Federal Judge Strikes Down Obama Administration’s Requirement that All Americans Buy Health Insurance
December 14th, 2010Via: USA Today:
A federal judge in Virginia has struck down the Obama administration’s requirement that all Americans buy health insurance, a key provision in the landmark health care bill that the president signed in March.
Today’s ruling, if upheld, could undercut the entire health care plan, though U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson wrote that his decision will surely be appealed — probably all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The outcome of this case has significant public policy implications,” Hudson wrote. “And the final word will undoubtedly reside with a higher court.”
Detroit Halting Garbage Pickup, Police Patrols In 20% Of City
December 14th, 2010Via: Business Insider:
Detroit has been bankrupt for years. It simply refuses to admit it. Detroit’s schools are bankrupt as well. A mere 25% of students graduate from high school.
Yet, in spite of hints and threats from mayors and budget commissions, and in spite of common sense talk of bankruptcy, Detroit has not pulled the bankruptcy trigger.
In a futile attempt to stave off the inevitable one last time, Mayor Bing’s latest plan is to cutoff city services including road repairs, police patrols, street lights, and garbage collection in 20% of Detroit.
The Shadow War
December 13th, 2010Via: Newsweek:
Historically, Israel’s covert operations have been on the violent side. When it comes to strategic murders, the Mossad has established a record 50 years long of “targeted assassinations,” often taking out scientists who tried to help its enemies develop weapons of mass destruction. It has carried out hits all over the Middle East and Europe (see following story). Iran knows this history well: Israeli intelligence sources, who decline to be named on the record, coyly suggest that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are so convinced the Mossad directed the assassination plots that the Guards are taking extreme measures to protect the man considered next on the hit list: Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a professor of nuclear physics whom the Israelis sometimes call “the Iranian Dr. Strangelove.” They believe he’s directing a secret nuclear-weapons program that is distinct from the public enrichment operations at Natanz and elsewhere, which are open to United Nations inspectors. (The official Iranian government position is that all its nuclear research and all its uranium enrichment are for purely peaceful purposes.)
The real damage to the Iranian nuclear program, however, was done by Stuxnet—the most sophisticated computer worm ever detected and analyzed, one targeting hardware as well as software, and a paradigm of covert cyberweapons to come. “Stuxnet is the start of a new era,” says Stewart Baker, former general counsel of the U.S. National Security Agency. “It’s the first time we’ve actually seen a weapon created by a state to achieve a goal that you would otherwise have used multiple cruise missiles to achieve.”
Quantitative Easing Explained
December 13th, 2010Yes, it helped the Goldman Sachs.
$52 Billion of American Aid and Still Afghans are Dying of Starvation
December 13th, 2010Failure? Someone wound up with a whole lot of opium and heroin, and a bunch of corporations made a killing from a gusher of absurd and lucrative contracts.
That sounds more like just another day at the office than failure to me—considering the criminal organizations involved and their blood soaked gravy train.
—Top U.S. Commander for Afghan War: More Forces or ‘Mission Failure’
Via: Independent:
The most extraordinary failure of the US-led coalition in Afghanistan is that the expenditure of tens of billions of dollars has had so little impact on the misery in which 30 million Afghans live. As President Barack Obama prepares this week to present a review of America’s strategy in Afghanistan which is likely to focus on military progress, US officials, Afghan administrators, businessmen and aid workers insist that corruption is the greatest threat to the country’s future.
In a series of interviews, they paint a picture of a country where $52bn (£33bn) in US aid since 2001 has made almost no impression on devastating poverty made worse by spreading violence and an economy dislocated by war. That enormous aid budget, two-thirds for security and one-third for economic, social and political development, has made little impact on 9 million living in absolute poverty, and another 5 million trying to survive on $43 (£27) a month. The remainder of the population often barely scrapes a living, having to choose between buying wood to keep warm and buying food.
Afghans see a racketeering élite as the main beneficiaries of international support and few of them are optimistic about anything changing.
CPS Investigated Father Because He Feeds His Children Organic Food, Drinks Non-Fluoridated Water and Has a Bug Out Bag?
December 13th, 2010I have no reason to doubt that this happened, but there’s no way for me to confirm it, either. The U.S. is an open air nut house. What passes for normal over there is unthinkable to me now and I’ve only been out of there for five years. So, buyer beware, your mileage may vary, etc.
Also, when the state wants to step inside your house without a warrant, for a chat, or any other reason, you might consider telling that thing to come back with a warrant—no need to open the door.
