This enhanced-color image shows sand dunes trapped in an impact crater in Noachis Terra, Mars. Image credit: (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)
For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, see www.nasa.gov/mro.
Friday, January 27, 2012
MRO captures spectacular sand dunes on Mars
The image below shows dunes and sand ripples of various shapes and sizes inside an impact crater in the Noachis Terra region of southern Mars. It was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
This enhanced-color image shows sand dunes trapped in an impact crater in Noachis Terra, Mars. Image credit: (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)
More than 20,600 images taken by HiRISE are available for viewing on the instrument team's website: http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu. Each observation by this telescopic camera covers several square miles, or square kilometers, and can reveal features as small as a desk.
HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson. The instrument was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft.
For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, see www.nasa.gov/mro.
This enhanced-color image shows sand dunes trapped in an impact crater in Noachis Terra, Mars. Image credit: (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)
For more information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, see www.nasa.gov/mro.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Liam Neeson says he may convert to Islam
Liam Neeson: I may become a Muslim
Catholic movie star is thinking about changing faith
By Pete Samson
The Sun
25 Jan 2012
HOLLYWOOD star Liam Neeson is considering giving up his Catholic belief and becoming a Muslim.
The actor, 59, admitted Islamic prayer "got into his spirit" while filming in Turkish city Istanbul.
He said: "The Call to Prayer happens five times a day and for the first week it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit and it's the most beautiful, beautiful thing.
"There are 4,000 mosques in the city. Some are just stunning and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim."
Liam was raised in Northern Ireland as a devout Catholic and altar boy and was named after the local priest.
But the star — whose wife Natasha Richardson died aged 45 in a skiing accident in 2009 — has spoken about challenges to his faith.
He said: "I was reared a Catholic but I think every day we ask ourselves, not consciously, what are we doing on this planet? What's it all about?
"I'm constantly reading books on God or the absence of God and atheism."
His latest film The Grey, about an oil drilling team who crash in freezing Alaska, is released in the UK on Friday.
To read more, go the The Sun
Catholic movie star is thinking about changing faith
By Pete Samson
The Sun
25 Jan 2012
 |
| WIREIMAGE |
The actor, 59, admitted Islamic prayer "got into his spirit" while filming in Turkish city Istanbul.
He said: "The Call to Prayer happens five times a day and for the first week it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit and it's the most beautiful, beautiful thing.
"There are 4,000 mosques in the city. Some are just stunning and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim."
Liam was raised in Northern Ireland as a devout Catholic and altar boy and was named after the local priest.
But the star — whose wife Natasha Richardson died aged 45 in a skiing accident in 2009 — has spoken about challenges to his faith.
He said: "I was reared a Catholic but I think every day we ask ourselves, not consciously, what are we doing on this planet? What's it all about?
"I'm constantly reading books on God or the absence of God and atheism."
To read more, go the The Sun
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
American democracy & diplomacy...take your pick
image: freedom-pictures
The George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) the nation’s 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, Northrop Grumman poster. (Image: Education-for-Solidarity)
The sacred knight`s oath to live your life by
"Be without fear in the face of your enemies, be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth, always speak the truth even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong - that is your oath." - Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Voyager, the interstellar traveler
 |
| NASA |
Additional Info:
NASA Voyager Fact Sheet
NASA/JPL Mission Page
TSA detained a U.S. Senator - A no-no under the Constitution
Senator Rand Paul (Kentucky), was detained by the TSA in Nashville, prevented from making his flight, and missed his Senate session as well as his commitment to speak at the March for Life in Washington, D.C.
"In a telephone interview with AP, Rand Paul confirmed that an “anomaly” on his knee was picked up by a full body scanner. Paul said he asked for another scan, but the TSA insisted he submit to a pat down by airport security.
After refusing the pat-down on the grounds that it was an infringement on his rights and “private property”, Paul said he was then “detained” in a small cubicle and consequently missed a flight to Washington for a Senate session. Paul was also due to speak at the March for Life later today in DC." -(Infowars, Steve Watson, 01/23/12)
TSA Directly Violated US Constitution By Detaining Senator Rand Paul
Steve Watson
Infowars.com
January 23, 2012
In preventing Kentucky Senator Rand Paul from flying to Washington this morning, the TSA directly violated the law as written in the US Constitution.
The Constitution specifically protects federal lawmakers from being detained while en route to Washington DC.
Article I, Section 6 states:
“The Senators and Representatives…shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same….”
Rand Paul was travelling from his home in Louisville to attend a session in the Senate today.
This is the reason that TSA officials have since put out the talking point in the media that Rand Paul was never officially detained, despite the fact that the Senator himself confirmed that he was told to sit in a cubicle and wait without any indication of when he would be allowed to leave...Senator Paul was allowed to board a second flight after a separate screening by TSA agents, however, it remains to be seen whether he will make it to the capital in time.
Ron Paul Announces ‘End the TSA’ Money Bomb - Read!!!
>click through here to donate to the money bomb
After refusing the pat-down on the grounds that it was an infringement on his rights and “private property”, Paul said he was then “detained” in a small cubicle and consequently missed a flight to Washington for a Senate session. Paul was also due to speak at the March for Life later today in DC." -(Infowars, Steve Watson, 01/23/12)
 |
| Infowars |
Steve Watson
Infowars.com
January 23, 2012
In preventing Kentucky Senator Rand Paul from flying to Washington this morning, the TSA directly violated the law as written in the US Constitution.
The Constitution specifically protects federal lawmakers from being detained while en route to Washington DC.
Article I, Section 6 states:
“The Senators and Representatives…shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same….”
Rand Paul was travelling from his home in Louisville to attend a session in the Senate today.
This is the reason that TSA officials have since put out the talking point in the media that Rand Paul was never officially detained, despite the fact that the Senator himself confirmed that he was told to sit in a cubicle and wait without any indication of when he would be allowed to leave...Senator Paul was allowed to board a second flight after a separate screening by TSA agents, however, it remains to be seen whether he will make it to the capital in time.
Ron Paul Announces ‘End the TSA’ Money Bomb - Read!!!
>click through here to donate to the money bomb
The oldest dinosaur nursery found: photos (DiscoveryNews)
[CLICK HERE TO VIEW THEOLDEST DINOSAUR NURSERY FOUND: PHOTOS]
By Jennifer Viegas
DiscoveryNews (Jan 23, 2012)
Using gold to buy crude oil?...you betcha
| Numismaticassets |
India and China do not support and refuse to join the sanctions. Russia, already announced in a bilateral meeting they would implement bilateral trade using their domestic national currencies instead of the dollar. Russia already uses their rouble for trade with China
Now this would severely hurt what the U.S. and EU sanctions and oil embargo are trying to do. Just this past Monday, the EU announced an oil embargo against Iran. Oil is priced in US dollars, and bypassing the greenback will pose challenges for both parties. This will certainly push the price of gold high, especially as large sums of gold are involved in such oil transactions, and that would hurt the value of the dollar especially at a time like this.
