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2/28/2004
Even the Cross Walk Buttons Are a Fraud :.Sleepwalking through life, pushing buttons that don't do anything... Think of this as an analogy to the election system in the U.S. Push a button, pull a lever... Yeah, you influenced policy. Sure you did: For years, at thousands of New York City intersections, well-worn push buttons have offered harried walkers a rare promise of control over their pedestrian lives. The signs mounted above explained their purpose:
To Cross Street
Push Button
Wait for Walk Signal
Dept. of Transportation
Millions of dutiful city residents and tourists have pushed them over the years, thinking it would help speed them in their journeys. Many trusting souls might have believed they actually worked. Others, more cynical, might have suspected they were broken but pushed anyway, out of habit, or in the off chance they might bring a walk sign more quickly.
As it turns out, the cynics were right.
The city deactivated most of the pedestrian buttons long ago with the emergence of computer-controlled traffic signals, even as an unwitting public continued to push on, according to city Department of Transportation officials. More than 2,500 of the 3,250 walk buttons that still exist function essentially as mechanical placebos, city figures show. Any benefit from them is only imagined.
posted by Kevin at 2:28 PM
2/27/2004
Superflu is Being Brewed in the Lab :.Madness: After the worldwide alarm triggered by 2003's SARS outbreak, it might seem reckless to set about creating a potentially far more devastating virus in the lab. But that is what is being attempted by some researchers, who argue that the dangers of doing nothing are even greater.
posted by Kevin at 5:22 PM
Bush Budget Said to Cause $2.75T Deficits :.President Bush's budget would produce deficits totaling $2.75 trillion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office projected Friday in the first authoritative look at the plan's longer-range implications.
The nonpartisan budget office said Bush's tax and spending plans would, if enacted, add $737 billion to shortfalls otherwise expected over the period. Its massive numbers are sure to factor into this year's presidential and congressional campaigns.
Just two years ago, the budget office and Bush envisioned surpluses totaling $5.6 trillion for the decade ending in 2011. The projections released Friday cover a slightly different period, the 10 years running through 2014, but the contrast is striking.
posted by Kevin at 5:15 PM
2/26/2004
Here's a Newsflash: Gasoline Supplies Likely to Shrink, Prices Rise :.Live it up: Motorists face gasoline shortages as well as record prices the next few weeks because of the skintight U.S. refining and distribution network.
The vulnerability of that network, combined with low inventories of both gasoline and the crude oil from which it's made, have the government and energy experts increasingly nervous that some places in the USA will run out of gas temporarily. An accident that has disrupted shipping on the Mississippi River and in the Gulf of Mexico could trigger shortages this week.
posted by Kevin at 6:48 PM
Prison Labor in the U.S. :.This is where the Race to the Bottom ends: corporations firing employees and using prisoners for pennies per hour. Pure fascism: Chris Harry is a model employee for the U.S. call-center industry.
The 25 year-old arrives promptly at his cubicle, speaks courteously on the phone and is never late or absent. He plans to stick with his job for three years, a boon in an industry plagued by high turnover. And he gladly works for money many Americans would scoff at -- $130 or so a month.
After all, he could be back swabbing cell-block floors for a third of that.
"I can't complain about fair," said Harry, who was sentenced to 10 years and eight months for robbery. "I did a crime and I'm in prison. At least I'm not wearing a ball and chain."
Prison inmates like Harry are the reason Perry Johnson Inc., a Southfield, Michigan consulting company, chose to remain in the United States rather than join a host of telemarketing companies moving offshore.
Perry Johnson had intended to move to India. But the company chose instead to open inside the Snake River Correctional Institution, a sprawling razor wire and cinder block state penitentiary a few miles west of the Idaho line.
