Woman Screams “There Is No Witness Protection Program!” as She Stabs People in California Store
May 5th, 2010Very likely run of the mill madness, but just in case…
Via: KNX1070:
Layla Trawick used a butcher’s knife and a carving knife to attack four people in a busy Southern Calif. Target store Monday afternoon, according to officials.
Using both blades at the same time – one in each hand – she slashed in a downward arc like in the movie “Psycho,” sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
“She was literally walking up and down the aisles slashing people,” he said.
Police say Trawick, 34, was arrested when an off-duty sheriff’s deputy pulled his gun and ordered the woman to the ground as screaming shoppers ran from the building.
A mother holding her baby was stabbed in the neck and was taken to the hospital, where she was in stable condition, Whitmore said. The baby was unhurt and all four victims are expected to survive.
One witness said she was shopping for a Mother’s Day card when she heard someone screaming, “There is no witness protection program!” as chaos broke out in the store.
“I don’t know what it means but she was yelling that repeatedly and at the top of her lungs,” said Katy Winn, a freelance photographer from West Hollywood.
Winn said she dropped her basket and dashed across the store to the women’s section, where she hid behind the clothing racks.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Clay Grant Jr., said he was picking up paper towels and other items when people around him started running and screaming.
Grant, 26, grabbed his duty weapon, identified himself as a sheriff’s deputy and ordered the woman to drop the knives, he said. She ran away and he followed her from aisle to aisle.
Grant was wearing a white T-shirt, camouflage shorts and running shoes so several shoppers mistook him for a gunman, adding to the sense of panic, sheriff’s Sgt. Josh Mankini said. He followed Trawick from aisle to aisle, until she turned and waved the knives at him from above her head.
But he decided not to shoot because he didn’t feel his life was in jeopardy, he said. For a second time, he ordered her to drop the knives and finally she complied.
“I was more concerned about the knife, more than what she was saying,” Grant said. “Her facial expression was someone who was lost, confused, didn’t know exactly where they were.”
Trawick was arrested with the help of private security guards and held on $1 million bail on suspicion of attempted murder. Investigators were trying to determine whether the Antioch woman got the knives in the store.
Research Credit: BP
Roundup-Resistant Super Weeds
May 5th, 2010The New York Times piece below states the following about glyphosate: “It kills a broad spectrum of weeds, is easy and safe to work with, and breaks down quickly, reducing its environmental impact.”
Please see: Study Released in Argentina Puts Glyphosate Under Fire:
Criticism of the soy farming model intensified recently when research released by Argentina’s top medical school showed that a leading chemical used in soy farming may be harmful to human health. The study has alarmed policymakers in the South American nation.
A study released by an Argentine scientist earlier this year reports that glyphosate, patented by Monsanto under the name “Round Up,” causes birth defects when applied in doses much lower than what is commonly used in soy fields.
The study was directed by a leading embryologist, Dr. Andres Carrasco, a professor and researcher at the University of Buenos Aires. In his office in the nation’s top medical school, Dr. Carrasco shows me the results of the study, pulling out photos of birth defects in the embryos of frog amphibians exposed to glyphosate. The frog embryos grown in petri dishes in the photos looked like something from a futuristic horror film, creatures with visible defects—one eye the size of the head, spinal cord deformations, and kidneys that are not fully developed.
Via: New York Times:
Just as the heavy use of antibiotics contributed to the rise of drug-resistant supergerms, American farmers’ near-ubiquitous use of the weedkiller Roundup has led to the rapid growth of tenacious new superweeds.
To fight them, Mr. Anderson and farmers throughout the East, Midwest and South are being forced to spray fields with more toxic herbicides, pull weeds by hand and return to more labor-intensive methods like regular plowing.
“We’re back to where we were 20 years ago,” said Mr. Anderson, who will plow about one-third of his 3,000 acres of soybean fields this spring, more than he has in years. “We’re trying to find out what works.”
Farm experts say that such efforts could lead to higher food prices, lower crop yields, rising farm costs and more pollution of land and water.
“It is the single largest threat to production agriculture that we have ever seen,” said Andrew Wargo III, the president of the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts.
The first resistant species to pose a serious threat to agriculture was spotted in a Delaware soybean field in 2000. Since then, the problem has spread, with 10 resistant species in at least 22 states infesting millions of acres, predominantly soybeans, cotton and corn.
Research Credit: SP
Magic 8 Ball Police Cameras to Flood Manhattan, Looking for “Suspicious Behavior”
May 5th, 2010Via: AFP:
New York officials say they could stop attacks like the attempted Times Square car bomb by expanding a controversial surveillance system so sensitive that it will pick up even suspicious behavior.
New York is already a heavily policed city, with 35,000 officers and a counterterrorism bureau — the first of its kind in the country — partnering the FBI.
But Saturday’s failed terrorist bomb in the Times Square tourist hot spot has provided the authorities with a new argument for expanding a sometimes controversial security blanket of cameras, sensors and analytical software.
The system “will greatly enhance our ability and the ability of the police to detect suspicious activity in real time, and disrupt possible attacks,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday.
