And Now… United Nations to Appoint Earth Contact for Aliens
September 27th, 2010Update: Hoax?
Via: Guardian:
The Royal Society knew nothing about it. The United Nations referred all queries to the switchboard of Unoosa in Vienna. Its switchboard number wasn’t much help. “The person at extension 4951 is unavailable, please leave your message after the tone,” it said. Those messages might make for some interesting listening today.
Finally an email from Othman herself would have prompted our Martian to trudge back to his spaceship. “It sounds really cool but I have to deny it,” she said of the story. She will be attending a conference next week, but she’ll be talking about how the world deals with “near-Earth objects”.
—End Update—
‘U.S. Nuclear Weapons Have Been Compromised by Unidentified Aerial Objects’
Pope’s Astronomer Says He Would Baptise an Alien
Via: Herald Sun:
THE United Nations was set today to appoint a Malaysian astrophysicist to act as Earth’s first contact for any aliens that may come visiting.
Mazlan Othman, the head of the UN’s little-known Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), is to describe her potential new role next week at a scientific conference at the Royal Society’s Kavli conference centre in Buckinghamshire.
She is scheduled to tell delegates that the recent discovery of hundreds of planets around other stars has made the detection of extraterrestrial life more likely than ever before – and that means the UN must be ready to coordinate humanity’s response to any “first contact”.
…
Professor Richard Crowther, an expert in space law and governance at the UK Space Agency and who leads British delegations to the UN on such matters, said: “Othman is absolutely the nearest thing we have to a ‘take me to your leader’ person.”
Research Credit: teran
FBI Raids Homes of Five Minneapolis Antiwar Activists
September 26th, 2010Via: Star Tribune:
The FBI raided the Minneapolis homes of five antiwar activists, including three leaders of the Twin Cities peace movement, Friday morning as part of what it called a probe of “activities concerning the material support of terrorism.”
The Minneapolis office of an antiwar organization was also raided, protest leaders said. No one was arrested in any of the raids.
FBI spokesman Steve Warfield said the searches were conducted at about 7 a.m. Lawyers said the agents seized computers, cell phones and documents in the protesters’ homes.
The federal search warrants in Minneapolis were related to an ongoing Joint Terrorism Task Force, Warfield said. He offered no details.
Los Angeles: Beware of Swindling at Farmers Markets
September 26th, 2010I was pleased with the advice given in this article, which is exactly the same that I would give: Know your farmers. Visit their farms. If you’re buying food from someone, you should be able to see the farm. If the person selling the food doesn’t want you to see the farm or property… That’s a red flag.
Additionally, if you’re looking for organically grown foods at farmers markets, the certified organic vendors are much more likely to be selling the real deal. They charge premium prices, but have to put up with lunatic fascism as part of maintaining their certifications and, typically, aren’t willing to risk their reputations by cutting corners with conventional pesticides and herbicides. These vendors will be prominently displaying their certification organizations and certification numbers.
Via: NBC Los Angeles:
NBCLA’s investigation began this summer, when we bought produce at farmers markets across the LA area, and then made surprise visits to farms where we were told the produce was being grown.
We found farms full of weeds, or dry dirt, instead of rows of the vegetables that were being sold at the markets. In fact, farmers markets are closely regulated by state law. Farmers who sell at these markets are supposed to sell produce they’ve grown themselves, and they can’t make false claims about their produce.
We did find plenty of vendors doing just that, like Underwood Farms, which sells produce at 14 markets, all grown on a family farm in Moorpark.
But our investigation also uncovered vendors who are selling stuff they didn’t grow, like Frutos Farms, which sells at seven different farmers markets in LA and Orange counties.
During our investigation, we bought 26 different types of produce from their stands at the Century City farmers market, at the Larchmont market and at the Buena Park market.
Frutos Farm’s state permit to sell produce at farmers markets says their farm is in Cypress.
NBCLA asked owner Jesse Frutos, “Everything you sell at farmers markets is grown in your Cypress field?”
Jesse responded, “Correct…everything.”
But when NBCLA made a surprise visit to the Cypress field listed on its permit, Frutos couldn’t show us most of the produce he was selling, such as celery, garlic, and avocados.