RT News (24 Jan 2012): India pays gold for Iranian Oil:
RT News: Priya Sridhar (24 Jan 2012)
Source: Sanctions dodge: India to pay gold for Iran oil, China may follow (RT News), 24 Jan 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
500 million year old 'Tulip' creature discovered
Unusual 'Tulip' Creature Discovered: Lived in the Ocean More Than 500 Million Years Ago Science Daily(Jan 18, 2012)
Original article:
University of Toronto/Royal Ontario Museum scientists discover unusual 'tulip' creature University of Toronto, (Jan 18, 2012)
Cluster of four specimens of Siphusauctum gregarium. Scale = 10 mm. (Credit: © Royal Ontario Museum); Science Daily
ScienceDaily (Jan. 18, 2012) — A bizarre creature that lived in the ocean more than 500-million years ago has emerged from the famous Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies.
Officially named Siphusauctum gregarium, fossils reveal a tulip-shaped creature that is about the length of a dinner knife (approximately 20 centimetres) and has a unique filter feeding system.
Siphusauctum has a long stem, with a calyx -- a bulbous cup-like structure -- near the top that encloses an unusual filter feeding system and a gut. The animal is thought to have fed by filtering particles from water actively pumped into its calyx through small holes. The stem ends with a small disc which anchored the animal to the seafloor. Siphusauctum lived in large clusters, as indicated by slabs containing over 65 individual specimens.
Lorna O'Brien, a PhD candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto and her supervisor, adjunct professor Jean-Bernard Caron, curator of invertebrate palaeontology at the Royal Ontario Museum, reported on the discovery Jan. 18 in the online science journal PLoS ONE.
"Most interesting is that this feeding system appears to be unique among animals. Recent advances have linked many bizarre Burgess Shale animals as primitive members of many animal groups that are found today, but Siphusauctum defies this trend. We do not know where it fits in relation to other organisms," said lead author O'Brien.
"Our description is based on more than 1,100 fossil specimens from a new Burgess Shale locality that has been nicknamed the Tulip Beds," she added.
Located in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, the Tulip Beds were first discovered in 1983 by the Royal Ontario Museum. They are located high on Mount Stephen, overlooking the town of Field. Like the rest of the Burgess Shale, the beds represent rock layers with exceptional preservation of mostly soft-bodied organisms.
The Burgess Shale, protected under the larger Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage site and managed by Parks Canada, preserves fossil evidence of some of the earliest complex animals that lived in the oceans of our planet nearly 505 million years ago. The discovery of Siphusauctum expands the range of animal diversity that existed during this time period.
The research was partially funded by UofT fellowships to O'Brien and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant awarded to Caron.
To learn more about the Burgess Shale visit burgess-shale.rom.on.ca
Journal Reference:
Lorna J. O'Brien, Jean-Bernard Caron. A New Stalked Filter-Feeder from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, British Columbia, Canada. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (1): e29233
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029233
Original article:
University of Toronto/Royal Ontario Museum scientists discover unusual 'tulip' creature University of Toronto, (Jan 18, 2012)
Cluster of four specimens of Siphusauctum gregarium. Scale = 10 mm. (Credit: © Royal Ontario Museum); Science Daily
ScienceDaily (Jan. 18, 2012) — A bizarre creature that lived in the ocean more than 500-million years ago has emerged from the famous Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies.
Siphusauctum has a long stem, with a calyx -- a bulbous cup-like structure -- near the top that encloses an unusual filter feeding system and a gut. The animal is thought to have fed by filtering particles from water actively pumped into its calyx through small holes. The stem ends with a small disc which anchored the animal to the seafloor. Siphusauctum lived in large clusters, as indicated by slabs containing over 65 individual specimens.
Lorna O'Brien, a PhD candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto and her supervisor, adjunct professor Jean-Bernard Caron, curator of invertebrate palaeontology at the Royal Ontario Museum, reported on the discovery Jan. 18 in the online science journal PLoS ONE.
"Most interesting is that this feeding system appears to be unique among animals. Recent advances have linked many bizarre Burgess Shale animals as primitive members of many animal groups that are found today, but Siphusauctum defies this trend. We do not know where it fits in relation to other organisms," said lead author O'Brien.
 |
| In this reconstruction of Siphusauctum gregarium, the animals are shown in life position, standing upright in the water column. (Illustration by Marianne Collins) Univ of Toronto |
Located in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, the Tulip Beds were first discovered in 1983 by the Royal Ontario Museum. They are located high on Mount Stephen, overlooking the town of Field. Like the rest of the Burgess Shale, the beds represent rock layers with exceptional preservation of mostly soft-bodied organisms.
The Burgess Shale, protected under the larger Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage site and managed by Parks Canada, preserves fossil evidence of some of the earliest complex animals that lived in the oceans of our planet nearly 505 million years ago. The discovery of Siphusauctum expands the range of animal diversity that existed during this time period.
The research was partially funded by UofT fellowships to O'Brien and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant awarded to Caron.
To learn more about the Burgess Shale visit burgess-shale.rom.on.ca
Journal Reference:
Lorna J. O'Brien, Jean-Bernard Caron. A New Stalked Filter-Feeder from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, British Columbia, Canada. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (1): e29233
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029233
Is he finally 'ELITE' for you all?
Ladies and Gentlemen: just simply - Elite Quarterback- Eli Manning: Holding the NFC Championship trophy after beating the SF 49ers in overtime (01/22/12) and heading to Super Bowl XLVI to face the NE Patriots. (Image: NYPost)
Friday, January 20, 2012
Papyrus from the Book of the Dead of Nakht
The British Museum
From Thebes, Egypt
Late 18th Dynasty, 1350-1300 BC
EA 10471/13
Agricultural scenes-
Nakht was a royal scribe and overseer of the army (general) at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (about 1550-1295 BC). His Book of the Dead is a beautifully illustrated example below:
The vignette evolved from a map of the Field in the earlier Coffin Texts. It shows areas of land surrounded by water. Nakht is shown with Thoth at top right, with the balance and feather of Maat (referring to the Judgement Scene). He then paddles his boat across the Lake of Offerings where two mummiform deities stand before a table of offerings. Nakht is also shown worshipping the Heron of Plenty. He is shown pulling flax, reaping, and ploughing below. The boat of Wennefer (a name for the god Osiris), shown with a head of a snake, is moored in a channel of the water at the bottom. Three deities of the ennead (group of nine gods) are shown bottom right.
Here is a close up of Nakht in the 'Agriculture in the afterlife - The Field of Reeds' scene:
R.O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of t, (revised ed. C. A. R. Andrews) (London, The British Museum Press, 1985)
R.B. Parkinson and S. Quirke, Papyrus, (Egyptian Bookshelf) (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)
E.R. Russmann, Eternal Egypt: masterworks of (University of California Press, 2001)
S. Quirke and A.J. Spencer, The British Museum book of anc (London, The British Museum Press, 1992)
Copyright Disclaimer [Rubaiat`s Blog]:
The use of incidental copyrighted material is covered under 'Fair Use' (Copyright Act, 1976) Title 17 U.S.C Section 107, with particular emphasis on such use for educational and non-profit purposes. Under Sec. 107 of the Copyright Act (1976), allowance is made for 'Fair Use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of Fair Use (Moe, AllSeeingEye). If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'Fair Use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
From Thebes, Egypt
Late 18th Dynasty, 1350-1300 BC
EA 10471/13
Nakht was a royal scribe and overseer of the army (general) at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (about 1550-1295 BC). His Book of the Dead is a beautifully illustrated example below:
image: British Museum EA 10471/13
This papyrus shows Spell 110, a series of addresses to deities who dwell in the 'next world', specifically in the Field of Offering and the Field of Rushes. The deceased was expected to undertake agricultural work in the Field of Rushes.Here is a close up of Nakht in the 'Agriculture in the afterlife - The Field of Reeds' scene:
image: egyptology.blogspot
Sources (The British Museum):R.O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of t, (revised ed. C. A. R. Andrews) (London, The British Museum Press, 1985)
R.B. Parkinson and S. Quirke, Papyrus, (Egyptian Bookshelf) (London, The British Museum Press, 1995)
E.R. Russmann, Eternal Egypt: masterworks of (University of California Press, 2001)
S. Quirke and A.J. Spencer, The British Museum book of anc (London, The British Museum Press, 1992)
Copyright Disclaimer [Rubaiat`s Blog]:
The use of incidental copyrighted material is covered under 'Fair Use' (Copyright Act, 1976) Title 17 U.S.C Section 107, with particular emphasis on such use for educational and non-profit purposes. Under Sec. 107 of the Copyright Act (1976), allowance is made for 'Fair Use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of Fair Use (Moe, AllSeeingEye). If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'Fair Use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act-
In Aug 2008, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose, California, ruled that copyright holders cannot order a deletion of an online file without determining whether that posting reflected "fair use" of the copyrighted material.
