New Iraq-Iran alliance in boosting oil output to challenge reigning Saudi Arabia will be game changer

Iraq and Iran plot oil revolution in challenge to Saudi Arabia
Iraq's goal of pumping 9m barrels a day of crude could be a game changer for oil prices and British companies

By Andrew Critchlow
The Telegraph
Jan 28, 2014

Iraq sets its sights on the top spot of Middle East oil producers

Iraq is poised to flood the oil market by tripling its capacity to pump crude by 2020 and is collaborating with Iran on strategy in a move that will challenge Saudi Arabia's grip on the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"We feel the world needs to be assured of fuel for economic growth," Hussain al-Shahristani, Deputy Prime Minister for Energy in Iraq told oil industry delegates attending a Chatham House Middle East energy conference.

Al Shahristani said on Tuesday that Iraq plans to boost its capacity to produce oil to 9m barrels a day (bpd) by the end of the decade as Baghdad rushes to bolster its economy, which is still shattered by war and internal conflict. Iraq was producing 3m bpd in December, according to the International Energy Agency.

Iraq's intention to challenge Saudi Arabia's status as the "swing producer" in the OPEC cartel could see a dramatic fall in oil prices if Baghdad decides to break the group's quotas and sell more of its crude on the open market.

"It's very difficult to predict actual world (oil) demand by 2020 because the world economy is unpredictable," said Mr al-Shahristani.

British oil giants BP and Royal Dutch Shell are also poised to benefit from Iraq's ambitious production plans. Both companies are already managing two huge oil fields in southern Iraq which are vital if Baghdad is to achieve its goal.

However, even if Iraq is able to achieve its target of boost production capacity it is unlikely to be able to put in place sufficient pipeline and port infrastructure to export the additional crude.
Iraq's main export terminal for loading oil tankers at Al Faw near Basra will require billions of pounds worth of improvements in addition to the refurbishment of its pipeline network.

Iraq's ambitious plan could see it clash increasingly with the regime in Saudi Arabia, which has used its influence in OPEC over the last decade to keep oil prices above $100 a barrel. Saudi itself is now under pressure to boost output to maintain market share. The kingdom pumped 9.8m bpd in December up by about 100,000 barrels from the previous month.

Experts say that attention within OPEC, which pumps 30% of the world's crude, could increasingly focus on compliance with more of the group's members tempted to pump more barrels to protect their share of the market as the cartel grapples with the rise of US shale oil production.

OPEC agreed in early December to renew for six months its 30M bpd output cap for the first half of the year to keep prices above $100. However, quotas have in the past proved difficult for OPEC as a group to enforce without any binding penalties for over-producing. Since its restoration to OPEC following the 2003 Gulf War, Iraq has been excluded from the group's quota system to allow its economy to recover but pressure is mounting for it to comply this year.

The International Monetary Fund this week warned that Iraq's weak economy remains vulnerable to fluctuations in oil markets. Crude oil exports account for 93% of government revenues. The IMF estimated that Baghdad required an average oil price of $106.1 per barrel in 2013 to balance its budget, up from $95 in 2011 because of higher spending.

Despite Mr al-Shahristani's hopes for boosting Iraq's energy sector there are severe concerns over security amid fears the country may again be slipping toward a civil war between Sunni and Shia Muslim factions.

In a further challenge to Saudi Arabia, which is mostly closed to international oil companies, Mr al-Shahristani revealed that Baghdad is working with Iran to help it attract investment ahead of the possible lifting of sanctions. Oil companies are understood to be queuing up to win Iranian oil deals.

"Iran has been in touch with us," said Mr al-Shahristani. "They want to share our contracts model and experience."

Combined, Iran and Iraq hold greater reserves of oil than Saudi Arabia and the potential with the help of international investment to match its capacity to produce oil, which currently stands at around 12.5m b/d of crude.

© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2014

Is the Queen going broke? With royal palaces 'crumbling and leaky' and the Queen down to her last £1 million, what lies ahead for the British monarch

Queen down and out? UK royal palaces ‘crumbling and leaky’ as her finances dwindle
RT NEWS
January 28, 2014

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.(Reuters / Philip Toscano)

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, long thought to be one of the world’s richest women, is apparently down to her last million in savings, with palaces leaking and falling to pieces as MPs say she has been failed by her advisers and the Treasury.

The Queen’s courtiers have been advised to take money saving tips from the UK treasury, as her finances dip to an historic low with just £1 million left in reserve, the Telegraph reported.

A report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee found that her reserve fund had fallen from £35 million in 2001 to £1 million today. While the Royal household had made efficiency savings of just 5 percent over the past five years, government departments have made savings of up to a third.

MPs on the committee said that the Treasury must help to protect royal palaces from further damage and deterioration.

“We believe that the Treasury has a duty to be actively involved in reviewing the household’s financial planning and management – and it has failed to do so,” said Margaret Hodge, the Labour chairperson of the committee.

Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle are both in a terrible state of repair with staff required to catch rain in buckets to protect art and antiquities.