So NBCLA asked, “Do you grow avocados here?”
“Avocados? No, not here on the lot. … That I’ll be honest. That stuff came from somewhere else,” Frutos said.
Somewhere else? NBCLA’s undercover cameras followed Jesse’s trucks on farmers market days, and saw him going to the big wholesale produce warehouses in downtown LA.
We saw him loading up his truck, with boxes of produce from big commercial farms as far away as Mexico. He bought many of the types of items we saw him selling at the farmers markets.
After documenting this, NBCLA asked Jesse, “You are selling some things at farmers markets that you didn’t grow, that you got at wholesale produce markets?”
Jesse admitted, “Yes.”
And we investigated other vendors, like Juan Uriostegui, who sells produce at the West Hollywood farmers market on Mondays.
He tells customers that everything he sells is grown on his farm in Redlands, in San Bernardino County.
We bought some of his broccoli, and the same day, we showed up at his farm with officer Allan Lampman of the San Bernardino Department of Agriculture.
Lampman asked Uriostegui to show him where he was growing broccoli, but all the farmer could show him was a patch of dry dirt.
“I’m looking at the fields, saying, ‘I don’t think you grew that broccoli,'” Lampman said.
In fact, Uriostegui was already issued a fine earlier this year by San Bernardino County for selling produce at another farmers market that he didn’t grow.
And during our investigation, NBCLA examined another big claim made at farmers markets — that their produce is “pesticide-free.”
NBCLA bought one container of strawberries, from five different vendors, at five farmers markets, including a vendor called “The Berry Best,” at the Torrance farmers market.
NBCLA’s undercover shopper questioned the Berry Best’s owner about the strawberries:
“These are pesticide-free?”
Owner Mary Ellen Martinez responded, “Yes, they are.”
To see if that’s true, we took our five samples to a state-certified lab, and had them tested for pesticides.
Results showed three out of five samples we tested sold berries that did contain pesticides, including the sample from the Berry Best.
NBCLA went back to Martinez.
“We found four different pesticides in your berries. You don’t how that happened?” we asked.
Responded Martinez, “Nope.”
She later said pesticides might have drifted into her field from neighboring farms. But according to our lab, that’s unlikely because the pesticide level on her berries appears too high to have drifted from another farm.
Martinez ended the interview with NBCLA, telling us to leave her stand, “You’re getting on my nerves right about now.”
By the end of our investigation, we found vendors who make false claims selling at more than two dozen farmers markets.
Research Credit: ltcolonelnemo
U.S. Backs $30 Billion in Bonds to Stabilize Credit Unions
September 26th, 2010Thirty to $35 billion worth of government-guaranteed bonds are going to be issued on what amounts to, “Shaky mortgage-related assets.”
Does anyone understand how this, “Won’t cost taxpayers any money”?
Via: Wall Street Journal:
Two years after the peak of the financial crisis, the federal government swooped in to stabilize a crucial part of the credit-union sector battered by losses on subprime mortgages.
Regulators announced Friday a rescue and revamping of the nation’s wholesale credit union system, underpinned by a federal guarantee valued at $30 billion or more. Wholesale credit unions don’t deal with the general public but provide essential back-office services to thousands of other credit unions across the U.S. The majority of retail credit unions are sound, but they will have to shoulder the losses through special assessments over the next decade.
Friday’s moves include the seizure of three wholesale credit unions, plus an unusual plan by government officials to manage $50 billion of troubled assets inherited from failed institutions. To help fund the rescue, the National Credit Union Administration plans to issue $30 billion to $35 billion in government-guaranteed bonds, backed by the shaky mortgage-related assets.
Officials said the plan won’t cost taxpayers any money. Still, it marks the latest intervention by the U.S. government into a financial system weakened by the real-estate bust. Bad bets on mortgage-backed securities have now killed five of the nation’s 27 wholesale credit unions since March 2009. The federal government, which now controls about 70% of the total assets at such credit unions, said the surviving institutions will be reined in so that they take fewer risks with their investments.
