Obama Looking at Military Options in Mexico
March 10th, 2009Translation: The upstarts need to be taken out so that sanctioned “Agency” narcotics can flow into the U.S. in a more orderly manner. The current arrangement is too messy.
If they were really interested in stopping this, they would look at legalization or decriminalization, but increased militarization serves two main purposes. First, it will drive up the prices of drugs, which will allow the U.S. to continue expanding the Ponzi scheme of national debt. Second, militarization would benefit the usual suspects in the armaments and mercenary industries by bathing them in more lucrative government contracts.
Via: Army Times:
President Barack Obama was briefed Saturday by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen about the drug wars in Mexico and wanted to know how the United States can help.
“Clearly one of the things the president was interested in was the U.S military capability that may or may not apply to our cooperation with the Mexicans,” said a U.S. military official who requested anonymity because the discussions were private. “He was very interested in what kind of military capabilities may be applied.”
Mullen briefed Obama on Saturday morning about discussions with Mexican military leaders about the drug wars there.
Mullen, who was in Mexico on Friday, has referred to the recent spike in violence as a crisis. Mullen has said Mexico could borrow from U.S. tactics in the fight against terrorism as it battles a crisis of drug-related violence along the U.S.-Mexico border.
On Saturday, the military official said the additional U.S. help could come in the form of U.S. equipment and intelligence-sharing.
“We’re already sharing information with the Mexican military and have been looking for ways to expand that particularly in the realm of intelligence,” the official said.
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said that during the briefing Obama also underscored his admiration for the work Mexican President Felipe Calderon was undertaking to stem violence.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence this year. In 2008, the toll doubled from the previous year to 6,290. Both the U.S. and Canada have warned that murders related to drug activity in certain parts of Mexico, particularly along the border with the U.S., raised the level of risk in visiting the country.
There are signs the violent competition among Mexican drug and smuggling cartels is spilling across the border, as cities in Arizona report increases in such crimes as home invasions. More than 700 people were arrested as part of a wide-ranging crackdown on Mexican drug cartels operating inside the United States, the Justice Department said last month.
Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he also saw opportunities for the U.S. military to help with military training, resources and intelligence.
Northern Ireland Murders
March 10th, 2009Elements of the Republican movement have been playing a larger role in the government than at any point since the establishment of British rule in Northern Ireland. I could be wrong here, but it seems like someone doesn’t want that to continue.
In addition to the two British Army soldiers that were killed, a police officer has just been shot.
If Adams and McGuinness have any idea who is behind these murders, the thing to do would be to hand the intel off to the police so that it can be dealt with, BY THE POLICE and not the military. If the suspects turn up dead in some paddock, Adams and McGuinness lose again, as nobody believes that they are fully disconnected from extremist groups, and it would look like another one of the judge-jury-executioner situations from the old days. On the flipside, we now know about Britain’s role in fomenting atrocities on both sides of this situation. Is it a Coincidence that this pot is being stirred up as the question of whether or not to deploy British special forces/intelligence units was weighing heavy over the region lately? I don’t know. If this seems like sarcasm, it isn’t. In all seriousness, I don’t know. But I guess the matter is decided now.
The usual questions, “Who benefits?” and “Why now?” are good ones to be asking.
Don’t look to me for answers, though, because I haven’t a clue.
Cryptogon has some readers in Northern Ireland who may (or may not) be willing to provide us with insights. My thoughts are with you guys. I can’t begin to imagine the sinking, sickening feeling that must be going around there at the moment.
Update: Email from Trusted Cryptogon Reader in Northern Ireland
My closest friend is an ex RUC officer who receives regular intel briefings both through formal channels (i.e. his local police station) and through his ex RUC colleagues now working in the new PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland). That said, the info he gets is only scratching the surface.