Meanwhile, in Buckingham Palace the 60-year-old boilers were running up bills of £774,000 a year and the wiring has not been replaced since 1949. More than a third of the royal estate has been found to be below “target condition.”

The committee compared Buckingham Palace, which has just 500,000 visitors a year, to the Tower of London, which has more than £2 million.

“If you look at the Tower of London and its visitor numbers it makes you think that there’s potential here. Have they done their darnedest to maximize value for money?” Hodge said.

The report also found that the royal household has not even attempted to cost up its huge backlog of repairs because it believed there was no point in doing so until it has new funding in place.

The Crown Estate gets 15 percent of its income from the Sovereign Grant, which replaced the old way of funding the Royal Family through the civil list in 2012.

While the Royal Household’s net expenditure was £33.3 million last year, £31 million of this came from the Sovereign Grant. To find the difference, it had to dip into its reserve fund.

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace insisted that the Sovereign Grant had made the Queen’s funding “more transparent and scrutinized” and was resulting in a “more efficient use of public funds.”

But the committee found that much more needs to be done if the Crown Estate and the Royal Household are to properly manage the Queen’s finances.

“We got the impression that they just haven’t tried to make greater savings. Here we are, we’re all in it together, but they are failing to eke out better value for the Queen. They are dipping into their reserves in a way that just isn’t sensible,” Hodge said.

The report found that the Treasury was not doing its job properly. It is responsible for overseeing the Royal Household finances but is not doing enough and should draw on its extensive experience and “offer advice on key packages.”

“The Household needs to get better at planning and managing its budgets for the longer term – and the Treasury should be more actively involved in reviewing what the household is doing,” Hodge said.

Number crunching
A closer look at both the report and the figures in it reveals that the Queens finances may be healthier than the Committee found, and in areas where she has lost money it is not the fault of the Treasury but of her managers, the Guardian reports.

The report its self was compiled from a series of questions and answers with just two witness giving the answers, Sir Alan Reid, Keeper of the Privy Purse and Mike Stevens, Deputy Treasurer to the Queen.

When asked why they did not cut back their expenditure, Sir Alan Reid replies: “We really believed that it is not wise to cut back on the level of activity of the monarchy.”

The figure of 1 million pounds does not accurately reflect the value of assets held by the Royal Household, the Guardian says. Their total reserves stand at 14.2 million pounds, 11.8 million pounds of which comes from property, plant and other equipment.The biggest chunk of royal spending goes on payroll, and although staff numbers remained unchanged over the past year cost have risen considerably.

Austin Mitchell, one of the members of the committee, asked: “It looks to me that you managed to survive and manage the finances by letting the buildings deteriorate, by freezing the staff costs and by digging into the reserves. Is that a fair summary of what has happened?”

To which Sir Alan replied, “I think that does summarize, to a degree, what happened last year.”

The Hitler mystery continues...is this finally the proof we`ve been looking for?

New book claims THIS picture proves Hitler escaped his Berlin bunker and died in South America in 1984 aged 95
--Fuhrer 'fled to Argentina and then Paraguay before settling in Brazil'
--Hunted for treasure with a map given to him by Vatican allies, book claims
--Author Simoni Renee Guerreiro Dias claims fascist actually died aged 95
--Claims he had a black girlfriend to disguise his fascist background
--Says her suspicions increased after she photoshopped a moustache onto the grainy picture and compared it to photos of the Fuhrer
By ANNA EDWARDS
DAILYMAIL
January 25, 2014 

He is believed to have died after shooting himself in a Berlin bunker in 1945 when he realized Germany had lost World War II.

But a startling new book claims Adolf Hitler actually escaped his hideout and died incognito in 1984 in a small town near Brazil's border with Bolivia - and it can be proved by a picture.
Not only that, but the author believes the Fuhrer fled to Argentina and then Paraguay before settling in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso to hunt for buried treasure - with a map given to him by Vatican allies, according to its author.

Simoni Renee Guerreiro Dias claims this picture proves Hitler lived in the small town of Nossa Senhora do Livramento with his girlfriend, Cutinga

Old clothes meant to be worn by the Fuhrer: An author claims the fascist actually died aged 95

As part of his elaborate ruse to escape detection, he also had a relationship with a black woman called Cutinga, which was meant to prove that he could not be the dictator who hated anyone who did not fit his Aryan ideal, the book claims.

Post-graduate student Simoni Renee Guerreiro Dias has outlined her bizarre theory, claiming the fascist actually died aged 95.

The book, titled 'Hitler in Brazil - His Life and His Death', challenges the accepted view that the dictator shot himself in his Berlin bunker on April 30 1945.

She claims he may have lived as Adolf Leipzig in the small town of Nossa Senhora do Livramento, 30 miles from the state capital Cuiaba.

Simoni, a Brazilian who comes from Cuiaba, says Leipzig was known locally as the 'Old German.'

Simoni is now planning to use DNA tests using a relative of Hitler living in Israel, after been given permission to exhume Adolf Leipzig's remains from his alleged final resting place in Nossa Senhora do Livramento.

