Friday, July 3, 2009
Massive plume of ash and sulfur dioxide expelled by Sarychev volcano on 6-9-09 is swirling through the stratosphere over the northern hemisphere
SWIRLING SULFUR DIOXIDE: A massive plume of ash and sulfur dioxide expelled by Russia's Sarychev Peak volcano on June 12th is swirling through the stratosphere over the northern hemisphere. Europe's MetOpA satellite is monitoring the SO2, colored red in this 5-day animation spanning June 25th through 30th:
Sarychev's emissions are causing some beautiful sunsets. Here's what to look for: When the sun goes down, delicate ripples of white appear over the western horizon. The ripples are volcanic aerosols--a mixture of ash and sulfur compounds. Then, as twilight deepens, the sky turns a lovely shade of "volcanic lavender." Lavender is what you get when you mix blue light scattered by fine aerosols with ordinary red sunset rays.
Is a plume passing over your area tonight? Keep an eye on the western sky for Sarychev sunsets.
DailyMail.co.uk | Today's Headlines - July 3, 2009
- Teen is swine flu's first victim in London as ministers warn 40 a day could die by end of summer
- Schools bar parents from sports day... to keep out paedophiles
- Blind man sees wife for first time after having a TOOTH implanted into his eye
- Why is U.S. using all its might to extradite this naive hacker to face 60 years in jail ... and why aren't our MPs trying to stop it?
- Murray Mania at Wimbledon as tensions mount ahead of the 'Battle of the Andys'
- Hundreds of men 'wrongly convicted of being paedophiles after falling victim to identity theft'
- Mother who used false address to get son into top school will NOT be charged
- Protective father saved daughter from lung cancer after doctors sent her home with antibiotics
- Couple's £1million dream home to be demolished... because print-out of building plans was wrong size
- Why was British officer travelling in 'vulnerable' Viking armoured vehicle when he was killed?
- iPhones die in hot cars: Apple blames heatwave for handset breakdowns
- 'Rogue oil trader loses his firm £6million by pushing price to eight-month high'
- Father hangs himself after discovering schoolgirl's killer could be released to an address close by
- Tory peer faces police probe after claiming £100,000 overnight expenses while staying at his Essex farmhouse
- Pope clears way for Cardinal John Newman to become first English saint in 40 years
- Heatwave comes to an end as torrential rain sweeps in... just in time for the weekend
- 'Deal' to force out Trevor Phillips as head of equality watchdog
- Smear row after Labour minister claims 'deep strain of homophobia' still exists in Tory party
- Revealed: The most fearsome dinosaur ever
- Put middle-classes at the back of the queue, says top grammar school head
- Prison opens top-class restaurant... just don't ask for porridge
- Iran to put detained British Embassy staff on trial after they 'confess' to role in post-election unrest
- Madoff's wife kicked out of £4.3m penthouse with just a straw bag as officers tell her she can't even take her fur coat
- Mentally ill man held over stabbing of woman, 82, as CCTV shows victim just minutes before
- Gay killer conman swindled £200,000 from lover and friends so he could live jet-set life of luxury
- MORE HEADLINES
An affront to British justice: Why are MPs doing NOTHING while the U.S. extradites this naive hacker to face 60 years in jail?
RSOE EDIS - Climate Change Monitor | Arctic sea ice at second lowest level
Source: The Globe and Mail
Arctic Ocean sea ice has melted to the second lowest minimum since satellite observations began, according to scientists at the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center. Sea ice melt recorded on Monday exceeded the low recorded in 2005, which had held second place. With several weeks left in the melting season, ice in summer 2008 has a chance to go below last year's record low, the scientists at the University of Colorado said.
Federal observers flying for a whale survey on Aug. 16 spotted nine polar bears swimming in open ocean in the Chukchi Sea. The bears were 25 to 105 kilometres off the Alaska shore. Some were swimming north, apparently trying to reach the polar ice edge, which on that day was 645 kilometres away. Polar bears are powerful swimmers and have been recorded on swims of 160 miles, but the ordeal can leave them exhausted and susceptible to drowning in high seas. Sea ice is their primary habitat, where they hunt their favourite prey – ringed seals – which create lairs on ice for breeding and which maintain breathing holes through the ice. Summer sea ice last year shrank to about 4.27 million square kilometres, nearly 40 per cent less than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000. Most climate modelers predict a continued downward spiral, possibly leading to an Arctic Ocean that is ice free during the summer months by 2030 or sooner. Mr. Krenz said the announcement Tuesday showed that last year's record-low sea ice was not an anomaly. As ice covers fewer square kilometres of ocean, he said, warming will accelerate.
