Appeals court ruling limits Guantanamo detainees' rights, gives president wide detention power 05 Jan 2010 A federal appeals court ruling Tuesday could make it harder for Guantanamo detainees prisoners to challenge their confinement and endorsed the government's broad power to hold people seized in the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the continued detention of a former cook for Taliban forces who said he never fired a shot in battle. Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani, a citizen of Yemen who was captured in Afghanistan, has been held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba since 2002.

Return of Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay is suspended 05 Jan 2010 The Obama administration said Tuesday that it is suspending the repatriation of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay to Yemen, where a deteriorating security situation driven by a branch of al-Qaeda has stoked fears that detainees could join -- or rejoin -- the terrorist organization if released. The decision means that at least 30 Yemenis who were cleared for release by a Justice Department-led inter-agency review could face many more months in detention.

US spy effort in Afghanistan 'ignorant'- US report --U.S. military official says U.S. intelligence 'hazy' --Report says spies too focused on killing insurgents 05 Jan 2010 The U.S. military's intelligence chief in Afghanistan sharply criticized the work of U.S. spy agencies there on Monday, calling them ignorant and out of touch with the Afghan people. In a report issued by the Center for New American Security think tank, Major General Michael Flynn, deputy chief of staff for intelligence in Afghanistan for the U.S. military and its NATO allies, offered a bleak assessment of the intelligence community's role in the 8-year-old war.

Germany knows nothing of alleged CIA murder plot 05 Jan 2010 The German government said on Monday it knew nothing about a magazine report that the CIA had planned a secret operation to kill a German-Syrian in Hamburg linked to the September 11 attacks on U.S. targets. The U.S. magazine Vanity Fair had reported that the CIA had in 2004 sent a team from the private security firm terrorist group Blackwater, now Xe, to Hamburg to kill Mamoun Darkazanli, who was investigated for years by German authorities on suspicion of links to al Qaeda. January's edition of the magazine cited a source familiar with the program as saying the mission had been kept secret from the German government.

Iraq to sue Blackwater on behalf of victims 05 Jan 2010 Iraq said Tuesday it will seek justice against Blackwater on behalf of the families of those who were killed at Baghdad shooting in 2007. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the cabinet has decided to open new case against five Blackwater guards who opened fire at Iraqi civilians, killing 17 at a Baghdad traffic circle in 2007.

Judge Weighs Misconduct Finding in Blackwater Case --Judge weighs misconduct finding for Blackwater prosecutors accused of withholding evidence 04 Jan 2010 Prosecutors who mishandled the investigation into a deadly 2007 Blackwater Worldwide shooting face a possible misconduct citation from a judge who says they withheld evidence and violated the guards' constitutional rights. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina admonished the Justice Department last week for its "reckless" handling of the investigation into a shooting that left 17 Iraqis dead. He threw out manslaughter and weapons charges against five security guards mercenaries and, in a footnote, said he was also considering whether the repeated government missteps amounted to misconduct.

Bomber who hit CIA base was triple agent: militants 04 Jan 2010 A suicide bomber who killed eight people at a CIA base in Afghanistan was an Al-Qaeda triple agent who duped Western intelligence services for months before turning on his handlers, jihadist websites boasted on Tuesday. The Jordanian intelligence services, believing the bomber to be their double agent, brought him to eastern Afghanistan with the mission of finding Al-Qaeda number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the websites and Western intelligence agents cited by US media said. But instead he blew himself up at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province near the Pakistani border, killing seven CIA agents and his Jordanian handler, a top intelligence officer and member of the royal family.

Bomber at C.I.A. Base Had Ties to Jordan Spy Agency 05 Jan 2010 The suicide bomber who killed seven C.I.A. officers and one Jordanian intelligence officer last week in southeastern Afghanistan was an asset of the Jordanian intelligence service who had been brought to Afghanistan to help hunt top members of the 'Qaeda' network, according to a Western official briefed on the matter. The bomber had been arrested in Jordan and recruited by that country’s intelligence service -- which believed that it had turned him into an ally -- and then brought to Afghanistan to infiltrate the Qaeda organization by posing as a foreign jihadi.

Tensions grow as US heightens role in Yemen 05 Jan 2010 Friction emerged Tuesday in the growing alliance with the Yemeni government as the U.S. Embassy ended a two-day closure triggered by a terror threat from al-Qaida [al-CIAduh]. The Yemen government, which sent thousand of troops this week to remote provinces where al-Qaida has set up strongholds, has been angered by suggestions the state is too weakened to handle the fight against terrorists.

US warns of global Yemen threat 05 Jan 2010 The US secretary of state, has warned that Yemen poses a global threat and has offered US support in the Yemeni government's fight against al-Qaeda. Hillary Clinton's comments came ahead of news on Tuesday that the US had reopened its embassy in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, closed days earlier in response to what it said were al-Qaeda threats.

Obama Says Government Knew of "Other Red Flags" in Terror Threat 06 Jan 2010 President Obama said Tuesday that the United States government had sufficient information to uncover the terror plot to bring down an airplane on Christmas Day, but intelligence officials "failed to connect those dots" that would have prevented the young Nigerian man from boarding the plane in Amsterdam. "This was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had," Mr. Obama said after a two-hour meeting with his national security team at the White House.

Obama: U.S. Intelligence Should Have 'Uncovered' Christmas Day Plot 05 Jan 2010 President Obama said Tuesday that U.S. intelligence had enough information to uncover the terrorist plot to bomb a Northwest Airlines flight but "failed" to piece it all together before the suspect boarded a plane for Detroit armed with explosives. The president, who spoke after meeting with top officials to discuss internal reviews of the attempted bombing Christmas Day, said the suspect's name should have been added to the no-fly list based on information available about him. He said the government will quickly make changes to ensure future attempts are thwarted.

New airport scanners break child porn laws 04 Jan 2010 The rapid introduction of full body scanners at British airports threatens to breach child protection laws which ban the creation of indecent images of children, the Guardian has learned. Privacy campaigners claim the images created by the machines are so graphic they amount to "virtual strip-searching" and have called for safeguards to protect the privacy of passengers involved. Ministers now face having to exempt under 18s from the scans or face the delays of introducing new legislation to ensure airport security staff do not commit offences under child pornography laws. [Oops! Looks like scanner pimp Michael Chertoff has a problem. The 'real' al-Qaeda must be laughing its ass off!]

Ex-Homeland Security chief head said to abuse public trust by touting body scanners 01 Jan 2010 Since the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, former Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff has given dozens of media interviews touting the need for the federal government to buy more full-body scanners for airports. What he has made little mention of is that the Chertoff Group, his security consulting agency, includes a client that manufactures the machines. An airport passengers' rights group on Thursday criticized Chertoff, who left office less than a year ago, for using his former government credentials to advocate for a product that benefits his clients.

Dozens of Names Shifted to No-Fly List 05 Jan 2010 The Obama administration has transferred dozens of names from a broad terrorism database to watch lists that are more closely monitored in an effort to plug security holes revealed by the Christmas Day airline-bombing attempt. President Barack Obama met Monday with White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan, National Security Adviser James Jones and Deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon ahead of a broader security team meeting Tuesday.

U.S. adds dozens to terrorist watch, no-fly lists 04 Jan 2010 The government has added dozens of people to the lists of suspected terrorists and those barred from U.S.-bound flights. The addition of more names to the government’s terrorist watch and no-fly lists came after U.S. officials closely scrutinized a larger database of suspected terrorists, an intelligence official said Monday. People on the watch list get additional checking before they are allowed to enter this country; those on the no-fly list are barred from boarding aircraft in or headed for the United States.

Nigeria says US enhanced screening list 'unfair' 04 Jan 2010 The Nigerian government has said that the West African country's inclusion on the US enhanced screening-list released on Monday is "unfair." The fourteen nations listed on the enhanced watch-list are Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria along with what the US calls "countries of interest," Afghanistan, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. The remaining countries are Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Lebanon and Iraq, though these four have not been officially confirmed.

UK airports to introduce new bomb detection equipment 05 Jan 2010 Body scanners are to be introduced at Heathrow Airport in about three weeks, Home Secretary Alan Johnson has said. He also told the House of Commons that all UK airports must have new "explosion trace detection equipment" by the end of the year. His comments follow an attempt to blow up a US airliner on Christmas Day.

Attorney General Baroness Scotland may block Israeli war crimes warrants 05 Jan 2010 The Attorney General could be given a veto over arrest warrants for foreign leaders in an attempt to placate Israeli ministers who fear war crimes prosecutions if they visit Britain. Baroness Scotland of Asthal, who is in Jerusalem, discussed an amendment to British law that would give her office the power to review arrest warrants in private prosecutions against political figures, according to Foreign Ministry sources.

British government will fight legal attempts to indict Israeli leaders in UK --Baroness Scotland announces plans to alter laws after attempts to obtain warrants against Israeli generals for war crimes 05 Jan 2010 The government is determined to protect high-ranking Israeli officials from arrest in the UK, the attorney general said, as it emerged that a further visit by the Israeli military had been cancelled. Speaking at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem today, Baroness Scotland said Israeli leaders should not face arrest for war crimes under the law of "universal jurisdiction", following attempts by British lawyers last month to obtain a warrant for the former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni.

Arrest warrants keep Israeli team away from UK 05 Jan 2010 Israel canceled a delegation of senior military officers to Britain last week after the UK failed to guarantee that they would not be arrested over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appealed to the British government to ensure that the officers, including a colonel, lieutenant colonel and a major, would be able to stay in the country without arrest fear.

Rights group slams planned 'Israelis only' highway in West Bank 05 Jan 2010 Less than a week after Israel's highest court ordered the state to lift its ban on Palestinian motorists from a highway that stretches into the West Bank, left-wing activists are denouncing new plans on Tuesday to build a road on West Bank land which they claim is intended for use by Israelis only. According to an Army Radio report, planning officials are diligently laying the groundwork for Highway 20, an artery which will connect Highway 443 with the northern neighborhoods of Jerusalem, including Pisgat Ze'ev.

Iran bans contact with groups involved in soft war 05 Jan 2010 Iran has banned Iranian citizens from cooperating with 60 international institutions and a number of media outlets due to their involvement in the post-election unrest. Iran's deputy intelligence minister for foreign affairs announced on Monday that 60 European and US foundations and institutions played a role in inciting post-election violence in the Islamic Republic.

KBR Awarded Construction Contract for U.S. Federal Building and Courthouse 04 Jan 2010 KBR today announced that its Building Group, has been awarded a $46.96 million contract by the U.S. General Services Administration to provide construction management services for a new United States Federal Building and Courthouse in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The building, designed to achieve LEED® Silver certification, replaces an outdated existing facility.

U.S. Feared Spectacular Terror Attack at Obama's Inauguration 05 Jan 2010 Security officials are said to have been highly concerned that extremists were traveling from Somalia to set off explosives as Barack Obama took the oath of office. As millions converged on Washington last year to witness the inauguration of President Barack Obama, security officials were concerned that among them were extremists traveling from Somalia to set off explosives as Obama took the oath of office. A report in The New York Times, to coincide with the first anniversary of Obama's inauguration, says that for 72 hours before the new president was sworn in intelligence agencies worked around the clock trying to figure out whether the threat was real and what, if anything, should be done if a terrorist struck while millions watched on the Mall and tens of millions more saw the ceremony on television.

Was Swine Flu a False Pandemic? 04 Jan 2010 That’s the contention by more than a dozen members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which reportedly plans to conduct an inquiry into the influence that drugmakers may have had on the World Health Organization, scientists and governments. A resolution was introduced last month by Wolfgang Wodarg, a member of Germany’s Social Democratic Party who chairs the PACE health committee, and it reads: "In order to promote their patented drugs and vaccines against flu, pharmaceutical companies have influenced scientists and official agencies, responsible for public health standards, to alarm governments worldwide. They have made them squander tight health care resources for inefficient vaccine strategies and needlessly exposed millions of healthy people to the risk of unknown side-effects of insufficiently tested vaccines... The definition of an alarming pandemic must not be under the influence of drugsellers."

Europe seeks to offload flu vaccines 05 Jan 2010 Western European countries, including Switzerland, are queuing up to shift surplus stocks of the [deadly] H1N1 flu vaccine after low public demand. Amid controversy over its costly swine flu vaccine campaign, France said on Monday it wanted to cancel 50 million of the 94 million doses it had ordered because of over-supply. These latest moves could hit drugmakers' profits, say analysts.

France cancels orders for 50 mln A/H1N1 flu vaccine doses 05 Jan 2010 Amid the controversy over the costly A/H1N1 flu vaccination campaign in France, the Health Ministry on Monday announced the cancellation of 50 million doses of vaccine against the epidemic, more than half of what the government had initially ordered. "I have cancelled 50 million doses," French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said on TF1 television, adding that those doses had not been paid or delivered.

