New Jersey City Considers Adult Curfew

August 19th, 2009

Via: AP:

Curfews might not be just for kids anymore in one city in northern New Jersey.

Officials in Paterson are considering one for people of all ages in a bid to curb violence after a spate of deadly shootings.

Several experts say they believe it would be the nation’s first curfew of its type to include adults. The state ACLU says it would open Paterson to legal action.

The curfew would last for two months and would bar people from loitering outside from midnight to 7 a.m. Violators would face up to a $2,000 fine and 90 days in jail.

Officials are still working to make sure the plan can withstand legal challenges.

If the City Council passes it Sept. 1, a second vote and a public hearing are needed for it to take effect.


‘Chicken Underground’ Emerges in Indiana

August 19th, 2009

Via: Lafayette Journal & Courier:

The “chicken underground” is on the march.

Gay-Ellen Stulp and Stephany Miskunas are lobbying the Lafayette City Council to allow them to keep pet chickens at their homes in the historic Highland Park neighborhood.
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Stulp said she wanted city council members to amend the ordinance that forbids having chickens in the city. The city council’s Public Health Welfare and Safety Committee plans to consider the matter.

“It’s been a blast,” Stulp said of her quest. “I can’t believe the discussions I’ve gotten as I go around with my petition.

“It’s a little hobby. They are pets. I guess I’m now part of the chicken underground.”

Melanie Lucroy, president of Highland Park Neighborhood Association, said the group hasn’t taken an official stance on the issue.

…

Many cities allow urban chicken farming, including Indianapolis, St. Louis, San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Madison, Wis.

Restrictions are placed on the chicken lovers in most of those cases, though. For example, in most cases, hens are allowed but not roosters, only three or four chickens are permitted at each household, and chickens must be kept from leaving the property.

The urban chicken movement has businesses that sell equipment and offer tips for raising the birds.

“There are even ‘stealth’ chicken coops that look like trash cans,” Stulp said.

She said that the city’s animal control department last May ordered her to part ways with her four hens. Miskunas had chickens in her backyard for a year and she said most neighbors knew it. But this summer, a young hen escaped into a neighborhood yard and authorities were called.

Several Highland Park neighbors declined to comment about the situation or about legalizing chickens in the city.

Miskunas had purchased a kids’ playhouse and customized it into a coop. She winterized it, added a light bulb for heat and secured it from predators. She even added a flower bed.


FrankenpHood Seeds Will Cost Up to 42% More

August 19th, 2009

Via: Bloomberg:

Monsanto Co., the world’s largest seed maker, plans to charge as much as 42 percent more for new genetically modified seeds next year than older offerings because they increase farmers’ output.

Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans will cost farmers an average of $74 an acre in 2010, and original Roundup Ready soybeans will cost $52 an acre, St. Louis-based Monsanto said today in presentations on its Web site. SmartStax corn seeds, developed with Dow Chemical Co., will cost $130 an acre, 17 percent more than the YieldGard triple-stack seeds they will replace.


Your Tax Dollars at Work for Michael Bay

August 19th, 2009

Via: David Bordwell:

Back in July, when I was watching films at Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, I managed to catch several of the films in the Frank Capra retrospective. Two of them, Dirigible (above and left) and Submarine, were surprisingly spectacular, given that at the time Columbia was still a relatively minor studio. It wasn’t known for high-budget items. How had Capra managed such lavish-looking films?

diri 2One clue lies in the title at the beginning of Dirigible: “Dedicated to the United States Navy without whose cooperation the production of this picture would not have been possible.” Clearly the film’s second sequence (from which both frames here were taken) was shot at an actual air field with real planes and dirigibles. Many shots in the scene were taken during what seems to have been a public air show.

I recalled that when I was growing up, every now and then a movie I saw had a similar acknowledgement. Jimmy Stewart and other stalwart stars played government employees of various sorts, with pictures of impressive buildings in Washington and superimposed titles thanking this agency or that for its aid.