“It's going to accelerate climate change through changes in the reflectance of the Arctic,” he said. “It's going from bright ice to a much darker ocean.” More square kilometres of dark ocean will absorb more heat. More warmth will accelerate melting of Arctic permafrost, allowing organic matter now frozen to melt and add to the greenhouse gas problem, he said. “That allows for the breakdown of that by bacteria and other organisms that release CO2 or methane, depending on how the breakdown occurs,” he said. The effects faced by people in the Arctic eventually will reach the rest of the nation and the world, he warned.
George Ure (of Web Bot fame's) UrbanSurvival.com | Depression 2 Update: Seven More Banks Fail! - July 3, 2009
Published Monday - Friday about 8 AM Central Time Except Holidays....many major typos are fixed by 8:30 dailyThis site is supported by subscription to Peoplenomics. For additional content, please subscribe.
Content mirrored at my other site: www.independencejournal.com,
Depression 2 Update: Seven More Banks Fail!
Oh, the joys of not having to get up with the first ring of the alarm clock! But then, as I laid in bed this morning wondering what to write about, it came to me in a flash: There have been numerous alarming signs and portents in the markets this week, if one knows where to look.
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The FDIC announced seven bank failures after the market closed Thursday, which brings the number of banks closed this year to 52. But, if you count the number of branch offices closed this week it's 30 branches.
| Founders Bank |
| Millennium State Bank of Texas |
| First National Bank of Danville |
| Elizabeth State Bank |
| Rock River Bank |
| First State Bank of Winchester |
| John Warner Bank |
But what's even more alarming is that if you look back over the last year of "We're not in a Depression" bank numbers, you'll see that the number of banks closed is nominally up to 75, but if you count up branches, the banking system has shuffled ownership of 2,969 branches.
That FDIC seems to be doing a smooth job of it - making depositors whole in each case (so far), one can't help but wonder what's the cost of all this to be in the longer term, especially since the real guts of the second leg down in financial markets isn't expected till this fall.
When will FDIC have to go looking to recharge its coffers?
Meantime, at least the bad news was released after the markets were closed and has an extra day to contemplate what this all means. Answer to that should be apparent to anyone with half a brain (Depression 2.0 may be real and George may not be so crazy after all...).
If you divide the total offices closed (2,969) by 51 weeks (since July 11, 2008 is the IndyMac failure - 51 weeks back) closings have been averaging 58.21 offices per week, although admitted the data is skewed a bit by the WAMU and Downey Savings failures. Still, the count is the count.
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Another one of the alarming stories this week to give 'cause to pause' was the NY Fed Funds Rate which, if you look at the June 30th data, had someone paying 7% for overnight funds. The aberration, first caught on Karl Denninger's "Market Ticker" site admittedly does leave one asking plenty of questions (Like: Who'd pay 7% for overnight money in this environment if they didn't have a death-like financial mess to paper over quickly?), one can only pray that it was just someone needing quick cash for the end of Q2. The worst fear is that this is all a set up for the next collapse of the derivatives bubble which will be easily apparent as the Dow goes toward new lows in September, which is what I fear. Not to mention the possible banking and market holidays which could accompany that.
Make a note to self: Finish spreading money around to 'safe' places. A bit more in the Treasury TIPS paper, a bit less in the Big National Bank - going instead to a couple of local banks which have weathered at least one Depression previously.
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A third area where alarming developments are taking place is well-described under the headline "Financial lobby gears up for effort against Obama plan." While it's true that the Obama administration is trying to build a credible "Consumer Financial Protection Agency", it's more than equally true that the banksters are going to roll out all the big guns and pull out the stops since if this one goes through. it could have a Kondratieff cycle-long impact on the bankster coup - which means it could actually save America from financial interest/bankster domination for another 50-years. Why, who'd want to be shackled with interest rate caps and such when desperation of common folks can be turned into optimized yields on past-due accounts?
You won't read much about this fight in the MainStreamMedia, however, since the banksters have brought most of the corpgov/ MSM media to heel by simple manipulation ad budgets: "Ya'll either toe the line, or mother banker will slash advertising on your radio/tv/newspaper chain to zip and then where will you be? Need to roll over a credit line to keep your LBO roll-up together? Lay off on the coverage of interest rate caps, then..." Or some variant of this. never 'spoken", but that's how the complex system works when you step back from it a ways.
