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Joe Quinn
Sott.net 2012-09-28 10:27:00
For all those who may, despite Netanyahu's compelling argument at the UN yesterday, feel themselves teetering on the brink of falling for the foul-smelling propaganda about Iran and its "nuclear threat" to the world, there are a few things I'd like you to consider. In the last 6 years or so, there have been literally dozens of official reports and comments about Iran's nuclear program, and virtually all of them have stated that there is no evidence that Iran is planning to develop a nuclear weapon. The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly stated that there is no evidence that Iran has diverted uranium to a weapons program. In addition, the true power in Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei, issued a Fatwa against nuclear weapons in 2005. What Iran is doing is attempting to achieve a 'nuclear capability' like nuclear power plants and Medical reactors etc. The problem for Israel (or so Netanyahu claims on behalf of all Israelis), is that once Iran achieves this 'nuclear capability' there is little to stop them from using that capability to ultimately produce a nuclear weapon, if they choose to do so. |
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No new articles. |
| Puppet Masters |
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Tom Philpott
Mother Jones 2012-09-28 12:33:00
Mitt Romney hasn't divulged many details about what kind of agriculture policy he'd pursue as president. (Sound familiar?) But all signs suggest that he'd follow the agribiz party line. As Wayne Barrett showed in a recent Nation piece (my comment here), Romney has ties to agribusiness giant Monsanto that date to the '70s, when GMO seeds were an R&D project, not a business model. According to Barrett, Romney, then a young Bain consultant, helped nudge Monsanto on its path away from disgraced industrial chemical concern toward its current status as world-beating agribiz player. Then there's the agribiz execs and shills the GOP nominee tapped for his campaign's Agriculture Advisory Committee. But guess what? In the privacy of his campaign jet, the beleaguered presidential contender apparently eats organic, reports the Today show's Peter Alexander: |
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Fars News Agency
2012-09-28 03:35:00
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned the crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinians and other world nations, and said the Zionists' biggest crime is that they attribute themselves to the Jewish community who are peace-seeking people. The occupation of Palestine is only the small portion of the crimes committed by the Zionist regime and their biggest crime is that they attribute themselves to the Jewish community, President Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with the leaders of the International Jewish Anti-Zionism Network in New York. Referring to the fact that the Zionists are trying to attribute their ugly measures to the Jews, he noted that the Jews are peace-seeking people and favor broader friendship in the world like others followers of the divine religions such as Muslims, Christians and others. Spokesman for the International Jewish Anti-Zionism Network, David Weiss, for his part said that there are a large number of Jews in the world who are against the notion of Zionism and establishing a Zionist state. |
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The Guardian
2012-09-28 07:40:00
The California man behind a crudely produced anti-Islamic video that has inflamed parts of the Middle East has been declared a flight risk and detained by a federal court judge. Citing a lengthy pattern of deception, US central district chief magistrate judge Suzanne Segal said Nakoula Basseley Nakoula should be held after officials said he violated his probation from a 2010 check fraud conviction. "The court has a lack of trust in this defendant at this time," Segal said. Nakoula had eight probation violations, including lying to his probation officers and using aliases, and he might face new charges that carry a maximum two-year prison term, authorities said. After his 2010 conviction, Nakoula was sentenced to 21 months in prison and was barred from using computers or the internet for five years without approval from his probation officer. | |
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Comment: Source: Associated Press
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Luigi Zingales
European Voice 2012-09-27 07:28:00
The euro is an extreme - and dangerous - example of game theory Since the 1970s, game theory has led macroeconomists to emphasise the importance of 'commitment', a strategy that aims to enhance long-term economic outcomes by restricting policymakers' discretion. The idea seems counterintuitive: How can less produce more? While not historically accurate, one of the best examples of a strategic commitment is provided by the legend of Hernán Cortés, according to which, in his quest to conquer Mexico, he decided to burn the ships that had brought his expedition from Spain. At first, this might seem like a crazy move: Why intentionally destroy the only possible way out in case of defeat? Cortés allegedly did it to motivate his troops. With no escape route, soldiers were highly motivated to win. |
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Harriet Sherwood
Israeli prime minister's explicitness is unlikely to endear him to the Obama administration, but it was certainly memorableGuardian 2012-09-27 22:18:00
Binyamin Netanyahu's cartoon nuclear bomb certainly grabbed attention, but not necessarily the kind he wanted. No doubt it was intended as a bold and graphic way of presenting the Iranian nuclear threat, but much of the initial response - on Twitter, at least - was ridicule. In his speech to the UN general assembly, the Israeli prime minister adopted the persona of an elementary school science teacher talking to a particularly dim class to explain Iran's nuclear programme and the point at which it must be stopped. Having incessantly talked about "red lines" for the past few weeks, he literally drew one across the bomb to illustrate the point at which the international community should take decisive action. Netanyahu set his literal red line at the 90% threshold of uranium enrichment, a point which he said could be reached by next spring or summer. | |
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Comment: People like Bibi can't help it - they always
show their level of intelligence. Scary thing is that this man is in
charge of a murderous state which already has hundreds of nuclear
weapons!
