Texas school police ticketing students as young as 6

School police officers in Texas are doling out more tickets to children as young as 6, who under past disciplinary practices would have been sent to the principal's office instead, according to a report by a Texas nonprofit.

"Disrupting class, using profanity, misbehaving on a school bus, student fights, and truancy once meant a trip to the principal's office. Today, such misbehavior results in a Class C misdemeanor ticket and a trip to court for thousands of Texas students and their families each year," says the Appleseed Texas report (PDF). It examined data from 22 of the state's largest school districts and eight municipal courts.

Over six years, school police issued 1,000 tickets to elementary school children in 10 school districts.

The study found that where a child attends school -- not the severity of the allegation -- was the best indicator of whether the child would be ticketed instead of sent to the principal's office. Black students and special education students were overrepresented among those ticketed.

Most Texas schools have police officers, and that staffing is on the rise. The most common infractions earning misdemeanor tickets: disorderly conduct and leaving school without permission.

Full Story @ http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110110/us_yblog_thelookout/students-as-young-as-six-ticketed-by-police-in-texas-schools

Former U.S. Vice-President to visit Kitchener

Some big names will headline a youth-empowerment event set for Kitchener next month.

Former U.S. Vice-President and Nobel Laureate, Al Gore will be one of the speakers at “We Day”.

The event set for Thursday, February 17th at the Kitchener Auditorium will be sponsored by Free The Children and Research In Motion.

Former U.S. Presidential candidate and social activist, Reverend Jesse Jackson will also make an appearance.

Free The Children founders Craig and Marc Kielburger will be there as well.

Free The Children says students will learn about the world's most critical problems and how they can be part of the solution.

It's expected over 6,000 student leaders will attend.

Failing Elite Food Gambit?

Sarkozy takes G20 case to Obama as food prices soar ... French President Nicolas Sarkozy (left) takes his campaign for greater global food price and currency stability to Washington this week when he seeks Barack Obama's support for France's goals as head of the Group of 20 powers. Soaring food prices and riots in Algeria and elsewhere offer Sarkozy ammunition to press for more coordination among G20 governments to combat wild swings in vital commodity prices as well as exchange rates against the long-dominant U.S. dollar.

Sarkozy wants to use his run at the G20 helm in 2011 to start, if not finish, reforms of the monetary system at a time when many countries are tempted to let their currencies drop to promote exports and growth after the worst downturn since World War Two -- even if that is at each others' expense. ... Paris is also pressing for international efforts to impose greater transparency in commodity market trading and pricing, and for tougher regulation of commodity derivatives trade along the lines pursued for other investment derivatives in the wake of the financial market crisis that began in 2007. – Reuters

Full Story @ http://www.thedailybell.com/1676/Failing-Elite-Food-Gambit.html

At Least 10 States Have Introduced Gold Coins-As-Currency Bills

Legislators in at least ten states have introduced bills in the past few years to allow state commerce to be conducted with gold and silver.

As we reported, Georgia state Rep. Bobby Franklin (R) recently reintroduced legislation to force his state to conduct all monetary transactions with U.S. gold or silver coins -- including the payment of taxes.

The Georgia bill has a long way to go before become law -- but it's by no means the only state that's considering a future in gold. Lawmakers in Montana, Missouri, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Utah, and Washington have proposed legislation, mostly in 2009, to include gold and silver in its accepted currency forms.

Constitutionaltender.com, a site dedicated to tracking and promoting these bills, explains:

The United States Constitution declares, in Article I, Section 10, "No State shall... make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts". But, in fact, EVERY state in the United States of America DOES make some other "Thing" besides gold and silver coin a "Tender in Payment of Debts" -- some "Thing" called "Federal Reserve Notes." Thus the need for the "Constitutional Tender Act" -- a bill template that can be introduced in every state legislature in the nation, returning each of them to adherence to the United States Constitution's actual legal tender provisions.


Full Story @ http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/at-least-10-states-have-introduced-gold-coins-as-currency-bills.php

Merrill warns interest rates may jump by year-end

Inflation is poised to surprise on the upside later this year, which will prompt the Bank of Canada to raise short-term interest rates by 1.5 percentage points, says Sheryl King, chief investment strategist for Merrill Lynch Canada.

The possibility of a run-up in rates, now pegged at 1 per cent, would lead to increases in the cost of many types of consumer debt, including the variable-rate mortgages popular with many homeowners.

Ms. King made the rate forecast following the investment bank’s global outlook conference in Toronto, where senior market analysts for the firm lauded a slew of natural resource stocks and one strategist made a high-profile prediction that the debt crisis now afflicting European governments will spread to the United States, an event that would cause both the euro and the Canadian dollar to soar.


Full Story @ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/features/2011-market-outlook/merrill-warns-interest-rates-may-jump-by-year-end/article1867888/

Unstoppable tide hits Brisbane

The Brisbane River has broken its banks with evacuations underway in the heart of the city amid fears Brisbane will see its worst flooding since the 1974 disaster.

Ferry services have been shut down and rising flood waters have cut train services north and west of the city. Some bus services to the north of Brisbane have also been cancelled.

Police said roads were clogged with motorists trying to get home and city car parks have opened their boom gates, telling people to get their cars out.

Office towers on Eagle Street, right on the river, are being emptied, along with businesses in Fortitude Valley.

Floodwaters are creeping into the inner-city suburb of West End, where residents have been told to get to higher ground.

Evacuations are also underway on Brisbane's northside at Albion and Bowen Hills.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman is currently briefing the media.

It's feared Brisbane could be about to experience its worst flood since the catastrophic 1974 event, when at least 6700 homes were partially or totally flooded in the Brisbane metropolitan area.

The Wivenhoe Dam was subsequently built to the protect the city. Inflows into the dam are so vast that authorities have no choice but to continue with controlled releases, exacerbating flooding problems downstream.