[View the blog`s full Fair Use Copyright Disclaimer at the end of the homepage]
[View the blog`s full Fair Use Copyright Disclaimer at the end of the homepage]
A $44 million hospital bill for treating pneumonia?
Must have been the worst case pneumonia ever encountered huh?
Hospital bills man $44 million for treating his pneumonia
by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
NaturalNews
Friday, January 20, 2012
(NaturalNews) Anyone who has ever looked at an itemized hospital or doctor bill already knows just how absurdly inflated the nation's healthcare costs truly are. But when 28-year-old Alexis Rodriguez from New York recently received a bill from Bronx - Lebanon Hospital for $44 million, something told him that pneumonia treatment does not actually cost this much -- at least not yet.
The New York Daily News (NYDN) reports that Rodriguez and a number of other patients from Bronx - Lebanon Hospital recently received hospital bills totaling in the millions of dollars for procedures that obviously should have been only a small fraction of that amount. The hospital had treated Rodriguez for pneumonia, for instance, upon which he received a bill for $44,776,587.
The obvious error was apparently the result of invoice discrepancies made by PHY Services, the billing firm that services Bronx - Lebanon Hospital. Instead of putting the actual amount due in the total box, a PHY employee allegedly put in the lengthy invoice number instead, which caused a lot of panic among patients that received the faulty bills.
"I almost had an asthma attack," said Rodriguez to NYDN following the incident. "It was a big error. I think they should have somebody look over the bills before they send them out. I understand manpower may be down, but to send out a lot of bills with numbers that big -- someone could have had a heart attack."
Rodriguez has a point. But this incident is not the first time that a hospital has issued a bill totaling in the millions of dollars. Last summer, Tampa General Hospital in Florida filed a $9.2 million claim against the estate of a patient who spent five years in the hospital before eventually dying. And this $9.2 million charge was not a mistake -- the hospital actually believed it was entitled to this amount for services provided (http://www.naturalnews.com/033157_hospital_bills.html).
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)'s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, the average cost for a hospital stay for "all diagnoses" is $9,200. A heart attack will cost a patient an average of $18,200, according to data, while a heart valve disorder will cost a whopping $36,700 (http://www.ahrq.gov/data/hcup/).
Sources for this article include:
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/44-million-bill-bronx-lebanon-hospital-article-1.1006744
Hospital bills man $44 million for treating his pneumonia
by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
NaturalNews
Friday, January 20, 2012
The New York Daily News (NYDN) reports that Rodriguez and a number of other patients from Bronx - Lebanon Hospital recently received hospital bills totaling in the millions of dollars for procedures that obviously should have been only a small fraction of that amount. The hospital had treated Rodriguez for pneumonia, for instance, upon which he received a bill for $44,776,587.
The obvious error was apparently the result of invoice discrepancies made by PHY Services, the billing firm that services Bronx - Lebanon Hospital. Instead of putting the actual amount due in the total box, a PHY employee allegedly put in the lengthy invoice number instead, which caused a lot of panic among patients that received the faulty bills.
"I almost had an asthma attack," said Rodriguez to NYDN following the incident. "It was a big error. I think they should have somebody look over the bills before they send them out. I understand manpower may be down, but to send out a lot of bills with numbers that big -- someone could have had a heart attack."
Rodriguez has a point. But this incident is not the first time that a hospital has issued a bill totaling in the millions of dollars. Last summer, Tampa General Hospital in Florida filed a $9.2 million claim against the estate of a patient who spent five years in the hospital before eventually dying. And this $9.2 million charge was not a mistake -- the hospital actually believed it was entitled to this amount for services provided (http://www.naturalnews.com/033157_hospital_bills.html).
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)'s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, the average cost for a hospital stay for "all diagnoses" is $9,200. A heart attack will cost a patient an average of $18,200, according to data, while a heart valve disorder will cost a whopping $36,700 (http://www.ahrq.gov/data/hcup/).
Sources for this article include:
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/44-million-bill-bronx-lebanon-hospital-article-1.1006744
Is it really a surprise that nearly all of our drug pharmaceuticals are produced and manufactured overseas?
Oh and heres the kicker: the mighty FDA "has inspected a mere 11 percent of all foreign drug manufacturing facilities, as opposed to the 40 percent it has inspected domestically."-(NaturalNews)
Fact: 80 percent of U.S. pharmaceuticals made with overseas ingredients, nearly half produced in foreign facilities never inspected by FDA
by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
NaturalNews
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
(Image: NaturalNews)
(NaturalNews) Big Pharma advocates (the few that exist outside the corrupt government structure and the drug industry itself) regularly defend the industry with claims that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains strict regulatory protocols that ensure safety. But a new report reveals that not only are most drug ingredients sourced from unregulated foreign sources, but nearly half of all drug production facilities are located overseas, most of which have never been inspected by FDA.
Issued by the US Government Accountability Office, the new report says up to 40 percent of all pharmaceuticals sold in the US are actually manufactured overseas in countries like India and China. A whopping 80 percent of all ingredients used to manufacture drugs, including those manufactured in the US, reportedly come from overseas as well. And the FDA has inspected a mere 11 percent of all foreign drug manufacturing facilities, as opposed to the 40 percent it has inspected domestically.
As of 2007, there were an estimated 152 registered drug manufacturing facilities in Canada, 299 in Indian, and 566 in China, which together total 1,017 facilities. However, FDA has only conducted 368 inspections among these countries and their drug manufacturing facilities, which means 649 facilities have never received an inspection. And if these 368 inspections include multiple inspections at the same facility, then that number is even lower.
This is all shocking news, of course, considering the volume of drugs that is now produced overseas. The common over-the-counter (OTC) pain drug aspirin, for instance, is almost entirely produced in China. The acid reflux drug Prilosec (omeprazole), is also manufactured primarily in Puerto Rico and India, according to the report.
For years, drug companies have been shutting down domestic drug manufacturing facilities and moving production overseas. A 2009 report in The New York Times explains that most of the ingredients used for manufacturing critical drugs like antibiotics, allergy medicines, diabetes medications, and high blood pressure medications, are now almost exclusively produced in either China or India (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/health/policy/20drug.html).
