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"The fate of Bear Stearns was the result of a lack of confidence, not a lac
2008-04-16 09:41:00
From: The day the financial world almost ended   "Given the exceptional pressures on the global economy and financial system, the damage caused by a default of Bear Stearns could have been severe and extremely difficult to contain," said Bernanke. Those words should send chills down every spine in America. I might understand such damage occurring if one of our major commercial banks failed. But an investment bank? "The fate of Bear Stearns was the result of a lack of confidence, not a lack of capital," continued Christopher Cox, chairman of the SEC, making it abundantly clear the real problem was the lack of confidence in Bear Stearns. Alan Schwartz, Bear Stearns CEO, echoed the Cox comments by adding that what brought Bear Stearns to its knees was not a lack of capital or liquidity, but a lack of confidence. Schwartz added "unfounded" rumors caused that loss of confidence. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, asserted, "A Bear Stearns bankruptcy could well have touched of...
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Rome's Exorcist Speaks About the Devil
2008-04-16 09:33:00
The devil is pleased by the way he is generally represented -- with wings and a tail, horns, as a bat, etc. -- because these images make him seem ridiculous and help people to believe that he does not exist, the exorcist reported.Medical or spiritualFather Amorth suggested that diabolic problems be separated from psychiatric ones; and to do so an exorcist is needed in every diocese to help in discernment. "Normally when a person experiences these conflicts and problems, the first thing he does is see a doctor and psychiatrist," he said. "It is very difficult to distinguish the devil's action from a psychological problem. The person goes to a psychiatrist and after years of therapy obtains no result. "Then he begins to suspect that the problem is not a natural one and goes to a conjurer from whom he obtains even greater harm. This is what normally happens. At this point, it is possible that someone more experienced in these matters suggests an exorcist."Our LadyThe exor...
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Oxygen levels in River Ganges dip alarmingly
2008-04-16 09:27:00
Even though millions have been spent to preserve the sacred River Ganges , the pollution level in the river has reached an alarming level.The oxygen level in the river water has dripped to alarmingly low levels. The banks of the river present an ironical picture where on one side religious activities like prayers, recital of hymns and fire-rituals take place and on the other side, heaps of garbage lies unattended to.   [ ... ]   According to reports, while funds are being allocated for the noble and much required river cleaning projects, the many projects have not seen the implementation stage as yet. While the pollution data has made the environmentalists pull up their socks, the religious seers in the country have been protesting against the increasing pollution levels for quite some time now. "The trees are being cut, there is imbalance in the ecology. The glaciers that used to feed the river are melting today. It is an alarming situation. If things don't impr...
More About: Oxygen

Bug Man achieves academic recognition
2008-04-16 09:14:00
Some people wouldn't give a second thought to squashing them underfoot but entomologist Ruud Kleinpaste predicts a doomsday scenario in a world without bugs. Known here and internationally as "The Bug Man", Kleinpaste says insects consistently get "bad press" but he can't imagine life without them. "About 80 per cent of plants are pollinated by insects and imagine if bugs didn't clean up all the crap from cattle, people or whatever. "Dung removal is a really important job and if you didn't have it, in two months' time you'd be up to your neck in shit." [ ... ] Still speaking with a Dutch accent despite migrating here in 1978, Kleinpaste said he never trapped insects in jars as a child nor did he do any experiments involving magnifying glasses and ants. In fact, his foray into the study of insects was "completely by accident". "I actually wanted to study biology but when I went to university in 1969 we were all given a large frog and a brick and with the brick we had t...
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Why Richard I shared his bed with the king of France
2008-04-16 08:05:00
Gillingham's suggestion that this was "an accepted political act, nothing sexual about it" might strain modern credulity - but we should remember that diplomacy has always been intensely personal, if not downright physical. Only this week, Jonathan Powell's account of the Northern Irish peace process has highlighted the significance of Tony Blair's decision to shake hands with Gerry Adams - the press of prime ministerial flesh on republican palm a powerful gesture of political intent. In centuries past, a wider range of body parts might come into diplomatic play. Medieval rulers, for example, routinely greeted one another with a kiss (the biblically sanctioned "kiss of peace"). Richard 's decision to share a mattress with Philip was the ultimate public demonstration of trust in an age when PR had to rely on word-of-mouth rather than the lenses of the international media. ~ more... ~  
More About: France , The King , King