Full Story @ http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2011/01/11/Unstoppable_tide_hits_Brisbane_563199.html

Light shines in High Arctic darkness

People in the High Arctic say their 24-hour darkness isn't as dark as it used to be, and a weather researcher says it's because of the warming climate.

"We still have a daylight and there's still blue, green, red down there — there's sun sign still," said Zipporah Ootooq Aronsen, who lives in Resolute Bay, Nunavut. "It's not usually like that."

People in Resolute Bay now sometimes see a distant island that in the past was only visible during daylight hours.

"It never happened like that before," Aronsen said. "Now we can see it once in a while, when it's a clear day."

Wayne Davidson, a weather researcher in Resolute Bay, said warmer thermal layers over cold dense polar air cause light to bend and travel farther.

"If there's a huge contrast between colder and warmer air, there's longer travel of light from any locations," he said.

Inuit have been noticing changes during the dark season for years but the changes are becoming more visible as the climate warms, Davidson said.

"It should be usually, around average, –31 degrees," he said. "It was, couple of days ago, –5 or something like that, so it's pretty wild."

That refraction of light at the border between cold and warm air is what's allowing people to see farther than normal, Davidson said.

"Refraction makes light travel," he said.

Jaypetee Akeeagok, who lives in Grise Fiord, Nunavut, said the weather has also been unusually warm there.

"You can actually drive Skidoo around town without gloves on," he said.

And people in Grise Fiord have also noticed there's more light in winter.

"Twenty years ago, we wouldn't even be able to see the whole village, in high noon, which is only nine kilometres, but now we get to see some daylight," Akeeagok said.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/12/27/north-high-arctic-24-hour-dark-light-climate-change.html#socialcomments#ixzz1AvVoDFw3

AZ Enacts Funeral Buffer Zone Legislation as Westboro Baptist Protesters Arrive in Tucson

As reported by the Washington Post and the AP, the Arizona House and Senate voted unanimously yesterday to restrict protest activity at funerals. Gov. Jan Brewer then signed the bill, and it went into effect immediately. The law, introduced by Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, prohibits picketing or other protest activities within 300 feet of a funeral or burial service and applies to the period from one hour before to one hour after such an event. Violators would be charged with a misdemeanor and could face punishment of six months in jail. The law is based on an Ohio statute upheld against First Amendment challenge in Phelps-Roper v. Strickland, 539 F.3d 356 (6th Cir. 2008). The legislation responds to the announcement that members of the Westboro Baptist Church plan to protest at the upcoming funerals of several victims of Saturday’s Tucson shooting. Shirley Phelps-Roper, a Westboro Baptist representative, is quoted in the AP report as saying that the new law would not change the church members’ plans because they had previously decided to picket at an intersection more than 1,000 feet from the church where the funeral for nine year old Christina Green will be held.

THE FED HAS SPOKEN: NO BAILOUT FOR MAIN STREET

The Federal Reserve was set up by bankers for bankers, and it has served them well. Out of the blue, it came up with $12.3 trillion in nearly interest-free credit to bail the banks out of a credit crunch they created. That same credit crisis has plunged state and local governments into insolvency, but the Fed has now delivered its ultimatum: there will be no “quantitative easing” for municipal governments.

On January 7, according to the Wall Street Journal, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the Fed had ruled out a central bank bailout of state and local governments. "We have no expectation or intention to get involved in state and local finance," he said in testimony before the Senate Budget Committee. The states "should not expect loans from the Fed."

So much for the proposal of President Barack Obama, reported in Reuters a year ago, to have the Fed buy municipal bonds to cut the heavy borrowing costs of cash-strapped cities and states.


Full Story @ http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/nobailout_mainstreet.php

Fidel's Reflections: Another Tea Party Star

Fidel wonders whether the United States government is aware of the challenge to its moral authority the presence of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in Haiti represents.
Fidel's Reflections: Another Tea Party Star

REFLECTIONS BY COMRADE FIDEL: ANOTHER TEA PARTY STAR

None other than Ileana Ros, the woman who kept the child Elián kidnapped in Miami, the promoter of coups d’état, crimes such as those committed by Posada Carriles and other heinous deeds, shall be travelling to neighbouring Haiti, where the earthquake killed a quarter of a million people and the cholera epidemic, in full swing, has taken the lives of almost 4,000 and is a threat for the rest of the continent.

A dispatch from the DPA agency informs the following:

Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will visit Haiti this Tuesday in what will be her first trip abroad since she was appointed chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives which is now in Republican hands, her office informed today in a press release.

During her stay in Port-au-Prince, the Cuban-born congresswoman said she hoped to receive a report on the ‘advances’ dealing with reconstruction of the devastated country, as well as on the ‘continued electoral controversy’ following the presidential elections of November 28th.

‘It is important for me to be able to go to Haiti, a country that is very close to and beloved by the United states’, stated the congresswoman from Florida, a state which is home to a great many Haitians.

‘It is very important for US interests and we have personal interest in seeing that stability, democracy and free enterprise take hold over there, she added.

I wonder whether the United States government is aware of the challenge to its moral authority the disturbing presence of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in Haiti represents.

But that is not all; another dispatch, this time from the AP Agency coming from Port-au-Prince communicates the following:

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)- Observers from the Organization of American States shall recommend that the governing-party candidate in the Haitian presidential elections be excluded from the second round in order to give up his spot to a popular musician who ended up in third place in the disputed first round of the elections, according to a copy of a report obtained by The Associated Press.

The OAS had scheduled the presentation of the document to President René Preval on Monday.

The report had not yet been made public, but AP obtained a copy and a diplomat familiar with its contents confirmed its recommendations. Another Foreign Affairs official said the document was in its last stage of being edited and translated into French, but affirmed that the conclusions would remain.

The Electoral Commission of Haiti will have to decide on how to answer the appeal, but the recommendations of the OAS team could bear a lot of weight. Three candidates consider they should be participating in the second round of elections. After the preliminary results of the first round were announced, the country was swept by a wave of unrest.