Ah, the joys of having the best 'democratic republic' money can buy.
Related? "Washington Post cancels lobbyist event amid uproar." You tell me. I've filed it under "Cookie jars and fingers."
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But there's another point of alarm, right there. Groups like "www.firecongress.org" are popping up and they make it pretty clear that the world "revolution" which I've mentioned prominently ove rthe past year or so are starting to filter into the active area of language.
By the way, don't forget to check out their poster - which you can print off on a good quality color printer and pass around:
Ballots beat bullets any old time.
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Along about here, you may be figuring out that the reason the market dropped 223 points in Thursday's trading is that it's occurred to more people than just yours truly that there is not much stimulating going on from the over-hyped and over-sold 'stimulus' bill.
Well, duh.
Nassim Taleb - who wrote the famous book on statistical outlier events The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Nice thought, that. But, in case you haven't noticed, at the current 'burn rate' the only possible outcome for the economy is to have runaway inflation, which is fine from the standpoint of the powers-that-be, since the people who were marginally ready to lose their homes, are in many cases already in default and the homes owned by the bankster class, so when prices start to go wild, they ought to sell like hotcakes and new and much higher rates since the public will be retrained into the borrow and refi industries, which will be retooled to maximize profits once again.
Graceful, ain't it?
Dollars Away!
It should come as no surprise later this year when the rest of the world (ROW) decides it has had enough and finally throws the dollar under the bus over the following year or two. On course it will results in Weimar or Zimbabwe-like hyperinflation here inside the US as other countries devalue, but it's not like the signs weren't there and warnings offered.
Take, for example this weekend's headline that "China's Zeng urges more oversight of Reserve-Currency nations". That'd be like us.
Like I said, it isn't like there haven't been warnings from the ROW.
Self-Inflicted Dollar Death
Of course, all the warnings from the Chinese (and others) about the dangers of watering down our US Dollar's purchasing power is bound to continue, since as the UK Guardian headlined this week "Banks of the US government."
Mighty depressing thought, since it was supposed to be 'owned' by "We the People..." Not to mention that little sleight of hand on this holiday weekend, of all of them...
GM's Garage Sale
Want to pick up a huge parking lot, or a golf course? Might get on the distro list for GM's upcoming sales.
Missiles Away
Four short-range rockets, to be a little more precise and all coming from North Korea. Testing, testing...
Stop that Reiki Work
Seems the Vatican is trying to get Reiki use under control, says a NY Times piece.
Around the Ranch: Post-It Note Friday
Should mention that when the new version of Maxa-Tools comes out - the version which will take care not only of the browser-independent cookies, but also those crafty 1-byte tracking graphics, that it will be a free upgrade to existing Maxa-Tools Cookie Manager users. The note from the cookie fighters:
"Hi George,
some of your clients are concerned, that they have to pay for MCM 3.4, because of the impression it is a "NEW" MCM.
It will be a major UPdate but ALL users of release V 3.X can update (a button in the about area) for NO charge.
would you mind to mention that in your blog please?
It looks like, that we can launch the product sometime next week.
Again, you will be the first in the US who gets an own STD version upfront. Also we provide you with a summery list of highlights."
Done! Oh boy!
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The Truly Mail product I told you about may not run yet on Mac's doing an imitation of Windows... they are working on those kind of issues...
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"The Great American Bubble Machine" by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone is worth a read - and yeah have forgotten to mention it for almost a week when it came out earlier.
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THE POWER HOUR NEWS | July 3, 2009
Independence now & forever -- As we approach Independence Day, it behooves us to recall the principles of America's founding, especially in light of the ongoing attempt by today's political and commercial leaders to merge the United States into a hemispheric government. In fact, the clarion call for independence is just as fundamental, just as revolutionary as it was 233 years ago.
Rare copy of Declaration of Independence found -- British researchers have announced the discovery of a rare original copy of America's Declaration of Independence — just in time for the Fourth of July.
Seeds of Dissent in the U.S. Military Are Growing -- From suicide to desertion to refusal to deploy -- service members' dissent may be growing into something far larger.
7 more banks fail -- Six Illinois banks and one bank in Texas were shuttered Thursday as government regulators proposed new rules for private equity firms seeking to take over failed banks.