The center's opening followed a year-long effort by the Oregon Department of Corrections to recruit businesses that would otherwise move offshore, and echoes a national trend among state and federal prisons to recruit such companies.
posted by Kevin at 12:34 AM
Greenspan: Slash Retiree Benefits :.What part of down, don't you understand? I hate to say I told you so: Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, stepping into the politically charged debate over Social Security, said yesterday the country cannot afford the retirement benefits promised to Baby Boomers and urged Congress to trim them.
He said that unless Congress acts, soaring budget deficits from out-of-control entitlement programs could lead to a "very debilitating" rise in interest rates in coming years.
posted by Kevin at 12:24 AM
2/25/2004
Canada's 'Bankrupt' Military Forces May Shut 5 Bases :.No problem! Hey Canada, just do what the U.S. does! Fashion toilet paper into rectangles and adorn them with creepy Masonic phrases and images. Make sure that your arbitrary "money" is backed by nothing but death and misery abroad and inescapable slavery for your own population: Canada's army, navy and air force are facing a funding shortfall of up to half a billion dollars, defence sources told the National Post, and the military is recommending drastic measures to make up the difference, including closing some of the largest bases in the country.
posted by Kevin at 12:22 AM
Altered DNA Found in Crop Seed SupplySorry, no link. The L.A. Times is openly hostile against linking to their stories. (I particularly hate the L.A. Times.) This isn't news to me, but it might be to you: February 24, 2004
Much of the U.S. supply of ordinary crop seeds has become contaminated with strands of engineered DNA, suggesting that current methods for segregating gene-altered seed plants from traditional varieties are failing, according to a pilot study.
More than two-thirds of 36 batches contained traces of DNA from genetically engineered crop varieties in tests commissioned by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washington-based advocacy group.
The actual amount of altered DNA present appeared to be small, and most engineered genes detected were among those that regulators had deemed safe for consumption, the report acknowledged.Related: Seeds Of ChangeResearch Credit: NF
posted by Kevin at 12:08 AM
2/24/2004
Building Blue-Collar � Burgers? :.Are you guys ready to stop reading this shit? Why am I posting these stories anymore? This thing is down. Well, anyway, remember Bill Clinton's, "What is the meaning of is?" You better be sitting down for this one: Manufacturing jobs making things like airplane engines, cars and farm equipment are disappearing from the American economy.
Or are they? According to a White House report, new manufacturing jobs might be as close as your nearest drive-thru.
The annual Economic Report of the President has already stirred controversy by suggesting the loss of U.S. jobs overseas might be beneficial, and predicting that a whopping 2.6 million jobs will be created in the country this year.
As first reported by The New York Times, the fast food issue is taken up on page 73 of the lengthy report in a special box headlined "What is manufacturing?"
"The definition of a manufactured product," the box reads, "is not straightforward."
"When a fast-food restaurant sells a hamburger, for example, is it providing a 'service' or is it combining inputs to 'manufacture' a product?" it asks.
posted by Kevin at 11:57 PM
'Kelly was Murdered' Says UK Intelligence Insider :.French DGSE!? Weird. I wouldn't have guessed that one. What's the angle? Did Brit spooks contact French spooks and ask for a favor? This doesn't seem to make much sense, but then again, what does? On Jones' show, Shrimpton explained how he had learned that David Kelly was the BBC's source before the BBC disclosed this fact. He went on to explain that his source from within the intelligence community knew David Kelly personally, and did not believe that he had committed suicide. After making their own enquiries, says Shrimpton, this source determined that Dr Kelly had not committed suicide, but rather had been assassinated.
Apparently at ease to discuss these explosive disclosures, Shrimpton explained that there was advance knowledge of Kelly's death in Whitehall, but that the deed itself was most likely carried out by the French external security organisation, DGSE. There was no indication that anybody in MI5 or MI6 had been involved. He went further by suggesting that the hit squad itself was composed of Iraqis from the former regime's Mukhabarat intelligence organisation, recruited from Damascus with the help of Syria's own intelligence apparatus. They were apparently then flown into Corsica, seven days prior to the murder. He doubts that any of the hit-squad are still alive.
posted by Kevin at 11:48 PM
Forecast of Rising Oil Demand Challenges Tired Saudi Fields :.I've got some news for ya: we're at peak output now: When visitors tour the headquarters of Saudi Arabia's oil empire � a sleek glass building rising from the desert in Dhahran near the Persian Gulf � they are reminded of its mission in a film projected on a giant screen. "We supply what the world demands every day," it declares.
