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From Zero Hedge. I'm trying to self educate on economic theory, but today, it Does Not Compute.. I imagine myself as a dog listening to someone speaking, straining to understand anything, comprehending nothing but all but the simplest sentences. And my name, of course.. In my Fido Mind, the article reads..
"Blahblahblahblah blahblahblahblah, blah-blah, blah blah blah blah, b-blah.. Silver was the massive winner, now up an impressive 4.3% since Friday and 30% YTD.. blahblahblahblah, blah blah blah.."
I understand The Best Part. Now give me Pupperoni! And some more silver!
Timely. And by "Timely," I mean just in time for the one year anniversary of the Birth of Nuclear Godzilla! CBS News. Truly awesome excerpts:
The one year anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan is less than two weeks away, but details about the nuclear meltdown that happened that tragic day are just beginning to emerge. (Just. Beginning.)
..
CBS News correspondent Lucy Craft reported that in the hours after the tsunami struck the nuclear plant, Japanese officials huddled in an emergency bunker struggled to grasp the size of the catastrophe.
"As we listened to our top nuclear experts, we politicians had no idea what they were talking about. Was anyone going to suffer radiation contamination? Would this be another Chernobyl or Three Mile Island? No one could give us a straight answer," Fukuyama recalled in the report.
After 300 interviews with officials and nuclear experts, the report said government was partially at fault for not having an emergency plan if a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck the country.
However, investigators concluded the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric, was to blame for the majority of the problems. "They were astonishingly unprepared for this nuclear accident," lead investigator Youichi Funabash told CBS News.
It seems that Tokyo Electric was unprepared for a power failure. Without electricity, the cores of the reactor couldn't stay cool, and it triggered explosions and meltdowns. (It's excellent that TEPCO didn't know this, but the rest of us were forewarned simply by watching Simpsons episodes..)
And:
"Terrified doesn't begin to describe how we felt," Fukuyama told investigators months after the scare. A "no go" zone still remains around the plant because radiation levels are too high. Clean up at the plant is estimated to take 40 years. (This is still a conservative estimate, btw..)
"When we learned the reactors had in fact melted down, I was overwhelmed, by our inability," he added. Oh, Mr. Fukuyama, we're all overwhelmed by your, TEPCO's, and Japan's inabilities..
Pretty compelling evidence for allowing private sector industries to regulate themselves, no? For my radioactive superpowers, I'd like invisibility, the power to fly, or to be impervious to bullets and explosions, please!
Channel surfing through, I found the race in rain delay, listened for less than a minute, and got a really charged This Ain't Right vibe.
37 laps to go. Let's hope I'm wrong.
Update: I was wrong, and glad to be! Even though it was a bang-up race, the whole thing didn't go tragic, which is cool. I probably just transferred my anxiety about the end of this week to last night's race. Again; I'm glad to be wrong on this one..
Hmm.. I wonder what kind of hackers hack Anonymous? International Business Times. Excerpts:
A group of hackers calling themselves Team Matrix has declared war on the Anonymous collective, promising to hack its sites and publish its members names.
The Team Matrix hackers made the declaration of war via a video posted on YouTube. In it, the Matrix hacker claimed responsibility for defacing the AnonyOps website - one of Anonymous central news centres.
Moving past the claim, the Matrix representative posted a statement promising the attack was the opening shot in an ongoing campaign against the hacktivist collective.
"Greetings anonymous, We are team matrix. For many months our hacking group has sat back and watched your actions. We have decided that the time has come, a time that you have been waiting for, a time that could go down in history. We have decided to go to war, a war that will change everything, you know this," read the statement.
Team Matrix gave no clear reason for its declaration of war past a general disapproval of Anonymous; "your actions represent those of people who hack for a reason they believe in and that is exactly what we are going to do. You may think you are untouchable, you may think you can bully people and take the law into your own hands."
Later into the video statement Team Matrix promised it would continue its campaign, targeting other sites associated with Anonymous before going on to reveal the identities of its members to the public.
"We have already defaced one of your affiliated sites anonyops.com, (Defaced? Horrifying!)we will continue our attacks until we are satisfied. we will continue to target the anonymous community on face book and every website linked to anonymous. we will take down any websites you use to assist you in operations, then finally we will start revealing identities to the public."
Yawn.. Team Matrix sounds so.. insincere or cynical or fake, as names go.. I wonder who these people are? The comments section provide some pretty spot on clues. This ought to be relegated to footnote, considering The Return of Assange is just a few hours away.
..And then, a shit-ton of new information begins to wash over the planet..
From Chris Martensen at ZeroHedge: Funfun! Excerpts:
All eyes are on Greece these days, with hopes the situation there can soon be resolved and the global recovery kicked into high gear.
Sadly, those hopes are misguided claims Ben Davies, CEO of Hinde Capital. In fact, he says, Greece's pain foreshadows the future awaiting the rest of the world.
It all comes down to simple math. Greece has increased its debts at a rate far faster than its income has grown. At some point, the debt became so large that the country could no longer service it.
