Sense and Antisense

Greek Parliment Votes Austerity. Greek Citizens Vote Chaos..

2012-02-12T22:48:00.000-06:00

Here we go.. Greek financial and political discourse is about to get really rocky.. With real rocks. The Roundup begins now.. The Extinction Protocol, via Reuters.. Excerpts:

Historic cinemas, cafes, shops and banks were set ablaze in central Athens on Sunday as black-masked protesters fought Greek police outside parliament, while inside lawmakers looked set to defy the rage by endorsing a new EU/IMF austerity deal. State television reported violence spread to the islands of Corfu and Crete, the northern city of Thessaloniki and towns in central Greece. Shops were being looted in the capital in the worst breakdown of order since 2008 when violence gripped Greece for weeks after police shot a 15-year-old schoolboy. As parliament prepared to vote on a new 130 billion euro bailout to save Greece from a messy bankruptcy, a Reuters photographer saw buildings in Athens engulfed in flames and huge plumes of smoke rose in the night sky.

Yeah, it's burning..

So, what does this all mean? Tyler Durden from ZeroHedge 'splains and sums up..

The Greek parliament just passed the latest proposed austerity plan with a majority voting Yes. Judging by the reaction of the EURUSD, which experienced a modest 40 pip short covering squeeze in the last few minutes, one would imagine that today's Greek vote outcome is surprising. It isn't: after all, all Greece has done is promise to do something it won't do in hope it can get another bailout package, this time amounting to €210 billion (of which its people will pocket a de minimis 19%). As we said earlier: "The only real questions are i) what the Greek population may do in response to this latest selling out of a population "led" by an unelected banker, which if history is any precedent, the answer is not much, and ii) how Germany will subvert this latest event, and put the bail [sic] back in Greece's court once again."
Plus, a little funny for you..
..everyone knows revolutions in heavily socialist countries only start between 9 am and 5 pm, with a 2 hour break for siesta.

Not funny, though, is how the Greek people will respond to these financial shenanigans. Not well is the answer; Not well at all..

I fear for a social explosion: Greeks can't take any more punishment The Guardian. Excerpts:

Despair has enveloped Greece. This weekend the bankrupt nation, for that is what it is, began negotiating the latest act of a drama that many fear will end in catastrophe – financially, socially and politically.

In an electric atmosphere, with thousands demonstrating outside parliament, MPs began debating the arduous terms of a €130bn (£110bn) rescue package that the interim prime minister, Lucas Papademos

"A disorderly default," he said, referring to the 20 March deadline that Greece faces of repaying €14.5bn in maturing debt, "would plunge our country in a disastrous adventure. It would create conditions of uncontrolled economic chaos and social explosion."
..
But in both parties MPs are far from convinced. The country has reached a crossroads, of that there can be no doubt. But almost two years since it was first "rescued" with €110bn, the nation's acceptance of this latest lifeline puts it in a perilous place. Politicians, almost without exception, believe they are "damned if they do and damned if they don't".

After more than two decades reporting from Athens, I can only concur. For the truth – as unpalatable as it may be for the IMF, EU and European Central Bank, Greece's "troika" of creditors – is that, far from plugging the country's budget black holes, the harsh austerity pursued in the name of deficit-reducing goals has pushed it towards economic and social collapse. Relentless wage and pension cuts, tax rises and cost-cutting reforms have left the country a shadow of itself. In its fifth successive year of recession, Greece is a hollowed-out version of what it once was, coming apart at the seams a little more with each day. Men and women forage through rubbish bins late at night. More sleep on the streets. Last week as Eurostat, the European statistic agency, announced that poverty had engulfed more than a third of the nation, it was revealed that unemployment had also exceeded one million people, from a record 19% to 20.9% in one month.

"Nothing functions. Nobody pays anybody any more and the state is not just crumbling but in complete stasis," said Giorgos Kyrtsos, a prominent political commentator. "These guys," he said of officials in the troika of European agencies negotiating the bailout, "should really lose their jobs. They've miscalculated everything. I understand on Friday the police trade union called for their arrests. Well, maybe they are right!"

..
A series of resignations by ministers on Friday, unwilling to support the latest measures, not only underlined the panic of the political class – in a country where MPs no longer feel safe walking in the streets – but proved how tenuous public support is for the bailout. If there is to be a social explosion, many said that it would come because Greeks had been pushed too far. The loan agreement not only will lead to job losses and more cuts in salaries and pensions but a 22% reduction in the minimum wage.

Ferment on the street is back. The clashes during last week's second general strike are generally expected to be a prelude to something much more ominous. "There is going to be a huge social eruption," said Apostalia Kiroudi, an unemployed jeweller shouting herself hoarse in front of parliament.

"Our politicians lied to us. They never told us the truth, and now they want to pass policies that they have no mandate to do. As that sign says over there," she said, pointing to a friend holding a placard, "We choose to be free. Keep your money."

Things are going to devolve rapidly. The bankster gangsters won't take The People's shit, and vice versa. And the Greeks have proven time and again they're always up for a fight, and a fight they shall have. I sure hope Riot Dog has been resting up--In the coming days, he's going to be busy!

Speaking Of GIGANTIC Balls..

2012-02-11T00:55:00.000-06:00

Whose are bigger? Anonymous, or This Dude?

Both links courtesy of Raw Story.

14 signs that the collapse of our modern world has already begun

2012-02-10T19:31:00.001-06:00

The end is nigh, bitches.. Natural News. Excerpts:

A lot of people believe the world as we know it is going to end on December 23, 2012. Nonsense, I say. The far more honest answer is that the end of the world as we know it has already begun. And it doesn't mean the end of the world; it means the closing of one era and the birth of a new one. It is a transition between the ages. This particular transition, however, promises to be the most tumultuous and costly transition humankind has ever seen.

But don't wait around for December 2012 to look for the signs. Here are 14 signs that the world as we know it is unraveling right now. We are living through the end of one era and the birth of a new one. In the future, they'll look back and call this all one moment in history, but when you're living through it, it seems to move forward at almost a snail's pace. But make no mistake: We are living through the opening chapters of the end of the world as we know it, and on the other side of all this will emerge a new world that's very different from the one we know today.

#1 - Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis
#2 - The silence of the bees (Colony Collapse Disorder)
#3 - The failure of nuclear science (In a word, Fukushima..)
#7 - The runaway destruction of the world by energy companies (Ahh.. Delicious Corexit!)
#11 - The plummeting intelligence of the masses

#13 - The ongoing pharmaceutical pollution of our world

#14 - The radioactive contamination of the global food supply

Get the whole list and descriptors at the link. It's a tad disturbing to see them all grouped together like this, but then again, maybe more people will understand the severity of our collective situation. Probably not, though..

Fukushima Update: It's Everywhere! Edition..

2012-02-08T20:19:00.002-06:00

Reactor 2 seems to be in trouble; again.. E News (via Rense).. Excerpts:

[Masanori Naito, director in charge of nuclear safety analysis at the Institute of Applied Energy] presumes portion of the fuel which had been recorded before the board of the mesh condition which supports the fuel and dissolved fell to the bottom of the reactor, local like the hill, because accumulating, the calorific value (temperature) increased, with.

Bad Babelfish translation, but Big Picture? Problems. Nuclear Problems. Lots of 'em.

Integrity of Reactor No. 4 building a major concern among experts — Collapse of spent fuel pool could be even worse than 3 reactor meltdowns E News. Excerpts:

Again with the Babelfish translation, but you'll get it..
[...] TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto [...] said officials are investigating the cause of that leak, but that it was unlikely the pipe had been loosened by the many aftershocks that have hit the plant.

The structural integrity of the damaged Unit 4 reactor building has long been a major concern among experts because a collapse of its spent fuel cooling pool could cause a disaster worse than the three reactor meltdowns. [...]

Aside from the multiple meltdowns that have already happened..

Bird numbers plummet around stricken Fukushima plant Harbinger of The Future. The Independent. Excerpts:

Researchers working around Japan's disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant say bird populations there have begun to dwindle, in what may be a chilling harbinger of the impact of radioactive fallout on local life.
In the first major study of the impact of the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, the researchers, from Japan, the US and Denmark, said their analysis of 14 species of bird common to Fukushima and Chernobyl, the Ukrainian city which suffered a similar nuclear meltdown, showed the effect on abundance is worse in the Japanese disaster zone.
..
Many species show "dramatically" elevated DNA mutation rates, developmental abnormalities and extinctions, they add, while insect life has been significantly reduced.

Thankfully, no one will notice until they get HUGE and start attacking humans.

"Backup" Tokyo (Capital of Japan) to Be Considered Somewhere in Japan to Preserve Government Functions in Case of Disaster Ex-SKF. Excerpts:

Democratic Party of Japan will hold the first meeting of "the working group for backing up the core functions of the capital" (headed by Sumio Mabuchi. It is to prepare for the case of Tokyo devastated by an epicentral earthquake. The focus will be whether the group designates a location to temporarily move the function of the Prime Minister's Official Residence and the central government ministries. The group will submit the report to the government by the end of March.

The expert committee at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation started the discussion on backup functions of the capital last December, in light of the March 11, 2011 earthquake/tsunami. The committee says it won't specify the location [to which the functions will be moved], but heated campaigns to become a "backup" capital have already started among locations including Hokkaido, Osaka, and Fukuoka City.

Well, even after the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident, they still do not (or cannot) say they should consider a potential nuclear disaster when planning a backup capital. If they do consider, there may be nowhere in Japan that's suitable.

Pardon my pessimism, but isn't this talk a bit late? Really late?

US ex-diplomat pulls no punches on Japan Google. Wait; Google? Excerpts:

..Maher's main thesis is that Japan -- which has had six new prime ministers since 2006 -- has been crippled by a failure of its politicians to accept responsibility and, hence, to make hard decisions.

Maher pointed to the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which was devastated by the March 11 tsunami, and dismissed the government's declaration last month that it had stabilized the leaking reactors.

"It's not stable," Maher said recently at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. "Tokyo is safe, but Fukushima Daiichi is in really bad shape."
And:
Maher said that the US government was privately terrified over the unfolding crisis. He accused Japan's then prime minister, Naoto Kan, of evading responsibility and trying to pass the problem over to the plant's operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Co.

"I remember sitting on a task force many a time thinking, 'Who the hell is in control in Japan?' The government's not doing anything. Kan made one trip and flew up and got in the way and came back," Maher said.

Maher said that he watched in horror as he saw television footage of a sole helicopter dropping water on the stricken plant.

"Is that the best Japan can do?" Maher said.

Foreign Press Rents Tel Aviv Rooftops To Cover Iran War

2012-02-08T19:36:00.000-06:00

Disconcerting, yet snarky news from Eurasia Review (via Godlike Productions). Excerpts:

..They’re (Foreign press outlets) renting the right to put film crews and reporters on the city’s rooftops (Hebrew) during the upcoming war in order to cover the anticipated Iranian counterattack. That way they can get great photo ops and pictures of missiles wreaking havoc on the city. What a story! What a feast for the eyes! Other news organizations like CBS, Fox News, and NBC are sending their senior producers to Israel to scope out the place in case they have to send in the big boys–the news anchors and senior correspondents (especially since no one can report from Teheran!).

We can’t wait!

Are you getting the feeling 2012 won't be quiet, peaceful, or a piece of cake? Me, too..

