The Konformist Blog

The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society

2009-12-04T16:31:00.000-08:00

http://ampedstatus.com/the-critical-unraveling-of-us-society

The Critical Unraveling of U.S. Society
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Filed under Activism, Economy, Environment, Hot List, News, Politics & Government, Pop Cult, War
By David DeGraw, AmpedStatus Report

Report Contents:
———————I: U.S. Societal Breakdown
———————II: Environmental Crisis
———————III: The Obama Myth
———————IV: Economic Coup - Theft of Trillions
———————V: National Emergency

The economic elite have launched an attack on the U.S. public and society is unraveling at an increased rate.

I: U.S. Societal Breakdown

You may have missed it in the mainstream news media, but statistical societal indicators are reading red across the board. Before exposing the root causes of this breakdown, let’s look at some vital statistics and facts:

* The inequality of wealth in the United States is soaring to an unprecedented level. The US already had the highest inequality of wealth in the industrialized world prior to the financial crisis. Since the crisis, which has hit the middle class and poor much harder than the top one percent, the gap between the top one percent and the remaining 99% of the US population has grown to a record high.

* As the stock market went over the 10,000 mark and just surged to a 13-month high, the three big banks that took taxpayer money and benefit the most from the government bailout have just set a new global economic record by issuing $30 billion in annual bonuses this year, “up 60 percent from last year.” Bloomberg reported: “Goldman Sachs, the most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history, had a record profit in the first nine months of this year and set aside $16.7 billion for compensation expenses.” Goldman Sachs is on pace for the best year in the firm’s history, they are also benefiting by only paying 1% in taxes.

* The profits of the economic elite are “now underwritten by taxpayers with $23.7 trillion worth of national wealth.”

As the looting is occurring at the top, the US middle class is just beginning to collapse.

* Workers between the age of 55 - 60, who have worked for 20 - 29 years, have lost an average of 25 percent off their 401k. During the same time period, the wealth of the 400 richest Americans went up by $30 billion, bringing their total combined wealth to $1.57 trillion.

* Home foreclosure filings “hit a record high in the third quarter [of 2009]… They were the worst three months of all time… 937,840 homes received a foreclosure letter” in this three month period. “3.4 million homes are expected to enter foreclosure by year’s end, with some experts estimating that next year will be even worse.”

President Obama has enacted a $75 billion taxpayer funded program that has been a spectacular failure in stemming the foreclosure crisis and has proven to be another massive waste of billions of taxpayer dollars.

* 25 Million people are unemployed or underemployed.

This means we have 25 million people who urgently need to increase their income, and they’re quickly running out of options. The unemployment rate is expected to rise further and remain high for several years. “The president’s chief economic adviser warned that the nation’s unemployment rate could stay ‘unacceptably high’ for years to come.”

The NY Times reports: “Americans now confront a job market that is bleaker than ever in the current recession, and employment prospects are still getting worse. Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking…” As this ratio continues to grow, it will lead to a further reduction in wages - average worker wages have seen a sharp decline over the past year.

Economist Nouriel Roubini, a man who accurately predicted our current crisis, just reported on unemployment stating: “Think the worst is over? Wrong. Conditions in the U.S. labor markets are awful and worsening…. So we can expect that job losses will continue until the end of 2010 at the earliest. In other words, if you are unemployed and looking for work and just waiting for the economy to turn the corner, you had better hunker down. All the economic numbers suggest this will take a while. The jobs just are not coming back.”

* As the few elite banks thrive, there have been 123 US bank failures thus far this year. Recently, three banks that the government declared “healthy” and gave taxpayer money to have folded. The Wall Street Journal reports: “U.S. regulators have seized or threatened at least 27 banks that got capital infusions from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, including some lenders government officials knew were troubled when they awarded the money. The troubles put taxpayers at risk of losing as much as $5.1 billion invested in the banks since TARP was launched in October 2008.”

* As bankruptcies surge across the board, 10 US states are on the verge of bankruptcy, with several ready to declare a financial state of emergency. California, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin are all “barreling toward economic disaster, raising the likelihood of higher taxes, more government layoffs and deep cuts in services.”

This is occurring at a time when the “federal budget deficit for the fiscal year that just ended was $1.4 trillion, nearly a trillion dollars greater than the year before.” In total, “US public debt topped 12 trillion dollars for the first time in history… The public debt topped 10 trillion dollars in September 2008. The debt is quickly approaching the statutory limit of 12.104 trillion dollars, meaning Congress would have to raise the ceiling to prevent a shutdown of government operations.”

Economist Dean Baker explains the risk of running such a large deficit: “The debt limit must be increased at regular intervals in order to allow the government to function normally because the government is currently operating at a deficit. If the debt limit is not passed, then at some point the government will not be able to pay workers and contractors. It won’t be able to send out Social Security checks or make payments for Medicaid and unemployment insurance to state governments. And, it will not be able to make interest payments on government bonds, effectively defaulting on the national debt.”

Needless to say, all of this will make life drastically more difficult for citizens of the US. As the middle class continues on the path of economic decline, the number of citizens living in poverty has already hit an all time high.

* Although the government’s official figure tries to low-ball the number, 47.4 Million US citizens live in poverty, and the US poverty rate is the highest in the industrialized world.

Predictably, homelessness is rising at an increased rate as well. “The US government does not tally the numbers but interested organisations say that more than 3 million people were homeless at some point over the past year…. The fastest growing segment of the homeless population is families with children.”

Children have been hit especially hard by the economic crisis:

* 50% of US children, one out of every two children, will need to use food stamps to eat.

One out of every two children in the United States of America will need to use a food stamp… to EAT!

If you didn’t think starvation was a serious threat in the US, just read this new Washington Post report: “The nation’s economic crisis has catapulted the number of Americans who lack enough food to the highest level since the government has been keeping track, according to a new federal report, which shows that nearly 50 million people — including almost one child in four — struggled last year to get enough to eat… Several independent advocates and policy experts on hunger said that they had been bracing for the latest report to show deepening shortages, but that they were nevertheless astonished by how much the problem has worsened. ‘This is unthinkable. It’s like we are living in a Third World country,’ said Vicki Escarra, president of Feeding America.”

The United States Department of Agriculture released these findings in a study that was completed in December 2008, which means these numbers don’t take into account the millions more unemployed throughout 2009. The numbers of people living in poverty and struggling to eat has seen a significant increase since then.

This a national tragedy. But it gets much worse.

* In 2008, according to the Census Bureau, the number of US citizens without healthcare grew to a record 46.3 million. “The new figures, however, understate the severity of the economic downturn because a large portion of nation’s job losses and unemployment rate increases occurred after the Census survey data was collected in March as part of the annual Current Population Survey.”

* Lack of health Insurance has caused 45,000 preventable U.S. citizen deaths in the past year. The American Journal of Medicine recently released a study that stated “Nearly two out of three bankruptcies stem from medical bills, and even people with health insurance face financial disaster if they experience a serious illness.”

A Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study reported that 17,000 children have died due to lack of healthcare. You can also add in a recent report that revealed that 2,266 US Veterans have died in 2008 due to lack of insurance.

The 50 million now uninsured and the 45,000 preventable deaths per year statistics are expected to drastically rise over the next few years. As the Senate continues to strip meaningful amendments from a healthcare bill that wouldn’t even take effect until 2013, it has become clear that, despite the media hype, the healthcare bill is going to fall far short of meaningful reform and continue to rig the game in favor of large insurance company profits at the expense of the US population. With the highest cost healthcare in the world, current trends will continue and much needed change is not on the horizon.

Never before has the United States had so many citizens with so little means, little to no income and heavy debt. Debt and costs of living have now shackled US citizens just as it has shackled people throughout the world. The economic hit men have now hit the US as well and millions of US citizens are now effectively sentenced to a slow death.

Economic Imperial blowback has hit the mainland.

And the clock is ticking louder by the day…

Here’s another fact for you:

* The gun and ammunition manufacturing industry in the United States has over 200 companies producing billions of dollars in annual revenues. This huge manufacturing base cannot fulfill demand quickly enough. The demand for guns and ammunition has hit a record high and the gun industry cannot produce enough bullets to keep up with orders.

American’s are arming themselves to the teeth!

* In the past year, 100 new armed militia groups have been formed, as militia members have doubled in numbers. Federal authorities are gravely concerned about the “uptick in militia activities.” One federal authority recently said, “All it’s lacking is a spark. I think it’s only a matter of time before you see threats and violence.”

So let’s breakdown these numbers.

You have a population of 50 million people who are in desperate need of money, they most likely have no health insurance and can’t afford to get healthcare or help of any kind. Part of this population probably also has loved ones who can’t get life sustaining medical treatments, or loved ones that have already died due to lack of costly medical treatment. The clock is ticking loud for these people and they are running out of options fast, and time delayed is time closer to death.

While the richest one percent have never had it so good, a significant percentage of the US population now has firsthand experience in this. Millions upon millions of Americans are poor, broke, struggling, starving, desperate… and armed.

We are sitting on a powder keg!

We are now witnessing the critical unraveling of US society.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
II: Environmental Crisis

Add to this picture an environmental crisis the likes of which humanity has never faced.

Considering our current economy, what will happen when another extreme weather event like Hurricane Katrina hits a major US city? What will happen when storms, droughts and fires continue to spread with increasing intensity? How many have to die before even modest actions are taken to prevent environmental catastrophe?

Extreme weather events are pounding the globe, it is as if the environment has declared war on us as a species. Humanity has become a polluting cancer in the environmental system, and if we don’t urgently act to stop the bleeding, things are going to get drastically worse in a pace faster than anticipated. And this is not an opinion; it is happening now, there is plenty of empirical evidence that anyone can see before their own eyes, if they care to look.

US public opinion on the climate crisis has been distorted by the mainstream US media in stunning fashion. A recent Pew Research study revealed that only 36 percent of the US population thinks the climate crisis is a result of human activity.

Regardless of your beliefs, due to climate change, we are on the verge of experiencing major water shortages spreading “across the country. Sooner rather than later…” California has already been hit by extreme drought and water is in very short supply. As the Arctic continues to melt, California will continue to experience extreme drought. A new study revealed: “when Arctic sea ice disappears, the jet stream—high-altitude winds with a profound influence on climate—shifts north, moving precipitation away from California.” A recent “sweeping water-reform bill” in California temporarily eased public outcry, but the problem remains. The U.S. is confronted by a serious water crisis.

For a global example, there is currently an extreme drought in East Africa as well, which has 23 million people on the verge of dying from starvation. Due to the drought, crops have been killed in unprecedented fashion. Events of this nature are happening all over the globe.

Of the worldwide record one billion people going hungry, the leading cause is destroyed agriculture due to extreme weather.

As a significant percentage of humanity faces death due to climate change, we are in the midst of our planet’s sixth great extinction. Over 17,000 species are threatened with extinction, “more than one in five of all known mammals, over a quarter of reptiles and 70 percent of plants are under threat.”

For those of you unaware, the earth’s ecosystem is a very delicate balance. Being in the midst of the earth’s sixth great extinction is not a matter to be ignored.

The upcoming climate summit in Copenhagen was considered by leaders throughout the world to be the most critical environmental summit in the history of civilization. International headlines read: “We only have months, not years, to save civilization from climate change.”

