Contracted a super virus..

A computer super virus..   Really?  You don't have anything better to do?  What the fuck ever, hacker..  I'll be back regularly..  Later.  So; Later!

creepy

Josh Romney at Tuesday's debate.  Where do I join?

Billionaire Koch brother denies kidnapping and interrogating former employee

Wuck?  Help!  I've been kidnapped by Stephen Colbert..  From The Future!  Raw Story:

A lawsuit filed in federal court last week alleges that billionaire William Koch, a major supporter of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and brother to the infamous tea party financiers Charles and David Koch, kidnapped and held captive a long-serving former executive at Oxbow Carbon & Minerals Inc., interrogating him about his concerns over the company’s tax avoidance scheme.


Koch denied any wrongdoing last weekend through a prepared statement issued on Oxbow’s website, which alleged that the plaintiff, former Oxbow Senior Vice President Kirby Martensen, was part of a scheme to defraud the company of more than $40 million.

The complaint alleges that Koch directed a massive review of internal communications after receiving an anonymous letter in 2011 that accused Martensen and others of various crimes, including theft. “Based on this surreptitious review of plaintiff’s emails and voice communications Koch learned that Martensen and others expressed concern of the legality of what they were doing on behalf of Oxbow and their distrust of upper management,” the lawsuit explains, according to excerpts published by Courthouse News. “As a result, William Koch promoted and implemented a plan to intimidate and discredit plaintiff for the purpose of chilling his speech and damaging his credibility.”

Martensen’s lawsuit adds that he was tricked into visiting Koch’s Colorado ranch in March, where he was interrogated by two “agents of Koch” before being given termination papers. The complaint goes on to allege that Martinsen was sent to a cabin on the property and held there for several hours before a driver and an escort ushered him to a small airport in Denver, despite his requests to be taken to Aspen to catch a previously-booked flight to San Francisco. Once in Denver, he claims that Koch agents forced him to get on an airplane that took him to Oakland, where a car was already waiting to take him to a pre-determined hotel. At that point, Martensen’s suit says he alerted an airport employee, who called him a taxi instead.


The complaint goes on to say that he believed several of the Koch agents were armed, causing him significant distress and anxiety throughout the two-day ordeal.

“Kirby Martensen states in a lawsuit that we investigated him for participating in a wide-ranging scheme to defraud, accepting bribes and diverting business from our company,” a statement on the Oxbow website reads. “He is right. We absolutely investigated Martensen and determined that he did participate in the fraud against the company.” The company added that “several of the wrongdoers” have since implicated Martensen in their scheme.

Koch founded Oxbow in the 1980s, shortly after parting ways with Koch Industries. Since then, he’s amassed a wealth of $4 billion, according to Forbes — which only amounts to about one-seventh of his brothers’ combined wealth.

Wrong cock brother, but I'm still keeping the opening line:  It makes me laugh. 

Rupert Murdoch labels hacking victims 'scumbag celebrities'

Nothing like attacking the victims of your vulture-like policies by calling THEM the scumbags..  Anyone else sensing heavy projection issues here?  The Sydney Morning Herald:

Rupert Murdoch has labelled victims of phone hacking "scumbag celebrities" after they met the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, during the Conservative party conference.


Mr Murdoch took to Twitter to criticise the talks in Birmingham between Mr Cameron and members of the Hacked Off campaign, the singer Charlotte Church, actor Hugh Grant and a former TV presenter, Jacqui Hames.
Murdoch tweeted: "Told UK's Cameron receiving scumbag celebrities pushing for even more privacy laws. Trust the toffs! Transparency under attack. Bad."
(Your scumbag phonehacking policies?  Your tactics aren't transparent, but they are under attack..)

The comments sparked a storm of disapproval, with Mr Murdoch repeatedly asked to apologise for the remarks and remove the tweets. Hames hit back at the head of News Corporation, tweeting: "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story eh Rupert. Happy to discuss our concerns with you sometime?" She added: "I've been called worse, but admittedly not by CEO of large multinational corp." Mr Murdoch replied to Hames: "Not referring to these ladies". (I'm sure the "ladies" appreciate your consideration, Poopert..)

Advertisement Thais Portilho-Shrimpton, a journalist and former co-ordinator of the Hacked Off campaign, tweeted that she had set up a meeting "between PM, a former Crimewatch presenter, a singer and an actor", adding: "You must be referring to all".