Superbug Pneumonia: 37 States, 50% Mortality Rate

2012-02-06T18:29:00.000-06:00

Activist Post. As a frequent visitor to long term care facilities, this news is Not Awesome.. Excerpts:

This is possibly our biggest infection control dilemma yet.

Although cases of this particular pneumonia infection have been on the rise worldwide for the past 10 years, there is an alarming spread recently across the US.

What makes this opportunistic “superbug” such a nightmare is that it is Carbapenem-Resistant, meaning “last resort antibiotic” resistant. It’s a Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP); Klebsiella pneumoniae is a strain of Klebsiella which is related to E. Coli and Salmonella from the family Enterobacteriaceae.

Thirty-seven states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico have reported the outbreak, up from thirty-five states last year. The CDC believes it is also spreading in 14 other US territories but is going unreported.
..
Found inside the gut; outside of the gut, it can cause lethal infection. The major reservoirs of infection are the gastrointestinal tracts of patients, catheters, ventilators, unclean instruments, and the hands of hospital personnel. It zeros in on hospitals, ICUs, long-term care facilities like nursing homes, and those with immune-compromised conditions.

It is a potential community-acquired type of pneumonia (one not acquired from hospitals) and the bug has an incredible ability to mutate and resist. It does indeed carry a fatality rate of up to 50 percent or more! That's 10 percent more than last year's reports.
..
Now is an ideal time to avoid typical healthcare facilities and make or stock colloidal silver -- the best defense against resistant superbugs such as CRKP.

Since I can't, for the time being, avoid hospitals or nursing homes, it's all about washing hands and colloidal silver.. Stay away, Captain Tripps!

Eddie Long Apologizes to Jewish Group for King Ceremony

2012-02-06T17:31:00.001-06:00

King what? King Hypocritical Homophobe? King DownLow? King Kocksucker? King Loonyhomo? (The last one's my favorite, btw..) Looks like we're headed for a psychotic break of some kind.. Megalomania much, "Bishop?" BET.com has some of the mystifying details..

After being named a king at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in January, Bishop Eddie Long has now abdicated his throne and apologized to the Anti-Defamation League for the dubious coronation ceremony where he was draped in an alleged “Holocaust Torah.” (Seriously, would you believe this if someone had written it?)

"The ceremony was not my suggestion, nor was it my intent, to participate in any ritual that is offensive in any manner to the Jewish community, or any group. Furthermore, I sincerely denounce any action that depicts me as a King, for I am merely just a servant of the Lord," Long wrote in a letter addressed to Bill Nigut, southeast regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that fights anti-semitism. (Respectfully, "Bishop," I call bullshit. Every bit of this circus smacks of you! Own it, baby..)

Some members of the Jewish community were outraged when a video of Long’s ceremony circulated on the Internet depicting Long being presented with Jewish scrolls alleged to date back 300 years and which were rescued from Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. The ceremony was presided over by self-ordained Rabbi and Bible teacher Ralph Messer, who was visiting New Birth.

Nigut said he was "horrified" by the service, which had no roots in Jewish traditions.
And(Precursor/Stressor event):

Long has recently returned to the helm of his church after taking a leave of absence that coincided with his wife’s decision to file for divorce. Last year, Long also grabbed headlines for allegations of sexual abuse from several young men who were members of his Atlanta church.

This shocking bit Kraaazee! is a portent of something much larger, much more shocking, and much, much more Kraaaaaazzee! He just can't help himself.. In whatever shape it assumes, the next Shoe is about to Drop.. And hard.. Poor Eddie. Only the truth shall set you free. Your truth? You like dudes. Get over it.

If Those Russian Scientists Are Trying To Freak The World Out With Their Silence, It's Working..

2012-02-04T22:15:00.000-06:00

World holds its breath for Russian scientists drilling in Antarctic - as they try to find 'alien' underground lake before Tuesday 'date of no return' Somewhere, Peter Jackson salivates. The Daily Mail. Excerpts:

The scientific community is holding its breath for a team of Russian scientists that has been out of contact with colleagues in the U.S for six days, as they drill into a lake buried beneath the Antarctic ice for 20 million years.

They have to evacuate their station by Tuesday - when winter proper kicks in and temperatures start to drop to an inhospitable minus 90C.

The scientists are currently battling conditions of up to minus 66C at Lake Vostok as they raced to drill into a lake buried two miles beneath the ice before the weather closed in.

They were hoping water in the lake, the most inhospitable region of the planet, would reveal more about ancient life on our planet - but they have fallen silent just days before the deadly winter is due to begin.

Nice, horror movie setup here..

Their radio silence has chilling echoes of classic horror film The Thing, where scientists dig up a buried spacecraft in the Antarctic ice, only to unleash an extraterrestrial horror within.

Geothermal heat under the ice keeps the lake liquid, and its conditions are often described as 'alien' because they are thought to be akin to the subterranean lakes on Jupiter's moon Europa.

The water inside the lake will have had no contact with man-made pollutants or Earthly life forms for millions of years.
..
Valery Lukin, chief of the Russian Antarctic Expedition, said last month: 'We do not know what is waiting for us down there.'

Bonus "Nothing to see here--move along" statement:

But he (John Priscu, a Montana State University Antarctic researcher) insists the Russians are not lost.

'I can assure you that they are not lost or out of contact,' he wrote in an email to Foxnews,com. 'I never said the Russians were lost.'

He said they were 'working round the clock and trying to reach their goals as winter approaches. I completely understand why there are not communicating as frequently in the past.

'What I can tell you is that they are doing something that has never been done before — think of it, sampling a lake under 2.5 miles of ice at a location that is the highest, driest and coldest desert on our planet.

'I don't think there's anything sinister or ominous,' he added. 'The Russians have their own way of dealing with things, particularly the media, which I respect.

'There is nobody to call.'

I hope they bring back a really big alien or UFO, not some lame-ass ancient microbial contagion that kills everybody without us seeing it! What fun would that be? None! No fun whatsoever!

Technology's Effect On Society Is Healthy AND Awesome!

2012-02-04T20:00:00.000-06:00

Gamer lies dead in internet cafe for 9 HOURS before anyone notices 30 people sat around Chen Rong-yu did not realise anything was wrong.. Tragic and infuriating. The Daily Mail. Excerpts:

A young gamer lay dead in an internet cafe in Taiwan for nine hours before anyone noticed.

Chen Rong-yu, 23, is thought to have suffered a heart attack after playing League of Legends for 23 hours.

He was apparently still sat on the chair with his hands stretched out in front of the keyboard as if he was still playing in the cafe in New Taipei City.
..
Initial tests revealed he died after suffering a heart attack brought on by low temperatures, fatigue and lack of movement.

His family told the authorities he had been treated for a heart condition in September.

What's worse: Continuing sedentary behaviors with heart problems, or dying, and no one noticing? Is this the manifest behaviors of the technological "new normal?" "League of Legends" must be quite a little game..

Whistle-blower “Reactor 4 is inverse pyramid, very unstable and dangerous.”

2012-02-04T01:42:00.000-06:00

Dire, Catastrophic, or Pre-Apocalyptic? We're one big earthquake or explosion from finding out. Fukushima Diary. Excerpts:

A Japanese journalist (a former secretary of Japanese prime minister) tweeted about reactor 4.

More people are concerned about the situation of reactor 4.
..
A Tepco manager from engineering department showed this map of the fifth top floor of reactor 4. This is confidential.

When 311 happened, it (Reactor 4)was in periodic checkup, large cranes or other heavy facilities were gathered too much. The weight constitution is inverse pyramid, very unstable and dangerous.
Meanwhile, NOT on the fifth floor, Reactor 4 is cracked, so we've got that to look forward to..

Long Wave Astrology in February 2012 As Neptune Leaves Aquarius and Enters Pisces – Changing Global Mythologies In A 150 Year Dreamscape

2012-02-03T00:57:00.000-06:00

Astrological History Happens Today. From Robert Wilkinson's Aquarius Papers. Excerpts:

Neptune will re-enter Pisces on February 3, 11:03 am PST, 2:03 pm EST, 7:03 pm Greenwich. This begins a 14 year long, strange journey that will lead humanity along spiritual lines that happen only once every 164-180 years. It is also where we first turn the corner in a 500 year sub-Age that began 1888-1894.
..
Still, April and May gave us the first sense of the impending plunge into a great oceanic dreamscape that confronts humanity. In those months we got a front end experience of the larger collective atmosphere about to commence.
..
The end of Aquarius represents a culmination point of managed collective energies. It is where we go through spiritual transfigurations, emerge from a chrysalis, and transform our lives forever within a larger collective consciousness. Through Neptune we have all experienced this on some level, subtle or obvious.

It is a point where our understanding of ourselves as a collection of congealed light particles can be seen from a holistic angle of vision, where we see ourselves as “merest specks in the ocean of light.” Perhaps that’s why the reality of Light as the composing energetic factor in all material creation is now an accepted fact. All material creations derive from light, both in waves and particles. Those who have been open to these energies are now experiencing their “light nature,” whether they know it or not.
And:
So as Neptune says goodbye to Aquarius for about 135 years, take a moment to reflect on the fact that you’ve now experienced the exact point of "the cusp of the Age," where our past 2000 year Age of Pisces will soon give way to the coming 2000 year Age of Aquarius. This is a profound moment in the past and future history of humanity, and by understanding what we’ve felt about our Higher Self and purpose these past 22 months, we’ve tuned into the very first impressions of the coming Great Age of Aquarius.

It all starts today! Neptune has come home, and Pisces is In Full Effect. Don't dream it: Be it.

29 reported dead in Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico

2012-01-29T22:35:00.000-06:00

From The Extinction Protocol. Excerpts:

An ongoing swine flu outbreak in Mexico has left at least 29 people dead and nearly 1,500 others infected, health officials confirmed on Saturday. Thousands more are also ill as the country faces several types of flu this season. Since the start of the ongoing winter season, at least 7,069 people have reported suffering from symptoms similar to those of swine flu. Lab tests are still underway and have so far confirmed 1,456 cases of the disease, which is officially known as A/H1N1. According to Mexico’s Health Ministry (SSA), at least twenty-nine people have died of swine flu so far this season. While no health emergency has been declared, officials expect the death toll will rise in the coming weeks as Mexico also faces A/H3N2 and B influenza.

Lest we forget that Bird Flu has also reared its ugly head again.. We should be OK, though, as long as no Mexicans visit China, Egypt, Vietnam, or Indonesia.. Let's all do our part to keep potential pandemics isolated, and neutered!

Rupert's Hacking Scandal: The Gift That Keeps On Giving..

2012-01-29T17:20:00.003-06:00

..British police arrest 5 in tabloid bribery probe Go little Energizer Scandal; Go! Yahoo Finance. Excerpts:

The criminal investigation into British tabloid skullduggery turned full force on a second Rupert Murdoch publication Saturday, with the arrest of four current and former journalists from The Sun on suspicion of bribing police.

A serving police officer was also held, and authorities searched the newspaper's offices as part an investigation into illegal payments for information.
..
Murdoch's News Corp. confirmed that all four were current or former Sun employees. The BBC and other British media identified them as former managing editor Graham Dudman, former deputy editor Fergus Shanahan, current head of news Chris Pharo and crime editor Mike Sullivan. (Systemic, much?)

