European Court Ruling Ends Water Fluoridation

European Court Ruling Ends
Water Fluoridation
By Doug Cross
www.ukcaf.org
7-21-9

Fluoridated water must be treated as a medicine, and cannot be used to prepare foods! That is the decision of the European Court of Justice, in a landmark case dealing with the classification and regulation of 'functional drinks' in member states of the European Community. (HLH Warenvertriebs and Orthica (Joined Cases C-211/03, C-299/03, C-316/03 and C-318/03) 9 June2005)... Implications for international trade in food products... But the ruling also has an equally profound implication for export trade in processed foods and drinks. The Court stated that even if a functional food product (or a food containing it) is legally marketed as a food in one member state, it cannot be exported to any other member state unless it has a medicinal licence. So any company making a consumable product using fluoridated water in its preparation or as an ingredient cannot now export that product to any other state in the EC, even if their product is permitted in their home state. The economic implications are enormous. Not only does the ruling ban the use of fluoridated water for all retail catering and wholesale food processing in the UK and Ireland, it also prohibits such trade from these states to other member states of the EC. But it goes much further than even this, because if British and Irish processed foods from fluoridated areas cannot be exported to the EC, this prohibition must also apply to the importing of such products into EC member states from any other country that practices water fluoridation. The decision effectively bans all processed food products from countries such as the USA, Australia and New Zealand, unless they can be positively proven to have been prepared using only water that was not fluoridated.

The HAARP magnetometer indicating variations in earth's magnetic field really taking a spike right now! Eclipse? July 21, 2009 10:20pm CDT Updated

UPDATED HAARP Magnetometer continues to SPIKES tonite!
Updated time of this screen photo: 12:45pm CDT July 22, 2009

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Wonder if the eclipse has anything to do with this?


Geomagnetic storminess is usually indicated in oscillatory variations in the earth's magnetic field. Additional detail concerning the nature and severity of the ionospheric disturbance can be found through analysis of the three components of the field.

Eclipse LIVE SCHEDULE: July 21, 2009 (USA)
UTC - 01:26:41
EASTERN - 09:26:41 PM
CENTRAL - 08:26:41 PM
MOUNTAIN - 07:26:41 PM
PACIFIC - 06:26:41 PM
Wuhan - 09:26:41 AM July 22, 2009 (China)

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Waterspout in Conway, Arkansas Captured on Video

3.3 magnitude earthquake hits 3 mi SE from Carney, Oklahoma -Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 09:25:59 PM at epicenter

Canada & Mexico top the list of countries US imports crude oil from ... NOT the Mideast

Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries

April 2009 Import Highlights: June 29, 2009
Monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in April 2009 has been released and it shows that three countries exported more than 1.00 million barrels per day to the United States (see table below). The top five exporting countries accounted for 59 percent of United States crude oil imports in April while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 80 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports. The top sources of US crude oil imports for April were Canada (1.854 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.177 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.021 million barrels per day), Venezuela (0.803 million barrels per day), and Nigeria (0.673 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Iraq (0.479 million barrels per day), Angola (0.450 million barrels per day), Algeria (0.398 million barrels per day), Russia (0.390 million barrels per day), and Columbia (0.320 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 9.276 million barrels per day in April, which is an increase of (0.057) million barrels per day from March 2009.

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in April, exporting 2.281 million barrels per day to the United States, which is a decrease from last month (2.438 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Mexico with 1.289 million barrels per day.

Crude Oil Imports (Top 15 Countries) (Thousand Barrels per Day)
Country	Apr-09	Mar-09	YTD 2009	Apr-08	YTD 2008
CANADA	1,854	1,845	1,889	1,993	1,943
MEXICO	1,177	1,092	1,196	1,276	1,234
SAUDI ARABIA	1,021	944	1,101	1,453	1,515
VENEZUELA	803	949	973	1,019	985
NIGERIA	673	860	623	1,115	1,105
IRAQ	479	587	548	679	693
ANGOLA	450	644	572	579	469
ALGERIA	398	215	281	393	303
RUSSIA	390	219	227	106	85
COLOMBIA	320	254	257	149	168
UNITED KINGDOM	294	85	116	52	73
BRAZIL	269	334	341	201	182
ECUADOR	236	210	240	160	203
KUWAIT	105	181	190	176	218
AZERBAIJAN	104	79	64	0	36

Total Imports of Petroleum (Top 15 Countries) (Thousand Barrels per Day)
Country	Apr-09	Mar-09	YTD 2009	Apr-08	YTD 2008
CANADA	2,281	2,438	2,444	2,582	2,583
MEXICO	1,289	1,199	1,320	1,382	1,344
SAUDI ARABIA	1,021	967	1,117	1,462	1,528
VENEZUELA	891	1,106	1,124	1,189	1,158
RUSSIA	779	650	607	402	411
NIGERIA	733	891	661	1,221	1,154
ALGERIA	612	463	545	632	528
IRAQ	484	587	549	679	693
ANGOLA	462	657	582	591	478
UNITED KINGDOM	424	208	264	229	204
COLOMBIA	347	283	286	170	193
VIRGIN ISLANDS	290	264	313	340	341
BRAZIL	278	338	362	235	206
ECUADOR	237	215	243	170	214
LIBYA	118	61	76	133	112

Note: The data in the tables above exclude oil imports into the U.S. territories.

Clinton Administration Gave China Top Nuclear Secrets (Flashback)

From Project Camelot Radio | Biochemist came on air and gave some shocking news concerning chem trails and this fall's coming vaccine!

This info comes from Project Camelot today when a biochemist came on air and gave some shocking news concerning chem trails and the coming vaccine! I highly recommend going to American Freedom Radio and under archives with Project Camelot radio to listen to the show. The lady who has started the law suit against Baxter, Obama ect... and about 4 or 5 others listed below were on the show.

Link to Project Camelot : http://www.projectcamelot.org/

Link to the radio program: http://www.americanfreedomradio.com/...amelot_09.html

The info revealed :

• On today's Whistle blower Radio (the Camelot radio show) we featured Jane Bürgermeister with four other guests: Dr Rebecca Carley, Rebecca Campbell, Elizabeth Book and JoAnne Cremer. A fifth contributor called in, Burk Elder Hale - who can be contacted through his website here.

