Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

The Town Los Angeles Drank
MotherJones | Alexis Madrigal | 02/26/14

.. This little patch of land is the key location in Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed $25 billion plan to fix California's troubled water transport system. Hood sits at the northern tip of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a network of manmade islands and channels constructed on the ruins of the largest estuary from Patagonia to Alaska. Since the 1950s, the Delta has served as the great hydraulic tie between Northern and Southern California: a network of rivers, tributaries, and canals deliver runoff from the Sierra Mountain Range's snowpack to massive pumps at the southern end of the Delta. From there, the water travels through aqueducts to the great farms of the San Joaquin Valley and to the massive coastal cities. The Delta, then, is not only a 700,000-acre place where people live and work, but some of the most important plumbing in the world. Without this crucial nexus point, the current level of agricultural production in the southern San Joaquin Valley could not be sustained, and many cities, including the three largest on the West Coast -- Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose -- would have to come up with radical new water-supply solutions. ... Read more

January Was Chock-Full of Extreme Weather Events, All Over the Globe
MotherJones | John Vidal | 02/27/14

There have been heat waves in Slovenia and Australia, snow in Vietnam, and the return of the polar vortex to North America. Great Britain has had its wettest winter in 250 years, but temperatures in parts of Russia and the Arctic have been 18 degrees above normal. Meanwhile, the Southern Hemisphere has had the warmest start to a year ever recorded, with millions of people sweltering in Brazilian and southern African cities.

According to the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which monitors global weather, the first six weeks of 2014 have seen an unusual number of extremes of heat, cold, and rain--not just in a few regions as might be expected in any winter, but right the way around the world at the same time, with costly disruptions to transport, power systems, and food production. ... Read more

Climategate: What Really Happened?
MotherJones | Kate Sheppard | 04/21/11 older

IT'S DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE how a guy who spends most of his time looking at endless columns of temperature records became a "fucking terrorist," "killer," or "one-world-government socialist." It's even harder when you meet Michael Mann, a balding 45-year-old climate scientist who speaks haltingly and has a habit of nervously clearing his throat. And when you realize that the reason for all the hostility is a 12-year-old chart, it seems more than a little surreal.

Back in 1999, Mann -- then a newly minted Ph.D. -- and a pair of colleagues constructed a chart that plotted historical climate data, spanning from 1000 to 1980. Because recorded temperatures only begin in the late 19th century, Mann and his team largely relied on so-called proxy records -- measurements of tree rings, coral, and ice cores whose variations illustrate temperature changes over the years. The graph showed that after nearly 900 years of relatively stable temperatures, there was a sharp uptick starting in the 20th century. You may have seen a version of the graph, known as the "hockey stick," in the film An Inconvenient Truth. ... Mann Geophysical Research Paper.pdf
Read more

*The "Largest Corporate Power Grab You've Never Heard Of", (TPP)
TRNS | author | 11/12/13 older

Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison describes the TPP as the "largest corporate power grab you've never heard of." Despite 19 rounds of negotiations that started all the way back in 2005, many of the details of the TPP still remain secret, even to members of Congress.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a massive trade agreement among 12 nations, including the US. And it's being negotiated by government trade officials and corporate lobbyists. Representative Alan Grayson said that the TPP is "a punch in the face to the middle class of America," and added, "but I'm not even allowed to tell you why." The deal would give multinational corporations the right to challenge our laws and regulations if firms believe those laws limit their "expected future profits." ... Read more

Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): a guide to the most contentious issues
The Guardian | Gabrielle Chan | 12/09/13 older

... There have been many contentious issues around the TPP: critics are particularly concerned about the secrecy around the agreement given it has the capacity to change many local laws and regulations affecting Australian people.

Essentially, in order to receive access to other markets, Australia is in the process of trading off regulations that stop access by other countries and particularly multinational companies to the Australian market. ...

... So far, the majority of public criticism has centred on arguments relating to intellectual property and the cost of medicines, though many have concerns about environmental issues including climate change, investment, e-commerce and labour laws. ... Read more

We Are Living in Boom Times for Debt Collectors
Click picture to zoom in
NY FED Household Debt and Credit.pdf (02/2014)

*Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson Sues To Keep 'Fracking' Away From His Backyard (02/25/14) [4:52]

*Fracking the Eagle Ford Shale
Weather.com | Jim Morris | current

The Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas is the site of one of the biggest energy booms in America, with oil and gas wells sprouting at an unprecedented rate. But local residents fear for their health - not from the water, but from the air they breathe. Our eight-month investigation reveals the dangers that come with releasing a toxic soup of chemicals into the air and just how little the government of Texas knows - or wants to know - about it.

When Lynn Buehring leaves her doctor's office in San Antonio she makes sure her inhaler is on the seat beside her, then steers her red GMC pickup truck southeast on U.S. 181, toward her home on the South Texas prairie.

About 40 miles down the road, between Poth and Falls City, drilling rigs, crude oil storage tanks and flares trailing black smoke appear amid the mesquite, live oak and pecan trees. Depending on the speed and direction of the wind, a yellow-brown haze might stretch across the horizon, filling the car with pungent odors. Sometimes Buehring's eyes burn, her chest tightens and pain stabs at her temples. On those days, she touches her inhaler for reassurance. ... Read more
*Fracking the Eagle Ford Shale (current) [14:56]

How more than $8 billion in US taxpayers' money went to waste in Iraq
Christian Science Monitor | Tom A. Peter | 03/06/13 older

The report, entitled Learning From Iraq: A Final Report From the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, offered a detailed assessment how $60 billion in American taxpayer money was spent in Iraq during the war. Of that sum, about $25 billion went to training and equipping the Iraqi security forces, while the remainder went an array of development projects ranging from infrastructure construction to governance improvement programs.

The report offers several case studies demonstrating waste, including a project to reconstruct a bridge and oil and gas pipeline in northern Iraq. Geologists advised against drilling in the Tigris River to do the repair work because the soil was too sandy. Engineers ignored the report and spent tens of millions of dollars before the drilling plan was aborted.

The Iraqi reconstruction program was the second-largest nation building effort ever undertaken by the US, superseded only by Afghanistan, where appropriations for reconstruction spending are nearing $100 billion. ... Read more

Setting the Record Straight: Did Monsanto Really Buy Blackwater (Xe)?
activistpost.com | Anthony Gucciardi | 2012

There has been a great deal of publicity over the potential purchase of Blackwater (now known as Academi, and Xe before that) by mega corporation Monsanto.

While the two seem to be a great match, as they both fail to consider the morality and consequence of their actions, it seems that Monsanto is only involved with Blackwater in infiltrating activist groups who are opposed to the biotech giant -- an operation quite sinister enough.

The truth of the matter is that Academi (Blackwater) was purchased by private investors, and the heavily sourced article written by Jeremy Scahill in The Nation actually says nothing about Monsanto buying Blackwater. ... Read more

How Govt. Hides the Poor: Formula for Measuring Poverty Dates to When a Loaf of Bread Cost 22 Cents
AlterNet | Steven Rosenfeld | 02/24/14

To determine who is officially poor in America, the federal government compares a family's annual cash income to a figure produced by an arcane formula that's based on the price of food in 1963, when a loaf of bread was 22 cents and a burger less than a quarter. Starting under President Lyndon Johnson, the government's official way of defining who is poor comes from calculating a minimum food budget for a family of four, tripling that figure to cover other living costs, and then indexing it annually for inflation.

