing genocide. The pact had been submitted 37 years earlier for ratification.
1986 - The Soviet Union launched the Mir space station.
987 - A controversial, anti-smoking publice service announcement aired for the first time on television. Yul Brynner filmed the ad shortly before dying of lung cancer. Brynner made it clear in the ad that he would have died from cigarette smoking before ad aired.
1997 - Deng Xiaoping of China died at the age of 92. He was the last of China's major revolutionaries.
1999 - Dennis Franz received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2001 - The museum at the Oklahoma City National Memorial Center was dedicated.
2002 - NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft began using its thermal emission imaging system to map Mars.

Pilot Angry at IRS Crashes Plane Into Austin Office Building -- An Austin, Texas, resident with an apparent grudge against the Internal Revenue Service set his house on fire Thursday and then crashed a small plane into a building housing an IRS office with nearly 200 employees, officials said.
  Manifesto of Joseph Andrew Stack -- Suicide Letter Written By Joe Stack - Austin Plane Crash Pilot
    Related Articles:
     * Joe Stack Pictures: First Photos of Alleged Austin IRS Plane Crasher
     * Austin Plane Crash Labeled "Right-Wing" Domestic Terror Attack -- In anticipation of evening cable news shows exploiting one man’s grievances  against the IRS to smear the entire liberty movement, websites on both sides of the political equation are being flooded with messages from what appear to be Obama supporters calling the Austin plane crash an act of “right-wing domestic terror” committed by Tea Party activists.
     * Austin Suicide Pilot Posted Anti-IRS Screed -- If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken.
     * As Bell Predicted: IRS Plane Attack Hits Freedom -- We note that Time inserted the parenthetical comment "See the making of the Tea Party movement" into the middle of the article. We think it's sad from a strictly human perspective that the article - and others like it rushed into print yesterday - don't seem to provide us with much of a human dimension for this tragic tale. There's not much on the IRS workers in the building, some of whom were badly injured - not even an expression of concern. And certainly no tears are shed for Stack or his family. We say a little prayer for those involved.

VIDEO: Bill O'Reilly Interviews Oath Keepers Founder Stewart Rhodes

Online Tax Revolt to Storm Washington to Demand Tax Reform -- The first-ever Online Tax Revolt, a free, interactive march on Washington was launched today. Using state of the art technology, concerned Americans can have a voice on tax policy, culminating on April 15 with events in Washington, D.C.

Army Investigates Alleged Attempt By Soldiers to Poison Food at Ft. Jackson -- The U.S. Army is investigating allegations that soldiers were attempting to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson in South Carolina.

VIDEO: Peter Schiff, Currency crisis imminent

Coming Soon: 5 Million More Foreclosures -- The latest estimates are for another five million delinquent mortgages to go through foreclosure (or alternatively, short sales) over the next few years. Currently, there is an estimated 7.7 million households in some stage of pre-default delinquency. Thus, whatever grudging progress that has been made in clearing out some of the excess housing inventory will likely suffer a set back as these 5 million homes come out of the shadows and enter the real estate inventory of homes of for sale. 5 million homes represent approximately one years sales.

Massive Hack Attack Shows Major Flaws in Today's Cybersecurity -- "The ZeuS Compromise" may sound like a great movie, but it's actually a newly uncovered, massive hacking network -- and it's a doozy, affecting more than 74,000 PCs in 2,400 business and government systems around the world. 

Pakistan Avalanche Buries Village and Kills at Least 38 -- At least 38 people are dead after an avalanche buried an entire village in north-west Pakistan.

Magnitude 6.7 Earthquake Hits North Korea's Northeast Border -- A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck close to North Korea’s northeastern border with China and Russia today. The depth of the temblor indicated that it was unlikely to have caused extensive damage.

The mystery of the blue lines on the ski slope at the 2010 Winter Olympics -- One of the most popular queries so far during the 2010 Winter Olympics has been about the blue lines that are painted on the downhill skiing course at Whistler. Try watching Lindsey Vonn race without wondering what they're for, why they're there and, most importantly, why the heck they're painted blue.