A fifth man, a 29-year-old police officer, was arrested at the London station where he works.
..
The investigation into whether reporters illegally paid police for information is running parallel to a police inquiry into phone hacking by Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World.

..
"News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated," it said in a statement. (Read: Next time, we won't get caught!)

..
Thirteen people have now been arrested in the bribery probe, though none has yet been charged. They include Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of Murdoch's News International; ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson — who is also Prime Minister David Cameron's former communications chief; and journalists from the News of the World and The Sun.

Two of the London police force's top officers resigned in the wake of the revelation last July that the News of the World had eavesdropped on the cell phone voicemail messages of celebrities, athletes, politicians and even an abducted teenager in its quest for stories.
..
As well as investigating phone hacking and allegations that journalists paid police for information, detectives are looking into claims of computer hacking by Murdoch papers.

News Corp. has admitted that the News of the World hacked the emails as well as the phone of Chris Shipman, the son of serial killer Harold Shipman. And The Times of London has acknowledged that a former reporter tried to intercept emails to unmask an anonymous blogger.

Lessee.. Top Murdoch executives, high ranking policemen, Prime Minister Cameron's former Communications Chief, computer and phone hacking.. Sure sounds like "a few bad apples" to me! Also, I'm sure none of those practices happen over here in the U.S., what with our Librul Meeedeeuh and all.. Happy 2012, Newscorp! We wish you well! So.. Much.. Well!

I Didn't Even Know There Was A "Walkergate!"

2012-01-28T01:58:00.000-06:00

Two more former aides to Scott Walker charged with crimes Daily Kos. More in-depth article here. Juicy tidbits? The behavior was Systemic, and comes complete with a Secret Email Network! Oh, so very Austin Powers, no? Excerpts:

As I posted a few days ago, additional charges were filed today in the ongoing John Doe Probe into the goings-on in Scott Walkers office while he was Milwaukee County Executive. These are in addition to the already filed charges that have come out of this case.

What most folks don't realize, though, is that these charges of political activity while using taxpayer funded facilities, equipment, and while being paid to perform official business for a taxpayer funded paycheck was where this John Doe Probe started in the fall of 2010. The investigation has gone in several different directions since then.

That means: this is the tip of the iceberg.

The scope of the investigation can be guessed at in the charges already levied.

Already charged was a businessman and supporter of Scott Walker who sidestepped campaign donation limits by funnelling additional funds to the Walker campaign through his employees. His plea bargain for this felony, in return for no jail time, was to pay the highest fine ever in Wisconsin history.

Now facing trial after being charged last week are 3 men, one of whom was Walkers Deputy Chief of Staff, charged with embezzling funds from a veterans group fund and child enticement.

What began as an investigation into the use of taxpayer resources and official time for political activities has taken several different directions since its inception. More and more wrongdoings are being uncovered. Todays charges are the only ones related to the original scope of the investigation.

Also coming out today is information that these weren't just a few rogue employees doing campaign work or political work on the taxpayers dime. This was an organized, systematic use of taxpayer resources to help Walker and his fellow Republicans:

Pop some popcorn. The Walker Takedown starts shortly, and man, it's gonna get ugly..

Three In A Row, All Near Tokyo..

2012-01-27T20:11:00.000-06:00

Earthquakes, that is..

Unofficial Notice courtesy of Godlike Productions..

USGS list here..

Now, Japan has lots of seismic activity, and a lot of earthquakes. Earlier this week, though, this forecast was released: 'Major quake could hit Tokyo within 4 years' Excerpt:

A new study is warning that the Tokyo region has a 70-per-cent chance of being hit directly by a powerful magnitude-7 earthquake within four years.

Couple that with yesterday's king-hell X solar flare, Japan might see some big shaking, real soon..

So, head's up.

Wutzuhromney?

2012-01-18T23:54:00.000-06:00

romney

(rom-ney) v.

1. To defecate in terror.

spreadingromney.com

Winter returns with a vengeance: Seattle to be hit with biggest snow storm in decades

2012-01-18T03:49:00.000-06:00

Scoop with your knees, not your back. Stay warm, Geschies.. The Extinction Protocol. Excerpts:

The snow into Thursday could end up being one of Seattle’s biggest snowstorms on record. The storm and its heavy snowfall have the potential to close passes in the Cascades, clog streets at sea level with tons of snow and slush and force flight delays and cancellations.
..
The combination of heavy, wet snow with gusty winds in some areas will down trees, taking power lines with them.
..
The heaviest rate of snow will hit Seattle Wednesday, when the snow could come down at an inch-per-hour pace for a time.

Note descriptors "heavy," "wet," not "powder," "dry." Don't let the projected amounts fool you; This could be a big, big storm. Prep time's done; it's almost here.

Morgan Stanley Quantifies The Probability Of A Global "Muddle Through": 37%

2012-01-17T23:57:00.000-06:00

Crap. Zero Hedge. Excerpts:

When it comes to attempts at predicting the future, it often appears that the most desirable outcome by everyone involved (particularly those from the status quo, which means financial institutions and media) is that of the "muddle through" which is some mythical condition in which nothing really happens, the global economy neither grows, nor implodes, and it broadly one of little excitement and volatility. While we fail to see how one can call the unprecedented market vol of the past 6 months anything even remotely resembling a muddle through, the recent quiet in the stock market, punctuated by a relentless low volume melt up has once again set market participants' minds at ease that in the absence of 30> VIX days, things may be back to "Goldilocks" days and the muddle through is once again within reach. So while the default fallback was assumed by most to be virtually assured, nobody had actually tried to map out the various outcome possibilities for the global economy. Until today..

The Point?

"A “muddle through” positioning is potentially dangerous: Our main message is that the muddle-through scenario might be the most plausible alternative, but its joint occurrence in the US and Europe is less likely than the result of a coin toss. Uncertainty is bad for multiples." Specifically - it is 37%

So, Economically, this is still The Lead Up.. Then things go boom!/Get bad..

Strange sounds in Conklin, Alberta, New Zealand, Czech Republic and Hungary

2012-01-17T00:32:00.000-06:00

From The Truth Behind The Scenes Creepy stuff. The sounds from the Czech Republic are pretty scary, like the- last-sounds-you'll-ever-hear scary, and Hungary and Alberta seem more like Inter-dimensional Aural Bleed through. No, I'm not claiming to be right, or, for that matter, sane. But that's still my guess. If I were to imagine what The Matrix sounds like when its brakes are going out or its transmission failing, it would sound something like this..

And it's happening in some pretty divergent places, world wide.. Second guess? Alien battles overhead. Which could be, still, my original answer.

Are you a Martian?

2012-01-16T22:35:00.000-06:00

We all could be, scientists say — and an MIT-developed instrument might someday provide the proof Old article, but what the hell.. MIT News. Excerpts:

Are we all Martians? According to many planetary scientists, it's conceivable that all life on Earth is descended from organisms that originated on Mars and were carried here aboard meteorites. If that's the case, an instrument being developed by researchers at MIT and Harvard could provide the clinching evidence.
..
The idea is based on several facts that have now been well established. First, in the early days of the solar system, the climates on Mars and the Earth were much more similar than they are now, so life that took hold on one planet could presumably have survived on the other. Second, an estimated one billion tons of rock have traveled from Mars to Earth, blasted loose by asteroid impacts and then traveling through interplanetary space before striking Earth's surface. Third, microbes have been shown to be capable of surviving the initial shock of such an impact, and there is some evidence they could also survive the thousands of years of transit through space before arriving at another planet.

So the various steps needed for life to have started on one planet and spread to another are all plausible. Additionally, orbital dynamics show that it's about 100 times easier for rocks to travel from Mars to Earth than the other way. So if life got started there first, microbes could have been carried here and we might all be its descendants.

So.. Mission To Mars is partially a documentary?

Meanwhile, Fukushima's Still Cookin'..

2012-01-15T20:32:00.000-06:00

More vegetables are deformed from stress Fukushima Diary. Delicious pictures featured at the link. Dig in!

It's a dream apartment. What's the catch? Radioactive Apartment in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima, Measuring 1.2 Microsievert/Hr Inside Ex-SKF. Excerpts:

Relatively high levels of radiation have been detected from the concrete in an apartment building in Nihonmatsu City [in Fukushima Prefecture]. The Ministry of the Environment suspects that radioactive materials were in the concrete, and is investigating.

The apartment was built in September last year in Nihonmatsu City. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the glass badge worn by a student who lives in the apartment registered 3-month cumulative radiation exposure of 1.5 millisievert on December 27, prompting the city to survey the surrounding area.

The survey found 1.4 microsievert/hour from the concrete foundation of the apartment, and 1.2 microsievert/hour inside the apartment. The Ministry of the Environment thinks the apartment was built using concrete with radioactive materials, and is asking the building contractor for details.

I wonder if it is just concrete.

If you recall, 446,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the sewage sludge in Fukushima City on May 8, 2011. The sludge had been sold to cement companies until the detection at Koriyama City on April 30, when 26,400 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from their sewage sludge. In the case of Koriyama City, over 900 tonnes of this radioactive sludge had been sold to one cement company (Sumitomo Osaka Cement) alone.

If the surface radiation level of the concrete is 1.4 microsievert/hour, I believe the concrete has at least 100,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium in it, if the radiation measurements of sludge and rooftop sediment are any indication.

No security deposit and the first three months free? I'll take it!

Question: Is it still "News" if it's nine months old? NRC March Email: “The walls of the Unit 4 spent fuel pool have collapsed, and there is no water in there”

From: Boska, John

Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 11:31 AM

To: Guzman, Richard

Cc: Pickett, Douglas

Subject: Developments in Japan

Importance: High

Rich, please review and comment, for distribution to our branch.

In a briefing with Joe Giitter that just ended, we were informed that the situation is now much worse in Japan. The walls of the Unit 4 spent fuel pool have collapsed, and there is no water in there. There were a large number of fuel assemblies in the pool, and the fuel may no longer be intact. The radiation levels are increasing so much that it may prove difficult to work on the other 5 reactors at the site, which could lead to more fuel damage and releases. [...]

The answer? Yes. Yes it is still news, and catastrophic to boot..

Breaking News: Possible rapid increase of temperature at Reactor 2 Fukushima Diary. Excerpts:

One of the heat gauges at or near the bottom of the container vessel of reactor 2 measured heat over 100.

According to the explanation of Tepco, it’s the gauge of the equipment for moving control rod.

17:00 1/12: 48.4

23:00 1/12: 102.3

5:00 1/13: 116.4

Because the gauge at the bottom of the vessel measures 48, Tepco still asserts it’s in the state of cold shutdown. They assert it’s not because the fuel has moved or recriticality happened, only because the gauge was broken.

Broken temperature gauge. Check. If you'll excuse me, I'm off to Keep Shopping so the terrorists won't win and our economy won't sink. So.. Who's gonna win that Super Bowl?

Murdoch blasted on Twitter for anti-Google tweets

2012-01-15T19:44:00.002-06:00

BAM! Oh, the insolence shown to this king among men! From The Raw Story. Excerpts:

When News Corp. mogul Rupert Murdoch attacked Google on Twitter for its opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act, he had no idea what he was letting himself in for.

“Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying,” Murdoch tweeted to his followers.

As Business Insider quickly noted, however, the reaction from the tech community was swift and snarky — and by Sunday even included a Google policy manager.