Elder reported that he had been personally told by a senior biochemist at a leading pharmaceutical company [name of company provided but withheld here to protect the source] that:

"...an aerosoled precursor has been put into the air and almost everyone has breathed it into their lungs. The biochemist states that the vaccines to be administered in the Fall will be ACTIVATED when the constituents come in contact with the aerosoled precursor in the body and will cause a rapid spread of the H1N1 Influenza A virus.

This biochemist is very upset about the matter, to say the least, and is a very reliable source that needs our utmost protection."

We had been told something very similar by our insider source Henry Deacon, who informed us just a few days ago that chemtrails were now frequently being sprayed at 3-5 am (in the very early morning) with the specific intention to compromise the immune system.

We believe this information is credible and urgently requires further investigation.

Back to the radio show. All the guests except Jane had to suffer appalling audio interference on their phone lines. Some details were very hard to hear. A recording of the show (in case it is any better) will be posted here. These are the details of the guests, all of whom are doing important work:

Jane Bürgermeister : legal action against vaccine manufacturers.

Dr Rebecca Carley : research about the harmful effects of vaccines.

Rebecca Campbell : research on the financial connections between 'Big Pharma' and government and other institutions ["Follow the Money" - as in 9/11].

Elizabeth Book : Florida-based grassroots political activist.

JoAnne Cremer : originator of a large and rapidly growing Facebook Group entitled END FORCED VACCINATIONS.

Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government | 21 July 2009

Agencies to set up mass swine flu vaccinations --Voluntary vaccine 'likely' 21 Jul 2009 Public health experts are gearing up for swine flu vaccinations this fall in what could be the largest mass-immunization campaign since the polio vaccine was introduced more than 50 years ago. Local public health agencies will bear much of the responsibility for vaccinating the public, and the state is receiving $30 million in federal grants to help prepare for an expected re-emergence of swine flu this fall. The polio vaccine was mandatory, but a flu vaccine is likely to be voluntary.

Cui bono? Drug groups to reap swine flu billions 20 Jul 2009 Some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies are reaping billions of dollars in extra revenue amid global concern about the spread of swine flu. Analysts expect to see a boost in sales from GlaxoSmithKline, Roche and Sanofi-Aventis... The fresh sales -- on top of strong results from Novartis of Switzerland and Baxter of the US, which both also produce vaccines -- come as the latest tallies show that more than 740 people have died from the H1N1 virus... One beneficiary of the fears about the pandemic has been Roche of Switzerland, which sells Tamiflu, the leading antiviral drug, and has seen a sharp rise in orders from private companies as well as governments.

Key Flu 'Oddities': Killer flu recreated in the lab 07 Oct 2004 Scientists have shown that tiny changes to modern flu viruses could render them as deadly as the 1918 strain which killed millions; US, Japanese Researchers Mix Samples of 1918 Flu Pandemic to Recreate Deadly Code 30 Dec 2008; Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug 12 Mar 2006 Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu. The US Defence Secretary has made more than $5m (£2.9m) in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu; University of Qld unveils swine flu vaccine made with insect eggs 29 Jun 2009; Baxter working on vaccine to stop swine flu, though admitted sending live pandemic flu viruses to subcontractor 26 Jun 2009; Baxter Vaccine 'Oddities' 17 Jul 2009 Baxter files swine flu vaccine patent year ahead of outbreak.]

Swine flu vaccine trials underway 22 Jul 2009 The first trials of a Federal Government-commissioned swine flu vaccine that is likely to be distributed globally will begin in Adelaide today. Rachel David from vaccine makers CSL says the Royal Adelaide Hospital trials will take about seven months, but there will be enough data by September for the Government to start planning distribution in October.

Voluntary vaccine 'likely' But we can't take that chance. The pharma-terrorists are/will be pressuring the US and world governments to make their deadly cocktails *mandatory.* We need to resist NOW, before Barack Opharma -- during his next Friday night 'bad news' dump -- makes them *mandatory.* Obama already (on Friday night, of course) released the pharma-terrorists from legal liability -- and hence any impetus to make a 'safe' vaccine: Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers 17 Jul 2009 Vaccine makers and federal officials will be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine, under a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, government health officials said Friday. The document signed by Sebelius last month grants immunity to those making a swine flu vaccine, under the provisions of a 2006 law for public health emergencies.

Refuse and Resist Mandatory Flu Vaccines --Sign petition! This petition needs YOUR signature! We are only at 1,000 signatures and we need a lot more. We need to send the signal that we will *NOT ACCEPT* any forced, deadly Baxter vaccines, whose sole purpose is to enhance these pharma-terrorists' coffers. Petition link to copy and paste to forward to your lists: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/refuse-and-resist-mandatory-flu-vaccine
Link to CLG Pandemic Action Alerts page: http://www.legitgov.org/pandemic_action.html

Navy Ships Under Swine Flu Quarantine --Nearly 70 Sailors, Marines Contracted Virus 21 Jul 2009 A group of Navy ships is under quarantine after several dozen sailors and Marines on board tested positive for swine flu. Health officials say at least 69 people had been confirmed with the virus, and all of them have since recovered. Navy officials say they are now quarantining an undetermined number of crew members with flulike symptoms on four ships that are part of the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, which arrived in Hawaii on Friday.

World swine flu deaths top 700: WHO 22 Jul 2009 The World Health Organisation (WHO) says swine flu has killed more than 700 people around the world since the outbreak began four months ago. There are now over 125,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu worldwide but the WHO acknowledges the number of actual cases far exceeds that. The WHO says the pandemic is developing at such a high speed that it is now pointless to try to document every case.

Deaths of U.S. troops exceed 5,000 in wars 21 Jul 2009 The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan reached two solemn milestones Monday: July has become the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and the combined death toll surpassed 5,000. Deaths on both fronts pushed the total U.S. fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan to at least 5,002, according to the Pentagon.

Taliban financers based in Persian Gulf: Holbrooke 21 Jul 2009 Richard Holbrooke, the United States' special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, says some fundamentalists based in Persian Gulf states are financing the Taliban. Some official sources in Pakistan estimate the budget for Taliban forces -- stationed on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border -- to be between three and four billion dollars, BBC reported. Holbrooke says such a huge amount of money could not be acquired only through illegal drug trafficking. Only in 2008, the US-led coalition forces spent over $16 billion on the war in Afghanistan, which shows that the Taliban must be receiving a huge amount of financial support [from those allegedly 'fighting' the Taliban].

