Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government | 01 July 2009
U.S. again [third time] delays releasing CIA torture report 02 Jul 2009 The U.S. government on Wednesday once again delayed the release of a full report on CIA's controversial interrogation program. The government had intended to complete its review of the 2004 report and release it two weeks ago. But continued interagency debate about how much of the secret report could be made public pushed back the deadline. [See: US wants to [again] delay release of CIA report 26 Jun 2009 and Delay in Releasing CIA Report Is Sought 20 Jun 2009.]
U.S. spy says just followed orders in Italy kidnap 30 Jun 2009 A former U.S. spy at the center of a kidnapping trial in Italy appeared to acknowledge a role in the abduction of a Muslim cleric but said he was only following orders, according to a rare interview published on Tuesday. Robert Seldon Lady is one of 26 Americans, almost all believed to have been working for the CIA, who are accused along with Italian spies of grabbing a terrorism suspect off the streets of Milan in 2003 and flying him to Egypt. There, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr says he was tortured and held for years without charge.
Army faces 20 more torture and abuse claims from Iraqi civilians --High Court to hear cases against soldiers accused of shootings and beatings 01 Jul 2009 The British Army faces 20 fresh claims of torture and abuse of Iraqi civilians in a series of damaging cases being prepared by human rights lawyers in the High Court in London. These new claims lend support to the accusation that the ill-treatment of scores of detainees in Iraq in the first four years after the invasion was systemic rather than the work of a few "rotten apple" soldiers.
Iraq Approves BP-Led Bid to Develop Rumaila Oil Field 01 Jul 2009 Iraq’s cabinet approved an offer by BP Plc and China National Petroleum Corp. to develop the Rumaila oil field after the group was awarded the contract yesterday, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said. The government rejected all other bids made at an oil licensing round held in Baghdad yesterday after companies seeking to develop deposits declined to meet Iraq’s cost requirements, according to an e-mailed statement today.
Oil and the Iraq "withdrawal" By James Cogan 30 Jun 2009 It is fitting that today’s deadline for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq’s cities coincides with a meeting in Baghdad to auction off some of the country’s largest oil fields to companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and British Petroleum. It is a reminder of the real motives for the 2003 invasion and in whose interests over one million Iraqis and 4,634 American and other Western troops have been killed. The Iraq war was, and continues to be, an imperialist war waged by the American ruling elite for control of oil and geo-strategic advantage.
Hussein Pointed to Iranian Threat --The former Iraqi president denounced Osama bin Laden as "a zealot" and said he had no dealings with al-Qaeda. 02 Jul 2009 Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews released yesterday. The former Iraqi president also denounced Osama bin Laden as "a zealot" and said he had no dealings with al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh]. Hussein, in fact, said he felt so vulnerable to the perceived threat from "fanatic" leaders in Tehran that he would have been prepared to seek a "security agreement with the United States to protect [Iraq] from threats in the region."
FEMA Administrator Meets Top Israeli Official to Discuss Emergency Management Issues 30 Jun 2009 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate met today with Maj. Gen. Yair Golan of the Israeli Defense Forces Home Front Command (IDF/HFC), continuing to foster a working relationship with Israel... Administrator Fugate and Maj. General Golan will serve as co-chairs of an emergency management work group designed to discuss problems and issues and to exchange information on a variety of topics... The IDF/HFC partners with the Israeli National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) on emergency management issues. IDF/HFC and NEMA work with FEMA under an emergency management work stream workgroup established under a 2007 Memorandum of Understanding with DHS.
McKinney still held on ship of activists detained by Israel 01 Jul 2009 Israel on Wednesday reportedly sent home two of the 21 people taken aboard a ship that attempted to break through a blockade and deliver supplies to Gaza. Authorities released an American filmmaker and a Danish human rights activist, according to freegaza.org, the web site of the Free Gaza Movement, which organized the voyage opposing the blockade. The other passengers remain in Israeli custody, among them former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, and 1977 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Mairead Maguire, who co-founded a group that worked for peace in Northern Ireland.
CLG News and Action Alert: IDF Seizes Gaza Aid Ship Posted by Lori Price 01 Jul 2009 Israeli forces have boarded a ship trying to carry aid and pro-Palestinian activists to the Gaza Strip in defiance of Israel's blockade of the territory. The 20 passengers include former US congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Nobel Prize winner Mairead Maguire. [Can you *imagine* what would happen if *Iran* intercepted a vessel with a former congressperson and Nobel Prize winner? It makes my head *spin* to think of how fast the US missiles would be flying! Click here for news and actions you can take - demonstrations, petitions.] (Updated with new Boston 02 July IAC action info)
UN: Israel does not deny running spy ring in Lebanon 01 Jul 2009 Israel does not deny accusations that dozens of men arrested recently in Lebanon were spying on its behalf, according to a report published by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Lebanese authorities in recent months claimed to have detained dozens of suspects in an espionage investigation, including several senior military officials.
'Interpol hunting for witness of Neda's death' 01 Jul 2009 Iran's Police Chief, Brig. Gen. Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, says Interpol is searching for a man who witnessed the death of Neda Agha-soltan. Neda was shot dead in a central Tehran street on June 20, amid the post-election unrest in the capital city and her death has turned into a controversial issue. Iranian authorities say that security forces have not fired at protesters, adding that the incident was "a premeditated scenario" to defame Iran.