Mega barf alert! Insect Cells Provide the Key to Alternative Swine Flu Vaccination 04 Jan 2010 Scientists in Vienna have developed a new technique for producing vaccines for H1N1 -- so-called swine flu -- based on insect cells. The research, published in the Biotechnology Journal, reveals how influenza vaccines can be produced faster than through the traditional method of egg-based production, revealing a new strategy for the fight against influenza pandemics.

Scientists warn of rise in diseases spread from animals to humans 04 Jan 2010 Climate change and environmental disruption are spawning a host of new diseases being passed from animals pharmaterrorists to humans, scientists have warned. At least 45 such diseases have been reported to UN agencies over the past two decades and more are expected to be identified in coming years. Experts at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington claim that the world is braced for an increase in outbreaks due to global warming and changes in land use and farming practices.

US House Leaders Back Off Public Health Insurance Option 05 Jan 2010 U.S. House leaders signaled Tuesday they are willing to agree to a final health overhaul bill without a government-run health insurance option if other parts of the bill would fulfill the same goals. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said after meeting with senior House Democrats that the bill must meet the test of "holding insurance companies accountable," whether or not it includes a public option.

Secret Service confirms third crasher at White House state dinner 05 Jan 2010 Another uninvited guest made it into the White House state dinner made famous by gate-crashers Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the Secret Service announced Monday -- exposing more holes in the security perimeter around President Obama. Many of the key details have not been officially released: the man's name [Carlos Allen, a D.C. party promoter], how he came to be with the group of diplomats and how close he got to the president and first lady.

Two Killed in Las Vegas Courthouse 05 Jan 2010 A gunman in a black trench coat opened fire Monday morning in the lobby of the Federal Courthouse in downtown Las Vegas, killing a court security officer and wounding a deputy United States marshal before fleeing. He was then shot in the head and killed nearby. The building is a huge structure that houses federal courts as well as other agencies, including the offices of Senators Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, and John Ensign, a Republican.

Courthouse gunman lost Social Security case, official says 05 Jan 2010 A man who lost a recent Social Security claim opened fire with a shotgun in a federal courthouse Monday, killing a court security officer and injuring a deputy U.S. marshal, authorities said. Law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonymity identified the man as Johnny Wicks, a Las Vegas resident. The FBI said the black-clad man walked into the lobby of the Las Vegas federal courthouse, pulled a shotgun from underneath his jacket and began shooting.

Keepers Discover Newborn Cub Inside Toledo Zoo's Polar Bear Den 05 Jan 2010 The Toledo Zoo is pleased to announce the birth of a polar bear cub on Thursday, December 3. Eleven-year-old mother Crystal is caring for the cub in a den area off-exhibit, and the Zoo’s animal care staff is continuously monitoring the cub’s progress. The cub was one of two born that day; the other cub only survived for a few days.

Previous lead stories: Six trucks of explosives 'disappear' in Yemen 04 Jan 2010 Fears of a terrorist strike against Western embassies in Yemen have grown amid claims a convoy of lorries laden with explosives had been smuggled into the country's capital city, Sana'a. In an apparently botched surveillance operation, militants [?] driving six trucks filled with weapons and ordnance succeeded in giving security forces the slip as they entered the city, according to local media. The revelations came as western diplomatic missions in Sana'a went into lockdown following threats from al-Qaeda's Yemeni affiliate, which has taken responsibility for a failed attempt to blow up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day.

Yemen seizes 'Israel-linked' cell 07 Oct 2008 Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said the security forces have arrested a group of alleged Islamist militants linked to Israeli intelligence. Mr Saleh did not say what evidence had been found to show the group's links with Israel, a regional enemy of Yemen. The arrests were connected with an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa last month which killed at least 18 people, official sources were quoted saying. [Hmm. Guess they didn't get the whole cell.]

US tightens security for air passengers from 'terror sponsor' countries 03 Jan 2010 US authorities on Sunday tightened security measures for all US-bound airline passengers, including enhanced mandatory screening of travellers from 14 countries believed to have links to terrorism. Travellers from countries the US classifies as "state sponsors of terrorism" - Syria, Iran, Sudan, and Cuba [Oops! They forgot the US and Israel] - plus passengers from other "countries of interest" - Nigeria, Pakistan, Yemen - will be subjected to pat-down body searches and have carry-on baggage searched. Afghanistan, Libya and Somalia are also covered by the new directive, but a complete list of countries was not released.

January 6, 2010 - 11:32AM

A new shore-hugging warship developed by US and Australian shipbuilders will be commissioned next week - and fighting pirates could be one of its first missions.

"It is a jet ski," said US Navy Commander Curt Renshaw.

Built for use in coastal or littoral waters, the 128-metre trimaran can reach sprint speeds of more than 45 knots (83 km/h).

"The faster you go, the more stable it tends to get," said Renshaw, who previously commanded the USS Patriot, a mine-clearing ship, off the coast of Japan.

He said the size, speed and stability of USS Independence make it ideal for chasing down modern-day pirates.

The ship has an advanced computer system that allows the engines, weapons and other systems to be operated from anywhere on board, even from a laptop in Renshaw's stateroom.

The Independence will be commissioned on January 16, almost exactly four years after General Dynamics and its subcontractor, Australia's Austal Ltd , began work on the craft, called a Littoral Combat Ship.

Renshaw and a crew of 40 will move on board about two weeks after the commissioning, when the ship enters active service.

Accepted by the Navy last month, Independence is one of two rival designs for a new class of more agile, cheaper warships.

Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMT.N) first LCS ship, a more traditional monohull, went into service in late 2008 and has sailed more than 8000 nautical miles. The USS Freedom is due to deploy for the first time this year, in the Caribbean and then in the East Pacific, two years earlier than planned.

Lockheed and General Dynamics are now locked in competition for 10 more ships after the Navy decided last year to proceed with just one version of the new ship.

The LCS ships were designed for three main missions -- detecting mines, fighting smaller surface craft, and anti-submarine warfare. But the idea was always to make the ships more able to respond to changing military needs, such as anti-piracy, counter-narcotics and even disaster relief.

Both LCS models operate with far fewer crew members than earlier warships. They use satellite broadband connections to allow certain tasks -- like keeping track of food stores on board -- to be done more efficiently from shore.

The reduced crew size will be a major change for the Navy in coming years, and means that everyone on an LCS must essentially be able to do any job on board, Renshaw said.

It has also prompted some unusual ideas, he said, such as possibly using robotic vacuums like those built by iRobot (IRBT.O), freeing sailors for more important jobs.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/jetski-warship-set-to-tackle-pirates-20100106-lt2u.html?autostart=1

2010-01-06 07:13:34

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations is rushing aid, including sanitation facilities, safe water and basic health care, to victims of a tsunami that hit the Solomon Islands on Monday, the second such massive wave to strike the region in three years, UN officials said here on Tuesday. Following reports that hundreds of houses were damaged and large areas completely inundated on Rendova Island, with a population of 3,600, in Western Province of the South Pacific island nation, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) dispatched a rapid response team by boat from nearby Gizo Island, where it was already working on reconstruction of schools affected by the deadly 2007 tsunami, said the officials. The UN agency will now use emergency supplies pre-positioned after that disaster, and is also preparing materials and staff to protect children, who are tremendously vulnerable during natural catastrophes, so that they can continue learning and studying and have safe recreation areas while their caretakers turn to rebuilding their lives. In addition to the rapid response team already sent to Rendova and neighboring Tetepare Island, two UNICEF emergency specialists are traveling on Tuesday from Fiji to the Solomon Islands to provide additional support to relief efforts. "Although it is still unclear how great the devastation has been this time, it is clear that the psychological trauma for children and adults experiencing two tsunamis in such a short period will be significant," UNICEF Pacific Representative Isiye Ndombi said. "Fortunately, UNICEF Pacific is already on the ground in the area and able to provide immediate support to the people of Rendova and Tetepare and other islands possibly affected," Ndombi said. "It will take several days however until we know the full extent and consequences of this tsunami because these islands are very remote and difficult to access." On Rendova the agency was already reconstructing 19 schools affected by the 2007 tsunami, which killed 54 people in Western Province, affected more than 37,000 others including 18,000 children, and heavily damaged thousands of homes, more than 200 schools, two hospitals and several health facilities. UNICEF had already pre-positioned emergency supplies in the national capital, Honiara, to address water, hygiene, health, education, child protection and psycho-social recovery issues in emergencies. The agency is on track to complete reconstruction of 110 schools in the province by the end of 2010.

OUR PLANET'S PROTECTIVE MAGNETOSPHERE UPDATE

About Real-Time Magnetosphere Simulation http://www2.nict.go.jp/y/y223/simulation/realtime/index.html CaveNews YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tChWTFk09o JANUARY 5, 2010 AT 6:11 PM CDT

The US public pension system faces a higher-than-expected shortfall of more than $2,000bn that will increase pressure on many states’ strained finances and crimp economic growth, according to the chairman of New Jersey’s pension fund.

The estimate by Orin Kramer will fuel investors’ concerns over the deteriorating financial health of US states after the recession. “State and local governments are correctly perceived to be in serious difficulty,” Mr Kramer told the Financial Times. READ MORE ...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122018593

Related:

Chertoff Profits From Full Body Scanners And Other Police State Technology
1-5-10

As reported on NPR news, former Homeland Security Chief (and likely Obstructor-in-Chief of the investigation into Israeli "movers" busted on 9/11 "documenting" the event and cheering) Michael Chertoff is now a "consultant" who profits from sales of full body scanners and "a lot of other security measures."

This technology, designed to force people into feelings of fear, nakedness and submission, is reminiscent of prison and concentration camp procedures. It is the modern equivalent of ancient Pharaonic social control techniques detailed for example in the Narmer Palette, which shows a larger than life Pharaoh beating, decapitating and otherwise dominating smaller, naked victims:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narmer_Palette

Here is the admission on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122018593

McClatchy has obtained previously undisclosed documents that provide a closer look at the shadowy $1.3 trillion market since 2002 for complex offshore deals, which Chicago financial consultant and frequent Goldman critic Janet Tavakoli said at times met "every definition of a Ponzi scheme." READ MORE

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/81465.html?storylink=omni_popular

FRANKFURT — More than 25 million German bank cards have been hit by a software bug that cropped up on New Year's Day, the country's savings bank association and private banks said on Tuesday.

The problem has hit cardholders trying to use cash machines or make payments throughout the country and abroad, stems from software unable to recognise the year 2010, and might take a week to resolve, the DSGV association said in a statement.

A global alert had gone out 10 years ago amid widespread fears of a similar problem, dubbed Y2K, which is linked this time to some computer's inability to recognize the year 2010.

Clients at two of the biggest German retail banks, Postbank and Commerzbank, have also been affected but on Tuesday a Postbank EC card functioned normally for at least one transaction, AFP noted.

A Commerzbank spokeswoman said only some of the bank's cards had been affected and that some of its machines had already been adapted to accept those in question, but did not provide detailed figures.

Postbank declined to comment.

In addition, almost half of the 45 million eurocheque (EC) debit cards issued by savings and regional banks were affected by the glitch, as were 3.5 million of their roughly eight million credit cards, DSGV said.

The association added that the bug, which it termed a delayed "Year 2000 problem," should be completely eliminated "by next Monday," January 11.

It has sporadically affected ATM cash machines and stores across Germany and abroad, but around 25,700 machines have already repaired, DSGV said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/6798791.html

Thousands of protesters demanded the Taiwan government continue to ban US beef in a demo on Nov. 14, 2009, in Taipei

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:16:39 GMT

In a reversal of a negotiated deal with Washington, Taiwanese lawmakers on Tuesday banned imports of some kinds of beefs from the United States, citing health concerns.

Taiwan's Parliament approved a bill, prohibiting the imports of the US-produced ground beef and cow offal, Reuters reported.

"To protect the health of the people is a huge responsibility of ours," said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus. "There were hardly any opposition voices."

The amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation argued against the imports of “risky” beef products from areas where cases of mad cow disease have been documented over the past decade, Chinese English-language newspaper Taipei Times reported on December 30.

The first Taiwanese block on the imports came in 2003, when the first case of the mad cow disease was reported within the US borders. The island partially opened its market to US beef imports in 2006.

Washington has played a role in pressuring Taiwan to reopen its market.

The de facto US embassy on the island reacted to the ban.