EU food agency claims GMO maize is safe -- A genetically modified strain of maize, banned in some EU countries, poses no risk to health or the environment, the European Food Safety Authority declared Tuesday.
Border agents to dump Agent Orange like chemical to kill all plant life along US-Mexico border -- The Border Patrol has temporarily postponed -- but refused to cancel -- plans to use helicopters to spray herbicide along the banks of the Rio Grande between the cities of Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, in order to kill a fast-growing river cane that provides cover for undocumented migrants, smugglers and other border crossers.
Russians order flight changes after massive magnetic shift downs airliners -- Reports circulating in the Kremlin today are saying that Russian Air Force Commanders have issued warnings to all of their aircraft to exercise “extreme caution” during flights “in and around” an area defined as Latitude 17 North [North Atlantic Ocean] Latitude 3 South [South Atlantic Ocean] to Latitude 8 North [Indian Ocean] Latitude 19 South [Indian Ocean] between the Longitudes of 46 West, 33 West, 46 East and 33 East, and which covers the greater part of the African Tectonic Plate.
Climate bill may force home energy audits -- The American Clean Energy and Security Act is aimed at reducing the nation’s energy consumption. If passed, how will it affect you?
Bomb detection CEO named to head DARPA -- Mechanical engineer and defense entrepreneur Regina Dugan has been named the new director of Darpa, the Pentagon’s premier research arm.
Americans fed up with out of control airport searches -- The Transportation Security Administration has moved beyond just checking for weapons and explosives. It’s now training airport screeners to spot anything suspicious, and then honoring them when searches lead to arrests for crimes like drug possession and credit-card fraud.
Swine flu "cannot be contained" -- The rising numbers of swine flu cases mean trying to contain the virus is no longer an option, the government says.
Swine flu vaccine made in Europe -- The first doses of an H1N1 swine flu vaccine have been produced in Europe - but it will be around two months before any is distributed.
New dog flu strain worrying pet owners -- According to scientists, the dog flu first appeared in horses before mutating and affecting dogs, and although it hasn't jumped to humans yet, experts say that enough new cases are popping up to warrant a new vaccine.
Some dog foods may deliver toxic doses of fluoride! -- Study raises questions about use of bone meal, animal by-products and other cheap ingredients.
West Virginia Turnpike tolls to increase 60%! -- The West Virginia Parkways Authority, which oversees the state turnpike, voted unanimously on Wednesday, July 1, to increase tolls by 60 percent for cars and trucks.
Controversial Taser shotgun weapon launched -- The controversial Taser range of weapons, used by police forces in the UK to deliver electric shocks via metal barbs fired from a pistol shaped device, has been extended to include a shotgun launched option.
Job losses up in June -- U.S. employers cut far more jobs than expected last month and the unemployment rate hit 9.5 percent, the highest in nearly 26 years, underscoring the likelihood of a long, slow recovery from recession.
Forbes layoff tracker -- Number of layoffs since Nov. 1, 2008, at America's 500 largest public companies: 579,372.
Website: Layoff Daily -- Interesting. Check it out.
The EPA silences a climate skeptic -- The professional penalty for offering a contrary view to elites like Al Gore is a smear campaign.
Court to defendant-stop blasting that man's mind (interesting story) -- Man goes to court to stop his former business associate from blasting him with mind-altering electromagnetic radiation. The court decided in the mans favor, and issued a first-of-its-kind order of protection, banning the defendant from using “electronic means” to further harass the fellow.
America is vulnerable to EMP attack -- If a small atomic bomb were to explode 400km above Chicago it could fry all electronically-based technology from Chicago to Dallas affecting the infrastructure of all major cities on the east coast and as far as South Dakota. Read More...
Lawsuit now accuses Xe contractor of murder, kidnapping & child prostitution -- A just-amended lawsuit alleges six additional instances of unprovoked attacks on Iraqi civilians by Blackwater contractors.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens For Legitimate Government | 02 July 2009
Obama pushes to delay release of CIA report --Agency's secret detention, torture program under scrutiny 02 Jul 2009 The Obama administration said Thursday that it needs two more months to review an internal CIA report on the agency's secret detention and interrogation program before making it public. The Justice Department had originally said it intended to release the report in June as part of a lawsuit, but department officials now say they 'need' until the end of August. [See: U.S. again [third time] delays releasing CIA torture report 02 Jul 2009; US wants to [again] delay release of CIA report 26 Jun 2009; Delay in Releasing CIA Report Is Sought 20 Jun 2009.]