It is not foreseen that Preval would publically answer the report until after Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010.

The second round was scheduled for Sunday, but it was delayed in part to await the results of the OAS assessment that seeks to resolve the political impasse. Officials have stated that the elections will not be held until at least next month.

The country is completely calm. The fight against the epidemic is moving forward successfully. During the last 17 consecutive days the Cuban Medical Mission and the Henry Reeve Brigade have looked after 9,857 cholera patients without one single death.

President Preval had spoken with the diplomatic representatives, including the OAS representative, Brazilian writer Ricardo Seitenfus, about a political solution to the complicated problem.

According to news received, after that individual was suddenly fired by the OAS Secretary, the current problem came up. We hope that the representatives from Latin America and the countries accredited in the UN can avoid the chaos that might be created in Haiti if in the current situation the fight among rival parties is unleashed amid all the destruction, poverty and the epidemic that still mightily strikes at that nation.


Fidel Castro Ruz

January 10, 2011

9:50 p.m.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70A43C20110111

Reuters) - Bhutan police can raid homes of smokers in a search for contraband tobacco and are training a special tobacco sniffer dog in a crackdown to honor a promise to become the world's first smoke-free nation.

Buddhist Bhutan, where smoking is considered bad for one's karma, banned the sale of tobacco in 2005, but with a thriving tobacco smuggling operation from neighboring India, the ban failed to make much of an impact.

But legislation passed in the new year, granting police powers to enter homes, is set to stub out the habit, threatening five years in jail for shopkeepers selling tobacco and smokers who fail to provide customs receipts for imported cigarettes.


Full Story @ http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70A43C20110111

WikiLeaks: Julian Assange 'faces execution or Guantánamo detention'

WikiLeaks founder 'happy' after extradition hearing Link to this video


Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, could be at "real risk" of the death penalty or detention in Guantánamo Bay if he is extradited to Sweden on accusations of rape and sexual assault, his lawyers claim.

In a skeleton summary of their defence against attempts by the Swedish director of public prosecutions to extradite him, released today, Assange's legal team argue that there is a similar likelihood that the US would subsequently seek his extradition "and/or illegal rendition", "where there will be a real risk of him being detained at Guantánamo Bay or elsewhere".

"Indeed, if Mr Assange were rendered to the USA, without assurances that the death penalty would not be carried out, there is a real risk that he could be made subject to the death penalty. It is well known that prominent figures have implied, if not stated outright, that Mr Assange should be executed."


Full Story @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/11/julian-assange-wikileaks-execution-gantanamo

Earth must prepare for close encounter with aliens, say scientists

World governments should prepare a co-ordinated action plan in case Earth is contacted by aliens, according to scientists.

They argue that a branch of the UN must be given responsibility for "supra-Earth affairs" and formulate a plan for how to deal with extraterrestrials, should they appear.

The comments are part of an extraterrestrial-themed edition of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A published today. In it, scientists examine all aspects of the search for extraterrestrial life, from astronomy and biology to the political and religious fallout that would result from alien contact.


Full Story @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jan/10/earth-close-encounter-aliens-extraterrestrials

Could the Federal Reserve Become Insolvent?

The U.S. Federal Reserve's journey to the outer limits of monetary policy is raising concerns about how hard it will be to withdraw trillions of dollars in stimulus from the banking system when the time is right.

While that day seems distant now, some economists and market analysts have even begun pondering the unthinkable: could the vaunted Fed, the world's most powerful central bank, become insolvent? Almost by definition, the answer is no.

As the monetary authority, the central bank is the master of the printing press. It can literally conjure up money at will, and arguably did exactly that when it bought about $2 trillion of mortgage-backed securities and U.S. Treasuries to push down borrowing costs and boost the economy.

The Fed's unorthodox steps helped it generate record profits in 2010, allowing it to send $78.4 billion to the U.S. Treasury Department.

But its swollen balance sheet leaves the central bank unusually exposed to possible credit losses that could create a major headache at a time of increasing political encroachment on the Fed's independence.


Full Story @ http://www.cnbc.com/id/41015501/

Bilderberg Member Dambisa Moyo: without change US will almost certainly become a socialist nation

Economist Dambisa Moyo predicts in her new book that the West’s economic dominance will collapse unless some very difficult choices are made.

Dambisa Moyo is that rare type of person – an economist who makes waves. Her first book, Dead Aid, angered many in the charity sector by arguing that foreign aid has harmed Africa and should be phased out.

Her second, which is published in London on Thursday, accuses America and other Western powers of squandering their world economic dominance through a sustained catalogue of fundamentally flawed policies.

How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly – And the Stark Choices Ahead goes so far as to predict that the US will be a “bona fide socialist welfare state” by the latter part of this century.


Full Story @ http://www.sovereignindependent.com/?p=11930

Gerald Celente: Internet nuke bomb waiting to go off

Sprott Physical Silver Trust Updates Investors on the Delivery Status of its Silver Bullion Purchases

Monday, January 10, 2011

TORONTO, Jan. 10 /CNW/ - Sprott Asset Management LP is pleased to provide investors with an update on the delivery status of silver bullion purchased by the Sprott Physical Silver Trust (NYSE ARCA: PSLV, TSX: PHS.U) ("Trust").

As of November 10, 2010, the Trust had contracted to purchase a total of 22,298,525 ounces of silver bullion. As of December 31, 2010 a total of 20,919,022 ounces of silver bullion had been delivered to the Trust. The Trust expects to take delivery of the final 1,379,503 ounces of silver bullion by January 12, 2011 and will subsequently publish the serial numbers of all bars held by the Trust on its website: www.sprottphysicalsilver.com.