"This action also undermines Taiwan's credibility as a responsible trading partner and will make it more difficult for us to conclude future agreements to expand and strengthen bilateral trade and economic ties going forward," it said in a statement.

http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115412&sectionid=351020406

January 4, 2010 at 10:49:24

While the media focused on the terror threat over Detroit, the terrifying reality in Detroit is ignored. AP reports, "DETROIT - One measure of how tough times are in the Motor City: Some of the offenders in jail don't want to be released; some who do get out promptly re-offend to head back where there's heat, health care and three meals a day ...

http://www.opednews.com/articles/AS-ECONOMY-DECLINES-TIME-by-Danny-Schechter-100104-707.html

A child drinking water in the dilapidating and famine stricken Somalia

The United Nations World Food Program said Tuesday it was stopping aid distribution to about one million people in southern Somalia because of ''unacceptable'' demands and threats by armed groups.

The World Food Program (WFP) cited "rising threats and attacks on humanitarian operations", as well as "a string of unacceptable demands from armed groups" as the reasons behind the suspension.

According to WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon, those demands included removing women from all posts and a payment of over USD 20,000 every six months for security protection.

Smerdon said the Al-Shabab fighters — who control 95 percent of southern Somalia — later demanded that WFP and its contractors cease all their activities in the south of the war-torn country on January 1.

WFP took that deadline seriously.

"Staff safety is a key concern for WFP and recent attacks, threats, harassment and demands for payments by armed groups have decimated the humanitarian food lifeline," a statement by the food agency read.

Despite the suspension, the UN organization will however remain active in much of central and northern Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu, WFP said.

Some analysts estimate that close to half of Somalia's 10 million inhabitants are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Mired by almost two decades of civil strife following the ouster of former dictator Mohammad Siad Bare in 1991, Somalia has been considered as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Years of fighting between rival warlords and an inability to deal with famine and disease have led to the deaths of thousands of civilians since the start of 2007 and driven over 1.5 million from their homes.

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=104305

STEVE QUAYLE'S: SURVIVE 2 THRIVE
Archives

SHATTER the DARKNESS
Archives

STORY OF THE DAY 1

STORY OF THE DAY 2

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PREP TIP OF WEEK

Gold and Guns

U.S. Treasuries Post Worst Performance Among Sovereign Markets

More Than 1 in 6 Tennesseans on Food Stamps

Personal Bankruptcy Filings Rising Fast

Robert Rubin: All Hell Could Break Loose Because of the Huge Government Debt

Learn from the Rich Man

Buyer Announced for First-Ever U.S. Platinum ETF

This Is the Government: Your Legal Right to Redeem Your Money Market Account Has Been Denied

Leading Article: An Elemental Challenge for China and the World

Obama Aide Defends Trial for Suspect in Christmas Day Attempt to Bomb Plane

Freed Guantánamo Inmates Are Heading for Yemen to Join Al-Qaeda Fight

No Smoking Gun?!

When Terrorism Hits You Are on Your Own

Bomber at CIA Base Was a Double Agent

Aftershocks Rattle Solomons Following Earthquakes and Tsunami

Operation Open Eyes - 5 Steps to Create Manchurian Candidate

Julie Gerberding Primed Big Pharma's Pump with Flu and HPV Vaccines

Something Evil This Way Comes

Sheriff's Department Patrols World of Warcraft

Businesses Stung by BOQ Computer Bug

The legislation that the Senate passed Christmas Eve, which is expected to resemble closely the final bill that is hashed out between the House and Senate over the next month, would leave about 8 percent of the population under age 65 without health insurance, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/01/AR2010010101837.html

MAP

2.6

2010/01/05 12:20:21

34.707

-85.285

5.2

GEORGIA, USA

Distances

• 0 km (0 miles) SSW (203°) from La Fayette, GA
• 18 km (11 miles) N (7°) from Trion, GA
• 19 km (12 miles) S (178°) from Chickamauga, GA
• 38 km (23 miles) S (183°) from Chattanooga, TN
• 133 km (83 miles) NW (323°) from Atlanta, GA

MAP	5.3	2010/01/05 13:56:57	-9.020	157.694	35.0	SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP	5.8	2010/01/05 13:11:44	-9.216	157.930	35.0	SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP	5.4	2010/01/05 13:10:02	-8.930	157.587	35.0	SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP	5.3	2010/01/05 12:36:18	-8.858	157.542	35.0	SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP	5.4	2010/01/05 12:25:32	-8.979	158.091	35.0	SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP	6.9	2010/01/05 12:15:36	-8.886	157.522	35.0	SOLOMON ISLANDS

Volcanoes:

Location	Volcano	Type	Last eruption	Distance
Solomon Is-SW Pacific	Simbo	Stratovolcanoes		95.67 km
Solomon Is-SW Pacific	Névtelen	Submarine volcanoes		73.29 km
Solomon Is-SW Pacific	Kavachi	Submarine volcano		64.90 km
Solomon Is-SW Pacific	Kana Keoki	Submarine volcano		54.47 km
Solomon Is-SW Pacific	Coleman Seamount	Submarine volcano		48.35 km

The Boston Globe
January 4, 2010

What he has made little mention of is that the Chertoff Group, his security consulting agency, includes a client that manufactures the machines. Chertoff disclosed the relationship on a CNN program Wednesday, in response to a question.

An airport passengers’ rights group on Thursday criticized Chertoff’s use of his former government credentials to advocate for a product that benefits his clients.

Read entire article

Research related links

1. ‘Dozens’ of potential terrorists in U.S. under watch, Chertoff says
2. Body Scanner Would Not Have Stopped Underwear Bomber
3. Are Airport Full Body Scanners A Health Menace?
4. FISA Fight: Chertoff on NSA Wiretaps
5. Leahy Takes Chertoff to Woodshed Over Vermont Checkpoints
6. Chertoff Wants “Novel Israeli Methods” in U.S. Airports, Public Places
7. Fake Terrorism Keeps Chertoff Awake at Night
8. Chertoff To Demonstrate “Checkpoint Evolution” at Airport
9. Chertoff Worried Public Cynacism Leading to Post-9/11 Complacency
10. Chertoff Wants Cyber Weapons
11. Chertoff Says Fingerprints Aren’t ‘Personal Data’
12. Chertoff: “Virtual Fence” On Border Works

RELATED:

Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security Secretary 2005 - 2009

On February 15, 2005, Judge Michael Chertoff was unanimously confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as the second Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. He formerly served as United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, after his June 2003 Senate confirmation. Chertoff stepped down as Secretary in January 2009.

Chertoff was previously confirmed by the Senate in 2001 to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice. As Assistant Attorney General, he oversaw the investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He also formed the Enron Task Force, which produced more than 20 convictions, including those of CEOs Jeffrey Skilling and Ken Lay.

Before joining the George W. Bush Administration, Chertoff was a Partner in the law firm of Latham & Watkins. From 1995 to 1996, he served as Special Counsel for the U.S. Senate Whitewater Committee.

Prior to that, Chertoff spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, including service as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. As a federal prosecutor, Chertoff investigated and personally prosecuted significant cases of political corruption, organized crime, and corporate fraud. Among them was the “Mafia Commission” case, in which the leaders of La Cosa Nostra were all convicted and sentenced to 100 years in prison for directing the criminal activities of the American Mafia.

Chertoff graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1975 and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1978. From 1979-1980 he served as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, Jr.

As an American, I refuse to buy mandatory health insurance that supports corrupt conventional medicine (NaturalNews) Even if Obama's health care reform bill becomes law, mandating that all Americans buy health insurance policies for a failed system of "sick care", I will refuse to comply. I've read the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights, and nowhere...

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Cure Cervical Cancer through Diet, Yoga and Meditation Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women and almost 4,000 cases were fatal just last year. Conventional treatments for cervical cancer such as chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, hysterectomy, or the removal of lymph nodes...

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Get Saturated: Four Reasons Saturated Fat is Healthy Today we are caught between two philosophies: one says saturated fat is killing us; the other says these fats are necessary for true vitality. There is a heated back-and-forth, a constant tug-of-war scenario, with society caught in the middle...

Use Homeopathic Remedies to Cure Disease and Improve Your Health Homeopathy is a form of medicine that treats the whole person, not just a specific symptom. It is based on the theory that "like cures like" which means treatments are similar to the illness it is designed to cure. While the roots of homeopathy...

Food Stamp Program Takes Steps to Encourage a Whole Foods Diet The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), administered by the USDA, helps low-income individuals and families put food on the table. It is commonly and historically known as the Food Stamp Program. The new name was adopted following...

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Today's health headlines from across the 'net

(Hand-picked by the Health Ranger for your education and amusement)

• The 15 most heinous climate villains
• Bayer pesticide banned over threat to honeybees
• Whole Foods being slowly taken over by profit-minded corporate suits
• Corruption of physicians by Big Pharma now "limited" to $500 an hour
• So much excess swine flu vaccine that France sells it off!
• Exercise can fight aging
• Don't have health insurance? Pay a fine to the IRS
• Mad cow disease prions capable of evolution, even without DNA
• Cherry juice for arthritis
• Full-body airport security scanners to fry travelers with ionizing radiation
• Fast food burger meat injected with ammonia?
• Garlic prices soar in China as population protects themselves against swine flu

See all Top Headlines...

Genesis Internet Radio Listen Link

Joyce Riley was a Flight Nurse & Cardiovascular Heart Transplant Nurse - her radio program is always good and very informative. Check out archives if you can't listen when she comes on a 7am:
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US Winter of 2009-2010 could be worst in 25 years -- Nearly the entire eastern half of the United States is enduring bitterly cold temperatures not experienced since 1985. Even Florida, which has been hovering around freezing levels overnight recently, is also feeling the almost-nationwide chill.

Vermont Snowstorm breaks record -- Burlington’s largest ever recorded snowstorm buried Vermont’s Champlain Valley region over the weekend.

Retired US General promises an airliner will be down within 100 days -- A retired U.S. General has called for strip searches of all muslim men at airports and “threat-based” profiling, declaring that “in the next 30-100 days,” there is “very high probability a US airliner will come down.”

9-11 Responders left with lung problems, asthma, cancer -- Research conducted during 2009 shows that first responders to the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attacks suffer from asthma at more than twice the rate of the general U.S. population. They also suffer other ongoing lung problems and may have a higher risk of cancer.

Federal Court blasts cop for Tasering man over seat belt -- A federal court last week handed down guidelines that limit the ability of police to use tasers at will. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals made its decision in response to a 2005 incident where Coronado Police Officer Brian McPherson tasered and injured motorist Carl Bryan, then 21, over a minor seatbelt infraction.

10 Sci-Fi Weapons That Actually Exist -- Sure, the gear may look like it came straight out of Avatar or Battlestar Galactica. But all of the laser weapons, robots, sonic blasters and puke rays pictured here are real. Some of these weapons have already found their way onto the battlefield. If the rest of this sci-fi arsenal follows, war may soon be unrecognizable. Read on for a look at some of these futuristic weapons being tested today.

Airport backscatter x-rays destroy DNA...feeling lucky? -- A new model of the way the THz waves interact with DNA explains how the damage is done and why evidence has been so hard to gather.

Third uninvited guest was at White House state dinner -- The Secret Service said Monday that a third uninvited guest gained entry to the dinner at the White House on Nov. 24. A review of video from the party, which was held to honor the prime minister of India, showed that a man wearing a tuxedo entered with members of the Indian delegation.

Drug side effects blamed for 20% of hospital readmissions -- One in every five patients readmitted to the hospital within a year of an inpatient treatment ends up there because of an adverse drug reaction, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Anti-flu drug flows into rivers during flu season -- Scientists report they found the anti-viral medication Tamiflu in rivers in Japanese cities during last year's flu season. The contamination raises serious public health safety concerns about the overuse of antiviral drugs that may lead to development of Tamiflu-resistant flu strains. The results highlight a need for enhanced treatment of wastewater, especially during periods of elevated flu risk.

An American refuses to buy health insurance that supports corrupt medicine -- Even if Obama's health care reform bill becomes law, mandating that all Americans buy health insurance policies for a failed system of "sick care", I will refuse to comply. I've read the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights, and nowhere in that document do I find that the federal government has the power to force consumers to purchase for-profit insurance products from private companies.

Health care nullification & interposition based on the 10th amendment -- Any act, order, law, statute, regulation or rule restricting the ability of New Hampshire citizens to contract with healthcare professionals or facilities for the provision healthcare services or to contract with corporations providing health insurance authorized by the State of New Hampshire for health insurance is unconstitutional, void and of no force. Any attempt to enforce such a law is an affront to the Sovereignty of the States and their Citizens.

Procedural issues lead to ban of Bayer pesticide -- Federal judge banned the sale of a Bayer CropScience pesticide that environmental groups and commercial beekeepers say is potentially toxic to the nation's threatened honeybee population.

Use of potentially harmful chemicals kept secret under law -- Of the 84,000 chemicals in commercial use in the United States - from flame retardants in furniture to household cleaners - nearly 20 percent are secret, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, their names and physical properties guarded from consumers and virtually all public officials under a little-known federal provision.

