Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Ron Paul Calls for Audit of US Gold Reserves (Video)

Ron Paul says he will introduce a new bill to "legalize the Constitution" and introducing gold and silver as competing currencies against Federal Reserve Notes. He calls for an audit of US gold reserves, including what is in Fort Knox. 

U.S. Rep.  Ron Paul, R-Tex., plans to introduce a new bill next year that will allow for an audit of US gold reserves, he told Kitco News in an exclusive interview. 


Paul dropped the news in the interview, indicating that the bill still does not have an official name yet but will be unveiled at the start of the new U.S. Congress.

“If there was no question, you'd think they would be very anxious to prove to us that the gold is there,” he said.

This is not the first time the congressman has made his pitch. “In the early 1980s when I was on the gold commission, I asked them to recommend to the Congress that they audit the gold reserves – we had 17 members of the commission and 15 voted not to the audit,” said Paul. “I think there was only one decent audit done 50 years ago,” he said.

Though Paul did not say whether there is any truth to claims that there is no gold in Fort Knox or the New York Federal Reserve, he said, “I think it is a possibility.”

“If we ever get around to deciding we should use gold in relationship to our currency we ought to know how much is there,” said Paul.  “Our Federal Reserve admits to nothing and they should prove all the gold is there. There is a reason to be suspicious and even if you are not suspicious why wouldn’t you have an audit?” he said.

The gold audit follows his crusade last year looking to audit the Federal Reserve, which he says is the chief culprit behind the economic crisis.

“I don’t think the Federal Reserve should exist – it would be best for congress to exert their responsibilities and that is find out what they are doing”' said Paul.

"It is an ominous amount of power they have to create money out of thin air and being the reserve currency of the world and be able to finance runaway spending whether it is for welfare or warfare; it seems so strange that we have been so complacent not to even look at the books.  If we knew exactly what they were doing, who they were taking care of, there would be a growing momentum to reassess the whole system,” he told Kitco News.

Before the creation of the Federal Reserve however, the US saw 16 recessions from 1850 to 1910; they averaged 22 months long. During this time, the U.S. was in recession 60 out of 91 months. Many would argue that the severity of these recessions led to the creation of the Federal Reserve System.

“I think they would be exaggerating what happened before 1913,” Paul responds. “We had some panics …they were usually short and there were no long depressions,” he said.

“The Fed creates the bubbles and they are much worse since 1913, if you think of the size of the government and the valuation of the dollar, we are down to about a 2 cent dollar from the 1913 dollar.”

Paul said everyone accuses him of wanting the gold standard but he said he doesn't accept that.  “I accept the idea of a gold coin standard and I think we can do much better than what we had," he said. "There was a lot that they did pre-Fed that was not exactly right but we never had a disastrous loss of purchasing power long-term, we didn’t have a great depression, we didn’t have the 1970s with stagflation and we wouldn’t have what we have right now.”

Since the Fed’s creation in 1913 the dollar has lost more than 96% of its value, and by inflating the money supply the Fed continues to distort interest rates and intentionally erodes the value of the dollar said Paul.

Paul’s solution is to not replace the Fed with anything.  “It would make the dollar strong… who wants money to be devalued? I want a strong dollar and if it were equivalent to gold it would remain strong.”

Paul also said he wants to legalize the freedom for people to choose.  “My proposal for now is to legalize the constitution to use gold and silver as legal tender in a parallel standard and have it compete with paper money. If people get tired of using the paper standard they can deal in gold or silver,” he said.

On the topic of gold price manipulation, Paul said, “I think it is probably true.”

“I am not the one to lay out proof of this, others have done a lot of investigation.  One of the reasons I don’t dwell on that is they are not going to listen to us" he said. "But I think it is very important somebody talks about it and emphasizes it just as a warning to be careful; you don’t have to only anticipate what the markets are doing, but you have to anticipate what the government is doing.”

The best example of manipulating the ratio of gold to paper would have been from the late 1950s to 1971, said Paul. “We printed money like currency, we printed too many dollars against the gold, so they said, ‘we will take your gold.’ …if they are capable of that they are capable of doing this as well, because they don’t want their cover blown,” said Paul.

If the markets are saying not to trust paper money, they have to do everything they can to “destroy gold,” said Paul.

Recounting a visit with Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Fed Reserve, Rep. Paul said the Chairman walked straight into the room, went immediately to his staffer and asked what the price of gold was. “They know gold is important. I think they are quite willing to manipulate it. That is the only way they can maintain this false illusion about gold.”

“If they are involved isn’t it pretty amazing what has happened in past year? What will happen if they throw in the towel?” said Paul.

The current economic situation is very healthy for gold,  said Paul. “You see people rushing just to put their money in any place …they don’t even care about making money.” 

