A Tale of Two Ghettoes
November 3rd, 2010Via: National Post:
Why is Shoppers Drug Mart pulling 3,500 copies of Adbusters, my magazine, off its shelves?
A week ago, in the National Post, the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) accused Adbusters of anti-Semitism for publishing side-by-side photographs of the Gaza and Warsaw ghettos ( “Anti-Semitism on your magazine rack — courtesy of Adbusters,” Oct. 23). The CJC has since successfully lobbied senior management at Shoppers Drug Mart into pulling our magazine off the Canadian newsstands.
Here is the story from the Adbusters viewpoint.
GoldMoney Now Using Ultrasound on Clients’ Gold Bars
November 3rd, 2010Disclosure: I have no relationship with GoldMoney.
Via: GoldMoney:
As of October 2010 we have begun using ultrasound scanning technology to verify that each of the gold bars we store for you is free of foreign materials and defects. Any bar that fails the ultrasound test is melted down, assayed and then recast into a new bar. We aim to complete the scanning of all gold bars in the first quarter of 2011.
Research Credit: Pookie
British Innovation: New Speed Camera Can Catch Drivers Committing Five Offenses at Once
November 2nd, 2010Via: Guardian:
A speed camera designed to catch motorists committing up to five offences at the same time could be heading to Britain’s roads. As well as catching speeding motorists, the Asset camera should be able to pick out drivers who are not wearing seatbelts and accurately measure distances between moving cars to identify tailgating.
Asset (advanced safety and driver support for essential road transport) can also note number plates and recognise cars with out-of-date tax discs and no insurance.
Is a Federal Nordic State on the Cards?
November 2nd, 2010Via: Guardian:
Today the leaders of the five Nordic states are meeting to discuss the possibility of creating a Nordic federal state. Ever since the Kalmar Union of the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden – reaching to Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Shetland and Orkney – collapsed in 1523, the idea of reinstating some sort of a supra-national Nordic state regularly crops up. Now this old idea has resurfaced in a book the Swedish history professor Gunnar Wetterberg submitted to the Nordic Council in Reykjavik today.
Wetterberg argues that together the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, with the three micro territories the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Aland), will be stronger and more stable and prosperous than they are on their own. After Sweden and Finland joined Denmark in the European Union in 1995, leaving Norway and Iceland in the European Free Trade Association (Efta) (and within the European Economic Area, which brings them in to the European internal market), the Nordic Council has been in search of renewed purpose. Over the last 15 years the cracks have become ever more obvious in Nordic co-operation: it has been downgraded to cover soft policy issues such as culture, while economics and other hard policy has been transferred to the European level.
With a joint government and a parliament based on a common constitution, the federal Nordic state should concentrate on foreign policy and defence, the economy and the labour-market, and research, leaving most other policy areas to the regional authorities in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo, Reykjavik and Stockholm. Wetterberg compares his Nordic federation to the Swiss model and links it with the creation of the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy, which he claims developed from a similar situation as the one now found in the Nordics. This Nordic state would have 25 million inhabitants and, because of its wealth, would be one of the larger economies in Europe, equalling that of Spain. Its economic size would secure the federation an influential seat at the G20.
Back to the Scene of the Crime: A Return to Jekyll Island: The Origins, History, and Future of the Federal Reserve
November 2nd, 2010See: The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin.
Via: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta:
This special conference marks the centenary of the 1910 Jekyll Island meeting that resulted in draft legislation for the creation of a U.S. central bank. Parts of this draft (the Aldrich plan) were incorporated into the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the drafting of the Aldrich plan, the conference will take place at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel on Jekyll Island, Georgia—the same building where the 1910 meeting occurred.
The conference’s discussions focus on three themes: the origins of the Fed and lessons from the pre-1913 era, how closely the Fed’s actual performance has adhered to the original vision expressed by the framers of the Aldrich plan, and what the Fed’s almost 100-year track record teaches us about its role going forward.
Canada: Tories Reintroduce ISP Intercept Bill
November 2nd, 2010Via: CBC:
The federal Conservatives have reintroduced legislation that would allow police and intelligence officials to intercept online communications and get personal information from internet service providers (ISPs) about their subscribers without first obtaining a warrant.
Sarkozy: “Britain and France have pooled their sovereignty.”
November 2nd, 2010Via: Guardian:
Britain and France today signed a landmark 50-year treaty on defence and security that envisages the joint use of aircraft carriers, a 10,000-strong joint expeditionary force and unprecedented new levels of co-operation over nuclear missiles.
…
Cameron disclosed that the two treaties would:
* Create a joint expeditionary task force in which around 5,000 UK and French troops from all three services will train and exercise together from 2011. The force will be able to launch high-intensity peacekeeping, rescue or combat missions.
* Co-operate on an integrated strike force ensuring aircraft can operate off both the planned British carrier and the French carrier Charles de Gaulle. Operations would start with training missions, and would eventually provide cover when one nation’s carrier was in dock for maintenance. Britain will modify its future aircraft carrier to make it compatible with French aircraft.
There will also be new co-operation on procurement, including a joint common support plan for the future fleets of A400m transport aircraft being brought by both countries. The two sides also agreed to work together over the next 10 years on unmanned drone aircraft, as well as on nuclear submarine technology.
In a separate agreement that Cameron said would save hundreds of millions of pounds, the two countries agreed to co-operate on nuclear safety by building a jointly run facility at Valduc, near Dijon, that will model performance of UK and French nuclear warheads and materials in co-operation with a joint Technology Development Centre at Aldermaston.
The French laboratory will host British defence scientists to carry out tests on their country’s nuclear warhead stockpile, soon to be cut to 120.
In return, French officials will be stationed at the UK facility to work on nuclear test technology.
AE911Truth: Mark Basile Chemical Engineer
November 1st, 2010Via: Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth YouTube Channel:
Indiana: With Benefits About to Expire, Unemployment Offices Add Armed Guards
November 1st, 2010Via: 6 News:
Armed security guards will be on hand at 36 unemployment offices around Indiana in what state officials said is a step to improve safety and make branch security more consistent.
No specific incidents prompted the action, Department of Workforce Development spokesman Marc Lotter told 6News’ Norman Cox.
Lotter said the agency is merely being cautious with the approach of an early-December deadline when thousands of Indiana residents could see their unemployment benefits end after exhausting the maximum 99 weeks provided through multiple federal extension periods.
“Given the upcoming expiration of the federal extensions and the increased stress on some of the unemployed, we thought added security would provide an extra level of protection for our employees and clients,” he said.
Some offices have had guards for nearly two years but those guards were hired on a regional basis, meaning some offices had armed guards while others did not, Lotter said.
Related: 99 Weeks: When Unemployment Benefits Run Out
George Hickenlooper, Director of ‘Casino Jack,’ a Film About Jack Abramoff, Found Dead
November 1st, 2010Natural causes…
Via: New York Times:
George Hickenlooper, a director whose credits include an Emmy-winning documentary about the making of “Apocalypse Now” and a film starring Kevin Spacey as the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff that is scheduled to open in December, died on Saturday in Denver. He was 47.
He was in Denver to spend time with his cousin John Hickenlooper, the mayor of Denver and a candidate for governor of Colorado, before attending a film festival where his “Casino Jack” was to be shown, said Liz Biber, a publicist for the film, who confirmed the death. John Hickenlooper said in a statement that his cousin apparently died of natural causes.