However, the United States and the head of the United Nations just announced that no legally binding treaties are expected to come out of the summit. This is devastating news!

The reason why no deal will be reached at the summit: the United States is refusing to take necessary action.

In a PR move to calm criticism in advance of the summit, the US and Japan announced a vague agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions… in 2012. However, the “agreement on this ambitious reduction target could not be reached during the APEC summit, and so was dropped from the draft statement.”

It would be smart of the public relations department to at least get one photo op with Obama actually at the climate summit. Instead of being at the most important summit, perhaps in the history of civilization, it appears Obama will be blowing it off to give his speech on how it feels to win the Nobel Peace Prize… H E L L O.

We are living in an insane asylum.

The Goldman Sachs PR guy is out giving speeches on how cool it is to cast the illusion of peace and hope, while the earth burns.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
III: The Obama Myth

I don’t mean to dismiss the Obama myth, his words, the change we need is real, its just his actions don’t even come close to measuring up. Just read the legal documents he has signed his name to. Read them. His actions are most often the opposite of what he says. I venture to say a 10 year old can recognize that after doing a school day’s worth of research.

Obama is a national tragedy. He is a symbol of the times. He is not a leader, just a symbol. He projects the change we need. He was our shortcut to correcting our diseased political system, a way to rid it of corruption. He symbolized the change millions so desperately need. People came out in the millions for the first time “hoping” if they could work and organize to put him in office, we would have some representation to defend against the economic elite that have put the overwhelming majority of US politicians on the payroll and brought humanity to a breaking point.

People just need to research how the Obama myth was hatched. Goldman Sachs saw Obama early on and said, “He’s our guy!” When Obama became THE MAN in Iowa, he was on the Goldman Sachs pay roll. Goldman financed the psychological operation that is the Obama myth, the Illusion of HOPE - something to keep a suffering nation pacified just a little bit longer. Obama is truly a national tragedy. His failure and inaction has disillusioned millions upon millions of desperate citizens who turned to him as their best chance for justice.

As further evidence of Obama’s duplicity — beyond repeatedly signing his name to documents covering up the Bush Adminstration’s highest crimes and increasing an already bloated military budget — in one of his very first moves as President he put Goldman Sachs’ criminal mastermind Tim Geitner in charge of the treasury.

A new report from the TARP Inspector General further exposes Tim Geithner’s role “in overpayments that put billions of extra tax dollars in the coffers of major Wall Street firms, most notably Goldman Sachs.”

Which brings us to the ultimate theft of wealth in history, and to the root cause of our current crisis.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
IV: Economic Coup - Theft of Trillions

URGENT NATIONAL EMERGENCY: TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN PUBLIC WEALTH HAS BEEN STOLEN

This crime makes Bernie Madoff’s look like an elementary school lunch money stickup. No, I’m not talking about the hundreds of billions in the housing crisis scam cooked up by JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs that left millions homeless and investors suckered the world over, or even the $2.75 trillion oil futures market scam that has siphoned 50% of all our spending on gas and fuel.

These huge scams are just diversions from the ultimate crime.

Trillions of dollars, trillions of our money, of our tax money — the money that comes out of your paycheck every week of your working life, all the thousands upon thousands that have been taken away from you and your family and are supposed to fund our government and keep our society functioning — have been handed over to the economic elite, to the Llyod Blankfeins and Jamie Dimons of the world.

Hank Paulson and his confidant Tim Geitner, the Goldman Sachs wonder twins, have looted the US treasury. There has been an economic coup in the United States!

Trillions of our dollars have vanished! You need to understand this!

We have just witnessed the greatest theft of wealth in history, the greatest transfer of wealth from the working class to the economic elite ever. An organized banking cartel has seized the US treasury and they are making up the “laws” and the rules to this rigged game. The covert economy has grown at a staggering rate due to taxpayer-funded injections. As a result of this, economic shackles are just beginning to fall upon the American public like never before. 99% of our nation is now sentenced to a slow death.

Just as economic hit men have done to governments throughout the globe, they have gained complete control of the US government and have now shackled US citizens as well. The economic elite do not want to deal with “spoiled Americans” anymore, that’s how they see it. To them the middle class was always an annoying nuisance to be tolerated so the economy could keep functioning well enough to allow their scams to perpetuate. But once their scam known as the US stock market came crashing down, and they were threatened with losing their ultimate power, they turned to the US middle class and opened fire. “Enough with you, we are taking over your government and stealing your tax money!”

This is exactly what happened!

The economic elite are operating under the belief that the world is theirs, they own it, and to hell with everyone else. They also take the view that as the environment grows more destructive, they don’t want us around to compete for resources.

This is self-evident after some research into policy actions that have been carried out. Research it for yourself!

Recent investigations into the illegal practices of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have revealed the US economy and stock market to be a fraud. As more of the world becomes aware of this, the dollar will continue to plummet and the U.S. public will pay a devastating price - things are just beginning to unravel.

The US economy has been hit by a deathblow, it lay in ruins naked and exposed to “Too Big Too Fail” thieves who have raped and pillaged, who are looting public wealth in unprecedented fashion.

The economic elite are vultures feeding off the carcass that is the US economy. The whole political structure has been gutted by corruption. Democracy was the façade that this house of cards was built on - a pyramid scheme that was built on the illusion of law and freedom.

Historians will look back at this time as a period in which corrupt despots ruled the masses with utter short-sighted greed and casted an illusion over the base population to keep the scam rolling along, until the end of the American empire, until the public driven economy came crashing down in a thunderous economic cloud of greed and corruption.

The smoke is still in our eyes, but the masses are beginning to see, to realize.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
V: National Emergency

Many middle class US citizens don’t realize all of this yet, I understand their lack of action and confusion because I have also been bred as a middle class American in the propaganda system known as the US mainstream media, but I’m writing this to let you know…

Our survival instinct has to quickly override our conditioned naiveté and passivity that has been bred into us. We are threatened as a country and a species at the same time.

We, as a nation, must overcome heavy doses of propaganda administered by the mainstream media for hours a day, every day of our existence. Shake off your conditioned naiveté and passivity. This is a brutal world we live in, and we are now at war…

The American dream state is over. It’s time to get real, time to sound the alarm.

I am of the sincere hope that we will be able to rise up as a counterweight to the economic elite. In the overall scheme of things, history has placed us in a pivotal position. We are a vital countervailing force to the economic elite and must immediately start exercising our rights of redress.

People throughout the world understand that the US middle class has to serve as a counterweight to an economic cartel that has brought humanity to a breaking point.

The economic elite also understand this, this is why they have launched a war on us.

Now that our existence is directly threatened as well, people are awaking from a propagandized existence and realizing the gravity of our crisis.

We must sound the alarm and discard our illusions.

It is time to evolve from a state of “Hope” to a state of “Action.”

We desperately need intelligent leadership, free from the shackles of the banking cartel.

We, as a nation, cannot continue to settle for the politics of corruption. We must begin by addressing the root cause of our troubles and hold accountable those directly responsible for the greatest theft of wealth in history.

We must flood the halls of Congress; we must engage our House of Representatives and begin to rein in the economic elite.

This Is A… NATIONAL EMERGENCY…

Economic justice is possible, it may be hard to believe here in the US, but a nation of law is still possible. It is possible only if YOU begin to act.

We are 99% of the population, they are only 1%.

The outcome is not assured; we must start organizing on a mass scale.

Take your plight to your representative. SOUND THE ALARM!

We must understand “the fierce urgency of now!”

THE ALARM HAS BEEN SOUNDED . . .

~ AmpedStatus Report

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The NFL's Concussion Conundrum

2009-12-04T16:26:00.000-08:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-zirin/the-nfls-concussion-conun_b_368982.html

Dave Zirin
Sports correspondent for the Nation Magazine
November 24, 2009
The NFL's Concussion Conundrum

On Sunday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made a startling concession to medical ethics, one resisted by all of his predecessors. Goodell said that when a player sustains a concussion, teams will now be required to seek advice from "independent" neurologists. As the commissioner said on NBC's Football Night in America, "As we learn more and more, we want to give players the best medical advice. This is a chance for us to expand that and bring more people into the circle to make sure we're making the best decisions for our players in the long term."

There is a reason why this story made the front page of the New York Times. It marks a major change in policy and would be like the tobacco industry bringing the American Cancer Institute into its boardroom or Exxon Mobil stating that they needed more input from Greenpeace.

The official NFL line has always been that team doctors held no conflict of interest when evaluating players. The NFL said this despite the stories of former players suffering early-onset dementia at alarming rates and being told to "shake it off" as the ringing continued in their ears.

Former Commissioner Pete Rozelle ignored this issue even when players like the Colts' Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. Another former commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, did the same, even when Hall of Fame center Mike Webster died at age 50, homeless and incoherent. It has even been said that Webster was suffering from dementia when he was still an active player in the league.

And Goodell continued to defend the system even though Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson, who suffered from concussions, said that his coach Bill Belichick bullied him back into games (something Belichick denies). There was still no action taken after the 2006 suicide of Eagles pro-bowler Andre Waters, 44, whose brain tissue was that of an 80-year-old with Alzheimer's. The absence of medical oversight has been nothing short of breathtaking.

Goodell has been forced to shift his stance because the issue has simply reached a tipping point. Fittingly, New Yorker staff writer and bestselling author of The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell wrote a blistering critique of the NFL's treatment of ex-players last month, in the magazine, and concluded, "In the nineteenth century, dogfighting was [also] widely accepted by the American public. But we no longer find that kind of transaction morally acceptable in a sport."

I'm going to guess that the NFL has let its subscription to The New Yorker lapse. But they do have to care what Congress, the NFLPA union and former players are saying. In a hearing last month, The House Judiciary Committee flayed Goodell under the hot lights. It played footage of Dr. Ira Casson, chairman of the NFL's committee on concussions, saying that there was no connection between football and brain injuries, which is like saying there is no connection between smoking and lung cancer. When Goodell commented that the health of retired players is a priority for the league, committee member Maxine Waters said, "We've heard from the NFL time and time again--you're always 'studying,' you're always 'trying,' you're 'hopeful.' I want to know what are you doing...to deal with this problem and other problems related to injuries?"

While Goodell dangled off the ledge, NFLPA union chief DeMaurice Smith felt no compunction to lend a hand, saying that the union "has not done its best in this area. We will do better."

Chester Pitts, a lineman and union rep for the Houston Texans, told the New York Times, "I don't want to call it forced, but it's been strongly urged because of the awareness of the issue these days. When you have Congress talking about the antitrust exemption and them calling them the tobacco industry, that's pretty big. But it's a good thing it's transpiring."

But the main reason this situation has reached crisis proportions, is that every Sunday we see evidence of the problem and now we are much more aware of the tragic consequences. On November 22, the two quarterbacks who ended last season in the Super Bowl, finished their games on the sidelines. Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers was captured on camera, glassy-eyed and attempting to follow a trainer's finger after taking a knee to the head. Kurt Warner of the Arizona Cardinals, who also took a shot to his head, denied having a serious injury. "I've had a couple minor concussions. Nothing that has been prolonged. Haven't had anything in a number of years," Warner said. There is simply no such thing as a minor concussion.