The result is the federal poverty level. For 2014, that threshold was $23,850 for a family of four. Smaller families can subtract $4,060 per person. Individuals making $11,670 or less in 2014 were officially poor. Many government programs, from School Lunch to the Earned Income Tax Credit to Obamacare's subsidies, decide eligibility by comparing one's annual cash income to the official poverty level. ... Read more

*The Surrender of America's Liberals
Bill Moyers | Adolph Reed Jr. | 02/25/14

In a Web-exclusive interview, political scientist Adolph Reed Jr. talks with Bill Moyers about his new article in the March issue of Harper's Magazine -- a challenge to America's progressives provocatively titled, "Nothing Left: The Long, Slow Surrender of American Liberals."

In the piece, Reed writes that Democrats and liberals have become too fixated on election results rather than aiming for long term goals that address the issues of economic inequality, and that the administrations of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama too often acquiesced to the demands of Wall Street and the right.

As a result, Reed tells Moyers, the left is no longer a significant force in American politics. "If we understand the left to be anchored to our convictions that society can be made better than it actually is, and a commitment to combating economic inequality as a primary one, the left is just gone." ... Read more
Bill Moyers | The Surrender of America's Liberals (02/25/14) [18:50]

Stewart Mocks Conservative Chorus on Ukraine -- 'What Would Reagan Do?'
AlterNet | Janet Allon | 02/26/14

Jon Stewart made merciless fun of the recent outpouring of conservative pundits calling for President Obama to be more Ronald Reagan-like when it comes to dealing with the unrest in Ukraine. "What would Reagan do?" has been the common hue and cry on Fox news and other news outlets. Especially rich was having Reagan lackey Oliver North commenting that Reagan, unlike Obama, did not draw "red lines," he simply acted. Yes, Stewart pointed out, that's Oliver North, the one illegally sold arms to Iran, and illegally funded the Nicaraguan contras. That's the one we should be listening to all right.

Stewart then gave several examples of how well Reagan's action-oriented policies yielded such fantastic results. Funding the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan to fight the Russians. Of course, it was the the extreme elements of the Mujahadeen that became the Taliban, but, we didn't have to fight them for another "12 years," said Stewart, long after Reagan had left office. And, of course, Reagan selling arms to Saddam Hussein, whom we did not have to fight for another "two years . . . and then another 12 years after that." ... Read more

*Anatomy of the Deep State
Bill Moyers | Mike Lofgren | 02/21/14

There is the visible government situated around the Mall in Washington, and then there is another, more shadowy, more indefinable government that is not explained in Civics 101 or observable to tourists at the White House or the Capitol. The former is traditional Washington partisan politics: the tip of the iceberg that a public watching C-SPAN sees daily and which is theoretically controllable via elections. The subsurface part of the iceberg I shall call the Deep State, which operates according to its own compass heading regardless of who is formally in power.

Yes, there is another government concealed behind the one that is visible at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue, a hybrid entity of public and private institutions ruling the country according to consistent patterns in season and out, connected to, but only intermittently controlled by, the visible state whose leaders we choose. My analysis of this phenomenon is not an exposé of a secret, conspiratorial cabal; the state within a state is hiding mostly in plain sight, and its operators mainly act in the light of day. Nor can this other government be accurately termed an "establishment." All complex societies have an establishment, a social network committed to its own enrichment and perpetuation. In terms of its scope, financial resources and sheer global reach, the American hybrid state, the Deep State, is in a class by itself. That said, it is neither omniscient nor invincible. The institution is not so much sinister (although it has highly sinister aspects) as it is relentlessly well entrenched. Far from being invincible, its failures, such as those in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, are routine enough that it is only the Deep State's protectiveness towards its higher-ranking personnel that allows them to escape the consequences of their frequent ineptitude. ... Read more or read article at HuffintonPost
Bill Moyers | Mike Lofgren on the Deep State Hiding in Plain Sight (02/22/14) [26:48]

*Danielle Brian on Legalized Corruption
Bill Moyers | author | 02/21/14

Forget about the Machiavellian drama that plays out in the hit series The House of Cards, if you really want to be educated (or frightened) about what goes on in the nation's capital, just let everything you read in Mike Lofgren's essay sink in.

The ideological gridlock that grips Congress might make you angry. But as Lofgren points in his professorial manner, what should really get your blood pumping are the strings being pulled by the real decision makers: the executives on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley and in the military-intelligence industrial complex surrounding the Beltway. ... Read more
Bill Moyers | Sheila Krumholz and Danielle Brian on How Money Rules Washington (02/21/14) [26:46]

*Where Have All the Lobbyists Gone?
Click picture to zoom infographic
Nation Magazine | Lee Fang | 02/20/14

DN | The Shadow Lobbying Complex: How Corporations Are Hiding Vast Influence, Peddling Efforts (02/25/14) [8:50]

Virginia Republican Says A Pregnant Woman Is Just A 'Host,' Though 'Some Refer To Them As Mothers'
HP | Laura Bassett | 02/24/14

A pregnant woman is just a "host" that should not have the right to end her pregnancy, Virginia State Sen. Steve Martin (R) wrote in a Facebook rant defending his anti-abortion views.

Martin, the former chairman of the Senate Education and Health Committee, wrote a lengthy post about his opinions on women's bodies on his Facebook wall last week in response to a critical Valentine's Day card he received from reproductive rights advocates. ... Read more

Some Embarrassing Details From the Pentagon's Latest Stealth Fighter Report
The F-35 is a Bad Deal | author | 02/03/14

*5 Hypocritical Justifications the 1% Use to Justify the America's Staggering Inequality
AlterNet | Paul Buchheit | 02/23/14

John Paulson conspired with Goldman Sachs to create packages of risky subprime mortgages and then short-sell (bet against) the sure-to-fail financial instruments. The ploy paid him $3.7 billion.

Goldman Sachs' commodities index, notes Chris Hedges, "is the most heavily traded in the world. Goldman Sachs hoards rice, wheat, corn, sugar and livestock and jacks up commodity prices around the globe so that poor families can no longer afford basic staples and literally starve." Numerous sources agree that speculation drives up commodity prices. Wheat, for example, rose in price from $105 to $481 in just eight years. ... Read more

Economics Has a Surprising Mental Disorder
AlterNet | Lynn Stuart Parramore | 02/18/14

The typical mainstream economist is about as good at making predictions as a monkey reading tea leaves. Exhibit A: The financial crisis, which only a few economists outside the mainstream saw coming.

Researcher Vinca Bigo decided to investigate, and found a surprising explanation: the profession of economics is suffering from a collective mental disorder, causing practitioners to project their pathologies onto the rest of us. Which is very costly for you and me. ... Read more

Transcripts show FED grappling with 2008 crisis
AP & MSN | Martin Crutsinger | 02/22/14

The Federal Reserve agonized in 2008 over how far to go to stop a financial crisis that threatened to cause a recession and at times struggled to recognize its speed and magnitude.

