Country star in the makin...
A California school district has approved a mandatory homosexual curriculum for children as young as 5 – and parents will not be allowed to remove their children from the lessons.
The mandatory program, officially titled "LGBT Lesson #9," was approved May 26 by the Alameda County Board of Education by a vote of 3-2. Students from kindergarten through fifth grade will learn about "tolerance" for the homosexual lifestyle beginning next year.
The curriculum is in addition to the school's current anti-bullying program and is estimated to cost $8,000 for curriculum and training.
Parents will not be given an opportunity to opt-out of lessons that go against their religious beliefs. Some parents are threatening to sue the school board and mount a recall. Opponents presented a petition with 468 signatures from people who don't want the homosexual lessons in the curriculum.
video:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/...
By VIVIENNE WALT / PARIS Vivienne Walt / Paris – Fri May 29, 7:05 am ET
Storage tankers across the globe may be brimming with oil that no one is buying because of the global economic downturn, but the traditional laws of supply and demand don't always apply to oil prices. Drivers have faced rising prices at the gas pump in recent months, as investors and oil-producing countries hoard supplies in anticipation of a global economic recovery later this year.
The 12 member countries of the OPEC cartel voted in Vienna on Thursday to maintain output at current levels rather than increase supplies in order to bring some relief to consumers, particularly in the gas-guzzling West. The OPEC oil ministers, whose countries account for about 40% of the world's entire crude-oil supply, also renewed their commitment to stick to their agreed quotas, rather than ship extra oil, as they began doing last April when several members ignored their agreed output limits. OPEC leaders, many of whose economies are heavily dependent on oil exports, have struggled to stabilize prices at a level that suits their own economic needs amid falling demand and rising supplies. Prices had rocketed to a record level of $147 a barrel last July before plummeting to $30 just five months later and beginning a new climb.
Oil analysts believe OPEC's decisions on Thursday could help push oil prices even higher; oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange have risen 36% in just two months, to about $63.46 a barrel on Thursday. And that appears to be on track to achieve targets set by OPEC leaders. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi - OPEC's key power player - said Wednesday that oil prices ought to rise to between $75 and $80 a barrel by the end of the year. "Demand is picking up, especially in Asia," he told reporters puffing alongside him as he jogged through the streets of Vienna. "The price rise is a function of optimism that better things are coming in the future."
The economic recovery Naimi so optimistically predicts would certainly be vital to oil-producing countries, whose own economies would be imperiled by a drawn-out recession. Oil demand in rich countries has crashed since the onset of the economic crisis last year, and is now at its lowest level since about 1981, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency. U.S. oil inventories - the stored surplus - this month reached their highest level since the 1980s. And about 2.6 billion barrels are currently stored in commercial tankers around the world. "There is some risk we will run out of storage space in the next four to six weeks," says Simon Wardell, director of global oil at IHS Global Insight, an energy-forecasting company in London. To oil-rich countries that possibility evokes grim memories of 1998, when the Asian economic crisis sent demand plummeting, driving world oil prices down to $10 a barrel. "If we run out of storage it could prompt a collapse in the price," says Wardell. Oil producers might then choose to dramatically cut output in order to run down the surplus.
Despite such dangers, investors and oil producers are betting that global demand will roar back, apparently hoping that the recession has already hit bottom. Over the past two months, investors have plowed billions of dollars into oil futures. If the U.S. and other major industrial economies rebound, oil supplies could be depleted because the recession has prompted producer nations to freeze hundreds of projects to open new oil wells or upgrade existing ones. In the oil-rich Niger Delta, a major Nigerian government offensive against rebels has seriously disrupted production for several weeks. Venezuela's Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said in Vienna that his country could not afford to invest in major new oil exploration unless prices rise further. "We need a level of at least $70 [a barrel] to recuperate investment," he said on Thursday. Muhammad-Ali Zainy, senior energy analyst at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London, says oil demand could increase quickly once the recession ends, especially as China has begun to build up its strategic oil reserves. "We think the price is going to go up gradually," says Zainy.
For those feeling the pain at the gas pumps, however, there is one piece of good news. Oil is unlikely to hit $147 a barrel again - at least not during the coming decades. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that oil prices would likely rise to $110 a barrel by 2015 and $130 a barrel by 2030. By that time the world oil markets might once again follow the normal rules of economics.
Britain's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan wants people to lay off Susan Boyle.
According to British reports, the 48-year-old Scottish singing sensation -- who won over millions with a YouTube performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables and advanced to the finals last weekend with her rendition of "Memory" from Cats -- cussed out two strangers in the lobby of the Wembley Plaza Hotel in North London on Wednesday.
When police intervened, she broke down in tears and stormed off. (A rep for Boyle tells London's The Times that the incident was caused by a pesky reporter. "A journalist from a tabloid paper provoked her, the police just happened to be at the hotel and escorted said journalist out after making sure Susan was OK," the spokesperson told the paper.)
It wasn't her only outburst this week: Boyle also reportedly cussed at a television set in the hotel bar Tuesday after she heard judge Morgan praise rival singer Shaheen Jafargholi, 12, on Britain's Got Talent. (Her rep denies the incident.)
On CBS' The Early Show Thursday, Morgan said he's "feeling more supportive" of Boyle "today than I was before, because I feel really sorry for Susan.
"From what I hear," he told co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez, "she's been in tears the last two days. She even threatened to leave the show yesterday at one stage, because of the sheer amount of pressure on her.
"And you have to remember with Susan, she's a 48-year-old lady from a tiny village in Scotland who has never been exposed to anything like this kind of attention. And I think she's really feeling the heat.
"The hotel she's in is crawling in tourists, crawling in the media. I think maybe she overreacted. I don't know what happened. She denies, apparently, some of the things that have been reported.
"But either way, I know she's feeling a lot of pressure, and I think that most people watching this show and hearing about this will feel natural sympathy toward her. And I just hope it all calms down for the final. Because, on Saturday, she sings for the competition."
By JB Williams Tuesday, March 24, 2009
After trillions in taxpayer debt has been foolishly poured into the bottomless black hole of leftist wealth redistribution programs, under the guise of economic “stimulus” or “stabilization” legislation, the new “ONE World” government running Washington DC announces; Geithner, Bernanke Call for New Wind-Down Powers After AIG… and the people still sit silent as they watch Obamanation grow in unbridled power.
Geithner Asks Congress for even Broader Power to Seize private Firms as the average American stumbles through their daily routine as if nothing is happening. Canada Free Press managing editor Judi McLeod writes No cheerleader for propping up greenback at G20 summit asking, “Is the table being set for One World Government rather than speeding the recovery of the worldwide recession at next week’s G20 London summit?”
Obamanation has taken the nation from a trillion in debt to over $4 trillion in debt in the first sixty days, with even more federal spending promised, which could put the nation $10 trillion in debt before the 2010 mid-term election cycle. Amnesty for illegals and ACORN led redistricting will make 2010 and beyond a moot point.
Still, beyond the movement to mail tea bags to members of congress or file another legal demand for proof of Obama’s constitutional eligibility for the office he holds, both of which are like whistling in the breeze, the people remain largely silent.
Threatened with a Soup Line Existence
The American people would never trade personal freedom for the false promise of federally redistributed free-stuff under some ill-fated socialist experiment, unless they were first threatened with a soup line existence.
And so it shall be…
50% of their life savings and 30% of their home values have already evaporated into thin air. National unemployment is driving towards double digits as home foreclosures continue to mound.
With their backs against the wall, confused by a daily diet of media manipulated headlines aimed at scaring the public into submission, convinced that our nation’s complex woes demand a solution far too complicated for the average peasant to comprehend, the people find themselves in a state of terminal paralysis.
Incompetent Evil in Charge
The same people responsible for the many disasters now surrounding every American household, were elected in 2006 and 2008 to fix what they broke. Instead of reversing course and placing their faith in the principles of freedom, they are installing more of the same failed entitlement policies that created the problem and they are doing so at a fever pace.
The folks currently in charge of the nation don’t like anything at all about the nation that once was. They have a very different vision for America, one based on redistribution of free-stuff, not equal access to freedom.
At the foundation of personal freedom is the right to make your own decisions, invest and risk your own capital, own your own property and keep that which you are willing to work and sacrifice to earn. It’s called economic freedom, aka capitalism.
But capitalism is public enemy #1 in America today, thanks to decades of class warfare and the art of division via social envy, all for purpose of political gain.
Life, Liberty and the right to individually define and pursue Happiness has been replaced with the right of some to take from others against their will, in the name of a greater common good, better defined as the entitlement mentality.
The Change Agents New World Dictionary
Old concepts have been redefined. Capitalism is now referred to as Fascism. Personal ambition is now called greed. Those who seek access to other people’s rightful earnings are called charitable, and those who demand a right to only that, which they earn, are called greedy.
It isn’t just the words that have new definitions. The concepts have new meaning as a result.
Words like socialism and communism no longer have a negative connotation attached to them. Most Americans have no idea what they are anymore, or why they don’t want to find out the hard way.
The concept of liberal interpretations limits the meaning of words only to one’s individual imagination. The Constitution means only what someone imagines it to mean. If the shoe doesn’t quite fit, a new definition will solve the problem.
What are Americans Waiting For?
I don’t know what it will take to wake up the average American, but whatever it is, it hasn’t happened yet…
The people currently stocking up on food, water, guns and ammo in record numbers, causing shortages in all the above at the retail level, are clearly awake and anticipating something, but what? Meet the “extremists...”