The former Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris tweeted: "By 'scumbag celebs' do u mean the WPC u put under surveillance, the teen girl yr papers perved over, or the actor u hacked?". He accused Mr Murdoch of being disingenuous and hypocritical. "I was at meeting & unlike yr secret meetngs w/ PMs promoting yr business, the victims went in front door & told media abt it."

Mr Murdoch also engaged with another Twitter user who said: "Scumbags"? And your journalists and executives are what?".

Mr Murdoch replied: "They don't get arrested for indecency on major LA highways! Or abandon love child's".

Terrible and Shocking!  Celebrities behaving badly?  Whoda thunk?  Sooo much worse than supposed journalistic networks routinely lying to their audience..  Poopert obviously doesn't watch The Daily Show..  John Stewart has a partial list for you, ma'am..

SpaceX Marks the Spot

Five articles since late May?  Goro's on fire!  The esoteric symbolism's flying fast and furious;  All the way to Mars!  Also:  The rise of Elon Musk..  Go Go Goro!   Another good read..

Frau Merkel Continues Her "I'm Unpopular With All Humans" European Tour..

After Starting Riots In Greece, Merkel Booed In Germany Next.  If Merkel had a heart (or soul, for that matter..), she might be upset.  No worries there, though!  Zero Hedge.  Excerpts:


What does an iron chancellor have to do to be loved these days? After scrambling 7,000 members of the Greek police force out of an early prepaid retirement for her brief, still inexplicable 6 hour visit to Athens last Tuesday, which caused the now usual Syntagma square rioting, Merkel next took the stage in a rainy Stuttgart, in a show of support for the local mayor candidate Sebastian Turner, which promptly devolved into 14 minutes of continuous booing.  (Video at the link.  It's awesome if you like your videos full of boos.  Boo!  Boo!  Chant!  Priceless..  )
And:
The truth is that a vast majority of Europe's people now want the grand experiment, which merely enriches a small subset of participants while impoverishing everyone else, over and done with: it is this endless pursuit of power and money at all costs that starts wars - not whether Germany and France share a fake currency, that is the cause of the endless bloodshed in Europe. The only reason why wars not only in Europe, but in the world, were avoided for the past several decades, is due to the incursion of globalization which merely allowed the encumbrance of every global assets with layers upon layers of additional debt, creating money in the process and keeping the oligarchy happy. But it is this oligarchic 'subset' that calls the shots, and the same subset is now realizing the ability to create debt out of thin air in Europe has now ended. And it will gladly take Europe to the edge of war if it means, well, "avoiding war", at least in the Nobel committee's naive version of the world, in the future.


Frau Frau needs a diversion:  Where the hell is Techno Viking when you need him?

Tepco Admits It Knew of Problems at Fukushima BEFORE the Earthquake Hit

And all it took was a year and a half of un-relenting pressure!  And then, TEPCO tries to blame the anti-nuke crowd for its own mistakes?  Such a spanking these people need!  Washington's Blog: 

Tepco Finally Comes Clean … But Tries to Blame Anti-Nuclear Movement


Ever since the Japanese earthquake hit a year and a half ago, we have reported on Tepco’s criminal negligence in failing to prevent the Fukushima disaster...

Due to the pressure put on Tepco by whistleblowers, writers and others, Tepco is finally coming clean.

As the Wall Street Journal reports today:

In a stunning reversal, the operator of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant admitted for the first time Friday that it had made errors of judgment that contributed to one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents last year.

[Tepco] said in a report that the company failed to adequately prepare for a disaster and that it knew it wasn’t prepared, and yet it did nothing, out of fear for the economic and social consequences.

“There was a worry that if the company were to implement a severe-accident response plan, it would spur anxiety throughout the country and in the community where the plant is sited, and lend momentum to the antinuclear movement,” said the report, explaining what it described as the “underlying reasons” Tepco didn’t have a good plan for such accidents.

That makes as much sense as claiming that American football players should take off their helmets and pads because protective gear implies that football is a dangerous activity.

The Journal continues:

The report represents a shift in stance for Tepco, which had continued to maintain it had done its best to prevent an accident from happening—despite repeated criticism from government and private-sector panels that studied events.

Postscript: While a Japanese Parliamentary inquiry found in July that collusion between Tepco and the Japanese government was the cause of the Fukushima disaster, the American government has long played a huge role in dictating Japanese nuclear policy.

Go to the link.  So many other links to peruse..  But hey, we're all on the same page now, right?  TEPCO knew this was a potential disaster, did nothing about it, a disaster happened, and they've spent the last 19 months deflecting the blame we all knew was theirs.  Now what?

