THE POWER HOUR Team Network News | June 3, 2009

Northwestern Mutual Makes First Gold Buy in 152 Years -- Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., the third-largest U.S. life insurer by 2008 sales, has bought gold for the first time the company’s 152-year history to hedge against further asset declines. “Gold just seems to make sense; it’s a store of value,” Chief Executive Officer Edward Zore said in an interview following his comments at a conference hosted by Standard & Poor’s in Brooklyn. “In the Depression, gold did very, very well.”

Expired passport prevents Brazilian from boarding missing plane -- A Brazilian man said his expired passport saved his life and the life of his friend as he was not allowed to board the missing Air France plane, Brazilian media reported on Tuesday.

US accidentally leaks maps of nuclear sites -- A 266-page classified document detailing information about United States civilian nuclear sites and programs was accidentally made public by the federal government, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The Emergence of President Obama's Muslim Roots -- During a conference call in preparation for President Obama's trip to Cairo, Egypt, where he will address the Muslim world, deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Denis McDonough said

SAILORS NOW TO BECOME GUINEA PIGS FOR NEW H1N1 VACCINE? -- Vical Inc. (VICL 2.18, -0.02, -0.91%) said Thursday that in the two weeks since launching its program to develop a vaccine against H1N1 influenza, or swine flu, it has completed development of a prototype vaccine, produced an initial supply and initiated immunogenicity testing on animals. The firm said that, assuming a successful outcome of this testing and a commitment for external funding, it is ready to advance directly to large-scale manufacturing of the vaccine for human clinical trials to be conducted by the U.S. Navy.

33 OF THE HEALTHIEST FOODS ON EARTH -- Read the Healthiest Foods on Earth.

Katrina trailers for sale — for $5 or less -- The Obama administration will announce plans today to virtually give away roughly 1,800 mobile homes to 3,400 families displaced by Hurricane Katrina who are living in government-provided housing along the Gulf Coast, officials said.

Bomb threat AIR FRANCE in S America -- Days Before Flight Disappeared over Atlantic? -- This came from Drudge Report - May 27, 2009: 'The airport safety delayed an AIR FRANCE flight this evening before departing for Paris immediately after the company received a bomb threat over the phone at the airport of Ezeiza [Buenos Aires]'. (The article is no longer on the web....This is a cache of the article).

Obama to Sell B-2 Bomber Blueprints to China to Pay Off Debt? -- On April 1st, President Obama spoke to Chinese Premier Hu Jintao during the G20 Summit. During this meeting, Mr. Hu expressed interest in writing off some of the US debt in exchange for military technology. The President has since referred the matter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The Defense Department is reportedly furious with the President's proposal to sell blueprints of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber to the People's Republic.

W.H.O. says it's close to declaring a flu pandemic & raising to level 6 -- Moving closer to declaring swine flu a worldwide pandemic. The disease has reached 64 countries, and there have been dozens or hundreds of cases in several nations outside North America, including Britain, Spain, Japan, Chile and Australia.
And who benefits? AstraZeneca gets $90 million swine flu vaccine order -- AstraZeneca's (AZN.L) MedImmune biotechnology unit has won an initial $90 million order from the U.S. government to make a live attentuated vaccine against the new H1N1 flu strain, it said on Monday.

GM to sell Hummer to Chinese company -- GM has a buyer for Hummer, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company of China plans to buy the company. GM says the deal would likely save more than 3,000 jobs, including hundreds in our area. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Mishawaka plant will continue to make the H2.

Texas deputies searching for mysterious 'rocket-like' object -- A Continental Express jet pilot reported a close call with an unidentified flying object. Now officials from the FAA are trying to determine just what happened in the skies over Liberty County.

USS Liberty: Sailor Awarded Silver Star for '67 Actions -- A former Sailor whose quick action aboard the USS Liberty 42 years ago kept it from sinking was awarded a Silver Star Wednesday in the Visilia, Calif., office of Rep. David Nunes.