It's time for a change. A concussion is caused by a blow to the head and can happen to any player, on any play. Goodell, I believe, sees the handwriting on the wall: Brain damaged players and the perception of indifferent owners hold the potential to permanently damage the sport. But before we collectively pat his back, consider the task before him. Goodell and the league will now embark on an effort to sell a slickly packaged three-hour slice of Sunday violence while simultaneously "doing no harm" to its players. Can NFL doctors serve the league and uphold the Hippocratic Oath? Doesn't take a Mayan calendar to see that this will not end well.

Dave Zirin is the author of "A People's History of Sports in the United States" (The New Press) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.

Southern Fried Bigfoot DVD

2009-12-04T16:23:00.001-08:00

http://www.bigfootsurplus.com/bigfoot_books/04-0010.php

Southern Fried Bigfoot DVD

Southern Fried Bigfoot profiles some of the people and groups who have made efforts to study and pursue the southern sasquatch. And while it covers the subject of strange creatures in the South, a few key legends are highlighted.

They include:

The Fouke Monster
The hairy creature that has been sighted around Fouke, Arkansas for decades and was the inspiration for the cult classic film "The Legend of Boggy Creek."

The Skunk Ape
The foul-smelling creature that is said to haunt the Everglades in Florida.

The Honey Island Swamp Monster
The beast that is rumored to prowl the swamplands northeast of New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Lake Worth Monster
A white shaggy creature that was sighted repeatedly near Fort Worth, Texas in the late 1960s.

$19.00

Boston brewer pushes new limits on extreme beer

2009-12-04T16:19:00.000-08:00

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gHwko0CDgwNp0xw_y6HyStWpzTbAD9C9QIRG1
Boston brewer pushes new limits on extreme beer
By RUSSELL CONTRERAS
11-30-9

BOSTON — It is banned in 13 states and sure doesn't come in a six-pack.

The maker of Samuel Adams beer has released an updated version of its biennial beer Utopias — now the highest alcohol content beer on the market. At 27 percent alcohol by volume and $150 a bottle, the limited release of the brandy-colored Utopias comes as more brewers take advantage of improvements in science to boost potency and enhance taste.

"Just part of trying to push the envelope," said Jim Koch, founder and owner of the Boston Beer Co. the maker of Sam Adams. "I'm pushing it beyond what the laws of these 13 states ever contemplated when they passed those laws decades ago."

Since the 1990s, craft brewers like the Boston Beer Co. and the Delaware-based Dogfish Head have produced a number of "extreme beers" that challenge old notions of beer and the decades-old laws that have governed them.

By law, these specialty drinks still are classified as beer when they are based on fermented grain. And despite the hefty prices of the high-scale beer, brewers still have to pay the required nickel deposit on bottles.

Paul Gatza, director of the national Brewers Association based in Boulder, Colo., said new yeast research allowed brewers to experiment with the emerging science that pushed the traditional cap of 14 percent alcohol by volume for beer.

"As a result, these new beers, like Utopias, balance sweetness, higher alcohol content and more ingredients," Gatza said.

A few states also have moved to adapt their laws to allow for the emerging craft brew market. For example, Alabama and West Virginia recently passed laws to allow higher alcohol content in beer. Lawmakers in Iowa and Mississippi are considering similar legislation.

Gatza said consumers are also pushing for the changes.

That's what sparked a brew battle between the Boston Brewing Co. and Dogfish Head.

In 1993, Koch set a new bar by creating Triple Bock, a beverage with 17.5 percent alcohol by volume. In the early 2000s, Dogfish Head responded with beverages of their own that went to 22 percent.

But the latest Utopias alcohol volume gives Koch and Boston Beer Co. the clear title of having the strongest beer, said Sam Calagione, president and founder of Dogfish Head. "I must bow before him for Utopias," Calagione said. "I don't think we'll be brewing a beer that strong for a while."

Utopias has reached its unique strength through a 15-year aging process in barrels at the Boston Beer Co.'s brewery in Boston. It's aged and finished in wooden containers like Scotch whisky barrels and sherry casks. The drink's yeast strains are regularly used in making malts and champagne.

A quick sip unveils a cognac-like hit combined with vanilla, honey, and maple flavors.

The long production cycle is what limits its availability to once every two years. This holiday season, for example, Koch is only releasing 10,000 bottles with the suggested retail price of $150 apiece.

"It's like making 21-year-old Scotch," Koch said. "Yeah, you can make more. You just can't have it for 21 years."

The drink comes in a ceramic-and-copper bottle that resembles a tiny brew kettle. Thirteen states prohibit its sale because its alcohol content exceeds the legal limit for beer: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Washington.

Chuck Hurley, CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said the group in general doesn't have a problem with extreme brands of beer like Utopias. However, he hopes the beverage's higher alcohol content is properly labeled and that it isn't marketed to minors.

"Right now, we're reserving judgment," Hurley said.

Koch said the Boston Beer Co. is presenting Utopias as an exclusive beer for sophisticated drinkers that should be consumed like champagne. He said it's not a beer for the weekend football game or for a regular dinner.

He would not speculate whether he would try to get more extreme with future brews, but noted that no one ever thought there would be an "insane brewer" who would be making such a strong Utopias.

"We'll see," he said.

Where does the term "URBAN LEGEND" come from?

2009-12-04T16:16:00.000-08:00

The Bathroom Readers' Institute
BathroomReader.com

From Uncle John's Endlessly Engrossing Bathroom Reader:

Where does the term "URBAN LEGEND" come from?

Urban legends are modern folktales are often thought to be factual. So why are they called "urban" when they often don't involve cities in any way? Because they're named after Jeffrey Jack Urban, a farmer from Yankton, South Dakota. He was a notorious teller of wild, almost believable stories in the 1930s. Local people started calling any such tales "Urban legends" after Jeffrey Jack. (Just kidding. We made that up.)

The truth is that in the 1940s and 50s, folklorists started collecting modern American legends and noticed that they had different characteristics than older, rural-based legends did. They called those legends "urban belief tales" or "city tales"--the words "urban" and "city" indicating their darker, more modern themes, even though the stories weren't necessarily based in cities. The name evolved to become "urban legend" in the 1960s. The first recorded use is usually credited to folklorist Richard Dorson in the 1968 book, Our Living Traditions. (Dorson is also credited with popularizing the term "fakelore".)

As always, we're here for you.

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ACTUAL WARNING LABELS

On a Massager: "Do not use while unconscious."
On a Jet Ski: "Never use a lit match or open flame to check fuel level."
On an iPod Shuffle: "Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
On a 500-piece puzzle: "Some assembly required."

Amazon Eve, Tall Model, Towers Above Others

2009-12-04T16:13:00.000-08:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/25/amazon-eve-tall-model-tow_n_371418.html

Amazon Eve, Tall Model, Towers Above Others
11-25-09

A model named Amazon Eve recently appeared in the Australian magazine Zoo Weekly. She has a beautiful face and figure, but it's her height that makes her stand out the most. According to Eve's MySpace page, the American model is 6' 8'' and 30 years old. In her Zoo Weekly photo shoot, high heels make her look even taller. She towers over a fellow model in her Zoo spread. The shorter woman's head barely reaches Eve's chest.

Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child named best guitar riff

2009-12-04T16:10:00.000-08:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/6661438/Jimi-Hendrixs-Voodoo-Child-named-best-guitar-riff-of-all-time.html

Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child named best guitar riff of all time
Voodoo Child, by Jimi Hendrix has been named the greatest guitar riff of all time, more than 40 years after he first recorded the classic jam.
27 Nov 2009

Late guitar guru Hendrix, who topped the singles chart with the track in 1970, triumphed in a poll of musicians.

The track - full title Voodoo Child (Slight Return) - edged past Guns N'Roses song Sweet Child O'Mine which finished second in the poll by musicians' website MusicRadar.com.

When the site's sister magazine Total Guitar last conducted the survey five years ago, the list was headed by the G N'R song.

The list shows that the older riffs are the best. Just two from the past decade make it into the top 20 - Muse's Plug In Baby at 11 and The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army at 15.

Michael Jackson's Beat It, with its Eddie Van Halen guitar part, props up the top 20.

Voodoo Child - with its distinctive 'wah-wah' opening - was first released on Hendrix's Electric Ladyland album and led on from an earlier track, Voodoo Chile, which was a 15-minute blues jam. Confusingly, by the time it was released as a single in 1970 it too had been named Voodoo Chile.

MusicRadar.com's editor-in-chief Mike Goldsmith said: ''Nearly 40 years after his untimely death, Jimi Hendrix is still the undisputed heavyweight champion of rock guitar.

''Of the current generation of six-string stars, only Jack White of The White Stripes and Muse frontman Matt Bellamy feature in the higher echelons of our list. No surprise given both Bellamy and White share - or have inherited - Hendrix's unique blend of experimental instincts and white-knuckle showmanship.

''Above all though, our poll seems to indicate one thing - in 2009, classic rock still rules.''

More than 5,000 MusicRadar users took part in the poll.

The top 20:

1. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

2. Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine

3. Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love

4. Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water

5. Derek and the Dominos - Layla

6. AC/DC - Back In Black

7. Metallica - Enter Sandman

8. The Beatles - Day Tripper

9. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

10. The Rolling Stones - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

11. Black Sabbath - Paranoid

12. Muse - Plug In Baby

13. Eddie Van Halen - Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love

14. The Kinks - You Really Got Me

15. The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

16. AC/DC - Highway to Hell

17. Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker

18. Black Sabbath - Iron Man

19. Led Zeppelin - Black Dog

20. Michael Jackson - Beat It

Ventura Delivers Some 9/11 Truth On Larry King Live

2009-12-04T15:57:00.000-08:00

http://www.prisonplanet.com/ventura-delivers-some-911-truth-on-larry-king-live.html

Ventura Delivers Some 9/11 Truth On Larry King Live
“Why is it off limits to question and ask questions?”
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Tuesday, Dec 1, 2009

Former Governor of Minnesota, ex-Navy SEAL and retired pro-wrestler Jesse Ventura raised some important unanswered questions regarding the 9/11 attacks in an interview with Larry King on CNN last night.

Ventura spoke about and gave a sneak peak of his new Tru TV show, Conspiracy Theory, set to air Wednesday night.

Footage from the 9/11 based episode showed Ventura attempting to gain access to the infamous hanger 17 at Kennedy International Airport where debris from the World Trade Center is kept away from public scrutiny.

“The 9/11 conspiracy is simply that the government hasn’t been truthful with us.” Ventura stated.

“I mean, Larry, a couple weeks ago, the head of the 9/11 Commission legal, I believe former attorney general Farmer from New Jersey, came out publicly and stated unequivocally that at some point the government decided that the American citizens would not hear the truth about 9/11. I find that very disturbing.” he continued.

“I find it very difficult that those buildings could fall at the speed of gravity without being assisted in some way. And I used to do demolition for a living. And how could those buildings fall as fast as I used to freefall out of an airplane?”

“If you took a billiard ball and dropped it the height of the twin towers and you just merely stopped it and started it every floor in freefall, it would take over a minute and a half to reach the ground. The buildings were down in ten seconds.”

“So you think there was something on the inside.” King replied.

“Here is the big point I make on 9/11,” Ventura asserted.