The Middle Class Two Income Trap -- Now, even with two income households many with rising job losses are finding they now have to make it with one income while inflation has eroded their buying power over the decades. In this recession 3 out of 4 job losses have been men. The government will sit back and let the middle class get fleeced because they are part of the problem. They speak a good game but are bought by the industry. Prove us wrong if this isn’t the case. Enough talk, time for action. If you can, take you money out of the big banks and put them in local regional banks.

1001 Reasons to Own Gold -- In spite of gold’s recent correction, the reasons haven’t decreased. In fact, the case for holding gold is stronger than ever. And over the past two weeks, a few “reasons” have surfaced that have fallen mostly under the radar. These, I believe, portend a higher gold price. In fact, it is catalysts like these that could end up in our children’s history books that, in retrospect, were obvious to see.

Top UN Climate Official Yvo de Boer Resigning -- Yvo de Boer, the top U.N. climate change official, is resigning after nearly four years -- mere months before 193 nations are due to reconvene in Mexico for another attempt to reach a worldwide agreement on controlling greenhouse gases.

Red Pepper Suspected in Salmonella Outbreak -- Crushed red pepper may have been an accomplice to black pepper in the Salmonella outbreak that continues to befuddle food safety authorities in the United States.

Suit: Pa. School Used Webcams To Spy On Students -- A suburban Philadelphia school district used the webcams in school-issued laptops to spy on students at home, potentially catching them and their families in compromising situations, a family claims in a federal lawsuit.
 * School Spies on Students at Home With Webcams

State vs. Federal: The Nullification Movement -- There can be no mistake that the present-day federal government bears little resemblance to the extremely limited national government designed by our Founders, where the majority of domestic governing was to be left to the state and local levels.

Russia to Deploy Additional Air Defenses -- Russia plans in 2010 to equip two additional military regiments with its S-400 Triumph air-defense system, Interfax reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 17, 2009).

Revolt! Robbed of Their Right to Buy Traditional Light Bulbs -- Millions of Britons are finally waking up to the fact that their beloved light bulb will disappear for good after 120 years.

Is This Incredible Thing in Heavens a Sign From God? -- While scientists don't think it's a comet, they're not exactly sure of the precise origin of the incredible object soaring some 90 million miles from Earth, snapped just a few weeks ago by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Obama's Stimulus One Year Out -- Did the stimulus work or not? A year after Congress passed President Barack Obama's huge economic revival plan, the results are mixed — and hardly final.

Help Wanted - Arrogant Americans Need Not apply -- The advertisement, posted by Viva USA on behalf of Exelon, has since been removed. 'An arrogant American will not work well in this role,' it read.

Breakdown in Gold Market -- "There is going on a lot more than meets the eye. The physical system is actually consolidating bigtime and is organizing itself with lightning speed, totally hidden from pretty much anyone, even the so-called insiders. The paper precious metal market and the physical precious metal market have defacto disconnected. The paper and physical gold markets currently operate in parallel universes. The outflow of physical metal from bank vaults is happening at a mind bending pace."

Napolitano meets with Muslim Brotherhood -- Last month, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and her senior staff privately met in Washington, D.C., with a select group of Muslim, Arab, and Sikh organizations. Among the mix were three organizations directly associated with an outlawed terrorist entity — the Muslim Brotherhood.

South Carolina Lawmaker Seeks to Ban Federal Currency -- South Carolina Rep. Mike Pitts has introduced legislation that would mandate that gold and silver coins replace federal currency as legal tender in his state.

General Growth Rebuffs Offer from Simon -- General Growth Properties Inc. on Thursday rebuffed Simon Property's recent overtures, suggesting that the bankrupt real estate company may be holding out for a better deal.

Video: Jim Rogers: The US and China Are On a Serious Political Collision Course -- In a grainy, video interview with Russia Today, Jim Rogers expresses his fear that the US and China are on a permanent collision course -- the latest Dalai Lama fracas being the latest example.

New Underground Economy: Avoidance of Bank Accounts -- The underground or "black" economy is rapidly rising, and the fault is mainly due to government policies.