For decades, that has largely been true. Ever since its rich reserves were discovered more than a half-century ago, Saudi Arabia has pumped the oil needed to keep pace with rising needs, becoming the mainstay of the global energy markets.
But the country's oil fields now are in decline, prompting industry and government officials to raise serious questions about whether the kingdom will be able to satisfy the world's thirst for oil in coming years.
Energy forecasts call for Saudi Arabia to almost double its output in the next decade and after. Oil executives and government officials in the United States and Saudi Arabia, however, say capacity will probably stall near current levels, potentially creating a significant gap in the global energy supply.
Outsiders have not had access to detailed production data from Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company, for more than 20 years. But interviews in recent months with experts on Saudi oil fields provided a rare look inside the business and suggested looming problems.
An internal Saudi Aramco plan, the experts said, estimates total production capacity in 2011 at 10.15 million barrels a day, about the current capacity. But to meet expected world demand, the United States Department of Energy's research arm says Saudi Arabia will need to produce 13.6 million barrels a day by 2010 and 19.5 million barrels a day by 2020.
"In the past, the world has counted on Saudi Arabia," one senior Saudi oil executive said. "Now I don't see how long it can be maintained."
posted by Kevin at 11:34 PM
West Virginia: Bill Forces Shots on All Children :.West Virginia homeschooling families and others were scheduled to stage two rallies today to protest a proposed bill that would require every child in the state to have a record of compulsory immunizations.
The legislation, Senate Bill 439, stipulates "any parent or guardian who refuses to permit his or her child to be immunized" would face a criminal charge.
posted by Kevin at 11:26 PM
2/23/2004
Halliburton Faces Criminal Probe :.The fact that this company is even allowed to exist is a crime. Yawn: The Pentagon's investigation into allegations a Halliburton subsidiary may have overcharged for gasoline delivered to Iraq last year is now a criminal probe, the Pentagon said Monday.
"The Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the criminal investigative arm of the Inspector General's office, is investigating allegations of fraud on the part of Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), including the potential overpricing of fuel delivered to Baghdad by a KBR subcontractor," a Pentagon statement said.
posted by Kevin at 7:08 PM
CITHosting.com: FBI Shuts Down ISP, Steals Servers, Copies Terabytes of Client Data :.Update: CITHosting.com managed to fire it back up on leased systems in a different data center tonight. This is insane! Well, this is why I host Cryptogon in Canada. Although, I don't know how much of a benefit that is, it must be better than hosting it in the U.S. if shit like this is allowed to happen. They just hauled off all of the company's computers, taking their clients down! Oh man. Incredible: The FBI executed a search warrant issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio regarding the IRC network that we host. According to the warrant, it appears that the Bureau is investigating whether someone hosted on our network hacked and attacked someone else.
After several hours of attempting to track down, inspect and audit the terabytes of data that we host, the FBI determined that it was more efficient (from their point of view) to remove all of our servers and transport them to the FBI local laboratories for inspection. This was completed at 7:00 pm EST same day.
The FBI has assured us that as soon as the data has been safely copied and inspected, the equipment will be promptly returned. Unfortunately, the FBI has not been able to tell us when they will be completed with their inspection.
We have been told by the Special Agent in charge of the investigation that If you need access to your data you are asked to please contact the Bureau via email to rwhite3@leo.gov. Make sure to include in your email your name, mailing address, and telephone number with area code.Research Credit: NF
posted by Kevin at 12:47 AM
TIA Lives Inside DoD Shell Game :.Despite an outcry over privacy implications, the government is pressing ahead with research to create ultrapowerful tools to mine millions of public and private records for information about terrorists.