According to my friend, dissident Republicans have been preparing for a resumption of violence for quite some time. However, the British security services have been well aware of that fact also, with the SAS operating in so-called “bandit country” of south Armagh where they recently discreetly apprehended an operative in his own home using a coffee grinder to render fertiliser granules in readiness for mixing with diesel to form a low explosive device (i.e. a car bomb). They also observed members of an ASU (active service unit) lying low on “hard routine” for 3 days waiting to launch an attack only for them to abort for reasons unknown. According to my friend, there are several ASUs operating in that area now, generally training for something as yet unknown. The new PSNI, being largely composed of novices with no experience of the Troubles, cannot properly police there at all, for which reason they have quietly drafted in some old hands from the defunct RUC to man the stations there. And of course, for politically sensitive reasons the army cannot be seen to be openly patrolling the area. Hence military support is limited to invisible special forces operations. None of this has been reported in the media, by the way, and one of my mate’s friends told him that his superiors had deliberately destroyed a report he had filed on the local ASUs zeroing their weapons in the countryside.
However, everything suddenly changed on Friday with the BBC revealing
that there was a request made by the chief of police in NI for special forces support due to an increased dissident threat. As soon as I saw that, I suspected that this was the government’s way of ensuring they couldn’t be accused of yet another intelligence failure in the wake of an imminent atrocity, an accusation they’ve had to deal with often in the past. See link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7927178.stm
In light of that, I was very twitchy when I went into town on Saturday afternoon with my wife. It felt like the bad old days when you’d check out every parked car in case one was weighed down too much at the rear (i.e. with bomb in the boot / trunk). Not that checking it out would do much good if it went off without warning, as per Omagh.
My view is that the dissidents want not merely to embarrass the PIRA leadership (aka the head honchos at Sinn Fein), but a return of the army to the streets, with random roadblocks, helicopter patrols, and all the concomitant alienation of the young working class RC population that that would entail. The only thing is, we’ve had peace for too long, and most RCs are now comfortable. They don’t have the same grievances as before. However, if this economic downturn escalates – and I believe it will – and we see rioting on the streets of many western nations, as many are now predicting, perhaps then there might be the ground conditions necessary to ignite another lengthy round of civil strife here. With the British military strained in Afghanistan and Iraq, and with outbreaks of trouble in the UK mainland, the British army would struggle to keep NI stable. Maybe these dissidents are laying the groundwork for that possibility this summer.
All in all, though, I do feel very uneasy about it, as do many others I know. My neighbour, an ex Royal Air Force survival instructor from southern England, is now worried about his security. I was stunned when he told me he doesn’t even have a crossbow, much less a shotgun or handgun (NI being the only part of the UK where handguns are still legal to own). And my ex RUC friend is regretting he didn’t sell his house and get out when the property boom was at its peak. The best thing that can happen now is for the SAS to go in and discreetly take the players out and hopefully nip this thing in the bud right now.
Canada: Military Readies Reservists for Threats to ‘Domestic Front’
March 9th, 2009Via: National Post:
The Canadian military has embarked on a wide-ranging plan to turn its reserve soldiers into focused units trained and equipped to respond to a nightmarish array of domestic threats, including terrorist “dirty bomb” attacks, biological agent containment, Arctic catastrophes and natural disasters.
The creation of seven units within each region of the country — including unusual all-terrain vehicle (ATV) squadrons and perimeter security teams to cordon areas of potential devastation — prepares reserve soldiers for operations on the “domestic front” while freeing regular force soldiers to concentrate on foreign battlefields.
“There is a recognition, certainly within the military and we have heard the government say, that domestic security is the number one priority. A number of these conclusions come from the post-9/11 world we live in,” said Brigadier-General Jean Collin, commander of the army in Ontario, during an exclusive interview with the National Post.
“The reality is an army needs to train, an army needs to equip itself and an army needs to be ready.”
The remodeling of the reserves will see the development of specialist units in four of the military’s regional divisions — Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario and the West. The units will include perimeter security teams prepared to cordon off an area if there was an atomic detonation, nuclear accident or similar source of wide contamination and “Arctic response” groups that are trained and equipped to live and operate in the far north.
