0 10 New Illegal Drilling projects in Gulf of Mexico approved by Department of Interior

WASHINGTON -- The Interior Department has approved 10 oil and gas exploration projects in the Gulf of Mexico since October, in violation of two laws that protect whales and other marine mammals, environmental groups said Thursday.

The Interior Department has approved 10 oil and gas exploration projects in the Gulf of Mexico since October, in violation of two laws that protect whales and other marine mammals, environmental groups said Thursday.

The projects were approved without the permits required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act, said the Center for Biological Diversity, the Gulf Restoration Network, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club, writing in a formal notice of their intent to sue the government.

"Even after the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, the feds are still violating the laws intended to protect the Gulf's wildlife in their rush to approve offshore oil activities," Miyoko Sakashita, Center for Biological Diversity's oceans director, said in a news release.

Interior Department spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said officials wouldn't comment.

The environmental groups said the seismic testing that oil companies use to search for oil can cause hearing loss in marine mammals, drive them away from feeding grounds and disturb their breeding.

The Gulf of Mexico is home to endangered sperm whales. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said sperm whales are the only endangered whales commonly found there, but the environmental groups said in their letter that five other whale species listed as endangered under the law also inhabit the Gulf.

"It is intolerable to think that the same species threatened by the Gulf spill will have to contend with the industry's constant pounding, without any serious attempt to mitigate the harm," Natural Resources Defense Council senior policy analyst Michael Jasny said.

The groups' letter also charges that the government violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to account adequately for the impact of an oil spill, and of the noise from oil exploration and production, when it created a five-year oil-and gas-leasing program for 2007-2012 in the central and western Gulf of Mexico.

The groups said their suit would be filed against the Department of Interior; the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement; the National Marine Fisheries Service; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and the Department of Commerce.

Read more:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11042/1124604-115.stm#ixzz1DdIRGNI0

0 Video – Car Bomb Explosion In Iraq Caught On Camera

Moment of Iraq explosion caught on video as bombs target police in Kirkuk – Russia Today Youtube Channel:
A spate of car bombs in northern Iraq have killed at least 7 people and wounded some 80 others. One of the attacks which happened in the country’s northern city of Kirkuk was captured on camera. Two car bombs were aimed at police patrols while a third device exploded outside a building that houses the Kurdish security forces. No group has so far claimed responsibility.

0 Patriot Act falls at first hurdle

The first leg of a process to renew the controversial US Patriot Act failed in the House of Representatives here in Washington DC on Tuesday night.

A required two-thirds majority was not achieved on the floor of the chamber.

The bill is likely to be reintroduced on another occasion but it is a blow to the new Republican leadership in the US House.

During the debate the arguments for and against were vigorous. This from Republican Congressman Lamar Smith from Texas: "The Patriot Act works - it has proved effective in preventing terrorist attacks and protecting Americans.  To let these provisions expire would leave every American less safe."

And this from Republican congressman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin: "The terrorist threat has not subsided and will not expire and neither should our national security laws."

It had been assumed the House would easily signal approval for the security agencies to go on accessing without court permission the business, financial, phone and email records of anyone suspected of links with terrorist groups.

Foreign individuals and entities are the main target but the act can affect the privacy of all Americans.

Lone Wolves

The so-called Lone Wolves who operate outside known terror organisations are also targeted in the bill.

The Patriot Act - originally signed into law by president George Bush immediately after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington - has traditionally been criticised by liberals and libertarians who fear it's powers rob Americans of rights guaranteed them under the US constitution.

Dennis Kucinich, the Democratic congressman from Ohio, appealed to the House: "What's happening in our country?  Why are we giving up our freedoms? We need to take a stand here and today's as good as any."

While Republican congressman Ron Paul from Texas said : "We should really question why we're extending this?  We're extending the worst parts! Why were they sunsetted? Because people had concerns about them?"

Enough Republicans clearly expressed second thoughts to thwart the bill in the House on the grounds the Patriot Act is too invasive and represents "big government" to which they are opposed.

However, time is running out to extend these three key provisions, they "sunset" - or cease to become law - at the end of the month.

The issue has yet to move to the upper house the senate, where it is known there are two proposals that would extend the Act till the end of 2013 - something the White House says it favours - a position that has drawn the ire of civil-liberties campaigners.

aljazeera.net 

0 Got a Confession to Make? There’s an App for That!

iSinned. iLied. iCoveted.