And what is even more disturbing is the growing number of people that are seriously injured or killed because of tainted drugs produced overseas -- and how little has been done to address this problem. In 2008, for instance, it was reported that at least 81 people in the US died from a tainted heparin drug produced in India. The drug contained an ingredient that had been sourced from, you guessed it, China (http://www.safemedicines.org/counterfeit-heparin-blamed-for-worldwide-deaths.html.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.alternet.org/story/153713/do_you_know_where_your_medicine_came_from_over_40_of_pills_made_overseas_--_many_in_unregulated_factories
Fact: 80 percent of U.S. pharmaceuticals made with overseas ingredients, nearly half produced in foreign facilities never inspected by FDAby: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
NaturalNews
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
(Image: NaturalNews)
(NaturalNews) Big Pharma advocates (the few that exist outside the corrupt government structure and the drug industry itself) regularly defend the industry with claims that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains strict regulatory protocols that ensure safety. But a new report reveals that not only are most drug ingredients sourced from unregulated foreign sources, but nearly half of all drug production facilities are located overseas, most of which have never been inspected by FDA.
Issued by the US Government Accountability Office, the new report says up to 40 percent of all pharmaceuticals sold in the US are actually manufactured overseas in countries like India and China. A whopping 80 percent of all ingredients used to manufacture drugs, including those manufactured in the US, reportedly come from overseas as well. And the FDA has inspected a mere 11 percent of all foreign drug manufacturing facilities, as opposed to the 40 percent it has inspected domestically.
As of 2007, there were an estimated 152 registered drug manufacturing facilities in Canada, 299 in Indian, and 566 in China, which together total 1,017 facilities. However, FDA has only conducted 368 inspections among these countries and their drug manufacturing facilities, which means 649 facilities have never received an inspection. And if these 368 inspections include multiple inspections at the same facility, then that number is even lower.
This is all shocking news, of course, considering the volume of drugs that is now produced overseas. The common over-the-counter (OTC) pain drug aspirin, for instance, is almost entirely produced in China. The acid reflux drug Prilosec (omeprazole), is also manufactured primarily in Puerto Rico and India, according to the report.
For years, drug companies have been shutting down domestic drug manufacturing facilities and moving production overseas. A 2009 report in The New York Times explains that most of the ingredients used for manufacturing critical drugs like antibiotics, allergy medicines, diabetes medications, and high blood pressure medications, are now almost exclusively produced in either China or India (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/health/policy/20drug.html).
And what is even more disturbing is the growing number of people that are seriously injured or killed because of tainted drugs produced overseas -- and how little has been done to address this problem. In 2008, for instance, it was reported that at least 81 people in the US died from a tainted heparin drug produced in India. The drug contained an ingredient that had been sourced from, you guessed it, China (http://www.safemedicines.org/counterfeit-heparin-blamed-for-worldwide-deaths.html.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.alternet.org/story/153713/do_you_know_where_your_medicine_came_from_over_40_of_pills_made_overseas_--_many_in_unregulated_factories
What does 'Silly Putty', breast implants and Chicken McNuggets have in common? -they share the same ingredient
Anti-foaming agent found in Chicken McNuggetsby Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, Editor
NaturalNews.com
Sunday, June 26, 2011
(Image: NaturalNews)
(NaturalNews) Ever wonder what's really found in Chicken McNuggets? Some of the ingredients, it turns out, seem to belong more to an industrial factory of some kind, not a food retailer. According to the McDonald's Corporation, its famous Chicken McNuggets are made with ingredients including autolyzed yeast extract (which contain free glutamate, similar to MSG), sodium phosphates and sodium aluminum phosphate. But that's not the freaky part. According to McDonald's own website, Chicken McNuggets are also made with "hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness" and "Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent." (http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/usnutri...)
Dimethylpolysiloxane, a type of silicone, is used in caulks and sealants, as a filler for breast implants, and as key ingredient in Silly Putty. Says Wikipedia:
"PDMS is also used as a component in silicone grease and other silicone based lubricants, as well as in defoaming agents, mold release agents, damping fluids, heat transfer fluids, polishes, cosmetics, hair conditioners and other applications. PDMS has also been used as a filler fluid in breast implants, although this practice has decreased somewhat, due to safety concerns. PDMS is used variously in the cosmetic and consumer product industry as well. For example, PDMS can be used in the treatment of head lice..." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimeth...) ...
(Click here to read the full article)
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
A little lesson on the U.S. debt crisis and the global economy
Stagflation (Inflation+Recession); Expense, Income, Debt, Inflation, Economic Collapse.
video courtesy of & uploaded by nsamneang`s YouTube Channel, on Aug 10, 2011
Copyright Disclaimer [Rubaiat`s Blog]:
The use of incidental copyrighted material is covered under 'Fair Use' (Copyright Act, 1976) Title 17 U.S.C Section 107, with particular emphasis on such use for educational and non-profit purposes. Under Sec. 107 of the Copyright Act (1976), allowance is made for 'Fair Use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of Fair Use (Moe, AllSeeingEye). If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'Fair Use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
video courtesy of & uploaded by nsamneang`s YouTube Channel, on Aug 10, 2011
Copyright Disclaimer [Rubaiat`s Blog]:
The use of incidental copyrighted material is covered under 'Fair Use' (Copyright Act, 1976) Title 17 U.S.C Section 107, with particular emphasis on such use for educational and non-profit purposes. Under Sec. 107 of the Copyright Act (1976), allowance is made for 'Fair Use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of Fair Use (Moe, AllSeeingEye). If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'Fair Use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act-
In Aug 2008, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose, California, ruled that copyright holders cannot order a deletion of an online file without determining whether that posting reflected "fair use" of the copyrighted material.
[View the blog`s full Fair Use Copyright Disclaimer at the end of the homepage]
[View the blog`s full Fair Use Copyright Disclaimer at the end of the homepage]
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
"...And what is this life except the enjoyment of delusion." [Noble Qur`an, 5:20]
image: studentforums.biz
اعْلَمُواْ أَنَّمَا الْحَيَوةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ وَزِينَةٌ وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاثُرٌ فِى الاٌّمْوَلِ وَالاٌّوْلْـدِ كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرّاً ثُمَّ يَكُونُ حُطَاماً وَفِى الاٌّخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَنٌ وَمَا الْحَيَوةُ الدُّنْيَآ إِلاَّ مَتَـعُ الْغُرُورِ
Allah the Almighty tells mankind: “Know that the life of this world [dunya] is but amusement, vain talk, adornment, pompous boasting to one another and competition in the increase of wealth and children—like the example of rain (Ghayth) whose [resulting] plant growth pleases the farmers then it dries up and you see it turning yellow, then it becomes scattered debris; But in the Hereafter (there is) a severe torment, and (there is) forgiveness from Allah and (His) pleasure; And what is this life except the enjoyment of delusion” -(Noble Qur`an, Sura Al-Hadeed, 57:20).Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Be in this life like a stranger or a traveler.” This saying reminds believers that our stay is temporary in this dunya (world) and that we should thus live like travelers, taking only those (good deeds) we need to get to our desired destination—Paradise. Mankind can easily get caught up and lost in this dunya (world) and forget that there is a much bigger reason behind this life. In this sense, the world that we live in is like the Matrix and Islam exposes us to the reality. -(The WakeUp Project)
SOLOMON`S TEMPLE: AN IN-DEPTH SERIES by Bushwack Productions
SOLOMON`S TEMPLE
A new series, which will shed light on the Freemasonic movement, and how it ties in directly to the Zionist agenda. Another powerful new series, from Bushwack Productions, of The Wake Up Project.
