Pam Rotella home page VeggieCooking.com Vegan Cookbook Vegan Recipes Vegetarian Recipes Donate! Featured Articles: My Vegetarian Cookbook Index Healthy Eating The Genetic Fad - A Medical Myth Joel Wallach - Copper Deficiencies Lawrence Broxmeyer - Mad Cow Organophosphates - Mad Cow Multiple Sclerosis and Mercury Alternative Medicine Used for Flus Good Fats (Omega-3 Fatty Acids) Dr. Hulda Clark - Cancer and AIDs Alternative Cancer Treatments Vegans and Vitamin B-12 Aspartame, MSG - Excitotoxins Sickle Cell Anemia Jake Beason - Raising Children Election Fraud 2004 9-11: A Government Operation Pam Remembers Ronald Reagan Family Values Giving Thanks Travel Page Photo Gallery Main Page The Peace (Flower) Gallery Glacier National Park Gallery Autumn Foliage Gallery 2004 New York City Protests Yellowstone National Park Gallery The Badlands Photo Gallery The Main Caverns Gallery Luray Caverns in Virginia Shenandoah Caverns in Virginia Skyline Caverns in Virginia Endless Caverns in Virginia Dixie Caverns in Virginia Natural Bridge in Virginia Crystal Caverns at Hupp Hill in Virginia Cave of the Mounds in Wisconsin Kickapoo Indian Caverns in Wisconsin Crystal Cave in Wisconsin Niagara Cave in Minnesota Mena Airport Photo Gallery Skyline Drive Photo Gallery The House on the Rock Gallery Wisconsin Windmill Farm Copyright Notice & Limited Use Other Health Web Sites: Mercury Poisoned .com Cancer Tutor .com Dorway.com - Aspartame Breast Implant Dangers Dr. Hulda Clark - products Dr. Clark Information Center Dr. Joel Wallach Dr. Lawrence Broxmeyer Mark Purdey Dr. Joseph Mercola Dr. Hal Huggins Dr. Lorainne Day Dr. Andrew Weil Dr. Ralph Moss - Cancer Decisions Dr. Patrick Flanagan - Neurophone NUCCA-Certified Chiropractors Pranic Healing Alternative News Sites: Rense.com What Really Happened .com Buzz Flash .com Information Clearing House Prison Planet.com Alternative Radio: WBAI - New York City KPFK - Los Angeles KPFA - Berkeley WPFW - Washington, DC Air America Radio
	Pam Rotella's Vegetarian FUN page -- nutrition, health, environmental, political, and other news! Fun link of the month: The Pachelbel Rant, mentioned in one of my news comments last month after another Democracy Now! tribute to Yip Harburg discussed Pachelbel's chords in Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Don't forget past fun links of the month -- just as fun as this month's! News from the Week of 22nd to 28th of January 2012 Walker insider is charged, said to be readying testimony in plea deal (27 January 2012) A former aide to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) will testify against her former colleagues after officials filed charges of illegal campaign activity while working on taxpayer time, local media has learned. Darlene Wink, a 61-year-old former public employee charged on Thursday with two misdemeanor counts of political solicitation by a public employee, could be the weak link that spills yet another major scandal over the embattled governor, even as he appears likely to face a recall election later this year. Prosecutors on Thursday announced four felony charges for another Walker insider, 43-year-old Kelly Rindfleisch, who worked with Wink as one of Walker's aides. That brings the total number of Walker insiders facing criminal charges to six, according to The Wisconsin State Journal, which concluded the ongoing investigation had turned up a "pattern of illegal fundraising" and confirmed that Wink was working on a plea bargain that would include testimony. [Read more...] Park Service: 'Occupy D.C.' to be evicted on Monday (27 January 2012) The National Park Service will bar Occupy DC protesters from camping in the two parks where have been living since October, in a blow to one of the highest-profile chapters of the movement denouncing economic inequality. The Occupy DC protesters must stop camping in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza, both a few blocks from the White House, starting at about noon on Monday, the Park Service said on Friday. The Park Service will start to enforce regulations that "prohibit camping and the use of temporary structures for camping in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza," the agency said in a flyer distributed at the sites. "Although 24/7 demonstration vigils and the use of symbolic temporary structures, including empty tents used as symbols of the demonstration, may be permitted in the park areas, camping and the use of temporary structures for camping is not." [Read more...] Egyptian protesters press their demand for end to military rule (27 January 2012) REPORTING FROM CAIRO -- Tens of thousands of protesters flooded Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday demanding a swift transfer of power from the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces to a civilian government in order to complete the revolution that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak and led to the seating this month of a new parliament. The air was filled with an array of banners and anti-military slogans: "Down down with military rule," "Free revolutionaries will continue the path" and "Speak out, don't be afraid, the army needs to leave." Major liberal forces, including the April 6th Youth, Kefaya and the Revolution Youth Coalition, also announced they would begin a sit-in, a move likely to set up a confrontation with police. [Updated 1:38 p.m. Jan. 27: The rally also sharpened tensions between liberals and Islamists. The two sides threw stones and bottles at one another, underscoring the dismay secularists have over the control of the new parliament by the Muslim Brotherhood and the more conservative Salafis. Many activists have accused the Brotherhood, once the nation's leading opposition force, of cooperating with the army and betraying the revolution. Egyptian media reported three people were injured.] The march was dubbed "Friday of Rage" to commemorate exactly one year ago when demonstrators were killed as protests overwhelmed security forces and the momentum shifted away from the state to the people. The anger of activists has since focused on the ruling military council, which has refused to relinquish power until after a president is elected in June. [Read more...] Israel threatens possible strike on Iran (28 January 2012) Economic sanctions by the European Union and the United States can only be allowed a limited time period to prevent Iran from attempting to acquire a nuclear arsenal before a military strike must be contemplated, Israeli leaders have declared. The tough public stance from Tel Aviv comes amid conflicting reports on the readiness of the Israeli military establishment to carry out an attack on Iran. One account claims that Israel's security agencies have concluded that the turmoil predicted from a strike, and the likely response from Tehran, has been widely exaggerated. However, a senior British official told The Independent that the hierarchy of the intelligence service, Mossad, and the armed forces continued to have deep trepidation about conflict in the region. Speaking at the Davos economic summit yesterday, the Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, yesterday warned that a situation could be rapidly reached when even "surgical" military action could not block the Tehran regime from getting the bomb. "We will know early enough whether the Iranians are ready to give up their nuclear weapons," following measures such as the recently announced EU oil embargo, he said. [Read more...] Erin Brockovich probes high school girls' mystery illness (27 January 2012) Brockovich gained notoriety with a 2000 movie (Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts) about her efforts to expose a toxic chemical cover-up in California. She told USA TODAY on Thursday that after families of affected teens and other community members asked her to look into the Le Roy case, she has spent the past week studying federal and state reports of a 1970 train derailment that spilled cyanide and an industrial solvent called trichloroethene within five kilometres of the high school attended by the 12 girls who started reporting neurological symptoms last fall. Three other teens, including one boy, are reportedly experiencing similar symptoms. A statement issued by the school district said "medical and environmental investigations have not uncovered any evidence that would link the neurological symptoms to anything in the environment or of an infectious nature." An indoor- air-quality report and a mold report are posted on the school district's website. "When I read reports like this that the New York Department of Health and state agencies were well-aware of the spill and you don't do water testing or vapor extraction tests, you don't have an all-clear," says Brockovich, of Los Angeles. According to a 1999 report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, almost one tonne of cyanide crystals spilled to the ground in the derailment, along with 130,000 litres of trichloroethene. The crystals were removed but the trichloroethene was absorbed into the ground. [Read more...] Environmental groups, government face off over Northern Gateway pipeline review (27 January 2012) CALGARY and TORONTO -- Environmental groups are seeking confirmation the ongoing regulatory review of the Northern Gateway pipeline is unbiased, as federal politicians committed to making drastic changes to major project reviews reaffirmed their concerns special interests are serving to "hijack" assessments. Three organizations represented by legal group Ecojustice fear the review of Enbridge Inc.'s $5.5-billion project is being characterized by Ottawa as flawed, so the federal government can justify drastically cutting future environmental review of major projects. Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver has promised any changes would balance economic and environmental interests. Ecojustice submitted a motion Friday to the joint review panel examining the proposed 1,200-kilometre oil pipeline from Alberta to the British Columbia coast. It asks regulators to determine if their assessment has been undermined or has the appearance of being pre-determined by damning comments against some interveners, made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other federal ministers. The motion from Vancouver-based Ecojustice wants the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency conducting the review to issue a statement confirming independence and that the panel was "not influenced by statements of the prime minister, the minister of natural resources or other ministers of the Crown." [Read more...] New California rules require cleaner cars (27 January 2012) California, long a national leader in cutting auto pollution, pushed the envelope further Friday when state regulators approved a suite of rules designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars and put far more more pollution-free vehicles on the road in coming years. The package of Air Resources Board regulations would require auto manufacturers to offer increasing numbers of zero or very low emission cars such as electric battery, hydrogen fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles in California starting with model year 2018. By 2025, one in seven new autos sold in California, or roughly 1.4 million, would be ultra-clean, moving what is now a novelty into the mainstream. Three years in the works, the new rules package also toughens standards for auto emissions that form smog and contribute to global warming. [Read more...] When is a coyote not a coyote? When it's also a wolf (27 January 2012) "I prefer the term coywolf to describe how they are hybrids with these 2 species," writes researcher Jonathan G. Way in an email. "It really is pretty simple, as these animals are bigger than western coyotes but smaller than eastern wolves." Regardless of what we call them, it's clear from reader photos and stories that these relatively large animals are not afraid to live in close proximity to humans. Interactions, for good or ill, are bound to be more common. Toronto Animal Services education officer Robert Meerburg has some simple advice for people living around coyotes: Stop feeding them. "Coyotes are very opportunistic," says Meerburg. "They will take any free meal they can get." [Read more...] Drugs, the teenager found murdered on the Queen's estate and how the Baltic Mafia is terrorising one of Britain's oldest market towns (27 January 2012) In Riga, friends say, Alisa was always laughing and happy, taking the bus to school with her friends. After she arrived in the UK in late 2009, she studied for three months at a local school in Chatteris, eight miles from Wisbech, before transferring to the Wisbech campus of the College of West Anglia to study English language full-time. However, she skipped classes and took last summer's exams only because her grandmother promised her a present if she completed them. She constantly begged for money from her family, and sold almost everything she owned (including her bicycle for £10) to pay for cannabis, crystal meth, a highly addictive man-made psycho-stimulant, and ketamine, a powerful tranquilliser used by vets on horses. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: The location of her body was probably a message to other potential victims, too -- "Even the Queen can't stop us!" Alaska senate committee to consider ban of 'bath salt' intoxicants (27 January 2012) JUNEAU -- Alaska legislators today were to take up a bill that would ban a few substances sold over the counter and marketed as bath salts, which are a variety of chemical compounds that mimic effects of popular illicit drugs like cocaine and ecstasy. The Senate Judiciary Committee was to hear SB140, a bill co-sponsored by Republicans Kevin Meyer and Cathy Giessel, both of Anchorage, and Democrat Donald Olson from Nome. Long-term side effects of bath salts are relatively unknown because few studies have been conducted. The Alaska Legislature criminalized the similarly unknown synthetic marijuana last year, which was often packaged as incense and sold over the counter. Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew said the same is needed for bath salts during this session. [Read more...] Low IQ behind some conservative beliefs (27 January 2012) Children with low intelligence are more likely to grow up to be social conservatives and racists, researchers found in a study published out of the U.K. The study, which appeared in the journal Psychological Science and was written up by LifeScience, built upon previous research linking low education with prejudice, using data from two studies testing IQ and then political beliefs. "As suspected, low intelligence in childhood corresponded with racism in adulthood. But the factor that explained the relationship between these two variables was political: When researchers included social conservatism in the analysis, those ideologies accounted for much of the link between brains and bias," LifeScience wrote. Lead researcher Gordon Hodson, of Brock University in Ontario, concluded that people with low IQs are attracted to the hierarchy and structure in socially conservative institutions. His findings are expected to cause some controversy since they play into some stereotypical notions of the political divide in the U.S., where liberals can be characterized as elitist and intellectual and conservatives as dumb and backwards. [Read more...] Arizona police sergeant's photo prompts Secret Service probe (27 January 2012) A post on the Facebook page of a veteran Peoria police sergeant depicting the photo of seven Centennial High School students in Peoria, four with guns and one holding up a T-shirt with a bullet-riddled image of President Barack Obama, was brought to the U.S. Secret Service's attention by a citizen and an "appropriate follow-up" is being conducted, a Washington D.C-based spokesman for the federal agency told The Republic Friday. "Any time information like this is brought to our attention we have to conduct a follow-up," Max Milien, spokesman for the Secret Service, said. Milien described the Facebook post in the category of "unusual direction of interest," which would merit an agency follow-up, he said. "We understand an individual's right to free speech but we also have the right to speak to the individual to determine what their intent is," Milien added. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: There's a picture of the T-shirt in the video embedded in the page. The Autumn Foliage Gallery, a/k/a Pam spends time with the Secret Service (FLASHBACK) (28 October 2004) Not that the Secret Service agents were mean or abusive while being paranoid -- they were the nicest paranoids I've ever met.  In fact, they seemed like a bunch of nice guys who'd just been trained as paranoids.  I was totally honest with them, too, because I could tell they were intelligent enough to handle whatever I threw at them.  For example, my web page both saved me and made them even more suspicious.  The photo galleries helped because I could mention that I post photo galleries all the time, even ones with blatant political significance like the Mena airport.  (So of course one agent disappears from the room, checks out the web site, then comes back to tell me that the photo galleries were really nice, and he found my Roach v. Bush link.)  Of course they wanted to know how I felt about Bush, since I had anti-Bush bumper stickers on my car  as well (along with pro-Kerry ones) aside from my internet articles poking fun at Bush's intelligence, grammar, war mongering... Bush provides so much material to work with.  They wanted to know if I'd driven past President Bush's Crawford ranch & took pictures of that, too.  (Don't make me sick!)  Or if I'd stopped in Little Rock on my way to Mena.  Or if I'd attended any political events recently.  (The only one I could recall was Fighting Bob Fest last year, where I saw Kucinich speak -- and he DIDN'T mind me taking his picture.)  Now that's really, really paranoid.  And I'm paranoid enough, from years of being stalked.  We had a regular paranoid-fest going on.  But on the other hand, when they asked if I wanted to harm President Bush, I told them that I had no intentions of harming the man, I just hated the man for good reason -- mostly the economy & the war on Iraq.  They were comfortable with my dislike for the man, as long as I didn't express a desire to blow him away.  So of course they asked me a few more times, in different ways, if I was sure that I didn't want to harm President Bush, until they were satisfied that I limited myself to exposing the man on the internet. I don't even know how many hours I spent with the Secret Service that morning while they pursued various lines of questioning.  Near the end of the interview, they brought in another man to fill out some forms, and by that time I was slower in my answers, and repeatedly informed him that I'd already given things like info on relatives to other agents.  He was quick though, seeming to sense I was worn out, and I was on my way soon after that.  Frankly, I was tired... and I wanted to eat lunch. [Read more...] Bush In Verbal Gaffe; Says White House never stops thinking about ways to harm U.S. (FLASHBACK) (5 August 2004) AUGUST 5--In an unfortunate, though not uncommon, verbal miscue, President George W. Bush today told a White House audience that his administration never stops thinking about ways to harm the United States. The embarrassing malapropism came as Bush appeared before military brass to sign a new $417 billion defense appropriation bill. Referring to the country's enemies, Bush said, "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." [Read more...] Buried in a separate legal case, Justice Dept. admits that Bruce Ivins was not the 2001 anthrax killer (27 January 2012) In documents deep in the files of a recently settled Florida lawsuit, Justice Department civil attorneys contradicted their own department's conclusion that Ivins was unquestionably the anthrax killer. The lawyers said the type of anthrax in Ivins's lab was "radically different" from the deadly anthrax. They cited several witnesses who said Ivins was innocent, and they suggested that a private laboratory in Ohio could have been involved in the attacks. The unusual spectacle of one arm of the Justice Department publicly questioning another has the potential to undermine one of the most high-profile investigations in years, according to critics and independent experts who reviewed the court filings. "I cannot think of another case in which the government has done such an egregious about-face. It destroys confidence in the criminal findings,'' said Paul Rothstein, a law professor at Georgetown University. The documents were filed in a lawsuit over the October 2001 death of Robert Stevens, a Florida photo editor who was the first victim of the attacks. His survivors accused the government of negligence for experimenting with anthrax at Fort Detrick, a case that lingered in court until the Justice Department quietly settled it in late November. [Read more...] Professor Francis Boyle on the anthrax attacks of 2001 - interview by Alex Jones (FLASHBACK) (21 August 2008) ALEX JONES: OK, Dr. Boyle, this has been an amazing interview. And I just want you in the next 6, 7 minutes or so to cover any other key points, any other areas, any web sites you want to plug. You've got the floor. FRANCIS A. BOYLE: Well, I have a book on the subject called "Biowarfare and Terrorism" -- Clarity Press -- which you can read, that sets out the case or the basic points that I'm making here today. Everything I'm saying in there has been confirmed by the latest revelations. In addition, since that book went to press, I have reviewed the Pentagon's report to Congress on their chemical and biological warfare programs. And it's very clear -- they are engaged in the development and use of anthrax as a weapon of warfare. It is also clear if you read through there, the Pentagon in this biowarfare programs is now testing -- open-air testing, which is something that Congress passed a statute to prohibit, and yet there was put in there a Presidential waiver. So we have to understand the stockpile of this super-weapons grade anthrax is still there, probably at Dugway, or perhaps Battelle in Ohio, and waiting to be used again when the Pentagon and the CIA decide they want to terrorize the American people. Cheney has said if there's another terrorist attack, he'll blame it on Iran. There's an election coming up that, you know, they're going to want to win for McCain, who's in the pocket of the neoconservatives currently running the government, and the continuity of government. So there are a variety of occasions coming up for these people to use this anthrax and panic the American people, either towards war, towards a police state, or towards electing the Presidential candidate they want. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Just in case anyone was wondering WHICH company in Ohio... U.S. to pay Lantana widow $2.5 million for the 2001 anthrax attack that killed her husband (FLASHBACK) (29 November 2011) Bob Stevens, 63, died in October 2001 days after he opened an anthrax-laced letter while working as a photo editor for the then-Boca Raton-based Sun, a supermarket tabloid owned by American Media Inc. In the shell-shocked days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, his death and subsequent deadly anthrax letter bombs sent to news outlets in New York City and Congressional offices in Washington, D.C. gripped the nation. A $100 million investigation - the largest in FBI history - fingered Bruce Ivins, a researcher at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., as the perpetrator. Ivins killed himself in July 2008, shortly before he was to be charged in connection with the attacks that killed Stevens and four others. After living with the case for eight years and reading scores of classified documents, Schuler said he isn't convinced Ivins was solely responsible. If Ivins did turn the anthrax spores into powder, he would have needed much more than the 21 hours the FBI said he spent concocting the toxin on weekends before the attacks. "He would have had to start a lot earlier than the FBI says and done it over a period of years," he said. Officials at the U.S. Justice Department declined comment on the settlement. [Read more...] Occupy protest seizes UC Davis building, blocks bank (27 January 2012) Taking advantage of some extra patience on the part of administrators who came under heavy criticism for the pepper-spraying of demonstrators in November, student protesters on the UC Davis campus have seized control of a vacant campus building and are sporadically blocking access to an on-campus bank. Two days into the Occupy movement takeover of a single-story cottage that formerly served as the Cross Cultural Center, the administration hasn't officially told the students they can't be in the building. The lights and heat remain on as the university examines its options. "We're monitoring it. We are going to make decisions based on the best interest of the university. Nobody wants a repeat of what happened in November," said Claudia Morain, a spokeswoman for the university. Campus police pepper-sprayed a number of students during a Nov. 18 standoff as officers sought to clear a tent encampment from the university quad. The university was widely vilified after videos of the spraying posted on the Internet were viewed millions of times. [Read more...] CDC "can't say what exactly causes Morgellons" (27 January 2012) A long-awaited study, released Wednesday by the journal PLoS ONE, may be a disappointment for those who have called for more awareness and recognition of Morgellons -- in which sufferers complain of crawling, itching feelings and of tiny specks and filaments sticking out of sores on their skin. Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that, of patients studied, 59% had cognitive deficits of some sort, and 63% had evidence of "clinically significant somatic complaints." Those strange colored filaments and specks? Mostly just bits of cotton and nylon fibers from clothing, the authors concluded. They could have gotten stuck in the sores in relation to the constant scratching of the skin. The researchers can't say what exactly causes Morgellons, but the results do fall in line with an Archives of Dermatology study described last year in a Times article, in which findings by Mayo Clinic researchers indicated that Morgellons disease might be better described by a psychological disorder known as "delusional parasitosis." [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: I can't help but think of chronic fatigue syndrome, where there are several legitimate causes (selenium deficiency, Epstein-Barr virus, myofascitis worsening) but the medical field wants to tell patients that they're crazy because they don't understand it. Feds claim company backing Utah nuclear plant is a fraud (26 January 2012) A company once touted as one of the main financial backers of Utah's first nuclear power plant is in big trouble with federal securities regulators. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused LeadDog Capital and its principals of scamming investors. LeadDog was named as the source of $30 million in financing for Blue Castle Holding's proposed 3,000-megawatt nuclear power plant near the Green River. Blue Castle CEO Aaron Tilton said his company had an agreement with the New York-based hedge fund for the working capital but he never pulled the trigger on the deal and no longer has dealings with LeadDog. Still, the claimed $30 million in backing by LeadDog played a significant role in the state's controversial decision last week to grant rights to Blue Castle for 53,600 acre-feet of water from the Green River, water the nuclear power plant must have to operate its two planned reactors. The decision is expected to be the only official say the state has over the project, which must win approval of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. [Read more...] Found: 'Lost" evidence that let police walk free (U.K.) (27 January 2012) A victim of one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice reacted furiously last night to the latest revelations and demanded a public inquiry into a case that has raised serious doubts about the ability of the criminal justice system to investigate itself. The officers were accused of fabricating evidence following the murder of Lynette White, a prostitute, in 1988, resulting in the wrongful convictions of the so-called "Cardiff Three". The officers' trial collapsed in disarray last month when prosecutors revealed that files had been destroyed. But the police watchdog said last night that the files had been discovered in their original boxes and were still in the hands of South Wales Police, which had investigated the case against officers from the same force. Stephen Miller, 45, who spent four years in prison before being freed on appeal, told The Independent last night: "There has to be a public inquiry. This is ridiculous. When is it going to stop? Those officers are never going to be seen back in court. Some of my co-accused have now passed away -- where is the justice for them?" [Read more...] Leonard Pitts Jr.: Gingrich resorts to an old GOP strategy -- targeting racial resentment (27 January 2012) I got my first job when I was 12. The deacons at my church paid me $2 a week to keep it swept and mopped. So I do not need Newt Gingrich to lecture me about a good work ethic. In this, I suspect, I speak for the vast majority of 39 million African Americans. There has been a lot of talk about whether Gingrich's recent language, including his performance at last week's South Carolina debate and his earlier declaration that Barack Obama has been America's best "food-stamp president," amounts to a coded appeal to racist sensitivities. The answer is simple: yes. In this, Gingrich joins a line of Republicans stretching back at least to Richard Nixon. From that president's trumpeting of "law and order" (i.e., "I will get these black demonstrators off the streets") to Ronald Reagan's denunciation of "welfare queens" (i.e., "I will stop these lazy black women from living high on your tax dollars") to George H.W. Bush's use of Willie Horton (i.e., "Elect me or this scary black man will get you") the GOP long ago mastered the craft of using nonracial language to say racial things. So Gingrich is working from a well-thumbed playbook when he hectors blacks about their work ethic and says they should demand paychecks and not be "satisfied" with food stamps. As if most blacks had ever done anything else. As if an unemployment rate that for some mysterious reason runs twice the national average does not make paychecks hard to come by. As if blacks were the only, or even the majority of, food-stamp recipients. [Read more...] Asteroid to pass close to the Earth today (27 January 2012) A bus-sized asteroid is scheduled to pass close to the Earth on Friday, Jan. 27, around 10:30 a.m. EST. Also known as Asteroid 2012 BX34, the flying rock measures around 36 feet and will be coming within 36,750 miles of Earth. Though this distance does not seem close in everyday terms, this is a close call in cosmic terms. The relatively small asteroid, however, would not have much of an effect even if it did hit the Earth, which experts insist it will not. In comparison, NASA scientists explain that asteroids capable of causing widespread destruction need to be at least around 400 feet. According to Spaceweather.com, some amateur astronomers might be able to catch a glimpse of the bus-sized asteroid with a telescope and have a close-up and personal encounter with a large flying rock. [Read more...] BP Can't Collect Part of $40 Billion Spill Costs From Transocean (27 January 2012) BP Plc can't collect from Transocean Ltd. part of the $40 billion in cleanup costs and economic losses caused by the 2010 oil well blowout and Gulf of Mexico spill, a judge ruled, sending Transocean shares higher. BP must indemnify Transocean for pollution-related economic damage claims under its drilling contract, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans ruled yesterday. London-based BP sued Transocean in April to recover a share of its damages and costs from the spill. Any awards for punitive damages against Transocean or civil penalties under the U.S. Clean Water Act won't have to be covered by BP, the judge wrote in his 30-page decision. He didn't say whether Transocean will be liable for punitive damages or Clean Water Act penalties. Transocean has already accepted responsibility for equipment losses and paying personal injury and death claims, citing contract provisions. "This confirms that BP is responsible for all economic damages caused by the oil that leaked from its Macondo well, and completely discredits BP's ongoing attempts to evade both its contractual and financial obligations," Transocean said in an e-mailed statement. "Transocean is pleased to see its position affirmed, consistent with the law and the long-established model for allocating risks in the offshore oil and gas industry." [Read more...] MSU researchers show how new viruses evolve, and in some cases, become deadly (27 January 2012) EAST LANSING, Mich. -- In the current issue of Science, researchers at Michigan State University demonstrate how a new virus evolves, which sheds light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations. The scientists showed for the first time how the virus called "Lambda" evolved to find a new way to attack host cells, an innovation that took four mutations to accomplish. This virus infects bacteria, in particular the common E. coli bacterium. Lambda isn't dangerous to humans, but this research demonstrated how viruses evolve complex and potentially deadly new traits, said Justin Meyer, MSU graduate student, who co-authored the paper with Richard Lenski, MSU Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. "We were surprised at first to see Lambda evolve this new function, this ability to attack and enter the cell through a new receptor -- and it happened so fast," Meyer said. "But when we re-ran the evolution experiment, we saw the same thing happen over and over." This paper follows recent news that scientists in the United States and the Netherlands produced a deadly version of bird flu. Even though bird flu is a mere five mutations away from becoming transmissible between humans, it's highly unlikely the virus could naturally obtain all of the beneficial mutations all at once. However, it might evolve sequentially, gaining benefits one-by-one, if conditions are favorable at each step, he added. [Read more...] "He Says One Thing and Does Another": Ralph Nader Responds to Obama's State of the Union Address (25 January 2012) RALPH NADER: Well, I think his lawless militarism, that started the speech and ended the speech, was truly astonishing. I mean, he was very committed to projecting the American empire, in Obama terms, force projection in the Pacific, and distorting the whole process of how he explains Iraq and Afghanistan. He talks about Libya and Syria, and then went into the military alliance with Israel and didn't talk about the peace process or the plight of the Palestinians, who are being so repressed. Leaving Iraq as if it was a victory? Iraq has been destroyed: massive refugees, over a million Iraqis dead, contaminated environment, collapsing infrastructure, sectarian warfare. He should be ashamed of himself that he tries to drape our soldiers, who were sent on lawless military missions to kill and die in those countries, unconstitutional wars that violate Geneva conventions and international law and federal statutes, and drape them as if they've come back from Iwo Jima or Normandy. So I think it was very, very poor taste to start and end with this kind of massive militarism and the Obama empire. NERMEEN SHAIKH: And on the economy, Ralph Nader, on the economy, your response to what Obama said last night? RALPH NADER: A lot of good-sounding words. He's very good at that. I'm glad he focused on Wall Street abuses on more than one occasion. I'm glad that he focused on renewable energy. But notice that he just mentioned climate change but didn't go anywhere on that one. He still is not able to use the word "poverty." It's always the middle class, which is shrinking into poverty. But you've got 60, 70, 80 million people living in poverty in the United States, and child poverty. And the most amazing gap was his promise in 2008 to press for the raising of the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.50 by 2011. So, he went for equal pay for equal work for women, but millions of people in this country, one out of every three full-time workers, are earning Wal-Mart wages, many of them not far over the $7.25 rate. Now, the $9.50 minimum wage would still be less in inflation-adjusted terms than it was in 1968, when worker productivity was half of what it is today. So, a lot of his suggestions, like the attitude toward foreign trade--well, he said that in 2008 he wanted to revise NAFTA. He didn't lift a finger. So how credible are his words vis-à-vis China, for example, in the trade area and importing hazardous products into this country? How credible are his words? How credible are his words when he says he wants to start a financial crimes unit in the Justice Department? I mean, what does that mean, unless he demands a much larger budget for prosecutors and law enforcement officials against the corporate crime wave? Maybe he needs a subscription to the Corporate Crime Reporter to tell him that we've been through these kinds of rhetorics before by prior presidents. They're going to establish an enforcement unit here and there, but without a major budget, it's going to go nowhere. [Read more...] How Siri is ruining your cellphone service (26 January 2012) But not in every way. Siri's dirty little secret is that she's a bandwidth guzzler, the digital equivalent of a 10-miles-per-gallon Hummer H1. To make your wish her command, Siri floods your cell network with a stream of data; her responses require a similarly large flow in return. A study published this month by Arieso, an Atlanta firm that specializes in mobile networks, found that the Siri-equipped iPhone 4S uses twice as much data as does the plain old iPhone 4 and nearly three times as much as does the iPhone 3G. The new phone requires far more data than most other advanced smartphones, which are pretty data-intensive themselves, The Post has reported. In all, Arieso says that the Siri-equipped iPhone 4S "appears to unleash data consumption behaviors that have no precedent." Under most circumstances, this would seem to be someone else's problem. Cellphone contracts are "tiered" so that those who use a network more than others pay more for the privilege. You want to ask Siri silly questions? Go to town -- but you (or, in this case, I) will get the bill at the end of the month. By the same logic, a customer who wants better service on an airline can pay for it by buying a first-class ticket. The marketplace provides. Except on the data skyway, it's not that simple. Cell and data networks are like any common resource; they have limits. And once they hit their limit, regardless of which group is using its share and then some, there's no more to go around. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: That's only a problem until people get sick of their cell phones talking to them. Glock: As Giffords Exits, a Look at the Gun Used in Tucson Rampage and Other U.S. Mass Shootings (26 January 2012) [DN] JUAN GONZALEZ: And this was only in the early 1980s, right? PAUL BARRETT: 1980, right. In 1982, he--after gathering some of the best handgun experts together and asking them for what elements of a gun would be best suited for the military, he came up with this design. And his huge advantage was the disadvantage you just identified: he started with a blank piece of paper. Rather than telling his customer what they wanted, he listened to what they were looking for. And he came up with this very modern, very futuristic-looking, mostly plastic gun, that was inexpensive to produce, so he has--his profit margin was high; very easy to use--there are no complicated safety gizmos, and we could talk about that some more, because that has a downside, as well; has this large magazine capacity; and it's very durable, which is very appealing to a military or a police department, which is buying the guns en masse. JUAN GONZALEZ: And it has very few parts, that have separate parts that have to be manufactured. PAUL BARRETT: Absolutely, absolutely. It had half or a third of the parts of comparable guns. There's just less to break down. And the parts also come in modules, so you can pull them in and out. You can literally mix and match the parts. This was a very practical product, similar to the Japanese cars that showed up in the United States in the '70s and '80s and had so much success against Detroit's cars. Well, in the same way, the Glock came to the United States and pushed aside Smith & Wesson, the incumbent gun company that, until that time, was dominant. AMY GOODMAN: So American police use Austrian guns. PAUL BARRETT: That's absolutely correct. JUAN GONZALEZ: And you tell the story of how that happened. How did all these police departments adopt this gun? PAUL BARRETT: Well, in addition to his brilliant starting from scratch with a blank piece of paper, Glock had phenomenal timing, just good luck. He showed up in the United States saying, "I've got the pistol of the future," at precisely the moment that police departments in this country felt that they were, as they put it, out-gunned by the bad guys. This is the mid to late '80s. Crime levels are going up in big cities, fueled in many cases by crack cocaine violence, gangs shooting at each other. And the police just felt that the traditional six-round Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver was kind of yesterday's weapon. They wanted tomorrow's weapon. They wanted to jump ahead of the bad guys. And Glock had this product that seemed so appealing. And within a space of just a few years, you went from a completely--a Smith & Wesson gun culture to this semi-automatic pistol gun culture, and Glock was out there in front. [Read more...] Whooping Cranes finally take flight after FAA exemption (26 January 2012) Operation Migration reports that whooping cranes grounded in Alabama by an FAA investigation have finally left Franklin County, Alabama... if only making it nine miles south to neighboring Winston County. On Tuesday, the birds were led into flight again, although the flock's handlers reported difficulty in keeping the birds together in the air after the long Alabama stopover. Poor flying weather has grounded the birds since. In December, the endangered birds' ultra-light-guided migration south was paused due to an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). At issue was whether the FAA rule banning compensation of ultra-light aircraft pilots had been violated. On January 9th, the FAA granted a "one-time exemption" for the migration to continue until a long-term agreement for the program could be reached. After the FAA delay, a lack of favorable flying conditions prevented the migration from continuing, and the birds remained penned up in Franklin County, Alabama until Tuesday. Now the birds are penned in Winston County until good flying conditions return. [Read more...] Behind slick Apple products lurk gritty facts about human costs (26 January 2012) In the last decade, Apple has become one of the mightiest, richest and most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing. Apple and its high-technology peers -- as well as dozens of other American industries -- have achieved a pace of innovation nearly unmatched in modern history. However, the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious -- sometimes deadly -- safety problems. Employees work excessive overtime, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Under-age workers have helped build Apple's products, and the company's suppliers have improperly disposed of hazardous waste and falsified records, according to company reports and advocacy groups that, within China, are often considered reliable, independent monitors. More troubling, the groups say, is some suppliers' disregard for workers' health. Two years ago, 137 workers at an Apple supplier in eastern China were injured after they were ordered to use a poisonous chemical to clean iPhone screens. Within seven months last year, two explosions at iPad factories, including in Chengdu, killed four people and injured 77. Before those blasts, Apple had been alerted to hazardous conditions inside the Chengdu plant, according to a Chinese group that published that warning. [Read more...] "Nutty Newt" promises a moon base (26 January 2012) There are two givens in any election campaign: 1) the candidates will make grand promises that they can never keep and 2) they will pander to their audience at every opportunity. But on Wednesday, Newt "grandiose is my middle name" [it isn't] Gingrich took those truisms on to a whole new, extraplanetary level. Speaking to an audience on Florida's Space Coast ahead of the state's primary next week, the big-thinking Republican hopeful turned his science fiction fantasies into a hard and fast campaign promise. "By the end of my second term we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American," he said. According to Talking Points Memo Gingrich went on to say that the base would be used for "science, tourism, and manufacturing" and to create a "robust industry" modelled on the airline business in the 20th century. And from there, how could a president ever top that? Well, that would be a mission to Mars obviously, said Gingrich - or Newt Lightyear as my colleague Richard Adams has now dubbed him. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: I'm sorry, Newt, you wanted some attention? And how would a big NAFTA, GATT, and WTO champion like Newt Gingrich build a base on the moon? I assume it'll be made in China, manned by Mexicans. And for the same man who was instrumental in the repeal of Glass-Steagall, financed by worthless derivatives that the government will be forced to bail out later... Brewer, Obama exchange tense words over book, immigration at airport (25 January 2012) President Barack Obama arrived at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and was greeted by Gov. Jan Brewer, among other dignitaries and local mayors. The two spoke intensely for a few minutes. At one point, she pointed her finger at him. At another, they were talking over each other. Obama appeared to walk away from Brewer while they were still talking. "He was a little disturbed about my book, 'Scorpions for Breakfast,' " Brewer told a pool reporter who is a member of the traveling White House press corps shortly after her encounter with Obama. "I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president. The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read the excerpt." Asked what aspect of the book disturbed him, Brewer said: "That he didn't feel that I had treated him cordially. I said I was sorry he felt that way, but I didn't get my sentence finished. Anyway, we're glad he's here." [Read more...] The demise of the dollar (26 January 2012) The decline of American economic power linked to the current global recession was implicitly acknowledged by the World Bank president Robert Zoellick. "One of the legacies of this crisis may be a recognition of changed economic power relations," he said in Istanbul ahead of meetings this week of the IMF and World Bank. But it is China's extraordinary new financial power -- along with past anger among oil-producing and oil-consuming nations at America's power to interfere in the international financial system -- which has prompted the latest discussions involving the Gulf states. Brazil has shown interest in collaborating in non-dollar oil payments, along with India. Indeed, China appears to be the most enthusiastic of all the financial powers involved, not least because of its enormous trade with the Middle East. China imports 60 per cent of its oil, much of it from the Middle East and Russia. The Chinese have oil production concessions in Iraq -- blocked by the US until this year -- and since 2008 have held an $8bn agreement with Iran to develop refining capacity and gas resources. China has oil deals in Sudan (where it has substituted for US interests) and has been negotiating for oil concessions with Libya, where all such contracts are joint ventures. Furthermore, Chinese exports to the region now account for no fewer than 10 per cent of the imports of every country in the Middle East, including a huge range of products from cars to weapon systems, food, clothes, even dolls. In a clear sign of China's growing financial muscle, the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, yesterday pleaded with Beijing to let the yuan appreciate against a sliding dollar and, by extension, loosen China's reliance on US monetary policy, to help rebalance the world economy and ease upward pressure on the euro. [Read more...] Australian politicians flee with security when confronted by Aboriginal protest on Australia Day (26 January 2012) Activists from the tent embassy accused Mr Abbott of inciting racial riots with his earlier comments. Michael Anderson said the comments were disrespectful. "He said the aboriginal embassy had to go, we heard it on a radio broadcast," he told AAP. "We thought no way, so we circled around the building." [Read more...] Popular TV host and son of New York City police commissioner accused of 'raping young woman in her office' (26 January 2012) A popular television host whose father is the New York City Police Commissioner is under investigation for alleged rape. Greg Kelly, son of Ray Kelly, denies any wrongdoing and says he is co-operating with officials. The alleged sexual assault took place in October, but the woman involved did not report her accusation until this week. The woman, who is around 30, told police that she and Mr Kelly met on the street and went for drinks at the South Street Seaport on the evening of October 8, according to the New York Times. [Read more...] Groups sue over Navy sonar use off Northwest (26 January 2012) SEATTLE - A group of conservationists and American Indian tribes are suing over the Navy's expanded use of sonar in training exercises off the Washington, Oregon and California coasts, saying the noise can harass and kill whales and other marine life. In a lawsuit being filed Thursday, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice and other groups claim the National Marine Fisheries Service was wrong to approve the Navy's expanded training plan. They say regulators should have considered the effects repeated sonar use can have on those species. The groups want restrictions on where and when the Navy can conduct sonar and other loud activities to protect orcas, humpbacks and other marine mammals. [Read more...] Uranium mining ban shows feds listen (opinion) (26 January 2012) In a properly functioning democracy, the leaders follow the community's direction. On Monday, when the Obama administration declared a 20-year moratorium on new mines near Grand Canyon National Park, our leaders chose to listen to the people, and we are hugely grateful. Over 300,000 members of the public wrote letters supporting protection of Grand Canyon from new mining. The Flagstaff City Council, Coconino County Board of Supervisors, and local tribal councils all supported the mining ban, and we thank them as well for providing a clear vision to which the federal government could respond. This week, local residents got together to celebrate this action and its positive impact on both a national icon and the northern Arizona economy. Ninety citizens signed cards thanking President Obama, Interior Secretary Salazar, BLM Director Abbey, and Representative Grijalva (who has been a champion of Grand Canyon protection) for defending us from sickness and contamination associated with uranium mines. It is clear that northern Arizona supports this decision, and our leaders have represented us. Thank you to everyone who made it happen. [Read more...] NASA shows off 'amazing' photo of Earth (26 January 2012) A composite image released by NASA Wednesday is the "most amazing" perspective we've ever had of our planet, according to the space agency. "This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012," according to NASA. Take a look. [Read more...] The curious case of the vanishing killer (26 January 2012) It is one of medicine's mysteries: what has caused Britain's plummeting rate of heart disease over the last decade? Deaths from heart attacks have halved since 2002 and no one is quite sure why. Similar changes have occurred in countries around the world but the death rate in England, especially, has fallen further and faster than almost anywhere. Researchers from the University of Oxford suggest part of the reason is that our hearts are getting stronger. We are suffering fewer heart attacks than we did and fewer of them are fatal. The two factors may be linked. By reducing risk factors for heart disease -- avoiding smoking, eating a healthy diet, cutting cholesterol and lowering blood pressure -- we not only reduce heart attacks but ensure that when they occur they are less life threatening. The researchers looked at 840,000 men and women in England who had suffered a total of 861,000 heart attacks between 2002 and 2010. Overall, the death rates fell by 50 per cent in men and 53 per cent in women. The reasons for the decline, they say, are "beneficial changes in the health of the population" and "major improvements in NHS care" for those who end up in hospital. But the findings were not uniform across the country. In London heart attack rates rose between 2007 and 2009 -- probably as a result of the financial crisis. Many puzzles remain. "The causes of the increase and decline in heart disease deaths are not entirely straightforward," said Professor Michael Goldacre, of the Department of Public Health, who led the study published in the British Medical Journal. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: So many Brits went vegetarian after the mad cow crisis of the 90s that their hearts are probably in slightly better shape, despite the return by many to a meat-based diet. Gates injects $750M into troubled Global Fund (26 January 2012) Gates said the promissory note was designed so the fund "can immediately use the money and save lives." He downplayed the fund's reported losses of tens of millions of dollars to corruption, misuse and undocumented spending that were highlighted in stories by The Associated Press. He said he was lending his "credibility" to the fund so others would feel reassured. "The internal checks and balances have worked in every case," Gates told reporters. It was "disappointing," he said, to see how people have focused on a "small misuse of funds." "If you're going to do business in Africa, you're going to have some losses," he said. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: I doubt that any fund focusing so much on vaccinations would attract many new donors these days. Vaccines are controversial, especially in Africa, and the money goes to big drug companies already swimming in cash. PIP breast implant boss arrested in south of France (26 January 2012) The founder of the French firm that produced the faulty breast implants at the centre of a global health scare has been arrested in the south of France. Jean-Claude Mas, 72, head of Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) was taken into police custody just before 7am on Thursday morning after police arrived at the home of his partner in Six-Fours in the Var. The house was being searched by investigators. A deputy chief executive was also arrested at his home. Mas has given several interviews to French media about the scandal, and was not the subject of a manhunt by police, contrary to some previous reports. PIP closed down in March 2010 after regulators discovered it was using a non-medical grade silicone in its implants. In December, the French government advised 30,000 women to have substandard PIP implants removed following health officials' warnings they were more likely to rupture than other implants. Mas was defiant, admitting on French radio he had used homemade silicone gel to cut costs. [Read more...] Feds: Pharmacies gave 'used' drugs to W. Washington nursing homes (25 January 2012) Federal investigators have raided pharmacies in Seattle and Bellingham looking for evidence that potentially dangerous returned drugs were being resold to elderly and disabled patients without their knowledge. According to court papers filed in the Food and Drug Administration investigation, the pharmacies' owners were reselling medicine collected from patients living in long-term care facilities around Western Washington. Investigators contend the drugs -- some of which were collected from residents after they died -- were then repacked and sold as new. Among the targets of the investigation were the Scrips LTC Pharmacy in Seattle and Custom Prescription Shoppe in Bellingham. The owners of those businesses also operate CPS Pharmacy in Pasco. Investigators do not note which long-term care facilities were clients of the pharmacies, nor do they estimate how many patients may have been sold second-hand drugs. [Read more...] Arizona Rep. Giffords appears on House floor to officially resign (25 January 2012) WASHINGTON -- In a body occasionally known for untoward exits, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords stood among cheering, crying colleagues to say goodbye Wednesday, over a year after she was gravely wounded by a would-be assassin. Giffords had come to the well of the House to resign, a formality since she'd signaled her intention earlier, as she recovers from a gunshot wound to the head during a shooting rampage in her home district in Arizona. It was one of the longer House goodbyes in recent times, as Democrats and Republicans lined up to see her off. A prolonged standing ovation followed a fusion of tributes and tears as colleagues praised her dignity and perseverance. Surrounded by friends and colleagues and holding Rep. Jeff Flake's hand, Giffords heard her close friend, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, read her resignation letter to the chamber. In it, Giffords said she had "more work to do on my recovery before I can again serve in elected office." Last January, a gunman opened fire at Giffords' "Congress on Your Corner" event in Tucson, killing six people and wounding 13, including Giffords who suffered the gunshot wound. [Read more...] Walnuts slow growth of prostate cancer in mice, UC Davis research shows (25 January 2012) New research in mice by UC Davis shows that walnuts slow the growth of prostate cancer. Mice fed a diet with walnuts had smaller, slower growing tumors, the researchers reported in the current issue of the British Journal of Nutrition. A low-fat diet is often recommended for reducing the risk for developing or slowing growth of prostate cancer. However, the UC Davis study suggests that not eating walnuts may be a mistake. Walnuts are rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, antioxidants and other plant chemicals. Eschewing walnuts may mean foregoing the protective effects of walnuts on tumor growth. [Read more...] Wife of alleged CIA leaker resigns from agency (25 January 2012) A senior CIA analyst resigned Tuesday amid accounts that she had been pressured to step down after her husband -- a former agency employee -- was charged with leaking classified information to the press. Heather Kiriakou had served as a top analyst on some of the most sensitive subjects that the agency tracks, including leadership developments in Iran. Her husband, John, faces a maximum of 30 years in prison after being accused of disclosing details about secret CIA operations as well as the identities of undercover officers. Two sources in direct contact with the Kiriakous said that Heather had submitted her resignation under pressure from superiors at the CIA. She had been on maternity leave in recent months. Neither she nor John Kiriakou returned a phone message left at their home. "They told her to come in and resign," said one person with direct knowledge of the Kiriakou case. Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity surrounding Heather Kiriakou's employment status and the pending prosecution of her husband. [Read more...] Louisiana African-American cemeteries, once plowed over for spillway, now recognized as historic (24 January 2012) The Kugler and Kenner cemeteries, named for the property owners and located about a mile apart in the Bonnet Carre Spillway on land purchased by the federal government, were rediscovered in 1986. The Army Corps of Engineers created the spillway after the 1927 Mississippi River flood, which killed hundreds of people in New Orleans and surrounding communities. With two levees, the corps enclosed 7,600 acres and built a control structure to divert high river water away from the city. Corps officials have estimated that 250 to 300 African-Americans, many of whom were enslaved on nearby plantations, were interred in grassy plots in the spillway from the late 19th century until about 1929. Margie Richard of Destrehan, who grew up in Norco, said her paternal and maternal grandmothers and great-grandparents were buried in the cemeteries. She said the corps project is "long overdue." [Read more...] Japan kept silent on worst nuclear crisis scenario (25 January 2012) TOKYO - The Japanese government's worst-case scenario at the height of the nuclear crisis last year warned that tens of millions of people, including Tokyo residents, might need to leave their homes, according to a report obtained by The Associated Press. But fearing widespread panic, officials kept the report secret. The recent emergence of the 15-page internal document may add to complaints in Japan that the government withheld too much information about the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. It also casts doubt about whether the government was sufficiently prepared to cope with what could have been an evacuation of unprecedented scale. The report was submitted to then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his top advisers on March 25, two weeks after the earthquake and tsunami devastated the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, causing three reactors to melt down and generating hydrogen explosions that blew away protective structures. [Read more...] S.F. city worker, who retained Medi-Cal applicant records to build employment discrimination case, is "charged with stealing confidential information" (25 January 2012) A former Medi-Cal eligibility worker for the city of San Francisco who allegedly collected private records from more than 3,000 applicants - but apparently never sold or used the data - has been charged with stealing confidential information, prosecutors said Tuesday. Shawn Williams, who worked for the city Human Services Agency, faces four felony counts of withholding and concealing stolen property and two misdemeanor counts of possessing confidential information of people who applied for Medi-Cal benefits. Williams allegedly gathered the names and Social Security numbers of more than 3,000 Medi-Cal applicants or recipients, the district attorney's office said, by forwarding e-mail from her work account to her personal account, and by printing out and taking application information. Williams pleaded not guilty Tuesday and was released on her own recognizance. Stephanie Ong Stillman, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said Williams had been building a case that she was being discriminated against in the workplace and had stockpiled documents to demonstrate that she had been a productive employee who helped many people. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Three thousand records does sound like a lot of work... Google's Chromebooks making big school push (25 January 2012) Apple made headlines last week with its push into the textbook market, but it's not the only Silicon Valley giant making greater inroads into education. Google will announce this morning that hundreds of schools in 41 states across the United States are using its Chromebooks in one or more classrooms. In addition, three school districts, in Iowa, Illinois and South Carolina, are rolling out "one-to-one" programs that will hand laptops to each student. The deals add up to nearly 27,000 machines, which are leased for $20 per month or sold for $449, with service and warranties. The laptops, which include various models built by Acer and Samsung, are designed to work almost entirely online. They run a lightweight operating system based on the company's Chrome Internet browser and rely on online-based applications like Google's word-processing and spreadsheet tools. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: That sounds more expensive than textbooks, when you consider that a one-time book purchase lasts for years. Textbooks also don't experience outages from technical difficulties. President Obama's 2012 State of the Union Address (25 January 2012) I also hear from many business leaders who want to hire in the United States but can't find workers with the right skills. Growing industries in science and technology have twice as many openings as we have workers who can do the job. Think about that --- openings at a time when millions of Americans are looking for work. It's inexcusable. And we know how to fix it. Jackie Bray is a single mom from North Carolina who was laid off from her job as a mechanic. Then Siemens opened a gas turbine factory in Charlotte, and formed a partnership with Central Piedmont Community College. The company helped the college design courses in laser and robotics training. It paid Jackie's tuition, then hired her to help operate their plant. I want every American looking for work to have the same opportunity as Jackie did. Join me in a national commitment to train 2 million Americans with skills that will lead directly to a job. (Applause.) My administration has already lined up more companies that want to help. Model partnerships between businesses like Siemens and community colleges in places like Charlotte, and Orlando, and Louisville are up and running. Now you need to give more community colleges the resources they need to become community career centers --- places that teach people skills that businesses are looking for right now, from data management to high-tech manufacturing. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: There are several problems with the complaint that US companies can't find "qualified" employees, and with the strategy of using community colleges to fix the "problem." Most employers who make such claims expect to hire geniuses for ten bucks an hour. Not gonna happen. Qualified employees in fact CAN be found, if the company is willing to pay market rate wages. That means enough to meet modern living expenses, and enough to live COMFORTABLY for the small pool of "geniuses" who may be willing to work for such companies. It's what they call "employee retention." Companies used to strive for it when bosses were smart enough to realize that talent makes a difference. Over my lengthy career, consulting with many large corporations and smaller companies, I've frequently seen companies go bust after they purge their best-qualified superstar staff for cheaper employees. Almost every time, there was no real need to cut payroll costs -- the companies were making hefty profits and could easily afford to pay their key employees competitive wages. But companies in this class are the "profit maximizers," and the results of moving profits upward don't take very long, as there's never much room for mistakes in company budgets. Certainly an entire company can't survive for years at a time after gutting its talent pool. The companies I've observed often close their doors or sell to competitors within one to two years of "going cheap." I've seen it too many times to doubt this timeframe. And using community colleges to train employees? Why? Companies haven't relied on external training for technical jobs in the past. They'd train their own staff, in-house. It made more sense that way. They had their own proprietary processes and even trade secrets -- why would they announce to the world in the form of a school's curriculum how to make their products? Did they want a hundred competing factories to spring up within the year? Sometimes staff will need regular school classes or a college degree, and in the past, companies would choose some of their most capable employees and send them to school, maybe even offer them more pay and bonuses to keep them happy with their jobs so that they'd stay with the company. Nobody's ever heard of this? It's what they call "employee retention." American companies -- the best ones -- knew all about it, and for decades in the 1900s were good at it. Today's manufacturing problems have nothing to do with a failing of community colleges. It's the same old story of companies "going cheap." They won't pay for talent, and so they have to scrape up what they can from the few foreign workers or factories willing to work with them -- before all trade secrets are lost, and a thousand other companies can make their product for slightly less money. Then they're out of business, like so many other companies foolish enough to follow the path of "maximum cheapness." Fired BP worker says he was asked to fake spill data (25 January 2012) A man who supervised the BP cleaning efforts along the Mississippi shores claims he was fired after alerting federal officials that the company was falsifying data to make the shores look cleaner than they were, according to court records. August Walter Jr. filed a whistleblower lawsuit against BP America in federal court in New Orleans last [w]eek. The Louisiana man claims the company refused to pick up oil debris from beaches and islands and then misrepresented data to mislead Coast Guard officials into thinking the cleanup was complete. BP spokesman Tom Mueller told The New Orleans Times-Picayune that the company did not believe Walter's complaint had merit: The company promised to "investigate the allegations contained in his complaint, consistent with our personnel policies and code of conduct. We believe we have demonstrated good faith in meeting our obligations in the Gulf and are committed to treating our employees fairly." Walter worked as a state planning lead for BP's cleanup operations until he was fired on Dec. 9, 2011. While working for BP, Walter claims BP was taking shortcuts and not following the environmental standards required. [Read more...] George Soros on the Coming U.S. Class War (23 January 2012) Has the great short seller gone soft? Well, yes. Sitting in his 33rd-floor corner office high above Seventh Avenue in New York, preparing for his trip to Davos, he is more concerned with surviving than staying rich. "At times like these, survival is the most important thing," he says, peering through his owlish glasses and brushing wisps of gray hair off his forehead. He doesn't just mean it's time to protect your assets. He means it's time to stave off disaster. As he sees it, the world faces one of the most dangerous periods of modern history--a period of "evil." Europe is confronting a descent into chaos and conflict. In America he predicts riots on the streets that will lead to a brutal clampdown that will dramatically curtail civil liberties. The global economic system could even collapse altogether. "I am not here to cheer you up. The situation is about as serious and difficult as I've experienced in my career," Soros tells Newsweek. "We are facing an extremely difficult time, comparable in many ways to the 1930s, the Great Depression. We are facing now a general retrenchment in the developed world, which threatens to put us in a decade of more stagnation, or worse. The best-case scenario is a deflationary environment. The worst-case scenario is a collapse of the financial system." Soros's warning is based as much on his own extraordinary personal history as on his gut instinct for market booms and busts. "I did survive a personally much more threatening situation, so it is emotional, as well as rational," he acknowledges. Soros was just 13 when Nazi soldiers invaded and occupied his native Hungary in March 1944. In only eight weeks, almost half a million Hungarian Jews were deported, many to Auschwitz. He saw bodies of Jews, and the Christians who helped them, swinging from lampposts, their skulls crushed. He survived, thanks to his father, Tivadar, who managed to secure false identities for his family. Later, he watched as Russian forces ousted the Nazis and a new totalitarian ideology, communism, replaced fascism. As life got tougher during the postwar Soviet occupation, Soros managed to emigrate, first to London, then to New York. Soros draws on his past to argue that the global economic crisis is as significant, and unpredictable, as the end of communism. "The collapse of the Soviet system was a pretty extraordinary event, and we are currently experiencing something similar in the developed world, without fully realizing what's happening." To Soros, the spectacular debunking of the credo of efficient markets--the notion that markets are rational and can regulate themselves to avert disaster--"is comparable to the collapse of Marxism as a political system. The prevailing interpretation has turned out to be very misleading. It assumes perfect knowledge, which is very far removed from reality. We need to move from the Age of Reason to the Age of Fallibility in order to have a proper understanding of the problems." [Read more...] Female driver who defied Saudi motoring ban dies in fatal road accident (25 January 2012) 'One woman was immediately killed and her companion who was driving the car was hospitalised after she suffered several injuries' police spokesman Abdulaziz al-Zunaidi told AFP. Their deaths come after they joined a growing number of women who have defied the ban since a high-profile campaign by a 32-year-old computer security consultant. Manal al-Sherif was arrested and detained for 10 days in May after posting a video of herself on YouTube as she drover around Khobar, a city to the east of the country. al-Sherif and a group of other women started a Facebook page called 'Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself,' which urged authorities to lift the driving ban. [Read more...] Apple's record sales driven by iPhone frenzy (25 January 2012) Technology giant Apple posted record quarterly results after it sold a greater-than-expected 37 million iPhones worldwide in the last three months of 2011. Sales of the smartphone more than doubled in the 14 weeks to 31 December, which included the launch of the latest model, the iPhone 4S, and helped Apple's net profit more than double to $13.1 billion (£8.4bn). The company -- which was founded by Steve Jobs, who died at the start of the quarter at the age of 56 -- also delivered huge sales of its tablet computer, the iPad, selling 15.43 million in the three-month period, compared with 7.3 million a year earlier. The stellar results, which also revealed a 26 per cent increase in sales of its Mac computer to 5.2 million, beat analyst expectations and cheered investors in Asia, where markets posted solid gains overnight. [Read more...] Google user data to be merged across all sites under contentious plan (25 January 2012) Google is under fire for plans to collect data on individual users across all of its websites and merge the information into a single profile that can be used to alter the person's search results and target them with advertising and services. Users will have no way to opt out of being tracked across the board when the search company unifies its privacy policy and terms of service for all its online offerings, including search, Gmail and Google+. The move is being criticised by privacy advocates and could attract greater scrutiny from anti-trust regulators. "If you're signed in, we may combine information you've provided from one service with information from other services," Google's director of privacy, product and engineering, Alma Whitten, wrote in a blogpost. After the new policy comes into effect, user information from most Google products -- such as YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, Google+ and Android mobile -- will be treated as a single trove of data, which the company could use for targeted advertising or other revenue-raising purposes. [Read more...] Tibetans 'shot dead' in clashes with Chinese forces (25 January 2012) The group Free Tibet said two Tibetans were killed and several more were wounded today when security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in Seda county in politically sensitive Ganzi prefecture in Sichuan province. It quoted local sources as saying the area was under a curfew. According to the Chinese government's version of events, a "mob" of people charged a police station in Seda and injured 14 officers, forcing police to open fire on them. The official Xinhua News Agency said police killed one rioter, injured another and arrested 13. The violence comes as some 30 Tibetans who were wounded Monday when Chinese police fired into a crowd of protesters were sheltering in a monastery in neighboring Luhuo county, a Tibetan monk said. Military forces have surrounded the building, said the monk, who would not give his name out of fear of government retaliation. The Draggo monastery could no longer be reached by phone Wednesday. [Read more...] Davos 2012: Unilever chief Polman warns of higher food prices and urges curbs on commodity speculation (25 January 2012) Mr Polman is leading efforts to improve world food security, including more sustainable growth and agricultural methods. He is using the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he is a co-chair of the event, to bring rival food companies into closure partnerships with each other, national governments and the United Nations. "World population is growing and living standards rising. People are consuming more dairy products and meat. The pressure on the earth is increasing. These are shifts and these shifts we can manage. There's no Malthusian panic." But these shifts were becoming more apparent, said Mr Polman, which was having a disproportionate impact on prices. "The time of cheap food is over," said Mr Polman. "If you look at the entire basket prices are not coming down. Some people jump on one or two commodities such as grain which have fallen recently but overall the trend is up." Mr Polman predicted a rise of 2-3pc a year for the foreseable future. [Read more...] Mental health evaluation sought for suspected East Coast Rapist (23 January 2012) The lawyer for the suspected "East Coast Rapist" has asked a Prince William County court to order a mental health evaluation for the man allegedly linked to sexual assaults dating back to the 1990s. Aaron Thomas, 40, has been held at Prince William's Adult Detention Center awaiting trial since he arrived in November. He is suspected in a series of attacks that began in Maryland in the late 1990s and continued in Virginia, Connecticut and Rhode Island over more than a decade. Thomas's court-appointed lawyer, Ronald W. Fahy, has asked the court to require the evaluation for Thomas' "competency to stand trial" because he has "engaged in self-destructive behavior and refuses to communicate with defense counsel," according to the motion. Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert said in an interview that a scheduled preliminary hearing for this week would be moved back to March. Ebert said a mental health professional would be appointed and evaluate whether Thomas' mental health is adequate to stand trial. [Read more...] Military study aims to aid troops with mild TBI (20 January 2012) SAN ANTONIO -- A team of experts at San Antonio Military Medical Center has launched a military study aimed at improving outcomes for service members suffering from a signature wound of today's wars: traumatic brain injury. The Study of Cognitive Rehabilitation Effectiveness, dubbed the SCORE trial, is examining cognitive rehabilitation therapy's value as a treatment for service members with mild TBI. The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments teamed up on this study to determine the best treatment for combat troops who are experiencing mild TBI symptoms -- such as difficulties with attention, concentration, memory and judgment -- three to 24 months post-injury, explained Douglas B. Cooper, the study's lead and a clinical neuropsychologist for the center's Traumatic Brain Injury Service. "We have a lot of great interventions to help ... in the first few days after concussion," he said in an interview with American Forces Press Service. "We can pull them out, get them rest and get them better." However, "we don't have as many good interventions later on --six months, 12 months or two years post-injury," acknowledged Cooper, who also serves as the director of the Military Brain Injury Rehabilitation Research Consortium. [Read more...] Haditha Marine suspect to serve no time (24 January 2012) CAMP PENDLETON -- Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich will serve no time for his role in the 2005 killing of 24 unarmed Iraqis, including women and children, according to terms of a plea agreement revealed Tuesday. The 31-year-old Marine pleaded guilty Monday to a single charge of negligent dereliction of duty, as part of a plea agreement that dismissed earlier voluntary manslaughter and assault counts. On Tuesday, a military judge handed down the maximum possible sentence of three months in the brig, but the jail time was eliminated under terms of the plea agreement. Wuterich's only penalty will be a reduction in rank to private. The announcement in a Camp Pendleton courtroom brings to a close the longest-running criminal case against U.S. troops stemming from the Iraq War. Military prosecutors had argued that Wuterich spurred his squad of infantry Marines on a vengeful rampage on Nov. 19, 2005, by telling them to "shoot first and ask questions later," which made the Marines believe they could ignore usual rules of engagement that minimize civilian casualties. Wuterich countered that he was only telling them not to hesitate in the face of the enemy. [Read more...] Democratic lawmakers sue controller over his withholding of their pay (25 January 2012) Reporting from Sacramento -- Democratic lawmakers sued state Controller John Chiang on Tuesday, arguing that he misused his power last summer when he docked their pay for passing a budget he said was not balanced. The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, does not seek reimbursement of the $583,200 in withheld pay. Lawmakers want the court to bar the controller from doing it again if they approve a budget that they deem balanced. Chiang, a Democrat, said he was exercising authority given to him by voters when they approved Proposition 25, a constitutional amendment, in 2010. That law punishes lawmakers who fail to pass a budget by the constitutional deadline of June 15. The dispute pivots on whether the controller can declare the Legislature's budget unsound. Democrats passed a majority budget by the deadline last year, but Chiang said it was not fiscally sound and refused to issue lawmakers' paychecks. Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown later vetoed the budget, siding with Chiang. [Read more...] Watch the State of the Union address on YouTube, Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern (24 January 2012) PAM COMMENTARY: Click this link around the time that it starts, and hope that YouTube doesn't go down from all of the traffic... Serial arson suspect faces 100 counts related to 49 fires (24 January 2012) Los Angeles police said they have physical evidence tying Burkhart to the arson spree, including fire-starting materials found inside his minivan when he was arrested. The vast majority of the fires were started by what authorities described as a common wood-like fire-starting device found in stores. The devices are normally used to start fires in a fireplace or grill, according to sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing. Prosecutors and investigators say they have connected him to the crimes by physical evidence including DNA. They also have a photo of a device that he dumped when he entered the German consulate in the middle of the spree. Also, several witnesses have identified Burkhart as being near the scene of several fires, said the sources. [Read more...] Jobs on jobs: They ain't coming back (24 January 2012) The most disturbing story I've read in a good while came with Sunday's New York Times, on why America has lost its high-tech manufacturing jobs. It focuses on Apple, which employs 43,000 in the United States, a fraction of the 400,000 Americans who worked for General Motors at its zenith. As the Times reports, "Many more people work for Apple's contractors: an additional 700,000 people engineer, build and assemble iPads, iPhones and Apple's other products. But almost none of them work in the United States." Most are in Asia, including at China's notorious Foxconn. At a gathering of Silicon Valley executives last February, President Obama asked what it would take to make iPhones in the United States. The late Steve Jobs said, "Those jobs aren't coming back." Why? Executives such as Mr. Jobs want the "flexibility" of Chinese workers when he demanded a last-minute glass screen on the phone: "A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company's dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day. 'The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,' the (Apple) executive said. 'There's no American plant that can match that.'" Yes, slave labor does have that advantage. Apple brings in some $400,000 per employee but little of that goes to those working in the suicide-ridden Foxconn factories, whose CEO compares workers to animals. Another choice quote from an Apple exec: "We don't have an obligation to solve America's problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible." This is the very definition of the sociopath corporation. [Read more...] Swayed by a psychologist, jury frees 'monster' who attacks again (23 January 2012) McDonald, 29, struggled but the intruder overpowered her. He tied McDonald down and raped her. Just 10 months earlier in a King County courtroom, a defense expert told jurors that the same man, Curtis Thompson, a repeat rapist facing civil commitment, most likely wouldn't attack another woman. The jury had to decide if Thompson, 44, set to be released from prison, was so dangerous that he needed to be confined to the state's lockup facility on McNeil Island for sex predators. Persuaded by the words of forensic psychologist Theodore Donaldson, the jurors decided Thompson did not meet the criteria for civil commitment, which would have allowed the state to detain him indefinitely. Instead the jury set him free. Donaldson would be horrifically wrong with his predictions. And McDonald wouldn't be the only victim: During his 2004 rampage, Thompson killed a 45-year-old woman and attacked two other women. [Read more...] Raj Patel: In Attacks on Obama, Food Stamps, Newt Gingrich is "Racially Coding Poverty" (23 January 2012) [DN] AMY GOODMAN: It's nice to see you here. Talk about Newt Gingrich calling President Obama "the food stamp president." What does this mean? RAJ PATEL: Well, what he's referring to, or what he's alleging, is that many more people have come onto the food stamp program under the Obama administration than any previous administration. Now, if you look at the numbers, what you see is that under the Bush administration, about 14.7 million people joined the ranks of people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, what we now call the food stamp program. Under the Obama administration, about 14.2 million people joined that program. So, the numbers are about 444,000 fewer under the Obama administration than under the Bush administration. AMY GOODMAN: So it's a lie? RAJ PATEL: Well, what--the way to spin that is to say--in Gingrich's favor, is to say much more money has been spent on food assistance under the Obama administration. And that's true. And that's important, because if you look at the numbers of hungry people in the United States, people who are food insecure in the United States, it rose from around 35 million people towards the tail end of the Bush administration, to the final year of the Bush administration, where it was nearer 49 million, and then it carried on going up. The trajectory was going up and up and up. And then, as a result of the stimulus package, many more people became entitled to join the food stamp program, and the amount of money that was available for food stamps went up to whopping $130, more or less, per month, so, you know, just over a dollar or so per meal. So, it's true to say that more has been spent on food stamps under the Obama administration, but that's--I mean, we need to be having the conversation about, well, why are so many people on food stamps? And obviously, it's a result of the recession. It's a result of poverty in the United States. And I think that we need to have--you know, we need to refocus on that bigger issue, the issue, as you mentioned, of one in four children in the United States being food insecure, the fact that, as Finding North tells us, one in two children in the United States will, at some point in their childhood, be on an assistance program because they are hungry and because they are poor. AMY GOODMAN: Half of children in the United States? RAJ PATEL: At some point in their lives. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: It's more than that -- a lot of jobs pay so little that working class people are eligible for government benefits... When Work Doesn't Pay; The Hidden Cost of Low-Wage Jobs in Wisconsin (FLASHBACK) (1 December 2006) Jobs taking care of others generate high public costs. The health care sector has the highest number of workers receiving public benefits. Of the $837 million spent annually on public benefits for year-round working Wisconsin families, $187 million, or 22 percent, is directed to workers in the health care industry. Health care is one of the largest industries in the state, accounting for 11 percent of all workers. Its very size helps to explain the high costs it generates. Within health care, workers in the nursing homes and residential care sub-sectorh are clearly most reliant on public programs. These workers are three times more likely to receive public assistance than those in doctors' offices and clinics, and account for half of all public benefits spending of the health care industry. One in four residential care workers are enrolled in public support programs; more than half of all residential care workers do not receive health insurance through their jobs. The social service sector (including child care services, services to the homeless, etc.) generates costs that are most out of scale with the size of the industry. While the sector accounts for only 2.1 percent of Wisconsin jobs, it accounts for 4.5 percent of working families that rely on public benefits. The irony is as obvious as it is bitter: the very industries committed to taking care of others--hands on health care and social services--offer wages and benefits so low that their workers must often rely on public help to make ends meet. The retail industry generates high public costs. Given its large size and low wages, retail comes in as the industry generating the second highest public cost in the state. Benefits standards are eroding in the sector leaving more workers to rely on Medicaid or to simply do without any health insurance. [Read more...] Medical Whistleblower Dr. Steven Nissen on "Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare" (23 January 2012) [DN] AMY GOODMAN: And Merck. What are the calculations they make, in terms of what would it cost to reveal the information, what would it cost not to reveal and just pay out lawsuits when people die and some family members sue? DR. STEVEN NISSEN: Yeah. Again, I want to say, make sure that everybody understands, that these are our outliers. I mean, there are very good and very ethical companies in the pharmaceutical industry and companies I work with every day. But there are also forces at play, powerful economic forces, that can cause companies, if they don't have good supervision, to do the wrong thing. And what they did in both these cases is they looked at the information, and they literally did a calculus. What would it cost if we revealed the hazard and lost the sales of the drug? What would it cost if we took our chances that somebody will find out? And they decided that it was less expensive to conceal the information than to reveal it. AMY GOODMAN: This was, in the case of--in the case of Avandia, an actual memo that you saw. DR. STEVEN NISSEN: There is. There is a document that surfaced in court cases that literally makes a calculation of how much it would cost if this came to light and how much it would cost if it didn't. And the ultimate calculation was it was better to keep this under wraps. [Read more...] The Evidence for a Vegan Diet (18 January 2012) For me, the most persuasive evidence supporting a healthy vegan diet is anecdotal. The vegans who frequent Casa de Luz, my breakfast (and often lunch) destination, are paragons of good health. Many of them are significantly older than I am -- in their 50s, 60s, and 70s -- but they rock on with glowing intensity, looking much younger (in some cases by 20 years) than they are. Every now and then a local vegan hero will drop in -- John Mackey (founder of Whole Foods), Rip Esselstyn (pioneer of the Engine 2 diet), a noted musician who will remain unnamed -- and we'll gawk in admiration. The everyday reality, though, is that a dozen or so ordinary people with whom I eat have done extraordinary things as a direct result of intelligent veganism. They've conquered obesity, chronic disease, depression, and a host of food-related disorders by exclusively eating an exciting diversity of plants. If there's one lesson I've learned by eating with seasoned vegans it is this: the diet empowers. Beyond anecdotes, of course, there's considerable scientific evidence showing that veganism is a smart way to eat. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics says that a well-planned vegan (and vegetarian) diet is "healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases." This is a much more cautious assessment, however, than many studies suggest. According to one study, "vegetarian and vegan diets are effective in treating and preventing several chronic diseases." The adaptation of a low-fat vegan diet can substantially mitigate the impacts of type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and Parkinson's disease. Veganism reduces the risk of colon cancer. Vegans have a better "antioxidant status" than non-vegans. Veganism is more effective at combating obesity than other prescribed diets, such as that promoted by the National Cholesterol Education Program. Veganism has been shown to lower risk factors associated with cardiac disease. As Dr. Michael Greger, director of public health for the Humane Society of the United States, explains, "A plant-based diet is like a one-stop shop against chronic diseases." I could continue in this scientific vein, but again, it's the stories of personal transformation that make the biggest impression. Writing in the current issue of VegNews, Jasmin Singer, director of Our Hen House, profiles a one-time morbidly obese diabetic who went vegan, lost over a hundred pounds, cured his diabetes, and now preaches the virtues on his website. Singer goes on to relate the experience of Dr. Greger's grandmother, who by her 60s had endured two bypass surgeries and was confined to a wheelchair because of debilitating chest pain. Doctors had effectively given her a death sentence. After adopting a strict plant-based diet, she lost the wheelchair, dramatically improved her health, and lived an active life well into her 90s. Especially poignant is Singer's own story. At 31, her doctor declared her well on the way to early heart disease -- an all too familiar situation for people in their 30s who have never before worried about high cholesterol or spiking triglycerides. Following Dr. Joel Furman's Eat to Live program, she lost 80 pounds and is now a supremely healthy vegan activist helping others avoid the road she once stumbled down. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Watch out for this link -- it's slow or even freezes for me at times. Some of the symptoms she discusses that another author blamed on vegetarianism -- the hair loss, fatigue, etc. -- are symptoms of dieters in general. One doctor told a dieting meat-eating friend of mine that her hair loss was from borderline scurvy. Sure enough, a vitamin supplement fixed the problem. And remember the Atkin's diet? Everyone I know who tried that diet felt terrible while they were on it (at least the ones who didn't die from it, like my Aunt's husband), with the exception of one coworker who told me that her secret was eating more lettuce and vegetables than meat while on it. I never experienced any bad health symptoms when switching to vegetarian or vegan diets, in fact it was the opposite -- I felt better with each step. But obviously I eat a good variety of natural foods. I'd need to see a food log and maybe even medical tests to understand why some people feel ill while eating that way. Warrants reveal suspect stalked last homeless victim (24 January 2012) SANTA ANA -- The Yorba Linda man arrested in the serial murders of four homeless men told detectives after his arrest earlier this month that he went hunting specifically for his fourth victim, according to court documents. Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, told Anaheim police detective Daron Wyatt after he was captured as he ran from an Anaheim parking lot Jan. 13 where John Berry, a 64-year-old homeless man, was stabbed to death that he "had been stalking" Berry over a period of three days, according to a search warrant affidavit. Ocampo, who is being held without bail on four counts of murder, told Wyatt that he had gone to the Embassy Suites hotel near the fourth and final slaying "after walking on the Santa Ana River Trail for several hours attempting to locate Berry," according to the affidavit by Anaheim detective Mark Lillemoen. Lillemoen's affidavit was in support of a search warrant that sought surveillance videos from Embassy Suites. "It is my opinion that the video surveillance will show Ocampo was in the area while stalking one of his victims," the detective wrote. [Read more...] Mrs. DSK picked to lead Le Huffington Post (23 January 2012) The glamorous Sinclair has borne the past eight months as the woman behind the womanizer in stoic silence, saying only that she does not believe her husband sexually assaulted a housekeeper in a Sofitel hotel in New York in May. The criminal case was dropped in August but a civil case is ongoing. A litany of other accusations surfaced over the following months -- including French writer Tristane Banon claiming Strauss-Kahn approached her like a "rutting chimpanzee," and later Banon's mother claiming she, too, had an affair with the politician. Sinclair, 63, had already shrugged off Strauss-Kahn's brief dalliance with an IMF employee, which was investigated in 2008. And two years earlier, she told French magazine L'Express: "It's important to seduce, for a politician. As long as he is still attracted to me, and I to him, it is sufficient." By choosing to stick by her man, Sinclair has polarized women across world. Even as she was castigated by feminists, she was voted French woman of the year by online magazine Terrafemina, beating the first female head of the IMF, Strauss-Kahn's successor Christine Lagarde. In Sinclair's first interview since the Sofitel affair, published in the most recent French edition of Elle magazine, she spoke about the criticism she has received. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: ". . . the Sofitel AFFAIR"? Sounds like a case of denial. The victim's injuries were from a violent encounter called "rape," despite New York's characteristic decision to leave yet another dangerous predator on the streets. Mitt Romney's Canadian (and polygamous) ancestry (24 January 2012) How Hannah and Miles got together is a saga in itself. The Ontario of Hannah's birth was in foment, still riven by the jealousies and anti-Tory sentiments of the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion. In the midst of this Hannah's parents, Archibald and Isabella, Scottish immigrants to Upper Canada, fell under the sway of a Mormon church then in its infancy. They joined -- and with Hannah still in diapers, pulled up stakes and made their way to Nauvoo, Ill., the ill-fated colony founded by the faith's messianic founder, Joseph Smith. Smith was murdered in Nauvoo. But the Romney and Hill families followed his successor, "Mormon Moses" Brigham Young, in the great migration to Utah. It was there that Young asked to meet young Miles Romney, then 18, and instructed him to "marry as soon as possible." Miles, it turns out, was already in love with 19-year-old Hannah. They wed in May 1862 at Salt Lake City's Endowment House, where Mormon rituals were conducted. Hannah bore Miles 10 children, including candidate Romney's grandfather Gaskell. And in her own autobiographical account, she "walked the floor and shed tears of sorrow" when Miles embarked on plural marriage, taking four additional wives. Hannah's sense of religious duty outweighed her anguish over sharing her husband. In 1886, with U.S. antipolygamy laws bearing down, she followed Miles into exile in Mexico. She recalled the warnings of a close friend, Brother Pace, as follows: "'Sister Romney, aren't you crazy starting out on this journey with your small children? Did you know that Geronimo, the renegade Apache chief, is on the warpath?' "I told him I guessed I wasn't afraid of crazy people so I would have to start on this journey and trust in our Heavenly Father to see us to the end." [Read more...] U.S. Supreme Court lets California city worker protections stand (24 January 2012) The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by supermarket owners on Monday challenging the authority of California cities, including several in the Bay Area, to protect workers from being fired immediately when their company changes owners. The case before the court involved a Los Angeles ordinance requiring supermarkets to keep their workforce for 90 days after a new owner takes over, unless the owner has good cause to fire a particular employee. Similar labor-backed measures are in effect for hotels in Oakland and Emeryville, marina businesses in Berkeley and airport businesses in San Jose. A separate federal law requires a new employer to recognize an existing union if business operations are essentially unchanged. [Read more...] Julian Assange plans TV chat show (24 January 2012) The 10-part series will begin in mid-March, according to a press release on the Wikileaks website, and its theme will be "the world tomorrow". Wikileaks said that "initial licensing commitments cover over 600 million viewers across cable, satellite and terrestrial broadcast networks" but it did not specify which networks would screen the programme. In the press release, Assange said: "This is an exciting opportunity to discuss the vision of my guests in a new style of show that examines their philosophies and struggles in a deeper and clearer way than has been done before." The release adds: "WikiLeaks, as the world's boldest publisher, has been at the front line of this global movement for understanding and change. Its founder, Julian Assange, as the subject of an ongoing Grand Jury investigation in the United States for over 500 days now, is one of the world's most recognizable revolutionary figures." [Read more...] Stem cell experiment may show promise for the blind (24 January 2012) Although both patients have exceptionally poor vision and are legally registered as blind, their sight in the treated eye seems to have improved slightly following the transplants, even though their disease is at an advanced stage and was not expected to recover. The Stargardt's patient went from only being able to see hand movements to being able to see the movements of fingers, while the age-related patient went from being able to see 21 letters on a reading chart to seeing 28 letters. "Despite the progressive nature of these conditions, the vision of both patients appears to have improved after transplantation of the cells, even at the lowest dosage," said Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell Technology, the Massachusetts company that supplied the cells. "This is particularly important, since the ultimate goal of this therapy will be to treat patients earlier in the course of the disease where more significant results might potentially be expected," Dr Lanza said. [Read more...] 'Super PAC' for Gingrich to Get $5 Million Infusion (23 January 2012) A wealthy backer of Newt Gingrich will inject $5 million into a "super PAC" supporting his presidential bid, two people with knowledge of the contribution said on Monday, providing a major boost to Mr. Gingrich as he seeks to fend off aggressive attacks from Mitt Romney, his main Republican rival. The supporter, Dr. Miriam Adelson, is the wife of Sheldon Adelson, a longtime Gingrich friend and a patron who this month contributed $5 million to the super PAC, Winning Our Future. Dr. Adelson's check will bring the couple's total contributions to Winning Our Future to $10 million, a figure that could substantially neutralize the millions of dollars already being spent in Florida by Mr. Romney and Restore Our Future, a super PAC supporting him. Mr. Adelson's initial check financed a barrage of negative ads against Mr. Romney in South Carolina, helping Mr. Gingrich to an upset victory in Saturday's Republican primary there. But those attacks, which focused on Mr. Romney's wealth and private equity career, also drew condemnation from many conservatives, who said Mr. Gingrich's allies were undercutting free-market capitalism and amplifying class-warfare arguments being made by Democrats and Occupy Wall Street demonstrators. In making the couple's second $5 million contribution, Dr. Adelson expressed a wish to Winning Our Future officials that the money be used "to continue the pro-Newt message," one of the people familiar with the contribution said, rather than attack Mr. Romney. [Read more...] Burial problems found at VA cemeteries (23 January 2012) The Department of Veterans Affairs has found scores of misplaced headstones and at least eight cases of people buried in the wrong places at several military cemeteries across the country. The review by the VA's National Cemetery Administration follows the revelation of widespread burial problems at Arlington National Cemetery, which touched off congressional inquiries and a criminal investigation. After the scandal at Arlington, which included mismarked and unmarked graves and people buried in the wrong spots, some veterans groups and members of Congress had called for the cemetery, which is run by the Army, to be transferred to the VA. Although many of the errors at Arlington were caused by an antiquated paper-record system, VA officials said the problems at seven of its national cemeteries were largely the result of sloppy work during renovations. Headstones and markers were temporarily removed from the ground and reinserted in the wrong places. [Read more...] Jon Carroll on Paula Deen (24 January 2012) She made her money on this kind of "comfort food" - and how comfortable can you be, really, if you can't tie your shoelaces? - and she was going to keep making it. It was a kind of denial, I think. If she kept on being upbeat about her recipes, then her audience would remain happy. If she said, "Uh-oh, diabetes," her audience would be dissatisfied and perhaps a little frightened. "Perhaps a little frightened" is not a bad place to be with diabetes, by the way. So what did she do? She or her representatives made a deal with Novo Nordisk, the Danish super-pharma that makes a new proprietary drug, Victoza, which can be your very own medication of choice if you have $500 a month to spare. Took three years to get that deal done, and now Deen and her two sons will be shilling for the new drug on TV ads and in personal appearances. Then she told the world she had diabetes. Three years of publicly cooking food she knew was bad for her - and her audience - while singing the merry gospel of lard, and the deal is done, so now she's going make some spokeswoman money. [Read more...] California OKs $6.5 million to plan Ballona Wetlands restoration (21 January 2012) The vast coastal wetlands once spanned 2,000 acres at the mouth of Ballona Creek, covering much of what is now Marina del Rey, Playa del Rey and Venice. Only a quarter remains today, much of it a dry, fenced-off expanse of brush that is littered with garbage in places, surrounded by high-rises and subdivisions and criss-crossed by congested boulevards. Developers and environmental activists wrangled over the site for decades before the state agreed in 2003 to spend $139 million to acquire it as an ecological reserve. Still, state officials and a number of environmental groups say it is far from a healthy, functioning ecosystem. The soil was raised high above sea level with the sediment scooped out decades ago when Marina del Rey was built. Though the open space supports wildlife, much of the habitat is degraded and ocean waters must again reach deep into the marshlands if plants and animals are to thrive again, restoration proponents say. Critics say the reserve is not as degraded as portrayed by restoration proponents. Some local environmentalists oppose the project, which they say would disrupt rare birds and flowers that already live there. [Read more...] Newt Gingrich saved by commercial as Mitt Romney wages relentless debate assault (24 January 2012) Moderator Brian Williams opened by asking Gingrich, Romney, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul to make their respective cases for their electability against President Obama. It offered Romney the first of several openings for the night to take on the rival who had supplanted him as the nomination frontrunner. "I think it's about leadership, and the speaker was given an opportunity to be the leader of our party in 1994. And at the end of four years, he had to resign in disgrace," Romney said of Gingrich, a former Georgia congressman who served as speaker of the House from 1994 until 1998. "I had the opportunity to go off and run the Olympic Winter Games." Romney continued. "In the 15 years after he left the speakership, the speaker has been working as an influence peddler in Washington." After Gingrich said the criticisms were inaccurate, Williams asked Romney another question about his electability in the South. Again, like a laser-guided missile, Romney homed in on Gingrich. "The truth is that the members of his own team, his congressional team, after his four years of leadership, they moved to replace him," he said. "They also took a vote, and 88 percent of Republicans voted to reprimand the speaker, and he did resign in disgrace after that." [Read more...] Gingrich Admits Deregulation Of Wall Street In The '90s Was 'Probably A Mistake' (FLASHBACK) (8 November 2011) Several of the GOP's 2012 presidential hopefuls have called -- loudly and often -- for the repeal of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which is aimed at preventing a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. But with the possible exception of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), no one has been more adamantly in favor of ditching Dodd-Frank than Newt Gingrich. Gingrich claims that Dodd-Frank is "killing the banking industry," and says that job creation will be sparked by simply repealing the bill and letting Wall Street go right back to the same shenanigans that led the nation into the Great Recession. But during an interview today with ABC News' Jake Tapper, Gingrich admitted that the 1990s repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act -- the firewall between commercial and investment banks -- was "probably a mistake": TAPPER: "One question I want to ask has to do with your call to repeal the Wall Street reforms, Dodd-Frank. I don't think a lot of Americans would understand why anyone would want to repeal regulations that happened after this calamity on Wall Street. If you disagree with those regulations that were imposed, do you agree at least that there should be some new reforms or regulations?" GINGRICH: "Sure, there should be very decisive reforms. I think, in retrospect, repealing the Glass-Steagall Act was probably a mistake. We should probably reestablish dividing up the big banks into a banking function and an investment function and separating them out again." The repeal of Glass-Steagall led to the creation of mega-banks like Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase that combine traditional lending with risky investment banking. Many economists believe that the repeal led to the financial crisis of 2008. "As a result [of the repeal], the culture of investment banks was conveyed to commercial banks and everyone got involved in the high-risk gambling mentality. That mentality was core to the problem that we're facing now," said Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Good ol' Newt. Working for NAFTA, GATT, and the repeal of Glass-Steagall in the 90s, and then complaining about the fruits of his labor -- the loss of American jobs and burst housing bubbles -- in the 2010's. But it's not his fault that people don't have jobs today, nooooo... He can't be held accountable for his past actions. It's all OBAMA's fault that Newt worked so hard to destroy the American economy in the 90s. Newt "World Order" Gingrich supported GATT, NAFTA and WTO while in Congress.(FLASHBACK) (7 July 2010) 3. NAFTA, GATT, WTO - In 1993, Gingrich proved himself invaluable to Clinton and the Democrats in Congress when he garnered enough Republican support to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the precursor for development of an eventual North American Union, following the same trajectory that has occurred in Europe with the emergence of the EU. (See the October 15, 2007 "North American Union" issue of The New American, especially "NAFTA: It's Not Just About Trade" by Gary Benoit.) The next year he followed suit by supporting the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). As Minority Whip, he could have postponed the lame-duck vote on GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) that subjected Americans to the WTO. Gingrich's Benedict Arnold act helped to hand over the power to regulate foreign commerce, a power reserved in the Constitution to Congress alone, to an internationally controlled body, making America's economic interests entirely at the mercy of the WTO. Gingrich knew GATT sounded the death knell for American sovereignty. In testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee prior to the lame-duck session, he said, "We need to be honest about the fact that we are transferring from the United States at a practical level significant authority to a new organization.... This is not just another trade agreement. This is adopting something which twice, once in the 1940s and once in the 1950s, the U.S. Congress rejected.... It is a very big transfer of power." 4. Contract With America - Another con-game Gingrich played was the much-acclaimed "Contract With America," the Republican Party's supposed answer to big government. It turned out to be a public relations smokescreen to cover various unconstitutional measures that Congress planned to pass under Gingrich's leadership. The Contract included a "balanced budget amendment," which amounted to a Republican excuse to continue spending while claiming to fight for fiscal conservatism. If the government only spent money on constitutional programs, the deficit would take care of itself. Other areas of the Contract With America dealt with measures to reduce welfare programs and relieve tax burdens on families and businesses. That sounds good until one considers that the Constitution prohibits welfare programs and taxes that the Contract proposed only to reduce. If Gingrich had been loyal to his oath of office, he would have worked not to trim but to purge them. Ironically, but hardly surprisingly, federal spending in all the areas addressed by the 1994 Contract rose in subsequent years. Edward H. Crane, president of the Cato Institute, observed that "the combined budgets of the 95 major programs that the Contract With America promised to eliminate have increased by 13%." Crane also pointed out, "Over the past three years the Republican-controlled Congress has approved discretionary spending that exceeded Bill Clinton's requests by more than $30 billion." Another of the problems with the Contract was that it called for stronger federal crime-fighting measures, despite the Constitution's prohibition on federal involvement in police matters outside of piracy and treason. Countries that do not have such strict constitutional safeguards on federal police end up with Gestapos, KGBs, and Departments of Homeland Security. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: A critique of Newt from the far right. Facebook, Myspace and Twitter chide Google with 'Don't be evil' add-on (24 January 2012) Facebook, Twitter and Myspace engineers have devised a software add-on for browsers which negates the effect of Google's alteration of its search results to favour its own Google+ social network -- with a piece of code they call "Don't be evil". The move intensifies the increasingly bitter war of words between Google, which is trying to push the "social" element of searches, and the major social networks, which assert that the search engine is polluting its own search results and diverging from its core purpose of giving the user the best possible search by downgrading them in results. Google is also being accused by external commentators of betraying its original aims, which were to give the broadest view of the most popular links on the web, in order to boost Google+ artificially. The "Don't be evil" bookmarklet, which can be put into browser menus, will allow the user to see how a search result page would look using Google's pure organic search results. It is available from a site called "Focus on the User" -- and created by a team from the three big social networks. [Read more...] California slaughterhouse law struck down (23 January 2012) The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down California's ban on the slaughter of downed swine, saying the state strayed too far into federal territory. In a case closely watched by other states as well as the multi-billion dollar livestock industry, the court's liberal and conservative justices unanimously ruled that long-standing federal law preempted California's 2008 measure. "The California law rums smack into the (federal) regulations," Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court. Kagan's 14-page decision emphasized that the Federal Meat Inspection Act covers a "broad range of activities at slaughterhouses" and that it "expressly" preempts the state law. The California law in question prohibits the slaughter of non-ambulatory pigs, sheep, goats or cattle. These are animals that can't walk, because of disease, injury or other causes. The state law further requires that the downed animals be euthanized. Federal law bans the slaughter of downed cattle, and the challenge was to the state provision that covers swine. [Read more...] Sen. Rand Paul stopped by Tenn. airport security (23 January 2012) Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the son of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul and a frequent critic of the Transportation Security Administration, was stopped by security at the Nashville airport Monday when a scanner set off an alarm and Paul declined to allow a security officer to subsequently pat him down. The White House said airport security acted appropriately. Police escorted Paul away, but he was allowed to board a later flight. The security scanner identified an issue with the senator's knee, although Paul said he has no screws or medical hardware around the joint. Paul, who frequently uses the airport about an hour from his home in Bowling Green, Ky., told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he asked for another scan but refused to submit to a pat down by airport security. Paul said he was "detained" at a small cubicle and couldn't make his flight to Washington for a Senate vote scheduled later in the day. [Read more...] Gunman at Occupy Houston site incompetent for trial (23 January 2012) "It's going to take a while to get him to where he understands the nature of the proceedings against him and be of assistance to his defense," said his attorney, George Parnham. "Paranoid delusions take a considerable amount of time to treat. Sometimes they're so fixed, they never give up the belief that something exists that in reality doesn't." Parnham said a psychologist with the county's mental health services ruled Twohig incompetent and prosecutors did not disagree. The attorney said Twohig tried to commit "suicide by cop" about 5:00 p.m. on Nov. 21. He went to Tranquility park where Occupy Houston protesters and police officers were gathered and began shooting in to the air. Twohig was not associated with the Occupy Houston movement. He survived being shot twice by police. Witnesses said Twohig shouted, "Shoot me, shoot me!" at the scene. A video captured by a witness shows Twohig holding the rifle to his head. [Read more...] EU adopts tough oil embargo on Iran (23 January 2012) The Obama administration has imposed sanctions on Iran's third largest bank, adding to sanctions imposed on Tehran by the EU earlier in the day. Iran's Bank Tejarat, and an affiliate Trade Capital Bank, were blacklisted for providing financial services to other entities already sanctioned for their involvement with the country's nuclear weapons program, the US said on Monday. Earlier on Monday the European Union governments adopted an embargo against Iran as part of sanctions over its disputed nuclear programme. Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury Secretary and Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State said in joint statement that Europe's ban on imports of Iranian crude oil and moves to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank are "another strong step in the international effort to dramatically increase the pressure on Iran". [Read more...] Saved snowy owl to be released (23 January 2012) The snowy owl that will be released in a forest preserve Monday has made two dramatic journeys -- one from the Arctic Circle, the other from the grill of an SUV in Hampshire. As rare as it is that the bird made her way this far south, more remarkable perhaps is that she survived being struck Nov. 30 by a white Ford Escape traveling about 55 mph on a rural road. "I just checked on her," said Sandy Fejt, site manager of the Willowbrook Wildlife Center on Friday. "She's her sassy self." It's a happy conclusion achieved through luck with assists from a knowledgeable, animal-loving police officer and one of the most comprehensive raptor rehab centers in the Midwest. [Read more...] Supreme Court: Warrants needed in GPS tracking (23 January 2012) The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that police must obtain a search warrant before using a GPS device to track criminal suspects. But the justices left for another day larger questions about how technology has altered a person's expectation of privacy. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that the government needed a valid warrant before attaching a GPS device to the Jeep used by D.C. drug kingpin Antoine Jones, who was convicted in part because police tracked his movements on public roads for 28 days. "We hold that the government's installation of a GPS device on a target's vehicle, and its use of that device to monitor the vehicle's movements, constitutes a 'search' " under the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, Scalia wrote. All justices agreed with the outcome of the case, which affirmed a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that said evidence of Jones' s frequent trips to a stash house where drugs and nearly $1 million in cash were found must be thrown out. [Read more...] John Kiriakou, ex-CIA officer, charged for media leaks (23 January 2012) The Justice Department charged that John Kiriakou, 47, who worked as a CIA officer from 1990 to 2004, revealed the information to journalists and that one reporter passed some of the secrets onto attorneys representing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Kiriakou's case is the sixth leak-related criminal prosecution brought since President Barack Obama took office, a figure that exceeds the number of such cases in all previous administrations combined. The former CIA officer was expected to make an initial appearance in federal court in Alexandria, Va., Monday afternoon. No journalists were identified by name in the criminal complaint filed Monday, but the complaint indicates that Kiriakou gave New York Times reporter Scott Shane the name of CIA officer Deuce Martinez, and idenitifed him as a participant in the interrogation of Al Qaeda logistics chief Abu Zubaydah following his arrest in Pakistan in 2002. After his retirement, Kiriakou became one of the few former intelligence officials willing to discuss the practice of waterboarding. In an interview with ABC News in 2007, he discussed Zubaydah's waterboarding and indicated it had been successful after one application in winning greater cooperation from the terror suspect. The account was later disputed by official reports and other sources In 2010, Kiriakou and writer Michael Ruby published a book, the Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror. The complaint alleges that in order to win clearance for publication of certain details in the book, Kiriakou lied to CIA officials by indicating that a cell phone tracking technology known as the "magic box" was not in fact real. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: By "interrogation" they mean "torture," of course. And by "disclosing national security information" they mean letting Americans know about the war crimes their tax dollars were financing. Risks to cranes in Texas raise profile of Wisconsin program (21 January 2012) Battered by the worst drought on record in Texas, the world's only self-sustaining flock of migratory whooping cranes is showing vulnerabilities that raise the stakes for crane work in Wisconsin. Texas' dry conditions and booming development have heightened worries about the health of the cranes and have sparked a legal battle over whether the endangered birds are getting their fair share of fresh water. The specter of drought, hurricanes or other calamity is the reason why Wisconsin and a few other states - away from Texas - were identified as candidates for crane reintroduction. The 5-foot tall cranes that migrate today in the eastern United States, largely between Wisconsin and Florida, are a separate flock from those migrating between Texas and northern Alberta, Canada. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Remember the group of whooping cranes grounded in Alabama because the FAA doesn't allow the use of ultra-lights by paid pilots? Those cranes are still in Alabama, despite the FAA's exception for the one trip. Weather hasn't been suitable to fly for the past two weeks, and so the cranes are stuck there for now, according to the Operation Migration web site. U.S., Canada extend multibillion-dollar softwood lumber agreement (23 January 2012) The politically divisive dispute was based on American industry complaints that provincial governments, which regulate the logging by private firms on Crown land, were charging bargain-basement fees and, in effect, unfairly subsidizing Canadian exporters. Canada had won a series of major decisions before panels established under the North American Free Trade Agreement, although the U.S. also scored partial victories before the World Trade Organization. The 2006 agreement removed U.S. duties and returned the billions of dollars paid by Canadian firms since the dispute began in 2001. However, cross-border disagreements still linger on the lumber file. [Read more...] Waiting on predator island: Chronic delays drive up cost (23 January 2012) Convicted rapist Eddie Williams admits he's a "thug." But he insists he can control his urges and shouldn't be locked up in the Special Commitment Center. Even so, Williams and his taxpayer-funded lawyers delayed his civil-commitment trial for 11 years -- racking up legal bills as he continued to be held inside the SCC, a place he loathes and calls a "madhouse." In fact, sex offenders like Williams routinely postpone their trials for years, driving up costs and wasting money. Their defense lawyers seek multiple continuances and file challenges to Washington's civil-commitment law, which allows the state to lock up the most dangerous sex offenders after they complete their prison sentences. Scheduling conflicts among lawyers, far-flung forensic experts and judges also contribute to delays. [Read more...] Arctic Ocean freshwater bulge detected (23 January 2012) "When you have clockwise rotation - the freshwater is stored. If the wind goes the other way - and that has happened in the past - then the freshwater can be pushed to the margins of the Arctic Ocean. "If the spin-up starts to spin down, the freshwater could be released. It could go to the rest of the Arctic Ocean or even leave the Arctic Ocean." If the freshwater were to enter the North Atlantic in large volumes, the concern would be that it might disturb the currents that have such a great influence on European weather patterns. These currents draw warm waters up from the tropics, maintaining milder temperatures in winter than would ordinarily be expected at northern European latitudes. The creation of the Beaufort Gyre bulge is not a continuous development throughout the 15-year data-set, and only becomes a dominant feature in the latter half of the study period. This may indicate a change in the relationship between the wind and the ocean in the Arctic brought about by the recent rapid decline in sea-ice cover, the CPOM team argues in its Nature Geoscience paper. It is possible that the wind is now imparting momentum to the water in ways that were not possible when the sea-ice was thicker and more extensive. [Read more...] Interpol faces legal threat for helping oppressive regimes hunt dissidents (23 January 2012) LONDON -- A landmark lawsuit alleging that dictatorships and other oppressive regimes are using Interpol's alert system to harass or detain political dissidents is being planned by rights activists and lawyers. Campaigners allege that rogue states have fabricated criminal charges against opposition activists who have been given refuge in other countries and then sought their arrest by obtaining "red notices" from the global police body. There are currently about 26,000 outstanding red notices. While they are only designed to alert other nations' police forces that an Interpol member state has issued an arrest warrant, some countries will take suspects into custody based on the red notice alone. In one case, Rasoul Mazrae, an Iranian political activist recognized by the United Nations as a refugee, was arrested in Syria in 2006 as he tried to flee to Norway after a red notice was issued. [Read more...] Hearing to resume on John Hinckley's freedom (22 January 2012) A hearing is to resume Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington to help determine whether the man who shot President Reagan in 1981 eventually could be released from the mental hospital where he has lived since 1982. The proposal by St. Elizabeths Hospital would grant John Hinckley Jr. two 17-day visits, followed by six 24-day visits to his mother's home in Kingsmill, Va. After he completes the extended, unsupervised releases, Hinckley would get a convalescence leave. Hinckley's lawyers and treatment team envision his completing all eight releases within eight to 10 months, with the convalescence leave immediately afterward. But U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman, who is presiding over the hearing, has said he's not likely to agree to any convalescence leave without another full hearing. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: I don't know if visits only to his family are a good idea. Even if his mother wasn't among those involved, his family was suspected in that shooting due to their close ties to the Bush family. If he's released, he should be able to live independently where he can develop normal ties with other people. Fifth death investigated in saline drip poison probe at U.K. hospital (23 January 2012) Police are investigating a fifth death in a hospital at the centre of a poisoning probe. Linda McDonagh, 60, died at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Greater Manchester, more than a week ago. She is one of 21 patients thought to have been deliberately contaminated with insulin. They all suffered "hypoglycaemic episodes" after saline drips were sabotaged. [Read more...] Chinese new year celebrations -- in pictures (23 January 2012) Asian populations have begun 15 days of celebrations for the Chinese lunar new year, which ushers in the year of the dragon. Chinese tradition holds that those born in dragon years tend to be brave, innovative and highly driven, often making it to the top of their profession. [Read more...] Giffords stepping down from Congress (22 January 2012) Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the three-term Arizona Democrat who was shot in the head during a 2011 assassination attempt, announced Sunday that she will resign from Congress this week in order to focus on her continuing recovery. Giffords, whose ability to speak was damaged by the gunman's attack, made the announcement herself in a YouTube video posted to her account. She plans to attend President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday and will resign sometime after that. "I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week," Giffords said in slow speech. "I'm getting better every day. My spirit is high. I will return and we will work together for Arizona and this great country." Giffords' resignation will force a special election to fill her seat in the 8th Congressional District. [Read more...] Human trafficking is growing almost as fast as drug trade, officials say (22 January 2012) According to the U.S. Department of Justice, human trafficking has become the second-fastest-growing criminal industry -- just behind drug trafficking -- with children accounting for roughly half of all victims. Of the 2,515 cases under investigation in the U.S. in 2010, more than 1,000 involved children. The United Nations estimates it's a $32-billion industry, with half of the money coming from industrialized countries. Over the last decade, numerous human trafficking cases have been prosecuted in Michigan. The court dockets detail the horror stories: Children being sold for sex at truck stops; servants held in captivity and forced to clean for free, and women forced into the sex industry, forfeiting their earnings. But authorities say many human trafficking victims are afraid to speak out and stay in hiding. "The victims usually fear that they have nowhere to turn to, so it's a largely underreported crime," said U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, who says she believes awareness is the key to tackling the crime. [Read more...] Payday lenders can expect regulation soon (22 January 2012) Payday lending is one of the few growth areas in financial services, but it's likely to come under pressure now that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has set its sights on the industry. In one of his first public appearances, the bureau's recently appointed director, Richard Cordray, chaired a hearing on payday lending in a packed ballroom in Birmingham, Ala., Thursday. Birmingham has so many payday lenders - 93 by one count - that the City Council last month imposed a six-month moratorium on new ones opening. Also on Thursday, the bureau published guidelines it will use to examine whether payday lenders, both banks and nonbanks, are complying with consumer financial laws. "Fundamentally, I believe regulation is coming," says FBR Capital Markets analyst Edward Mills, who attended the hearing. "The CFPB has clearly demonstrated that they mean business. They want to show they are doing things that are meaningful to the average consumer. I think they consider reforms to payday loans low-hanging fruit." [Read more...] Documentary examines how toxic water at the nation's largest Marine base damaged lives (21 January 2012) Mike Partain didn't believe the rumors about a place called Baby Heaven until he visited a Jacksonville, N.C., graveyard and wandered into a section where newborns were laid to rest. Surrounded by hundreds of tiny marble headstones, he started to cry. A documentary film crew that followed him for a story about water contamination at Camp Lejeune heard his whimpers through a microphone clipped to his clothes. The crew dashed from another part of the graveyard and found him asking, "Why them and not me?" The scene at Jacksonville City Cemetery is among the more poignant moments in the documentary "Semper Fi: Always Faithful," about the men, women and children affected over three decades by contaminated water at the nation's largest Marine base. The film made the short list of 15 documentary features being considered for an Oscar; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will cut the list to five Tuesday. "Semper Fi" follows Partain and Jerome "Jerry" Ensminger, the men credited with uncovering records showing that the amount of leaked fuel that led to water contamination was many times greater than the Marine Corps acknowledged. [Read more...] Scottish botanists to restore Garden of Eden (22 January 2012) WOULD you Adam and Eve it? A team of Scottish botanists are heading to Iraq to help restore an area thought to be the biblical Garden of Eden. The Centre for Middle Eastern Plants (CMEP), based at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, has joined forces with conservation charity Nature Iraq to rebuild the delicate eco-system of the Iraqi marshlands, which were drained by Saddam Hussein in the 1990s. The area south of the city of Basra, is regarded by scholars as being the location of the Old Testament Garden of Eden. In the Book of Genesis, it is described as at a place of four rivers. Since the early days of Christianity this has often been interpreted as being the Mesopotamian Marshes, where the waters of the Tigris and the Euphrates and two other rivers once met before climate change transformed the once highly-fertile region into marshes. During the trip in March, the Scottish team will record and register plants in the area as part of an ambitious project to restore the marshlands. They will also help to train Iraqi botanists to take the work forward. [Read more...] Honduras named murder capital of the world (22 January 2012) The soft-spoken, bespectacled former deputy drug czar had been fired, sued for libel and saw his last boss murdered. "I have asked myself: 'Why am I still alive?'" Two weeks after that November interview with The Miami Herald, the 71-year-old security expert was dead. Hit men on motor bikes approached him at a traffic light Dec. 7 and peppered the driver's side window of his Kia sedan with bullets. Landaverde has become another tragic figure in the country's ongoing struggle with corruption that threatens nearly every major government institution in Honduras. The son of a university president was gunned down by cops. Prisoners are forced to leave the jail to run drugs and are then shot down. The Peace Corps pulled out, saying it's too dangerous to carry out its mission in a nation of 7.6 million people that now has the highest homicide rate in the world -- 82.1 murders per 100,000 residents, compared to 5.5 per 100,000 in Florida. [Read more...] Republican Mitt Romney 'to release tax returns' (22 January 2012) Mr Romney, the early favourite in primary elections, appeared embarrassed during the South Carolina campaign by the issue of how much tax he paid. Last week he said he in effect paid 15%, less than most working Americans. Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary on Saturday by an unexpectedly wide margin, beating the former Massachusetts governor by 40% to 28%. The candidate winning South Carolina has gone on to win the Republican nomination in each election since 1980. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Mr Romney said the question of tax had become a distraction for his campaign, and he wanted to re-focus on the main issues. "I will release my tax returns for 2010, which is the last returns which were completed, on Tuesday of this week," he said. [Read more...] Exclusive: Office Depot tests PayPal's new point-of-sale system (22 January 2012) Office Depot Inc, the second-largest U.S. office supply retailer, is testing PayPal's new point-of-sale system in a few stores, a top executive told Reuters. The news comes just days after eBay Inc's PayPal unit said it had started testing in-store payments in 51 Home Depot stores, as the online payments provider moves to expand into the physical world of brick and mortar. PayPal has talked about its plans to offer the service at 20 major retailers by the end of the year, but not named other chains participating in the initiative. "It's at this point in a small number of stores ... because there are still some rough spots in that experience. There are some limitations on who can use it, service carriers that support that," said Kevin Peters, president of Office Depot's North American unit. PayPal declined comment on Saturday. [Read more...] Germany has the economic strengths America once boasted (21 January 2012) Germany, with its manufacturing base and export prowess, is the America of yesteryear, an economic power unlike any of its European neighbors. As the world's fourth-largest economy, it has thrived on principles that the United States seems to have gradually lost. It has tightly managed its budget and adopted reforms -- such as raising the retirement age -- that some other Eurozone nations are just now being forced to undertake. And few countries can match Germany's capabilities for producing and exporting machinery and other equipment, or its infrastructure for research, apprenticeships and financing that support manufacturing. "German industry is strong," said Volkmar, speaking in halting English as he occasionally looks up translations on a laptop. "People work good. That's why the German economy is best in Europe." Indeed, Germany was the only major Eurozone nation to escape the credit downgrades that have hit its neighbors. And the country continues to anchor the continent's economy. [Read more...] 'Extinct' monkey still lives in Borneo (20 January 2012) A Canadian-led team of international scientists has rediscovered a rare species of monkey that was thought to be extinct in a region of Borneo where it was not known to previously live. The finding was published Friday in the American Journal of Primatology. Miller's Grizzled Langur (Presbytis hosei canicrus) belongs to the small primate genus Presbytis found in Borneo, Sumatra, Java and the Thai-Malay Peninsula. In Borneo, the langur was thought to have lived in a small corner of the country's northeast, where its habitat has been ravaged by fires, human encroachment and conversion of land for agriculture and mining. However, the research team found the langur in Wehea Forest in East Kalimantan, Borneo. The 38,000- hectare pristine rainforest is home to at least nine known species of non-human primates, including the Bornean orangutan and gibbon. East Kalimantan is a challenging place to do research given its remote location, said Stephanie Spehar of the University of Wisconsin, adding that the discovery was possible due to the help of local partners. [Read more...] Final totals show 23 arrested in Occupy San Francisco protest (21 January 2012) San Francisco police arrested a total of 23 protesters during Occupy San Francisco's "Day of Action" Friday, including 19 during the bank protests in the day and four people involved the evening's occupation of an abandoned hotel. Of the 19 arrested during the day, police arrested 17 on suspicion of trespassing at Wells Fargo, one at Bank of the West and another for attempting to remove a baton from a police officer, San Francisco Police Department spokesman Carlos Manfredi said Saturday. Police arrested four people in connection with the evening's occupation of the empty Cathedral Hill Hotel at Van Ness Avenue and Geary Street. "Once they got inside, some of the protesters made it to the roof top and were throwing Bibles at the officers," Manfredi said. Manfredi said one protester was arrested outside the hotel during an early attempt to gain access to the property and three people were later arrested inside the hotel for trespassing. He said police used pepper spray and batons. Two officers were injured during the hotel incident - one was hit with a brick in the chest and the other suffered a hand injury - but Manfredi did not believe police made any arrests in connection with those assaults. [Read more...] Thousands of women could be at risk from 'silent Thalidomide' (22 January 2012) Tens of thousands of British families are to be asked if they are victims of a drug given to pregnant women which can cause fatal illness in the second, and possibly even third, generations. Some women given the drug in this country have already obtained compensation in America. Diethylstilboestrol (DES), a drug given to women for 30 years up to 1973, has been found to cause a rare form of vaginal and cervical cancer in some of the daughters of the women who took it, as well as fertility problems. Compensation of an estimated $1.5bn has been paid out in the US. There is even a suspicion that DES -- known as the "silent Thalidomide" -- can affect the grandchildren of those who took it. Legal action against the 14 different drug companies that sold and promoted DES from the early 1940s to 1970s is being brought by at least 80 women in the US, who all believe that the synthetic form of oestrogen, given to their mothers in an effort to reduce miscarriages, caused them to develop breast cancer years later. Their lawyer, Aaron Levine, will travel to the UK in two weeks' time to co-ordinate a hunt for the "DES daughters" in this country who have been unable to get compensation in British courts. The saga surrounding DES, developed in England in 1938, began when it was prescribed to millions of women in the US, Australia and Europe, despite the fact that research published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology in 1953 revealed that women receiving it suffered a higher rate of miscarriage. In 1971, the US Food and Drug Administration told doctors to stop prescribing DES when it was discovered that one in 1,000 daughters of women who had taken it developed a rare form of vaginal and cervical cancer, known as clear cell adenocarcinoma (CCAC). [Read more...] Missoula police conduct internal review of 50 rape cases (22 January 2012) Missoula City Council members requested a report from the chief after two rape victims publicly complained about the way police handled their cases. The chief and Mayor John Engen said they believe those cases are exceptions, though. But some members of the community, including nonprofit leaders advocating on behalf of women, say they want assurance that the police department is a safe place for people to report violent crimes. WORD - Women's Opportunity and Resource Development - director Stacy Rye said she wants to know that city officials are taking even two concerns seriously and not considering them "just a public relations problem." "There should be no reason that someone who's been a victim of one kind of crime should feel like they are not safe going into the police department versus any other kind of crime," said Rye, who previously served on the City Council. She also said the police department is just one agency that victims of rape encounter, and YWCA of Missoula director Cindy Weese said she believes an annual review of the myriad organizations involved would lead to positive outcomes for all victims of violence, especially sexual assault. [Read more...] Even in Washington County's Silicon Forest, boys vastly outnumber girls in science, technology and engineering classes (21 January 2012) Savannah Loberger was the lone girl in a robotics class at Hillsboro High School. Caitlyn Diamond is one of three girls in an electronics class at Aloha High School. Even national Google Science Fair winner Naomi Shah found herself and other girls outnumbered five to 34 in an advanced computer science class at Sunset High School in Beaverton. In the heart of Oregon's Silicon Forest where parents are engineers and technicians for Intel, Tekronix and a dozen other technology companies, the shortage of girls in high school physics, engineering and technology courses is staggering. Washington County school districts, which are about 50/50 boys and girls, do not keep tabs on the gender breakdowns in their science, technology, engineering and math classes, collectively called STEM, but they pulled together some statistics from science and math classes at the request of The Oregonian. [Read more...] Newt's private life is his business, but hypocrisy is everyone's affair (21 January 2012) Newt is right. His swinging ways shouldn't be any of our business. Now if only he -- and his party -- felt that way toward the rest of us. The coverage last week of Newt Gingrich's adultery -- the notion he sought an open marriage in which he would be shared, alternately, by two women -- sure casts the marriage debate in a whole new light. New slogan: Marriage is between one man, and one woman ... at a time. [Read more...] Oregon flooding may give native fish a break, Oregon State University professor says (21 January 2012) Giannico and others wondered how fish adapted to the change. Floods have happened for thousands of years, he said, and fish traditionally escaped high water in the main river stems by moving to off-channel habitat. Turns out they still do. In flooding season, researchers began looking in ditches, low-lying farmland and other spots that are dry most the year. To their surprise, they found 14 fish species -- 11 of them native. "That's high diversity for this area, more than I would have bet we were going to get," Giannico said. Giannico notes a couple implications from the findings. Native fish, he said, are keenly tuned to changes in light and water temperature, and move to sheltering habitat -- even if it turns out to be a flooded grass seed field. Invasive fish, often warm-water species, don't get it. They're unable to respond to the clues. As a result, native fish get a temporary break from predation and competition for food. [Read more...] Sacramento attorney Howard Dickstein has made tribes rich, comes under fire (22 January 2012) He started out in a tent at the reservation at Wounded Knee, S.D., an idealistic young lawyer defending Indians' rights. He evolved into a champion for Indian casinos -- a towering political figure who cut deals with California governors and helped give birth to a $7 billion-a-year industry. Sacramento attorney Howard Dickstein has made his tribal clients rich. He's largely responsible for creating three of the region's top casinos: Jackson Rancheria, Cache Creek and the stunningly successful Thunder Valley resort near Lincoln. After nearly 40 years representing tribes, however, Dickstein is a polarizing figure. His negotiating tactics have angered some tribes, and he is often depicted as a controlling presence who meddles in tribal affairs. For the second time in four years, he is facing bitter accusations of gaining vast personal wealth at the expense of unsophisticated clients. [Read more...] Dozens return to Toronto and Ottawa ill after Cuban vacation (21 January 2012) Dozens of travellers were ill when they returned from Cuban holidays on flights to Toronto and Ottawa this week, sending two to hospital. Health officials say sick passengers had vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and fever. The passengers were not quarantined, but were assessed by Public Health Agency of Canada inspectors, who concluded the illness "did not pose a significant public health risk," said agency spokesperson Sylwia Gomes. On Tuesday, seven passengers on a Sunwing flight from Cuba to Ottawa fell ill with the described symptoms. On Thursday, another 11 passengers on an Air Transat flight from Cuba to Toronto's Pearson International Airport were also sick. [Read more...] Stephen Colbert shows Republicans how to draw a crowd (21 January 2012) Reporting from Charleston, S.C. -- Under the looming live oaks at the College of Charleston on Friday, Stephen Colbert delivered a clinic on how to produce a whiz-bang political rally. Significantly, not one of the Republican candidates this year has exhibited the star power to bring off such an extravaganza themselves. Thousands of students packed into the old college's walled central yard. Many had waited for hours to see Colbert and they cheered wildly when the comedy genius from Comedy Central marched in. Cheerleaders and a marching band led the way. A gospel choir was poised to sing with Colbert onstage. An ex-presidential candidate had also been convinced to join the parade -- Herman Cain, the Herminator, the Pizza Man, he of the 9-9-9 plan. Colbert's latest stunt was to urge his South Carolina fans to cast a vote for Cain, who is still on the ballot, as an expression of support for Colbert's own candidacy for "president of the United States of South Carolina." Colbert's farcical campaign follows from his establishment of a personal "super PAC." All of this is an elaborate satire of the Supreme Court's 2-year-old Citizens United ruling that declared corporations are entities akin to people and, therefore, have the same rights to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on political speech. The results of this decision have been abundantly evident in the 2012 campaign. Super PACs working in support of, but independent from, several candidates have spent mountains of money on attack ads trying, often successfully, to do damage to opposing campaigns. [Read more...] Cultural Populism Catapults Gingrich to South Carolina Victory (21 January 2012) Religion. Gingrich won 42 percent of born again and evangelical Christians. The reason? His overt appeals to religiosity. A typical Gingrich stump speech in South Carolina was blatantly more religious than in New Hampshire a week earlier. Until South Carolina, Gingrich employed a brief line about the Declaration of the Independence saying the people "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights," with a slight verbal emphasis on "Creator." Here, he drew it out into an explicitly theological and arguably anti-atheist digression. "Every one of us is sovereign because God has given us our rights," said Gingrich on Friday night. "Barack Obama believes in Saul Alinsky and European socialism where the state is sovereign and you're merely the subject." Later he went on a digression about Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address and the prominent role God plays in it. "I would ask our secular friends how you can you teach Lincoln's second inaugural without God?" He demanded, attacking a straw man. Gingrich also used religion as a shield against the late-breaking story that his second wife, Marianne, said he asked for an open marriage. Gingrich's daughters defended him by saying he had since grown closer to God. Evangelicals love nothing so much as a story of a redeemed sinner. Just ask George W. Bush. Poor Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have stayed faithful to their wives and have no such tale to tell. Race. Have you ever heard of "the War between the States"? That's the Civil War, but under a different title, more popular in the South, where it emphasizes states' rights. And that's also the name Gingrich used to refer to the Civil War Monday night. Do you think that's what he'll call it when he is back up North? [Read more...] Costa Concordia captain claims company ordered 'salute' to island (22 January 2012) Francesco Schettino, the cruise ship captain accused of steering the Costa Concordia into rocks on the island of Giglio in a reckless bid to "salute" the island, has reportedly said he was ordered to carry out the manoeuvre by ship owner Costa Crociere. "The salute at Giglio on 13 January was planned and wanted by Costa before the departure from Civitavecchia," Schettino told a judge investigating the collision, according to transcripts leaked to Italian newspaper La Repubblica. At least 12 people died trying to escape from the vessel as it listed on rocks following the collision. Schettino is being held under house arrest accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship. Schettino said the "salute" should have been carried out a week earlier, but was put off due to bad weather. He reportedly told the investigating judge that there was "insistence" by the firm on carrying out such manoeuvres, because it was a good way to promote its cruises. [Read more...] New year firework frenzy to send Beijing pollution readings rocketing (22 January 2012) Steven Andrews, an environmental consultant who has studied Beijing's pollution data since 2006, told Associated Press he was "already a bit suspicious" of Beijing's PM2.5 data. Within the 24-hour period to noon on Saturday, Beijing reported seven hourly figures "at the very low level" of 0.003 milligrams per cubic metre. "In all of 2010 and 2011, the US embassy reported values at or below that level only 18 times out of over 15,000 hourly values or about 0.1% of the time," said Andrews. "PM2.5 concentrations vary by area so a direct comparison between sites isn't possible, but the numbers being reported during some hours seem surprisingly low." Readings everywhere will almost certainly surge for a few hours on Sunday night, when millions of Beijingers will unleash a celebratory firestorm despite environmentalists' calls for people to use rockets, sparklers and firecrackers more sparingly. Wang Qiuxia, of the Darwin Nature Knowledge Society NGO, said the air quality in many Chinese cities deteriorated sharply every New Year's Eve. [Read more...] Court favors families in Bulger case (22 January 2012) A federal appeals court yesterday upheld million-dollar judgments in favor of families of James "Whitey'' Bulger's alleged murder victims, finding that the government was liable for the deaths because of the FBI's corrupt relationship with the gangster. The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld awards totaling more than $1.3 million for the family of Debra Davis, $350,000 for the family of Deborah Hussey, and $1.1 million for the family of Louis Litif. Davis was the girlfriend of Stephen "The Rifleman'' Flemmi, Bulger's longtime associate and fellow FBI informant. Flemmi also had a long-term relationship with Hussey's mother, and he raised Deborah as a daughter. He previously testified that he watched as Bulger strangled the women, who were both 26 when they were killed at different times in the 1980s. [Read more...] News from the Week of 15th to 21st of January 2012 Video: 6 Bizarro Ads From the Colbert Super-PAC (21 January 2012) Last week Stephen Colbert announced that he was exploring a bid for "president of the United States of South Carolina" in advance of the state's Republican primary on January 21. News organizations quickly pointed out that he'd missed the deadline to get on the ballot and that write-in votes were not permitted. But that didn't stop the pro-Colbert super-PAC Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow (now headed by Jon Stewart) from getting into the action. It released an ad endorsing GOP dropout Herman Cain, who's still on the South Carolina ballot. Check out that ad and five others produced by the Colbert super-PAC as part of its surreal civics lesson. Before endorsing Cain, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow enlisted John Lithgow (who played a serial killer on Dexter) to narrate an ad about "Mitt the Ripper" killing corporations (which, you'll recall, he thinks are people). [Read more...] Few think a Gingrich win in South Carolina will lead to nomination (21 January 2012) But even if Gingrich wins South Carolina, political analysts are not convinced that he can sustain the type of consistent campaign needed to wrest the nomination from Romney. "I think what it's going to mean is that South Carolina won't pick the (Republican) nominee for the first time in years, because I really don't see (Gingrich) winning the nomination,'' said Danielle Vinson, chairwoman of the political-science department at Furman University in South Carolina. "He's always been good at catching the attention, dropping the verbal grenade in the room that will make a great story, and get the folks who agree with him really excited,'' Vinson said. "But the day-to-day Newt Gingrich wears on people.'' William J. Green, a Republican consultant in Pittsburgh, said, "South Carolina is unique; it's more conservative than Florida,'' which holds its primary on Jan. 31. "It certainly makes him more competitive,'' Green said. "But Romney is better financed and better organized in (Florida). I think Romney would have a leg up because of his organizational skills and money, so I don't think a loss in South Carolina's going to interrupt that.'' [Read more...] An Honest Voice Enters the GOP Race: AFSCME (21 January 2012) The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has entered the Republican presidential race, and the public-employee union could be a serious contender. AFSCME, which has been a key player in the struggle to defend state and local workers against the anti-union juggernaut launched by newly elected Republican governors and legislators, has long been at odds with Newt Gingrich. When the former House Speaker decided that the fundamental challenge facing the American economic system was the persistence of child-labor laws, AFSCME pushed back with a muscular campaign that asked: "Really, Newt?" Challenghing the speaker's proposal that school janoitors be replaced with "poor children," AFSCME launched a national campaign that got thousands of Americans to sign a statement that said: "The US outlawed child labor because it denied children the chance at a real education and allowed employers to exploit children -- and because children were often injured or killed on the job. That's why labor unions fought to pass laws outlawing child labor and protecting all workers. And the people you want to fire and replace with kids? A lot of them are parents. That job puts a roof over kids' heads, food on the table, and provides them with health care and the chance to get an education. That job is the only thing between a kid and poverty. Firing someone's mom and hiring the kid for less money isn't exactly the 'process of rising.' It is, in fact, the process of falling. It is the process of exploiting and destroying working families. The fact that you don't get that makes you not only out of touch, but utterly unqualified to serve in any elected position, let alone President of the United States. Newt, 'You're Fired!'" [Read more...] Accused war criminal Taylor 'worked with CIA' (21 January 2012) He stands accused of funding rebels who hacked the arms off small children, smuggling blood diamonds, keeping sex slaves and torturing his opponents, but former Liberian President Charles Taylor also had another career - providing information to US intelligence agencies, according to information obtained by the Boston Globe newspaper. Today, Taylor is jailed in The Hague as the first former African leader to face international prosecution from the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone. In the 1990s, he was allegedly responsible for wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, which killed more than 250,000 people. "It's an intriguing development," Will Reno, a professor at Northwestern University who studies political violence in Africa, told Al Jazeera. "Was the US still supporting him when he was responsible for all of these human rights abuses? Did the US contribute to that?" While the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Pentagon's spy arm, confirmed its agents and CIA agents worked with Taylor in the 1980s, they would not reveal details of the relationship on national security grounds. [Read more...] CIA collaboration with New York Police Department was never legally approved (21 January 2012) The top lawyer at the CIA never approved sending one of its officers to help the New York Police Department create a domestic spying program, raising the possibility that the agency may have violated a ban on domestic spying. Last August, the Associated Press reported that the CIA had violated that prohibition when it "played a key role in transforming the New York Police Department's intelligence unit into a cutting edge spy shop dedicated to gathering information on Muslims." New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly insisted in October that the arrangement was legal under a 1981 presidential order, which allows the CIA to provide local law enforcement with "specialized equipment, technical knowledge or assistance of expert personnel," provided the guidelines are spelled out in advance and the agency's general counsel approves of the arrangement. The AP is now reporting, however, that according to intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, neither of those things was done in 2002 when then-CIA director George Tenet sent a veteran officer to set up "spying programs that transformed the NYPD into one of the nation's most aggressive domestic intelligence agencies." [Read more...] U.S. appeals ruling against dolphin-safe tuna labels (21 January 2012) "Our decision to appeal the WTO ruling in this case demonstrates the commitment of the United States to our dolphin-safe labeling measures," she said. The WTO had found that Washington was overly restrictive in trying to protect dolphins. Under the US measures, producers of tuna products -- whether foreign or domestic -- have the option of labeling tuna products that meet the standards of the US provisions as "dolphin safe." One such standard is "that the label cannot be used if dolphins are purposefully chased and encircled in order to catch tuna. This fishing method is harmful to dolphins," the US trade office said. Mexico argues that the measures violate trade rules by limiting access to the US market for Mexican tuna. But Washington insists that some Mexican fishing vessels use the proscribed method of throwing nets around dolphins to catch tuna. [Read more...] Hatteras beach drivers will have to pay fee, watch video (21 January 2012) Starting next month, a drive onto the beach at Cape Hatteras National Seashore will require more than a capable vehicle and a little sense of adventure. Motorists also will need to buy a permit. The National Park Service announced Friday that rules designed to limit beach access and protect the environment will require drivers to pay between $90 and $150 for an annual permit, with a weekly permit going for about one-third of that. Visitors also will be required to watch a seven-minute educational video at one of the designated visitor centers. In addition, the Park Service is making 26 miles along the 67-mile-long seashore permanently off-limits as of Feb. 15, when the new rules kick in. It's the first permanent ban of stretches of beach in the park. The restrictions come after years of debate that have pitted locals who cherish a restriction-free tradition against environmental groups that sued in 2007 to force the Park Service to better protect turtle and bird nesting habitats. [Read more...] Kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart engaged to be married (21 January 2012) Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped at the age of 14 from her bedroom at knife-point and held captive for nine months, is engaged to be married. A spokeswoman for 24-year-old Smart revealed she got engaged last week and would be getting married in the summer. Her future husband has not been officially identified, but has been reported to be a Scotsman named Matthew Gilmour. Wedding gift registers at Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma list an entry for Elizabeth Smart and Matthew Gilmour in Utah on July 1, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. [Read more...] Ohio AG: More victims possible in Craigslist serial murder case (21 January 2012) Mike Dewine discussed his concerns during a press conference Friday to announce the indictment of Richard Beasley, who will face 28 felonies, including nine counts of aggravated murder. Each of those nine counts carries a possible death penalty. Beasley is accused of luring four men into the woods with the promise of a job via a bogus Craigslist post. The bodies of two men have been recovered in Noble County; a third was found in Akron. A fourth man was wounded and escaped. Beasley will be arraigned Jan. 25 in Akron. He is currently jailed on unrelated charges. Beasley has denied involvement in the murders. Dewine and Summit County Prosecutor Sheri Bevan Walsh told reporters that they do believe other men may have viewed and answered the bogus ad. [Read more...] TSA agent accused of selling stolen property from luggage on Craigslist (21 January 2012) Police arrested a TSA worker at Miami International Airport after investigators say he stuffed goods from passengers' luggage inside a hidden pocket in his work jacket. Michael Pujol, 33, was arrested Thursday after an iPad he is accused of stealing was traced to a Craigslist sale. He was charged with grand theft and dealing in stolen property. His wife, Betsy Pujol Salazar, also was arrested and faces the same charges. Pujol has been suspended from duty. The couple were released Friday on bond. A Feb. 17 trial date has been set. Miami-Dade Detective Steve Kaufman said Pujol's secret pocket was large enough to conceal a device as big as a laptop. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: The airlines themselves are the biggest offenders. Back when I was willing to fly, one airline representative told me that it was good that I'd had luggage tags on my bag. If I hadn't, she told me, they would've sold the bag, even if I could identify the bag's contents, even if the contents inside had my name on them. I've never seen an industry so eager to seize and then sell its customers' belongings for a quick buck. First-ever movie of comet's death plunge into sun (21 January 2012) Seeing the comet's fiery plunge in such a detailed way let scientists learn a lot about it. This comet made it to within 62,000 miles (about 100,000 kilometers) of the sun's surface before evaporating. In the last 20 minutes of its existence when it was visible to NASA's SDO,, it had broken up into a dozen or so large chunks with sizes between 30 to 150 feet (10 to 45 meters) across. They were embedded in the comet's "coma" -- the tenuous cloud surrounding the comet -- of approximately 800 miles (1,200 km) across, and followed by a glowing tail of about 10,000 miles (16,000 km in length). Scientists said the movie shows the comet's coma and tail -- not its core. They said the light in the tail pulses, getting dimmer and brighter over time. The team speculates that the pulsing variations are caused by successive breakups of each of the individual chunks that made up the comet material as it fell apart in the sun's intense heat. The image above is from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), which discovered Comet C/2011 N3 before its plunge into the sun. The comet is that graceful arc on the right. Comet C/2011 N3 is from a fascinating group of sungrazing comets known as the Kreutz comets. They have been observed since the late 1800s and which are believed to be fragments of a single large comet that broke up several centuries ago. By the way, as I write this, there is a coronal mass ejections (CME) -- or expanding cloud of solar materials -- headed toward the Earth, from a storm on the sun's surface on January 19, 2012. It might affect satellites in orbit, and your cell phone service might be less than stellar today. It is a popular misconception is that sungrazing comets cause solar flares and CMEs. There is no connection between the two events. The sungrazer comets -- in fact all comets -- are tiny in contrast to the sun. Comet C/2011 N3, for one, is typical of the sungrazing comets. It is now known with certainty to be less than 100 meters across. Meanwhile, the sun is roughly 1,390,000,000 meters. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: I played the embedded movie link a few times, and only saw what looked like a momentary streak on a couple of those plays. Occupy San Francisco protest leads to arrests, brief shutdown of Wells Fargo bank headquarters (21 January 2012) All in all, Friday's big Occupy movement attempt to shut down San Francisco's Financial District was a mixed success for the protesters who led it - and something of a relief for those who had feared it. Occupy San Francisco organizers mustered several hundred participants for their all-day protest against economic inequality, and as they marched throughout downtown staging rallies and skits and civil disobedience, they did manage to slow traffic and force a couple of businesses to shut down, including the headquarters of Wells Fargo Bank. Unlike some major Occupy actions last year on both sides of the bay, nonviolence prevailed - although tensions between police and protesters flared after night fell as activists briefly occupied the vacant Cathedral Hill Hotel on Van Ness Avenue. Two officers were injured by thrown objects there, and at least five people were arrested before the demonstration ended around 11 p.m. Nineteen people were arrested during the daytime actions, all but one when they refused to move while blocking Wells Fargo's doors. [Read more...] UW bird flu scientist to stop research for 60 days (21 January 2012) A UW-Madison scientist whose bird flu research has prompted an international debate over biosecurity, bioterrorism and censorship said Friday he would stop the research for 60 days to allow for more discussion of the need for the work. Yoshihiro Kawaoka and a Dutch scientist doing similar research said they would halt studies on bird flu viruses that can spread easily in the lab among ferrets -- and thus, possibly humans. "We realize organizations and governments around the world need time to find the best solutions for opportunities and challenges that stem from the work," they said in a statement released Friday by the journals Nature and Science. Thirty-seven other scientists signed the statement in support. [Read more...] NZ police cut way into mansion to make Internet fraud case arrest (21 January 2012) A police official said on Saturday that dozens of officers, backed by helicopters, forced their way into the mansion, nestled in lush, rolling farmland, after Dotcom refused them entry, a scene more reminiscent of a James Bond movie than the usual policeman's lot in rural New Zealand. "Despite our staff clearly identifying themselves, Mr Dotcom retreated into the house and activated a number of electronic-locking mechanisms," said Detective Inspector Grant Wormald from the Organized & Financial Crime Agency New Zealand. Officers broke the locks and Dotcom barricaded himself into a safe room which officers had to cut their way through to gain access. "Once they gained entry into this room, they found Mr Dotcom near a firearm which had the appearance of a shortened shotgun," he said. "It was definitely not as simple as knocking at the front door." [Read more...] Blacks Face Bias in Bankruptcy, Study Suggests (20 January 2012) Blacks are about twice as likely as whites to wind up in the more onerous and costly form of consumer bankruptcy as they try to dig out from their debts, a new study has found. The disparity persisted even when the researchers adjusted for income, homeownership, assets and education. The evidence suggested that lawyers were disproportionately steering blacks into a process that was not as good for them financially, in part because of biases, whether conscious or unconscious. The vast majority of debtors file under Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code, which typically allows them to erase most debts in a matter of months. It tends to have a higher success rate and is less expensive than the alternative, Chapter 13, which requires debtors to dedicate their disposable income to paying back their debts for several years. The study of racial differences in bankruptcy filings was written by Robert M. Lawless, a bankruptcy expert and law professor, and Dov Cohen, a psychology professor, both with the University of Illinois; and Jean Braucher, a law professor at the University of Arizona. [Read more...] South Sudan: Juba Shuts Down Oil Pipeline to North's Export Port (21 January 2012) The African Union is sponsoring talks between the two countries but Sudanese Foreign minister Ali Ahmed Karti on Wednesday dampened hopes of a quick deal by dismissing the South's criticism of its move as "childish." Mr Karti said his country would continue to take a share of oil from South Sudan to compensate for what it calls unpaid transit fees and said an oil deal was unlikely without an agreement on border and security issues. On its part, South Sudan said plans were underway to build a pipeline to transport its oil through Uganda and Kenya to reduce over-reliance on Sudan's infrastructure. According to a South Sudan official, Japanese Toyota company had been on the ground carrying out a feasibility study, and work could begin soon. [Read more...] Sally Mauk: After years of work, odds of rape still too high (20 January 2012) Going from a small town to a large university was scary, and like most college freshmen I was half excited, half ill with anxiety. My first class had more students than my entire high school, and the tenured professor teaching it was my first real exposure to academic intimidation. Having a good dorm roommate was going to be crucial to my first-year survival. I lucked out. C. was an easygoing, cheerful Californian, who kept her half of the room tolerably tidy, and had study habits similar to mine. We were different enough we weren't going to be close friends, but alike enough to make the living arrangement a nice haven from the rest of the hectic college world. Christmas break that year I went home to visit my parents, and C. went on a ski vacation to Colorado. When she came back, she wasn't the same person. She spent the first week back alternately crying and sleeping, and skipping class. She said she was sick, possibly with mono. Another week passed, and if anything, she was getting worse. Finally, worried she was going to flunk out and I was going to lose my good roommate, I confronted her and asked what was really going on. [Read more...] Advertising spending online expected to surpass print this year (20 January 2012) U.S. online advertising spending is expected to grow 23.3% to $39.5 billion this year, pushing it ahead of total advertising spending in print newspapers and magazines, according to an eMarketer report. Meanwhile, print advertising spending is expected to fall to $33.8 billion in 2012 from $36 billion last year, the market research company said. "Advertisers' comfort level with integrated marketing is greater than ever, and this is helping more advertisers -- and more large brands -- put a greater share of dollars online," said David Hallerman, eMarketer's principal analyst. The 2012 estimates come after a robust year for U.S. advertising in 2011. eMarketer said online ad spending grew 23% to $32.03 billion last year while total ad spending rose 3.4% to $158.9 billion. [Read more...] No radioactive threat expected from Japan's tsunami debris (21 January 2012) A half dozen large buoys suspected to be from Japanese oyster farms have appeared near Yakutat at the top of Alaska's Panhandle and may be among the first debris from Japan's devastating tsunami last year. As more debris shows up, there's little need to be worried that it will be contaminated by radiation, state health and environmental officials said Friday. They have been working with federal counterparts to gauge the danger of debris, including material affected by a damaged nuclear power plant, to see if Alaska residents, seafood or wild game could be affected. "From what we found from the data that is available, the answer is no," said Kristin Ryan, environmental health director for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. "There is no concern to us that there's any radiation impacts in Alaska, to our environment, that we should be worried about at this time." [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: They don't know that for sure. Legendary blues singer Etta James dies at 73 in California (20 January 2012) She scored her first hit when she was just a teenager with the suggestive "Roll With Me, Henry," which had to be changed to "The Wallflower" in order to get airplay. Over the years, she'd notch many more, carving a niche for herself with her husky, soulful voice and her sassy attitude, which permeated her songs. But it was her jazz-inflected rendition of "At Last" that would come to define her and make her legendary. The song, which starts with sumptuous strings before James begins to sing, was a remake of a 1941 standard. James made it her own, and her version became the new standard. Over the decades, countless brides have used it as their song down the aisle, and it has been featured in car commercials and films like "American Pie," But perhaps most famously, U.S. President Barack Obama and the first lady danced to a version of "At Last" at his inauguration ball. But the tender, sweet song belied the turmoil that James -- born Jamesette Hawkins in Los Angeles -- would endure for much of her life. Her mother -- whom she described in her 1995 autobiography "Rage to Survive" as a scam artist, a substance abuser and unstable -- was a fleeting presence in her life during her youth. She never knew her father, although she had been told that he was the famous billiards player Minnesota Fats. When she was older, she met him and asked about the rumor. He wouldn't confirm or deny it: as James recalled, he simply told her: "I don't remember everything. I wish I did, but I don't." [Read more...] The Guardian's Etta James obituary (20 January 2012) She was born Jamesetta Hawkins to 14-year-old Dorothy Hawkins and an unknown white father, although James maintained he was the pool shark Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone, and was raised at first in Los Angeles by adoptive parents. From the age of five, she sang gospel in the local church and later acknowledged the influence of the choirmaster, Professor James Earl Hines. When Jamesetta's adoptive mother died, Dorothy reappeared and took her 12-year-old daughter to San Francisco. Dorothy was a hustler and showed no inclination to change her lifestyle. "She was never there when I got off from school," James recalled, "so I could pretty much do what I wanted to do ... drinking, smoking weed." Violence and substance abuse were now constants in James's life and she would maintain a difficult, combative relationship with her mother across many decades. James formed a vocal trio, the Creolettes, with two teenage friends. They auditioned for the maverick R&B band leader Johnny Otis. He was so impressed with James's voice and her songwriting skills that he offered to take her to Los Angeles the following day to record Roll With Me Henry. She agreed, lied to him that she was 18 and, when he demanded her mother's signed consent, went home and forged it -- Dorothy was then in prison. Roll With Me Henry was retitled The Wallflower -- Modern Records decided the original title was too explicit -- and Otis renamed his protege Etta James. The song reached No 1 on the R&B charts (while Georgia Gibbs's bland cover went to No 1 in the pop charts). The follow-up, Good Rockin' Daddy, reached No 12 in the R&B charts in November 1955. [Read more...] PETA wants bank to donate O.J.'s house after foreclosure (20 January 2012) PETA wants O.J. Simpson's house. Why? To set up a "Meat Is Murder" museum, of course. In a letter addressed to Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase's CEO, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals asked if the bank would either donate or sell the house to the animal rights group for a "nominal sum" once the bank completes the foreclosure it's pursuing on Simpson's home. [Read more...] S. Sudan to halt oil production over dispute with Sudan (20 January 2012) Sudan's announcement came after talks led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki failed to bridge the two sides' positions. South Sudan said Sudan's seizure of the oil, which customers already had paid for, was unjustified because South Sudan had continued paying regular transportation and processing fees. Benjamin said the date of the shutdown was a "technical issue" contingent only on the oil minister making sure that the process limited environmental damage. Oil experts and diplomats long have warned that stopping the flow through the pipeline could render it unusable in the future, since South Sudan's oil is a particularly dense blend, known as Dar, that would settle and clog the tube. That technical problem also has made it difficult for Sudan to block oil exports without the possibility of destroying its only remaining link to the southern fields, which it still hopes to benefit from. South Sudan plans to get around this obstacle by flushing the tube with water, said a diplomat familiar with the issue who wasn't authorized to speak on the record. [Read more...] Sudan: 'They Bombed Everything That Moved' - Aerial Military Attacks On Civilians and Humanitarians in Sudan, 1999 - 2012 (18 January 2012) Since inaugurating hostilities in South Kordofan on June 5, 2011, Khartoum's Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) military aircraft have been engaged in relentless, widespread, and systematic attacks on civilian targets throughout the state, particularly in the Nuba Mountains. Similarly, since fighting began in Blue Nile on September 1, 2011, bombing has been relentless, widespread, and systematic. Many hundreds of civilians have been killed or wounded, although even a broadly approximate census has no real authority; judging from the character of reports and the geographic dispersion of the attacks, the figure is more likely to be in the thousands. Most consequentially, aerial attacks have displaced many hundreds of thousands of civilians from South Kordofan (chiefly into Unity State in South Sudan) and Blue Nile (chiefly into Ethiopia, and Upper Nile in South Sudan). The UN figure of 417,000 displaced first promulgated in mid-December 2011 is almost certainly low, since much is excluded from the data sets available (the January 11 estimate of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army-North [SPLM/A-N] is over 700,000 within Blue Nile and South Kordofan). Many of the displaced are unable to travel the distances required to escape the violence, and have stayed in areas not controlled by Khartoum's forces, but which are inaccessible and highly vulnerable. They remain subject to aerial attacks, and have often fled at least some distance from their homes and lands. And the flow of refugees is unceasing: the UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) reported that relief organizations in mid-December estimated that "at least 1,000 refugees are arriving daily in South Sudan's Upper Nile State" (December 14, Doro, Upper Nile). There are also reports of large groups of people who have had to halt in their flight to safety, but have so far not been registered or provided for. Many more are fleeing South Kordofan into Unity State, and this number now exceeds 35,000 refugees (Reuters [Khartoum], December 13, 2011). The total refugee population in South Sudan and Ethiopia almost certainly exceeds 100,000 (the estimate for year-end by the UN High Commission for Refugees on November 28). Again, the estimate of the SPLM/A-N is much higher. A large majority do not enough food and clean water, or access to primary health care. And those displaced from Abyei by Khartoum's May 21 military seizure of the contested region--some 110,000 Dinka Ngok--remain in South Sudan, unable to return to their homes and lands, and living in very poor conditions. [Read more...] If you publish with iBooks Author, does Apple 'own' you? (20 January 2012) This week Apple announced a new textbook App called iBooks 2, as well as iBooks Author, a new book publishing app that allows normal people with little to no coding know-how to create impressive ebooks complete with photo galleries, video, 3-D images and other super cool graphic elements. Nothing too controversial there, right? Wrong. By Thursday afternoon, tech bloggers began to complain about a clause in iBook Author's End User Licence Agreement that restricts how resulting ebooks can be sold, and by Friday the torrent of anger reached a fever pitch. Here's the offending statement as it appears in the iBooks Author "About" box: "IMPORTANT NOTE: If you charge a fee for any book or other work you generate using this software (a "Work"), you may only sell or distribute such Work through Apple (e.g., through the iBookstore) and such distribution will be subject to a separate agreement with Apple." In other words, Apple invites you to use its publishing software to do some really cool stuff that most of us could never dream of doing on our own, all for free. Just know that if you decide to sell what you've made, Apple will most likely get a cut of the profits. [Read more...] Ahead of South Carolina Primary, GOP Candidates Employ Race-Baiting Tradition to Win Southern Vote (20 January 2012) [DN] JUAN GONZALEZ: That's an excerpt from an ad from Newt Gingrich's campaign. We continue with Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News, joining us from Charleston, South Carolina, and Kevin Alexander Gray, civil rights activist and community organizer in Columbia, South Carolina. Kevin Alexander Gray, your response to some of these clips that we've been playing? KEVIN ALEXANDER GRAY: You know, I saw the ad. I see the ad every time I turn on my TV almost. I saw the--both debates. Both of them were probably one flaming cross short of being a Klan rally. The fact that Newt Gingrich would also talk about Andrew Jackson knowing how to deal with his enemy, and Andrew Jackson was known as "the extermination president" for all the Native Americans he killed, and people cheered that. So, as a South Carolinian, it was quite embarrassing to watch. But, you know, we live in the profoundly racist country, and this is a profoundly racist state. Yet, we can never seem to find any racist. Obviously, what Newt Gingrich said is patently racist, because, first of all, the majority of people on food stamps aren't black people. And Newt Gingrich is aiming at that large racist vote in South Carolina. You heard them cheer this idea that black folk somehow were standing in line for food stamps or black folk are standing in line to take something that belongs to white folk. That's the slander of the racist, that black folk are lazy and are less--have less morals and don't have the work ethic that the rest of the country or the rest of the people have. So, he'll benefit from it. Whether or not it can lead him to winning the White House, I don't think it's going to work. I think it's going to serve to organize and energize his opposition's base supporters. So, you know, Newt can go on with this kind of racism instead of talking about how do we solve the problems of this country and how do we solve the economic problems of the black community. Now, that being said, there is a lot of frustration with the White House, because when President Obama came into office we had a housing crisis, now we have a profound job crisis. Now, that is a fact. From the time Barack Obama came into office, black unemployment was around, what, 10 percent. Now it's 16 percent. So, you know, we still have to be able to talk about the fact that we have massive unemployment, almost a depression in the black community. But surely, surely, the history of Newt Gingrich and this kind of rhetoric is racist. And it's so funny, because in the early part of Barack Obama's presidency, I can remember Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton meeting with the President because they both support this idea of school choice and expanding the charter school system in America. [Read more...] Kucinich proposes public financing to overturn Citizens United ruling (19 January 2012) Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced a constitutional amendment to the U.S. House on Thursday that would overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. the Federal Elections Commission. The court held that corporations have the same First Amendment rights as people and that money was a form of speech. "Because of the decision by the Supreme Court majority in the Citizens United case, more money was spent on campaigns in the 2010 election than has ever been spent in a mid-term election," Kucinich said. "Because of the Citizens United case, more money will be spent in the 2012 elections than has ever been spent in an election in the history of our country. Because of the Citizens United case, American democracy has been put up on the auction block." A number of other Members of Congress, including Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have proposed constitutional amendments to overturn the Citizens United ruling. Sens. Tom Udall (D-NM) and Michael Bennet of (D-CO) have also introduced less ambitious constitutional amendment that would give Congress and the states the authority to regulate the campaign finance system. [Read more...] SOPA and PIPA Part of Effort to Domesticate Politically Incorrect Internet (20 January 2012) [AJ] The Megaupload takedown is dominating headlines, but there is something the incident has overshadowed -- large internet corporations and government have censored political websites for years as part of a plan to domesticate the internet. Censorship of the internet is not simply for the Chinese. On Thursday, Paul Joseph Watson pointed out the hypocrisy of Google as the transnational corporation shouldered its way into the limelight by opposing SOPA while enforcing SOPA-like policies of its own, blacklisting legitimate websites from its news aggregator and following government orders to remove material from its search results and You Tube. Watson notes that Google has delisted both Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com -- the flagship websites of nationally syndicated talk show host Alex Jones -- from its popular news website and news search engine. Google News is a content aggregator that allows users to search thousands of news sources for relevant stories. Google has memory holed these two websites from its news portal for political reasons and not because they are insignificant and draw paltry traffic. In fact, Infowars.com is a major news source that gets more traffic than MSNBC.com and many other corporate media news websites. [Read more...] Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom back in court Monday (20 January 2012) The four men appeared in the North Shore District Court late this afternoon as the FBI began extradition proceedings. They are the brains behind an operation that is alleged to have cost copyright holders more than $US500 million in lost revenue. Kim Dotcom, born Kim Schmitz in Germany, founded the company and is a Finnish citizen, resident of Hong Kong and now New Zealand. The other three on the dock included Dutch programmer in charge Bram van der Kolk - who is also a New Zealand resident. And two other Germans, chief marketing and sales officer Finn Batato and chief technical officer Mathias Ortmann. They have been remanded in custody to appear in court again on Monday. [Read more...] Tariq Ali: Obama's Expansion of Af-Pak War "Has Blown Up in His Face" (20 January 2012) [DN] JUAN GONZALEZ: And Tariq, I'd like to ask you about this whole trend of the relations with allies in the region, not just in terms of the huge tension between the U.S. and the Pakistani military, but the front page of the New York Times today, a lead article about the growing tension between the Afghan army and the U.S. military, to the point that Afghan soldiers trained by the U.S. are repeatedly attacking and killing U.S. soldiers. TARIQ ALI: Well, the reason for this, Juan, I mean, I've pointed this out several times, that the insurgents in Afghanistan, like all guerrillas, have said to their supporters, "When you're offered free training, if they want to try and recruit you into their army, do it. Go and learn how to do it." And they've infiltrated the Afghan army and the police force. And the United States is very well aware of this, which is why now serious negotiations are taking place with the insurgents to try and find some solution in Afghanistan. But this has been going on for ages. And it will carry on, because it's a traditional way of resistance when your country is occupied. You take the weapons of your enemy. You use them against them. You infiltrate the enemy's security services. And the Afghans have done all that. AMY GOODMAN: This relation between the U.S. and Afghanistan--if the Afghanistan war comes to an end, does that mean Pakistan will not be getting the billions of dollars that it's been getting as it plays both sides? TARIQ ALI: Once the United States decides to withdraw from Afghanistan-- AMY GOODMAN: Which it hasn't. TARIQ ALI: --and the likelihood is that this will be sooner rather than later--the money will stop, of course. I mean, given the economic crisis here, it's impossible to justify spending so much on military armaments and supplying the Pakistan army. The question is, will they do to the Egyptian army, as well? Both these armies are heavily dependent on U.S. funding. [Read more...] Tepco Drills Hole in Fukushima Reactor -- Finds Nuclear Fuel Has Gone Missing; Cold Shutdown ... or Escape of Hot Fuel? (20 January 2012) [AJ] I noted last month in connection with Tepco's announcement of "cold shutdown" of the Fukushima reactors: If the reactors are "cold", it may be because most of the hot radioactive fuel has leaked out. The New York Times pointed out last month: "A former nuclear engineer with three decades of experience at a major engineering firm … who has worked at all three nuclear power complexes operated by Tokyo Electric [said] 'If the fuel is still inside the reactor core, that's one thing" …. But if the fuel has been dispersed more widely, then we are far from any stable shutdown.' " Indeed, if the center of the reactors are in fact relatively "cold", it may be because most of the hot radioactive fuel has leaked out of the containment vessels and escaped into areas where it can do damage to the environment. [Read more...] Cancer-Riddled Wind River Reservation Fights EPA Over Uranium Contamination (20 January 2012) It's stories like these that prompted tribal officials to contact Folo Akintan, senior epidemiologist for the Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council and acting director of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Epidemiology Center and ask her to lead an epidemiological study of the area. "One community member told me about seeing creatures with defects," she says. "They saw a frog with more than four legs, they saw a snake with two heads, and so I had to tell them, 'Scientifically, you have to take pictures to get this.' So I gave them cameras and said, 'Start taking pictures.' " Akintan also took a tour of the area. "By the time we went around that neighborhood, I could count on one finger how many [of the deceased] didn't die of cancer," says Akintan. "Practically all of them [who are over 50] had died of cancer or have cancer right now, and that was quite alarming." Over the next two years Akintan will collect scientific data to prove or disprove the stories that go back over 50 years. In 1958 Susquehanna-Western started processing uranium and vanadium ore in the Wind River Reservation using sulfuric acid to extract the elements from rock. The mill closed in 1963 but its sulfuric acid plant is still in production. But when the Susquehanna-Western mill closed, they left behind massive piles of contaminated materials commonly known as tailings. "Those tailings sat uncapped and unlined from the early 1960s until they were removed in the late 1980s in an uncontrolled manner," says Sam Vance, an environmental scientist and tribal program manager with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "During that time, with the natural processes of rainfall, snow accumulation and snow melt, water percolated through those tailings and drove contaminants--uranium included--down into the ground and ultimately into the water table in that area." This happened at dozens of sites across the nation, with a good portion of them on Indian land. In 1988 the Department of Energy (DOE), the regulatory agency responsible for the site, found that soils, surface water and shallow groundwater were all contaminated with uranium, radium and thorium and started removing the materials from Wind River to a new storage location about 60 miles away in the Gas Hills area of Wyoming. The DOE then announced that its job was done and that the site would clean itself up naturally. "We chose flushing--or natural attenuation--as the remediation strategy at Riverton," explains April Gil, Riverton site manager for the DOE. "I've got no doubt that that area is safe to live in. The surface aquifer is contaminated, but I believe that the flushing strategy the Department of Energy has adopted will eventually result in the contamination going back [down]." [Read more...] Prescription abuse has deadly consequences for youths (20 January 2012) An estimated 22 percent of American high school seniors report they have misused prescription amphetamines, tranquilizers, sedatives or narcotics, according to the annual Monitoring the Future survey released last month. And though that rate has remained stable since 2007, it's no reason to relax, said Pinellas County Sheriff's Sgt. Dan Szido, supervisor of a multiagency pharmaceutical drug task force. Narcotics investigators used to deal almost exclusively with people abusing illicit drugs, Szido said. Now, it's likely four prescription drug abusers will be arrested for every person busted for illegal substances such as marijuana or heroin. And many started abusing drugs as teens, he said. "Someone who is abusing prescription drugs at that age is doing it recreationally. And at those ages, you're affecting the chemical balance of who you are," Szido said. "When you are 18 or 19, you're just starting to live." Alcohol and marijuana remain the top drugs of choice for American teens. The survey, conducted since 1975 by the University of Michigan, reports 64 percent of high school seniors report drinking alcohol; 36 percent tried marijuana. [Read more...] Norovirus on rise: how to avoid it or manage symptoms (20 January 2012) Norovirus can also be transmitted in foods like oyster or shellfish, but Madoff said he hasn't seen any food related outbreaks so far this season. Instead, the highly contagious virus seems to be spreading from person to person due to poor hygiene -- such as not washing hands properly after changing a sick individual's diaper or after cleaning up vomit, which also contains the virus. "Washing hands frequently and cleaning contaminated surfaces like toilets and sinks is one of the most important things people can do to avoid spreading the virus," said Madoff. Use a bleach-based cleaning agent and wear gloves if possible and launder soiled sheets in hot water. Sick individuals should also avoid preparing food for others while they have symptoms and, if possible, for at least two days after their symptoms resolve when they're likely still contagious. While there's no specific treatment for norovirus, "rehydration is important for infected people," according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. "They must drink plenty of liquids to replace fluid lost through vomiting and diarrhea. In some cases, fluid may need to be given intravenously." [Read more...] St. Petersburg, Russia Refuses to Approve Anti-Fascist Activists Commemorative Rally (18 January 2012) St. Petersburg, Russia - The city authorities have refused to authorize an annual anti-fascist march and rally in memory of the slain anti-fascists Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova due to be held on Thursday, Jan. 19, allowing only a "picket" on the largely deserted Ploshchad Sakharova on Vasilyevsky Island. Human rights lawyer Markelov and journalist Baburova were shot dead in downtown Moscow on Jan. 19, 2009, and the date has been marked with vigils and rallies across Russia since then. Other anti-fascists, such as Nikolai Girenko, Timur Kacharava, Ivan Khutorskoi and Alexander Ryukhin, who were also killed by neo-Nazis, are commemorated too. Stefania Kulayeva, the program director of Memorial Anti-Discrimination Center, said City Hall refused to issue a permit on purely technical grounds, just as it did last year. According to the law on public assemblies, applications must be submitted to the authorities from 15 to 10 days before the event, but because of New Year and Christmas celebrations, City Hall was closed from Jan. 1 through Jan. 9. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Sadly, this happens across the U.S. all the time -- notice that "sound amplifying equipment" is an issue. New York City has similar rules, which led to the arrest of talk show host Alex Jones at a 9/11 truth rally there. That's why "Occupy Wall Street" protesters have to use the "human microphone" technique at some of their rallies -- a crowd yells what the speaker just said without sound equipment, phrase by phrase, so that the larger crowd beyond earshot of the speaker can hear the speech. Google Power Delays PIPA Vote (20 January 2012) Google flexes its power and Congress listens. Although the mighty Mountain View-based search company didn't go dark to protest the Stop Internet Piracy Act on Wednesday, it started a petition that drew 4.5 million people signatures of those who oppose the measure. About 48 hours later, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid delayed next week's scheduled vote on SOPA's little, but equally controversial, sister PIPA. And the Internet action had a direct impact on Reid's decision. "In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday's vote on the Protect IP Act," Reid (D-Nev.) said Friday. [Read more...] Hundreds of thousands in Seattle without power -- and it could be a while (20 January 2012) Hundreds of thousands of Puget Sound residents were expected to begin a second day in the cold and dark Friday, victims of an icy storm that lingered over Western Washington, killing an Issaquah man and leaving a spaghetti of downed power lines that repair crews will be restringing into next week. More than a quarter-million homes and businesses in Pierce, Thurston, King and Snohomish counties were without electricity late Thursday even as snow and freezing rain continued to fall from a storm that had been predicted to ease earlier in the day. For many, the usual concerns about a slippery commute quickly faded to far more fundamental worries -- staying warm key among them -- as falling trees and broken branches pulled down power lines from Camano Island to Olympia. Forecasters were predicting light snow and freezing rain into Friday morning before giving way to warmer temperatures and rain later in the day. [Read more...] Exxon reaches $1.6M settlement with state for Yellowstone River pollution (20 January 2012) BILLINGS - Exxon Mobil agreed Thursday to pay $1.6 million in penalties to the state of Montana over water pollution caused by a pipeline break last summer that fouled dozens of miles of shoreline along the scenic Yellowstone River. Montana Department of Environmental Quality director Richard Opper said the penalties in the case mark the largest in the agency's history. The Texas oil company will pay $300,000 in cash and spend $1.3 million on future environmental projects, according to a copy of the document obtained by the Associated Press. Also Thursday, Exxon increased its estimate of how much crude spilled into the river during the July 1 accident near Laurel to 1,509 barrels, or more than 63,000 gallons. That's up from earlier estimates of 1,000 barrels spilled - a number that Gov. Brian Schweitzer had disputed as too low. Schweitzer said Thursday that the settlement and revised spill estimate came only after the state pressured Exxon to be more accountable in the aftermath of the spill. [Read more...] As fire closes in, Biden just getting warmed up (20 January 2012) "Did the fire marshal really say to go?" he asked the agents, who nodded emphatically. The audience, growing nervous themselves, started to chatter. By this point the fire had exploded to nearly 3,000 acres, consumed several homes and forced the evacuation of a nearby elementary school. Most of the students at Galena had already left after taking morning final exams. The fire was still several miles away, but high winds continued its spread. The highway out of the fire area was clogged with traffic. However, Biden couldn't leave without reminding the audience of the original theme of the Obama campaign. Thus, he launched into five minutes on how optimistic he is about the future of America and what makes the country great. [Read more...] Gingrich skips first campaign stop in S.C. due to low attendance (20 January 2012) Charleston, S.C. -- Newt Gingrich skipped his first scheduled campaign stop Friday, just a day before Republican primary voters are set to go to the polls. The former Georgia congressman was expected to start making his closing arguments to GOP primary voters here at 9 a.m. at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. Nathan Naidu, a campaign aide, referred to the sparsely attended event in the College of Charleston's TD Arena and said the campaign would move to its next scheduled campaign stop at Medical University of South Carolina Children's Hospital. "The campaign and the organizers have discussed that -- based on attendance -- we are going to spend more time at the Children's Hospital," Naidu said. [Read more...] Babies moved out after third death at Belfast's Royal Hospital (20 January 2012) A neonatal room at a hospital in Northern Ireland is being emptied after three babies died from an infection, medical staff said. A bacteria called pseudomonas caused the deaths at the Royal Maternity Hospital in Belfast, and other vulnerable babies have been swabbed for signs of it. The area where they were being treated will undergo deep- cleaning after the remaining three patients have been moved. A helpline has been established for worried relatives. The bacteria can cause infections in the chest, blood and urinary tract. [Read more...] High court throws out Texas election map (20 January 2012) The justices ordered the three-judge court in San Antonio to come up with new plans, but did not compel the use of maps created by Texas' Republican-dominated state Legislature. Only Justice Clarence Thomas said he would have gone that far. Controversy over the maps arose from redrawing political boundaries based on results of the 2010 census that found that Texas had added more than 4 million new residents, mostly Latinos and African-Americans, since 2000. The minority groups complained they were denied sufficient voting power by Republican lawmakers who sought to maximize GOP electoral gains in violation of the landmark Voting Rights Act. Texas will have 36 seats in the next Congress, a gain of four districts. A divided court in San Antonio drew maps that differed from the Legislature's efforts, giving Democrats a chance to prevail in three or four more congressional districts. Republicans now represent 23 of the 32 current districts. The high court said the judges appeared in some instances not to pay enough attention to the state's choices. The judges made mistakes in their plans, particularly in altering district lines for state legislative and congressional seats in parts of the state where there is no allegation of discrimination on the part of the Legislature, the high court said. [Read more...] Wisconsin election agency to ask for more time to verify Walker recall petition signatures (20 January 2012) MADISON (WSAU) The state elections' agency plans to go to court next week to ask for more time to review the estimated 1.9-million recall signatures submitted against six officials. But director Kevin Kennedy is not ready to say how much extra time will be sought beyond the 31 days allowed by law. Kennedy answered questions about the process yesterday during a public interview at the Marquette Law School in Milwaukee. Right now the petition signatures are being scanned into computers -- and a database will be formed to make it easier to check for false-and-duplicate signatures. Kennedy said workers are testing the new software that checks the signatures -- and the agency believes it will work. Government Accountability Board spokesman Reid Magney says the scanning of petitions for four state Senate recall elections should be completed today. But Magney said it would take longer to enter the signatures against Governor Scott Walker and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. Thousands more signatures were submitted than the numbers required to order recall elections. And Kennedy said it's possible that the checking process will end once it's obvious there are enough valid signatures to call each election. He says those kinds of decisions cannot be made until they're into the process. As Kennedy put it, "This is a whole new ball game." [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: The number of signatures is so overwhelming that this seems like a stall tactic. Wisconsin recall webcam so boring it's mesmerizing (20 January 2012) You know you live in a state consumed by politics when a webcam showing bureaucrats silently shuffling around a nondescript room feeding papers into a scanner attracts tens of thousands of viewers. Such is the case in Wisconsin. The cam, featuring a live look at the guarded, secret location where petitions to recall Gov. Scott Walker and five other Republicans are being housed and processed, has its own account on Twitter and a growing cadre of followers who've attached nicknames to the workers, pointed out when people mug for the camera and generally mock the entire process. [Read more...] Exclusive: Gingrich Lacks Moral Character to Be President, Ex-Wife Says (20 January 2012) Marianne described her "shock" at Gingrich's behavior, including how she says she learned he conducted his affair with Callista "in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington." "He always called me at night," she recalled, "and always ended with 'I love you.' Well, she was listening." All this happened, she said, during the same time Gingrich condemned President Bill Clinton for his lack of moral leadership. She said Newt moved for the divorce just months after she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, with her then-husband present. "He also was advised by the doctor when I was sitting there that I was not to be under stress. He knew," she said. Gingrich divorced his first wife, Jackie, as she was being treated for cancer. His relationship with Marianne began while he was still married to Jackie but in divorce proceedings, Marianne said. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: People who were around during the Clinton years already knew what Gingrich was like. The video on this page starts without readers taking action, so be ready to pause it if you don't want the noise. Murdoch's News Group refuses to admit, but finally pays damages "as if" the phone-hacking scandal were true (20 January 2012) The judge read out a section from the confidential court papers detailing the cover-up allegations made by hacking victims against the company's executives and directors. It included the charge that the company "put out public statements that it knew to be false", that it had "deliberately deceived the police" and had destroyed evidence of wrongdoing including "a very substantial number of emails" as well as computers. NGN refused to admit the allegations but agreed that damages paid to the victims could be assessed "on the basis of the facts alleged". Earlier it emerged that while the company refused to admit its former directors and senior executives had presided over a cover-up, it agreed that "aggravated damages" could be calculated "as if" the allegations that they lied, obstructed police and destroyed evidence were true. The Murdoch subsidiary said it had made the concessions solely for the purpose of "the interest of the prompt and efficient determination" of the claims against it. Tamsin Allen, a lawyer at Bindmans, who acted for John Prescott, and Labour MPs Chris Bryant and Denis MacShane, said it was surprising that News Corporation had agreed to the admissions on this basis. "You'd expect an organisation with the resources of the Murdoch empire to fight these sorts of allegations." [Read more...] Anonymous takes down DOJ, FBI, Universal Music, RIAA, MPAA websites in response to MegaUpload news (20 January 2012) Anonymous has been quiet for the last few weeks, but today, in response to the US Governments' sudden and unexpected move to take down MegaUpload, the group launched a denial of service attack on the Department of Justice website, rendering it unusable for the last hour. To many, it appeared that the website had crumpled under the amount of users accessing the site after the news of the MegaUpload arrests and takedown, but it appears there may be more to the story. According to The Next Web, while the "official" Anonymous Twitter account hasn't taken the blame for the attack, the Swedish branch has. Chatter is all over the #OpPayBack hashtag about the "success" of the attack and that the group took down the Department of Justice in just 15 minutes of the news breaking. Does this mean Anonymous is back? If so, it could be in a big way. This is the first time the group has made a direct attack (and admitted it) on a US Government site, meaning the FBI is likely to respond swiftly. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: FBI? Swift? I've never seen those two words together in a sentence before. Maybe he means TV's version of the agency. New Zealand: Copyright accused denied bail (20 January 2012) Judge David McNaughton remanded the men in custody until Monday morning for a bail application. The arrests today, carried out by the Organised & Financial Crime Agency New Zealand (OFCANZ) and New Zealand Police, follow a US request to arrest individuals for the purpose of extradition. The FBI is investigating a group of people it describes as the `Mega Conspiracy' who allegedly operate Megaupload.com, an internet website that offers file hosting and distribution services. This site has been accused by the US Department of Justice of reproducing and distributing infringing copies of all types of copyrighted works, including movies, TV programmes, music, software and books. The department and the FBI said seven individuals and two corporations had been charged in the US with running an international organised criminal enterprise allegedly responsible for massive worldwide online piracy through Megaupload.com and related sites. They allege it generated more than US$175 million in criminal proceeds and caused an estimated harm to copyright holders believed to be more than US$500m. The action is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the US and directly targets the misuse of a public content storage and distribution site to commit and facilitate intellectual property crime. [Read more...] Federal indictment claims popular Web site Megaupload.com shared pirated material (20 January 2012) Seven executives, including Megaupload's founder, were indicted. But Swizz Beatz, who is listed on some sites as the company's chief executive, was not charged. Beatz, a musician, is married to singer Alicia Keys. Although the music and movie industries are among those most harmed by piracy, numerous celebrities have endorsed the Megaupload site, including Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, and rappers P. Diddy and Will.i.am. Megaupload was estimated at one point to be the 13th most frequently visited site on the Internet, according to the indictment. The site claims to have about 50 million daily visits. Justice Department officials said Thursday that the timing of its indictment had nothing to do with a debate this week on Capitol Hill over legislation that takes aim at online piracy. Nevertheless, the federal action angered hackers, escalating a growing battle between Washington and the Web's power brokers, both legitimate and illicit. Internet companies say the proposed legislation would give too much power to law enforcement to shut down Web sites, and some cited the Justice Department's actions on Thursday as evidence. [Read more...] New Definition of Autism Will Exclude Many, Study Suggests (19 January 2012) Proposed changes in the definition of autism would sharply reduce the skyrocketing rate at which the disorder is diagnosed and might make it harder for many people who would no longer meet the criteria to get health, educational and social services, a new analysis suggests. The definition is now being reassessed by an expert panel appointed by the American Psychiatric Association, which is completing work on the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the first major revision in 17 years. The D.S.M., as the manual is known, is the standard reference for mental disorders, driving research, treatment and insurance decisions. Most experts expect that the new manual will narrow the criteria for autism; the question is how sharply. The results of the new analysis are preliminary, but they offer the most drastic estimate of how tightening the criteria for autism could affect the rate of diagnosis. For years, many experts have privately contended that the vagueness of the current criteria for autism and related disorders like Asperger syndrome was contributing to the increase in the rate of diagnoses -- which has ballooned to one child in 100, according to some estimates. The psychiatrists' association is wrestling with one of the most agonizing questions in mental health -- where to draw the line between unusual and abnormal -- and its decisions are sure to be wrenching for some families. At a time when school budgets for special education are stretched, the new diagnosis could herald more pitched battles. Tens of thousands of people receive state-backed services to help offset the disorders' disabling effects, which include sometimes severe learning and social problems, and the diagnosis is in many ways central to their lives. Close networks of parents have bonded over common experiences with children; and the children, too, may grow to find a sense of their own identity in their struggle with the disorder. [Read more...] Catalina Island fox makes astounding comeback (20 January 2012) The Catalina Island fox has made one of the most remarkable recoveries known for an endangered species, rebounding in just 13 years from near extinction brought on by a distemper epidemic, wildlife biologists announced Wednesday. The number of foxes has reached 1,542, surpassing the population of about 1,300 seen before the animals were ravaged by the disease that scientists believe was introduced by a pet dog or a raccoon from the mainland that hitched a ride on a boat or a barge. "We're beyond proud," said Ann Muscat, president and chief executive of the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy. "It's a testament to what hard work, passion, money and the resiliency of nature can accomplish." The animals' growing presence is evident across the island in "scent advertisements" -- clumps of telltale scat -- left on boulders, retainer walls, barbecues and picnic tables. But despite their growing number, Muscat said, "we can't relax. These furry treasures are still just one infected dog or raccoon away from extinction." [Read more...] Predators may block Alaska sea lion recovery (20 January 2012) Alaska's endangered Steller sea lions could have trouble recovering because so many juveniles are being eaten by killer whales and sharks, according to findings of a six-year study published this week. Researchers at Oregon State University and the Alaska Sealife Center started tracking 36 juvenile Steller sea lions in 2005. By November, 12 had died, a death rate that's not exceptional, OSU marine mammal expert Markus Horning said Thursday. "What is different is the number of animals that have apparently died by predation," he said. Eleven sea lions were confirmed dead by predators, and the other may have been but could not be verified by data collected. Predators last month killed two more young sea lions in the study, Horning said. [Read more...] America's Dirty War Against Manufacturing (Part 3): Carl Pope (20 January 2012) Why do we have such a difficult time recognizing that, as Liveris puts it, individual companies (or states) cannot compete effectively with nations such as China, India or Germany? There are at least two reasons. First, for the Tea Party and its financial backers, like the Koch brothers, weakening the federal government is ideologically more important than strengthening the national economy; if a unified, competitive national economy requires a strong, powerful federal government, the trade-off is not worth it to them. Second, the political leaders who shape federal economic policy are responsive to the sectors that have mastered lobbying -- oil, agribusiness, finance and drug companies. Manufacturing for decades has been left to take care of itself. Fantasy Economy Yet the notion of a strong economy without strong manufacturing is a fantasy. "We cannot remain the world's engine of innovation without manufacturing activity," the president's National Science Board reported this month. The number of high- tech manufacturing jobs in the U.S. declined 28 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to the report. It attributed the "erosion" of U.S. leadership in part to investment in education and research by Asian governments. Other sectors can't replace the employment and wages of manufacturing. Commodity production no longer generates enough employment -- automation in agriculture and mining has gone too far. Wyoming produces 40 percent of the U.S.'s coal with about 7,000 miners. "Knowledge work" pays well, but draws on a narrow population: How many lawyers and bankers do we need? Facebook Inc. is a remarkable innovator, but it employs only about 3,000 people to serve a customer base of more than 800 million. Personal services, such as restaurants and retail, pay poorly and rely on income streams from other sectors to pay at all. Henry Ford paid his workers $5 an hour so they could afford to buy his cars. But they also patronized the grocers and carpenters of Detroit. We spent the last two decades paying our grocers and carpenters with cheap second mortgages -- a strategy bound to collapse. Any attempt at a manufacturing revival should respect Andy Grove's core insight: that manufacturing is attracted to markets, and that employment is sustained by that interaction. The U.S. did not invent the original technologies of the automotive revolution; they were European. The first major American innovation, Charles Kettering's self-starter, didn't emerge until 1912. But the U.S. built the roads and created the markets on which Gottlieb Daimler's and Rudolf Diesel's engine technologies drove to scale. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: His remarks about the goals of the "Tea Party" are a bit off course and shouldn't be taken seriously. (Note that he's a former chairman of the Sierra Club, and when he talks about the need for more centralized government power, he was probably referring mostly to environmental regulations.) Americans don't have to tolerate a rollback of civil liberties or a central government power grab in order to encourage manufacturing. In fact, American industry was built with strong civil liberties and a limited role of the government in place. NAFTA and GATT showed that manufacturing declined after the federal government assigned more power to itself and negotiated treaties to change trade policy to favor foreign industry. Those trade treaties were designed to take advantage of "The Supremacy Clause" which supposedly gives special legal status to treaties, although court decisions don't confirm the broad interpretation that treaties can override all U.S. law And of course, in this country, Civil War hero George Custer and the old Native American treaties give us plenty of legal precedent to argue that no treaty really has to be honored by the U.S. (Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868, etc.). Until we give all of that land back, the legal precedent of U.S. treaties being worthless stands! In fact, the U.S. was able to steal talent from other countries because people didn't want to live in the absence of civil liberties, or under the control of an authoritarian regime. You'll notice that there aren't many, or any, recent news reports of defections to this country based on our "freedoms." Today, almost all immigration to this country is for economic reasons. I'm sure that new immigrants are disappointed with our current economy, but that's why they come here. Google says 4.5 million people signed anti-SOPA petition today (19 January 2012) A spokeswoman for Google confirmed that 4.5 million people added their names to the company's anti-SOPA petition today. Not too shabby. The petition, which was available via a link from Google's homepage, states that although fighting online piracy is important, the plan of attack described in the SOPA and PIPA bills would be ineffective. "There's no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs," the petition reads. "Too much is at stake --- please vote NO on PIPA and SOPA." [Read more...] America's Dirty War Against Manufacturing (Part 2): Carl Pope (19 January 2012) That wasn't all that went wrong in Detroit, of course. A decade ago I met with then-UAW President Steve Yokich to urge him to partner with environmentalists and automakers to develop fuel-efficient vehicles that could compete with those from Japan and Germany. Yokich took me to the window of his office in Solidarity House. Pointing outside, he said, "What do you notice about the parking lot?" "They're all American vehicles?" I answered. "Look again. Almost no SUVs. My guys know crap when they make it." Yokich understood Detroit's ruthlessly short-term business model -- put lots of cheap sheet metal on an outmoded truck chassis and layer on a gargantuan markup. He conceded that Nissan and Daimler would soon start making fuel-efficient, technologically sophisticated SUVs that would steal that market segment, too. Japanese companies were more innovative in part because they enjoyed much cheaper capital; the real interest rate in Japan, suffering through its lost decade, was 0 percent. But for the Big Three, the SUVs being designed in Tokyo and Stuttgart would be "next year's problem." Bob Lutz, the former head of GM, says it was neither uncompetitive wages nor unions that drove the Big Three into decline. It was a management with its eye focused on the bottom line and the short term. That, he says, is the "creeping malignancy that transformed the once powerful, world-dominating, American economy from one that produced and exported to one that trades and imports." [Read more...] America's Dirty War Against Manufacturing (Part 1): Carl Pope (18 January 2012) His dark eyebrows arch as if I were clueless, then he explains the reality of running a fab -- an electronics fabrication factory. "Wages have nothing to do with it. The total wage burden in a fab is 10 percent. When I move a fab to Asia, I might lose 10 percent of my product just in theft." I'm startled. "So what is it?" "Everything else. Taxes, infrastructure, workforce training, permits, health care. The last company that proposed a fab on Long Island went to Taiwan because they were told that in a drought their water supply would be in the queue after the golf courses." So begins my education on the hollowing-out of the American economy, which might be titled: "It's not the wages, stupid." Manufacturing's share of U.S. employment peaked in 1979 and has since fallen by almost half. Although manufacturing has been a relative bright spot in the dismal economy of the past couple of years, in the last decade, the U.S. lost a third of its manufacturing jobs, with the damage rippling far beyond that base to erode millions of jobs that are dependent on it. Tomorrow's Losses The loss of textile, shoe and toy production to low-wage competitors such as China, and now Cambodia, has devastated a few regions, particularly South Carolina. But the loss of yesterday's manufacturing isn't the really painful part: It's losing tomorrow's manufacturing: automobiles, electronics, metal fabrication, specialty chemicals, appliances and consumer electronics. Those industries left the U.S. in search not of cheaper workers, but of more supportive governments. If the U.S. lost manufacturing due to high wages (or unions, labor laws, regulation -- the other commonly cited villains), how do you explain the manufacturing success of Germany and Japan? Germany, the world's pre-eminent high-end manufacturing economy, has higher wages, stronger unions and stricter labor laws than the U.S. Japan, too, is a high-wage competitor, yet Toyota Motor Corp. still makes 60 percent of its vehicles there. General Motors Co. makes only about 30 percent in North America. [Read more...] GM again the world's largest automaker (19 January 2012) General Motors surpassed Toyota and Volkswagen to reclaim the crown of world's largest automaker with global sales of 9.03 million vehicles in 2011. That was 11% higher than Volkswagen, which last week reported 2011 global sales of 8.16 million. Toyota has not yet reported its final 2011 sales, but last month the Japanese automaker estimated it sold 7.9 million vehicles globally last year. Toyota's sales were constrained by production cuts caused my the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan, and later in the year by flooding in Thailand. GM's 2011 sales rose 7.6% from 2011. Sales in the U.S. led the way for Chevrolet with total vehicle sales of 1,775,812, up more than 13%. China posted record sales of 595,068, up 9.5% from the previous year. Other markets that posted significant year-over-year increases include Vietnam (79%), Russia (49%), Turkey (30%) and Germany (21%). [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: That might be good news, if most of those cars were made in the U.S. Factories rev up, but hiring doesn't (19 January 2012) Even if the pace of growth holds up, job prospects for factory workers haven't kept pace with the pickup in factory output. Manufacturing output, as measured by the Fed's industrial production index, has rebounded 14 percent since it bottomed at the end of recession. But employment levels for factory workers are up only 3 percent from the post-recession bottom. Part of the reason is that big investment in new machines and computers has allowed factory owners to get more output from the same number of workers. But the workers getting rehired aren't necessarily the same ones who were laid off during the recession. Employers who are investing in high-tech manufacturing equipment need more highly skilled workers to run those machines, but they're also paying higher wages. Since the recession ended, the average wage for factory workers has risen by about 4 percent to $23.93 an hour. Even as some 2.4 million factory workers remain sidelined by the recession, many employers complain they can't find enough skilled workers to fill the new jobs they're creating. That's forced many U.S. employers to shift high-tech factory jobs overseas. During the past decade, U.S companies moved more than a quarter of their high-tech manufacturing jobs overseas, according to a report this week from the National Science Board. The report found that U.S. high-tech factory jobs fell by 687,000, or 28 percent, between 2000 and 2010. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Like so many MS-NBC articles, this one loads slowly... Keystone pipeline might lead to higher energy prices in the U.S. and energy instability (19 January 2012) When you put all phases of this project together, what do you have? A direct, major pipeline from the Canadian oil resource to refineries and international shipping services. Without this pipeline, Canadian oil is available primarily to the North American market. So without the completed pipeline, Canadian oil does provide us some security and price stability. However, if the pipeline is completed to Houston, that oil will be available to the international market, where the highest bidder gets the oil and those buying and selling have no regard for U.S. security or price stability. Some have said Canada will sell its oil to China if Keystone is not built. Well, building a 30-inch pipeline across the Canadian Rockies to West Coast ports would make the construction of the Alaska pipeline look like a walk in the park. [Read more...] White House kills Keystone pipeline plan, but open to new route (19 January 2012) "This outcome is one of the scenarios we anticipated. While we are disappointed, TransCanada remains fully committed to the construction of Keystone XL," Girling said. TransCanada said it would complete a proposal for a new pipeline route by September or October. But Kerri-Ann Jones, an assistant secretary of state, told reporters there was no guarantee of a speedy decision on a new Keystone XL proposal. "If TransCanada comes in with a new application, it will trigger a completely new process," Jones said in a conference call with reporters. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: A lot of the comments to this article suggest that Canadians should refine the oil and use it themselves, which makes a lot of sense. Louisiana coastal restoration spending plan proposed (19 January 2012) Louisiana would spend $923 million on hurricane protection and coastal restoration projects during fiscal year 2013, including $161 million to pay part of the state's share of the upgraded New Orleans area hurricane levee system, and $23 million toward the Morganza to the Gulf levee protecting Houma, according to a draft plan presented to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority on Wednesday. The annual spending plan is highly dependent on two sources of money: $367 million already set aside by the Legislature for levee and restoration projects from 2008 and 2009 state budget surpluses, and a less-sure $267 million the state expects to receive from "early restoration" payments by BP for damage from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill under the federal Natural Resource Damage Assessment process. The plan document points out that the BP money is still speculative; BP has so far committed to an early restoration payment of $1 billion, of which Louisiana is guaranteed only $100 million. But Drue Banta, an attorney leading the state's damage assessment team, said the state expects to receive between $400 million and $600 million of the early money. She said the state expects the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the federal Interior Department to spend the lion's share of similar $100 million payments promised to each as federal trustees, and a large share of another $300 million that NOAA and Interior will get for state-proposed projects. [Read more...] In Bain deals, Romney gave stock to Mormon church (19 January 2012) Tax analysts said the donation method used by Romney and Bain generally worked like this: Romney was eligible to invest in the stock of companies that were being restructured by Bain. Romney and other Bain investors usually were able to purchase the stock at very low prices. Through the years, such stock may appreciate in value, sometimes considerably. The analysts said that if Romney and others at Bain got a stock cheap and eventually donated it to a church or charity without cashing in the stock, then they could get two tax benefits. First, they would not have to pay capital gains tax on the appreciated value of the stock, which they would have to do if they sold the stock and either pocketed or donated the proceeds. Second, they might be able to deduct all, or at least part of, the value of the donated stock from their taxable income. [Read more...] Iowa's 2012 GOP caucus count remains unresolved (19 January 2012) There are too many holes in the certified totals from the Iowa caucuses to know for certain who won, but Rick Santorum wound up with a 34-vote advantage. Results from eight precincts are missing -- any of which could hold an advantage for Mitt Romney -- and will never be recovered and certified, Republican Party of Iowa officials told The Des Moines Register on Wednesday. GOP officials discovered inaccuracies in 131 precincts, although not all the changes affected the two leaders. Changes in one precinct alone shifted the vote by 50 -- a margin greater than the certified tally. The certified numbers: 29,839 for Santorum and 29,805 for Romney. The turnout: 121,503. [Read more...] "Alert Iowa citizen" started scrutiny of the Iowa race: "The tragic tale of Edward True and James False" (19 January 2012) That we got a heads up at all about bogus media results was due to an alert Iowa citizen, Edward True, who captured evidence of the 20-vote misreport in his Appanoose County precinct. That people like Edward True were stationed all over Iowa capturing results before they hit the state Republican Committee tabulation was due to Black Box Voting, where the need to do this was explained, and to radio hosts and sites like Bradblog and Facebook, where the word went out. Mainstream media then began its next act of theatre: They started spinning the false result that THEY THEMSELVES announced as -- instead of their own foolishness -- "making Iowa look foolish". But if we're looking for truth, here's what we will find: The mistakes saw light of day because the Iowa caucus was conducted in open public meeting allowing citizens to watch ballots as they were hand counted. At least it WAS an open system, until the Republican State Committee pitched the bizarre idea that some precincts might never be reported in the final certified result, and the media failed to bay like bloodhounds tracking the truth. But there is some good news in this: It's great that public citizens are starting to understand their role in the "neighborhood watch" component of election integrity. [Read more...] Ron Paul proposes bill to repeal indefinite detention provision (18 January 2012) Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced legislation to the U.S House on Wednesday that would repeal Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012. The $662 billion defense spending bill contained controversial provisions, Sections 1021 and 1022, that required terrorism suspects to be detained by the military without trial, regardless of where they were captured. Proponents of the bill claimed it merely clarified existing law, but human rights advocates and others said the provisions were unconstitutional and allowed the military detention of American citizens without trial. "This is precisely the kind of egregious distortion of justice that Americans have always ridiculed in so many dictatorships overseas," Paul said on the House floor. "A great man named Solzhenitsyn became the hero of so many of us when he exposed the Soviet Union's extensive gulag system. Is this really the kind of United States we want to create in the name of fighting terrorism?" [Read more...] Lisa Nowak: Records sealed in NASA astronaut's love-triangle arrest (19 January 2012) Records of former NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak's arrest in Orlando live in cyberspace but an Orange County judge has sealed her criminal case forever. Judge Marc Lubet closed the case to public view in December, nine months after declining Nowak's initial request to do that. The order was final on Dec. 12, according Karen Levey, chief of court administration's due process services. In 2007, Nowak, then 43, drew international notoriety when she arrested outside Orlando International Airport on charges of attacking a woman she believed was dating her former lover, another NASA astronaut, records show. She was convicted of attacking Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman with pepper spray in an airport parking lot. Nowak had driven about 900 miles from Houston to confront Shipman, then 30, for dating Navy Cmdr. Bill Oefelein, records show. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: People can't Google it? People can't find the original documents on TheSmokingGun.com? Astronaut Nabbed In NASA Love Triangle Murder Plot (FLASHBACK) (6 February 2007) FEBRUARY 6--Here are the Florida police reports detailing the arrest of NASA astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak, who is facing charges that she allegedly plotted the murder of a female rival for the affection of astronaut William Oefelein. Nowak, a 43-year-old mother of three, was arrested early Monday after attempting to attack Colleen Shipman, a 30-year-old Air Force captain, in a parking lot at Orlando International Airport. According to the Orlando Police Department reports, Nowak drove 900 miles from Houston to Florida when she learned that Shipman (whom Nowak believed was 'involved' with the 41-year-old Oefelein) would be arriving there by plane. Nowak, who told cops that she only wanted to speak with Shipman, was wearing a wig and trench coat when she tried to accost Shipman at the airport. After dousing Shipman with pepper spray as she sat in her car, the disguised Nowak fled, but was apprehended at a nearby bus stop. Before her arrest, police reported, Nowak had disposed of her trench coat, wig, and a BB pistol in an airport trash can. A subsequent search of Nowak's auto and handbag turned up other incriminating evidence, including a steel mallet, a new folding knife, e-mails from Shipman to Oefelein, and handwritten directions to Shipman's house. Nowak was first charged with attempted kidnapping, battery, destruction of evidence, and attempted burglary. Prosecutors added the attempted murder rap today and filed a new charging affidavit detailing the felony charge. When Detective William Becton asked why she needed all the weapons in her possession, Nowak said she only planned to scare Shipman. 'When I mentioned to Mrs. Nowak that I figured she had come to Orlando to kill Ms. Shipman, Mrs. Nowak said that she was never going to hurt Ms. Shipman,' wrote Becton, who noted that Nowak could not provide a 'reasonable explanation' for possessing the weapons. The police reports list the arrestee's 'business & occupation' as 'NASA/Astronaut' and her work address as 'Johnson Space Cnt.' Nowak's Orange County Sheriff's Office mug shot is shown above. [Read more...] New York's Indian Point Nuclear Reactor Unit 2 Back Online After Pump Leak Shutdown (19 January 2012) Normally, these kinds of seal repairs are done during refueling shut downs, but as plant operators saw the leakage slowly climb to five gallons per minute, from the usual two gallons per minute, the decision was made to shut down the 1,000 megawatt plant for repair. "Nuclear reactors don't shut down very often, they usually average less than once a year, but it is not unusual for this to occur," said Diane Screnci, spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The plant ran for 230 consecutive days before the shutdown. The seal is about a foot in diameter, and is part of one of four coolant pumps which circulate 90,000 gallons of water per minute over fuel rods to create steam and generate electricity. The coolant pump is contained in what's called the "primary loop," a loop of pipes which have direct contact with radioactive material. The primary loop recirculates the same water over and over again, and does not come into contact with Hudson River water. Hudson River water is pumped through the "tertiary loop," which does not have contact with radioactive material. The plant sucks about 2.5 billion gallons of water per day out of the Hudson River, and then returns it to the water way. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: While more informative than the AP article circulating on the same story, this is a very slow-loading article, probably because of so many ads... Faces of the forgotten: Heartbreaking plight of 64,000 black women missing across America; 40 per cent of all missing persons are black (19 January 2012) A renewed campaign to highlight hundreds of missing African-American women has been launched amid ongoing criticism that less attention is given to their cases by authorities and the media. According to the National Crime Information Center, nearly 40 per cent of those who have disappeared, often in suspicious circumstances, are black. However critics allege that public attention mainly focuses on white women who have vanished. According to the Black And Missing Foundation, most women disappear in the states of New York, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland and Florida. A total of 273,985 minorities were reported missing in the United States (out of 692,944 for all races) as of December 2010. The foundation has teamed up with a TV network to make a series, Find Our Missing, telling the stories behind the women's disappearances. [Read more...] Newt's ex-wife unloads on camera; ABC News Network debates "ethics" of airing before South Carolina primary (19 January 2012) Marianne Gingrich has said she could end her ex-husband's career with a single interview. Earlier this week, she sat before ABCNEWS cameras, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. She spoke to ABCNEWS reporter Brian Ross for two hours, and her explosive revelations are set to rock the trail. But now a "civil war" has erupted inside of the network, an insider claims, on exactly when the confession will air! ABCNEWS suits determined it would be "unethical" to run the Marianne Gingrich interview so close to the South Carolina Primary, a curious decision, one insider argued, since the network has aggressively been reporting on other candidates. [Read more...] More Than Cranes Are Whooping Over the Keystone Pipeline XL Decision (19 January 2012) The President made the right decision on the Keystone pipeline XL today. House Republicans forced the arbitrary deadline of February 21 and there was really only one legal way to answer. Since the State Department hasn't finished its environmental review of the pipeline and requests for alternative routes that bypass sensitive lands and habitats are not on the table yet--that would be a NO. Many organizations have done great work in educating the public about the dangers of the proposed 1700-mile pipeline and it has paid off. Earthjustice has been working to protect the vulnerable habitats and endangered creatures that are being harmed right now at the open pit mines of the tar sands in Alberta, the source of the fossil fuel that currently courses through two existing pipelines that crisscross our country. Earthjustice filed a Pelly petition in September of 2011 with the U.S. Department of the Interior, asking Secretary Ken Salazar to investigate Canada's destructive tar sands mining and examine how the mining is hampering international efforts to protect endangered and threatened species. The petition documents how tar sands mining and drilling in Alberta are harming threatened woodland caribou and at least 130 migratory bird species, including endangered whooping cranes. The Pelly petition called for the Interior Department to promptly investigate and determine whether tar sands activities are violating treaties that protect endangered and threatened species. The response so far has been silence. [Read more...] Wildlife Icon Makes Top Ten List - New Concerns for Whooping Cranes (19 January 2012) SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Whooping cranes have landed on a new list highlighting 10 species deemed at risk because of fossil fuel development, storage and transportation. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would run along the bird's migratory path. Although President Obama's rejection of the project permit on Wednesday is considered a victory by conservationists, the company has announced it will reapply. Wildlife biologist Jan Randall, professor emeritus of biology at San Francisco State University and a fellow of the California Academy of Science, served on the scientific advisory board that selected the 10 species. She says the Keystone pipeline inevitably would bring toxic waste ponds, spills and power lines - all of which would be bad news for whooping cranes. "They're threatened where they reproduce, they're threatened in their winter grounds, they're threatened where they migrate. There are all kinds of threats along the way." Other species on the list, which comes from the Endangered Species Coalition, include greater sage grouse, the Arctic's bowhead whale and speckled eider, and a flower that only grows on oil-shale soils. The bottom line is that people, plants and animals are getting the short end of the stick from the fossil fuel industry, which continues to enjoy record profits, Randall says. [Read more...] Osteoporosis Patients Advised to Delay Bone Density Retests (19 January 2012) "Bone density testing has been oversold," said Steven Cummings, the study's principal investigator and an emeritus professor of medical epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. The study followed nearly 5,000 women ages 67 and older for more than a decade. The women had a bone density test when they entered the study and did not have osteoporosis. (In a separate national study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 70 percent of women over age 65 did not have osteoporosis.) The researchers report that fewer than 1 percent of women with normal bone density when they entered the study, and fewer than 5 percent with mildly low bone density, developed osteoporosis in the ensuing 15 years. But of those with substantially low bone density at the study's start, close to the cutoff point for osteoporosis of fewer than 2.5 standard deviations from the reference level, 10 percent progressed to osteoporosis in about a year. Dr. Margaret Gourlay, the study's lead author and a family practice specialist and osteoporosis researcher at the University of North Carolina, said she and her colleagues were surprised by how slowly osteoporosis progressed in women. [Read more...] The Sopa blackout protest makes history (19 January 2012) Wednesday 18 January marked the largest online protest in the history of the internet. Websites from large to small "went dark" in protest of proposed legislation before the US House and Senate that could profoundly change the internet. The two bills, Sopa in the House and Pipa in the Senate, ostensibly aim to stop the piracy of copyrighted material over the internet on websites based outside the US. Critics -- among them, the founders of Google, Wikipedia, the Internet Archive, Tumblr and Twitter -- counter that the laws will stifle innovation and investment, hallmarks of the free, open internet. The Obama administration has offered muted criticism of the legislation, but, as many of his supporters have painfully learned, what President Barack Obama questions one day, he signs into law the next. First, the basics. Sopa stands for the Stop Online Piracy Act, while Pipa is the Protect IP Act. The two bills are very similar. Sopa would allow copyright holders to complain to the US attorney general about a foreign website they allege is "committing or facilitating the commission of criminal violations" of copyright law. This relates mostly to pirated movies and music. Sopa would allow the movie industry, through the courts and the US attorney general, to send a slew of demands that internet service providers (ISPs) and search engine companies shut down access to those alleged violators, and even to prevent linking to those sites, thus making them "unfindable". It would also bar internet advertising providers from making payments to websites accused of copyright violations. Sopa could, then, shut down a community-based site like YouTube if just one of its millions of users was accused of violating one US copyright. As David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer and an opponent of the legislation, blogged: "Last year alone, we acted on copyright takedown notices for more than 5 million webpages. Pipa and Sopa will censor the web, will risk our industry's track record of innovation and job creation, and will not stop piracy." [Read more...] Study suggests ancient Peruvians 'ate popcorn' (19 January 2012) A new study suggests that people living along the coast of northern Peru were eating popcorn 1,000 years earlier than previously thought. Researchers say corncobs found at an ancient site in Peru suggest that the inhabitants used them for making flour and popcorn. Scientists from Washington's Natural History Museum say the oldest corncobs they found dated from 4700BC. They are the earliest ever discovered in South America. [Read more...] Costa Concordia: investigators probe role of young Moldovan woman on cruise ship (19 January 2012) Ms Cemortan was interviewed by a journalist from The Sunday Telegraph on Saturday at the Hilton Hotel in Rome's Fiumicino airport, as the thousands of passengers who escaped from the ship started to fly home. She offered a staunch defence of the captain's actions, saying he had saved lives by steering the stricken ship towards Giglio's tiny harbour and grounding it close to the shore. "Look at how many people are alive because of him. It's a tragedy that people are missing, but he saved over 3,000 people on that ship because of his actions," said Ms Cemortan. She claimed that Capt Schettino was still on the bridge at 11.50pm. [Read more...] Kodak files for bankruptcy (19 January 2012) Kodak has filed for bankruptcy in a bid to survive a liquidity crisis after years of falling sales related to the decline of its namesake film business as digital cameras have taken over the market. Eastman Kodak Co, the photographic film pioneer, which had tried to restructure to become a seller of consumer products like cameras, said it had also obtained a $950m, 18-month credit facility from Citigroup to keep it going. "The board of directors and the entire senior management team unanimously believe that this is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak," chairman and chief executive Antonio M Perez said on Thursday. Kodak and its US subsidiaries had filed for Chapter 11 business reorganisation in the US bankruptcy court for the southern district of New York, the company said. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: I'm sure the economy didn't help matters, either. Zappos, Amazon hit by lawsuit after a hacker attack on the online shoe retailer (19 January 2012) Attorneys for plaintiff Theresa D. Stevens of Beaumont, Texas, are seeking class-action status on behalf of 24 million customers for what the lawsuit alleges was a violation of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. "There's no question there's been a breach here. Passwords had to be changed," said Ben Barnow, a Chicago-based plaintiff's lawyer working with Mark Gray of Louisville in the case. Barnow said he feared the pilfered personal data could be sold by the hacker. "I think it's clear this type of information is for sale," he said. "The risk is hanging out there." The civil negligence lawsuit seeks unspecified millions of dollars in compensatory and exemplary damages for emotional distress and loss of privacy, along with a court order for the company to pay for customer credit monitoring and identity theft insurance and periodic audits to ensure customer data is secure. [Read more...] Canada's cancer rate on the rise: Statscan (19 January 2012) The five-year prevalence rate for all cancers at the beginning of 2008 was 1,490 for every 100,000 people. Prostate cancer had the highest prevalence rate at 610 cases per 100,000, while rates for thyroid, cervical, laryngeal and liver cancers were considerably lower at 53.1, 32.5, 10 and 6.2, respectively. The five-year prevalence rate for all cancers rose 2.1 per cent per year from 1997 to 2008. Aging was responsible for about half of the average annual increases in five-year cancer prevalence rates, according to Statistics Canada. For instance, prevalence of prostate cancer, one of the most common types of cancer, rose substantially in large part because the population is getting older. But prevalence of the prostate cancer also rose among men younger than 70, which could be the result of more screening. [Read more...] Rig shortage, bad economy cuts North Sea drilling to eight-year low (19 January 2012) DRILLING activity in UK waters has fallen to its lowest level since 2003 due to a lack of oil rigs and the knock-on effects of the 2008-9 recession, according to a report published today. The number of exploration wells sunk on the UK continental shelf (UKCS) fell by 34 per cent year-on-year in 2011, worse than the 12 per cent fall for north-west Europe as a whole. Drilling projects can take several years to plan and so decisions taken following the financial crisis have only now trickled down, according to analysts at accountancy firm Deloitte, which compiled the report. They warned the effects of Chancellor George Osborne's surprise North Sea tax hike in last year's Budget won't be felt until the end of this year. [Read more...] B.C. First Nation cancels pipeline deal with Enbridge (19 January 2012) British Columbia's Gitxsan Nation has rescinded its agreement with Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline. The profit-sharing deal with Enbridge, which would reportedly have paid the Gitxsan $7 million over 30 years, was rejected Tuesday by a vote of 28-8 in a meeting of its leaders. A Gitxsan Nation spokesman couldn't be reached for comment. The company said Wednesday it plans to keep working with the Gitxsan in relation to the project, as well as with other first nations groups, he added, citing "more than 20 groups who in recent weeks have fully executed and endorsed equity participation agreements." After the agreement was announced in Vancouver on Dec. 2, some Gitxsan members blockaded the nation's treaty office as part of a community backlash against Hereditary Chief Elmer Derrick who'd backed the deal. [Read more...] Depression drugs 'causing falls' (18 January 2012) The risk of having an injury-causing fall was three times higher in residents taking SSRIs compared with those not taking the drug, and this risk rose further if the patient was being given sedative drugs as well. Dr Sterke said that these risks needed to be taken into account when assessing whether anti-depressants were required. She said: "Physicians should be cautious in prescribing SSRIs to older people with dementia, even at low doses." Professor Clive Ballard, from the Alzheimer's Society, said it was "worrying" that such a commonly prescribed anti-depressant was causing increased risk. [Read more...] Suspect in serial killings appears in court (18 January 2012) SANTA ANA -- With his parents, brother and uncle watching from the front row, the suspect in a brutal string of slayings of four homeless men appeared on TV monitors Wednesday morning at the Orange County Jail as he faced a judge on four counts of first-degree murder. Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, of Yorba Linda, said "Yes, your honor" twice in a clear, strong voice as his arraignment was postponed until Feb. 17. As he appeared briefly before Judge Donald F. Gaffney, Ocampo's leg shook as he sat and stared straight ahead in a wire holding cage. He stood up straight when the judge asked him if he understood his rights, a mustard-colored jail jumpsuit covering his 6-foot-1, 155-pound frame. District Attorney Tony Rackauckus made an appearance, along with Senior Deputy District Attorney Susan Price, who will prosecute Ocampo. Gaffney ordered that Ocampo, whose family has retained private defense attorney Randall Longwith, remain held without bail. [Read more...] "The Operators": Michael Hastings on the Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan (18 January 2012) [DN] NERMEEN SHAIKH: Michael Hastings, you also talked in your book about the impressions or the perspectives that American soldiers have of the Afghans. Can you say a little about that? MICHAEL HASTINGS: Yeah, it's this incredible report that originally the Wall Street Journal had broken, and it didn't get too much attention. But essentially, there was a report done by the U.S. military and NATO in Afghanistan that showed how American soldiers viewed Afghan soldiers and how Afghan soldiers viewed American soldiers. And what you saw was this extreme, extreme level of distrust, a complete misunderstanding, you know, between cultures. And the reason that report was even done was because there were so many incidents of Afghans, our Afghan allies, killing Americans. They called it "fratricide." So, you know, it's really hard to kind of get the full impact of it. I mean, I have page after page. I sort of did it just to sort of really, really hit it home, you know, people complaining about how--Americans complaining about how the Afghans smell, Afghans complaining that the Americans are, you know, doing disgusting things in front of their women. You know, but it's one of the things--you know, Americans complain that the Afghans are cowards, and the Afghans complain that the Americans are cowards. So there's this complete lack of understanding between two sides. And why that's important is that our entire strategy that they've been pushing--by "they" I mean the Pentagon and the generals over there--is based on this idea that each American soldier is going to become this kind of sociologist, diplomat, anthropologist, killer. [Read more...] 5 whooping cranes apparently spending the winter in south-central Kansas (18 January 2012) GREAT BEND, Kan. -- Wildlife officials say five whooping cranes are spending the winter in south-central Kansas. The five endangered birds have been on private land surrounding the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge and Cheyenne Bottoms State Wildlife Area. Dan Severson, Quivira's refuge manager, said in a news release Tuesday that the birds include a family of three, one juvenile crane and a single adult. The birds usually stop in Kansas on their way to the Texas coast, but these birds appear to be settling in. [Read more...] Whooping crane migration effort remains stalled in Russellville (16 January 2012) RUSSELLVILLE, Alabama - A flock of juvenile whooping cranes remain grounded here after efforts Sunday to lead their migration from Wisconsin to two Florida wildlife refuges failed, The Times Daily reported. Ultralight aircraft pilots tried to lead the birds from the Russellville Municipal Airport Sunday, but the cranes kept breaking off from the pack, the newspaper said. The pilots gathered the birds and returned them to their crates. The migration effort had been grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration in December, but the FAA granted the pilots a waiver last week. [Read more...] Organizers file more than 1 million signatures to recall Wisconsin Governor Walker (18 January 2012) Organizers of the effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday filed what they said were more than a million signatures, a number that nearly matches Walker's vote total from 2010 and almost doubles the number of signatures needed to trigger another election. United Wisconsin, the organization formed to recall the governor, said it turned in about 1.9 million signatures to the Government Accountability Board, a tally that includes 845,000 signatures to recall Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and more than 21,000 apiece for Republican Sens. Pam Galloway of Wausau, Van Wanggaard of Racine and Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls. Earlier in the day, the group working to recall Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, filed 20,600 signatures. "The collection of more than 1 million signatures is a crystal-clear indication of how strong the appetite is to stop the damage and turmoil that Gov. Walker has caused Wisconsin," said Ryan Lawler, United Wisconsin co-chairman. "In the dead of Wisconsin winter, an army of more than 30,000 Wisconsin-born and -bred volunteers took to the streets, the malls, the places of worship and dinner tables to take our state back." This would be the first statewide recall election in Wisconsin history, and only the third gubernatorial recall in U.S. history, if at least 540,208 signatures against Walker are found to be valid. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: See the original article for a breakdown of signature numbers -- about 1 million were collected to recall the governor, 845,000 to recall the lt. governor, and smaller numbers to recall certain state senators. Those are incredible numbers for a state with only about 4.3 million people of voting age. Wikipedia and Google join anti-piracy bill protest (18 January 2012) Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has voluntarily suspended its website for 24 hours. The English version of the website became inaccessible at 5am GMT on Wednesday morning. Instead of a database of more than 3.8 million articles, visitors are greeted with an open letter encouraging them to contact Congress in protest. Google joined the protest against two proposed pieces of legislation, the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act. The search engine blacked-out its logo on the US version of its website and added a link encouraging Americans to oppose the bills. In a blogpost, David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, said that the company was supporting the protest because "we think there's a good way forward that doesn't cause collateral damage to the web". Craigslist, the popular online classifieds service, has suspended its US sites, while other websites, including Reddit, WordPress, Flickr, Twitpic and hundreds of others have agreed to support the day of action. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: The Google logo block-out only works if you're not logged onto the site. Log out and take a look -- and if you click on the big black box, it'll click through to a page to help you find your Congressmen, as does Wikipedia. If you click through the Craigslist block-out, they have a page with many good links to help. Wikipedia editors question site's blackout (18 January 2012) NEW YORK - Can the world live without Wikipedia for a day? The shutdown of one of the Internet's most-visited sites is not sitting well with some of its volunteer editors, who say the protest of anti-piracy legislation could threaten the credibility of their work. "My main concern is that it puts the organization in the role of advocacy, and that's a slippery slope," said editor Robert Lawton, a Michigan computer consultant who would prefer that the encyclopedia stick to being a neutral repository of knowledge. "Before we know it, we're blacked out because we want to save the whales." Wikipedia's English-language site shut down at midnight Eastern Standard Time Tuesday and the organization said it would stay down for 24 hours. Instead of encyclopedia articles, visitors to the site saw a stark black-and-white page with the message: "Imagine a world without free knowledge." It carried a link to information about the two congressional bills and details about how to reach lawmakers. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: They won't take their sites down for just anything -- they're only flexing their mega-web traffic muscles to let Congress know that limits on internet freedom won't be tolerated. Obama administration to reject Keystone pipeline (18 January 2012) Facing a deadline forced by Republican lawmakers, the Obama administration plans to announce this afternoon it will reject the Keystone XL pipeline, maintaining its position that its route needs to be further studied, according to a Washington Post story. The Post and POLITICO said multiple sources have confirmed the administration's plan to reject the proposed 1,700-mile pipeline from oil sands fields in Alberta, Canada to refineries in Port Arthur, Texas. The Post reported the administration will allow TransCanada to reapply after it develops an alternate route around a critical aquifer in Nebraska's Sandhills. Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns is expected to make the announcement. The State Department, which has authority because Keystone XL would cross an international border, postponed a decision until early 2013 to study alternative routes that would avoid a critical aquifer in Nebraska. [Read more...] Calif. HS student devises another method to shrink cancer tumors (15 January 2012) Angela's idea was to mix cancer medicine in a polymer that would attach to nanoparticles -- nanoparticles that would then attach to cancer cells and show up on an MRI. so doctors could see exactly where the tumors are. Then she thought shat if you aimed an infrared light at the tumors to melt the polymer and release the medicine, thus killing the cancer cells while leaving healthy cells completely unharmed. "I think it was more of a -- 'This is really cool, I want to see if it works' -- type thing," she said. "And when you found out it did..." asked Hartman. "That was pretty amazing." It'll take years to know if it works in humans -- but in mice -- the tumors almost completely disappeared. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: As much as I like to encourage kids at real science, I predict that this technique will eventually show poor results in actually curing human cancer. That's because when you lie to a kid about what causes cancer, and she doesn't have any other information at such a young age to determine that she's been given bad facts, her "cure" will address the lie, not the real cause. Think about this -- why do people still die of cancer after tumors are removed, even surgically removed with "clear margins"? Maybe this is a good time to bring up the case of my own Aunt Sharon who died a couple of years ago after having a small breast lump. I contacted her with information on what had helped me, just in case she wanted to look into it. But I wasn't a doctor, and she trusted her doctor, who recommended a double mastectomy as a "preventative measure." She went along with the surgery because she was an active lady, even at her advanced age, and she thought that breast cancer wouldn't trouble her again after the operation. Her cancer supposedly wasn't very large or very serious, and she was declared cured after the surgery and other treatments (I think they gave her chemo as well). She died a few months later, bedridden and miserable in a nursing home, of CANCER. Why is that? Everyone who has studied cancer can tell you why -- cancer "spreads," and it doesn't need a tumor to kill you. Serious lifetime researchers think cancer is caused by the SV-40 virus among other organisms (Hulda Clark et al), and that tumors are the body's desperate attempt to wall off the lethal microbe. I could write an article about all of this, but that would take a while because then I'd have to cover pleomorphism, and how the cancer virus was found to be related to the TB bacteria (Royal Rife et al), but many microorganisms were seen by other researchers and thought to be related to both diseases (Virginia Livingston, Alan Cantwell et al). That's one reason it's so difficult to get rid of cancer -- TB has "L-forms" that are "cell membrane deficient" in an effort to evade the immune system, among other modifications that these organisms undergo to protect themselves. And then there's the whole issue of biowarfare programs using SV-40 because of these characteristics, and of the AIDS virus possibly being developed as a modification of SV-40 (Len Horowitz). Long story short, cancer is a complex subject that requires more facts than mainstream science will admit to its students. Royal Rife, the big cancer researcher of the 1930s who cured 100% of cancer cases in a small clinical trial using radio waves alone, thought that pH was involved in cancer. Think about that -- a top optics and applied wave technology scientist telling us that what we eat makes a difference. Although I don't like to break a little girl's heart, I predict this "cure" will flop when used on humans. Their tumors may shrink, but even if the immune system can overcome the poisons and debris from such a method, people will die as with other tumor removal methods. That's because the tumor is a symptom of cancer, not the root cause. The method described here leaves the root cause in place, in fact may even spread the virus and its companion forms more quickly. It is possible that the method could help a few patients if the virus is completely contained within the tumor, and the drug kills enough of the contained virus without also poisoning the immune system. There is hope, though -- many people already survive cancer using alternative methods. When I had the symptoms of breast cancer, that's what I used. And unlike my Aunt Sharon, I'm still alive to this day, six years later. I've also detailed the protocol I used -- costing a few hundred bucks at most -- on my web site, FREE OF CHARGE TO EVERYONE. There are many "alternative" approaches to cancer, but I thought my readers would want to know what I thought was the best combination of alternative methods -- the protocol that I actually trusted with my own life. Serial killer suspect looks like 'scared wet cat,' attorney says (18 January 2012) His attorney, Randall Longwith, said he was finally allowed to see Ocampo on Tuesday afternoon, but only after getting a court order. Officials "indicate he sleeps most of the day," Longwith said. "He was curled up in a ball under a blanket in underwear, no shirt, no pants. He looked like a wet cat -- a scared, wet cat. It wasn't much conversation." Prosecutors accuse Ocampo of a "serial thrill-kill spree," outlining each of the killings in graphic detail and saying that the attacks became more furious and violent. They also allege he had already selected future victims at the time of his arrest. [Read more...] Journalist Chris Hedges Sues Obama Admin over Indefinite Detention of U.S. Citizens Approved in NDAA (17 January 2012) [DN] AMY GOODMAN: And why not a class action lawsuit, where many people file? CARL MAYER: Right. Well, the purpose of the litigation is to have a federal court declare this act unconstitutional. And that would apply to everyone. Chris is an important plaintiff in this, because--you just showed the clip from Mitt Romney. I'm not sure that Mitt Romney has read this bill. The act is so broad and vague that it covers, in its writing, any persons who give, quote, "substantial support to al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or," quote, "associated forces," which are incredibly broad, nebulous terms and could capture, within those--their terms, journalists like Chris Hedges, who courageously has gone around the world to interview members of opposition parties, to interview members of terrorist groups, to report the truth. And so, when Mitt Romney says these are people who are in terrorist organizations, that's not how the bill is written. It's written so broadly that it could encompass a journalist like Chris Hedges. It could encompass people who are engaged in free speech and in all sorts of activities that have nothing to do with what Mitt Romney, etc., are talking about. And so, we filed this action. I filed it in conjunction with my colleague Bruce Afran, who's a professor of constitutional law at Rutgers Law School, another veteran public interest attorney. And what we're asking the court to do is to declare that this law violates not only the First Amendment rights of citizens like Chris to report and to speak about these issues, but also the Fifth Amendment right to due process, because what this--what this bill does is it sends people to military tribunals, and it allows for the indefinite detention of these people. It even allows for the rendition of covered persons, which is not defined in the act, to render these people to foreign countries. [Read more...] Virginia wants jobs from Pakistan at its Portsmouth Marine Terminal (18 January 2012) The letter points out that a "logistical bottleneck" has developed in the port of Karachi in Pakistan, where the military equipment is sent for a washing by Pakistani nationals. All the equipment has to be cleaned and pass inspections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Customs to ensure that no harmful pests, plants or other materials enter the country. The equipment is prescreened in Afghanistan by the U.S. agencies and sent to Pakistan for a secondary wash. U.S. agriculture and customs officials have said the Karachi operation is "fraught with problems" with a 10 percent inspection failure rate and concerns that some equipment is stored unprotected, according to the letter, which is signed by U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb, both Democrats, and U.S. Reps. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake, and Scott Rigell, R-Virginia Beach. It warns that the problems could get worse and drive up costs as larger volumes of cargo are shipped out in advance of the withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2014. "The Port of Virginia and its industry partners are prepared to offer a viable alternative which would lower costs, allow more efficient drawdown and provide job opportunities for hundreds of military veterans with the necessary training and expertise," the letter states. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: What about depleted uranium? What about those "harmful pests, plants or other materials" that weren't removed in Afghanistan? Despite the fact that Virginia desperately needs the jobs, this doesn't sound like the best idea for the environment. Average Pay at Goldman Sachs: $367,057 (18 January 2012) Goldman Sachs Group Inc. paid its employees an average of $367,057 for 2011, a decline of 15% from a year ago, reflecting the tough times experienced by banks and securities firms since last spring. The investment bank, known for rewarding its bankers and traders with the highest payouts among Wall Street investment banks, set aside $12.2 billion for compensation and benefits for the full year, down 21% from the $15.4 billion it allocated a year earlier. Last year, Goldman paid employees an average of $430,700. The company's compensation and benefits disclosure includes salaries, discretionary payouts as well as stock that was previously awarded that is vesting. Although Goldman doesn't break out bonus payments within that figure, the steep decline from a year ago reflects "discretionary compensation that declined significantly more than revenue on a full year basis," a company spokesman said. Compensation consultants have projected that incentive pay for Wall Street firms could fall roughly 20% to 40% from a year earlier. [Read more...] BP claims shale oil and gas 'will make US self-sufficient' in twenty years (18 January 2012) Growth in shale oil and gas supplies will make the US virtually self-sufficient in energy by 2030, according to a BP report published on Wednesday. In a development with enormous geopolitical implications, the country's dependence on oil imports from potentially volatile countries in the Middle East and elsewhere will disappear, BP said, although Britain and western Europe will still need Gulf supplies. BP's latest energy outlook forecasts a growth in unconventional energy sources, including US shale oil and gas and Canadian oil sands, plus a gradual decline in demand, that will see North America become "almost totally energy self-sufficient" in two decades. BP's chief executive, Bob Dudley, said: "Our report challenges some long-held beliefs. Significant changes in US supply-and-demand prospects, for example, highlight the likelihood that import dependence in what is today's largest energy importer will decline substantially." [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Sounds like a PR piece more than reality. Something to justify the contamination of water wells that comes with fracking. Crowd hisses at Wisconsin's Governor Walker during appearance at Madison MLK tribute event (17 January 2012) Protesters hissed and chanted "shame" at Gov. Scott Walker after he read a proclamation at the state's official Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday ceremony in the Capitol rotunda. Walker spoke briefly Monday afternoon at the event that attracted hundreds of people and featured a gospel choir from Chicago, a youth choir from Madison and a keynote speech from University of Maryland law professor Sherrilyn Ifill. She elicited loud applause during her comments when she said that King would not have approved of laws requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls. Walker signed a photo ID law last year. Ifill also drew applause when she said King would have stood up for worker rights. Walker has been targeted for recall after he took on public sector union rights. [Read more...] Right to work -- for less (15 January 2012) King, whose legacy is honored nationally next week, often spoke of the link between organized labor and the civil rights movement. He recognized that the cause of freedom needed allies, and that unions such as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the United Auto Workers were key allies in the struggle. The unions shared in that recognition, and do to this day. Unions from the North were strong enough to provide meaningful support for the civil rights struggle because right-to-work laws had been blocked in the Northern states arrayed around the Great Lakes and into New England. Like the vast majority of states that fought to end slavery in the 19th century, and that elected representatives (Republicans and Democrats) who opposed segregation in the 20th century, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana rejected proposals to limit collective bargaining rights. Democrats and Republicans in these states recognized that strong unions, like strong businesses, were necessary to economic and social progress. Now, however, Republicans in traditionally pro-labor states have begun to attack the rights of workers and their unions. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Ohio Governor John Kasich went after public-sector unions, signing laws that took away collective bargaining rights from teachers, nurses, snowplow drivers and, in Ohio's case, firefighters and police officers. Ohio reversed the assault at the polls last November, voting 61-39 percent to overturn Kasich's law, and Wisconsinites are preparing to recall and remove Walker and his cronies. But even as some states are pushing back against the anti-labor agenda, others are moving to embrace it, as Republican legislatures in Indiana and New Hampshire have taken the lead in trying to pass right-to-work laws in those states. A right-to-work proposal could well end up on Ohio's November ballot, and Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has actively discussed moving to make Wisconsin a right-to-work state. [Read more...] Third Veterans Affairs board member resigns over power grab by Wisconsin's Governor Walker (17 January 2012) A third veteran has resigned from a state board in response to Gov. Scott Walker's moves to gain greater control of the Department of Veterans Affairs, including his decision to appoint John Scocos as agency secretary. Marvin Freedman, first appointed to the state Board of Veterans Affairs by former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle in 2004, informed Walker on Monday that he was stepping down. Freedman - a Vietnam vet who earned a Bronze Star - was appointed to a term scheduled to run until 2015. In his letter to the first-term Republican governor, Freedman criticized legislation that stripped the board of its ability to appoint the veterans affairs secretary, giving that responsibility to the governor. Walker has defended the changes, saying they will bring more accountability to the department and board. The board has been the subject of much controversy in recent years. [Read more...] French judge wants to investigate at Guantanamo (17 January 2012) GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- A French judge is seeking U.S. permission to visit the prison camps here to investigate claims by former French inmates that they were tortured, the Associated Press reported from Paris on Tuesday. The AP reported that it saw a formal international request from investigating judge Sophie Clement to U.S. authorities to see the prison here that Tuesday held 171 captives, none of them now including French citizens. Clement also seeks copies of all documents relating to the arrest and transfer of three Frenchmen held there. The three men are Nizar Sassi, now 31, Mourad Benchellali, now 30, and Khaled Ben Mustapha, now 40. They were arrested on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in late 2001 and transferred to Guantanamo. They were sent back to France in 2004 and 2005, held for a time for trial and then released. The men told the judge during questioning in France that they were subject to violence including torture and rape during their detention. [Read more...] Average age of US vehicles hits record 10.8 years (17 January 2012) DETROIT -- That clunker in America's driveway has reached a record old age, but there are signs that people may be growing confident enough in the economy to get a whiff of that fresh car scent very soon. The average age of a car or truck in the U.S. hit a record 10.8 years last year as job security and other economic worries kept many people from making big-ticket purchases such as a new car. That's up from the old record of 10.6 years in 2010, and it and continues a trend that dates to 1995, when the average age of a car was 8.4 years, according to a study of state vehicle registration data by the based Polk automotive research firm. However, Polk analyst Mark Seng says that a rebound in sales last year and expected growth for the next couple of years will likely lower the average age of cars as a whole in America. The aging of the American auto fleet has been a big boon for repair shops and companies that sell replacement auto parts. In 2011, [Read more...] Serial killings suspect in isolation; family shares Iraq video where he reads "Green Eggs and Ham" (17 January 2012) On Monday, the family shared a brief video message that Ocampo recorded from Iraq for Father's Day in 2008. Ocampo appeared in fatigues and goggles in a makeshift church, greeted his family in Spanish, complained about the heat and read "Green Eggs and Ham" to his younger sister. "I'm fine here in Iraq," he says in the message. Toward the end, he wishes his family a happy Thanksgiving, and then corrects himself. "Father's Day. Oh man," he says, and then exhales. "So many things." Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said over the weekend that investigators are "extremely confident we have the man responsible for the four murders of homeless men in Orange County." He said detectives will ask the District Attorney's Office to file four murder charges against Ocampo. Ocampo will make his first court appearance on Wednesday. [Read more...] Serial killing suspect's life unraveled after Iraq (17 January 2012) But something changed after he returned from a deployment to Iraq in 2008 , those who know him say. Though it did not involve fighting, his job with the Marines' 1st Medical Battalion was a notably grisly one. He was assigned to meet and inspect the wounded -- both friend and enemy -- when they were flown in from combat zones en route to the hospital. "He came back totally changed," Hays said. "It was almost like he didn't care anymore. He'd get fidgety, he'd start shaking, spacing out. You'd see him staring off." Jesus Balbuena, Ocampo's roommate at Camp Pendleton after his return from Iraq, recalled that he would "wake up screaming at the top of his lungs twice a week. He would have flashbacks." When he talked about his family's slide into financial hardship, Ocampo would weep, Balbuena said. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: We all knew this would happen to some of the kids sent over there. Serial-killings victims stabbed up to 50 times (17 January 2012) The killer of four homeless men stabbed each victim a minimum of 43 times in the upper chest and, for some, the face, with one of the men suffering more than 50 knife wounds, according to a daughter of one of the victims. Julia Smit-Lozano, of Anaheim said she was told details about the slayings by a prosecutor at the Orange County District Attorney's Office, which is holding a news conference at 11 a.m. Tuesday to announce the filing of murder charges against suspect Itzcoatl "Izzy" Ocampo, 23, of Yorba Linda. Smit-Lozano's father, Paulus Cornelius Smit, 57, was the third victim of what authorities are characterizing as a serial-killing spree. Smit was found stabbed to death in a stairwell behind the Yorba Linda Public Library on Dec. 30. Smit-Lozano said she was told by a prosecutor that Ocampo stalked her father after seeing him at the library several times. In interviews Sunday, Ocampo's parents and siblings said that Ocampo frequently visited the library, often bringing along his sister, 12. Smit-Lozano said her father suffered more than 50 stab wounds. [Read more...] Independent panel to probe Japan nuclear disaster (17 January 2012) REPORTING FROM SEOUL -- A private-sector panel of scientists has been appointed by the Japanese government to conduct an independent investigation into the causes and aftermath of the last year's nuclear disaster at the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant. The formation of the board, made up of critics of nuclear power, is an unlikely step by a central government whose policies, critics say, have often been guided by the quiet but powerful hand of the nation's nuclear industry. In selecting panel members, Japanese lawmakers ruled out anyone with previous experience in the nuclear power industry and looked for candidates with no ties with the government or the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. "We will get to the bottom of the case and compile a proposal for the future as we strive to live up to the people's expectations," panel Chairman Kiyoshi Kurokawa told a news conference Monday. "We will seek how we can be different from the government panel." Following their first open meeting, panel members reiterated that they would probe deeper into the country's worst-ever nuclear disaster than the investigation conducted last year by the government and plant operators. [Read more...] Fuel begins flowing from tanker to Nome (16 January 2012) Crews on Monday afternoon began transferring 1.3 million gallons of fuel from a Russian fuel tanker to the iced-in Western Alaska city of Nome. The offloading began near sundown, said Stacey Smith of Vitus Marine, the fuel supplier that arranged to have the Russian tanker Renda and its crew deliver the gasoline and diesel fuel. The process began after crews safety-tested two transfer hoses with pressurized air. Earlier, crews laid the hoses along a stretch of Bering Sea ice. On Monday, they hooked the hoses to a pipeline that begins on a rock causeway 550 yards from the tanker, which is moored about half a mile offshore, said Jason Evans, board chairman of the Sitnasuak Native Corp. Sitnasuak owns the local fuel company, Bonanza Fuel, and has been working closely with Vitus Marine. The pipeline leads to storage tanks in town. [Read more...] Occupy Congress: Could it be politics as unusual? (17 January 2012) Thousands of Occupy protesters from across the country are expected to converge Tuesday on Capitol Hill to take their message to the halls of Congress, in what some observers say is the movement's overdue moment to engage the American political system. Protesters already have set up camps in public spaces, taken over foreclosed homes and shut down key shipping ports, but for the most part they have shunned the political system, viewing it as beyond salvation. The congressional protest -- which falls on the movement's four-month mark and the beginning of a new session of Congress -- appears to represent a strategic shift aimed at winning support of the many Americans disillusioned with the legislative branch. "Often the complaint that I hear is that, 'you guys are targeting the wrong people.' And so we have that discussion about you know whether or not Wall Street is the source of the problem or really Congress is," said Aaron Bornstein, a 31-year-old neuroscientist and member of the Occupy Wall Street Think Tank, which will hold discussions at the event. [Read more...] Homeless make up growing number of California welfare recipients (16 January 2012) Over the last five years, the number of CalWorks families without a permanent place to live has grown by 98%. That's nearly four times the growth of non-homeless families who are also getting assistance. The increase shows how difficult it is for people on the lower rungs of the financial ladder to improve their situation in the current tough economy, experts say, especially because the average amount that Los Angeles County families get from the state has shrunk from $560 a month three years ago to $490 last October. "The largest growth has been at that level of need where people are at the ledge of homelessness," said Michael Arnold, executive director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Grants could become even smaller if Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget passes. Brown wants to reduce CalWorks by about $1 billion. "If some of these safety-net programs are cut, it will push a lot of people to homelessness," Arnold said. Or, as Glendena Stephens, a caseworker who has been with the county for 45 years, put it: "The rents are so high and the grants are so small, it doesn't leave them with hardly anything. I've never seen anything like it." [Read more...] Concordia cruise ship disaster: fuel leak fears spark environmental crisis (17 January 2012) Italy's cruise liner tragedy turned into an environmental crisis on Monday, as rough seas battering the stricken mega-ship raised fears that fuel might leak into pristine waters off Tuscany that are part of a protected sanctuary for dolphins, porpoises and whales. The ship's Italian operator accused the jailed captain of causing the wreck that left at least six dead and 29 missing, saying he made an "unapproved, unauthorised manoeuvre" to divert the vessel from its programmed course. Earlier, authorities had said 16 people were missing. But an Italian Coast Guard official, Marco Brusco, said late Monday that 25 passengers and four crew members were unaccounted for three days after the Costa Concordia struck a reef and capsized off the coast of the tiny island of Giglio. He didn't explain the jump, but indicated 10 of the missing are Germans. Two Americans are also among the missing. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: I'm sure blaming the captain is their way of saying that they don't want to be sued, but nobody has explained the explosion and power outage that witness accounts in press reports say came before, and may have caused, the wreck. That could bring up questions of maintenance records and the like. Sopa plans set to be shelved as Obama comes out against piracy legislation (16 January 2012) Congressional leaders are preparing to shelve controversial legislation aimed at tackling online piracy after president Barack Obama said he would not support it. California congressman Darrell Issa, an opponent of Sopa, the Stop Online Piracy Act, said he had been told by House majority leader Eric Cantor that there would be no vote unless there is consensus on the bill. "The voice of the internet community has been heard. Much more education for members of Congress about the workings of the internet is essential if anti-piracy legislation is to be workable and achieve broad appeal," said Issa. The news is a major blow for Sopa's backers in Hollywood, who had enjoyed broad support in Congress. But the Motion Pictures Association of America, one of the bill's biggest sponsors, said it would continue to press for new laws. "The failure to pass meaningful legislation will result in overseas websites continuing to be a safe haven for criminals stealing and profiting from America," the MPAA said in a blogpost. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: We'll see -- often controversial legislation is slipped into other legislation, or brought back long after the battle against it is supposedly won, quietly and suddenly passed late at night so that activists who worked so hard against it won't have time to mobilize. New San Francisco sheriff faces domestic violence charges (16 January 2012) New San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi faces domestic abuse charges less than a week after taking office, officials said. Mirkarimi is charged with misdemeanor counts of domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness, according to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office. The charges stem from an alleged incident on New Year's Eve with his wife, Eliana Lopez, a former Venezuelan TV actress. She told reporters last week that she was not pressing charges and objected to the cases against her husband. The couple have a 2-year-old son. "Regardless of whether the victim supports a prosecution, it is the state's and my office's obligation to ensure the safety of the victim," District Attorney George Gascon said in a written statement. [Read more...] Historical Martin Luther King, Jr. mugshots (16 January 2012) SPECIAL: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in His Own Words (16 January 2012) [DN] I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered. A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth with righteous indignation. It will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay a hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. [Read more...] MLK marchers have brief face-off with police (14 January 2012) Demonstrators marching through downtown Baltimore on Saturday to mark the approaching Martin Luther King Jr. holiday had a brief face-off with the police, but the two sides parted ways peacefully without arrests. About 50 marchers who were beginning a three-day trek to Washington, D.C., to decry economic and social inequality stopped at about 1 p.m. at the corner of Howard and Lexington streets -- the former location of Read's Drug Store, a landmark in civil rights history. The store was the scene of a sit-in protesting racial segregation by students from what was then Morgan State College in January 1955, months before the Montgomery bus boycott and five years before the more celebrated lunch counter sit-in in Greensboro, N.C. The police, who had been trying to get the marchers to stay on the sidewalk when they walked down Eutaw Street toward Lexington, kept watch on foot and in several cruisers as the crowd stopped at what is now a boarded-up store and began chanting "No justice, no peace, no racist police." Helena Hicks, 77, who was one of the Morgan students at the 1955 sit-in, took up the bullhorn microphone and began daring the police to try to move her from the center of Lexington Street. "Ain't nothing here but a bunch of police who got nothing else to do," she said. "I want to see somebody be able to move me." [Read more...] Advocates fight Utah pet gas chamber after cat survives twice (15 January 2012) West Valley City - Even before the West Valley-Taylorsville Animal Shelter opened in 2009, animal advocates were pressing officials to drop plans for a carbon monoxide euthanasia chamber. But they were unsuccessful. After Andrea the cat survived two attempts by shelter workers this fall to fatally gas her, advocates renewed their battle. At the past few West Valley City Council meetings, advocates have lobbied for a ban on the gas chamber, saying injection of sodium pentobarbital is the humane method to use for euthanasia. During the public comment period at Tuesday's meeting, veterinarian Kay Brown told council members that gas chambers can take up to 30 minutes to end an animal's life, while lethal injection causes unconsciousness within seconds and death within minutes. "We human beings are responsible for ensuring that an animal's life is taken only with the highest degree of respect and as free as possible from pain and distress," Brown said. [Read more...] U.K. cancer patients will be pushed into poverty by Government welfare cuts, charity warns (16 January 2012) Young cancer patients will be pushed into poverty by welfare cuts, a charity warned today. CLIC Sargent called on David Cameron to abandon changes to Disability Living Allowance that would force them to prove they had been ill for six months instead of three months. They will also have to prove their illness will last a further six months to be eligible for the new Personal Independence Payment. Cancer patient Matt Short said: "The thought of not being able to get any financial help for six months or more is appalling. The fact of having to deal with cancer as a young person is hard enough. [Read more...] Unionist MP's anger as US drops 'Scots-Irish' term from census list (16 January 2012) DUP MP Gregory Campbell has written to the US Ambassador to object to the removal of Scots-Irish as a distinct ancestry by the USA Census Bureau. Individuals in the USA who report themselves as Scots-Irish in the American Community Survey will now be included in the 'other groups' category. The census data will retain distinct categories for Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh. The Scots-Irish, referred to in the British Isles as Ulster-Scots, are the descendants of those who came to Ireland during the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century. [Read more...] Friend's death haunted suspect in homeless slayings (16 January 2012) YORBA LINDA -- Early last week, Itzcoatl "Izzy" Ocampo showed his father a newspaper story about a suspected serial killer targeting homeless men in the area. His father, Refugio, lost his home in 2008 and lives out of the cab of a big rig parked in Fullerton. The elder Ocampo, who once lived under a freeway overpass, turned to his son. "Don't worry, mijo," he said. "I'll be fine." [Read more...] Archaeologists discover tomb of female singer in Valley of the Kings (16 January 2012) Archaeologists from Egypt and Switzerland have unearthed the 1,100-year-old tomb of a female singer in the Valley of the Kings. It is the only tomb of a woman not related to the ancient Egyptian royal families ever found there, said Mansour Boraiq, the top government official for the antiquities ministry in the city of Luxor, The Valley of the Kings in Luxor is a major tourist attraction. In 1922, archaeologists there unearthed the gold funeral mask of Tutankhamun and other stunning items in the tomb of the king who ruled more than 3,000 years ago. Mr Boraiq told reporters that the coffin of the female singer is remarkably intact. [Read more...] Nigeria restores fuel subsidy to quell nationwide protests (16 January 2012) The strike began on 9 January, paralysing the country of more than 160 million people. The root cause remains fuel prices: Jonathan's government abandoned subsidies that kept prices low on 1 January, causing prices to spike from $1.70 a gallon (45 cents a litre) to at least $3.50 a gallon (94 cents a litre). The costs of food and transportation also largely doubled in a country where most people live on less than $2 a day. Anger over losing one of the few benefits average Nigerians see from living in an oil-rich state led to demonstrations across the country and violence that has killed at least 10 people. Red Cross volunteers have treated more than 600 people injured in protests since the strike began, officials said. Jonathan and other government officials have argued that removing the subsidies, which are estimated to cost $8bn a year, would allow the government to spend money on badly needed public projects across Nigeria, with its cratered roads, little electricity and a lack of clean drinking water for its inhabitants. However, many remain suspicious of government as military rulers and politicians have plundered government budgets since independence from Britain in 1960. The strike also could cut into oil production in Nigeria, which produces about 2.4m barrels of crude a day and remains a top energy supplier to the US. A major oil workers association threatened on Thursday to stop all oil production in Nigeria at midnight on Saturday over the continued impasse in negotiations. However, the Nigeria Labour Congress said the association had held off on the threatened production halt. [Read more...] Chevron: Rig catches fire off Nigeria's delta (16 January 2012) LAGOS, Nigeria - An offshore rig exploring possible deep-water oil and gas fields off Nigeria's coast for Chevron Corp. caught fire Monday, and the oil company said officials were still trying to account for all those working there. Chevron said it was still investigating the cause of the fire, which occurred near its North Apoi oil platform, and which forced it to shut down. "We immediately flew out people to the nearby North Apoi platform, and have been helping those needing any medical assistance," Chevron spokesman Scott Walker said in a statement. The rig is run on Chevron's behalf by contractor Fode Drilling Co., Walker said. Officials with Fode, which has offices in London and Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, could not be immediately reached for comment Monday. Nnimmo Bassey, who runs an environmental watchdog group in Nigeria, said he had received reports from locals nearby that the fire was an industrial incident. "Workers were trying to contain the gas pressure and they didn't succeed," Bassey said. [Read more...] Giant online retailer Zappos says hacker accessed information of 24 million customers (16 January 2012) Amazon's online shoe shop Zappos.com has revealed the personal information of 24 million customers has been hacked. The Nevada-based firm said customers' names, e-mail addresses, billing and shipping addresses, phone number, and the last four digits of consumers' credit card numbers may have been accessed. Full credit card numbers were not stolen, the firm said, because they were stored separately. The announcement made on the retailer's website last night included the text of an e-mail that Zappos customers will soon receive. [Read more...] Cyberattacks Temporarily Cripple 2 Israeli Web Sites (16 January 2012) JERUSALEM - Israel faced an escalating cyberwar on Monday as unknown attackers disrupted access to the symbolically strategic Web sites of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and El Al, the national airline. A hacker identifying himself as oxOmar, already notorious for posting the details of more than 20,000 Israeli credit cards, sent an overnight warning to Israel's Ynet news outlet that a group of pro-Palestinian cyberattackers called Nightmare planned to bring down the sites in the morning. The attackers did not break into the sites' operating systems, but used a far simpler tactic: creating an overload of access attempts. Neither the Israeli economy nor flights in and out of the country were endangered, and the sites appeared to be recovering within hours, but the assault left many Israelis feeling vulnerable. Yoni Shemesh, who is responsible for the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Web site, said that his team had already began preparing for an attack a few days ago and went on high alert after the Ynet report. [Read more...] New Orleans' traffic camera tickets alienate residents (15 January 2012) Ryan Holiday and Samantha Hoover moved to New Orleans last summer after falling in love with the city. But that love affair almost died on the vine when the speeding tickets started showing up in their mailbox. Each day brought a new one, all issued from the city's second-busiest traffic-camera location: Jackson Avenue and Chestnut Street. Trouble is, by the time Holiday and Hoover got their first ticket, they had already racked up about 15 violations, thanks to the lag time between when a motorist commits an infraction and when he or she can expect to receive a ticket. "I was not familiar with the city, but I did see the many 'Divided Streets/35 mph' signs, so I assumed that was the posted limit on Jackson," said Holiday, a writer from Los Angeles. "We had no idea we were violating any laws until it was too late. That's over $1,000 we could have spent on local businesses, on ourselves, on fixing up our new place. Instead the city took it, like a bully on our first day of school." [Read more...] U.K. court case causing delays in renewable energy purchases (16 January 2012) Cosh said potential customers were "sitting on their hands" and waiting for clarity over subsidies before deciding whether or not to install solar panels. The UK government sparked anger among many in the industry in October when it announced that changes to "feed-in tariffs" (FIT) -- the amount paid to households and businesses for the power produced by their panels and fed into the national electricity grid -- would be cut in December, rather than in April as previously planned. Solar panel installers were perplexed because the date set by the coalition government was before the end of its own public consultation on the changes. That sparked a High Court case, which ruled in favour of campaigners. But the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) is appealing. On Friday, the Court of Appeal in London postponed its judgement on the coalition's pleas. [Read more...] Crews in Nome harbor prepare to offload fuel from tanker (16 January 2012) The tanker was moored roughly a half-mile from Nome's harbor after a Coast Guard cutter cleared a path for it through hundreds of miles of a slow journey stalled by thick ice and strong ocean currents. The tanker maneuvered into position Saturday night, and ice disturbed by its journey had to freeze again so workers could create some sort of roadway to lay a hose that will transfer 1.3 million gallons of fuel from the tanker to the harbor in Nome. On Sunday, workers spent the morning walking around the vessel and checking the ice to make sure it was safe to lay the hose, which will take about four hours, said Jason Evans, board chairman of the Sitnasuak Native Corp. With the tanker and the Coast Guard ice breaker laying just offshore and poised to deliver the fuel, Evans said the bulk of the mission's biggest challenges were behind the crew, but a lot of work remained. Still, the final job of transferring fuel from the ship to the town comes with its own hurdles: In addition to waiting for the ice to freeze, crews must begin the transfer in daylight, a state mandate. And Nome has just five hours of daylight this time of year. [Read more...] Home of suspect in four murders of homeless men searched (15 January 2012) ANAHEIM -- Investigators searched a Yorba Linda home Saturday morning, the home of a 23-year-old man suspected of stabbing and killing a homeless man Friday night. The owner of the five-acre property said he was told investigators took shoes, clothing, and a computer belonging to the 23-year-old suspect. Itzcoatl Ocampo, of Yorba Linda, was seen running and shedding clothes Friday night after a transient was stabbed to death behind a Carl's Jr. restaurant near La Palma Avenue and Imperial Highway. The Friday night death was the fourth time a homeless man was stabbed to death in the area in less than four weeks, and law enforcement officials from four local police agencies and the FBI are looking into Ocampo's connection to all four deaths. [Read more...] Suspect in O.C. killings of homeless men is an Iraq war veteran (15 January 2012) A 23-year-old former Marine who some say was distraught after combat service in Iraq has been named a suspect in the serial killings of four homeless men in Orange County. Itzcoatl Ocampo of Yorba Linda was chased by bystanders Friday after the most recent stabbing death behind a fast-food restaurant in an Anaheim shopping center parking lot. Ocampo remained in police custody without bail Saturday and is expected in court on Tuesday. "We are extremely confident that we have the man who is responsible for the murders of all four homeless men in Orange County," Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said at a news conference Saturday. Police said they will seek four counts of murder next week. Authorities did not specify a motive for the killings, which began on Dec. 20 and sent fear through the homeless community. However, a relative and a friend of the suspect described a young man who appeared to be deeply troubled after his return from service in Iraq in the summer of 2010. [Read more...] UM rape victim comes forward about attack, response from university (15 January 2012) So she walked up Higgins Avenue to Liquid Planet with a friend who had agreed to walk her home. Something strange happened at Liquid Planet, but she is not precisely sure what. She wound up with a coffee drink in front of her, with her friend urging her to drink it. "But there was this other group of guys and they were pointing at me and laughing," she recalled. "When I had that drink, one of them mouthed the word 'roofies' at me." Roofies is the street name for a drug called Rohypnol, which is more familiarly known as the date-rape drug. [Read more...] Dormant volcano in central Oregon becomes testing ground for geothermal energy project (15 January 2012) Geothermal energy developers plan to pump 24 million gallons of water into the side of a dormant volcano in Central Oregon this summer to demonstrate new technology they hope will give a boost to a green energy sector that has yet to live up to its promise. They hope the water comes back to the surface fast enough and hot enough to create cheap, clean electricity that isn't dependent on sunny skies or stiff breezes -- without shaking the earth and rattling nearby residents. Renewable energy has been held back by cheap natural gas, weak demand for power and waning political concern over global warming. Efforts to use the earth's heat to generate power, known as geothermal energy, have been further hampered by technical problems and worries that tapping it can cause earthquakes. Even so, the federal government, Google and other investors are interested enough to bet $43 million on the Oregon project. They are helping AltaRock Energy Inc. of Seattle and Davenport Newberry Holdings LLC of Stamford, Conn., demonstrate whether the next level in geothermal power development can work on the flanks of Newberrry Volcano, located about 20 miles south of Bend. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: That "cheap natural gas" isn't worth it, if they have to contaminate peoples' water wells and cause earthquakes to get it through "fracking." Pyle: America is hooked on a deadly anti-drug drug (15 January 2012) One might have thought that Nixon, already up to his armpits in Vietnam and having declared that he would "not be the first president to lose a war," would not have launched another unwinnable conflict. But Nixon, like leaders before and since, could be more interested in appearing tough than in being wise. Our approach to drug abuse has thus taken on the language of war. The weapons of war. The clothes, the tactics and the success measures of war. And it all makes about as much sense as sending the Pentagon to stamp out diabetes or schizophrenia. America's drug policy is best understood, not in military terms, but in the language of addiction. Our government is so riddled with classic symptoms of rationalization, denial and paranoia that what is called the drug war would be better understood as the anti-drug drug, a highly addictive substance that, once in your veins, never lets go. In Ogden on the night of Jan. 4, a multi-agency group of law enforcement officers -- organized, attired, armed and labeled as a "strike force" -- assembled at the home of a former U.S. soldier, knocked on the door and, when there was no answer, entered in their warranted search for, as far as we now know, a little homegrown marijuana. The ensuing exchange of gunfire claimed the life of Ogden Police Officer Jared Francom, a young and vibrant man with a wife and two small children, described, lovingly, and tellingly, as an "adrenaline junkie." It also left five other officers and the suspect, Matthew David Stewart, wounded. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Nixon also announced the war on cancer, and we all know how that's going... Power blackout could have caused Italian cruise disaster (14 January 2012) Like all forms of modern mass transport, cruise liners are utterly dependent on complex electronic devices to steer them -- and on electricity to run these systems. Without power, a ship is stricken and with reports suggesting that an explosion occurred in Concordia's engine room shortly before the ship ran aground, early analysis indicates power loss is likely to have been a key factor in the accident. This point was stressed by Malcolm Latarche, editor of global shipping magazine IHS Fairplay Solutions. Passengers had reported a power black-out and hearing a large blast shortly before the grounding, indicating the vessel could have suffered an engine room explosion, he noted. According to this scenario, a power surge or "harmonic interference" could have caused a malfunction in the generators feeding the ship's six diesel-electric engines, while back-up systems failed to provide power with sufficient speed. This would have caused the ship to lose navigational power and steering control and to veer off course. "The systems need to be reset and most of these things have automatic back-up, but it takes time for them to come in," said Latarche, who added that a similar problem had caused the Queen Mary 2 to lose power in September 2010 as she was approaching Barcelona. [Read more...] When Romney ran Bain Capital, his word was not his bond (Opinion) (13 January 2012) By bidding high early, Bain would win a coveted spot in the later rounds of the auction, when greater information about the company for sale is shared and the number of competitors is reduced. (A banker and his client generally allow only the potential buyers with the highest bids into the later rounds; after all, you can't have an endless procession of Savile Row-suited businessmen traipsing through a manufacturing plant if you want to keep a possible sale under wraps.) For buyers, the goal in these auctions is to be one of the few selected to inspect the company's facilities and books on-site, in order to make a final and supposedly binding bid. Generally, the prospective buyer with the highest bid after the on-site due-diligence visit is selected by the client -- in consultation with his or her banker -- to negotiate a final agreement to buy the company. This is the moment when Bain Capital would become especially crafty. In my experience -- which I heard echoed often by my colleagues around Wall Street -- Bain would seek to be the highest bidder at the end of the formal process in order to be the firm selected to negotiate alone with the seller, putting itself in the exclusive, competition-free zone. Then, when all other competitors had been essentially vanquished and the purchase contract was under negotiation, Bain would suddenly begin finding all sorts of warts, bruises and faults with the company being sold. Soon enough, that near-final Bain bid -- the one that got the firm into its exclusive negotiating position -- would begin to fall, often significantly. Of course, some haggling over price is typical in any sale, and not everything represented by sellers and their bankers is found to be accurate under close examination. But Bain Capital took the art of negotiation over price into the scientific realm. Once the competitive dynamics had shifted definitively in its favor, the firm's genuine views about what it was willing to pay -- often far lower than first indicated -- would be revealed. At such a late date, of course, the seller is more than a little pregnant with the buyer. Attempting to pivot and find a new buyer -- which knew it had not been selected in the first place, but was now being called back -- would be devastating to the carefully constructed process designed to generate the highest price. Once Bain's real thoughts about the price were revealed, the seller either had to suck it up and accept the lower price, or negotiate with a new buyer, but with far less leverage. Needless to say, this does not make for a very happy client (or a happy banker). By the end of my days on Wall Street in 2004, I found the real Bain way so counterproductive that I no longer included Bain Capital on my buyer's lists of private-equity firms for a company I was selling. [Read more...] Ron Paul: 2012 witnessing the rise of a guru to the downwardly mobile (15 January 2012) Many of Paul's supporters, though no less ardent, come to him through other apertures. In New Hampshire on Tuesday, Jeff Creem, 44, spent 14 hours holding his Ron Paul sign outside a polling station in Nashua -- all on the merits of Paul's opposition to the Patriot Act and other post-9/11 legislation that encroaches on civil liberties. "It disgusts me that all the other candidates will talk about the Constitution but when it's inconvenient they will toss it aside and make laws that go against it. Ron Paul may not be polished but he is real. I trust him. And I'm going all out to help." Exit polling data, together with the anecdotal observations of those of us who watched the first primaries up close, show Paul's appeal is tapping new nerves, with an unlikely mix of Tea Partiers, independents, discouraged Democrats and even Occupy types joining the bandwagon. Critics mock the very diversity of Paul's followers, suggesting his platform is self-limiting. Progressives, for example, may find nirvana in Paul's anti-war stance -- it's everything they wanted in Obama but never got -- yet the liberal blogosphere is in a fury over Paul's zeal for deregulation, which they perceive as both anti-union and anti-environment. [Read more...] Seattle police far from alone in excessive-force crackdown (15 January 2012) Such "pattern and practice" investigations -- so-called because they seek to identify unconstitutional patterns and practices by police -- are on a steep upswing, according to a review of Justice Department statistics. Experts on race, the law and police accountability say the rise in such cases reflects, in part, a disturbing increase in cases of police abuse across the country that can't be entirely explained away by an aggressive civil-rights-minded attorney general or a change in the political winds. "There is no question that there is a problem," said Sam Walker, emeritus professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, and the author of more than a dozen books on police accountability, civil rights and police oversight. "What is happening is that they are addressing it," Walker said, something he says was done only sporadically during the Bush administration, which considered police misconduct a local issue. The Civil Rights Division, he said, has doubled its number of attorneys since President Obama took office, has moved to complete the few investigations that were under way, and is opening new ones with regularity. [Read more...] Dorli Rainey, the 84-year-old pepper-sprayed in the face (13 January 2012) In September 2011, Occupy Wall Street began in Zuccotti Park, New York, when 1,000 people gathered to protest against corporate greed and social inequality. The Occupy movement quickly spread to more than 950 cities and 82 countries. Dorli Rainey, 84, was at an Occupy Seattle protest on 15 November 2011 when a policeman pepper-sprayed her in the face. I'd come into town to go to a meeting about street safety, ironically. As I got off the bus, I saw helicopters and a lot of police activity. Occupy Seattle had taken over the intersection of Fifth and Pine. I'm a member, so I went over. The police had cordoned it off, so you could not get out even if you wanted to. Now I did hear one policeman say, "You have got to leave the intersection" but there was no warning. It was just: right now, get out, and then the police started pushing their bicycles at the crowd. We were very tightly packed together and there was really no place to move. Then they started pepper-spraying indiscriminately. I got it full in the face, which is something I don't wish on my worst enemy. I was afraid of falling because people were pushing and there was no way out. Two young men helped me stabilise and finally they got milk and put it all over me to neutralise the effects. They wanted to take me to the medic tent, but I just took the bus home. The driver said, "What in the world happened to you?" and everyone stared. They had seen me as a regular human being, not as this Halloween mask that sat down next to them. So there was quite a bit of discussion about police brutality on that bus. That was my first reaction: we have just gained more people for our movement. But I was very angry. [Read more...] Arpaio protesters: 'We want him behind bars' (13 January 2012) About 100 protesters gathered Friday afternoon in downtown Phoenix to demand the arrest of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. "We want him behind bars," said Carlos Garcia, an organizer for Puente, the human rights group that planned the event. "The Department of Justice said Arpaio is responsible for the worst case of racial profiling they have ever seen," Garcia said. "You can't make a statement like that and not do anything." Protesters of all ages gathered about 3 p.m. in Cesar Chavez Plaza, near Washington Street and 1st Avenue, just hours after law enforcement officers mourned the death of Maricopa County sheriff's Deputy William Coleman at a Phoenix church. [Read more...] Two arrested in anti-police protest in Oakland (15 January 2012) KCBS and Bay City News Service reported that an anti-police march through downtown Oakland was peaceful Saturday night but resulted in two arrests. Police estimated about 125 protesters gathered in Frank Ogawa Plaza at around 8 p.m. and began marching about an hour later. KCBS reported that an estimated 100 officers were staged throughout downtown and a smaller group of officers followed the march as it wound through downtown streets for several hours. One person was arrested for allegedly moving a Dumpster into the street as a barricade, and a second was arrested for interfering with that arrest, police said. [Read more...] Thousands of horses in U.K. abandoned by owners suffering economic hardship; Charities at capacity and cannot take more animals, many sold as meat to zoos (15 January 2012) Thousands of horses are being abandoned or tied up and left to starve, many by desperate owners unable to afford the costs of keeping them. A national crisis has seen Britain's biggest horse charities under unprecedented pressure from the sheer number of animals needing their help. Redwings -- Britain's biggest charity for abandoned horses -- says the situation has reached breaking point. It has seen the number of cases soar from 160 horses in 2009 to 450 last year. So far this month it has taken in up to 10 a day. The charity, which can house 1,200 animals, is now full. Hundreds of other horses around the country are not so fortunate. Left to fend for themselves, they are savaged by dogs or fall victim to drivers on Britain's roads. The national situation is hard to quantify, but the RSPCA is aware that at least 3,500 horses are left chained or tied up without shelter at any one time. The charity estimates it received more than 7,000 calls in 2011 reporting horses and ponies that had been left tied up -- up 21 per cent on the previous year. Britain is seen as a nation of animal lovers and thousands are expected to flock to cinemas to see Steven Spielberg's War Horse. But, as the recession bites, owners are increasingly desperate, an IoS investigation timed to coincide with the film's release shows. The Blue Cross animal charity estimates the average cost of keeping a horse has almost doubled in the past five years, from £3,600 per year to £6,000. [Read more...] Website shows how sonar used to track salmon (14 January 2012) Most people don't know that 40 years ago Alaska pioneered the use of sonar to track salmon runs, or that state fishery managers operate 15 sonar sites on 13 rivers from Southeast to the Yukon. The goal of making Alaskans more aware of one of Alaska's most important fish-counting tools has been accomplished with the launch of a new online project that lets visitors see three types of sonar in action. The site explains that traditional tools such as weirs and counting towers can be used to count salmon in clear, narrow streams but not in wide, turbid rivers. "To gauge salmon runs we can't see we have taken a lesson from one of Mother Nature's fish finding experts. In glacial silt-laden bays and rivers, beluga whales find salmon by emitting high pitched calls and listening for returning echoes. Similarly, we have adopted sonar as a tool to detect salmon not by sight but by sound," it explains. [Read more...] Patient abuse by nurses extremely rare, experts say (14 January 2012) Donna Wilson, who works as a professor of nursing at the University of Alberta, said she knows of only one case like it in the course of her 35-year career. "This is really quite an unbelievable and sad story," she said. "If this is true, this nurse needs to be prosecuted and pay the price. We do not want this happening." Nursing schools usually weed out unsuitable candidates before they graduate, Wilson said. In addition, nurses have to undergo a national exam, acquire several references and outlast a probationary period. [Read more...] On Craigslist, let the seller beware (15 January 2012) Just one of hundreds of robberies that mar South Florida every year? Sure. But Segal's eye-burning ordeal is also a poignant example of growing trend in violent crime. Craigslist -- the all-in-one digital destination for those needing an apartment, a new job, a slightly used futon, and even love -- has become fertile ground for crooks in search of easy marks. "Criminals are like anyone else; they use the tools that are available to them," said Maj. Delrish Moss, a Miami police spokesman. "Right now, we're talking about Craigslist. A few years ago, they used Internet dating. You can use its powers for good, or for bad." More and more, it's the latter. [Read more...] Apple joins Fair Labor Association after criticism over factory conditions in Asia (15 January 2012) Apple made several moves Friday to address working conditions in its suppliers' factories, including an announcement that it had joined the Fair Labor Association. The association, which was founded in 1999 and is based in Washington, works to end sweatshop conditions in factories around the world. Apple has faced criticism for its factory conditions in Asia. This week, National Public Radio's "This American Life" ran an adapted version of Mike Daisey's monologue "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," in which he describes the often brutal working conditions he found on visits to Chinese factories. And Foxconn, an Asian supplier that makes electronics for Apple, Microsoft and Dell, among others, faced a revolt this week when hundreds of workers who make Microsoft Xboxes threatened suicide over lost wages. [Read more...] News from the Week of 8th to 14th of January 2012 "John," 60s, OC Homicide No. 2: Itzcoatl Ocampo Held in Fatal Stabbings of Homeless (14 January 2012) Anaheim Police received a call just before 8:20 p.m. Friday night of an assault in progress behind the Carl's Jr. restaurant at La Palma Avenue and Imperial Highway. Officers arrived to find the body of a homeless man with stab wounds near a trash bin. People who live nearby identified the dead man as "John," who was believed to be in his 60s, a Vietnam veteran and, possibly, the fourth victim of a serial killer. Two people who had been at the busy restaurant chased John's presumed killer, and they were joined by a security guard and some of the more than 100 police officers who descended on the murder scene. The man in a red hoodie tried to hop a fence near the Friendly Village Mobile Home Park, which is where the security guard pulled him down and held him about a quarter mile from the Carl's Jr. until officers caught up with him. Within minutes, the suspect was surrounded by cops who sat him down on the La Palma Avenue curb. A police helicopter above shined a bright light on his expressionless face. He nonchalantly crossed his arms as if no big whoop. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Finally the details start to come out... Not that I'd recommend chasing someone so dangerous to the general public, but those bystanders are some amazing people. Captain arrested amid growing anger after Italian cruise ship runs aground (14 January 2012) The Italian captain of a ship that sank off the coast of Tuscany was placed under arrest after one of the most dramatic holiday cruise disasters ever seen in the Mediterranean. Three passengers died and 69 were still unaccounted for after the 114,000-tonne Costa Concordia smashed into rocks amid scenes of panic and chaos. Local prosecutors said Francesco Schettino was being investigated for manslaughter and abandoning ship following reports his stricken vessel failed to raise a mayday alert as the disaster unfolded. There was speculation that a power failure on board the ship could have led to it losing navigational control and crashing into the rocks. Experts said that passenger reports of a power blackout and large blast indicated the vessel could have suffered an explosion in the engine room. As the ship came to rest half submerged on its side, yards from the coast of the island of Giglio late on Friday, anger rose among the thousands of passengers who had swum or been ferried and flown to safety over what they described as a botched evacuation by crew members who panicked. Italian police confirmed that two French tourists and a Peruvian crew member drowned in the accident. About 30 people were reported injured, with three critically hurt. [Read more...] Processed meat 'linked to pancreatic cancer' (12 January 2012) A link between eating processed meat, such as bacon or sausages, and pancreatic cancer has been suggested by researchers in Sweden. They said eating an extra 50g of processed meat, approximately one sausage, every day would increase a person's risk by 19%. But the chance of developing the rare cancer remains low. The World Cancer Research Fund suggested the link may be down to obesity. Eating red and processed meat has already been linked to bowel cancer. As a result the UK government recommended in 2011 that people eat no more than 70g a day. Prof Susanna Larsson, who conducted the study at the Karolinska Institute, told the BBC that links to other cancers were "quite controversial". She added: "It is known that eating meat increases the risk of colorectal cancer, it's not so much known about other cancers." [Read more...] Chicago Grants 1st Permit Ahead of G-8, NATO (14 January 2012) "As the city of Chicago issues permits for these events, we stand is strong support of the applicant organizations' First Amendment right to protest," Emanuel said in a statement. At an unusual briefing for reporters held Thursday at City Hall, officials and the head of the summit host committee released more details about planning for the gatherings, which have drawn massive and unruly protests elsewhere. But much remains uncertain, including the official site of many summit events and U.S. Secret Service security perimeters. Details such as road closures and parking restrictions may not be known until two to four weeks before the event, said Frank Benedetto of the Secret Service's Chicago field office in a statement. The host committee and the city have estimated the summits could cost $40 million to $65 million and will be paid by donations from the private sector and federal funds, not by local taxpayers. Officials would not release fundraising goals. The briefing came days before two Chicago City Council committees are expected to consider proposed security measures related to the NATO and G-8 summits. On Thursday, city officials said they've revised some of those proposals to respond to critics worried about infringements to First Amendment rights. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Of course they're trying to reassure people before the vote. Those new rules can and probably will get the city sued if anyone misbehaves... with a justified historical trend of losing cases that were a First Amendment violation. Democracy Now! Journalists Announce Major Settlement in Federal Lawsuit Challenging Police and U.S. Secret Service Crackdown on Media at 2008 Republican National Convention (FLASHBACK) (3 October 2010) REPORTER: The Secret Service, do you know how much of this settlement the Secret Service is paying, and have they adapted any new training programs? Have they disciplined the officers and the Secret Service agents involved? STEVEN REISS: Well, understand that the Secret Service's involvement here was really limited. And first of all, the Secret Service are not engaged in day-to-day policing functions. The Secret Service was involved at the Republican National Convention, because it had been designated a national security event. And the Secret Service was brought into this lawsuit, because we discovered that it was a Secret Service agent, not a police officer, that ripped the press credentials from Amy and Sharif. For that single action, in taking their press credentials, the Secret Service was brought into this, and the U.S. government is paying part of the settlement. REPORTER: Do you know how much? STEVEN REISS: We do know how much. REPORTER: Can you tell me how much? STEVEN REISS: Yes, the Secret Service is paying--the federal government, on behalf of the Secret Service, is paying $10,000. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Talk about CHEAP... The First Amendment vs. new protest rules in Chicago (13 January 2012) In May, Chicago will host many of the world's most influential leaders at the G-8 and NATO summits, and it will host thousands of protesters drawn by the summits. These events have become a magnet for people from around the world, and sometimes the protests have turned disruptive and violent. The summits will disrupt the routine of the city's bustling center, that's a given. Be ready for barriers that close off sections of downtown and motorcades that stop traffic. It's a price of placing Chicago at the center of such an international event. But how to get French President Nicolas Sarkozy or German Chancellor Angela Merkel safely from point A to point B will be the easy part. The greater challenge will be to keep the city flowing as it assures that citizens can exercise that right to assemble and voice their opinions. Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration has proposed a set of rules for public protest. The rules, which go to the City Council next week, would remain in place for the city after the world leaders and the protesters go home. [Read more...] Records: Journalist behind book critical of Obamas had White House access (14 January 2012) On Monday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters the book over-hyped conflicts between staff. "I think that books like these generally over-sensationalize things. … The atmosphere and collegiality here is much better than any of the White Houses I've covered. And that's been the case from day one here and continues to be the case," Carney said. The book depicts the first lady being unhappy at times with the president's staff, especially after the loss of the Senate Democrats' 60-seat majority with the special election of Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), and being frustrated at times with life in the White House. In a television interview, Michelle Obama disputed parts of the book and said she loved her job as first lady. Kantor did not interview either of the Obamas for the book although she had interviewed them in the past for stories she wrote for The New York Times. [Read more...] Occupy Edinburgh protesters facing boot as human excrement found in gardens (14 January 2012) LEGAL action has begun to forcibly remove members of the Occupy Edinburgh group from St Andrew Square. Essential Edinburgh is now preparing an application for an order to allow court officers to be brought in to close down the camp. The city centre business group cited public health concerns among other issues after finding human excrement within the gardens. Official letters were delivered to each tent warning members will be evicted if they fail to leave the site. [Read more...] Hacker says to release full Norton Antivirus code on Tuesday (14 January 2012) A hacker who goes by the name of 'Yama Tough' threatened Saturday to release next week the full source code for Symantec Corp's flagship Norton Antivirus software. "This coming Tuesday behold the full Norton Antivirus 1,7Gb src, the rest will follow," Yama Tough posted via Twitter. In the past week Yama Tough has released fragments of source code from Symantec products along with a cache of emails. The hacker says all the data was taken from Indian government servers. [Read more...] What 'Right to Work' Means for Indiana's Workers: A Pay Cut (11 January 2012) For the past year, public employees around the country have been under attack. With collective bargaining cast as a fiscal issue, private sector workers are encouraged to vent their economic frustrations at lazy government clerks living high on the hog off others' hard-earned tax dollars. "We can no longer live in a society," Scott Walker, then governor-elect of Wisconsin, argued, "where the public employees are the haves and taxpayers who foot the bills are the have-nots." But it turns out that the same forces that bankrolled the attack on public employees have also been advancing an agenda to eliminate unions for private sector workers. Twenty-two states--predominantly in the old Confederacy --already have "right to work" laws, mostly dating from the McCarthy era. "Right to work" (RTW) does not guarantee anyone a job. Rather, it makes it illegal for unions to require that each employee who benefits from the terms of a contract pay his or her share of the costs of administering it. By making it harder for workers' organizations to sustain themselves financially, RTW aims to undermine unions' bargaining strength and eventually render them extinct. With the Republican sweep of state legislatures in 2010, a coalition of corporate lobbies, right-wing ideologues and Republican operatives seized the moment to fulfill their long-sought goal of extending RTW into traditionally union-friendly parts of the country. [Read more...] More B.C. ecstasy deaths linked to toxin; 4 of 5 deceased had taken multiple pills (13 January 2012) Five of the 18 people who died from adverse reactions to ecstasy since August also had the chemical Paramethoxymethamphetamine (PMMA) in their bodies, says B.C.'s chief coroner Lisa Lapointe. Lapointe also told a Vancouver news conference Friday that tissue samples from all the deceased also contained Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), which is the main ingredient of ecstasy. It is presumed the victims had taken doses of the recreational drug that had been laced or cut with PMMA. Lapointe said all but one of the people who died had taken multiple pills. The three males and two females ranged in age from 14 to 37. [Read more...] Washington, Oregon agree to reduce sturgeon catch again (14 January 2012) Facing a steep decline in numbers, Oregon and Washington have agreed to further reduce the allowed sturgeon catch this year. The Oregon fish and wildlife department says this year's agreement will reduce the sturgeon harvest in the lower Columbia River by 38 percent, following a 30 percent reduction in 2011 and a 40 percent reduction in 2010. According to surveys by both states, the abundance of legal-size sturgeon has declined nearly 50 percent since 2007. Increased hunting from sea lions and a drop in smelt and lamprey numbers, which make up the sturgeon's diet, have been cited as reasons for the drop in the population. Under the new agreement, the total allowable harvest of white sturgeon below Bonneville Dam will be reduced from 22.5 percent of the legal-size fish to 16 percent in 2012. [Read more...] Klamath tribes: Respect our Rights and our Expertise (Opinion) (14 January 2012) The Klamath Tribes lost our c'iyaal's (salmon) and meYas (steelhead) to dam construction nearly a century ago. But now, Congress has an historic opportunity to pass landmark legislation that restores our fisheries, creates jobs, and promotes economic and ecological sustainability for Klamath Basin communities -- tribes, farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and conservationists. The Klamath Basin Economic Restoration Act represents the type of bi-partisan regional economic development plan Congress should support. We are joined in our support for the legislation by many respected conservation organizations and sportsmen groups. We applaud Senator Merkley's leadership, and urge Senator Wyden and Representative Walden to join in moving the bill through Congress expeditiously. The Klamath Basin agreements that the bill would implement are really an innovation: after decades of fighting and suing each other over scarce water, groups in the Basin, including not just the Klamath Tribes but other tribes, farmers, ranchers, fishing families and conservation groups have developed a collaborative approach to managing the water. But innovation always comes with detractors. In a recent Oregonian opinion article WaterWatch claimed that tribal rights are "trampled" by this legislation. In fact, opposing the legislation opposes returning salmon and steelhead to our homelands. WaterWatch is the one trampling on tribal treaty rights here, not the legislation. [Read more...] False Flag: American memos claim Israeli Mossad agents posed as American spies to recruit Jundallah members in Israel's covert war against Iran (13 January 2012) Buried deep in the archives of America's intelligence services are a series of memos, written during the last years of President George W. Bush's administration, that describe how Israeli Mossad officers recruited operatives belonging to the terrorist group Jundallah by passing themselves off as American agents. According to two U.S. intelligence officials, the Israelis, flush with American dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed as CIA officers in recruiting Jundallah operatives -- what is commonly referred to as a "false flag" operation. More... The memos, as described by the sources, one of whom has read them and another who is intimately familiar with the case, investigated and debunked reports from 2007 and 2008 accusing the CIA, at the direction of the White House, of covertly supporting Jundallah -- a Pakistan-based Sunni extremist organization. Jundallah, according to the U.S. government and published reports, is responsible for assassinating Iranian government officials and killing Iranian women and children. But while the memos show that the United States had barred even the most incidental contact with Jundallah, according to both intelligence officers, the same was not true for Israel's Mossad. The memos also detail CIA field reports saying that Israel's recruiting activities occurred under the nose of U.S. intelligence officers, most notably in London, the capital of one of Israel's ostensible allies, where Mossad officers posing as CIA operatives met with Jundallah officials. The officials did not know whether the Israeli program to recruit and use Jundallah is ongoing. Nevertheless, they were stunned by the brazenness of the Mossad's efforts. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: You read, you decide. I don't necessarily agree with everything I post here. I didn't see the memos personally. I don't know how accurate they may be. Nigerian unions, president meet over fuel strike (14 January 2012) ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian unions and President Goodluck Jonathan began a meeting on Saturday evening to try to defuse a row over the removal of fuel subsidies that has paralysed the economy and raised fears of a shutdown of Nigeria's oil industry, official sources said. They said the meeting could last well into the night and was crucial to resolving strikes and protests that brought Nigeria to a standstill this week. Workers in the vital 2 million barrel-per-day oil industry have threatened to halt production. The strikes are costing Africa's second biggest economy around $600 million a day, Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi told Reuters on Thursday. "The strike is affecting us badly and they need to agree on something soon so that Nigeria can get back to normal," said shopkeeper John Ikechukwu at Lagos' run-down Falomo market. [Read more...] Yorba Linda man arrested in homeless killings (14 January 2012) Ocampo was arrested by Anaheim police shortly after another homeless man was stabbed to death about 8:15 p.m. Friday next to a trash enclosure at a Carl's Jr. restaurant at the intersection of La Palma Avenue and Imperial Highway. That victim, a man in his early 60s, has not been identified. Several witnesses reported an assault in progress, and officers arrived to find the homeless man dead in the parking lot. Witnesses followed the stabber from the crime scene and pointed him out to responding officers, police said. [Itzcoatl] Ocampo shed some of his clothes as he ran, according to authorities, and was arrested a short distance from the trash enclosure. He was uninjured, but had some blood on his body, A police bloodhound later traced the scent from Ocampo's belongings back to the scene where the attack occurred, authorities said. [Read more...] Did Bradley Manning Actually Harm National Security? (12 January 2012) [DN] But there was a deeper objection within the complaint. "Let's get these witnesses up here to discuss: why is this information classified?" Coombs said, in an animated oratory that contrasted with the rote, procedural feel of the hearing. An Iraq veteran and lieutenant colonel in the Army reserve, Coombs wished to challenge claims about Manning such as those made by Admiral Mike Mullen in 2010, that Julian Assange and his alleged source, Manning, may have on his hands "the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family." Almanza determined that the question was not appropriate for the hearing and chose to deny the witnesses Coombs had hoped would testify on the classification issue. "Where is the damage?" Coombs asked. "Where is the harm? That's what the defense wanted to get out today and in this hearing and yet you ruled no, we're not going to hear that." Coombs charged that, given the DOJ's ongoing investigation into WikiLeaks and Almanza's possible interest in getting a plea out of Manning, Almanza's impartiality was open to question. Add the denial of thirty-eight defense witnesses, Coombs said, and the facts demanded that Almanza step aside in favor of an officer untainted by the appearance of bias. Almanza declined to recuse himself, and the six days of proceedings that followed mostly reflected a narrow scope of issues centered around a single question: did Manning do it? The prosecution brought forward a litany of evidence to show in minute detail how Manning perpetrated the biggest leak in American history. [Read more...] Drug-users' needles endanger public, study shows (13 January 2012) In all, 95 percent of those used needles -- potentially infected with HIV, hepatitis or other blood diseases -- were disposed of improperly. In San Francisco, by contrast, only 13 percent of used needles are tossed away improperly, according to a study there. Why? That city has needle-exchange programs that let drug users swap used needles for clean ones without fear of arrest, say the public health officials who run the program. Miami has no such programs. Florida law bans them. Exposure to a used needle can be dangerous. Across the United States in 2009, injection-drug users accounted for 9 percent of new HIV infections, 15 percent of new hepatitis B infections and 44 percent of new hepatitis C infections. [Read more...] On Eve of MLK Day, Michelle Alexander & Randall Robinson on the Mass Incarceration of Black America (13 January 2012) [DN] MICHELLE ALEXANDER: Yes, yes. You know, I think we've become blind in this country to the ways in which we've managed to reinvent a caste-like system here in the United States, one that functions in a manner that is as oppressive, in many respects, as the one that existed in South Africa under apartheid and that existed under Jim Crow here in the United States. Although our rules and laws are now officially colorblind, they operate to discriminate in a grossly disproportionate fashion. Through the war on drugs and the "get tough" movement, millions of poor people, overwhelmingly poor people of color, have been swept into our nation's prisons and jails, branded criminals and felons, primarily for nonviolent and drug-related crimes--the very sorts of crimes that occur with roughly equal frequency in middle-class white neighborhoods and on college campuses but go largely ignored--branded criminals and felons, and then are ushered into a permanent second-class status, where they're stripped of the many rights supposedly won in the civil rights movement, like the right to vote, the right to serve on juries, and the right to be free of legal discrimination in employment, housing, access to education and public benefits. JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, one of the fascinating things in the book, which has now been reissued in paperback, is you talk about your own sort of journey of realizing this, that even as an activist, a civil rights legal activist, that you were not clearly aware of the depth and the extensiveness of this mass incarceration. MICHELLE ALEXANDER: Yeah, I admit in the introduction to the book that I was blind for a long time. Even as a civil rights lawyer, someone who cared deeply about racial justice and who thought I knew, as a lawyer, how the criminal justice system functioned, I was blind. It was really only after years of representing victims of racial profiling and police brutality and investigating patterns of drug law enforcement in poor communities of color and attempting to assist people re-enter into a society that had never shown much use for them in the first place, that I had a series of experiences that really began my own awakening. I began to see that our criminal justice system does in fact more--operate more like a caste system than a system of crime prevention or control and that so many of the myths that we are fed about why our prison system, you know, has exploded in the past 30 years, why we now have the largest--the highest rate of incarceration in the world, you know, just don't even pass the laugh test once you take a close look at them. It is not the case that our prison population has exploded due to a surge in crime or crime rates. It is not true that people of color are more likely to commit drug-related crimes than whites. So many of the excuses that have been offered actually just aren't true, once you dig a little deeper. And my book is an effort to do just that. [Read more...] Fourth O.C. transient slain; Bystanders chase suspect and lead to his arrest (14 January 2012) A homeless man was stabbed to death behind a busy fast-food restaurant in Anaheim late Friday, the fourth such killing in Orange County in the last month, and police quickly took a man into custody for questioning. The suspect was being chased by two bystanders when police caught him on La Palma Avenue about a quarter-mile from the scene of the crime, according to Sgt. Bob Dunn, an Anaheim police spokesman. Authorities were cautious about linking the latest killing to the previous three, but said the suspect bore a resemblance to a man being sought in those deaths, which have been called the work of a serial killer. Investigators said about 50 witnesses were being interviewed about Friday's crime, and Orange County sheriff's deputies were using bloodhounds to pore over the scene for clues. Asked if the man detained Friday looks like the man filmed in a surveillance video around the time and place of the first killing, on Dec. 20 in Placentia, Deputy Anaheim Police Chief Craig Hunter said, "Yes, in a general sense, he does." However, he said police were not assuming they had solved the serial killings. "We are certainly not letting down our guard," Hunter told reporters at an impromptu news conference near the crime scene. [Read more...] Thousands protest against nuclear power in Japan (14 January 2012) About 2,000 demonstrators hit the streets of Yokohama on Saturday calling for an end to nuclear energy in Japan after the March 11 disaster that sparked the worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl. They marched in the port city southwest of Tokyo chanting in chorus: "We don't need nuclear power. Give back our hometown. Protect our children." The protest, organised by several anti-nuclear and environmental groups, also saw residents evacuated from areas outside the Fukushima Daiichi plant take part. Japan had previously aimed to use nuclear power to generate around 50 percent of its energy needs by 2030 in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance the energy independence of the resource-poor archipelago. [Read more...] More proof that most cookbooks are unhealthy -- Paula Deen has contracted Type 2 diabetes (14 January 2012) Perhaps it's time to stop making those famous Gooey Butter Cakes -- or at least stop eating them. The Internet was abuzz Friday with reports saying that Paula Deen, queen of Southern cooking, is about to disclose publicly that she has Type 2 diabetes. According to iPad publication the Daily, Deen has worked out a big-money deal with a pharmaceutical company to endorse a diabetes medication called Novartis. The cookbook author, restaurateur and TV personality has been unapologetic about her love of high-fat, deep-fried food. [Read more...] US military access cards cracked by Chinese hackers (13 January 2012) A new strain of the Sykipot Trojan is been used to compromise the Department of Defense-sanctioned smart cards used to authorise network and building access at many US government agencies, according to security researchers. Smart cards are a standard means of granting active duty military staff, selected reserve personnel, civilian employees and eligible contractors access to intranets at US Army, Navy and the Air Force facilities. They can be used to get into buildings or, when used in conjunction with a static password, to access networks. Chinese hackers have adapted the Sykipot Trojan to lift card credentials from compromised systems in order to access classified military networks, according to researchers at security tools firm AlienVault. An adapted version of the Trojan targets PCs attached to smart card readers running ActivClient, the client application of ActivIdentity, in what's been described as a 'smart card proxy' attack. The Sykipot Trojan was first created three years ago and featured in a number of industrial espionage-style attacks. Researchers at AlienVault captured an adapted version of the malware - specifically designed to circumvent authentication technology supplied by ActivIdentity - in a honeypot around two weeks ago. Subsequent analysis suggests that hackers added a smart card module to existing malware around March 2011. [Read more...] U.K. Drivers forced off the roads by escalating costs (13 January 2012) One in 13 drivers has been forced to give up driving because of escalating costs. Millions of others fear they will be priced off the road this year if driving becomes even more expensive, according to AXA insurance's motoring census of 2011, while four in 10 say they would use the car less in 2012 if the costs associated with driving continue to rise. Almost half of the respondents (44 per cent) admit they enjoy driving less than they used to, largely because of the cost (68 per cent). This is striking in comparison to last year's AXA motoring census figures, when cost clearly had less impact (only 38 per cent said they enjoyed driving less than they used to, with 38 per cent blaming the cost). [Read more...] US Will Post Ambassador in Burma; Move Follows Prisoner Release (13 January 2012) The United States, for the first time in two decades, announced Friday that it will post an ambassador to Burma, which earlier in the day freed hundreds of political prisoners. A series of reforms in Burma has prompted Washington to change how it deals with the country. U.S. President Barack Obama calls Burma's decision to release hundreds of political prisoners "a substantial step forward for democratic reform." The Burmese government freed 651 prisoners on Friday. The release is in line with conditions for improving relations with Washington that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made clear during a visit last month. Following the prisoner release, Clinton said on Friday that the U.S. will start the process of exchanging ambassadors with Burma. "As I said last December, the United States will meet action with action. Based on the steps taken so far, we will now begin," she said. [Read more...] How the U.S. coaxed Myanmar in from the cold (FLASHBACK) (22 December 2011) Myanmar's generals were looking for a chance to improve ties with the United States. A disturbed American gave them one in May 2009, when he swam across Yangon's Inya Lake on "a mission from God" to rescue Aung San Suu Kyi. John Yettaw, a 53-year-old Vietnam veteran from Missouri, had hoped to smuggle the democracy champion out of the country in a burkha. He was convicted along with Suu Kyi for violating the terms of her house arrest. Instead of sending him to Yangon's notorious Insein Prison, however, the junta let Yettaw fly out of the country with a U.S. senator [Jim Webb of Virginia]. It was a major step in Myanmar's warming toward the West - but not the first one. Interviews with dozens of officials in Yangon, Washington and Southeast Asia, and an examination of diplomatic cables obtained by Wikileaks, show that the United States and Myanmar had started waltzing warily toward each other in the first year of Barack Obama's presidency. Yettaw's bizarre night-time swim gave impetus to the dance. But it began with Myanmar's fears of rising Chinese influence in their country and was given crucial help by Indonesia's top diplomat. Washington's subsequent willingness to engage the junta, and the generals' surprise steps toward reform, culminated in Hillary Clinton's visit to Myanmar earlier this month, the first by a U.S. Secretary of State in five decades. [Read more...] Wisconsin government workers filing for retirement in 2011 jumped nearly 80% over previous yearly average (13 January 2012) Record numbers of government employees rushed to retire last year as Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican Legislature rolled back public employee union rights, reduced take home pay and increased medical co-pays. In 2011 the state pension fund received a record 18,780 retirement applications from employees of state agencies, school districts and local governments, compared to an average of about 10,500 in each of the previous seven years, the state Department of Employee Trust Funds said. "It's huge," spokeswoman Shawn Smith said Thursday. "All indications are that it's never been higher than this." New federal labor statistics also show Wisconsin lost a bigger slice of its public sector workforce than any other state from April through June, nearly 8,000 jobs, or a 10 percent decline from the same quarter in 2010. Conditions are ripe for another big year in 2012, and if hiring of new workers doesn't keep pace, public services could suffer, according to a top union leader and a professor who specializes in government operations. [Read more...] Correcting the Martin Luther King memorial mistake (13 January 2012) Five months ago, in this space, I wrote that something was wrong with the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial. The quotation inscribed on the monument's left flank had been so badly excerpted that a modest statement of King's was turned into a boast. At the time, it wasn't clear how or why this had happened, but what seemed likely, at least to me, was that nothing would be done about it. Things that are etched in stone seldom are changed, especially in Washington, which is not famous for admitting error, righting wrongs, getting things done in a timely fashion, or getting things done at all. It turns out I was right about the error but wrong about Washington. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told The Post today that the quote will be corrected. He has given the National Park Service 30 days -- because "things only happen when you put a deadline on it" -- to consult with the King Memorial Foundation, family members and other interested parties and come up with a more accurate alternative. "This is important because Dr. King and his presence on the Mall is a forever presence for the United States of America, and we have to make sure that we get it right," Salazar said. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: King's old speeches were about inspiring people, and so I was disappointed with the uninspiring selection for his memorial. Virginia's March 6th primary race between Paul, Romney only: U.S. judge rules against Perry, Gingrich, and other presidential Republican candidates (13 January 2012) A U.S. judge this afternoon ruled against Republican candidates fighting to get on the March 6 Virginia presidential primary ballot, saying that some of their key arguments are sound but they waited too late to sue. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman challenged Virginia's residency requirement for people who circulate ballot petitions. "Had the plaintiffs filed a timely suit, the court would likely have granted preliminary relief," Judge John A. Gibney Jr. said in his ruling that came after a recess following a nearly four-hour hearing. "In essence, they played the game, lost, and then complained that the rules were unfair," Gibney wrote. The candidates had sued the Virginia State Board of Elections and the chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, Pat Mullins. "We remain disappointed that more Republican candidates are not on our primary ballot," Mullins said in a statement. "As the judge ruled today, only two candidates met Virginia's legal requirements. Under the court's ruling, only Governor Romney and Congressman Paul will appear on the Republican primary ballot." [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Even if Virginia's rule seems unfair, campaign workers should have made the effort to learn about it. Other campaigners in the state know and teach the rule to volunteers every election season. All is not lost, even so. Candidates can always encourage their supporters to write them in. Occupy protester spends 3 weeks in jail for writing on sidewalk (13 January 2012) "The city really doesn't like the Occupiers, the Occupy Wall Street group," Wilson explained. "That's why they were arresting people in the Occupy group jaywalking and taking them to jail. I never heard of a jaywalker being arrested and taken to jail. I heard that two of them got tickets for speeding while they were walking." He added: "The is not a country where somebody should go to jail and be held without bond for writing on the sidewalk, when the city for years has allowed chalk art festivals. They were so happy with other people writing on that same sidewalk, the mayor would give out an annual award to the chalk writers, which means that if the city's position was correct in this case, he was actually giving out an award for the best, most talented law breaker." Osmar promised to return to writing on the sidewalk and wants the city to give his chalk back. The city is now allowing protesters to write on the sidewalk in front of City Hall as long as they stay within red lines. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: What, are they going to arrest kids drawing hopscotch grids now? Just walking over the stuff takes it off. Indicted "Anonymous" Member Asks Judge To Lift Twitter Ban (13 January 2012) JANUARY 13--An alleged "Anonymous" member under indictment for participating in an online attack against PayPal wants a federal judge to allow him to use Twitter, arguing that he is unfairly being prohibited from participating in discussions of the 2012 election cycle, including discourse initiated by President Barack Obama, who has recently vowed to personally post tweets to the social networking site. In a motion filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, Vincent Kershaw argues that bail conditions barring his use of the Internet restrict his "very right to engage in political discourse in this modern era." Pictured in the above mug shot, Kershaw contends that since his criminal case will "likely proceed throughout the entirety of the 2012 election cycle including the ongoing presidential campaign," the Twitter ban prohibits him from "even perusing such critical communications from our own President or engaging in the Twitter Town Halls in any manner." Kershaw, who works as a foreman at a Fort Collins landscaping firm, also wants Judge D. Lowell Jensen to allow him to use Internet Relay Chat so that he can participate in "political debate" and "political speech" in IRC chat rooms. Along with 13 codefendants, Kershaw was named last July in an indictment charging him with conspiracy and intentional damage to a protected computer. The felony charges carry a combined maximum of 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. According to federal prosecutors, the accused "Anonymous" members participated in a coordinated online attack against PayPal that was prompted by the firm's suspension of Wikileaks's account. The denial of service attack, dubbed "Operation Avenge Assange," was triggered after PayPal suspended Wikileaks's ability to receive donations in the wake of the publication by the group (founded by Julian Assange) of classified Department of State cables. [Read more...] Leahy offers concessions on internet censorship bill; Wyden still firm against bill (13 January 2012) Sen. Ron Wyden is continuing to make gains in his high-profile fight against anti-internet piracy legislation sponsored by the film studios and other big content providers. The latest is a major concession from Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chief sponsor of the Protect IP Act. Leahy says he is willing to remove language that would have allowed courts to order domestic internet service providers to direct U.S. users away from foreign websites carrying pirated materials. Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who has the backing of such heavyweight interests as Google and Facebook, said he is happy that the bill's proponents are recognizing that it has "major flaws." But he said he is not backing off from his intent to continue trying to keep the bill from coming to the floor. Even as modified, Wyden said in a statement, "the bill still establishes a censorship regime that threatens speech, innovation, and the future of the American economy. I remain firm in my intent to block consideration of the PIPA bill until these issues are addressed." [Read more...] 'Drip-casting': Mobile's answer to network logjams (12 January 2012) The wireless industry is looking at new ways to deliver mobile video services and charging consumers as it tries to boost usage without overloading networks, a top Verizon Wireless technology executive said. The shift, which will happen as early as this year, involves a new concept the executive, Shadman Zafar, described- as drip-casting, where video is sent gradually to devices such as tablets. This will come hand in hand with so-called smart charging, where operators would not charge for certain data downloads, Zafar said in an interview with Reuters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "This is where the industry is generally looking," said the executive, who recently joined Verizon Wireless from parent company Verizon Communications Inc, where he oversaw product development for the FiOS television and Internet business. [Read more...] Doctors warn fracking pollution is endangering the health of millions (13 January 2012) The battle between environmentalists and the energy industry is not new. However, pollution from fracking may be stepping over the line, since there is evidence that the undisclosed chemical mix used to extract the natural gas in deep wells is threatening the health of millions of people. Issues surrounding serious health risks and "murky drinking water in Pennsylvania" has caused doctors to call for a ban on fracking for natural gas. Fracking, also called hydraulic fracturing, is a process that extracts natural gas from underground reserves by forcing 586 different chemicals, sand, and water into deep wells. The chemicals are believed to be highly toxic and are finding their way into drinking water supplies throughout the country. Due to the 2005 Bush/ Cheney Energy Bill, commonly referred to as the Halliburton Loophole, the companies that are fracking are allowed to keep the toxicity of the chemicals they are using secret. [Read more...] EPA seeking peer reviewers for Pavillion fracking study (12 January 2012) The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking experts to do a peer review of its already-controversial draft study that suggested a likely link between hydraulic fracturing of wells in Pavillion, Wyo., and groundwater contamination. In December the EPA said in a draft study that it had discovered synthetic chemicals associated with gas production and hydraulic fracturing fluids inside deep water wells in the region -- the first time the agency had ever drawn such a link. But the study quickly came under fire from Republicans and industry representatives. They said the study was flawed and/or warned the public against misconstruing the findings. The EPA has said it would send its findings for peer review. In a draft filing, to be published in the Federal Register next week, the agency invites the public to nominate reviewers who meet certain subject-matter and research-experience requirements. "This draft report is not final as described in EPA's Information Quality Guidelines, and it does not represent and should not be construed to represent final Agency policy or views," the EPA said. Although the EPA's findings apply only to the gas field in west-central Wyoming, validation of the study in peer review would give ammunition to environmental groups that have contended groundwater contamination can result from fracturing -- the process where mixtures of water, sand and chemicals are blasted deep underground to break up shale rock and free up trapped oil and gas. [Read more...] Ikea's rooftop solar array will be the largest in Minnesota (13 January 2012) A solar array that retailer Ikea says will be installed on the roof of its Bloomington store will be the state's largest generator of electricity from the sun. The project, to be built this summer, is one of five solar power projects in four states that Ikea announced Thursday. The new projects and others now underway will put solar arrays atop 37 of its 44 U.S. locations, Ikea said. The Bloomington store's power output, 1.1 megawatts, will be nearly double that of Minnesota's largest existing solar-electric generator on the Minneapolis Convention Center. Ikea said the Bloomington store will generate enough electricity to power 112 homes, though most of it will be used on site. The privately held company, which had revenue of $29 billion in 2010, didn't disclose the project's cost. "Ikea, drawing from its Swedish heritage and respect for nature, believes it can be a good business [with an] operating model designed to minimize impacts on the environment," the company said in a statement. By utility standards, the Bloomington project's output will be small, equivalent to one modest-sized wind turbine. But Ken Bradley, chairman of the advocacy group Solar Works for Minnesota, said only about 5 megawatts of solar power are now produced in the state. [Read more...] Renewable-energy misery spreads to Vestas, as the Danish wind turbine maker slashes jobs, some in Portland (12 January 2012) Turbulence in the renewable-energy industry buffeted Vestas on Thursday, as the Danish wind-turbine maker announced plans for 2,335 layoffs, including some at its U.S. headquarters in Portland. Vestas Wind Systems will cut about a tenth of its worldwide work force, slashing costs by $190 million before year's end. Layoffs will include 182 in the United States and Canada, including an undetermined number in Portland, where Vestas is a subsidized star in the city's green galaxy. Managers said another 1,600 Colorado factory jobs could be axed later this year if a federal tax credit for renewable energy is not extended. Like SolarWorld, the German company with 1,000 workers in Hillsboro, Vestas is caught between low-cost competition from China and declining European subsidies for alternative energy. Europe's financial crisis compounds pressure, curbing power demand and raising the cost of credit. The extent of the cuts appeared to catch Vestas' Portland office by surprise. On Tuesday, Vestas-American Wind Technology Inc., which employs nearly 400 in Portland, had issued an update reporting a strong 2011 sales year and describing plans to hire 150 for U.S. and Canadian sales and service. [Read more...] Low levels of asbestos found in Libby wood chips (13 January 2012) BILLINGS - Test results from huge piles of wood chips that were being sold from a Montana Superfund site for use in landscaping show they contain minimal levels of asbestos. The results were obtained Friday by The Associated Press. The findings appear to offer a rare bit of relief for the town of Libby, where widespread asbestos contamination has killed an estimated 400 people. The Environmental Protection Agency found no asbestos in air tests meant to mimic exposure from spreading the wood chips. A "very low level" of asbestos was found in one of 15 samples from the chips themselves. The tests followed concerns from residents who had used the wood chips for years. [Read more...] Alaska wildlife chief charged with illegal hunting, resigns (13 January 2012) Rossi was hired in January 2009 as assistant commissioner of "abundance management," a newly created position at Fish and Game. Critics complained that he won the job because of ties to the family of then-Gov. Sarah Palin. Rossi employed Palin's parents for 14 years trapping nuisance animals when Rossi worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Sally Heath told The Associated Press in 2010. Later, under Gov. Sean Parnell, Rossi was a controversial selection as chief of the state wildlife division. The agency is charged with managing wildlife and habitat across the state, including working with the Board of Game to adopt hunting regulations. Following his selection by then Fish and Game commissioner Denby Lloyd, 39 former Fish and Game supervisors and biologists signed a 2010 letter calling for Rossi to be ousted, according to news reports at the time. The letter said Rossi, who does not have a college degree, lacked the education and scientific training to head the division. [Read more...] Hangovers over? The Chinese compound that may stop hangovers, reduce alcoholism (13 January 2012) A compound from hovenia -- an extract from the Chinese Raisin Tree -- has been found to stop hangovers and reduce alcohol dependency in rodents, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Neuroscience. It holds great potential as a cure for alcoholism, according to Jing Liang, one of the authors of the study and an associate professor of pharmacology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Bernard Le Foll, agrees. "It's basic research, but what I found interesting is it's building on an old medication that is coming from Chinese medicine and they have been able to identify within this preparation a compound that seems to clear alcohol and reduce the desire to drink alcohol, at least in rats," said Le Foll, head of the Alcohol Research and Treatment Clinic at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and an associate professor at University of Toronto in pharmacology, family medicine and psychiatry. "I think it could be a strong advance if they are able to demonstrate it's effective in humans and there's no side effect." [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: One of many things from the alternative health field that may help reduce alcoholism. Turkish government presses charges against Duchess of York for orphanage video (13 January 2012) In 2008, the Duchess and her younger daughter Princess Eugenie, 21, accompanied an undercover reporting team probing living conditions in institutions for abandoned children. Disguised with a black wig and headscarf, the Duchess gained access to the Saray orphanage and obtained footage broadcast on ITV1's Tonight programme, which appeared to show children tied to their beds or left in cots all day without being taken out to be fed. One child, who was not allowed outside, was discovered crawling along the corridor to feel the sun on his face. In November that year, Nimet Cubukcu, the Turkish minister responsible for women and family, claimed the programme was deliberately scheduled to coincide with the release of a report on Turkey's bid for European Union membership. [Read more...] New studies challenge our notions of free will (13 January 2012) ONE DAY during 1966, Charles Whitman climbed to the top of a tower at the University of Austin, Texas, and began shooting at people. On the way up he killed a receptionist with the butt of his rifle. He killed a further 12 people and wounded 32 before he was shot dead by police. Earlier that day he had murdered his mother and stabbed his wife to death as she slept. Whitman was 25 years old and had no history of violent behaviour. In a suicide note he requested an autopsy. He was convinced that something was wrong with his brain as he had been experiencing overwhelming violent impulses which he struggled to control. He had gone to a doctor, but did not return. The autopsy revealed a brain tumour that affected his hypothalamus and amygdala, a part of the brain involved in the regulation of emotion and in particular the regulation of fear and aggression. This case and others have been outlined by David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Eagleman has an interest in neuroscience and law and through presenting such cases, and data on the general population, he raises questions about responsibility and free will and challenges the currently dominant treatment of offenders, which emphasises punishment over systematic rehabilitation. He points out that we choose neither our nature (genetic inheritance) nor our nurture (cultural environment) and that we are creatures of chance with vastly differing perspectives, personalities and capacities for decision making. Therefore it would be more ethical and useful to focus on the best approach to particular offenders in light of our evolving understanding of the relevant science. This does not mean offenders need not be taken off the streets if they are a threat, nor does it imply that all offenders can be rehabilitated. But Eagleman argues that the chances of a more positive outcome, for both the criminal and society, would be greatly enhanced with such a constructive attitude. [Read more...] France 'to lose AAA credit rating' (13 January 2012) The eurozone was braced for more pain today amid reports that France is set to be stripped of its gold-plated AAA credit rating. Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) is widely expected to downgrade the eurozone's second biggest economy this evening in a move likely to push up the country's borrowing costs, according to unconfirmed reports. The move would be significant because France is partly responsible for underwriting the eurozone bailout fund, which is at the heart of efforts to ease fears of a eurozone collapse. Austria is also expected to be downgraded, which would leave just four of the 17 nations in the eurozone with the top-notch rating. [Read more...] Burma's prisoner amnesty reunites families separated for years (13 January 2012) The first signs of the scale of the amnesty -- which surprised observers already struggling to keep up with the pace of change in the isolated and repressive country -- came on Thursday evening with an announcement by state TV that 600 prisoners would be freed in the interests of national reconciliation. But no one knew exactly what this meant. A "clemency order" 10 days ago, the fourth since a civilian government took power in March 2010, saw only a meagre 12 political prisoners released. Around 600 remained behind bars. On Friday, however, small groups of detainees were released from different prisons around the country until it became clear that almost every major political prisoner had walked out of the filthy, overcrowded jails in which they had been held, sometimes for decades. They were greeted by scenes of jubilation. Top political activists, leaders of repressed ethnic minority groups, journalists, relatives of senior officials who had fallen out of favour were all allowed to walk free. [Read more...] U.S. upgrades ties with Myanmar after hundreds of political prisoners freed, other reforms (13 January 2012) The United States said on Friday it would upgrade diplomatic relations with Myanmar after President Barack Obama called the release of 200 political prisoners a "substantial step forward" in the Southeast Asian country's democratic reforms. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington was ready to begin the process of exchanging full ambassadors after an absence of two decades, and would consider additional measures if the new civilian-led government's reforms continue. "Much more remains to be done to meet the aspirations of the Burmese people, but the United States is committed to continuing our engagement," Obama said in a statement. The U.S. move followed Myanmar's announcement that it was freeing some 200 political prisoners in an amnesty in the latest sign of change in a country that has spent half a century under authoritarian rule. [Read more...] Obama to Ask Congress for Power to Merge Agencies (13 January 2012) WASHINGTON -- President Obama announced a new campaign on Friday to shrink the federal government, a proposal notable less for its goal -- the fight against bloat has been championed by every modern-day president -- than for its challenge to a hostile Congress. Mr. Obama called on lawmakers to grant him broad new authority to propose mergers of government agencies, which the Congress would have to approve or reject in an up-or-down vote. The president, announcing the plan at the White House, said he would begin his pruning exercise by folding the Small Business Administration and five other agencies involved in trade and business, into a single agency that would replace the Commerce Department. The White House said the consolidation would save $3 billion over 10 years and result in the elimination of 1,000 to 2,000 jobs, though he said those reductions would occur through attrition rather than layoffs. [Read more...] Apple Opens Its Suppliers' Doors to Labor Group After Suicides (13 January 2012) Apple Inc. (APPL) agreed to let outside monitors into factories of suppliers such as Foxconn Technology Group (2317) following at least 15 deaths at its Chinese parts makers. The world's most valuable technology company joins Nike Inc. (NKE), Nestle SA (NESN) and Syngenta AG (SYNN) in turning to the Fair Labor Association, set up in 1999 to monitor workplace conditions globally in an initiative by former U.S. President Bill Clinton. Apple is the first technology business to sign up to the FLA as a participating company, the Washington-based body said today in a press release. Apple's affiliation with the FLA highlights the risk to multinational companies' brands due to difficulties in policing suppliers as they outsource manufacturing to cut costs. Nike became a founding member of the association after reports of low pay, abuses and poor conditions at sportswear factories in Asia sparked boycotts and protests in the 1990s. "Most big corporations have their 'Nike moment' at some stage -- when they realize the difficulties of maintaining their standards, particularly in an increasingly global environment," said FLA President Auret van Heerden. "The problem with the supply chain is that it's a moving target." [Read more...] Google 'improperly' accessed Kenyan rival Mocality's database (13 January 2012) Google has confessed that a number of people working for it "improperly" accessed the customer database of a rival company in Kenya to boost its own business. The US search giant said it was "mortified" to learn that staff illicitly entered the business directory of a Kenyan listings firm, called Mocality, in an attempt to sell a competing product to the rival's customers. The allegations were first made public in a blogpost on Friday by the chief executive of Mocality, Stefan Magdalinski, who accused Google of "telling untruths" and a "human-powered, systematic, months-long, fraudulent ... attempt to undermine our business". Magdalinski claimed to have unearthed the alleged malpractice almost immediately after Google launched a rival initiative in the country, dubbed "Getting Kenyan Businesses Online". [Read more...] Viruses stole City College of S.F. data for years (13 January 2012) Personal banking information and other data from perhaps tens of thousands of students, faculty and administrators at City College of San Francisco have been stolen in what is being called "an infestation" of computer viruses with origins in criminal networks in Russia, China and other countries, The Chronicle has learned. At work for more than a decade, the viruses were detected a few days after Thanksgiving, when the college's data security monitoring service detected an unusual pattern of computer traffic, flagging trouble. It appeared at first that the problem was contained in a single computer lab at Cloud Hall on the Phelan Avenue campus, one of a dozen City College sites around the city. David Hotchkiss, the chief technology officer, immediately shut the lab down and reported the problem to Chancellor Don Griffin, General Counsel Scott Dickey and Board of Trustees President John Rizzo. But a closer look revealed a far more nefarious situation, which had been lurking within the college's electronic systems since 1999. For now, it's still going on. So far, no cases of identify theft have been linked to the breach. That may change as the investigation continues, and college officials said they might need to bring in the FBI. [Read more...] Sweden recognises file-sharing 'religion' (12 January 2012) Sweden dealt a symbolic blow to the global fight against digital music and film piracy by recognising a group that promotes file-sharing across the Internet as a religion. One of the most wired nations in the world, Sweden has long been a battleground between those who support file-sharing and the music and film industry. The Nordic state gave birth to the world's largest file-sharing website, Pirate Bay. Registering the Church of Kopimism is a way to avoid "persecution", said the website of the group, which was given official recognition by the Swedish state last month. Kopimism's name is derived from the words "copy me" and as its website makes clear it strongly supports all forms of downloading and uploading files and sees copyright laws as violating freedom of information. [Read more...] Cocaine found in 70 per cent of pub toilets (U.K.) (12 January 2012) POLICE are to roll out a drug testing drive after finding traces of cocaine in 70 per cent of pub toilets tested during an operation. Officers said they were "surprised" at the level of usage in pubs after ten tests were carried out in pubs in Penicuik and Roslin as part of Operation Eucalyptus. Surfaces in cubicles were wiped with specially-treated tissue which turns blue when traces of the class-A drug are detected. The results are worse than those recently found in Musselburgh, Prestonpans and Tranent, where only eight out of 21 pubs were found with traces of the drug. [Read more...] Addicted! Scientists show how internet dependency alters the human brain (12 January 2012) Although most of the population was spending longer online, that was not evidence of addiction, she said. "It is different. We are doing it because modern life requires us to link up over the net in regard to jobs, professional and social connections -- but not in an obsessive way. When someone comes to you and says they did not sleep last night because they spent 14 hours playing games, and it was the same the previous night, and they tried to stop but they couldn't -- you know they have a problem. It does tend to be the gaming that catches people out." Researchers in China scanned the brains of 17 adolescents diagnosed with "internet addiction disorder" who had been referred to the Shanghai Mental Health Centre, and compared the results with scans from 16 of their peers. The results showed impairment of white matter fibres in the brain connecting regions involved in emotional processing, attention, decision making and cognitive control. Similar changes to the white matter have been observed in other forms of addiction to substances such as alcohol and cocaine. "The findings suggest that white matter integrity may serve as a potential new treatment target in internet addiction disorder," they say in the online journal Public Library of Science One. The authors acknowledge that they cannot tell whether the brain changes are the cause or the consequence of the internet addiction. It could be that young people with the brain changes observed are more prone to becoming addicted. Professor Michael Farrell, director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia, said: "The limitations [of this study] are that it is not controlled, and it's possible that illicit drugs, alcohol or other caffeine-based stimulants might account for the changes. The specificity of 'internet addiction disorder' is also questionable." [Read more...] Science proves alcohol is fun (12 January 2012) DRINKING alcohol makes people feel better because it produces the same chemicals in the brain as exercising and laughing, a study has proved for the first time. Alcohol is addictive because it releases endorphins, which are the body's way of making us feel pleasure and reward, the researchers showed. The stress and pain-relieving proteins are naturally released in the brain and other tissues, producing similar effects to opiates such as morphine. Advertisement: Story continues below The discovery of the particular brain regions where the endorphin release takes place could help scientists develop new treatments to help people overcome alcohol addiction. Dr Jennifer Mitchell, of the University of California, who led the study, said: ''This is something that we've speculated about for 30 years, based on animal studies, but haven't observed in humans until now. It provides the first direct evidence of how alcohol makes people feel good.'' [Read more...] Two Marines ID'd in urination video probe (12 January 2012) (CBS/AP) WASHINGTON - An official says the Marine Corps has identified at least two of the four Marines in an internet video that purports to depict them urinating on Taliban corpses in Afghanistan. A Marine official said Thursday that the four were members of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, which returned to its home base in North Carolina last fall after a tour in Afghanistan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because a criminal investigation is under way. The official said that at least some of the four Marines are no longer in that battalion. He provided no other details. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday condemned as "utterly deplorable" the actions in the video. He said such behavior is "entirely inappropriate for members of the United States military" and those responsible will be held accountable. [Read more...] A nosey parker's dream: Stunning aerial photographs show what's going on in the world's back gardens (12 January 2012) From the picturesque circular layouts of suburban Britain, to thousands of identical apartments stacked on top of each other in densely populated Hong Kong, his pictures reveal an alien world that is at once familiar and unfamiliar. Mr Hawkes said: 'The photos were taken while I was on other shoots for an idea of covering peoples dwellings viewed from above. hHomes in the UK tend to all be very low rise - typically just two stories and all with some kind of garden, big or small. 'But I just love the very abstract nature of the apartment blocks in Hong Kong. Certainly in some of the larger metropolises - where land is at a high premium - everybody has an apartment block. 'But this is just as prominent in cities in the U.S. as the Far East. [Read more...] Astronomers weigh in on Milky Way's true colours (12 January 2012) A comparison of star types in other galaxies gives perhaps an unsurprising result: white. But not just any white - specifically, like spring snow at an hour after sunrise or before sunset. The finding was announced at the 219th American Astronomical Society meeting. "For astronomers, one of the most important parameters is actually the colour of the galaxy," Jeffrey Newman of the University of Pittsburgh told BBC News. "That tells us basically how old the stars in the galaxy are, how recently it's been forming stars - are they forming today or did its stars form billions and billions of years ago?" [Read more...] Who's Following Your Daughter On Facebook -- Feds: How truck driver coerced naked photos from teen girl (11 January 2012) Proving once again that Facebook is overflowing with perverts targeting your daughter, a truck driver who masqueraded online as a teenage girl is facing federal charges for coercing a Montana minor into sending him naked photos of herself. According to investigators, 53-year-old Theodore Castine--lurking behind a phony profile page in the name of "Kerry White"--last year contacted the Montana girl, then 14, via an unsolicited Facebook message. He asked the girl "to exchange 'bikini' pictures," and provided her with a cell phone number to which the images could be texted. He dared her to send the photos, noting that she was "hot." A check of the "Kerry White" Facebook profile--which remains online--reveals that while its friends list is not publicly available, a dozen photos of "White" are on the page. The identity of the girl in the photos (one of which shows her in a bikini top) is unknown. A screen grab from the "White" profile can be seen above. The Facebook page of the Montana girl contacted by Castine also remains online--and it offers clues as to why she was targeted. The teen's profile name includes a variation on the phrase "Fuck you," lists "flirting" and "partying" as her interests, and, as seen below, claims that she works as a "Hooker" on "the corner ;)." On her MySpace page, the girl includes her cell phone number and refers to having a "pimp." The Montana girl told investigators that after she was initially contacted via Facebook, "White" sent her photos of two young girls "naked and exposing their genitalia in a lewd and lascivious manner," according to a recent U.S. District Court filing. "White," she added, was "demanding photographs in the same fashion to be sent via picture messaging." [Read more...] Whooping cranes still grounded in Alabama due to bad weather (11 January 2012) It's been three days since the FAA allowed nine Wisconsin whooping cranes to resume their migration trip to Florida. But the birds are still grounded in northern Alabama due to bad weather. Liz Condie of the group Operation Migration said the cranes are in netted pens until the weather improves -- and she says they're doing very well. The birds left the state in October to spend the winter with other cranes at 2 wildlife refuges in Florida to boost their populations. [Read more...] Temporary holiday hiring surge fades, unemployment jumps (12 January 2012) Applications for weekly unemployment benefits spiked last week, largely because companies let go of thousands of workers after the holiday season. Weekly applications rose by 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 399,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's the highest level in six weeks. Economists said such a jump is typical in early January and downplayed the increase. It followed three months of steady declines that brought applications to their lowest level in more than three years. And weekly unemployment claims have been below 400,000 in nine of the past 10 weeks. That's a "clear indication that the pace of layoffs has slowed," said Steven Wood, chief economist at Insight Economics. Applications typically soar in the first two weeks of the year. That's because many companies lay off temporary workers who were brought on to help during the holidays. The department tries to adjust for those patterns. But the task is difficult because the data can be volatile. [Read more...] Does deodorant ingredient affect breast cancer risk? (11 January 2012) THURSDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) -- For several years, researchers have studied a possible link between substances called parabens -- widely used as a germ-fighting preservative in cosmetics such as deodorant/antiperspirants -- and breast cancer. Investigators have learned that parabens, also found in some drugs and food products, can mimic weakly the action of the female hormone estrogen -- an established risk factor for breast cancer. And the fact that a disproportionate number of breast tumors occur nearer the underarm also had scientists wondering. But now, British researchers who examined breast tissue samples from 40 women who had mastectomies have found that traces of parabens are widespread in tissues, even in the seven women who said they'd never used underarm products. "The implication is that in these seven nonusers, the paraben measured must have come from another product or products," said Dr. Philippa Darbre, a cancer researcher at the University of Reading who has long studied the issue. In the study, published online in January in the Journal of Applied Toxicology, Darbre and her colleagues report that one or more kinds of parabens were found in 158 of the 160 samples taken from the tissue collected from the 40 women. They found 96 samples contained all five of the most common paraben esters (forms). [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: There's also the health issue of aluminum compounds in those products. Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina: Early primaries to limit your voting choices (5 January 2012) Despite what you see about who "won" Iowa and who "won" New Hampshire and who "won" South Carolina, that's not the main function of these very early contests. What they are really about is culling down the field, promptly, and this is not really based on who wins. New Hampshire, and to a lesser extent Iowa and South Carolina, play a disproportionate role in removing your choice of candidates in the primary. While you watch the horse race in these three states, understand that if you live in any other state, you are going to have fewer candidate choices, or no chance to vote on the candidate of your choice at all. If a candidate "exceeds expectations" built by TV punditry and whichever poll is being quoted at the time, three things happen: 1. TV pundits start the drumbeat, building public expectations about "inevitability" of the candidate who did "better than expected"; 2. Donor money reroutes itself, pouring dollars into the newly inevitable candidate; 3. Media then reports on the candidate's prowess in fund raising, citing this newly found skill as reason to believe the candidate is even more inevitable. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Aside from poor voting accountability in New Hampshire and South Carolina, their early primaries allow small states with few electoral votes to dictate candidate choices to large states with big enough blocks of electoral votes to swing an election. The smaller states most likely just want the money -- all of that advertising and campaign cash means a lot to them -- but in the process they limit choice for everyone in the nation. Homeland Security watches Twitter, social media (11 January 2012) These include social networking sites Facebook and My Space - though there is a parenthetical notice that My Space only affords a "limited search" capability - and more than a dozen sites that monitor, aggregate and enable searches of Twitter messages and exchanges. Among blogs and aggregators on the list are ABC News' investigative blog "The Blotter;" blogs that cover bird flu; several blogs related to news and activity along U.S. borders (DHS runs border and immigration agencies); blogs that cover drug trafficking and cybercrime; and websites that follow wildfires in Los Angeles and hurricanes. News and gossip sites on the monitoring list include popular destinations such as the Drudge Report, Huffington Post and "NY Times Lede Blog", as well as more focused techie fare such as the Wired blogs "Threat Level" and "Danger Room." Numerous blogs related to terrorism and security are also on the list. Some of the sites on the list are potentially controversial. WikiLeaks is listed for monitoring, even though officials in some other government agencies were warned against using their official computers to access WikiLeaks material because much of it is still legally classified under U.S. government rules. Another blog on the list, Cryptome, also periodically posts leaked documents and was one of the first websites to post information related to the Homeland Security monitoring program. Also on the list are JihadWatch and Informed Comment, blogs that cover issues related to Islam through sharp political prisms, which have sometimes led critics to accuse the sites of political bias. [Read more...] Analyst Blames US, Mossad, MKO for Assassination of Iranian Scientist (12 January 2012) TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior political analyst condemned the terrorist blast which killed an Iranian scientist in Tehran on Wednesday, and took the US, the Mossad and the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) responsible for the attack. "Ultimately the author must have been Washington" as "none of the groups would dare carry out this high-profile hit without clearance from handlers in Washington," wrote Finian Cunningham in the Global Research. Cunningham added that the US, along with "British MI6, Mossad and local proxies" has been orchestrating a campaign of terrorist subversion in Iran with the aim of overthrowing the establishment of the Islamic Republic, and "this is the real reason for the contrived confrontation over Iran's nuclear activities." "The US covert war against Iran raised the stakes even higher today with the assassination of yet another nuclear scientist, with some analysts saying that the Islamic Republic is being pushed into a corner to either back down in its confrontation with the US or retaliate - the latter most certainly triggering an all-out war," wrote Finian Cunningham. His remarks came after an Iranian university professor and deputy director of Natanz enrichment facility was killed in a terrorist bomb blast in Northern Tehran on Wednesday morning. The magnetic bomb which was planted by an unknown motorcyclist under the car of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan Behdast, a professor at Tehran's technical university, also wounded two other Iranian nationals in Seyed Khandan neighborhood in Northern Tehran. [Read more...] Obama administration denies any role in killing of Iranian nuclear scientist (11 January 2012) "I want to categorically deny any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters. "We believe there has to be an understanding between Iran, its neighbors and the international community that finds a way forward for it to end its provocative behavior, end its search for nuclear weapons and rejoin the international community and be a productive member of it." Earlier, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland wouldn't answer a question about whether Washington was involved in the killing -- or if the administration viewed Roshan as an innocent victim. "I'm not going to speak to who may or may not have done this," she told reporters. The attack also came one day after Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz was quoted as telling a parliamentary committee that 2012 would be critical for Iran -- in part because of "things that happen to it unnaturally." And other Israeli officials, hinted at covert campaigns against Iran without directly admitting involvement. "Many bad things have been happening to Iran in the recent period," said Mickey Segal, a former director of the Israeli military's Iranian intelligence department. "Iran is in a situation where pressure on it is mounting, and the latest assassination joins the pressure that the Iranian regime is facing." Iranian authorities blamed Israel. [Read more...] OIC condemns violation of Iranian airspace by U.S. spy drone (11 January 2012) TEHRAN -- The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has released a statement condemning the recent violation of Iranian airspace by a U.S. spy drone. The statement expressed deep concern over the occurrence of the incident, saying such actions will negatively affect the sensitive situation in the region. It also called for efforts to be made to prevent any action that could undermine peace, security, and stability in the region. On December 18, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi announced that Iran has sent letters to the United Nations, the OIC, the Non-Aligned Movement, and other international organizations over the violation of Iranian airspace, calling for condemnation of the U.S. incursion. [Read more...] Occupy Wall Street reclaims Zuccotti Park (11 January 2012) Park, sweet park. Occupy Wall Street protesters flooded into their former dwelling space at Zuccotti Park Tuesday night after police removed the metal barricades that had blocked their entrance since a police raid in November, the Associated Press reported. Some of the protesters began to gather in circles and read, others climbed atop the barricades holding signs, several people wielded American flags, and the official Occupy Wall Street Twitter account issued a call for artists to reoccupy the park. "Word spread pretty quickly, and we ran down here," demonstrator Lauren DiGioia told the Associated Press. "It's hard to remember what it was like before the barricades were put up." Police spokesman Paul Brown said the barricades came down because officials felt they were no longer necessary. However, the decision came just two days after the New York Civil Liberties Union called the barricades a "violation of city zoning laws." The organization had taken its complaint to the New York City Department of Buildings, saying it was illegal to restrict public access to the park. Donna Lieberman, the group's executive director, told the AP she hoped Zuccotti Park could now "resume its rightful place as a center for meeting and protest" in the city. [Read more...] Video key in discipline of police officers in Occupy Oakland protest (12 January 2012) An onlooker's video played a key role in the Oakland Police Department's decision to discipline two officers for conduct during the Occupy Oakland protests. The video shows the nameplate of one of officers covered with dark tape, according to court documents. After an expedited internal affairs investigation into the actions of Officer John Hargraves and Lt. Clifford Wong, interim Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan "immediately moved to implement what, in my judgment as chief of police, was appropriate personnel action," Jordan said in a recent written declaration. Jordan did not disclose the punishment "on advice of my legal counsel," he said in the declaration. The two officers were among a small group of uniformed officers approached by videographer Terrence Jerod Williams outside police headquarters. Williams said in a declaration that he was concerned that one of the officers had hidden his name "to prevent citizens from identifying him in the event he engaged in acts of misconduct." In a video that Williams posted on YouTube, the officer ignores his questions about the covered-up nameplate. Williams then asks Wong about the nameplate, and Wong then walks over and strips off the tape to reveal the name "J Hargraves." [Read more...] Conflict between rich, poor strongest in 24 years (12 January 2012) Tensions between the rich and poor are increasing and at their most intense level in nearly a quarter-century, a new survey shows. Americans now see more social conflict over wealth inequality than over the hot-button topics of immigration, race relations and age. The survey released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center highlights U.S. perceptions of the economic divide, an issue that has moved to the forefront in the 2012 presidential campaign amid stubbornly high unemployment, increasing poverty and protests by the Occupy movement. About three in 10 Americans polled said there are "very strong" conflicts between the rich and poor, according to the independent research group. That is double the share who believed so in July 2009 and the largest proportion reporting that view in the 24 years the question has been asked in surveys. In all, about 66 percent of those polled now say there are "very strong" or "strong" conflicts between the top and bottom income groups. In contrast, a slightly smaller share of Americans -- 62 percent -- said there were "very strong" or "strong" conflicts between immigrants and native-born Americans. Even smaller shares of people saw such levels of conflict between blacks and whites (38 percent) and between young and old (34 percent). [Read more...] Wisconsin database of those who sign recall petitions could delay recall vote on unpopular governor (12 January 2012) Madison -- State elections officials plan to enter the names of all those who sign recall petitions into a new database -- a policy that will add to taxpayer costs and could delay when any recall elections would be held. The decision, announced Thursday, comes after a ruling last week by Waukesha County Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis that said the state Government Accountability Board must take steps to search for duplicate names and fictitious names. "It is a time-consuming and very costly process," the board's elections director, Nat Robinson, told the board. He said the board is purchasing software that can electronically read the petitions and load the names into a database. Staffers will have to go over the database after the information is loaded because the software will misread some handwriting. The Democratic groups trying to recall Gov. Scott Walker and other Republicans have asked an appeals court to stay Davis' court order. But even if that happens, the board will continue with its plan to create the new database, said board attorney Mike Haas. "Unless a court directs us otherwise, we're going to proceed with the process…we've been planning," he told the board. [Read more...] Walker gives speech to conservative group in Texas (11 January 2012) AUSTIN, Texas -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is scheduled to give the keynote address at a conservative legislative forum in Austin. The forum is sponsored by the nonprofit Texas Public Policy Foundation and is intended to promote conservative positions in state government. Walker is expected to talk about his experience cutting government spending and promoting conservative values as governor of Wisconsin. He took office in January 2011, but now faces a recall effort. Walker has traveled across the country speaking at similar venues and raising money for his campaign. His campaign records show he has recently raised $2.5 million from donors outside of Wisconsin, including more than $250,000 in Texas. Walker triggered a firestorm last year when he introduced a bill that stripped most public workers of almost all their collective bargaining rights. [Read more...] NASA says Canada in 'hot spot' of ecological change; Prairie grasslands and boreal regions to shift north by 2100 (11 January 2012) A new NASA study predicts massive ecological changes for Canada's Prairies and boreal regions by the year 2100. Those areas are in "hot spots" highly vulnerable to massive environmental changes this century due to global warming, the study states. Much of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba is predicted to see major shifts northward of plant and animal species. "By about 2100, the climate change projections that we have today would suggest that there would be pressure on that grassland so prevalent in [the Canadian Prairies] to move further northward -- and at the expense of the forest moving further northward as well," said NASA climate scientist Duane Walliser, who spoke with CBC News from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. [Read more...] Naso investigators describe graphic sex stockpile at house (11 January 2012) The Reno home of alleged serial killer Joseph Naso was a den of macabre sex memorabilia -- including photos of dead or incapacitated women, suitcases with mannequin parts, dolls dressed in lingerie, sadistic true-crime magazines, and personal diaries about rapes, investigators testified Wednesday. "It took five detectives eight weeks to go through and document this evidence," said Detective Richard Brown of the Nevada Department of Public Safety. But Naso, after listening to a daylong cataloging of his confiscated photographs and property, demanded to know why it was relevant to the charges of murder. "Your honor, who's paying for all this entertainment?" he objected. "None of these people are deceased. [Read more...] Probation officer found "rape diary" of accused serial killer (11 January 2012) A probation officer testified Wednesday that he found a diary documenting rapes and sexual assaults of underage girls while he searched the home of a man suspected of being a serial killer. Nevada Department of Public Safety probation officer David LeBaker made the disclosure during a preliminary hearing for Joseph Naso, who is accused in the "Double Initial" killings. LeBaker said he found an aluminum clipboard containing the diary on Naso's dining room table in 2010. It detailed assaults of an underage girl on a Greyhound bus in Arkansas, a girl in Kansas and others, he said. "I briefly went through it and read a few small paragraphs," LeBaker testified. "I then notified my supervisor and said, 'you should see this.'" Naso, 78, is acting as his own lawyer in the case. The former photographer has pleaded not guilty to four murder charges involving slayings in the 1970s and 1990s. [Read more...] 'Pig Chase': Researchers develop inter-species multiplayer videogame (12 January 2012) A scholarly project funded by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research has achieved something unique: researchers have managed to create an inter-species multiplayer videogame played by humans and pigs at the same time. In a demonstration video, a man uses a tablet computer to manipulate a glowing circle on a video wall installed alongside a pig pen. As he moves his finger across the touch-screen, the circles moves in tandem, causing the pigs to try and touch it with their snouts. If the pig and the human can both manage to move the glowing circle through a triangle, the screen erupts with bright colors and an explosion of shapes. Researchers at the Utrecht School of the Arts developed the game after scientists with Wageningen University noticed that pigs are attracted to reflective light. Because bored livestock can cause problems for farmers and ranchers -- pigs tend to be more aggressive when they're bored -- this project aims to pose a creative solution. [Read more...] Walgreens spat sends millions to new pharmacies (11 January 2012) [DN] The dispute, which is affecting million of patients nationwide, is particularly being felt in the Bay Area, where Walgreens has 40 percent of the market share. CVS Caremark is a distant second with 27 percent, according to Chain Drug Review, an industry publication. Pharmacy benefit managers like Express Scripts serve as the middlemen between drug makers and pharmacies and their customers, which include health insurers, employers and other groups. With the goal of saving money for their customers, these companies negotiate prices for drugs and the rates pharmacies will be reimbursed for filling prescriptions. Reimbursement at issue Express Scripts and Walgreens have been locked in a battle for the past year over how much the pharmacy benefit manager would reimburse the pharmacies. Walgreens had been filling about 88 million prescriptions a year nationwide for Express Scripts. Officials from Express Scripts say the drugstore chain wanted too much - as much as 20 percent higher than what other pharmacies in the network agreed to accept. Walgreens' executives have denied that figure and accused the benefit manager of offering less than the industry average cost to provide a prescription. The dispute has affected about 10 percent of Walgreens' more than 60 million pharmacy customers. These include people in the Tricare program, which covers members of the military and their dependents, as well as WellPoint Inc., the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross in California, and most of the employers that use the pharmacy benefit manager. [Read more...] Mexico government sought to withhold drug war death statistics (12 January 2012) Reporting from Mexico City-- Six months before a presidential election that his party is widely expected to lose, President Felipe Calderon is on the defensive about the government's blood-soaked drug war, with new revelations that it sought to conceal death toll statistics from the public. By unofficial count, at least 50,000 people are believed to have been killed since Calderon deployed the military in the first days of his presidency in December 2006. A year ago, the government released an official death toll up to that point -- 34,612 -- and pledged to periodically update a database and make it public. But official documents show that the offices of both the president and the attorney general late last year refused formal requests for updated statistics filed under the Mexican equivalent of the Freedom of Information Act. After the reports first surfaced on the Mexican news website Animal Politico, a Calderon administration official told The Times that the government wanted to verify the numbers before releasing them. "It is not a lack of transparency on our part," the official said. [Read more...] Allergy alert: Dairy-free Whole Foods desserts may contain dairy (11 January 2012) People with a milk allergy are being warned not to eat four kinds of desserts sold at three Whole Foods markets in the GTA because they may contain milk. One person has become ill from eating the baked goods, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said. "Consumption of these products may cause a serious or life-threatening reaction in persons with allergies to milk," the agency said. CFIA and Whole Foods Market issued the allergy alert Thursday and recalled the products. [Read more...] Drone helps guide fuel ship on way to Nome (11 January 2012) As a Russian fuel tanker plows through the frozen Bering Sea on its way to Nome, it has been getting help from an unlikely source: a drone that flies overhead and sends images of ice back to researchers onshore. The camera-equipped drone looks like a smoke detector with wings and legs. It glides on 20-minute missions ranging from 10 feet to 320 feet above the ice, and its images can be instantly viewed on a tablet-type computer screen. The tanker is bound for Nome, a town of 3,500 residents that missed its final pre-winter delivery of fuel by barge when a big storm swept the region last fall. Without the delivery of 1.3 million gallons, the city could run short of fuel before a barge delivery becomes possible in late spring. Researchers were using the 2.5-pound drone to provide a large picture of the ice in hopes of getting the tanker as close to shore as possible, said Greg Walker, unmanned aircraft program manager for the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute. [Read more...] Bungee jumps suspended at Victoria Falls (12 January 2012) HARARE- A Zimbabwean tourism company has suspended bungee jumps at Victoria Falls while they investigate an accident in which a tourist plunged into the Zambezi River, a spokesman said Thursday. "We voluntarily suspended bungee jumping for two days (from Wednesday) to allow an audit of the accident that happened" after a cord snapped, Shearwater Adventures spokesman Clement Mukwasi told AFP. "This was to allow the auditors, management and crew the opportunity to analyze the causes of the broken cord and review the new system and procedures without distractions." Jumps could resume from the weekend, he added. [Read more...] 'Human zoo' video causes outrage in India (12 January 2012) NEW DELHI - Rights campaigners and politicians Wednesday condemned a video showing women from a protected and primitive tribe dancing for tourists reportedly in exchange for food on India's Andaman Islands. British newspaper The Observer released the undated video showing Jarawa tribal women - some of them naked - being lured to dance and sing after a bribe was allegedly paid to a policeman to produce them. Under Indian laws designed to protect ancient tribal groups susceptible to outside influence and disease, photographing or coming into contact with the Jarawa and some of the Andaman aborigines is banned. The tribe, thought to have been among the first people to migrate successfully from Africa to Asia, lives a nomadic existence in the lush, tropical forests of the Andamans in the Indian Ocean. [Read more...] Three Carlyle founders each land a $138m payday (12 January 2012) Carlyle founders David Rubenstein, Bill Conway and Daniel D'Aniello each received $138m in pay last year, according to documents filed with the top US financial watchdog the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The three co-founders each received a base salary of $275,000, a bonus of $3.5m, and a $134m share of the firm's investment profits. Rubenstein, Conway and D'Aniello founded the Washington-based firm 25-years ago and named it after the luxurious New York hotel they favour. It once specialised in defence contracts but has since expanded its investment interests. Recent buyouts include the car rental group Hertz, Dunkin' Donuts and Moncler, the Italian fashion and sportswear brand. The disclosures were made as Carlyle prepares for a stock market listing. Often described as 'secretive', Carlyle is famous for its top-level contacts and political hires. It counts former president George Bush, his secretary of state James Baker, and John Major, the former UK prime minister, among its alumni and was a target of Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. [Read more...] Dept. of Transportation allegedly withholding data on domestic drone flights (11 January 2012) The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday for allegedly withholding records pertaining to the use of unmanned aircraft within the United States. "Drones give the government and other unmanned aircraft operators a powerful new surveillance tool to gather extensive and intrusive data on Americans' movements and activities," said EFF Staff Attorney Jennifer Lynch. "As the government begins to make policy decisions about the use of these aircraft, the public needs to know more about how and why these drones are being used to surveil United States citizens." Any drone flying over 400 feet needs a certification or authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration, part of the DOT. But there is currently no information available to the public about who specifically has obtained these authorizations or for what purposes. The group sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the DOT in April 2011, seeking to find which public and civil entities have been granted authorization to fly unmanned aircraft within the United States. Despite acknowledging the request, the agency failed to hand over any records. [Read more...] U.K. launches probe over torture allegations in Libya (12 January 2012) No British spies will be charged over their alleged complicity in the torture of two terror suspects but a new investigation will be held into allegations of rendition in Libya, the top prosecutor in England and Wales said today. MI5 and MI6 agents will not face charges over the ill-treatment and torture of UK resident Binyam Mohamed in Pakistan and another detainee at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC said. But a criminal investigation will be launched into the alleged rendition and ill-treatment of two people in Libya, Scotland Yard said. One of the Libyans at the centre of the new claims is the military commander and rebel leader Abdul Hakim Belhadj, head of the Tripoli Military Council. [Read more...] 'They've murdered my son,' mom says after son dies using toxic ecstasy (12 January 2012) Five overdose deaths in just over a month have been linked to a batch of the street drug ecstasy tainted with a lethal chemical never before seen in Calgary by police. Toxicology reports by the province's chief medical examiner revealed the presence of a dangerous chemical - paramethoxymethamphetamine (PMMA) and methamphetamine - resulting in a compound five times more toxic than typical ecstasy, or MDMA. On Wednesday, police and health officials sounded the alarm, renewing warnings to the public of the dangers of the drug and shedding light on the city's recent spate of overdose deaths. In each case, police say overdose victims believed they were ingesting ecstasy, or MDMA - not PMMA or methamphetamine. [Read more...] Ex-FCC Commissioner Michael Copps on Media Consolidation, Broadband Expansion, Threats to Journalism (12 January 2012) [DN] JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, Commissioner Copps, on the issue of universal broadband policy, why is it that this country has fallen behind, when it comes to--compared to many other countries in the world, in terms of citizen access not only to broadband, but to high-speed broadband? MICHAEL COPPS: We forgot how we built America. We always, when we built infrastructure in the past, had the public sector and the private sector working together. The private sector is the lead economic engine pulling the locomotive, but heading toward a vision, heading toward a national goal, when we were building those railroads and becoming a continental power and building the interstate highway system. And then we got off on this tangent, beginning in the '80s, that the market would solve all of these problems. You didn't need government, you didn't need a vision. So, we went from being first or second in broadband in 2001, when I joined the Federal Communications Commission, to now 15th, 20th, 24th. I don't know precisely where. It depends on whose ratings you read. But I know, wherever we are, it's down there where your country and mine should never be finding itself. AMY GOODMAN: What about that-- MICHAEL COPPS: So you have to have a strategy. We didn't have--we didn't have the strategy, and a sense of mission, even now, although the Commission has reformed universal service, which is the system that subsidized telephones for rural areas and low-income areas. We've got to see this not as a problem that jiggering with the universal service system can resolve. This has to be a national vision. Somebody has to say, this stuff is really important to the future of the United States of America, if we're going to create jobs, become competitive in the world economy, create opportunity for all of our citizens. [Read more...] Anonymous will act against National Defense Authorization Act, NDAA (11 January 2012) [AJ] Anonymous wages attack on National Defense Authorization Act, NDAA, re-signed by Obama into law, giving the military extraordinary sweeping powers to detain US citizens indefinitely without trial. Time magazine called the protester the person of the year for 2011, but if the US government and Obama Administration continue with its campaign against American freedom, defying corruption with demonstration as such will be outlawed in only a matter of time in the USA. Concerned over how very real the collapse of the US Constitution is because of Congress' passing of the National Defense Authorization Act, the NDAA, global activists with the online collective Anonymous have proposed a national day of action against the controversial legislation to occur within next month. Hacktivists had initially proposed a massive campaign against the act for January, but have now moved the protest to launch on February 3. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, or NDAA, was recently signed off by US President Barack Obama. Under the legislation, the Department of Defense is guaranteed spending appropriations for a 12-month span. Certain provisions snuck in, however, the US government is granted the powers to indefinitely detain and torture American citizens without charge, essentially creating Guantanamo Prison-style detention possibilities for anyone deemed a threat by American authorities. US President Barack Obama insists that he will not abide by such provisions, although the laws are still written and approved under his own name. Although he could abide by his word and remove himself from endorsing any of the provisions, the fact that the legislation does still for such enforcement does not negate its existence. [Read more...] Thousands of Haitians march demanding jobs, housing (11 January 2012) OUANAMINTHE, Haiti -- As thousands peacefully took to the streets in Haiti's quake-scarred capital city Wednesday, Haitian officials and foreign diplomats focused on rebuilding the country's shattered economy with new commitments of more than $240 million in foreign aid. On the second anniversary Thursday of the earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people, frustrations are mounting but Haitian leaders and foreign donors are trying to lay the foundation for change and move the conversation away from aid to development and job opportunities for millions of Haitians who currently rely on informal jobs, remittances and nongovernmental organizations to survive. "If you ask people in the camps what do you want? They don't say housing first,'' said Nigel Fisher, the United Nations head humanitarian official in Haiti. "They'll say jobs first, jobs second, jobs third. Then they'll say an education for our kids. It's misguided to think the response to displacement is housing. It's jobs to give people the choices of what to do, where to live, how to use their money." In the northern border city of Ouanaminthe, former U.S. President Bill Clinton promoted job creation as the key to Haiti's progress by visiting two projects, a factory operated by the shoe-making company Timberland, and a farm whose production includes nuts used in peanut butter to treat malnourished children. [Read more...] Power plants main global warming culprits, EPA finds (11 January 2012) The most detailed data yet on emissions of heat-trapping gases show that U.S. power plants are responsible for the bulk of the pollution blamed for global warming. Power plants released 72 percent of the greenhouse gases reported to the Environmental Protection Agency for 2010. The data include more than 6,700 of the largest sources of greenhouse gases, or about 80 percent of total U.S. emissions. According to an Associated Press analysis of the data, 20 power plants in 14 states account for the top-releasing sites. The largest greenhouse gas polluter is the Scherer power plant in Juliette, Ga., which is owned by Southern Company. That coal-fired power plant reported releasing nearly 23 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, in 2010. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Windmills have never looked so wonderful... Study says 46 million Americans are below the poverty line -- up 27% since start of recession, and likely to get worse (11 January 2012) Millions of Americans will be forced into poverty in the coming years even as the US hauls itself out of the longest and deepest recession since the second world war. A study from Indiana University, released on Wednesday, says the number of Americans living below the poverty line surged by 27% since the beginning of what it calls the "Great Recession" in 2006, driving 10 million more people into poverty. The report warns that the numbers will continue to rise, because although the recession is technically over, its continued impact on cuts to welfare budgets and the quality of new, often poorly paid, jobs can be expected to force many more people in to poverty. It is also difficult for those already under water to get back up again. "Poverty in America is remarkably widespread," concludes the study, At Risk: America's Poor During and After the Great Recession. "The number of people living in poverty is increasing and is expected to increase further, despite the recovery." [Read more...] SIX TRAP DOORS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE ELECTION PROCESS (6 January 2012) TRAP DOOR #2 - (WHO DID VOTE): A telltale sign for ballot box stuffing is when votes exceed voters. Here are voter/vote totals from Swanzey in New Hampshire's 2008 presidential primary: 1,591 votes - 1,333 voters = 258 impossible Democratic votes 1,092 votes - 951 voters = 141 impossible Republican votes Documentation: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/157/Swanzey-72828.pdf The total number of impossible votes in Swanzey alone were 258 + 141 = 399 The "Swanzey Stuffing" does have a positive side: At least Swanzey reported their impossible numbers promptly to the Secretary of State. A citizen caught it, and (one would hope), the secretary of state had an opportunity to investigate the incident. But they didn't. In 2010, though it is required by law to report to the secretary of state the number of votes and voters, towns did not report it. An alert public citizen, Deborah Sumner, noticed the absence of this required ballot-stuffing safeguard and brought it to the attention of the secretary of state, the Ballot Law Commission, the attorney general, and the media. Though the attorney general did issue a written opinion confirming that the report is required by law, no one did anything about it. Here is the law: RSA 659:73 (f) and (g). Subsection (f) is the number of voters who show up at the polls; subsection(g) is the number who vote absentee; add the two together and you know how many warm bodies actually cast a vote. Compare that to the number of votes and if there are more votes than voters, someone stuffed the ballot box (or can't prove they didn't). In 2012, since nothing was done about 2008's impossible numbers, and nothing was done about 2010's willful noncompliance with RSA 659:73, we have every reason to believe that this trap door is still ready and waiting for anyone who wants to exploit it. [Read more...] Romney Cements Front-Runner Status with Unlimited Spending from Unregulated Super PACs (11 January 2012) [DN] ANDY KROLL: Yeah. I think what we've seen in this campaign is the rise of super PACs. These are the supposedly independent political outfits that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money. You know, Mitt Romney has a very deep-pocketed super PAC. In Iowa, we saw this pro-Romney super PAC, which purports to be independent but is really run by former Romney '08 campaign staffers--we saw this super PAC just viciously attack Newt Gingrich, essentially knock Newt Gingrich far down the polls. Newt Gingrich finished far back in the pack in Iowa and tied for fourth here in New Hampshire. And Gingrich was in fact someone who, at one point, very briefly, was competing with Governor Romney on the national stage and in New Hampshire. And that super PAC money just knocked him down and just gutted his campaign. And so, we've seen the super PAC money again here in New Hampshire. We saw it in Iowa. We're going to see it, you know, in the millions of dollars in South Carolina and Florida, the next two primary fights. And so, this outside money, especially from the pro-Romney folks, has been a way to knock them all out at the knees and solidify Governor Romney's spot on the top. And it's something that, you know, his campaign can't do, and really doesn't want to do. You know, they don't have to worry about being so negative, because they have this outside dark-money group to do it. Ron Paul, as well, has had some outside groups working on his behalf, and he's been attacking folks, like Governor Romney, like Jon Huntsman, here in New Hampshire. And then Governor Huntsman himself has a super PAC that was financed by his father, the billionaire chemical magnate. That super PAC is going to be crucial to whether Jon Huntsman even lasts another week in South Carolina. Yet it's unclear whether that super PAC is going to continue helping him out or not. NERMEEN SHAIKH: Andy Kroll, talk about Carl Forti, the Republican strategist, and how important his work was in Romney's success last night. ANDY KROLL: Yeah, Carl Forti is Mitt Romney's $12 million mystery man, as we recently put it. You know, he is the brains behind Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney super PAC. He's plotting the strategy. He's, you know, funding, cutting, conceiving the attack ads that have gone after Mitt Romney's opponents. And I think that in Iowa, especially, that super PAC, Carl Forti, were just crucial in Romney eking out, as you said, that whisker-thin, eight-vote victory there. And now you have Governor Romney winning in Iowa, you have him winning in New Hampshire. They can say that "we're making history" and be honest about it. And that history making would not have been possible without Carl Forti and this super PAC he's running. [Read more...] Los Angeles crime season: From serial arsonists to serial killer (11 January 2012) A street outside the Placentia shopping center where a homeless man was killed became an arena for questioning Tuesday night, as police continued to search for a suspected serial killer. One by one, drivers were stopped and questioned by law enforcement officials involved with investigating three killings of homeless men that are believed to be connected, the first of which occurred Dec. 20. Fliers with a grainy photograph of the suspected killer taken on a surveillance camera and a white Toyota Corolla believed to be connected to the crimes were handed out to drivers. After a third man, identified as Paulus Smit, 57, was found dead outside a library in Yorba Linda on Dec. 30, police formed a task force with five agencies, including the FBI, to investigate the killings. Two days earlier, police had found Lloyd Middaugh, 42, near a riverbed trail in Anaheim. Investigators believe the deaths are the work of a serial killer. In an effort to generate more tips and contacts in the community, police interviewed hundreds of drivers and vehicle passengers -- many of whom were on their way home -- about any knowledge of the crimes, and in particular, if they knew James Patrick McGillivray, 53, the first victim to be stabbed to death. [Read more...] On the 10-year anniversary of the prison, a closer look at a few of the detainees that have passed through Gitmo (11 January 2012) The child - Omar Ahmed Khadr is the first person to be convicted of war crimes committed as a child since the second world war. A Canadian citizen, he was 15 when he was captured by US forces in Afghanistan and taken to Bagram air base where he later claimed that he had been forced to confess to terrorist crimes through coercive interrogation. In October 2002 he was transferred to Guantánamo and in October 2010 he pleaded guilty and was given an eight year sentence without any reduction for time served. Khadr is one of 21 detainees who were children when they were imprisoned at Guantanamo, the youngest having been 13. The old man - Mohammed Sadiq was Guantánamo's oldest prisoner. He was 89 when he was transferred to the camp in May 2002. Despite the fact that vice president Dick Cheney had described the detainees as "the worst of a very bad lot", internal assessment files put out by WikiLeaks showed that Sadiq's US captors were fully aware that he was suffering from senile dementia and osteoarthritis. He was released after five months and returned to Afghanistan. Prosecuted in federal court - Ahmed Ghailani is the only detainee to have been transferred to the US mainland for prosecution. He was convicted in November 2010 in a New York court for taking part in the bombings of US embassies in east Africa in 1998. He is serving life without parole in a supermax prison in Colorado. 9/11 'mastermind' - Dubbed the "principal architect of the 9/11 attacks", Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has become the embodiment of the failure to close Guantanamo. In November 2009 it was announced that he and his four co-defendants -- Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi -- would all be transferred to New York for trial in a civilian federal court. But after a storm of not-in-my-backyard protest from New York politicians and Republicans in Congress, the Obama administration backed down and the cases were returned to Guantánamo's military court system in April last year. [Read more...] China unbowed by US pressure over Iranian oil (11 January 2012) But China, which buys almost one-third of Iran's oil exports, reiterated its opposition to sanctions, which it has previously called improper and ineffective. "Iran is also an extremely big oil supplier to China, and we hope that China's oil imports won't be affected, because this is needed for our development," Zhai Jun, China's vice foreign minister, told a news conference. "We oppose applying pressure and sanctions, because these approaches won't solve the problems. They never have. We hope that these unilateral sanctions will not affect China's interests." But Beijing on Wednesday called on Iran and the UN atomic watchdog to co-operate over a new uranium enrichment plant, amid mounting international tensions over Tehran's nuclear programme. [Read more...] Rivals' Attacks on Romney's Corporate Record Display Occupy Wall Street's Wide Reach (11 January 2012) [DN] REP. RON PAUL: The one thing is, is we do know they will come home. My goal and our goal has always been to bring them home in a deliberate fashion to avoid a major economic crisis by destroying our economy by spending so much overseas. In the last 10 years, the wars that have gone on added $4 trillion of debt. And I don't think we have been one bit safer for it. I think we have been less safe because of all the money that we have spent overseas. So, this is the issue now. It is--it is an issue that I think is crucial. Jim mentioned in the introduction that, you know, so often they say that if we tell people that we think we should spend less in the military, they say, "Oh, that means you want to cut defense." No, if you cut the military-industrial complex, you cut war profiteering, but you don't take one penny out of national defense. And besides--besides, we're flat-out broke. Fortunately, we did not have to fight the Soviets. The Soviets brought themselves down for economic reason. Do you know that they were so foolish and thought themselves so bold that they could pursue their world empire that they invaded Afghanistan? AMY GOODMAN: And that was Ron Paul. In South Carolina, some experts predict Paul's foreign policy views, antiwar positions, could hurt him, given the state's large military institutions and heavy weapons industry. But Ron Paul says he receives more money from members of the military than all the other candidates combined. [Read more...] US-Backed Terror Group Responsible For Assassination of Iranian Nuclear Scientist (11 January 2012) [AJ] The US-backed terrorist group Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), in association with Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, was responsible for today's car bomb attack in Tehran which killed Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, according to Israeli sources close to Jewish writer Richard Silverstein. The scientist, a specialist working at the country's Natanz's uranium enrichment facility, was killed after a magnetic bomb was attached to the side of his car by two men on a motorcycle. "My own confidential Israeli source confirms today's murder was the work of the Mossad and MEK, as have been a number of previous operations I've reported here," reports Silverstein. Silverstein's blog, Tikum Olam, cannot be dismissed as Iranian state media. According to the Daily Telegraph, the blog "has a record of revealing information censored inside Israel" and has been praised as being "important" by Yossi Melman, a veteran security and intelligence reporter for Haaretz. Silverstein adds that the method of assassination mirrors similar murders carried out by MEK and Mossad in the past. He also cites a Le Figaro piece which documents how, "Iranian assets are being prepared for conducting operations inside [Iran] as part of Israel's undercover intelligence war against Iran's nuclear energy program." [Read more...] Iran blast 'kills nuclear scientist' (11 January 2012) A nuclear scientist who supervised a department at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility has been killed by a magnetic bomb placed on his car by two assailants in northern Tehran, Iranian media reported. The attack strongly resembles earlier killings of scientists working on the country's controversial nuclear programme. The bomb explosion killed Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz facility in central Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said Israeli agents were behind the attack, but cannot ``prevent progress'' in what Iran claims are peaceful nuclear efforts. [Read more...] The mafia is now Italy's largest 'bank' (10 January 2012) Organized crime now generated annual turnover of about 140 billion euros ($178.89 billion) and profits of more than 100 billion euros, it added. "With 65 billion euros in liquidity, the Mafia is Italy's number one bank," said a statement from the group, which was set up in Palermo a decade ago to oppose extortion rackets against small business. Organized crime groups like the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the Naples Camorra or the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta have long had a stranglehold on the Italian economy, generating profits equivalent to about 7 percent of national output. Extortionate lending had become an increasingly sophisticated and lucrative source of income, alongside drug trafficking, arms smuggling, prostitution, gambling and racketeering, the report said. "The classic neighborhood or street loan shark is on the way out, giving way to organized loan-sharking that is well connected with professional circles and operates with the connivance of high-level professionals," the report said. It estimated about 200,000 businesses were tied to extortionate lenders and tens of thousands of jobs had been lost as a result. [Read more...] Good News for Ron Paul: Florida May Allow Proportional Delegates (11 January 2012) [AJ] According to Ron Paul's campaign chair, Jesse Benton, Florida may announce today that it plans to allow proportional delegates. If so, that would be great news for Paul. Florida is a winner take all state. In other words, whoever wins the primary gets all the delegates. The proposed change means delegates would be divided up between top finishers. Republicans decided this year to replace the winner take all system with representation system in states that hold primaries before April. Apportionment would be left up to the states, according to a Republican National committee memo on the subject. New Hampshire used proportional representation and not by a winner-take-all allocation during its primary on January 10. In that race, Ron Paul finished second. He earned three delegates in the state. [Read more...] EPA News Release: Companies Face Fines for Lead Paint Disclosure Violations at Two Navy Bases in New England (10 January 2012) (Boston, Mass. -- Jan. 10, 2012) -- Two companies face significant penalties for violating federal lead paint disclosure laws at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine and the Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn. A complaint filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asserts that Northeast Housing, LLC, and Balfour Beatty Military Housing Management, LLC failed on multiple occasions over several years to notify prospective tenants, including families with young children, about potential lead paint hazards in housing managed by the companies on the two Navy bases in New England. Notifying prospective tenants and purchasers of housing units helps parents protect young children from exposure to lead-based paint hazards. The companies face a possible fine of $153,070 for alleged violations of the Lead Based Paint Disclosure Rule. EPA's complaint asserts that the two companies failed to comply with the Disclosure Rule when they entered into 13 contracts to lease target housing for military personnel during the years 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and the U.S. Naval Submarine Base. The housing at both bases is owned by Northeast, a joint venture limited liability company between the Department of the Navy and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Balfour Beatty Communities, LLC, of which the BBC affiliate is the managing member. There are approximately 25 target housing units located at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where housing was built in the 1800s and early 1900s. There are approximately 735 target housing units at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, which was built in the early 1960s. [Read more...] At a Portland garbage station, the ancient art of falconry may solve a modern problem (9 January 2012) While not much fun for gulls, the use of trained falcons for bird abatement work is a growing trend at West Coast landfills, transfer stations and in vineyards and berry fields. It's usually non-lethal -- gulls instinctively panic when a predator is in flight -- and more practical and less noisy than netting or bird cannons. Recology Oregon, which operates the central transfer station for Metro, began looking for solutions after hundreds of gulls descended in early October. The station has taken in restaurant food scraps since 2004 and residential scraps since Oct. 31, when Portland's home food composting service began. The combination provided easy meals for increasing numbers of greedy gulls and the other usual suspects. Gulls are particularly problematic because they scatter garbage and foul equipment, roofs and vehicles with their droppings. To control them, Recology turned to the centuries-old practice of falconry and to Airstrike Bird Control, a California company that trains falcons to patrol landfills, vineyards, orchards and blueberry fields, and small Harris hawks to roust pigeons from shopping malls and warehouses. [Read more...] Drones, Asia and Cyber War: Pentagon Shifts Priorities in New Review; Budget Still Exceeds Bush Era (9 January 2012) [DN] AMY GOODMAN: Well, explain that, and this issue of moving toward drone wars, when you have a situation where the United States will not feel the pain of war, where a bombing of a village can be accomplished by someone on a computer keyboard with one keystroke. WILLIAM HARTUNG: Well, I think, you know, even now, a lot of people act as if we're not at war. They sort of put Iraq and Afghanistan out of their minds. But with drone wars, basically, people can pretend it's not happening. I mean, not only is there no risk to the person who's controlling the drone, but there's a lot of support for this in Democratic and Republican circles. The notion is, if we're not putting troops at risk, all is OK, even if it violates the sovereignty of countries, even if civilians are killed, even if there's human rights problems. And I think, most importantly, it lowers the bar for going to war. So I don't view it as progress in any sense. AMY GOODMAN: So what actually will change, Bill Hartung? WILLIAM HARTUNG: Well, they're going to cut troops, maybe 100,000, which will leave them with 1.3 million, which is a huge force. They might slow down some things like the F-35 combat aircraft, the Lockheed Martin system which has had cost overruns, is not performing properly. They would probably have to slow that down under any circumstances. And really they've been pretty cagey about what else is going to happen. They said, well, wait 'til the budget is released in a few weeks. And pretty much every question that they were asked, that was sort of their boilerplate answer. [Read more...] FAA waives rules, says paid-pilots can guide whooping cranes to Florida using bird-like plane (10 January 2012) The pilots of the bird-like aircraft that has been leading nine young whooping cranes to their winter home in Florida have been granted a special exemption by federal regulators to continue their journey. The Federal Aviation Administration has provided a one-time waiver to Operation Migration, a conservation organization trying to re-establish an Eastern flyway for whooping cranes by teaching young birds how to make the flight. Operation Migration ran into trouble with the FAA because it pays salaries to pilots. FAA regulations say sport planes -- a category that sometimes includes aircraft of exotic design -- can only be flown for personal use. "Because the operation is in 'mid-migration,' the FAA is granting a one-time exemption so the migration can be completed," the agency said in a statement. "The FAA will work with Operation Migration to develop a more comprehensive, long-term solution." [Read more...] Japan to release three activists who boarded whaling vessel (10 January 2012) REPORTING FROM SEOUL --- Bringing a diplomatic end to an unwieldy high-seas drama, three Australian anti-whaling protesters detained after boarding a Japanese vessel in the Indian Ocean will be released to Australian authorities, the government in Canberra announced Tuesday. The trio, who illegally boarded a whaling support vessel, the Shonan Maru 2, in the darkness on Sunday, will not be charged under an agreement with the Japanese government, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's office told reporters. But Gillard denounced the tactics that are part of the years-long battle between Japanese whalers and fierce environmentalists who want the Asian nation to stop killing whales. "Activity of the nature undertaken by these three Australians is unacceptable," Gillard said through a spokesman. "No one should assume that because an agreement has been reached with the Japanese government in this instance, that individuals will not be charged and convicted in the future." [Read more...] Nicotine products don't help, study finds (10 January 2012) The nicotine gum and patches that millions of smokers use to help kick their habit have no lasting benefit and may backfire in some cases, according to the most rigorous, long-term study to date of nicotine replacement therapy. The study, released Monday, followed nearly 2,000 people over a period of years, and is likely to inflame a long-running debate about the value of nicotine alternatives. In medical studies, the products have appeared effective, making it easier for people to quit, at least in the short term. Those earlier, more encouraging findings were the basis for federal guidelines that recommended the products for smoking cessation. But in surveys, smokers who have used the over-the-counter products, either as part of a program or on their own, have reported little benefit. The new study followed one group of smokers to see whether nicotine replacement affected their odds of kicking the habit over time. It did not, even if they also received counseling with the nicotine replacement. The market for nicotine replacement products has taken off in recent years, rising to more than $800 million annually in 2007 from $129 million in 1991. The products were approved for over-the-counter sale in 1997, and many state Medicaid programs cover at least one of them. [Read more...] Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to run for office (10 January 2012) Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has confirmed she will run for a parliamentary seat in April by-elections. Party spokesman Nyan Win said today that the Nobel Peace Prize winner announced during a party meeting that she will seek a seat in suburban Rangoon,Burma's largest city and her hometown. Ms Suu Kyi's presence will add star power and significance to upcoming by-elections that will be held nearly one year after nominally democratic elections ended a half century of military rule. Her National League for Democracy Party decided to rejoin electoral politics amid signs that the new government is easing years of repression. [Read more...] North Korea to issue special pardons for prisoners (10 January 2012) North Korea will issue special pardons for prisoners to commemorate milestone birthdays of its two late leaders, state media said, in the first such dispensations in more than six years. The pardons come as North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong-un, moves to solidify his power in the wake of his father Kim Jong-il's death last month. Believed to be in his late 20s, Kim Jong-un has already picked up a slew of prominent titles such as supreme commander of the military, with top officials publicly pledging their loyalty. The pardons will start 1 February at the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a dispatch. KCNA did not say what sorts of crimes would be pardoned or how many inmates would be freed. The decision is meant to mark the 70th anniversary of the birth of Kim Jong-il in February, and the 100th anniversary of the birth of his father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, in April, KCNA said. [Read more...] Russia's space chief says failures may be sabotage (10 January 2012) Russia's space chief says the recent failures of his country's spacecraft may have been caused by hostile interference. Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin stopped short of accusing the United States of disabling Russian satellites, but in an interview published Tuesday in the daily Izvestia he said some Russian craft had suffered malfunctions while flying beyond the reach of its tracking facilities. Popovkin said he didn't want to proportion blame, but modern technology makes spacecraft vulnerable to foreign influence. Popovkin made the comment when asked about the failure of the unmanned Phobos-Ground probe, which was to explore a Mars moon but became stranded while orbiting Earth after its Nov. 9 launch. [Read more...] US agents helped launder millions in drug proceeds (10 January 2012) Mexico's government allowed a group of undercover U.S. anti-drug agents and their Colombian informant to launder millions in cash for a powerful Mexican drug trafficker and his Colombian cocaine supplier, according to documents made public Monday. The Mexican magazine Emeequis published portions of documents that describe how Drug Enforcement Administration agents, a Colombian trafficker-turned-informant and Mexican federal police officers in 2007 infiltrated the Beltran Leyva drug cartel and a cell of money launderers for Colombia's Valle del Norte cartel in Mexico. The group of officials conducted at least 15 wire transfers to banks in the United States, Canada and China and smuggled and laundered about $2.5 million in the United States. They lost track of much of that money. In his testimony, the DEA agent in charge of the operation says DEA agents posing as pilots flew at least one shipment of cocaine from Ecuador to Madrid through a Dallas airport. [Read more...] NDAA Protests End In Ironic Swarm Of Arrests (10 January 2012) [AJ] Responses to the event vary. Most people who have actually been exposed to the facts on the NDAA have expressed utter disgust and fury. Rightly so. Some, however, have taken the old elitist mantra, perpetuated effectively by the Neo-Cons in their heyday, that if you are not for the system, then you are a danger to society. Not surprisingly, there are still plenty of useful idiots out there buzzing about like parasites in search of blood. For those who would applaud these arrests, and suggest that they are well deserved, I would have to ask very pointedly; why? Is it right to crush free speech as long as the message is offensive to you personally? Do peaceful protestors really present a legitimate threat to our national stability? Are they truly more dangerous than a corrupt government hellbent on assassinating the legal protections of our natural rights which have existed for centuries? Would any supporter of the jackboot methodology like to explain to me in a coherent manner why they believe their skewed world view should be shielded from sincere questions? Please, I can't wait to witness the kind of ridiculous mental gymnastics required to make such arguments palatable. If this kind of ignorance wasn't so destructive, it might actually be entertaining. The bottom line is, it doesn't matter if these activists were in Grand Central Terminal, on the streets, or busting through the doors of the Oval Office. While New York authorities will attempt to argue property loopholes in free speech protections for Grand Central, or national security because of the vulnerability of the terminal, really, this has nothing to do with either. This is about the removal of American voices from a room, and nothing more. If the message is going to be suppressed by the mainstream media, and shrugged off by representatives, then protesters must go to where the people are, and make the truth heard by whatever means necessary. [Read more...] City claims Rat population has 'exploded' around Occupy D.C. camps (9 January 2012) The rat population around the two Occupy D.C. camps at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza has "exploded"since protesters began their vigil in October, according to Mohammad N. Akhter, the director of the District's Department of Health. Akhter said in an interview Monday that city health inspectors have seen rats running openly through both camps and spotted numerous new burrows and nests underneath hay-stuffed pallets occupiers are using for beds. Both campsites had working kitchens for weeks until last week, but protesters at McPherson Square voluntarily closed down theirs after health inspectors pointed out unsanitary conditions during an informal monitoring visit. Akhter said his concerns about the health and safety at the camps prompted him to order a city-wide review of conditions there, including input from health inspectors, mental health professionals, experts on the homeless and others. He is reviewing their findings this week. "I'm very supportive of their rights and ability to demonstrate but I have concerns about their personal safety," Akhter said. [Read more...] FAA regulations ground whooping cranes (7 January 2012) Operation Migration, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's partner in the effort to restore whooping crane populations and traditional migratory patterns, is cooperating with the Federal Aviation Administration to resolve the regulatory issues. The organization has applied for a waiver to exempt it from the FAA regulation that prohibits compensating pilots of such aircraft as ultra-lights. If the waiver is approved, the migratory flight can continue. Operation Migration has been piloting ultra-light aircraft to lead young whooping cranes on an eastern migratory route each year since 2001. "(We are) considering alternatives for the whooping cranes if approval of a waiver is significantly delayed," said Peter Fasbender, field project leader for the Fish & Wildlife Service's Green Bay Ecological Services Field Office in New Franken, Wis. "Options could include releasing the cranes at nearby refuges, or possibly transporting them to release sites in Florida at St. Marks and Chassahowitzka national wildlife refuges." This is the fourth year that St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge has been used as wintering grounds for the cranes. It was chosen, along with Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge north of St. Petersburg, because of its suitable habitat and abundance of food and other resources the birds need. Refuge staff will post the day and time of the birds' arrival on its website at www.fws.gov/saintmarks should they be cleared to continue their migratory flight. [Read more...] FAA grounds whooping crane migration (5 January 2012) A group of migrating whooping cranes has been grounded in northwest Alabama as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration decides whether their human guides are allowed to fly with them. The guides are pilots with Operation Migration (OM), the unique Port Perry-based charity whose co-founder inspired the movie Fly Away Home. To teach the endangered young cranes the migration route to their winter refuge in Florida, OM pilots in crane costumes lead them there with ultralight aircraft. According to a statement posted Thursday on the Operation Migration website, this year's group of cranes is now penned in Franklin County, Alabama because of a regulatory imbroglio. The statement said the unresolved question is whether the pilots are flying "for hire." FAA regulations, the statement said, prohibit aircraft of the type OM uses from being flown "for hire or as part of business activities." [Read more...] Legal problem grounds Operation Migration light plane (4 January 2012) The annual migration of whooping cranes from Wisconsin to Florida was recently halted in Alabama. An attorney for Operation Migration said the group voluntarily stopped its journey, after learning that an ultra-light pilot guiding nine baby cranes broke federal rules. The F-A-A prohibits ultra-light pilots from being paid -- and Operation Migration compensates its pilots. Attorney Charles Barnett said the group didn't want to knowingly violate federal rules. He has asked officials to exempt Operation Migration from the payment ban, saying the group tries to protect an endangered species. For more than a decade Operation Migration has reared baby crane chicks in Wisconsin and flew them to Florida. That's where they've met up with other birds, in an effort to expand the crane population in the eastern U-S. The babies are guided in their first year. After that, many make the trip on their own. The International Crane Foundation of Baraboo says there are now 103 whooping cranes in the eastern U-S. [Read more...] Drought threatens surviving Texas whooping cranes (9 January 2012) "I think we're going to lose a bunch again this year," said Tommy Moore, captain of a skimmer boat that takes tourists and bird lovers to view the cranes in Texas' shallow wetlands. "The only thing I've seen them eat, period, is dead fish off the side of the channel ... there's just nothing here to eat," said Moore, who observes the birds nearly every day. A century ago, the whooping cranes' majestic 5-foot frame and mournful call were common across the Texas shoreline and as far away as the East and West coasts. But by the 1940s, the pesticide DDT and disappearing habitat decimated the population, leaving only 14 birds in the whole country. The eventual ban of DDT and efforts by scientists and Gulf Coast residents who view the cranes as a part of the tranquil landscape helped bring the population up to the current estimate of 300 birds. [Read more...] Hope remains despite deadly year for whooping cranes in Louisiana (9 January 2012) Only three of the 10 juvenile cranes reared in captivity and released into the wild nearly a year ago have survived. The death rate is higher than state and federal wildlife managers expected, and they point to the shooting as the primary culprit. "That incident has really knocked us back," said Sara Zimorski, a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologist helping oversee the program. Despite the rough start, state officials are moving forward with plans to bring more cranes to the White Lake area, about 40 miles southeast of Lake Charles. They released a second group of 16 young birds into the marshes in late December. Biologists see the state's wetlands as the best chance to establish a new population of whooping cranes in the wild and to improve the odds for the long-term survival of the tallest North American bird. Today, there are about 600 whooping cranes worldwide, including a wild, migratory flock of 300 that winters on the marshes of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge near Corpus Christi. A second group of about 100 cranes travels between Wisconsin and Florida with ultralight planes as guides. Officials want three distinct groups of cranes because the Aransas flock is at risk. The wintering grounds are vulnerable to rising seas, storms and chemical spills, while drought and diversions of water for growing cities have increased the marshes' salinity, killing the crabs the cranes eat. [Read more...] N.C. to recommend money for sterilization victims (9 January 2012) A task force is planning to recommend how much North Carolina should pay victims of forced sterilization, which would make it the only state in the country to offer compensation for eugenics program victims. Members of the Eugenics Compensation Task Force are expected to settle on a figure Tuesday to recommend to the Legislature, along with deciding who will be eligible for the money. Figures of $20,000 to $50,000 per person have been discussed. North Carolina sterilized more than 7,600 people between 1929 and 1974. The state has so far verified 48 victims, but thinks there are hundreds more still alive. [Read more...] Obama to protect Grand Canyon from uranium mining (9 January 2012) The Obama administration is set to give protection to one of the world's natural wonders, by banning uranium mining on 1m square acres of land around the Grand Canyon. The interior secretary, Ken Salazar, is due to make a formal announcement on Monday of the 20-year ban on new mining claims, at a film screening at the National Geographic Society in Washington. The move, praised by conservation groups, is sure to bring the wrath of the mining industry as well as some Republicans, who argue the ban will cost jobs. The measure does not affect some 3,000 existing mining claims around the canyon, however. Conservation groups said Barack Obama had shown political courage in going ahead with the ban in the face of that opposition. "Despite significant pressure, the president did not settle for a halfway measure," said Jane Danowitz of the Pew Environment Group. [Read more...] Drinkers should have two alcohol-free days a week (9 January 2012) "Sensible" drinking limits were defined 25 years ago as 21 units of alcohol a week for men and 14 for women. But new evidence in the 1990s claiming drinking could help prevent heart disease prompted ministers to advise daily limits of up to four units a day for men and three for women. The Royal College of Physicians' special adviser on alcohol, Sir Ian Gilmore, echoed calls for a review of guidelines and demanded a minimum price for alcohol. He said: "The RCP believes that in addition to quantity, safe alcohol limits must also take into account frequency. "There is an increased risk of liver disease for those who drink daily or near-daily compared with those who drink periodically or intermittently." [Read more...] Renewable energy projects in California go unused (9 January 2012) Millions of dollars in renewable energy projects intended to provide power to facilities in California's national parks and forests are sitting idle because of a years-long squabble with Southern California Edison. A new $800,000 solar project at Death Valley National Park, photovoltaic panels at the state-of-the art visitors center at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and a solar power system at the U.S. Forest Service's new facility at Mono Lake are among dozens of taxpayer-funded projects in Southern California on hold as the federal agencies try to hash out an agreement with SCE to tie the projects to the state's electrical grid. The apparent stumbling block involves contract restrictions imposed by federal law, but utilities elsewhere in California have signed similar agreements with the agencies with few problems or delays. "There's 24-plus systems in the Southern California Edison area that have been installed in the last three years that we have not been able to negotiate an interconnection agreement on," said Jack Williams, who retired this month as the National Park Service's Oakland-based regional facilities manager. "We think we are close at times, but then nothing. We were successful with PG&E, but with Southern California Edison.... They have been a bit more difficult. We've raised the flag many times. It's an issue for all federal agencies." [Read more...] U.S. families pay a record $4,200 for gasoline in 2011 (9 January 2012) As painful numbers go, try this: A typical American family spent nearly $4,200 on gasoline in 2011, more than any year ever before. Whether families end up pouring even more cash into their gas tanks during 2012 is an unknown. The answer, though, will likely have a major impact on economic growth and may even influence presidential politics as the November election approaches, market experts say. For now, the national average for a gallon of unleaded regular was $3.351 on Friday, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report. In Wisconsin the average price was $3.339, and in metro Milwaukee it was $3.347. Enjoy it while it lasts. [Read more...] Iran sentences 'CIA agent' to death (9 January 2012) The US State Department has demanded Hekmati's release. The court convicted him of working with a hostile country, belonging to the CIA and trying to accuse Iran of involvement in terrorism, Monday's report said. In its ruling, a branch of Tehran Revolutionary Court described Hekmati as a mohareb, an Islamic term that means a fighter against God, and a mofsed, or one who spreads corruption on earth. Both terms appear frequently in Iranian court rulings. In a closed court hearing in late December, the prosecution asked for the death penalty for Hekmati. The US government has called on Iranian authorities to grant Swiss diplomats access to him in prison. The Swiss government represents US interests in Iran because the two countries don't have diplomatic relations. Hekmati is a dual US-Iranian national. Iran considers him an Iranian since the country's law does not recognise dual citizenship. [Read more...] Haiti quake camps still home to 500,000 (8 January 2012) While UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former U.S. president Bill Clinton and others vowed that the world would help Haiti "build back better," and $2.38 billion has been spent, Haitians have hardly seen any building at all. At the time, grand ambitions were voiced for a Haiti rebuilt on modern lines. New housing would replace shantytowns and job-generating industry would be spread out to ease the human crush of Port-au-Prince, the sprawling capital with its three million people. But now the government seems to be going back to basics, nurturing small, community-based projects designed to bring the homeless back to their old neighbourhoods to build, renovate and find jobs through friends. The reasons for the slow progress are many. Beyond being among the world's poorest nations and a frequent victim of destructive weather, Haiti's land registry is in chaos -- a drag on reconstruction because it's not always clear who owns what land. Then there's a political standoff that went on for more than a year and still hobbles decision-making. [Read more...] Officials: Evidence threshold is high for rape charges (8 January 2012) The father of the student who said she was assaulted off-campus said his conversation with Muir left him frustrated and angry - and fearful for other women. Police and prosecutors, he said, seem willing to go forward only in "slam-dunk cases" such as that of Joshua Peltier, convicted last week of raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in 2010. Peltier's case involved the statistically rare instance of a stranger violently assaulting a woman. There also was a DNA match in the case. "But before there was DNA, all rape cases were 'he said/she said,' " said the father, a former police officer and now a professor of criminal justice. "We still prosecuted." In less clear-cut cases, he said, "is the guy just supposed to get away with it? "What message does that send to female students? You're fair game?" [Read more...] Six arrested in latest Occupy Oakland march (8 January 2012) Six people were arrested during a march staged by Occupy Oakland protesters to protest what they called previous police mistreatment of demonstrators. The showdown Saturday night happened at the corner of Ninth and Washington streets, just blocks from Oakland police headquarters and the scene of an Oct. 25 clash in which protesters had thrown paint at riot officers, prompting police to fire tear gas. Saturday night's arrests took place during a march from Frank Ogawa Plaza outside Oakland City Hall to the Oakland Police Department. The event began peacefully as several dozen protesters began walking along Broadway holding a banner reading "F- the police." Organizers said the march was called to highlight what they called police abuse, repression and harassment against Occupy protesters. Frank Ogawa Plaza has been the main gathering spot for Occupy Oakland activists since fall. Police dismantled large encampments there Oct. 25 and Nov. 14, arresting demonstrators each time. On Wednesday night, police arrested 12 protesters and dismantled a teepee outside City Hall. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Again, aside from the Constitutional issue, it's amazing that cops in Oakland have time for this... Shadows of 9/11 truth: Prudential building in Houston's problems with ASBESTOS and foundation repair solved by IMPLOSION (8 January 2012) Some curious on-lookers found their way onto outlying parking garages waiting for the building to fall while others parked their cars on a grassy field on the corner of Braeswood and Fannin. MD Anderson employees waited in anticipation -- some standing in the observation deck of the Alkek Hospital hoping to watch the building fall, recalling how beautiful the building once was where it stood, with its lush gardens and lavish pool. "In its glory days it was an impressive building, but it was time for it to come down," said Sarah Watson, a spokeswoman for MD Anderson. The aging foundation made the building costly to maintain. The structure was also sinking and had asbestos, officials said. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: How is it legal to implode a building with ASBESTOS? I guess they don't need to attack it with planes these days and then demand a fat insurance settlement afterwards -- they just knock it down and it's tough luck for anyone who happens to be breathing the air at the time. Asbestos in the WTC; Towers' Destruction 'Solved' Asbestos Problem (FLASHBACK) (12 August 2006) The Twin Towers had large amounts of asbestos fireproofing which would have necessitated costly removal had they remained standing. The exact amount and distribution of the asbestos in the Towers remains unclear, like other details of the buildings' construction and history, but the evidence suggests that the cost of its removal may have rivaled the value of the buildings themselves. Two independent lines of evidence may help to establish the magnitude of the asbestos problem in the Twin Towers: analysis of samples of the dust from the Towers' collapses, and reports about the application and removal of asbestos in the buildings prior to their destruction. A region of several square miles was blanketed by fine powder resulting from the explosive collapses of the Twin Towers. This powder, consisting of the pulverized remains of non-metallic components and contents of the Towers, contained significant percentages of asbestos. 1 An analysis of dust within three days of the attack found that some of the dust was four percent asbestos. 2 This asbestos release may be a public health time bomb, because thousands of people breathed dust from the collapses. It remains to be seen how many if them will become victims of the EPA's false assurances that the air was safe to breathe. A report by the Arnold & Porter law firm provides some details on the asbestos application and removal. "The WTC Towers were built from 1968 to 1972. A slurry mixture of asbestos and cement was sprayed on as fireproofing material. But this practice was banned by the New York City Council in 1971. This halted the spraying, but not before hundreds of tons of the material had been applied. Some but not all of it was later removed in an abatement program." While providing no quantitative data beyond that there were "hundreds of tons" of the asbestos-containing material, we note that the ban went into effect near the end of the Towers' construction, so we can assume that asbestos covered the steel skeletons through most of the height of each of the Towers. [Read more...] Eastern Montana hit hard by deer-killing disease (8 January 2012) BILLINGS - White-tailed deer populations in parts of eastern Montana and elsewhere in the Northern Plains could take years to recover from a devastating disease that killed thousands of the animals in recent months, wildlife officials and hunting outfitters said. In northeast Montana, officials said 90 percent or more of whitetail have been killed along a 100-mile stretch of the Milk River from Malta to east of Glasgow. Whitetail deaths also have been reported along the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in western North Dakota and eastern Montana and scattered sites in Wyoming, South Dakota and eastern Kansas. The deaths are being attributed to an outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD. Transmitted by biting midges, EHD causes internal bleeding that can kill infected animals within just a few days. "I've been here 21 years and it was worse than any of us here have seen," said Pat Gunderson, the Glasgow-based regional supervisor for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "Right now it's going to take a few years to get things back to even a moderate population." In North Dakota, state wildlife chief Randy Kreil described the outbreak as the most extensive and deadly in two decades. [Read more...] Let there be ... less light pollution (7 January 2012) When light pollution first was raised as an issue, it seemed a jest, an effete-tree-hugger crusade. All that artificial light isn't toxic ... is it? I was witness to epiphany -- someone else's. At the end of a rugged day on a forest fire in Colorado, I should've been snuggled in a sleeping bag, but was distracted. Our camp sprawled in a high, remote meadow. The Milky Way was dense and bright, like a sun-drenched cloud. Stars seemed poised at the ridge crests, almost in touch. After dusk I strolled beyond a pool of lantern light into the glare of the galaxy. I stared at the sky, unwilling to surrender to sleep. On the second night I was trailed by Y.T., a Vietnam veteran who over the prior two days had related horrifying, mesmerizing tales. He'd seen everything, but not the night sky, not like this. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: Of course the time of year matters, and the sky near Yosemite was beautiful, but I've never seen a night sky as amazing as rural Montana's. U.S. orders expulsion of Venezuelan consul (8 January 2012) "In accordance with Article 23 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the department declared Ms Livia Acosta Noguera, Venezuelan consul general to Miami, to be persona non grata. As such, she must depart the United States by January 10," he said. "We cannot comment on specific details behind the decision to declare Ms Acosta persona non grata at this time," he added in a statement. The State Department had said last month it was looking into "very disturbing" allegations that Noguera was a participant in an alleged Iranian plot to launch cyber-attacks on sensitive US national security facilities. The allegations were made in a documentary that aired on the Spanish-language television network Univision. [Read more...] Cambodia's lost temple, reclaimed from the jungle after 800 years (8 January 2012) The haunting monastic complex is so entwined in jungle vines and mystery that it could be the set of an Indiana Jones film. But it is not. It is one of the great historic treasures of south-east Asia, and is slowly awakening after eight centuries of isolated slumber. The dramatic towers, bas-reliefs and dark chambers of Cambodia's Banteay Chhmar make it a far more atmospheric place than its famous twin at Angkor Wat. What drove Jayavarman VII, regarded as the greatest king of the Angkorian Empire, to erect this vast Buddhist temple about 105 miles (170km) from his capital in Angkor, and in one of the most desolate and driest places in Cambodia, remains one of its many unsolved riddles. Called the "second Angkor Wat", Banteay Chhmar approaches it in size, is more frozen in time than the manicured and made-over superstar, and has so far been spared the blights of mass tourism of recent years at Angkor. In 2011, an average of 7,000 visitors a day went to Angkor, making it one of Asia's top tourist draws. Banteay Chhmar, meanwhile, saw an average of two a day, with no tour buses and bullhorn-wielding guides to disturb the temple's tranquillity or traditional life in the surrounding village. Abandoned for centuries, then cut off from the world by civil war and the murderous Khmer Rouge, Banteay Chhmar didn't welcome visitors until 2007, when the last landmines were cleared and the looting that plagued the defenceless temple in the 1990s was largely halted. A year later, the California-based Global Heritage Fund began work at the site under the overall control of the country's Ministry of Culture, and now spends about $200,000 a year on the project. [Read more...] Debate Over Appointees Hinges On One Word: Recess (7 January 2012) President Obama took a controversial step this week in making appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and National Labor Relations Board during what the White House considered a congressional recess, bypassing any objections from lawmakers. Late Friday, Republicans in both the House and Senate sent letters to the White House asking why Obama had ignored 90 years of legal precedent. And prominent conservatives -- including a former attorney general under President Reagan -- floated the idea that GOP senators could filibuster all of Obama's other nominees or hold up "must pass" legislation. But White House officials say it's the GOP that's ignoring history. The debate over the appointments comes down to the meaning of a single word: recess. [Read more...] New Zealand public urged: Stay clear of split ship Rena's junk (8 January 2012) Action has been taken to prevent people from taking items which washed ashore this morning from the Rena. Containers, milk powder and polystyrene debris were found at the beach, 60 kilometres north of the split ship's grounding point near Tauranga. Fire Brigade volunteers have been clearing away people who had been coming onto the beach to take pictures, though most were respecting calls to stay away from the debris. The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is advising boaties to stay off the water in the affected area. The harbour master has established a cautionary area along the western Bay of Plenty, stretching from Waihi Beach to Maketu, where boaties should navigate "with extreme caution", keeping a lookout for debris and travelling through the area only in daylight. [Read more...] Va. prisons' use of solitary confinement is scrutinized (8 January 2012) RICHMOND -- At Red Onion State Prison, built on a mountaintop in a remote pocket of southwest Virginia, more than two-thirds of the inmates live in solitary confinement. In a state where about 1 in 20 prisoners are held in solitary, Red Onion, a so-called supermax prison, isolates more inmates than any other facility, keeping more than 500 of its nearly 750 charges alone for 23 hours a day in cells the size of a doctor's exam room. Virginia, one of 44 states that use solitary confinement, has 1,800 people in isolation, a sizable share of the estimated 25,000 people in solitary in the nation's state and federal prisons. As more becomes known about the effects of isolation -- on inmate health, public safety and prison budgets -- some states have begun to reconsider the practice, among them Texas, which, like Virginia, is known as a law-and-order state. [Read more...] PAM COMMENTARY: It may be physically safer for some of them, though. Need earlier news? Visit Pam's NEWS LINK ARCHIVES Sources (if found on major alternative news boards) -- you may want to look at these boards yourself, as they're much more extensive than my site: [AJ] - InfoWars.com, PrisonPlanet.com, or other Alex Jones-affiliated sites [BF] - BuzzFlash.com [DN] - DemocracyNow.org [R] - Rense.com [WRH] - WhatReallyHappened.com ...and a few other news sources (a work in progress) --------------------------- Banner and artwork photo information
	Click here to send Pam an e-mail! (No attachments please -- they will be deleted without notice.) [Page created July 1998; last modified December 2011] __________ All original content including photographs © 1997 through 2011 by Pam Rotella. (News excerpts copyright by their corresponding authors, news organizations, or other copyright holders, and quoted here typically as "fair use" or "teaser" paragraphs to generate interest in the full articles.)