The journalism student has linked the Fuhrer's alleged arrival in the area to a Vatican offer of ownership rights over buried Jesuit treasure in a cave near his adopted home.

She points out in her book Leipzig was the birthplace of Hitler's favorite composer Bach.

Hitler's Bunker in the Chancellery, Berlin, where many believe he shot himself

The supposed burial site: The Fuhrer 'fled to Argentina and then Paraguay before settling in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso'

She says her suspicions about Adolf Leipzig increased after she photo-shopped a moustache on to the grainy picture she obtained of him and compared it to photos of the Nazi leader.
According to Simoni, an unidentified Polish nun recognized an elderly man due to have an op at a hospital in Cuiaba in the early eighties as Hitler and demanded he leave - but was reprimanded by a superior who claimed he was there on Vatican orders.

Academics in Brazil have also rubbished the theory Hitler lived and died in Nossa Senhora do Livramento.

Candido Moreira Rodrigues, a history professor at Mato Grosso's Federal University said: 'There's nothing new in people who claim to be historians coming up with the most far-reaching theories about Hitler supposedly living in south America and subsequently dying in one of the countries in this region.'

Ten of thousands of Nazis escaped after the war, including the notorious Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele.

Investigators probing Hitler's demise were hampered by the lack of any physical evidence for his death.

Fantasists were given added ammunition he didn't die in his Berlin bunker when 2009 DNA tests on skull fragments found near the bunker, believed to be his, turned out to belong to a woman.

Rochus Misch, a former bodyguard of Adolf Hitler who has been named as the last man to see the Fuhrer alive during his final hours in Germany, died last September aged 96.
Misch, who lived with Hitler and his mistress in their underground refuge as the allies closed in, told before his death he saw Hitler slumped with his head on the table after hearing a gunshot behind his closed door.

THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES SURROUNDING HITLER'S DEATH
Conspiracy theorists have long argued Hitler escaped from Germany and fled to south America.

Authors Gerrard Williams and Simon Dunstan claimed in a 2011 book Grey Wolf: The Escape of Adolf Hitler, that the Fuhrer fled with his mistress Eva Braun to Patagonia and had two daughters before dying in 1962 aged 73.

The claims about Hitler's life in Argentina were ridiculed by historian Guy Walters, who described them as '2,000 per cent rubbish' when the book was published.

He added: 'It's an absolute disgrace. There's no substance to it at all. It appeals to the deluded fantasies of conspiracy theorists and has no place whatsoever in historical research.'

The REAL truth the US economy - ACTUAL unemployment and benefit numbers are obscured from reality

Silent misery: Actual US unemployment 37.2%, record number of households on food stamps in 2013
RT NEWS
January 22, 2014 

As the White House proclaims a recovery is occurring, and the stock market has a head of steam, millions of Americans and their dependents are being left out of the recovery, according to a set of economic indicators.

Perhaps the most worrying yet least reported aspect of the so-called US recovery involves the national labor picture. Although the official US unemployment rate is 6.7 percent, this figure obscures the reality, according to an influential Wall Street adviser.

In a leaked memo to clients, David John Marotta calculates the actual unemployment rate of Americans out of work at an astronomic 37.2 percent, as opposed to the 6.7 percent claimed by the Federal Reserve.

“The unemployment rate only describes people who are currently working or looking for work,” he said.

“Unemployment in its truest definition, meaning the portion of people who do not have any job, is 37.2 percent. This number obviously includes some people who are not or never plan to seek employment. But it does describe how many people are not able to, do not want to or cannot find a way to work,” he and colleague Megan Russell reveal in their client report, which was leaked to the Washington Examiner.

Contrary to expectations, a drop in the unemployment rate, Marotta argues, is presently a sign that the unemployed are simply dropping out of the job market.

The “officially-reported unemployment numbers decrease when enough time passes to discourage the unemployed from looking for work,” said Marotta and Russel. “A decrease is not necessarily beneficial; an increase is clearly detrimental.”

The authors then take aim at the so-called Misery Index, which provides something of a pulse rate of American prosperity, based on unemployment and inflation. The Wall Street adviser said the Index, which he maintains is actually over 14, as opposed to the 8 advertised by Washington, fails to address how the US economy is being hugely subsidized by various schemes, including monthly bond purchases by the Federal Reserve.

“Today, the Misery Index would be 7.54 using official numbers,” the two analysts wrote. However, taking into consideration the full unemployment picture, including workers who have given up the job search, which is 10.2 percent, together with the historical method of calculating inflation, which is now 4.5 percent, ‘the current misery index is closer to 14.7.”

In food stamps we trust
Marotta’s findings, which put the actual US unemployment rate at over 37 percent, seem more credible when viewed alongside other indicators, including the number of Americans who now rely on government assistance to make ends meet.