Yummy! Ammonia treated pink slime now in most US ground beef -- According to today's New York Times, The "majority of hamburger" now sold in the U.S. now contains fatty slaughterhouse trimmings "the industry once relegated to pet food and cooking oil," "typically including most of the material from the outer surfaces of the carcass" that contains "larger microbiological populations."

China will soon have the power to switch off the lights in the west -- The year is 2050, and a diplomatic dispute between China and Britain risks escalating into all-out war. But rather than launching a barrage of ballistic missiles and jet fighters to destroy key British targets, Beijing has a far simpler plan for defeating its enemy. It simply turns off the lights.

PBOC Official Calls For Oil Purchases Using FX Reserves says Report -- China should set up a special entity to buy oil and other strategically important resources using funds from the country's foreign-exchange reserves, the central bank-run Financial News reported Monday.

Chicago: School bills are due, but state won't pay -- Say the words out loud to get a feel for the size of it: Forty-five million, two hundred and six thousand, six hundred and fifty-four dollars, and sixty-one cents. That's how much the state is behind in payments to your local schools. When the quarterly payments came due at the end of the year, the state again missed its categorical and grant payments to all 871 Illinois school districts. Comment: This is Obama's "home state", right? (Thanks Jimm)

Obama's war on Yemen -- Besides waging direct or proxy wars on multiple fronts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, the Philippines, Sudan, Eastern Congo, elsewhere in Africa, and likely to erupt almost anywhere at any time, Yemen is now a new front in America's "war on terror" under a president, who as a candidate, promised diplomacy, not conflict, if elected.

Is attacking Yemen all about oil? -- Here several things stand out as peculiar when stacked against Washington's claims about a resurgent Al Qaeda organization in the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen straddles one of the world's most strategic oil passages, Bab el-Mandab.

White House probes mole network behind flight 595 terror incident by Webster Tarpley -- Officials in the Obama White House are considering the possibility that the Christmas day attempt by Nigerian terrorist Umar Farouk Mutallab to blow up an airliner about to land in Detroit was deliberately and intentionally facilitated by unnamed networks inside the US intelligence community.

Swine flu still running rampant in Ukraine -- Although the number of reported cases has declined in recent days, the jump of 38 deaths in 24 hours is the highest reported to date for Ukraine and raise concerns that sequences with D225G and D225N are becoming more common and are linked to the rise in deaths.

Last toll collector in Colorado laid off due to electronic tolling -- The last toll collector in Colorado handed in their coin tray for the last time 10pm Dec 31 as the Northwest Parkway went cashless with all-electronic tolling.

Man says judge arrested him on a "hunch" -- Benjamin Marchant claims that General Sessions Judge Durwood Moore admitted that he "routinely drug-screens 'spectators' in his courtroom if he 'thinks' they may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol."

Don't look at this! CIA drone protest -- Cindy Sheehan said Facebook deleted an invitation to the CIA Drone Protest in Langley, Virginia, scheduled for Jan. 16, 2010. Sheehan said "the CIA is becoming overly involved in terrorizing populations." Sheehan joins a powerhouse of women activists to lead the CIA Drone Protest, including Cynthia McKinney, Ann Wright, Kathy Kelly and Debra Sweet. "We had an event with over 250 confirmed guests and it was deleted by Facebook," Sheehan said.

CIA cryptonyms -- CIA documents are peppered with "cryptonyms" - This page provides a handy look-up chart for decoding crypts seen in CIA documents.

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How constant TV viewing is giving children speech problems -- Nearly a quarter of boys - and one in seven girls - are struggling to learn to talk because thousands of households keep their TV sets on, constantly making it difficult for them to understand the speech of adults around them.

The UN & Interpol; How the UN will gain power -- It is interesting that the man who cast aside the US Constitution like a rag, and imposes his own laws without consent, has agreed to allow an international police authority to overrule the US government. Barack Obama signed an Executive Order giving express permission for Interpol to supersede the laws and police authorities of the USA.

IRS to regulate paid tax preparers -- The IRS plans to require tax preparers to pass a test and register with the government to better police a largely unregulated industry used by most taxpayers.

Courage to Resist-Support the troops who refuse to fight -- Although the efforts of Courage to Resist are primarily focused on supporting public GI resisters, the organization also strives to provide political, emotional, and material support to all military objectors critical of our government's current policies of empire.

Food for Maine's future -- Food for Maine's Future seeks to build a just, secure, and democratic food system which protects Maine farmers and the environment from corporate control.

Mexico's Electronic Vehicle Registration system-Rfid stickers to be read by cameras -- The combined data will be transmitted to a central database of the national vehicle registry agency which can find "vehicles of interest" for law enforcement. The system will enable the various regional enforcement agencies to pick up identified vehicles on a watch list as they travel along the highway.

$340 million blitz launches 2010 Census -- Anyone who doesn't know there is a Census this year will know after Monday. The government's unprecedented $340 million promotional blitz of the 2010 Census launches Monday with the debut of the Census Portrait of America Road Tour in New York City's Times Square. A 46-foot trailer, to be unveiled on NBC's Today show, and 12 smaller cargo vans with 14-foot trailers will crisscross more than 150,000 miles nationwide through April to promote the benefits of responding to the 10-question Census.

The criminalization of protest -- Police and politicians ignore the First Amendment when we need it the most.

DARPA funds spying beetles -- In what is being touted as the first time humans have remotely controlled insects, University of California at Berkeley engineers successfully implanted radio-equipped, “miniature neural stimulation” systems into flying beetles.

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Published 05 January, 2010

The man allegedly involved in the suicide bombing that killed 7 CIA agents in Afghanistan last week may be affiliated with the royal family of Jordan, investigative journalist Wayne Madsen says.

“We know that on December 30th – the day of the blast – a Jordanian army captain serving with the UN peacekeeping group in Afghanistan, named captain Sharif Ali bin Zaid, was killed. He received a royal welcome by the king and queen of Jordan,” Madsen said. “And the Pakistani Taliban at first implied that this Jordanian captain may have had something to do with this suicide blast.”

Nonetheless, although several sides have claimed responsibility for the incident, the exact details of the bombing still remain obscure. Answers to all the questions may not come any time soon, Madsen thinks.

Kurt Nimmo | It is awful suspicious that a truck laden with explosives and weapons managed to slip a surveillance team in Yemen.

RELATED:

6 trucks of explosives 'disappear' in Yemen

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/yemen/6932746/Six-trucks-of-explosives-disappear-in-Yemen.html

The people who compile the annual Darwin Awards say 2009 was a busy year for stupidity, and last week awarded the year's top prize for fatal poor judgment to two bank robbers in Belgium.

Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — The people who compile the annual Darwin Awards say 2009 was a busy year for stupidity, and last week awarded the year's top prize for fatal poor judgment.

For the uninitiated, the Darwin Awards are named in honor of Charles Darwin, father of evolution, to "commemorate those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it," its organizers say. It's usually posthumous.

The winner for 2009 was a rare Double Darwin, says Wendy Northcutt of the Darwin Awards, and is awarded for a crime gone awry in Belgium.

On Sept. 26, a pair of would-be thieves hatched a plan to withdraw cash from an ATM machine by using dynamite.

"They overestimated the quantity of dynamite needed for the explosion," the citation notes dryly. "The blast demolished the building the bank was housed in."

Rescue workers rushed one bomb burglar to the hospital, where he died on arrival.

They assumed the second got away until finding his body in the rubble hours later.

No one else was in the building at the time of the blast.

Related

• The Darwin Awards

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126263231055415303.html?mod=rss_Deals_and_Deal_Makers

OUR PLANET'S PROTECTIVE MAGNETOSPHERE UPDATE

About Real-Time Magnetosphere Simulation
http://www2.nict.go.jp/y/y223/simulation/realtime/index.html
CaveNews YouTube Channel



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1Yv34A7KDg

JANUARY 4, 2010 AT 6:08 PM CDT

RELATED:

NASA Confirms Deterioration of Earth's Magnetosphere During Sun's 2012 Polar Shift – flashback

Last updated 11:04 05/01/2010

The suicide bomber who killed eight people inside a CIA base in eastern Afghanistan last week was a Jordanian doctor recruited by Jordanian intelligence.

The bombing killed seven CIA employees - four officers and three contracted security guards - and a Jordanian intelligence officer, Ali bin Zaid, according to a second former US intelligence official.

A former senior intelligence official and a foreign official said the bomber was Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a 36-year old doctor from Zarqa, Jordan. NBC News first reported the bomber's identity.

He was arrested more than a year ago by Jordanian intelligence and was thought to have been persuaded to support US and Jordanian efforts against al Qaeda, according to the NBC report.

He was invited to Camp Chapman, a tightly secured CIA forward base in Khost province on the fractious Afghan-Pakistan frontier, because he was offering urgent information to track down Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man. READ MORE

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/middle-east/3206502/Jordanian-doctor-killed-CIA-agents

Obama's War On Yemen
By Stephen Lendman
1-4-10

Besides waging direct or proxy wars on multiple fronts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, the Philippines, Sudan, Eastern Congo, elsewhere in Africa, and likely to erupt almost anywhere at any time, Yemen is now a new front in America's "war on terror" under a president, who as a candidate, promised diplomacy, not conflict, if elected.

In 2008, he told the Boston Globe that:

"The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."

None exists, yet he's done the opposite and much more. He:

• -- reinvented a "Cold War" with Russia;
• -- is encircling it and China with military bases, and proceeding with provocative plans to install interceptor missiles in Poland (for offense, not defense) and advanced tracking radar in the Czech Republic;
• -- escalated war in Afghanistan;
• -- appointed a hired gun assassin to lead it, General Stanley McChrystal, infamous for committing war crime atrocities as former head of the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC);
• -- authorized death squad assaults to pursue it, including extrajudicial assassinations, torture, and indiscriminate bombing of Afghan communities without regard for civilian lives;
• -- expanded the war into Pakistan and now to Yemen;
• -- is militarizing Latin America using Colombia and the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curazao to fly unmanned surveillance/attack drones over Venezuela and perhaps elsewhere in the region;
• -- plans to use Colombian insurgents to commit "false positive" border incidents blaming Venezuela as a pretext for a retaliatory attack, supported, of course, by Washington as a way to target and perhaps remove Hugo Chavez;
• -- failed to subvert Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reelection; continues destabilization tactics for regime change; and may, preemptively without cause, attack Iran's nuclear facilities;
• -- ousted the democratically elected Honduran president, installing a fascist regime to replace him;
• -- supports the worst of Israeli war crimes and oppression against Palestinians;
• -- governs America under police state laws to resist unrest if it arises in the wake of outlandish administration policies; and according to some
• -- plans a major false flag US attack to enlist popular support, divert attention from the deepening economic crisis, and provide a pretext for new fronts in the "war on terror" with unlimited funding to pursue them at the expense of neglected homeland needs.

Target Yemen

Journalist Patrick Cockburn calls Yemen:

"a dangerous place. Wonderfully beautiful, the mountainous north of the country is guerrilla paradise. The Yemenis are exceptionally hospitable....humorous, sociable and democratic, infinitely preferable as company to the arrogant ignorant playboys of the (rich regional) oil states."

Sana'a is the capital, home to the central government and largest city, an ancient one dating back to the 6th century BC Sabaean dynasty. However, it's power is limited, given the strength of tribes, clans, and influential families in a society very much a gun culture and prone to direct action.

On average, Yemenis own three guns per person in a nation of 21 million people, including one or more automatic weapons, like an AK-47 as well as heavier arms. Yemeni Professor Ahmed al-Kibsi once told a British reporter: "Just as you have your tie, the Yemeni will carry his gun," and isn't at all shy about using it.

As a result, Cockburn says "Yemen has all the explosive ingredients of Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan," so entanglement there may become another quagmire, besides the others in the region already. "It is extraordinary to see the US begin to make the same mistakes in Yemen as it previously made in Afghanistan and Iraq" - overextending and getting too involved to exit.

William Hartung, Arms and Security Initiative director at the New York-based New America Foundation, calls the Yemeni government one of the most unstable in the world, so weapons, training, and direct intervention may backfire if an anti-Washington regime replaces it.

Cockburn says America doesn't "learn from past mistakes and instead....repeats them by fresh interventions in countries like Yemen." Perhaps not, however, since part of Washington's scheme is to keep fighting, divert people from more pressing issues at home, and enrich thousands of war profiteers with public money, leaving future generations with the bill.

The UN says poverty in Yemen is widespread with about 45% of the population living on less than two dollars a day. The New York Times calls Yemen one of the world's oldest civilizations and poorest Middle East country (ignoring Occupied Palestine), "as well as a haven for Islamic jihadists:" to wit, the ubiquitous Al Qaeda, a 1980s CIA creation always trotted out whenever "war on terror" efforts need stoking and a convenient enemy to be blamed.