New Regulations  
When asked what regulations the Congressman is currently worried about, he said, “All of them.” However, Paul specifically points to the 1099 provision, a portion of the health-care act, passed earlier in the year.  “For every transaction of over $600, gold dealers have to fill out a form, it is a lot of paperwork,” said the congressman. Entities must file a Form 1099 with the Internal Revenue Service whenever they make transactions paying out $600 a year to another party. 

US Economy
It is going to continue to go downhill said Paul on the US economy. “I don’t believe in a double dip, I believe we have single-dip and it has been continuous.”

“The only reason it doesn’t look so bad is if you spend $2 trillion dollars and you have a $5 hundred billion increase in some GDP figures, you didn’t get much for your trillion dollars but it might improve your statistics,  so it was a fake recovery.”

As for another presidency run, Paul says it is too early to tell.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Jan Brewer: UN Human Rights Report 'Downright Offensive', Remove Reference To Arizona Immigration Law !


PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer demanded Friday that a reference to the state's controversial immigration law be removed from a State Department report to the United Nations' human rights commissioner.

Jan Brewer
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer















The U.S. included its legal challenge to the law on a list of ways the federal government is protecting human rights.

In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Brewer says it is "downright offensive" that a state law would be included in the report, which was drafted as part of a UN review of human rights in all member nations every four years.

"The idea of our own American government submitting the duly enacted laws of a state of the United States to 'review' by the United Nations is internationalism run amok and unconstitutional," Brewer wrote.

Arizona's law generally requires police officer enforcing other laws to investigate the immigration status of people they suspect are illegal immigrants.

Critics say it would lead officers to target Hispanics. Supporters, including Brewer, say the law prohibits racial profiling and other human rights abuses.

The U.S. Justice Department sued to block the measure, arguing federal law trumps the state's authority to enforce immigration laws.

A federal judge in July sided with the Justice Department and blocked enforcement of the law's most controversial provisions a day before it was scheduled to take effect.

In its report, the State Department does not specifically allege that Arizona's law would lead to racial profiling.

Article by JONATHAN J. COOPER Courtesy of HuffingtonPost

The "ObamaPhone"..You're Paying For It!

More Obamanomics

The following post was sent in by an independent contributor.

I had a former employee call me earlier today inquiring about a job, and at the end of the conversation he gave me his phone number. I asked the former employee if this was a new cell phone number, and he told me yes, it was for his “Obamaphone.”

I asked him what an “Obamaphone” was, and he went on to say that welfare recipients are now eligible to receive (1) a FREE new cell phone, and (2) approximately 70 FREE minutes of air time every month. It is also available in Spanish!

I was a little skeptical, so I Googled it, and lo and behold, he was telling the truth.

Think this is just some silly joke? Click on the link below to read more about the “ObamaPhone” 


www.safelinkwireless.com/EnrollmentPublic/Home.aspx

Wake up America!! Taxpayer money is being redistributed to welfare recipients for FREE cell phones.  Enough is enough, the ship is sinking, and it’s sinking fast. The age-old concepts of God, family, and hard work have flown out the window, and are being replaced with "Why should I work for it, when I can get it for free?"

You asked for “Change”… Well, you GOT IT! Right where the sun don’t shine..


Sunday, August 29, 2010

LA Sheriff Plans To Use Heat-Beam Ray To Zap Unruly Prisoners


Given the LA Sheriff office's history of abuse, this new device (weapon?) is most assuredly bound to be employed with glee by prison guards at every opportunity.

LOS ANGELES – A device designed to control unruly inmates by blasting them with a beam of intense energy that causes a burning sensation is drawing heat from civil rights groups who fear it could cause serious injury and is "tantamount to torture."

The mechanism, known as an "Assault Intervention Device," is a stripped-down version of a military gadget that sends highly focused beams of energy at people and makes them feel as though they are burning. 

The Los Angeles County sheriff's department plans to install the device by Labor Day, making it the first time in the world the technology has been deployed in such a capacity.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California criticized Sheriff Lee Baca's decision in a letter sent Thursday, saying that the technology amounts to a ray gun at a county jail. The 4-feet-tall weapon, which looks like a cross between a robot and a satellite radar, will be mounted on the ceiling and can swivel.

It is remotely controlled by an operator in a separate room who lines up targets with a joystick.
The ACLU said the weapon was "tantamount to torture," noting that early military versions resulted in five airmen suffering lasting burns. It requested a meeting with Baca, who declined the invitation.

The sheriff unveiled the device last week and said it would be installed in the dorm of a jail in north Los Angeles County. It is far less powerful than the military version and has various safeguards in place, including a three-second limit to each beam of heat.

The natural response when blasted — to leap out the way — would be helpful in bringing difficult inmates under control and quelling riots, the sheriff said.

But the sheriff was creating a dangerous environment with "a weapon that can cause serious injury that is being put into a place where there is a long history of abuse of prisoners," ACLU attorney Peter Eliasberg said. "That is a toxic combination."