“Why is it off limits to talk about it? Why is it off limits to question and ask questions? You know when I went through Navy SEAL training I was taught in demolition that there is no dumb question, that if you don’t understand it then it is not dumb. That’s how I have lived my life and I have a lot of questions that the government refuses to answer.”

King also asked Ventura his opinion on the troop escalation in Afghanistan:

“It angers me because it reminds me a great deal of Vietnam.” Ventura answered.

“I mean, the Russians couldn’t beat them, the English couldn’t beat them over there. You are not going to get a military solution in my opinion in Afghanistan. It’s impossible, yet we’re just like in Vietnam, are we propping up a phony government, like we did in Vietnam?”

“Remember, the United States blocked free elections in Vietnam. Had there been elections in Vietnam, Ho Chi Min would have won in a landslide. Well is this the same thing going on?”

“I would pull out of Afghanistan and I would pull out of Iraq and I would bring our boys home. It is our job to protect their safety, and not be sending them off to wars. What are we accomplishing there? I look at it from a personal point of view. I don’t see how these two wars have helped Jesse Ventura or the USA one bit, other than to drain our economy.” Ventura fumed.

MSNBC Cancelled Jesse Ventura

2009-12-04T15:54:00.000-08:00

http://www.prisonplanet.com/msnbc-cancelled-jesse-ventura-for-his-opposition-to-war-in-iraq.html

MSNBC Cancelled Jesse Ventura For His Opposition To War In Iraq
Veteran has a bet that his new show will be pulled at the last minute
Steve Watson,
Infowars.net
Monday, Nov 30, 2009

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura has revealed that he was effectively silenced for three years by MSNBC when the network cancelled his show in 2003 after learning that Ventura opposed the war in Iraq.

Ventura began the MSNBC show, Jesse Ventura’s America, in October 2003.

The show was originally planned to run five nights a week, but MSNBC executives suddenly changed their minds and it was only broadcast once a week, on Saturdays, before being ditched altogether.

The ex-Navy SEAL has now told the LA Times that he was forced out of the network and prevented from appearing on any other cable TV or news shows.

“It was awful. I was basically silenced.” Ventura comments in the interview.

“When I came out of office, I was the hottest commodity out there. There was a bidding war between CNN, Fox and MSNBC to get my services. MSNBC ultimately won. I was being groomed for a five day-a-week TV show by them. Then, all of a sudden, weird phone calls started happening: ‘Is it true Jesse doesn’t support the war in Iraq?’”

“My contract said I couldn’t do any other cable TV or any news shows, and they honored and paid it for the duration of it. So in essence I had my silence purchased. Why do you think you didn’t hear from me for three years? I was under contract. They wouldn’t even use me as a consultant!” Ventura continues.

“When you live in Mexico, your houses all have names. I almost named my house Casa MSNBC because they bought it. I was paid like a professional athlete, and I got very wealthy. For doing nothing.”

Ventura also states that he has a gentleman’s bet that his new show Conspiracy Theory scheduled to air on Tru TV soon, will never see the light of day, a fact he first revealed on the Alex Jones show last week.

CONSPIRACY THEORY WITH JESSE VENTURA

2009-12-04T15:50:00.000-08:00

http://www.trutv.com/shows/conspiracy_theory/

WHAT IS CONSPIRACY THEORY WITH JESSE VENTURA?

Jesse Ventura and a team of expert investigators are on a mission to examine some of the most frightening and mysterious conspiracy allegations of our time. They examine available evidence as well as talking to experts and eyewitnesses to learn more about such topics as global warming, possible 9/11 cover-ups, secret government weapons and apocalyptic prophecies. "This is my personal journey," Ventura says, "to prove that there is more to these stories than you know about."

Chavez threatens to nationalize Venezuelan banks

2009-12-04T15:49:00.000-08:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091129/wl_nm/us_venezuela_banks_chavez

Chavez threatens to nationalize Venezuelan banks
Walker Simon Walker Simon
Sun Nov 29, 2009

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday he could nationalize private banks unless they comply with the law, adding he had "no problem with that because the banks don't want to extend credit to the poor."

In a broadcast from nationalized farmland in central Venezuela, he said: "To all the country's private bankers ... (I'm saying) he who slips up loses; I'll take over the bank, whatever its size."

"You want me to nationalize the banks?" he said during the broadcast of his weekly TV show "Alo Presidente."

"I have no problem with that because the banks don't want to extend credit to the poor, they don't comply, they don't want to comply with the bank's purpose for existence, and that is the law."

Chavez said the purpose of banks was not to enrich a small group of people but "should be to collect funds and savings to help aid the country's development by making loans, extending credits for housing."

In power for a decade, Chavez has nationalized broad swathes of the economy.

His banking nationalization threats on Sunday appeared to be broader in scope than his well-publicized warnings in recent years to nationalize Spanish-owned banks in Venezuela.

He repeatedly threatened to seize Spanish bank subsidiaries in Venezuela unless Spain's king apologized for telling him to "shut up" in November 2007 at a regional summit where Chavez branded a recent ex-Spanish prime minister a fascist.

But the only major private bank, foreign or Venezuelan, to fall into state hands under Chavez's rule was Spain's Banco Santander unit Banco de Venezuela, sold to Venezuela in July for $1.05 billion.

The government's last banking takeover was on November 20, when it seized four small banks, accounting for about 6 percent of Venezuela's deposits.

Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez then said the move stemmed from concerns about credit portfolios, problems explaining the source of funds and failure to comply with some obligations.

BANKERS NOT IN COMPLIANCE - CHAVEZ

Chavez spoke Sunday from the countryside behind a table strewn with a jumble of books, maps and documents, against the background of farmland growing black beans.

Addressing the banking theme, he said unnamed bankers "are not complying, they do not want to comply with the function for which a bank should exist (such as) that is in the law.

"This is occurring right now with a group of private banks, that's a demonstration that those private banking sectors don't want to learn, they don't want to accept that there is a constitution ... and that there are laws."

Venezuela's banking sector is dominated by 10 banks that control 70 percent of the total funds.

Chavez said he ordered the nation's chief prosecutor to investigate why a state bank, Banfoandes, deposited "a giant amount of resources in private banks."

"How is it that state resources, which belong to the people ... end up being placed in private banks?" he asked in his broadcast. "This is counterrevolutionary."

The four banks seized on November 20 were Banco Confederado, Banco Canarias, Banco Provivienda and bolivar Banco.

On Friday, a court acting on prosecutors' request banned travel abroad of 16 executives -- eight from Confederado, six from Provivienda and two from bolivar Banco.

Chavez said if it were up to him, he would have jailed the 16 executives due to flight risk. "They have (their own) light aircraft and private airports and (can) leave."

Chavez also criticized what he termed as excessive spending by state entities in the private medical sector.

"We have made a gift of millions and millions of bolivares this year to the bourgeoisie, which owns the private clinics, the great insurance companies," he said. "Enough already."

He said those funds should go directly to "the people."

(Reporting by Walker Simon, additional reporting by Fabian Cambero, editing by Matthew Lewis)

Investors Fret Over Dubai Debts

2009-12-04T15:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/27/briefing-americas-open-markets-equities-dubai-debt.html

Investors Fret Over Dubai Debts, But Stocks Fight Back
Steve Schaefer, 11.27.09

Wall Street halves huge opening losses sparked by worry over possible Dubai World default.

A day after Thanksgiving Wall Streeters were hardly thankful after waking up to news of a massive debt crisis in Dubai, but the major indexes managed to trim their sizable opening losses ahead of the 1 p.m. close in New York.

On Wednesday, the government of Dubai said it wanted to delay payment on billions in debt issued by the Dubai World conglomerate and by Friday fears reached a fever pitch over the potential exposure of global banks to the nation's outstanding $80 billion in debt.

The news fueled a major sell-off in various assets around the world, hardly the type of good-cheer investors were hoping for in a shortened session in New York the day after Thanksgiving. U.S. stocks started the day tremendously lower as the situation in Dubai echoed the overblown debt bubble that brought our own financial system to its knees and dragged the economy into recession.

Shortly after the opening bell the Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 200 points with all 30 of its components in the red, but the blue-chip index trimmed its loss to just 92 points, and was trading at 10,373 less than an hour before noon. The S&P 500 was down 12 points at 1,099, and the Nasdaq fell 21 points to 2,155.

Worries over Dubai's debt were hammering virtually all asset classes, but commodities were off their worst levels of the session nearing midday. Crude oil was still down nearly $3 a barrel at $75.02 and gold prices down $16.60 to $1,172 an ounce. Early on investors fled for the perceived safety of the dollar -- the euro was off morning lows but still down at $1.4986 from over $1.50 Thursday -- and U.S. Treasuries with prices inching higher and yields dipping.

The banking sector bears watching as investors debate which firms have the most exposure to Dubai World. U.S. banks were scuffling in early trading, but European banks trading here seemed to be getting the worst of it. Compared to losses of less than 2% for Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank shares traded in New York were down more than 5% and American depositary receipts of Barclays slumped 6.5%.

MGM Mirage was hurting, even after the casino operator said it does not expect Dubai World's restructuring will impact their partnership on CityCenter in Las Vegas. Even so, shares were down 5.2% Friday

The news out of Dubai drew virtually all the attention off the retail sector on Black Friday, in a year when many chains are putting just as much focus on "Cyber Monday." Sears Holdings and Kmart are among the companies allowing online layaway.

Thomson Reuters contributed to this report.

Judge wipes out couple's mortgage

2009-12-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6657104/Judge-wipes-out-couples-mortgage-after-banks-repulsive-behaviour.html

Judge wipes out couple's mortgage after bank's 'repulsive' behaviour
A New York judge was so angry with a bank's "harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive" behaviour towards a financially struggling couple that he wiped out their $525,000 (£316,000) mortgage.
By Tom Leonard in New York
26 Nov 2009

In an unusual legal decision that may cheer ordinary homeowners but dismay lenders, Judge Jeffrey Spinner took a tough line on a California-based bank that he considered had been determined to foreclose on the couple's home in Suffolk County, Long Island.

His ruling against OneWest and its IndyMac mortgage division has relieved Greg Horoski and his wife, Diane Yano-Horoski, of the $291,000 they owed on the original loan as well as $235,000 in interest.

OneWest took $814 million in federal bailout money but has a reputation for foreclosing quickly on property owners who falls into arrears.

The Horoskis bought their house 15 years ago but they refinanced in 2004, taking a sub-prime loan from Deutsche Bank.

The interest rate soared to more than 12 per cent and the bank sued the couple in 2005, when Mr Horoski and his wife began having trouble making payments because of his health problems.

A foreclosure on the 3,400 sq ft bungalow was approved but the couple applied successfully for it to be settled in court.

The judge attacked the bank for repeatedly refusing to work out a deal, for misleading him about the sums in the case and for its treatment of the couple.

He wrote that OneWest's conduct was "inequitable, unconscionable, vexatious and opprobrious", cancelling the debt to deter it from "imposing further mortifying abuse" against the couple.

OneWest, which is owned by a private equity group, said it expected to overturn the "unprecedented" ruling on appeal.

Mr Horoski, a porcelain doll seller, told the New York Post : "I think the judge felt it was almost a personal vendetta. It was like dealing with organised crime."