Don’t worry, there’s an app for that.

Catholics with a guilty conscience no longer need to find a priest to unburden their souls. They just need to whip out their iPhones. Confession: A Roman Catholic App, bills itself as “the perfect aid for every penitent.” Sanctioned by the Catholic Church in the United States, the application guides users through the sacrament and promises “a personalized examination of conscience for each user,” according to its description on iTunes.com. Worried about the secrecy of your sinning? Don’t be. The app comes with “password-protected profiles.” Other highlights: “ability to add sins not listed in standard examination of conscience” and “choose from seven different acts of contrition.”

The app’s developers say they were inspired by Pope Benedict XVI’s World Communication Day address last year, in which he called on priests to embrace digital communication.

Unfortunately, the app can’t grant absolution. Catholics still have to see a priest for that. For now, anyway.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/video/pope-20/article1152189/ 
__________________

UPDATE 10/02/2011:

All you technology friendly sinners will now have to wait...

Vatican Bans Confession Via iPhone App

0 Have Crop Circle designs been warning of a coming "Polar Shift"?

Jakarta Globe January 24, 2011 

 Yogyakarta. Hundreds of curious visitors have flocked to a small rice field in Yogyakarta to witness what could be Indonesia’s first documented crop circle

Ngadiran, one of six farmers who owns the land in Sleman district where the crop circle, measuring 70 meters in diameter, was found on Sunday afternoon, told the Jakarta Globe on Monday that he had not seen what had caused the distinctive pattern but others may have. 

“According to several residents, they saw a tornado on Saturday evening,” he said. 

“On Sunday afternoon, we saw the design in our fields.” He would not say if he believed that an unidentified flying object was behind the crop circle, which contains a number of symbols. 

The farmers have fenced off the area to prevent their fields from being trampled by sightseers, while police have cordoned off the area. 

The latter have declined to speculate on how the circle was made. 

Read More: http://www.cropcirclewisdom.co.uk/indo/java.html

 

 

The villagers of Salman, Jakarta,Indonesia woke up on Sunday January 23 with something very strange in their backyard: for the first time, a Crop Circle appeared in a rice field. The message: The Magnetosphere is ready....

0 Freed young leader energizes Egyptian protests

CAIRO (AP) - A young leader of Egypt's anti-government protesters, newly released from detention, joined a massive crowd of hundreds of thousands in Cairo's Tahrir Square for the first time Tuesday, greeted by cheers, whistling and thunderous applause when he declared: "We will not abandon our demand and that is the departure of the regime."
Many in the crowd said they were inspired by Wael Ghonim, the 30-year-old Google Inc. marketing manager who was a key organizer of the online campaign that sparked the first protest on Jan. 25 to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. Straight from his release from 12 days of detention, Ghonim gave an emotionally charged television interview Monday night where he sobbed over those who have been killed in two weeks of clashes.

Egyptian Wael Ghonim, a Google Inc. marketing manager, talks at his home in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Feb.7, 2011. A Google manager held in Egypt for about 10 days over anti-government protests was freed Monday. 

He spoke softly and briefly to the huge crowd from a stage, starting by offering his condolences to the families of those killed.
"I'm not a hero but those who were martyred are the heroes," he said, then breaking into a chant of "Mubarak leave, leave."
When he finished speaking, the crowd erupted in cheering, whistling and deafening applause.
In his first television interview Monday night, Ghonim dubbed the protests "the revolution of the youth of the Internet" and proclaimed defiantly: "We are not traitors."
He arrived in the square when it was packed shoulder-to-shoulder, a crowd comparable in size to the biggest demonstration so far that drew a quarter-million people.
The turnout gave a resounding answer to the question of whether the protesters still have momentum even though two weeks of steadfast pressure have not achieved their goal of ousting Mubarak.
"The (Wael) interview showed a face of the truth which the state media tried to cover up for so long," said retired Army General Essam Salem. "Many people are coming because they saw the truth."
Fifi Shawqi, a 33-year-old upper-class housewife who came with her three daughters and her sister to the Tahrir protest for the first time, said Ghonim inspired her.
"I saw Wael yesterday (in the interview) and I cried. I felt like he is my son and all the youth here are my sons," she said. "I think Wael brought many, many more."
Others in the crowd said they too were joining for the first time.
"I know many people who came here for the first time after they were impressed by Wael and the pictures of the martyrs," said Iman Ibrahim, a 40-year-old, upper-class housewife.
Ghonim has emerged as a rallying point for protesters, who reject a group of traditional Egyptian opposition groups that have met with the government amid the most sweeping concessions the regime has made in its three decades in power.
The protesters are insisting that no concessions will do unless Mubarak steps down.