'Oslo's citizens are helping to warm their homes and offices simply by flus
2008-04-16 07:50:00
Large blue machines at the end of a 300-metre long tunnel in a hillside in central Oslo use fridge technology to suck heat from the sewer and transfer it to a network of hot water pipes feeding thousands of radiators and taps around the city. "We believe this is the biggest heating system in the world using raw sewage," Lars-Anders Loervik, managing director of Oslo energy company Viken Fjernvarme which runs the plant, told Reuters. The plant opened this week. The heat pump, a system of compressors and condensers, cost 90 million Norwegian crowns ($13.95 million) and has an effect of 18 megawatts (MW), enough to heat 9,000 flats or save burning 6,000 tonnes of oil a year. [ ... ] In Oslo, a problem is that the flow in the sewers is irregular -- Monday mornings between 4-6 a.m. are especially dry because people go to bed early on Sunday. But at weekends, the flow is good. "When people have been out to parties there's a lot of beer going into the sewer," said Oyvind Nilsen...
More About: Homes , Simply , Offices

The little village that told the supermarket where to go
2008-04-16 00:12:00
It was a sitcom that inspired many a household to live off the land.   And although it might not attract the likes of Margo and Jerry to move to the area, an entire village is trying its hand at the Good Life. In a bid to become less dependent on supermarkets, the residents of Martin are working together to become as self-sufficient as possible. The Hampshire village is now home to hundreds of real life versions of the characters played by Felicity Kendall and Richard Briers, who lived off the land in the 1970s BBC comedy. They work on a rota system and raise their own chickens and pigs and grow potatoes, garlic, onions, chillis and green vegetables on eight acres of rented land. Of the 164 families who live in Martin, 101 have signed up as members of Future Farms for an annual £2 fee, although the produce can be sold to anyone who wants to buy it. The "community allotment" sells 45 types of vegetables and 100 chickens a week, and is run by a committee which incl...
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Clown Prince of bloggers takes on Italian politics
2008-04-15 10:38:00
After our interview, several uneasy Italian journalists suggest I must find it rather odd to discover a TV editor who supports one side so strongly. Not really, I've interviewed enough British newspaper editors for precisely the same reason: to get an intelligent informed, but partisan view. That all broadcasters, even ones that don't harvest a licence fee, are legally bound to be impartial in the UK, but newspapers are not, could be seen as a cultural quirk. But it means that no-one in Italy seriously strives for objectivity. Journalists are still organised in a guild, set up by Mussolini to control the press. Before you are allowed to write a single article, you first have to have a sponsor within the industry, and then pass an exam sat in Rome, using an old-fashioned typewriter. If the big organisation representing mainstream Italian journalists doesn't even acknowledge the existence of the technology that has been dominant for the last 20 years, it's not surpris...
More About: Politics , Bloggers , Prince

Revolution is the Solution By Cindy Sheehan
2008-04-15 10:26:00
One of the founders of the USA, Thomas Jefferson, said that the US should have a revolution every 20 years or so because "lethargy" is the "forerunner to the death of liberty." Many more wars and the suppression of our liberties later, President John F. Kennedy said: "Those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent revolution inevitable." Exactly a year before his assassination (and 36 years before Casey Sheehan 's death in Iraq), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr said that our nation needs a "revolution of values." We at Cindy for Congress agree with these statements. We have been first-hand witnesses to the suppression of protest and freedom of speech here in the USA. We have been on the receiving end of police abuse and harassment and we have lost two loved ones to the war machine that Nancy Pelosi supports to enrich two of her major contributors: General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin. Nancy Pelosi's values do not match the values of the people of San Francisco. She w...
More About: Revolution , Cindy Sheehan , Solution

Off The Record - movie trailer
2008-04-15 10:13:00
Country Joe McDonald Dogs George Bush
More About: Movie , Trailer , Record , The Record