Taliban suicide attacks leave 9 dead in Afghanistan 21 Jul 2009 Taliban suicide bombers have attacked security and government offices in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least nine people, according to officials. The two towns of Gardez and Jalalabad were targeted in the attacks by suicide bombers on Tuesday. The Taliban said 15 suicide bombers launched attacks against government buildings.

Bomb kills UK soldier in Afghanistan 21 Jul 2009 Another British soldier dies in Afghanistan amid growing public criticism of the UK's involvement in the war and the high number of the British casualties there. A roadside bomb blast took the soldier's life while he was on patrol in Helmand Province in the south On Monday.

NATO: Failure in Afghanistan "devastating" 21 Jul 2009 NATO Chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has warned the US and its allies that failure in Afghanistan would have a "devastating" effect in the insurgency-hit region. Speaking in London, the NATO secretary-general said that walking away from the alliance's mission in the war-ravaged country could give free hand to al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] and Taliban linked militants in the war-ravaged country.

Blasts Kill at Least 15 in Baghdad 22 Jul 2009 A series of bombings rocked Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 100, as attackers struck at a bustling sheep market, a crowd of impoverished job seekers and a funeral, Iraqi security officials said. The dead at the sheep market included an eight-year-old girl and her year-old sister, whom she was cradling in her arms, officials said.

Lebanese army on high alert at Israeli border 20 Jul 2009 The Lebanese army has put its forces on high alert in response to the escalation of tensions over the establishment of an Israeli military outpost along the country's border. A Lebanese TV station reported that the high alert came in response to the Israeli military outpost set up near Kafr Shuba, a village just outside the divided border village of Ghajar, earlier this week.

The Senate Votes Down Funds for F-22s 21 Jul 2009 The Senate voted Tuesday to kill the nation's premier fighter jet program, embracing by a 58-40 margin the argument of President Obama and his top military advisers that the F-22 is no longer needed for the nation's defense and a costly drag on the Pentagon's budget in an era of small wars and growing counterinsurgency efforts. The decision was a key policy victory for Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who has been campaigning against the plane since April.

The APA's Nuremberg Defense By Scott Horton 20 Jul 2009 ...[T]he disclosures surrounding the waterboarding of Abu Zubaida give further proof that beginning in 2002, healthcare professionals, specifically psychologists, played an essential role at every stage in the development and application of torture techniques. The failure of professional organizations, and specifically the American Psychological Association, to acknowledge this and take appropriate countermeasures is disturbing...Professional oversight bodies have engaged in consistent evasion, and now the APA is focused on the relaxation of its ethics standards to provide defenses for psychologists who joined in the Bush Administration’s torture program.

Part 3 of 4: Did Plasmoid Gas and Infrared Beams Cause the WTC Destruction? By Barry Ball, Barbara Ellis, and Russ Hallberg --Portland 9/11 Legislative Alliance 20 Jul 2009 This is the third article in a four-part series stemming from our organization’s crafting and presenting a proposed bill in late 2008 to nine members of the U.S. House. It urges an independent investigation by national and international experts in science/technology to determine which of the 14 major theories about primary causal agents--fire and thermite to directed energy weapons--destroyed the World Trade Center Twin Towers. Since then, four other major theories have surfaced (nuclear reactors, mini-nuclear bombs, plasmoid gas, and flurorine) which will be included in the revised bill presented to key House members in Fall. [Part 1 and 2.]

Democrats irked by Obama signing statement 21 Jul 2009 President Barack Obama has irked close allies in Congress by declaring he has the right to ignore legislation on constitutional grounds after having criticized George W. Bush for doing the same. Four senior House Democrats on Tuesday said they were "surprised" and "chagrined" by Obama's declaration in June that he doesn't have to comply with provisions in a war spending bill that puts conditions on aid provided to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

AP: Palin implicated in ethics probe 21 Jul 2009 An independent investigator has found evidence that Gov. Sarah Palin may have violated ethics laws by accepting private donations to pay her legal debts. The report obtained by The Associated Press says Palin is securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through the Alaska Fund Trust, set up by supporters. An investigator for the state Personnel Board says in his July 14 report that there is probable cause to believe Palin used or attempted to use her official position for personal gain because she authorized the creation of the trust as the "official" legal defense fund.

Audit: Abstinence program steered money to director's company 21 Jul 2009 The former chief of the Louisiana Governor’s Program on Abstinence steered thousands of dollars in contracts to an organization she created, and some of the money was paid to her son, according to an audit released Monday. The report by Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot’s office also says Gail Dignam, who worked for the abstinence program under former Govs. Mike Foster and Kathleen Blanco, improperly took money from an organization that received state contracts from the abstinence program. Both situations seem to violate Louisiana law and run afoul of the state ethics code, according to the audit.

Gates Says He Is Outraged by Arrest at Cambridge Home --Prominent Black Professor Says He Will Use Experience to Further Academic Work 21 Jul 2009 Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's most prominent scholars of African-American history, cast his recent arrest in his home in Cambridge, Mass., as part of a "racial narrative" playing out in a biased criminal justice system. Shortly before the charge against him was dropped this afternoon, the Harvard professor who has spent much of his life studying race in America said he has come to feel like a case study. "There are one million black men in jail in this country and last Thursday I was one of them," he said in an interview with The Washington Post Tuesday morning.

Executives, other highly compensated employees receive more than one-third of all pay in U.S. 21 Jul 2009 The nation's wealth gap is widening amid an uproar about lofty pay packages in the financial world. Executives and other highly compensated employees now receive more than one-third of all pay in the U.S., according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Social Security Administration data -- without counting billions of dollars more in pay that remains off federal radar screens that measure wages and salaries. Highly paid employees received nearly $2.1 trillion of the $6.4 trillion in total U.S. pay in 2007, the latest figures available. The compensation numbers don't include incentive stock options, unexercised stock options, unvested restricted stock units and certain benefits.