Cmdr. Bob Osborne, who oversees technology for the sheriff's department, said the concerns were unfounded. He said he stood in front of the beam more than 50 times and that it never caused any sort of lasting damage.

"The neat thing with this device is you experience pain but you are not injured by it," Osborne said. "It doesn't injure your skin, the beam doesn't have the power to do that."

He said the device would be a more humane way of dealing with jail disturbances. Unlike hitting inmates with batons or deploying tear gas, a shot from the beam has no aftereffects, he said.
The device was made specifically for the sheriff's department by Raytheon Missile Systems. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said its $750,000 cost was paid for by a Department of Justice technology grant.

After a six-month trial, the sheriff will determine if the device is effective and if it should be deployed in other jails.

"When this pilot program is done, the realistic hope is it will accomplish not only what the sheriff's department wants but what the ACLU wants, which is to save lives harmlessly," Whitmore said.

A Raytheon spokesman on Thursday referred questions to the sheriff's department, but provided a fact sheet describing how the device only penetrates skin to a depth 1/64 of an inch. The military's version of the device can shoot a beam more than 800 feet but the sheriff's department model has a maximum range of 85 feet.

Angelica Arias, an attorney with the county's Office of Independent Review, which monitors the sheriff's department, said only deputies with special training would be able to use the device and a video would be automatically recorded each time it is operated.

"Based on the level of scrutiny the department has put on itself and its training, it doesn't appear there would be too much wiggle room for misuse," Arias said. 


Saturday, August 28, 2010

UPDATE: EPA Rejects Calls to Ban Lead in Ammo



The Environmental Protection Agency has denied a petition filed by environmental activists seeking to ban lead in ammunition, saying such regulation is beyond the agency's authority.

The agency's decision, announced Friday shortly after FoxNews.com published its report on the issue, sided with hunters and fishermen who had argued that the such regulations weren't allowed under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976.

"EPA is taking action on many fronts to address major sources of lead in our society, such as eliminating childhood exposures to lead," the agency said in a written statement. "However, EPA was not and is not considering taking action on whether the lead content in hunting ammunition poses an undue threat to wildlife."

A coalition of conservation groups had filed its petition earlier this month arguing that the use of lead in ammo and fishing tackle is poisoning the nation's lakes, ponds and forests and asking the EPA to ban the "manufacture, processing and distribution" of lead shot, bullets and fishing.
According to the petitioners, who include the Center for Biological Diversity and the American Bird Conservancy, up to 20 million birds and other animals are killed each year due to lead poisoning in the United States, and at least 75 wild bird species -- including bald eagles, ravens and endangered California condors -- are poisoned by spent lead ammunition. They say roughly 3,000 tons of lead are expelled into U.S. hunting grounds annually, with another 80,000 tons released at shooting ranges, and another 4,000 tons of lead fishing lures and sinkers are lost in ponds and streams.

But sportsmen don't want anyone tinkering with the tools of their trade.

The Toxic Substances Control Act allows the EPA to regulate "chemical substances" under certain circumstances, but Congress explicitly excluded from regulation any article subject to excise taxes -- including pistols, revolvers, firearms, shells and cartridges.

Chris Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action, objected to the pettion, saying the conservationists were trying to circumvent this rule by suggesting that while ammunition itself is exempt from regulation, the chemical components of the ammo and fishing lures -- specifically, the lead -- can fall under the EPA's jurisdiction.

But environmental activists like Michael Fry of the American Bird Conservancy told FoxNews.com that the petitioners waited to submit their request until nontoxic alternatives such as steel, copper and alloy became readily available.

"Ammunition itself cannot be regulated [under the Act], but the components itself can be regulated," Fry said in an interview before the EPA's decision was announced. "In other words, you cannot ban ammunition, but you can require nontoxic ammunition. ... We're not trying to ban handgun ammunition. This is strictly a toxicity issue, with lead poisoning wildlife."

Weekend Emergency! Help Us Stop Obama and His Latest Trickery To Ban Guns By Outlawing Ammo


He’s at it again!

I’ve told you to beware of an Obama sneak attack, and here it comes.

In the face a tough election year, Barack Obama and the anti-gunners are willing to do ANYTHING to infringe upon your right to keep and bear arms.

Right now, Barack Obama has teamed up with liberal special interest groups to use the un-elected bureaucrats in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban all traditional forms of ammunition.

That’s right, Obama and his cronies are trying to ban ALL your ammo.

By using the Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976, they want to ban all hunting, target and self-defense ammo that contains lead, no matter how little.

Make no mistake — this is gun control at its worst.

Since your actions have stopped their plans to pass ammo and gun bans so far in congress,  they’re using the old end-run.

Obama and his anti-gun cronies in the EPA know that by banning all but the most expensive ammo, they’ve effectively banned your guns in all but name.