Research Credit: jk
Army Reveals Afghan Biometric ID Plan; Millions Scanned, Carded by May
September 24th, 2010Via: Wired:
Scanning prisoners’ irises is just Step 1. In Afghanistan, local and NATO forces are amassing biometric dossiers on hundreds of thousands of cops, crooks, soldiers, insurgents and ordinary citizens. And now, with NATO’s backing, the Kabul government is putting together a plan to issue biometrically backed identification cards to 1.65 million Afghans by next May.
The idea is to hinder militant movement around the country, and to keep Taliban infiltrators out of the army, NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan commander Lt. Gen. William Caldwell tells Danger Room. “The system allows the Afghans to thoroughly screen applicants and recruits for any potential negative past history or criminal linkages, while at the same time it provides an additional measure of security at checkpoints and major facilities to prevent possible entrance and access by malign actors in Afghanistan,” Caldwell e-mails.
It’s a high-tech upgrade to a classic counterinsurgency move — simultaneously taking a census of the population, culling security forces of double agents and cutting off guerrilla routes. (Plus, bombs and weapons can be swabbed for fingerprints to build files on insurgent suspects.) Gen. David Petraeus, now commander of the Afghan war effort, relied heavily on biometrics during his time in command of U.S. forces in Iraq.
Twenty to 25 Afghans a week are currently caught in the biometric sweep, military officials estimate. That number could grow significantly in the months to come. The “population registration division” of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior is “embarking on a program to develop, print and distribute biometrically enabled national ID cards,” e-mails Col. Craig Osbourne, the director of NATO’s Task Force Biometrics.
Blackwater in Iraq: Lots of Steroids, Black Market Weapons and Ammo and “Large Amounts of Cocaine and Blocks of Hashish”
September 24th, 2010Cocaine? But of course, see Blackwater Worldwide Changes Its Name to Xe; Same Mercenaries, but Now with More “Aviation Support”:
West Africa is an unlikely center for the international cocaine trade. It is not a producer of the drug nor is it a consumer, as the vast majority of its people are very poor.
Yet a startling 50 tons of cocaine is transported through West Africa each year, according to the latest United Nations estimates. The value of this illicit trade dwarfs entire economies and has the potential to corrupt the region’s fragile states, which are just pulling out of decades of bitter civil wars.
In the past Africa has been a treasure trove looted by covetous colonialists, voracious rebels and kleptocratic rulers — over the last 300 years think slaves, ivory, gold, diamonds, tin and coltan. Now it is a transit point and storeroom for the cocaine trade.
And then there are the afterparties, where:
Blackwater personnel would pull out AK47s and go out onto the balcony and “would just spray the building next door, which housed Iraqi civilians.”
Via: The Nation:
A Texas businessman who has worked extensively in Iraq claims that Blackwater paid him to purchase steroids and other drugs for its operatives in Baghdad, as well as more than 100 AK47s and massive amounts of ammunition on Baghdad’s black market. Howard Lowry, who worked in Iraq from 2003-2009, also claims that he personally attended Blackwater parties where company personnel had large amounts of cocaine and blocks of hashish and would run around naked. At some of these parties, Lowry alleges, Blackwater operatives would randomly fire automatic weapons from their balconies into buildings full of Iraqi civilians. Lowry described the events as a “frat party gone wild” where “drug use was rampant.” Lowry says he was told by Blackwater personnel that some of the men using the steroids he purchased were on the security detail of L. Paul Bremer, the original head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Lowry also claims that Blackwater’s owner Erik Prince tried to enlist his help to win contracts for Blackwater with the Iraqi government using an off-shore security company, Greystone, which Prince owns. The purpose, Lowry says, was to conceal Greystone’s relationship to Blackwater.
CIA Used Defective Software to Task Drones on Assassination Missions
September 24th, 2010Via: Register:
The CIA is implicated in a court case in which it’s claimed it used an illegal, inaccurate software “hack” to direct secret assassination drones in central Asia.
The target of the court action is Netezza, the data warehousing firm that IBM bid $1.7bn for on Monday. The case raises serious questions about the conduct of Netezza executives, and the conduct of CIA’s clandestine war against senior jihadis in Afganistan and Pakistan.