"Frankly, we are concerned about the illiquidity in the physical silver market," said Eric Sprott, Chief Investment Officer of Sprott Asset Management. "We believe the delays involved in the delivery of physical silver to the Trust highlight the disconnect that exists between the paper and physical markets for silver."

Additional detail on the Trust can be found in the final prospectus available on EDGAR (www.sec.gov/edgar.com) and SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or on the Trust's website at www.sprottphysicalsilver.com.

About Sprott Asset Management LP

Sprott Asset Management LP (www.sprott.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sprott Inc. (www.sprottinc.com) is a fund company dedicated to achieving superior returns for its investors over time. SAM manages assets primarily for institutions, endowments and high net worth individuals. Sprott Asset Management LP is the investment manager of the Sprott Funds. Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual Funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. The information contained herein does not constitute an offer or solicitation by anyone in the United States or in any other jurisdiction in which such an offer or solicitation is not authorized or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such an offer or solicitation. Prospective investors should consult their financial advisor to determine if these Funds may be sold in their jurisdiction.

Trial against environmental activists dropped after undercover Met police officer switches sides

The campaigners had been accused of conspiring to shut down a power station, but the trial collapsed after Pc Mark Kennedy, who had infiltrated the group, indicated he would give evidence to support them in court, it has been reported.

Prosecutors dropped the case, which was due to start on Monday, after learning that Mr Kennedy had offered to help the defence, according to BBC Newsnight.

The charges related to an alleged plan by the activists to try to shut down the Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station in Nottingham in 2009 to protest against global warming.

Under the alias Mark Stone, Mr Kennedy led a second life as an environmental campaigner in Nottingham.

The undercover agent had become a key member of the group since 2000 until his secret was discovered by protesters last October.


Full Story @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8249734/Trial-against-environmental-activists-dropped-after-undercover-Met-police-officer-switches-sides.html

Mark Potok Blames the Radical Right for Giffords Shooting

SPLC blames Ayn Rand, David Icke and Others for Arizona Shooting

'Even more outrageously, Potok excerpts a vague term used by Loughner about “conscience dreaming,” which he says he studied in college, and links it to new age speaker, British author and ‘conspiracy theorist’ David Icke, despite the fact that nothing known about Loughner has ever mentioned Icke or his work.

Not only is this an example of unjustified guilt-by-association, but David Icke has manifestly promoted non-violence throughout his decades of work. Further ‘conscious dreaming’ is a term often linked to yoga practices and Eastern philosophy not “radical” right wing ideology.'

Richard Louis "Dick" Proenneke (pronounced /ˈprɛnəkiː/; May 4, 1916–April 28, 2003) was a naturalist who lived alone in the high mountains of Alaska at a place called Twin Lakes. Living in a log cabin he constructed by hand, Proenneke made valuable recordings of both meteorological and natural data.

Obama Eyeing Internet ID for Americans

TANFORD, Calif. - President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cybersecurity effort to create an Internet ID for Americans, a White House official said here today.

It's "the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government" to centralize efforts toward creating an "identity ecosystem" for the Internet, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said.

That news, first reported by CNET, effectively pushes the department to the forefront of the issue, beating out other potential candidates including the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. The move also is likely to please privacy and civil liberties groups that have raised concerns in the past over the dual roles of police and intelligence agencies.

The announcement came at an event today at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, where U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Schmidt spoke.

The Obama administration is currently drafting what it's calling the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, which Locke said will be released by the president in the next few months. (An early version was publicly released last summer.)


Full Story @ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20027837-501465.html

Weather radar shows something unusual around time birds fell

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A weather radar screen doesn't just show the weather, apparently. The National Weather Service in North Little Rock examined a speck on the radar that showed up around the same time hundreds of birds fell out of the sky from alleged trauma on New Year's Eve.

Today's THV reporter Lauren Clark talked to Science and Operations Officer Chris Buonanno at the NWS who says that the speck on the picture is definitely not precipitation.

"There are some indications that we're picking up a non-precipitation target. It has some similarities to say, like a collection of birds."

The spot on the radar is estimated to be between 1,300 and 1,400 feet in the air and Buonanno points out it doesn't move like a cloud or rainstorm would.

While speculations continue to pour in, officials in Wisconsin confirmed the cause of death of the birds in Beebe was blunt force trauma.

Chris says..

Know thyself! You are a LION not a lamb...

If you refuse to give up no matter what people think or say about you and no matter what the scale of the challenge you will always get somewhere in the end.

The Day the Dollar Died

This is a very interesting 'hypothetical' situation....

Chris is reading: INVASION 1940

The Nazi Invasion Plan for British by SS General Walter Schellenberg

In August 1940, in compliance with the Führer's directive on the imminent invasion of Britain, the Gestapo prepared a secret handbook to be distributed to the occupation forces. It offered an astonishing insight into exactly how the Nazis perceived Britain and her empire, offering detailed analyses of the political and economic structure of the country, with chapters covering everything from Parliament and public schools to freemasonry and the Boy Scouts. The chapter on British Intelligence was considered so embarrassingly accurate that the few copies retrieved at the end of the war were retained by the authorities. It is only now, more than half a century later, that a translation has been made, revealing the full and remarkable truth.

Chris says....

“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.”

~Oscar Wilde

Elite on a Tightrope

Obama aide: Debt limit fight could be "catastrophic" ... A fight over the budget loomed on Sunday as a top aide to President Barack Obama warned of catastrophic consequences if Republicans follow through on threats to reject an increase in the nation's borrowing limit. Republicans, who will take control of the House of Representatives this week, are demanding spending cuts to curb the $1.3 trillion budget deficit and several have said they would oppose a higher debt ceiling if Obama does not agree to a range of painful cuts. – LA Times


Full Story @ http://www.thedailybell.com/1652/Elite-on-a-Tightrope.html

Smart Grid & The Cloud why are they linked?