And they’ve certainly destroyed the red-blooded American past time of just plain shooting.
To make matters worse, the anti-gunners are hoping to sneak this attack on our Second 

Amendment Rights through as a bureaucratic rule change.

They know that when they introduce gun control as legislation that gun owners like you and I have tremendous grassroots power.

The anti-gun lobby knows that is you keep the heat on congress most members of Congress will be afraid of angering gun owners so close to an election.

So they’re simply bypassing the democratic, legislative process all together by counting on bureaucrats in the EPA to do their anti-gun dirty work.

Think this doesn’t apply to you? Think again.

The goal of this rule change is simple: drive the price of ammo through the roof for all but law enforcement and the military.

Virtually all hunting, target and self-defense ammo has some lead components.

They’re trying to disarm us one bullet at a time.

But here’s where our opportunity comes: The EPA has opened up a public comment period on this proposed attack on our right to keep and bear arms.

And I want you to join with me in making them rue the day they opened up this can of worms.

I want federal staff members –- who are required by law to seek “public input” into this regulatory change - to receive an avalanche of “public input” on this issue.

But comments to the Obam-crats at the EPA are not likely to make much difference.  After all, they are not up for re-elections.

That’s why I am going to take a copy of every single petition and deliver it to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid with a simple message…

If the EPA ban ammunition, gun owners will hold Pelosi, Reid and their Democrat majorities 100% responsible for doing nothing to stop it.

Seriously. I want this to go down in the history books right next to dumping tea in Boston harbor as a moment of public protest over unjust and outrageous government overstepping of authority.

Please take a moment to make your voice heard by the bureaucrats at the EPA… and be a part of this epic battle to save our firearms rights.


My staff and I at the National Association for Gun Rights will compile your petitions for public comment and forward them to the EPA as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Gun owners like you and me must make our voices heard. The anti-gun special interest groups are trying to ban all hunting, target and self-defense ammo that contains even trace elements of lead.

I know it’s hard to believe, but the anti-gunners in D.C. think they’ve found the perfect way to violate your rights and avoid the tough legislative battles they would need to pass this as a bill.

They’re bypassing the legislative process so that they can achieve their two most important goals: banning guns and protecting their puppet politicians’ reelections.

I’ll be honest: backroom deals and midnight bureaucratic rule changes like this are hard to fight.
Unelected bureaucrats aren’t susceptible to the same kind of grassroots pressure that elected members of Congress are.

But if Pelosi and Reid figure out gun owners will turn on their Democrat majorities in mass, you can bet they will light up the White House phones with demands the EPA back down.

Or they could even do the right thing — don’t bet on it — and pass emergency legislation to strip the EPA of all power to regulate guns and ammo.

That’s why it’s so important that you click here to sign our petition, RIGHT NOW.

The only way we can stop this ban on all traditional ammo is by making our voices heard LOUD AND CLEAR.


My staff will complete and deliver these petitions to maximize their affect.

Unfortunately, we don’t have much time. Federal agencies like the EPA don’t really want to hear from you and me. They’re required by law to accept comments, but they won’t take them a day longer than they’re required.


Your immediate action is vital to our success. We cannot allow un-elected bureaucrats in the EPA to ban all hunting, target and self-defense ammo which contains even trace elements of lead.

P.S. The un-elected bureaucrats in the Environmental Protection Agency are trying to use an ancient, arcane law to ban virtually all hunting, target and self-defense ammo.
They’re trying to use a bureaucratic end-run to bypass the legislative process and ban ammo without a single member of Congress casting a single vote.


Congressional Candidate Lieutenant Colonel Allen West (Video)

America needs more candidates like this fine man running for Congress and Americans need to be running the majority of those crooks in Congress out!




You can learn more about Mr. West on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ElectAllenWest

God Bless America and Her Patriots!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Is Barack Obama Really A Saudi / Muslim "Plant" in the White House? Decide for Yourself (Video)

Even Tony Robbins Is Alerting That An Economic Collapse Is Coming (Videos)

It seems like almost everyone is warning of a coming economic collapse these days.  Do you remember Tony Robbins?  He is probably the world's best known "motivational speaker" and his infomercials dominated late night television during the 80s and 90s.  He was always urging all of us to "unleash the power within" and to take charge of our lives.  Well guess what?  

Now Tony Robbins is warning that an economic collapse is coming. In fact, he has issued a special video warning about what he believes is about to happen. Considering the incredible connections that he has at the highest levels of the financial world, it makes a lot of sense to consider what he is trying to warn us about. Robbins says that a "major retracement" is coming to financial markets and that the coming collapse is going to be a "painful process" as we go through it.  

Those familiar with Tony Robbins know that he always goes out of his way to stress the positive, so if even he is openly warning the public about a coming economic nightmare than you know that things are starting to get really, really bad out there.