More bodies go unclaimed as families can't afford funeral costs 21 Jul 2009 The poor economy is taking a toll even on the dead, with an increasing number of bodies in Los Angeles County going unclaimed by families who cannot afford to bury or cremate their loved ones. At the county coroner's office -- which handles homicides and other suspicious deaths -- 36% more cremations were done at taxpayers' expense in the last fiscal year over the previous year, from 525 to 712.

Lobbyists Spend Millions to Influence Health Care 21 Jul 2009 Drugmakers, hospitals and insurers continued to pour millions of dollars into lobbying during the second quarter of this year, hoping to limit the damage to their bottom line as lawmakers and the Obama administration wrangle over landmark health-care legislation. New disclosure reports that began arriving Monday in Congress showed familiar players at the top of the health-care influence heap, including $6.2 million in lobbying by the dominant Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and $4 million by the American Medical Association.

Previous lead stories: Administration: Some terror suspects could go before military tribunals --Detainees' Trial Plan Is Unveiled 20 Jul 2009 The Obama administration on Monday said it preferred that prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be tried in criminal courts, but that some suspected terrorists in less-prominent cases or in cases with weaker evidence could go before military tribunals. An interim report by a presidential task force reviewing U.S. detention policy laid out for the first time the means by which Justice and Defense department lawyers will determine whether the 229 prisoners remaining at Guantanamo get criminal or military 'trials.' The approach could rile civil liberties groups, which prefer all detainees be tried in criminal courts.

Reports on U.S. Detention Policy Will Be Delayed 21 Jul 2009 The Obama administration is delaying completion of reports examining U.S. detention and interrogation policy, officials said Monday. The work of a Justice Department-led task force, which had been scheduled to send a report on detention policy to President Obama on Tuesday, will be extended for six months, according to senior administration officials. A second task force examining interrogation policy will get a two-month extension to complete its work, which had also been due Tuesday.

Judge: CIA committed fraud in eavesdropping case 20 Jul 2009 A federal judge has ruled that CIA officials committed fraud to protect a former covert agent against an eavesdropping lawsuit and is considering sanctioning as many as six who have worked at the agency, including former CIA Director George Tenet. According to court documents unsealed Monday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth referred a CIA attorney, Jeffrey Yeates, for disciplinary action. Lamberth also denied the CIA's renewed efforts under the Obama administration to keep the case secret because of what he calls the agency's "diminished credibility" and the "twisted history" in the case.

MedPageToday - Medical News | FDA Lays Framework for Expedited H1N1 Vaccine Approvals

Alan Grayson: "Which Foreigners Got the Fed's $500,000,000,000?" Bernanke: "I Don't Know." (video)

This is Congressman Alan Grayson questioning Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on $550B of loans to foreigners (or 'central liquidity swaps' in Federal Reserve-ese').

Which financial institutions received this money? Bernanke's answer: I don't know.

As the Fed was lending this money, the dollar increased by 30% in value. Grayson asks, was this a coincidence? Bernanke's answer: yes.

Hitler's Bank Goes Global May 2009 - The Purpose of the Financial Crisis

Bruce Wiseman | A Look Behind the Wizard's Curtain

More bodies go unclaimed as families can't afford funeral costs

Budget chief: Docs fees not paid for in Obama bill

Research team trumpets sustainable backyard fishery

Bloomberg.com | U.S. Lacks Defense From Nuclear Pulse, Official Says

Kearny Fallout Radiation Meter (KFM) Kit & Free Plans

There are instructions available for a homemade fallout meter which is made using commonly available items. Although not as accurate as some of the newer digital meters, it is accurate enough that you would have a pretty good idea how much radiation you have been exposed to.

Directions: http://www.ki4u.com/free_book/s60p792.htm

Evaluation: http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:0RhPUA3lNlwJ:jtyson.bol.ucla.edu/documents/KFM.pdf+how+to+make+radiation+detector+ruler+aluminum+foil&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Edit - directions also linked from this page: http://ballew.org/homeland/fallout.html

EarthObservatory.NASA.gov | 7.6 Magnitude Earthquake off New Zealand's South Island

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake along the southwest coast of New Zealand’s South Island on July 15, 2009, was a dramatic reminder that the area is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Less nerve-rattling evidence of the area’s tectonic activity is revealed in this image of the bathymetry (shades of blue) and topography (shades of brown) of the southern part of South Island, known as Fjordland, and the surrounding waters of the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean.

Earth’s solid crust is broken into more than a dozen slabs, or plates, that drift slowly around the planet. Around New Zealand, the Australian Plate collides with the Pacific Plate; the approximate boundary is traced with a black line on this image. The pressure of the collision is released in complicated ways, creating fracture zones, deep trenches, and high mountains. Near and south of Fjordland, the Australia Plate is being forced below (subducted) the Pacific Plate at the Puysegur Trench, which is more than 5,000 meters (16,404 feet) deep. North of Fjordland, the two plates collide and grind past each other; the pressure of the colliding plates is raising the Southern Alps.

Earthquakes occur because tectonic plates don’t simply slide smoothly past or over each other. They are pressed together with tremendous force, and they can be become temporarily stuck together, while the pressure builds. For a time, the crust can bend or stretch under the strain like a tree branch bends under the weight of heavy snow, but eventually the rocks break and the energy is released. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the July 15 quake and its aftershocks (locations and magnitudes indicated by circles) occurred in the subduction part of the Australia-Pacific plate boundary. Phone lines and some buildings were damaged, and a small tsunami occurred, but no fatalities were reported, according to news reports.

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using earthquake and plate tectonics data from the USGS Earthquake Hazard Program, elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) courtesy of the University of Maryland’s Global Land Cover Facility, and ocean bathymetry data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) ETOP1 global relief model of Earth’s surface. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.

Instrument:

Space Shuttle - SRTM

Kwiatkowski: “Operation in Afghanistan is rooted in Israel”

Agencies to set up mass swine flu vaccinations

Obama To Attend North American Union Meeting next month

Globalist Think Tank Trots Out Iran Attack Scenario

Senators Criticized for Not Grilling Obama's "Science Czar" Holdren Over Eugenics Theories

NaturalNews.com | Today's Feature Stories - July 21, 2009

Farmed Fish Could Give Humans Mad Cow Disease (NaturalNews) There is probably no illness that has more terrifying symptoms, or a more ghastly outcome, than variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) -- best known as mad cow disease. Abnormal proteins called prions found in brain tissue of cows suffering...