Harry Reid, and What Happened to the Public Option

2009-12-04T15:36:00.000-08:00

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Harry Reid, and What Happened to the Public Option

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-ersatz-public-option_b_364396.html

First there was Medicare for all 300 million of us. But that was a non-starter because private insurers and Big Pharma wouldn't hear of it, and Republicans and "centrists" thought it was too much like what they have up in Canada -- which, by the way, cost Canadians only 10 percent of their GDP and covers every Canadian. (Our current system of private for-profit insurers costs 16 percent of GDP and leaves out 45 million people.)

So the compromise was to give all Americans the option of buying into a "Medicare-like plan" that competed with private insurers. Who could be against freedom of choice? Fully 70 percent of Americans polled supported the idea. Open to all Americans, such a plan would have the scale and authority to negotiate low prices with drug companies and other providers, and force private insurers to provide better service at lower costs. But private insurers and Big Pharma wouldn't hear of it, and Republicans and "centrists" thought it would end up too much like what they have up in Canada.

So the compromise was to give the public option only to Americans who wouldn't be covered either by their employers or by Medicaid. And give them coverage pegged to Medicare rates. But private insurers and ... you know the rest.

So the compromise that ended up in the House bill is to have a mere public option, open only to the 6 million Americans not otherwise covered. The Congressional Budget Office warns this shrunken public option will have no real bargaining leverage and would attract mainly people who need lots of medical care to begin with. So it will actually cost more than it saves.

But even the House's shrunken and costly little public option is too much for private insurers, Big Pharma, Republicans, and "centrists" in the Senate. So Harry Reid has proposed an even tinier public option, which states can decide not to offer their citizens. According to the CBO, it would attract no more than 4 million Americans.

It's a token public option, an ersatz public option, a fleeting gesture toward the idea of a public option, so small and desiccated as to be barely worth mentioning except for the fact that it still (gasp) contains the word "public."

And yet Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson mumble darkly that they may not even vote to allow debate on the floor of the Senate about the bill if it contains this paltry public option. And Republicans predict a "holy war."

But what more can possibly be compromised? Take away the word "public?" Make it available to only twelve people?

Our private, for-profit health insurance system, designed to fatten the profits of private health insurers and Big Pharma, is about to be turned over to ... our private, for-profit health care system. Except that now private health insurers and Big Pharma will be getting some 30 million additional customers, paid for by the rest of us.

Upbeat policy wonks and political spinners who tend to see only portions of cups that are full will point out some good things: no pre-existing conditions, insurance exchanges, 30 million more Americans covered. But in reality, the cup is 90 percent empty. Most of us will remain stuck with little or no choice -- dependent on private insurers who care only about the bottom line, who deny our claims, who charge us more and more for co-payments and deductibles, who bury us in forms, who don't take our calls.

I'm still not giving up. I want every Senator who's not in the pocket of the private insurers or Big Pharma to introduce and vote for a "Ted Kennedy Medicare for All" amendment to whatever bill Reid takes to the floor. And if this fails, a "Ted Kennedy Real Public Option for All" amendment. Let every Senate Democratic who doesn't have the guts to vote for either of them be known and counted.

For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com

Higher Education Fiscal Crisis Protects the Wealthy

2009-12-04T15:34:00.000-08:00

The Higher Education Fiscal Crisis Protects the Wealthy
Nov 22, 2009
By Peter Phillips

Police are arresting and attacking student protesters on University of California (UC) campuses again. “Why did he beat me I wasn’t doing anything,” screamed a young Cal Berkeley women student over KPFA radio on Friday evening November 20. Students are protesting the 32% increase in tuition imposed by the UC regents in a time of severe state deficits. The Board of Regents claims that they have no choice. Students will now have to pay over $10,000 in tuition annually for a public university education that was free only a few decades ago.

The corporate media spins the tuition protests as if we are all suffering during the recession. For example, the San Diego Union Tribune November 20 writes, “These students need a course in Reality 101. And the reality is that there is virtually no segment of American society that is not straining with the economic recession. With UC facing a $535 million budget gap due to state cuts, the regents have to confront reality and make tough choices. So should students.”

Yet, the reality is something quite different. Our current budget crisis in California and the rest of the country has been artificially created by cutting taxes on the wealthiest people and corporations. The corporate elites in the US, the top 1% who own close to half the wealth, are the beneficiaries of massive tax cuts over the past few decades. While at the same time working people are paying more through increased sales and use taxes and higher public college tuition.

The wealthy hide their money abroad. Rachel Keeler with Dollars & Sense reports that over the years, trillions of dollars in both corporate profits and personal wealth have migrated offshore in search of rock-bottom tax rates and the comfort of no questions asked. Offshore banks now harbor an estimated $11.5 trillion in individual wealth alone, and were a significant contributing factor to the international economic downturn in 2008.

According to the California Budget Project, tax cuts enacted in California, since 1993, cost the state $11.3 billion dollars annually. Had the state continued taxing corporations and the wealthy at rates equal to those fifteen years ago there would not be a budget crisis in California. Even though a budget deficit was evident last year, California income tax laws were changed in February of 2009 to provide corporations with even greater tax savings—equal to over $2 billion per year. California is similar to the rest of the country where the wealthy and corporate elites enjoy economic protection through increased costs to working people.

Higher education has been cut in twenty-eight states in the 2009-10 school year and further, even more drastic cuts, are likely in the years ahead. California State University (CSU) system is planning to reduce enrollments by 40,000 students in the fall of 2010. The CSU Trustees have imposed steep tuition hikes and forced faculty and staff to take non-paid furlough days equal to 10% of salaries.

The students who are protesting tuition increases know they are being ripped off. They know that we are bailing out the rich with hundreds of billions dollars for Wall Street and massive budget cuts for the rest of us. The corporate media doesn’t explain to over-taxed working families how they are paying more while the rich sock it away.

The current economic crisis is a shock and awe process designed to undermine low-cost higher education, force labor concessions from working people and protect the wealthy. We need higher taxes on the corporations and the top 1%, combined with free public college education and tax breaks for working families. And, we must have a media that tells us the truth about inequality and wealth. A true economic stimulus increases spending from the bottom up not the to

Peter Phillips is a professor of sociology at Sonoma State University, President of Media Freedom Foundation, and recent past director of Project Censored.

Daily News at: http://mediafreedom.pnn.com/5174-independent-news-sources

Validated News & Research at: http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/

Daily Censored Blog at: http://dailycensored.com/

Project Censored: http://www.projectcensored.org/

Real Recovery Is Easy to Spell: J-O-B-S

2009-12-04T15:30:00.000-08:00

http://www.truthout.org/topstories/111109vh02

Jim Hightower Real Recovery Is Easy to Spell: J-O-B-S
Wednesday 11 November 2009

The recession is over! The economy is growing! The Dow Jones is above 10,000! Bankers are pocketing profits and fat bonuses! Happy days are here again!

Unless, of course, you're just a regular working stiff struggling with falling income and rising unemployment -- and sensing that your family's grip on middle-class life is steadily slipping away. Welcome to America's tinkle-down economy.

The latest job numbers mock the smiley-faced claims of economists and polticos that the Great Recession is over:

•10.2 percent of America's workforce is officially unemployed -- nearly 16 million people.

•Another 15 million people are either so discouraged by their fruitless job search that they've quit looking, or they've had to settle for part-time jobs when they want and need full-time employment. Add the discouraged and underemployed to the number of the officially unemployed, and the percentage of our people who can't find the work they need rises to 17.5 percent -- one out of every six workers.

•More than a third of the officially unemployed have been jobless for more than half a year -- a new record for long-term joblessness.

•Nearly 15 percent of the unemployed have college degrees, and many more of the college-educated are underemployed.

•October was the 22nd straight month that the U.S. economy lost jobs -- the longest streak since 1939. About 7.3 million jobs have been eliminated since December 2007, when the recession began. In this same time span, 2.8 million new workers have come into the job market, meaning our economy is now 10.1 million jobs short of the number needed just to get back to even.

•While average wages have risen slightly in the past year, average weekly pay has stagnated because workers have had their hours cut.

So please excuse our country's workaday majority for not cheering the news that prosperity has returned to those at the tippy top of America's economic pyramid. And -- please -- do not continue to insult workers with the dismissive declaration that the economy is experiencing a "jobless recovery." Not only is that an oxymoron, it is moronic.

If most American's have not recovered, then neither has our economy. (Imagine a situation in which working families were prospering, but corporate profits were down for 22 straight months -- do you think economists and politicos could get away with labeling it a "profitless recovery"?)

Especially galling is the fact that the talk of recovery is mostly based on the resurrection of Wall Street profits. Conveniently ignored by exultant bankers is the reality that they would have no profits (and no banks) except that Washington has propped them up with some $13 trillion in public bailout money.

The rationale for this unprecedented rescue of failed bankers was that they would reciprocate with a vigorous lending effort to businesses, which then could start hiring and rebuilding the grassroots economy that Wall Street greed crushed. But astonishingly, the giveaway to bankers came with no strings attached! So, instead of pouring capital into the American countryside, they've gone right back to casino-style speculation -- while pocketing more than $100 billion in bonuses for themselves.

These people are thieves. They've stolen our public funds, our jobs and our middle-class aspirations. It's time to grab them by the short hairs, forcing them to make the loans that our real economy needs -- or have their banks shut down and their capital turned over to community banks, credit unions and others who will invest in America's productive businesses and workers.

After the latest jobless numbers came out, President Obama said, "I will not rest until all Americans who want work can find work." Excuse me, but that's like a lawyer saying to his client, "I'll get you out of jail if it takes me the rest of your life."

America's workers and communities don't need presidential assurances, they need action, bold and immediate. As Obama said in last year's campaign, "We need to pass an economic rescue plan for the middle class, and we need to do it not five years from now, not next year, we need to do it right now."

Where did that guy go?

Demjanjuk Is a Victim of Double Standard

2009-12-04T14:56:00.000-08:00

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aFC9s2gMdTB0

Demjanjuk Is a Victim of Double Standard, Lawyer Says
By Karin Matussek

Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- John Demjanjuk’s lawyer told a German court that the 89-year-old is the victim of a double standard that allowed prosecutors to charge him in the country’s most prominent Holocaust-related trial in decades.

The German SS officers who trained or supervised Demjanjuk during World War II were acquitted at trials in the 1960s and 1970s over the same allegations that Demjanjuk is charged with today, his attorney, Ulrich Busch, said on the first day of trial. Demjanjuk, a suspected Nazi death-camp guard, is accused of aiding in the killing of 27,900 people at the Sobibor concentration camp in German-occupied Poland.

“These acquittals stand between the court and my client today,” said Busch, arguing a request for the removal of judges. “How can he have aided in a crime to which other people were acquitted?”

Demjanjuk’s case has been closely watched since a Munich court issued an arrest warrant in March and he was deported from the U.S. two months later. About 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust and Germany has been criticized for allowing too many perpetrators to escape punishment.

Busch also argued that the case against his client was arbitrary, because former guards prosecutors rely on as witnesses have lived in Germany for 65 years without facing similar charges. His client, who was a Russian prisoner of war, was in the same situation as Jews who collaborated with the Nazis to save their lives, he said.

Blanket, Baseball Cap

Prosecutor Hans-Joachim Lutz rejected the allegations, saying his office opened a probe against a witness who was a former guard. The judges today weren’t handling the cases in the 1960s and 1970s that led to the acquittals cited by the defense, Lutz said.