Video 1

Video 2

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Obama Administration Sides with Foreign Nation Against the United States (Video)


Professor Terry J. Lovell puts a different spin on what Obama is doing to help Arizona, he repeats the important parts and speaks slow enough to follow what he is saying.  It may be the best video produced on the illegal alien problems that we have.

Wake up America! Obama and his cronies are running this country as if it were theirs.... not OURS!!

Fisherman Forced To Release BP From Liability For Contaminated Seafood (Video)

Gulf fisherman asked to sign waivers of liability for seafood taken from Gulf. It is the FDAs responsibility to test and authenticate the safety of the products. If the catches are found to contain toxins directly related to the spill, BP needs to assume liability. 

Are you listening Congress? Remember....you work for us, not them!






Saturday, August 21, 2010

Genetically Manipulated Crops: GMO Catastrophe in US a Lesson for the World


Recently the unelected potentates of the EU Commission in Brussels have sought to override what has repeatedly been shown to be the overwhelming opposition of the European Union population to the spread of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in EU agriculture. EU Commission President now has a Maltese accountant as health and environment Commissioner to rubber stamp the adoption of GMO. The former EU Environment 
 Commissioner from Greece was a ferocious GMO opponent. As well, the Chinese government has indicated it may approve a variety of GMO rice. Before things get too far along, they would do well to take a closer look at the world GMO test lab, the USA. 
There GMO crops are anything but beneficial. Just the opposite.

What is carefully kept out of the Monsanto and other agribusiness propaganda in promoting genetically manipulated crops as an alternative to conventional is the fact that in the entire world until the present, all GMO crops have been manipulated and patented for only two things—to be resistant or “tolerant” to the patented highly toxic herbicide glyphosate chemicals that Monsanto and the others force farmers to buy as condition for buying their patented GMO seeds. The second trait is GMO seeds that have been engineered genetically to resist specific insects. Contrary to public relations myths promoted by the agribusiness giants in their own self-interest, there exists not oné single GMO seed that provides a greater harvest yield than conventional, nor one that requires less toxic chemical herbicides. That is for the simple reason there is no profit to be made in such.

 
Giant super-weeds plague

As prominent GMO opponent and biologist, Dr Mae-Wan Ho of the Institute of Science in London has noted, companies such as Monsanto build into their seeds herbicide-tolerance (HT) due to glyphosate-insensitive form of the gene coding for the enzyme targeted by the herbicide. The enzyme is derived from soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Insect-resistance is due to one or more toxin genes derived from the soil bacterium Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis). The United States began large scale commercial planting of GMO plants, mainly soybeans and corn and cotton around 1997. By now, GM crops have taken over between 85 percent to 91 percent of the areas planted with the three major crops, soybean, corn and cotton in the US, on nearly 171 million acres.

The ecological time-bomb that came with the GMO according to Ho, is about to explode. Over several years of constant application of patented glyphosate herbicides such as Monsanto’s famous and highly Roundup, new herbicide-resistant “super-weeds” have evolved, nature’s response to man-made attempts to violate it. The super-weeds require significantly more not less herbicide to control.

ABC Television, a major US national network, made a recent documentary about the super-weeds under the rubric, “super weeds that can’t be killed.”[1]

They interviewed farmers and scientists across Arkansas who described fields overrun with giant pigweed plants that can withstand as much glyphosate as farmers are able to spray. They interviewed one farmer who spent almost €400000 in only three months in a failed attempt to kill the new super-weeds.

The new super-weeds are so robust that harvester combines are unable to harvest the fields and hand tools break trying to cut them down. At least 400000 hectares of soybean and cotton in Arkansas alone have become invested with this new mutant biological plague. Detailed data on other agricultural regions is not available but believed similar. The pro-GMO and pro-agribusiness US Department of Agriculture has been reported lying about the true state of US crop harvest partly to hide the grim reality and to prevent an explosive revolt against GMO in the world’s largest GMO market.

Superweed

One variety of super-weed, palmer pigweed can grow up to 2.4 meters high, withstands severe heat and prolonged droughts, and produces thousands of seeds with a root system that drains nutrients away from crops. If left unchecked, it takes over an entire field in a year. Some farmers have been forced to abandon their land. To date palmer pigweed infestation in GMO crop regions has been identified in addition to Arkansas, also in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, New Mexico, Mississippi and most recently, Alabama and Missouri.

Weed scientists at the University of Georgia estimate that just two palmer pigweed plants in every 6 meter length of cotton row can reduce yield by at least 23 percent. A single weed plant can produce 450 000 seeds. [2]

 
Roundup toxic danger being covered-up

Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the US and the world at large. Patented and sold by Monsanto since the 1970s under the trade name Roundup, it is a mandatory component of buying GMO seeds from Monsanto. Just go to your local garden store and ask for it and read the label carefully.

