Archive
The Shame of Nations: A New Record is Set for Spending on War
Wednesday, 25 April 2012 07:06
‘On April 17, 2012, as millions of Americans were filing their income tax returns, the highly-respected Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its latest study of world military spending. In case Americans were wondering where most of their tax money — and the tax money of other nations — went in the previous year, the answer from SIPRI was clear: to war and preparations for war.
World military spending reached a recworldord $1,738 billion in 2011 — an increase of $138 billion over the previous year. The United States accounted for 41 percent of that, or $711 billion.’
Read more: The Shame of Nations: A New Record is Set for Spending on War
Another Way to Kill US Farmers: Seize Their Bank Accounts on Phony Charges
Tuesday, 24 April 2012 08:19
‘Monsanto’s Food and Drug Administration can’t close down small dairies and private food clubs fast enough, bursting on the scene with guns drawn as if the criminalized right to contract for natural foods we’ve consumed for millennia deserves SWAT attention.
Now, Obama has the Dept. of Justice going after small farmers under the post-911 “Bank Secrecy Act” which makes it a crime to deposit less than $10,000 when you earned more than that.
“The level we deposited was what it was and it was about the same every week,” Randy Sowers told Frederick News. The Sowers own and run South Mountain Creamery in Middletown, Maryland.’
Read more: Another Way to Kill US Farmers: Seize Their Bank Accounts on Phony Charges
Consumption in the United States
http://www.mindfully.org/Sustainability/Americans-Consume-24percent.htm
In the United States:
 Reducing consumption without reducing use is a costly delusion. If undeveloped countries consumed at the same rate as the US, four complete planets the size of the Earth would be required. People who think that they have a right to such a life are quite mistaken. |
- Americans constitute 5% of the world’s population but consume 24% of the world’s energy.
- On average, one American consumes as much energy as
- 2 Japanese
- 6 Mexicans
- 13 Chinese
- 31 Indians
- 128 Bangladeshis
- 307 Tanzanians
- 370 Ethiopians
- The population is projected to increase by nearly 130 million people – the equivalent of adding another four states the size of California – by the year 2050.
- Forty percent of births are unintended.
- Americans eat 815 billion calories of food each day – that’s roughly 200 billion more than needed – enough to feed 80 million people.
- Americans throw out 200,000 tons of edible food daily.
- The average American generates 52 tons of garbage by age 75.
- The average individual daily consumption of water is 159 gallons, while more than half the world’s population lives on 25 gallons.
- Fifty percent of the wetlands, 90% of the northwestern old-growth forests, and 99% of the tall-grass prairie have been destroyed in the last 200 years.
- Eighty percent of the corn grown and 95% of the oats are fed to livestock.
- Fifty-six percent of available farmland is used for beef production.
- Every day an estimated nine square miles of rural land are lost to development.
- There are more shopping malls than high schools.
Percent of World Total
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Other Facts:
- 250 million people have died of hunger-related causes in the past quarter-century — roughly 10 million each year.
- 700 to 800 million people, perhaps even as many as a billion, don’t get enough food to support normal daily activities
- Africa now produces 27% less food per capita than in 1964.
- 1.7 billion people lack access to clean drinking water, and by the year 2000, the number of urban dwellers without access to safe water and sanitation services is expected to grow by 80%.
- 0.1% of pesticides applied to crops reaches the pest, the rest poisons the ecosystem.
- Each year 25 million people are poisoned by pesticides in less developed countries, and over 20,000 die.
- One-third of the world’s fish catch and more than one-third of the world’s total grain output is fed to livestock.
- It takes an average of 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat in modern Western farming systems. It takes 5,214 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef.
- Each person in the industrialized world uses as much commercial energy as 10 people in the developing world.
source: Paul Ehrlich and the Population Bomb / PBS [the PBS website is defunct but the book by the same name is available]
Super Secret Hypersonic Aircraft Flew Out of Its Skin
Tuesday, 24 April 2012 06:21
‘It turns out that tearing through the atmosphere at 20 times the speed of sound is bad for the skin, even if you’re a super high-tech aircraft developed by the government’s best engineers at its far-out research agency.
DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, has made public its best guess about what might have caused its unmanned arrowhead-shaped Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV-2) to suddenly lose contact and crash in the Pacific just a few minutes after slicing through the sky at Mach 20 last August: it was going so fast its skin peeled off.’
Read more: Super Secret Hypersonic Aircraft Flew Out of Its Skin
How Psychiatric Drugs Made America Mad
Tuesday, 24 April 2012 06:11
‘Since the introduction of major tranquilizers like Thorazine and Haldol, “minor” tranquilizers like Miltown, Librium and Valium and the dozens of so-called “antidepressants” like Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil, tens of millions of unsuspecting Americans have become mired deeply, to the point of permanent disability, in the American mental “health” system.
Many of these innocents have actually been made “crazy” and often disabled by the use of – or the withdrawal from – these commonly prescribed, brain-altering and, for many, brain-damaging psychiatric drugs that have been, for many decades, cavalierly handed out like candy – often in untested and therefore unapproved combinations of two or more.’
North Korea rocket launch fails
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17698438
North Korea says the rocket was planned to put a satellite into orbit
The rocket – seen by many as a banned test of long-range missile technology – was launched from north-west North Korea early on Friday.
The US, Japan and South Korea say it flew only for a short time before breaking up and crashing into waters off the Korean peninsula.
North Korea said its scientists were assessing what had caused the failure.