Solomon's Temple is a series which will discuss in great detail the origins of Freemasonry, Kabbalah, Magickal arts, Zionism and how it all ties in to today's conflict between the state of Israel and the Palestinian people.
Preview the Solomon`s Temple series by watching the into:
[CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL VIDEO PLAYLIST]
video(s) property of & uploaded by Bushwackk`s Channel (Youtube)
A new series, which will shed light on the Freemasonic movement, and how it ties in directly to the Zionist agenda. Another powerful new series, from Bushwack Productions, of The Wake Up Project.
Solomon's Temple is a series which will discuss in great detail the origins of Freemasonry, Kabbalah, Magickal arts, Zionism and how it all ties in to today's conflict between the state of Israel and the Palestinian people.
Preview the Solomon`s Temple series by watching the into:
[CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL VIDEO PLAYLIST]
video(s) property of & uploaded by Bushwackk`s Channel (Youtube)
Copyright Disclaimer [Rubaiat`s Blog]:
The use of incidental copyrighted material is covered under 'Fair Use' (Copyright Act, 1976) Title 17 U.S.C Section 107, with particular emphasis on such use for educational and non-profit purposes. Under Sec. 107 of the Copyright Act (1976), allowance is made for 'Fair Use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of Fair Use (Moe, AllSeeingEye). If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'Fair Use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act-
In Aug 2008, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose, California, ruled that copyright holders cannot order a deletion of an online file without determining whether that posting reflected "fair use" of the copyrighted material.
[View the blog`s full Fair Use Copyright Disclaimer at the end of the homepage]
[View the blog`s full Fair Use Copyright Disclaimer at the end of the homepage]
The great words of MLK Jr. (1929-1968)
Martin Luther King, Jr. " A time comes when silence is betrayal." (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968)
Libya S.O.S
MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 2012
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a principal leader of the non-violent Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. He not only began the Civil Rights Movement with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he himself became an icon for the entire movement. At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize (1964).
Quotes:
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
-- Strength to Love (1963)
If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
-- Speech in Detroit, Michigan on June 23, 1963
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 April 1963
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
-- Speech in St. Louis, Missouri, March 22, 1964
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
-- "I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963
uploaded by sullentoy`s Channel (YouTube) Jan 20, 2011
Biography Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkingML.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_segregation_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Bus_Boycott
Copyright Disclaimer [Rubaiat`s Blog]:
The use of incidental copyrighted material is covered under 'Fair Use' (Copyright Act, 1976) Title 17 U.S.C Section 107, with particular emphasis on such use for educational and non-profit purposes. Under Sec. 107 of the Copyright Act (1976), allowance is made for 'Fair Use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of Fair Use (Moe, AllSeeingEye). If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'Fair Use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Libya S.O.S
MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 2012
image: martinlutherkingjrarchive
Quotes:
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.
-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
-- Strength to Love (1963)
If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live.
-- Speech in Detroit, Michigan on June 23, 1963
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
-- "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 April 1963
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
-- Speech in St. Louis, Missouri, March 22, 1964
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
-- "I Have a Dream" speech, August 28, 1963
uploaded by sullentoy`s Channel (YouTube) Jan 20, 2011
Biography Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkingML.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_segregation_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Bus_Boycott
Copyright Disclaimer [Rubaiat`s Blog]:
The use of incidental copyrighted material is covered under 'Fair Use' (Copyright Act, 1976) Title 17 U.S.C Section 107, with particular emphasis on such use for educational and non-profit purposes. Under Sec. 107 of the Copyright Act (1976), allowance is made for 'Fair Use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of Fair Use (Moe, AllSeeingEye). If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'Fair Use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act-
In Aug 2008, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose, California, ruled that copyright holders cannot order a deletion of an online file without determining whether that posting reflected "fair use" of the copyrighted material.
[View the blog`s full Fair Use Copyright Disclaimer at the end of the homepage]
[View the blog`s full Fair Use Copyright Disclaimer at the end of the homepage]
Monday, January 16, 2012
The UK will not fund the Queen`s $92 million royal yacht with public funds...how sad right?
UK: No public funding for new royal yacht
By DAVID STRINGER and GREGORY KATZ | Associated Press
YahooNews Jan 16, 2012
LONDON (AP) — What do you get for a monarch who has almost everything? Not, apparently, a new yacht, at least not one paid for with taxpayer funds.
That was the message Monday as a brief boomlet of support for the idea of providing Queen Elizabeth II with a new royal yacht to mark her Diamond Jubilee was quickly deflated by Prime Minister David Cameron.
It is estimated that a new yacht would cost at least 60 million pounds ($92 million).
Cameron's spokesman Steve Field said it would not be appropriate for public funds to be spent on a new yacht during times of economic hardship. But he said the government would be supportive of private efforts to provide a new ship for the queen.
He acknowledged that ministers have been approached over plans to raise donations for a privately funded vessel and that the government "would react favorably" to a firm plan.
"There are a number of proposals out there for a privately financed yacht," Field said.
Cameron has been contacted over the proposals and Britain's government could potentially play a role in facilitating the construction of a new royal flagship — even though no taxpayer money would be used.
"I don't think anyone is suggesting public money should be used for this," Field told reporters Monday. "There is a difficult economic situation, there are scarce public resources, therefore we don't think it would be an appropriate use of public money."
The idea of a new royal yacht was proposed by Education Secretary Michael Gove, who suggested in a leaked letter that the queen should receive a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was decommissioned in 1997 after 44 years as a floating royal residence known to have been cherished by the queen.
He said the jubilee offers a "tremendous opportunity to recognize in a very fitting way the queen's highly significant contribution to the life of the nation and the Commonwealth."
Royal watchers who have followed the queen's long career remember that one of the very few times she has shown emotion in public was when she shed a tear at the decommissioning of the Britannia, which is now berthed in Edinburgh as a tourist display.
The ship sprang a leak earlier in January, requiring repair work.
It is not clear if the queen even wants a new yacht. She is in her mid-80s and her husband, Prince Philip, is 90 and was recently found to have heart disease.
Buckingham Palace officials said they would not be commenting on the matter.
By DAVID STRINGER and GREGORY KATZ | Associated Press
YahooNews Jan 16, 2012
Image: The Royal Yacht Britannia in Hong Kong Harbour in 1997 --AFP
LONDON (AP) — What do you get for a monarch who has almost everything? Not, apparently, a new yacht, at least not one paid for with taxpayer funds.
That was the message Monday as a brief boomlet of support for the idea of providing Queen Elizabeth II with a new royal yacht to mark her Diamond Jubilee was quickly deflated by Prime Minister David Cameron.
It is estimated that a new yacht would cost at least 60 million pounds ($92 million).
Cameron's spokesman Steve Field said it would not be appropriate for public funds to be spent on a new yacht during times of economic hardship. But he said the government would be supportive of private efforts to provide a new ship for the queen.
He acknowledged that ministers have been approached over plans to raise donations for a privately funded vessel and that the government "would react favorably" to a firm plan.
"There are a number of proposals out there for a privately financed yacht," Field said.
Cameron has been contacted over the proposals and Britain's government could potentially play a role in facilitating the construction of a new royal flagship — even though no taxpayer money would be used.