0 Woman who was censored on Alex Jones ID'd?! MORE IMPORTANTLY- the document in question

                 
Very interesting stuff

here's a link to the mirror of the doc in question
http://www.nickitservices.com/Files/M...

08-004c002

0 Dramatic drop in amount of heroin in UK, Following British troops leaving Sangin province, where the opium is located.

There has been a dramatic decrease in the amount of heroin in the UK, BBC News has learned.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency claimed the drop was due to supply routes being cut off and said the street price of the drug had doubled.

Europe's biggest drug testing company, Concateno, said the number of addicts testing positively for heroin had halved in the past six months.

However, it warned that suppliers were diluting heroin with other drugs.

If heroin purity returned to normal levels, addicts would face an increased risk of overdose.

There are an estimated 300,000 users of heroin, which comes mainly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the UK.

Concateno takes swabs from anyone on a court testing order or in drug treatment for heroin.

Its figures show positive tests occurring in up to 48% of cases over recent years, but last December the rate fell to 22%.

The suggestion of an interruption in the supply is backed up by police reports of shortages in several places in the UK. 

Officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) point to both the efforts of law enforcement agencies and environmental factors such as the floods in Pakistan.

And they say exaggerated perceptions among traffickers of a poppy blight may have led dealers to hold their supplies back and create higher prices on the street.

Relationships between Soca and the Turkish police are also said to be strengthening, leading to pressure on what has been a key supply route.

The drug is now said to command £40,000 a kilo - double the price of last year. 

UK troops pulled out of Sangin province (the main heroin growing area) in September 2010, and prior to this there was no sight of a UK shortage of heroin....

read more:UK troops leave Helmands Sangin BBC News

0 All games on Facebook have to accept credits by July

Every social game developer on Facebook will have to offer the social network’s virtual currency credits by 1 July as the scheme comes out of beta.

Over the next five months developers will have to implement credits as a payment method within their games.

Facebook is not insisting that it will be the only payment method but is giving incentives to those developers that use it exclusively, such as early access to product features and premium promotion on the site, including promotion on the games dashboard and premium ad targeting.

Deb Liu, platform marketing manager at Facebook, says on the Facebook Developer blog: “Over the next five months we will work closely with developers to get on board those that are not yet using Facebook Credits, collect feedback to improve the product, continue to innovate on the user experience, and help developers grow their revenue on Facebook.”

He adds: “We’re excited to give Facebook users the confidence that when they purchase Facebook Credits or receive them as a gift, they can spend them in any game on Facebook.”

For the past six months Facebook has been working with more than 150 developers, such as CrowdStar, Digital Chocolate, Playfish and Zynga, to test Credits in more than 350 games. It said it already accounts for 70% of the virtual goods transactions on the site.

This story first appeared on newmediaage.co.uk

0 Facebook Is Designed To Save Your Details Even After You Delete An Account

Having been pretty active "Truth Sharing" on Facebook for the last few years, I suddenly had what could be described as an epiphany...or a Doh! moment depending what way you look at it.

During those "few years" mainly though visiting pages relating to anything from Chemtrails to Vaccination, I knocked up a very impressive total of 250+ "Alternative Friends"(but this is smallfry compared to some who literally have 1000's )...not because I requested, knew them, or would ever meet them, but because they all shared a common interest.. "Alternative News and Truth"...(though some just had really exotic catchy names that were hard not to accept..;o) )
A typical day would see me post  few breaking alternative news articles on my wall, add a few "likes" to others that were doing the same..maybe a comment here and there, this is when I started to see how pointless and lazy what I was doing actually was. I wasn't "Truth Sharing" I was basically cutting and pasting links...who knows if they or anyone ever read past the first few sentences of the articles?...to be honest it got to the point were I didn't read more than a few lines myself.
Then it suddenly hit me...
1) Where was all this Information actually going?

2) Did what I was doing actually benefit anyone I was sharing it with? seeing as most were what could be described as "Awake" already they had no doubt seen it all already...and there was no way to know if all my "actual friends & family" which only numbered around 30 and who could be described as "partially asleep"  hadn't just got fed up with all my "Conspiracy Theories" and blocked my wall posts.

