Sunday, July 31, 2011
Are cancers newly evolved species?
The evolution of cancer "seems to be different from the evolution of a grasshopper, for instance, in part because the cancer genome is not a stable genome like that of other species. The challenging question is, what has it become?" Vincent said in an interview. "Duesberg's argument from karyotype is different from my argument from the definition of a species, but it is consistent."by Staff Writers
Berkeley CA (SPX) Aug 01, 2011
Cancer patients may view their tumors as parasites taking over their bodies, but this is more than a metaphor for Peter Duesberg, a molecular and cell biology professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Cancerous tumors are parasitic organisms, he said. Each one is a new species that, like most parasites, depends on its host for food, but otherwise operates independently and often to the detriment of its host.
In a paper published in the July 1 issue of the journal Cell Cycle, Duesberg and UC Berkeley colleagues describe their theory that carcinogenesis - the generation of cancer - is just another form of speciation, the evolution of new species.
"Cancer is comparable to a bacterial level of complexity, but still autonomous, that is, it doesn't depend on other cells for survival; it doesn't follow orders like other cells in the body, and it can grow where, when and how it likes," said Duesberg. "That's what species are all about." Interesting article posted here
Minority rules: Scientists discover tipping point for the spread of ideas
In this visualization, we see the tipping point where minority opinion (shown in red) quickly becomes majority opinion. Over time, the minority opinion grows. Once the minority opinion reached 10 percent of the population, the network quickly changes as the minority opinion takes over the original majority opinion (shown in green). Credit: SCNARC/Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteJuly 25, 2011
Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society. The scientists, who are members of the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center (SCNARC) at Rensselaer, used computational and analytical methods to discover the tipping point where a minority belief becomes the majority opinion. The finding has implications for the study and influence of societal interactions ranging from the spread of innovations to the movement of political ideals.
"When the number of committed opinion holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority," said SCNARC Director Boleslaw Szymanski, the Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor at Rensselaer. "Once that number grows above 10 percent, the idea spreads like flame."
As an example, the ongoing events in Tunisia and Egypt appear to exhibit a similar process, according to Szymanski. "In those countries, dictators who were in power for decades were suddenly overthrown in just a few weeks."
The findings were published in the July 22, 2011, early online edition of the journal Physical Review E in an article titled "Social consensus through the influence of committed minorities."
An important aspect of the finding is that the percent of committed opinion holders required to shift majority opinion does not change significantly regardless of the type of network in which the opinion holders are working. In other words, the percentage of committed opinion holders required to influence a society remains at approximately 10 percent, regardless of how or where that opinion starts and spreads in the society. Article is posted here
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Debt Ceiling Set For Progressive Repealing
July 27, 2011
By Michael Hudson
Mr. Obama’s scare tactics to get Democrats to vote for his Republican Wall Street plan
The Wall Street bailout melodrama should be viewed as a dress rehearsal for today’s debt-ceiling non-crisis.
You know that the debt kerfuffle is as melodramatically staged as a World Wrestling Federation exhibition when Mr. Obama makes the blatantly empty threat that if Congress does not “tackle the tough challenges of entitlement and tax reform,” there won’t be money to pay Social Security checks next month. In his debt speech last night (July 25), he threatened that if “we default, we would not have enough money to pay all of our bills – bills that include monthly Social Security checks, veterans’ benefits, and the government contracts we’ve signed with thousands of businesses.”
This is not remotely true. But it has become the scare theme for over a week now, ever since the President used almost the same words in his interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley.
Of course the government will have enough money to pay the monthly Social Security checks. The Social Security administration has its own savings – in Treasury bills. I realize that lawyers (such as Mr. Obama and indeed most American presidents) rarely understand economics. But this is a legal issue. Mr. Obama certainly must know that Social Security is solvent, with liquid securities to pay for many decades to come. Yet Mr. Obama has put Social Security at the very top of his hit list!
The most reasonable explanation for his empty threat is that he is trying to panic the elderly into hoping that somehow the budget deal he seems to have up his sleeve can save them. The reality, of course, is that they are being led to economic slaughter. (And not a word of correction reminding the President of financial reality from Rubinomics Treasury Secretary Geithner, neoliberal Fed Chairman Bernanke or anyone else in the Wall Street Democrat administration, formerly known as the Democratic Leadership Council.)
It is a con.
Article posted here
By Michael Hudson
Mr. Obama’s scare tactics to get Democrats to vote for his Republican Wall Street plan
The Wall Street bailout melodrama should be viewed as a dress rehearsal for today’s debt-ceiling non-crisis.
You know that the debt kerfuffle is as melodramatically staged as a World Wrestling Federation exhibition when Mr. Obama makes the blatantly empty threat that if Congress does not “tackle the tough challenges of entitlement and tax reform,” there won’t be money to pay Social Security checks next month. In his debt speech last night (July 25), he threatened that if “we default, we would not have enough money to pay all of our bills – bills that include monthly Social Security checks, veterans’ benefits, and the government contracts we’ve signed with thousands of businesses.”
This is not remotely true. But it has become the scare theme for over a week now, ever since the President used almost the same words in his interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley.
Of course the government will have enough money to pay the monthly Social Security checks. The Social Security administration has its own savings – in Treasury bills. I realize that lawyers (such as Mr. Obama and indeed most American presidents) rarely understand economics. But this is a legal issue. Mr. Obama certainly must know that Social Security is solvent, with liquid securities to pay for many decades to come. Yet Mr. Obama has put Social Security at the very top of his hit list!
The most reasonable explanation for his empty threat is that he is trying to panic the elderly into hoping that somehow the budget deal he seems to have up his sleeve can save them. The reality, of course, is that they are being led to economic slaughter. (And not a word of correction reminding the President of financial reality from Rubinomics Treasury Secretary Geithner, neoliberal Fed Chairman Bernanke or anyone else in the Wall Street Democrat administration, formerly known as the Democratic Leadership Council.)
It is a con.
Article posted here
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Who gets wars going?
Editor: The answer to this question is very simple. Those that benefit from wars initiate them and keep them going as long as they can get away with it.
The writer of this article, calling himself "Captain America", lays it out in the context of the 9/11 event.
Forget so-called conspiracy theories. Instead look at reality. Dare ask yourself who actually seems to have benefited from the 9-11 calamity. In light of the debt ceiling debates and the continuous corrupt politics as usual of Washington D.C., it is time for the American people, and individual states of this federation, to look at a troubling set of facts. It seems there were “several” beneficiaries of 9-11 that don’t exactly fit the story line we were constantly fed by the propaganda machine and mainstream media as to how to connect the dots (which we were rhetorically asked to do).
Here is a list of peoples that benefited. Most of this list is factual. Some are more opinion but with strong support in reality-based argument:
1) The New York Port Authority was having difficulty renting out space in the Twin Towers. More importantly there was a huge asbestos liability. Surprisingly these Towers were sold to a new owner Larry Silverstein just three months prior—who managed to get an insurance contract for a big payout if any of the Tower buildings got hit by an airplane. This is a fact.
2) Our first international move was to bomb Afghanistan under the assumption that people there were involved. So the heroin industry of Afghanistan came back to life in a big way—that is international and local drug cartels rediscovered a gold mine of money supply. Bin Laden and the Taliban, because of their religious fanaticism, pretty much closed down the trade to a trickle. But after the bombing shake-up, people connected with the heroin trade in Central Asia reaped billion dollars rewards—including money-laundering groups of financiers—such as banksters, etc. (And this is pretty much all the U.S. military/ intelligence has really accomplished—despite all the rhetoric and high-sounding goals about exporting democracy.) This is fact and not fiction.
3) Investors of profitable corporations connected to the military industrial complex made a killing (pun intended). Obviously war has been profitable for some industries for eons as we are told by most war historians profits are an inevitable consequence of war for merchants of death yet they say profit is “not” the driving force behind war. Think again. For our American culture, since at least the Vietnam War, it seems to have become the driving force. (What else does America still manufacture?) Prior to 9/11 there was little in the way of war material inventories being depleted. But soon after 9/11 this all changed. In fact some corporate stocks immediately went up in value—as did some military contracts. Note as well that after the cold war both the Pentagon and the Intelligence apparatus should have cut their budgets in half. (But then no one would have been promoted and the Pentagon would have lost some of its clout.) That did not happen. Rather the budgets doubled in size. How is that for financial austerity? This is fact and not fiction.