It has just been reported that a record 20 percent of American households were receiving food stamps in 2013, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The USDA data shows there were 23,052,388 households on food stamps in an average month of fiscal 2013, a jump of 722,675 from fiscal year 2012, when there were 22,329,713 households on food stamps per month on average.

Last year, according to data from the Census Bureau, there were 115,013,000 households. With 23,052,388 households – or 20 percent of the total number of households –now dependent on food stamps.

In just half a decade, the number of American households on food stamps has significantly increased. In fiscal year 2009, for example, the number of households receiving the government assistance program was 15,232,115. Five years later, in 2013, that number had surged by 51.3 percent to hit 23,052,388 households.

Meanwhile, the monthly average for individuals on food stamps hit an all-time-high of 47,636,084, according to the USDA. This is an increase of 1,027,012 over the 46,609,072 people who were getting food stamps in 2012.

In 2009, the number of individuals relying on the government program stood at 33,489,975. In 2013, the number was 47,636,084, an increase of 42.2 percent.

It should come as no surprise that spending on the US government’s food stamp program, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), has reached an all-time high.

Last year, SNAP cost $79,641,880,000 - a 164 percent increase over the past decade.

During the last five years, the SNAP program exploded by 36.8 percent, from $58,223,790,000 in 2009 to $79,641,880,000 in 2013.

Mars Rock Mysteriously Appears

NASA scientists are baffled by a piece of rock that has mysteriously appeared in front of the Mars Opportunity rover. The doughnut-sized rock, nicknamed Pinnacle Island, showed up in photos taken a few days ago but is noticeably absent from photos snapped earlier this month. The six-wheeled rover has not moved in several weeks due to rough weather conditions on the Red Planet. News of the strange rock was announced by NASA Mars Exploration Rover lead scientist Steve Squyres.               More at Discovery News

A comparison of two raw Pancam photographs from sols 3528 and 3540 of Opportunity's mission (a sol is a Martian day). Notice the "jelly doughnut"-sized rock in the center of the photograph to the right. Minor adjustments for brightness and contrast. NASA/JPL-CALTECH

More atrocities by US forces in Iraq uncovered...Abu Ghraib 2.0 in Fallujah

[Editor`s note: And they dare called Saddam the 'Butcher of Baghdad?' Who has killed more Iraqis, the US or Saddam, and has subjected the Iraqis to cruel and inhumane punishment? If Saddam was truly guilty, why put him through a kangaroo court and hang like a dog for trumped-up charges for responsding to a presidential assassination. Where were the decades of human torture he stood blindingly accused of? The great country of the Tigris and Euphrates has been left in utter shambles, not reminiscent of its past glory and before the war...yet countless Iraqis continue to die like cannon fodder with no end in sight...who is ULTIMATELY responsible and will face justice? Unfortunately, these are things we will never understand till the good Lord above judges...]

Abu Ghraib 2.0? Horrifying images of US Marines burning Iraqis prompt military investigation
RT NEWS
January 15, 2014


[WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW]

The picture that defined the Abu Ghraib
prisoner torture, credit: wikipedia

The Pentagon confirmed early Wednesday that a formal investigation has been launched after photographs began to surface purportedly showing US troops burning the remains of dead Iraqis.

Those images were published Wednesday morning by website TMZ, which claims to have recently come into possession of 41 photos in all that they believe to have been taken in Fallujah sometime in 2004 amid the US-led Iraq occupation.

The website has only published eight of the images, including ones in which men appearing to be US Marines are seen dousing the dead with chemicals and setting them ablaze. TMZ is withholding the majority of the photographs, however, because many are simply “too gruesome,” they claim, including one alleged to be in their possession showing a human body being devoured by dogs and another covered in flies.

Among the photographs that were published by TMZ is one in which a man in full military garb is shown holding his high-powered firearm to what appears to be the charred remains of a human skull.

According to the website, the photographs were turned over to the US Department of Defense last week. TMZ says that Col. Steve Warren, the Pentagon’s director of press operations, told them the images do seem to show US servicemen engaged in unlawful activity.

Now as authorities begin their probe, the latest leak may uncover the most embarrassing incident of its kind to plague the US military since images taken inside America's now infamous Abu Ghraib prison were published nearly 10 years ago.

When those photographs were first published almost a decade ago, images showed the world horrific instances of abuse and torture that even today remains one of the biggest scars to mar the Iraq War and occupation during its nearly nine-year-long duration. Eleven US troops were convicted for their conduct there.

With regard to the latest leaked images, Col. Warren also confirmed the existence of an investigation to Stars & Stripes, a news outlet carried out as a service of the US Defense Media Activity. That website is refusing to publish the images until more information about them develops.

Warren informed Stars & Stripes that the US Marine Corps is conducting the military’s probe, and Capt. Richard Ulsh, communications director for the Marine Corps, told the Pentagon-affiliated paper that an investigation has indeed been launched to examine the veracity of the photographs, the circumstances involved and possibly the identity of the alleged servicemen caught on film.

“The findings from this investigation will determine whether we are able to move forward with any investigation into possible wrongdoing,” Capt. Ulsh said.