U.S. Marines Launch Major Operation in Afghanistan --Poppies grown in this region account for half the world's supply of opium. 01 Jul 2009 Thousands of U.S. Marines descended upon the volatile Helmand River valley in helicopters and armored convoys early Thursday morning, mounting an operation that represents the first large-scale test of the U.S. military's new counter-insurgency 'strategy' in Afghanistan. The operation will involve about 4,000 troops from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which was dispatched to Afghanistan this year by President Obama to combat a growing Taliban insurgency in Helmand and other southern provinces. [Obama has to keep Bush's opium routes and gas pipelines flowing. See: U.S.-built bridge is windfall -- for illegal Afghan drug trade 28 Jun 2009.]
US seeks European funds, troops for Afghanistan 01 Jul 2009 Europe must commit more funds and troops to stabilise Afghanistan after the August presidential elections or risk staying in the country indefinitely, the US envoy to NATO Ivo Daalder said Wednesday. Daalder said the United States estimated 17 billion dollars was needed to train and equip the Afghan army and two billion dollars per year to sustain it.
UK Afghan civilian death payments 01 Jul 2009 The government has paid or is assessing compensation over 104 civilian deaths allegedly caused by the Army during operations in Afghanistan. Figures revealed after a Freedom of Information request by Channel 4 News show $200,000 (£120,000) compensation was paid in the last 18 months. Payouts range from $210 (£127) for a woman's death to $39,752 (£24,155) for a "multiple fatality" incident.
Pakistan elder killed by gunmen 01 Jul 2009 A key pro-government tribal elder has been shot dead along with two of his guards in Pakistan's tribal region of Khyber, officials say. They say that Malik Gali Khan was travelling in the Jamrud area when he was attacked by gunmen. The tribal leader was seriously wounded and died on his way to the hospital. As news of his death spread, incensed local tribesmen closed down the markets and also the Pakistan-Afghanistan highway through Torkham.
North Korea Shows No Sign of Imminent Missile Launch, U.S. Says 02 Jul 2009 The U.S. doesn't see any indication North Korea is poised to test-launch a long-range ballistic missile capable of landing near the Hawaiian Islands, according to four government officials. The officials, who are privy to information about North Korean launch preparations, said there are no signs of the work necessary to launch a long-range missile during the U.S. July 4 Independence Day celebration.
Does the US back the Honduran coup? The Obama administration's condemnation of the coup in Honduras has been lukewarm compared to the rest of the world By Mark Weisbrot 01 July 2009 The military coup that overthrew Honduras's elected president, Manuel Zelaya, brought unanimous international condemnation. But some country's responses have been more reluctant than others, and Washington's ambivalence has begun to raise suspicions about what the US government is really trying to accomplish in this situation.
1,500 National Guard Troops to Border 30 Jun 2009 1,500 National Guard volunteers will be used to support the existing 'counter'-drug program on the border with Mexico. That includes in Texas and New Mexico. The plan is being finalized between the Defense Department and Homeland Security. The program would use guardsmen for surveillance, intelligence analysis, and aviation support. They would also supply ground troops who help at border crossings.
Swine flu cases reach over 77,000 worldwide: WHO 02 Jul 2009 About 77,201 people worldwide have caught swine flu, with 332 having died from it, latest statistics posted on Wednesday by the World Health Organisation show. The data indicates that 6308 new A(H1N1) cases were reported, including 21 deaths, since the last bulletin on Monday. The largest increase in caseload was reported by the United Kingdom, with 2288 new infections including two deaths, bringing its total to 6538 infections including three deaths.
WHO working on formulas to model swine flu spread 01 Jul 2009 The World Health Organization said Wednesday it is working to mathematically model the spread of swine flu in an attempt to better understand how the outbreak developed from a handful of cases to a global epidemic in less than two months. WHO brought together over 20 independent experts beginning Wednesday for the three-day meeting in Geneva. The meeting comes as it becomes clearer that actual case numbers may be far higher than the agency's tally of officially diagnosed infections. [See: Pandemic planning: Protect police forces from being hurt in civil disturbances 29 Jun 2009.]
Former Marine Claims Illness From Mystery Vaccine --Military Source Believes Experimental Shots May Have Been Given 08 May 2007 Clermont County, OH) Target 5 has discovered that an alarming number of U.S. troops are having severe reactions to some of the vaccines they receive in preparation for going overseas. "This is the worst cover-up in the history of the military," said an unidentified military health officer who fears for his job. A shot from a syringe is leaving some U.S. servicemen and women on the brink of death. "When the issue, I believe, of the use of the vaccine comes out, I believe it will make the Walter Reed scandal pale in comparison," said the health officer.
'This is the worst cover-up in the history of the military.' Target 5: Secret Shots --'The shot was never listed in his records... Suddenly, 'flu vaccine' appears on his record.' (wlwttv) 16 Jul 2007 All military personnel who are headed to combat are required to take vaccinations. Are these shots leaving some soldiers deathly ill? 'But a case of friendly fire, in the form of a syringe, would forever change his life. On November 28th of 2005, David's unit was lined up for what he says was an undisclosed shot... Three weeks later, Private Fey was back in Clermont County on his death bed at Clinton Memorial Hospital. His kidneys were failing... 'The people [sic] who administered the shot never told us what it was.' (YouTube video of NBC Target 5 report)
Rangel: Drug firms have been 'stealing' 01 Jul 2009 One of the principal authors of health care legislation taking shape in the House accused drug companies and other medical providers Wednesday of stealing, and said they are now offering concessions in the hopes the bill that emerges will not demand too much of them. "Everyone knows that people around the table are stealing, but they don't want to turn each other in if they're going to have to pay the full penalty," said Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Asked in an interview on MSNBC what he meant by stealing, the New York Democrat replied, "I mean stealing."