"We're crossing certain lines. We're doing things we haven't done before," Chairman Ben Bernanke said as Fed officials met in an emergency session March 10 and launched never-before-taken steps to lend to teetering Wall Street firms, among a series of unorthodox moves that year to calm investors and aid the economy. ... Read more

*Water leak in Fukushima may be due to workers' mistake
NHKWorld | author | 02/22/14

... About 100 tons of contaminated water spilled from a tank at the No. 4 reactor from Wednesday to Thursday. The escaped water flowed to the ground around the tank.

Tokyo Electric Power Company found the water contained 240 million becquerels per liter of beta-ray emitting substance, including strontium. That's the highest level ever detected in tainted water which leaked at the plant. ... Read more
Water leak may be due to workers' mistake (02/22/14) [1:06]

Truth Loader | 300,000 litres of radioactive water leaking into the Pacific - Fukushima (08/08/13 older) [5:10]

Longest-serving Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) to retire
Washington Post | Sean Sullivan | 02/24/14

Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) will retire at the end of his current term, capping a historic career as the longest-serving member of Congress in history.

Dingell, 87, has served in the House for nearly 60 years. He became the longest-serving member of Congress last summer. He said his health was good enough for him to make another run, but he decried the hostile tone that has come to define business on Capitol Hill these days. ... Read more

Obama Admin's TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses From Big Banks
Bill Moyers | author | 02/20/14

Officials tapped by the Obama administration to lead the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations have received multimillion dollar bonuses from CitiGroup and Bank of America, financial disclosures obtained by Republic Report show.

Stefan Selig, a Bank of America investment banker nominated to become the undersecretary for international trade at the Department of Commerce, received more than $9 million in bonus pay as he was nominated to join the administration in November. The bonus pay came in addition to the $5.1 million in incentive pay awarded to Selig last year. ... Read more

New Highly Radioactive Leak At Fukushima Plant
Reuters & HP | Mari Saito | 02/20/14

TOKYO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The operator of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant said on Thursday that 100 tonnes of highly contaminated water had leaked out of a tank, the worst incident since last August, when a series of radioactive water leaks sparked international alarm.

Tokyo Electric Power Co told reporters the latest leak was unlikely to have reached the ocean. But news of the leak at the site, devastated by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami, further undercut public trust in a utility rocked by a string of mishaps and disclosure issues. ... Read more

*Is the Arctic Really Drunk, Or Does It Just Act Like This Sometimes?
Jennifer Francis - Understanding the Jetstream MotherJones | Chris Mooney | 02/21/14

The biggest debate in climate science right now may be over whether global warming will create more winters like this one. If you care about the weather, you had better care about the outcome.

Just when weather weary Americans thought they'd found a reprieve, the latest forecasts suggest that the polar vortex will, again, descend into the heart of the country next week, bringing with it staggering cold. If so, it will be just the latest weather extreme in a winter that has seen so many of them. California has been extremely dry, while the flood-soaked UK has been extremely wet. Alaska has been extremely hot (as has Sochi), while the snow-pummeled US East Coast has been extremely cold. They're all different, and yet on a deeper level, perhaps, they're all the same.

This weather now serves as the backdrop -- and perhaps, as the inspiration -- for an increasingly epic debate within the field of climate research. You see, one climate researcher, Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University, has advanced an influential theory suggesting that winters like this one may be growing more likely to occur. The hypothesis is that by rapidly melting the Arctic, global warming is slowing down the fast-moving river of air far above us known as the jet stream -- in turn causing weather patterns to get stuck in place for longer, and leading to more extremes of the sort that we've all been experiencing. "There is a lot of pretty tantalizing evidence that our hypothesis seems to be bearing some fruit." ... Read more
The Polar Vortex Explained in 2 Minutes [2:12]

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, February 21 [11:30]

TRNN | Jeff Faux and John Ackerman: The Connection Between the Drug War In Mexico and Neoliberal Policies (02/21/14) [10:21]

TPP

No Protester Is Safe From Snipers Or AK-47s In Ukraine
HP | Ryan Craggs | 02/20/14

With the death toll already at 50 and rising in two days of violence, clashes in Kiev, Ukraine, show no signs of slowing down, despite President Viktor Yanukovych's announcement of a truce on Wednesday evening. Though the protests have persisted for nearly three months, the bloodiest days of unrest have come this week after both Russia and the European Union maneuvered to further influence the former Soviet state.

A multitude of videos circulating the Internet show the outrageous levels of violence in the Ukrainian capital. In one video from Radio Svoboda, Radio Free Europe's Russian service, a riot policeman with an unmistakable AK-47 assault rifle fires off the screen. ... Read more
Shooting people in Kiev (02/20/14) [2:42]

*EXPOSED: WALL ST. OVERLORDS UNHINGED
or
One-Percent Jokes and Plutocrats in Drag: What I Saw When I Crashed a Wall Street Secret Society
NYMag.com | Kevin Roose | 02/18/14

Recently, our nation's financial chieftains have been feeling a little unloved. Venture capitalists are comparing the persecution of the rich to the plight of Jews at Kristallnacht, Wall Street titans are saying that they're sick of being beaten up, and this week, a billionaire investor, Wilbur Ross, proclaimed that "the 1 percent is being picked on for political reasons."

Ross's statement seemed particularly odd, because two years ago, I met Ross at an event that might single-handedly explain why the rest of the country still hates financial tycoons -- the annual black-tie induction ceremony of a secret Wall Street fraternity called Kappa Beta Phi. ... You just have to read the article and watch the videos below!! ... Read more
Chris Hayes All-In
Backrooms of Old: Inside Wall-Street's Secret '1% Society' (02/20/14) [3:52], Part 2 [4:11], Part 3 [6:30]

*World Experienced 4th Warmest January On Record, But Not U.S.
AP & HP | Seth Borenstein | 02/20/14

The globe cozied up to the fourth warmest January on record this year, essentially leaving just the eastern half of the United States out in the cold. And the northern and eastern United States can expect another blast of cold weather next week.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday that Earth was 1.17 degrees warmer in January than the 20th century average. Since records began in 1880, only 2002, 2003 and 2007 started off warmer than this year. ... Read more

Pretty Cool Globe Showing the Winds at Jet Stream Level

*Fracking the Eagle Ford Shale
Weather.com | Jim Morris | current

The Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas is the site of one of the biggest energy booms in America, with oil and gas wells sprouting at an unprecedented rate. But local residents fear for their health - not from the water, but from the air they breathe. Our eight-month investigation reveals the dangers that come with releasing a toxic soup of chemicals into the air and just how little the government of Texas knows - or wants to know - about it.

When Lynn Buehring leaves her doctor's office in San Antonio she makes sure her inhaler is on the seat beside her, then steers her red GMC pickup truck southeast on U.S. 181, toward her home on the South Texas prairie.