According to The Times:

"Yemen gained new attention in 2009 from American military officials, who are concerned about Al Qaeda's efforts to set up a regional base there."

In December, US officials claimed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian citizen, traveled to Yemen, was trained by Al Qaeda, obtained explosive chemicals (PETN), and tried using them to blow up an Amsterdam-Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.

According to Webster Tarpley in a December 29 Russia Today interview, Abdulmutallab is a CIA "protected patsy (for the) provocation designed to facilitate US meddling in (Yemen's) civil war (pitting) the Saudi-backed central government against the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels," being bombed by US and Saudi air strikes.

He was denied a UK entrance visa, wasn't on a No Fly List, paid cash for a one-way ticket to Detroit, checked no luggage, had a US visa but no passport, and was helped on board by a "well-dressed Indian" to facilitate what appears to be a Washington false flag plot using Abdulmutallab as a convenient dupe.

The Wayne Madsen Report adds more calling the airliner incident a false flag operation "carried out by (the) intelligence tripartite grouping of CIA, Mossad, and India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)." Earlier they "worked together along with former Afghan KHAD intelligence agents to assassinate former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto....to destabilize Pakistan" for planned balkanization, the same scheme planned for Afghanistan.

Madsen added that Abdulmutallab's PETN "was weak (exploding like a fire cracker), technically deficient (and failed to go off properly)."

What's at stake? At most, Yemen has four billion proved barrels of oil reserves and modest amounts of natural gas, hardly a reason for war. More important is its strategic location near the Horn of Africa on Saudi Arabia's southern border, the Red Sea, its Bab el- Mandeb strait (a key chokepoint separating Yemen from Eritrea through which three million barrels of oil pass daily), and the Gulf of Aden connection to the Indian Ocean.

Tarpley believes Washington is:

"play(ing) Iran against Saudi Arabia so as to weaken both the pro-Moscow Ahmadinejad government in Iran, and also those Saudi forces that are fed up with their status as a US protectorate. The US is openly now sponsoring a regroupment of Al Qaeda in Yemen, including by sending fighters direct from Guantanamo. The new CIA-promoted synthetic entity is Al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsule (AQAP), a gaggle of US patsies, dupes, and fanatics which is claiming credit for the (Abdulmutallab) incident."

Washington's usual tactics are at work:

-- create a false flag incident;

-- heighten fear through the complicit media;

-- ride to the rescue with popular support;

-- keep oil prices high;

-- boost market opportunities for security equipment manufacturers;

-- weaken civil liberties through new police state measures;

-- erode Iranian and Russian influence; and

-- gain greater control over the region's southern portion, the entire Middle East and all of Eurasia.

Coming next may be another enlisted or unwitting stooge to take down an airliner, blame it on Iran, Yemeni rebels, or Al Qaeda and provide an excuse for greater intervention, mass slaughter and destruction in another country, then on to the next one as part of an offensive to expand regional war and destabilization toward the ultimate goal of global "full spectrum dominance.

At Washington's behest, the Saudis began bombing and using tanks against Yemen in early November. So far, hundreds have been killed or wounded and thousands displaced. In addition, a rebel group called the Young Believers claims US jets launched multiple attacks in Yemen's northwest Sa'ada Province. Britain's Daily Telegraph also reports that US Special Forces (meaning death squads like in Afghanistan) are training Yemen's army, and likely operating covertly on their own.

On December 29, Iran accused Washington, the UK, and other western countries of fomenting the week's anti-government protests. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Hahmanparast claimed a complicit minority in the country was involved with outside support, saying:

"This is intervention in our internal affairs. We strongly condemn it," after president Obama praised "the courage and the conviction of the Iranian people (and condemned the government's) iron fist of brutality."

Iranians have long memories of US meddling. In 1953, CIA operative Kermit Roosevelt, grandson of Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin's cousin, engineered a successful coup ousting democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq (the country's most popular politician) after he nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company following a dispute about revenue sharing. Now it's all about terrorism, Islamic extremists, and the ubiquitous Al Qaeda as convenient excuses Washington uses to threaten or attack anywhere.

It's no wonder that legitimate commentaries accuse America of fanning the flames of war with rhetoric, new troop deployments to Afghanistan, and General McChrystal naming the country's major insurgent group threats as the Qjetta Shura Taliban, the Haqqani Network (closely aligned with the Taliban), and the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG, linked to Afghanistan's Hezbi Islami Party) - the latter two former CIA assets in the 1980s, and the Taliban an ally before 9/11.

They're now claimed to be active in Pakistan and mortal enemies in America's "war on terror," about to consume Yemen in Washington's fury, helped by headlines like the December 29 Times Online saying:

"Hundreds of al-Qaeda militants planning attacks from Yemen," according to its Foreign Minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, appealing for help to equip counterinsurgency forces.

"Of course there are....al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen and some of their leaders," he said. "We realize the danger. They may actually plan attacks like the one we have just had in Detroit."

On December 30, The New York Times published a Reuters report headlining, "US Seeks to Boost Yemen For Expanded Al Qaeda Fight," saying America plans:

"to expand military and intelligence cooperation with the government of Yemen to step up a crackdown on al Qaeda militants believed to be behind a failed plot to blow up a US passenger jet," according to unnamed US officials.

President Obama vowed "to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle, and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us - whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, or anywhere where they are plotting attacks against the US homeland."

Without elaborating, Pentagon spokesperson Bryan Whitman said "We are going to work with allies and partners to seek out terrorist activity, al Qaeda....This is not new."

Increased US-Saudi attacks and military aid are part of the effort - up from $4.6 million in FY 2006 to $67 million in FY 2009, and according to the Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed senior Pentagon official, to as much as $190 million in FY 2010. Included also are unknown black budget amounts, greater numbers of US Special Forces on the ground for training and covert death squad activities, and stepped up air attacks.

Whitman explained that Yemen is now America's second largest recipient of overt counterterrorism aid, after Pakistan, a sign of the area's importance to Washington. US Special Forces operated there in 2002, and according to The New York Times, the CIA sent in many counterterrorism operatives in 2008 along with other US forces for overt and covert purposes.

Reports in the US and foreign media suggest larger scale US-backed Yemeni attacks are imminent, and according to CNN, citing two unnamed senior US officials:

"The US and Yemen are now looking at fresh targets for a potential retaliation strike. The effort is to see whether targets can be specifically linked to the airline incident and its planning....the agreement would allow the US to fly cruise missiles, fighter jets or unmanned armed drones against targets in Yemen with the consent of that government," that's, of course, gotten and will proceed with or without it.

Inflammatory US media reports and commentaries now promote war by portraying Yemen as a hotbed of terrorism, citing ubiquitous Al Qaeda forces creating chaos throughout the country, and saying unless America acts, conditions will worsen and spread.

According to The New York Times on December 27:

Washington "has quietly opened (a) largely covert front against Al Qaeda in Yemen," using CIA operatives and Special Operations commandos, according to an unnamed Agency official. Writers Eric Schmitt and Robert Worth call the country:

"a refuge for jihadists, in part because (the) government welcomed returning Islamist fighters who had fought in Afghanistan during the 1980s. (These) militants have made much more focused efforts to build a base in Yemen in recent years, drawing recruits from throughout the region and mounting attacks more frequently on foreign embassies and other targets."

Washington has close relations with Field Marshall Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's ruling despot. From 1978 - 1990, he was president of the Yemen Arab Republic, and since then headed the united Republic of Yemen. During the Cold War, America backed the Islamist regime in the North against southern secular nationalists aligned with the Soviets. In the country's 1994 civil war, former Yemeni Afghan fighters helped Saleh secure the power he still holds.

Washington recruited him for its expanded regional wars. They cause great loss of lives, wider instability, an unsustainable expense, and leave vital homeland needs unmet, but are a bonanza for the war profiteers fueling them and others to follow for a sure-fire stream of blood money.

What's Next?

Up the ante in Afghanistan and Pakistan, entanglement in Yemen, then perhaps confront Iran with White House spokesman Robert Gibbs saying on November 27:

"Our patience and that of the international community is limited, and time is running out. If Iran refuses to meet its obligations, then it will be responsible for its own growing isolation and consequences." Apparently a "package of consequences" are planned, according to another unnamed official.

Air attacks may be one of them with New York Times support. On January 10, chief diplomatic correspondent, David Sanger, reported on US - Israeli talks over the past year about possibly striking Iran's nuclear sites as well covert sabotage efforts "to undermine electrical systems, computer systems and other networks on which Iran relies."

Like Judith Miller's press agent role for the Pentagon in the run to the Iraq war, Sanger is a notorious Pentagon and State Department conduit, so his reports read more official propaganda than legitimate journalism - a longstanding Times pro-war, pro-business, anti-labor bias going back decades, and very evident now.

On December 23, The Times gave Alan Kuperman, Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Program director at the University of Texas, op-ed space to headline, "There's Only One Way to Stop Iran," and he doesn't suggest diplomacy.

He says Obama should welcome Iran's rejection of his nuclear deal because it "did not require Iran to halt its enrichment program," even though it's in full compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) giving Washington and other nations no right to stop it.

Yet Kuperman insists Iran will likely divert its surplus higher-enriched fuel to weapons, and President Ahmadinejad "initially embraced the deal because he realized it aided Iran's bomb program."

However, "peaceful carrots and sticks cannot work, and an invasion would be foolhardy, (so Washington) faces a stark choice: military air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities or acquiescence to Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons."

IAEA inspections show no proof of a secret nuclear weapons program, and former IAEA director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, said in February 2009 said "many other countries are enriching uranium without the world making any fuss about it."

Five days before he retired on November 27, he told Reuters:

"We have no indication that there are other undeclared facilities in Iran. I want to be very clear about that." He also urged patience because Iran posed no imminent threat, and said "people should stop threatening the use of force because that simply....creates a justification or pretext for countries....to go underground because (they're) threatened."

He stressed that the IAEA found no evidence that Iranians had technology needed to assemble a nuclear warhead or that they're even trying.

Kuperman isn't convinced and accuses Iran of "suppl(ying) terrorist groups in violation of international embargoes. (So, if it) acquire(s) a nuclear arsenal, the risks would simply to too great that it could become a neighborhood bully or provide terrorists with the ultimate weapon, an atomic bomb."

Never mind that America's 2002 and 2006 National Security Strategy (NSS) and 2001 Nuclear Policy Review authorize the development of new type nuclear weapons, and the right to use them in first-strike preventive wars under the doctrine of "anticipatory self-defense."

Iran threatens no one, but Kuperman recommends military strikes anyway, regardless of the law, whether they'll succeed, and no matter the potentially horrific consequences, including inflaming the whole region, disrupting oil supplies, harming world economies when they're most vulnerable, and making America more hated than ever.

Still he says:

"Postponing military action merely provides Iran a window to expand, disperse and harden its nuclear facilities against attack. The sooner the United States takes action, the better."

In other words, two fronts aren't enough so add Yemen. Then make it a foursome with Iran, the sooner America does it the better, and The New York Times promotes this view after expressing caution in its January 3 editorial headlined, "No delusion of bombing Iran" and saying:

"Fortunately, President-elect Barack Obama says his approach to Iran will include 'a new emphasis on respect and a new emphasis on being willing to talk....' "

This approach "may or may not work," says The Times. "But it is a road that (should be tried and) should have been taken years ago."

Not now apparently or earlier, in fact, as Times writers play an indispensable role feeding misinformation to the world and supporting imperial wars with the rest of the dominant media. They'll have plenty to say as a new Yemen front unfolds and maybe an Iran one to follow.

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to the Lendman News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday - Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.rense.com/general89/waron.htm

Six trucks of explosives 'disappear' in Yemen 04 Jan 2010 Fears of a terrorist strike against Western embassies in Yemen have grown amid claims a convoy of lorries laden with explosives had been smuggled into the country's capital city, Sana'a. In an apparently botched surveillance operation, militants [?] driving six trucks filled with weapons and ordnance succeeded in giving security forces the slip as they entered the city, according to local media. The revelations came as western diplomatic missions in Sana'a went into lockdown following threats from al-Qaeda's Yemeni affiliate, which has taken responsibility for a failed attempt to blow up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day.

Ah, then came the dawn. Yemen seizes 'Israel-linked' cell 07 Oct 2008 Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said the security forces have arrested a group of alleged Islamist militants linked to Israeli intelligence. Mr Saleh did not say what evidence had been found to show the group's links with Israel, a regional enemy of Yemen. The arrests were connected with an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa last month which killed at least 18 people, official sources were quoted saying. [Hmm. Guess they didn't get the whole cell.]