Lieberman: I Stand With The Small Minority of Americans Who Oppose Public Option By Brian Beutler 01 Jul 2009 The surfeit of polling data showing broad public support for the public option hasn't swayed Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman [R-Israel], who's joining conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans in staunch opposition. Check out this video from Paul Bass at the New Haven Independent.
It Came from Wasilla --As John McCain's top campaign officials talk more candidly than ever before about the meltdown of his vice-presidential pick, the author tracks the signs--political and personal--that Sarah Palin was big trouble, and checks the forecast for her future. By Todd S. Purdum August 2009 As Palin has piled misstep on top of misstep, the senior members of McCain’s campaign team have undergone a painful odyssey of their own. In recent rounds of long conversations, most made it clear that they suffer a kind of survivor’s guilt: they can’t quite believe that for two frantic months last fall, caught in a Bermuda Triangle of a campaign, they worked their tails off to try to elect as vice president of the United States someone who, by mid-October, they believed for certain was nowhere near ready for the job, and might never be.
CIA-Trained Blogger Disbursing Money to "Progressives" By Francis L. Holland 30 May 2009 Some of us have wondered what Markos C. Alberto Moulitsas Zúñiga (MAMZ) learned at the CIA during his two-year "training" period there. SourceWatch.Org covers Markos C.A. Moulitsas Zuñiga's (MAMZ) connections to the CIA. Well, now it's more clear than ever that his mission is to increase his influence and build "assets" in the "progressive" blogger community, the better to prevent blogging from getting out of control of the Government.
California taking rest of US on its way down [Thanks to Enron troll, Arnold Schwarzenegger] 01 Jul 2009 The aftershocks of the recession-induced paralysis in California's economy have started ripping through other states across the US. The flagging financial system of California, the world's eighth biggest economy, has affected Illinois and Pennsylvania whose economies are irreversibly interlaced to that of California. Despite rushing frenetically, neither of the states managed to meet the June 30 deadline to pass the budgets for the new fiscal year that ended on the day.
'I'll pay back': Schwarzenegger issues IOUs --California has about $4 billion of obligations that it cannot meet. 02 Jul 2009 The US state of California is in an economic state of emergency, and tomorrow it will begin issuing IOUs to pay its debt. The state is suffering huge declines in revenues because of the recession and the crash of the real estate market. As well, the Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Installed) and his legislature cannot come up with a balanced budget to address the crisis.
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Previous lead stories: Did leak from a laboratory cause swine flu pandemic? Same strain of influenza was released 'by accident' three decades ago 30 Jun 2009 It has swept across the world killing at least 300 people and infecting thousands more. Yet the swine flu pandemic might not have happened had it not been for the 'accidental' release of the same strain of influenza virus from a research laboratory in the late 1970s, according to a new study. Scientists investigating the genetic make-up of flu viruses have concluded there is a high probability that the H1N1 strain of influenza "A" behind the current pandemic might never have been re-introduced into the human population were it not for an accidental leak from a laboratory working on the same strain in 1977.
At least 29 killed unlawfully by Israeli drones in Gaza, report says 30 Jun 2009 At least 29 Palestinian civilians were unlawfully killed by missile-firing Israeli drones during its offensive in the Gaza Strip, a US human rights group said. A report by Human Rights Watch, published six months after the operation, said that Israel had failed to exercise proper caution "as required by the laws of war" in their use of drones. Mrac Galasco, a senior military analyst for Human Rights Watch, said that although 29 cases had been highlighted in the report, as many as 87 civilians could have been killed in drone attacks.
US withdrawal from cities brings joy to Iraq 30 Jun 2009 Iraq is filled with joy as American troops hand security duties over to Iraqi forces and end their presence on the streets of the country's towns and cities. Tens of thousands of Iraqi people rushed to the streets and held giant parties on Monday and Tuesday to mark the withdrawal of US soldiers. [Too bad the US doesn't withdraw from all the other countries it illegally occupies.]
CoasttoCoastam.com | Gilbert Eriksen MillenniumProphecy.com - Wormwood / Planet X coming into solar system (YouTube videos)
Part 1 of 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM1kdP7LoK0
Part 2 of 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDtQyBtpUck
Part 3 of 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIMQR1pixss
Part 4 of 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcbmnfpBzEg
Part 5 of 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REf6QvWZ8rk
Part 6 of 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpZGrGr8SU4
Part 7 of 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxOaxDYQdY0
Part 8 of 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjjQbG163Cc
Part 9 of 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu3QiHB3Sm0
Part 10 of 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMFiS24q1uQ
Part 11 of 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GliaNpZxGrY
Part 12 of 12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1zNyK_cji4
SteveQuayle.com | Hot Headlines - July 1, 2009
Analyst Says California Will Default on Debt
Credit Card Addicted Nation: How Americans have Pushed Themselves off the Fiscal Cliff. $931 Billion in Credit Card Debt Outstanding.
China Will Drive Commodities Super-Cycle: Scotiabank
ap and Trade Rape Passed -- What Must be Done Next
Buchanan: Climate Bill is Transfer of Wealth to World Government
China Allows Trade Settlement in Yuan in Hong Kong
Formula for Disaster
The Great Spiritual Separation!
Axelrod Claims Iran Has Nuclear Weapons
Swine Flu Outbreak Worsens in Argentina
Swine Flu 'Shows Drug Resistance'
Spread of a Novel Influenza A (H1N1) Virus via Global Airline Transportation
Did Leak from a Laboratory Cause Swine Flu Pandemic?