The people still trying to get a court somewhere in America to hear the arguments concerning the most secretive corrupt president in US history, have been awake for a long time. Meet the “birthers...” But they continue to have trouble waking anyone else up, including in the so-called halls of justice.
Is it a bankrupt dollar and a new international currency that will get their attention? - A North American Union? - An ACORN Army on their doorstep? What will be the final straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back?
I don’t have the answer… Frankly, I expected the people to revolt long before now. Clearly, I had underestimated the depth of apathy and tolerance for anti-American nonsense in the average modern American. But then, so did our nation’s founders, whom I’m certain are rolling over in their graves in disgust by now.
The Silent Consent Continues
Nobody knows for how long or at what expense, but so far, the people remain silent and Washington continues to profitably interpret that silence as broad-based consent.
At this late date, I have no idea what will wake up the average American or how they might react once finally awake and ready to engage in self-governance. However, I am sure about two things…
When they finally do awake, they are going to be really angry…
And, the anti-American left won’t let up until then…
The clock isn’t just ticking. Time has already run out as of the 2008 election. Washington DC is currently dismantling America, individual right by individual right, in an unprecedented massive multi-faceted assault on all things American.
If you are not familiar with the Democratic Socialists of America or their legislative branch, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, I strongly suggest that you take time to learn them well. They are in charge of your nation. This is who the average American is up against and they are a very well funded and organized enemy of the state.
You will not be able to take your country back without putting these two organizations out of business. The longer you wait, the tougher the battle, the higher the price.
Clearly, the organizational skills of the average American are equal only to that of the stumbling bumbling Republican Party. Fragmented, distracted and disorganized, the people are no match for the leftist juggernaut running roughshod in DC.
The people are lost, so they are losing… The most complex problems require the simplest of solutions. But the average American is so baffled by a daily diet of elitist B.S., that they cannot even see daylight… – When all else fails, return to the basics!
Here’s to the average American waking up in time! - Good luck!
http://www.canadafreepress....
And it came to pass in the Age of Insanity that the people of the land called America, having lost their morals, their work initiative, and their will to defend their liberties, chose as their Supreme Leader that person known as "The One".
He emerged from the vapors with a message that had no meaning; but He hypnotized the people telling them, "I am sent to save you."
"My lack of experience, my questionable ethics, my monstrous ego, and my association with evil doers are of no consequence. For I shall save you with Hope and Change. Go, therefore, and proclaim throughout the land that he who preceded me is evil, that he has defiled the nation, and that all he has built must be destroyed."
And the people rejoiced, for even though they knew not what "The One" would do, he had promised that he would bring change, and they proclaimed "Yes We Can".
And "The One" said "We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me
change everything about it!" And the people said, "Hallelujah!! Change is good!"
Then He said, "We are going to tax the rich fat-cats,"---- And the people said "Sock it to them!" " and "Redistribute their wealth."
And then He said, "Redistribution of wealth is good for everybody" And the people said, "Show us the money!"
And Joe the plumber asked, "Are you kidding me? You're going to steal my money and give it to the deadbeats??"
And "The One" ridiculed and taunted him, and Joe's personal records were hacked, publicized, and ridiculed; though no crime could be found.
One lone reporter asked, "That shouldn't be, isn't that Marxist policy?"
And she was banished from the kingdom!
Then a citizen asked, "With no foreign relations experience and having zero military experience or knowledge, how will you deal with radical terrorists?"
And "The One" said, "Simple. I shall sit with them and talk kindly to them and show them how nice we really are; and they will forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!"
And the people said, "Hallelujah!! We are safe at last, and we can beat our weapons into free cars for the people!"
Then "The One" said, "I shall give 95% of you lower taxes."
And one, lone voice said, "But 40% of us don't pay ANY taxes."
So "The One" said, "Then I shall give you some of the taxes the fat-cats
pay!" And the people said, "Hallelujah!! Show us the money!"
Then "The One" said, "I shall tax your Capital Gains when you sell your
homes!" And the people yawned and the already slumping housing
market fully collapsed.
And He said, "I shall mandate employer-funded health care for EVERY worker and raise the minimum wage, and lower the white collar
wage. And I shall also give every person unlimited healthcare and medicine and even transportation to the free clinics."
And the people said, "Give me some of that!"
Then he said, "I shall penalize employers who ship jobs overseas."
And the people said, "Where's my rebate check?"
Then "The One" said, "I shall bankrupt the coal industry, and perhaps even the oil industry (Cap & Trade/Carbon Tax) and though electricity rates will skyrocket, we shall soon build wind farms and solar power stations and drive green cars that I shall mandate in Detroit!"
And the people said, "Coal is dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don’t care for that part about higher electric rates."
So "The One" said, "Not to worry. If your rebate ($10/week) isn't enough to cover your extra expenses ($3,000/year), we shall bail you out. Just sign up with ACORN and your troubles are over!" "Only the fat cats will have to pay."
Then He said, "Illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted. Let's grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches, free medical care, bi-lingual signs and guaranteed housing..."
And the people said, "Hallelujah!!" And they made him King!
And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers; though they sold much less of their products. Others simply gave up and went out of business, and the economy sank like unto a rock dropped from a cliff.
The banking industry was destroyed. Manufacturing slowed to a crawl. And more of the people were without a means of support.
So "The One" again blamed the prior administration, extended unemployment benefits to a year, bailed out his favorite banks, and then took over the banks and auto industries.
"The One" said, "I am the "The One" The Messiah - and I'm here to save you! We shall just print more money so the government will have enough!" "Surely one trillion dollars will make everyone happy." And immediately the Fed complied and the money presses roared.
And China reconsidered their one trillion dollars of loans to the US,, and threatened to call in their debts. Other foreign trading partners said unto
"The One", "Wait a minute. Your dollar is not worth a pile of camel dung!
You will have to pay more for everything as your dollar becomes worthless."
And the people said, "Wait a minute.. That is unfair!!"
And the world said, "Neither are these other idiotic programs you have embraced. Lo, you have become a Socialist state and a second-rate power.
What factories are not owned by your government are owned by us. Now you shall play by our rules!"
And "The One" said "Americans are arrogant, divisive, and derisive!" "We will listen."
And the people cried out, "Alas, alas!! What have we done?"
But yea verily, it was too late. The people eventually set upon "The One" and spat upon him and stoned him, and his name was dung. But the once mighty nation was no more; and the once proud people were without sustenance or shelter or hope. And the Change that "The One" had given them was as like unto a poison that had destroyed them from within, and like a whirlwind that consumed all that they had built.
And the people beat their chests in despair and cried out in anguish, "Give us back our nation and our pride and our hope!!" But it was too late, and the once-glorious "Home of the Brave and Land of the Free" was no more..
You may think this is a fairy tale, but it's not. It's happening RIGHT NOW, Already---- everything down to the last couple of lines....
PARIS (AFP) – Melting permafrost could eventually disgorge a billion tonnes a year of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, accelerating the threat from climate change, scientists said Wednesday.
Their probe sought to shed light on a fiercely-debated but poorly-understood concern: the future of organic matter that today is locked up in the frozen soil of Alaska, Canada, northern Europe and Siberia.
The fear is that, as the land thaws, this material will be converted by microbes into carbon dioxide, which will seep into the atmosphere, adding to the greenhouse effect.
This in turn will stoke warming and cause more permafrost to thaw, which in turn pushes up temperatures, and so on.
But how and when this vicious cycle could be unleashed is unclear.
Indeed, some voices have argued that it will not present a significant threat, as plants will start to grow on the soggy, warmer earth and suck in carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, thus blunting the problem.
A team led by University of Florida ecology professor Ted Schuur investigated an area of tundra at Eight Mile Lake in central Alaska, where permafrost thaw has been monitored since 1990 but had begun to start many years before.
Schuur's team used hand-built, automated chambers, which they deployed at three sites that represented minimal, moderate and extensive amounts of thaw.
From 2004 to 2006, the chambers measured how much carbon was escaping from the soil and how much was being absorbed by any vegetation.
In areas that had thawed for the previous 15 years, there was a net uptake of carbon, meaning that the newly-established plants sucked up more CO2 than was lost from the soil.
But in areas that had begun to thaw decades before, the reverse was true.
There was a net loss of CO2, the principal greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, as older stocks of carbon were gradually released to the atmosphere.
"At first, with the plants offsetting the carbon dioxide, it will appear that everything is fine, but this actually conceals the initial destabilisation of permafrost carbon," Schuur said in a press release.
"But it doesn't last, because there is so much carbon in the permafrost that eventually the plants can't keep up."
Most of the 13 million square kilometres (five million square miles) of permafrost remain frozen, but thawing is already under way around the region's southern fringes and is thought likely to expand this century.
In that scenario, the permafrost could release around a billion tonnes a year of carbon, roughly equivalent to the contribution to greenhouse emissions each year by deforestation in the tropics, the paper said.
Even as the Arctic greens, the rising loss of older carbon "could make permafrost a large biospheric carbon source in a warmer world," it said.
Burning fossil fuels adds about 8.5 gigatonnes of emissions each year, but it is a process that can theoretically be controlled.
Permafrost thaw, though, would be self-reinforcing and could be almost impossible to brake.
"It's not an option to be putting insulation on top of the tundra," Schuur said.