The Politics of a Perpetrator Population
2008-04-15 09:43:00
From: "Some People Push Back" - On the Justice of Roosting Chickens   All told, Iraq has a population of about 18 million. The 500,000 kids lost to date thus represent something on the order of 25 percent of their age group. Indisputably, the rest have suffered ? are still suffering ? a combination of physical debilitation and psychological trauma severe enough to prevent their ever fully recovering. In effect, an entire generation has been obliterated.  The reason for this holocaust was/is rather simple, and stated quite straightforwardly by President George Bush, the 41st "freedom-loving" father of the freedom-lover currently filling the Oval Office, George the 43rd: "The world must learn that what we say, goes," intoned George the Elder to the enthusiastic applause of freedom-loving Americans everywhere. How Old George conveyed his message was certainly no mystery to the US public. One need only recall the 24-hour-per-day dissemination of bombardment videos ...
More About: Politics

Quote of the day
2008-04-15 09:21:00
From: The Book of Doctorow   "If I'm a leftist, it's because, as I think of them, the Ten Commandments is a very left dogma. What is just? What is unjust? That's where it all begins for me," novelist E.L. Doctorow told the New York Times in 1985. "But I tend not to accept any modification of the word novelist. So if you ask, am I a historical novelist, I say no. Am I a political novelist? No. Am I an ethnic novelist? No. I'm a novelist."  
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'The world's "indispensable nation" '
2008-04-15 09:19:00
From: America's Role as the First, Only, and Last Truly Global Superpower - The Grand Chessboard Part 1   False Choice Like a good con man, Brzezinski insists that there is only one alternative to American imperial domination of Eurasia and thus the world. Of course, there is little time to take advantage of this "narrow window of historical opportunity". "In brief, America as the world's premier power does face a narrow window of historical opportunity. The present moment of relative global peace may be short lived. This prospect underlines the urgent need for an American engagement in the world that is deliberately focused on the enhancement of international geopolitical stability..." - 213 "The sudden emergence of the first and only global power has created a situation in which an equally quick end to its supremacy -- either because of America's withdrawal from the world or because of the sudden emergence of a successful rival -- wo...
More About: Nation

Question marks over future of U.S.-Japan alliance
2008-04-15 09:15:00
Japan is sending warning signals about the state of the U.S.-Japan alliance, but it is questionable whether the Americans get the message. Japanese nervousness about the next U.S. presidency, the direction of the six-party talks on North Korea, and Washington's long-term strategy toward China are easily dismissed as the obsessive sensitivities of the United States' junior ally across the Pacific. Yet these concerns should be taken more seriously. On a deeper level they reflect a profound fear of abandonment by the United States, which may ultimately lead Tokyo to take steps that hedge against further drift in the alliance. The next administration in Washington, be it Republican or Democratic, should address these concerns head on or risk losing Japan's full support of U.S. leadership over the long run. After nearly a decade in which the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush went out of its way to reassure Tokyo about the strength of the bilateral alliance,...
More About: Japan , Question , Future , Alliance , Marks

IBM report recommends homeland security-business 'joint effort'
2008-04-15 09:13:00
IBM today released a report outlining new risks to people, cargo, global financial and information flows, and modes of transport. The report highlights the complexity and vulnerability of these systems, and provides recommendations for the future. Based on research and interviews with more than 200 former and current government officials and policy experts, "Global Movement Management: Strengthening Commerce, Security and Resiliency in Today's Networked World," provides detailed recommendations for policymakers, companies, and governments to enhance global economic security and resiliency. The authors challenge public and private organizations to focus on key similarities in their operations and to align their policies and investments in a way that makes performance, security and resiliency a joint effort. "Our findings indicate that a better understanding of emerging risks makes it possible to improve security and resilience without harming commercial interests,...
More About: Business , Report , Homeland Security