Deep-Packet Inspection in U.S. Scrutinized Following Iran Surveillance
Ethiopian Church Speaks Out on Ark of the Covenant
1,500-Year-Old Hidden Record of Christ's Words
Can a New Implant Coating Technique Create a New Six Million Dollar Man?
Australian Scientists May Have Worked Out the Mystery of Teleportation
Stanford Team Re-Engineering Brain Cells to be Controlled by Lasers
A 3.4 magnitude earthquake hit 1 mi SE from McLoud, OK - 26 mi from Oklahoma City - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 at 12:14:48 PM at epicenter
Magnitude 3.4 - OKLAHOMA
2009 July 01 17:14:48 UTC
Earthquake Details
| Magnitude | 3.4 |
|---|---|
| Date-Time |
|
| Location | 35.401°N, 97.089°W |
| Depth | 5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program |
| Region | OKLAHOMA |
| Distances |
|
| Location Uncertainty | horizontal +/- 19.2 km (11.9 miles); depth fixed by location program |
| Parameters | NST= 5, Nph= 5, Dmin=130.4 km, Rmss=1.25 sec, Gp=140°, M-type="Nuttli" surface wave magnitude (mbLg), Version=6 |
| Source |
|
| Event ID | us2009inby |
- This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
- Did you feel it? Report shaking and damage at your location. You can also view a map displaying accumulated data from your report and others.
- Preliminary Earthquake Report
- U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center:
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver
2 Earthquakes shown on List for 10-degree Map Centered at 35°N, 95°W
Update time = Wed Jul 1 19:00:01 UTC 2009
| MAG | UTC DATE-TIME y/m/d h:m:s | LAT deg | LON deg | DEPTH km | Region | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAP | 3.4 | 2009/07/01 17:14:48 | 35.401 | -97.089 | 5.0 | OKLAHOMA |
| MAP | 3.6 | 2009/06/26 21:23:14 | 36.332 | -97.469 | 5.0 | OKLAHOMA |
A Magnitude 2.7 Earthquake hits the WILMINGTON URBAN AREA, DELAWARE - 31 mi from Philadelphia, PA - Wed, July 1, 2009 at 09:44 AM at epicenter
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.7226+-75.5991(M2.7+-+WILMINGTON+URBAN+AREA%2C+DELAWARE+-+2009+July+01++13%3A44%3A41+UTC)&ll=39.7226,-75.5991&spn=2,2&f=d&t=h&hl=eMagnitude 2.7 - WILMINGTON URBAN AREA, DELAWARE
2009 July 01 13:44:41 UTC
Earthquake Details
| Magnitude | 2.7 |
|---|---|
| Date-Time |
|
| Location | 39.723°N, 75.599°W |
| Depth | 5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program |
| Region | WILMINGTON URBAN AREA, DELAWARE |
| Distances |
|
| Location Uncertainty | horizontal +/- 26.1 km (16.2 miles); depth fixed by location program |
| Parameters | NST= 6, Nph= 6, Dmin=112.3 km, Rmss=0.75 sec, Gp=173°, M-type="Nuttli" surface wave magnitude (mbLg), Version=6 |
| Source |
|
| Event ID | us2009inbf |
- This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
NaturalNews.com | Today's Feature Stories - July 1, 2009
| American Doctors Busted for Fraud, Conspiracy in HIV Treatment Scam (NaturalNews) I've often asserted that doctors exploit people for personal profit, prescribing drugs and procedures that are medically unnecessary while raking in millions from health insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid. This week, Miami doctor... |
| Breastfeeding Babies Boosts Academic Achievements, GPA (NaturalNews) Breastfeeding has long been known to be an important way mothers can help keep infants healthy. For example, according to the American College of Pediatrics, breastfeeding slashes the rate of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) during the... |
| Learn How to Detox with a Coconut Oil Cleanse With fad detox methods around every corner, it's hard to know which one can provide a healthy cleanse without unpleasant side effects. A coconut oil detox is an excellent way to cleanse without using complicated formulas or living off nothing... |
| Are You Poisoning Yourself with Mercury in Fish? (NaturalNews) In an attempt to gauge just how dangerous the mercury in fish is, writer David Ewing Duncan decided to measure his blood levels of the toxic metal both before and after gorging on various types of fish. Mercury is a naturally occurring... |
| Artificial Sweeteners Stay in the Water Supply A new study investigating the ability of water treatment facilities to remove artificial sweeteners from municipal water supplies has found that significant amounts remain despite the implementation of high-tech industrial water purification... |
| Vaccine Expert Reveals What You Should Know Before You Roll Up Your Sleeve A study by the Harvard Medical School of Public Health confirmed that public health officials could convince most people in the U.S. to alter their daily lives, follow government mandates and do as they are told after only a small amount... |
| Pollution around Cities Increases Risk of Cancer According to the latest estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), people who live around larger cities face an increased risk of developing cancer. The report National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) is based... |
| Red Yeast Rice Lowers Cholesterol: Study Backs Up Centuries of Traditional Use (NaturalNews) Research just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine concludes a nonprescription, natural supplement -- red yeast rice -- has significant cholesterol-lowering effects. However, one important part of this story is that this isn't... |
Morgan Stanley, Mitsubishi UFJ to form finance JV
TOKYO – Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's largest bank, and Morgan Stanley said Wednesday they will form a joint venture to pursue corporate financing business in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.