4) Some powerful industry leaders and think tank politicos believed it was necessary for certain “companies” to “control” various strategic resources such as oil and gas. And not surprisingly the very countries in which we declared a war against terrorists are surprisingly the same countries that contain such resources—especially in the Middle East.
Gas and oil reserves are coveted by every industrial civilization and every military as a necessity. For example, there was a plan to build an oil pipeline through Afghanistan and Pakistan to ship out from the Indian ocean—requiring stable societies that don’t sabotage pipelines. Nevertheless despite things not going as planned oil companies for whatever reason reaped huge profits. Fact and not fiction.
5) Advocates, such as Paul Bremer, for extreme laissez faire economic policies, attempted to rewrite an Iraqi constitution to promote a free market system of neo-liberal economic principles to make it especially easy for foreign nations to own Iraq’s resources. And if you do your research you will come to learn that the U.S. did not have any gripes with Saddam Hussein until he kicked oil companies out of Iraq because they wanted to take the lion’s share of the profits. He nationalized oil. This is fact and not fiction.
Continue reading article here
The writer of this article, calling himself "Captain America", lays it out in the context of the 9/11 event.
Forget so-called conspiracy theories. Instead look at reality. Dare ask yourself who actually seems to have benefited from the 9-11 calamity. In light of the debt ceiling debates and the continuous corrupt politics as usual of Washington D.C., it is time for the American people, and individual states of this federation, to look at a troubling set of facts. It seems there were “several” beneficiaries of 9-11 that don’t exactly fit the story line we were constantly fed by the propaganda machine and mainstream media as to how to connect the dots (which we were rhetorically asked to do).
Here is a list of peoples that benefited. Most of this list is factual. Some are more opinion but with strong support in reality-based argument:
1) The New York Port Authority was having difficulty renting out space in the Twin Towers. More importantly there was a huge asbestos liability. Surprisingly these Towers were sold to a new owner Larry Silverstein just three months prior—who managed to get an insurance contract for a big payout if any of the Tower buildings got hit by an airplane. This is a fact.
2) Our first international move was to bomb Afghanistan under the assumption that people there were involved. So the heroin industry of Afghanistan came back to life in a big way—that is international and local drug cartels rediscovered a gold mine of money supply. Bin Laden and the Taliban, because of their religious fanaticism, pretty much closed down the trade to a trickle. But after the bombing shake-up, people connected with the heroin trade in Central Asia reaped billion dollars rewards—including money-laundering groups of financiers—such as banksters, etc. (And this is pretty much all the U.S. military/ intelligence has really accomplished—despite all the rhetoric and high-sounding goals about exporting democracy.) This is fact and not fiction.
3) Investors of profitable corporations connected to the military industrial complex made a killing (pun intended). Obviously war has been profitable for some industries for eons as we are told by most war historians profits are an inevitable consequence of war for merchants of death yet they say profit is “not” the driving force behind war. Think again. For our American culture, since at least the Vietnam War, it seems to have become the driving force. (What else does America still manufacture?) Prior to 9/11 there was little in the way of war material inventories being depleted. But soon after 9/11 this all changed. In fact some corporate stocks immediately went up in value—as did some military contracts. Note as well that after the cold war both the Pentagon and the Intelligence apparatus should have cut their budgets in half. (But then no one would have been promoted and the Pentagon would have lost some of its clout.) That did not happen. Rather the budgets doubled in size. How is that for financial austerity? This is fact and not fiction.
4) Some powerful industry leaders and think tank politicos believed it was necessary for certain “companies” to “control” various strategic resources such as oil and gas. And not surprisingly the very countries in which we declared a war against terrorists are surprisingly the same countries that contain such resources—especially in the Middle East.
Gas and oil reserves are coveted by every industrial civilization and every military as a necessity. For example, there was a plan to build an oil pipeline through Afghanistan and Pakistan to ship out from the Indian ocean—requiring stable societies that don’t sabotage pipelines. Nevertheless despite things not going as planned oil companies for whatever reason reaped huge profits. Fact and not fiction.
5) Advocates, such as Paul Bremer, for extreme laissez faire economic policies, attempted to rewrite an Iraqi constitution to promote a free market system of neo-liberal economic principles to make it especially easy for foreign nations to own Iraq’s resources. And if you do your research you will come to learn that the U.S. did not have any gripes with Saddam Hussein until he kicked oil companies out of Iraq because they wanted to take the lion’s share of the profits. He nationalized oil. This is fact and not fiction.
Continue reading article here
Late night thoughts by author of previous post
Are We Being Had?
By paul craig roberts
In my last column I suggested that an unintended outcome of the debt ceiling impasse could be Congress' loss of the power of the purse. In this column I suggest an intended outcome that the ongoing political theater might be designed to produce.
President Obama has said that he will not resort to the various powers open to him to keep the government running should Congress fail to deliver a debt ceiling increase. This is a suspicious statement, as it is not credible that a president would leave troops at war unpaid and without supplies, Social Security checks unsent and stand aside while the US dollar collapses and the credit rating of the US government is destroyed.
There are national security directives and executive orders already on the books, as well as the 14th Amendment, that Obama can invoke to set aside the debt ceiling. Congress would sigh with relief that Obama had prevented the lawmakers from destroying the country.
So what might be going on?
One possibility is that the political theater is operating to bring about otherwise politically impossible cuts in the social safety net. If the drama continues to the absolute deadline without a deal, Obama, who perhaps favors cutting the safety net as much as do the Republicans, would have to accept the Republican package in order that the troops are not cut off from supplies, Social Security checks can continue to go out, and the dollar be saved. Having opposed the Republicans to the last minute, Obama can say that he had no other recourse.
What American wants the troops deserted on the field of battle and the elderly without groceries? Who other than the rich can stand the higher prices from dollar devaluation?
It would be a perfectly orchestrated scenario for getting rid of the New Deal and the Great Society that use up money that could be spent on wars and bailouts and tax cuts for the rich.
If the American public is not sufficiently softened up by August 2, the political theater can continue with temporary debt ceiling increases until things really begin to crack. On July 15 S&P put all AAA-rated insurance companies on CreditWatch citing ties to the US sovereign credit rating. On July 25, the US dollar fell to a new low against the Swiss franc, and gold reached a new high. Some more of this, and the public will see benefit cuts as preferable to economic Armageddon.
If Bush and Cheney were still in office, they would use the debt ceiling impasse to seize more power from Congress. Obama, however, might be so well aligned with financial interests that the opportunity he sees is to cut Social Security, Medicare and education loose from the federal budget. Then Wall Street can privatize them.
Whatever emerges from the debt ceiling impasse, it will not be in the interest of the American people.
Article posted here
Monday, July 25, 2011
Is Big Brother about to make his entry ?
The Unintended Consequences of Debt Ceiling Intransigence
By paul craig roberts
Which party is responsible for intransigence on raising the debt ceiling? Republicans say the Democrats are, and Democrats say the Republicans are.
One could blame both parties equally, as both have their positions, but as I see it, it is the Republicans who are the most intransigent. The Democrats have shown more willingness to compromise, even offering cuts in Medicare and Social Security. Moreover, the Republicans started the fight, whereas the Democrats were willing to just raise the debt ceiling routinely, as in the past, and to get on with things.
The Republicans created the issue, so they are responsible. In fairness to the Republicans, it is a more important issue for them than for Democrats. The Democrats have always been more relaxed about debt than the Republicans. At the present time, the Democrats figure that if the financial crisis is reason enough for the Federal Reserve to lend $16.1 trillion, that is, $16,100 billion to private banks in the US and Europe -- an amount $1.6 trillion larger than the Gross Domestic Product of the US, the US Treasury can afford to borrow another couple of trillion dollars.