Barack Obama summons security chiefs over Detroit bomb plot 04 Jan 2010 President Barack Obama returned to Washington after his Hawaii trip as he ordered increased security for United States-bound flights across the world and prepared for an emergency meeting of security chiefs. Passengers travelling from or via 14 designated countries are to be subjected to extra security screening, including full body pat-downs after a directive from the US Transportation Security Administration in response to the failed terrorist attack on Christmas Day.

US tightens security for air passengers from 'terror sponsor' countries 03 Jan 2010 US authorities on Sunday tightened security measures for all US-bound airline passengers, including enhanced mandatory screening of travellers from 14 countries believed to have links to terrorism. Travellers from countries the US classifies as "state sponsors of terrorism" - Syria, Iran, Sudan, and Cuba [Oops! They forgot the US and Israel] - plus passengers from other "countries of interest" - Nigeria, Pakistan, Yemen - will be subjected to pat-down body searches and have carry-on baggage searched. Afghanistan, Libya and Somalia are also covered by the new directive, but a complete list of countries was not released.

U.S. Intensifies Air Screening for Fliers From 14 Nations 04 Jan 2010 Citizens of 14 nations, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, who are flying to the United States will be subjected indefinitely to the intense screening at airports worldwide that was imposed after the Christmas Day bombing plot, Obama administration officials announced Sunday.

Pakistan airport security increased 04 Jan 2010 Pakistan's national airline said Monday it is increasing security checks for passengers heading to the United States, following U.S. requests for enhanced screening after a Nigerian man allegedly tried to ignite explosives on a flight to Detroit.

Newark Airport lockdown as man strolls through checkpoint the wrong way 03 Jan 2010 Frustrated travelers were delayed for hours Sunday night when officials shut down a terminal at Newark Airport after a man walked into a secure area without authorization. Dozens of flights were grounded, and thousands of passengers waited late into the night to be rescreened at Terminal C . Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Sari Koshetz said a man was seen walking down a security checkpoint exit lane into the secure area about 5:30 p.m.

Checkpoint intruder shuts down Newark Airport terminal 04 Jan 2010 A man who walked into a secure area triggered a terminal-wide lockdown at Newark Liberty International Airport last night, grounding outgoing planes and forcing hundreds of passengers to await rescreening, transportation authorities said. The incident occurred nine days after a failed terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound plane heightened tensions at the nation's airports and increased security restrictions.

Power out for 1 hour at Reagan National Airport 04 Jan 2010 The power is back on at Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., after an hour-long outage that brought flights and security screening to a standstill. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority spokeswoman Courtney Mickalonis says the power went out at about 12:30 p.m and came back on at 1:30 p.m.

U.S. Customs: Second person handcuffed on Christmas Day was on Flight 253, after all 02 Jan 2010 A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection now says that a man who was handcuffed and questioned by authorities on Christmas Day was a passenger on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 -- just days after saying that person arrived to Detroit aboard a different flight. In an email to The Detroit News Thursday night, Customs spokesman Ron Smith acknowledged that a person from Flight 253 was handcuffed after search dogs found something in his carry-on bag. The passenger was not arrested or detained, and was allowed to leave Detroit Metro Airport with the rest of the Flight 253 passengers, according to WWJ.

Official confirms 2nd man interviewed from Flight 253 --Couple on 253 did see 2nd man in cuffs, customs officer says 02 Jan 2010 A U.S. Customs official reversed himself Friday, admitting a passenger from Northwest Flight 253 was placed in handcuffs, searched and released after a security dog alerted officers to the passenger's carry-on luggage. Ronald G. Smith, chief U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in the Detroit area, sent an e-mail to The Detroit News late Thursday apologizing that the information on the passenger -- which was made public by a pair of Taylor attorneys, Kurt and Lori Haskell, who were passengers on the flight -- was not officially announced earlier. FBI officials had said only one man from the flight was arrested.

White House Adviser Briefed in October on Underwear Bomb Technique 03 Jan 2010 White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan was briefed in October on an assassination attempt by Al Qaeda that investigators now believe used the same underwear bombing technique as the Nigerian suspect who tried to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day, U.S. intelligence and administration officials tell NEWSWEEK. The briefing to Brennan was delivered at the White House by Muhammad bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s chief counterterrorism official. In late August, Nayef had survived an assassination attempt by an operative dispatched by the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda who was pretending to turn himself in.

Italy aims to introduce body scanners: minister 02 Jan 2010 Italy aims to install full-body scanners at the main airports of Rome and Milan for flights considered at high risk of terrorist attacks, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said in an interview published on Saturday. Maroni, speaking after last week's failed plot to bomb a U.S. passenger jet, told Corriere della Sera newspaper that he favored the swift introduction of the scanners, which can see through clothing to spot hidden explosives or weapons. [See: Are planned airport scanners just a scam? 03 Jan 2010.]

Yemen likely to be new front in global fight against terror 04 Jan 2010 It seems Yemen has become a new front in the fight against extremism as the U.S. and British embassies in the country closed on Sunday in response to threats of possible attacks by al-Qaida affiliates. The British embassy asked its staff to stay at home on Sunday, well-placed sources told local News Yemen, citing security reasons behind the closure. Earlier in the day, the U.S. embassy in Sanaa was closed over what it said threats by Yemen's al-Qaida affiliate to attack U.S. interests in the country.

UK to follow US intervention in Yemen 03 Jan 2010 The British premier's office says that Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President Barack Obama have agreed to fight what they call terrorism in Yemen and Somalia. The UK and the US have agreed to fund a counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen to tackle the rising threat from the country.

U.S. and U.K. Shut Embassies in Yemen Over Qaeda Threats 04 Jan 2010 The United States and Britain shut their embassies in the Yemen capital on Sunday, with the Americans citing unspecified but "ongoing threats by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," the regional branch responsible for the failed Christmas Day effort to blow up a U.S. airliner headed to Detroit. The closures came a day after a quiet visit to Yemen’s president by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the American regional commander, who delivered a message from President Obama of support for Yemen’s unity and counter-terrorism efforts.

US citizens due in Pakistan court on terror charges 04 Jan 2010 Five US nationals suspected of plotting attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan are due to appear in a Pakistani court. Police have said they would seek life sentences on terror charges against the five young Muslim men, who are from the Washington DC area. The men were arrested during a raid on a house in the eastern Pakistan city of Sargodha in early December. US officials said they were wanted by the FBI and had gone missing in the US state of Virginia in November.

Prince Charles tried to stop war --Prince thought Tony Blair was wrong on Iraq and mocked him as 'our glorious leader' 03 Jan 2010 Prince Charles was so convinced Tony Blair was WRONG to take Britain to war in Iraq he broke Royal tradition and actively campaigned against the invasion, the News of the World can reveal. Behind closed doors, the heir to the throne voiced his fears to senior politicians and mounted a staunch anti-war crusade in which he: ATTACKED the then prime minister's stance, mockingly calling him "our glorious leader". BLAMED American president George W Bush for action he believed to be misguided after reviewing secret intelligence. WARNED the war would only stir up more serious trouble in the region. ACCUSED western leaders of failing to deal with what he feels is the real cause of Islamic unrest - the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Iraq will help Blackwater victims sue 03 Jan 2010 Iraq will help victims of the 2007 shooting of civilians in Baghdad to file a lawsuit in the US against employees of security firm Blackwater, an incident that turned a spotlight on the United States' use of private contractors mercenaries in war zones. Last week, a US judge threw out charges against five guards accused of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, saying the defendants' constitutional rights had been violated.

Blasts kill 4 US, one UK soldiers in Afghanistan 04 Jan 2010 Four American soldiers and one British soldier have been killed in two separate explosions in southern Afghanistan. The dead soldiers, who were serving under NATO's International Security Assistance Force, were killed on Sunday, NATO said in a statement Monday.

Taliban deny abducting French reporters 03 Jan 2010 The Taliban militia Sunday denied kidnapping two French television journalists and three Afghan assistants who were snatched at gunpoint five days ago in Afghanistan. "We are not involved," self-styled Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location. [Right, it was likely Blackwater mercenaries.]

General: SEALs on Trial for Cover-up 02 Jan 2010 The Army general who ordered three local Navy SEALs to trial for their involvement in an alleged case of detainee prisoner abuse says he is more upset by the men's apparent attempt to cover up the incident than by the "relatively minor" injuries inflicted on a high-value detainee. Maj. Gen. Charles T. Cleveland, head of Special Operations Command Central, wrote to lawmakers who had questioned the prosecutions that their perceptions of the case appear to be based upon "incomplete and factually inaccurate press coverage."

Top Israeli diplomat scolds ambassadors 03 Jan 2010 Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman chastised the regime's foreign envoys for their tendency to appease their host states. "I have seen that some ambassadors identify themselves with the other side to such an extent that they are all the time trying to justify and explain [the position of the other side]," Lieberman said at a conference last week with Israeli ambassadors.

Obama effigy found hanging in Georgia: report 03 Jan 2010 An effigy of President Barack Obama was found hanging in the rural hometown of former President Jimmy Carter, local media reported on Sunday, and the Secret Service said it was investigating the case. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, citing footage seen on WALB-TV, said the large black doll was found hanging from a building by a noose in front of a red, white and blue sign that said: "Plains, Georgia. Home of Jimmy Carter, our 39th President."

Third state dinner crasher involved 04 Jan 2010 Michaele and Tareq Salahi weren’t the only uninvited guests at the White House state dinner in November. According to the Secret Service, a third interloper at the dinner honoring the Indian head of state has been identified. In a press release Monday afternoon, the Secret Service said that the person traveled from a local hotel, where the official Indian delegation was staying, and arrived at the dinner with the group, which was under the responsibility of the Department of State.

Court officer killed, federal marshal wounded in shooting inside lobby of Las Vegas courthouse 04 Jan 2010 A federal court security officer was killed and a U.S. Marshal wounded Monday when a gunman sprayed bullets inside the lobby of a courthouse in downtown Las Vegas. The man fled across the street in a hail of return gunfire. He was shot in the head and killed. The large modern building, which also houses the offices of Nevada Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign, was evacuated amid confused witness accounts of up to three other gunmen.

NZ's cyber spies win new powers 03 Jan 2010 New cyber-monitoring measures have been quietly introduced giving police and Security Intelligence Service (SIS) officers the power to monitor all aspects of someone's online life. The measures are the largest expansion of police and SIS surveillance capabilities for decades, and mean that all mobile calls and texts, email, internet surfing and online shopping, chatting and social networking can be monitored anywhere in New Zealand.

Telecom firms' fury at plan for 'Stasi' checks on every phone call and email 27 Dec 2009 Telecoms firms have accused the Government of acting like the East German Stasi over plans to force them to store the details of every phone call for at least a year. Under the proposals, the details of every email sent and website visited will also be recorded to help the police and security services fight crime and terrorism. But mobile phone companies have attacked the plans as a massive assault on privacy and warned it could be the first step towards a centralised 'Big Brother' database.

Use of potentially harmful chemicals kept secret under law 04 Jan 2010 Of the 84,000 chemicals in commercial use in the United States, nearly 20 percent are secret, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, their names and physical properties guarded from consumers and virtually all public officials under a little-known federal provision. The policy was designed 33 years ago to protect trade secrets. But critics -- including the Obama administration -- say the secrecy has grown out of control, making it impossible for regulators to control potential dangers or for consumers to know which toxic substances they might be exposed to.

Scientists say dolphins should be treated as 'non-human persons' 03 Jan 2010 Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as "non-human persons". Studies into dolphin behaviour have highlighted how similar their communications are to those of humans... These have been backed up by anatomical research showing that dolphin brains have many key features associated with high intelligence. The researchers argue that their work shows it is morally unacceptable to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them for food or by accident when fishing.

Previous lead stories: MI5 knew of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's UK extremist links 03 Jan 2010 The security services knew three years ago that the Detroit bomber had "multiple communications" with Islamic extremists in Britain, it emerged this weekend. Counterterrorism officials said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was "reaching out" to extremists whom MI5 had under surveillance while he was studying at University College London. None of the information was passed to American officials, which will prompt questions about intelligence failures prior to the attack. British officials have now passed a file to their US counterparts on Abdulmutallab’s activities in Britain while he was a student from 2005 to 2008. It shows his repeated contacts with MI5 targets who were subject to phone taps, email intercepts and other forms of surveillance.

UK and US agree to fund anti-terrorism unit to tackle Yemen extremists 03 Jan 2010 Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama have agreed to fund a counterterrorism police unit in Yemen to tackle the rising terrorist threat from the country, it was announced in London early today. The UK and the US have also agreed to increase support for Yemen's coast guard operation. Downing Street said that, in addition, Brown and Obama will push the UN Security Council to create a larger peacekeeping [sic] force for Somalia. Downing Street said the government of Yemen had been consulted over the decision to boost the country's coast guard and police operations.