Savile had set of Broadmoor keys: As scandal grows, how sick star had access to mentally ill patients

The tip of the goddamned ghastly iceberg that will be revealed to be institutionalized pedophilia within the halls of the BBC, but more importantly, connecting outward to other locales..  How low will the scandal go, and how big will it grow?  The Daily Mail(Entire article, plus video and more background at the link):

Jimmy Savile was given his own keys to high-security Broadmoor mental hospital, it emerged yesterday.


The gold-plated set was presented to the predatory paedophile as a reward for his volunteering, and gave him access to mentally ill patients, it was claimed.

The extraordinary revelation came as NHS chiefs came under mounting pressure to start an inquiry into Savile’s freedom to sexually abuse child patients.

He was given bedrooms or an office at three hospitals, and yesterday more former patients came forward to say he abused them on children’s wards.


There are growing fears NHS bosses turned a blind eye to sick and disabled children being attacked by Savile because he raised so much money for them.

Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire – where nurses warned children to ‘pretend to be asleep’ when the Jim’ll Fix It star came calling – made £40million from his fundraising.


The TV entertainer volunteered as a porter to gain access to children recovering from cancer and brain surgery, and sexually assault them. He said hospital chiefs ‘realised I might be useful to them’ and boasted he was ‘untouchable’.

A former Stoke Mandeville nurse yesterday claimed managers were ‘well aware’ that Savile – given a bedroom at the hospital for two decades – was a child abuser. Holly, from Dover, told LBC radio: ‘Jimmy Savile molested one of the patients on the paediatric unit. He was not supposed to go on any children’s wards unaccompanied.


‘Stoke Mandeville were well aware of what was going on. For them to say now they knew nothing is complete lies. They knew. It makes me so angry. He raised all this money for them. There has been a massive cover-up.’
The National Association for People Abused in Childhood said it had been ‘inundated’ with calls about Savile. Chief executive Pete Saunders said: ‘Two this morning told us that not only did Jimmy Savile abuse them at Stoke Mandeville but a doctor did as well.’

Labour leader Ed Miliband called for every institution connected to Savile to hold a ‘far-reaching investigation’ into ‘who knew what when about what was happening and why nothing was done about it’.


Tory MP Rob Wilson, an aide to the Health Secretary, demanded an independent inquiry into the scandal at Stoke Mandeville.


Mr Wilson said: ‘It is being alleged that his money-raising made him untouchable, despite the information that circulated about his behaviour. It must be a priority that the hospital answers these concerns as soon as possible before huge damage is done to its reputation.’

He added: ‘I am astonished to learn Savile had keys to Broadmoor, one of the highest security hospitals in the country. From what we’ve learned he should have been locked inside the institution, not been given the keys.’

One Broadmoor victim claimed the Top Of The Pops presenter put his hand up her nightdress when she was 17 after walking in on a group of girls watching TV in 1969.

Alison Pink said: ‘I felt absolutely disgusting afterwards, like I had been used as a piece of meat for his sexual gratification.’

She said Savile kept his own mobile home in the grounds of the Berkshire hospital, where patients include Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe.


‘He definitely had his own keys – they were gold, especially for him. Both male and female patients thought it was very strange. He could access any of the girls’ bedrooms.’


Alison, who has since had a sex change and is now Steven George, 60, of Portsmouth, added: ‘He made very good friends with patients on the male ward, which was full of sex offenders.’
Broadmoor hospital did not deny Savile had been given keys, but said the allegations related to a time when it was run as a ‘separate, somewhat isolated’ organisation. (What the fuck?)A spokesman said volunteer access and activity at Broadmoor was now strictly controlled and the hospital operated ‘within strict child and adult safeguarding guidelines’.

Meanwhile, psychiatric nurse Naomi Stanley told the Guardian that a patient told her she had been frequently abused by the star while she was in hospital in the 1980s.

She said the young woman said Savile had raped her repeatedly near the stage of the theatre at the hospital and that Savile had claimed 'nobody would believe her and he could do what he liked' when she threatened to report him.

The woman told the nurse Savile was 'very forceful' and 'treated her like she was an animal', and the nurse was left with no doubt the woman was extremely distressed by the alleged attacks.

Leeds General Infirmary, where Savile raised also millions of pounds and was given his own office, has declared ‘shock’ at claims he groped vulnerable children recovering from surgery while volunteering as a porter. Two more victims came forward there yesterday.

Thirteen police forces have now taken statements from people claiming they were raped or molested when they were children by the late BBC presenter, who died last October aged 84.