Article source here
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Libya: Washington prepares its revenge
by Thierry Meyssan
Negotiations have intensified between Libya and the United States to reach an agreement on a cease-fire that would allow NATO to save face. But far from giving up its ambitions to reshape North Africa, the Obama administration is already preparing the second round, reports Thierry Meyssan from Tripoli.
Article with lots of insight published here
Friday, July 22, 2011
Food for thought
Image source here
Editor: Do the rooms in this image look like gas chambers used to exterminate six million people? Myself, I feel sorry for the fleas
BOMB ROCKS CENTRAL OSLO
Smoke rises from the massive explosion that hit the heart of Norway's government complex in downtown Oslo on Friday afternoon. PHOTO: Views and NewsJuly 22, 2011
UPDATE: A powerful bomb exploded in downtown Oslo shortly before 3:30pm on Friday afternoon, causing extensive damage to government offices and scores of buildings in a wide radius. By early evening at least seven people were confirmed dead and 15 were hospitalized with injuries, some of them serious. The death toll was expected to rise.
Police said more bodies were discovered inside the building housing the Ministry of Health but numbers couldn’t be confirmed. They worried that more victims would be found as police investigators and technicians searched through the rubble.
Meanwhile, a shooting attack was underway about an hour outside of Oslo, at the annual summer camp for the youth organization of the Norwegian Labour Party, which currently leads Norway’s left-center government coalition. The camp, which opened Wednesday for a five-day run, is held on an island in the Tyri Fjord, and police said there was reason to believe the bombing in downtown Oslo and the shootings on the island known as Utøya were related. Around 10 persons were said to have been shot by 7pm and the drama was still going on.
Friday’s blast in downtown Oslo was so powerful that it spread debris over a large area, from the waterfront in front of City Hall, ironically where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded every year, east to the Grønland district. A large cloud of yellow smoke rose from the area seconds after the blast, which shook downtown buildings, and caused widespread panic in the streets. A shockwave made buildings sway and crushed windows all over Oslo.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) could report extensive damage to the buildings housing the Finance Ministry, the Oil & Energy Ministry, the Business and Trade Ministry and the high-rise atop of which is the Office of the Prime Minister. The burned-out wreckage of a car lay buried by large chunks of concrete, prompting speculation that the explosion came from a car parked in a central plaza encircled by the ministries.
The offices of VG, Norway’s largest newspaper, was also severely damaged and evacuated. It sits just across the street from the government complex on the street known as Akers Gata.
Shortly after 4pm, more smoke could be seen and a cloud smelling of explosive gas was hanging over the city. Curtains could be seen flying from broken windows in the main government highrise. Fearing more explosions, police were busy cordoning off a large part of downtown.
Buses helped carry injured, bleeding people out of the area. At Ullevål sykehus, Oslo’s main hospital, entire departments were being evacuated to clear space for victims of the blast.
Norwegian news bureau NTB reported that prime minister Jens Stoltenberg was safe in an undisclosed location and he later made a brief statement saying that it remained unclear who was behind the bombing or the shootings on Utøya. Several government ministers were also confirmed safe.
Stoltenberg reportedly had already met with key ministers and prepared for a meeting in the government’s security council later on Friday. Several government ministers were on the way back to Oslo, having interrupted their summer vacations. So had Oslo’s mayor Fabian Stang, declaring that “A terrible tragedy has struck our city.”
We’ll be following the story.
Story source here
Norway: Several people shot at Labor Party youth camp
By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, July 22, 11:03 AM
OSLO, Norway — A spokesman for Norway’s Labor Party says a gunman opened fire at the party’s youth camp outside Oslo, shooting several people following the bomb blast at the government headquarters in the capital. Article posted here
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Mystery Death of Phone-Hacking Reporter
EuroNews: Hoare was the first named journalist to allege that former tabloid editor Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Franco-German axis loses its wheels
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel walk through the Impasse Pierre Guerin, in Paris Photo: EPAFrench President Nicolas Sarkozy has swooped into Berlin to secure a “clear, clean and precise response” from Chancellor Angela Merkel to the dramatic crisis engulfing the eurozone. He is unlikely to get one.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
8:55PM BST 20 Jul 2011
French and German leaders typically meet on the eve of crucial EU summits to reach a pact that can be imposed as a fait accompli on their peers. In doing so, they reinforce the Franco-German axis that has been the driving force of Europe’s Project, and leverage their combined power. But this time the chemistry is particularly sulphurous.
The Chancellor has not disguised her irritation at being bounced into a summit that she never wanted, and which looks to many Germans like an attempt to ensnare the country in an EU fiscal union and limitless bail-outs.
Germany is still transfering €60bn (£53bn) annually to East Germany 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. No German parliament can agree to any EU formula that might implicitly entail the same ruinous obligation towards non-German countries with eight times the population.
Few dispute that Europe faces extreme danger as the bond markets of Italy and Spain start to buckle. “Nobody should be under any illusion: The situation is very serious”, said Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso. “It requires a response, otherwise the negative consequences will be felt in all corners of Europe and beyond.”
Article posted here
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
NATO and the ungratefulness of the Libyan people
The Libyan Government was counting on the presence of 1 million people on 1 July 2011, in Tripoli, to protest against NATO. To the surprise of the authorities as much as for NATO, 1.7 million turned out.by Thierry Meyssan
The Coalition of the Willing had come to Libya to spare civilians from Gaddafi’s murderous madness. Four months later, the Libyan crowds have deserted "Liberated Benghazi" and are staging gigantic anti-NATO demonstrations. Confronted with an unexpected political reality, the Atlantic armada has been left without a strategy. The Italians have started to pull out while the French are seeking an exit.
Informative article published here
Monday, July 18, 2011
Phone-hacking whistleblower found dead: Former News of the World reporter accused Coulson of lying about his role Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.
* Found dead at his flat in Watford, Herts
* Reporter's claims last autumn reignited scandal
* Ex News of the World journalist said Coulson's denials of phone hacking were 'a lie'
* Police probing former showbiz reporter's 'suicide'
* Friends suggest he may have died of natural causes
By Sam Greenhill, Tom Kelly and James Chapman
Last updated at 2:58 AM on 19th July 2011
Found dead: Former News of the World journalist Sean Hoare was discovered at his home in Watford
The man who launched the entire phone hacking scandal was found dead yesterday.
Ex-News of the World reporter Sean Hoare had accused former Tory media chief Andy Coulson of lying about his role in the affair.
He said that when editor of the paper, Mr Coulson actively encouraged his staff to intercept the calls of celebrities.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2016132/Sean-Hoare-News-World-phone-hacking-whistleblower-dead.html#ixzz1SWSrYprV
Dawn Spacecraft Snaps Close-up Image of Asteroid Vesta
Latest Image of Vesta Captured by Dawn on July 17, 2011.NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image with its framing camera on July 17, 2011. It was taken from a distance of about 9,500 miles (15,000 kilometers) away from the protoplanet Vesta. Each pixel in the image corresponds to roughly 0.88 miles (1.4 kilometers).
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
Dawn Spacecraft Snaps Close-up Image of Asteroid Vesta
July 18, 2011: NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned the first close-up image after beginning its orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta. On Friday, July 15, Dawn became the first probe to enter orbit around an object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
The image taken for navigation purposes shows Vesta in greater detail than ever before. When Vesta captured Dawn into its orbit, there were approximately 9,900 miles (16,000 kilometers) between the spacecraft and asteroid. Engineers estimate the orbit capture took place at 10 p.m. PDT Friday, July 15 (1 a.m. EDT Saturday, July 16).
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Why Banks Aren’t Lending: The Silent Liquidity Squeeze
by Ellen Brown
Why aren’t banks lending to local businesses? The Fed’s decision to pay interest on $1.6 trillion in “excess” reserves is a chief suspect.
Where did all the jobs go? Small and medium-sized businesses are the major source of new job creation, and they are not hiring. Startup businesses, which contribute a fifth of the nation’s new jobs, often can’t even get off the ground. Why?