Texas Makes Emergency Plans in Case Violence Spills Over from Mexico
March 9th, 2009Via: Star Telegram:
The state and federal governments have prepared contingency plans to deal with spillover violence from across the border as Mexican troops clash with ruthless drug cartels terrorizing Mexico.
“Anything you can think of that’s happened in Mexico, we have to think could happen here,” said Steve McCraw, Gov. Rick Perry’s director of homeland security. “We know what they’re capable of.”
A crackdown by Mexican President Felipe Calderon has turned Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, into a war zone as federal troops battle feuding cartels.
Thousands of soldiers and agents have surged into the border city in the government’s latest effort to free Mexican citizens from a daily spectacle of assassinations, kidnappings and beheadings ordered by rival drug czars.
McCraw predicted that the violence in Mexico “will get worse before it gets better.”
Mexico’s active-duty armed forces number more than 130,000 and are being aggressively used to combat the cartels. But U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters last week that Mexico’s two largest drug cartels have fielded a combined army of 100,000 foot soldiers to battle not just government forces but also one another.
Potential threat
The state’s contingency plan was developed under the umbrella of Operation Border Star, a multiagency law enforcement offensive led by Perry’s homeland security office. The plan, which has not been released publicly, envisions scenarios of violence, such as kidnappings or a takeover by hit squads, with a corresponding response by law enforcement, McCraw said.
While declining to elaborate on specifics for security reasons, McCraw called it a “very aggressive plan to deal very quickly with all threats that might be posed.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has also prepared contingency measures to respond to cross-border violence, agency spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said. Like the state plan, the federal response “contemplates a number of contingencies that could result from violence” in Mexico, Kudwa said.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, interviewed last week on PBS’ NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, said the grisly murders and kidnappings that are signatures of the Mexican drug wars haven’t made their way north.
“But let’s be very, very clear,” she said. “This is a very serious battle. It could spill over into the United States. If it does, we do have contingency plans to deal with it.”
Research Credit: eyeofthestorm
Change We Can Believe In: How About the End of Farmers Markets? Say Hello to H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009
March 9th, 2009Update: The Husband of the Bill’s Sponsor Does Work for Monsanto
Reader CW tipped me off to this. It checks out.
Rosa DeLauro is married to Stanley B. Greenberg.
Here’s a bio on Greenberg:
Stanley B. Greenberg is Chairman and CEO of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.
He has served as polling advisor to President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada of Bolivia and their national campaigns.
Greenberg provides strategic advice and research for companies, organizations and campaigns trying to advance their issues amid shifting social currents.
Greenberg is author of the new book, The Two Americas: Our Current Political Deadlock and How to Break it, published by St. Martin’s Press, described by James Carville as “the most important book on American politics in my memory … maybe since 1960, the Making of the President.” Greenberg is also the author of Middle Class Dreams.
Together with Bill McInturff, Greenberg conducts bi-partisan surveys for National Public Radio on the main issues of the day.
His private sector clients include BP, Boeing, Monsanto, Comverse, Sun Microsystems, United HealthCare, the Business Roundtable, and the organizing committee for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
—END UPDATE—
What this will do is force anyone who produces food of any kind, and then transports it to a different location for sale, to register with a new federal agency called the “Food Safety Administration.” Even growers who sell just fruit and/or vegetables at farmers markets would not only have to register, but they would be subject inspections by federal agents of their property and all records related to food production. The frequency of these inspections will be determined by the whim of the Food Safety Administration. Mandatory “safety” records would have to be kept. Anyone who fails to register and comply with all of this nonsense could be facing a fine of up to $1,000,000 per violation.
I’ve bought food at several farmers markets for years and I have yet to meet any vendors who are fond of the government. I think it’s pretty safe to say that most vendors at farmers markets won’t go along with this. The problem will be that the people who run the farmers markets will be forced to make sure that vendors are “registered” with the government.