Mitsubishi UFJ is eager to expand its reach overseas and took a major step late last year, when it paid $9 billion for a 21 percent stake in Morgan Stanley. The deal was a lifeline for the U.S. bank, which was on the brink of collapse due to the unfolding financial crisis.
The companies said in March they would merge their Japanese brokerage units into a new securities company.
The joint venture annonunced Wednesday, Morgan Stanley MUFG Loan Partners, will be capitalized at $500,000, the companies said in a press release.
They also announced a deal in which MUFJ subsidiary, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, would refer commodities business to Morgan Stanley.
In a separate agreement, MUFG employees will be sent to Morgan Stanley to "maximize the benefits of the strategic alliance."
Japan's biggest brokerage Nomura Holdings Inc. also took advantage of the financial crisis to make acquisitions, swooping in to acquire the operations of fallen giant Lehman Brothers in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Houston Chronicle | Federal agents hunt for guns, one house at a time
By DANE SCHILLER
June 30, 2009, 9:36PM
In front of a run-down shack in north Houston, federal agents step from a government sedan into 102-degree heat and face a critical question: How can the woman living here buy four high-end handguns in one day?
The house is worth $35,000. A screen dangles by a wall-unit air conditioner. Porch swing slats are smashed, the smattering of grass is flattened by cars and burned yellow by sun.
“I’ll do the talking on this one,” agent Tim Sloan, of South Carolina, told partner Brian Tumiel, of New York.
Success on the front lines of a government blitz on gunrunners supplying Mexican drug cartels with Houston weaponry hinges on logging heavy miles and knocking on countless doors. Dozens of agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — sent here from around the country — are needed to follow what ATF acting director Kenneth Melson described as a “massive number of investigative leads.”
All told, Mexican officials in 2008 asked federal agents to trace the origins of more than 7,500 firearms recovered at crime scenes in Mexico. Most of them were traced back to Texas, California and Arizona.
Among other things, the agents are combing neighborhoods and asking people about suspicious purchases as well as seeking explanations as to how their guns ended up used in murders, kidnappings and other crimes in Mexico.
“Ever turning up the heat on cartels, our law enforcement and military partners in the government of Mexico have been working more closely with the ATF by sharing information and intelligence,” Melson said Tuesday during a firearms-trafficking summit in New Mexico.
Firearms dealers visited
The ATF recently dispatched 100 veteran agents to its Houston division, which reaches to the border.
The mission is especially challenging because, officials say, that while Houston is the number one point of origin for weapons traced back to the United States from Mexico, the government can’t compile databases on gun owners under federal law.
Agents instead review firearms dealers’ records in person.
People who are legally in the United States and have clean criminal records, but are facing economic problems are often recruited by traffickers to buy weapons on their behalf in order to shield themselves from scrutiny.
Knocks at the door of the shack that looked to be the definition of hard times went unanswered.
“I am out of here,” Sloan said a few moments later, as a pit bull lazily sauntered from the back yard. “I don’t like pit bulls walking up behind me.”
Best information source
On second thought, Sloan switched to Spanish and interviewed a neighbor.
The neighbor said the woman left a month ago after a fight with her husband or boyfriend, who still lived there with what she called “other degenerates.”
“An angry ex-girlfriend or wife is the best person in the world, the greatest source of information,” Sloan said.
The night before, the duo were in a stakeout where they watched a weapons sale.
They also combined efforts with the Drug Enforcement Administration for an aircraft to stealthily follow traffickers to the border.
On this day, agents weren’t wearing raid jackets or combat boots and weren’t armed with warrants.
Guns were hidden under civilian shirts.
Another tip took agents on a 30-minute drive from the shack to a sprawling home with a pool in the back and an American flag out front.
It turned out two handguns, of a type drug gangsters prefer, were bought by a pastor for target practice.
Some stories, they say, are hard to believe.
The lamest so far came from a police officer: He said he bought a few military-style rifles, left them in his car and — on the same night — forgot to lock a door. He couldn’t explain why he didn’t file a police report or why he visited Mexico the day after the alleged theft.
George Ure's (of Web Bot fame) UrbanSurvival.com | July 1, 2009 Home - Not So Sweet - Home
Published Monday - Friday about 8 AM Central Time Except Holidays....many major typos are fixed by 8:30 daily Wednesday July 1, 2009 07:55 AM CDT
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Content mirrored at my other site: www.independencejournal.com,
Home - Not So Sweet - Home
A reality check about the economy seems in order here. The headline that "Home prices post 18.1 percent annual drop in April" got me to looking at the S&P/Case-Shiller Report (you'll need Excel to get at this) in a little more depth.
A couple of really happy places pop out of their data. Seems that in Denver, house prices are down only 4.92%, Dallas is down only 4.98% and Boston's only down 7.71%.
But the screaming (don't jump out the window here) places include drops of 35.26% in Phoenix, 32.18% in Las Vegas, 27.27% in the Miami area, while what's left of Motown was down another 25.43%.
Sometimes I curse Excel for making bad news reporting so easy. Sorry 'bout that. But it gets even worse.
The data in their spreadsheet goes back a fair distance and looks to have peaked in July 2006 (cell W238 if you're following along here).
Since then the biggest losers have been Phoenix where homes are have lost 54% of their value, down 52.1% in Vegas, Miami homes are down more than 47% while Motown's down only 43.2.
Searching for Nirvana? Try Dallas down only 9% from the peak. I'd give you Houston, too, but it's not in the sample. Nationally, though, down 32.5% since the peak.