The high-tech system, modeled on the “ring of steel” in London’s financial district, is already in service in lower Manhattan, where Wall Street and the World Trade Center reconstruction site are located.
Headquartered at 55 Broadway, the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative goes far beyond the traditional hodgepodge of police cameras, such as the 82 devices installed around Times Square.
Instead, an integrated system maintains an unblinking eye, not just watching, but constantly collecting license plate numbers and video of pedestrians and drivers, as well as detecting explosives and other weapons.
An important component of the program is coordination between the police network and private businesses’ cameras, something that has not been established in Times Square, causing detectives significant extra work.
Also, a separate, but similar program called Operation Sentinel plans to log every vehicle entering Manhattan island by scanning their license plates and checking for radiation.
Last October, Bloomberg announced plans to expand the lower Manhattan system into Midtown, including the Times Square area.
On Sunday, New York police chief Raymond Kelly reiterated the plan and used the occasion to press for more federal funding from Washington.
Kelly also gave details about the system, explaining how the aim is for “analytic software” allowing experts to make sense of raw information in real time.
For example, alarms would trigger when cameras noticed an unattended bag or a car circling a block too many times to be considered normal, Kelly said.
“This is a whole new area for us,” he told Fox News. “We’re very enthusiastic about it.”
Dollar Hits 12-Month High Vs Euro On Greek Woes
May 4th, 2010Warning: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
These were my warnings to dollar bears from November and December 2009. Holy crap, I hope that some of you used that information to avoid decapitation (and hopefully to profit).
Since February of this year, the dollar and gold have been meandering upward together, which means that bad weirdness is occurring in the international system. My guess is that the chaos in Europe is driving the bid on both the dollar and gold. The relative strength of gold, in the face of the skyrocketing dollar might mean that gold buyers are shrugging off the dollar move. Longer term, dollar bulls and gold bulls can’t both be right.
A setup for long euro and gold might emerge after a little bit more dollar strength. I’ll post specifics as we get closer to the pertinent levels on the charts.
Via: Dow Jones / Wall Street Journal:
The dollar soared to a series of 12-month highs against the euro Tuesday as optimism over economic recovery in the U.S. contrasted with doubts about a successful resolution to the Greek debt crisis.
Concern that the unprecedented EUR110 billion aid package to Greece won’t enough to prevent the crisis from spreading to other euro-zone countries sent the common currency tumbling more than 1% on the day. Fears have also set in about the Greek government’s ability to carry out harsh austerity measures required by the aid package.
Hopes of further recovery in the U.S. economy bolstered the greenback against most rivals, with a widely watched dollar index hitting a 12-month peak. Strong U.S. economic data have reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will be able to raise interest rates faster than its counterparts in the European Union and Japan.
The euro was at $1.3055 from $1.3191 late Monday, according to EBS via CQG. The dollar was at Y94.37, from Y94.59, while the euro was at Y123.23 from Y124.80. The U.K. pound was at $1.5148, down from $1.5249. The dollar was at CHF1.0971, up from CHF1.0861.
The ICE Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, was at a 12-month high of 83.063, up from 82.370.
“People are becoming well aware of the fact that the solvency issue for Greece hasn’t been resolved with the aid package,” said Adarsh Sinha, foreign exchange analyst at Barclays Capital in London. “They still have to repay the money. They still have to repay the interest.”
Readily Available Software Roots Sophisticated Mobile Phones in Seconds, Permits Eavesdropping Even When Some Phones Are Turned Off
May 4th, 2010This should be ancient news to everyone reading this, but just in case…
Via: CBS:
The majority of Americans use all these cell phones to talk, text or tweet.
But all this high tech communication hides a dark and troubling danger.
“I don’t think the general public is aware how insidious this can be,” said private investigator and cell phone spyware expert Tim Wilcox.
Wilcox owns and runs one of the premier private investigative companies in the country, International Investigators, Inc. International Investigators does a lot of things. But one the company’s specialties and expertise is uncovering and exposing hidden spy tools like bugs in cell phones and other appliances.
“It takes about 90 seconds to download the spyware and you’re in business,” said Wilcox of some versions of this software that can be loaded onto someone’s cell phone.
The spyware is a lurking danger that turns your cell phone into a secret listening device, an instrument used to spy against you. Worse yet, you’ll likely never know it is on your phone.
“There could be anywhere from three to five or six million cell phones that are infected with spyware (at any one time),” said Wilcox.
This spyware, otherwise called malware, can be found through a simple search on the Internet. The software can be loaded onto your phone in a matter of minutes or even seconds. Once it is on your phone and operating it can turn your cell phone against you.
Britain: Army Facing War Crimes Lawsuit Over Role in Fallujah Attacks
May 4th, 2010Via: Independent:
Allegations that Britain was complicit in the use of chemical weapons linked to an upsurge in child deformity cases in Iraq, are being investigated by the Ministry of Defence.
The case raises serious questions about the UK’s role in the American-led offensive against the city of Fallujah in the autumn of 2004 where hundreds of Iraqis died. After the battle, in which it is alleged that a range of illegal weaponry was used, evidence has emerged of large numbers of children being born with severe birth defects.