In a June 30 article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Smaller Businesses Seeking Loans Still Come Up Empty,” Emily Maltby reported that business owners rank access to capital as the most important issue facing them today; and only 17% of smaller businesses said they were able to land needed bank financing. Businesses have to pay for workers and materials before they can get paid for the products they produce, and for that they need bank credit; but they are reporting that their credit lines are being cut. They are being pushed instead into credit card accounts that average 16 percent interest, more than double the rate of the average business loan. It is one of many changes in banking trends that have been very lucrative for Wall Street banks but are killing local businesses. Article published here
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
NATO Press release, July 15
The NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen visited Istanbul on 15 July 2011 and attended the meeting of the International Contact Group for Libya. During the meeting, the Secretary General said that NATO NATO is supportive of all efforts to find a political solution to the Libya crisis and commended the initiative to develop a roadmap.
“I need to underline that any ceasefire among the parties would have to be credible, verifiable and with clear conditions” the Secretary General said. “Otherwise, we would risk a rebound of the violence.”
The Secretary General stressed that NATO remains committed to protect the Libyan people and this is what the United Nations Security Council has asked the Alliance to do. He highlighted that as long as the Qadhafi regime continues to attack and threaten its own people, NATO’s mission will continue.
The Secretary General also met with Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan and with Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu.
The Secretary General commended Turkey for its efforts to find a political solution to the conflict that accommodates the legitimate aspirations of the people of Libya. The Secretary General also strongly condemned the terrorist attack that killed 13 Turkish soldiers in Dyiarbakir province yesterday.
Editor: This is rather interesting. NATO is now morphing into a political entity as well as military one headed up by a former Danish politician:
"Anders Fogh Rasmussen, born 26 January 1953) is a Danish politician, and the 12th and current Secretary General of NATO.[1] Rasmussen served as Prime Minister of Denmark from November 27, 2001 to April 5, 2009. Anders Fogh Rasmussen was the leader of the Liberal Party (Venstre), and headed a right-wing coalition with the Conservative People's Party which took office in 2001, and won its second and third terms in February 2005 and in November 2007."
The question is: Whose servant is Anders Fogh Rasmussen?
“I need to underline that any ceasefire among the parties would have to be credible, verifiable and with clear conditions” the Secretary General said. “Otherwise, we would risk a rebound of the violence.”
The Secretary General stressed that NATO remains committed to protect the Libyan people and this is what the United Nations Security Council has asked the Alliance to do. He highlighted that as long as the Qadhafi regime continues to attack and threaten its own people, NATO’s mission will continue.
The Secretary General also met with Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan and with Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu.
The Secretary General commended Turkey for its efforts to find a political solution to the conflict that accommodates the legitimate aspirations of the people of Libya. The Secretary General also strongly condemned the terrorist attack that killed 13 Turkish soldiers in Dyiarbakir province yesterday.
Editor: This is rather interesting. NATO is now morphing into a political entity as well as military one headed up by a former Danish politician:
"Anders Fogh Rasmussen, born 26 January 1953) is a Danish politician, and the 12th and current Secretary General of NATO.[1] Rasmussen served as Prime Minister of Denmark from November 27, 2001 to April 5, 2009. Anders Fogh Rasmussen was the leader of the Liberal Party (Venstre), and headed a right-wing coalition with the Conservative People's Party which took office in 2001, and won its second and third terms in February 2005 and in November 2007."
The question is: Whose servant is Anders Fogh Rasmussen?
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
IMF: Greece needs new bailout package
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos
Thu Jul 14, 2011 1:12AM
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has stated, in a recently released report, that Greece needs an additional bailout package to weather its debt crisis.
The report released on Wednesday, praised Greek officials for adopting austerity measures in an attempt to cut its budget deficit to less than 3 percent of its economy by 2014.
But added that the country needs to move decisively to bring its public debt under control, AP reported.
"It is essential that the authorities implement their fiscal and privatization agenda in a timely and determined manner," the report said.
Moreover, the report acknowledged that an additional EUR 71 billion in European Union aid and EUR 33 billion from private creditors is needed.
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said on Tuesday that his country wants the European Union to provide a new bailout package by the end of August, so they will be able to meet its financing needs in the coming year.
Greece's economy is currently contracting, making a reduction of the budget deficit harder, despite austerity measures.
"The recession is expected to trend a little deeper and longer than expected, but the outlook is for continued competitiveness gains and slightly faster external adjustment," the report stated.
Article source here
'1,108 Libyans killed in NATO attacks'
Libya's Prosecutor General Mohammed al-Mahjoubi
Wed Jul 13, 2011 11:14PM
Libya's prosecutor general has said that NATO airstrikes have killed more than 1,100 civilians and injured thousands of others since the end of March.
Mohamed Zekri Mahjubi told foreign journalists in Tripoli on Wednesday that he intends to prosecute NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Libyan courts for “war crimes.”
"As NATO secretary general, Rasmussen is responsible for the actions of this organization which has attacked an unarmed people, killing 1,108 civilians and wounding 4,537 others in bombardment of Tripoli and other cities and villages," Mahjubi was quoted by AFP as saying.
The prosecutor general pressed other charges against Rasmussen, saying the NATO chief sought to murder Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
Mahjubi also accused Rasmussen of "deliberate aggression against innocent civilians, the murder of children as well as trying to overthrow the Libyan regime.”
The Libyan official said the NATO chief seeks to change the regime in Libya and establish a new government under his control with the aim of exploiting the country's oil.
NATO has carried out hundreds of air attacks over Libya with the claimed aim of protecting civilians against Gaddafi forces.
The NATO chief met representatives of the Libyan opposition-backed Transitional National Council in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss the way forward in the North African country.
Rasmussen said NATO operations in Libya would continue. However, he added that it was time to find a political solution to the crisis.
Article source here
NATO's War Against Libya's Civilians
Dispatch From Tripoli, Libya: July 08-10, 2011
By FRANKLIN LAMB
Briefly noted below are five recent instances of undisputed NATO bombings on Libyan civilians selected because they still among the most frequently discussed by residents of Tripoli.
On May 13, 2011, a peace delegation of Muslim religious leaders having arrived in Brega to seek dialogue with fellow Sheiks from the east of Libya was bombed at 1 a.m. in their guesthouse by two MK 82 bombs. Eleven were killed instantly and 14 were seriously injured. NATO claimed the building housed a “Command and Control Center.” All witnesses and the hotel owner have vehemently denied this claim. This observer interviewed the leader of the delegation, Sheik Khalad Ali on three occasions, seeking details. He is recovering from shrapnel wounds to his right leg and confirms the eye-witness accounts. NATO has offered the families compensation.
During the early morning of June 20, 2011, 8 missiles and bombs targeted the home of Khaled Al-Hamedi and his parents and family. Fifteen family members and friends were killed including Khaled’s pregnant wife, his sister and three of his children. NATO said it bombed the home because it was a military installation of some kind. Witnesses, neighbors and independent observers deny there was ever any military installation or troop presence on the property.
In late June, 2011 on the main road west of Tripoli a public bus with 12 passengers was hit by a TOW missile killing all the passengers. NATO claimed that public buses are being used to transport military personnel. Foreign observers, including this one, unanimously aver that they have not seen military personnel in Tripoli, including tanks, APC’s or even military equipment. Local police provide security in the cities and neighborhood watch teams cover the suburbs.
On June 6, 2011, at 2:30 a.m. the central administrative complex of the Higher Committee for Children in central Tripoli, two blocks from this observer’s hotel, was bombed with a total of 12 bombs /rockets. The complex housed the National Downs Syndrome center including its records and vital statistics office, the Crippled Women’s Foundation, the Crippled Children Center, and the National Diabetic Research Center.
On June 16, 2011 at 5 a.m. NATO bombed a private hotel in central Tripoli, killing three people and destroying a restaurant and Shisha smoking bar.
According to doctors from the Sirte Central Hospital, and the Libyan Lawyers Group representing the victims of NATO atrocities, who spoke during a briefing on 7/8/11, numerous health issues have resulted from NATO’s attacks.