The dispute surrounds a location analysis software package – “Geospatial” – developed by a small company called Intelligent Integration Systems (IISi), which like Netezza is based in Massachusetts. IISi alleges that Netezza misled the CIA by saying that it could deliver the software on its new hardware, to a tight deadline.
When the software firm then refused to rush the job, it’s claimed, Netezza illegally and hastily reverse-engineered IISi’s code to deliver a version that produced locations inaccurate by up to 13 metres. Despite knowing about the miscalculations, the CIA accepted the software, court submissions indicate.
IISi is now seeking an injunction to ban Netezza and the CIA from using the software or any derivative of it, in any context.
Research Credit: JF
Bank of America Forecloses on Homeowner Who Paid Cash for Property
September 24th, 2010Via: Sun Sentinel:
When Jason Grodensky bought his modest Fort Lauderdale home in December, he paid cash. But seven months later, he was surprised to learn that Bank of America had foreclosed on the house, even though Grodensky did not have a mortgage.
Grodensky knew nothing about the foreclosure until July, when he learned that the title to his home had been transferred to a government-backed lender. “I feel like I’m hanging in the wind and I’m scared to death,” said Grodensky. “How did some attorney put through a foreclosure illegally?”
Bank of America has acknowledged the error and will correct it at its own expense, said spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens.
Grodensky’s story and other tales of foreclosure mistakes started popping up recently across South Florida. This week, GMAC Mortgage, one of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers and a major mortgage lender, told real estate agents to stop evicting residents and suspend sales of properties that had been taken from homeowners in foreclosure. The company said it might have to “correct” some of its foreclosures, but was not halting those in process.
Research Credit: VM
Precious Metals and the Dollar
September 24th, 2010WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
The U.S. Dollar Index breach of 79.507 sets up the downside possibility of 77 to 76.5.
On the weekly chart, the DX could be grinding out the mother of all descending triangles, but this pattern goes back to mid 2008 and shows no sign of breaking anytime soon. What this means is that I don’t see the dollar going to make any fresh lows for now. So, short term, look for some more downside on the DX (upside on the metals), but watch out around that 77 to 76.5 zone on the DX. There’s a pivot low there and the possibility of the lower leg of the descending triangle overlapping that pivot. In other words, from around 77, the DX could rally for weeks or months.
This descending triangle is (big picture) bearish, but it’s not ready yet.
Finally, if that INDU gets shilled up over 11 grand again, it’ll be DIA puts for daddy.
Come on Maria, dear, I need to buy those puts a bit higher.
Via: Bloomberg:
Gold futures rose to a record $1,300 an ounce in New York as investors sought a protection of wealth and an alternative to a weakening dollar. Bullion traded at an all-time in London and silver reached the highest price since 1980.
The dollar headed for a weekly drop against the euro on concern the Federal Reserve is moving closer to boosting debt purchases, while European equities declined. Gold, which usually moves inversely to the greenback, advanced to a record for the fourth day this week. Silver, which is used in industrial applications, headed for a fifth weekly advance in London.
Israel Accused of War Crimes by Expert Panel
September 24th, 2010“International law is that law which the wicked do not obey and the righteous do not enforce.”
—Abba Eban, Israeli diplomat and politician
All of Israel’s atrocities are funded by the United States. So, sit back and watch as absolutely nothing results from this.
Via: Sydney Morning Herald:
A United Nations panel of human rights experts has accused Israel of war crimes through wilful killing, unnecessary brutality and torture in its ”clearly unlawful” assault on a ship attempting to break the blockade of Gaza in May, in which nine Turkish activists died.
The report by three experts appointed by the UN’s Human Rights Council described the seizure of MV Mavi Marmara, a Turkish vessel, by Israeli commandos as illegal under international law. Israel swiftly dismissed the accusations as ”politicised and extremist”.
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The report further condemned the treatment of the passengers and crew as brutal and disproportionate. It said that the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian enclave was illegal because of the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
”There is clear evidence to support prosecutions of the following crimes within the terms of article 147 of the fourth Geneva convention: wilful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health,” the report said.
”A series of violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, were committed by the Israeli forces during the interception of the flotilla and during the detention of passengers in Israel prior to deportation.”
