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Texas officials to take 'whatever precautions' needed after North Korea threat


CBS Houston
Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:36 UTC
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© Rodong Sinmun, rodong.rep.kpNorth Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, is seen in what was described as an “operation meeting” where he “examine[d] and ratifie[d]” plans for a “firepower strike.”
In response to perceived threats against the city from the North Korean government, officials in Austin have said they are willing to do whatever federal officials feel may be necessary to protect civilians.

Several images recently appeared in the Rodong Sinmun, the North Korean newspaper run by the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and the most read paper in the nation, under the headline, "Kim Jong Un Convenes Operation Meeting, Finally Examines and Ratifies Plan for Firepower Strike."

Many have been on heightened alert after the North Korean newspaper published the photos on March 29 on the English version of their website.

"After receiving a report from [Lt.] General Kim Rak Gyom on the technical conditions of the strategic strike means of the KPA, he made an important decision," the accompanying article noted. "He said he has judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation."

The report added, "If they make a reckless provocation with huge strategic forces, the KPA should mercilessly strike the U.S. mainland, their stronghold, their military bases in the operational theaters in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in south Korea, he said."
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Bad Guys

U.S. troops stand 'poised to respond' at North Korea border


ABC News
Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:31 UTC
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© Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo
The United States says it stands "poised to respond" at the border of North and South Korea, where U.S. troops are on high alert.

"They have ratcheted up their bellicose, dangerous rhetoric and some of the actions they've taken over the last few weeks present a real and clear danger," Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said.

The U.S. is sending a missile battery to Guam and two guided missile destroyers are on the border of South Korea, joining Navy warships already poised to shoot down an incoming missile.

U.S. warplanes, including fighter jets, U-2 spy planes and an A-10 attack jet, are in the South Korean skies today as part of a massive military exercise overseen by the U.S. lieutenant general who brought in F-22 stealth fighters as well. They'd be first into the North if war broke out.
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Red Flag

Russia worried by 'explosive' North Korea situation


breitbart.com
Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:28 UTC
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Russia on Wednesday said it was worried by the "explosive" North Korea situation, saying even a simple human error could cause the crisis to spiral out of control.

"Russia has to be worried as we are talking about an explosive situation in the immediate vicinity of our Far East borders," Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov told the Interfax news agency.

Mounting tensions have seen Pyongyang threaten missile and nuclear strikes against the United States and its ally South Korea in response to UN sanctions and joint military drills.
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Take 2

Military buildup in China near North Korean border continues as tanks, armored vehicles spotted

Bill Gertz
Washington Free Beacon
Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:18 UTC
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Chinese Internet photo of a truck carrying a tank en route to an area near North Korea
China continued moving tanks and armored vehicles and flying flights near North Korea this week as part of a military buildup in the northeastern part of the country that U.S. officials say is related to the crisis with North Korea.

The Obama administration, meanwhile, sought to play down the Chinese military buildup along the border with Beijing's fraternal communist ally despite the growing danger of conflict following unprecedented threats by Pyongyang to attack the United States and South Korea with nuclear weapons.

According to U.S. officials with access to intelligence reports, both intelligence and Internet reports from the region over the past week revealed the modest military movements in the border region that began in mid-March and are continuing.

The buildup appears linked to North Korea's March 30 announcement that it is in a "state of war" with South Korea after the United Nations imposed a new round of sanctions following the North's Feb. 12 nuclear test and because of ongoing large-scale joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises.
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Bad Guys

South Korea says it's ready after reports North has moved missile to coast

Rick Wallace
The Australian
Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:12 UTC
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North Korea appears to have moved a missile capable of hitting targets in South Korea and Japan to its east coast, as tensions escalate.

The movement of the mid-range missile was detected by both South Korean and US intelligence, the South's Yonhap news agency reported, citing military and government sources.

"It appeared that the object was a Musudan mid-range missile," it quoted one South Korean official as saying.

"We are closely monitoring whether the North moved it with a view to actual launch or just as a show of force against the US."

The Musudan missile was first unveiled at a military parade in October 2010 and is believed to have an intended range of around 3000km. However, it is not known to have been tested.

Yonhap cited intelligence sources as saying the North might launch the missile on April 15, the birth anniversary of founding leader Kim Il-sung.
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Bomb

US chemical battalion in South Korea


Press TV
Thu, 04 Apr 2013 01:33 UTC
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Soldiers of the US Army 23rd chemical battalion pictured on April 4, 2013 while showing their equipment.
The United States has deployed a battalion equipped to deal with nuclear, biological and chemical attacks in South Korea after North Korea threatened to attack the US with 'nuclear weapons.'