Congress eliminated a Pentagon office that had been developing this terrorist-tracking technology because of fears it might ensnare innocent Americans.
Still, some projects from retired Adm. John Poindexter's Total Information Awareness effort were transferred to U.S. intelligence offices, congressional, federal and research officials told The Associated Press.
In addition, Congress left undisturbed a separate but similar $64 million research program run by a little-known office called the Advanced Research and Development Activity, or ARDA, that has used some of the same researchers as Poindexter's program.
"The whole congressional action looks like a shell game,'' said Steve Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, which tracks work by U.S. intelligence agencies. "There may be enough of a difference for them to claim TIA was terminated while for all practical purposes the identical work is continuing."Research Credit: AL
posted by Kevin at 12:44 AM
'This is war,' Rumsfeld Told Bush :.Rumsfeld demanded results. At a conference of commanders at the Pentagon, he pulled Holland aside.
"Have you killed anyone yet?" he asked.
posted by Kevin at 12:41 AM
2/22/2004
Ralph Nader Announces Run for Presidency :.Watch the filthy, hypocrite Democrats attack him! I bet they'll attack me for even mentioning Nader. People, wake up and smell the bullshit. Kerry = Bush. I'm not even advocating a vote for ANY candidate for president. For example, what if, by some miracle or freak of nature, Nader was elected? Then what? The Senate and most of the House of Representatives would throw a monkey wrench into anything he tried to do. You see, there's no such thing as "Checks and Balances" between the branches of government in the U.S. anymore. It is over. (I would argue that it has been over for 40 years.) What we are left with is three branches of government that, rather than foiling each others' natural aspirations to power, are working in concert to establish overt fascism: Consumer advocate Ralph Nader announced Sunday he will run again for the presidency, declaring that Washington has become "corporate occupied territory" and arguing there is too little difference between the Democratic and Republican parties.
"This country has more problems and injustices than it deserves," Nader said, bemoaning a "democracy gap." Nader, who turns 70 this week, said he wants to "challenge this two-party duopoly."
"There's too much power and wealth in too few hands," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"Washington is now corporate occupied territory," Nader said. "There is now a for-sale sign on most agencies and departments. ... Basically, it's question of both parties flunking."
posted by Kevin at 12:02 PM
Sweeping New Powers in UK War on Terror :.ECHELON intercepts to be admissible in court! Britain has gone to hell: Terror suspects could be convicted on the evidence of 'electronic eavesdropping' of phone calls and emails under sweeping moves to combat the threat of an al-Qaeda atrocity.
posted by Kevin at 11:57 AM
Security Efforts Turning Capital Into Armed Camp :.Behold, the heavily armed banana republic: An antiaircraft missile, ready for use, sits atop a federal office building near the White House. Devices that test the air for chemical and biological substances are positioned throughout the city. Subway stations are now equipped with "bomb containment" trash bins. A major highway that runs by the Pentagon is being rerouted several hundred yards away. A security wall is going up around the Washington Monument.
Day by day, the nation's capital is becoming a fortress, turning a city known for graceful beauty into a virtual armed camp. In response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, federal security agents along with their counterparts in the Washington, Maryland and Virginia governments began a huge effort to build permanent safeguards for the capital area's most important buildings and monuments.
posted by Kevin at 11:50 AM
Schwarzenegger Argues for White House Run :.When Dave Emory, Alex Jones and others warned about Schwarzenegger having his sights set on the White House, I laughed it off as madness. I couldn't take it seriously. But Emory and Jones have been emphatic about Schwarzenegger's profound connections to fascist/elite elements and how these connections would eventually lead to a bid for the presidency. And, of course, Orrin Hatch, probably the most corrupt Senator of them all, is behind a constitutional amendment that would allow foreigners to run for President of the United States. Arnold Schwarzenegger, making his Sunday talk show debut as governor, said that he and other foreign-born citizens should be eligible to run for the White House and that President Bush can carry California in November if he does more to help the state.