About 40 miles down the road, between Poth and Falls City, drilling rigs, crude oil storage tanks and flares trailing black smoke appear amid the mesquite, live oak and pecan trees. Depending on the speed and direction of the wind, a yellow-brown haze might stretch across the horizon, filling the car with pungent odors. Sometimes Buehring's eyes burn, her chest tightens and pain stabs at her temples. On those days, she touches her inhaler for reassurance. ... Read more
Click picture to zoom in
Click picture to zoom in
*Fracking the Eagle Ford Shale (current) [14:56]

Rescuing a Vietnam Casualty: Johnson's Legacy
NYTimes | Adam Nagourney | 02/15/14

... But now, 50 years later -- with a coming rush of anniversaries of the legislative milestones of the Johnson presidency -- Ms. Johnson and the diminishing circle of family and friends from those White House years have commenced one last campaign. They are seeking a reconsideration of Johnson's legacy as president, arguing that it has been overwhelmed by the tragedy of the Vietnam War, and has failed to take into account the blizzard of domestic legislation enacted in the five years Johnson was in the White House. ... Read more
Legacy of L.B.J. (02/15/14) [6:49](Please scroll down about an inch)

4 bankers die in one week in apparent suicides
intellihub.com/ | author | 02/04/14 older

This week 50-year-old Mike Dueker, the chief economist of a US investment bank was found dead close to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State.

The string of deaths began on January 26 when a 58-year-old former senior executive at Deutsche Bank AG, William Broeksmit, was found dead in his home after an apparent suicide in South Kensington in central London. The very next day Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym, 51, was found dead on the fourth floor of the Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok. Then on January 28, 39-year-old Gabriel Magee, a JP Morgan employee, died after falling from the roof of the JP Morgan European headquarters in London. ... Read more

EXPOSED: WALL ST. OVERLORDS UNHINGED
or
One-Percent Jokes and Plutocrats in Drag: What I Saw When I Crashed a Wall Street Secret Society
HP & nymag.com | Kevin Roose | 02/18/14

Recently, our nation's financial chieftains have been feeling a little unloved. Venture capitalists are comparing the persecution of the rich to the plight of Jews at Kristallnacht, Wall Street titans are saying that they're sick of being beaten up, and this week, a billionaire investor, Wilbur Ross, proclaimed that "the 1 percent is being picked on for political reasons."

Ross's statement seemed particularly odd, because two years ago, I met Ross at an event that might single-handedly explain why the rest of the country still hates financial tycoons -- the annual black-tie induction ceremony of a secret Wall Street fraternity called Kappa Beta Phi. ... You just have to read the article!! ... Read more

Winter Blast Dumps More Than A Foot Of Snow On Parts Of New England
AP/HP | author | date

BOSTON (AP) -- The latest blast of snow to hit New England dumped more than a foot in part of Massachusetts and packed heavy winds that left thousands without power Sunday on Cape Cod.

... Wind gusts of more than 50 mph were reported Saturday night on Cape Cod, where utility NStar said about 1,750 customers were without power on Sunday evening. Crews from Connecticut crossed into Massachusetts to help fix the power outages after more than 13,000 customers started the morning without power. ... Read more

Glenn Greenwald Among Four To Win Polk Award For Snowden Stories
AP & HP | author | 02/17/14

Four journalists who reported on the extent of the National Security Agency's secret surveillance based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden are among the winners of the 65th annual George Polk Awards in Journalism.

Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras of The Guardian and Barton Gellman of The Washington Post will receive the award for national security reporting for stories based on secret documents leaked by Snowden, a former intelligence analyst. The awards were announced Sunday by Long Island University. ... Read more

Ex-Morgan Stanley Chief Jams Foot in Mouth, Complains of CEO Abuse
Rollin gStone | Matt Taibbi | 02/13/14

... Mack went on to say that the debate over compensation was healthy, just not always warranted. "As long as shareholders reward performance," he said, "we can argue." But, he added, "The last time I checked, this business is still a business that pays people extremely well."

It's already funny that of all the injustices in the world, this was the one Mack decided to worry about on TV: the criticism of poor Jamie Dimon's 74 percent raise. But more to the point: If we really did live in a world where shareholders rewarded performance, would a CEO who just oversaw a record $20 billion in regulatory penalties even have a job, much less be getting a raise? .... Read more
Bloomberg | John Mack Says Wall Street Pay Debate Is `Healthy' (02/11/14) [13:02]

Fracking is draining water from US areas suffering major shortages - report
RT | author | 02/07/14

Some of the most drought-ravaged areas of the US are also heavily targeted for oil and gas development using hydraulic fracturing - a practice that exacerbates water shortages - according to a new report.

Three-quarters of the nearly 40,000 oil and gas wells drilled in the US since 2011 were located in areas of the country facing water scarcity, according to research by the Ceres investor network. Over half of those new wells were in areas experiencing drought conditions. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in those wells required the use of 97 billion gallons of water, Ceres found. ... Read more

Brazil rations water in 140 cities amid worst drought in decades
RT | author | 02/16/14

Over 140 Brazilian cities have been pushed to ration water during the worst drought on record, according to a survey conducted by the country's leading newspaper. Some neighborhoods only receive water once every three days.

Water is being rationed to nearly 6 million people living in a total of 142 cities across 11 states in Brazil, the world's leading exporter of soybeans, coffee, orange juice, sugar and beef. Water supply companies told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that the country's reservoirs, rivers and streams are the driest they have been in 20 years. A record heat wave could raise energy prices and damage crops. ... Read more

BFP Exclusive EyeOpening Report: Exposing Every Pentagon Contract in 2013
BFP | Christian Sorensen | 01/30/14

DOD's declared budget was approximately $673 billion for 2013. The discrepancy between our figures and DOD's arises when one considers wages, BAH, entitlements, allowances and retiree pay for the U.S. Armed Forces are not factored into daily contract announcements, and contracts under $6.5 million are not disclosed publicly.

The Department of Defense (DOD) spent $331,456,507,052 on roughly 3,288 publicly-disclosed contracts during 2013 ... Read more

*Daily Ticker | Find the $8.5 Trillion the Pentagon Can't Account For

No, GMOs Won't Harm Your Health
MotherJones | Indre Viskontas | 02/14/14

With historic drought battering California's produce and climate change expected to jeopardize the global food supply, there are few questions more important than what our agriculture system should look like in the future. And few agricultural issues are more politically charged than the debate over genetically modified organisms. Even as companies like Monsanto are genetically engineering plants to use less water and resist crop-destroying pests, activists are challenging the safety and sustainability of GM foods.

For this week's episode of Inquiring Minds, I spoke with Steven Novella, a neurologist at Yale University. Novella is a prominent voice in the skeptical movement, a scientific movement that, as he describes it, focuses heavily on explaining the truth behind "common myths--things that people believe that aren't true." So I asked him to help sort out fact from fiction when it comes to industrial agriculture in general--and GMOs in particular. Read more

*The Vampire Squid Strikes Again: The Mega Banks' Most Devious Scam Yet
RollingStone | Matt Taibbi | 02/12/14

Call it the loophole that destroyed the world. It's 1999, the tail end of the Clinton years. While the rest of America obsesses over Monica Lewinsky, Columbine and Mark McGwire's biceps, Congress is feverishly crafting what could yet prove to be one of the most transformative laws in the history of our economy -- a law that would make possible a broader concentration of financial and industrial power than we've seen in more than a century.