As far as Pentagon spokesman Warren is concerned, though, the Defense Department can’t at this time say for certain that the alleged troops seen in the images engaged in any conduct that without a doubt fails to comply with the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

“On the burning, you know, it’s hard to tell [whether it’s a violation of the UCMJ],” he told Stars & Stripes. “While we don’t routinely burn human remains, there are circumstances when that might be necessary for hygiene, health — things like that.”

Mishandling human remains is a violation of the UCMJ, however, and the results of the just-launched Marine Corps investigation may soon call for a court-martial to convene in order to prosecute anyone thought to be affiliated with unlawful activity uncovered by TMZ.

"The actions that are depicted in these photos are not in any way representative of the honorable, professional service of the two-and-a-half million service members who went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade,” Col. Warren told TMZ.

Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Ty Balzer echoed Warren’s remarks when reached for comment by the New York Daily News early Wednesday.

“I can’t stress that enough,” Capt. Balzer said. “Service members go over there and follow the rules, they really do.”

Even taking into consideration the Abu Ghraib incident, the most recent embarrassment suffered by the military is hardly the first as of late. In January 2012, video footage made its way to the web showing US troops urinating on the bodies of what appeared to be slain Afghans, and several months later the Los Angeles Times published photographs depicting US soldiers posing with the gory remains of several Afghan suicide bombers.

A spokesperson at the Pentagon press office’s Iraq desk did not immediately return RT’s request for a comment on TMZ’s alleged Fallujah images.

Horrific: Shocking images depicting U.S. soldiers burning the bodies of what appear to be Iraqi insurgents, have emerged today

Burning: The explosive photographs, reportedly taken in Fallujah in 2004, appear to show U.S. soldier pouring gasoline on the bodies of Iraqi insurgents

Grim: Many of the 41 gag-inducing shots are just too grisly to publish

probe: The gruesome images have already sparked a Marine Corps investigation

Charred: Two more pictures capture the horrifically charred bodies

Pentagon: The sick snaps were exclusively obtained by TMZ, who turned them over to the Pentagon last week, triggering the probe

Posing: Other horrific pictures show a Marine squatting next to a skull to pose for the camera. His U.S. military uniform is clear, on his face he wears a wide grin and he is pointing his gun at the skeleton

Pickpocket: The Department of Defense said the pictures appear to show U.S. soldiers in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The code outlines that it is a crime to mishandle remains

Read more:
Home Pics of Marines Burning Bodies Trigger U.S. Military Investigation [PHOTOS] Iraqi Death Scene Pics of Marines Burning Bodies Trigger U.S. Military Investigation [PHOTOS]

NASA designs largest rocket ever built, hopeful to carry man to Mars...finally

NASA reveal plans for the biggest rocket ever made to take man to Mars - dwarfing the shuttle and the Saturn rockets that took us to the moon
--Construction of the SLS system has already begun
--Rocket will be 384 feet tall and weigh 6.5 million pounds
--First test flight scheduled for 2017
--Will be able to carry 130 tonnes into space
--Expected to be used to launch far larger interplanetary probes
--Could be used as part of Manned Mars missions
By MARK PRIGG
DailyMail
January 15, 2014

NASA`s SLS rocket, set for launch in 2017 credit: NASA

It is set to become the largest rocket ever built, dwarfing the rockets that took man to the moon and paving the way for manned missions to Mars.

Nasa today reveal stunning new pictures of its SLS (Space Launch System), which will eventually be capable of lifting 130 tonnes into orbit.

The rocket will be used to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, and to help us explore the outer reaches of the solar system.

It is even hoped the craft could play a role in manned missions to Mars, being able to launch 'stepping stone' bases into orbit.

'The potential use of SLS for science will further enhance the synergy between scientific exploration and human exploration,' said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

'SLS has the promise of enabling transformational science in our exploration of the solar system and cosmos.'

Currently under construction, NASA’s Space Launch System will be the world’s most powerful launch vehicle.

Designed to enable human exploration missions to deep space destinations, including an asteroid and Mars, SLS is working toward a first launch in 2017.

For that first flight test, the rocket will be able to launch 70 metric tons (77 tons) of payload into low-Earth orbit, almost three times what the space shuttle could carry.

From there, SLS will be evolved to a configuration that will be able to carry 130 metric tons (143 tons), more weight than any rocket ever has been able to carry.

'While many people think of the Space Launch System in terms of human exploration, SLS could have a wide application in a lot of other areas, including space science,” said Steve Creech, assistant program manager for strategy and partnerships for SLS.

How it compares: NASA`s SLS is larger than the Saturn V that took man to the moon, credit: NASA

NASA`s previous rockets: The Saturn, Shuttle and right: the smaller version of the SLS, credit: NASA

'For missions to the outer planets, for example, SLS could make it possible to do things that are currently impossible, such as sending larger scientific spacecraft with more instruments to far off destinations with reduced transit times.'