Scotland Yard has branded Savile a ‘predatory sex offender’ who preyed on children as young as 13 for four decades in a nationwide campaign of abuse.

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, which is responsible for Stoke Mandeville, said it was supporting the police inquiries and would take further action ‘if their findings suggest that we do need to’. It also said it had advised staff to contact police if they had any concerns.

West London Mental Health Trust, which covers Broadmoor, said it had not received any allegations of abuse from patients, their representatives or from staff, but would co-operate with police if they investigated.

In retrospect, this is one of the creepiest photos I've ever seen.  Do you think Frank Bruno wondered why a BBC television star just happened to be hanging out with a serial killer at the time of his visit?  Look at Saville's face:  Now that's a chilling expression..

More background here:  Jimmy Savile sex abuse claims: BBC to launch inquiries, From BBC News itself:

The BBC is to launch two inquiries surrounding sex abuse claims made against Sir Jimmy Savile, director general George Entwistle has announced.

The first into why a BBC Newsnight investigation into Savile was shelved last year will start straight away.

The other into whether culture and practice at the BBC at the time enabled Savile to carry out the sexual abuse of children will wait for police go-ahead.

Police said they had now received 340 potential lines of inquiry.

How could they have not known?  Oh, they knew; They just didn't care..

The Sun newspaper said that David Nicolson caught Savile having sex with a young girl in a BBC dressing room.


Mr Nicolson, now 67, is reported to have told managers at the BBC about the alleged incident, but was told: "That's the way it goes."

A BBC spokeswoman said: "We have been disturbed to hear these allegations. All staff past and present who have any information relating to allegations of this kind should raise them with the BBC's internal investigations unit or with the police directly."

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he could not understand how [the alleged abuse] had "remained hidden for so long".
"There must have been just so many people who knew what was going on in hospitals, the BBC, maybe in the police," he told BBC Radio 5live.

This scandal has not even begun: This could be the beginning of the biggest sexual scandal we've seen in our lifetime. My guess is that its tentacles will extend across borders to other very powerful institutions. The shock has just begun, babies, and this scandal will be every bit as big as it is sick.
By the way, this is a huuuuuge webbot hit, also.. (Oct.10-quirky--Free download. The first 10 minutes..)

Syrian plane had illegal cargo, says Turkey's Davutoglu

Turkey ups the ante.  Again.  BBC News.  Excerpts:

Turkey has said a Syria-bound passenger plane which it forced to land in Ankara was carrying "illegal cargo".


The Syrian Air plane was intercepted by Turkey and searched over suspicions it was carrying military equipment.

But officials in Russia and Syria strongly denied the allegations and accused the Turkish authorities of endangering passengers and crew.

Tension between Turkey and Syria has been high since five Turkish civilians were killed last week by mortar bombs.

In response, Turkey fired into Syria for the first time since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began last year.

'Air piracy'

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said "objectionable" cargo had been confiscated from the plane.

"There is illegal cargo on the plane that should have been reported," he told the Anatolia news agency.

He did not specify whether any weapons had been found, but unconfirmed reports in Turkish media said the seized items included boxes of military communication equipment.


The foreign minister said Turkey, which imposed an arms embargo on Syria last year, would continue to investigate Syrian passenger planes flying over its air space.

Both Syria and Russia reacted angrily to the plane's enforced diversion.

Syrian Transport Minister Mahmoud Saeed accused Turkey of carrying out "air piracy" and breaking civil aviation agreements, according to Lebanon's al-Manar TV.

Gaida Abdul Latif, boss of Syrian Air, accused Turkey of endangering her passengers and crew.

"Turkish military aircraft forced the plane to land without giving prior warning to the pilot. The military aircraft were so close that there could have been an accident," she said.

'Spare parts'

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Turkish officials had failed to inform the embassy that 17 Russian citizens were on board the plane.

"We are concerned that, in this emergency situation, the lives and safety of the passengers, including 17 Russian nationals, were put at risk," he said.
Russia's state arms supplier Rosoboronexport said in a statement it had no information about the plane's cargo, and denied it had any connection with the flight or anything on board.

Earlier, Mr Davutoglu had said Ankara was determined to stop any transfer of weapons to Syria through its airspace.

He said Ankara had received information that the Damascus-bound plane could be carrying "non-civilian cargo".

The Airbus A320 airliner had about 30 passengers on board, far fewer than its 180 passenger capacity.

The aircraft was escorted by two Turkish fighters to the capital's Esenboga airport for security checks.