This might surprise you folks, but Smart Grid (intelligent power distribution and management) is even more important to our nation’s future success than the Cloud is! Interestingly enough in many cases one enables the other or at least dramatically improves its usability and performance.

The current situation in our data centers (Infrastructure 1.0) has many things in common with our current electrical grid (lets call it Grid 1.0). The IT infrastructure in our data centers today is very manual, use isn’t easily measured and demand isn’t easily provisioned or de-provisioned as requirements change. The infrastructure is managed through a combination of tools and spreadsheets that require on-going support from IT staff. As pointed out by other members of the Infrastructure 2.0 group, we’ve created highly qualified “IT Clerk” positions in order to support this very manual and complex issue. By its very design we’ve created an environment that’s much like a hologram, it works great when you’re in your nice little box (four walls of the data center), but don’t try to get the hologram to step outside or poof, no more hologram.


Fully Story @ http://www.infra20.com/post.cfm/smart-grid-the-cloud-why-are-they-linked-1#ixzz1ASL91jBA

FACT CHECK: Mass bird, fish deaths occur regularly

WASHINGTON — First, the blackbirds fell out of the sky on New Year's Eve in Arkansas. In recent days, wildlife have mysteriously died in big numbers: 2 million fish in the Chesapeake Bay, 150 tons of red tilapia in Vietnam, 40,000 crabs in Britain and other places across the world. Blogs connected the deadly dots, joking about the "aflockalypse" while others saw real signs of something sinister, either biblical or environmental.

The reality, say biologists, is that these mass die-offs happen all the time and usually are unrelated.

Federal records show they happen on average every other day somewhere in North America. Usually, we don't notice them and don't try to link them to each other.

"They generally fly under the radar," said ornithologist John Wiens, chief scientist at the California research institution PRBO Conservation Science.


Full Story @ http://dailyme.com/story/2011010600000216/fact-check-mass-bird-fish-deaths.html

Shift of Earth's magnetic north pole affects Tampa airport

TAMPA - Scientists say the magnetic north pole is moving toward Russia and the fallout has reached -- of all places -- Tampa International Airport.

The airport has closed its primary runway until Jan. 13 to repaint the numeric designators at each end and change taxiway signage to account for the shift in location of the Earth's magnetic north pole.

The closure of the west parallel runway will result in more activity on the east parallel runway and more noise for residential areas of South Tampa.

The busiest runway will be re-designated 19R/1L on aviation charts. It's been 18R/36L, indicating its alignment along the 180-degree approach from the north and the 360-degree approach from the south.


Fully Story @ http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/05/051903/shift-of-earths-magnetic-north-pole-impacts-tampa-/

Drill Close to Reaching 14-Million-Year-Old Antarctic Lake

Lake Vostok, which has been sealed off from the world for 14 million years, is about to be penetrated by a Russian drill bit.

The lake, which lies 2.5 miles below the icy surface of Antarctica, is unique in that it’s been completely isolated from the other 150 subglacial lakes on the continent for such a long time. It’s also oligotropic, meaning that it’s supersaturated with oxygen: Levels of the element are 50 times higher than those found in most typical freshwater lakes.

Since 1990, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St. Petersburg in Russia has been drilling through the ice to reach the lake, but fears of contamination of the ecosystem in the lake have stopped the process multiple times, most notably in 1998 when the drills were turned off for almost eight years.


Full Story @ http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/lake-vostok-antarctica/

GoldNomics - Cash or Gold Bullion

Video Released In Murder Mystery Of Delaware War Vet

WILMINGTON, Del. (CBS) – Eyewitness News has obtained exclusive surveillance video of a former presidential aide that was taken two days before his body was found dumped in a Delaware landfill.

The body of John Wheeler III was found in the Cherry Island landfill in Wilmington on New Year’s Eve.

The video shows a man that appears to be Wheeler entering the lobby of a parking garage at 5th and King Streets in Wilmington on December 29.

An employee of the parking garage said Wheeler look disheveled and said he was looking for his car. The employee also said his right shoe, which appeared to be broken, was in his right hand.


Full Story @ http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/01/04/video-released-in-murder-mystery-of-del-war-vet/

The USDA’s Organic Deception

Organic is organic, or is it? It would seem that it is all a matter of perspective when one takes a stroll through the mountains of documents on the FDA and USDA websites.

The word “organic” is fast becoming a high-dollar money-maker for corporations smart enough to jump on the bandwagon and start marketing their products as “made with organic ingredients,” or “certified organic.” Even Monsanto is taking advantage of this burgeoning market, and people naïve enough to believe that what we have traditionally thought of as pure, organic food, is still that way, are being duped.


Full Story @ http://farmwars.info/?p=4913

Mystery of mass animal death epidemic deepens after 8,000 turtle doves fall dead in Italy with strange blue stain on their beaks

Thousands of dead turtle doves rained down on roofs and cars in an Italian town in the latest in a growing spate of mass animal deaths across the globe.

Residents in Faenza described the birds falling to the ground like 'little Christmas balls' with strange blue stains on their beaks.

Initial tests on up to 8,000 of the doves indicated that the blue stain could have been caused by poisoning or hypoxia.

Full Story @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1344913/Animal-death-mystery-Two-MILLION-dead-fish-wash-Maryland-bay.html#ixzz1AMCozOdu

Wik-Bee Leaks: EPA Document Shows It Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees

The world honey bee population has plunged in recent years, worrying beekeepers and farmers who know how critical bee pollination is for many crops. A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined--electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change have all been pinpointed. Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists.

The document, which was leaked to a Colorado beekeeper, shows that the EPA has ignored warnings about the use of clothianidin, a pesticide produced by Bayer that mainly is used to pre-treat corn seeds. The pesticide scooped up $262 million in sales in 2009 by farmers, who also use the substance on canola, soy, sugar beets, sunflowers, and wheat, according to Grist.