After Decades of Doing Nothing, FDA Warns Drug Companies to Stop Selling Illegal (NaturalNews) The FDA has sent letters to nine companies, warning them to cease all marketing of 14 drugs that have not received regulatory approval. In 2006, the FDA began a program to crack down on the estimated 2 percent of prescription...

CoQ10 May Slow Progression of Parkinson's Disease When experts discovered that Parkinson`s patients have a defect involving the production of energy in the mitochondria, eyes turned to Co-Enzyme Q10, which is a key nutrient for producing energy in the mitochondria. While studies from the...

Billions of People Expected to Die Under Current Codex Alimentarius Guidelines Your right to eat healthy food and use supplements of your choice is rapidly vanishing, but every effort has been made to keep you in the dark about the coming nutricide. Codex Alimentarius is scheduled for full global implementation on December...

Research Shows Children are Critically Susceptible to Pesticides A new study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives has revealed that children are dangerously vulnerable to the effects of environmental pesticides, and for far longer than originally suspected. Scientists at...

Irish Moss is a Revitalizing Super Food Irish moss is not moss at all. It is in fact seaweed that grows along the rocky coast lines of the Atlantic Ocean. It is especially found in Ireland where it has a long history in Irish folklore as a good luck charm to be taken on long journeys...

New Study Shows Vegetarians Less Likely to Develop Cancer In a fresh study of food habits and cancer, 61,566 British meat eaters, fish eaters and vegetarians were followed by scientists for 12 years. The study showed that vegetarians have a smaller risk of developing cancer compared to their meat...

NOAA Bans Krill Harvesting in Pacific Ocean to Save Food for Whales (NaturalNews) In order to help protect the food supply of whales, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced a ban on krill harvesting in a wide section of the Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and...

LINKS | View Live Webcam Of Total Solar Eclipse 2009

Longest Total Solar Eclipse Of 21st Century

LIVE WEBCAMS:
1. China - (LIVE) at Wuhan,Hubei, by University Of North Dakota
2. Japan - (LIVE) Japanese, Chinese, and English languages.
3. Taiwan - (Mainland China)
4. Guwahati - (LIVE) at Guwahati, India. Guwahati city invites you to witness the historic solar eclipse at sunrise on July 22, 2009.

LIVE SCHEDULE: July 21, 2009 (USA)
UTC - 01:26:41
EASTERN - 09:26:41 PM
CENTRAL - 08:26:41 PM
MOUNTAIN - 07:26:41 PM
PACIFIC - 06:26:41 PM
Wuhan - 09:26:41 AM July 22, 2009 (China)

DURATION: 6 MINUTES 39 SECONDS

On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, a total eclipse of the Sun is visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half of Earth. The path of the Moon’s umbral shadow begins in India and crosses through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China.

After leaving mainland Asia, the path crosses Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and curves southeast through the Pacific Ocean where the maximum duration of totality reaches 6 min 39 seconds. A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon’s penumbral shadow, which includes most of eastern Asia, Indonesia, and the Pacific Ocean.
Source: NASA

This solar eclipse is the longest total solar eclipse that will occur in the twenty-first century, and will not be surpassed in duration until June 13, 2132.

Science departments in China hope to warn the public about the eclipse to avoid panic and superstition.

For more information about solar eclipses click — here.

Join us for this historic occasion!

Related Links:
* Exploratorium - Total Solar Eclipse: Stories from the path of totality
* NASA Eclipse Web Site - Past, Present, and Future Eclipses
* Total Solar Eclipse Path 2009 - YouTube

4.6 magnitude earthquake hits 64 km (40 miles) NNW (343°) from CHARLOTTE AMALIE, US Virgin Islands - Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 03:00 PM at epicenter

'Wiped off the Map' – The Rumor of the Century

Judge Accuses CIA Officials of Fraud, Unseals Secret Files

Millions of people in Asia will see the longest total solar eclipse this century on Wednesday as swaths of India and China are plunged into darkness.

Texas drought losses reach $3.6 billion

El Nino threat blows commodity prices higher With the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the horizon and concerns over food shortages

StanDeyo.com | Picture of the Day - 1964 tsunami: the West Coast of America and Canada may see much worse

ORIGINAL CAPTION: Tsunami damage at Kodiak, Alaska following
1964 Good Friday Earthquake. (NOAA)

SteveQuayle.com | Hot Headlines - July 21, 2009

Iran Turmoil May Cost Hezbollah, Hamas Amid Retreat
Attack on Iran: Rift in the Military and the Role of Commandos
Bible Predicts: Israel to Nab Russian, Iranian Nukes
Tsunami Risk for West Coast Higher Than Expected
July 9, 1958: Surf’s Up, as 1,700-Foot Wave Scours Alaskan Bay
Minor Earthquake Shakes NM, Spring Overflows
El Niño Threatens Food Shortages
Questions Out There as World Readies for Swine Flu Vaccination
Flu Vaccine Scramble Could Get Ugly
A Whole Industry Is Waiting for a Pandemic
Major Expose on Swine Flu by 60 Minutes
LHC Suffers More Leaks, and Delays
ATF to Montana: 'You Will Respect our Authoritah!'
The Great Spiritual Separation!
Middle East Christians Hit the Road
Bohemian Grove: Illuminati Meet This Week for Satanic Rituals
Nothing New Under the Sun: The Link between Native Spirituality and the Occult
Palin to Feds: Alaska is Sovereign State

Middle East atomic conflict would kill tens of millions: report

Feds Prepare To Tax Toilet Paper In Name Of Climate Change

Authorities in Brazil were indignant after discovering 1,400 tons of household waste had been imported into the country improperly labeled

4.1 Magnitude earthquake hit GASPE PENINSULA, QUEBEC, CANADA - 71 km (44 miles) SE (139°) from Sept-Îles, Québec, Canada - July 21, 2009

A Mother Thinks about Nuclear Survival, an editorial written by Jenny Hatch which references Cresson Kearny's Book

Given latest Webbot report it's wise to start educating yourself! | Free PDF download of Nuclear War Survival Skills

Free PDF download of Nuclear War Survival Skills

Link | Stan Deyo guest on Joyce Riley's THE POWER HOUR on July 15th (mp3, mp4, & mov)

Stan Deyo guests on Joyce Riley's The Power Hour, July 15.
Listen 3 ways: mp3 (112 MB); mp4 (74 MB); .mov (364 MB zipped)

Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Obtains Key Report on US Arms Exports - Defense Department’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS)

Deliveries of arms through the Defense Department’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Program decreased by nearly a billion dollars in fiscal year 2008, according to the most recent edition of the Annual Military Assistance Report. The report, which is often referred to as the “Section 655 Report” after the section in the Foreign Assistance Act that requires it, is compiled each year by the Defense Department and the State Department. The Defense Department’s contribution to the report was acquired by the Federation of American Scientists under the Freedom of Information Act.