"I don't think anyone is suggesting public money should be used for this," Field told reporters Monday. "There is a difficult economic situation, there are scarce public resources, therefore we don't think it would be an appropriate use of public money."
The idea of a new royal yacht was proposed by Education Secretary Michael Gove, who suggested in a leaked letter that the queen should receive a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was decommissioned in 1997 after 44 years as a floating royal residence known to have been cherished by the queen.
He said the jubilee offers a "tremendous opportunity to recognize in a very fitting way the queen's highly significant contribution to the life of the nation and the Commonwealth."
Royal watchers who have followed the queen's long career remember that one of the very few times she has shown emotion in public was when she shed a tear at the decommissioning of the Britannia, which is now berthed in Edinburgh as a tourist display.
The ship sprang a leak earlier in January, requiring repair work.
It is not clear if the queen even wants a new yacht. She is in her mid-80s and her husband, Prince Philip, is 90 and was recently found to have heart disease.
Buckingham Palace officials said they would not be commenting on the matter.
The Curse of Social Networking
Life outside Facebook and Google Plus
Posted by Muslim Faith on January 16, 2012
MuslimFaith.Wordpress.com
Sheikh Danish Riyaz
I see after the advent of social networking sites and before that was chatting rooms, people are so overwhelmingly busy in virtual lives on Facebook and Google Plus that they have completely forgotten about their real lives. They have developed dual character in which they behave so good virtually so that unknown people can praise them virtually and back home they are what they really are. The person who is not on Facebook is like a person who does not exist and people ridicule him. Now relatives don’t visit each others homes and exchange gifts with each other, but now they Poke each other virtually and they message each other and this is where we are heading with our next generation. Youth is so much busy in social networking that their social networking does not have a particular time, but whether they are in classroom with teacher in front of them, they are talking with parents, walking, travelling, they are on-line for this all the time.
Parents come back home from their jobs and they stick to TV for news and children in need of their time but parents say, go didn’t I brought you iPod and Broadband connection, so go do that I’m busy. Parents are busy in each others argumentation hence children try to search for on-line pair of parents who can listen to them all the time. Time has come to the extent that if their profiles get hacked or they lost their password, they mourn for that like they lost their child and I’m an eyewitness of this thing.
I want to write more about this curse of social networking and chatting time where we now live virtually and we are aware of the world news but we hardly know about out own family members, but I think this is enough for the people of intellect as a reminder!
-Sheikh Danish Riyaz
Posted by Muslim Faith on January 16, 2012
MuslimFaith.Wordpress.com
Sheikh Danish Riyaz
Image: MuslimFaith
I see after the advent of social networking sites and before that was chatting rooms, people are so overwhelmingly busy in virtual lives on Facebook and Google Plus that they have completely forgotten about their real lives. They have developed dual character in which they behave so good virtually so that unknown people can praise them virtually and back home they are what they really are. The person who is not on Facebook is like a person who does not exist and people ridicule him. Now relatives don’t visit each others homes and exchange gifts with each other, but now they Poke each other virtually and they message each other and this is where we are heading with our next generation. Youth is so much busy in social networking that their social networking does not have a particular time, but whether they are in classroom with teacher in front of them, they are talking with parents, walking, travelling, they are on-line for this all the time.
Parents come back home from their jobs and they stick to TV for news and children in need of their time but parents say, go didn’t I brought you iPod and Broadband connection, so go do that I’m busy. Parents are busy in each others argumentation hence children try to search for on-line pair of parents who can listen to them all the time. Time has come to the extent that if their profiles get hacked or they lost their password, they mourn for that like they lost their child and I’m an eyewitness of this thing.
I want to write more about this curse of social networking and chatting time where we now live virtually and we are aware of the world news but we hardly know about out own family members, but I think this is enough for the people of intellect as a reminder!
-Sheikh Danish Riyaz
Saturday, January 14, 2012
So whats new in Libya...oh wait 12,000 US soldiers ready to drop in! Why?
LIBYA and the NTC: 12,000 U.S. troops to Libya
by Cynthia McKinney
Global Research,
January 13, 2012
It is with great disappointment that I receive the news from foreign media publications and Libyan sources that our President now has 12,000 U.S. troops stationed in Malta and they are about to make their descent into Libya.
For those of you who have not followed closely the situation in Libya, the resistance to the rule of the National Transitional Council is strong. The National Transitional Council (NTC) cast of characters has about as much support on the ground as did Mahmoud Abbas before the United Nations request for Palestinian statehood or Afghanistan's regal-looking but politically impotent Hamid Karzai or for that matter, George W Bush after eight years.
The NTC not only has to contend with a vibrant, well-financed, grassroots-supported resistance, but the various militias of the NTC are now also fighting each other. I believe this "sociocide" of Libyan society, as we previously witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan before it, is part of a carefully crafted plan of destabilization that ultimately serves U.S. imperial interests and those of a Zionist state and its US agents who are bent on Greater Israel's suzerainty over huge swaths of Arabic-speaking populations. Pakistan is also on the list for neutering in Muslim and world affairs, saddled with its own unpopular civilian leadership that finds itself in the hip pocket of the United States for survival, often getting sat upon by its fiscal guarantor.
The "Arab Spring" has sprung and the indelible fingerprints of malignant foreign financed operations must be erased if the people are to have a chance to truly govern themselves. Unfortunately, these foreign-inspired organizations are present and operating in just about every country in the world. The threat is ever-present like sleeping cells--all that is needed is that the right word to "activate" be given. Both Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez can write tomes on the impact of the National Endowment for Democracy in the political life of their countries.
In other words, those who create the chaos have a plan and in the midst of chaos, they usually are the ones who will win. Those who wrote the plan of this chaos were affiliated with the Project for a New American Century--read A Clean Break if you already haven't. General Wesley Clark told us of the plan to invade and destroy the governments of seven countries in five years: Iraq, Syria Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran. "These people took control of the policy in the United States," Clark continues. He concludes, "This country was taken over by a group of people with a policy coup: Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and . . . collaborators from the Project for a New American Century: they wanted us to destabilize the Middle East." Richard Perle, Bill Kristol publicize these plans and "could hardly wait to finish Iraq so they could go into Syria," Clark goes on. "The root of the problem is the strategy of the United States in this region. Why are Americans dying in this region? That is the issue," he finishes.
Now, from Libya, reports are that even while the Misrata rebels (NATO allies responsible for the murder of hundreds of Libyans, including Moatessem Qaddafi) attempted to scale the petroleum platforms in Brega (an important oil town in Libya), they were annihilated by the Apache helicopters of their own NATO allies. A resistance Libyan doctor-become-journalist reported yesterday that all of the petroleum platforms are occupied by NATO and that warships occupy Libya's ports. Photographs show Italian encampments in the desert with an announcement that the French are to follow.