But the crazy thing is, nobody at the time quite knew it. Most observers on the Hill thought the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 -- also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act -- was just the latest and boldest in a long line of deregulatory handouts to Wall Street that had begun in the Reagan years. ... Read more

Up to 100 cars pile up on icy Pennsylvania highway
RT | author | 02/14/14

Several huge multi-car pile-ups totaling 100 vehicles have shut down part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Friday morning, as icy driving conditions made for a treacherous commute.

There's no word on exactly what caused the pile-ups, but local news station Fox 29 said the first accident took place around 7:40 a.m. and involved a tractor trailer. That accident triggered a chain reaction of collisions, which state police believe was caused by the icy road and people driving too fast. ... Read more

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, February 14 [10:08]

DN | Debate: Was Snowden Justified? Former NSA Lawyer Stewart Baker vs. Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg (02/14/14) [12:41]

DN | Weather Whiplash: As Polar Vortex Brings Deep Freeze, Is Extreme Weather Linked to Climate Change? (02/07/14 older) [9:56]

TRNN | Professor of Iranian Studies Hamid Dabashi: A Look At The Nations Behind The Syrian Crisis (02/14/14) [6:41]

Fukushima nuclear disaster (multiple articles)
RT | author | 01/13/14

TEPCO on Wednesday revealed that it detected 5 million becquerels per liter of radioactive Strontium-90 in a groundwater sample taken some 25 meters from the ocean as early as last September, Reuters reports. The legal limit for releasing strontium into the ocean is just 30 becquerels per liter. ... Read more

Jon Stewart | Diplomat Buyers Club - Is there a rule ambassadors can't have set foot in the countries they are going to ambassador? (02/12/14) [4:49]

Comcast, Time Warner Cable Deal Is A Disaster For Customers
HP | Mark Gongloff | 02/13/14

The $45 billion merger announced Thursday might be a win for both companies, but it will be no victory for their combined 30 million customers, who are already among the least-happy customers in all of Corporate America.

Little wonder, then, that the two companies were near the top of Consumerist's Worst Company In America contest last year, based on unscientific online polling. Comcast, which took home the title of Worst Company in 2010, reached the Final Four in 2013, after beating Time Warner Cable in the Elite Eight. ... Read more
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Winter Storm Hits Mid-Atlantic, Northeast
HP & AP | Ron Todt | 02/13/14

The latest storm to roll off nature's assembly line during this bustling winter spread heavy snow and sleet along the Northeast corridor Thursday, while utility crews in the ice-encrusted South labored to restore power to hundreds of thousands of shivering residents.

"Snow has become a four-letter word in Delaware County and all along the East Coast this winter," said Tom McGarrigle, chairman of the Delaware County Council, in suburban Philadelphia.   Baltimore awoke to 15 inches of snow. Washington, D.C., had at least 11, and federal offices and the city's two main airports were closed. ... Read more

*"The Vampire Squid Strikes Again"- Matt Taibbi Takes On Blythe Masters And The Banker Commodity Cartel
ZeroHedge | author | 02/13/14

The story of how JPMorgan, Goldman and the rest of the Too Big To Fails and Prosecutes, cornered, monopolized and became a full-blown cartel - with the Fed's explicit blessing - in the physical commodity market is nothing new to regular readers: to those new to this story, we suggest reading of our story from June 2011 (over two and a half years ago), "Goldman, JP Morgan Have Now Become A Commodity Cartel As They Slowly Recreate De Beers' Diamond Monopoly." That, or Matt Taibbi's latest article written in his usual florid and accessible style, in which he explains how the "Vampire Squid strikes again" courtesy of the "loophole that destroyed the world" to wit: "it would take half a generation -- till now, basically -- to understand the most explosive part of the bill, which additionally legalized new forms of monopoly, allowing banks to merge with heavy industry. A tiny provision in the bill also permitted commercial banks to delve into any activity that is "complementary to a financial activity and does not pose a substantial risk to the safety or soundness of depository institutions or the financial system generally." Complementary to a financial activity. What the hell did that mean?... Fifteen years later, in fact, it now looks like Wall Street and its lawyers took the term to be a synonym for ruthless campaigns of world domination." ... Read more

*The Vampire Squid Strikes Again: The Mega Banks' Most Devious Scam Yet
RollingStone | Matt Taibbi | 02/12/14

Call it the loophole that destroyed the world. It's 1999, the tail end of the Clinton years. While the rest of America obsesses over Monica Lewinsky, Columbine and Mark McGwire's biceps, Congress is feverishly crafting what could yet prove to be one of the most transformative laws in the history of our economy -- a law that would make possible a broader concentration of financial and industrial power than we've seen in more than a century.

But the crazy thing is, nobody at the time quite knew it. Most observers on the Hill thought the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 -- also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act -- was just the latest and boldest in a long line of deregulatory handouts to Wall Street that had begun in the Reagan years. ... Read more

'Biblical flooding' spreads across UK in worst rainfall in over 200 years (PHOTOS)
RT | author | 02/11/14

England's largest river, the Thames, has burst its banks, devastating homes in the southeast in the worst floods in 50 years. PM David Cameron has called the flooding "biblical," as economists predict the crisis will cost close on $1 billion.

Strong gales and huge waves battered the UK this weekend, causing rivers to swell and floodwaters to rise across the country. Fourteen "severe" flood warnings were issued in the counties of Berkshire and Surrey, while two remain in the worst hit county of Somerset. The severe classification means there is potential danger to human life. ... Read more

CBS | Western U.S. drought puts big strain on reservoirs (01/30/14) [2:56]

CBS | California Drought 2014: Drought From Hell Plagues California (02/04/14) [2:05]

*SOUTH BRACES FOR 'CATASTROPHIC' STORM - Atlanta Area Braces For Dangerous Ice Storm
HP/AP | Christina A. Cassidy | 02/12/14

Emergency management workers hunkered down in Atlanta waiting to spring into action as rain -- along with temperatures -- fell overnight, potentially leading to "catastrophic" ice conditions forecasters said could hit the region.

Already, Georgia Power was reporting more than 2,000 power outages early Wednesday throughout the state. Forecasters and officials said that number would probably grow throughout the day. In north Georgia, morning snow was falling. Other areas of the South, from Louisiana to South Carolina, and the Mid-Atlantic also were expected to get socked with a wintry mix of ice, snow and freezing rain. ... Read more
GeoengineeringWatch Weather Update February 2 2014 [5:42]

Kyodo: 'Massive' amount of Fukushima data wrong? "Figures can't be trusted" -- NHK: Strontium-90 by ocean at 160,000 times limit -- Tepco: Actual levels "exceeded the upper limit of measurement… We are very sorry"
ENENews | author | 02/07/14

Feb. 7, 2014: TEPCO to review "massive" radiation data due to improper measurement -- [TEPCO] said Friday that it will review a "massive" amount of radiation data it has collected at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant because readings may be lower than actual figures due to improper measurement. "We are very sorry, but we found cases in which beta radiation readings turned out to be wrong when the radioactivity concentration of a sample was high," TEPCO spokesman Masayuki Ono told a press conference. ... Read more

The Manhattan-Rochester Coalition, research on the health effects of radioactive materials, and tests on vulnerable populations without consent in St. Louis, 1945--1970
ksdk.com | Lisa Martino-Taylor | 09/27/12 older

Sociologist Lisa Martino-Taylor has spent years trying to uncover details of the Army's ultra-secret military experiments. She obtained documents from multiple federal agencies showing that St. Louis was among several cities where the aerosol testing took place.

