We've already received some interesting feedback from readers about the changes on the SOTT page. It seems that there is some real confusion by the change of focus. For example, one reader wrote:

I am extremely sad to see that your coverage on the Levant is gone ? any reason were u bought out, caved-in or gave up? or are you re-directing your coverage to the more esoteric - i hope its the latter as it would be sad if any of the former was the reason.

Another reader wrote:

I'm sorry to see the changes that you have implemented in your website.

I thought it was a great place to find out news that was unbiased and found from other sources that I was unaware of. I especially loved how you covered the world situation, news, big brother, 911 truth, etc. That is how you have backed down from telling the truth. For start, I thought your mission was getting the truth, corruption, and propaganda out into the public eye and not having to rely on the state controlled media which toe's the party line.

I do not have the same values that you do when it comes to my beliefs. I am a born again Christian and I don't believe what you espouse on your website.

I wanted to thank you for what you have offered in the past and let you know I will not be returning to your site.

Pretty stupid when you think about it, all over an article that you wrote about "chemtrails" or "contrails". People have strong beliefs and will argue and fight the way they believe, just look at politics and religion. Just because you didn't like some of the comments and had your feelings hurt, you change everything that you stood for. Unless I was mistaken about you and this was what you wanted all along.

I'm very sorry to see the change.

Yet another:

I have been an avid reader of Sott for at least the last 4 years, bought several books, contributed and I had enjoyed access to real unbiased, unmolested news and views that do not make it to Lame Street Media or that have been twisted and distorted and robbed of essential facts and information.

Sadly, I no longer see the real news in your New Age and Mystic groupings. Should you still continue to give the news as before, but under different headings then I am missing the mark and therefore I do not stand by this confusing new look.

I do commend you on you sterling efforts to offer something new and improved however, I find that it now has some aforementioned elements missing.

This is important to myself and no doubt others on being able to get a handle on what is going on in the world around me/us, as I cannot trust the MSM to give me a straight and unbiased answer. I do not want to sound bitter, but the new look does rather defeat my reasons for dropping by and contributing now and again to the sott cause. I find it sad that there would be precious little on the sott site to hold my interest.

Sincerely hoping that you can address the loss of real news as we knew it.

First of all, these changes were discussed and planned long before the Chemtrails article. In fact, you could say that the Chemtrails article was a first salvo of change. Such a topic would never have been covered on SOTT before except perhaps in the "Haunted Planet" category. If you search the SOTT database for "chemtrails" you will find less than a dozen articles on the topic. However, it will now receive more coverage under the "High Strangeness" category. So will many other important things that fell by the wayside.

Let us assure you that our coverage of news from the Middle East will not cease. It will, however, be re-categorized under the heading "Society's Child." That's where you will find news that is "anthropological." That will include politics, social movements (including 9-11 Truth, anti-Big Pharma, etc), murder and mayhem, psychopaths in action, (including government and economics), and so forth. The point of this change is to consolidate all anthropological phenomena on a more-or-less level playing field.

Jeffrey Smith, founder of the Institute for Responsible Technology, is leading the movement to eliminate genetically modified foods in the United States.

Here, Smith offers an update on this important mission to protect your health, and that of your children and grand-children.

Sources:

Video Transcript [PDF]

As water creeps into Brisbane suburbs, there is no panic as residents evacuate.

Yesterday, as it became clear Brisbane and Ipswich were in for an historic flood, Premier Anna Bligh called on the people to band together.

In the Brisbane suburb of Rosalie those words have been a rallying call as muddy waters flood people's homes and businesses.

The cafe precinct has been described as Little Venice, with the sandbagging only going so far to protect shops.

This morning strangers walking past joined business owners in forming human chains in the floodwaters to frantically get food and stock out of the area.

Why should a relatively prosperous upper-middle-class family care about inequality? There are lots of reasons, but here's the most personal one: that's our money the very rich are taking! Based on Internal Revenue Service figures, if middle- and upper-middle-class families had maintained the same share of American productivity that they held in 1980, they would be making an average of $12,500 more per year.

That bears repeating: $12,500 of my money every year to the richest 1 percent, and $600 more to pay my share of their tax cuts!

Inequality in the U.S. doesn't get the attention it deserves. Many of us brush it off, thinking, "So the rich get richer -- it's always been that way." Or we think: "I'm doing OK myself - and I want to be really rich someday, too."

The lopsided distribution of wealth in the U.S. doesn't get the blame it deserves for our budget problems, either. On the contrary, since our economic system is based on individual freedom, most of us believe in the inalienable right to make unlimited amounts of money. The thought of taking back a greater share from innovative and industrious business leaders is (shudder) "socialism."

The amount of money raised for Haiti earthquake relief has reached a staggeringly high $1.4 billion in less than one year from the United States alone. Everyone from celebrities to regular people held telethons, bake sales and dinner parties whose proceeds went to help Haiti earthquake victims.

A year later, people who opened their purse strings and wallets so generously are asking where the money went and how well was it spent. According to a survey by the Chronicle of Philanthropy of 60 major relief organizations, only 38 percent of that money has been spent to provide recovery and rebuilding aid. By comparison, in New Orleans, about 80 percent of the money raised for Hurricane Katrina victims has been spent.

Furthermore, only 63.6 percent of the money pledged for 2010 has been disbursed, according to the U.N special envoy for Haiti. The Haiti money train tends to take two different tracks. There is the money that was raised and donated shortly after the earthquake. That money has been spent on emergency relief efforts. And then there are billions pledged by foreign nations, most of which may not now be disbursed after all, according to many officials with knowledge of the process.