There Is a Diamond Bigger Than Jennifer Aniston’s Engagement Ring and It’s a Planet Twice the Size of Earth

I love it when Science disguises itself with Celebrity!  Gawker:

Scientists today have discovered a planet in a nearby solar system that is twice the size of planet Earth, made almost entirely out of diamond, and not at all useful to you or me.


Because of its proximity to Earth (40 lightyears, or 230 trillion miles), scientists have been able to study its chemical makeup and surface more closely than they have any other planet of this kind. Cool, right? Would be cooler if we could actually do something with it. The planet, they say, is chemically much different than Earth and is really, really hot—like 3,900 degrees Fahrenheit—rendering it largely untouchable by humans and, therefore, not a viable solution for blood diamonds. (Sorry, Africa).

How long until Future Justin Theroux tries to apprehend this planet for Future Jennifer Aniston's engagement ring anyway? Given that humans will never stop wanting to wear obnoxious jewelry and we account for the invention of both warp speed and time travel, we're still looking at roughly 30 years. Too long, thank you.

The scientists have decided to name this diamond planet "55 Cancri e," which is a stupid fucking name for a planet made almost entirely out of diamonds. Off the top of my head, here are three names that are definitely better than "55 Cancri e": "Orion's Engagement Ring," "That Diamond Planet," or "Giant Shiny Thing in the Sky." (The last one's my favorite!  That, or something simple, like "Don.")

Turkey and Syria on the brink of all-out war

Tick..  Tick..  Tick..  The Telegraph, via The Extinction Protocol:

October 11, 2012 – TURKEY - If anyone believed that Syria’s bloodshed would stay inside the country’s borders, the events of the last week should have put them right. I’m in southern Turkey, near the frontier with Syria, and this area feels like the new front line of the battle against Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Convoys of Turkish army vehicles ply the roads down to the border and, quietly, civilians are trickling away to safer areas. The reason is simple: cross-border artillery and mortar bombardments have become daily events. Last Friday, I went to the scene of the bloodiest incident so far, when a Syrian mortar bomb landed outside a family home in the Turkish town of Akçakale. By malign chance, a mother, her six daughters and a female relative happened to be outside, making dinner under an olive tree, when the weapon exploded beside them. They were, quite simply, cut to pieces. When I arrived, a severed human finger, covered in flies, was still lying on the ground. Three of the girls survived with critical injuries; the mother, three daughters and the visiting relative were all killed. Since then, hardly a day has passed without the Syrian army firing shells or bombs into Turkey, or vice versa. If another family dies in similar circumstances, the Turkish government will come under immense popular pressure to respond with full force. If the Akçakale killings were to be repeated, I would not be surprised if Turkey retaliated with a strike by troops as well as artillery, possibly accompanied with air power. The country’s parliament has authorised the government to do exactly that if necessary. In other words, Turkey and Syria are close to war. The two countries have been waging a covert, undeclared war since the onset of the uprising against Assad, with Turkey supplying the Syrian rebels and Damascus hitting back by fuelling the Kurdish insurgency inside its neighbor. But we could be close to the moment when this shadow war becomes a formal, cross-border conflict. The lesson is clear: a civil war in volatile region is like a brushfire. Leave it alone, and it will spread. –Telegraph


While the media has chosen to ignore this story, the bad blood between Turkey and Syria continues to grow.  Any bets on which country will stick their ass into the action next?

A Couple Blind Item Pieces For You..

Because sometimes gossip is accurate.  Check out the comments for each.  In both instances, I do believe those commenting are correct.  Both have potentially huge implications.  I doubt, though, these stories will have "legs."  Both have more effective private implications or could be used as blackmail or manipulation, later.  Both found at Crazy Days and Nights:

Blind Item #1

I guess she is a celebrity now. Not sure what her title would be. Anyway, she definitely has A list name recognition. Actually she has A+ name recognition. Anyway, she has lost weight recently and says it is because of diet and exercise. Could be true, but the little pick me up powder she was wiping from her nose the other night is probably helping too and that famed LA weight loss drug Adderall.

Hint:  Name rhymes with "Nailin."  According to the comments, of course..  There are photos at the Daily Mail, if you'd like to Bing for yourself..