Journalism professor and author of What Would Google Do? Jeff Jarvis was one of the first — and nastiest — writing, “Google doesn’t pirate and it doesn’t hack dead girls, @rupertmurdoch. I am so happy I pulled my book from you.”
..
And comedian Rob Delaney urged Murdoch, “Sup bro you’re doing great on Twitter nobody thinks you’re a weird asshole or anything keep it up.”
And:
And an editor with the Newcastle Evening Chronicle remarked, “Interesting to see @rupertmurdoch rallying at Google’s copyright infringement. Will remember that next time his newspapers lift our stories.”

My, how the old fartbag's fortunes have turned! Keep on, keepin' on Skidmark; Your cautionary tale hasn't fully played out. Now, about that hacking scandal that hasn't gone away..

The Good News? Time Travel Exists! The Bad News? You Can Land Anywhere!

2012-01-12T23:32:00.002-06:00

Time traveller, who came back after 74 years, died at the age of 31 years old From The Truth Behind The Scenes. Excerpts:

Translated: Did a space-time vortex snatch a man from the 1800s and plop him down in the middle of traffic on a busy New York City street? Many witnesses—including the New York Police Department—say YES…
..
The Spanish website sinmisterios.com recounts the tale of the best documented occurrence of time travel in recorded history. The incident is allegedly corroborated by witnesses 74 years apart.

All details are said to be documented by official law enforcement records.

Rudolf Fenz, Senior disappeared in 1876. Despite an intense search by police, Fenz was never found. Yet his family always held out hope that the kindly immigrant from Europe would return. They waited years, eventually dying one-by-one still with the hope that their beloved Rudolf might come back.

The return of Rudolf Fenz
Long after all his living relatives had died, Rudolf Fenz returned. And he returned in the most incredible fashion possible. For Rudolf Fenz suddenly materialized on June 1950 in the middle of a busy Fifth Avenue in downtown Manhattan—74 years after vanishing without a trace.

Seconds after appearing in the midst of heavy traffic he was struck down and killed by a car.

There's much more to the story. That's just a taste. Check it out. It's worth the click.

Update: A friend emailed with the official-debunk--an urban legend started from a portion of a short story by Jack Finney. Too bad; The Alanis Morissette-iness of the episode is delicious! Thanks for the head's up, M!

Whether time travel ever proves to be reality or not, I will continue to put my faith in The Infinite Sophistication of The Universe, the sophistication that flows both through and to humanity, and to the infinite possibilities that that sophistication provides.

Oh! The Possibilities!

Earthquake or Foreshock? Sumatra Hopes It's The Former..

2012-01-10T22:24:00.000-06:00

7.3 magnitude earthquake strikes off the west coast of northern Sumatra The Extinction Protocol. Excerpts:

A 7.3magnitude tectonic earthquake at a depth of 29 km (18 miles) was recorded on Tuesday, 420 km (260 miles) south west of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, the U.S. Geological Survey said. No immediate tsunami warning was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center for its Indian Ocean area but later that was changed. The epicenter of the strong earthquake was about 1789 km (1111 miles) WNW of Jakarta, Java, Indonesia. The earthquake lasted for about 30 seconds, and residents in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, rushed out of their homes in fear, an AFP reporter said. They later returned indoors. In recent weeks, a spasm of earthquakes have rattled the region in around Indonesia and currently 7 volcanoes in the very geologically-active archipelago are on high alert status.

January 10, 2012

2012-01-10T21:48:00.000-06:00

Russia and Iran dump the dollar? That's provocative..! Press TV. Excerpts:

Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Seyyed Reza Sajjadi says Iran and Russia have turned to their national hard currencies instead of the American dollar in reciprocal trade exchanges.

Sajjadi said on Saturday that the proposal for the replacement of the US dollar with the Iranian rial and Russian ruble was raised during a meeting between Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the sidelines of the 11th meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) last June.

Permanent SCO members include China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Iran, along with India, Mongolia and Pakistan, is an observer state to the intergovernmental mutual-security organization.

The Iranian envoy said Tehran and Moscow switched to their national currencies in preference after the meeting between their presidents.

Sajjadi also pointed to Russia' strong opposition to sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, saying Russians have clearly announced that they will not accept fresh anti-Iran bids that target the country's Central Bank and financial institutions.

Last June? And then they patiently waited to drop the hammer. And now they have. Uh-Oh!

Escalation? Iran sentences American to death in spy case

Or not? Panetta: Iran not building bombs yet

No long-term lung damage from occasional marijuana use Ha Ha! Little by little, brick by brick, all the scary lies disintegrate.. Raw Story. Excerpts:

People who occasionally smoke marijuana do not suffer long-term lung damage the way cigarette smokers do, and may actually experience a slight improvement, said a 20-year US study published Tuesday.

Since the research included more than 5,000 people over a long time span, the authors said it should help clear up some of the confusion about the risks of marijuana smoking, which is increasingly common in the United States.

Perfunctory "Experts' Caution:"

“Marijuana is still an illegal drug, and it has many complicated effects on the human body and its function,” said Stefan Kertesz, senior author of the research in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“In our findings we see hints of harm in pulmonary function with heavy use, and other studies have shown that marijuana use increases a user’s likelihood of a heart attack… and impairs the immune system’s ability to fight disease.”

Romney wins New Hampshire primary Paul's second, and Huntsman's third. Where's Newtie? Looks like 5th place. Losing to Santorum must sting.. or at least froth.. Raw Story. Excerpts:

Former governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) is the projected winner the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, just a week after pulling out an 8-vote win over former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) in Iowa. By 8:10 ET, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) was declared the projected second-place finisher.
..
In the one obvious hit against his fellow Republicans, Romney did address the Gingrich documentary that’s been making headlines since Sunday: “President Obama wants to put free enterprise on trial, and in the last few days we’ve seen some desperate Republicans join forces with him. This is such a mistake for our party and for our nation.” He called such attacks the “bitter politics of envy” and “resentment of success.”

Say what you want about Bullshit Mitt, I do love his cartoon show!

Blowee-oh-weee-ooohh!

2012-01-04T19:14:00.000-06:00

The day it was so windy the waterfall ran uphill: Britain battered by 106mph gales which leave two dead - and there's more to come in the next 24 hours

From The Daily Mail: Bullet points/Excerpts:

*Winds of 106mph recorded in Pennines. Force 11 winds batter Channel

*Atlantic front hits UK with fierce winds and heavy rain

*Van driver, 50, killed by tree falling on his vehicle as gales cause havoc

*Sailor dies after tanker in English Channel is hit by huge wave

*Extreme weather causes misery for millions heading back to work

*Roads closed and trains delayed by fallen trees

*Roof of grandstand blown off at Epsom Downs Racecourse, Surrey

*Trains affected as passengers are urged not to travel

Crazy fucking wind damage pictures at the link..

It's Official: Stonehenge Stones Were Moved 160 Miles

2011-12-29T20:34:00.000-06:00

From National Geographic. Excerpts:

Some of the volcanic bluestones in the inner ring of Stonehenge officially match an outcrop in Wales that's 160 miles (257 kilometers) from the world-famous site, geologists announced this week.

The discovery leaves two big ideas standing about how the massive pieces of the monument arrived at Salisbury Plain: entirely by human hand, or partly by glacier.
..
The origin of the bluestones, however, has weighed heavy on the hearts of archaeologists. Rocks resembling the material under a microscope haven't been found anywhere relatively near Stonehenge—at least until now.

Pinpointing the stones' origins is crucial to understanding how so many heavy hunks of rock made their way to the open plain where Stonehenge now stands.

"There's no way of explaining how these stones were transported without knowing where they came from," said study co-author Robert Ixer of the University of Leicester in the U.K.
..
As late as two years ago, the pair thought the blocks couldn't have come from the country—no samples from Welsh outcrops matched the Stonehenge blocks.
..
The very first one—a chunk of rock collected in Wales 20 years ago—was a perfect match to the Stonehenge bluestones. The geologists spent the next two years checking a piece of Stonehenge bluestone against other outcrops around Wales.
..
The rocky outcrop fingered by the duo's analysis is called Craig Rhos-y-Felin, which is now located on private land near a sheep farm.

The site is a long, bush-covered set of crags the size of four double-decker buses.
And:
The new find leaves two prominent theories for how the Welsh rocks got to Salisbury.

Humans could have quarried the site and dragged the blocks on wooden rafts. Or a giant glacier may have chiseled off the blocks and ferried them about a hundred miles (160 kilometers) toward Stonehenge, with humans dragging them the rest of the way.

Or..

Oh, Newtiepants..

2011-12-26T00:52:00.000-06:00

Newt compares campaign’s Virginia debacle to attack on Pearl Harbor Really? The Raw Story. When I say "Excerpts," I really mean "Ridiculous to follow:"

Certainly no-one will ever accuse Newt Gingrich of having low self-esteem. Talking Points Memo is reporting that Gingrich’s campaign manager Michael Krull has taken to Facebook to vent about the Virginia Republican Party’s judgment that the former Speaker of the House did not qualify to appear on the March 6 primary ballot.

“Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941,” he writes, comparing the campaign’s failure to acquire the 10,000 signatures necessary to compete in the Virginia primary to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. “We have experienced an unexpected set-back, but we will re-group and re-focus with increased determination, commitment and positive action.”

On December 7, 1941, 353 Japanese bombers mounted a raid on American military assets billeted at Pearl Harbor, a Navy base on the island of Hawaii. According to WikiPedia, 2,402 Americans lost their lives, with 1,282 injured. Eight U.S. battleships were damaged, four of them sunk. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed, as well as three Navy cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer.

He's done.

December, 2011 Browser Clean Up

2011-12-21T19:34:00.001-06:00

Two from Zero Hedge:

It's Official: US Debt-To-GDP Passes 100% Excerpts:

With precisely one year left for the world and all of its inhabitants, at least according to the Mayans, not to mention on the day of the Winter Solstice, it is only fitting that US debt, net of all settlements for all already completed bond auctions, is now at precisely $15,182,756,264,288.80. Why is this relevant? Because the latest annualized US GDP, according to the BEA, was $15,180,900,000.00. Which means that, as of today, total US debt to GDP is 100.012%. Congratulations America: you are now in the triple digit "debt to GDP" club!

Mark Faber: "I Am Convinced The Whole Derivatives Market Will Cease To Exist And Will Go To Zero" Excerpts:

"I am convinced the whole derivatives market will cease to exit. Will become zero. And when it happens I don't know: you can postpone the problems with monetary measures for a long time but you can't solve them... Greece should have defaulted - it would have sent a message that not all derivatives are equal because it depends on the counterparty." And on the long-term future: "I am ultra bearish. I think most people will be lucky if they still have 50% of their money in 5 years time.."

Bárðarbunga: more seismic unrest at another one of Iceland’s large volcanoes The Extinction Protocol. Excerpts:

During the night there was an small earthquake swarm in Bárðarbunga volcano. The largest earthquake in this earthquake swarm was ML 3.04 in magnitude. It had the depth of 8.5 km. This might have been a dike intrusion. But it is hard to know that for sure at the moment. This earthquake swarm only lasted for an about 2 to 3 hours before it stopped.

..There are signs that magma is rising at great depth underneath the Bardarbunga volcanic centre.

Historic! HIV Vaccine Approved for Human Clinical Trials Unicorn Booty. Excerpts:

The vaccine, developed by researchers at the University of Western Ontario, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to start being tested in humans in January.