What makes the rest of the PIIGS(Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) immune from a similar fate? Or Japan? Or the US? Or the OECD, in general?
Nothing.
And:
The cold hard fact Greece is facing is that it's now at the point where extraordinary losses need to be taken. The problem is, no one wants to take them. And all the sturm und drang being exhibited by Brussels, the ECB, sovereign debt holders, and other world leaders is nothing more than a frantic game of hot potato.
The one thing we can be confident of is that at some point, these losses will be taken. The market will eventually force it.
And the second thing we can predict is: we don't know what will happen when they are. There is so much complexity in the counterparty exposure to Greece debt - as well as the much larger derivative exposure tied to this debt - that anything between "not much" and "worldwide financial conflagration" could be possible.
Not specific, but scary, nonetheless..
From The Atlantic, via Gawker. Excerpts:
In just over two weeks, Japan will be observing the one-year anniversary of the disastrous magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that struck its east coast in March of 2011. The destruction was unprecedented and the loss of life and property were staggering -- more than 15,800 are confirmed dead, with another 3,300 still listed as missing nearly a year later. Photographers documented the many faces of this tragedy and have now returned to give us a look at the difference a year can make, re-shooting places that were photographed during and immediately after the quake. Collected here are 20 of these pairings. They are interactive: Starting with number 2, click the images to view a fading before/after comparison.
Amazing photos. Really; Check it out.
More Creepy than Weird, or more Weird than Creepy? Either way, Super Off-Putting. Century Link News. Excerpts:
A new claim has surfaced that the Mormon church has posthumously baptized a Holocaust victim, this time Anne Frank.
The allegations come just a week after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apologized when it was brought to light that the parents of Holocaust survivor and Jewish rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal were posthumously baptized by church members at temples in Arizona and Utah in late January.
Researcher Helen Radkey, a former Mormon who revealed the Wiesenthal baptisms, said this week she found Frank's name in proxy baptism records dated Feb. 18, showing the ritual was performed in the Santo Domingo Temple in the Dominican Republic.
The Mormon church almost immediately issued a statement, though it didn't mention Frank by name.
"The Church keeps its word and is absolutely firm in its commitment to not accept the names of Holocaust victims for proxy baptism," the Salt Lake City-based church said. "It is distressing when an individual willfully violates the Church's policy and something that should be understood to be an offering based on love and respect becomes a source of contention."
I didn't realize that Mormons baptized people after their deaths, with or without their approval; That that was Policy.. Not until Mitt Romney's actively-Atheist-in-life Father-In-Law got baptized, that is..
Unsettling, and Un-Necessary. Unless of course, South Park was right. Then, I'll say, "Thanks, Mormons!".
NOT IN OUR HISTORY BOOKS. Indeed. From Godlike Productions. I'll let the original poster's videos do the heavy lifting here..
Video One: Video Two: Video Three:
Don't believe it? Ok, then; Let's here YOUR theory! The precision of this masonry suggests mathematical knowledge and construction skills not normally attributed to neither the Incas nor this time period. And yet, here's the evidence..
More, please..
GOP Candidate And AZ Sheriff Admits He’s Gay After Accusations Surface That He Dated An Illegal Immigrant Gosh, where to start? Do as I say, not as I do? Pay no attention to the man behind the closet door? Anti-immigrant, but he gots a taste for the hot sauce? Oh, Sheriff Babeu, this is what happens when you throw your lot in with what should be your sworn enemies: People point and laugh when your hypocrisy is exposed! From Mediate. Excerpts:
Arizona is currently in the midst of a very fiery sex scandal as Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, a well-known anti-illegal immigrant proponent and Republican Congressional candidate, has been exposed as gay by a source telling the Phoenix New Times that he was Babeu’s ex-lover, and that Babeu threatened him with deportation several times when he refused to promise to keep the affair under wraps. Babeu responded by admitting in a press conference that he was gay, stepping down (from)the Romney campaign(Ha!), and denying the rumors that he threatened anyone with deportation.
..
As the relationship soured, Babeu allegedly sent his lawyer’s after Jose. “The latest of the alleged threats were made through Babeu’s personal attorney, who’s also running the sheriff’s campaign for Congress in District 4,” according to the New Times. José provided text messages and the above photos, as well as an Adam4Adam (think OKCupid’s less self-important gay cousin) profile. Gay culture and politics blog Towleroad reports that the couple met through a Gay.com (Match.com’s less self-important gay cousin) profile. José began, he says, working with Babeu by keeping his social media and web work up to date, but they eventually began an affair. The Tuscon Citizen, another local publication, is deeming this a “sex slave operation,” but that doesn’t seem to be based on any information not in the Phoenix New Times report.
Turns out, Jose's not here illegally! Let's see, Babeau and Jose dated for over five years, and the Sheriff doesn't know his immigration status! Keen.. Observational.. Powers.. Bonus: This was the guy from the McCain "build the fence!" commercial! If this scandal were dessert, I'd have diabetes!