Agency scientific and engineering teams have been evaluating whether there would be potential benefits from launching deep space robotic spacecraft, such as the Europa Clipper, a proposed mission to one of Jupiter's icy moons, on the SLS rocket, and determined the rocket would enable the spacecraft to fly direct trajectories to our solar system’s outer planets, rather than using planetary gravities to gain speed, reducing transit time compared to current launch vehicles.

In the case of the Europa Clipper, for example, the transit time would be reduced to less than half of what it would be using other launch vehicles.

'For as long as people have been launching rockets into space, mission designers have had to work within certain limitations – a spacecraft can only be so heavy and it has to fit within a certain width,” Creech said.

'Depending on how large you make it, it can only go so fast, which in some cases limits where you can go.

An artists impression of the giant rocket taking off, credit: NASA

An artist`s impression of the vast hanger needed to set the rocket up for flight, credit: NASA

'Today, if you want to send a mission to the outer planets, you have to be able to make it fit within that box. With SLS, we’re about to make that box much larger.

'With the space shuttle, for example, we were able to launch missions like NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope that were about the size of a school bus.

'With SLS, you can design a spacecraft even larger than the space shuttle that carried Hubble.
'It’s going to open up an entirely new way of thinking about how we plan and design planetary science missions.'

'The Space Launch System could be really game-changing for space science,” said ACO manager Reggie Alexander.

'For some missions, it makes it much easier and quicker to carry them out.

'A Mars sample return mission, for example, could be flown using only one rocket instead of three.

'But for other destinations, SLS lets you do things we could only dream of before – like collecting samples from the geysers of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.'

The top section of the rocket, credit: NASA

Current US Congress is most despised, unproductive and least popular in history, but who cares, more members of Congress are millionaires than ever

Make the money, make the laws: Congress has more millionaires than ever - report
RT NEWS
January 09, 2014 

AFP photo/Mark Wilson

The most unproductive and least popular US Congress in history can count on another distinction: For the first time ever, most members of the Legislative Branch are millionaires.

At least 268 of the 534 current members of the 113th US Congress have an average net worth of US$1 million or more, according to personal financial disclosure data members registered last year on 2012 net worth, the Center for Responsive Politics reported Thursday.

In 2011, only 48 percent of members had a median net worth of at least $1 million. That number is just over 50 percent for 2012.

The median net worth in 2012 for the 530 current congressional members who were in Congress as of the May 2013 filing deadline was $1,008,767, up from $966,000 in 2011. The totals represent a 5.8 percent net-worth increase for all members.

Net worth for Republicans and Democrats went up 10.3 percent and 11.6 percent, respectively.

For all members of the House of Representatives, net worth increased 4.6 percent, from $896,000 to $856,000. House Democrats and Republicans both saw increases, at $929,000 and $884,000, respectively.

In the Senate, there was a 10.8 percent increase in net worth overall. Median net worth for all senators went up to $2.794 million from $2.5 million. For Senate Republicans, the median net worth went up to $2.9 million from $2.5 million. Senate Democrats, on the other hand, saw a decline, at $1.7 million from $2.4 million.

That decrease can be explained in part by wealthy senators no longer in the upper chamber. John Kerry, now Secretary of State, was the wealthiest member of the Senate in 2011, with a net worth of $248 million. Sen. Frank Lautenberg was worth $87.5 million before his death last year.

Republican Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, is the richest member of Congress, with a net worth of $464 million in 2012.

Issa, who made his fortune in the car alarm business, had held the top spot for years before 2011, when fellow House Republican Michael McCaul reported a net worth of $500.6 million. For much of his wealth, McCaul can thank marrying the daughter of Clear Channel Communications Chairman Lowry Mays.

Yet McCaul’s reported wealth in 2012 went down to $143.1 million. The drop exemplifies a rule change the House adopted this year from the Senate in which members reporting high-value assets, income and liabilities that belong to spouses are only required to report that wealth as being worth “$1 million or more” on official filings. McCaul’s wife was reportedly worth over $50 million in his 2011 filings. In 2012, that amount was reported as a “spousal asset over $1 million” despite the likelihood that it is much more.

Though more members of Congress are millionaires than ever, and their median net worth is tops all-time, the total net worth for all lawmakers in 2012 actually fell to $3.9 billion from $4.2 billion in 2011.

The Center for Responsive Politics found that investing in the stock market, after declining for several years with congressional members, is again on the rise. More members invested in the top 50 stocks of 2012 than in 2011, with General Electric and Wells Fargo being the two most popular for investment.

Financial powers like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, among others, make up most of the top 10 congressional investments. Mutual funds and managed portfolios are also popular, based on good returns and the ability for members to avoid blatant conflicts of interest.

Pew Research Center reported in December that the 113th Congress (2013 to 2014) was the least productive Congress in its first year. Gallup reported in November that the 113th was the least popular Congress of all-time, with a 9 percent approval rating.