It is the first preventive HIV vaccine approved for clinical trials to use a whole HIV-1 virus, which has been both killed and genetically engineered, to activate immunity. In this way, the new vaccine is much like the killed whole virus vaccines that are successful against polio, rabies and influenza.

Gingrich: I’ll ‘ignore’ any Supreme Court ruling I disagree with What a wonderful "democratic thinker!" Idiot. The Raw Story. Excerpts:

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is doubling down from Thursday’s Fox News debate on his vow to abolish federal courts if he disagreed with their decision.

According to The Hill, in a conference call with reporters, Gingrich indicated that it was in the president’s power as commander-in-chief to deem any Supreme Court ruling irrelevant if he or she in the White House disagreed.

The former House Speaker used the Supreme Court’s ruling against the Bush administration exceeding its constitutional authority in handling suspected terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay in 2008 as a basis for his extreme view.

“They just ignored it,” he said. “A commander-in-chief could simply issue instructions to ignore it, and say it’s null and void and I do not accept it because it infringes on my duties as commander-in-chief to protect the country.”

I love that Romney and Ron Paul are beating the shit out of this douchebag with negative, but all too true attack ads. I've been waiting a loooong time to see Herr Gingrich(pronounced "Gin-greck") drown in the political cesspool of his own creation! Merry Christmas to all!

“The FBI Estimates That 80 Percent Of All Mortgage Fraud Involves Collaboration Or Collusion By Industry Insiders” Washington's Blog. Excerpts:

Fraud By The Big Banks – More Than Anything Done By The Little Guy – Caused The Financial Crisis

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Thrift Supervision noted last year (page 7):

The FBI estimates that 80 percent of all mortgage fraud involves collaboration
or collusion by industry insiders.

This confirms what one of the country’s top fraud experts has said for years: that it was fraud by the big banks – more than anything done by the little guy – which caused the financial crisis:

Breaking News: Programmer of Fukushima confesses “Fukushima had a cyber attack” Under-reported, huh? Fukushima Diary. Excerpts:

A computer engineer found out operating system of Fukushima plants have been attacked and those attacks were mostly from / via Russia.　This engineer is counted as one of the members of Fukushima 50.
..
Because the system was shut down after black out they could not operate the systems to control the pressure, water injecting, radiation shield etc. and that had to be done by him.

He managed to reboot the system and restart it in manual mode but he encountered series of troubles such as password entry screen did not come out or his password entering was disturbed by compute bug. He sorted it out by formatting the system but it was obvious that someone sent virus to the system.

He tried to send virus backward and it reached to Russia. Someone sent virus from or via Russia.

Every crazy CIA plot you’ve heard of originated with one man IO9. Excerpts:

There are stories that have come to light, over the years, that make the Central Intelligence Agency look like a collection of Looney Tunes shorts. The violence, the slapstick, and the over-the-top ridiculousness of the experiments that have been conducted over the years boggle the mind. They came from the (slightly-boggled) mind of one man: Sidney Gottlieb.

Medical Marijuana Laws Shown to Reduce Traffic Fatalities Popular Science. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Marijuana; Is there anything it can't do? Excerpts:

..A new study out of University of Colorado Denver and Montana State University shows that legalizing medical marijuana sales in various states over the past two decades has led to a nearly 10 percent drop in traffic fatalities. What the study really shows--by way of causal chain--is a five percent drop in beer sales, and that has in turn led to fewer fatalities on the road. Put that in your pipe and smoke it (couldn’t resist just one).

Happy holidays, and enjoy this randomly sampled information!

Frequently Asked Questions in "The Shining"

2011-12-18T01:03:00.001-06:00

What do the Numbers Mean? Kubrick uses "The Shining" to warn us of Mayan End of the World happening December 24, 2011, not December 21, 2012.

Six! Days 'til Doomsday! Five! Leapin' Lizards! You get the point.

SPIN's Top 50 Albums Of 2011

2011-12-14T01:40:00.000-06:00

Huh. This is the short list. The list with reviews are here. So.. Britney finds a home in the Top 50, but Wilco, The Antlers, and The Arctic Monkeys are nowhere to be found? What sucks: Destroyer's not here, either. What's cool: M83 at 19, and Girls at 5. Both are fantastic.

Bonus video from also-ran Destroyer: Flimsy, nonetheless, an excuse to show this video.

The Shape Of Things To Come..

2011-12-11T23:29:00.001-06:00

The New Shape Of Things To Come/Webbot Report is out. Never a dull word. Buy it here. Summarized: Serious, SERIOUS Weirdness Just Ahead. From there, everything shifts, and we enter New Territories, our perceptions, our realities, forever altered.

Nothing is what it seems. Nothing is ever, or has ever been, what it seems. We are all about to learn that, together. The Test begins shortly. As always: Buckle Up, and don't forget to Breathe!

The New Webbot Report Is Out Again, So..

2011-12-08T19:45:00.000-06:00

I am reading. Get it here. And: Surprise! There's some good(?)/interesting developments afoot..

Amazing huge cloaked UFO next to Mercury – Dec 1, 2011

2011-12-05T23:37:00.000-06:00

From The Truth Behind The Scenes. Watch the video. Compelling. I haven't seen any reasonable explanation yet, but that's not saying there isn't one...

Pretty! Want To Touch!

2011-12-03T21:59:00.000-06:00

Extraordinary Toroidal Vortices From You Tube. Found it on Lunatic Outpost. Cool, babies..

Man arrested at Large Hadron Collider claims he's from the future

2011-12-01T22:38:00.000-06:00

A love story for the ages! Beautiful! From Crave. Excerpts:

A would-be saboteur arrested today at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland made the bizarre claim that he was from the future. Eloi Cole, a strangely dressed young man, said that he had travelled back in time to prevent the LHC from destroying the world.

The LHC successfully collided particles at record force earlier this week, a milestone Mr Cole was attempting to disrupt by stopping supplies of Mountain Dew to the experiment's vending machines. He also claimed responsibility for the infamous baguette sabotage in November last year.

Mr Cole was seized by Swiss police after CERN security guards spotted him rooting around in bins. He explained that he was looking for fuel for his 'time machine power unit', a device that resembled a kitchen blender.

Police said Mr Cole, who was wearing a bow tie and rather too much tweed for his age, would not reveal his country of origin. "Countries do not exist where I am from. The discovery of the Higgs boson led to limitless power, the elimination of poverty and Kit-Kats for everyone. It is a communist chocolate hellhole and I'm here to stop it ever happening."

And OOhh! Twilight Zone/Outer Limits twist..

Mr Cole was taken to a secure mental health facility in Geneva but later disappeared from his cell. Police are baffled, but not that bothered.

After a brief consultation with John Titor, Cole will return again to finish the job, clothed this time in either 100% cotton or some kind of poly cotton blends.. Good luck and Godspeed, Mr. Cole. I too, hate fucking Kit Kats..

Former GOP Sheriff of the Year Busted in Gay Sex-for-Meth Deal

2011-12-01T22:10:00.000-06:00

From Gawker. Excerpts:

Patrick J. Sullivan Jr. was the beloved Republican sheriff of Arapahoe County, Colo., for nearly 20 years before he retired in 2002. In 2001, he was named national Sheriff of the Year. Yesterday he was arrested by the department he used to run for offering a man meth in exchange for sex.

I really do feel some degree of sympathy for this very conflicted man. His Inner-Demons - Crazy Screaming Volume Control must be stuck on 11 and he can't turn it down.. So many instincts repressed and channeled elsewhere.. His tensions, now refined, made even more taut by his choice of occupation(with all accompanying knowledge of Crime and Punishment and Societal Decay.. How far will we/he sink?). A heretofore classic example of the extremes of duality one persona can assume: The relentless crime fighter yin balanced by the meth smoking sodomite yang.. His inner dialogue; Chaos. The last paragraph of Gawker's story is devastating in its irony:

It's not clear whether Sullivan's love of meth-sex may have predated his retirement. He was booked into that Arapahoe County Jail, which also goes by the name Patrick J. Sullivan Jr. Detention Facility.

Here stands a man in shambles: His law enforcement achievements forever overshadowed by the hypocrisy of his actions, a joke for late night comedians and lovers of schadenfreude everywhere. A cautionary tale of repression and addiction. A goddamned shame that his sexual orientation so shamed the man that he could only act upon his desires through the use of methamphetamines..

It's too bad his gay guilt drove his life to ruin.. Can you imagine the headline had he chosen otherwise? "Nation's first gay National Sheriff Of The Year recounts his obstacles to the top."

Can you imagine the positive impact this man could have had had he just told the homophobes with their shame issues poisoning his mind to simply Fuck Off? I hope this man finds peace. I hope this man can rebuild his shattered foundations, rising to the task of making sense of the destruction his inner demons and behavior have caused. It really is ok to be gay. Hopefully, he can now understand and respond accordingly.. Good luck, Sheriff Sullivan. Your near-term future will not be easy.

Oklahoma Continues To Rumble..

2011-11-28T03:19:00.000-06:00

6th earthquake in 4 days recorded in Oklahoma Yahoo News. Excerpts:

Another small earthquake has been reported in Oklahoma.

The U.S. Geological Survey says a 3.2 magnitude quake struck just before 6 a.m. Sunday about 27 miles northeast of Oklahoma City. The Logan County Sheriff's Office says no damage was reported

On Saturday, a 2.4 magnitude tremor was recorded at about 7 a.m. about 50 miles northeast of Oklahoma City near Sparks.

Sunday's earthquake is the sixth in the area since Thursday, when a 3.7 magnitude quake was recorded near Prague. Three more were recorded Friday.

Chinese TV Host Says Regime Nearly Bankrupt

2011-11-18T03:17:00.000-06:00

The Epoch Times. Holy shit; This guy's as good as dead. Excerpts:

China’s economy has a reputation for being strong and prosperous, but according to a well-known Chinese television personality the country’s Gross Domestic Product is going in reverse.

Larry Lang, chair professor of Finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said in a lecture that he didn’t think was being recorded that the Chinese regime is in a serious economic crisis—on the brink of bankruptcy. In his memorable formulation: every province in China is Greece.

The restrictions Lang placed on the Oct. 22 speech in Shenyang City, in northern China’s Liaoning Province, included no audio or video recording, and no media. He can be heard saying that people should not post his speech online, or “everyone will look bad,” in the audio that is now on Youtube.

In the unusual, closed-door lecture, Lang gave a frank analysis of the Chinese economy and the censorship that is placed on intellectuals and public figures. “What I’m about to say is all true. But under this system, we are not allowed to speak the truth,” he said.
And:
Lang’s assessment that the regime is bankrupt was based on five conjectures.

Firstly, that the regime’s debt sits at about 36 trillion yuan (US$5.68 trillion). This calculation is arrived at by adding up Chinese local government debt (between 16 trillion and 19.5 trillion yuan, or US$2.5 trillion and US$3 trillion), and the debt owed by state-owned enterprises (another 16 trillion, he said). But with interest of two trillion per year, he thinks things will unravel quickly.

Secondly, that the regime’s officially published inflation rate of 6.2 percent is fabricated. The real inflation rate is 16 percent, according to Lang.