Next time you hear someone tell you that a home is the 'best investment you'll ever make' - kick 'em or at least point them in the direction of the good work of S&P/Case-Schiller for putting the numbers together. They're a whole helluva lot more believable than numbers out of 'gummint' lately.
---
Construction spending figures are due out this morning. About 47-cents if my calculations are right.
Not to Be a Bear, But...
(Damn fine pun, that, huh? Or are you still asleep....)
A buddy who's a serious trader in EU Land caught this in the latest from Comstock Partners: "From this point we will see either continued recession or a recovery so weak it will still seem like recession."
How about that? Someone besides yours truly is skeptical. They have a solid take on things here and it's updated on Thursdays. Try to overlook that more and more places are sounding Urban-like in their open skepticism of 'the paradigm'.
Although it's a bit rickety, our time machine does allow us to groc the future now and then better'n most.
Markets
The market (as I expected) began the week higher, then turned lower yesterday mostly on that bummer of a consumer confidence report.
If you understand fractals here, let me point out out what's going on:
The decline from October of 2007 until March of this year was one leg down, and we are in two up, and then we get into three down shortly this fall till next spring then a bounce a bit at some point in 2010.
The market this week from the Monday high to the Tuesday low was also a downer, then a bounce should pop this morning, then another down when numbers hit tomorrow and then maybe up next week.
Now THE BIG SECRET. The market is inscribing a whole sequence of what I call "Memorial W's" Got it? You remember "W" right?
Now We Can Leave Department
"Iraq approves BP oil deal, rejects other bids." Of course, we all know this war was never about oil and the temporal association between oil deals and withdrawals of forces from cities is purely coincidental - you do understand that, right?
Here's another glass of fluoride-laced water and some Prozac. No connection at all, right?
More water and drugs? Speaking of water....
MSM's (Mis)Adventures on the High Seas
Answer me this: How is it that the MainStreamMedia can report every course change of a North Korean 'suspect vessel' yet the stories about how Israel's naval blockade of Gazan's food aid gets about zip in the way of coverage by the MSM? Agendas, agendas....tisk, tisk. Paul Craig Roberts' article "Pirates of the Mediterranean" seems to be on point though...
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BTW: We're still on for Israel bombing Iran in late October, though, right?
Why I don't Write Comedy
Headlines like "Jackson body going to Neverland" has me itching to write "It'll meet the economy, which left for Neverland a couple of years ago when the Bushies were still in office..." But I won't, since it wouldn't be tasteful and I have to look at the Man in the Mirror...
Reason #2
"What to do with out wayward Governor" on the SC Now web site about the recent adventures of the miss(tress)ing guv has me wondering if the waterworks machines that put fluoride in SC's water could maybe be converted to inject something more useful...like an anaphrodisiac? If you missed Organic Chemistry, that's the opposite of an aphrodisiac. (I remember Anna...just said No!) [rimshot and groans from the audience]
Reason #3
With Al Franken now officially the Senator for Minnesota, I wonder if the other guy will have to hand over back pay or something? File under Franken'sTime politics.
Reason #4
Russia's banning of all gambling and shuttering of casino's has me wondering just how far they will go. Sounds like they're going through the modern analog to prohibition, except since no one wants to quite the hard stuck, they'll just quit gambling? Help me here...Besides, wouldn't a ban on gambling mean shutting down their stock exchange, too? Let's be real here...
Fluage
A couple of days back, the woman with flu-like symptoms reporting she had been offered a flu shot by her doc brought a detailed and interesting note from our consulting microbiologist:
"Hi George,
Ok, so there are only two logical conclusions regarding your reader’s comments about getting the flu shot while sick: A) it is a fabricated story that did not happen, or B) if it did happen exactly as stated, then she REALLY needs to change doctors & find an office with at least a pretence of competence!
No doctor or nurse should be so absurdly clueless as to suggest giving a flu shot to someone with active H1N1 (aka swine flu)! 1) As your reader pointed out, it would do no good 2) It takes 2 weeks (give or take) before an immune response from the vaccine would be raised 3) The CDC states clearly that a person should not be immunized while sick. The CDC website is not the least bit ambiguous (bolded italics are mine): http://www.cdc.gov/flu/keyfacts.htm
“Who Should Not Be Vaccinated
Some people should not be vaccinated without first consulting a physician. They include: • People who have a severe allergy to chicken eggs. • People who have had a severe reaction to an influenza vaccination in the past. • People who developed Guillian-Barré syndrome (GBS) within 6 weeks of getting an influenza vaccine previously. • Children less than 6 months of age (influenza vaccine is not approved for use in this age group). • People who have a moderate or severe illness with a fever should wait to get vaccinated until their symptoms lessen. If you have questions about whether you should get a flu vaccine, consult your health-care provider.”
One piece of worrisome news on the flu front is that an H1N1 variant has been identified in Denmark that is resistant to Tamiflu.
They claim it spontaneously mutated in that one patient & has not spread. Well, of course that person never coughed on anyone, or wiped his/her nose & then touched some money, an ATM machine, a shopping cart handle, a door-knob….sorry, I was rambling. Good thing that patient didn’t infect anyone.
BTW, & FWIW (sorry, couldn’t resist), you most likely will NOT want to take a vaccine made in dog kidney cells. The 2 allergen proteins in dogs are CAN F1 & Can F2. They are found in the saliva of dogs. These proteins are members of the lipocalin family of proteins and related to proteins found in animal urine (especially rodents) that are HIGHLY allergenic to some people. If these proteins are secreted into dog urine, then until it is known specifically which cells do the secreting, all kidney cells are suspect. If they are secreted elsewhere & simply being excreted in the urine, then the kidney cell-based vaccine will not be allergenic to humans with dog allergies.