Another news outlet reports that Qataris and Emiratees are the engineers now at the oil plants, turning away desperate Libyan workers. While long lines exist for Libyan drivers to get their gas, foreign troops ensure the black gold's export. Libyans lack enough food and the basics, the country has been turned upside down, and contaminated with uranium while the true number of dead and unaccounted for remains high and unknown. Thousands of young Libyans, supporters of the Jahamiriya, languish under torture and assassination in a Misrata prison where a humanitarian disaster is about to unfold because Misrata rebels want to kill them all and have already attacked the prison once to do so. An urgent appeal to contact the International Red Cross was issued yesterday to help save the lives of the prisoners. And finally, Black Libyans continue to be targeted for harassment and murder in Libya by US/NATO allies on the ground. Teaching hate, given the images of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan released yesterday, urinating on Afghani dead bodies, is not a difficult thing to do, it would seem. Videos are posted of Black Libyans being beaten, whipped, threatened, harassed, and humiliated. These videos remind me of the antebellum South--reminiscent of the days of slavery and The Confederacy. So, when I use the word "descend" to describe U.S. anticipated actions, I mean just that: U.S. troops are about to descend into the hell on Earth created by their President and the leaders of other countries who approved of, aided, or participated in the death of Libyan-owned society. A report from last night indicates that one militia, fearing other militias even invited foreigners in to protect them.
I hope the report that I'm reading from 12 January 2012 is not true. I hope our President has not sent 12,000 troops of occupation to Malta destined for Libya. Lucy Grider-Bradley (of our DIGNITY Delegation) just yesterday reminded me of the words of a high-ranking Libyan Jahamiriya Foreign Ministry representative who just happened to be at the Tunisia/Libya border office at the same time we were waiting there. He said, "Let the Americans come. We want them to taste our sandwiches. We will give them the same serving they got in Vietnam."
Please write to our President (at www.whitehouse.gov) and ask him not to send troops of occupation (or whatever "euphemism de jour" this Administration chooses to use) to Libya.
To save the lives of the young men in prison, please e-mail the International Red Cross at any or all of the e-mail addresses given below:
in Tripoli 218213409262 / Croix rouge
218919418066 / 218925236582
والبريد اللاكتروني : tri_tripoli@icrc.org
(click here to view the full list of contact details and read full article)
by Cynthia McKinney
Global Research,
January 13, 2012
It is with great disappointment that I receive the news from foreign media publications and Libyan sources that our President now has 12,000 U.S. troops stationed in Malta and they are about to make their descent into Libya.
For those of you who have not followed closely the situation in Libya, the resistance to the rule of the National Transitional Council is strong. The National Transitional Council (NTC) cast of characters has about as much support on the ground as did Mahmoud Abbas before the United Nations request for Palestinian statehood or Afghanistan's regal-looking but politically impotent Hamid Karzai or for that matter, George W Bush after eight years.
The NTC not only has to contend with a vibrant, well-financed, grassroots-supported resistance, but the various militias of the NTC are now also fighting each other. I believe this "sociocide" of Libyan society, as we previously witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan before it, is part of a carefully crafted plan of destabilization that ultimately serves U.S. imperial interests and those of a Zionist state and its US agents who are bent on Greater Israel's suzerainty over huge swaths of Arabic-speaking populations. Pakistan is also on the list for neutering in Muslim and world affairs, saddled with its own unpopular civilian leadership that finds itself in the hip pocket of the United States for survival, often getting sat upon by its fiscal guarantor.
The "Arab Spring" has sprung and the indelible fingerprints of malignant foreign financed operations must be erased if the people are to have a chance to truly govern themselves. Unfortunately, these foreign-inspired organizations are present and operating in just about every country in the world. The threat is ever-present like sleeping cells--all that is needed is that the right word to "activate" be given. Both Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez can write tomes on the impact of the National Endowment for Democracy in the political life of their countries.
In other words, those who create the chaos have a plan and in the midst of chaos, they usually are the ones who will win. Those who wrote the plan of this chaos were affiliated with the Project for a New American Century--read A Clean Break if you already haven't. General Wesley Clark told us of the plan to invade and destroy the governments of seven countries in five years: Iraq, Syria Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran. "These people took control of the policy in the United States," Clark continues. He concludes, "This country was taken over by a group of people with a policy coup: Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and . . . collaborators from the Project for a New American Century: they wanted us to destabilize the Middle East." Richard Perle, Bill Kristol publicize these plans and "could hardly wait to finish Iraq so they could go into Syria," Clark goes on. "The root of the problem is the strategy of the United States in this region. Why are Americans dying in this region? That is the issue," he finishes.
Now, from Libya, reports are that even while the Misrata rebels (NATO allies responsible for the murder of hundreds of Libyans, including Moatessem Qaddafi) attempted to scale the petroleum platforms in Brega (an important oil town in Libya), they were annihilated by the Apache helicopters of their own NATO allies. A resistance Libyan doctor-become-journalist reported yesterday that all of the petroleum platforms are occupied by NATO and that warships occupy Libya's ports. Photographs show Italian encampments in the desert with an announcement that the French are to follow.
Another news outlet reports that Qataris and Emiratees are the engineers now at the oil plants, turning away desperate Libyan workers. While long lines exist for Libyan drivers to get their gas, foreign troops ensure the black gold's export. Libyans lack enough food and the basics, the country has been turned upside down, and contaminated with uranium while the true number of dead and unaccounted for remains high and unknown. Thousands of young Libyans, supporters of the Jahamiriya, languish under torture and assassination in a Misrata prison where a humanitarian disaster is about to unfold because Misrata rebels want to kill them all and have already attacked the prison once to do so. An urgent appeal to contact the International Red Cross was issued yesterday to help save the lives of the prisoners. And finally, Black Libyans continue to be targeted for harassment and murder in Libya by US/NATO allies on the ground. Teaching hate, given the images of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan released yesterday, urinating on Afghani dead bodies, is not a difficult thing to do, it would seem. Videos are posted of Black Libyans being beaten, whipped, threatened, harassed, and humiliated. These videos remind me of the antebellum South--reminiscent of the days of slavery and The Confederacy. So, when I use the word "descend" to describe U.S. anticipated actions, I mean just that: U.S. troops are about to descend into the hell on Earth created by their President and the leaders of other countries who approved of, aided, or participated in the death of Libyan-owned society. A report from last night indicates that one militia, fearing other militias even invited foreigners in to protect them.
I hope the report that I'm reading from 12 January 2012 is not true. I hope our President has not sent 12,000 troops of occupation to Malta destined for Libya. Lucy Grider-Bradley (of our DIGNITY Delegation) just yesterday reminded me of the words of a high-ranking Libyan Jahamiriya Foreign Ministry representative who just happened to be at the Tunisia/Libya border office at the same time we were waiting there. He said, "Let the Americans come. We want them to taste our sandwiches. We will give them the same serving they got in Vietnam."
Please write to our President (at www.whitehouse.gov) and ask him not to send troops of occupation (or whatever "euphemism de jour" this Administration chooses to use) to Libya.
To save the lives of the young men in prison, please e-mail the International Red Cross at any or all of the e-mail addresses given below:
in Tripoli 218213409262 / Croix rouge
218919418066 / 218925236582
والبريد اللاكتروني : tri_tripoli@icrc.org
(click here to view the full list of contact details and read full article)
Friday, January 13, 2012
What President Lincoln foresaw on the dangers of corporations
image: bartleby
Here is a quote from President Lincoln on what he foresaw on the dangers of corporations after the Civil War:
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."