Christmas false flag gets big payoff: Obama Says Al Qaeda in Yemen Planned Bombing Plot, and He Vows Retribution --US to 'more than double' $70 million in military aid sent to Yemen in 2009 to 'fight' Al Qaeda 03 Jan 2010 President Obama declared for the first time on Saturday that a branch of Al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] based in Yemen sponsored the attempted Christmas Day bombing of an American passenger jet, and he vowed that those behind the failed attack "will be held to account." Mr. Obama’s comments indicated that he and the government largely accepted the accounts offered by Mr. Abdulmutallab since he was taken into custody and by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in a statement on the Web. The National Security Agency had intercepted communications among Qaeda leaders months ago talking about an unnamed Nigerian preparing to attack, but the government never correlated that with information about Mr. Abdulmutallab’s radicalization collected by embassy officials in Nigeria from the suspect’s father.

Published on 01-04-2010

In what is being described as the first ever and most comprehensive study of the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers have linked organ damage with consumption of Monsanto’s GM maize.

All three varieties of GM corn, Mon 810, Mon 863 and NK 603, were approved for consumption by US, European and several other national food safety authorities. Made public by European authorities in 2005, Monsanto’s confidential raw data of its 2002 feeding trials on rats that these researchers analyzed is the same data, ironically, that was used to approve them in different parts of the world.

The Committee of Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN) and Universities of Caen and Rouen studied Monsanto’s 90-day feeding trials data of insecticide producing Mon 810, Mon 863 and Roundup® herbicide absorbing NK 603 varieties of GM maize.

The data “clearly underlines adverse impacts on kidneys and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, as well as different levels of damages to heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system,” reported Gilles-Eric Séralini, a molecular biologist at the University of Caen.

Although different levels of adverse impact on vital organs were noticed between the three GMOs, the 2009 research shows specific effects associated with consumption of each GMO, differentiated by sex and dose.

Their December 2009 study appears in the International Journal of Biological Sciences (IJBS). This latest study conforms with a 2007 analysis by CRIIGEN on Mon 863, published in Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, using the same data.

Monsanto rejected the 2007 conclusions, stating: “The analyses conducted by these authors are not consistent with what has been traditionally accepted for use by regulatory toxicologists for analysis of rat toxicology data.”¹

In an email to me, Séralini explained that their study goes beyond Monsanto’s analysis by exploring the sex-differentiated health effects on mammals, which Doull, et al. ignored:

“Our study contradicts Monsanto conclusions because Monsanto systematically neglects significant health effects in mammals that are different in males and females eating GMOs, or not proportional to the dose. This is a very serious mistake, dramatic for public health. This is the major conclusion revealed by our work, the only careful reanalysis of Monsanto crude statistical data.”

Other problems with Monsanto’s conclusions

READ MORE:

http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-6890-0-6-6--.html

Source: Huffington Post

Remember the Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP)? The Treasury Department unveiled the program in March and intended it as a way to help banks unload hard-to-sell (read: often toxic) mortgage securities. In short, private investors partnered with the government to get bad loans off the banks' books -- and everyone, including taxpayers, was supposed to come out ahead on the proceeds of the asset sales.

But, as Bloomberg reports this morning, some of the nation's largest banks have actually bought more risky home loans instead of getting them off their balance sheets.

But, as In other words, the program that was supposed to help banks dispose of these toxic assets instead made those assets so marketable that banks bought more -- which has pushed Wall Street's titans to even greater exposure to the stalled housing market. The banks apparently decided that the government's entry into the mortgage security market was simply a guaranteed money-making opportunity.

Per Bloomberg's figures, Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs added $2.74 billion of this kind of mortgage debt since March. The value of the debt was up 13 percent from the second quarter. Here's more: READ MORE ....

http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-6894-0-13-13--.html

Published on 01-04-2010

Source: America's Journey

Watch as arrogant police hide from and lie to the public. Watch the one member of the secret police barely open his window - then close it as reporters came over.

Remember public funds are paying this arrogant secret police-person's salary and for the cruiser he's driving and the window he closed on the reporter in order to hide his face.

Notice how they made up stories about FAA flight restrictions.

Great reporting. Horrible police department because their actions demonstrate an US vs. THEM mentality with regards to the public. There's an old saying the police should remember - "don't bite the hand that feeds you."

-----------

Perhaps this video will show how serious the police really are about dictatorship-these are not police they are soldiers:

Reporter: "You mean shoot an American?" Nazi: "Yeah"

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But, you may say, they need to protect us and confiscating weapons from the public is necessary. Wrong. Check this report on the significant drop in crime following the recent gun store shelf-emptying that followed the Obama administrations election - it shows that an armed public reduces crime. So what are they taking weapons for?

Read more FBI Reports Huge Decrease In Murders As Firearm, Ammunition And “Large” Magazine Sales Soar Here's a snippet:

"Last week, the FBI issued its preliminary 2009 crime report, showing that the number of murders in the first half of 2009 decreased 10 percent compared to the first half of 2008. If the trend holds for the remainder of 2009, it will be the single greatest one-year decrease in the number of murders since at least 1960, the earliest year for which national data are available through the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Also, the per capita murder rate for 2009 will be 51 percent lower than the all-time high recorded in 1991, and it will be the lowest rate since 1963—a 46-year low."
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Conclusion: Anyone deceiving you with arguments that it is to your benefit, as a free citizen, to sacrifice your inalienable rights is your enemy.

http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-6895-0-14-14--.html

Mohammed Hafiz shows a photo of his 10-year-old son, Ali Mohammed, who was shot to death by Blackwater guards

(AP photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Monday, January 04, 2010

Iraqis were stunned to learn last week that charges against five Blackwater guards accused of the September 16, 2007, killing of 17 civilians and wounding of 20 have been dropped completely.

The federal government’s mishandling of the Blackwater trial began during the Bush administration, when the Department of Justice first prepared the prosecution’s case using evidence that the trial judge later threw out of court. In rendering his opinion, Judge Ricardo Urbina criticized prosecutors for not using “common sense” when they relied on forced testimony provided by the Blackwater guards to the State Department—evidence legal observers say was never going to be admissible because of protections against self-incrimination. In fact, Urbina wondered what Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth C. Kohl and his team were really up to when they ignored recommendations from other government attorneys (referred to as the “taint team”) to avoid borrowing from the State Department reports.

“The only conclusion the court can draw from this evidence is that Kohl and the rest of the trial team purposefully flouted the advice of the taint team when obtaining the substance of the defendants’ compelled statements, and in so doing, knowingly endangered the viability of the prosecution,” wrote Urbina in his opinion.

Kohl has been a Justice Department prosecutor for more than 20 years and cannot use inexperience as an excuse for his actions.

The former guards are not out of legal danger yet. It is possible the government could charge them with willfully providing false information in their statements and obstructing justice. Also, the Center for Constitutional Rights is preparing to sue the men in civil court on behalf of the Iraqis and their families who were involved in the September 2007 shooting in Baghdad, Iraq.

http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews/Did_Bush_Justice_Dept_Purposely_Sabotage_Blackwater_Massacre_Case_100104

Monday, January 04, 2010

Fed up with the greed and recklessness of large national banks, critics of Wall Street are pointing to North Dakota as an alternative for reshaping the banking industry. North Dakota is the only state in the country to own its own bank, the Bank of North Dakota (BND), which managed to avoid needing a federal bailout and to run a hefty surplus. Instead of diving into subprime mortgages like its larger counterparts, BND has kept its focus on helping state agriculture and partnering with community banks. The BND helps share risk with smaller banks and keep interest rates under control and credit available for North Dakotans. Its loan portfolio is estimated to be more than $2.5 billion. Attorney and financial author Ellen Hodgson Brown says the country would be better off by opening more state-owned banks like BND.

http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews/Solution_to_the_Banking_Crisis__Look_to_North_Dakota_100104

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A tsunami unleashed by a major earthquake plowed into the Solomon Islands on Monday with the crashing waters devastating at least onevillage.

Initial reports said no one was seriously hurt.

A series of major quakes have rocked the South Pacific region since Sunday, with three powerful temblors striking Monday, including a 7.2 magnitude tremor. The Solomon Island's National Disaster Management Office said reports of the devastation were beginning to filter in late Monday.

The tremors were centred beneath the ocean floor near the town of Gizo, which was badly damaged in April 2007 when a 8.1-magnitude quake sent a tsunami crashing into the coast, killing more than 50 people.

Monday's tsunami devastated a village on Rendova Island, some 188 miles (300 kilometres) from the capital Honiara, disaster management official Loti Yates told The Associated Press.

"One report from police was that one village was hit by a 6 to 10 foot (2-3 metre) wall of sea water," Yates said. "It was a total inundation police saw in a fly over."

Rendova is home to about 3,600 people.

Yates said in Baniata village on Rendova's coast, 16 houses were destroyed and 32 damaged by the quake and the wave.

"It could be several hundred houses have been damaged ... but that is still not verified," said Yates. "There are two to three villages where the situation could be much worse."

Ten foreign tourists were staying on Tetepare Island, an uninhabited eco-tourism site, and the four Germans, four Britons and two New Zealanders were evacuated. Unconfirmed reports said two had been injured.

Yates said there were no other reports of injuries. "We're lucky that whatever happened happened during the day and people were able to hike up the hills," he said

Two helicopters and a police boat were carrying out damage assessments and a vessel carrying water, food and tarpaulins was dispatched from Honiara.

The U.S. Geological Survey recorded eight earthquakes in the region since late Sunday. The magnitude 7.2 was centred 64 miles (103 kilometres) southeast of Gizo, and followed a magnitude 6.5 tremor less than two hours earlier centred 54 miles (90 kilometres) southeast of Gizo at a depth of 6 miles (10 kilometres).

The latest aftershock was magnitude 6.1 and struck late Monday, 22 miles (36 kilometres) southeast of Gizo, U.S. Geological Survey said in a statement.

Pacific Tsunami Warning Center geophysicist Gerard Fryer in Hawaii said it was too small to create a tsunami. There were no immediate reports of damage.

The Solomon Islands lie on the "Ring of Fire" - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim and where about 90 per cent of the world's quakes occur.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jaCu9Z0NLlDxF2PXu24-U3MATGJQ

RELATED:

Seven earthquakes strike Solomon Islands

UPI.com - ‎24 minutes ago‎

HONIARA, Solomon Islands, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- The US Geological Survey said the Solomon Islands were hit by seven earthquakes Monday morning, with the strongest ...

January 4, 2010

I expected this, but I didn’t expect it to be so sudden, or so dramatic:

The Seoul-based Open Radio for North Korea (ORNK), citing unidentified sources along the Sino-North Korean border, said that merchants were exchanging one yuan for 1,000 new North Korean won as of late last month, plummeting from the 50 won traded for every yuan on Dec. 3, right after Pyongyang introduced the new currency. [Yonhap]

If my math is right, that’s 1,000 percent in less than a month.

Under the move, the communist country knocked two zeros off its currency without warning on Nov. 30 in the first such value adjustment since 1959.

Yet already, the new won is worth half of what the old won was worth:

Before the currency reform took place, 1 yuan was worth around 588 old won, which is equivalent to 5.88 new won.

Open Radio for North Korea is run by a South Korean acquaintance of mine who goes by the name Young Howard. Howard, a former leftist, dissident, political prisoner, and thoroughly enigmatic figure, has assembled a network of North Korean informers who feed him news about events inside North Korea, which he then broadcasts into the North and to the foreign press. Open Radio is now commonly cited by some of the world’s foremost news sources. It cites two reasons for the new currency’s collapse: rumors (that is, a loss of confidence in the regime’s erratic monetary policy), and a new ban on holding or using foreign currency. READ MORE ...

http://newledger.com/2010/01/22357/

Congratulations for surviving 2009. Now things get interesting. Patriots Cave urges the good people to double-up with their emergency preparations. The following post will address the threats your family may be forced to confront in 2010 and beyond. And what steps we must take in advance of these threats, in order that we may survive and prosper.

Physical attack: In 2010, the odds of being mugged, robbed, and/or assaulted may reach unprecedented levels. In spite of the mainstream media's ridiculous assertions that America is enjoying a "jobless recovery", the truth of the matter is that the economy is sliding into the abyss. People are losing homes, jobs, savings, cars and security. This means crime will be on the rise. Don't be a sitting duck. Don't let your family be an easy target. Teach your children to be mindful and alert, suspicious and defensive. SCREW political correctness. Is it politically correct to leave your defenses down, so some meth-heads can pull off a home invasion on you? I live in a three-horse town so small that it does not appear on some maps, and yet we have had three reported home invasions in the past 4 months! An elderly woman was beaten severely right in front of her husband! My heart ached when I read how the woman's husband watched helplessly as the scumbags slapped her around and blackened her eye. Then they trashed the house and took everything of value. Don't let this happen to you brethren and sistren. Think about your defenses. Think about your vulnerabilities, and then DO SOMETHING about it.