The Austrian-born former bodybuilder, in the capital for his first meeting with fellow governors, said he has not thought about running for president in the future. The Constitution says only natural-born citizens of the United States are eligible for the country's highest office.
The Republican governor said anyone who has been in America more than 20 years---as he has---should "absolutely" be able to seek the presidency. A constitutional amendment proposed by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would make that possible.
posted by Kevin at 11:48 AM
Pentagon Tells Bush: Climate Change Will Destroy Us :.Update: Cryptome.org Hosts the Report (.zip contains .pdf) We are approaching The End phase of society as we know it... because of multiple reasons. This is obvious. What isn't obvious is exactly how it will come down. Well, it might just be the weather. What follows is not a joke. This is from the Observer (part of Guardian Newspapers Limited) in the U.K. Take a few deep breaths and steady yourself for this one: Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters.
A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.
The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.
'Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,' concludes the Pentagon analysis. 'Once again, warfare would define human life.'
The findings will prove humiliating to the Bush administration, which has repeatedly denied that climate change even exists. Experts said that they will also make unsettling reading for a President who has insisted national defence is a priority.
The report was commissioned by influential Pentagon defence adviser Andrew Marshall, who has held considerable sway on US military thinking over the past three decades. He was the man behind a sweeping recent review aimed at transforming the American military under Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Climate change 'should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern', say the authors, Peter Schwartz, CIA consultant and former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Doug Randall of the California-based Global Business Network.
An imminent scenario of catastrophic climate change is 'plausible and would challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately', they conclude. As early as next year widespread flooding by a rise in sea levels will create major upheaval for millions.Related: Possible Perception Management Film On Catastrophic Weather ChangesTake a look at the trailer for upcoming film, The Day After Tomorrow.
posted by Kevin at 4:26 AM
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:. Reading
 Fatal
Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture by Andrew Kimbrell
Readers will come to see
that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest"
- fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors
such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way
into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff
from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to
genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield
monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our
farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate
farms.
 Friendly
Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by Bertram Myron Gross
This is a relatively
short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise
of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th
century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward;
the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and
military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined
to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of 'friendly
persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans
through what Gross refers to as friendly fascism.
 The
Good Life
by Scott and Helen Nearing Helen
and Scott Nearing are the great-grandparents of the back-to-the-land
movement, having abandoned the city in 1932 for a rural life based
on self-reliance, good health, and a minimum of cash...Fascinating,
timely, and wholly useful, a mix of the Nearings' challenging
philosophy and expert counsel on practical skills.
 Silent
Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollierd
In Silent Theft, David Bollier
argues that a great untold story of our time is the staggering
privatization and abuse of our common wealth. Corporations are
engaged in a relentless plunder of dozens of resources that we
collectively own—publicly funded medical breakthroughs,
software innovation, the airwaves, the public domain of creative
works, and even the DNA of plants, animals and humans. Too often,
however, our government turns a blind eye—or sometimes helps
give away our assets. Amazingly,
the silent theft of our shared wealth has gone largely unnoticed
because we have lost our ability to see the commons.
 The
Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics
Guide by John Seymour The
Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that
teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony
with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops
and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and
wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more.
 When
Corporations Rule the World by David C. Korten
When Corporations
Rule the World explains how economic globalization has concentrated
the power to govern in global corporations and financial markets
and detached them from accountability to the human interest. It
documents the devastating human and environmental consequences
of the successful efforts of these corporations to reconstruct
values and institutions everywhere on the planet to serve their
own narrow ends.
 The
New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques
for the Home and Market Gardener
This expansion
of a now-classic guide originally published in 1989 is intended
for the serious gardener or small-scale market farmer. It describes
practical and sustainable ways of growing superb organic vegetables,
with detailed coverage of scale and capital, marketing, livestock,
the winter garden, soil fertility, weeds, and many other
topics.
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