Already, some conservative sites(Won't link to these idiots) are calling out anyone calling out Babeau as "gay hating progressives." Ask yourselves, douchebags, wasn't it social conservatives that made faggotry a life or death political issue in this country? It's not "gay hating" as much as it is "hypocrisy hating," especially when there are sooooo many more important issues our country should be dealing with! Damn, people! Grow the fuck up and stop caring who kisses who, and concern yourself with what's crumbling faster: Our economy, or our Infrastructure!?!
Also: Will Fox News ever have Babeau back as a guest?
Guest Post: When Debt Is More Important Than People, The System Is Evil From Zero Hedge. The excerpt is from the site, red emphasis theirs, light colored emphasis mine:
The ethics of debt, at least in the officially sanctioned media, boils down to: nobody made them borrow all those euros, and so their suffering is just desserts. What's lost in this subtext is the responsibility of the lender. Yes, nobody forced Greece to borrow 200 billion euros (or whatever the true total may be), but then nobody forced the lenders to extend the credit in the first place. Consider an individual who is a visibly poor credit risk. He would like to borrow money to blow on consumption and then stiff the lender, but since he cannot create credit, he has to live within his means. Now a lender comes along who can create credit out of thin air (via fractional reserve banking) and offers this poor credit risk $100,000 in collateral-free debt at low rates of interest. Who is responsible for the creation and extension of credit? The borrower or the lender? Answer: the lender. In other words, if the lender is foolish enough to extend huge quantities of credit to a poor credit risk, then it's the lender who should suffer the losses when the borrower defaults. This is the basis of bankruptcy laws--or used to be the basis. When an over-extended borrower defaults, the debt is cleared, the lender takes the loss/writedown, and the borrower loses whatever collateral was pledged. He is left with the basics to carry on: his auto, clothing, his job, and so on. His credit rating is impaired, and it is now his responsibility to earn back a credible credit rating....The potential for loss and actually bearing the consequences from irresponsible extensions of credit was unacceptable to the banking cartel, so they rewrote the laws. Now student loans in America cannot be discharged in bankruptcy court; they are permanent and must be carried and serviced until death. This is the acme of debt-serfdom.
Much more at the link. Required reading.
Wow.. And all it took was Republican on Republican vote rigging for (some of) them to wake up! It's not like this has been an issue for over 10 years.. It's not like over 85 percent of vote tally software is under the control of two brothers, both Republicans, and that less than 30 dollars can swing an election.. But wow, some Republicans gets screwed, and now it's a national issue!
It's funny (peculiar), conservatives have spent the last 10 years casting legitimate questions about the no-verification, highly corrupt voting apparatus this country so willingly embraces as 'whacked out conspiracy theories,' until it effected them. Now, because they're the ones making the accusations, This Issue Is Serious! That's not the only reason people think wingnuts are self-absorbed douchebags, but it is a pretty good example.
An old fault line reactivates almost right underneath Fukushima? Not awesome. Really Not Awesome, considering Reactors 2 and 4 seem to be much worse than thought. The only ingredient missing for Catastrophe is a 7.0 or greater quake. According to the article, there's a 70 percent chance of that happening this year, and a 98 percent chance of that happening in the next three years.
Not If. Only When.
Uh-oh. All of Europe's gonna get Greece-d. Zero Hedge's Tyler Durden has the details. Excerpts:
As anticipated in November 2011, Moody's Investors Service has today adjusted the sovereign debt ratings of selected EU countries in order to reflect their susceptibility to the growing financial and macroeconomic risks emanating from the euro area crisis and how these risks exacerbate the affected countries' own specific challenges.
Moody's actions can be summarised as follows:
- Austria: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
- France: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
- Italy: downgraded to A3 from A2, negative outlook
- Malta: downgraded to A3 from A2, negative outlook
- Portugal: downgraded to Ba3 from Ba2, negative outlook
- Slovakia: downgraded to A2 from A1, negative outlook
- Slovenia: downgraded to A2 from A1, negative outlook
- Spain: downgraded to A3 from A1, negative outlook
- United Kingdom: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
..
The main drivers of today's actions are:
*The uncertainty over (i) the euro area's prospects for institutional reform of its fiscal and economic framework and (ii) the resources that will be made available to deal with the crisis.
*Europe's increasingly weak macroeconomic prospects, which threaten the implementation of domestic austerity programmes and the structural reforms that are needed to promote competitiveness.
*The impact that Moody's believes these factors will continue to have on market confidence, which is likely to remain fragile, with a high potential for further shocks to funding conditions for stressed sovereigns and banks.
To a varying degree, these factors are constraining the creditworthiness of all European sovereigns and exacerbating the susceptibility of a number of sovereigns to particular financial and macroeconomic exposures.
When everything collapses, don't forget to yell "Jenga!!" And, as always, don't forget to stock up on canned goods and bottled water! Happy Valentine's Day, yo!
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!
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..
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.
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..
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!
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