Sen. Blunt wrote, "The idea that thousands of Missourians were unwillingly exposed to harmful materials in order to determine their health effects is absolutely shocking. It should come as no surprise that these individuals and their families are demanding answers of government officials." ... Read more here or here
Chemtrails Are NOT a Conspiracy Theory (06/03/13) [4:20]

How the U.S. Exports Global Warming
RollingStone | Tim Dickinson |02/03/14

While Obama talks of putting America on the path to a clean, green future, we're flooding world markets with cheap, high carbon fuels

The greening of American energy is both real and profound. Since President Obama took office, the nation's solar capacity has increased more than tenfold. Wind power has more than doubled, to 60,000 megawatts -- enough to power nearly 20 million homes. Thanks to aggressive new fuel-efficiency standards, the nation's drivers are burning nearly 5 billion fewer gallons of gasoline a year than in 2008. The boom in cheap natural gas, meanwhile, has disrupted the coal industry. Coal-power generation, though still the nation's top source of electricity, is off nearly 20 percent since 2008. More than 150 coal plants have already been shuttered, and the EPA is expected to issue regulations in June that will limit emissions from existing coal facilities. These rules should accelerate the shift to natural gas, which -- fracking's risks to groundwater aside -- generates half the greenhouse pollution of coal. But ... Read more

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, February 12 [12:06]

*"Wounds of Waziristan" by filmmaker Madiha Tahir () [59:09]

*Bill Moyers | Bill McKibben to Obama: Say No to Big Oil (02/07/14) [26:46]

*NHK | Radioactive Water Fukushima Daiichi's Hidden Crises (02/05/14) [48:49]

The Horrible Truth About Fukushima -- Helen Caldicott, MD (02/09/14) [37:45]

$205 TRILLION: The Real Fiscal Gap -- Laurence Kotlikoff
SGTReport | author | 01/26/14

Laurence Kotlikoff Author and Professor of Economics at Boston University joins us to discuss the REAL DEBT of the U.S. government which is now $205 TRILLION when unfunded liabilities are actually counted.

Kotlikoff warns, "We have a country that is entirely broke, fiscally broke - it's probably in worse shape than any developed country. We are in terrible shape, even worse than Detroit because the people doing the accounting are engaged in fallacious accounting..." To my great surprise, Kotlikoff also believes that fixing "climate change" ought to be a top priority and somehow believes that a global carbon tax is the answer. ... $205 TRILLION: The Real Fiscal Gap -- Laurence Kotlikoff (02/26/14) [28:15]

California's Drought Could Be the Worst in 500 Years
MotherJones | Alex Park | 02/10/14

The Golden State is in the midst of a three-year drought--and scientists believe that this year may end up being the driest in the last half millennium, according to University of California-Berkeley professor B. Lynn Ingram. Californians are scared, with good reason: Fire danger in the state is high, and drinking-water supplies are low.

But the drought will have repercussions outside the state's borders, as well. California produces a good chunk of the nation's food: half of all our fruits and vegetables, along with a significant amount of dairy and wine. ... Read more

How Booz Allen Made the Revolving Door Redundant
ipsnews.net | Pratap Chatterjee | 06/17/13 older

Edward Snowden, a low-level employee of Booz Allen Hamilton who blew the whistle on the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), unexpectedly exposed a powerful and seamless segment of the military-industrial complex -- the world of contractors that consumes some 70 percent of this country's 52-billion-dollar intelligence budget.

... Edward Snowden, a low-level employee of Booz Allen Hamilton who blew the whistle on the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), unexpectedly exposed a powerful and seamless segment of the military-industrial complex -- the world of contractors that consumes some 70 percent of this country's 52-billion-dollar intelligence budget. ... Read more

*The Intercept Images
Click to zoom chart
The Intercept | Trevor Paglen | 02/10/14

Over the past eight months, classified documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden have exposed scores of secret government surveillance programs. Yet there is little visual material among the blizzard of code names, PowerPoint slides, court rulings and spreadsheets that have emerged from the National Security Agency's files.

The scarcity of images is not surprising. A surveillance apparatus doesn't really "look" like anything. A satellite built by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) reveals nothing of its function except to the best-trained eyes. The NSA's pervasive domestic effort to collect telephone metadata also lacks easy visual representation; in the Snowden archive, it appears as a four-page classified order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. ... Read more
New Photos of the NSA and Other Top Intelligence Agencies Revealed for First Time (02/10/14) [3:12]

How Agribusiness Tried to Destroy a Critical Scientist
AlterNet | Alex Kane | 02/11/14/span>

The biologist Tyrone Hayes had studied the endocrinology systems of frogs for many years, so it made perfect sense when the agribusiness giant Syngenta asked him to study the effects of the herbicide atrazine on amphibians. The company makes atrazine, which is used on half the corn in the U.S.

Hayes' research came back with a disturbing finding: that atrazine impeded the sexual development of frogs. Specifically, Hayes found that atrazine caused tadpoles to develop both ovaries and testes. So Syngenta decided to destroy Hayes.

A lot was, and is, at stake for Syngenta. They're trying to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from banning their herbicide, which is "one of the most common contaminants of drinking water; an estimated thirty million Americans are exposed to trace amounts of the chemical. It's been banned in Europe, and the EPA is reviewing the herbicide this year.... Read more

*Glenn Greenwald's New Website, The Intercept, Is Now Live
HP | Jack Mirkinson | 02/10/14

The first digital venture co-led by Glenn Greenwald is now live.

The Intercept, an online magazine edited by Greenwald and fellow journalists Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill and backed by billionaire Pierre Omidyar, made its much-anticipated debut early Monday morning. Its first article was written by Greenwald and Scahill, and looked at the NSA's role in the U.S. drone strike program.

The piece was, of course, based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden. The magazine is just one of the multiple sites being created by First Look Media, the Omidyar-funded organization providing the cash for Greenwald and his colleagues.   In a blog post on the site, Greenwald, Scahill and Poitras said that The Intercept was "the first of what will be numerous digital magazines published by FLM." ... Read more

*The NSA's Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program
firstlook.org/theintercept | Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald | 02/10/14

The National Security Agency is using complex analysis of electronic surveillance, rather than human intelligence, as the primary method to locate targets for lethal drone strikes -- an unreliable tactic that results in the deaths of innocent or unidentified people.