North Korea says the aim of the rocket was to launch a satellite into orbit – a move marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of national founder Kim Il-sung.
But the US and other nations say the launch constituted a disguised test of long-range missile technology banned under UN resolutions.
In a statement, the White House condemned the launch, despite its failure. The UN Security Council is due to meet later in the day to discuss the launch. China, North Korea’s closest ally, has called for calm and restraint on the Korean peninsula.
‘Ended in failure’
The rocket went up at 07:39 local time (22:39 GMT Thursday), South Korean officials said.
Its intended flight path would have taken it south, to the west of the Korean peninsula between Japan and the Philippines.
But officials from several nations observing the launch said the rocket had failed.
“Start Quote
North Korea’s launch… is a clear breach of the UN resolution that prohibits any launch using ballistic missile technology ”
End Quote Kim Sung-hwan South Korean Foreign Minister
“Initial indications are that the first stage of the missile fell into the sea 165km (105 miles) west of Seoul, South Korea,” the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) said in a statement.
“The remaining stages were assessed to have failed and no debris fell on land. At no time were the missile or the resultant debris a threat.”
Japan reported similar details.
“At approximately 07:40 we confirmed that a certain flying object was launched from North Korea and fell after flying for just over a minute,” Japanese Defence Minister Naoki Tanaka said.
South Korea said the rocket exploded into some 20 pieces and fell into the sea.
“We are conducting a search operation to retrieve the fallen objects,” a defence ministry official said.
Some five hours after the launch, North Korea confirmed it had been unsuccessful.
“The Earth observation satellite failed to enter its preset orbit. Scientists, technicians and experts are now looking into the cause of the failure,” state-run KCNA news agency said. State television carried a similar announcement.
The BBC’s Damian Grammaticas, who is one of a number of foreign journalists invited into North Korea for the launch, said the group had not been given any more information beyond that brief statement.
The rocket’s failure, our correspondent said, is an embarrassment for the North Korean leadership.
It will also come, analysts say, as a relief to many countries who are worried about North Korea’s potential to deliver weapons via long-range missiles.
‘Provocative action’
The US said that North Korea’s behaviour was of concern to the global community.
Kim Jong-un inherited the North Korean leadership in December 2011“Despite the failure of its attempted missile launch, North Korea’s provocative action threatens regional security, violates international law and contravenes its own recent commitments,” a White House statement said.
Pyongyang agreed in February to a partial freeze in nuclear activities and a missile test moratorium in return for US food aid. But that deal was put on hold last month after the North announced its rocket launch plans.
Earlier this week reports also emerged from South Korea of a possible third nuclear test being planned by North Korea.
North Korea conducted a similar rocket launch in 2009. On that occasion US and South Korea analysts said the rocket failed to reach orbit – but North Korea said it was a success.
The failure of this launch could pose a challenge for Pyongyang, which is holding a week of high-profile events ahead of the formal celebrations to mark Kim Il-sung’s birthday on Sunday.
The Workers’ Party held a rare conference on Wednesday and the country’s rubber-stamp parliament is due to meet on Friday.
Both meetings are seen as formalising the transition of power to young leader Kim Jong-un following the death of his father Kim Jong-il in December 2011.
It’s Trendy to Have Cancer: Barbie to Roll Out ‘Cancer Doll’ with Bald Head, Chemo Side Effects
Wednesday, 11 April 2012 06:22
‘A Facebook petition signed by more than 157,000 people has prompted the Mattel company to create a new Barbie doll in the likeness of a cancer victim. According to News.com.au, the bald-headed doll, which will be dubbed “a friend of Barbie,” is set to be released in 2013, and will come with an assortment of head dressings and clothing commonly worn by real-life female cancer victims.
Cancer rates are apparently skyrocketing so much in the U.S. today — even among children — that certain individuals feel Mattel should release a cancer-stricken Barbie doll for children in order to keep up with this disastrous trend. These individuals, in other words, appear to fully endorse the bizarre materialization of one of America’s most deadly conditions into a children’s toy.’
Russia Is Massing Troops On Iran’s Northern Border And Waiting For A Western Attack
Wednesday, 11 April 2012 06:36
‘The Russian military anticipates that an attack will occur on Iran by the summer and has developed an action plan to move Russian troops through neighboring Georgia to stage in Armenia, which borders on the Islamic republic, according to informed Russian sources.
Russian Security Council head Viktor Ozerov said that Russian General Military Headquarters has prepared an action plan in the event of an attack on Iran.’
Read more: Russia Is Massing Troops On Iran’s Northern Border And Waiting For A Western Attack
Thirteen Ways Government Tracks Us
Tuesday, 10 April 2012 07:53
‘Privacy is eroding fast as technology offers government increasing ways to track and spy on citizens. The Washington Post reported there are 3,984 federal, state and local organizations working on domestic counterterrorism. Most collect information on people in the US. Here are thirteen examples of how some of the biggest government agencies and programs track people.’
Ron Paul Admits in Speech to Public That the FDA And Big Pharma ‘are in Bed Together’
Tuesday, 10 April 2012 07:15
‘Ron Paul makes a groundbreaking admission to the public on tape – that the FDA and Big Pharma are indeed “in bed together,” both building up their monopolies and only interested in making more money. The Republican presidential candidate confirms that the corrupt corporations are running the show, that the FDA is doing more harm than good and many other eye-opening admittances.’
Read more: Ron Paul Admits in Speech to Public That the FDA And Big Pharma ‘are in Bed Together’
Believe nothing 