Sebastian Mallaby: The real estate crisis is nothing compared to our long-t
2008-04-15 09:07:00
There are two views of the financial crisis. The first is that we face the bursting of a real estate bubble. The second is that we face the bursting of that bubble plus a terrifying long-term one that has been building since the Reagan era. This second bubble is the product of a quarter-century expansion in borrowing, excessive confidence in the dollar and an overblown faith in markets. Between 1950 and 1980, total lending in the United States inched up slowly relative to the size of the economy. Then, in the early 1980s, it took off. Every dollar of capital was "leveraged" aggressively: Private equity wizards loaded firms with debt; hedge funds bought securities on margin; banks lent prodigiously on thin cushions of capital. All this leverage boosted rewards in good times, because a thin capital cushion means fewer shareholders to divvy up the profits. But a thin capital cushion has the opposite consequence when a shock comes. There are fewer shareholders to absorb loss...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real , Long , Crisis

Military analysts predict prolonged U.S. presence in Iraq
2008-04-15 09:06:00
There is little chance of U.S. troops coming home in the near future, said Cordesman. "When you see the timelines on the [U.S. military's] PowerPoint [charts] when you're in Iraq , they're not 2009; they're 2012, 2014, 2020." He did not expect troop numbers to remain at current levels, but a significant number will remain for several years in "strategic overwatch," working as advisers and providing a backstop to Iraqi troops. Cordesman said that U.S. efforts to build a central government in Iraq have proved a failure so far. "We've blown through $44 billion in U.S. aid dollars and $33 billion worth of Iraqi money." Yet, "we have no effectiveness measures and no plan to transfer what has been successful to the Iraqi government, which effectively can't spend its own national budget and which has no ability to provide government services, effective police, or criminal justice." He said there is little chance of improvement in the near term and that the U.S. military has...
More About: Military , Presence , Predict

'A reversal of fortunes that the nuclear industry, whose plants emit no gre
2008-04-15 09:04:00
From: Nuclear Spring   Anne Lauvergeon (or "Atomic Anne," as the press calls her) is the fourteenth most powerful woman in the world, according to Forbes. She owes this rank, and her nickname, to the fact that she heads the French nuclear company Areva. Three weeks ago, Lauvergeon made an appearance at Harvard's Center for the Environment. And, when she strode to the lectern, she set about toying with the expectations of her audience. Where Americans are accustomed to hearing Europeans lambaste their wasteful way of life and degradation of the planet, Lauvergeon took a more counterintuitive approach: "A tribute to your country's essential contribution to the world debate on the crucial issue of climate change!" She continued, "Yes, I want to pay tribute to Vice President Al Gore and his amazing Inconvenient Truth." This unexpected flattery of her host country didn't just make for good theatrics; it hewed to Areva's marketing plan. The nuclear industry, long the...
More About: Industry , Plants , Fortunes

'$11.5 trillion of personal wealth held offshore'
2008-04-15 08:44:00
From Public loot since 1947: Let us bring back our money by M R VenkateshIt is one of the biggest loots witnessed by mankind -- the loot of the aam aadmi (common man) since 1947 by his brethren occupying public office. It has been orchestrated by politicians, bureaucrats and some businessmen. The list is almost all-encompassing. No wonder, everyone in India loots with impunity and without any fear. [ ... ] In fact, some finance experts and economists believe tax havens to be a conspiracy of the western world against the poor countries. By allowing the proliferation of tax havens in the twentieth century, the western world explicitly encourages the movement of scarce capital from the developing countries to the rich. In March 2005, the Tax Justice Network (TJN) published a research finding demonstrating that $11.5 trillion of personal wealth was held offshore by rich individuals across the globe. The findings estimated that a large proportion of this wealth was managed fro...
More About: Personal , Wealth , Offshore , Held

There's more blooming than just flower beds
2008-04-15 08:24:00
From Canada.com :This has been coming for a while. Young, fresh designers like Cath Kidston have been showing modern stylized blooms on fabrics and pottery for years, and pop florals by Marimekko are very much back in style. But this spring the floral craze has really taken hold. The rose motif is everywhere, both in restrained two-colour patterns and riotous multicoloured prints. [ ... ] Floral draperies: I never thought I would go there - again. But I am. New bedroom drapes in a non-sweet, two-tone floral pattern would be a great change from the solid linen drapes that even I am tiring of. Fresh flowers: Emma Goldman said it best: "I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck."
More About: Flower , Beds