After much digging I came to the following conclusions...

1) All the Information ..EVERYTHING you have EVER SENT, Wallposts, Links, Messages, Photo's & Video, has been saved, databased & profiled by Facebook, even on deactivated accounts your account needs to be permanently deleted to actually delete any of your personal information, even then it's not clear if its really gone...or you are just prevented from accessing it.
This is NOT a "Conspiracy Theory" there is a relatively little known feature in "account settings" try it yourself,
Go to your "Account settings"...second from bottom you will see the following,

click for larger size

Click learn more.(you will not change anything it's just an explanation)
 you will then be faced with the following screen....it explains itself, and is a bit of an eye opener.

click for larger size

2) In short...no it didn't, all it did was keep that information "compartmentalised" and flowing within a relatively
small number of the same people, it very rarely opened any new eyes, as also the format for sharing "in my opinion" is not detailed/eye catching enough for people with short attention spans, which in a way was exactly the  kind of people I had been trying to reach and inform.

As it became apparent to me that Facebook was not a very good tool for "Alternative news/Information sharing", I decided to close my account...or thought I had.
I at this point was confronted with a message telling me that:
"I only need to log in again to reactivate my account and information, unless I permanently delete it "
WHAT? HOW?
any button or link to "permanently delete" was absent...
I had to actually google "Permanently Delete Facebook" to get any information about it, lucky that search provided a link and instructions, which I then quickly followed..
only to receive the message that it will still take 7-14 days to delete the account.
7- 14 DAYS!!...why??
what exactly is being done with my information that takes that long??.
I deleted a YouTube account with over 100 uploaded videos on it and that took seconds to delete...
why would this be different?? .
It's amazing to me that the way my information was being handled ONLY became apparent when I was trying close my account,
Doh!

0 E.L. Rothschild LLC Acquires a Majority Stake in Weather Central, LP

E.L. Rothschild LLC, a private investment company led by Chairman Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and CEO Lynn Forester de Rothschild, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire a 70% interest in Weather Central, LP (www.wxc.com). 

The world's leading provider of interactive weather graphics and data services for television, web, and mobile, Weather Central's highly accurate and personalized forecasting offers businesses and consumers a truly unique suite of science-driven weather information products. The company will continue to operate under CEO and founder, Terry Kelly, as well as current management. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. 

Lynn Forester de Rothschild CEO, E.L. Rothschild LLC

Founded in 1974, Weather Central is a global provider of professional on‐air, online, print, mobile, and enterprise weather solutions and forecasting. With 180 employees, including 70 meteorologists, Weather Central provides dynamic weather graphic systems, proprietary forecast models, and dedication to high-quality customer service. Weather Central has secured a leading 46% market share of North America's weather information delivery market for broadcast and media delivering content to hundreds of millions of viewers. It is the largest provider of broadcast and interactive web weather solutions for media companies in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Weather Central has more than 400 broadcast television clients in 21 countries worldwide. It provides weather forecasts to millions of users daily by distributing real-time personalized forecasts, interactive maps, and storm warnings based on each user's exact address.

Well-known for its advanced technologies, the company pioneered weather computer graphics systems worldwide and continues to innovate, recently releasing the industry's first 1km high-resolution forecast data set available on-air, online, and for mobile devices. Weather Central has used its hallmark scientific approach to secure customers that include network-owned and operated television stations, independent television stations, newspapers, websites, and individual businesses and consumers. From its headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin and its regional offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Berlin, the company's systems provide weather to hundreds of millions of viewers through customer installations worldwide, including those in the U.K., Canada, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, and other countries. Weather Central is also the primary provider of weather technology and delivery to broadcast stations in China.

Lynn de Rothschild shares a laugh with Hillary Clinton

Beyond its core North American and international media operations, Weather Central is also expanding its business for the enterprise, consumer, and mobile markets. The company's offerings for the B2B segment include precise weather products and solutions for a broad base of customers, including insurance, commodities and energy companies, hedge funds, and governments. Weather Central has also developed an extensive suite of consumer-facing digital products that will launch across online and mobile platforms as part of the company's MyWeather® brand in the next few months.