Among these are an increase of strokes among the general population from five to twenty per month, the fact that a higher percentage of nursing mothers cannot produce sufficient breast milk for their babies, a high incidence of fear in children from the sounds of bombs which causes inability to sleep properly, and a 300 per cent increase in diabetes and high blood pressure from February 15 to June 15, 2010 compared with the the same four month period in 2011.
Miscarriages in Libya are up dramatically according to the Prelate of the Catholic Church in Libya*, Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, one of the most popular religious leaders in this 99.5% Sunni Muslim country, who informed visitors on 7/2/11 that in just one day at the Green Hill Hospital in Tripoli, following NATO bombing runs in mid March, 2011, there were 50 miscarriages and forty deaths among the patients received. These statistics were confirmed during a meeting between these observers on 7/5/11 by Dr. Mohamed Milhat, cardiac specialist at the Libyan British Medical Center who described the large increase in the number of citizens complaining of stress-related illnesses. History will judge NATO harshly for its crimes. Hopefully the citizens of every NATO member state will work to end its mission so as to protect the civilian population of Libya.
Franklin Lamb is doing research in Libya and can be reached c/o fplamb@gmail.com
*Mathaba Libya Editor Comments: where are the Roman Catholics in the world? Philippines, Ireland, you are Roman Catholics. Get yourselves organized and come and visit Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli. Form International People's Committees. Nurses from the Philippines. Form an Philippine Nurses Solidarity People's Committee and move to Libya. All your needs will be provided. Irish technicians and radio operators, get together and form an Irish Technical Solidarity People's Committee and descend upon Libya, you can land at Djerba and be picked up by car. Everything you need will be provided for. All of you can register with the IPCO and mention your skills and wishes to be networked into International People's Committees.
Article source here
Silver Use Grows with Infection Control Products, Reports the Silver Institute
(Washington, D.C. - July 13, 2011) Silver usage has grown exponentially in medicine and health-related products, notes The Silver Institute based here, which has been tracking its increased usage.
The high efficiency of silver – its effective concentration is in parts per million or less, the difficulty microorganisms have in developing resistance to silver, and its long history of use as an antimicrobial are all highly positive factors for predicting increased growth in the use of products containing silver for healthcare, explained Michael DiRienzo, Executive Director of the Silver Institute. He said that silver’s use in hygiene and medicine is expected to reach over six million ounces by 2015 – up from nearly one million ounces in 2010 – according to a recent Silver Institute report entitled, The Future of Silver Industrial Demand, which represents a fivefold increase.
Silver usage and components were in wide display at the annual conference of the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) in Baltimore, Maryland last month. Its use in medicinal and hygiene are in a variety of forms, including silver sulfadiazine, silver chloride, silver sulfate and nano silver metallic particles.
How is silver being deployed? Let me count the ways, offered Mr. DiRienzo.
“Silver is increasingly used in hygiene, including its incorporation into socks, air purifying sprays, hair dryers, sportswear, hospital gowns, door handles, counter tops, bed rails, and paints and lacquers. Clearly, medical and hygiene professions are looking to silver to help control bacteria and prevent infection.”
Among the silver-containing items exhibited at the APIC conference were textile products such as operating gowns, mattress covers and bed linens. Wound-care products also make major use of antimicrobial silver. With respect to wound dressings, studies have shown that dressings containing silver increase the comfort level for burn patients by minimizing adhesion between wound and dressing, thereby reducing pain when changing dressings. Antimicrobial-silver sprays are also used to protect surfaces likely to collect infectious organisms and silver-based coatings are also increasingly used in medical devices such as catheters and tubing to prevent surgical-site infections.
The antimicrobial effects of silver have been known since ancient times, but only within the last five years has silver been used more extensively to control hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). This has been in response to efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and by legislative mandates forcing hospitals to prevent the occurrence of HAIs.
The Silver Institute has been actively involved with educating APIC professionals on silver and has followed through with monitoring the progress in the use of silver for infection-control products. Manufacturers of healthcare products containing silver exhibit at conferences worldwide to educate infection-control professionals at hospitals and other patient-treatment centers on the many beneficial effects of the metal.
About The Silver Institute
The Silver Institute is a nonprofit international industry association headquartered in Washington, D.C. Established in 1971, the Institute serves as the industry’s voice in increasing public understanding of the value and many uses of silver. Its members include leading silver producers, refiners, manufacturers and dealers. For more information about the Silver Institute, or for a copy of the free report, The Future of Silver Industrial Demand, visit www.silverinstitute.org.
For Further Information Contact:
Michael DiRienzo
The Silver Institute
888 16th Street, N.W., Suite 303
Washington, D.C. 20006
Tel: (202) 835-0185
Fax: (202) 835-0155
Editor: Silver is a "value metal" because it has many uses, in addition to its "storehouse of value" function. An excellent investment during uncertain times.
Just make sure to get the actual metal, rather than promises to deliver same.
Article source here
The high efficiency of silver – its effective concentration is in parts per million or less, the difficulty microorganisms have in developing resistance to silver, and its long history of use as an antimicrobial are all highly positive factors for predicting increased growth in the use of products containing silver for healthcare, explained Michael DiRienzo, Executive Director of the Silver Institute. He said that silver’s use in hygiene and medicine is expected to reach over six million ounces by 2015 – up from nearly one million ounces in 2010 – according to a recent Silver Institute report entitled, The Future of Silver Industrial Demand, which represents a fivefold increase.
Silver usage and components were in wide display at the annual conference of the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) in Baltimore, Maryland last month. Its use in medicinal and hygiene are in a variety of forms, including silver sulfadiazine, silver chloride, silver sulfate and nano silver metallic particles.
How is silver being deployed? Let me count the ways, offered Mr. DiRienzo.
“Silver is increasingly used in hygiene, including its incorporation into socks, air purifying sprays, hair dryers, sportswear, hospital gowns, door handles, counter tops, bed rails, and paints and lacquers. Clearly, medical and hygiene professions are looking to silver to help control bacteria and prevent infection.”
Among the silver-containing items exhibited at the APIC conference were textile products such as operating gowns, mattress covers and bed linens. Wound-care products also make major use of antimicrobial silver. With respect to wound dressings, studies have shown that dressings containing silver increase the comfort level for burn patients by minimizing adhesion between wound and dressing, thereby reducing pain when changing dressings. Antimicrobial-silver sprays are also used to protect surfaces likely to collect infectious organisms and silver-based coatings are also increasingly used in medical devices such as catheters and tubing to prevent surgical-site infections.
The antimicrobial effects of silver have been known since ancient times, but only within the last five years has silver been used more extensively to control hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). This has been in response to efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and by legislative mandates forcing hospitals to prevent the occurrence of HAIs.
The Silver Institute has been actively involved with educating APIC professionals on silver and has followed through with monitoring the progress in the use of silver for infection-control products. Manufacturers of healthcare products containing silver exhibit at conferences worldwide to educate infection-control professionals at hospitals and other patient-treatment centers on the many beneficial effects of the metal.
About The Silver Institute
The Silver Institute is a nonprofit international industry association headquartered in Washington, D.C. Established in 1971, the Institute serves as the industry’s voice in increasing public understanding of the value and many uses of silver. Its members include leading silver producers, refiners, manufacturers and dealers. For more information about the Silver Institute, or for a copy of the free report, The Future of Silver Industrial Demand, visit www.silverinstitute.org.
For Further Information Contact:
Michael DiRienzo
The Silver Institute
888 16th Street, N.W., Suite 303
Washington, D.C. 20006
Tel: (202) 835-0185
Fax: (202) 835-0155
Editor: Silver is a "value metal" because it has many uses, in addition to its "storehouse of value" function. An excellent investment during uncertain times.
Just make sure to get the actual metal, rather than promises to deliver same.