Thirdly, that there is serious excess capacity in the economy, and that private consumption is only 30 percent of economic activity. Lang said that beginning this July, the Purchasing Managers Index, a measure of the manufacturing industry, plunged to a new low of 50.7. This is an indication, in his view, that China’s economy is in recession.

Fourthly, that the regime’s officially published GDP of 9 percent is also fabricated. According to Lang’s data, China’s GDP has decreased 10 percent. He said that the bloated figures come from the dramatic increase in infrastructure construction, including real estate development, railways, and highways each year (accounting for up to 70 percent of GDP in 2010).

Fifthly, that taxes are too high. Last year, the taxes on Chinese businesses (including direct and indirect taxes) were at 70 percent of earnings. The individual tax rate sits at 81.6 percent, Lang said.

Once the “economic tsunami” starts, the regime will lose credibility and China will become the poorest country in the world, Lang said.

It looks like the Global Economic Collapse will now just come down to sequence: Who collapses when, and Who starts the process. Oh, and Who has it worse.

Sunday Night News Dump/Browser Clean Up..

2011-11-14T02:33:00.000-06:00

My browser has 25 windows open at the moment, which is far too many. In no particular order..

Rick Perry: Best Little Whore in Texas Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone, October 28. Obsolete
..
By the time Perry shows up, I'm jazzed and ready for history. You always want to remember the first time you see the possible next president in person. But as every young person knows, the first time is not always a pleasant experience. Perry lumbers onstage looking exceedingly well-groomed, but also ashen and exhausted, like a funeral director with a hangover.

In a voice so subdued and halting that I think he must be sick, he launches into his speech, which consists of the following elements: a halfhearted football joke about Texas A&M that would have embarrassed a true fan like George W. Bush, worn bromides about liberals creating a nanny state, a few lines about jobs in Texas, and a promise to repeal "as much of Obamacare as I can" on his first day in the White House.

"I will try," he says, "to make Washington, D.C., as inconsequential in your life as I can."

Then he waves and walks offstage. The whole thing has taken barely 10 minutes.

I can't believe it, and neither can the assembled crowd of Georgia conservatives, who hesitate before breaking into polite applause. I feel like a high school cheerleader who just had her leg jizzed on in the back of a convertible. That's it? It's over? That was Rick Perry's stump speech?

"Low energy, low substance," sighs Justin Ryan, one of the conference attendees. "That's sort of the candidate in general."

But this is America, remember, where one should never underestimate shallow. And Rick Perry brings shallow to a new level. He is very gifted in that regard. He could be the Adolf Hitler of shallow.

Foxes and Reptiles: Psychopathy and the Financial Meltdown Reality Sandwich. Excerpts:

The present financial meltdown may only be the latest example of the incalculable harm done to civilization, and countless individual lives, by psychopaths, a subspecies of Homo sapiens. The purpose of this essay is twofold. First, I will provide a brief tour of the psychopath subspecies so that you understand who they are and how they operate. You probably already know psychopaths, and it is overwhelmingly likely that at some point in your life a psychopath that you encounter personally will try to harm you. Second, I will draw the correlative between psychopathy and the present financial meltdown and provide a suggestion of a relatively simple change that could decrease the likelihood of the sort of abuses that could lead to future meltdowns.

Awakened: Sun’s convulsive behavior dismays scientists across the globe The Extinction Protocol. Excerpts:

November 13, 2011 – REMARKABLE SOLAR ACTIVITY – There haven’t been any strong solar flares in days. Nevertheless, some impressive activity is underway on the Sun.
..
A dark filament of magnetism is snaking more than halfway around the entire Sun. See SDO images below. From end to end, it stretches more than a million km or about three times the distance between Earth and the Moon. If the filament becomes unstable, as solar filaments are prone to do, it could collapse and hit the stellar surface below, triggering a Hyder flare.

Hundreds Of Giant Aliens Unearthed Near African Village Pakalert Press. You'd think archaeologists would have better cameras..

Ruh-Roh.. Goldman Sachs International Advisor Mario Monti Is Italy's New Prime Minister

But on the political fringes there are already those portraying Mr Monti – who is listed by Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, on its board of international advisers – as a tool of the “masters of the universe”, along with Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank and former Goldman Sachs executive.

“This is the band of criminals who brought us this financial disaster. It is like asking arsonists to put out the fire,” commented Alessandro Sallusti, editor of Il Giornale, a Milan daily owned by the Berlusconi family.

Why Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not The South African Civil Society Information Service. Excerpts:

What happened next was extraordinary. The belief that citizens had to pay for the mistakes of a financial monopoly, that an entire nation must be taxed to pay off private debts was shattered, transforming the relationship between citizens and their political institutions and eventually driving Iceland’s leaders to the side of their constituents. The Head of State, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, refused to ratify the law that would have made Iceland’s citizens responsible for its bankers’ debts, and accepted calls for a referendum.

Of course the international community only increased the pressure on Iceland. Great Britain and Holland threatened dire reprisals that would isolate the country. As Icelanders went to vote, foreign bankers threatened to block any aid from the IMF. The British government threatened to freeze Icelander savings and checking accounts. As Grimsson said: “We were told that if we refused the international community’s conditions, we would become the Cuba of the North. But if we had accepted, we would have become the Haiti of the North.” (How many times have I written that when Cubans see the dire state of their neighbor, Haiti, they count themselves lucky.)

In the March 2010 referendum, 93% voted against repayment of the debt. The IMF immediately froze its loan. But the revolution (though not televised in the United States), would not be intimidated. With the support of a furious citizenry, the government launched civil and penal investigations into those responsible for the financial crisis. Interpol put out an international arrest warrant for the ex-president of Kaupthing, Sigurdur Einarsson, as the other bankers implicated in the crash fled the country.

The Herman Cain Sex Scandal Is Going To Reveal If Character Still Matters To The Republican Party

2011-11-09T22:14:00.001-06:00

Common sense(plus some gratuitous talking points) from conservative blogger Domas Jefferson. Excerpts:

Does character still matter to the Republican Party? We are about to find out. Today, a woman named Sharon Bialek fundamentally altered the race for the Republican nomination in 2012. The Herman Cain sex scandal is not going away, and either Herman Cain is lying or all of these women that are accusing Cain of sexual misconduct are lying. Normally, I would not write about unproven sex scandal rumors. And it is very important to note that the charges against Herman Cain have not been proven yet.
..
More importantly, will Republican voters demand the truth or will they just allow this whole thing to be brushed under the rug? Back during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Republicans insisted over and over that “character still matters” when it comes to selecting our leaders. Well, now that a candidate that millions of Republicans have fallen in love with has been accused of sexual misconduct we will see what Republicans actually do believe about character. (C'mon now.. Republicans only care about "public character," not "actual character..")
..
..Millions of Republicans have been put in a position where they will clearly be tremendous hypocrites if they continue to support Cain if these charges are proven true.

Let me be perfectly clear.

Multiple episodes of sexual harassment (if proven) should disqualify anyone from being president of the United States.

Multiple attempts to cheat on your wife (if proven) should disqualify anyone from being president of the United States.

Lying to the American people about incidents of sexual misconduct (if proven) should disqualify anyone from being president of the United States.

There are many that would disagree with those statements, but character still matters to me.

So did Herman Cain actually do these things?

Let’s take a look at the evidence that has emerged so far.

At this point we know that the National Restaurant Association paid money to two women to settle sexual harassment claims back in the 1990s.

One woman received a financial settlement of $35,000 and another received a financial settlement of $45,000.

Would the National Restaurant Association have paid out money to these women if their claims were totally baseless?

That is a legitimate question.

In addition, last week a third woman reported to the Associated Press that she also thought about filing a sexual harassment complaint against Herman Cain.

But none of those first three women have come forward publicly yet.

Bialek is the fourth woman to allege that Herman Cain is guilty of sexual misconduct, and she changed everything when she came forward publicly with her charges. (Not to mention the fact that Bialek seems to be a Republican!)
..
Hmmm…..someone is obviously not telling the truth.

So is it the four women that have charged him with sexual misconduct or is it Herman Cain?

More importantly, will the Republican Party even care?

According to a recent Gallup poll, just 53 percent of all Republicans say that they would rule out voting for a candidate if sexual harassment charges against that candidate were proven.

That is a very frightening number.

Look, if you use your power to try to force women to have sex with you, that should automatically disqualify you to be president.

Anyone that believes otherwise is not a real conservative.
..
Even if Herman Cain is completely and totally innocent of these charges, there is still no way that the Republican Party should nominate him.

As I wrote about the other day, the Federal Reserve is at the very heart of our economic problems and has greatly contributed to the financial bubbles that we have seen in recent years. We need to take the power to issue our currency away from the Federal Reserve and return it to the federal government, which is what the U.S. Constitution requires.

But Herman Cain would not do that. Herman Cain was once the chairman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Board, and he sees no problems with the Federal Reserve at all. (To extrapolate this thought out: Cain is NOT a "Political Outsider." He is an entrenched part of the Financial Machine that is the main reason for our global economic crisis!)

The following is what Herman Cain once had to say about the need for an audit of the Federal Reserve….

Some people say that we ought to audit the Fed. Here’s what I do know. The Federal Reserve already has so many internal audits it’s ridiculous. I don’t know why people think we’re gonna learn this great amount of information by auditing the Federal Reserve.

I think a lot of people are calling for this audit of the Federal Reserve because they don’t know enough about it. There’s no hidden secrets going on in the Federal Reserve to my knowledge. (Shill-tastic, no?)

The article continues on about Cain's dumbassery regarding his stupid 999 plan and not knowing China has nukes(He really is that fucking stupid--over the top dumb--like, Palin dumb! I'd like to know how he ended up with the KC Fed gig, although with like minded staffing throughout the Fed, that would explain how we ended up in our current economic cluster fuck..)
Not a bad article, yet the author fails to mention the real reason Herman Cain shouldn't and won't ever be President: He's already broken(Allegedly..) campaign finance laws, and this whole sexual shenanigans bullshit obscures the major problems he has yet, but will surely, have to face, sooner, rather than later..

Pay no attention to his defiant bluster: Herman Cain is in serious trouble, and only collective pressure from a majority of Republicans will push him from the race. Me? I'd looooove for him to still be a distracting, destructive force all the way to the Republican convention. But that's just me: I love to laugh, and next to Perry, Cain's the biggest clown around. Bless you PizzaFed; Thanks for all the good times to come..

Suck It, Kasich.

2011-11-09T02:18:00.000-06:00

Ohio election results: Voters repeal John Kasich’s collective bargaining law The State Column. Excerpts:

Ohio voters have repealed Governor John Kasich’s collective bargaining law, the latest blow to supporters of the measure.

With 19 percent of the precincts reporting, The Associated Press has declared Issue 2 — the ballot referendum to decide the future of Senate Bill 5 — rejected with 63 percent voting no and just 37 percent voting yes. (Final: 61 percent no, 39 percent yes)

Mr. (Governor) Kasich, a prominent Republican who had championed the law as a tool for cities to cut costs (Not really--It's really about Union busting..), spent much of the 2011 election campaigning on behalf of the measure. The vote likely reignites the debate over limiting collective bargaining rights for public-sector labor unions in Ohio, where supporters of repealing the law have sought to build support in recent months.

Next up: Kasich's own Recall challenge. It won't be a traditional Recall, rather action taken from a Citizen's initiative process. Governor Kasich; You got your ass spanked in a fight you shouldn't have picked. How 'bout that? The worm turned all right, just not the way you expected. Enjoy your new found status!