Is this Change we can believe in? Maybe it is for Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture, Tom “I Fly with Monsanto” Vilsack.
For the rest of us, this is a nightmare.
Let’s take it piece by piece:
What is the legislation called? H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009:
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 875To establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes.
How does this affect farmers who just sell fruit and vegetables at farmers markets?
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
…
(9) CATEGORY 5 FOOD ESTABLISHMENT- The term ‘category 5 food establishment’ means a food establishment that stores, holds, or transports food products prior to delivery for retail sale.
…
13) FOOD ESTABLISHMENT-
(A) IN GENERAL- The term ‘food establishment’ means a slaughterhouse (except those regulated under the Federal Meat Inspection Act or the Poultry Products Inspection Act), factory, warehouse, or facility owned or operated by a person located in any State that processes food or a facility that holds, stores, or transports food or food ingredients.
Does this really apply to fruit and vegetables? Yes.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
…
(12) FOOD- The term ‘food’ means a product intended to be used for food or drink for a human or an animal and components thereof.
Registration:
SEC. 202. REGISTRATION OF FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS AND FOREIGN FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS.
(a) In General- Any food establishment or foreign food establishment engaged in manufacturing, processing, packing, or holding food for consumption in the United States shall register annually with the Administrator.
(b) Registration Requirements-
(1) IN GENERAL- To be registered under subsection (a), a food establishment shall submit a registration or reregistration to the Administrator.
(2) REGISTRATION- Registration under this section shall begin within 90 days of the enactment of this Act. Each such registration shall be submitted to the Secretary through an electronic portal and shall contain such information as the Secretary, by guidance, determines to be appropriate. Such registration shall contain the following information:
(A) The name, address, and emergency contact information of each domestic food establishment or foreign food establishment that the registrant owns or operates under this Act and all trade names under which the registrant conducts business in the United States relating to food.
(B) The primary purpose and business activity of each domestic food establishment or foreign food establishment, including the dates of operation if the domestic food establishment or foreign food establishment is seasonal.
(C) The types of food processed or sold at each domestic food establishment or, for foreign food establishments selling food for consumption in the United States, the specific food categories of that food as listed under section 170.3(n) of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, or such other categories as the Administrator may designate in guidance, action level, or regulations for evaluating potential threats to food protection.
(D) The name, address, and 24-hour emergency contact information of the United States distribution agent for each domestic food establishment or foreign food establishment, who shall maintain information on the distribution of food, including lot information, and wholesaler and retailer distribution.
(E) An assurance that the registrant will notify the Administrator of any change in the products, function, or legal status of the domestic food establishment or foreign food establishment (including cessation of business activities) not later than 30 days after such change.
(3) PROCEDURE- Upon receipt of a completed registration described in paragraph (1), the Administrator shall notify the registrant of the receipt of the registration, designate each establishment as a category 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 food establishment, and assign a registration number to each domestic food establishment and foreign food establishment.
Inspection, Category 5 Food Establishments
SEC. 205. INSPECTIONS OF FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS.
(a) In General- The Administrator shall establish an inspection program, which shall include statistically valid sampling of food and facilities to enforce performance standards. The inspection program shall be designed to determine if each food establishment–
(1) is operated in a sanitary manner;
(2) has continuous preventive control systems, interventions, and processes in place to minimize or eliminate contaminants in food;
(3) is in compliance with applicable performance standards established under section 204, and other regulatory requirements;
(4) is processing food that is not adulterated or misbranded;
(5) maintains records of process control plans under section 203, and other records related to the processing, sampling, and handling of food; and
(6) is otherwise in compliance with the requirements of the food safety law.
…
(5) CATEGORY 5 FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS- A category 5 food establishment shall–
(A) have ongoing verification that its processes are controlled; and
(B) be randomly inspected at least annually.
