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The EPA takes an ax to self-sufficiency: Most wood burning stoves will soon be illegal

Daisy Luther
Activist Post
Sat, 28 Sep 2013 17:16 UTC
Image
When you think of that little dream homestead in the woods, what does it include? Probably a well and septic system, a little stream bubbling nearby, a chicken coop, a sunroom for winter growing, and a cozy fire to curl up next to.

When my daughter and I spent a year living in a cabin in the Northwoods of Canada, our wood stove was our lifeline. It was the only source of heat in a place that reached -42 degrees. It was the only way we could cook when our power went out during snow and ice storms (as it did frequently). It was the cozy center of our home, and we survived for an entire frigid winter for less than $800. After that experience I vowed never to live in a home without a wood stove.

If the EPA has its way, however, heating your home self-sufficiently with wood could soon become illegal - or at the very least, insanely expensive.
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Eye 1

Who will "punish" us? Photographs and testimony about United States' use of chemical and radiation weapons

Mike Rivage-Seul
OpEdNews
Fri, 27 Sep 2013 10:17 UTC
Fallujah White Phosphorous Victim
© www.uruknet.deFallujah White Phosphorous Victim by www.uruknet.de
It is extremely interesting to compare the U.S. response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria and its suppression of evidence of similar weapons use by the U.S. and U.K. in Fallujah in March and November of 2004.

We all know about the U.S. reaction to the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

In the face of denials by the Syrian government, and on evidence that remains secret and other indications provided by photographs, testimonies of eye-witnesses, accusations of the al-Qaeda-affiliated rebels, and deductions derived from consideration of the delivery mechanisms necessary to launch such weapons, the U.S. government was determined to "punish" the al-Assad government for the heinous crime of using chemical weapons.

Such circumstantial evidence was considered more than sufficient for president Obama and secretary of state Kerry.
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Hardhat

Mortar shell hits Chinese Embassy in Damascus


Press TV
Mon, 30 Sep 2013 10:34 UTC
Chinese embassy in Damascus
© XinhuaChinese embassy in Damascus
Three mortar shells have hit the Syrian capital, Damascus, one of them landing near the Chinese Embassy in the city.

According to a report by China's state news agency, Xinhua, on Monday, the mortar shell damaged the compound's walls and shattered some windows.

The shell, which is said to have fallen about 100 meters from the embassy building, also set fire to two cars and damaged several others.

The report added that a Syrian employee suffered minor injuries in the attack.

Sources said the mortars were launched by foreign-backed militants in Syria probably from the southern suburbs of Damascus.

Comment: First the Saudi/US sponsored jihadists attack the Russian embassy, then a week later they attack the Chinese embassy. Coincidence that both Russia and China have been adamant of a political solution to the crisis?

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Chess

Italy plunged into chaos as Berlusconi withdraws ministers from coalition

Lizzie Davies
The Guardian
Mon, 30 Sep 2013 02:45 UTC
Silvio Berlusconi
© Remo Casilli/ReutersSilvio Berlusconi's move has surprised many analysts.
All five ministers from Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right party said on Saturday night they were resigning from Italy's grand coalition government in a dramatic move that plunged the country back into political uncertainty and raised the possibility of fresh elections.

Just days before a senate committee is expected to vote for him to be stripped of his seat following a conviction for tax fraud, Berlusconi said he was withdrawing his support from Enrico Letta's government over an increase in sales tax.

Letta, who has fought to hold the coalition together for five months of tensions and threats, called the move "mad and irresponsible" and said it was based on a "blatant lie". The centre-left prime minister will on Sunday meet the president, Giorgio Napolitano, who is known to be desperate to avoid any return to the polls.

Talks will begin on whether an alternative parliamentary majority can be found to support a new Letta cabinet. He had called last week for the government to be put to a confidence vote, and, although it was unclear whether that would go ahead, the prime minister said on Saturday night: "Everyone will assume their own responsibilities before the country in parliament."
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Stock Down

Recovery hype: American capitalism's weapon of mass distraction

Richard Wolff
Guardian
Fri, 27 Sep 2013 21:52 UTC
Image
© Scott Houston/CorbisFor 99% of us, income has risen just 0.4% over 2009-2012; for the top 1%, it's climbed by 31.4%.
You don't have to be a Marxist to see how the 1% tries to fool us that we too are sharing in their renewed wealth. But it helps

From President Obama on down, defenders of the status quo insist that the US economy has "recovered" or "is recovering". Some actually see the world that way. They inhabit, imagine they inhabit, or plan to soon inhabit the world of the infamous top 1%. Others simply seek security in life by loyally repeating whatever that 1% is saying.

Here is the "recovery" that they see. The top 1% of income-earners in the US took 19% of the national income in 2012, the largest share since 1928. That 1% also saw their average income rise by 31.4% from the current crisis's low point in 2009, through 2012. The top 1% certainly enjoyed a recovery.