CEO of E.L. Rothschild LLC, Lynn Forester de Rothschild, commented on the acquisition, saying: “Weather Central is a world-class company that is number one in its category, with a history of success, a talented team, and a very bright future. Their products, which are the world's most precise for broadcast, online and mobile forecasting, allow companies and individuals unparalleled insights. Whether designed for an insurance company wanting to alert its customers of an impending hailstorm, a hedge fund trying to monitor agricultural commodities, or a consumer planning a vacation, no one has better information than Weather Central. At E.L. Rothschild, we will use our resources, business experience, and industry insights to build upon Weather Central's current success, and to develop the company's escalating international profile in markets like Latin America and India. We will also be focused on enhancing Weather Central's position as a digital leader in the consumer space.”

Chairman of E.L. Rothschild LLC, Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, added: “As a family, the Rothschilds have always been dedicated to the utmost quality of our products and services. With respect to our investments, we focus on entering into long-term partnerships with people who share our values. As weather becomes more extreme around the planet, with greater human and financial ramifications, we believe that Weather Central will play a major role in mitigating damage and improving lives. This is important to the Rothschilds, as it is to Weather Central. We are proud of our new partnership with them."

Terry Kelly, Weather Central's founder and CEO, stated: “Much has changed since we launched Weather Central more than 35 years ago, but our core passion for innovation, customer service, excellence, and vision is stronger than ever. The world today is facing major weather shifts due to climate change, and with an increasingly mobile population, the ability for consumers to obtain highly accurate and personalized information about the weather is more important than ever. With our scientific knowledge and technological edge, we've established a business that is top-ranked in the broadcast market. With E.L. Rothschild, the sky is the limit for Weather Central as we look to expand our success internationally and prepare to launch exciting new digital offerings for consumers.”

ABOUT E.L. ROTHSCHILD LLC

E.L. Rothschild LLC is a privately funded family investment company, which was established in 2003 by Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and Lynn Forester de Rothschild to oversee a variety of the Rothschilds' global investments. The principals have extensive experience investing in and operating businesses in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, India and South America. E.L. Rothschild LLC employs the strategy of taking a long-term view toward partnership and value creation. The company currently has interests in media, real estate, agriculture and luxury goods, with significant previous positions in financial services, technology and communications.

ABOUT WEATHER CENTRAL, LP

Weather Central, LP was founded in 1974 by Terry Kelly. The company today has an outstanding team of meteorologists, scientists, industry specialists, and creative staff. Based in Madison, Wisconsin, the company is a leading provider of professional on-air, online, print, mobile, and enterprise weather solutions and forecasting in North America and to major customers worldwide. Utilizing the company's dynamic weather graphics, proprietary precise forecast models and data, and patented technology, more than 1,000 partners and hundreds of millions of consumers worldwide benefit from Weather Central's attention to superb weather presentation, forecast accuracy and personalization, and continuous customer support.

0 35 zoo animals freeze to death in northern Mexico

Thirty-five animals at a zoo in the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua have frozen to death during the region's coldest weather in six decades.

Serengeti Zoo owner Alberto Hernandez says 14 parrots, 13 serpents, five iguanas, two crocodiles and a capuchin monkey died. He said Saturday that power failures cut off electrical heating at the zoo in the town of Aldama.
Temperatures have dropped to 9 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 13 Celsius) in the area, the coldest weather in 60 years.
Power outages have affected much of northern Mexico, forcing factories and businesses to close. Dozens of people are in shelters. Schools have been closed in Chihuahua state but are expected to open Tuesday as the weather warms.

http://news.mobile.msn.com 

0 U.S company Narus Helped Mubarak Shut Down Internet

0 U.S. warships moored off the coast of Egypt

U.S. officials announced that the U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) began moving warships to ensure that the ready in case the need arise evacuation of American nationals from Egypt.

The newspaper quoted "Los Angeles Times," officials said the ship "Kearsarge" amphibious assault, carrying 700 to 800 from a survey the twenty-sixth in the Marine Corps (Marines), and ship "bonus" and arrived in the Red Sea and two Ra_ian off the coast of Egypt in the event of deteriorated the situation there.

And Pentagon officials stressed that the possibility of military intervention in Egypt is ruled out completely, stating that the Navy to move the pieces were only for emergency purposes in case the need arise to conduct evacuation of Amriken there.

The officials said that in addition to the Marines, typically includes "Kearsarge" about forty helicopter and jet aircraft "Harrier" can be used in evacuations and other humanitarian operations.