Full Story @ http://www.fastcompany.com/1708896/wiki-bee-leaks-epa-document-reveals-agency-knowingly-allowed-use-of-bee-toxic-pesticide

Geithner Urges Debt Limit Increase, Warns of Default Risk if No Action

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said lawmakers must raise the federal borrowing limit in the first quarter of 2011 or risk a default on U.S. debt and a loss of access to global credit markets.

A failure to act would cause “catastrophic damage to the economy, potentially much more harmful than the effects of the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009,” Geithner said in a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and all other members of Congress. Lawmakers should act before a default becomes “imminent” because damage from even a short-term disruption “would last for decades.”

Full Story @ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-06/geithner-urges-increase-in-debt-limit-warns-of-u-s-default-consequences.html

John Embry - Gold Over $2,000, Silver Above $50 in 2011

Thanks DanV

John Embry says:

“The returns over the last 10 years, gold returned over 18% and silver close to 24% annually. These are spectacular returns and we haven’t seen anything yet, we’re not even close to the third leg which is the blowoff.

As you know we started the Sprott Phyiscal Silver Trust about about 3 months ago. We still haven’t got all of our silver in yet, we’re close, we’ve almost got every last bar. But it’s taken the better part of 2 1/2 months to get it in, so the suggestion that this physical market is tight probably isn’t a strong enough suggestion, it’s really tight!

You and I were buying this morning John personally, you probably bought for the fund as well, but I know we were personally buying. You have to have conviction in order to buy during these dips, and you have to know the companies...You had one company that was dipping 10%, you stepped in and were a buyer, it’s already recovered I think.

“Some of these things are very volatile. This is a very thin company...But an order hit the market, and I sometimes wonder is it stupidity or is it actually being engineered? But it doesn’t make any difference, the price goes down like a rock and those people that know what they are doing, they just step in and buy. This very same company believe it or not at the bottom of the market in 2008 basically sold for as low as 40 cents and it earned 30 cents in the next year. I mean the market can be absurd.”

With a sharp two day correction in gold and silver taking place, King World News today interviewed John Embry, Chief Investment Strategist at Sprott Asset Management. When asked about the quick decline Embry stated, “This may be the best opportunity you’re going to get at least from a price sense to buy gold and silver in the next few days. I think when this correction however long it will last is over, it will probably mark the lows for the year which will then be the liftoff to the eleventh consecutive year of higher gold prices.”

When asked once again about tightness in the silver market Embry remarked, “There is infinitely more demand for physical silver than there is supply. I mean all of this stuff coming out of the ground is long since spoken for by traditional industrial and medical uses and what have you. And now with investor interest picking up, I just saw that on the 3rd of January there was 1.7 million silver coins sold in the United States which was equal to the amount that was sold in all of the month of December. So, investment demand for silver is going off the chart, this could only mean dramatically higher prices.”

When asked about his themes for 2011 Embry stated, “Basically I think we are going to see more of the same. I mean I don’t see how you could possibly shut off the paper spigot without causing a depression, the likes of which would make the 30’s look like a picnic. If that’s the case then you’ve got to continue to focus on hard assets, and when you get these violent corrections...you’ve got to be in a position to buy them. The things that I would be avoiding like the plague are bonds, particularly long bonds.

...Things are sufficiently dire that I think we are going to have to recast the monetary system before this is over. And in such an undertaking I suspect that gold may be remonetized, and given the amount of paper there is in the world, I mean it will have to be remonetized at a price which would sort of stagger the doomsayers today on gold. There are still more people talking negative on gold today than there are positively believe it or not.”

When asked about price targets for 2011 Embry replied, “I’d be disappointed if it didn’t trade through $2,000 this year, in that event if gold were to make a run at that, silver is a layup for $50.”

There is a tremendous amount of high quality information from John Embry in this interview including two stock picks. The entire in-depth King World News segment with John Embry will be available shortly.

Jim Rickards - Gold Standard Coming, Fed’s Hoenig Correct

Thanks DanV

Valuable information for those interested in the Gold/Silver market.

Jim, you said that battle lines would be drawn on this debate and this is the second major figure who has joined with World Bank President Zoellick openly discussing the use of gold in the monetary system. What is your take on this development?

“What Hoenig has done, as Robert Zoellick did before him, is to legitimize the debate. This is not the last word on gold and there is a long way to go both intellectually and mechanically before we get to a gold standard. What is important is that the discussion is now out of the shadows and in the main arena and it will take on a life of its own from here with participation from many sides. Hoening may have lost his vote on FOMC but he has not lost his voice.”

With regards to the battle lines, how do you think Fed Chairman Bernanke will feel about this?

“Hoenig and Zoellick are not stalking horses for Bernanke and the Board of Governors. An honest debate about a gold standard is the last thing Bernanke wants. However, because of speeches like Hoenig's and the new prominence of Ron Paul in the Congress, this debate is now taking off whether Bernanke likes it or not and he will not be able to contain it.

The battle lines are being drawn between honest gold backed money and fiat money. The G20, IMF, central banks and most academic economists are on the side of fiat money and the citizens, certain honest intellectuals and a few economists are on the side of gold. Let the games begin.

Hoenig is right that even with a gold standard there will continue to be business cycles with occasional periods of higher unemployment and bank failures. But it's not as if fiat money has avoided those calamities. From the severe recessions in the 1970's and 1980's, the sovereign debt crisis of the early 1980's, the stock market crash of 1987, the recession of 1989-1990, the bond market crash of 1994, the LTCM collapse of 1998, the tech bubble crash of 2000 and the Panic of 2008 it's not as if it's all been smooth sailing under fiat money.

It's hard to see how gold could do worse and history says it will do much better. One need only look at inflation, unemployment and economic growth in the period 1870-1914 versus 1971-2010 to see the clear beneifts of gold which seems to produce both consistent growth and low inflation notwithstanding occasional business cycle volatility.”

