The Bailout Needs a Bailout » The Foundry:
"To recap, the Bush Administration’s latest $6 billion bailout of GMAC, bringing the first round of the GM bailout total to $23.4 billion, pushes the total money committed by the Troubled Asset Relief Program past the initial $350 billion authorized by Congress. In other words, TARP now has now made specific promises to spend more money than it actually has the authority to spend. The bailout is now in need of a bailout."
"Religious Jews protest against Israel in New York city; explaining that conflict between Arabs and Jews is political, not religious as Zionist/Israeli propaganda would have you believe. "
BreakthroughAlert.com: Is a volcano big enough to cause an ice age really about to blow its top?:
"
~ Latest Flash (12/31 9:48AM): level of seismic activity still increasing ~ The most potentially destructive volcano on earth, the Yellowstone Caldera in Wyoming (see map), has recently begun experiencing an unusually strong and persistent earthquake swarm that has scientist concerned because it might indicate an impending eruption (see Today's Seismogram Display). Yellowstone is labeled a super volcano, because the pool of magma under the ground is a stunning 34 miles x 45 miles in size. Large enough that an eruption is expected to eject sufficient material to plunge the entire planet into a new ice age. The ridge shown in the photo is the rim of the huge caldera from the last eruption. Ash recovered from sediment over wide areas of North America shows that Yellowstone has had previous super volcanic eruptions 2.1 million, 1.3 million and 640,000 years ago."
GM crops found to affect reproduction in mice: Austrian study - Technology News - SINA English:
"VIENNA – Genetically-modified maize can affect reproduction in mice, an Austrian study has found, although its authors have dismissed warnings by environmental groups that it could also harm humans.
The long-term study, which was commissioned by the Austrian health ministry, found that female mice that had been given a diet consisting of 33 percent genetically-modified (GM) maize had fewer babies and fewer litters than those fed on non-GM food after a few generations."
"I was riding to work yesterday when I observed a female driver cut right in front of a pickup truck, causing him to have to drive onto the shoulder to avoid hitting her.
This evidently angered the driver enough that he hung his arm out his window and 'flipped' the woman off.
'Man, that guy is stupid,' I thought to myself. I ALWAYS smile nicely and wave in a sheepish manner whenever a female does anything to me in traffic, and here's why.......... "
Some Pretty Funny Stuff -- Courtesy of The Freeman Institute...:
"
1. I base most of my fashion taste on what doesn't itch.-Gilda Radner-
2. I've been on so many blind dates, I should get a free dog. -Wendy Liebman-
3. I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb and I also know that I'm not blonde. -Dolly Parton-
4. I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on. -Roseanne Barr-
5. Behind every successful man is a surprised woman. -Maryon Pearson-
6. I want to have children, but my friends scare me. One of my friends told me she was in labor for 36 hours. I don't even want to do anything that feels good for 36 hours. -Rita Rudner-
7. I think -- therefore I'm single. -Lizz Winstead-
8. Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth. -Erma Bombeck-
9. If high heels were so wonderful, men would still be wearing them. -Sue Grafton-
10. You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart woman with a dumb guy. -Erica Jong-"
Retired Black White House Butler Talks About His Experience, Obama « Hello, Negro:
"Eugene Allen, 89, a retired White House butler, tries on his old tuxedo for a photo. Allen, who served eight presidents during a period when America ’s racial history was being rewritten, is marveling at the election of Barack Obama."
New Report: Worldwide Bankruptcy Wave About to Hit:
"Europe and the U.S. are about to experience a significant increase in business failures.
That's the conclusion reached by Paris-based Euler Hermes, the world's largest credit insurer, in a recently released 57-page report on business insolvencies worldwide.
With the exception of Japan, which recently emerged from its own 'Lost Decade,' Euler expects that almost every country in the world will see a rise in insolvencies far greater than previous economic downturns."
"This is the first of two stories about disparities in the way people of different races are treated in the Cuyahoga County courts. "
One-year old boy kept alive by cats! - allvoices.com:
"While the boy was sleeping peacefully around 8 cats were on top on him quite busy licking his body because he was very dirty. She said, ‘When I walked over they became really protective and spat at me. They were keeping the boy warm while he slept.’ The officer also noticed scraps of food near the boy and it was assumed that the boy was probably feeding on those scraps."
CNSNews.com - Democrat Says Fairness Doctrine Should Extend to Cable, Satellite TV:
"‘The so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine’ would restrict free speech on the public airwaves, stifling dissent at a time when an open national dialogue about our country’s future is essential,’ Boehner said in a news release on Tuesday."
"Who can blame Galveston plainclothes police who thought a 12-year-old girl standing outside her house (flipping the switch on the circuit breaker as her mother has asked her to do) was a prostitute? After all, she was wearing 'tight shorts' according to the vigilant officers, and she happened to live only two blocks away from a location where someone had complained that prostitution was taking place.
So the three brave officers did the natural thing: they allegedly jumped the girl and beat her up, according to Courthouse News and the Houston Press.