"Despite the fact that polls show how dissatisfied Americans are with Congress overall, there's been no change in our appetite to elect affluent politicians to represent our concerns in Washington," said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics. "Of course, it's undeniable that in our electoral system, candidates need access to wealth to run financially viable campaigns, and the most successful fundraisers are politicians who swim in those circles to begin with."

What If This Man was Arab or Muslim? Man Pulled Over For Speeding Had 48 Bombs In the Car

By Laura Arenschield
The Columbus Dispatch

January 09, 2014 "Information Clearing House - "The Columbus Dispatch" - An Indiana National Guardsman was arrested outside Columbus on New Year’s Day after a state trooper found nearly 50 bombs and the blueprints for a Navy SEAL training facility inside his car, the Madison County prosecutor said yesterday.

Andrew Scott Boguslawski

Andrew Scott Boguslawski, 43, also had a remote-control device to detonate the bombs, Madison County Prosecutor Stephen Pronai said. Boguslawski’s civilian job is as a groundskeeper at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in south-central Indiana. Prosecutors could not say definitively yesterday whether the blueprints in his car were for the facility where he worked.

Boguslawski also had a bulletproof vest in his car, Pronai said.

“He said something to the trooper about making a bomb vest,” Pronai said.

Lt. Col. Cathy Van Bree, a spokeswoman for the Indiana National Guard, said Boguslawski is a specialist in the guard who does intelligence analysis and has top-secret clearance.

Pronai said Boguslawski, who is from Moores Hill, Ind., appeared to be heading to Indiana when a state trooper clocked him going 85 mph in a 70 mph zone on I-70. When the trooper came back to the car to give Boguslawski a ticket, he saw the handle of a gun between his legs.

The trooper ordered Boguslawski out of the car and called for backup. Investigators found three more guns in the car — all loaded — and 48 bombs. They also found material to make more explosives.

Pronai said most of the bombs were small. He said investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have searched Boguslawski’s house, and that local and federal investigators are trying to determine whether Boguslawski planned to attack the military facility. They are also combing through a computer, cameras and GPS found in his car.

Boguslawski is charged in Madison County with one count of manufacturing explosives, a second-degree felony. A preliminary court hearing is scheduled for Friday. He is being held at Tri-County Jail in Mechanicsburg in lieu of a $1 million bond.

larenschield@dispatch.com

© 2014 The Dispatch Printing Company

Who knew artificial dyes and food colorings were detrimental - one American mom did and now wants 'European M&Ms'

American mom wants European M&Ms
By William Hudson 
CNN
January 7, 2014

photo credit: Vern Hart

(CNN) -- What gives M&Ms their bright colors? That depends on which country you're in.
Mars Inc. primarily uses artificial food coloring for the candy in the United States, but M&Ms derive their candy coloring from natural sources in Europe.

Now a Change.org petition begun by Renee Shutters and the Center for Science in the Public Interest is calling on Mars to stop using artificial dyes in its American M&Ms as well. As of Tuesday morning, the petition had more than 142,000 supporters.

Shutters says her son Trenton showed noticeable improvements in mood and attention span after she removed artificial coloring from his diet a few years ago. M&Ms were his favorite candy.

"I just could not believe that something so small could make that big of a difference," Shutters says.

European lawmakers moved to require warning labels on foods containing certain artificial colorings after a 2007 study found a slight increase in hyperactivity among children consuming a mixture of the dyes and a preservative.

The required label reads: "May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children."
The move came despite the European Food Safety Authority's conclusion that the UK study "provides limited evidence" and "cannot be used as a basis for altering the (accepted daily intake) of the respective food (colors)."

Instead of adding the warning, most manufacturers voluntarily switched to dyes derived from natural sources, such as beets or annatto for red, carrots for orange and saffron for yellow.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has declined to implement tougher regulations but acknowledged that "certain susceptible children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and other problem behaviors" may have their condition "exacerbated by exposure to a number of substances in food, including, but not limited to, synthetic color additives."

The effects on behavior "appear to be due to a unique intolerance to these substances and not to any inherent neurotoxic properties," the FDA said in 2011.

Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, says the FDA and big business need to take action.

"The Food and Drug Administration should protect the public's health by banning food dyes," Jacobson says. "Companies of course could remove dyes voluntarily, switching to safer natural colorings, and a few big companies are beginning to do it."

In November, Kraft announced it would be removing artificial dyes from some varieties of its Macaroni & Cheese.

"We have absolute confidence in the safety of all the ingredients we use," Mars said in a statement. "(We) are constantly evaluating and updating ingredients based on consumer preference, new technology, scientific information and availability of raw materials."

McDonalds shoves their fast food down our throats, yet tells it`s employees to eat healthy and not eat the food they serve

[we the people are truly the sheep...]

By RYAN GORMAN
DAILYMAIL
December 24, 2013

--McDonald’s website advises staff NOT to eat fast food
--The same website that told employees to apply for food stamps, pawn their things and find second jobs is at it again
--McResource Line advises employees to not eat deep fried food
--The Golden Arches wants employees to eat salad and vegetables - minus the bacon, cheese and mayonnaise

McDonald's doesn't think its employees should eat the food they serve.