According to this year’s report, FMS deliveries in FY08 totaled $10,996,180,000 – nearly $1 billion less than the $11,910,160,000 delivered in FY2007. This is surprising given the significant increase in FMS agreements in recent years. FMS agreements jumped from $9.5 billion in FY2005 to more than $18 billion in FY2006, and nearly doubled again to $36 billion in FY2008. One possible explanation for the apparent lag is that deliveries, and particularly deliveries of big-ticket items, can take years. If this is the case, FMS delivery totals are likely to rise sharply over the next few years.

Court Rebukes Government Over “Secret Law” | Overturned guilty verdict of exporting rifle scopes in violation of Int'l Traffic in Arms Regs (ITAR)

July 20th, 2009

“Government must operate through public laws and regulations” and not through “secret law,” a federal appellate court declared in a decision last month. When our government attempts to do otherwise, the court said, it is emulating “totalitarian regimes.”

The new ruling (pdf) overturned the conviction of a defendant who had been found guilty of exporting rifle scopes in violation of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). The court said that the government had failed to properly identify which items are subject to export control regulations, or to justify the criteria for controlling them. It said the defendant could not be held responsible for violating such vague regulations.

Accepting the State Department’s claim of “authority to classify any item as a ‘defense article’ [thereby making it subject to export controls], without revealing the basis of the decision and without allowing any inquiry by the jury, would create serious constitutional problems,” wrote Chief Judge Frank H. Easterbrook of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. “It would allow the sort of secret law that [the Supreme Court in] Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan, 293 U.S. 388 (1935), condemned.”

Normally, “A regulation is published for all to see,” explained Judge Easterbrook, a Reagan appointee who is considered a judicial conservative. “People can adjust their conduct to avoid liability. [In contrast,] a designation by an unnamed official, using unspecified criteria, that is put in a desk drawer, taken out only for use at a criminal trial, and immune from any evaluation by the judiciary, is the sort of tactic usually associated with totalitarian regimes,” he said. See the Court’s ruling in United States of America v. Doli Syarief Pulungan, June 15, 2009.

The new ruling “could be a very big deal in terms of export controls, and indeed in terms of ’secret law’ in general,” said Gerald Epstein, a science and security policy scholar who served on a recent National Academy of Sciences panel on export control policy. “This case goes to the heart of the ambiguity of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which give the State Department great latitude in determining what is and what is not covered, and which are administered in a notoriously opaque way,” Dr. Epstein told Secrecy News.

Export control policy was addressed from various perspectives in an April 24, 2008 Senate hearing entitled “Beyond Control: Reforming Export Licensing Agencies for National Security and Economic Interests” (pdf) that was published last month.

Last year, Sen. Russ Feingold convened a hearing on the subject of “Secret Law and the Threat to Democratic and Accountable Government.” My prepared statement from that hearing on the diverse categories of secret law is available here (pdf).

George Ure's UrbanSurvival.com | New Web Bot Run Released - July 21, 2009

New Bot Run Released

Want to get a decent handle on what we're expecting in the way of news events over the next year and a half or so? Got $10-bucks? Then head over to www.halfpasthuman.com and download the newest "Shape of things to come" report. This one runs 40+ pages and covers all kinds of things ranging from our expected price of previous metals by the end of 2010, plus a number of very unpleasant developments in the socioeconomic arena. Dead folks in the millions, just to give you an idea.

Cliff and I will be on with George Noory tonight on CoastToCoastAM at 1 AM Eastern/10PM Pacific to talk about the report and what it means.

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Besides the warning about how grim the contents are (they are really grim), having studied the contents for a couple of days what strikes me is that much of what's out there in the way of 'future predictions' (we're not the only folks in that space) are developed by other forecasters taking existing trends are then making more-or-less linear extrapolations. That'd be scary enough, but wowzer...the period beginning in a month, or so, building into fall and through next year, looks like many part of the model go seriously nonlinear...and that's the part which will catch most people by surprise, I expect.

One other warning: You may not want to read it at work, or you won't get much done.

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Speaking of "Coast", I was on with Ian Punnett back on January 2, 2009 for their annual 'predictions' show and at the time put up the notes on how the year 2009 would work out generally. Here's the overview:

􀁹 Possible economic collapse of USA due to additive impacts of the socioeconomic contract breakdown

􀁹 Housing bubble collapse

􀁹 Debt instrument bubble collapse

􀁹 Possible repudiation of the US dollar

􀁹 Global Coastal Event

􀁹 “Secrets revealed” start to pour out of NASA and political offices

􀁹 End of the ‘comfortable high tech/high consumption’ lifestyle and an involuntary return to lifestyle of previous generations.

Just to pick on one part of the January 2009 forecast, consider this (page 11):

"U.S. government will begin to collapse. Perhaps not in head count, but with revenues falling dramatically, 30-40% decreases in government size & services seem likely by year end."

Already, we've seen California marched to 'the wall" although in the short term, it looks like a "California budget deal closes $26-billion gap." I trust you noticed that the White House missed a deadline for reporting planned spending cuts? We may get some thing early, but in the end we're often right.

Want to be very clear here that we are not endorsing the 'falling apart' of the cou8ntry or government, just forecasting here, but it's shaping up pretty much right on forecast.

National spending on 'recovery' hasn't (nor will it) have much impact, since so much of Stimulus one was pork (2/3'rds) versus meat (1/3'rd) which means another stimulus will likely be needed, but we may have 'shot the wad' for the dollar already.

But that gets me around to reminding you that predictive linguistics is just that - a prediction based on the language surrounding events. So, in terms of looking ahead, it's almost impossible to tell the difference between the reality of economic collapse versus a lot of bespoke words to that effect. What comes up in the data is the bespoke words component.