"If we address our own emissions either by reducing deforestation or controlling emissions from fossil fuels, that's the key to minimising the changes in the permafrost carbon pool."
While watching the travel channel this afternoon I came across this donut shop in Portland. They make some really different donuts..some are kinky I can live without that, but the one that peeked my interest is the maple donut with bacon ontop. The interviewer said it was kind of a strange combination The owner explained its taste was like a pancake topped with maple syrup and a side of bacon..
http://voodoodoughnut.com/i...
It's too bad they aren't a chain store or atleast another donut shop down here made the effort to pick up on some of their unusual inventory..hint hint
LONDON(AFP) (AFP) – US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Tuesday the Obama administration wanted to paint roofs an energy-reflecting white, as he took part in a climate change symposium in London.
The Nobel laureate in physics called for a "new revolution" in energy generation to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
But he warned there was no silver bullet for tackling climate change, and said a range of measures should be introduced, including painting flat roofs white.
Making roads and roofs a paler colour could have the equivalent effect of taking every car in the world off the road for 11 years, Chu said.
It was a geo-engineering scheme that was "completely benign" and would keep buildings cooler and reduce energy use from air conditioning, as well as reflecting sunlight back away from the Earth.
For people who found white hard on the eye, scientists had also developed "cool colours" which looked to the human eye like normal ones, but reflect heat like pale colours even if they are darker shades.
And painting cars in cool or light colours could deliver considerable savings on energy use for air conditioning units, he said.
Speaking at the start of a symposium on climate change hosted by the Prince of Wales and attended by more than 20 Nobel laureates, Chu said fresh thinking was required to cut the amount of carbon created by power generation.
He said: "The industrial revolution was a revolution in the use of energy. It offloaded from human and animal power into using fossil fuels.
"We have to go to a different new revolution that can severely decrease the amount of carbon emissions in the generation of energy."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp...
By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer Hyung-jin Kim, Associated Press Writer – 35 mins ago
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea threatened military action Wednesday against U.S. and South Korean warships plying the waters near the Koreas' disputed maritime border, raising the specter of a naval clash just days after the regime's underground nuclear test.
Pyongyang, reacting angrily to Seoul's decision to join an international program to intercept ships suspected of aiding nuclear proliferation, called the move tantamount to a declaration of war.
"Now that the South Korean puppets were so ridiculous as to join in the said racket and dare declare a war against compatriots," North Korea is "compelled to take a decisive measure," the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a statement carried by state media.
The North Korean army called it a violation of the armistice the two Koreas signed in 1953 to end their three-year war, and said it would no longer honor the treaty.
South Korea's military said Wednesday it was prepared to "respond sternly" to any North Korean provocation.
North Korea's latest belligerence comes as the U.N. Security Council debates how to punish the regime for testing a nuclear bomb Monday in what President Barack Obama called a "blatant violation" of international law.
Ambassadors from the five permanent veto-wielding council members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — as well as Japan and South Korea were working out the details of a new resolution.
The success of any new sanctions would depend on how aggressively China, one of North Korea's only allies, implements them.
"It's not going too far to say that China holds the keys on sanctions," said Kim Sung-han, an international relations professor at Seoul's Korea University.
South Korea, divided from the North by a heavily fortified border, had responded to the nuclear test by joining the Proliferation Security Initiative, a U.S.-led network of nations seeking to stop ships from transporting the materials used in nuclear bombs.
Seoul previously resisted joining the PSI in favor of seeking reconciliation with Pyongyang, but pushed those efforts aside Monday after the nuclear test in the northeast.
North Korea warned Wednesday that any attempt to stop, board or inspect its ships would constitute a "grave violation."
The regime also said it could no longer promise the safety of U.S. and South Korean warships and civilian vessels in the waters near the Korea's western maritime border.
"They should bear in mind that the (North) has tremendous military muscle and its own method of strike able to conquer any targets in its vicinity at one stroke or hit the U.S. on the raw, if necessary," the army said in a statement carried by state media.
The maritime border has long been a flashpoint between the two Koreas. North Korea disputes the line unilaterally drawn by the United Nations at the end of the Koreas' three-year war in 1953, and has demanded it be redrawn further south.
The truce signed in 1953 and subsequent military agreements call for both sides to refrain from warfare, but doesn't cover the waters off the west coast.
North Korea has used the maritime border dispute to provoke two deadly naval skirmishes — in 1999 and 2002.
On Wednesday, the regime promised "unimaginable and merciless punishment" for anyone daring to challenge its ships.
Pyongyang also reportedly restarted its weapons-grade nuclear plant, South Korean media said.
The Chosun Ilbo newspaper said U.S. spy satellites detected signs of steam at the North's Yongbyon nuclear complex, an indication it may have started reprocessing nuclear fuel. The report, which could not be confirmed, quoted an unidentified government official. South Korea's Yonhap news agency also carried a similar report.
The move would be a major setback for efforts aimed at getting North Korea to disarm.
North Korea had stopped reprocessing fuel rods as part of an international deal. In 2007, it agreed to disable the Yongbyon reactor in exchange for aid and demolished a cooling tower at the complex.
The North has about 8,000 spent fuel rods which, if reprocessed, could allow it to harvest 13 to 18 pounds (six to eight kilograms) of plutonium — enough to make at least one nuclear bomb, experts said. North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium for at least a half dozen atomic bombs.
Further ratcheting up tensions, North Korea test-fired five short-range missiles over the past two days, South Korean officials confirmed.
Russia's foreign minister said world powers must be firm with North Korea but take care to avoid inflaming tensions further.
The world "must not rush to punish North Korea just for punishment's sake," Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that Russia wants a Security Council resolution that will help restart stalled six-nation talks over North Korea's nuclear programs and will not provoke Pyongyang into even more aggressive activity.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak urged officials to "remain calm" in the face of North Korean threats, said Lee Dong-kwan, his spokesman.
Pyongyang isn't afraid of any repercussions for its actions, a North Korean newspaper, the Minju Joson, said Wednesday.
"It is a laughable delusion for the United States to think that it can get us to kneel with sanctions," it said in an editorial. "We've been living under U.S. sanctions for decades, but have firmly safeguarded our ideology and system while moving our achievements forward. The U.S. sanctions policy toward North Korea is like striking a rock with a rotten egg."
By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD, AP Business Writer Christopher Leonard, Ap Business Writer – Mon May 25, 2:34 pm ET
BARNHART, Mo. – A collapse in milk prices has wiped away the profits of dairy farmers, driving many out of business while forcing others to slaughter their herds or dump milk on the ground in protest. But nine months after prices began tumbling on the farm, consumers aren't seeing the full benefits of the crash at the checkout counter.
The average price for a gallon of milk at grocery stores last month is down just 19 percent from its peak of $3.83 in July. Farmers, on the other hand, got $1.04 a gallon in April — 35 percent less than they were paid last fall. This winter, wholesale prices were down as much as 45 percent.
Price disparities are a fact of life both for farmers and anyone who shops at a supermarket, but the nature of milk — how it's stored, priced and sold around the world — makes the gap all the more dramatic. In fact, the price that farmers get has been wildly volatile for years, creating a succession of booms and busts felt from pastures to the grocery store.
With each turn, proposals are floated to end the pricing seesaw, which at one extreme squeezes the profits of farmers and the other squeezes dairy processors. Any fix that boosts the price of milk runs the risk of bumping up how much consumers pay, too.
Today, frustrations are spilling over as the price crash creates widely divergent fortunes within the milk industry, boosting profits for the middlemen like dairy processors while pushing farmers to the edge of bankruptcy.
Darrell Kraus, a dairyman in Barnhart, spends almost as much today on hay and other supplies for his herd of 160 cows as he did a year ago, but he's getting paid less for a gallon of milk than his father in the 1970s. He blames middlemen who buy the milk from the dairies, process it and sell it to grocery stores at higher prices.
"Somebody's getting a cut of this, but it's not the dairy farmer," he said. "It's sad, but they're going to see a lot of dairy farms go out of business."
At a grocery store in Fayetteville, Ark., Katherine Thacker noticed how milk prices were slowly falling — but not as drastically as last year's price hikes. She was surprised to learn that the lower wholesale milk prices were being absorbed by dairy processors.
"That's kind of criminal, isn't it?" she said.
Milk processors and supermarkets see it differently.
Last fall and summer, they swallowed losses because of high wholesale milk prices and government-mandated ceilings on what they can charge. They're now recouping some of what they lost and anticipating a rise in prices this winter, said Mike Nosewicz, vice president of dairy operations at Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., which operates its own dairy processing division and sells milk through 2,400 supermarkets.
At the heart of the problem is the nature of milk. Unlike grain farmers who can hold out for better prices by storing crops in a silo, dairymen must sell raw milk to processors or else it spoils. And cows keep producing whether the economy's expanding or in recession.
The price paid by processors to farmers is set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture based on commodity markets, which rise and fall with global demand. Some of the raw milk is processed into milk for stores as well as butter, yogurt and other products for U.S. consumption. The rest becomes powdered milk, cheese and whey for international and domestic markets.
U.S. milk exports soared last year and demand grew in countries like China while supplies dropped from Europe and Australia. U.S dairy exports jumped to $3.82 billion, or 11 percent all milk production in 2008 according to the U.S. Dairy Export Council. Wholesale prices jumped.