(c) Establishment of Inspection Procedures- The Administrator shall establish procedures under which inspectors shall take random samples, photographs, and copies of records in food establishments.
What happens if you own a farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation that does not prepare or serve food directly to the consumer?
I hope you like having Feds crawling all over your property and telling you what to do.
SEC. 206. FOOD PRODUCTION FACILITIES.
(a) Authorities- In carrying out the duties of the Administrator and the purposes of this Act, the Administrator shall have the authority, with respect to food production facilities, to–
(1) visit and inspect food production facilities in the United States and in foreign countries to determine if they are operating in compliance with the requirements of the food safety law;
(2) review food safety records as required to be kept by the Administrator under section 210 and for other food safety purposes;
(3) set good practice standards to protect the public and animal health and promote food safety;
(4) conduct monitoring and surveillance of animals, plants, products, or the environment, as appropriate; and
(5) collect and maintain information relevant to public health and farm practices.
(b) Inspection of Records- A food production facility shall permit the Administrator upon presentation of appropriate credentials and at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner, to have access to and ability to copy all records maintained by or on behalf of such food production establishment in any format (including paper or electronic) and at any location, that are necessary to assist the Administrator–
(1) to determine whether the food is contaminated, adulterated, or otherwise not in compliance with the food safety law; or
(2) to track the food in commerce.
(c) Regulations- Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and representatives of State departments of agriculture, shall promulgate regulations to establish science-based minimum standards for the safe production of food by food production facilities. Such regulations shall–
(1) consider all relevant hazards, including those occurring naturally, and those that may be unintentionally or intentionally introduced;
(2) require each food production facility to have a written food safety plan that describes the likely hazards and preventive controls implemented to address those hazards;
(3) include, with respect to growing, harvesting, sorting, and storage operations, minimum standards related to fertilizer use, nutrients, hygiene, packaging, temperature controls, animal encroachment, and water;
(4) include, with respect to animals raised for food, minimum standards related to the animal’s health, feed, and environment which bear on the safety of food for human consumption;
(5) provide a reasonable period of time for compliance, taking into account the needs of small businesses for additional time to comply;
(6) provide for coordination of education and enforcement activities by State and local officials, as designated by the Governors of the respective States; and
(7) include a description of the variance process under subsection (d) and the types of permissible variances which the Administrator may grant under such process.
Is registration required? Yes. Is compliance with inspections required? Yes.
TITLE IV–ENFORCEMENT
SEC. 401. PROHIBITED ACTS.It is prohibited–
…
(3) for a food establishment or foreign food establishment to fail to register under section 202, or to operate without a valid registration;
(4) to refuse to permit access to a food establishment or food production facility for the inspection and copying of a record as required under sections 205(f) and 206(a);
(5) to fail to establish or maintain any record or to make any report as required under sections 205(f) and 206(b);
(6) to refuse to permit entry to or inspection of a food establishment as required under section 205;
So what might happen if I refuse?
SEC. 405. CIVIL AND CRIMINAL PENALTIES.
(a) Civil Sanctions-
(1) CIVIL PENALTY-
(A) IN GENERAL- Any person that commits an act that violates the food safety law (including a regulation promulgated or order issued under the food safety law) may be assessed a civil penalty by the Administrator of not more than $1,000,000 for each such act.
Bill Status:
More: Goodbye Farmers Markets, CSAs, and Roadside Stands
UK: Why Are We Fingerprinting Children?
March 8th, 2009Via: Guardian:
As voters express concern about surveillance technology, is it becoming second nature to the Facebook generation – used to publishing intimate details of their private lives on the worldwide web – who, in later life, may be less vociferous in their opposition to such schemes?
An increasing number of today’s schoolchildren are forgoing the humiliating daily name call of registration, and are instead having to “fingerswipe” in and out of class, or to give it its proper name: biometric registration. According to campaign group LeaveThemKidsAlone, schools have fingerprinted more than two million children this way, sometimes even without their parents’ consent. A statement on its website claims: “It’s part of an enormous softening-up exercise, targeting society’s most impressionable, so they’ll accept cradle-to-grave state snooping and control.”