Demjanjuk was brought in the courtroom in a wheelchair, covered by a blanket and wearing a baseball cap. Three medical experts told the court that he was able to stand trial if hearings are limited to two sessions of no more than 90 minutes.

About 35 siblings, children or spouses of people killed in Sobibor have joined the proceedings as private co-plaintiffs. The status allows their lawyers to question witnesses or appeal rulings.

Marco de Groot, 70, one of the co-plaintiffs, said in an interview before the trial that his parents were deported to Sobibor from the Netherlands and murdered. He survived because his father arranged for the then 5-year-old boy to be hidden with friends.

‘No Choice’

“To be here is the only thing I can do for my parents,” said de Groot, who is from Edam, The Netherlands. “I didn’t even think about whether I should do it. I simply had no choice.”

There is no reason to assume that judges would be biased because of past failures of German justice, said Cornelius Nestler, a lawyer for some of the co-plaintiffs.

“If the accused compares himself with Jews in the camp, we should emphasize some simple facts,” said Nestler. “The guards could leave the camp in their free time and had adequate food. The Jews didn’t. The guards drank and took the inmates’ belongings.”

Demjanjuk was fighting in the Red Army when he was captured by the Germans in 1942, according to the indictment. He was trained as a guard at the Trawniki camp in occupied Poland and served at Sobibor from March to September 1943, prosecutors claim. During that period, 27,900 Jews, mostly deported from the Netherlands, were killed in the camp, prosecutors claim.

‘Historic Dimensions’

Lawyers said the case may demonstrate the justice system’s limits in helping the nation come to terms with its troubled past.

“People are looking for the historic dimensions that transcend the narrow legal issues of the case,” Thomas Henne, a German legal historian currently teaching at Tokyo University, said in an interview. “The question is whether a criminal court is the right place to find historic answers. It’s difficult enough to judicially determine an individual’s guilt six decades after the fact.”

While prosecution of Nazis in German courts started only years after the war, some prominent cases helped break the country’s “cartel of silence,” Henne said, including the Auschwitz trials during the 1960s in Frankfurt where hundreds of concentration camp survivors testified. Still, some probes led to unconvincing acquittals or allowed Nazis to all too easily claim medical reasons to avoid trials, he said.

Israeli Trial

“With Demjanjuk, the current generation of prosecutors and judges aims to show they won’t repeat these mistakes,” Henne said. “The swift handling of the case is a sort of manifest demonstration saying: ‘Yes, we’re doing better now.’”

Demjanjuk, a Ukraine native and retired autoworker, lived near Cleveland until he was stripped of his U.S. citizenship and extradited to Israel in 1986. He was tried there on charges he was “Ivan the Terrible,” the guard who tortured Jews while herding them into the Treblinka concentration camp gas chambers.

His death sentence and conviction in the case were overturned by Israel’s Supreme Court in 1993, saying there was reasonable doubt that he served at Treblinka. Demjanjuk returned to the U.S., regaining his citizenship. In 2002, a court again revoked it over his alleged role at Sobibor.

Germany’s central Nazi crime investigation unit started to look into Demjanjuk in 2008 after stumbling over his U.S. citizenship case on the Internet. After an eight-month investigation, they referred the matter to Munich prosecutors.

His lawyer, Busch, says prosecutors rely on an identity card and a staff list to prove he served at Sobibor and wrongfully infer he must have aided in the murders because he was there. Busch said document experts found that the ID card was forged.

“It is all a farce and cannot withstand the test of litigation,” Demjanjuk’s son said in a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Karin Matussek in Munich via kmatussek@bloomberg.net;

Tea Party Co-Founder Blasts Mainstream GOP

2009-12-04T14:49:00.000-08:00

http://caivn.org/article/2009/11/30/tea-party-co-founder-blasts-mainstream-gop-imitators

Tea Party Co-Founder Blasts Mainstream GOP Imitators
by Chad Peace
Mon, Nov 30th 2009

In 2007, the modern tea party movement took shape, in a vastly different form than it now presents itself. Spurred by an impending recession, a government overrun by deception and corruption, and an unprecedented expansion of government under eight years of “conservative” leadership, the first modern day tea partiers had positive causes of action: honesty, respect for the rule of law, and protection of the rights of the smallest minority; the individual.

In late 2007, on the anniversary of the original Boston Tea Party, positive protestors laid hope in a solution. In a 24 hours period, in concert with symbolic and peaceful re-enactments of the Boston Tea Party in over 50 cities across the country, energetic tea partiers dumped over 5.2 million dollars into a long-shot presidential campaign to support a candidate that embodied honesty, respect, and sincerity in the pursuit strict constitutional leadership. The goal: to entrust our highest office to a man of principles, who would be shackled by a devotion to the constitution, rather than obligations to special interests.

I am proud to have been a participant in that tea party. In witnessing the tens of thousands of “patriots” that peacefully marched through the streets and donated extravagantly to a candidate relegated to a status of “darkhorse” by the mainstream, my respect turned to passion. I was convinced that the average American was beginning to see through the veil of scripted partisan sermons, designed to coddle fears and perpetuate the superficial battle between a “left” and “right”.

Over the next year, I harvested an addiction to contrarianism. An incessant hunger for serious political debate, fueled by coffee, cigarettes and eighteen-hour workdays changed my world. I was a dark-horse political enthusiast, with blinders on.

Then, in mid-February of 2009, Rick Santelli gave a now infamous rant on CNBC, calling for a modern day “tea party” in July. Immediately, my business partner and I set up on online tea party website. Within days, we received tens of thousands of e-mails and passionate pleas for government accountability. Our vision was to change the political debate focused on general divisions to one centered on specific solutions. We asked our supporters to question party-line politicians and demand that our leaders take a more independent and reasoned stance on the issues facing our country.

In short time, desperate partisans were soiling the sheets. Knowing we had neither the financial means nor man-power to out-publicize political perverts, I was never-the-less convinced that this independent movement would not be overrun by golden idols. I wrote to our supporters, asking them to be wary of old Republican figureheads like Newt Gingrich and current political strategists Patrick Leahy, hiding their identity behind make-shift “grassroots” websites. I was hopeful that the same talking heads, like Hannity and O’Reilly, that asked us to bend over blindly to past leaders would not have enough credibility to grandstand in front of an independent-minded movement.

At some point, reality began piercing my passion. The tea party boat started becoming a wagon of whiners. Propelled by the moving mouths on TV and the talking heads of such ironically named organizations such as the “American Family Association” (one must agree that for an admitted adulterer with three ex-wives heading the AFA is ironic, right?), the movement lost its focus. No longer were tea partiers upset with the bipartisan corruption in Washington D.C., they are mad at the socialists communists Hitler-like Democrats. No longer did Constitutionalism mean respecting the rule of law, it meant Obama is not really our president. A movement founded on the principles of independent analysis, it has become a yelling fest for punch-drunk cynics armed with incoherent talking points.

Slowly, I’ve lost some of my unrealistic idealism. As I pull back the blinders, I try to look at the tea party from the eyes of an outsider, the average American. What I see is a bunch of people reciting partisan political sermons, coddling fears, and perpetuating a superficial battle between “left” and “right”; drowning the well intentioned idealists that remain.

As the battle rages, I have more faith than ever that an independent revolution will come. When the absurdity of our political process rises to the point where tea bags become a right wing rally cry and the left still manages to drop in the polls, there is a growing opportunity for the increasingly disenchanted to drive a stake right down the middle.

WTO STILL PARTIES LIKE IT'S 1999

2009-12-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

WTO STILL PARTIES LIKE IT'S 1999
on 10th Anniversary of the Battle in Seattle
Bankers' scheme to re-open finance casino worldwide
by Greg Palast for Air America's Ring of Fire

GENEVA — Apparently, one meltdown isn't enough for the World Trade Organization. They meet today in Geneva on the tenth anniversary of the "Battle in Seattle," the first mass protest against globalization.

In a special investigation for Air America's Ring of Fire, I recently gained access to several documents from inside the file cabinets of the WTO, the World Bank and other centers of globalization.

According to one marked "Ensure This Text Is Not Made Publicly Available," the big banks, via official trade negotiators, are secretly demanding that emerging nations, starting with Brazil, open their markets to trading in derivatives, credit default swaps and other exotic—and toxic—financial products.

It's not enough that they have brought the US and Europe to their financial knees. Now banks, under the guise of the WTO's free trade treaty, want to expand the casino to the new big emerging powers with their trillion-greenback reserves. A derivatives crash in those markets could easily trigger a financial China Syndrome—a second meltdown from New York to Beijing to Brasília.

Here in Geneva, at the grand compound on the shore of Lake Geneva, I confronted the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy, about the secret demands of the world's biggest financiers. I asked how, after the disaster in the US economy in 2008, the prime movers of the globe's economy would go along with the world's largest banks to start up still more gambling operations in Brazil and India?

Lamy insisted that, "Trade is not the problem. The problem is whether what you trade is regulated or not."

The WTO chief did however admit that, were a nation to attempt to shutter any particular bank's trading desk, that nation would have to pay a hefty penalty under WTO rules. "There's a price to pay to claw back," said Lamy, himself a banker. (Lamy was Director-General of French giant Crédit Lyonnais.)

The exposure of the secret demand on Brazil to allow banks to go double or nothing on a second crisis runs counter to the public position of US and European governments. Paul Volker, President Obama's advisor on preventing another crisis, has called for re-regulating banks, and in particular, barring commercial banks from trading in derivatives and other risky financial instruments.

This contradiction between public position and private lobby for the banks infuriates Martin Khor, Geneva-based trade advisor to Brazil and 50 other emerging nations. Khor, known as the intellectual leader of the Seattle anti-WTO protests of 1999, told Air America, "If I were Mr. Obama or (British Prime Minister) Brown, I would tell my financial services organization, please lay off the developing countries; let's get our own act together."

But apparently, the banks and global-crats at the WTO want to party like it's 1999.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This report was funded by the Palast Investigative Fund, a 501c3 charitable trust and Ring of Fire.

The Fund is offering Greg Palast's investigative reports on DVD and his bestselling books, signed by the reporter, for the holidays at: www.gregpalast.com/store

Hear the "Ring of Fire" podcast with Mike Papantonio and Greg Palast.

Special thanks to Public Citizen's GATS Watch and Oliver Shykles.
***********************
HOLIDAY Special: Support the work of the Palast Investigative Fund by making a donation today: www.gregpalast.com/store We are now offering Palast's investigative reports on DVD and his bestselling books—personally signed by the reporter—in time for the holidays:

http://www.gregpalast.com/store

Is Obama's civil liberties record understandable?

2009-12-04T14:41:00.001-08:00

http://salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/11/27/civil_liberties

Friday, Nov 27, 2009
Is Obama's civil liberties record understandable?
By Glenn Greenwald

Earlier this week, Kevin Drum said that "nine times out of ten" Obama's policies are "pretty much what [he] expected" but that "the biggest one-time-out-of-ten where he's not doing what [he] expected is in the area of detainee and civil liberties issues." Similarly, Andrew Sullivan cited "accountability for war crimes and civil rights" as among the very few issues on which he finds fault with Obama. Matt Yglesias objects to those observations as follows:

Both Kevin Drum and Andrew Sullivan say they think most people are too hard on Obama, but express disappointment at his record on civil liberties issues. I agree that the civil liberties record hasn’t been exactly what I would have wanted, but I'm continually surprised that people are disappointed in this turn. Of all the things for an incumbent President of the United States to take political risks fighting for, obviously reducing the power of the executive branch is going to be dead last on the list. If you want to see civil liberties championed, that’s going to have to come from congress.