-- U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864
(letter to Col. William F. Elkins)
Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)
sourced by: Rick Crawford, crawford@cs.ucdavis.edu
Preserving man`s history on the moon
Preserving the Moon Landings for Posterity, by Valerie Ross
DISCOVER Magazine Blog
January 11th, 2012 11:13 AM
[Original post: NY Times, by Kenneth Chang, published: January 9, 2012]
BUZZ ALDRIN STEPPED HERE NASA has asked that lunar visitors stay at least 75 meters from the Apollo 11 lander --NASA
Archaeologists, historians, and governments take great care to preserve human history across the globe, protecting monuments of our civilizations and traces of our origins. Even what may seem, at first, like the detritus of existence—footprints left millions of years ago, the contents of well-preserved wastebins—can serve as tangible, informative links to the past.
Now, scientists and officials are working preserve some of humanity’s best-known footprints, left by a giant leap for mankind, by extending those same sorts of historical protections to the Apollo missions’ lunar landing sites. The tricky part is, many such protections require that a site be on the territory of a state or nation—and the US government can’t claim sovereignty over any part of the moon, and doesn’t want to appear as though it’s trying to. But NASA and the New Mexico and California state governments have gotten onboard with the effort to safeguard the sites, spearheaded by New Mexico State University anthropologist Beth O’Leary. A NASA panel recently issued recommendations for protecting the sites that suggest future explorers give a wide berth to the astronautical artifacts left behind, Kenneth Chang reports at the New York Times:
The recommendations, issued in the fall, place greater protections on items from the first
moon mission, Apollo 11, and the last one, Apollo 17. For Apollo 11, the recommendations
ask that any visitor, robotic or human, stay at least 75 meters from the lander.
“In that case, it would protect every footprint from Neil and Buzz and all the flight hardware,”
[NASA's Robert] Kelso said.
For Apollo 17, the protection bubble is even wider — 225 meters — because a lunar buggy
let the last two men on the moon, Eugene A. Cernan and Harrison H. Schmitt, cover much
more ground.
NASA’s recommendations aren’t legally binding, and lunar missions by other nations or commercial space outfits can still land wherever they please. But the guidelines do apparently carry some weight: A Lunar X Prize team that intended to land at the Apollo 11 site has changed its plans.
Read more at the New York Times
DISCOVER Magazine Blog
January 11th, 2012 11:13 AM
[Original post: NY Times, by Kenneth Chang, published: January 9, 2012]
BUZZ ALDRIN STEPPED HERE NASA has asked that lunar visitors stay at least 75 meters from the Apollo 11 lander --NASA
Archaeologists, historians, and governments take great care to preserve human history across the globe, protecting monuments of our civilizations and traces of our origins. Even what may seem, at first, like the detritus of existence—footprints left millions of years ago, the contents of well-preserved wastebins—can serve as tangible, informative links to the past.
Now, scientists and officials are working preserve some of humanity’s best-known footprints, left by a giant leap for mankind, by extending those same sorts of historical protections to the Apollo missions’ lunar landing sites. The tricky part is, many such protections require that a site be on the territory of a state or nation—and the US government can’t claim sovereignty over any part of the moon, and doesn’t want to appear as though it’s trying to. But NASA and the New Mexico and California state governments have gotten onboard with the effort to safeguard the sites, spearheaded by New Mexico State University anthropologist Beth O’Leary. A NASA panel recently issued recommendations for protecting the sites that suggest future explorers give a wide berth to the astronautical artifacts left behind, Kenneth Chang reports at the New York Times:
The recommendations, issued in the fall, place greater protections on items from the first
moon mission, Apollo 11, and the last one, Apollo 17. For Apollo 11, the recommendations
ask that any visitor, robotic or human, stay at least 75 meters from the lander.
“In that case, it would protect every footprint from Neil and Buzz and all the flight hardware,”
[NASA's Robert] Kelso said.
For Apollo 17, the protection bubble is even wider — 225 meters — because a lunar buggy
let the last two men on the moon, Eugene A. Cernan and Harrison H. Schmitt, cover much
more ground.
NASA’s recommendations aren’t legally binding, and lunar missions by other nations or commercial space outfits can still land wherever they please. But the guidelines do apparently carry some weight: A Lunar X Prize team that intended to land at the Apollo 11 site has changed its plans.
Read more at the New York Times
Did Earth’s Gold Come From Outer Space?
Did Earth’s Gold Come From Outer Space?
(Top 100 Stories of 2011 #53 -DISCOVER)Money never grows on trees, but precious metals do sometimes fall from the sky.
by Elizabeth Svoboda
DISCOVER Magazine
From the January-February special issue; published online December 27, 2011
(Image left: iStockphoto)
The platinum in your wedding ring and the gold in your dental fillings most likely arrived on Earth in a furious meteoric bombardment 200 million years after the planet’s formation, University of Bristol geologist Matthias Willbold reports. According to standard planetary formation models, the gold, platinum, and
tungsten that were present when Earth was born should have quickly bonded to iron and sunk into the planet’s core. Those precious metals are thousands of times more prevalent on the surface of Earth and in its mantle than the models predict.
Willbold proposes that a colossal meteor shower about 4 billion years ago deposited the additional bling. To test his theory, he measured the isotopic mix of tungsten in rocks from an ancient formation that predates the proposed meteor shower. He then compared the readings with isotopes found in more recent rocks. “If you look at really ancient rocks in Greenland, the tungsten composition is different,” he says.
[Related Fact]
The largest gold deposit ever, may not even be on this planet. Eros, one of the closest asteroids to Earth, is thought to have gold valued in excess of a thousand billion dollars. That`s 200,000 times the amount of gold that has ever been mines on Earth.
Source: Gold Rush Alaska (Aired: 02/13/12)
Water Flowing on Mars? You betcha`
Is That Water Flowing on Mars? (Top 100 Stories of 2011 #75-DISCOVER)
There may be water—and even life—in them there hills.
by Adam Hadhazy
DISCOVER Magazine
From the January-February special issue; published online December 27, 2011
Dramatic images of dried-up floodplains and apparent riverbeds have most astronomers convinced that liquid water once gushed on Mars, perhaps supporting ancient life. But last summer NASA astronomers announced that water may still be flowing on the Red Planet.
The evidence comes from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which captured images of thin, dark streaks—quite likely soil—creeping down several slopes during Mars’s spring and summer (see sequence at right). Dry soil should not move that way, so a team led by Alfred McEwen, principal investigator for the probe’s camera, proposed that liquid water carried the soil downhill. In the journal Science, the scientists noted that water could flow sluggishly just beneath the surface and remain liquid owing to high concentrations of salt, which acts as antifreeze. The orbiter continues to scan for clues; later this year NASA’s Curiosity rover will begin studying Martian surface chemistry up close.
There may be water—and even life—in them there hills.
by Adam Hadhazy
DISCOVER Magazine
From the January-February special issue; published online December 27, 2011
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
Dramatic images of dried-up floodplains and apparent riverbeds have most astronomers convinced that liquid water once gushed on Mars, perhaps supporting ancient life. But last summer NASA astronomers announced that water may still be flowing on the Red Planet.
The evidence comes from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which captured images of thin, dark streaks—quite likely soil—creeping down several slopes during Mars’s spring and summer (see sequence at right). Dry soil should not move that way, so a team led by Alfred McEwen, principal investigator for the probe’s camera, proposed that liquid water carried the soil downhill. In the journal Science, the scientists noted that water could flow sluggishly just beneath the surface and remain liquid owing to high concentrations of salt, which acts as antifreeze. The orbiter continues to scan for clues; later this year NASA’s Curiosity rover will begin studying Martian surface chemistry up close.
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