Fed Governor Hoenig shocked many observers yesterday when he stated, “The gold standard is a very legitimate monetary system...We're not going to have fewer crises necessarily. You will have a longer period of price stability or price level stability, but I don't know that you'll have lower unemployment, I don't know that you'll have fewer bank failures.” King World News immediately interviewed Jim Rickards who has worked with both the Fed & US Treasury, and who also has a background in national defense as well as consulting with government directorates around the world.

You can still have variations due to tightness in supplies, but it is proven that there is tremendous stability in pricing when you are on a gold standard. We had food riots in 2008 from Haiti to Bangladesh to Egypt over the soaring costs of basic foods. Food costs have now eclipsed 2008. It seems it is not only morally the right thing to do, being on a gold standard, but also the humane thing to do as far as providing price stability?

“Good question. Commodities are not just the playthings of speculators or mere industrial inputs. In many cases, commodities are actually food and their price volatility represents the difference between a steady diet or starvation for billions of people. If a gold standard contributes to lower volatility in food prices and fewer price related supply disruptions that's a social good over and above any economic good that is created.”

How do we get there Jim?

“Well, as I've said before, there's more to a gold standard than just snapping your fingers and wishing it to be so. It will require a lot of study, a lot of planning and a lot of technical work to execute. One clear implication is that given the amount of money printing in recent years, a much higher price of gold is required to create an equilibrium between the current money supply and the amount of official gold available to support it.

Estimates of that higher price can vary over a wide range depending on what definition of "money" you use and what gold to paper ratios you require. My own analysis indicates a range of between $5,000 to $11,000 per ounce of gold; of course, some estimates are much higher.”

There is the easy way and there is the other path which could very well involve social disorder, violence and failure of the current monetary system. A gold standard is coming to the United States, and the US can do this willingly, or “kicking and screaming” as Jim Rickards has said in the past. Let’s hope we choose the easy path.

David Icke - HUMAN RACE, GET OFF YOUR KNEES : A Project Avalon Interview...

David talks about time and sequence along with the expansion of awareness and the decoding of truth vibrations. He also speaks of the number of people waking up to self. Listen carefully and you'll understand clearly what he speaks about.

Fed's Hoenig Says Gold Standard "Legitimate" System

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - A gold standard that forces countries to back their currency reserves with bullion is a "legitimate" monetary system, though it would not prevent financial crises, Kansas City Federal Reserve President Thomas Hoenig said on Wednesday.

"The gold standard is a very legitimate monetary system," Hoenig said, adding: "We're not going to have fewer crises necessarily. You will have a longer of period of price stability or price level stability, but I don't know that you'll have lower unemployment, I don't know that you'll have fewer bank failures."

Economic Consequences Of The “New World Order”

A common misconception among less aware segments of the American populace is that the phrase “New World Order” was concocted by attention seeking “conspiracy theorists” in dank basement apartments and sinister mountain shacks across the country. In reality, anti-globalists and Constitutionalists had nothing to do with the term’s creation (and most of us have decent digs, too). The truth is that mumblings of a “New World Order” have been floating around various elitist circles for decades, and every once in a while, those mumblings are publicized in the mainstream media. Globalists created the warped ideal; we just point out that it exists. Lately, we haven’t had to try very hard…

As most readers here are probably already privy to, elitist spokesman George Soros (who for some reason reminds me of the bloated floating Baron Harkonnen from the movie ‘Dune’) recently let spill all kinds of NWO gossip in a candid interview with the Financial Times. If you have not seen it yet, or you believe only kooks talk about the New World Order, I suggest you watch the below interview twice for good measure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki4cqqMZ7JE&feature=player_embedded

What is most interesting about this interview is Soros’ focus on the fate of the dollar in the NWO. He openly confirms nearly everything I and many others have been warning about for the past three to four years in the span of only ten minutes! Why would Soros make such admissions? Well, I suspect that some elites believe that they should not have to hide their pet project for a “new order” from us lowly serfs, while others perhaps have been given the green light to start selling the masses on the supposed benefits of greater centralization. Soros literally tries to paint the collapse of America as “necessary”, and the devolution of the dollar as “healthy”, though I doubt that many people will be swayed by his charms. It’s hard to trust a guy that leaves a slime trail…

While Soros may not be the best used car salesman on the lemon lot, there are plenty of establishment media lackeys and fraudulent pundits that do have a knack for refining globalist talking points and making them more palatable to the public. What alternative economic analysts are now discovering is that there are actually two economies; the one that the MSM and the government presents, and the one we all actually live in. The year of 2010 was highly representative of this strange developing duality. So many malfunctions in terms of employment, debt, inflation, and bonds (especially municipals), and yet, so much “good news” pouring out of the networks. This is rather similar to the media frenzy just before the final market plunge of the Great Depression; government reports and mainstream news were overwhelmingly positive, right before the entire system took its last flaming nose dive into the gutter and stayed there for a decade.

If we are to take anything from the recent Soros interview, it would be that the globalists are closing in on their target for the implementation of their new world order, or “new economic order”, or whatever interchangeable label they happen to be using at the moment. But what does this mean for the rest of us? When George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Henry Kissinger, Nicolas Sarkozy, Vladimir Putin, Gordon Brown, and so many others mention their desire for a “New World Order”, what exactly are they referring to? In terms of the economy, how will this elitist philosophy change our lives, and our nation? To know our destination, we must first examine the path we are currently on. What have been the results of globalism and centralization so far? What is the most likely next step? Let’s review where the elites have led us up until now, and where they have expressly proclaimed they would like to take us in the future…

see full story @ http://neithercorp.us/npress/2011/01/economic-consequences-of-the-%E2%80%9Cnew-world-order%E2%80%9D

Aspartame Exposed - GM Bacteria Used to Create Deadly Sweetener

(NaturalNews) The manufacturers of the most prevalent sweetener in the world have a secret, and it`s not a sweet one. Aspartame, an artificial sweetener found in thousands of products worldwide, has been found to be created using genetically modified (GM) bacteria. What`s even more shocking is how long this information has been known. A 1999 article by The Independent was the first to expose the abominable process in which aspartame was created. Ironically, the discovery was made around the same time as rich leaders around the globe met at the G8 Summit to discuss the safety of GM foods.