"
The Raw Story | Bush Administration created executive pay loophole:
"Pressured by constituents who worried that companies would take government aid and continue to pay their executives eye-popping bonuses, Congress inserted a provision that would penalize companies who took taxpayer money and shelled out outsized bonuses.
But at the last minute, Bush officials insisted on a one-sentence provision that stopped the measure in its tracks, according to congressional aides who spoke to the Washington Post.
The change stipulated that the sanction would only apply to firms that sold mortgage backed securities to the government at auction, which the Bush Treasury Department said would be the method they'd use to infuse troubled companies with bailout cash."
Recession seen worsening, deflation a risk | Reuters:
"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The 'nasty' U.S. recession will tighten its grip next year as unemployment rises and weak home and stock prices imperil consumers, finance firms and debt-laden businesses, a UCLA Anderson Forecast report released on Thursday said.
Additionally, a sustained retreat in prices for goods and services is a very real possibility that would further drag on the economy, according to the forecasting unit's report.
'Where only last quarter we were worried about inflation, we are now worried about its very rare opposite: deflation,' the report said. Falling prices would cut demand and discourage employers from hiring."
The Memory Hole > Henry Ford and the Nazis:
"Henry Ford's reward from Hitler finally came in July 1938, when on his seventy-fifth birthday he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle. Ford was the first American and the fourth person in the world to receive this medal, which was the highest decoration that could be given to any non-German citizen. Benito Mussolini, another of Hitler's financiers, had been decorated with the same honor earlier that year.[128]"
Males of All Species Are Becoming More Female:
"Thousands of chemicals released into the environment are interfering with animal and human endocrine systems, resulting in physical changes. Comprehensive research indicates that these chemicals, nicknamed ‘gender-benders,’ are causing the males in many species to become feminized."
Related Topic: Baby boys born with smaller penises
Sources in this Story
The ill effects of these chemicals have in fact been documented for the human male populations as well. A study led by the Center for Reproductive Epidemiology at the University of Rochester examined baby boys from three different regions of the United States whose mothers had been exposed to substances containing phthalates. Researchers tested expectant mothers for the presence of these chemicals in their urine. Mothers with higher levels of the chemical tended to give birth to baby boys with smaller penises and in some cases, incompletely descended testicles.
Sheriff: Eviction Heartless During Winter, Recession - Local News Story - WLWT Cincinnati:
"HAMILTON, Ohio -- An area sheriff has ordered deputies to ignore eviction orders when people have nowhere else to live.
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said evictions in winter weather and during an economic recession are heartless and those cases should be sent back to the courts and resolved some other way."
CTV.ca | Worker affidavits allege Taser problems:
"CTV News has obtained court documents that suggest thousands of Tasers may be defective.
The documents are the words of insiders -- factory workers at the Arizona plant which makes the controversial devices.
The workers expressed concern about the stun-guns firing excessive electrical charges in affidavits signed for a 2005 lawsuit.
The lawsuit was brought against Taser International by its own shareholders, who were concerned the company had not disclosed safety deficiencies.
"
"In March 2006 Taneka Talley was stabbed to death while at work. The Fairfield, California Dollar Tree clerk left behind a son who should be getting death benefits. He's not because the man who killed his mother did so because she was black.
The insurance company claims that Talley's death has to do with the colour of her skin which isn't job related.
The man who killed the young mother had never met her before. The death was a random act of violence. It happened on the job. The insurance company, Specialty Risk Services, is taking the low road though and using the theory that had Talley been another race she would still be alive and therefore it's not work related. "
My Way News - Panel urges Obama to consider hacker-response plan:
"WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama should create a new White House office to protect cyberspace from hackers, thieves and foreign agents, coordinating security efforts across U.S. military, intelligence and civilian agencies, according to a new report from a panel of leading government and industry experts.
The report, expected to be made public Monday on Capitol Hill, also urges Obama's new administration and Congress to pass new laws to allow for speedier investigations - and in some cases quicker retaliation once intruders are identified. It proposed online 'data warrants,' for example, rather than traditional search warrants, which it said 'may be increasingly impracticable in the online environment.'"
Laid-off workers occupy Chicago factory, seek pay | U.S. | Reuters:
"CHICAGO (Reuters) - Invoking Main Street resentment of Wall Street's federal bailout, some 200 workers entered their third day of occupying a shuttered Chicago window and door factory on Sunday, demanding that Bank of America agree to pay them severance plus vacation pay.
Workers belonging to the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers union began their peaceful occupation of the plant on Friday after family-owned Republic Windows & Doors said it was closing after Bank of America canceled its line of credit.
The workers said Republic Windows & Doors gave them only three days notice of Friday's closing instead of the 60 days required by law, and owes them roughly $3,500 per worker including unused vacation pay.
A union spokeswoman said Bank of America is not letting the company pay the workers.
'We're just shocked that Bank of America, after receiving $25 billion in bailout money, not only do they refuse to extend credit to companies but, to add insult to injury, they don't allow these companies to fulfill their legal obligations to their workers,' union spokeswoman Leah Fried said."
Op-Ed Columnist - A Killer Without Borders - NYTimes.com:
"As if you didn’t have enough to worry about ... consider the deadly, infectious and highly portable disease sitting in the lungs of a charming young man here, Garik Hakobyan. In effect, he’s a time bomb.