Dairies responded to the demand by increasing production.
But once the global recession accelerated last fall, demand, particularly exports, fell off a cliff.
U.S. farmers were suddenly faced with too much milk and too many cows. Wholesale prices crashed. Farmers found themselves spending more to maintain their herds than they were being paid for raw milk.
"It's an inequity that cries out for attention, consideration and action," said Sen. Robert Casey, a Democrat from the dairy stronghold of Pennsylvania. Casey projects that 25 percent of his state's 7,400 dairy farms could disappear because of the crisis.
Casey said most lawmakers are focused on short-term solutions — loans or subsidies — to help farmers bridge the period of depressed prices. But he said Congress should also explore why processors and retailers are keeping their prices high while wholesale prices collapse.
Farmers also are lobbying for a bill that would change the USDA pricing system for milk so that wholesale prices reflect what they pay for feed, fuel and other supplies.
If that happens, milk would be the only commodity of its kind to have a government-set price determined in part by the cost of production, said Scott Brown, dairy analyst at The University of Missouri's Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute.
"Anytime you put in place a policy that raises farm-level prices, those are going to get passed along to the consumer," he said.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack also said he is not eager to remake the USDA milk pricing program. Instead, he wants to see if a range of recent actions might buoy wholesale prices. USDA recently donated 500,000 pounds of excess powdered milk to needy countries to reduce U.S. supplies, and a new program will pay farmers to slaughter more than 100,000 dairy cows.
Some farmers say faster action is needed. They're dumping their milk on the ground to draw attention to the crisis.
Jan Morrow, a farmer in Cornell, Wis., dumped milk on May 4 to protest the lowest whosesale prices she's seen in 25 years of farming. If prices don't rise, she says she may have to sell her cows.
Eddy Lekkerkerk, a 42-year-old dairy farmer outside Filer, Idaho, planned to participate in another milk dump on May 31. But he fears he may not be in business that long. For five months, he hasn't made payments on the roughly $800,000 he borrows annually to buy feed for his herd of 1,000 cattle. He said his bank is forcing him to sell his herd to pay his debt.
He predicted many of his neighbors will have no choice but to follow him off the farm.
"It's going to be ugly. This is historic stuff going on," he said. "The dairymen are nervous, and they are scared."
Friday, May 22, 2009 3:39 PM
By: Jim Meyers Article Font Size
The arrest of four men in New York for planning to bomb synagogues and shoot down military aircraft underscores the progress the U.S. intelligence community has made since 9/11, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik tells Newsmax.
"As the details roll in about the case against the four men recently arrested by the FBI, we should be reminded of some of the lessons learned from the events of 9/11, such as the importance of intelligence and inter-agency communication and cooperation," said Kerik, who oversaw the NYPD's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"The one thing that was clear in the post-9/11 analysis was the lack of inter-agency coordination and intelligence gathering, much of which was the result of our own laws that prohibited the FBI and the CIA from communicating.
"The creation of the Patriot Act resolved many of those issues and enhanced the ability of our federal law enforcement agencies to collect and share intelligence and gain access to information and communications of terrorists that was not possible prior to September 11, 2001."
The arrests of the four men came after a nearly yearlong undercover operation that began in Newburgh, N.Y. James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen, all of Newburgh, were charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Three of the defendants are U.S. citizens and one is of Haitian descent, officials said.
The men had planned to detonate a car with plastic explosives outside a temple in the Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale, and to shoot down military planes at the New York Air National Guard base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh with Stinger surface-to-air missiles, authorities said.
"Something else that is highlighted by this case is the threat we face today from 'home-grown' terrorists, regardless of their skin color or ethnic background," said Kerik.
"The reality is that these four Muslim men, not of Arab descent, were just as deadly as those that have planted bombs in the U.K., Spain, Jordan or Saudi Arabia. Their hatred for Israel and the United States government is no different.
"Assistant United States Attorney Eric Snyder said, 'These are extremely violent men.' He made that statement based on the plan the men had to carry out their deadly mission. And had it not been for the FBI’s investigation and intervention, eventually they would have acquired real explosive devices and stinger missiles to accomplish their goals."
The defendants, in their efforts to acquire weapons, dealt with an informant acting under law enforcement supervision. The FBI and other agencies monitored the men and provided an inactive missile and inert C-4 plastic explosives to the informant for the defendants, a federal complaint said.
The suspects were arrested Wednesday night, shortly after planting a mock explosive device in the trunk of a car outside the Riverdale Temple and two mock bombs in the backseat of a car outside the Jewish Center, authorities said.
"The fact that the FBI foiled the plot, introduced an informant or provided them with substitute explosives, should not create a perception that they posed a lesser threat," Kerik told Newsmax.
"That would be extremely naïve and so dangerous.
"The fight against this radical Islamic enemy must continue both here and abroad, and the CIA, FBI and our local law enforcement must be given every tool and resource they need to get that job done.
"For today, chalk one up for the good guys for a job well done."
By HEATHER CLARK, Associated Press Writer Heather Clark, Associated Press Writer – 45 mins ago
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A mother playing with her children at a park spotted a little black sneaker sticking out of the sand underneath the playground equipment. Figuring a youngster had lost his shoe, she bent down to pick it up. It was strangely heavy.
She had made a ghastly discovery: a dead little boy, buried in the sand.
For nearly a week, who the toddler was, how he died, and who put him there were a chilling mystery until Thursday, when a drawing of the youngster circulated by police led to the arrest of a young mother on murder charges.
Albuquerque police said Tiffany Toribio, 23, confessed to suffocating her 3-year-old son, Tyruss "Ty" Toribio, as he slept on the climbing gym — a crime so cold-blooded that neighbors struggled to comprehend it, and even veteran officers became choked up.
"For a mother to kill her own child is unfathomable. Most people can't even imagine how you could even think about doing something like that," said Cmdr. Michael Geier. "We'll never really understand why that happened, but we now understand the dynamics of what led up to that."
Toribio was homeless and sleeping in the park, having been kicked out of her mother's home and a friend's apartment in the days before her son's death because she was ignoring the boy and withholding affection, investigators said.
"What makes this story especially sad was when asked the reason why she took Ty's life, Tiffany said that she did not want him to grow up with no one caring about him the same way that she had grown up with no one caring about her," said Police Chief Ray Schultz, his eyes watery and his voice thick with emotion.
What had baffled police after the discovery of the body was that the chubby-cheeked boy appeared to have been well-fed, showed no signs of physical abuse and was wearing a matching outfit that seemed to suggest he had been well-cared for.
But when no came forward to report a missing child, police came to suspect that whoever buried Ty was a parent or someone taking care of him.
Police went door-to-door in the neighborhood around the park. They contacted schools, daycare centers and homeless shelters. They asked families at other playgrounds about the boy. They reviewed hours of video surveillance tapes from courthouses, hospitals and stores. They followed up on more than 100 tips.
The break in the case came just hours after police released a photograph-like picture of the boy. Family members and others called a tip line to say the picture of "Baby Angel" — as neighbors living near the park nicknamed him — looked like Ty.
Then, police received a tip that Toribio was on her way to the police station to turn herself in. Officers stopped her as she was walking on the street.
The police chief said Toribio told detectives that she suffocated her son in Alvarado Park before dawn on May 13 by putting her hand over his mouth and nose. She said she had second thoughts and performed CPR on the boy, resuscitating him, but reconsidered and smothered him again. Investigators said she then buried him under the climbing gym's hanging bridge, where the body was found two days later.
Schultz called it "somber day" in Albuquerque.
"He was a very special child and that's what makes this case so hard for everybody within the Albuquerque Police Department that's worked on it for the last six days," he said.
Schultz said Toribio attempted suicide in jail and was under close observation. A single mother, Toribio had no criminal record or history of drug or alcohol abuse, the police chief said.
Julie Gonzalez, who lives near the park, described Ty as "such a good little boy, so quiet, mild." But Gonzalez said that the boy's mother was "always partying" and that police would have to be called when fights broke out among the partygoers.
Toribio did not have an attorney Thursday morning, and attempts to locate family members were unsuccessful.
Toribio is a member of the Zia Pueblo Indian tribe. Tribal Gov. Ivan Pino said the tribe has asked that Ty's body be returned to the pueblo for burial. People living near the park raised about $4,000 for a funeral for the boy.
"Let the Pueblo of Zia go through its healing process right now," Pino said. "Give us the respect to go through our mourning at this point."
Neighbors gathered at a makeshift memorial at the playground consisting of candles, flowers, stuffed animals and toy trucks. Children played on the equipment; parents and grandparents wept.
"We named him `Baby Angel' and it's important now that we know his real name," said Sarah Sandoval. "Now, his mother will find out this baby has a lot of people who love him and will do anything for a child."
Stephanie Rael, a mother, said she wished she had been at the park when Ty died.
"I could have helped her. I could have called someone. We could have saved him," she said. "We're here in a public place. She could have left him here alive and any one of us could have saw him and taken him or gotten her help."
Posted: May 20, 2009
11:00 pm Eastern
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
WASHINGTON
– More than $25,000 has been raised in the first two days of a national billboard campaign to raise awareness of questions surrounding the constitutional eligibility of Barack Obama to serve as president – and the first sign, an electronic one, is already up and online.
Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, said he's calling it "the truth and transparency campaign."
The money is being used to erect billboards around the country that ask a simple question: "Where's the birth certificate?"