Today's Blind Items - Now We Know Why

This celebrity is A list in his field. He has had lots of romances, with lots of different women. Or he says he has at least. The only really documented celebrity relationship he has had was with this other A-lister from a different field. They were not together long. Wham bam kind of thing. He told her he wanted to wait until they were in a committed relationship before they did anything. So, they got into a committed relationship and he still couldn't do anything. Nothing. Nada. No amount of Viagra was ever going to raise his flag. When she decided to talk to him about it, our celebrity insisted he had no issues and that he was tired. Every night. Every day. Oh, he was also sick. When she kept asking, he would get more angry. Super violent. Spit flying out of his mouth angry. Turns out he really likes men but can't ever take the chance of ever being caught with one because it would ruin his career. End it. No more love and admiration. He actually hates when female fans touch him. Reminds him of his failures. One outburst where he swung at the A lister was enough for her to walk out the door. With a broken arm which she had to keep outside a cast because she had press to do. At night she would come home and put it in a sling and cry. Took an extra month to heal because of what she had to do to keep up appearances.

Hint:  Rhymes with "Menny Snezney" and "Kene Wellziger."  Flashback.

If these people didn't have massive right wing majority fan-bases, these items wouldn't nearly be as salacious.  But if you take their money, you must live by their code.  Still, I feel sorry for them:  They've run headlong into a confrontation between their desires and their public persona(s).  Ultimately, something will give.  And God help 'em when that happens..

Merkel Hides Behind The Troika Report, The Greeks Seethe, And The Drachma Advances

Frau Merkel takes a mini-vacation.  How could she not?  The Greeks love her?  The testosteronepit, via Zero Hedge:

..Athens was prepared for her. Both sides. Police had designated a “red zone” where demonstrating and loitering were prohibited. The Parliament, the prime minister’s mansion, and the presidential mansion were sealed off. Some metro stations were closed, some buses and trolleys were pulled out of service. Water cannons, 7,000 police in riot gear, crowd-control fences... it was all there.


As were 80,000 protesters—or 60,000—who’d been seething for days. It wasn’t just Merkel’s presence on their soil, but also the restrictions on their constitutional right of assembly. “FRAU MERKEL GET OUT,” a poster read. A group of school kids were taken into custody. Tear gas was used. Protestors were trying to tear down crowd-control fences. A melee broke out. Rocks flew. A Nazi flag was burned. But... “Strange thing about Greek demos is that they are part political protest, part village fete, small of meat on the BBQ everywhere,” ‏@teacherdude reported (screenshot).

So why the heck did Merkel dive into this? To express “her support for the difficult reforms,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert explained on Monday, and to “emphatically” point out “everything” that still needed to be done. It was the outline of her strategy. Accomplished politician, she’d try to satisfy both sides, those who want Germany to open the wallet even more, and those who don’t want to see their money disappear into a bottomless pit.
..
Merkel was the epitome of understanding. Greece is in a “very difficult period,” she said, but should “finish what it has started,” otherwise “things will be even harder.” It’s about “our children and grandchildren.” Then, brutally, she pointed at the sword of Damocles hanging over Greece: “Of course, we are not the representatives from the Troika.”
The mighty Troika. It will come out with a report that had been delayed, rescheduled, and re-rescheduled. It will spell out whether or not Greece complied with the agreed-upon 89 “structural reforms.” It’s a huge report, worked on for months, a shield for politicians to hide behind, even for Merkel [Greece Prints Euros To Stay Afloat, The ECB Approves, The Bundesbank Nods, No One Wants To Get Blamed For Kicking Greece Out].

And what was the purpose of her visit, a reporter asked. “I came here to understand the situation on the ground,” she said. “Close contact leads to greater understanding. What the visit means to Greeks, I don’t know.”

So it went. No answers of any kind. They strolled to the Presidential Mansion and said hi to President Karolos Papoulias before heading to the Hilton for a meeting with business leaders from both countries. Chancellors have to bring home the bacon. They travel with a delegation of executives and meet local tycoons to do business. With privatizations on the docket in Greece, surely there’d be some sweetheart deals to be made. And by 7:18 p.m., she was waving goodbye from the door of the plane.

She’d given nothing away. Other than platitudes. No assurances that Greece would remain in the Eurozone, though it was her “hope and wish” that Greece should try. A broken record. There was no promise that the next bailout tranche of €31.5 billion would be disbursed, ever. Greece, which has been paying its bills only selectively, will run out of money entirely by the end of November, and barring a miracle, would have to revert to the drachma.

The Landlord came by to check upon her "investment."  The disdain for her new tenants was palpable.  Towards her, her new tenants felt the same.  Their new "arrangement" will not be comfortable.