Get a pair of guard dogs. Get a Mossberg shotgun. Have your wife and daughter put chemical CS/pepper spray on their key chain, and make sure they know how to use it. Get some motion lights. Don't put flowery welcome mats in front of your door, and frilly little things, it tells the criminals this: "we are fragile, flowery people who are not gritty enough to defend ourselves, we have lots of money and our females are powdered and perfumed very nicely, there are no large dogs or angry burly men in this house, we are delicate yuppies, ripe for the picking".

No my siblings, do not do it. Get rid of the frilly welcome mats and friendly decorations. Make your home look proud, clean, and strong. Lose the frilly crap. Teach your kids the vulnerable points on a man, and how to strike them. Teach your kids that adults DO NOT have authority over them. This is crucial. Teach your kids that just because an adult says "COME HERE" in an authoritative voice, that they are under absolutely no requirement whatsoever to comply. And don't forget to get your family in fighting shape for 2010. Do not have a victim mindset. Think out ahead of time when, where, and how you and each member of your family might come under attack. And make a plan.

Famine: 2010 is developing into the perfect storm for widespread food shortages, famine, hyper inflated food costs, and illness from malnutrition. Smart families will be prepared. Smart families who are not yet prepared, will be making a plan to GET prepared. Make a budget, cut out 95% of luxury items. Take the money you save and stock up on food. I do not go along with a saying often heard within survivalist circles: "Stock up foods that you eat, eat foods that you stock". I have seen this phrase many times. I guess the theory is, that if you store up foods that are not the same as the ones you eat on a day to day basis, that your body will malfunction and/or become ill. I don't subscribe to this theory. Now, if you have a great deal of extra money, and can afford to store up the same kinds of foods you currently eat, then good. Go for it. But don't let it stop you from stocking up if you cannot afford the same foods your family eats day to day. Stock up on food. That is the bottom line. I have experienced rapid and sudden dietary changes many, many times. And what counts is that you have something to eat. Something with nutrients, vitamins, minerals and oils. In stressful times, the body needs fuel. Oil is fuel. Trendy morning shows on TV will tell you so much bullspit about grease and oil. Forget all that. When you stock up on tuna. Get tuna IN OIL. The body uses this oil to burn for energy, just like an oil lamp.

Look into sprouts. Mung beans, alfalfa sprouts, wheat and many more. Sprouts are an AWESOME addition to the family food stocks. Sprouts are very inexpensive and highly nutritious.

Grow your own food in 2010, as much as you can. Use only heirloom veggie seeds. Don't use the seeds from Wal-mark or from the local garden center because they are all GMO, terminator seeds, and they WILL MAKE YOU WEAK. Do you think scientists can improve God's handiwork? Please. Heirloom seeds are old fashioned, true-blue, God-given seeds. You will not find a better supplier of heirloom seeds than Big John Lipscomb's http://www.survivalistseeds.com/.

Codex Alimentarius is a new world order plan designed to kill off a huge percentage of our planet's human population. Under codex, all foods will be irradiated, and thus almost totally void of life giving nutrients. You MUST grow your own food. Even if 20% of your diet is from homegrown heirloom veggie seeds, this will insure that you are getting vitamins and minerals. Those who attempt to survive on 100% grocery store food, are going to become ill. The roundtable groups even admit it. That is what Codex IS. In 2010, you must have a garden. If you don't have land, then make a sharecropping deal with someone who does have a yard. You will give them 10% of your crops, in exchange for the use of a small patch of land. Walking to there house everyday will get you back into fighting shape. And those fresh, crunchy, healthy heirloom melons and veggies will supply your body with the vital lifetrons needed for balance and health. Codex irradiates all the food, and it kills all of the lifetrons in the food. It is dead food. Your body IS what it eats. In 2010, survivors will have a well tended heirloom garden.

Communication Breakdown: In 2010, Patriots Cave has predicted that hackers will infiltrate crucial utilitiy and power facilities. This will result in massive socio-economic chaos. In light of this disasterous scenario, one should be prepared to survive without running water, electricity, natural gas, and internet, for an extended period of time. Even after control is regained, and the systems are all back up and running, the internet may be gone. The government will enact the Cybersecurity Act, citing the hacker attack on public utilities as the prime cause. The European Union will follow suit, and the free flow of information will cease in the West altogether. Which is why investing in a quality short wave radio is essential. You will want to store your short wave radio in a Faraday cage so that it will not be destroyed in the event of an EMP attack or massive CME. Also, CB radios, and HAM radios will be the crucial "Outter-Net" for getting news. In 2010, be prepared for disruptions of utilities and communications.

Economic Collapse: In 2010, the dollar stands a high chance of collapsing altogether. When this happens, there will be a period of time, in between the failure of the dollar and introduction of a new currency, when those without silver, gold and barter items, will be in grave danger. This is yet another reason to stock up on food. Cans of food will be money. As will anything people want or need, such as tobacco, coffee, whiskey, and so on. There are hundreds of millions of Americans who put faith in paper money and credit ratings. In 2010, you need to have something REAL to use for money when the dollar collapses. If the "Audit the Fed" bill makes it through, the Illuminati will retaliate by utterly collapsing the USA as we know it. There will be chaos, physical attacks, food riots, communication breakdowns, and massive black outs of the power grid. Smart families will be preparing for trouble, and making plans to survive with dignity. For Patriots Cave this is Joel the K, over and out.

STEVE QUAYLE'S: SURVIVE 2 THRIVE
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Volatility and availability of Physical Precious Metals Products has become more exaggerated in the Precious Metals Market--As of this morning I Have Gold Eagles and Gold Maples and Silver Rounds for Immediate Availability---- But --Palladium has become non -existent in Quantity. Renaissance Precious Metals currently has I-oz Credit Swiss Platinum Bars--Three weeks ago I gave warning that Platinum and Palladium were set to move in a Major way with Huge Price increases --It Happened --What most Precious Metals Buyers, Fail to understand, is that even when the SHAM SPOT PRICE Manipulations of the PAPER MARKETS SELLS DOWN, the Physical Buying by the "Big Boys" goes on 24/7-Also note that Behind the scenes acquisition using Buyers agents to acquire EVERY SINGLE GOLD COIN,PLATINUM AND PALLADIUM BAR CURRENTLY AVAILABLE! Due to Platinum and Palladium Exchange traded Funds coming on Line these prices will go Ballistic as Platinum and Palladium are 35 Times rarer than Gold-- Have you also noticed the incessant offers to buy all your scrap Gold an Precious Metal Jewelry on TV and in Major Publications--I said years ago on my Radio Program the when it started -It would be your signal that a Major BULL MARKET would be under way---Don't wait until the Public Panics--CALL US NOW! AT 406-586-4840 or E-mail me to get what is now available--Due to the Time restraints and Anticipated Financial Dis-ruptions with the U.S. Dollar we are shipping everything overnight except silver at our Expense! The Platinum and Palladium Prices, due to lack of availability, will DWARF THE MOVES IN GOLD AN SILVER WHICH WILL EXPLODE ON THEIR OWN MERITS! DONT LET THE I COULD HAVE Bought METALS,SHOULD HAVE OR WISHED I HAD BOUGHT METALS, HAUNT YOU IN RETRO SPECT, AS you watch Precious Metals Become non available at any where NEAR THESE PRICE LEVELS!

China's 2010 Gold Rush

Gold Charts --Year End

The World in 2010: China Continues Its Unstoppable Economic Charge

Benn Steil: Prepare for a Keynesian Hangover

2010 Will Be Worse

The Criminalization of Protest

Here in the Long Solemn Dark: An Examination of Global Elitism

$340 Million Blitz Launches 2010 Census

Peace and Security in the Caucasus and Caspian Basin

Syria, Turkey Seek Strategic Alliance with Iran, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon

The UN and Interpol – How the UN Will Gain Power

Spy Chiefs Turn on President Obama after 7 CIA Agents Are Slaughtered in Afghanistan

Climategate: You Should be Steamed

DR Congo Volcano Eruption Threatens Rare Chimpanzees

Galeras Volcano Erupts

Second Whistleblower Confirms Time Travel

Russia, US at Odds Over Future Asteroid Hit

Solar System Passing Through Interstellar Cloud

Top Scientists Share Their Future Predictions

‘Cybugs’ Are All the Buzz - D. A.R.P.A. Funds Spying Beetle

Chinese officials have said that they plan to launch their Tiangong-1 space station by the end of next year or in 2011, according to a report on CCTV.

Qi Faren, Shenzhou-5 designer, said, “Quality is the key to technology. We must guarantee a successful launch. We will launch it whenever we are ready. It will be the end of 2010, or the beginning of 2011.”

Tiangong-1 will be an 8- ton orbital module. Artists concepts show it to be somewhat similar to the early Soviet Salyut space stations. Crews of the Shenzhou 8, Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10 spacecraft will conduct experiments aboard it during a 2-year period. The Shenzhou are based on Soviet-era Soyuz vehicles, which are still in use today.

The Chinese plan to fly several Tiangong stations, each with enhancements. Eventually, Tiangong will be modified to serve as a core module for a much larger facility, as was done with the Soviet Mir facility and the International Space Station.

Read the full story.

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2009/12/30/china-launch-tiangong1-space-station-2010/

	MAG	UTC DATE-TIME y/m/d h:m:s	LAT deg	LON deg	DEPTH km	Region
MAP	2.6	2010/01/04 15:44:56	40.264	-123.869	29.5	NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP	2.7	2010/01/04 14:29:41	40.262	-123.859	30.0	NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP	4.1	2010/01/04 14:24:53	40.247	-123.862	16.2	NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP	2.6	2010/01/04 14:10:55	40.269	-123.872	32.0	NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Three Approved GMOs Linked to Organ Damage In what is being described as the first ever and most comprehensive study of the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers have linked organ damage with consumption of Monsanto’s GM maize.

Device turns thoughts into speech Scientists implanted an electrode about 5 millimeters deep into the part of the subject's brain responsible for planning speech. After a few months nerve cells grew into the electrode, producing detectable signals.

New year brings new 40,697 laws It's a new year and a time for a slew of new laws around the country.

Saudi prince says Taliban leader could be U.S. ally Jalaluddin Haqqani is "someone who could be reached out to … to negotiate and bring [the Taliban] into the fold," Prince Turki, the former Saudi ambassador to the U.S., told a group of about 80 government and business leaders and journalists over dinner in Washington.

The Future of the United States, Systemic Fraud, Corruption and Financial Instability

Yummy! Ammonia-Treated Pink Slime Now in Most U.S. Ground Beef According to today's New York Times, The "majority of hamburger" now sold in the U.S. now contains fatty slaughterhouse trimmings "the industry once relegated to pet food and cooking oil," "typically including most of the material from the outer surfaces of the carcass" that contains "larger microbiological populations."

NEW AIRPORT SCANNERS 'WOULD NOT HAVE STOPPED DETROIT BOMBER'

Pakistan: Over 700 Civilians Killed in US Drone Strikes Of the 44 predator strikes carried out by US drones in the tribal areas of Pakistan over the past 12 months, only five were able to hit their actual targets, killing five key Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, but at the cost of over 700 innocent civilians.

Is The U.S. Government Buying Stocks? Is the Fed manipulating the stock market? TrimTabs CEO Charles Biderman seems to think so, and he makes a strong case for his theory in an article at zerohedge.com.

MI5 knew of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s UK extremist links The security services knew three years ago that the Detroit bomber had “multiple communications” with Islamic extremists in Britain, it emerged this weekend.

ANOTHER BURIED CHRISTMAS DAY ARREST UNCOVERED: Same Route, Same Airline, Same Day, Different Flight

Afghanistan is Not the Right War If history has taught us anything, it is that we need to beware those populist politicians who claim to be men of peace by nature but men of war by necessity.

Lining Up for the Wall Street Gravy Train

January 4th, 2010

by Mike Whitney
Global ResearchJanuary 4, 2010

British economist John Maynard Keynes, believed in capitalism, but he was also sharply critical of its structural flaws. He summed it up succinctly like this:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Corruption, Economics, Government Evil

Social Unrest and Global States of Combustibility 2010

January 4th, 2010

By: Mac Slavo
Market Oracle

The Economist says that 2010 could be a year the sparks unrest in the Global Tinderbox: “IF THE world appears to have escaped relatively unscathed by social unrest in 2009, despite suffering the worst recession since the 1930s, it might just prove the lull before the storm. Despite a tentative global recovery, for many people around the world economic and social conditions will continue to deteriorate in 2010. An estimated 60m people worldwide will lose their jobs. Poverty rates will continue to rise, with 200m people at risk of joining the ranks of those living on less than $2 a day. But poverty alone does not spark unrest—