As I detail in my book, Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation, GMO crops and patented seeds were developed in the 1970’s with significant financial support from the pro-eugenics Rockefeller Foundation, by what were essentially chemical companies—Monsanto Chemicals, DuPont and Dow Chemicals. All three were involved in the scandal of the highly toxic Agent Orange used in Vietnam, as well as Dioxin in the 1970’s, and lied to cover up the true damage to its own employees as well as to civilian and military populations exposed.
Their patented GMO seeds were seen as a clever way to force increased purchase of their agricultural chemicals such as Roundup. Farmers must sign a legal contract with Monsanto in which it stipulates that only Monsanto Roundup pesticide may be used. Farmers are thus trapped both in buying new seeds from Monsanto each harvest and buying the toxic glyphosate.
France’s University of Caen, in a team led by molecular biologist, Gilles-Eric Seralini, did a study that showed Roundup contained one specific inert ingredient, polyethoxylated tallowamine, or POEA. Seralini’s team demonstrated that POEA in Roundup was more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than even the glyphosate itself. Monsanto refuses to release details of the contents of its Roundup other than glyphosate, calling it “proprietary.” [3]

The Seralini study found that Roundup’s inert ingredients amplified the toxic effect on human cells—even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns! The French team studied multiple concentrations of Roundup, from the typical agricultural or lawn dose down to concentrations 100,000 times more dilute than the products sold on shelves. The researchers saw cell damage at all concentrations.

Glyphosate and Roundup are advertised as “less toxic to us than table salt” in a pamphlet from the Biotechnology Institute promoting GMO crops as ‘Weed Warrior.’ Thirteen years of GMO crops in the USA has increased overall pesticide use by 318 million pounds, not decreased as promised by the Four Horsemen of the GMO Apocalypse. The extra disease burden on the nation from that alone is considerable.

Nonetheless after introduction of Monsanto GMO seeds commercially in the USA, use of glyphosate has risen more than 1500% between 1994 and 2005. In the USA some 100 million pounds of glyphosate are used on lawns and farms every year, and over the last 13 years, it has been applied to more than a billion acres. When questioned, Monsanto’s technical development manager, Rick Cole, reportedly said the problems were “manageable.” He advised farmers to alternate crops and use different makes of herbicides produced by Monsanto. Monsanto is encouraging farmers to mix glyphosate with its older herbicides such as 2,4-D, banned in Sweden, Denmark and Norway for links to cancer and reproductive and neurological damage. 2,4-D is a component of Agent Orange, produced by Monsanto for use in Vietnam in the 1960s.

US farmers turn to organics

Farmers across the United States are reported to be going back to conventional non-GMO crops instead. According to a new report from the US Department of Agriculture, retail sales of organic food went up to $21.1 billion in 2008 from $3.6 billion in 1997.[4] The market is so active that organic farms have struggled at times to produce sufficient supply to keep up with the rapid growth in consumer demand, leading to periodic shortages of organic products.

The new UK Conservative-Liberal coalition government is strongly backing lifting a de facto ban on GMO in that country. UK Chief Scientific Adviser, Prof. John Beddington, recently wrote an article in which he misleadingly claimed “The next decade will see the development of combinations of desirable traits and the introduction of new traits such as drought tolerance. By mid-century much more radical options involving highly polygenic traits may be feasible.” He went on to promise “cloned animals with engineered innate immunity to diseases” and more. I think we can pass that one up, thank you.

A recent study by Iowa State University and the US Department of Agriculture assessing the performance of farms during the three-year transition it takes to switch from conventional to certified organic production showed notable advantages of organic farming over GMO or even conventional non-GMO crops. In an experiment lasting four years—three years transition and first year organic—the study showed that although yields dropped initially, they equalized in the third year, and by the fourth year, the organic yields were ahead of the conventional for both soybean and corn.

As well, the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) has recently been published, the result of three-year deliberation by 400 participating scientists and non-government representatives from 110 countries around the world. It came to the conclusion that small scale organic agriculture is the way ahead for coping with hunger, social inequities and environmental disasters. [5] As Dr Ho argues, a fundamental shift in farming practice is needed urgently, before the agricultural catastrophe spreads further across Germany and the EU to the rest of the world.[6]

Endnotes:

[1] Super weed can’t be killed, abc news, 6 October 2009. See also, Jeff Hampton, N.C. farmers battle herbicide-resistant weeds, The Virginian-Pilot, 19 July 2009, http://hamptonroads.com/2009/07/nc-farmers-battle-herbicideresistant-weeds
[2] Clea Caulcutt, ‘Superweed’ explosion threatens Monsanto heartlands, Clea Caulcutt, 19 April 2009, http://www.france24.com/en/20090418-superweed-explosion-threatens-monsanto-heartlands-genetically-modified-US-crops
[3] N. Benachour and G-E. Seralini, Glyphosate Formulations Induce Apoptosis and Necrosis in Human Umbilical, Embryonic, and Placental Cells, Chem. Res. Toxicol., Article DOI: 10.1021/tx800218n  Publication Date (Web): December 23, 2008.
[4] Carolyn Dimitri and Lydia Oberholtzer, Marketing U.S. organic foods: recent trends from farms to consumers, USDA Economic Research Service, September 2009, http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB58/
[5] International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development, IAASTD, 2008, http://www.agassessment.org/index.cfm?Page=Press_Materials&ItemID=11
[6] Ho MW.UK Food Standards Agency study proves organic food is better. Science in Society 44, 32-33, 2009.