Jobless Claims, Inflation Jump as Economy Wobbles -- The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance unexpectedly surged last week, while producer prices increased sharply in January, raising potential hurdles for the economic recovery.

Gold Tumbles as IMF Reaffirms Plans to Sell 191.3 Metric Tons Gold Over Time -- The IMF just announced it would resume selling the balance of its preapproved for sale gold, of which 191.3 tons remains. The sales would be in a phased manner over time to avoid disrupting the gold markets. This is not major news as this is inline with the IMF’s September 2009 announcement to sell 403.3 metric tons of gold. As is well known the IMF has already sold 212 metric tons. Nonetheless, gold is selling off after hours. As gold was bought via dollar shorts, the current unwind is sending the dollar proportionately higher.

US State Pension Funds Have $1 Trillion Shortfall -- U.S. states face a total shortfall of at least $1 trillion in their funds for employees' pensions and retirement benefits, and their financial problems are quickly mounting, according to a report released by the Pew Center on the States on Thursday.

Big Pharma Researcher Admits to Faking Dozens of Research Studies -- It's being called the largest research fraud in medical history. Dr. Scott Reuben, a former member of Pfizer's speakers' bureau, has agreed to plead guilty to faking dozens of research studies that were published in medical journals.

FDIC Opens A Massive New Office Near Chicago Just to Handle The Coming Tidal Wave of Midwest Bank Closings They are Expecting -- Is the Midwest about to see a massive wave of bank closings? That is apparently what the FDIC is expecting. The FDIC is opening up a massive new satellite office in the Chicago area that will be dedicated to managing receiverships and liquidating assets from failed Midwest banks.

Fox News Abandons Patriotic Americans By Selling Out to Muslim Interest -- Old favorites on Fox that once preached good old fashioned American values and candidates such as O’Reilly, Beck, Hannity and others are now, according to a fresh blog from Neil Turner, Citizens for the Constitution on February 15, 2010, “in the enemy camp, and will be promoting ISLAM, a political system that is abhorrent to our Constitution, as it advocates the overthrow of our Government and our Sovereignty BY FORCE!”

British Threat to Israel Over Dubai Hamas Assassination -- Britain will consider severing its intelligence-sharing agreement with Israel if Mossad agents are proved to have stolen the identities of British passport holders, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.

Can We Dispose of Radioactive Waster in Volcanoes? -- Dumping all our nuclear waste in a volcano does seem like a neat solution for destroying the roughly 29,000 tons of spent uranium fuel rods stockpiled around the world.

Biden Israel has 'Sovereign Right' to Attack Iran -- Israel is free to do whatever it deems necessary to remove the Iranian nuclear threat, US Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday.


Today in History Thursday February 18, 2010
1564 - The artist Michelanglelo died in Rome.
1735 - The first opera performed in America. The work was "Flora" (or "Hob in the Well") was presented in Charleston, SC.
1861 - Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the President of the Confederate States.
1885 - Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published in the U.S. for the first time.
1930 - Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane.
1930 - The planet Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh. The discovery was made as a result of photographs taken in January 1930.
1932 - Sonja Henie won her 6th world women’s figure skating title in Montreal, Canada.
1938 - "The Big Broadcast of 1938" was released.
1952 - Greece and Turkey became members of NATO.
1953 - "Bwana Devil" opened. It was the first three-dimensional feature.
1953 - Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz signed a contract worth $8,000,000 to continue the "I Love Lucy" TV show through 1955.
1964 - "Any Wednesday" opened at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. The play established Gene Hackman as an actor.
1970 - The Chicago Seven defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention.
1972 - The California Supreme Court struck down the state's death penalty.
1977 - The space shuttle Enterprise went on its maiden "flight" sitting on top of a Boeing 747.
1987 - The executives of the Girl Scout movement decided to change the color of the scout uniform from the traditional Girl Scout green to the newer Girl Scout blue.
1998 - In Russia, money shortages resulted in the shutting down of three plants that produced nuclear weapons.
1998 - In Nevada, two white separatists were arrested and accused of plotting a bacterial attack on subways in New York City.
2000 - The U.S. Commerce Department reported a deficit in trade goods and services of $271.3 billion for 1999. It was the largest calender-year trade gap in U.S. history.
2001 - NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was killed in a crash during the Daytona 500 race.
2003 - In South Korea, at least 120 people were killed when a man lit a fire on a subway train.