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Alex Newman
The New American 2012-09-23 19:00:00
The New York Times has essentially become a "propaganda megaphone" to peddle the establishment's narrative - especially when it comes to war - charged foreign correspondent Daniel Simpson, who resigned from the paper in disgust. According to Simpson, the paper, which is often lambasted and ridiculed by conservatives and libertarians for its blatant "liberal" bias, is actually just a propaganda tool for the ruling establishment. In an explosive interview with the Kremlin-funded RT media broadcaster, the former Times correspondent, who was based in the Balkans during his stint at the newspaper, offered an inside look at how it all works. What appears to have bothered him more than anything was how the supposed paper "of record" was so determined to sell the Iraq war to the American people, even if it meant basically lying or repeating government lies to do so. "It seemed pretty glaringly obvious to me that the 'news fit to print' was pretty much the news that's fit to serve the powerful," Simpson explained, citing the warmongering over Iraq as a prime example. "The way that the paper's senior staff think is exactly like those in power - in fact, it's their job to become their friends." |
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| Society's Child |
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Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky and Jake Adelstein
Tokyo - Japan hanged two inmates this Thursday September 27th 2012, two months after the last executions took place on August 3rd.Japan Subculture 2012-09-28 13:31:00
Sachiko Eto, 65, a faith healer and self-professed exorcist, was convicted for murder after the deaths of six believers in Fukushima Prefecture between 1994 and 1995. According to Japanese media reports and The Associated Press, Sachiko Eto, her daughter and another accomplice had beaten their victims to death, using thick drumsticks designed for the Japanese 太鼓 (Taiko) and other blunt instruments. The beating were to "drive out demons hiding in their bodies" and conducted in her home. At least one of the exorcism (悪魔払い）was apparently motivated by Ms. Eto's decision that the the victim was sleeping with Ms. Eto's lover. Another victim was "exorcised" after refusing to loan Ms. Eto money. There were also questions as to the vanishing of her husband in 1992, before she became a spiritual leader. She was convicted on four counts of murder, and two counts of assault resulting in death. She was hanged this Thursday morning in Sendai detention center. At this point in the time, while Ms. Eto was blessed with magical powers, she has not successfully resurrected herself. Sachiko Eto is reportedly the first female in Japan to be executed in more than 15 years. Her daughter and the other accomplice have both been sentenced to life in prison. |
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9News
2012-09-27 20:01:00
Minneapolis -- Officials say a shooter who opened fired inside a Minneapolis sign company is among 'several' people killed in the shooting. Minneapolis Police Deputy Chief Kris Arneson says she can't immediately confirm how many people were killed in the shooting Thursday at Accent Signage Systems. Arneson says the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She told an evening news conference outside the company that there are "several victims inside that are dead." Pressed to say how many, Arneson said police still were investigating and refused. Police had earlier said at least two people had been killed and four others wounded in the shooting. |
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Amanda Holpuch
Guardian 2012-09-26 21:45:00
Prominent Egyptian-American writer and activist Mona Eltahawy has been released from police custody after being arrested in New York on Tuesday for spray painting a subway poster that equates Muslims with "savages". Eltahawy was charged with criminal mischief after she painted over a poster that read: "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man" and "Support Israel. Defeat Jihad." The anti-Muslim American Freedom Defense Initiative paid for the posters that are in 10 New York subway stations. A US court ruled the statements are "political" and protected by the first amendment's guarantee for free speech. Journalist Robin Morgan and Eltahawy tweeted information on the progress of her arrest throughout the night and Wednesday morning as she waited to appear before a judge. Earlier Tuesday, Eltahawy said she was planning to spray paint the signs and expressed no regret following her release:
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Comment: Read also: Prominent US-Egyptian columnist alleges police sexually abused her in detention
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| Secret History |
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Stephanie Pappas
LiveScience 2012-09-28 08:20:00