The fast food giant has advised employees to avoid meals with burgers and fries and to eat healthier options like salad and sandwiches.

The advice was dispensed on the now-infamous McResource Line, the employees-only website that has told workers to sell their things and get second jobs to make ends meet.

Good idea, bad idea: McDonald's doesn't think its employees should eat the food they serve

The advice is given with graphics depicting the ‘unhealthy choice’ and the ‘healthier choice.’ McDonald’s own food is in the former column.

Despite featuring a vast array of deep fried delicacies, the Golden Arches reminds employees that ‘avoiding items that are deep fried are your best bet.’

The sensible advice also tells McWorkers to ‘limit the extras such as cheese, bacon and mayonnaise.’ Tasty add-ons that are staples of many menu items they serve on a daily basis.
A hamburger, fries and soda are warned against, because ‘eating a diet high in fat puts people at rick for becoming overweight.’

Many locations offer steep food discounts and short breaks to employees, virtually forcing them to eat the unhealthy food, often forcing the hand of workers without the time or means to eat elsewhere.

Solid advice: Don't eat at McDonald's

‘It is hard to eat a healthy diet when you eat at fast-food restaurants often,’ the advice continues. ‘Many foods are cooked with a lot of fat, even if they are not trans fats. Many fast-food restaurants do not offer any lower-fat foods.’

The world’s largest fast food chain wants employees to eat elsewhere.
‘Eat at places that offer a variety of salads, soups, and vegetables,’ the site says.

This advice comes after a series of tips telling employees find second jobs, apply for food stamps and sell their things to weather a financial crisis.

The site also gave advice on how to tip au pairs, doormen, personal trainers and pool boys.
A spokesperson told CNBC that the website has been ‘taken entirely out of context.'

Read more:
McResource Line
Posts on McDonald's employee site bash fast food

Eyewitness to Hitler Warns Americans: “Keep Your Guns and Buy More Guns”

by Kimberly Paxton
The Daily Sheeple
December 18, 2013

Editor’s Note from Infowars.com: The warning signs are everywhere. History has shown us exactly what happens to the citizenry of nations who are disarmed by their governments. The comparisons between Nazi-controlled Austria and a socialist-controlled America are frightening. But this time it’s different right? It could never happen in the Land of the Free…

Watch the speech, read every word and share with friends, family, and those who don’t know any better.

[The Daily Sheeple] - When Katie Worthman was a little girl in Austria, she witnessed firsthand Adolph Hitler’s rise to power and the Soviet communist occupation that followed. She also witnessed, for decades, the distortions of the media when it came to the reporting of the events.

From her eyewitness perspective, Worthman said that the whole thing didn’t happen overnight, in a brutal attack, like the media portrays it, but rather, it evolved into a dictatorship gradually, over a period of a few years. Hitler didn’t come across as someone evil, to be feared, initially. ”In the beginning, Hitler didn’t look like, or talk like a monster at all. He talked like an American politician.”

Here are some things that occurred in Austria, according to Worthman, that just might look familiar to Americans:
     Hitler was elected with 98% of the vote.
     Hitler destroyed the existing medical system when he brought a national healthcare plan into      being.
     First, people were forced to register their guns to cut down on crime.
     Then they were forced to turn them in or risk capital punishment for keeping them.

Worthman’s eyewitness account is eerily reminiscent of what we can see going on in the United States today.

     “In 1938, the media reported that Hitler rode into Austria with tanks and guns and took us            over. Not true at all,” she says. “The Austrian people elected Hitler by 98% of the vote by   
     means of the ballot box. Now you might ask how could a Christian nation… elect a monster 
     like Hitler. The truth is at the beginning Hitler didn’t look like or talk like a monster at all. He 
     talked like an American politician.<

     “We also had gun registration. All the Austrian people… had guns. But the government said, 
     ‘the guns are very dangerous. Children are playing with guns. Hunting accidents happen    
     and we really have to have total controlled safety. And we had criminals again. And the only 
     way that we can trace the criminal was by the serial number of the gun.’

     “So we dutifully went to the police station and we registered our guns. Not long after they 
     said, ‘No, it didn’t help. The only way that we won’t have accidents and crimes [is] you bring 
     the guns to the police station and then we don’t have any crimes anymore and any 
     accidents. And if you don’t do that: capital punishment.’

     “So that’s what we did. So dictatorship didn’t happen overnight. It took five years. Gradually, 
     little by little to escalate up to a dictatorship.

     “When the people fear the government, that’s tyranny. But when the government fears the 
     people… that’s liberty. Keep your guns. Keep your guns and buy more guns.”

Now 84, Katie Worthman is warning America, her adopted country, in the hopes that history does not repeat itself. Watch her powerful presentation below. If you don’t want to go buy more ammo after that, then you aren’t paying attention.



Kimberly Paxton, a staff writer for the Daily Sheeple, is based out of upstate New York.

This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in digital form with full attribution to the author and a link to www.TheDailySheeple.com.