That may provide a little solace from an otherwise dire report when you read the part on page 42 "Cuban Missile Crisis (1960's): Linguistic Study" which explains how we get the archetype/emotional mood usually bang-on while specifics of events may vary. Anyway, it's a fine read as long as it's taken between meals since it will give the aware reader what I'd describe as an 'expectation framework" in advance, which in turn may prevent 'deer caught in headlines' inaction at the very moment when future events will demand your most decisive and quick responses to avoid potentially fatal consequences.

Not to give anything away, but I have been pointing toward the October 25th (+/-) hot date and worrying like crazy about the potential for an Israeli attack on Iran about then and what do you know, along comes a headline in today's Canadian National Post: "Middle East atomic conflict would kill tens of millions: report". Gee, how comforting.

Port Traffic Collapse, Redux

Want a real 'dead canary in the coal mine' to look at with the economy? Look at West Coast Port Container traffic...especially the foreign cargo coming into the US.

The Port of Seattle reports TEU's (twenty-foot equivalents) down 21.7% compared with year-ago YTD operations. Inbound foreign full TEU's which were already down more than 19% in 2008 compared with 2007, and on a YTD basis reports that in June '09 inbound full foreign TEU's are down a further 27% year-to-date. Don't look now, but that's your dead canary.

Yet another port on the West Coast is reporting the effects of falling trade: The Port of Tacoma has released June figures showing that on a year-on-year basis their container traffic is down 14.9% and on a month-on=month basis, traffic is down 19.1% since a year ago.

Sooner, or later, the Port of Portland will post figures, probably here. Maybe this is one of those times when being able to find data easily isn't such a good thing, you think?

Meantime, the Port of Oakland's container statistics showed a 13.9% drop in June on a YTD basis, monthly figures aren't revealed, but 2008 was down 6.1% so guessing down 20% since the frenzied high of 2006/2007 is reasonable.

Why am I so focused on West Coast container trade? Damn fine proxy for how corporate globalism is working out...or as is the present situation, how corporate globalism is failing.

Until I start to see some meaningful increases in YTD port traffic (like up 5-10% on a trailing twelve month basis) I will be filing reports of 'green shoots' where they rightly belong. In the round file.

OTV

No small number of readers have asked me (in so many words) "What's with Obama being on TV all the time?" Can't tell you why, except that maybe it's the most efficient way to reach as many people as possible. But, whatever the reason, the OTV folks have had to move a planned primetime press conference because NBC seems to have figured out coverage would be a lot less costly in terms of lost ad revenue from primetime, by moving it to 8 PM (Eastern). Good move.

It's a Hit!

But just what hit Jupiter (the planet, which you might have forgotten since things haven't been looking up for a while) is a mystery the folks at NASA are trying to work out.

Taxachusetts

A few readers is Messachusett's are up in arms about state plans to tax scooters.

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No sympathy here, though. This got all screwed up when the first automobiles hit the road and people were made to license them.

To my way of thinking (which is a bit odd, admittedly) a country goes from being a democratic republic (which we once were) to a totalitarian state when government stops acknowledging rights and starts selling permissions. A mandatory permission is control.

Believe it, or not, driving your own piece of machinery on public lands was once a right since the lands were commonly owned and your machine was your own. But try that anymore and guess what? Tickey time.

Even though originally, cars were licensed only for use in commerce, the traffic laws and permissions have been extended by government fiat (like the income tax has been extended without a clear definition of 'income'). But, if you don't play the game you get squished all bug-like because the system is so big and individually we are so small.

So, the question is 'Step on the tail of the beast, or wait till it self-destructs?" Shouldn't have more than a year or two to wait once the dollar implosion gets underway in a big way, witness government workers being laid off all over the country already, so pay the protection money and deal with it. For now.

And don't forget to use process! When you get your next property tax revaluation notice and some tin-horn bunglecrat says your home has gone up in price, demand a reduction in valuation since the S&P/Case-Schiller report implies that home prices are down nationally over 30% in the past couple of years. The sword can cut both ways.

Phony Reporting

A National Highway Safety Administration long term report on cell phone use among drivers was apparently scrubbed because the agency didn't want to anger congress. Another way of saying they didn't want to do their job, isn't it?

Driving by celling is apparently right up there with drinking and driving, causing almost a thousand fatalities and nearly a quarter of a million accidents in 2002 alone. Took Freedom of Information actions to get at the data, no less. National security issues, you think? Fer cryin' out loud...

So tax scooter owners? Sure. Put facts on the table about cell phone use dangers? Nope. That, my friend is the best government money can buy inaction. Yeah, that's not a typo.

Dancing Mountains Department

"Quake, tsunami potential high on U.S. west coast" says a new study out Monday. Seems the risks may have been under-estimated.

Indo Bombing Follow

Our one-time Houston Bureau Chief has filed a follow-up on the Jakarta bombings of last weekend:

"Jakarta Post headline says it best: Jakartans Unperturbed By Bombings

The bombings have been met with a collective "ho-hum." They are hardly a topic of conversation, much less hand-wringing. The Indo version of Camp David is about 3 km from the mountain house, and President SBY decided to make a retreat there this past weekend, at the same time I did. To say the military presence there was heavy is a mild understatement. The locals were complaining about the disruption to traffic and daily life. When I arrived Saturday, the military vehicles had jammed the main road and there were soldiers crawling out of the woodwork. The biggest problem I had is that they bought out my favorite rice porrage before I could get mine. By Sunday night, they had all left as SBY returned to Jakarta.

I had 2 people ask me if I was going home now. I laughed and said it was better to have isolated bombings than terrorists inhabiting every level of government. They were a little confused by that statement, as Amerika is still seen as a beacon of freedom in some parts of the world, not to mention the ongoing infatuation with native-son Barky here. But living in a country that is a libertarian's wet dream is far more preferable.

So life goes on. I will pass near the hotels today and try to get some photos for UrbanSurvival, if I can get that close. Despite the best efforts of the media here to whip up a frenzy, the people really don't care. If Mexico is famous for "maňana", then Indonesia should be known for "the day after maňana." Yes, there are militant movements here, but the biggest effect they have had in on the outside world, with tourism already showing big drops. Inside the city, there is a kind of collective shrug of resignation and business as usual.