Ancient scraps of fabric found in a grave in Denmark are not made of cultivated flax as once believed, but instead are woven from imported wild nettles, suggesting the grave's inhabitant may have traveled far for burial. This discovery, announced today (Sept. 28) in the journal Scientific Reports, casts a new light on the textile trade in Bronze Age Europe, said study researcher Ulla Mannering, an archaeologist at the University of Copenhagen. "Since the Stone Age, they had very well-developed agriculture and technology for producing linen textiles," Mannering told LiveScience. "So it's really unusual that a society which has established agriculture would also take in material from things that are not of the normal standardized agricultural production" - in other words, wild plants. A luxurious shroud The soft and shiny fabric dates back to between 940 B.C. and 750 B.C., making it about 2,800 years old. It was discovered in Voldtofte, Denmark, at a rich Bronze Age burial ground called Lusehøj. The Bronze Age ran from about 3200 B.C. to 600 B.C. in Europe. The fabric was wrapped around a bundle of cremated remains in a bronze urn. It was a luxurious piece of material, Mannering said. "The fibers we get from the European nettle are very, very fine and soft and shiny, and we often say this is a sort of prehistoric silk textile," Mannering said. (Silk, made from insect cocoons, is known for its shimmery texture.) |
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| Science & Technology |
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George Dvorsky
NASA scientists working with Curiosity have announced that water did
indeed flow on Mars at one point in its history - and we're not
talking trickles. A newly discovered ancient streambed indicates that
the water ran fast and deep, possibly as much as hip deep. The discovery
marks a precedent setting achievement for the lander, one that will add
serious credibility to the suggestion that Mars was once capable of
harboring life. Satellite-based images had suggested that rivers once
flowed on Mars, but this discovery offers near-definitive proof that
water was once a major geological fixture of the Red Planet.io9.com 2012-09-28 10:52:00
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Michael Kelley
Business Insider 2012-09-21 22:06:00
That Guy Fawkes mask won't be the great identity equalizer much longer. The U.K.'s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has developed a recognition system that can identify people by the way they walk, Phys.Org reports. The technology can be used to track individuals through areas monitored by CCTV (i.e. security) cameras by analyzing their "gait signature," or specific way of walking. The system combines computer models of the area with CCTV feeds to record a person's gait signature at certain points, check where else that person has been in the area and display the results on a central computer. As of now it cannot pick someone out of a crowd with 100 percent certainty. |
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Stuart Clark
The Guardian 2012-09-21 18:27:00
Isaac Newton's belief in spirits and alchemy may have been essential to achieving his towering scientific achievement: gravity. A new science and arts festival begins this weekend to explore this complex man Hot on the heels of Isaac Newton's apple appearing at the Paralympics comes a new celebration of his life and achievements. The Gravity Fields Festival begins on Friday in Grantham, Lincolnshire. For eight days, Newton's life and times will be commemorated by more than 100 events around the town, during what could become a biennial event. Grantham lies close to Newton's birthplace, Woolsthorpe Manor, and contains the King's School, which the young Isaac attended. On Saturday at 3pm a blue plaque in his honour will be unveiled by the Astronomer Royal, Sir Martin Rees. Often wrongly portrayed as a cold rationalist, Isaac Newton is one of history's most compelling figures. It is true that he was capable of the most precise and logical thought it is possible for a human to achieve: his three years of obsessive work that gave birth to the Principia, containing his theory of gravity, stand as the greatest achievement in science. Just as certainly, though, he was also consumed with what we would now view as completely unscientific pursuits: alchemy and biblical prophesy. |
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| Earth Changes |
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David J. Mitchell
The Advocate 2012-09-27 22:15:00
A 1,500-square-foot section of earth caved in from the edge of a slurry-filled sinkhole near Bayou Corne in Assumption Parish on Tuesday night, pulling down with it several trees and part of an access road, officials said Wednesday. The road was built as a place for parking excavators that will be used in the pending cleanup of the sinkhole, which emerged Aug. 3 in swamps between the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou areas on property owned by Texas Brine Co., parish officials said in a blog post. The sinkhole - filled with a liquid mixture of brine, mud, vegetative matter and other substances - has forced the evacuation of residents in 150 households in the two communities. | |
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Comment: What are the officials in Louisiana hiding?
This recent video gives an in depth discussion of the sinkhole's recent
expansion, earthquakes increasing in the area, and the bubbling,
'radioactive' water of this potentially massive disaster. The Emergency
Update video below is from The Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle.