F. William Engdahl is the author of “Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation.” He is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by F. William Engdahl 

Friday, August 20, 2010

US Says It Is Not Illegal For Schools To Spy On Students At Home (Video)

Is Big Brother giving our schools the OK to be Big Brother too?

IT LOOKS LIKE PROSECUTORS are not going to get involved in the bizarre case of the school which switched on laptops to spy on students while they were in their own bedrooms.

US Attorney Zane David Memeger told USA Today, investigators had found no evidence of criminal intent by Lower Merion School District employees who activated tracking software that took thousands of webcam and screenshot images on school-provided laptops.

A student and his family sued the district in February, claiming officials invaded his privacy by activating the software and the civil case is ongoing.

The school has admitted that it captured 56,000 screen shots and webcam images mostly so it could find missing student laptops. But in the case of this student the school appears to have been using the laptops to investigate home drug use.



By saying that the school was not "criminal" the prosecutors are not implying that the outfit was right. However it does mean that schools do not have to be worried about being locked up for spying on their students using this method.

It also says that breaches of privacy that are not carried out for "bad reasons" is OK in the United States. So if you are a company that wants to watch what its employees get up to in their home in case they might be taking corporate secrets, that is OK one imagines.

You could still be sued if the employee finds out, but it is not criminal. One wonders then if HP should ever have gone down for the pre-texting scandal or are schools allowed to do what they like?

You can find the background on this disturbing story here and here.

Article by Nick Farrel, Inquirer.net

Thursday, August 19, 2010

OBAMANOMICS EXPLAINED: Spreading the Wealth (Video)

Thanks to this video from Penn & Teller, I fully understand Obamanomics.  It still doesn’t make sense but at least it is understandable now.  Tomorrow, we’ll explore unicorns and tooth fairies..

Stop the Presses! A Politician Lied? Say it ain't so...


Click on Cartoon to Enlarge

Thanks to a lone, holdout juror, former Illinois Governor narrowly escaped being found guilty of trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat. He was found guilty on only one charge: Lying.

Stop the presses! A politician lied? Say it ain't so...

If that crime were widely prosecuted, there would hardly be a Congressman or Senator left standing in Washington. Not to excuse Blagojevich's behavior -- he was apparently a two-faced political sellout -- but who in Washington hasn't lied?

As Ross Perot will tell you, nobody ever got elected telling the voters the truth they don't want to hear. Especially when it involves the national debt -- a topic that's still off limits during virtually every political campaign. Lying is a matter of course for "successful" politicians, from the day their campaign begins to their last day in office (and often, even continuing far after...)

But let's get to the more serious criminal charge here: That Blagojevich allegedly attempted to sell a U.S. Senate seat. Again, not to excuse Blagojevich's behavior (which was despicable), but isn't every U.S. Senate seat ultimately for sale?

How do you think Senators get elected? They run campaigns paid for by corporations and special interests groups. These campaigns can cost tens of millions of dollars, and the corporations that pony up this cash don't do it out of the good of their hearts... they expect something in return. And that payback comes in the form of legislative votes that favor the financial interests of the very same companies who put these people into office.

Thanks to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that now allows corporations to anonymously contribute unlimited funds to a candidate's campaign, the U.S. Senate may be more accurately described as an open legislative bazaar where any vote is ultimately for sale to the highest bidder. Or, to translate it into internet vernacular, it's a grand legislative ebay.

Blagojevich's crime, if indeed he is ultimately found guilty of it, was being too blatant about selling the seat. To really master the art of Washington corruption, you have to be more subtle about it. Spout some nice-sounding words like "jobs" and "freedom" while you're selling out your voters behind their backs. That's what the voters really want, after all: To be lied to by nice-sounding politicians so they don't have to think about where America is really headed (and who's really running things in our corporatocracy).
 
The CounterThink Cartoon

In thinking about all this, I began to wonder: What might happen if members of the U.S. Congress went to get a medical checkup and their doctors told them the truth?

Now, I know Blagojevich isn't a Congressman, but his blatant deceptions inspired me to use a caricature of his face for this cartoon which features hilarious dialog between a U.S. Congressman and his doctor.

Doctor: "Well, Congressman, you have no backbone, you're spineless, you lack vision and you suffer from a severe deficiency of personal integrity."