Hard-pressed schools and local councils with tight budgets are being enticed by a new generation of software that promises to cut administration costs and time. In the last 18 months, several Guardian readers have written into the paper expressing concern at this new technology being trialled on their children. Everything from “cashless catering schemes” to “kiddyprints” instead of library cards is being introduced by stealth into the nation’s schools, it is claimed.
The software companies that are jostling for a stake in this lucrative market, such as VeriCool and CRB solutions, boast several testimonials on their websites, arguing that this technology not only minimises lunchtime queues and paperwork, but also tackles more serious problems such as truancy and bullying (a cashless system negates the need to be biffed for your lunch money). They even claim that their systems promote healthy eating, as pupils accrue points for eschewing sugary snacks.
Population of Sarcramento Tent City Now Over 1,200
March 8th, 2009Via: Telegraph:
Sacramento has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the United States.
As many as 50 people a week arrive at the tent city and the authorities estimate it is now home to more than 1,200 people.
Now its homeless population hope an Oprah TV show about recession, foreclosures and homelessness will help them out of poverty.
They hope the segment on the national talk show will prompt more donations and government help. Producers visited Sacramento in February to visit the homeless shelters.
“We’re very glad that Oprah and her team have chosen to give this crisis a voice, because it is a crisis,” Michele Steeb, executive director of St. John’s Shelter, said. “Our turnaway numbers have risen from 20 women and children being turned away per day in 2007 to 80 in 2008 to our current number of 230 women and children being turned away a day. It is a crisis and it’s only getting worse. We’re so glad that she’s giving the crisis a voice. We’re honoured to be part of the discussion because it’s an important discussion to have,” she said.
The city and county of Sacramento have already received $34 million to help fight the effects of the foreclosure crisis but, in the meantime, hundreds of people have moved into the shelters.
Authorities in Sacramento, where Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has his office, are suffering as the state has a £30billion deficit and the tent city looks like becoming a permanent fixture.
“I can’t say tent cities are the answer to the homeless population in Sacramento,” Kevin Johnson, Sacramento’s mayor said, “but I think it’s one of the many things that should be considered and looked at.’
Research Credit: ottilie
UK: Police Building Photo and Video Database of Protesters, Journalists
March 8th, 2009Via: Guardian:
Police are targeting thousands of political campaigners in surveillance operations and storing their details on a database for at least seven years, an investigation by the Guardian can reveal.
Photographs, names and video footage of people attending protests are routinely obtained by surveillance units and stored on an “intelligence system”. The Metropolitan police, which has pioneered surveillance at demonstrations and advises other forces on the tactic, stores details of protesters on Crimint, the general database used daily by all police staff to catalogue criminal intelligence. It lists campaigners by name, allowing police to search which demonstrations or political meetings individuals have attended.
Disclosures through the Freedom of Information Act, court testimony, an interview with a senior Met officer and police surveillance footage obtained by the Guardian have established that private information about activists gathered through surveillance is being stored without the knowledge of the people monitored.
Police surveillance teams are also targeting journalists who cover demonstrations, and are believed to have monitored members of the press during at least eight protests over the last year.
Research Credit: ottilie
Worried Wealthy People Buying 100 Ounce Gold Bars (Worth Nearly $100,000 Each Right Now)
March 8th, 2009WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
Yes, keep some physical metal close by, but also keep some far away. Consider liquidity when you want to sell. Is someone going to be making an efficient market for random 100 ounce gold bars where you are when you decide to sell?
I’m a BullionVault client and affiliate. Cryptogon readers are holding about US$2 million worth of gold with BullionVault. When you buy gold through BullionVault, you’re buying Good Delivery gold. This is the form of gold that is traded in the spot market, the most liquid physical gold market of them all.