It also reminded me of The Lord of the Rings. One sequence in The Return of the King, the battle before the Black Gates, was shot in an old military practice range of the New Zealand army (right and below). The country, with its lush forests and stunning mountains, is short on desolate plains. The practice range was the only suitably Mordor-like landscape that could be found.

LOTR 2Not only did the army clear the field of unexploded ordinance, but it supplied soldiers to serve as extras by playing the Gondorian troops. The supplement on the extended-version DVD, “Cameras in Middle-earth,” shows these troops, as well as the officers who gave them orders. Apparently the soldiers were far more capable than regular extras of marching in straight lines and less willing to merely mime fighting during the battle.

All this got me to wondering how much free or cheap labor and mise-en-scene movies have received from the military over the years. Coincidentally, when I got home in July, the stack of magazines awaiting me included an issue of Variety with the headline “Tanks a Lot, Uncle Sam,” on this very subject. In the article author Peter Debruge explains a lot about the nuts and bolts of how the military’s contributions work. (As often happens, Variety opted for a more dignified title for the same article online: “Film biz, military unite for mutual gain.”)

Research Credit: TB


The Fifty Top U.S. War Criminals Who Need To Be Prosecuted

August 19th, 2009

Via: Public Record:

Compiled below, in hopes that it may be of some assistance to Eric Holder, John Conyers, Patrick Leahy, active citizens, foreign courts, the International Criminal Court, law firms preparing civil suits, and local or state prosecutors with decency and nerve is a list of 50 top living U.S. war criminals. These are men and women who helped to launch wars of aggression or who have been complicit in lesser war crimes. These are not the lowest-ranking employees or troops who managed to stray from official criminal policies. These are the makers of those policies.

The occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan have seen the United States target civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances, use antipersonnel weapons including cluster bombs in densely settled urban areas, use white phosphorous as a weapon, use depleted uranium weapons, employ a new version of napalm found in Mark 77 firebombs, engage in collective punishment of Iraqi civilian populations — including by blocking roads, cutting electricity and water, destroying fuel stations, planting bombs in farm fields, demolishing houses, and plowing down orchards — detain people without charge or legal process without the rights of prisoners of war, imprison children, torture, and murder.

The list below does not include those responsible for war crimes prior to 2001. Nor does it include those currently in power who are making themselves complicit by failing to prosecute or cease commission of these crimes.


The Fourth Kind

August 19th, 2009

I noticed some chatter in a couple of nonsense polluted backwaters about a psychologist and some related cases in the upcoming alien abduction film, The Fourth Kind. At first, I wasn’t going to post anything about this, but to head off people from emailing me about it, I decided to go ahead:

I spent about five minutes looking into this, including watching the trailer, and there is no Dr. Abigail Tyler. This is a Blair Witch-style “documentary” based on the massive body of alien abduction literature.

Also, I found the firm that Universal is apparently using to game Google (see my Goldman Sachs code torrent antics) to track people who are looking for information about the film.

Here is the Google results page for “Abigail Tyler” abduction at the moment:

fourthkind

That constellation.net thing is some kind of honeypot that’s capturing data from Google (and possibly other) searches. When you click the link from Google, constellation.net captures your information and then simply forwards you back to the Google homepage.

Apparently, constellation.net is not allowing the URL to be visited without the right referral headers being transmitted. I have better things to do today than than fiddle with this, but the constellation.net home page has a link to linxworks.com, the site for a company called Linxworks Solutions. I’m sure that you can do the rest of the math from there, if you’re interested.

To the propeller heads out there who can’t help yourselves: Try pretending to be Googlebot and see if it will let you in. Are they blocking it by IP as well as referrer? In other words, even if you look like Googlebot, do you actually have to come from a Google IP?


District 9

August 19th, 2009

Several people have been suggesting that I should see District 9.

The closest movie theater is about a two hour drive from where I live, and I don’t know if District 9 is showing there. (Our local, uh, movie theater, The Swamp Palace, closed down.)