The officials said that in addition to the Marines, typically includes "Kearsarge" about forty helicopter and jet aircraft "Harrier" can be used in evacuations and other humanitarian operations.

They pointed out that more than a thousand of the crew of a ship Kearsarge war were sent to Afghanistan last month, will be deployed temporarily to leave one third of the crew. The United States already in the eastern Mediterranean the aircraft carrier "Enterprise" which the Pentagon announced it was heading to the Suez Canal on its way to the Gulf, but It seems that the crisis in Egypt made the decision keeping them where they are at least temporarily.

http://islammemo.cc

   

0 Disturbed - Land of Confusion

0 New 7/7 inquest: Reveals Bombs Weighed 11 kg (22 lbs) Each...Then How Were they Carried?

BBC News 1st feb 2011

22 lbs of Explosive Sludge

in these Normal sized Rucksacks?

Are they Magic Rucksacks??

here's a few pictures to illustrate what 22lb's really looks like in 
"The Real World"

(with links for authenticity)

 

A lovely 22lb Carp

R8 style wheels...22 lb each

22 lb of Dough

 A 22 lb Turkey (not the story the photo) 

And last but not least...

What every good Magicshow

finishes with..........

A 22 lb Rabbit !

1 litre of water = 1kg, granted this "liquid slop" wasn't pure water, but from what I understand it has to be in a near liquid form when being used as an explosive, Right..now imagine 11 litre bottles of your favourite spring water....now the size of the backpacks, even if at WORST for sake of argument, you were to half the 11 bottles due to the density of the added ingredients....that's STILL 6 litre bottles of spring water each...can you see what I'm getting at here yet??.  That said it was probably why they found it so hard to judge the correct quantity of ingredients, considering the wasted amounts left in the bath and flat(if the new pictures http://bit.ly/fwuYLI have not been staged that is....but one thing at a time)  they could have filled a car/van with this stuff and rammed a shopping centre terrorists never seem to take the simple option.
It's the SIZE of the backpacks Vs the stated VOLUME weight of the "liquid slop" that's my issue, soon as I read it I giggled.

0 Al Jazeera English: Live fullscreen flash Stream - Watch Now - Al Jazeera English

http://tinyurl.com/al-jazeera-english-live-stream

0 Fox News Misplaces Egypt, and confusion reigns in the TV newscasts

Moving Egypt to where Iraq should be is pretty odd since someone actually had to do this graphic for it to be posted. Are they just making it up as they go along? Can’t they use the Internet to get a map? How does this sort of thing happen on a network in the first place? 

 (update did a little digging & found that the below picture is actually from an older story from 2009...but it did happen as described and was featured in the huffington post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/28/fox-news-misplaces-egypt_n_246575.html )

 

                                             Use this for reference boys.

“Autocratic regimes give me the willies.”
Thus spoke the halfwit Geraldo Rivera on Fox News, late on Saturday night. Rivera was discussing the situation in Egypt with Judith Miller, the former New York Times reporter whose coverage of the matter of weapons of mass destruction being in Iraq was later discredited. Although Miller had spent time reporting from Cairo, she didn’t have much to say, except the obvious, about Egypt.
Rivera plowed on, eventually putting his hands over his mouth and shouting, “Mubarak, get out.” And then announcing, “That’s my editorial.” 

Perhaps Fox News was airing this baloney on the assumption that nobody was watching, it being near 11 p.m. ET on a Saturday. At the same time, over on CNN, anchor Don Lemon was talking to a man named Moawad, an Egyptian living in the United States. The conversation, such as it was, veered into black comedy. Lemon asked, “What brought you here? Was it the situation there? What made you come?” And Moawad replied, “My wife.” From there it went like this, Q: “It was your wife?” A: “Yes.” Q: “Would you feel safe going back at this point?” Mr. Moawad looked round as if he’d been the victim of a prank.

The screens in the studio were showing endless footage of chaos on the streets of Cairo.
Watching TV coverage of the crisis in Egypt over the weekend was not always such a bizarre experience, but it was a bracing reminder of the limitations of TV news at such times. First, the Egyptian government’s shutdown of the Internet and other communications methods meant that most TV coverage relied on a limited amount of footage being repeated endlessly. Often, on CBC NN, a reporter was on the phone while footage that was not connected to the report aired. CNN went in for punditry over the weekend, having very limited access to knowledge of what was happening on the ground. Sometimes, they were talking to American tourists in Cairo who peered out the window and described what they saw.