Heads up! The Obusha pre-holiday Friday night environmental/human rights bad news dump is starting to dump a day early! Obama Administration to Involve NSA in Screening Civilian Agency Networks 02 Jul 2009 The Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use National Security Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks, with AT&T as the likely test site, according to three current and former government officials. President Obama said in May that government efforts to protect computer systems from attack would not involve "monitoring private sector networks or Internet traffic." Under a classified pilot program approved during the Bush regime, NSA data and hardware would be used to 'protect' the networks of some civilian government agencies. Part of an initiative known as Einstein 3, the pilot called for telecommunications companies to route the Internet traffic of civilian government agencies through a monitoring box that would search for and block malicious computer codes... The pilot was to have been launched in February. "To be clear, Einstein 3 development is proceeding," DHS spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said.
Al-Sadr demands full U.S. withdrawal from Iraq --About 131,000 US troops remain in Iraq, on bases and in outposts outside of population centers. 01 Jul 2009 The ongoing presence of U.S. troops in Iraq "shows that the (Iraqi) government and the occupation are not serious about the withdrawal," a key Shiite cleric in the country said Wednesday. Muqtada al-Sadr made the statement on his Web site a day after U.S. forces withdrew from Iraqi cities and towns in accordance with the security agreement between the United States and Iraq.
Saddam Hussein 'lied about WMDs to protect Iraq from Iran' 03 Jul 2009 Saddam Hussein told the FBI that he misled the world into believing Iraq still possessed weapons of mass destruction because he feared revealing his weakness to Iran, according to declassified interview transcripts. The late Iraqi president also told his interrogators that he regarded Osama in Laden as a "zealot" and had no contact with the al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] leader or his organisation. Despite defeat in the Gulf War at the hands of the American-led coalition, Saddam still regarded Iran, with which Iraq fought a bloody war from 1980-88, as a greater threat than the US, the documents show.
Lawsuit accuses Xe contractors of murder, kidnapping, child prostitution 02 Jul 2009 A just-amended lawsuit alleges six additional instances of unprovoked attacks on Iraqi civilians by Blackwater mercenaries. Three people, including a 9-year-old boy, are said to have died. Also added to the suit is a racketeering count accusing Blackwater founder Erik Prince of running an ongoing criminal enterprise involved in, among other things, kidnapping and child prostitution. The latest charges, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, bring to more than 60 the number of Iraqis allegedly killed or wounded since 2005 by armed Blackwater mercenaries guarding U.S. diplomatic personnel in Iraq. The Moyock, N.C.-based security company, since renamed Xe, earned more than $1 billion under that contract before the State Department, under pressure from the Iraqi government, let it lapse in May.
Senate Investigates Blackwater Subsidiary 01 Jul 2009 The Senate Armed Services Committee is investigating the mercenary firm Paravant LLC which provides contracted services to the U.S. Army in Afghanistan and Iraq. Paravant is a subsidiary of Xe, formerly known as Blackwater, owned by Erik D. Prince, president of The Prince Group. Steven McClain and Justin Cannon, two former Paravant security personnel stationed in Afghanistan, were involved in a fatal shooting incident that left one Afghan civilian dead and two others wounded in Kabul on May 5, 2009.
Guantanamo suspect to be tried in U.S. court in 2010 02 Jul 2009 The first detainee transferred from Guantanamo Bay to a U.S. civilian court will go on trial on September 13, 2010, a Manhattan federal court judge said on Thursday. Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian national, has been charged with conspiring in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya that killed 224 people.