The crescendo to all this ugliness will be bloody, both literally and figuratively.  All action going forward will illicit equally strong reactions.

New Woo - 8.Oct.2012

Clif's latest podcast available here.  For free, even!  Which reminds me, I have to finish the latest webbot report also available at halfpasthuman..

6.4 magnitude earthquake strikes volcanic islands near Antarctica

From The Star Advisor, via The Extinction Protocol:

October 9, 2012 – ANTARTICA – A preliminary 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck 452 miles northwest of the Balleny Islands region early this morning at 2:32 a.m., but presented no tsunami threat to Hawaii, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The earthquake struck at a depth of about 6.3 miles. The Balleny Islands are a series of uninhabited volcanic islands that are part of Antarctica.

Noted, as Patrick Geryl has some alignment concerns this weekend, and an active Sun region is rotating towards us.

[RT] Shell explosions in Central Russia leave mushroom cloud-like plume of smoke

This probably isn't good news..

Sinkhole explosive methane officially life threatening, residents not told

In this case, no news is bad news, but Official News is pretty bad, too..  The Examiner.  Excerpts:

Officials advised the Assumption Parish President on Thursday that Bayou Corne sinkhole area has high levels of methane in nearby water wells, posing risks to health, fire and explosion and that residents need to heed the mandatory evacuation order. That day, parish officials postponed Saturday's resident briefing with no explanation.


“Of the chemicals reviewed, only methane, detected in the industrial water wells, presents a potential health risk (Type 2 of fire/explosion),” Dr. Raoult Ratard, State Epidemiologist of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Office (DHH) of Public Health stated in an environmental data report of the Bayou Corne oil and gas sinkhole event sent to Assumption Parish President Martin S. Triche Thursday.
..
Speculations are increasing that methane is the mysterious "powerful underground force" wreaking havoc in south Louisiana, including the sinkhole disaster area.


Methane gas leaks are spreading throughout the south Louisiana area. Within four months, as of this week, methane bubbling sites have increased to twenty-eight, including in Pierre Part, outside the mandatory evacuation area but within hearing distance and jolts of seismic activities where foul chemical odors are nauseating and burning, as some residents there have reported.
..
So what's the worst case scenario?  (Same author, same site, from August 5)

If any of the melted methane at the ocean bottom has access to strata which could also fracture, could it travel horizontally underground for some distance, to surface miles away?


In “The Worst-Case Scenario,” a frightening "low-probability" scenario was described on Huffington Post by DK Matai, Chairman of Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance (ATCA) & The Philanthropia. Matai highlighted the possibility of the "massive bubble trapped for thousands of years under the Gulf of Mexico sea floor" exploding and setting off a "tsunami [traveling] at a high speed of hundreds of miles per hour."

"There are serial resistances along channels, say along stata or their boundaries; transverse resistances between channels; and transverse capacitances which are voids where gas can be stored at applied pressures," retired neuroscientist Paul Brown explained to Deborah Dupré Saturday. "In the case of a long-lasting increase of source pressure due to an undersea rupture, as the gas travels along the longitudinal channels, pressure buildup is slower and slower at greater and greater distances.

"For distances of many miles, it’s conceivable that this pressure buildup could take months or years. If the pressure at the input, from the undersea methane pool, is maintained over this period, then capacitances will charge (pressure will build up to near the source pressure) along the channels, and fracturing may occur (like short-circuiting some of the transverse resistances due to displacement of material between high- and low-pressure compartments), allowing gas to travel both vertically and horizontally into areas not originally accessible."

According to Brown, "The fact that methane is more compressible than water is irrelevant over long periods and with a sufficient supply of high-pressure methane.

Short Answer:  Big-Ass BOOM!  Big Waves.  Lots of steam.  Low probability, though, so that's a relief, right?  I guess the key now is how to stop the sinkhole from spreading, for which there is still not an answer.  And there are still no acceptable answers for all the nervous Cajuns waiting for the next shoe to drop..

Japan Diplomat: Ground underneath Fukushima Unit 4 is sinking — More than 30 inches in some areas — Now in danger of collapse

To restate again, and again..  Just because the dangers are being actively downplayed does not make them any less serious.  Enenews and YouTube..

From Enenews:

Mitsuhei Murata, Former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland: Due to its ground has been sinking, Unit 4 is now endangered in collapse. [...] According to secretary of former Prime Minister Kan, the ground level of the building has been sinking 80 cm [31.5 inches] unevenly. Because the ground itself has the problem, whether the building can resist a quake bigger than M6 still remains a question.