The most incisive coverage came, of course, from Al Jazeera English, which is easily available in Canada, unlike the U.S. market, where it is rarely offered to cable or satellite customers. Here, anyone can get it at a cost of about $2 a month. This is a situation in which Al Jazeera surges to the fore in coverage – it knows the region better than any other broadcaster and is better staffed there than any other outfit. The seriousness of its journalism stands in startling contrast to what CNN and Fox offer,

Right after Geraldo Rivera did his shouting, and said, “That’s my editorial,” he laughed. Though it was more of a giggle. Darn funny fella, that halfwit. Darn funny situation, Egypt, isn’t it?

original article:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/ 

0 Guns and Butter Wednesday, 26 January 2011 "Cognitive Infiltration"

"Cognitive Infiltration"

with Tod Fletcher.

Produced and hosted by Bonnie Faulkner.

We discuss David Ray Griffin's newest book, Cognitive Infiltration, which is a deconstruction and debunking of Obama appointee, Cass Sunstein's, paper, "Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures", in which Sunstein proposes a new government COINTELPRO type infiltration of groups which research and promote ideas and explanations that run contrary to US government narratives, most specifically about the events of September 11th. ;
   
here: http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/67100

0 Egyptian Army Intervenes To Protect Protesters From Police Brutality

0 What's Actually Inside the Tear Gas Being Used in Egypt?

 The tear gas grenades being used to quell protestors in Egypt are actually made right here in the USA. They're intended to cause "tearing of the eyes" and "irritation of respiratory tract and mucous membranes". What's inside the tear gas?

 
Ars Technica took a look at some of the tear gas canisters, which are made by Combined Tactical Systems in Jamestown, Pennsylvania, and found that the grenades and canisters are "largely filled with a fuel mixture that burns to disperse the tearing agent." One grenade, the Model 5220 CN Smoke Grenade, has a starter mixture of potassium nitrate, silicon, and charcoal which is used to light CN smoke (a form of tear gas):

The CN smoke is 71 percent fuel, made up of potassium chlorate, magnesium carbonate, nitrocellulose, and… sucrose. The other 29 percent of the smoke is the tearing agent, chloroacetophenone, which has been around for nearly a century and causes severe irritation of the mucous membranes.

That's a lot of stinky stuff and yep, the tear gas lists itself as having a "pungent odor", which one protestor can attest to. He told ABC, "Your eyes tear up a lot so you can't see, and you feel like you're suffocating. You can actually breathe but you feel like you are suffocating so you try to run, but when you run you inhale more." [Ars Technica]

http://gizmodo.com 

0 Airport security officials brand three inch toy gun "firearm"

IT may be three inches long and made of plastic – but that didn’t stop a toy soldier’s gun being branded a “firearm” by zealous airport officials.

Ken Lloyd and his wife bought the “signaller crouching” figurine during a recent visit to the Royal Signals Museum at Blandford Garrison.

But when the box containing the figure passed through the scanning machine at Gatwick airport, security officials declared the tiny plastic rifle a “firearm”.

Husband, Ken Lloyd, said his wife had demanded “a reality check”.

“The antenna was individually scanned as suspect and as the figurine’s SA80 rifle was pulled from the box, the security search officer contacted her supervisor,” he said.

Mrs Lloyd was directed back to the airport concourse and made her way to a branch of WH Smith and bought a padded envelope to post the rifle home.

“The two patrolling policemen didn’t seem to mind. They didn’t even notice.

The numerous security people sitting around the concourse didn't leap to their feet as she passed,” said Mr Lloyd.

But when she tried to post the padded envelope, she hit another set back.

“These small padded envelopes are guaranteed to comply with postal regulations anywhere in the world, except Gatwick airport. The security mail slot was too narrow,” she said.

Mrs Lloyd was directed to the airport’s customer service department for suggestions on how to post the envelope.

They agreed to scan the sealed envelope to save reopening it, but it was too light to activate the scanner.

A radio was placed on the scanner and the envelope was X-rayed and posted by the customer service person.

Five days later, it arrived at the Lloyds’ home in Canada.

Royal Signals Museum spokesman Adam Forty said: “The Royal Signals Museum is a military museum and takes security very seriously, especially around military installations and airports, but this does seem more than a little excessive. “The ‘firearm’ is three inches long and cast out of resin. It’s probably just as well we didn’t sell her a toy tank.”