It's interesting how what was once lambasted as "Constitution-shredding" under George Bush is now nothing more than: Obama's "civil liberties record hasn’t been exactly what I would have wanted." Also, the premise implicitly embedded in Matt's argument is the standard Beltway dogma that there would be serious political costs from reversing the Bush/Cheney abuses of the Constitution and civil liberties. The success of Obama's campaign -- which emphatically and repeatedly vowed to do exactly that -- ought to have permanently retired that excuse.

Even more important, Matt seems to be implying that he knew all along that Obama never really intended to fulfill his multiple campaign promises to restore civil liberties and dismantle the Bush/Cheney war on the Constitution. So all of those righteous speeches and commitments and campaign positions were nothing more than dishonest instruments for manipulating and placating the people who supported his campaign? I don't necessarily disagree with that assessment. I neither believed nor disbelieved what Obama said during the campaign, but instead intended to wait for the evidence before deciding. And particularly once I watched Obama -- once his party's nomination was secure -- flagrantly violate his pledge to filibuster any bill containing telecom immunity, I had no expectations that he'd feel at all compelled to adhere to his other promises.

But is it really that surprising that many people did believe that Obama actually meant what he said, given that the entire campaign was predicated on his self-proclaimed uniqueness as a candidate and his over-arching intent to rid our political culture of corroding cynicism and to restore hope and faith in the political process? If Obama ran a campaign which purposely elevated the hopes of so many people -- particularly younger and new voters -- while secretly harboring the knowledge that he did not feel at all bound by what he was promising, isn't that a fairly serious indictment of his character, as well as a dangerous game to play for the Democratic Party? And during the time he was vigorously supporting Obama's candidacy last year, did Matt ever point out that Obama didn't really mean what he was saying when he spoke about these matters -- a fairly significant point to make when commenting on the election? If Obama had no intention of "reducing the power of the executive branch," why did he repeatedly proclaim that he would?

But what strikes me as the most significant aspect of Matt's commentary is that this mitigating analysis was rarely, if ever, applied to Bush. I've been reading many arguments from Obama supporters over the last couple of weeks insisting that Obama can't possibly give civilian trials to all Terrorism suspects because having to free detainees whom they can't convict in court would be politically catastrophic; but doesn't that same reasoning justify Bush's decision to open Guantanamo and hold terrorist suspects without charges? After all, how could Bush afford to risk acquittals any more than Obama?

Similarly, if Matt's argument is true that it's natural and inevitable that Presidents will try to maximize their own power -- and that it's Congress' responsibility to check that -- doesn't that mean that Bush and Cheney got a bad rap all these years for their so-called "Constitution-shredding," and that the ultimate responsibility for their abuses lies not with Bush, Cheney David Addington and John Yoo, but rather with Tom Daschle, Bill Frist, Harry Reid, Denny Hastert and Nancy Pelosi? If it's the responsibility of Congress to check presidential abuses -- since, as Matt argues, no rational person would ever expect the President to voluntarily impose or even accept limits on his own power -- then the real controversy should be about why Nancy Pelosi and company didn't do more to publicize Bush/Cheney extremism and impose limits on what they were doing. Matt, however, seemed to argue the opposite in the past -- as he when he insisted that the controversy over what Pelosi knew about torture was irrelevant because she was just a "bit player" in the whole affair. If complaints about Obama's civil liberties abuses are overheated because it's unreasonable to expect him to do anything different, shouldn't the same be said of Bush and Cheney?

I agree with Matt's explicit point that Congress has an important role to play in checking presidential abuses -- a role they've clearly abdicated no matter which party was in control. He's also right that Presidents don't easily relinquish power. But it's hardly unreasonable to object when someone runs for high political office based on clear and repeated promises that they have squarely violated. Whatever else is true, watching Obama embrace extremist policies can still be "disappointing" even if one isn't surprised that he's doing it. I could understand and accept a lot more easily this blithe acquiescence to Obama's record if it weren't for the fact that progressives and Democrats spent so many years screaming bloody murder over Bush's use of indefinite detention, military commissions, state secrets, renditions, and extreme secrecy -- policies Obama has largely and/or completely adopted as his own. One can't help but wonder, at least in some cases, how genuine those objections were, as opposed to their just having been effective tools to discredit a Republican president for partisan and political gain.

Did A UFO Shoot JFK With A Mannlicher-Carcano

2009-12-04T14:07:00.000-08:00

http://gorightly.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/did-a-ufo-shoot-jfk-with-a-mannlicher-carcano-from-the-sixth-story-window-of-the-mothership/

Did A UFO Shoot JFK With A Mannlicher-Carcano From The Sixth-Story Window Of The Mothership ?
Adam Gorightly
December 1, 2009

Above is the photo an alleged UFO that recently resurfaced, hovering over Dealey Plaza just before Kennedy got his cranium catapulated into the void. Apparently, Richard C. Hoagland brought this to the attention of Coast To Coast listeners the other night. Which might explain what I heard a couple weeks ago when the Hoagster made the claim that he had new information which would reveal JFK’s assassins! And if this is the stunning new revelation he was referring to, then I guess we can assume that Kennedy’s assailants were the Mind Gobblers from Alpha Romeo. Or the Tax Consultants from Mars. Or something to that effect.

It's Ultrasound Not Mind Control

2009-12-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

America's secret government has been waging a covert war against the mentally ill for decades. The secret government is attempting to get states to adopt stronger laws against the mentally ill. In order to accomplish this, the secret government must change the way ordinary American citizens perceive the mentally ill. Basically the secret government must scare the public into allowing stronger laws enacted. The secret government ultimate goal is a federal law requiring monitoring and forced mediation of people with serious mental illnesses.

The secret government has been waging a war against the mentally ill using classified harassment technology. The technology uses ultrasound to attack people through walls of their homes. The secret government has also been using classified surveillance technology to electronically see and hear through walls of mentally ill people's homes. The technology that can electronically see through walls of houses is used to target the ultrasonic harassment technology. A mentally ill person in his home can be targeted and attacked through the walls of his own home with the classified technology operated from a neighboring house.

The public has seen the aftermath of this war against the mentally ill. People claiming to have lived in haunted houses, mothers who kill their children and claim God told them to do it, and people who claim to be victims of mind control or radiation weapons. The public has basically been programmed over the decades that people who make such claims are mentally ill. But what is not know to the public is that the secret United States government has developed classified technology to trick people making such claims into believing they are experiencing an extraordinary event in their life.

One classified technology that has been mistaken for mind control is a technology that fires a focused beam of ultrasound at a targeted person in his house while he sleeps. As ultrasound enters the body, it disrupts blood flow to the area of the body it enters. An example passing strong ultrasound through a leg can cause a numb feeling in the leg, a sensation similar to what people call a leg falling asleep.

The secret government has developed technology that fires a powerful beam of focused ultrasound into the base of the targeted person's head. The ultrasound will penetrate the top of the person's skull and enter the brain. The ultrasound will disrupt blood flow to the areas of the brain while the targeted person sleeps. The targeted person will experience bad dreams or nightmares.

The dreams will vary depending on the person attacked. Basically the person inner demons will determine what type of dreams the targeted person will have. If the targeted person is a violent person he could have violent dreams, such a hurting another person. The targeted person may interpret these dreams as a sign and may act out in real life and commit a violent act.

When this technology is used against a person while sleeping, he may wake suddenly and hallucinate for up to a minute. The targeted person may wake and believe he is speaking to a person who recently died. Another targeted may wake and believe he is seeing a ghost. What the targeted person hallucinates will vary depending on the person targeted. Again the targeted person inner demons will determine what person hallucinates. Once the targeted person wakes the blood flow will return to normal in the brain and the targeted person will regain his state of mind. How the targeted person interprets what just happened will vary.

Some people mistake the occurrence for electronic mind control. The ultrasound is disrupting the flow of blood in the brain and is not controlling what the targeted person will dream or hallucinate.

After being attacked by this harassment device the targeted person will feel an area of numbness to the top part of the head. This is where the ultrasound entered the head and penetrated the skull bone. No physical marks or evidence will remain.

The harassment device fires a powerful ultrasonic beam of sound into the base of the targeted person's head while he sleeps. The harassment device is targeted to attack the targeted person through walls of a house with a through walls targeting system. The targeted person body heat is detected through walls by this targeting system. The targeting system provides a detailed image of a person behind walls of a house.

The targeted person can be attacked at any time of the night with this technology. An example the targeted person can experience bad dreams at 3am in the morning each night. In haunted house stories, a person being awoken at 3am is the time Christ died.

There is a method to block the ultrasonic technology. Ultrasound cannot penetrate a panel with a vacuum inside. A vacuum is the absence of air. A high level vacuum is necessary in the panel to completely block the technology. Placing vacuum panels (3 foot height by 4 foot width with at least 3 inches of vacuum) around the targeted person while sleeping will prevent this technology being used against the person while sleeping.

The war against the mentally ill by the secret government involves a massive disinformation campaign against the mentally ill. The secret government is attempting to convince mentally ill people that physically harmful technology is being used against them. The secret government wants to convince the mentally ill that mind control is being used against them. This is being done because when the targeted person attempts to tell other people that mind control is being used against him, he will be viewed as being seriously mentally ill by an average person.

The phrase "Why don't you get a tin foil hat!" was invented by the secret government as a way to make a person complaining of harassment by mind control as being mentally ill. Tin foil will not block ultrasound. A more realistic phrase should be "Why don't you get some vacuum barriers!"

The secret government has done an incredible job over the decades with their war against the mentally ill. The secret government has many more ultrasonic harassment devices that have been secretly developed over the decades. The following symptoms are all artificially created by classified sonic harassment technology.

1. Snapping noises that appear to come from hard surfaces near a targeted person.
2. Sounds the targeted person hears that no one else can hear. These sounds can voices or other strange audible noises.
3. Burning sensations in areas of the body, mainly legs.
4. Numb sensations in areas of the body. Can be in legs or other areas such as top of the head.
5. Jolts to limbs, fingers or other parts of the body Jolts can be slight or strong.
6. Strange dreams or night mares and hallucinations for under a minute when awoken.
7. Areas of severe pain in parts of the body.

For more information please read the following website:

Website:

http://www.hightechharassment.com

Please post this information in other newsgroups and lists.

Thank You.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 said to break records

2009-12-03T09:49:00.001-08:00

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10396593-52.html

November 12, 2009
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 said to break sales records
Daniel Terdiman

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is said to have broken the single-day sales record for an entertainment property. According to Activision, the game earned $310 million in North America and England alone in its first 24 hours.

So much for the supposedly unbreakable first-day sales record set last year by Grand Theft Auto IV.