I’ll add the film to my Fatso queue and I’ll be able to watch it someday when it’s released on DVD. (Fatso is a New Zealand version of Netflix.)

If you want to discuss the film, go for it in comments.


Lawyer: FBI Trained Hal Turner As An “Agent Provocateur”

August 19th, 2009

Via: Hartford Courant:

Internet blogger Harold “Hal” Turner’s attorney said today that Turner’s background as an FBI informant will be a key part of his defense to charges that he incited violence against two state legislators and a state ethics official.

Superior Court Judge David P. Gold on Tuesday authorized Michael A. Orozco, a New Jersey attorney, to represent Turner. Turner did not appear again in court Tuesday because he remains in federal custody without bail in Chicago, where he is accused of threatening three federal judges.

In asking Gold to allow Orozco to represent Turner, Turner’s Connecticut lawyer, Matthew R. Potter, said Orozco has a long-term legal relationship with Turner, plans to bring a complicated First Amendment defense and is familiar with Turner’s background as an FBI informant.

That role as an informant for the FBI is a key part of the defense, Orozco said outside court.

Orozco said Turner was trained by the FBI as “an agent provocateur.”

“Mr. Turner was trained by the FBI,” Orozco said. “He was told where the line was — what he could say.”

In his comments on his blog that brought the state and federal charges, Turner did not cross that line, Orozco said.

Orozco said Turner worked for the FBI from roughly 2002 to 2007.

“His job was basically to publish information which would cause other parties to act in a manner that would cause their arrest,” Orozco said.


What To Do If Force Vaccinated

August 18th, 2009

Click through to the source for lots of links.

Via: Clare Swinney:

This report provides practical information on how to protect yourself if you are unlucky enough to be forced to take an A/H1N1 vaccine.

Dr Russell L. Blaylock, a highly-respected neurosurgeon, who has authored three books on nutrition and wellness, including Health And Nutrition Secrets That Can Save Your Life, recently spoke with Dr Bill Deagle, MD of The Nutrimedical Report about some proven natural, readily accessible solutions that may help deal with the toxic effects of A/H1N1 vaccines. The excellent hour-long interview can be downloaded from HERE at 0731091 and a transcript of the interview is posted at Dr Deagle’s site at this link here.

Dr Blaylock’s List of suggestions on How to Reduce the Toxic Effects of the A/H1N1 Vaccine, is as follows:

1. Number one on the list says Dr Blaylock, is to bring a cold pack with you and place it on the site of the injection as soon as you can, as this will block the immune reaction. Once you get home, continue using a cold pack throughout the day. If you continue to have immune reactions the following day, have cold showers and continue with the cold press.

2. Take fish oil. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), one of the omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oil supplements, is a potent immune suppressant. If you take high dose EPA you will be more susceptible to infections, because it is a powerful immune suppressant. However, in the case of an immune adjuvant reaction, you want to reduce it. Studies show that if you take EPA oil one hour before injecting a very powerful adjuvant called lipopolysaccharide (LPS), it would completely block the ability of the LPS to cause brain inflammation. Take a moderate dose everyday and more if needed to tame a cytokine storm.

3. Flavonoids are third on the list, namely curcumin, quercetin, ferulic acid and ellagic acid, particularly in a mixture. The curcumin and quercetin in particular have been found to block the ability of the adjuvants to trigger a long-term immune reaction. If you take it an hour before the vaccination, it should help dampen the immune reactions says Dr Blaylock.

4. Vitamin E, the natural form that is high in gamma-E will help dampen the immune reactions and reduces several of the inflammatory cytokines.

5. An important ingredient on the list is Vitamin C at a dose of 1000 mg, taken four times a day between meals. It is a very potent anti-inflammatory and should be taken in a buffered form, not as absorbic acid, says Dr Blaylock.

6. Also use astaxanthin as it’s an anti-inflammatory. According to Dr Blaylock, fatal reactions to vaccines in aboriginal and African children occurred in those who were deficient in carotinoids, like astaxanthin. It is a good protection against the toxic effects of the vaccine.