Via: Sherrie Questioning All:
She said that there were allegations that I wouldn’t give my children tap water.
…
The next allegation was that I chose to feed my children predominately organic foods.
Research Credit: pookie
Investigators Suspect Vatican Bank Used Clergy to Act ‘As Fronts for Corrupt Businessmen and Mafia’
December 13th, 2010Via: Independent:
The Vatican Bank is under new scrutiny in a case involving money-laundering allegations that led police to seize €23m (£19.25m) in September.
The Vatican calls the seizure of assets a “misunderstanding” and expresses optimism it will be quickly cleared up. But fresh court documents show that prosecutors say the Vatican Bank deliberately flouted anti-laundering laws “with the aim of hiding the ownership, destination and origin of the capital”. The documents also reveal investigators’ suspicions that clergy may have acted as fronts for corrupt businessmen and Mafia.
The documents pinpoint two transactions that have not been reported: one in 2009 involving the use of a false name, and another in 2010 in which the Vatican Bank withdrew €650,000 from an Italian bank account but ignored bank requests to disclose where the money was headed.
The new allegations of financial impropriety could not come at a worse time for the Vatican, already hit by revelations that it sheltered paedophile priests. The corruption probe has given new hope to Holocaust survivors who tried unsuccessfully to sue in the United States, alleging that Nazi loot was stored in the Vatican Bank.
Swedish Armed Forces Employee Gave a Warning to Acquaintance Before Suicide Attack in Stockholm
December 13th, 2010The original source of this is TT in Sweden.
Via: The Local:
A Swedish Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten) employee warned an acquaintance to stay clear of an area in central Stockholm on Saturday where, several hours later, two explosions went off in what is being called a terrorist attack.
“If you can, avoid Drottninggatan today. A lot can happen there…just so you know,” the message said, according to the TT news agency.
Armed Forces spokesperson Jonas Svensson told TT on Sunday he was unaware of the message.
“I haven’t heard about this at all. Now I’m going to check out the information,” he told TT when confronted with the news.
Later the Swedish military said it was now “preparing how the issue will be dealt with”.
“The Swedish Armed Forces did not know ahead of time about the plans or the circumstances surrounding the events which have taken place. If that had been the case, (Swedish security service) Säpo, which is the responsible agency in these types of cases, would have been informed immediately,” said military spokesperson Erik Lagersten in a statement.
U.S. Navy: Record Breaking Rail Gun Shot
December 13th, 2010When I was at Brooks Institute in the 1990s, I used to be fascinated by the work done by the people who specialized in high speed photography (although, the food photography freaks were the weirdest kids on campus). I learned a bit about how speed stuff works, but that was a long time ago. Speeds have increased a few orders of magnitude since I last paid any attention to this kind of thing:
And then there’s the DRS Imacon 200: 200 million frames per second.
Now, with this rail gun video release from the U.S. Navy, it’s not the FPS that’s particularly interesting, but I’m quite baffled by the scene that starts at around 30 seconds.
How was the pan accomplished?
Via: Washington Post:
Inside a cavernous building at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va., on Friday, a gigantic pulse of electricity hurled a 20-pound slug of aluminum out the barrel of an experimental gun at seven times the speed of sound.
The slug trailed a pillar of fire as it left the weapon and the building, illuminating the surrounding woods like a giant flashbulb. It streaked down range, generating a small sonic boom, and traveled about 5,500 feet before tumbling to the ground harmlessly.
In an adjacent building, there was a round of applause from observing scientists.
It was the latest test of the Navy’s electromagnetic railgun – a futuristic weapon that is right out of the latest video war game and could one day change the face of Naval warfare.
Roger Ellis, the railgun program manager, said people “see these things in the video games, but this is real. This is what is very historical.”
The gun is fired with a huge jolt of electricity that can propel a round more than 100 miles and at such velocity that it does not need an explosive warhead.
Two tests were conducted Friday – the first of which the Navy said generated a world record 33 megajoules of force out of the barrel. The second shot, witnessed by reporters, produced 32 megajoules.
American Intelligence Officials Created a ‘Safe Haven’ in the United States for Certain Nazis
December 12th, 2010Via: New York Times:
After World War II, American counterintelligence recruited former Gestapo officers, SS veterans and Nazi collaborators to an even greater extent than had been previously disclosed and helped many of them avoid prosecution or looked the other way when they escaped, according to thousands of newly declassified documents.