'I have to refer you to the Government of Israel.' U.S. Department of State Middle East Digest 01 Jul 2009 QUESTION: Erin Connors from Press TV. Former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and members of the Free Gaza Movement were intercepted by the Israeli army when they were on a humanitarian mission over there. What’s being done about that? Are they on their way home? Will they be deported? What’s the next step there, and will their supplies ever get to where they’re going? IAN KELLY: On that last question, I don’t know the answer, actually. I think I have to refer you to the Government of Israel. We can confirm that the Israeli navy did arrest those on board this – the ship which is known as Spirit. We can't comment on any of the individuals or the number of individual American citizens on board because of Privacy Act concern. [OH, but you would comment from here to Armageddon if Ahmadinejad sneezed or you heard there were missing ballots in Tehran, right? Can you *imagine* what would happen if Iran or Venezuela intercepted a vessel and/or incarcerated a former congressperson and Nobel Prize winner? Instead of covering Neverland 24/7, Faux would be covering the US shock & awe bombardment of the offending nation. --LRP]
Activists Held by Israel for Trying to Break Gaza Blockade 03 Jul 2009 Nineteen foreign activists of the pro-Palestinian Free Gaza Movement were being held in Israel awaiting deportation on Thursday, two days after the Israeli Navy seized control of their boat off Gaza. A former United States Representative, Cynthia McKinney, and an Irish peace activist and Nobel laureate, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, were among those being held. Two additional Israeli activists were released without being charged on Wednesday, according to the group.
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. [Updated!]
U.S. re-approves Israel loan guarantees program 30 Jun 2009 The United States has re-approved its Israel loan guarantees program, subject to meeting fiscal targets, the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem said Tuesday. The move comes amid tensions between Israel and the Obama administration over Jerusalem's settlement policy in the West Bank. In 2002, the U.S. provided a package of $9 billion in loan guarantees, where Israel could sell bonds internationally with the backing of the United States.
Merkel urges immediate halt to WB settlements 02 Jul 2009 German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the ongoing construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank hampers efforts for a two-state solution with Palestinians. "I think it is now important to get commitments from all sides and that includes the issue of settlement building. I am convinced that there must be a stop to this. Otherwise we will not come to the two-state solution that is urgently needed," Merkel said in an address to the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
Britain fails on deadline for withdrawal of ambassadors from Tehran 03 Jul 2009 Britain was rebuffed last night in its attempt to secure an EU deadline for the withdrawal of the bloc's 27 ambassadors from Tehran if a local embassy employee in Iranian custody was not released. Representatives of the EU's foreign ministries offered a pledge of solidarity with the UK but officials said it was unlikely that more discussions today (FRI) would produce an ultimatum.
U.S. declares Iraq-based group foreign terrorist organization 02 Jul 2009 The U.S. government on Thursday said it has declared Kata'ib Hizballah a foreign terrorist organization, saying the group is linked to Lebanon's Hezbollah and has posed a threat to stability in Iraq. The designation means the Iraq-based militant group's assets will be frozen and Americans will be prohibited from providing it with any resources, the State Department said in a statement.
US soldier is snatched by same Afghan group who kidnapped reporters 03 Jul 2009 An American soldier who wandered off his remote position in eastern Afghanistan is believed to have been captured by the same 'insurgents' responsible for the kidnap last year of a New York Times reporter. [Xe?] Military officials said that the soldier disappeared from his base in Paktika province on Tuesday and was listed as "duty status whereabouts unknown" after he was found to be missing in a routine check.
US allied forces march into Taliban territory 02 Jul 2009 Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan have been infiltrated by US Marines who are part of a major operation under the imprimatur of President Barack Obama. As part of the president’s strategy to stabilise the country 4,000 marines have been sent in to destroy Taliban lairs.
Jones: U.S. plans coordinated response if North Korea fires missile 02 Jul 2009 If North Korea fires a missile at Hawaii on or around the July Fourth holiday, as Japanese reports have warned, the U.S. plans a measured response in coordination with Russia, China, Japan and South Korea. In an exclusive interview with McClatchy Newspapers, White House national security adviser James L. Jones said of North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Il: "Our reaction will be dependent on what it is they do over the next few days, few weeks, whatever it is."
North Korean rockets fired out to sea 02 Jul 2009 North Korea has test-fired two short-range missiles. The missiles were shot from an east coast base near the eastern port of Wonsan. Tensions have been recently been high in the region, due to North Korea remaining defiant after the UN condemned its long-range rocket launch on April 5th and its May 25th nuclear test.
Honduran coup leader a two-time SOA graduate 29 Jun 2009 The general who overthrew the democratically elected president of Honduras is a two-time graduate of the U.S. Army School of the Americas, an institution that has trained hundreds of coup leaders and human rights abusers in Latin America. Gen. Romeo Orlando Vásquez Velásquez toppled President Manuel Zelaya in a pre-dawn coup on Sunday, surrounding the presidential palace with more than 200 soldiers and tanks and tear-gassing a crowd outside. The president was abducted and taken to an Air Force base before being flown to Costa Rica.
