Police Union Demands Info on 9/11 Toxic Debris
February 14th, 2012Asbestos?
Via: ABC:
New York City’s police union is demanding more information about the effects of toxic debris from the 9/11 attacks.
The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association called on the city to release all data about officers who suffered cancer after responding at the World Trade Center at a news conference on Sunday.
The union also showed the uniform worn that day by Officer Alonzo Harris.
It was tested and found to have dangerous carcinogens on it.
The P.B.A. says the city has dragged its feet on providing information about first responders.
“It’s unconscionable that they would not release this data. This is an issue of men and women who serve this city without question and they’re looking for one thing, they’re looking for the treatment that they deserve,” P.B.A. President Patrick Lynch said.
The union wants cancer included on the list of illnesses covered by the Zadroga Act, to help first responders.
After Two Year Federal Undercover Investigation, Judge Stops Amish Farmer’s Sale of Raw Milk to Maryland
February 14th, 2012Via: Lancaster Online:
A federal District Court judge has ordered a Kinzers farmer to stop selling raw milk to customers in Maryland.
Judge Lawrence Stengel issued a permanent injunction Feb. 2 barring Amish dairyman Daniel Allgyer from sending the unpasteurized beverage across state lines to Grassfed on The Hill, a Washington, D.C.-area buying club.
The action capped a two-year undercover investigation of Allgyer and the club by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
In his opinion, Stengel discounted an arrangement by which a private group, Right to Choose Healthy Food’s Rawesome Club, was leasing Allgyer’s cows and distributing milk to Grassfed on The Hill members.
Buyers each paid a $25 fee to join the Rawesome Club, according to court papers.
But, Stengel wrote, such “cow sharing” transactions amounted to a “subterfuge” in which raw milk was taken out of state and left at a “drop point.”
Allgyer had urged the court to deny the summary judgment the FDA requested in December, saying his dealings with the Rawesome Club were private and not subject to FDA involvement.
Allgyer also argued that the action against him was “quasi-criminal” in nature and thus required the government to furnish probable cause and an official complaint.
Stengel disagreed, saying Allgyer’s actions were lawfully regulated as interstate commerce by the FDA, and that the farmer disputed none of the material facts of the case.
Under the injunction, Allgyer may continue to sell milk in Pennsylvania but must label his products with his name and that of his business, Rainbow Acres Farm.
He may ask the court to lift the injunction in five years.
Raw milk may be sold legally in Pennsylvania, but not in Maryland.
Moody’s Downgrades Credit Ratings of Italy and Spain
February 14th, 2012Via: Moody’s:
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
Please see the individual country specific statements below for more detailed information relating to the rating rationale and the sensitivity analysis for each affected sovereign issuer.
And Now… Obama Campaign Launches ‘Truth Teams’
February 13th, 2012The simple fact is that progressives are supporting a candidate for President who has done all of that — things liberalism has long held to be pernicious. I know it’s annoying and miserable to hear. Progressives like to think of themselves as the faction that stands for peace, opposes wars, believes in due process and civil liberties, distrusts the military-industrial complex, supports candidates who are devoted to individual rights, transparency and economic equality… These facts demonstrate that the leader progressives have empowered and will empower again has worked in direct opposition to those values and engaged in conduct that is nothing short of horrific. So there is an eagerness to avoid hearing about them, to pretend they don’t exist. And there’s a corresponding hostility toward those who point them out, who insist that they not be ignored.
—Progressives and the Ron Paul Fallacies
Via: ABC:
The Obama campaign is today beginning a new effort to enlist and educate at least 2 million supporters for a “grassroots communications team” they’re calling the Truth Team.
“The goal is to ensure that when Republicans attack President Obama’s record, grassroots supporters can take ownership of the campaign and share the facts with the undecided voters in their lives,” the campaign said in a statement.
The teams will be first launched in 13 “swing states,” including Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.
Greek Lawmakers Approve Austerity Bill as Athens Burns
February 13th, 2012Via: Reuters:
The Greek parliament approved a deeply unpopular austerity bill to secure a second EU/IMF bailout and avoid national bankruptcy, as buildings burned across central Athens and violence spread around the country.
Cinemas, cafes, shops and banks were set ablaze in central Athens as black-masked protesters fought riot police outside parliament.
State television reported the violence spread to the tourist islands of Corfu and Crete, the northern city of Thessaloniki and towns in central Greece. Shops were looted in the capital where police said 34 buildings were ablaze.
U.S. Soldier Writes Report on the Disaster in Afghanistan
February 12th, 2012Via: Rolling Stone:
Earlier this week, the New York Times’ Scott Shane published a bombshell piece about Lt. Colonel Daniel Davis, a 17-year Army veteran recently returned from a second tour in Afghanistan. According to the Times, the 48-year-old Davis had written an 84-page unclassified report, as well as a classified report, offering his assessment of the decade-long war. That assessment is essentially that the war has been a disaster and the military’s top brass has not leveled with the American public about just how badly it’s been going. “How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding?” Davis boldly asks in an article summarizing his views in The Armed Forces Journal.
Davis last month submitted the unclassified report –titled “Dereliction of Duty II: Senior Military Leader’s Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort” – for an internal Army review. Such a report could then be released to the public. However, according to U.S. military officials familiar with the situation, the Pentagon is refusing to do so. Rolling Stone has now obtained a full copy of the 84-page unclassified version, which has been making the rounds within the U.S. government, including the White House. We’ve decided to publish it in full; it’s well worth reading for yourself. It is, in my estimation, one of the most significant documents published by an active-duty officer in the past ten years.