In total contrast, income for the other 99% rose by an average of 0.4% during the same period. Many of those people actually saw their earnings drop. That was not a recovery, not even close. For the vast majority of Americans, the recovery hype is just a weapon of mass distraction.

The economic reality is driven home by this graph from the Wall Street Journal.

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Dollars

US government agencies go on "Use it or Lose it" spending sprees

Joe Randazzo
LongIsland.com
Sun, 29 Sep 2013 13:31 UTC
Government Agencies
© LongIsland.com

During last year's "use it or lose it" season, agencies spent more than $45 million in the last week of September.

Washington has entered "use it or lose it" season. It's a time when agencies spend whatever funds are left in their budget or else they will lose the money by October 1.

Last year more than $45 million was spent in the last week of September. If agencies don't spend everything this week they risk their budget being docked by congress next year.

"Use it or lose it" season is not marked on any official government calendars," Senator Tom Coburn said in an interview with the Washington Post. "But in Washington, it is as real as Christmas.

And as lucrative." This week the Department of Veteran Affairs bought $562,000 worth of artwork, and in one day the Agriculture Department spent $144,000 on toner cartridges. The most frivolous amount of spending came from the IRS in 2010. That year the leftover money was spent on shooting an IRS themed Star Trek parody video set on the planet NoTax.
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Che Guevara

Brazil's bold plan to combat the NSA

Amar Toor
The Verge
Wed, 25 Sep 2013 09:58 UTC
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Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (left) meets with President Barack Obama at the White House in 2012.
President Dilma Rousseff wants to route internet traffic away from the US, but experts say it will do little to deter American espionage

Revelations about the American government's ongoing electronic surveillance have sent shockwaves across the globe, but few countries have reacted as boldly as Brazil, where lawmakers are currently considering a plan to cut ties - quite literally - with the US.

Earlier this month, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff announced plans to create an undersea fiber-optic cable that would funnel internet traffic between South America and Europe, bypassing the US entirely. Rousseff also urged legislators to pass an amendment that would force Google, Microsoft, and other US web companies to store data for Brazilian users on servers located within Brazil, while the country's postal service has already begun developing an encrypted domestic email system.

The moves come as a direct response to allegations that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been eavesdropping on Rousseff's phone calls and emails, according to classified documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The reports, published earlier this year, have escalated diplomatic tensions between the Obama administration and Rousseff, who yesterday accused the US of violating international law in a scathing speech to the United Nations General Assembly.

Rousseff's proposals rest upon the premise that by routing web traffic away from American soil and keeping data within Brazil, the Brazilian government could more easily control and secure citizens' online information. But experts say the plans would do little to stop the NSA from spying on Brazilian communications, and some worry that they could lead to a more fractured internet.
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Handcuffs

The prison industrial complex: How Wall Street profits from human misery


Brasscheck TV
Mon, 16 Sep 2013 06:10 UTC
This is not a new problem. We first reported on this way back in 2000. That's 13 years ago.

It's just one of the many ways that the prison industrial complex profits from the VAST US prison population.


When there is money to be made abusing people, an industry will grow up around it and those involved will do everything they can to make it bigger and bigger.
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Mail

£3.3bn Royal Mail privatisation pushed through ahead of possible strike

Rupert Neate
The Guardian
Fri, 27 Sep 2013 05:39 UTC
The Royal Mail
© Graham TurnerThe Royal Mail share offer, implying a valuation of £3.3bn, was announced on the day postal workers start voting on possible industrial action
Shares to be priced between 260p and 330p in listing on 11 October - 12 days before earliest legal strike date

The government is racing to push through the £3.3bn privatisation of Royal Mail before postmen and women have the chance to walkout on strike against the "great British flog off".

Vince Cable, the business secretary, on Friday announced the coalition will sell up to 70% of the 497-year-old postal service on the stock market on 11 October.

The announcement comes on the day that more than 100,000 postal workers begin voting on whether to take days of paralysing strike action. But the result of the ballot will not be known until 16 October with the earliest legal strike date not until 23 October.

Billy Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents 115,000 Royal Mail staff, said: "The government continues to press ahead with the sale of the UK postal service despite consistent opposition from the public.
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Arrow Down

The U.S. is going to experience one hell of a collapse

Eric King
King World News
Wed, 25 Sep 2013 05:05 UTC
economic collapse

Despite continued mainstream media propaganda, today one of the legends in the business warned King World News that "the U.S. is going to experience one hell of a collapse." This man has lived in 18 countries around the world, and he described his first-hand account of the collapses he witnessed which took place in many of these countries. Keith Barron, who consults with major companies around the world and is responsible for one of the largest gold discoveries in the last quarter century, also warned about the further destruction of the already disappearing middle class.

Below is what Barron had to say in this powerful interview.

Barron: "The Fed did not come through with tapering, so now there is this ridiculous speculation about a future tapering. The reality is that there is a general consensus out there that the US economy is just not strong enough to take away the punch bowl.

So I think we will just see a continuation of the status quo for the time being. In fact, I'm not even sure why that taper talk even happened. It was always just propaganda from the Fed....
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