Article source here
Monday, July 11, 2011
Punching Holes in the Sky
A hole punch cloud observed on August 17, 2008 near Linz, Austria. Credit: H. Raabby Patrick Lynch - NASA's Earth Science News Team
Washington DC (SPX) Jul 12, 2011
Scientists, photographers and amateur cloud watchers have been looking up with wonderment and puzzlement at "hole punch" clouds for decades. Giant, open spaces appear in otherwise continuous cloud cover, presenting beautiful shapes but also an opportunity for scientific investigation.
A new paper published last week in Science inquires into how the holes get punched - airplanes are the culprit - and into the potential for the phenomenon's link to increased precipitation around major airports.
"It appears to be a rather widespread effect for aircraft to inadvertently cause some measureable amount of rain or snow as they fly through certain clouds," said lead author Andrew Heymsfield of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Co.
Article posted here
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Gas Giant Spacecraft All Gassed Up
by Staff Writers
Titusville FL (SPX) Jul 11, 2011
Juno is nearly wrapped and ready for launch.
The Juno spacecraft completed hydrazine fuel loading, oxidizer loading and final tank pressurizations this week, and now the complete propulsion system is ready for the trip to Jupiter. The spacecraft is currently at the Astrotech processing facility in Titusville, Fla.
Hydrazine is the fuel of choice for most spacecraft because of its stored energy. When the fuel is mixed with the oxidizer, the liquid ignites in the propulsion system's main engine to perform the spacecraft's four large maneuvers. One of these maneuvers includes inserting the spacecraft into orbit around Jupiter in 2016.
With the fueling completion, the spacecraft is 99 percent ready for launch. Once the final thermal blanket closeouts and wet spin tests are complete, the spacecraft will be 100 percent ready for installation onto the Atlas 551 launch vehicle. Article here
Unhappy Italian
Berlusconi : " I was helpless with regard to Italy's involvement in war on Libya".
2011-07-10
Italian Prime Minister, Berlusconi said that he was helpless regarding his decision for Italy to participate in war against Libya . Italian media reported that Berlusconi had rejected the western powers led by France and England to involve Italy in war against Libya.
" I was against the decision as everybody knows, but my hands were tightened," said Berlusconi.
Berlusconi's declaration came one week after millions of Libyans held a massive rally on Friday Jul 01, during which Libyan people delivered a message to the world that after 100 days of bombings, the Libyan families, children, women took the streets in massive rallies for challenging Nato's aggressions.
During his speech to Libyan masses , leader of the revolution had said," Berlusconi is helpless" and he challenged him to turn on Libyan TV to watch Libyan people's great challenge.
" Libyans are able to move the battle to Europe. Their houses, offices and families will be legitimate target as they are targeting our houses and children", the leader said. Information source here
Why QE2 Failed: The Money All Went Offshore
by Ellen Brown
On June 30, QE2 ended with a whimper. The Fed’s second round of “quantitative easing” involved $600 billion created with a computer keystroke for the purchase of long-term government bonds. But the government never actually got the money, which went straight into the reserve accounts of banks, where it still sits today. Worse, it went into the reserve accounts of FOREIGN banks, on which the Federal Reserve is now paying 0.25% interest. Read article here
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Commodity News for the week ending July 8, 2011
Economic Reports & Statistics
Factory orders were higher in May, up 0.8 percent from April. The Commerce Department release was forecast to show a gain of 1.0 percent. (1) Wholesale inventories showed a gain of 1.8 percent for May, based in part on a decline of 0.2 percent for sales. (2) The Institute for Supply Management’s services index declined to 53.3 for the month of June, versus 54.6 in May and a forecasted reading of 53.7. (3) Thursday’s ADP employment data showed an addition of 157,000 jobs in the private sector in June. (4) The official data from the Labor Department showed that unemployment was up to 9.2 percent, and only 18,000 jobs were added versus forecasts for at least 90,000 new jobs. (4, 5)
The European Central Bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percent. (6) China also raised its interest rates by 0.25 percent, the third increase this year. (7) Moody’s lowered their long-term bond rating for Portugal to Ba2 which is considered junk status. (8)
Energies
Weekly data from the Energy Information Administration showed crude supplies declining by 900,000 versus expectations for a 2.5 million barrel drop. Gasoline supplies were 600,000 barrels lower and 3.1 percent below the level seen at this time last year. Forecasts had shown expectations for a 500,000 barrel increase. Distillates were 200,000 barrels lower versus forecasts for a gain of 1.1 million barrels. (9)
Exxon Mobil Corp. is cleaning up following a spill from an oil pipeline in Montana. (10)
Grains & Oilseeds
Heavy rains contributed to a lowering of the wheat production forecast in Canada. The Farm Ministry reduced their forecast by 1.0m metric tons to 10.0m metric tons. (11) This week’s crop progress report from the USDA showed that conditions were marginally higher with corn in the good to excellent range gaining by one percent to 69 percent. (12) A compromise has been reached on a Senate deal which will result in the end to corn-based ethanol producer subsidies. (13) The Energy Department is initiating a plan to, “provide $105 million loan guarantee,” for a factory that looks to produce ethanol from corn waste. (14) Informa estimates released today show hard red winter wheat production levels at 788 million bushels, the lowest since 2006. (15)
Livestock
45,000 animals in Vietnam have been culled on a foot-and-mouth outbreak. (16) According to results of a study by a research firm, burger consumption is up since 2009. Their results show that around 50 percent of people have burgers once a week, versus 38 percent two years ago. (17)
Precious Metals
The United Kingdom’s Royal Mint reports that it has doubled its silver coin production to 324,421 ounces on an “upsurge in demand.” (18)
Softs & Exotics
Reports are showing smaller beans and plenty of moisture contributing to varied cocoa prices in Ivory Coast. (19) Exports from their San Pedro port are up to 83,594 metric tons versus 20,078 “a year earlier.” (20) A recent survey shows that more American consumers are foregoing their purchase of morning coffee in an effort to save money. (21) The current premium for Vietnam’s coffee beans fell by about 27 percent in the last week. (22) Unica has forecast for Brazil’s sugar production will be lower than last year’s by 1 million metric tons. (23) Drought continues in Texas, affecting corn and cotton crops. (24) India is increasing cotton exports and has issued permits to ship 170,000 tons. (25)
Information source here
Factory orders were higher in May, up 0.8 percent from April. The Commerce Department release was forecast to show a gain of 1.0 percent. (1) Wholesale inventories showed a gain of 1.8 percent for May, based in part on a decline of 0.2 percent for sales. (2) The Institute for Supply Management’s services index declined to 53.3 for the month of June, versus 54.6 in May and a forecasted reading of 53.7. (3) Thursday’s ADP employment data showed an addition of 157,000 jobs in the private sector in June. (4) The official data from the Labor Department showed that unemployment was up to 9.2 percent, and only 18,000 jobs were added versus forecasts for at least 90,000 new jobs. (4, 5)
The European Central Bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percent. (6) China also raised its interest rates by 0.25 percent, the third increase this year. (7) Moody’s lowered their long-term bond rating for Portugal to Ba2 which is considered junk status. (8)
Energies
Weekly data from the Energy Information Administration showed crude supplies declining by 900,000 versus expectations for a 2.5 million barrel drop. Gasoline supplies were 600,000 barrels lower and 3.1 percent below the level seen at this time last year. Forecasts had shown expectations for a 500,000 barrel increase. Distillates were 200,000 barrels lower versus forecasts for a gain of 1.1 million barrels. (9)
Exxon Mobil Corp. is cleaning up following a spill from an oil pipeline in Montana. (10)
Grains & Oilseeds
Heavy rains contributed to a lowering of the wheat production forecast in Canada. The Farm Ministry reduced their forecast by 1.0m metric tons to 10.0m metric tons. (11) This week’s crop progress report from the USDA showed that conditions were marginally higher with corn in the good to excellent range gaining by one percent to 69 percent. (12) A compromise has been reached on a Senate deal which will result in the end to corn-based ethanol producer subsidies. (13) The Energy Department is initiating a plan to, “provide $105 million loan guarantee,” for a factory that looks to produce ethanol from corn waste. (14) Informa estimates released today show hard red winter wheat production levels at 788 million bushels, the lowest since 2006. (15)
Livestock
45,000 animals in Vietnam have been culled on a foot-and-mouth outbreak. (16) According to results of a study by a research firm, burger consumption is up since 2009. Their results show that around 50 percent of people have burgers once a week, versus 38 percent two years ago. (17)
Precious Metals
The United Kingdom’s Royal Mint reports that it has doubled its silver coin production to 324,421 ounces on an “upsurge in demand.” (18)
Softs & Exotics
Reports are showing smaller beans and plenty of moisture contributing to varied cocoa prices in Ivory Coast. (19) Exports from their San Pedro port are up to 83,594 metric tons versus 20,078 “a year earlier.” (20) A recent survey shows that more American consumers are foregoing their purchase of morning coffee in an effort to save money. (21) The current premium for Vietnam’s coffee beans fell by about 27 percent in the last week. (22) Unica has forecast for Brazil’s sugar production will be lower than last year’s by 1 million metric tons. (23) Drought continues in Texas, affecting corn and cotton crops. (24) India is increasing cotton exports and has issued permits to ship 170,000 tons. (25)
Information source here
Friday, July 8, 2011
NATO operations report
Air Operations
Since the beginning of the NATO operation (31 March 2011, 06.00GMT) a total of 14,281 sorties, including 5,388 strike sorties*, have been conducted.