Britain braces for 100,000 swine flu cases a day 02 Jul 2009 Britain faces a projected 100,000 new swine flu cases a day by the end of August and must revamp its flu strategy to cope, the nation's health minister said Thursday. Britain has officially reported 7,447 swine flu cases and three deaths, but officials acknowledge the real number of cases is far higher, since many with the virus have not been tested.
UK bans tell-all book on counter-terrorism 02 Jul 2009 UK government has banned a tell-all book about Metropolitan Police crackdown on terrorist written by former anti-terror chief. "The Terrorist Hunters" which is a memoir by retired assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Andy Hayman banned the night before it was due to hit the shelves on Thursday. The attorney general's office announced the injunction just before midnight on Wednesday.
Blast hits Canadian gas pipeline --Police: 5th act of sabotage in region over past year 02 Jul 2009 A gas leak, at a pipeline in Canada's western British Columbia province, has been caused by a blast that police say is the fifth act of sabotage in the region over the past year. The oil and natural gas company informed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Wednesday, after company employees noticed a loss in pressure in the pipeline close to Dawson Creek, in the northeast of the province.
Should linking be illegal? In a misguided attempt to aid newspapers, one of America's most influential judges is suggesting a new copyright law 01 Jul 2009 Those who wish to keep the internet free and open had best dust off their legal arguments. One of America's most influential conservative judges, Richard Posner, has proposed a ban on linking to online content without permission. The idea, he said in a blog post last week, is to prevent aggregators and bloggers from linking to newspaper websites without paying.
Oops! The PentaPost -- facilitators of the 2000 and 2004 GOP coups and enablers of Bush/Cheney's war crimes and treason -- is caught with its grubby little paws in the cookie jar! Amid Criticism, Post Drops "Appalling" Plan to Sell Access --Paper Reportedly Offered Lobbyists Private Meetings with Reporters, Editors for $25,000 02 Jul 2009 The Washington Post is nixing a reported plan to sell access to its newsroom staff and Obama administration officials to lobbyists and corporate interests, a spokeswoman for the paper said Thursday.
WaPo cancels lobbyist event amid uproar 02 Jul 2009 Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said today she was canceling plans for an exclusive "salon" at her home where for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to "those powerful few" -- Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors. The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter.
Jobless rate at 9.5% - worst since 1983 02 Jul 2009 The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent in June, a 26-year high, as employers continued to slash payrolls, according to a Labor Department report today that estimates 14.7 million Americans were out of work last month. Employers cut 467,000 jobs in June, as construction and manufacturing continued to suffer big losses.
Goldman Sachs Is A Vampire Squid, Rolling Stone Says 02 Jul 2009 In a riveting article in its July 9-23 issue, "Goldman Sachs: The Great American Bubble Machine," Rolling Stone describes the investment bank as a "great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money." The author, Matt Taibbi, makes a strong case for why Goldman Sachs is partially, if not wholly, to blame for the Great Depression, the .com bubble, the subprime crisis, and last year's oil price spikes, through questionable practices such as laddering. He suggests that Goldman is poised to create a new bubble out of the nascent cap-and-trade markets.
US credit card companies jack up rates By Andre Damon 02 Jul 2009 Credit card companies have in recent months sharply raised the rates they charge customers, as credit card defaults have risen to record levels. Citigroup, the recipient of a $25 billion government bailout, has increased rates for millions of credit card customers by around one fourth. JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest issuer of credit cards, also said it would raise its minimum payment rate from 2 to 5 percent for customers behind on payments. The hikes come amid news that default rates for personal credit cards have hit record high levels.
SC governor silent as clamor grows for resignation 02 Jul 2009 After days of soul-baring and often odd confessions and apologies about an adulterous affair, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) went silent as the clamor for his resignation grew. Sanford, who has said he won't resign, made no public appearances Wednesday, as he figures out how to salvage the last 18 months of his second and last term and his 20-year marriage.
Previous lead stories: ACLU Says Government Used False Confessions 02 Jul 2009 The American Civil Liberties Union yesterday accused the Obama administration of using statements elicited through torture to justify the confinement of a detainee it represents at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The ACLU is asking a federal judge to throw out those statements and others made by Mohammed Jawad, an Afghan who may have been as young as 12 when he was captured. His attorney argued that Jawad was abused in U.S. custody, threatened and subjected to intense sleep deprivation. "The government's continued reliance on evidence gained by torture and other abuse violates centuries of U.S. law and suggests the current administration is not really serious about breaking with the past," said ACLU lawyer Jonathan Hafetz, who is representing Jawad in a lawsuit challenging his detention.