Laws of physics 'are different' depending on where you are in the universe

2011-11-09T00:55:00.000-06:00

The more we learn, the less we "know." Evidently, it's all relative! From the Daily Mail. Excerpts:

The laws of physics may not be as set in stone as previously imagined.

One of the laws of nature seems to vary depending on where in the universe you are, research suggests.
..
The 'constancy' of physics is one of the most cherished principles in science - but the scientists say that the 'laws' we know may be the galactic equivalent of 'local by-laws' and things may work quite differently elsewhere.

The discovery - if true - violates one of the underlying principles of Einstein's theory of General Relativity, and has profound implications for our understanding of space and time.

The findings could mean that the universe is far bigger than we thought - possibly even infinite.

It also means that in other parts of the universe, the laws of physics might be hostile to life - whereas in our small part of it, they seem fine-tuned to supporting it.
And:
The researchers looked at 300 distant galaxies. The experiment found that the atoms in space behaved differently from ones on earth.

'The results astonished us,' said Professor Webb. 'In one direction - from our location in the Universe - alpha gets gradually weaker, yet in the opposite direction it gets gradually stronger.'

'The discovery, if confirmed, has profound implications for our understanding of space and time and violates one of the fundamental principles underlying Einstein's General Relativity theory,' Dr King added.

This is Big News. It is now apparent that our entire institutional cosmological perspective is much, much narrower than previously thought. Astonishingly so. By making this great leap forward, we must also understand that, as much as we think we know, we don't know shit. It is imperative that as many people possible globally keep their minds open, as wide as they can, beginning now. Everything everywhere is changing, rapidly, Science and Spirit included. Adapt, and prepare for a vast expansion of your, and our, consciousness.

Fukushima Update: Long Overdue November Edition..

2011-11-08T22:02:00.000-06:00

Short answer? The slow motion nightmare continues to unfold. Have you noticed an uptick of "allergies," "colds," "I feel like shit!," "I don't know what this is, but I just don't feel right" creeping up in your everyday conversations? I have. If you haven't been paying attention; start. The minor precursor effects have already started..

TEPCO: Reactor may have gone critical NHK. Excerpts:

The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it found in the facility's No.2 reactor radioactive substances that could have resulted from continuous nuclear fission.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, said on Wednesday that it detected xenon-133 and xenon-135 in gas taken from the reactor's containment vessel on the previous day. The substances were reportedly in concentrations of 6 to more than 10 parts per million becquerels per cubic centimeter.

Xenon-135 was also detected in gas samples collected on Wednesday.

Radioactive xenon is produced during nuclear fission.

The half-life of xenon-133 is 5 days, and that of xenon-135 is 9 hours.

Children and the elderly will begin to show effects first..
Smaller increase in children's weight in Fukushima NHK. Excerpts:

A survey shows that some children in Fukushima Prefecture have smaller average weight gains this year compared to the year before. A pediatrician says the results indicate the negative effects of the nuclear plant accident in March.

Doctor Shintaro Kikuchi tracked the weights of 245 children aged from 4 to 6 in 2 kindergartens in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture. The results show an average weight increase of 0.81 kilograms over the past year through June. The increase for children in the same age group the previous year was 3.1 kilograms.

The average increase for children aged 5 to 6 in the survey was 0.84 kilograms. But a nationwide health ministry survey conducted last year for children of the same age group showed an average gain of 1.8 kilograms.

Shilling has its price.. From Ex-SKF. Excerpts:

No, not in a young child in a high radiation spot that is often talked about on Twitter. A 63-year-old TV newscaster has been diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia and is now hospitalized, getting ready for chemo. He felt a strange lump in his neck on October 28, he says. (Various news sources including: Zakzak 11/7/2011, Yomiuri Shinbun 11/6/2011)

In his morning program on Fuji TV he's been promoting Fukushima produce by eating them in the show. He also happened to be in Fukushima in March 15. Just a coincidence. Never mind that ALL is predominant in small children, and an adult case is one in 100,000 annually in Japan.

JP Gov officially admitted that Japanese food is harmful Fukushima Diary. Excerpts plus bonus follow up information regarding the previous newscaster in question. Bonus bonus: Now chilling photos of newscaster eating irradiated food. I bet the other news gals are a bit freaked out right now..

Since 311, every time it turned out a kind of food is contaminated, they made “safety” limit, such as 500 Bq/Kg for vegetables, and allowed them to distribute.

However, at today’s meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee, Edano former chief cabinet secretary, current minister of Economy, Trade and Industry admitted that it is harmful for your health if you keep having it for one year.

Edano former chief cabinet secretary is famous for his trade mark phrase, “In short term,it is not harmful”.

He was even called “Short term fraud” by some people.

It is not a small number of people who trusted his word and didn’t evacuate or kept eating food under the “safety limit”. (In other words, LOTS of people trusted him.)

At today’s meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee, he “explained”.

He held 39 press conferences in the first 2 weeks after 311.

BUT he said “In short term, it is not harmful” ONLY 7 times.

OF those, 5 “In short term, it is not harmful”s were for food and drink.

By this he “meant”, you will be sick if you keep having it for one year, but if you have it once or twice, it doesn’t hurt your body.

Japanese emperor to be admitted to the hospital on bronchitis fears Radiation cares not of your position in life.. The China Post. Excerpts:

Japanese Emperor Akihito is due to be hospitalized on Sunday with a cold, fever and symptoms of bronchitis, Kyodo news agency reported, citing the Imperial Household Agency.

Akihito, who will turn 78 next month, will be admitted to the University of Tokyo Hospital as a precaution because the fever worsened the bronchitis symptoms and he appeared fatigued and has lost some resistance to fight his illness, Kyodo said.
And:
Five days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan's northeast, Akihito made a rare public televised address and in April traveled to the disaster-struck area with Empress Michiko, 77.

Still think this is a Japanese problem? California nuke plant detected 4,000% more iodine-131 than UC Berkeley during Fukushima peak

Highest detection of iodine-131 was March 23, 2011 @ 4.3e-06 Bq/liter (0.0000043 Bq/liter of iodine-131) -Source

The Diablo Canyon iodine-131 peak was 0.000188 Bq/liter of iodine-131, or 43.7 times higher than the 0.0000043 Bq/liter peak observed by UC Berkeley.

This was MARCH 23. November 11 marks Eight Months of essentially non-stop nuclear disbursement. I wonder what those levels are now?

Look after yourself Fukushima Diary. Short answer? Start taking Calcium and Magnesium. Especially Calcium.

Scientist Marco Kaltofen Presents Data Confirming Hot Particles Latest video from Arnie Gundersen and Fairewinds. Don't have six minutes? Here's the beef:

Now Mr. Kaltofen did not just look at Japan. He set up monitoring stations in the United States as well. Two of the three monitoring stations in the United States did show hot particles in the air in April. Since then, there have not been any hot particles. But in April, it is clear that, at the worst of the accident, hot particles were wafted across the Pacific and deposited in Seattle and in Boston at least. There is also data that indicates contamination on the ground in the Cascades, which are a mountain range right up against the Pacific Ocean.

So I think we have two problems here. In Japan, there is a personal health issue and what that means is that individuals have received enough radiation that there is going to be a statistically meaningful increase in cancers in Tokyo and especially in Fukushima Prefecture.

In the United States, it is a different story. It is a public health issue and not a personal health issue. What that means is that we will never know who is the individual who got cancer from Fukushima. But we can be sure that the radiation did reach here and that there will be an increase in cancers, especially on the West Coast where the Rocky Mountains stopped most of the radiation and deposited it on the ground.

The costly fallout of tatemae and Japan's culture of deceit Japan Times. Excerpts:

There is an axiom in Japanese: uso mo hōben — "lying is also a means to an end." It sums up the general attitude in Japan of tolerance of — even justification for — not telling the truth.

First — defining "telling the truth" as divulging the truth (not a lie), the whole truth (full disclosure) and nothing but the truth (uncompounded with lies) — consider how lies are deployed in everyday personal interactions.

Let's start with good old tatemae (charitably translated as "pretense"). By basically saying something you think the listener wants to hear, tatemae is, essentially, lying. That becomes clearer when the term is contrasted with its antonym, honne, one's "true feelings and intentions."
..
Now extrapolate. What becomes of a society that sees lying as a justifiably institutionalized practice? Things break down. If everyone is expected to lie, who or what can you trust?
And:
..Radiation has no media cycle. It lingers and poisons the land and food chain. Statistics may be obfuscated or suppressed as usual. But radiation's half-life is longer than the typical attention span or sustainable degree of public outrage.

As the public — possibly worldwide — sickens over time, the truth will leak out.

Our near-term and long-term future? Bleak.

Music: Fall Favorites, 2011

2011-11-02T02:16:00.000-05:00

For best results, please use headphones.

Foreclosure firm has Halloween party dressed as depressed homeowners

2011-10-30T01:48:00.002-05:00

From Raw Story. Wow.. Excerpts:

Based on their Halloween costumes from last year, it would not be surprising if employees from foreclosure firm giant Steven J. Baum dressed up this year as homeowners who’ve lost their property thanks to firms like them.
In a column from The New York Times Joe Nocera, a former employee of the Baum firm revealed that his former co-workers did indeed dress as downtrodden individuals with signs representing their depressed state. The ex-Baum employee, who Nocera kept anonymous, told the Times reporter that she wanted to show how the firm had a “cavalier attitude” towards foreclosing people’s homes.
And:
The Baum firm represents virtually all the prominent mortgage lending Wall Street giants, including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

I'm sure these.. minions(especially the millionaires..).. have no idea how big this Artery of Rage they've tapped into really is.. People have lost everything at the hands of a gamed system and it's all a big fucking joke. I think these people will be shocked, SHOCKED at the response to such actions. I think everyone will be shocked at the Whatever Happens Next, whatever that is.. Those most shocked will probably be those who think they're One-percenters, but are not. When the economies of the world collapse, their power will evaporate. It will be very rough for them. It will be rough for most all of us, but those most comfortable will lose the most things.

Deep breath..

This is the first time in my life that I've felt like every global scenario possible is overwhelmingly negative to catastrophic, and the only way out, is through. Our species has entered Dark Times(not just financially-- but in all facets of our.. Reality/Matrix..), the outcome is still uncertain, and the time will certainly become darker for many different people from many, many different worlds.. And you thought you lived in interesting times before 2011! The real test is about to begin, for all of us..

The shit's on the rise and it's all in overdrive, man. If you haven't noticed already, Inertia has taken over. I feel it to my being that the die has been cast, and now what's left is to watch it unfold.. And so far, The Unfolding has been intense. Again, this is our history, happening all around us, happening now, happening everywhere. What has already happened, will happen, and what will happen, has already.

I am attempting to bring much more love into my life. I suggest you do so, too.. Good luck. Enjoy your time.

This Week In Shakey Shakey..

2011-10-29T23:28:00.000-05:00

Geologists closely monitoring surge in Arkansas earthquakes. The Extinction Protocol. Excerpts:

The Arkansas Geological Survey says it is stepping up its monitoring of seismic activity in central Arkansas after dozens of small earthquakes in the region. Six minor quakes were recorded Friday near Quitman, the latest of more than 50 temblors in October.