U.S. auto sales rise in May -- U.S. sales of cars and light trucks rose 13 percent in May when compared with April, even as two of the nation's automakers grappled with reorganizations.

California to run out of cash in 14 days -- The state wallet is empty. The bank closed. Credit has dried up, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told lawmakers in a special Tuesday morning address at the Capitol. “California’s day of reckoning is here,” he said. With no action, the state will run out of cash in 14 days. Three months after the state budget was approved, California faces a $24 billion deficit.

War Stories: The Greatest Generation remembers -- A soldier's final tribute. They all lived through the Great Depression, and when their country asked for help they answered the call, never dreaming that some day they would be dubbed the Greatest Generation.

House panel wants new review of BPA safety -- The federal investigation comes after the Journal Sentinel revealed Saturday that lobbyists met last week at an exclusive club in Washington to hammer out a public relations strategy to sell the benefits of BPA to the American public, including "befriending people that are able to manipulate the legislative process."

Crisis as backlog of benefits claims at VA top 1 million -- During the past four months, the Department of Veterans Affairs backlog of unfinished disability claims grew by more than 100,000, adding to an already mountainous backlog that is now close to topping one million.

New Zealand most peaceful country; Canada 8th; US 83rd -- The economic downturn has made the world more violent and unstable in the last year, according to a study Tuesday that ranked New Zealand as the most peaceful country and Iraq the least.

End of Live Free or Die Rally the end of free assembly in America? -- The 4th Annual New Hampshire Live Free or Die Rally is quickly sinking into a quagmire of bureaucratic red tape, and with no 11th hour reprieve on the horizon, chief organizer Jean Coutu may have to cancel.

Computer modeling shows that strategies to rein in epidemics need to be retooled for rural populations -- An infectious disease striking a large city may seem like a disastrous scenario -- millions of people sharing apartment buildings, crammed on buses and trains and brushing past one another on crowded sidewalks. A group of Kansas State University engineers is finding that a truly disastrous epidemic scenario could also take place in the wide-open spaces of the Great Plains. Read More...

Fighting for the right to grow food in Los Angeles -- Just how much trouble can one community garden start? For starters, three years of court proceedings, two eviction notices, one assault charge, countless allegations of corruption, and $16 million worth of fundraising. Read More...

Farm groups counter call for GMO wheat -- Farm and environment groups opposed to genetically modified wheat are countering a call from other farm organizations for biotech companies to commercially develop it.

Former MI6 chief says Big Brother has gone too far -- Warning: Sir Richard Dearlove is concerned about the loss of liberties in 'Big Brother' Britain.

Federal court says states can regulate guns -- A federal appeals court in Chicago ruled today that the Second Amendment doesn't bar state or local governments from regulating guns, adopting the same position that Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, did when faced with the same question earlier this year.

Florida county requires fingerprints to resell video games -- For many young Americans, reselling video games to pick up the newest, latest and greatest is simply the only choice to keep up with the fast-paced, high-dollar industry (which is about to kick off a massive annual trade show in Los Angeles).

Taxed for nothing -- With all the trillions of dollars of new money being deficit-spent by the US federal government, not the least of which is the mind-boggling US$1.84 trillion in new deficit-spending that the Barack Obama administration and Congress have conspired to enact and spend This Freaking Year (TFY), it is at least amusing to know that we taxpayers are paying taxes for nothing! Hahaha! Paying taxes for nothing!

FDA asks if supplement labeling notifications are a burden -- The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked the dietary supplement industry for feedback on the burden of notifying the agency of claims made on their product labels.

Drug samples handed out by doctors pose risks to patients -- According to Dr. Chimonas and Dr. Kassirer, these findings show that prescription drug samples often reach people they weren't intended for -- and the obvious result is that these medications are frequently misused and abused.

Interactive data eyeglasses (this is wild!) -- The data eyeglasses can read from the engineer's eyes which details he needs to see on the building plans. A CMOS chip with an eye tracker in the microdisplay makes this possible. The eyeglasses are connected to a PDA, display information and respond to commands.