Sorties conducted 07 JULY: 134
Strike sorties conducted 07 JULY:46
*Strike sorties are intended to identify and engage appropriate targets, but do not necessarily deploy munitions each time.
Key Hits 07 JULY:
In the vicinity of Brega: 1 Military Refuelling Equipment.
In the vicinity of Gharyan: 3 Armed Vehicles.
In the vicinity of Waddan: 1 Military Storage Facility.
In the vicinity of Surt: 1 Tank.
In the vicinity of Zlitan: 1 Artillery Piece, 1 Radar.
In the vicinity of Tripoli: 3 Anti-Aircraft Gun, 1 Command and Control Center.
Editor: Does "Command and Control Center" mean yet another suburban house with innocent women and children?
NATO’s operational commander for Operation Unified Protector is Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard of the Canadian Air Force. His office and staff is located at the Allied Joint Force Command Naples.
For any operational query:
Naples Media and Information
Center tel: +39 081 721 31 11
Email: oup.media@gmail.com
Any other query:
NATO HQ Press Desk
+32 (0) 2 707 1010
+32 (0) 2 707 10 07
Mail to: moc@hq.nato.int
Heading for the next big dip
Editor: Economists are reported to be surprised by the poor job data in the US. Why is it that economists are always the last to pull their heads out of the sand? Article here
Flying car cleared for the road
Terrafugia's Transition roadable aircraft, shown here in an artists' rendering, has cleared regulatory hurdles that make it street legal.By John Roach
A flying car is being exempted from regulatory hurdles, meaning future owners of the vehicle will be able to drive it on public streets, the company behind it recently announced.
What this means is that you'll be able to legally sit in traffic with the rest of the street-legal cars, but have a slight grin as you head home from the general aviation airport where you landed after flying over traffic for the first 20 miles of your commute.
"Think of it as an airplane that drives, not a car that flies," Anna Mracek Dietrich, the chief operating officer of Terrafugia, the Woburn, Mass.,-based company that is making the Transition roadable aircraft, told me in an email Thursday.
"Once on the ground, the pilot can fold the wings on his Transition with the push of a button, drive home, and park in their garage." Article and links here
Hydrogen Peroxide Found in Space
Hydrogen peroxide is thought to form in space on the surfaces of cosmic dust grains - very fine particles similar to sand and soot - when hydrogen (H) is added to oxygen molecules (O2). A further reaction of the hydrogen peroxide with more hydrogen is one way to produce water (H2O). This new detection of hydrogen peroxide will therefore help astronomers better understand the formation of water in the Universe.by Staff Writers
Paris, France (ESO) Jul 08, 2011
Hydrogen peroxide is thought to form in space on the surfaces of cosmic dust grains - very fine particles similar to sand and soot - when hydrogen (H) is added to oxygen molecules (O2). A further reaction of the hydrogen peroxide with more hydrogen is one way to produce water (H2O). This new detection of hydrogen peroxide will therefore help astronomers better understand the formation of water in the Universe.
Molecules of hydrogen peroxide have been found for the first time in interstellar space. The discovery gives clues about the chemical link between two molecules critical for life: water and oxygen. On Earth, hydrogen peroxide plays a key role in the chemistry of water and ozone in our planet's atmosphere, and is familiar for its use as a disinfectant or to bleach hair blonde. Now it has been detected in space by astronomers using the ESO-operated APEX telescope in Chile. Article published here
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Greece: PASOK, the Pan Hellenic Socialist Kleptocrats
An elderly man watches the smoke of tear gas during clashes at Athens’ main Syntagma square to protest against the austerity bill approved by Greek lawmakers on 29 June 2011, despite a second day of street rioting that left dozens of protesters and police injured. © Thanassis Stavrakis / AP
by James Petras
This author retraces Greece’s parliamentary path, under the corrupt leadership of its so-called Socialist Government, from independence to its current unconditional subservience to the de facto tutelage of the IMF and European central bankers. To Petras, the Greek experience is yet another reminder of the vanishing differences between conservatives and social democrats worldwide. Insightful article posted here
Militarization of the Arctic
| John Robles | 7.07.2011, 16:55 |
 | Interview with Rick Rozoff, the manager of the Stop NATO website and mailing list and a contributing writer to Global Research.ca "Canada has announced that they will be conducting large-scale exercises in the Arctic. NATO also announced claims on the Arctic. What can you say about the militarization of the Arctic?" (Editor: Please click on the "interview" tag above to listen to Rick Rozoff) Source: Voice of Russia. |
At U. Darby Sears, West Philadelphia, dozens invade & flee with thousands in merchandise
Upper Darby police released this surveillance image that they said was recorded during the invasion of the store by dozens of youths.June 27, 2011|By STEPHANIE FARR, farrs@phillynews.com 215-854-4225
DOZENS OF West Philly boys - ranging in age from 11 to 19 - stormed a Sears store in Upper Darby on Thursday as part of a "flash mob" and made off with thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise, police said.
Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said he believed that the group organized the mass theft through social networking, although the exact networking site was not yet clear.
He said that the kids traveled together on public transportation and arrived at the store on 69th Street en masse about 7:10 p.m.
The kids - Chitwood estimated there were around 40 boys - scattered throughout the store and began to "rob, steal and pillage," he said.
Editor: Is this a sign of things to come as youth unemployment rises, both in Canada and the US? Article posted here
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Cassini Spacecraft Captures Images and Sounds of Big Saturn Storm
The huge storm churning through the atmosphere in Saturn's northern hemisphere overtakes itself as it encircles the planet in this true-color view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. This picture, captured on Feb. 25, 2011, was taken about 12 weeks after the storm began, and the clouds by this time had formed a tail that wrapped around the planet. Some of the clouds moved south and got caught up in a current that flows to the east (to the right) relative to the storm head. This tail, which appears as slightly blue clouds south and west (left) of the storm head, can be seen encountering the storm head in this view
by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 07, 2011
Scientists analyzing data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft now have the first-ever, up-close details of a Saturn storm that is eight times the surface area of Earth.
On Dec. 5, 2010, Cassini first detected the storm that has been raging ever since. It appears at approximately 35 degrees north latitude on Saturn. Pictures from Cassini's imaging cameras show the storm wrapping around the entire planet covering approximately 1.5 billion square miles (4 billion square kilometers).
The storm is about 500 times larger than the biggest storm previously seen by Cassini during several months from 2009 to 2010. Scientists studied the sounds of the new storm's lightning strikes and analyzed images taken between December 2010 and February 2011. Full article here
Testimony: The Sorman massacre
The Al-Hamedi family house bombed by NATO.© Franklin Lamb / Voltaire Network
by Thierry Meyssan
For once, Thierry Meyssan is not offering us a clinical analysis of geo-political developments. He is reporting on facts that he witnessed firsthand: the story of his friend, Engineer Khaled K. Al-Hamedi. A story of horror and blood where NATO embodies the comeback of barbarism.