The 1999 investigation found that Monsanto, the largest biotech corporation in the world, often used GM bacteria to produce aspartame in their US production plants. The end result is a fusion between two of the largest health hazards to ever hit the food industry -- artificial sweeteners and an array of genetically altered organisms. Both have led to large-scale debate, with aspartame being the subject of multiple congressional hearings and scientific criticism. Scientists and health advocates are not the only ones to speak out against aspartame, however. The FDA received a flurry of complaints from consumers using NutraSweet, a product containing aspartame. Since 1992, the FDA has stopped documenting reports on the subject.

The process in which aspartame is created involves combining an amino acid known as phenylalanine with aspartic acid. First synthesized in 1965, aspartame requires bacteria for the sole purpose of producing phenylalanine. Monsanto discovered that through genetically altering this bacteria, phenylalanine could be created much more quickly. In the report by The Independent, Monsanto openly admitted that their mutated bacteria is a staple in the creation process of aspartame.

"We have two strains of bacteria - one is traditionally modified and one is genetically modified," said the source from Monsanto. "It's got a modified enzyme. It has one amino acid different."

Multiple studies have been conducted regarding genetic manipulation, with many grim conclusions. One study found that the more GM corn was fed to mice, the fewer babies they had. Another study, published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences, found that the organs that typically respond to chemical food poisoning were the first to encounter problems after subjects consumed GM foods. The same study also states that GM foods should not be commercialized.

"For the first time in the world, we've proven that GMO are neither sufficiently healthy nor proper to be commercialized. [...] Each time, for all three GMOs, the kidneys and liver, which are the main organs that react to a chemical food poisoning, had problems," indicated Gilles-Eric Seralini, an expert member of the Commission for Biotechnology Reevaluation.

Consumer groups are now curious as to whether or not other products secretly contain genetically modified ingredients. Due to the fact that the finished product`s DNA does not change when using genetically modified bacteria, it is hard to know for sure. With the FDA ruling against the labeling of GM salmon, it is becoming more of a challenge to determine whether or not a product contains GM ingredients. Consumers are voicing their opposition for GM ingredients going incognito, with the largest growing retail brand being GMO-free products.

"The public wants to know and the public has a right to know," said Marion Nestle, a professor in the Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health Department at New York University.

Unveiling the secret process in which aspartame is created acts as yet another reminder to stay away from artificial sweeteners, and one should choose natural alternatives such as palm sugar, xylitol, or stevia.

China has figured out why birds are falling all over...

Seems the most probable explanation... and I always thought from the beginning that all those events were related to the magnetic field....

Who knows if the sun's magnetic field will really reverse in 2012.

Also the article is stating that birds are falling off the sky in China... So another place to add to the list... no way a disease or chemtrails could do that... it has to be a GLOBAL phenomenon... which the disruption of the earth's magnetic field is...

We know that birds navigate by the magnetic field, only the magnetic field changes, and the birds will be lost fall,

Migratory birds rely on the body's "biological compass" to determine the direction is "open secret", but it is not clear how the perception of the magnetic field of birds.

"Nobody knows it (the magnetic induction system) to work," Patterson said Murray, "magnetic induction principle is that people understand the nature, at least so far the (principle)."

How long migratory birds perceive the magnetic field on two main points. One view is that the birds beak cells can sense the Earth's magnetic field and pass the message through the nervous system to the brain; another point of view, birds eye in the photoreceptor cells can "see" the magnetic field, and the information through another way to the brain is referred to as "N clusters" light processing area.

Specific proteins in migratory birds eye "cryptochrome" Maybe this is the light-dependent magnetic field sensing of the media. Light stimulation of this protein produced a pair of free radicals, free radicals can be carried by the electron spin may be able to perceive the special properties of Earth's magnetic field.

In general, the magnetic elements of change is very small, but with the solar activity and geomagnetic storms are closely related phenomena, but it happened very suddenly. This is because the intense sunspot activity, when the energy released is equivalent to some one hundred thousand hydrogen bomb blast, while a large number of charged particles ejected. These charged particles hitting the Earth forming a powerful magnetic field to the magnetic field superposition, so that under normal circumstances, the magnetic elements changed dramatically, causing "magnetic storms." Occurs when the magnetic storm on Earth many strange phenomena occur. Over the North Pole in the dark there will be a beautiful aurora. The compass will swing, short-wave radio broadcasts suddenly, relying on the magnetic field "navigation" will be lost pigeons, flying around. To cosmic rays and magnetic fields can stop high-energy
charged particles from the sun is harmful organisms from the natural umbrella.

There may be and the polarity of the magnetic field changes related to conversion, according to Indian newspaper reports, Hyderabad (Hyderabad), a company in 2012, researchers predicted that the Earth and the Sun's magnetic poles will reverse. Earth's magnetic reversal Earth's magnetic field is the occurrence of the Arctic and Antarctic swap, in the course of the earth will experience at some point in time there is no magnetic field in the state.

Such a thing in human history not recorded, so only through computer simulation of its impact. Hyderabad model based on the Earth and the Sun's magnetic field in addition to the conversion.

David Icke - Stop Acquiescing With Your Own Enslavement!!!

David Vaughan Icke (born April 29, 1952) is an English writer and public speaker best known for his views on what he calls "who and what is really controlling the world". Describing himself as the most controversial speaker and author in the world, he has written 16 books explaining his position, dubbed New Age-conspiracism, and has attracted a substantial following across the political spectrum. His 533-page The Biggest Secret (1999) has been called the conspiracy theorist's Rosetta Stone.