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.
Yellowstone National Park earthquake update - "only" two earthquakes so far today - 10pm CDT July 3, 2009
Update time = Thu Jul 2 21:00:04 MDT 2009
Here are the earthquakes appearing on this map, most recent at top ...
MAG DATE LOCAL-TIME LAT LON DEPTH LOCATION
y/m/d h:m:s deg deg km
0.9 2009/07/02 05:55:59 44.372N 110.570W 2.4 53 km (33 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.3 2009/07/02 05:48:43 44.367N 110.572W 2.2 54 km (33 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.8 2009/07/01 07:19:30 44.749N 110.776W 2.4 28 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.8 2009/06/30 16:41:15 44.762N 110.763W 7.8 29 km (18 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.7 2009/06/30 15:12:41 44.751N 110.782W 4.0 27 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.1 2009/06/30 13:19:37 44.757N 110.778W 5.8 28 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.3 2009/06/30 11:47:29 44.757N 110.778W 5.7 28 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.4 2009/06/30 11:33:16 44.751N 110.786W 2.1 27 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.2 2009/06/30 11:13:21 44.755N 110.787W 0.4 27 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
2.2 2009/06/30 10:52:33 44.745N 110.788W 6.4 27 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.2 2009/06/30 10:38:18 44.752N 110.782W 1.8 27 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.1 2009/06/30 10:34:12 44.753N 110.784W 2.4 27 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.3 2009/06/30 10:25:42 44.754N 110.779W 4.0 28 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.1 2009/06/30 10:14:41 44.751N 110.782W 3.0 27 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.5 2009/06/30 10:10:10 44.748N 110.785W 5.3 27 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.6 2009/06/30 10:08:38 44.749N 110.781W 2.1 27 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.4 2009/06/30 10:08:12 44.752N 110.779W 4.3 28 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.5 2009/06/30 10:02:38 44.753N 110.779W 4.7 28 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.0 2009/06/30 10:00:06 44.744N 110.785W 6.7 27 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.6 2009/06/30 09:57:48 44.751N 110.787W 5.2 27 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.6 2009/06/30 09:57:13 44.763N 110.775W 7.7 28 km (18 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.4 2009/06/30 09:56:55 44.763N 110.781W 7.9 28 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.3 2009/06/30 09:55:52 44.835N 110.749W 17.0 23 km (14 mi) S of Gardiner, MT
0.4 2009/06/30 09:55:24 44.769N 110.771W 7.5 29 km (18 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.6 2009/06/30 09:52:34 44.743N 110.792W 2.1 26 km (16 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.3 2009/06/30 09:52:06 44.746N 110.791W 6.6 27 km (17 mi) ENE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.1 2009/06/26 20:48:58 44.730N 111.136W 14.2 8 km ( 5 mi) NNW of West Yellowstone, MT
News Updates from Citizens For Legitimate Government | 02 Jul 2009
Lawsuit accuses Xe contractors of murder, kidnapping, child prostitution 02 Jul 2009 A just-amended lawsuit alleges six additional instances of unprovoked attacks on Iraqi civilians by Blackwater mercenaries. Three people, including a 9-year-old boy, are said to have died. Also added to the suit is a racketeering count accusing Blackwater founder Erik Prince of running an ongoing criminal enterprise involved in, among other things, kidnapping and child prostitution. The latest charges, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, bring to more than 60 the number of Iraqis allegedly killed or wounded since 2005 by armed Blackwater mercenaries guarding U.S. diplomatic personnel in Iraq. The Moyock, N.C.-based security company, since renamed Xe, earned more than $1 billion under that contract before the State Department, under pressure from the Iraqi government, let it lapse in May.
Senate Investigates Blackwater Subsidiary 01 Jul 2009 The Senate Armed Services Committee is investigating the mercenary firm Paravant LLC which provides contracted services to the U.S. Army in Afghanistan and Iraq. Paravant is a subsidiary of Xe, formerly known as Blackwater, owned by Erik D. Prince, president of The Prince Group. Steven McClain and Justin Cannon, two former Paravant security personnel stationed in Afghanistan, were involved in a fatal shooting incident that left one Afghan civilian dead and two others wounded in Kabul on May 5, 2009.