Mr. Hakobyan, 34, an artist, carries an ailment that stars in the nightmares of public health experts — XDR-TB, the scariest form of tuberculosis. It doesn’t respond to conventional treatments and is often incurable.
XDR-TB could spread to your neighborhood because it isn’t being aggressively addressed now, before it rages out of control. It’s being nurtured by global complacency."
Proposed fee on smelly cows, hogs angers farmers - Yahoo! News:
"MONTGOMERY, Ala. – For farmers, this stinks: Belching and gaseous cows and hogs could start costing them money if a federal proposal to charge fees for air-polluting animals becomes law.
Farmers so far are turning their noses up at the notion, which is one of several put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution.
'This is one of the most ridiculous things the federal government has tried to do,' said Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, an outspoken opponent of the proposal."
Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security - washingtonpost.com:
"The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.
The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.
There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement."
Irene Monroe: This Era of Black Women and HIV/AIDS:
"Right here in the nation's capitol, the HIV/AIDS epidemic rivals that of many Third World countries. Washington D.C. affectionately dubbed as 'Chocolate City' is approximately 60 percent of people of African descent. And of it's residents one in 20 is thought to have HIV, and 1 in 50 of its residents to have AIDS. Of the 3,269 HIV cases identified between 2001 and 2006 who tested positive nine of 10 were African American."
"Nick Dial was a police officer who volunteered to be Tasered. Since then his health has suffered to such an extent that he can no longer work. And he's not alone; other police officers have suffered serious health problems, from vertebrae misalignments to heart arrhythmia and stroke. 'In its video, Taser International claims that nobody has suffered a serious injury or death as a result of the Taser, but that just isn't true,' says Dial. "
Prozac Ocean: Fish Absorb Our Drugs, and Suffer For It | Discoblog | Discover Magazine:
"Chemists have found that water downstream of water treatment plants holds a veritable medicine cabinet worth of antidepressants, including venlafaxine, bupropion (Wellbutrin), citalopram (Celexa), fluoxetine (Prozac) and sertraline (Zoloft)."
Medicare to Cover Prescription Handguns?:
"Several weeks ago you were kind enough to blog about the Palm Pistol. We thought you might be interested to learn that the FDA has completed its ‘Device/Not a Device’ determination and concluded the handgun will be listed as a Class I Medical Device, exempt from 510(k) Pre-Market Notification in accordance with 21 CFR 890.5050 ‘Daily Activity Assist Device.’
We have now submitted an application to the CMS contractor Noridian for a DME (Durable Medical Equipment) Coding Verification in order to be assigned an HCPCS code. Once assigned , physicians will be able to prescribe the Palm Pistol for qualified patients who may seek reimbursement through Medicare or private health insurance companies.
"
"Anti-government and bank rage reached a boiling point Monday in the small island nation of Iceland, where residents have seen unemployment and inflation skyrocket following the fall collapse of the Icelandic banking system. Iceland, a nation recently prided as a great example of the ‘Scandanavian Model’ of a prosperous welfare system, has in a matter of months been transformed into the least politically and ecnomically stable nation in Europe. The International Herald Tribune reports below-"
Mets: Citi Field will remain name of new ballpark: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance:
"NEW YORK (AP) -- Citi Field will remain the name of the New York Mets' new ballpark following a government bailout the team believes will help the struggling bank survive its economic crisis.
Citigroup agreed in 2006 to pay the Mets $400 million over 20 years for naming rights to the stadium, scheduled to open next year. Two New York City councilmen said last week that the $800 million ballpark's name should be changed to Citi/Taxpayer Field."
Broader medical refusal rule may go far beyond abortion - Los Angeles Times:
"Reporting from Washington -- The outgoing Bush administration is planning to announce a broad new 'right of conscience' rule permitting medical facilities, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare workers to refuse to participate in any procedure they find morally objectionable, including abortion and possibly even artificial insemination and birth control."
'Crash taxes' add hefty fees for aid - MSN Money:
"Imagine you're cruising down the road when you hit a patch of black ice and slide into a guardrail. A passing motorist calls 911. Soon firetrucks and police arrive.
Weeks later, a $1,400 bill does, too -- for the cost of the police and firefighters who answered the call. What's worse, it's not covered by insurance, and it might scar your credit if you ignore it.
Sound implausible? It's happening in a number of towns, cities and counties in at least 24 states. And given today's cratering economy (and property-tax revenue), more strapped local governments may be tempted to authorize so-called accident response fees."
"(NaturalNews) Up to 90 percent of the infant formula sold in the United States may be contaminated with trace amounts of melamine, the toxic chemical linked to kidney damage, according to recent tests. The FDA's test results, which the agency hid from the public and only released after the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request, showed that Nestle, Mead Johnson and Enfamil infant formula products were all contaminated with melamine.
The AP is also reporting that Abbott Laboratories conducted its own in-house tests that detected trace levels of melamine in its formula products. Together, these infant formula manufacturers make about 90 percent of the infant formula sold in the United States."
Posts
All Comments