The first such sign to be posted under the 2-day-old campaign, a digital, electronic one, is up and online on Highway 165 in Ball, La. – the result of a donation by the owner. In addition, based on the heavy volume of financial donations in the first two days of the campaign, WND was able to commit to leasing two more standard billboards – one in Los Angeles and the other in Pennsylvania. It will take several weeks to get those billboards up because of the vinyl printing and shipping involved.
"I know now, because of the sensational response to this idea from WND viewers, that this national campaign is going to be big and long-lasting," said Farah. "I want to thank all of those who have pitched in and contributed – with either cash donations or, in some cases, space donations. But the need for money continues. The public should know it costs about $2,000 just to print these 15-by-45 foot billboards. Each one is a huge commitment."
Birth certificate question being raised in Ball, La. |
Donations are being accepted to defray the costs of a national billboard campaign with the simple message: "Where's the birth certificate?"
While the campaign is off to a great start, many viewers have asked why Obama's name is not included in the billboard. Farah said the matter was carefully considered.
"There are several reasons we chose the message: 'Where's the birth certificate?'" he explained. "There is only one birth certificate controversy in this country today – despite the near-total absence of this issue from coverage in the non-WND media. This is a grass-roots issue that resonates around the country, as our own online petition with nearly 400,000 signers suggests. In addition, I like the simplicity of the message. I like the fact that the message will cause some people to ask themselves or others about the meaning of the message. It will stir curiosity. It will create a buzz. I'm assuming when these billboards are springing up all over the country, it might even make some in the news media curious. And there's one more factor that persuaded me this was the way to go.
"Come 2012, campaign laws will pose restrictions on political advertising mentioning the names of presidential candidates. This one clearly doesn't. I would like to see the federal government make the case that this is somehow a political ad," he said.
Farah said the campaign was born of frustration with timid elected officials in Washington, corrupt judges around the country and a news media that show a stunning lack of curiosity about the most basic facts of Obama's background – especially how it relates to constitutional eligibility for the highest office in the land.
"As Obama transforms this country from self-governing constitutional republic to one governed by a central ruling elite, the simple fact remains that no controlling legal authority has established that he is indeed a 'natural born citizen' as the Constitution requires," Farah said. "Obama's promises of transparency have become a bad joke as he continues to hide simple, innocuous documents like his birth certificate and his student records."
The idea behind the billboard campaign is to make sure Obama cannot avoid this question any longer. He must be asked to produce it at every turn, Farah says. Billboard space is currently being hunted in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Sacramento, San Francisco, New York-New Jersey, Des Moines, Seattle and other metro areas.
"Is it unusual for a news agency to launch such a campaign?" asks Farah. "Yes it is. But we live in very unusual times. The founding fathers built special protections into the First Amendment for the free press. The reason they did that is because they understood a vibrant 'Fourth Estate' was necessary as an independent watchdog on government. It is in that tradition that WND assumes this role – since nobody else in the press will do it."
WND previously launched a petition campaign that has collected more than 370,000 names demanding Obama's eligibility be verified and demonstrated publicly. That campaign continues. That list has been shared with members of the Electoral College and the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
"I wish such a campaign were not absolutely necessary," said Farah. "I wish there were checks and balances in our political and electoral systems to ensure that constitutional eligibility of presidential candidates was established before politicians could assume the highest office in the land. I wish my colleagues in the news media believed the Constitution really means what it says and pressed this issue as hard as we have pressed it at WND. I wish radio talk-show hosts were bold enough to ask this question. But wishing is not enough. It's time to raise the visibility of this issue vital to the rule of law in America. I ask everyone to pitch in and help WND make a simple yet profound statement: The Constitution still matters."
Your donation – from as little as $5 to as much as $1,000 – can be made online at the WND SuperStore. (Donations are not tax-deductible. Donations of amounts greater than $1,000 can be arranged by calling either 541-474-1776 or 1-800-4WND.COM. If you would prefer to mail in your contributions, they should be directed to WND, P.O. Box 1627, Medford, Oregon, 97501. Be sure to specify the purpose of the donation by writing "billboard" on the check. In addition, donations of billboard space will be accepted, as will significant contributions specifically targeted for geographic locations.)
If you are a member of the media and would like to interview Joseph Farah about this campaign, e-mail WND
AP/Huff Post
First Posted: 05-20-09 05:43 PM | Updated: 05-21-09 11:00 AM
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Five Birmingham police officers were fired Wednesday for beating an apparently unconscious suspect after a roadway chase, an attack caught on a patrol car videotape that didn't surface publicly for a year. Police Chief A.C. Roper said the officers, who were not identified, were seasoned veterans but acted in a "shameful" manner.
The video shows police pursuing Anthony Warren's van on Jan. 23, 2008. One officer on foot was injured when the van swerved through traffic. The van overturned on a ramp, ejecting Warren, who lay motionless as officers ran toward him. The video shows them beating him with fists, feet and a billy club.
WATCH:
Roper said the department had "terminated 50 years of combined service due to 10 seconds of injustice."
The officers can appeal.
Authorities believe numerous Birmingham officers and as many as a half-dozen supervisors saw the video over the past year, but none reported it.
"In addition to these terminations, we're also reviewing our supervisor's actions, reporting mechanisms and policies," Roper said.
He said disciplinary action may be taken against supervisors. The Alabama Bureau of Investigation will review possible criminal charges.
District Attorney Brandon Falls said Wednesday the tape of the beating surfaced unexpectedly as prosecutors were preparing to try Warren for assault in connection with the chase.
He said prosecutors had a video of the chase "but the beating was not on the copy we had."
Falls said the prosecutor wanted to play the video for the jury but, for technical reasons, she needed another copy and asked for the original.
"We got the original the week before the trial ... and that's where she saw the rest of the tape," he said.
He said they contacted the defense, the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and the Birmingham police chief.
Warren, who had been held under $1 million bond after the chase, pleaded guilty in March 2009 to first-degree assault and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Because of his plea, no trial was held.watch:
Ok Britians got Talent has some really weird contestants..check this guy out..he left Simeon speechless
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
(AP) Police are looking for a New Zealand couple who disappeared after a bank mistakenly put 10 million New Zealand dollars ($6.1 million) into their account.
The couple, who ran a gas station in the northern city of Rotorua, applied to Westpac Bank for a NZ$10,000 ($6,000) overdraft and had 1000 times that amount paid into their account. The two then withdrew some of the money and disappeared, Detective Senior Sgt. David Harvey said.
Harvey said Interpol has been contacted for help, suggesting authorities believe they may have fled abroad with the cash.
"We are currently conducting an investigation into the individuals that may have been involved in the withdrawal of that money," Harvey said.
Westpac Bank said in a statement it was "pursing vigorous criminal and civil action to recover the sum of money stolen," but declined further comment.
Massey University banking lecturer Claire Matthews said the "lucky" recipients likely would not get away with the cash.
"They've effectively, I guess, become thieves _ but it is only going to be a matter of time" before they are found, she told the NewstalkZB radio network.
The pair would be hard pressed to argue they honestly believed they were entitled to such a huge sum of money, she added.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stor...
May 13th:
There was never a hint of indecision when this group of concerned citizens got together in Texas and decided to go to work. In their minds “the man who hates America” needed to be indicted and the sooner the better. The jury spent a week reviewing and contemplating the evidence but the vote was swift and decisive. All 35 members raised their hands and said, “we want this man tried in court and we are now looking to the Great State of Texas to bring that justice to our citizens.”
Georgia Citizen Grand Jury re-convened May 9th, 2009 at 1:00 and has added the charge of TREASON to its Presentment. They also addressed the issue of COMPLICITY by those not responding to the previous Indictment.
Reported by Foreman Carl Swensson
http://americangrandjury.or...
“AMERICAN GRAND JURY HANDS DOWN INDICTMENT OF FRAUD AND TREASON AGAINST OBAMA”
(United States of America) – May 9th 2009 - At 2 P.M, ET American Grand Jury convened a final hearing to vote on criminal charges against Barack Obama.
http://www.riseupforamerica...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Social Security and Medicare are fading even faster under the weight of the recession, heading for insolvency years sooner than previously expected, the government warned Tuesday. Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in 2016, a year sooner than projected last year, and the giant trust fund will be depleted by 2037, four years sooner, trustees reported.
Medicare is in even worse shape. The trustees said the program for hospital expenses will pay out more in benefits than it collects this year, just as it did for the first time in 2008. The trustees project that the Medicare fund will be depleted by 2017, two years earlier than the date projected in last year's report.
The trust funds -- which exist in paper form in a filing cabinet in Parkersburg, W.Va. -- are bonds that are backed by the government's "full faith and credit" but not by any actual assets. That money has been spent over the years to fund other parts of government. To redeem the trust fund bonds, the government would have to borrow in public debt markets or raise taxes.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the head of the trustees group, said the new reports were a reminder that "the longer we wait to address the long-term solvency of Medicare and Social Security, the sooner those challenges will be upon us and the harder the options will be."
Geithner said that President Barack Obama was committed to working with Congress to find ways to control runaway growth in both public and private health care expenditures, noting the promise Monday by major health care providers to trim costs by $2 trillion over the next decade.
However, Republicans pointed to the newly dire assessments as evidence the Obama administration has failed to come forward with actual entitlement reform to close the funding gaps.