PostModern Times: New Media Promotes Consciousness Change
2008-04-15 08:10:00
High-level animation supports cutting-edge thought with the debut of PostModern Times , a series of shorts, or "info- snacks," premiering on the iClips Network, www.iclips.net, produced in association with Curious Pictures. PostModernTimes promotes a new understanding of our world, highlighting practical tools and visionary techniques for a sustainable future -- think "The Simpsons" meets Buckminster Fuller and Aldous Huxley. The first release, "Consciousness is the Key," features four underground hip hop artists -- Naada, Propaganda Anonymous, 2HL, and iLL SpoKKinN -- and producer euphAmism in an animated music video packing lyrical and graphical punch in a call for global awakening. "Consciousness is the Key" is accompanied by the re-release of "Toward 2012," PostModernTimes' initial episode, a hit on YouTube and CurrentTV. "Toward 2012" dramatizes the controversial ideas of PostModernTimes co-founder Daniel Pinchbeck, bestselling author of "2012: The Return of Quet...
More About: Media , Change , New Media

'The Feminist Porn Awards announce 2008's winners, and Violet Blue wants to
2008-04-15 08:04:00
From: WTF is feminist porn? Feminist porn. For many, seeing those words together is like putting together the words "comfortable flight," "lightly scented" and "Bill O'Reilly: journalist." We now have Jet Blue and Virgin America, not everyone can smell your panty liners, and there's no debate about the irony of the last bit ? but pretty much everyone wants to know, what the hell are porn and feminism doing in bed together? Some pretty nasty, kinky, shocking, and fun things, if the selections from this year's Feminist Porn Awards are any indication. The winners were announced April 7 and included local bondage model (and porn performer, producer, art gallery owner and self-identified feminist) Madison Young (madisonbound.com). Winning Hottest Kink Film for her debut film, the ultra-stylish Madison Bound Production "Bondage Boob Tube," Young summed up her stance on feminism, porn, sex work and the raging debate between anti-porn feminism and pro-porn feminists in h...
More About: Violet , Winners

The green scare
2008-04-15 07:32:00
According to the FBI, "eco-terrorism", or "ecotage", is now the number one domestic terrorism threat in the US, greater than that of rightwing extremists, anti-abortion groups and animal rights organisations, and on a par with al-Qaida. The US building industry, rightwing political groups and the mainstream media all leapt to condemn the ELF after the arson. "We've seen this grow over the years and it's very scary," said Brian Minnich of the Building Industry Association of Washington, which offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the arsonists. "It tends to be done by young, intelligent people," says FBI special agent Robbie Burroughs. "There is nothing to suggest that [the Street of Dreams arson attack] is anything else than terrorism." But the jury on the McMansions arson is very much out. Instead of striking fear into the heart of middle America, the incident has revealed growing civil liberty fears about the US government's redefini...
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FBI: Eco-Terrorism Remains No. 1 Domestic Terror Threat
2008-04-15 07:25:00
For nearly seven years, the nation has turned its terror focus on Al Qaeda and the hunt for Usama bin Laden. But there is a domestic terror threat that federal officials still consider priority No. 1 ? eco-terrorism. The torching of luxury homes in the swank Seattle suburb of Woodinville earlier this month served as a reminder that the decades-long war with militant environmentalists on American soil has not ended. "It remains what we would probably consider the No. 1 domestic terrorism threat, because they have successfully continued to conduct different types of attacks in and around the country," said FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko. The FBI defines eco-terrorism "as the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against innocent victims or property by an environmentally oriented, subnational group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature." For years, officials have battled against members of s...
More About: Terrorism , Terror , Domestic , Threat

GM crops in Oceania
2008-04-15 07:16:00
From: GM crops on way to NZ, say experts Speakers at a biotechnology conference in Auckland last week said crop technology was developing fast and the public mood towards genetic modification had changed as the world's population grew and food prices rose. But GMFree New Zealand says the introduction of GM crops could put our international reputation at risk. Genetically modified pastures are not banned in New Zealand, but there has yet to be a crop approved for release here.   From: (Oz) Farmers may face legal action over GM crops MARK COLVIN: Farmers could soon be swapping writs over paddock fences as the battle over the introduction of genetically modified crops moves into the legal system. Anti-GM farmers are worried that their crops will become contaminated and export markets will dry up. The Network of Concerned Farmers, which opposed GM crops, is distributing letters to pro-GM farmers, warning them they'll face personal legal action to recover any losses ca...
More About: Oceania , Crops