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| Fire in the Sky |
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No new articles. |
| Health & Wellness |
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L.B. Whyde
NewarkAdvocate 2012-09-26 22:47:00
Newark -- Before his 16th birthday in 2010, Colton Zigo started having pain in his back. After numerous tests and a misdiagnosis, it was determined Colton had Hodgkin's lymphoma. In January 2011, Zigo underwent four rounds of chemotherapy, lost his hair and was sick for two consecutive weeks. In April of that year, the cancer went into remission. But this March, while he was a junior at Career and Technical Education Center in the electronics and computer technology program, Zigo received the news that the cancer had returned. That was a blow to his parents, Becky and Tom Zigo, of Alexandria. "That devastated us," Becky Zigo said. "We thought we were done with everything." But this time, Colton didn't want to go through chemo again. Instead, the young man chose to fight it homeopathically on all fronts, through a combination of massage therapy, reflexology and special natural medication, as well as eating healthier. "I came up with the decision since the first time it didn't work," Colton said. "It was one of those feelings you get that just felt right." Through a friend, the family found a homeopathic doctor. But the lymph nodes in his neck swelled up to the point that it was hard to open his mouth wide enough to eat. |
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Science Daily
2012-09-27 00:00:00
An isolated outbreak of a deadly disease known as acute hemorrhagic fever, which killed two people and left one gravely ill in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the summer of 2009, was probably caused by a novel virus scientists have never seen before. Described this week in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, the new microbe has been named Bas-Congo virus (BASV) after the province in the southwest corner of the Congo where the three people lived. It was discovered by an international research consortium that included the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and University of California, Davis (UCD), Global Viral, the Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville in Gabon, the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale, Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Metabiota and others. "Known viruses, such as Ebola, HIV and influenza, represent just the tip of the microbial iceberg," said Joseph Fair, PhD, a co-author and vice president of Metabiota. "Identifying deadly unknown viruses, such as Bas-Congo virus, gives us a leg up in controlling future outbreaks." |
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| Science of the Spirit |
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No new articles. |
| High Strangeness |
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Benjamin Radford
Discovery News 2012-09-28 06:52:00
Artists and musicians are always seeking inspiration for their work, and in a recent radio interview with Ryan Seacrest, pop star Kesha talked about the inspiration for her new song "Supernatural." While many singers like Taylor Swift and Adele produce heartfelt songs about love and loss, Kesha's was a little different. "There are so many weird topics on this record from having sexy time with a ghost to getting hypnotized and going into past lives. I just really wanted the theme of this record to be the magic of life," she told Seacrest. Yes, "having sexy time" means what you think it means: Her song is about the time she had sex with a ghost. "I had a couple of experiences with the supernatural. I don't know his name! He was a ghost! I'm very open to it....I was in Africa rehabilitating baby lions. I went diving with great white sharks, and just went on this crazy spirit quest. I got hypnotized, and I just really wanted this record to be really positive, really raw, really vulnerable and about the magic of life." While this may seem like a bizarre (or publicity-savvy) revelation, Kesha is not alone; in fact many people have reported similar sexual experiences with spirits... and psychologists may have an explanation. |
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Daily Mail, UK
Farmers have been left bemused by a mysterious 250ft crop circle which
has appeared in the middle of a wheat field apparently overnight.2012-09-27 23:23:00 James Hussey woke to find the giant design flattened into his field in Hackpen Hill, Wiltshire, and claims he has been at a loss to explain it ever since. The farmer even opted to drive his combine harvester around the huge crop circle in his field so as not to destroy the design.
The large cube design and its meaning has sparked a furious debate since it appeared, with some predictably claiming it could be the work of extra terrestrials. Julian Gibsone, who runs the world's largest crop circle website, said: 'This was the last major crop circle of the season, which runs from around April to late August. |
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| Don't Panic! Lighten Up! |
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Agence France-Presse
2012-09-26 18:22:00
London - A British policeman put his colleagues on alert as he investigated a "suspicious bright light" - only to find it was the moon, an in-house magazine for the police reported on Wednesday. Police magazine reported that the hapless officer only realised his blunder after warning his fellow constables in Worcestershire, central England, that he might require back-up. The magazine's Dogberry column revealed: "While on night duty in Worcestershire by himself, a PC called up his sergeant to let him know that he was going up into the Clent Hills to investigate a 'suspicious bright light' that he could see shining from the other side of the hills. "The call was for safety reasons as he might need back-up once he found the source. "Twenty minutes later the PC called his sergeant back to reassure him that everything was ok and that he had found the source of the light. "This diligent PC had in fact discovered the moon." While the gaffe was once known only to the unnamed policeman's colleagues in the Worcestershire force, it has now been revealed to all 132,000 police rank-and-file officers in England and Wales who receive the magazine. |