"Instead of getting existing public programs in order right now, some are saying we should create a new government-run health insurance plan," Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, said in a reference to the administration's health care proposals. "When we can't afford the public health plan we have already, does it make sense to add more?"
House Republican leader John Boehner said the trustees report "confirms what we already knew: Our nation cannot afford to continue this reckless borrowing and spending spree."
The findings in the trustees report, the annual checkup given the two benefit programs, did not come as a surprise. Private economists had been predicting that the dates the programs would begin to pay out more than they take in and the dates the trust funds would be insolvent would occur sooner given the economic recession.
The deep recession, the worst the country has endured in decades, has resulted in a loss of 5.7 million jobs since it began in December 2007. The unemployment rate hit a 25-year high of 8.9 percent in April.
Fewer people working means less being paid into the trust funds for Social Security and Medicare.
The Congressional Budget Office recently projected that Social Security will collect just $3 billion more in 2010 than it will pay out in benefits. A year ago, the CBO had projected that Social Security would have a much higher $86 billion cash surplus for the 2010 budget year, which begins Oct. 1.
The trustees report projected that Social Security's annual surpluses would "fall sharply this year," then remain at a reduced level in 2010 and be lower in the following years than last year's projections. The report said that the Social Security annual surplus would be eliminated entirely in 2016, reflecting increased demands from the wave of 78 million baby boomers retiring.
That means Social Security will have to turn to its trust fund to make up the difference between Social Security taxes and the benefits being paid out beginning in 2016. The trustees projected the trust fund would be depleted in 2037, four years earlier than the 2041 date in last year's report.
At that point, the annual Social Security taxes collected would be enough to pay for three-fourths of current benefits through 2083. To tap the trust fund, the government would have to increase borrowing or raise taxes because Social Security bonds exist only as bookkeeping entries.
While the smaller surpluses that will begin this year will not have any impact on Social Security benefit payments, the government will need to borrow more at a time when the federal deficit is already exploding because of the recession and the billions of dollars being spent to prop up a shaky banking system.
Medicare's condition is more precarious, reflecting the pressures from soaring health care costs as well as the drop in tax collections.
The options available to deal with the Social Security shortfall include raising the payroll tax that funds Social Security, such as removing the cap on income subject to the tax, or cutting benefits in some fashion such as raising the retirement age.
The administration is pushing Congress to pass legislation this year to extend health care coverage to some 50 million uninsured Americans, preferring to tackle health care before Social Security.
The trustees report is likely to set off renewed debate over Social Security and Medicare. Critics have charged that the Obama administration has failed to tackle the most serious problems in the budget -- soaring entitlement spending.
The administration on Monday revised its federal deficit forecasts upward to project an imbalance this year of $1.84 trillion, four times last year's record, and said the deficits will remain above $500 billion every year over the next decade
Miss California Carrie Prejean will keep her crown, Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump announced at a press conference Tuesday at Trump Tower in New York City.
Prejean, 21, failed to reveal before last month's Miss USA pageant that she had posed in her underwear as a teenager. But Trump said, "We are in the 21st century ... and Carrie is a model, she's a very successful model, we have determined and we have the absolute right under the contract we have determined that the pictures taken are fine."
(He also praised Prejean for being honest when she said she was against same sex marriage at last month's pageant. Trump said she gave a "very honest answer when asked a very tough question. Its the same answer that the President of the United States gave.")
Fighting back tears, Prejean, who attended the conference, thanked Trump for "believing" in her.
"Most importantly, I would like to thank God," she said.
Prejean first ignited controversy at the April 19 pageant when she told judge Perez Hilton that she believed marriage should be between only a man and a woman, igniting a cultural debate. The runner-up said her answer cost her the crown.
Prejean later announced that she'll be launching a campaign opposing gay marriage with the National Organization for Marriage.
A short time later, racy photos surfaced. Prejean said the pictures were leaked to humiliate her because of her anti-gay marriage views, calling it a "vicious and mean-spirited" attacks. (Even more photos hit the web before Trump's press conference Tuesday morning.)
On Monday, California pageant officials announced that Prejean violated her contract by lobbying on behalf of an anti-gay-marriage group and by failing to reveal that she had posed in her underwear as a teenager.
They appointed Tami Farrell, her runner-up, as "Beauty of California Ambassador" to fulfill any duties that Prejean might not be able to carry out. As for whether Prejean should be stripped of her crown, they said only Trump can make the decision.
- Shawn Pogatchnik, Associated Press Writer
- On Monday May 11, 2009, 12:07 pm EDT
DUBLIN (AP) -- When Dublin university student Shane Fitzgerald posted a poetic but phony quote on Wikipedia, he was testing how our globalized, increasingly Internet-dependent media was upholding accuracy and accountability in an age of instant news.
His report card: Wikipedia passed. Journalism flunked.
The sociology major's obituary-friendly quote -- which he added to the Wikipedia page of Maurice Jarre hours after the French composer's death March 28 -- flew straight on to dozens of U.S. blogs and newspaper Web sites in Britain, Australia and India. They used the fabricated material, Fitzgerald said, even though administrators at the free online encyclopedia twice caught the quote's lack of attribution and removed it.
A full month went by and nobody noticed the editorial fraud. So Fitzgerald told several media outlets they'd swallowed his baloney whole.
"I was really shocked at the results from the experiment," Fitzgerald, 22, said Monday in an interview a week after one newspaper at fault, The Guardian of Britain, became the first to admit its obituarist lifted material straight from Wikipedia.
"I am 100 percent convinced that if I hadn't come forward, that quote would have gone down in history as something Maurice Jarre said, instead of something I made up," he said. "It would have become another example where, once anything is printed enough times in the media without challenge, it becomes fact."
So far, The Guardian is the only publication to make a public mea culpa, while others have eliminated or amended their online obituaries without any reference to the original version -- or in a few cases, still are citing Fitzgerald's florid prose weeks after he pointed out its true origin.
"One could say my life itself has been one long soundtrack," Fitzgerald's fake Jarre quote read. "Music was my life, music brought me to life, and music is how I will be remembered long after I leave this life. When I die there will be a final waltz playing in my head that only I can hear."
Fitzgerald said one of his University College Dublin classes was exploring how quickly information was transmitted around the globe. His private concern was that, under pressure to produce news instantly, media outlets were increasingly relying on Internet sources -- none more ubiquitous than the publicly edited Wikipedia.
When he saw British 24-hour news channels reporting the death of the triple Oscar-winning composer, Fitzgerald sensed what he called "a golden opportunity" for an experiment on media use of Wikipedia.
He said it took him less than 15 minutes to fabricate and place a quote calculated to appeal to obituary writers without distorting Jarre's actual life experiences. He noted that the Wikipedia listing on Jarre did not have any other strong quotes.
If anything, Fitzgerald said, he expected newspapers to avoid his quote because it had no link to a source -- and even might trigger alarms as "too good to be true." But many blogs and several newspapers used the quotes at the start or finish of their obituaries.
He said the Guardian was the only publication to respond to him in detail and with remorse at its own editorial failing. Others, he said, treated him as a vandal who was solely to blame for their cut-and-paste content.
"The moral of this story is not that journalists should avoid Wikipedia, but that they shouldn't use information they find there if it can't be traced back to a reliable primary source," said the readers' editor at the Guardian, Siobhain Butterworth, in the May 4 column that revealed Fitzgerald as the quote author.
"It's worrying that the misinformation only came to light because the perpetrator of the deception emailed publishers to let them know what he'd done, and it's regrettable that he took nearly a month to do so," she wrote.
Fitzgerald said he had waited in part to test whether news organizations or the public would smoke out the quote's lack of provenance. He said he was troubled that none did.
And he warned that a truly malicious hoaxer could have evaded Wikipedia's own informal policing by getting a newspaper to pick up a false piece of information -- as happened when his quote made its first of three appearances -- and then use those newspaper reports as a credible footnote for the bogus quote.
"I didn't want to be devious," he said. "I just wanted to show how the 24-hour, minute-by-minute media were now taking material straight from Wikipedia because of the deadline pressure they're under."
http://finance.yahoo.com/ne...
Whether you are Obama fan, or not, EVERYONE IN THE
U. S. needs to know....
Something happened... H.R. 1388 was passed, behind our backs. You may want to read about it. It wasn't mentioned on the news.... just went by on the ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN screen.
By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in "migration assistance" to the Palestinian refugees and "conflict victims" in Gaza.
The "presidential determination", which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States, was signed on January 27 and appeared in the Federal Register on February 4.
Few on Capitol Hill, or in the media, took note that the order provides a free ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January
2006.
Let's review...itemized list of some of Barack Obama's most recent actions since his inauguration:
His first call to any head of state, as president, was to Mahmoud Abbas, leader of Fatah party in the Palestinian territory.
His first one-on-one television interview with any news organization was with Al Arabia television.
His first executive order was to fund/facilitate abortion(s) not just here within the U. S., but within the world, using U. S. tax payer funds.
He ordered Guantanamo Bay closed and all military trials of detainees halted.
He ordered overseas CIA interrogation centers closed.
He withdrew all charges against the masterminds behind the USS Cole and the "terror attack" on 9/11.
Now we learn that he is allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refuges to move to, and live in, the US at American taxpayer expense.
These important, and insightful, issues are being "lost" in the blinding bail-outs and "stimulation" packages.
PLEASE PASS THIS ON... AMERICA NEEDS TO KNOW
WE are losing this country at a rapid pace.