BullionVault allows you to buy or sell virtually any amount of physical gold that you want, 24 hours per day (larger spreads on weekends, of course).
I’d suggest keeping the gold that you’re holding in your physical possession as very liquid 1 ounce sized coins (Krugerrands, Maple Leaves, American Eagles, Kiwis, etc.).
Via: Newsweek:
A hundred-ounce gold bar, when you hold it in your hand, is surprisingly small and even more surprisingly heavy. It’s somewhat longer and fatter than a Hershey bar, but it weighs six-plus pounds—as much as your old calculus textbook. Its color is unforgettable. Pure gold is gold. It’s not like your wedding ring or your grandmother’s bracelet. It’s a deep, dense yellow, the way the ocean is deep blue, and it sparkles. You can understand at last why the Bible says the streets of heaven are paved with it.
On the day I held the gold bar in my hand, it was worth nearly $100,000. My companion—an established, accomplished, affluent businessman of retirement age—had bought it as a hedge against the sinking Dow and his fear that Obama’s stimulus package will inevitably trigger wild inflation. We had picked it up in the basement of an HSBC bank branch in midtown Manhattan. When I handed it back to him, he put it in his briefcase. We went upstairs, past guards, through metal doors. Out on the street, we said goodbye and I watched him go, a tall, thin man carrying a $100,000 briefcase. He doesn’t want me to tell you his name—or, really, anything about him—because he’s keeping the gold in a safe in his basement. His friends, he says, are doing the same thing. “There is an increase in the number of wise, reasonable, well-read, well-intentioned people who are buying some gold and putting it aside,” says Dennis Gartman, editor of The Gartman Letter, a daily analysis of financial news.
John Wynocker, a hydraulics inspector, lives in Cincinnati and has been buying gold and silver coins and bars for 15 years, but since the passage of Obama’s stimulus bill, he has been motivated to buy more. He is hiding the precious metal in places where not even he can find it, he jokes. Are you burying it? I ask. “Perhaps,” he says. “Our country is so far in debt, it’s staggering. I’d like to retire someday. What else am I going to do to protect myself?”
Is this madness? Here is a respectable and buttoned-down suburbanite, behaving like an end-of-the world paranoiac. Here is Wynocker, a working man, trying to get a grip on his own financial future with a shovel.
Monsanto’s Uphill Battle in Germany
March 8th, 2009Via: Der Spiegel:
On the other side stand Monsanto’s many adversaries, a heterogeneous alliance that brings together organic farmers, anti-capitalism activists, churches and politicians with the conservative Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.
The dispute between the two camps revolves around the opportunities and risks involved in green genetic engineering. It’s about companies that are playing God and about fundamental questions like: What should man be permitted to do? What can science do? And should we be allowed to do things just because we can? The dispute is also about freedom and its limitations, the freedom to carry out research, and the freedom of consumers, farmers, beekeepers and a corporation. Where does one side’s freedom end and the other’s begin, and who draws the boundaries?
Honey for the Waste Incinerator
Bablok became part of the controversy because some of his bee colonies were collecting pollen from fields where the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture was growing GM corn for research purposes. The bees carried the pollen back to their hives and Bablok, who knew that the GM cornfields were nearby, had samples tested to ensure that his honey was clean. But the laboratory found that up to 7 percent of the pollen was from GM plants. When the case became public, a district court in the Bavarian city of Augsburg ordered Bablok to stop selling, or even giving away, his honey. As a result, he became Germany’s first beekeeper who delivered his honey to a waste incineration facility. Now Bablok is suing the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture to recover his costs and his lost sales, which he says amount to about €10,000.
The suit is complicated and has already passed through two courts. A third court is due to hear it soon and both sides are seeking a judgment establishing a principle. The case is about more than just Bablok’s costs and the purity of German honey. In fact, the future of green genetic engineering in Germany is at stake. A victory for Bablok would further discredit MON 810. In the public’s perception, it would transform the plant into a hazard for human beings.