If your vacation plans include Indonesia, I would say you are probably safer here than at the airport check points trying to get out of Amerika. You might want to avoid Bali, as it is a tourist hot-spot and a focus for any group trying to disrupt the economy for political reasons. However, Manado has world-class diving and the jungles of Boneo are not to be missed. And as far as the general atmosphere here? What bombs?"

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Coping: With Collapsing Real Estate Prices

A number of people have been sending in reports of how various banks are treating them when they lose their jobs, can't make a full house payment and are on the verge of foreclosing. Several have reported that the banks are allowing them to stay in their homes, even though they are not able to make the payments, if the just pay some kind of nominal 'rent' payment.

Seems the banks have found out (rather the hard way, eh?) that if they don't have people living in a house that they are much more likely to be stripped of their moveable assets; water heaters, granite counters, plumbing, and so forth, than if the home is occupied by an interested owner with at least some prospects of getting it back in the future.

Still, the foreclosure problem continues to grow causing displacements on many fronts. For example, over at the Delaware Online site today we read how unlike the typical 'recession' where an increase in housing construction and sales helps to get the country back on the road to recovery, this one is working just the opposite; acting as a drag on recovery.

There are also reports of small investors actually getting into 'bidding wars' over some of the low-priced homes on the market that would make dandy rental homes, according to an AP story out Monday. This, in turn has sparked comments like "A nation of renters - Obama's dream?"

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Turns out that the situation is even more dire than makes it into the headlines. For one thing, many banks have not yet listed all of the property for sale in the local and regional multiple listing services (MLS's), or if they have, they will put a note like "Sold-B/U" - meaning sold or a 'back-up' deal is being considered when they really don't have any deals at all.

While the S&P/Case-Schiller data suggests that the decline in the price of real estate has nationally averaged about 32-33% (with some extreme variations on a market-by-market basis), the actual sales prices are showing up as even less in anecdotal reports from around the country. For example, in Charlotte, North Carolina, for example, the "Observer" down that way headlines how "Foreclosed homes sold for half price." And that doesn't mean the 'bottom' is in yet.

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A couple of strategies come to mind, depending on whether you're on the 'selling side' or on the 'buying side'.

If you're selling, and this is something I've been watching, you're much better off selling a home as a 'going concern' rather than just a house/box. In other words, if you have a producing garden, maybe a few animals (even chickens will help) along with an independent source of water and maybe some solar or wind power and wood-heating as either primary or back-up, people seem willing to pay for such home because there's a growing awareness that still more trouble may lay in the nation's immediate future. While conventional economics suggests, for example, that the payback period on an installation of new solar power systems could be in the range of 20 to 25-years, based on prevailing 15¢ per kilowatt hour power costs, the payback period drops to under 13-years if the power doubles to 30¢ per kilowatt hour should energy input costs double, or even 6½ - years should the dollar be devalued 75% and input costs quadruple.

People are starting to consider such possibilities in their home shopping. Even some self-sufficiency seems to be carrying a hefty premium over no sufficiency.

Of course, over on the buying side, plenty of reports that people are not able to get commitments to real estate loans, and many banks seems to be playing the old game of TEGWAR. Now, since you probably haven't watched the classic film "Bang the Drum Slowly" lately, TEGWAR Wikipedia defines the game this way:

"The film and book include a fictional card game known as tegwar, which means "The Exciting Game Without Any Rules." It is a game basically designed to separate a sucker from his cash. Henry Wiggen plays this game along with other ballplayers and coaches, to sucker passers-by in the lobby of the team hotel. It is generally believed that Bruce Pearson is too dumb to be able to sucker people, so he is excluded. However, Henry begins to include Bruce in the tegwar games as the story progresses."

If you can get a 'commitment' to a real estate loan, consider yourself luck, but even then I've heard that more than a third of deals committed to are failing at close because someone (most often the bank) decides to change rules. Here, about the only terms that I can suggest would be liberate use of the world "lawyer" and both buyer and seller reminding the bank what 'break of contract' can cost when the buyer and seller are both acting in good faith, there's a commitment (get it written, ok?) and the bank changes things at closing.

On the buying side, you can almost look at any piece of property that piques your interest, and go knock on the door and ask if it's for sale. Banks seem to only be telling registered real estate people about the deals; often calls to bank "real estate owned' (REO) departments will go unanswered for days - if ever.

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I don't usually turn on the television to watch officials try to explain the ever-increasing variance between observed reality and what their mental constructs of a situation may be. However, having talked to a few folks in real estate, which has devolved into a huge national tegwar game, today's appearance by Ben Bernanke ought to be and "edumacation" in word-dancing.

Headlines like "Bernanke preps for hot seat on bailouts, recovery" lead me to expect 'the full treatment' in happy-talk and in-action on public display.

It may not be as good as Congressman Stearns of Florida skewering former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson last week for his role in the debacle... but it should be entertaining.

Especially if you read the lead story this morning about West Coast Port Traffic and haven't completely lost your grip on Reality.

Around the Ranch: Machinery Bites Week

turning into a hell of a week with machinery. The Kubota tractor is at the doctor's office. The PTO engaging fork in the hydrostatic transmission failed at 209.6 hours operating time. And, since the machine went out of its 36-month warranty as of 4/27, the initial word is that I'll be stuck with a thousand dollar bill. That said, I will let you know if Kubota steps up for anything on this...but if they don't guess what my advice will be on tractor brands?

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Then the new radiator for the Daewoo that was being installed as part of the AC repair turned out to have been damaged in shipping. Then when the new A/C charge was put in, the AC inlet valve failed, so another doctor's office for that one. ($350'ish)

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The right side headlamp on the 930 (low beam) went out, so into town this morning to get a replacement. ($50'ish)

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New shop light failed after 2-days and had to take it back to Tractor Supply ($30'ish)

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Hose repair kit for where the hired high school kid ran over it with the riding mower (with expected consequences) didn't fit. ($3.00'ish plus an hour of time) Stuff like that all over the place.

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Lightning took out my 'big pipe onto the interne t till they get parts in this afternoon....

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Frankly, it's getting to where I dare not touch anything mechanical for a couple of days. I don't generally take astrology seriously, but one planet has my attention this week: Uranus.