7. Likewise, it was found that children who were deficient in zinc had a high mortality rate. Zinc is very protective against vaccine toxicity. (Do not use zinc mixed with copper however, as copper is a major trigger of free-radical generation according to Dr Blaylock).

8. Ensure you avoid all immune-stimulating supplements, such as mushroom extracts, whey protein and beta-glucan.

9. Take a multivitamin-mineral daily – one that does not contain iron. This multivitamin-mineral is to make sure your body has plenty of B vitamins and selenium. Selenium, said Dr Blaylock, is very important for fighting viral infections and it reduces the inflammatory response to vaccines.

10. Magnesium citrate/malate 500 mg of elemental magnesium two capsules, three times a day. (This was not mentioned during the show, but was posted at Dr Deagle’s website, ClayandIron.com).

11. What is very important is vitamin D3, which is the only ‘vitamin’ the body can manufacture from sunlight (UVB). It is a neural hormone, not really a vitamin says Dr Blaylock and helps if you are over-reacting immunologically by cooling down the reaction. Similarly, if you are under-reacting, it helps to boost your immune response. In addition it also protects against microorganism invasion.

Black people and those in colder climates are particularly deficient, so they will almost certainly require supplementation.

Dr Blaylock recommends that following vaccination it will help to keep the immune reaction under control if:

i) All children get 5,000 units a day for two weeks after the vaccine and then 2,000 a units a day thereafter;

ii) Adults get 20,000 units a day after the vaccine for two weeks, then 10,000 units a day thereafter;

iii) And with that adults should take 500-1000 mg of calcium a day and children under the age of 12 years should take 250 mg a day, as vitamin D works more efficiently in the presence of calcium.

12. Ensure you avoid all mercury-containing seafood or any other sources of mercury, as the heavy metal is a very powerful inducer of autoimmunity, is known to make people more susceptible to viral infections and will be in H1N1 vaccines.

13. Avoid the oils that significantly suppress immunity and increase inflammation – such as corn, safflower, sunflower, soybean, canola and peanut oils.

14. Drink very concentrated white tea at least four times a day. It helps to prevent abnormal immune reactions.

15. Pop parsley and celery in a blender and drink 8 ounces of this mixture twice a day. Dr Blaylock says the parsley is very high in a flavonoid called apigenin and that celery is high in luteolin. Both are very potent in inhibiting autoimmune diseases, particularly the apigenin, so go and plant some parsley in your garden now.

Related:

Watch Out for Flying Syringes, GMO Food Vaccines, and Forced Vaccinations

Vaccines, Depression and Neurodegeneration After Age 50: Another Reason to Avoid the Recommended Vaccines


Britain: Only 1/3 of Nurses Willing to Have Swine Flu Vaccine

August 18th, 2009

Via: Telegraph:

Only a third of nurses have said they are willing to have the vaccine against swine flu amid fears it has not been tested enough, a survey has found.

Frontline health and social care workers will be among the first to be vaccinated in October along with people with serious underlying health problems and pregnant women.

However a survey by Nursing Times has found many frontline nurses have reservations.

Only one in three said they are prepared to have the H1N1 vaccine with a third undecided and the rest saying no.

Almost 1,500 nurses were polled, of whom 91 per cent said they were frontline.

It comes after news that parents are also concerned about the vaccine, with worries predominantly about the safety of its contents, side effects, and the amount of testing that will be done.

Of the nurses who said they would not get vaccinated, 60 per cent said concern about the safety of the vaccine was the main reason.

A further 31 per cent said they did not consider the risks to their health from swine flu to be great enough, while nine per cent thought they would not be able to take time out of work to get immunised.

“I would not be willing to put myself at risk of, as yet, unknown long-term effects to facilitate a short-term solution,” said one respondent.

A further respondent said: “I have yet to be convinced there is a genuine health risk (from swine flu) and it’s not just government propaganda.”


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