Iraqi families who believe their children’s deformities are caused by the deployment of the weapons have now begun legal proceedings against the UK Government. They accuse the UK Government of breaching international law, war crimes and failing to intervene to prevent a war crime.
Lawyers for the Iraqis have sent a letter before action to the MoD asking the Government to disclose what it knows about the Army’s role in the offensive, the presence of prohibited weapons and the legal advice given to Tony Blair, Prime Minister at the time.
Legal actions against America are blocked by US federal immunity laws and the US government’s boycott of the International Criminal Court.
The offensive against Fallujah, codenamed Phantom Fury, in 2004 was described as the most bitter fighting experienced by American soldiers since the war in Vietnam. But US forces were assisted by British units.
Faber: China May ‘Crash’ in Next 9 to 12 Months
May 4th, 2010Via: Bloomberg:
Investor Marc Faber said China’s economy will slow and possibly “crash” within a year as declines in stock and commodity prices signal the nation’s property bubble is set to burst.
The Shanghai Composite Index has failed to regain its 2009 high while industrial commodities and shares of Australian resource exporters are acting “heavy,” Faber said. The opening of the World Expo in Shanghai last week is “not a particularly good omen,” he said, citing a property bust and depression that followed the 1873 World Exhibition in Vienna.
“The market is telling you that something is not quite right,” Faber, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Hong Kong today. “The Chinese economy is going to slow down regardless. It is more likely that we will even have a crash sometime in the next nine to 12 months.”
An index tracking Chinese stocks traded in Hong Kong dropped 1.8 percent today, the most in two weeks, after the central bank raised reserve requirements for the third time this year. The Shanghai Composite has slumped 12 percent this year, Asia’s worst performer, as policy makers seek to rein in a lending boom that’s spurred record gains in property prices. China’s markets are shut for a holiday today.
Copper touched a seven-week low and BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, fell the most since February on concern spending in the world’s third-largest economy will slow and after Australia boosted taxes on commodities producers. Rio Tinto Ltd., the third-largest, slid as much as 6 percent.
Faber joins hedge fund manager Jim Chanos and Harvard University’s Kenneth Rogoff in warning of a crash in China.
China is “on a treadmill to hell” because it’s hooked on property development for driving growth, Chanos said in an interview last month. As much as 60 percent of the country’s gross domestic product relies on construction, he said. Rogoff said in February a debt-fueled bubble in China may trigger a regional recession within a decade.
Toddler TV Linked to Low Math Scores
May 4th, 2010Via: CBC:
Too much time in front of the tube as a two-year-old can predict some negative consequences at the age of 10, a new study suggests.
Researchers studied more than 1,300 children in Quebec and found that higher TV exposure as toddlers corresponded to less achievement in math, an increase in being victimized by classmates and less physical activity at age 10.
The children also had a higher likelihood of consuming more junk food and soft drinks and of having a higher body mass index, according to the study published Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Parents reported their kids’ viewing habits at age 29 months and at 53 months as part of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. Teachers were asked to evaluate the students’ academic, psychosocial and health habits, and body mass index was measured at 10 years old.
Researcher Linda Pagani, a psychosocial professor at the University of Montreal, says the bottom line is that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no TV from birth to age two, and no more than two hours a day after that.
If parents aren’t following these guidelines, then their kids are missing out on other opportunities, she said.
“There’s only 24 hours in the day, and the early childhood period is a period of brain expansion,” said Pagani, who also works at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Centre.
“But that brain expansion occurs in the context of a lot of interaction with one’s environment — playing, talking, interacting, making intellectual effort — because your brain is like a muscle, and if you don’t use it, it’s less fit for more muscular activity later on.”
Gulf Oil Spill: The Halliburton Connection
May 4th, 2010Halliburton Acquired Boots & Coots On 9 April 2010
Via: Los Angeles Times:
Investigators delving into the possible cause of the massive gulf oil spill are focusing on the role of Houston-based Halliburton Co., the giant energy services company, which was responsible for cementing the drill into place below the water. The company acknowledged Friday that it had completed the final cementing of the oil well and pipe just 20 hours before the blowout last week.
Obama Jokes About Predator Drones; Hundreds of Pakistani Civilians Murdered by Predator Drone Strikes in 2009 Alone
May 4th, 2010You’re killing us, Mr. President, tell us another one.
The following is from, US Killed 700 Civilians in Pakistan Drone Strikes in 2009:
On June 22, the US struck at a house officials called a “suspected militant hideout,” burying a few locals inside. When others rushed to the scene to rescue them, they launched another missile, killing 13 apparently innocent Pakistanis. When they held a funeral procession on June 23, the US hit that too, ostensibly on the belief that Baitullah Mehsud might be among the mourners. He wasn’t, but the attack killed at least 80 more people.
Go on, Barry, tell us another one.
Via: Washington Post:
Everyone agrees that President Obama was funnier than Jay Leno at the White House Correspondents Association dinner on Saturday night. But this joke is inspiring some backlash:
“Jonas Brothers are here, they’re out there somewhere. Sasha and Malia are huge fans, but boys, don’t get any ideas. Two words for you: predator drones. You will never see it coming. You think I’m joking?”