He is pushing this Socialist Agenda big time
I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
- Winston Churchill
(from the federal register if you missed the link above)
thefederalregister.com Federal Register: February 4, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 22) DOCID: fr04fe09-106FR Doc E9-2488 Presidential Documents U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement NOTICE: Part II DOCID: fr04fe09-106 DOCUMENT SUMMARY: [[Page 6115]] Presidential Determination No. 2009-15 of January 27, 2009
Unexpected Urgent Refugee and Migration Needs Related To Gaza Memorandum for the Secretary of State By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 2(c)(1) of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 (the ``Act''), as amended (22 U.S.C. 2601), I hereby determine, pursuant to section 2(c)(1) of the Act, that it is important to the national interest to furnish assistance under the Act in an amount not to exceed $20.3 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs, including by contributions to international, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations and payment of administrative expenses of Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the Department of State, related to humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees and conflict victims in Gaza. You are authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.
(Presidential Sig.) THE WHITE HOUSE, Washington, January 27, 2009 [FR Doc. E9-2488 Filed 2-3-09; 8:45 am] Billing code 4710-10-P
President Barack Obama said in Turkey : "We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."
I found this very interesting.
Do you know the Preamble for your state? . .
Be sure to read the message at the bottom!
Alabama 1901, Preamble
We the people of the State of Alabama , invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following Constitution..
Alaska 1956, Preamble We, the people of Alaska , grateful to God and to those who founded our nation and pioneered this great land.
Arizona 1911, Preamble We, the people of the State of Arizona , grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution...
Arkansas 1874, Preamble We, the people of the State of Arkansas , grateful to Almighty God for the privilege of choosing our own form of government...
California 1879, Preamble We, the People of the State of California , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom...
Colorado 1876, Preamble We, the people of Colorado , with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of Universe...
Connecticut 1818, Preamble. The People of Connecticut, acknowledging with gratitude the good Providence of God in permitting them to enjoy.
Delaware 1897, Preamble Through Divine Goodness all men have, by nature, the rights of worshipping and serving their Creator according to the dictates of their consciences...
Florida 1885, Preamble We, the people of the State of Florida , grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty, establish this Constitution...
Georgia 1777, Preamble We, the people of Georgia , relying upon protection and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish this Constitution...
Hawaii 1959, Preamble We , the people of Hawaii , Grateful for Divine Guidance .... Establish this Constitution.
Idaho 1889, Preamble We, the people of the State of Idaho , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings..
Illinois 1870, Preamble We, the people of the State of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil , political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors.
Indiana 1851, Preamble We, the People of the State of Indiana , grateful to Almighty God for the free exercise of the right to choose our form of government.
Iowa 1857, Preamble We, the People of the St ate of Iowa , grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of these blessings, establish this Constitution.
Kansas 1859, Preamble We, the people of Kansas , grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious privileges establish this Constitution.
Kentucky 1891, Preamble.. We, the people of the Commonwealth are grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties..
Louisiana 1921, Preamble We, the people of the State of Louisiana , grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties we enjoy.
Maine 1820, Preamble We the People of Maine acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe in affording us an opportunity .. And imploring His aid and direction.
Maryland 1776, Preamble We, the people of the state of Maryland , grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty...
Massachusetts 1780, Preamble We...the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging with grateful hearts, the goodness of the Great Legislator of the Universe In the course of His Providence, an opportunity and devoutly imploring His direction
Michigan 1908, Preamble.. We, the people of the State of Michigan , grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of freedom, establish this Constitution.
Minnesota, 1857, Preamble We, the people of the State of Minnesota, grateful to God for our civil and religious liberty, and desiring to perpetuate its blessings:
Mississippi 1890, Preamble We, the people of Mississippi in convention assembled, grateful to Almighty God, and invoking His blessing on our work.
Missouri 1845, Preamble We, the people of Missouri , with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and grateful for His goodness . Establish this Constitution...
Montana 1889, Preamble. We, the people of Montana , grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty establish this Constitution ..
Nebraska 1875, Preamble We, the people, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom . Establish this Constitution.
Nevada 1864, Preamble We the people of the State of Nevada , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, establish this Constitution...
New Hampshire 1792, Part I. Art. I. Sec. V Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience.
New Jersey 1844, Preamble We, the people of the State of New Jersey, grateful to Almighty God for civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors.
New Mexico 1911, Preamble We, the People of New Mexico, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty..
New York 1846, Preamble We, the people of the State of New York , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings.
North Carolina 1868, Preamble We the people of the State of North Carolina, grateful to Almighty God, the Sovereign Ruler of Nations, for our civil, political, and religious liberties, and acknowledging our dependence upon Him for the continuance of those...
North Dakota 1889, Preamble We , the people of North Dakota , grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, do ordain...
Ohio 1852, Preamble We the people of the state of Ohio , grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and to promote our common.
Oklahoma 1907, Preamble Invoking the guidance of Almighty God, in order to secure and perpetuate the blessings of liberty, establish this
Oregon 1857, Bill of Rights, Article I Section 2. All men shall be secure in the Natural right, to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their consciences
Pennsylvania 1776, Preamble We, the people of Pennsylvania, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance....
Rhode Island 1842, Preamble. We the People of the State of Rhode Island grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing...
South Carolina , 1778, Preamble We, the people of he State of South Carolina grateful to God for our liberties, do ordain and establish this Constitution.
South Dakota 1889, Preamble We, the people of South Dakota , grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberties ...
Tennessee 1796, Art. XI..III. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their conscience...
Texas 1845, Preamble We the People of the Republic of Texas , acknowledging, with gratitude, the grace and beneficence of God.
Utah 1896, Preamble Grateful to Almighty God for life and liberty, we establish this Constitution.
Vermont 1777, Preamble Whereas all government ought to enable the individuals who compose it to enjoy their natural rights, and other blessings which the Author of Existence has bestowed on man ..
Virginia 1776, Bill of Rights, XVI Religion, or the Duty which we owe our Creator can be directed only by Reason and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian Forbearance, Love and Charity towards each other
Washington 1889, Preamble We the People of the State of Washington, grateful to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution
West Virginia 1872, Preamble Since through Divine Providence we enjoy the blessings of civil, political and religious liberty, we, the people of West Virginia reaffirm our faith in and constant reliance upon God ..
Wisconsin 1848, Preamble We, the people of Wisconsin, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, domestic tranquility...
Wyoming 1890, Preamble We, the people of the State of Wyoming , grateful to God for our civil, political, and religious liberties, establish this Constitution...
After reviewing acknowledgments of God from all 50 state constitutions, one is faced with the prospect that maybe, the ACLU and the out-of-control federal courts are wrong!
(Please note that at no time is anyone told that they MUST worship God.)
"Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants."
William Penn
http://www.truthorfiction.c...
WASHINGTON – Hospitals, insurance companies, drug makers and doctors are planning to tell President Barack Obama today that they'll voluntarily slow their rate increases in coming years in a move that government economists say would create breathing room to help provide health insurance to an estimated 50 million Americans who now go without it.
When President Bill Clinton took on health care reform, industry leaders fought back, killing the White House proposal before it could gain any traction. Now those industry leaders are trying to help Obama find a solution to the problem of uninsured Americans, offering $2 trillion in spending reductions over 10 years.
Although the offer from the industry groups doesn't resolve thorny details of a new health care system, it does offer the prospect of freeing a large chunk of money to help pay for coverage. And it puts the private-sector groups in a good position to influence the bill Congress is writing.
Six major groups plan to deliver a letter to Obama and pledge to cut the growth rate for health care by 1.5 percentage points each year, senior administration officials said Sunday. They spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to sketch the offer before full details are revealed at a White House event scheduled for Monday.
The industry groups are trying to get on the administration bandwagon for expanded coverage now in the hope they can steer Congress away from legislation that would restrict their profitability in future years.
Insurers, for example, want to avoid the creation of a government health plan that would directly compete with them to enroll middle-class workers and their families. Drug makers worry that in the future, new medications might have to pass a cost-benefit test before they can win approval. And hospitals and doctors are concerned the government could dictate what they get paid to care for any patient, not only the elderly and the poor.
Obama has courted industry and provider groups, inviting their representatives to the White House. There's a sense among some of the groups that now may be the best time to act before public opinion, fueled by anger over costs, turns against them.
It's unclear whether the proposed savings will prove decisive in pushing a health care overhaul through Congress. There's no detail on how the savings pledge would be enforced. And, critically, the promised savings in private health care costs would accrue to society as a whole, not just the federal government. That's a crucial distinction because specific federal savings are needed to help pay for the cost of expanding coverage.
Costs have emerged as the most serious obstacle to Obama's plan. The estimated federal costs range from $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion over 10 years, and so far Obama has only spelled out how to get about half of that.
WASHINGTON – With the economy performing worse than hoped, revised White House figures point to deepening budget deficits, with the government borrowing almost 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year.
The deficit for the current budget year will rise by $89 billion to above $1.8 trillion — about four times the record set just last year. The unprecedented red ink flows from the deep recession, the Wall St. bailout, the cost of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill, as well as a structural imbalance between what the government spends and what it takes in.
As the economy performs worse than expected, the deficit for the 2010 budget year beginning in October will worsen by $87 billion to $1.3 trillion, the White House says. The deterioration reflects lower tax revenues and higher costs for bank failures, unemployment benefits and food stamps.