BREAKING NEWS: Pilot Angry at IRS Crashes Plane Into Austin Office Building -- An Austin, Texas, resident with an apparent grudge against the Internal Revenue Service set his house on fire Thursday and then crashed a small plane into a building housing an IRS office with nearly 200 employees, officials said.
  Manifesto of Joseph Andrew Stack -- Suicide Letter Written By Joe Stack - Austin Plane Crash Pilot


Dr. Mehmet Oz is a quack Claims Dr. Stephen Barrett --"One part of Dr. Oz is highly rational and scientific, but I think he's also loaded with near-delusional ideas and gives some very bad advice," said Dr. Stephen Barrett, a North Carolina-based psychiatrist who is vice president of the National Council Against Health Fraud, and co-author of The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America.

3 Tesla Auto workers killed in Calif. plane crash -- A small plane crashed Wednesday in a fog-shrouded East Palo Alto neighborhood, killing the three employees of electric-car manufacturer Tesla Motors on board.

TSA to Swab Passengers Hands in Search for Explosives -- The Transportation Security Administration soon will begin randomly swabbing passengers' hands at checkpoints and airport gates to test them for traces of explosives. ( And what "things" could we have on our hands that would react similar to explosive powder???)

Another Recall: Salami recall increased due to salmonella risk -- A Rhode Island meat company is recalling an additional 115,000 lbs of salami and salami products that may be contaminated with salmonella, the USDA said in a statement.

U.S. Economy Grinds To Halt As Nation Realizes Money Just A Symbolic, Mutually Shared Illusion -- "This is hilarious and more honest than what the real news media is telling us. What is sad is that PH listeners know all of this to be true, yet it's being explained through sarcasm. Actually, politicians might have credibility if they spoke the way this article reads."  Thanks Jimm!!!

Jennifer's website: Check out an amazing Power Hour listener website - http://www.theflopside.com

Quake Rocks China, Russia, North Korea Border Region -- A magnitude 6.7 earthquake rocked the region where China, Russia and North Korea meet Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. (HMMM.....)

Many patients may not fill new prescriptions says study -- Researchers found that among more than 75,000 Massachusetts patients given drug prescriptions over one year, 22 percent of the prescriptions were never filled. The rate was even higher -- 28 percent -- when the researchers looked only at first-time prescriptions.

Jobless Suffer as Corporate Cash Hit $1.18 Trillion -- A majority of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index increased cash to a combined $1.18 trillion while simultaneously reducing spending, keeping a jobs recovery on hold.

Germany Growls as Greece Balks at Immolation -- Germany's Bundestag has drafted an opinion deeming aid to Greece illegal. State bodies may not purchase the debt of another state, in whatever guise.

ABC 7 I-Team Investigates: Organic Grown Foods from China -- A 2008 article but worth a reminder. WOULD YOU BELIEVE *ORGANICALLY GROWN* IN CHINA? HOW ORGANIC CAN THAT BE? One Shopper says: “Honestly I never would have flipped it over to see that it was from China.”

USAID Steers No-Bid Haiti Contract to Politically Connected Firm of Bill Clinton Friend -- The U.S. Agency for International Development has awarded another lucrative no-bid contract, Fox News has learned -- this time to a "politically connected" lobbyist and high-profile friend of former President Bill Clinton.

Party Grid-Lock in D.C. Feeds Fear of Debt Crisis -- Senator Evan Bayh’s comments this week about a dysfunctional Congress reflected a complaint being directed at Washington with increasing frequency, and there is broad agreement among critics about Exhibit A: The unwillingness of the two parties to compromise to control a national debt that is rising to dangerous heights.

Stimulus Tracker -- Large parts of the $787 billion federal stimulus package to help the U.S. economy are being spent on entitlement programs such as unemployment benefits and Medicaid, but hundreds of billions will go toward contracts, grants and loans to restore infrastructure. Click on the map and categories below to track that spending down to the county level.