Perspective on these earthquakes have not been framed correctly, as fracking was seen as the only cause of these tremors. Fracking exacerbated the quakes, but were not primary cause. This is becoming clear..

The shaking follows more than 1,000 earthquakes centered between Guy and Greenbrier from September 2010 to July of this year, when the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission ordered four gas disposal wells shut down and voted to create a large moratorium area in which no future disposal wells could be drilled. Geologists said the activity – which involves injecting pressurized liquid into the ground – was likely contributing to the shaking. The quakes between Guy and Greenbrier tailed off significantly in August, but more quakes began occurring in October closer to Quitman. It sits about 10 miles northeast of Guy. That distance is potentially concerning, warned Scott Ausbrooks, geo-hazards supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey. The Quitman quakes are occurring along the same line as the Guy-Greenbrier ones, but there’s a miles-long gap between Guy and Quitman in which no quakes have been recorded. That might suggest that the tension is building, possibly leading up to a larger quake centered on that gap along the fault. A similar-sized gap occurred on the southern end of the Guy-Greenbrier fault and it in February unleashed a 4.7-magnitude quake, the largest of any of the recent tremors. Anytime there is a gap in seismicity along an active fault, it “bears watching,” Ausbrooks said.
And:
Earthquakes continued for years after drilling ended at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Colorado, where an injection well is thought to have initially triggered seismic activity.

So, the cause remains open; possibly. Meanwhile, in Oklahoma..

Seismic awakening? Earthquakes are increasing in Oklahoma and no one knows why.. Also from The Extinction Protocol (Great site, btw..) Excerpts:

Two small earthquakes(3.5 and 3.3) were reported in Oklahoma County early Friday, authorities report.
..
Oklahoma is home to the Meers Fault which is located in the southwestern part of the state. State geologists feel Meers is just one part of Oklahoma’s complex geology that makes the state capable of producing an earthquake up to a potential 6.5 magnitude however, that doesn’t account for the latest series of tremors breaking out near Oklahoma City.

6.9 Magnitude Earthquake near the Coast of Central Peru – Oct 28, 2011 The Truth Behind The Scenes. Excerpts(Plus video, plus a list of 21 6 magnitude plus earthquakes in the last 45 days..):

A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit near the coast of Central Peru.
..
On the same day, 7 aftershocks were recorded from M4.7 to M.5.5. and today, October 29 again 4 aftershocks from M.4.7 to M4.9.

Earthquake in Turkey and neighboring Armenia damage to the primary Google Translate via Iran Japanese Radio. Translated from Japanese, and not well. In a nutshell: Big earthquake damages shitty, unsafe nuclear plant. How badly? Or.. Not badly? (Magnitude 10? No containment structures? Sure, dude..) No one knows, yet..

March 9-October 28, 2011: Dawn of the (Ninth) Unity Wave Consciousness

2011-10-28T03:02:00.000-05:00

Calleman's calendar ends today. Not that it hasn't been an insanely active year.. So, now what? Where do we go from here?

TVs, fridges and fishing boats: How TWENTY MILLION tons of Japan tsunami debris is closing in on Hawaii

2011-10-28T02:29:00.000-05:00

From the Daily Mail. Excerpts:

Televisions, fridges and furniture pieces are heading for Hawaii, as a huge amount of debris from Japan’s earthquake sails across the Pacific.

Up to 20 million tons of debris from the earthquake in March is traveling faster than expected and could reach the U.S. West Coast in three years.

A Russian ship’s crew spotted the debris - which included a 20ft long fishing boat - last month after passing the Midway Islands.

This is also the path that all the radioactive waste water TEPCO has been releasing into the ocean will travel. So we've got that to look forward to, which is nice.. But by then, I'm sure it won't matter..

Thailand Flooding..

2011-10-28T02:08:00.000-05:00

Bangkok faces worst flooding yet, governor warns CNN. Excerpts:

The water has reached 30cm (12 inches) in places and is overflowing on to sidewalks and some roads, causing problems for small vehicles and leading to traffic congestion, the agency said.
In a televised address Tuesday night, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said the capital could be submerged by as much as 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) of water.

Of particular concern were areas along the Chao Phraya River, which winds through the capital and is expected to overwhelm embankments this weekend.

The Airports of Thailand declared Don Muang airport, which primarily services domestic flights, closed Tuesday night, after floodwaters flowed onto runways and affected the lighting.

Viet Nam: Rising tide- Severe flooding in Saigon/Tides seriously threaten several Mekong Delta provinces The article translates poorly. Check out the pictures.

The Thai government is predicting as much as six more weeks of flooding before the water begins to subside. There will be lots of secondary effects from the prolonged flooding, like more than normal water borne infections and illnesses, worse than normal mold, and prolonged economic slowdowns to shutdowns. Bangkok's population is close to 11 million with close to three million illegals. The projected five feet of water covering a vast amount of the city will be disastrous. Will this story rate anything more than a fifteen second mention on any of the cable news outlets?

Whoopsie!

2011-10-25T01:51:00.000-05:00

Occupy Wall Street: Canadian Special Forces provocateur leaves wallet behind Censored News. Excerpts:

Canadian Special Forces Agent Dylan Spoelstra, 24, of Toronto, left his wallet behind exposing his identity, after he was arrested at Occupy Wall Street scaling a sculpture on Saturday morning. The police said that after his arrest, he was brought to Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation after surrendering just after 9 a.m.

Occupy Wall Street media coordinator Thorin Caristo said when Spoelstra began climbing the reddish-colored Joie de Vivre sculpture in Zuccotti Park, on Saturday at 5:30 am, Caristo said he knew it was staged.

Caristo recalled the event, first saying to himself, “I can’t believe he’s climbing the sculpture."

Police arrived and began inflating airbags. Earlier, families had gathered on Friday at Occupy Wall Street with their children to camp, so it was a special time. However, police cleared them all out during Spoelstra's stunt.
And:
Then, on Saturday night, Occupy Wall Street security found Spoelstra's wallet, revealing that Spoelstra is a member of Canadian Special Forces.

Remember: From now on out, the really disruptive ones at all peaceful protests will be regarded with suspicion. I will be totally shocked if this story has legs. But, mass exposure or not, lots of people seem to have figured this ruse out. I really hope this movement continues to remain (relatively) peaceful, but the global signs seem to predict otherwise.. How long the peace remains will probably be determined by the public's response to even more provocatuers, staging ever larger provocations..

2011. So far, so intense.

Bot Hit - Mystery Solved

2011-10-24T23:56:00.000-05:00

Late in his most recent report, Clif High mentions a very important time marker (towards further social/societal disruption, etc..) with the entrance of a particular person into the National Landscape. The hints were enigmatic, and will have to be read for yourselves, but I have very little doubt now: That person is Herman Cain.

Politics aside, if the Webbots are correct, this is bad news. Maybe what you are feeling, then, is a Disturbance in The Force..

Stuxnet-based cyber espionage virus targets European firms

2011-10-20T21:51:00.000-05:00

This time it's called Duqu. Why not Dookie? When the cyber war really heats up, that's what'll be dropping worldwide.. The Telegraph has details..

European firms that play a key role in nuclear power and other critical industries have been targeted by a cyber espionage attack based on Stuxnet, the computer virus that was designed to sabotage the Iranian nuclear programme.

Security engineers say it is likely the new variant, Duqu, was created by the same government agencies thought to be behind Stuxnet, an attack that heralded a new era of state conflict online.

But while Stuxnet was created to cause physical damage to Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities by surreptitiously adjusting machinery, Duqu is an intelligence-gathering tool.

The new virus’ precise targets have not been disclosed, but they include European firms that make the software that controls power stations and other industrial facilities. By infiltrating their computer networks, it aims to steal confidential information and potentially reveal vulnerabilities that could be exploited in later attacks.
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Analysis of Duqu has revealed it may have been in use since December last year. It is programmed to remove itself from infected systems after 36 days, so nobody can be sure how many firms have been targeted or how much confidential data stolen.

Same people responsible, not the same people.. It doesn't matter. Eventually, the Law of Unintended Consequences will come into play.. Cyber-Boomerang doesn't have the elegance I'm looking for, so I will, instead, allow Lenny Kravitz to interject..

Global Economic Collapse: Validation and Better Perception Edition

2011-10-20T04:30:00.000-05:00

Revealed – the capitalist network that runs the world New Scientist. Excerpts:

AS PROTESTS against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters' worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.

The study's assumptions have attracted some criticism, but complex systems analysts contacted by New Scientist say it is a unique effort to untangle control in the global economy. Pushing the analysis further, they say, could help to identify ways of making global capitalism more stable.

The idea that a few bankers control a large chunk of the global economy might not seem like news to New York's Occupy Wall Street movement and protesters elsewhere. But the study, by a trio of complex systems theorists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, is the first to go beyond ideology to empirically identify such a network of power. It combines the mathematics long used to model natural systems with comprehensive corporate data to map ownership among the world's transnational corporations (TNCs).

"Reality is so complex, we must move away from dogma, whether it's conspiracy theories or free-market," says James Glattfelder. "Our analysis is reality-based."

Previous studies have found that a few TNCs own large chunks of the world's economy, but they included only a limited number of companies and omitted indirect ownerships, so could not say how this affected the global economy - whether it made it more or less stable, for instance.

The Zurich team can. From Orbis 2007, a database listing 37 million companies and investors worldwide, they pulled out all 43,060 TNCs and the share ownerships linking them. Then they constructed a model of which companies controlled others through shareholding networks, coupled with each company's operating revenues, to map the structure of economic power.

The work, to be published in PloS One, revealed a core of 1318 companies with interlocking ownerships (see image). Each of the 1318 had ties to two or more other companies, and on average they were connected to 20. What's more, although they represented 20 per cent of global operating revenues, the 1318 appeared to collectively own through their shares the majority of the world's large blue chip and manufacturing firms - the "real" economy - representing a further 60 per cent of global revenues.

When the team further untangled the web of ownership, it found much of it tracked back to a "super-entity" of 147 even more tightly knit companies - all of their ownership was held by other members of the super-entity - that controlled 40 per cent of the total wealth in the network. "In effect, less than 1 per cent of the companies were able to control 40 per cent of the entire network," says Glattfelder. Most were financial institutions. The top 20 included Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and The Goldman Sachs Group.

Marketwatch warns EU banks will crash Wall Street The Extinction Protocol. Excerpts:

..the raging European monetary collapse will ripple through America’s banking system, completing the 2008 meltdown that never ended because Wall Street fought all reforms. But now, a bigger meltdown as history repeats a dangerous cycle like the 1929 Crash and Great Depression. History will also deal a fatal blow to Wall Street.
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Weiss’s worst-case scenario highlights everything we’ve both been warning investors about for a long time. The 2008 meltdown never ended, lessons never learned. But now the end game is accelerating. Listen closely: Weiss final warning to all investors: “Get all or most of your money out of danger immediately … above all, stay safe!” Prepare for the coming bank collapse. And discover how this historic scenario will empower the Occupiers message to get money out of elections: “One citizen. One dollar. One vote.”

This crisis continues to gather strength and speed at a truly astonishing pace. Critical Mass hasn't occurred, but simple observation assumes that status could change at any moment, or for a few more days, weeks, maybe months. In what form will the Global Economic Body Blow take?

The Big Picture becomes a bit more clear, and a lot more fearsome. It's coming..