And I am seriously allergic to dogs....or is that the plan?
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Coping: The Breakthrough Software Department
Although I've intended for UrbanSurvival (and it's mirror site & blog) to be mainly focused on how Depression 2.0 is rolling out - and has been since the internet bubble started to collapse in the late spring of 2000, it seems here lately that I've been getting the opportunity to be 'first in the world' to get onboard with cool new software.
Started a month, or so, back when the folks at Maxa-Tools gave me the world-wide rollout of the new Maxa-Tools Cookie Manager, which can be downloaded here:
www.urbansurvival.com/setupMCMstdGU.exe The rave reviews from Windows users have been piling in ever since - most people find their computers run faster because they're able to clean out in some cases thousands of cookies of the browser non-specific type that clearing your browser cache doesn't get at. The Flash super-cookies and such, too.
Now I've heard from Maxa that a new and even further improved version should be ready shortly and it's one that will address one of the sneakiest bits of spyware ever. It's call the 'one byte' tracker.
Here's how it works: Suppose you go to a site and load up a page and let's suppose that the site has no apparent tracking cookie associated with it. Can you still be tracked? Why of course! All the page that you've surfed to has to do is have a '1-byte' image source from some add tracking site embedded into the (for now) seemingly 'clean page'.
Follow this: You load the page you thought was 'clean'. On that page is an external imgage_source call that points to some ad-tracker's site for the image_source call, and when your computer's browser goes over to that site to pull down the image which was called, the image_source server snags your IP address and you're now on yet another list.
Sneaky bastards, huh? Well, no worries, Maxa's next version of Cookie Manager will track those small-byte hidden graphics calls, too.
Am I looking forward to it? Oh, hell yeah!
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Then there's the matter of email and spam and such. Here's another break-through product which I haven't seen much about anywhere else...so read this carefully:
"Hello George:
Greetings from Chile.
I'd like to take a few minutes of your valuable time and communicate with you about something of great importance, IMO.
About two years ago I challenged my brilliant son to write a program to replace eMail as we know it. It is done, and it is ready for prime time. It eliminates all spam, all 'scripts' and other nasty things, and messages can be encrypted legally (so the odd person cannot read what is being communicated), it gives automatic read-receipts . . . and much more. (The 'legally' is a big deal - more on this if you wish to know.) In order to check out TrulyMail, please go to www.TrulyMail.com
We hope you will be thrilled with what he has done. (I am.) He is giving it away 100% for free (forever) for the next 6 months. We would love it if you would help us with our roll-out by offering it to your subscribers. Questions are invited.
Warm Regards, John
There are a few limitations - like only be able to send 10 MB per day - I hope they have an upgrade path for folks like me who send lots of attachments to clients and such, and no, I haven't had time to see if it has a 'mail router' in it to where I can set up 'rules' so that email sorts itself into what gets down in what order...but those are nits, right? It's a great combined feature set that seems to get around some of the issues with email...so give it a try and let me know what you think?
Replies and comments on both Maxa-Tools Cookie Manager (MCM) and TrulyMail will be forward to the development teams...and you and I will be asking "How come the Big Outfits" haven't taken care of these issues? Easily answered, my friend.
Repeat after me here: "Follow the money..."
Tags, Weather, and Friends
Went down to the former Chrysler dealership Tuesday for the annual safety inspection sticker - no emissions check, just the basics out here in the East Texas outback: Brakes work? Lights? Tires looking like racing slicks yet? That kind of thing. As expected, no problems, except that the sun baked wiper blades could stand replacement - no problem and $20 to have it handled on the spot.
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A lot of people would probably have driven up to the AutoZone or O'Reilly's store up town, and maybe saved $6-bucks by doing it themselves, but in George Land, a half hour to 45-minutes has time value, since I live Life like a foot-race with the Grim Reaper - the essence of a Type A personality.
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Between the head of the service operation and the head of sales, it was concluded that one, getting ten drops of rain while driving to work from over near the Trinity River, has 11-more drops than the other.
Weather doesn't mean much to folks who live the box life: Live in a box, get in a box to get to the office-in--box, and then inhabit a cubicle once there. For some reason, I've always found myself when possible living in 'weather's important' environments. Living on a sailboat, where it's a quarter-mile walk up the dock for a shower if you don't want too much mold growing aboard in the winter, or out here goat ranching, guess what's important?
People in Big Cities are thus out of touch - in many ways - with what's really going on a bit nearer the earth.
It's this time of year that I keep an ear really close to the ground about weather and farmerly talk. heard Tuesday, from another friend who keeps tabs on about 17,000 dairy cattle up in the square states, that dairymen are only getting about 10 per hundred weight when break-even is up around 18/hundredweight. Which means dairymen might be moving toward reducing their 'fleet size' by 400-thousand head nationally. A drop in exports to places like Europe seems to figure into it, best they can figure.
If the Drought (see the weekly drought monitor map updated Thursday here), keeps up through the summer and there's some fleet...I mean herd-size reductions in dairy, then along about late fall or early winter, food prices ought to be going up - a far bit at that.
Adding to that, of course, will be oil which continues to firm in price - up to $71 this morning as fresh attacks have taken place in Nigeria.
Lemme put that MBA to work: Hmmm...drought +reducing herds + high input costs for fuel - and by extension, fertilizer - and what happens to prices?
I called my commodities broker (JB) and told him to shop a few March 2010 lottery tickets for me.