It was a family celebration, the Libyan way. Everyone had gathered to celebrate the third birthday of little Al-Khweldy. The grand-parents, the brothers and sisters and cousins were crowding inside the family house located in Sorman, 70 Kms West of the capital: a big garden where small houses had been built for the various members of the family, plain, one-floor houses.
No big luxury, just the simplicity of desert people. A quiet and harmonious atmosphere. The grand-father, Marshall Al-Khweldy Al-Hamedi, used to raise birds here. - He is a hero of the Revolution who took part in the overthrow of the monarchy and in his country’s liberation from colonial exploitation. All are very proud of him. - The son, Khaled Al-Hamedi, President of IOPCR, one of the most important Arab humaitarian associations, used to raise does. About thirty children were running around among the animals.
They were also preparing the wedding of his brother Mohammed, gone to the front lines to fight against NATO-trained foreign mercenaries. The ceremony was to take place here in a few days’ time. His fiancee was already beaming.
Nobody noticed that, among the guests, a spy had sneaked in. He was pretending to twitter his friends. In reality, he had just marked the targets and was relaying them through the social network at NATO Headquarters.
The next day, during the night of 19 to 20 June 2011, at around 2.30 am, Khaled went back home after having visited and assisted compatriots who had fled the Alliance’s bombings. He was close enough to his house to hear the hissing of missiles and their explosions.
NATO fired eight of them, of 900 kilos each. The spy had placed markers in each house, including the children’s bedrooms. The missiles were dropped a few seconds apart. The grand-parents had time to get out of their house before it was destroyed. It was already too late to rescue the children and grand-children. When the last missile hit their house, the Marshall had the instinctive reaction to shield his wife with his body. They had just stepped out of the door when they were flung fifteen meters away by an explosion. But they survived.
When Khaled arrived, there was only devastation. His wife, whom he loved so much, and the child she was bearing were gone. His children, for whom he would have given anything, were crushed by the explosions and collapsing ceilings.
The houses were left in ruins. Twelve mutilated bodies were lying under the rubble. The does, hit by fragments, were agonising in their pen.
The neighbours who rushed to their rescue silently searched through the debris for any sign of life. Unfortunately, there was no hope. The children didn’t stand a chance of escaping the missiles. The corpse of a beheaded child is extracted. The grand-father is reciting verses of the Coran. His voice is firm, he does not cry. His pain is too strong.
Meanwhile, in Brussels, NATO spokespersons declared to have bombed the headquarters of pro-Ghaddafi militia in order to protect the civilian population from the tyrant who is repressing it.
It is not known how the whole thing was planned by the targets committee, nor how the chiefs of NATO’s general staff followed the unfolding of the operation. What is clear is that the Atlantic Alliance, with its spruced-up generals and right-thinking diplomats, has decided to murder the chidren of Libyan leaders to break their psychological resistance.
Since the XIIIth century, European theologists and jurists have prohibited the assassination of families. Only the mafia has broken this absolute taboo. The mafia and now NATO.
On 1st July, when 1.7 million people were demonstrating in Tripoli to defend their country against foreign aggression, Khaled went to the front to bring relief to refugees and the injured. Snipers were waiting for him. They tried to kill him. He was seriously injured; however, according to the doctors, his life is no longer in danger.
NATO’s dirty work is not yet finished.
Thierry Meyssan
Article and more photos here
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Major Drop In Solar Activity Predicted
by Staff Writers at Space Daily
Boulder CO (SPX) Jun 15, 2011
The Clash of Science is always always unsettled. Detailed images and captions are available here. Caption for this image. "Butterfly diagram" shows the position of sunspots over 12 solar cycles. Sunspots emerge over a range of latitudes centered on migratory jet streams that follow a clear pattern, trending from higher latitudes to lower latitudes on the Sun. The active latitudes are associated with mobile zonal flows or "jet streams" that vary through the cycle. Full size image available here.
A missing jet stream, fading spots, and slower activity near the poles say that our Sun is heading for a rest period even as it is acting up for the first time in years, according to scientists at the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
As the current sunspot cycle, Cycle 24, begins to ramp up toward maximum, independent studies of the solar interior, visible surface, and the corona indicate that the next 11-year solar sunspot cycle, Cycle 25, will be greatly reduced or may not happen at all.
"This is highly unusual and unexpected," Dr. Frank Hill, associate director of the NSO's Solar Synoptic Network, said of the results. "But the fact that three completely different views of the Sun point in the same direction is a powerful indicator that the sunspot cycle may be going into hibernation." Full article here
George Bush Sr. - Drug Czar Chip off the old Walker-Bush block
Selections from Senator John Kerry's report are available here
Notice sent to NATO
From: helge nome (helgenome@hotmail.com)
Sent: July-05-11 10:40:47 AM
To: moc@hq.nato.int
I published your latest press release on my newsblog Alberta West News
There is no information on civilian damage and causalties.
Do you expect people to believe your reports?
Helge Nome
Sent: July-05-11 10:40:47 AM
To: moc@hq.nato.int
I published your latest press release on my newsblog Alberta West News
There is no information on civilian damage and causalties.
Do you expect people to believe your reports?
Helge Nome
Update from NATO
05 Jul. 2011
Operational Media Update for 4 July 2011
NATO and Libya
Issued on 05 Jul. 2011
05 July. Allied Joint Force Command NAPLES, SHAPE, NATO HQ
(more information: http://www.jfcnaples.nato.int/)
Mission
NATO took control of all military operations for Libya under United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1970 & 1973 on 31 March 2011. The aim of Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR is to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under attack or threat of attack.
The mission consists of three elements: an arms embargo, a no-fly-zone and actions to protect civilians from attack or the threat of attack.
Over the past 24 hours, NATO has conducted the following activities associated with Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR:
Air Operations
Since the beginning of the NATO operation (31 March 2011, 08.00GMT) a total of 13,873 sorties, including 5,229 strike sorties*, have been conducted.
Sorties conducted 04 JULY: 145
Strike sorties conducted 04 JULY: 59
*Strike sorties are intended to identify and engage appropriate targets, but do not necessarily deploy munitions each time.
Key Hits
04 JULY: In Tripoli: 1 Command and Control Center. In the vicinity of Brega: 1 Tank, 1 Artillery piece. In Brega: 1 Military Storage Facility. In the vicinity of Waddan: 1 Military Storage Facility. In the vicinity of Misurata: 1 Tank. In the vicinity of Nalut: 1 Military Camp. In the vicinity of Zintan: 2 Armed Vehicles, 1 Armoured Fighting Vehicle. In the vicinity of Zlitan: 1 Armed Vehicle. In the vicinity of Sirt: 2 Armoured Fighting Vehicles.
(Editor: Bouchard, how many civilian vehicles did our airborne braves hit?)
Arms Embargo Activities
A total of 17 ships under NATO command are actively patrolling the Central Mediterranean.
14 Vessels were hailed on 04 JULY to determine destination and cargo. 3 boardings (no denials) were conducted.
A total of 1638 vessels have been hailed, 145 boardings and 9 denials have been conducted since the beginning of arms embargo operations.
International Humanitarian Assistance Movements as recorded by NATO
Total of Humanitarian Movements**: 448 (air, ground, maritime)
Ships delivering Humanitarian Assistance 04 JULY: 1
Aircrafts delivering Humanitarian Assistance 04 JULY: 3
**Some humanitarian movements cover several days.
Command and Control
NATO’s operational commander for Operation Unified Protector is Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard of the Canadian Air Force. His office and staff is located at the Allied Joint Force Command Naples.
For any operational query:
Naples Media and Information
Center tel: +39 081 721 31 11
Email: oup.media@gmail.com Any other query:
NATO HQ Press Desk
+32 (0) 2 707 1010
+32 (0) 2 707 10 07
Mail to: moc@hq.nato.int
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