According to a former drone operator for the military's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) who also worked with the NSA, the agency often identifies targets based on controversial metadata analysis and cell-phone tracking technologies. Rather than confirming a target's identity with operatives or informants on the ground, the CIA or the U.S. military then orders a strike based on the activity and location of the mobile phone a person is believed to be using. ... Read more

Fukushima radiation levels underestimated by five times - TEPCO
RT | author | 02/10/14

TEPCO has revised the readings on the radioactivity levels at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant well to 5 million becquerels of strontium per liter – both a record, and nearly five times higher than the original reading of 900,000 becquerels per liter.

Strontium-90 is a radioactive isotope of strontium produced by nuclear fission with a half-life of 28.8 years. The legal standard for strontium emissions is 30 becquerels per liter. Exposure to strontium-90 can cause bone cancer, cancer of nearby tissues, and leukemia. ... Read more

The Folly of Arming Israel
AlterNet | Chase Madar | 02/09/14

We Americans have funny notions about foreign aid. Recent polls show that, on average, we believe 28% of the federal budget is eaten up by it, and that, in a time of austerity, this gigantic bite of the budget should be cut back to 10%. In actual fact, barely 1% of the federal budget goes to foreign aid of any kind.

In this case, however, truth is at least as strange as fiction. Consider that the top recipient of U.S. foreign aid over the past three decades isn’t some impoverished land filled with starving kids, but a wealthy nation with a per-head gross domestic product on par with the European Union average, and higher than that of Italy, Spain, or South Korea. It is Israel. ... Read more

*No Wonder the World Is Terrified of America -- We're the Biggest Threat
AlterNet | Noam Chomsky | 02/05/14

As the year 2013 drew to an end, the BBC reported on the results of the WIN/Gallup International poll on the question: "Which country do you think is the greatest threat to peace in the world today?"

The United States was the champion by a substantial margin, winning three times the votes of second-place Pakistan.   By contrast, the debate in American scholarly and media circles is about whether Iran can be contained, and whether the huge NSA surveillance system is needed to protect U.S. security. ... Read more

Now Even AIPAC Says It's Not The Right Time To Advance Iran Sanctions Bill
HP | Ashley Alman | 02/06/14

American Israel Public Affairs Committee changed course on Thursday, coming out against an immediate Senate vote on new Iran sanctions, according to a statement obtained by The Hill.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and author of the predominantly Republican-backed sanctions bill, took to the Senate floor Thursday to encourage his colleagues not to let partisan politics drive a vote on the matter. AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, expressed support for Menendez in a statement several hours later: ... Read more

A Whistle-Blower From the Banking Industry
NYT or TRNN | Bill Black | 02/26/14

Erika Brown is not well known, which helps explain why we have seen our most elite banks' leaders produce the greatest financial crime spree in history without a single conviction of the Wall Street elites who drove the crisis. Erika Brown is a whistle-blower. She revealed Bank of America's orders that its employees lie to homeowners to encourage foreclosures rather than loan modifications that could help the borrowers keep their homes.

The sick irony is that this occurred in the context of the Home Affordable Modification Program, which was designed to help save homes and gave the banks a financial incentive to do so. Brown and her colleagues revealed that their orders were to squeeze as much cash as possible out of financially troubled homeowners and then default.

If President Obama invited Erika Brown to be his guest at the State of the Union, he would signal an end to the administration's hostility toward whistle-blowers. The president should use his address to praise her courage and to encourage others to follow her lead -- and he should create a new website and phone bank so that whistle-blowers can come forward with evidence of fraud. He should announce that he has directed the attorney general to make prosecutions of elite frauds a much higher priority, and that he will submit an emergency supplemental budget bill to fully fund the financial regulatory agencies and hire 1,000 new white-collar-crime specialists at the F.B.I.

*California Dries Up as Brown Pushes $15 Billion Tunnel
Bloomberg | Michael B. Marois | 02/03/14

California's worsening drought is raising the stakes for a $15 billion plan endorsed by Governor Jerry Brown to build two 30-mile (48-kilometer) water tunnels under an ecologically sensitive river delta east of San Francisco Bay.

The tunnels, each as wide as a two-lane interstate highway, would ship water more reliably from northern California to thirsty farms and cities in the south. They would also bolster the ecosystem of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, which is on the verge of collapse from feeding water to 25 million people and 750,000 acres (304,000 hectares) of farmland. ... Read more
ABC | California Governor Warns Residents of Serious Drought (01/31/14) [2:05]

A Deepening Drought in the West (slideshow) (02/02/14)

CBO Director: Actually, Obamacare Will Reduce Unemployment
HP | author | 02/05/14

One day after multiple media outlets misinterpreted a CBO report on Obamacare, Elmendorf clarified the CBO's position during the hearing. The federal agency, Elmendorf said, had found Obamacare 'spurs employment and would reduce unemployment over the next few years."

'When you boost demand for labor in this kind of economy, you actually reduce the unemployment rate, because those people who are looking for work can find more work," Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) asked Elmendorf. ... Read more
CBO Director: ACA will *reduce* unemployment (02/05/14) [2:22]

NBC News' Richard Engel: My Computers, Cellphone Were Hacked 'Almost Immediately' In Sochi
HP | Catherine Taibi | 02/05/14

NBC News' Richard Engel said that upon arriving in Russia to cover the upcoming event, he was hacked "almost immediately" -- and privacy is not something visitors should expect to have.

Engel decided to test Russia's privacy system with the help of American computer security expert Kyle Wilhoit, who set him up with two brand new computers and a phony identity, with fake names and addresses. When Engel connected them to the Internet in Sochi, he said he quickly received a suspicious email and was shocked when his computer was hijacked immediately after opening the email. ... Read more

NBC | All Visitors to Sochi Olympics Immediately Hacked (02/05/14) [3:46]

Vice | Why the Sochi Olympics are the Most Expensive in History (02/05/14) [17:11]

*There's No End In Sight For California's Extreme Water Drought
Forbes | Henry I. Miller | 02/05/14

Water is in increasingly short supply in many parts of the United States. Here in California, where most of the state is experiencing 'extreme' drought, 2013 was the driest year on record, and we have had no relief during what should be the height of the rainy season. Moreover, there's no end in sight: The Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service forecasts that the drought will 'persist or intensify' at least through April. ... Read more

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Geoengineered Snow Storms Wreaking Havoc around the Globe
magazine | author | date

There is a mountain of data including already conducted experiments, satellite imagery, lab tests of snow, observations on the ground, and multiple existing patents, all of which point solidly to the conclusion that snow storms are being engineered with well established weather modification processes. Two known patents for the process of "artificial ice nucliation for weather modification" are posted at the bottom of this article. The Chinese government has openly admitted they are creating "artificial snow storms" but later backtracked after causing a billion dollars of damage to Beijing. If the Chinese government can routinely create snow storms out of what should have been a rain event, how much more advanced must our government be at this same process? ... Read more

For the Love of Money
NYTimes | Sam Polk | 01/18/14

In my last year on Wall Street my bonus was $3.6 million -- and I was angry because it wasn't big enough. I was 30 years old, had no children to raise, no debts to pay, no philanthropic goal in mind. I wanted more money for exactly the same reason an alcoholic needs another drink: I was addicted.