Congressman: "Yeah, but is there anything actually WRONG with me?"

What's implied here, of course, is that deceptive members of Congress don't even see their behavior as faulty in any way. Lying to the voters, compromising the long-term health of the nation for short-term political gains, and refusing to stand up for real justice are such common traits in the U.S. Capitol that members of Congress don't even consider them to be faults.

See, it's not merely that members of Congress sell out the voters and compromise America's future for their own short-term power interests; it's that they don't see anything wrong with that! This is the real source of the problem: The lack of personal integrity.

Health reform protects Big Pharma

And this brings me to the recent health reform bill, which was designed from the start to protect and serve the financial interests of the pharmaceutical companies. See my story about Sen. Harry Reid's engineering of this bill and learn how much money he's received from Big Pharma:

The health bill we got, it turns out, wasn't intended to help the American people at all. It was rigged from the start to protect Big Pharma's sick-care monopoly -- the same monopoly that has now been exposed as a complete farce and a total waste of money.

See, Rod Blagojevich may have attempted to sell out a U.S. Senate seat, but the Senators already in office sold out their entire country. They betrayed us all by pandering to the profit interests of Big Pharma. And they will continue to do so, again and again, because Big Pharma contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to their reelection campaigns, drowning out the irrelevant financial influence of everyday citizens like you and me.

Let's face it: The entire U.S. Congress is already for sale. If Blagojevich is a criminal (and I believe he probably is), then so is virtually every member of Congress.

Of course, I understand there are exceptions. I know there are some members who practice personal integrity, who say what they believe and who attempt to fight the despicable lies that typify behavior in Washington. People like Rep. Ron Paul come to mind, of course, and there are undoubtedly some others who deserve recognition for taking a stand against political corruption.

But honest people are a rarity in Washington -- or indeed in any nation's seat of power. Washington is a seductive place, you see. Even well-meaning people who intend to stand up against corruption and genuinely vote the interests of their constituents all too easily end up seduced by the siren song of continued power.

To stay in power in Washington almost always means compromising your principles, because he who rocks the boat gets thrown overboard. So if you want to stay in the boat, you've got to go with the flow. And the flow, as usual, is ultimately just cash flow paraded around as Democracy.


Cartoon by Mike Adams Article courtesy of NaturalNews

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Salt in the Wound - Must See Music Video. Please pass it on!


Award winning Texas songwriter Rita Jones has written a song against the Cordoba House Mosque. It is being built so close to Ground Zero where the terrorist 9-11-2001 attack on the World Trade Center occurred, it is an insult to America! Rita feels passionate about this subject and has written this new song, “Salt In The Wound” about the subject and we would like to share it with you.


SALT IN THE WOUND LYRICS
Rita W. Jones

Intro:
We interrupt this program for a special report!
BREAKING NEWS!  THIS JUST IN – YOU’RE LOOKING AT, OBVIOUSLY, A VERY DISTURBING LIVE SHOT OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER THIS MORNING, AND REPORTS ARE COMING IN THAT A PLANE HAS CRASHED INTO ONE OF THE TOWERS AT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER.
Well, you’re welcome to leave
If you object to my directness
But, America’s dyin’
From political correctness
So, I’ll tell it like it is
So YOU know that WE know
Why you wanna build a mosque
Near Ground Zero
On a warm September morning
Back in two thousand one
That’s the day the war on terror
Was officially begun
Over three thousand died
As the Towers fell in flames
And, the Islam jihadists
Proudly took the blame
(Chorus)  What kind of fools
Do you think we are
It’s the ULTIMATE INSULT
This time you’ve gone TOO FAR
Build your mosque in DEATH VALLEY
Or, for all WE care – THE MOON
All you really wanna do is rub
Salt in the wound
(Instrumental)
Well, you claim you wanna build it
As a tribute to the victims
And enlighten the whole world
About the peacefulness of Islam
You don’t care about the families
And how it would upset ‘em
HEY!  EVERYTHING we need to know
We learned on 9/11
(Repeat Chorus)
(Bridge)  Cordoba House
Did you get that name
From the one you built to celebrate
Your conquest of Spain
You wanna spit on their graves
And call it CULTURE
That’s HALLOWED GROUND
BACK OFF, YOU VULTURES!!!
(Repeat Chorus, Tag and Talk)
(Tag)  If it NEVER gets built
That’ll be TOO SOON
All you really wanna do is rub
Salt in the wound
(Talk)  You know, I just WONDER what all of those innocent people who died on 9/11 would have to say about this travesty – those who died in the Twin Towers, at the Pentagon, and on Flight 93 – the first responders who gave their lives trying to save them  - what would THEY say about our spineless politicians allowing the religion of those who put them in their graves to be honored near the spot were the died.  Ladies and gentlemen, THEY DESERVE BETTER!  This is an ABSOLUTE DISGRACE TO AMERICA!