For the current year, the government would borrow 46 cents for every dollar it takes to run the government under the administration's plan. In one of the few positive signs, the actual 2009 deficit is likely to be $250 billion less than predicted because Congress is unlikely to provide another $250 billion in financial bailout money.
The developments come as the White House completes the official release of its $3.6 trillion budget for 2010, adding detail to some of its tax proposals and ideas for producing health care savings. The White House budget is a recommendation to Congress that represents Obama's fiscal and policy vision for the next decade.
Annual deficits would never dip below $500 billion and would total $7.1 trillion over 2010-2019. Even those dismal figures rely on economic projections that are significantly more optimistic — just a 1.2 percent decline in gross domestic product this year and a 3.2 percent growth rate for 2010 — than those forecast by private sector economists and the Congressional Budget Office.
For the most part, Obama's updated budget tracks the 134-page outline he submitted to lawmakers in February. His budget remains a bold but contentious document that proposes higher taxes for the wealthy, a hotly contested effort to combat global warming and the first steps toward guaranteed health care for all.
Obama's Democratic allies controlling Congress have already made it clear that they will reject key elements of his plan. Already apparently dead is a plan to raise $267 billion over the next decade to pay for his health care initiative by curbing the ability of wealthier people to reduce their tax bills through deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions and state and local taxes.
And the congressional budget plan approved last month would not extend Obama's signature $400 tax credit for most workers — $800 for couples — after it expires at the end of next year.
Obama's remarkably controversial "cap-and-trade" proposal to curb heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions is also reeling from opposition from Capitol Hill Democrats from coal-producing regions and states with concentrations of heavy industry. Under cap-and-trade, the government would auction permits to emit heat-trapping gases, with the costs being passed on to consumers via higher gasoline and electric bills.
Among the new proposals is a plan — already on its way through Congress — that would increase the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's borrowing authority from $30 billion to $100 billion in order to grant a two-year reprieve from higher deposit insurance premiums while the industry is struggling.
Also new are several tax "loophole" closures and increased IRS tax compliance efforts to raise $58 billion over the next decade to help finance Obama's health care measure. The money makes up for revenue losses stemming from lower-than-hoped estimates of his proposal to limit wealthier people's ability to maximize their itemized deductions.
The updated budget also would repeal an unintended tax windfall taken by paper companies that use a byproduct in the paper-making process as fuel to power their mills. The tax credits were never intended for paper companies, but now they could be worth more than $3 billion a year, according to a congressional estimate.
The budget would make permanent the expanded $2,500 tax credit for college expenses that was provided for two years in the just-passed economic stimulus bill. It also would renew most of the Bush tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, and would permanently update the alternative minimum tax so that it would hit fewer middle- to upper-income taxpayers.
BAGHDAD – Five U.S. soldiers were killed Monday in a shooting at an American base in Baghdad, the U.S. command said.
A brief U.S. statement said the shooting occurred about 2 p.m. at Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport but gave no further details on the attack.
The identity of the attackers, or how they got into the base was not immediately clear, and U.S. and Iraqi officials could not be reached for comment. There have been several incidents recently when gunmen dressed as Iraqi soldiers have opened fire on American troops, including an attack in the northern city of Mosul on May 2 when two soldiers and the gunman were killed.
The toll from the Monday shooting was the highest for U.S. personnel in a single attack since April 10, when a suicide truck driver killed five American soldiers with a blast near a police headquarters in Mosul. The U.S. death toll in April was 19, the highest in seven months, amid an upsurge of violence in Iraq.
Separately, the military announced Monday that a U.S. soldier was also killed a day earlier when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Basra province of southern Baghdad.
Also Monday, a senior Iraqi traffic officer was assassinated Monday morning on his way to work in Baghdad. It was the second attack on a high-ranking traffic police officer in the capital in as many days.
A car cut off Brig. Gen. Abdul-Hussein al-Kadhoumi as he drove through a central square in the capital and a second vehicle pulled up alongside and riddled him with bullets, police said, citing witnesses. Al-Kadhoumi was director of operations for the traffic authority.
The gunmen were armed with pistols equipped with silencers, the police added on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Incidents involving gunmen armed with sophisticated weapons, including silencers, have been on the rise since a string of high-profile robberies in April.
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Oprah is running a special through I think mothers day where you can get 4 coupons for the new grilled two piece meals at KFC..go to her site
And enter in the search window. KFC coupon
It will take you through some links to where you print them out.,..it saves your ISP so you can only get 4 of them per household..also has a bar code on it so they can track it and you cant get away with running them through a scanner and printer..
It also has a list of participating stores..I checked Bakersfield and it has multiple locations..
We got ours and so did our kids..Enjoy..this is for real...
I was told Oppie is footin the bill so I figure shes trying to attack Chick-fil-A all by herself..because its ran by religious folks..and she considers herself a god in her own form of religion....so it eats at her a bit..competition in her primevil form..
however wont happen huge diff in taste and service but since shes payin for it I feel we all need to take her for a few thousand bucks of her easy money shes been pullin in off us for years..
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According to public records from the Virginia Department of Ag and
Consumer Services, a total of 21,339 dogs and cats have been euthanized
since 1998 by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
workers. In fact, last year, PETA killed 2,124 pets and placed only
seven in adoptive homes. It's for that reason that the Center for
Consumer Freedom (CCF) - www.consumerfreedom.com
- has petitionedthe Commonwealth of Virginia to classify PETA as a
slaughterhouse. You can read the article at: consumerfreedom.com/.
"PETA has a $32-million annual budget. But instead of investing in the
lives of the thousands of flesh and blood creatures in its care, the
group spends millions on media campaigns telling Americans that eating
meat, drinking milk, fishing, hunting, wearing leather shoes, and
benefiting from medical research performed on lab rats are all
'unethical'," CCF says.
There will be about 1,700 U.S. cases of the new H1N1 flu, aka "swine flu," in the next four weeks under a worst-case scenario, according to a research team's new simulations.
And a second team working independently, about 200 miles away, on exactly the same question came up with a similar forecast.
As of Thursday, there were 109 lab-confirmed U.S. cases of the new http://www.livescience.com/...>influenza, according to the World Health Organization, which earlier this week raised the risk level of the influenza to one stage below pandemic because the virus is being transmitted within at least two countries in one region of the world. A http://www.livescience.com/...>full pandemic - the virus is also being transmitted within a third country in a different region - is considered imminent.
It is not clear, however, how virulent or deadly this flu strain will become. Flu viruses are unpredictable, and while some in history have proven incredibly deadly, many would-be-pandemics turned out to be quite mild. Also, medicine and public health are more sophisticated today, in terms of treatments and educational campaigns, than they were during the nation's last pandemic flu in 1968, let alone during the Spanish flu of 1918.
Still, researchers are eager to predict what might happen and Dirk Brockmann has identified the hotspots.
California, Texas and Florida will have http://www.livescience.com/...>most of the cases by late May if Brockmann's large-scale computer simulations are right. His group at Northwestern University came up with the http://www.livescience.com/...>figure of 1,700 cases by late May, and also http://www.livescience.com/...>projected more than 100 cases for the Chicago area.
"Remember - that's exponential growth, which means slow at the beginning and then very fast," Brockmann said. "If you run the worst-case scenario for four months, we're at a very different number."
Brockmann's computer clusters can be used to simulate an infectious disease that spreads among 300 million people. The approach was based on human mobility patterns - daily commuting, intermediate trips and long-distance ones - which helps determine how a disease could potentially spread, and he modeled those on data from a dollar-bill tracking project called WheresGeorge.com. You can track people's movements, to a certain extent, if you know where they spend cash.
"These networks play an important role in the spread of infectious disease," he said. "So we're looking at how people travel in the United States and Europe and trying to find a theory behind human traffic. Then we can unravel the structures within these networks and explain them."
Brockmann says his forecast is off by a little bit, and that's a good thing. His worst-case scenario assumes that no measures have been taken by officials and public health agencies to http://www.livescience.com/...>combat the spread of disease. Most likely, the case count will be lower than his estimate as a result of such things as stronger public health campaigns for hand washing and social distancing (stand far away from people who are coughing and sneezing), school closures where children are found to be symptomatic and the federal travel advisory against non-essential trips to Mexico.
Brockmann and his team's swine flu results match up well with those of a research group at Indiana University in Bloomington led by computer scientist Alex Vespignani. The teams were aware of each other's work but intentionally worked independently and remained ignorant of each other's methodology to see if they arrived at the same results. When scientists independently arrive at the same result, it suggests they have a finding that is "robust," that is it will stand the test of time.
"When we look at the numbers, they are in stunning agreement," Vespignani told LiveScience. "That is very comforting in the sense that it's a sign of robustness. Also it suggests that the results we are getting are probably correct."
The two teams know each other from conferences, but have never specifically collaborated on a published research report, he said.
Of course, the H1N1 flu outbreak is still evolving, he said.
"We have to buy time for the development and http://www.livescience.com/...>distribution of a vaccine, so that is the point, the main issue," Vespignani said.
Vespignani said his team's forecast for the number of cases on May 17 is 1,200 (a public version of his results are at www.gleamviz.org). If you project that rate forward to Brockmann's calculation for late May, when the virus will have spread to even more people, you get a decent alignment, with rounding.
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