Eight years earlier, I'd walked onto the trading floor at Credit Suisse First Boston to begin my summer internship. I already knew I wanted to be rich, but when I started out I had a different idea about what wealth meant. I'd come to Wall Street after reading in the book "Liar's Poker" how Michael Lewis earned a $225,000 bonus after just two years of work on a trading floor. That seemed like a fortune. Every January and February, I think about that time, because these are the months when bonuses are decided and distributed, when fortunes are made. ... Read more

31 Haunting Images of Abandoned Places That Will Give You Goose Bumps

Drought in the West Is Bringing Hard Times to Minority Farmers
AlterNet| Ngoc Nguyen | 02/04/14

California is experiencing record dry conditions, with this year projected to be the driest on record. The state usually relies on three months of rain from December to February to replenish its water supply. But, with three consecutive years of below average winter rainfall, supplies are alarmingly low. The snowpack -- which serves as water storage for the drier summer months -- is 20 percent of normal; reservoirs are very low for this time of year, and groundwater levels statewide have dropped significantly.

The severity of the drought prompted Governor Jerry Brown to declare a drought emergency on Jan. 17, a move largely aimed at boosting morale in this huge agricultural state. The declaration triggered limited federal assistance to state growers and livestock producers. Small farmers, who represent the majority (85 percent) of farming operations in the state, could get relief through an emergency loan program, but low enrollment in other federal loan programs suggest robust outreach efforts are needed, especially among minority farmers. ... Read more

World Shares Fall To 4-Month Low Amid U.S. Slowdown, Emerging-Market Woes
HP | Reuters | Marc Jones | 02/04/14

World shares slumped to near a four-month low on Tuesday as signs of a slowdown in the U.S. economy aggravated the anxiety caused by a sell-off in emerging markets.   A report showing U.S. factory activity was weaker than expected had caused both the dollar and global equities to fall on Monday. European investors remained anxious on Tuesday after another session of sustained selling in Asia. ...

... Tokyo's Nikkei plunged 4 percent in its worst day since June, cementing its position as the worst performer in developed markets in 2014. MSCI's emerging-market index dropped 1.4 percent, putting its losses since late October at almost 12 percent. ... Read more

For the Love of Money
NYTimes | Sam Polk | 01/18/14

IN my last year on Wall Street my bonus was $3.6 million -- and I was angry because it wasn't big enough. I was 30 years old, had no children to raise, no debts to pay, no philanthropic goal in mind. I wanted more money for exactly the same reason an alcoholic needs another drink: I was addicted.

Eight years earlier, I'd walked onto the trading floor at Credit Suisse First Boston to begin my summer internship. I already knew I wanted to be rich, but when I started out I had a different idea about what wealth meant. I'd come to Wall Street after reading in the book "Liar's Poker" how Michael Lewis earned a $225,000 bonus after just two years of work on a trading floor. That seemed like a fortune. Every January and February, I think about that time, because these are the months when bonuses are decided and distributed, when fortunes are made. ... Read more

Greece Tops Europe's Shadow Economies
ZeroHedge | author | 02/04/14

While Greece may be the most corrupt nation in Europe, there appears another problematic issue for finance minister Yannis Stournaras when he discusses the way forward with his Swiss counterpart this week. As Bloomberg's Niraj Shah reports, Greece's difficulties with tax evasion are the worst in Europe. Accprding to a study from Johannes Kepler University, the size of the Greek shadow economy is a stunning 24% of GDP. ... Click to zoom chart

Bank Of America Warns: "Too Few Bears Out There", "Investors Not Prepared" For Selloff
ZeroHedge | author | 02/04/14

There is one main reason why complacency is bad: selloffs. Because as Bank of America explains, in an environment in which there are "too few bears", and where investors are "not prepared for a downside correction", when you do finally get a sell off for whatever reason, with nobody hedged and otherwise prepared for such an outcome, the only logical continuation is piling on until one gets selling exhaustion. And in a world in which hedge fund leverage is about 500%, by the time exhaustion comes, there will be very few left standing. ... Read more
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Shares steadier as emerging market sell-off eases
Reuters | Marc Jones | 02/04/14

World shares steadied after falling to a near four-month low on Tuesday as a bounce in battered emerging market currencies and a positive start for Wall Street helped lift some of the recent gloom.

A weaker-than-expected report on U.S. factory activity had hit global equity markets and the dollar hard on Monday but European shares had clawed back most of their morning losses by the time Wall Street reopened. ... Read more

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, February 04 [7:19]

*TRNN | Heiner Flassbeck: Finance is Super Rational about Profits, Irrational about Global Economy, Part 2 [12:15]

*TRNN | Heiner Flassbeck: Danger of Global Recession After 30 Years of Neoliberal Counterrevolution [10:15]

Real Life Mowgli: Girl Who Grew Up in the African Wildlife

*Is the TPP Dead? [11:43]

As Inequality Worsens, Millionaires Are Pulling Up the Drawbridge Behind Them
AlterNet | Josh Bornstein | 02/03/14

When I became a partner in a law firm, something strange happened at the bank. Our relationship deepened. I became a premium client with premium needs.

I was introduced to my customer relationship manager. Soon after I realised I didn't have to queue in a bank branch again. If I had a problem, he could sort it out. I received a discount on the bank's advertised variable interest rate. Other bank employees contacted me to discuss "wealth management", "exciting investment opportunities" and "great insurance deals". ... Read more

California Drought Prompts Unprecedented Water Conservation Efforts
HP | Jason Dearen | 01/31/14

Amid severe drought conditions, California officials announced Friday they won't send any water from the state's vast reservoir system to local agencies beginning this spring, an unprecedented move that affects drinking water supplies for 25 million people and irrigation for 1 million acres of farmland.

The announcement marks the first time in the 54-year history of the State Water Project that such an action has been taken, but it does not mean that every farm field will turn to dust and every city tap will run dry.   The 29 agencies that draw from the state's water-delivery system have other sources, although those also have been hard-hit by the drought. Read more
ABC | California Governor Warns Residents of Serious Drought (01/31/14) [2:05]

South Australia weather (02/03/14) [1:26] 44.7c = 112.46f

Russian Mother Takes Magical Pictures of Her Two Kids With Animals On Her Farm

The Titanic time warp: We knew it was being rebuilt, but as these amazing new designs show, it really WILL be 1912 all over again
DailyMail | Elizabeth Sanderson | 03/02/13

To offer 21st century cruise-goers the chance to sail on the Titanic, Palmer created the company Blue Star Line last year. The ship is being designed by Finnish company Deltamarin, and will be built by Chinese state-owned CSC Jinling Shipyard, Reuters reported.

While the new Titanic will have air conditioning and modern safety equipment (and enough lifeboats for all of its 2,435 passengers and 900 crew), it will be made to look just like the original. Passengers will even be divided into three classes, and will be kept from mingling with those outside their station.

Construction should begin next year, and Palmer hopes to have the ship cruising by 2016. Read more