New Soil Association report shows GM crops do not yield more - sometimes le
2008-04-15 07:08:00
Coinciding with a manifesto from Country Life launched today, which urges people to 'learn to love GM crops', the Soil Association has published a report on the latest available research on GM crop yields over the last ten years. The yields of all major GM crop varieties in cultivation are lower than, or at best, equivalent to, yields from non-GM varieties.Peter Melchett, Soil Association policy director, said:"GM chemical companies constantly claim they have the answer to world hunger while selling products which have never led to overall increases in production, and which have sometimes decreased yields or even led to crop failures. As oil becomes scarcer and more expensive, we need to move away from oil dependent GM crops to producing food sustainably, using renewable energy, as is the case with organic farming."Latest Research on GM Crop YieldsGM crops as a wholeFirst generation genetic modifications address production conditions (insect and weed control), and are...
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'Speaker says advances in genetics pose new human rights challenges'
2008-04-14 17:36:00
Daniel Kevles, a professor at Yale University, warns that dramatic advances in genetic science have "revived some of the old issues" surrounding the eugenics movement that flourished in the United States and Europe during the early part of the 20th century.   [ ... ]   Kevles said many people are stunned to learn that "liberal, democratic Sweden" sterilized approximately 60,000 people between the 1930s and the 1970s. Between the start of the 20th century and World War II, two dozen American states passed laws authorizing the forced sterilization of "the feeble minded" and others labeled as genetically flawed. In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 8-1 to uphold Virginia's eugenics law, with the majority opinion written by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. And, according to Kevles, by 1930, California had sterilized some 6,000 people. Kevles said the racial concerns of the American eugenics movement focused less on fears about blacks than on the waves of European immigr...
More About: Speaker , Human , Rights , Human Rights , Genetics

The World According to Monsanto
2008-04-14 16:44:00
On March 11 a new documentary was aired on French television (ARTE ? French-German cultural tv channel) by French journalist and film-maker Marie-Monique Robin, The World According to Monsanto - A documentary that Americans won't ever see. The gigantic biotech corporation Monsanto is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years.
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'No German would allow a non-German ethnicity to call itself Bavarian'
2008-04-14 12:40:00
To Mr. Larry Birns, Director of The Council of Hemispheric AffairsDear Mr. Birns,We are shocked and appalled that Mr. Kovach was permitted to use the esteemed Hemisphere Institute to promote his unfounded anti-Hellenic agenda and attempt to promote negative feelings against Greece and the people of Greece. We expect and demand an apology by Mr. Kovach to the Hellenic community at large that he so much insulted. PAN-MACEDONIAN ASSOCIATION USA ANSWERS ZLATKO KOVACH'S ALLEGATIONS ON Macedonia: Reaching Out To Win L. AmericanZlatko Kovach, in his Macedonia: Reaching Out To Win L. American Hearts, proves one more time that he is the product of the continuous brainwashing condition and lies, provided by an education system which emerged from a Balkan nation, under Tito¢s and Stalin¢s tutelage. Mr. Kovach begins his elaborations, stating: "Macedonia historically and culturally did transcend the country's current borders. In 1912-13, through two brutal regional wars, Mac...
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Thirteen years for evil bonfire killer, aged 13
2008-04-14 12:29:00
A 13-YEAR-OLD who savagely beat a "helpless" man to death for no reason before throwing his body on a bonfire had enjoyed a trip with social services to Alton Towers just three days before the fatal attack. The remains of Stephen Croft's badly-charred body was found in the embers of a public bonfire in the early hours of November 6 last year. Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Henry Globe QC, yesterday told the schoolboy he will be locked up for a minimum of 13 years. ~ more... ~  
More About: Killer , Thirteen , Evil , Years