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U.S. state bankruptcy bill imminent, Gingrich says

Lisa Lambert
Reuters
Fri, 21 Jan 2011 16:17 UTC
Image
© Unknown
  • Bill would make it easier to renege pension obligations
  • Worries about need for state bailout loom over Congress
  • States, investors unhappy with possibility
Legislation that would allow U.S. states to file for bankruptcy will likely be introduced in Congress within the next month, Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives and a powerful Republican party figure, told Reuters on Friday.

Although Gingrich, considered responsible for the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990's, is no longer in office, he has deep ties to Congress and is frequently named as a potential presidential contender in 2012.

For months he has championed letting states file for bankruptcy in order to handle their long-term budget problems despite resistance from states and investors in the $2.8 trillion municipal bond market.

"We're faced with the danger that the states are going to try to show up and say to Washington: You have to give us money," Gingrich said. "And I think we have to have an alternative that allows us to say no."
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Whistle

USDA Fires Organic Farming Specialist for Expressing Opinions

Jeff Deasy
Alternet
Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:35 UTC
Image
© Alternet
He brought 20 years of experience in organic farming to his government service and he had played a key role in the development of the USDA's organic standards.

The free exchange of ideas is so essential to a healthy democracy, it was particularly disturbing to learn that Mark D. Keating was terminated as an Agricultural Marketing Specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Organic Program (NOP) for expressing personal opinions in communications with the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).

In an interview, Mr. Keating said the official reasons given for his termination were a "complete fabrication." He added, "I was the guy who knew too much."
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Hourglass

Philip Zimbardo: A Study of Evil


Greater Good Science / Youtube
Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:34 UTC
Philip Zimbardo explains how his infamous Stanford Prison Experiment illuminates the horrors of Abu Ghraib and the psychology of evil:

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Attention

The Terminator: Schwarzenegger's Killer Pesticide

Barry Estabrook
The Atlantic
Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:19 UTC
Image
© The Atlantic
In the days before he left office, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration planted a chemical time bomb in California strawberry fields that, if not defused, could cause cancer, thyroid toxicity, permanent neurological damage, and miscarriages, according to 54 distinguished chemists, including five Nobel laureates (PDF).

The chemical in question is called methyl iodide (or iodomethane) and is marketed under the trade name MIDAS by Arysta LifeScience, a Tokyo-based firm that is the world's largest privately held agrichemical company. Methyl iodide is a fumigant that is injected into fields before planting to kill insects, microorganisms, fungi, weed seeds - virtually every living organism.

Claiming that it can also kill the humans who handle it or are unfortunate enough to live in the vicinity of farms (PDF), a group of farm workers and environmental health organizations filed suit late last year to reverse California's Department of Pesticide Regulation's approval of methyl iodide's use.
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Chess

Early election looms in Ireland as Green Party withdraws from coalition government

Fionnan Sheahan, Aine Kerr & Fiach Kelly
Irish Independent
Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:23 UTC
Image
© Martin Nolan
Leader John Gormley and chairman Dan Boyle leading the Green Party out of government at Government Buildings in Dublin yesterday.
An early general election is on the cards after the Green Party dramatically pulled out of government yesterday.

In the Fianna Fail leadership race , three out of five TDs had yet to publicly declare who they were backing, although Micheal Martin remained the clear front-runner.

Cross-party talks involving Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, the Labour Party, Sinn Fein and the Greens will begin today to find a way to get the law needed to implement the Budget passed quickly.

The opposition is offering to facilitate the debate, but is not promising to vote for it.

But if Finance Minister Brian Lenihan cannot guarantee the Finance Bill will be passed by the end of this week, Fine Gael and Labour are threatening to push motions of no confidence, which Brian Cowen's minority Government cannot win.

Mr Cowen and Mr Lenihan both claimed last night that the legislation could not be passed in just one week, as it was too complex.
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Chess

Irish PM Cowen resigns as party leader, remains in power


RTE
Sat, 22 Jan 2011 08:19 UTC
Image
© RTE
Brian Cowen - Intends to remain as Taoiseach in order to push through IMF's reforms
Brian Cowen has said a united party is the most important thing going into a General Election, as four senior party members confirmed that they will contest the leadership of Fianna Fáil.

Brian Cowen has announced that he is resigning as leader of Fianna Fáil.

Speaking at a press conference in Dublin, he said he had made this decision on his own counsel.

He will remain as Taoiseach.

Asked when he had made his decision, Mr Cowen said it was only when he went home last night and discussed the matter with his family, and made a political assessment of the situation, that he decided to come up this morning and make the announcement.

Brian Cowen says that a united party is, in his view, the most important thing going into the General Election.

Speaking in Irish he said he had done 'the right thing' given the events of the week.
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2 + 2 = 4

The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America


NaturalNews.com
Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:00 UTC
This video was originally created to be part of an art exhibit for Exposed the Art Project, a multimedia collaboration raising awareness of social issues. The group decided that the message in the Deliberate Dumbing Down of America shouldn't be put on hold. So here it is


Please download the free E-BOOK by Former assistant minister of Education under the Reagan administration, Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt. This book is selling for $100 USED on Amazon, but you can download a FREE PDF version at this link;
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Wall Street

The Larger Banks Cripple American Industry Through 'Credit Hoarding'


Washington's Blog
Sat, 22 Jan 2011 21:39 UTC
money lending chart
© Unknown
Dennis Santiago - CEO and Managing Director of Institutional Risk Analytics (Chris Whalen's company) - notes:
The really shocking numbers are in the unused line of credit commitments of banks to U.S. business. This is the canary number I like to look at because it is a direct expression of banking and finance confidence in Main Street industry. It's gone from $92 billion in Dec -2007 to just $24 billion as of Sep-2010. More importantly, the vast majority of this contraction of credit availability to American industry has been by the larger banks, C&I LOC from $87B down to $18.8B by the institutions with assets over $10B. Poof!
This once again confirms what I have been saying for years: the giant banks are causing most of the credit contraction.
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Radar

Yes, Virginia, A Climate Cover-Up


Investors
Sat, 22 Jan 2011 07:08 UTC
Junk Science: Democrats in Virginia are trying to stop their attorney general from probing climate fraud carried out by university researchers at taxpayer expense. Are they afraid of finding the inconvenient truth?

It's not the crime, it's the cover-up, as the saying goes. In the case of former University of Virginia climate scientist Michael Mann and his supporters, it may be both. Not only did Mann participate in perhaps the greatest scam of modern times, but he may have also have fraudulently used taxpayer funds to do so.

At least Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli thinks so, and has been diligently trying to obtain from U.Va. documents and e-mails related to Mann's work there. Mann reportedly received around $500,000 from taxpayer-funded grants from the university for research there from 1999 to 2005.
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Radar

Mexico to become first country to use iris scans on ID cards


Telegraph UK
Sat, 22 Jan 2011 06:51 UTC
Image
© Getty

Mexico will on Monday become the first country to start using iris scans for identity cards, according to the government.

The documents, which will include the eye's image as well as fingerprints, a photo and signature, will be 99 per cent reliable, according to Felipe Zamora, who is responsible for legal affairs at the Mexican interior ministry.

"The legal, technical and financial conditions are ready to start the process of issuing this identity document," Felipe Zamora, responsible for legal affairs at the Mexican Interior Ministry, told journalists Thursday.
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