On Thursday, Activision said that its brand-new Call of Duty 2: Modern Warfare, which hit store shelves on Tuesday, had "shattered" the previous record for opening-day sales by an entertainment property, earning $310 million in North America and the U.K. alone. That equates to 4.7 million copies of the new game sold in those regions, and, if true, would eclipse the previous first-day sales record of $310 million globally, which GTA IV set in May of 2008.

Given that GTA IV had nearly doubled the previous record of $170 million, set by Halo 3, I wondered at the time whether its new mark was unassailable. Clearly, the new Call of Duty has answered that question, and loudly.

Now, we have to ask once again whether there could be another challenger for the crown. It would be foolish, it seems, to conclude that there won't be, given the dominance of franchises like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Grand Theft Auto itself, and, of course, Call of Duty.

A bigger question could be: Why do we care? That's especially true given how frequently these mega-records are broken. Still, it's hard not to get worked up about what it means for a single video game title to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in a single 24-hour period, particularly while we're still mired in a fairly deep recession.

There are all kinds of arguments to be made about why video games do well in tough economic times, and I've trotted a number of them out in this space. But most games don't come anywhere near selling $310 million worth of product in their entire lifetime, let alone on their first day, so Activision--and its Infinity Ward studio, which actually developed the new Call of Duty--seem entitled to a little bit of attention.

But at the rate these records are falling, I'm going to have to start thinking twice every time a new game sends me one of these announcements about breaking records. Sooner or later, it's not going to be all that noteworthy, no matter how much money is earned in a single day. Until then, though, watch this space for word on which game will be next in line for the throne.

Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between.

'Uncharted 2' top the Oct. sales chart

2009-12-03T09:45:00.000-08:00

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2009/11/uncharted-2-top-the-oct-sales-chart/1

Nov 12, 2009
'Uncharted 2' top the Oct. sales chart
Mike Snider

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was the top-selling video game of October, according to market tracking firm The NPD Group.

Other top performers: NBA 2K10, which sold 575,000 across all platforms, and Borderlands, with 530,000 total on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Overall video game sales ($1.07 billion) were down 19% compared to last year ($1.3 billion), however, the month resulted in the third best October in sales on record, behind October 2007 and October 2008, NPD's Anita Frazier said. She forecasts that the industry is on track to sell $20 billion to $21 billion by year-end, which would put it just below last year's total of $21.3 billion.

"The continued economic turmoil, and in particular the troubling unemployment rate, is undoubtedly impacting industry sales," she says. "Our latest Economy Tracker indicated that although consumers' general opinion about the economy is improving, their outlook on their own personal situation is worsening. If consumers' personal outlook continues to erode, they could very well be much more conservative with their holiday shopping this year."

She predicted a strong November with "the excitement already being generated by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and the incredible buzz around upcoming titles, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Assassin's Creed II, November is poised to be a strong month for the industry."

The Nintendo Wii regained the top spot as the highest-selling console of the month. Consumers bought 506,900 Wiis, compared to 320,600 PS3s and 249,700 Xbox 360s. Sales of game systems have dropped 10% (in units), compared to the same time period last year, Frazier said. "Recent price cuts helped spur a one to two-month increase in unit sales, and this month's Wii sales reflect that boost, but the other platforms have not sustained the sales momentum post price reduction," she said. "It will be difficult to discern the impact of the price cut into November and December just because those are always the two best months for the industry anyway, and we'd expect to see a sizeable lift in hardware unit sales as a result of seasonality."

Software sales decreased 18% for the month, but only 11% on a units basis, she said." The average retail price of software decreased 8%, which led to the greater dollar sales decline."

Roughly half the sales of No. 2 game Wii Fit Plus came in sales of the edition with a balance board, "which points to a lot of newcomers to the franchise," Frazier said.

For NBA 2K10, October's top game across all platforms, "it was a great launch for the game, outselling last year's NBA 2K9 by 60% in its launch month," Frazier said. "Sales on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms improved substantially over last year."

Even though sales of music games continued to drop -- amounting to $53 million, compared to $137 million in October 2008, Frazier said that "both Rock Band: Beatles and Guitar Hero 5 have the potential to be good gifting items for the holidays, so we should expect to see an uptick in sales over the next two months."

Guitar Hero games sold a total of $12 million in October. "That's really down a lot year-over-year," said Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter. Culprit of the lower than expected hardware sales: "that damn recession."

Just missing the top 10: Brütal Legend. The game, says analyst Jesse Divnich of Electronic Entertainment Design and Research. "going to be a slow burner. It reminds me a lot of Jack Black movies. I never seen one in theaters, but for some reason I own all his DVDs. Brütal Legend is a very entertaining game. It's just not a first choice game. It's one you are going to eventually pick up."

NPD's Top 10 Games for October

1) Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Oct., PlayStation 3) 537,000
2) Wii Fit Plus (Oct., Wii) 441,000
3) Borderlands (Oct., Xbox 360) 418,000
4) Wii Sports Resort (July, Wii) 314,000
5) NBA 2K10 (Oct., Xbox 360) 311,000
6) Halo 3: ODST (Sept., Xbox 360) 271,000
7) NBA 2K10 (Oct., PS3) 213,000
8) Forza Motorsport 3 (Oct., Xbox 360) 175,000
9) Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (Sept, NDS) 169,000
10) FIFA Soccer 10 (Oct., Xbox 360) 156,000

Top Ten Most Badass Animals Native to the USA

2009-12-03T09:42:00.000-08:00

http://www.gadling.com/2009/11/09/top-ten-most-badass-animals-native-to-the-usa/

Top Ten Most Badass Animals Native to the USA
by Annie Scott
Nov 9th 2009

America may seem civilized to you, as you lock your door and hop on the subway or into the car, then hang around indoors all day. When you go to the zoo, there's a disconnect. Ferocious animals seem to be things that exist behind bars. It's easy to forget that this very country is home to some historically human-killing animals that could totally murder you in your sleep. Depending where you sleep. (But they probably won't.)

Here's our list of the Top Ten Most Badass Animals Native to the USA, a little about their habits, and where in the great United States you're likely to be ambushed by one of them.

1. Polar bears. These big, beautiful beasts employ a method called "still hunting," in which the bear sniffs out its prey's home, then crouches by the door until the prey emerges. Then it crushes their skull. Normally, this prey is a seal, but polar bears have also hunted hunters and campers -- this guy while he was sleeping in his tent (warning: graphic). Though polar bears are listed as a vulnerable species (likely to become endangered), they are still roaming Alaska. And they don't just want Coca Cola.

2. Rattlesnakes. Normally, rattlesnakes kill small animals, but anyone who's been to the Southwest knows: if you hear that rattle, you'd best be moving along. And by "moving along," I mean "running for your life." Their hemotoxic or neurotoxic (depending on the type) venom can kill you in horrendous ways, including respiratory paralysis. Check out this story from a guy who was bitten by a rattler when he was 13. Word to the wise: if the snake's rattle gets wet, it won't make any sound, so watch out during the rain. Rattlesnakes have been reported in many states, but keep an extra eye out in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. And while you're down there, stay away from fatally poisonous water moccasins (the world's only semi-aquatic viper) and coral snakes, too.

3. Coyotes. Just last month, according to Telegraph.co.uk, woman in Canada was mauled and killed by two coyotes, while "hiking alone on a trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, in Nova Scotia." Coyotes are typically reported in the Southwest, but have also been sighted in Illinois, Wisconsin, Oregon, New Jersey, and all over New England. You can find them living in deserts, forests, plains, or even in icy regions like Alaska. Basically, these guys (and ladies) can live almost anywhere. Their diet is 90 percent mammals, which you may have noticed you are. They'll get you on the ground, then bite/break your neck. According to Wikipedia, coyote attacks have been increasing in California since 1998.

4. Bobcats. According to the Arizona Game and Fish Department, bobcats who attack humans are typically rabid. That means attacks are less likely, but also all the more deadly. Bobcats, though just 20-24" tall when full grown, will sometimes stalk larger animals which they can kill and repeatedly return to to eat over time. They typically catch them sleeping on the ground and bite into their neck, chest, or the base of the skull. That's not even fair.

5. Alligators. These guys eat mostly fish, worms, and snails and stuff, but if you get to close, they're known to attack humans. Wikipedia reports them living in "all of Florida and Louisiana, the southern parts of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, coastal South and North Carolina, Eastern Texas, the southeast corner of Oklahoma and the southern tip of Arkansas." Alligators have also been found in extreme southern Missouri along the Mississippi River during the summer months.If you're swimming and see one approaching, you'd best get the heck out of the water. Worse still, you might be mistaken -- those alligators approaching could be ...

6. Crocodiles. Crocodiles have pointier-shaped jaws than the alligators' u-shaped jaws. Either way, you should probably run. Crocodiles live mainly in Florida (within the US), and are extremely dangerous to humans. Crocodiles eat mammals like you, fish and birds, and occasionally each other. While these web-footed cannibals probably won't be able to chase you, they are extremely adept swimmers, and normally attack before their prey even sees them.

7. Bears. Kelly Ann Walz in Pennsylvania was killed last month by her own pet black bear -- her Bengal tiger and African lion left her alone. Donna Munson, a 74-year-old who liked to feed bears, was killed last August. Black bears live in 41 US states, and while they're certainly known killers, they are not as dangerous as brown bears; especially grizzlies and Kodiaks. According to Wikipedia, there are about 32,500 brown bears in the United States, mostly in Alaska and along the Rocky Mountains. Brown bears confront you like they'd confront other bears; by growling and huffing. Then, they bite your jaw to keep you from biting back. That's only if they feel like taking their time; they can actually just crush a human head with a single bite. Weirdly, you're more likely to be attacked if you run -- I'd love to meet anyone who stood still after being growled at by a bear.

8. Wolves. Unprovoked attacks by non-rabid wolves are rare, but do you know where they tend to attack? The crotch. According to Answers.com, "Wolves will typically attempt to disable large prey by tearing at the haunches and perineum, causing massive bleeding and loss of coordination." They drag small prey (including children!) to a secluded spot and feast on the abdominal cavity -- sometimes before they prey is even dead. Be extra wary in Northern Minnesota, the Rockies, and New Mexico.

9. Cougars. While older women in search of younger men can certainly be dangerous, I'm referring to the North American Puma concolor couguar, also known as pumas, mountain lions, or panthers. Check out a list of fatal cougar attacks in North America here. While they are mostly found in the western United States, cougars have been reportedly expanding eastward, and in 2008, a cougar migrated from South Dakota to Wisconsin, and then right down into Chicago, where it was killed by a cop in an alley. When cougars attack humans, they attempt to get their teeth between your vertabrae and into your spinal cord. I shudder just thinking about it.

10. Brown recluse spiders. Perhaps they're not "animals," but no list of wild things in the United States would be complete without this silent killer. Also known as violin spiders, brown recluses live mostly in the southern states -- check out a map here -- in terribly familiar places: anywhere dark and normally undisturbed, like a woodshed, a basement, garages, closets and even under beds. Bites are rare, but if one accidentally gets into your clothes or bedding and is pressed against your skin, you're in trouble. The bites can lead to necrosis, which is essentially your flesh rotting right off of your body.

If you're heading on a camping or hiking trip, keep what these animals can do to you in mind, and don't go provoking any of the fauna. By behaving respectfully towards nature, you can greatly lessen your chances of being attacked by an animal -- but if you see a brown recluse spider, call pest control.