"Lottery tickets? I didn't know commodity brokers sold lottery tickets?" you're wondering about here.
Yep. That's what I call grain (commodity) call options. $500 out of the money call options when you have a gut feeling that prices will be going up a fair piece over the next year. Add in the 'stimulus' and you might - this is not a recommendation, mind you - have some fun.
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Made another decision while visiting the former Chrysler dealership: Noticed that they charge $70 an hour for shop time and I still have putting the new radiator in the old Daewoo, where Elaine tried to put a coyote or wolf through it on the way back from Dallas, couple of weeks back. Just haven't had time to get to that part of my list since that part of my list doesn't work once the temp is above 80, or so.
Decided to let them do it...since they can do the change-out for an hour and a half of shop time, whereas I could piddle away most of the day and they have a few tools which I don't; namely the car lift and so on. Don't mind an oil change, or tinkering on the red car, but putting in a radiator verges on real work. I'll bring them the car and parts, and go about the rest of my list.
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Also heard that the surviving dealerships that were not on the 'cut list' have blanketed former customers of this particular dealership with all kinds of promotions and ads aimed at cutting off their shop business, leaving the cut dealership in the . The joys of predatory capitalism, huh? So I'll have them do the radiator change-out...keeps the money in the neighborhood, anyway.
Speaking of Tune-Ups
One of the items that actually got done yesterday was re-linking the old (by several years mostly) content of the Exurban Living section of www.independencejournal.com. If you go there now, down this link, you'll find a number of oldies but good's including Oilman2's "What If?" series. Along with our 2002 adventure of buying this place in the outback sight-unseen over the internet. I've always had a wild-eyed gambler streak.
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While we were watching the deer ramble through the yard last evening (looking for more tomatoes, I assumed) Elaine mentioned that one of the downsides of 30-acres is that you can end up with so much 'stuff' that it can become overwhelming. Which indeed it can.
She even mentioned that one of the nice things about living on a sailboat was that there was a place for everything and everything was in its place. I mentioned the Seasteading Institute's ideas and suggested returning to a 60-foot sailboat is always an option.
While she's promised to think about it, seems more'n likely it's just from the weather being too hot. Come fall and something less than a cross between blast furnace and sauna outside, and she'll come back to her senses.. Still, a large sailboat again...ah. But the reality is those get too cold instead of too hot. So, what's a fellow to do?
Web Bot Project
Reader is asking:
George,
I recently read an article that said the webbot was being retired. Is that a true statement? If it is why is it being shut down?
I have recently gained interest in your webbot and kind of wan to see the project continue.
Thanks for your Time!
Nope. Not shut down. It changed form, since doing the week-after-week high immediacy values got to be a complete and utter bummer for Cliff. It's now issued every once-in-a-while and is only $10-bucks at www.halfpasthuman.com. More than worth it.
Thought everyone knew the 'rickety time machine' wasn't going to weekly reports and would be more like semi-monthly, or so. Maybe there are people who's caffeine uptake is lower than ours, though...
Curious Email
Have to admit it, this one has me stumped:
"George & Cliff: Just a word of thanks to you both for increasing awareness that everyone should be more self sufficient. Planted a garden at home & on my sister's farm. Bought jars, lids & canners, 2 grain grinders, wheat, Berkey water filter, cistern pump, rain barrels, food juicer, wood cook stove for cooking and heating. Checked the well for water quality. Food, Water, Shelter top priorities.
No one in my family or community is concerned so I figured someone needs to prepare. Hopefully I won't need some of this, but I sure hate to watch or endure suffering. I fear suffering more than death.
Still need a pellet gun for rabbits and squirrels in the yard and a chimney inspection."
How do you inspect a chimney with a pellet gun? America wants to know!
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Send comments to george@ure.net
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The UrbanSurvival Mall:
Marching to the Wall
Have a blindfold and cigarette handy? The next year or so will see lots of people and entities being 'marched to the wall'. (Thanks; gotta light?). Our biggest problem is who to march out first, but that easily solved thanks to a source of mine that keeps track of the Gnomes of Greenwich who have California lined up to march out next. California defaults, the Gnomes make billions, and guess who is left behind to mourn? Then shortly thereafter will come 'small investors' who can see the wall, but can't break out of the lock-step march towards it, either... Ten-hut! Forward march!
More For Subscribers Subscription Information
MyGroPonics
My commodity broker JB Slear has nailed a great solution for people who living in apartments and condos who want to become at least partially self-reliant when it comes to raising food: An ultra-high efficiency micro-hydroponics system using readily available local parts. 25-pages and plenty of pictures to turn you into a farmer no matter where you live (Great if you have back problems, too...)...or if you just want to fill up the back yard with MyGroPonics trees and feed the neighborhood... $10 bucks here...
Maxa-Cookie Manager
Maxa-Tools has provided us with a free demo - which you're welcome to try - of their dandy cookie manager tool that I use here on all my computers. It shows both the browser-specific and the newer browser-independent cookies. Quite happy with it.
Here's the download link for the free demo:
www.urbansurvival.com/setupMCMstdGU.exe
Once you try it out, click the upgrade button (!) on the upper right hand side for the $35 unlock to get it to remove even those pesky 'non-browser specific' cookies. Bonus: You computer may run faster. I took over 1,000 cookies off my son's machine that he swore was clean. It ran much faster.
Attn: Mac Drivers: MCM does support the Safari Browser, but that does not mean it is compatible with Mac OS. Maxa-Tools only support the Windows world.