Research Credit: rmf
Israel’s Sponsorship of the MEK Terrorist Organization in Iran
February 11th, 2012Via: Salon:
One of the most under-reported political stories of the last year is the devoted advocacy of numerous prominent American political figures on behalf of an Iranian group long formally designated as a Terrorist organization under U.S. law. A large bipartisan cast has received substantial fees from that group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), and has then become their passionate defenders. The group of MEK shills includes former top Bush officials and other Republicans (Michael Mukasey, Fran Townsend, Andy Card, Tom Ridge, Rudy Giuliani) as well as prominent Democrats (Howard Dean, Ed Rendell, Bill Richardson, Wesley Clark). As The Christian Science Monitor reported last August, those individuals “have been paid tens of thousands of dollars to speak in support of the MEK.” No matter what one thinks of this group – here is a summary of its activities – it is formally designated as a Terrorist group and it is thus a felony under U.S. law to provide it with any “material support.”
…
All of these mysteries received substantial clarity from an NBC News report by Richard Engel and Robert Windrem yesterday. Citing two anonymous “senior U.S. officials,” that report makes two amazing claims: (1) that it was MEK which perpetrated the string of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists and (2) the Terrorist group “is financed, trained and armed by Israel’s secret service.” These senior officials also admitted that “the Obama administration is aware of the assassination campaign” but claims it “has no direct involvement.” Iran has long insisted the Israel and the U.S. are using MEK to carry out Terrorist attacks on its soil, including the murder of its scientists, and NBC notes that these acknowledgments “confirm charges leveled by Iran’s leaders” (MEK issued a statement denying the report).
Cardinal Dies One Day After Judge Said He Could Be Called to Testify in Child Sex-Abuse and Endangerment Trial of Three Current and Former Priests
February 11th, 2012Via: Philadelphia Enquirer:
Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman asked the county coroner to examine the body of Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua last week because the timing of the 88-year-old prelate’s death struck her as “peculiar,” she said Friday.
Ferman acknowledged that she enlisted county Coroner Walter I. Hofman because the cardinal died one day after a Philadelphia judge said Bevilacqua could be called to testify at the child sex-abuse and endangerment trial of three current and former priests.
“I had the same reaction that many people had and that many people communicated with me,” Ferman told reporters at a news conference in Norristown. “It struck many of us as odd, as peculiar, that the cardinal passed away so suddenly after the court ruling. . . . I just thought that someone should make sure that nothing happened that was inappropriate.”
Ferman said she had no information to suggest that the cardinal was the victim of foul play or an unnatural death. She said her office had not opened an investigation.
“This death is not the subject of a criminal inquiry,” she said. “It is simply being examined by the coroner to determine what the cause of death is.”
Ferman spoke a day after Hofman told The Inquirer that prosecutors had asked him to examine the body “to make sure there were no intervening events that could have speeded up” the cardinal’s death.
Bevilacqua died shortly after 9 p.m. Jan. 31 at his residence at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, just outside the city limits. He had been in declining health since his 2003 retirement as the leader of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Lawyers and church officials said he suffered from cancer, dementia, and other ailments.
Hoffman has deferred declaring a cause of death. He said he did not conduct a full autopsy, but declined to elaborate.
In an interview Friday, Hofman said he saw no marks on the cardinal’s body or other evidence to suggest anything but a natural death. The coroner said he would review the cardinal’s medical records and toxicology test results to see if Bevilacqua had unusually high or unexplained amounts of prescription medication or other chemicals in his blood.
S&P Downgrades 34 Italian Banks
February 11th, 2012Via: Reuters:
Rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded 34 Italian banks on Friday, including heavyweights UniCredit (CRDI.MI) and Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI), citing a reduced ability to roll over their wholesale debt and expected weak profitability.
The move follows S&P’s downgrade of Italy’s sovereign rating last month to BBB+, part of a mass downgrade of nine euro zone countries.
In a statement, S&P said its so-called Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment had worsened to group 4 from group 3 — out of 10 groups — reflecting its more negative view on Italy’s banking system.
China: Cans of New Zealand Made Infant Formula Sell for NZ$92 in Shanghai
February 11th, 2012One guess as to the nationality of “offshore buyers” of the land mentioned below…
Via: New Zealand Farmers Weekly:
Canterbury dairy producer and processor Synlait is negotiating to sell up to 70% of its holding in Synlait Farms, with potential for the near 5000 hectares of prime irrigated Canterbury dairy farmland to be sold to offshore buyers.
…
Meanwhile Synlait Milk manufactured infant formula has hit the supermarket shelves in China with Bright Dairy launching the new “Pure Canterbury” product in Shanghai in December.
Shanghai is the testing ground for Bright Dairy’s super premium infant formula. The retail price per 900g can ranges from NZ$92 for stage one infant formula to NZ$84 for stage three infant formula.
“It typifies the value consumers in China are willing to pay for formula produced and packaged in NZ. It is little wonder that Bright Dairy is investing 20 million yuan on the advertising and promotion of Pure Canterbury over the next 12 months,” Synlait Milk chief executive John Penno said.
Consumer response to Pure Canterbury had been very positive. Bright Dairy’s focus on Canterbury’s clean, green, purity had not only differentiated the product in the marketplace, it had struck a chord with Shanghai consumers deeply concerned about the integrity of their food.
Research Credit: pookie