From YouTube:  

It's not comforting that this video is over two months old either, is it?

Who Says Radioactive Contamination Can't Be Sexy?

Conjoint melon found in Fukui.  Fukushima Diary.

How much sexier would they be if they glowed in the dark?  Mmm..  Delicious Melons of death..

Golden Apple: The Mayan Omen. New From Goro Adachi

Goro's latest - Golden Apple:  The Mayan Omen.  Goro Adachi interprets multiple sets of highly symbolic narratives that are revealed in the form of Current Events.  And then he searches for deeper meaning from the narratives he unearths.  And then he tells us about it.  (If this is your first rodeo, go back to his very first posts and catch up.  Goro Adachi's writing needs context as to the perspective he presents, and there's no place like the beginning to gain said context.)

For Goro, it's been a busy, busy two months.  No excerpts;  Just go to the link and let him tell you about it.

Your Brain on Drugs: Marijuana

A two and a half minute seminar on the physiological effects of marijuana on the human brain.  Thanks, ASAP Science!  You Tube:

Revealed: Army scientists secretly sprayed St Louis with 'radioactive' particles for YEARS to test chemical warfare technology

Gross. Why do you think they picked St. Louis?  Oh yeah; The poor black people.  No worries though, right?  That last incident was 47 years ago, and I'm sure there's been no covert bullshit against citizens of any color or class since.. 

Somebody give me a Xanax and let's go shopping!

NEW 4-Mile Long Oil Slick Near BP’s Gulf Oil Well

BP’s Macondo Well May Leak for Years.  Washington's Blog.  Excerpts:

From CNN:

An oil sheen about four miles long has appeared in the Gulf of Mexico near the site of the worst oil spill in U.S. history, a Coast Guard spokesman said Thursday.


It was not immediately clear where the oil is coming from, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Tippets. [Although previous oil has been matched as a "dead ringer" to the BP well.]

Coast Guardsmen went to the location after seeing the oil on a satellite image, Tippets said. The response team collected samples and sent them to the Coast Guard Marine Safety Lab in Connecticut for testing.
***
The sheen is near the spot where, on April 20, 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded over the Macondo well, killing 11 workers and spewing oil that spread across a huge portion of the Gulf.

This is interesting, and a little disturbing to boot.. 
(Interview by Washington's Blog with Dr. Robert Bea, a member of the Deepwater Horizon Study Group.)

WB: I have heard that BP is underestimating the size of the oil reservoir. Is it possible that the reservoir is bigger than BP is estimating, and so – if not completely killed – the leak could therefore go on for longer than most assume?


Bea: That’s plausible.

WB: The chief electronics technician on the Deepwater Horizon said that the Macondo well was originally drilled in another location, but that “going faster caused the bottom of the well to split open, swallowing tools”, and that BP abandoned that well. You’ve spoken to that technician and looked into the incident, and concluded that “they damn near blew up the rig.”

Do you know where that abandoned well location is, and do you know if that well is still leaking?

Bea: The abandoned well is very close to the current well location. BP had to file reports showing the location of the abandoned well and the new well [with the Minerals Management Service], so the location of the abandoned well is known.

We don’t know if the abandoned well is leaking.

WB: Matthew Simmons talked about a second leaking well. There are rumors on the Internet that the original well is still leaking. Do you have any information that can either disprove or confirm that allegation?

Bea: There are two uncorroborated reports. One is that there is a leak 400 feet West of the present well’s surface location. There is another report that there is a leak several miles to the West.

[Bea does not know whether either report is true at this time, because BP is not sharing information with the government, let alone the public.]

Random, unacknowledged oil leaks for decades to come?  Who said environmental disasters can't be fun? 

Incredible! Human Size Bat Caught In Peru

That's a big bat!  The Truth Behind The Scenes:

The Peruvian army has captured something truly horrific, a human size bat, this animal as you can see in the photograph appears to be a giant bat.


Apparently this animal has been frightening locals living near the amazon jungle bordering Peru.


Recent reports state that this animal attacked several people walking through the jungle and elsewhere in Latin America. (Yikes.)

Many say that this is the Chupa Cabra, an animal reported to attack various types of livestock and suck their blood, but this creature is not a Chupa Cabra, but probably it is a giant golden-crowned Flying Fox, one of the largest species of bats in the world with a wingspan of 1.5–1.7 m (4 ft 10 in–5 ft 7 in).

This creature exceeds all sizes.

Source and author: noticiaaldia.com Bat

Again:  That's a big bat!