Reports say about 250 soldiers from the US Army 23rd chemical battalion have returned to South Korea. The troops are stationed at Camp Stanley in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul.

Meanwhile, North Korea's Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) has said that the deployment is a revelation of the criminal attempt of the United States to impose nuclear disasters on the Korean nation.
"During the Korean War, the US indiscriminately used germ and chemical weapons against the Korean people, stunning the world," the CPRK stated on Wednesday. "The US now seeks to make such crimes against humanity repeat."
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Bad Guys

Italy seizes Mafia-tied clean energy assets


Aljazeera
Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:30 UTC
Mafia Boss
© EPAThe assets belonged to a businessman with ties to fugitive Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro (pictured).
Italian police have seized assets worth $1.7bn from a Sicilian renewable energy developer in the biggest ever seizure of mafia-linked assets.

The police said on Wednesday that the assets, which include 43 wind and solar energy companies, 98 properties and 66 bank accounts, belonged to Vito Nicastri, a 57-year-old businessman nicknamed the "Lord of the Wind" for his prominent role in the business.

"This is a sector in which money can easily be laundered," Arturo de Felice, head of Italy's anti-Mafia agency, told SkyTG24 news channel.

"Operating in a grey area helped him build up his business over the years," De Felice said.
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Eye 2

Rep. Peter King: U.S. could make preemptive strike on North Korea

Justin Sink
The Hill
Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:58 UTC
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© AP Photo/J. Scott ApplewhiteRep. Peter King
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Tuesday that the United States had the right to take preemptive military action against North Korea if there was "solid evidence" that Kim Jon Un planned to attack the U.S. or South Korea.

"If we have good reason to believe there's going to be an attack, I believe we have the right to take preemptive action," King said on CNN's "Erin Burnett Outfront."

"I don't think we have to wait until Americans are killed or wounded or injured in any way," he continued. "I'm not saying we should be rushing into war, don't get me wrong, but if we have solid evidence that North Korea's going to take action, then I think we have a moral obligation and an absolute right to defend ourselves."

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Question

Why Do G.M.O.'s Need Protection?

Mark Bittman
New York Times
Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:24 UTC
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© foodsafetynews.com
Genetic engineering in agriculture has disappointed many people who once had hopes for it. Excluding, of course, those who've made money from it, appropriately represented in the public's mind by Monsanto. That corporation, or at least its friends, recently managed to have an outrageous rider slipped into the 587-page funding bill Congress sent to President Obama.[1]

The rider essentially prohibits the Department of Agriculture from stopping production of any genetically engineered crop once it's in the ground, even if there is evidence that it is harmful.

That's a pre-emptive Congressional override of the judicial system, since it is the courts that are most likely to ask the U.S.D.A. to halt planting or harvest of a particular crop. President Obama signed the bill last week (he kind of had to, to prevent a government shutdown) without mentioning the offensive rider [2] (he might have), despite the gathering of more than 250,000 signatures protesting the rider by the organization Food Democracy Now!

Comment: A Government of Monsanto, by Monsanto, and for Monsanto
With help from the FDA and USDA, the biotech industry is set to completely take over our food supply with genetically modified ingredients, irregardless of the wishes of "we the people." Through collusion, subterfuge, and a bit of back-door manipulation, Monsanto can write it's own ticket with the U.S. Federal Government's stamp of approval. If the rules get in the way, then change the rules, or at least their interpretation, to fit the situation.

It appears that instead of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, our Federal Government should more accurately be described as a government of Monsanto, by Monsanto, and for Monsanto.


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Stormtrooper

Sam Harris, the New Atheists and anti-Muslims - A cover for U.S. militarism

Glenn Greenwald
The Guardian
Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:56 UTC
Sam Harris
© David Levene for the GuardianSam Harris: "We should profile Muslims, or anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim"
A long overdue debate breaks out about whether rational atheism is being used as a cover for Islamophobia and US militarism

Two columns have been published in the past week harshly criticizing the so-called "New Atheists" such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens: this one by Nathan Lean in Salon, and this one by Murtaza Hussain in Al Jazeera. The crux of those columns is that these advocates have increasingly embraced a toxic form of anti-Muslim bigotry masquerading as rational atheism. Yesterday, I posted a tweet to Hussain's article without comment except to highlight what I called a "very revealing quote" flagged by Hussain, one in which Harris opined that "the people who speak most sensibly about the threat that Islam poses to Europe are actually fascists."
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