Carleene Dei, director of the United States Agency for International Development told reporters in a January 7 conference call that there was a "lack of understanding" about the pace at which pledges from March's donors conference could be met, referring to the UN conference where nations pledged more than $10 billion to help Haiti rebuild itself.

The mass political assassination attack in Tucson, AZ on Saturday January 8, 2011 that as of 2:44 pm pst had left six people dead and eighteen shot were shot during the attack has a marked MKULTRA profile, and of suppression of drug cartel investigation and of expansion the U.S. space program as one of its effects.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was reported in grave condition and in surgery at University Medical Center in Tucson, after the shooting in a Safeway supermarket parking lot.

One news report states,

"The suspect in the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and others, Jared Loughner, posted a You Tube video three weeks ago indicating that "in a few days, you know I'm conscience dreaming!" as well as a MySpace post saying goodbye to friends.

"According to MSNBC, "Police say the shooter was in custody, and was identified by people familiar with the investigation as Jared Loughner, 22. Pima County Sheriff's officials said he used a pistol to carry out the shooting spree. U.S. officials who provided his name to the AP spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release it publicly."

"In a You Tube video attributed to Jared Lee Loughner, which was posted approximately about three weeks ago, Loughner states, in part:

"This video is my introduction to you! My favorite activity is conscience dreaming: the greatest inspiration for my political business information. Some of you don't dream - sadly.

"In conclusion, my ambition - is for informing literate dreamers about a new currency; in a few days, you know I'm conscience dreaming! Thank you!

"The MSNBC report also indicates that federal law enforcement officials were analyzing Loughner's MySpace page after the shooting incident. According to MSNBC, "The MySpace page, which was removed within minutes of the gunman being identified by U.S. officials, included a mysterious 'Goodbye friends' message published hours before the shooting and exhorted his friends to 'Please don't be mad at me.'"

A veteran congressional aide who worked most recently as a lobbyist and was married to a senior White House legislative affairs official was found dead in her car Monday behind the couple's Capitol Hill home following a low-speed car crash and subsequent fire.

Ashley Turton, whose husband, Dan, is the White House's deputy director of legislative affairs for the U.S. House, died in the early-morning incident in the garage behind 800 A Street SE, friends, her employer and congressional leadership aides said. City fire and police units responded to the vicinity of the home at about 5 a.m. Monday, according to fire department spokesman Pete Piringer.

"It had heavy smoke and fire conditions in a garage - an attached garage of a 2 and ½ story rowhouse," Piringer said. "The homeowner initially indicated that everyone in the house was accounted for. Firefighters were able to quickly knock down the bulk of the fire during the firefighting operation, but they did find an adult occupant of the vehicle [in the garage] deceased."

A self-described humorist named a liberal cable news host a "target" on her blog the day after he denounced incendiary political rhetoric in response to an Arizona shooting that claimed the lives of six people, including a federal judge, a congressperson's aide, and a child.

Andrea Rouda's post entitled "Speaking of Target Practice" listed several historical figures who were murdered "by a crazy person" before naming MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, whom she referred to as "the Devil."

"What a waste, especially since there are so many good targets out still out there," she wrote. "Take Keith Olbermann."

She continued, "In the wake of yesterday's horrific shooting of a young congresswoman, the Devil himself who walks among us in the form of a TV 'journalist' has decided that Sarah Palin and the Tea Party are responsible and is spreading his usual vitriol."

"Please, won't somebody stop him?" Rouda concluded.

First let's have a little musical interlude to get us in the right mood for what I'm going to say in this essay:

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - I Won't Back Down

I sure stepped in it writing about so-called "Chemtrails." The flamers and ad hominem attackers came out of the woodwork and when that happens, you know you've hit a hot button or a sore toe. Can we say COINTELPRO controlled clappers in the audience trying to keep the attention on the distraction so nobody will figure out what is really going on?

My readers know I'm into conspiracies - have been since the time I read None Dare Call it Conspiracy back in 1985 and tried to convince myself it was all paranoid nonsense and failed. What's more, I've paid a high price for what I've learned and shared. I don't do this for my health or to win a popularity contest. After all, people in mainstream religions hate and fear me, mainstream science types hate me, New Agers hate me, and even a lot of conspiracy theorists hate me. I guess it's because I don't buy into the "friend of my friend is my friend, enemy of my friend is my enemy"; I prefer to take each situation and examine it on its own merits. And when I see the kinds of reactions I got to my little piece about chemtrails, I know that something is rotten and getting smellier by the day and it isn't chemicals being spouted from the rear of passenger jets.

Recently it was revealed that Fidel Castro was super critical of the Iranian President's views on Israel. When this became public the accusations came flying from every server on the Web... Fidel is a zionist, Fidel is senile, Fidel has lost his mind!

Today he proved that all of the above is false, and that his mind is as clear as it was when he and his forces toppled the Cuban dictator, Batista, in 1959. He probably holds the Guinness Book of Records' 'record' for the Longest Lasting Thorn in the Side of The United States' .... and here's why;

Cuban revolutionist blames Mossad, secret services of US, UK for recent assassination of Iranian scientist. 'I don't remember another time in history when killing of scientists was official policy of powers armed with WMDs,' he writes in local paper

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro on Friday accused Israel, the United States and Britain for the "massacre" of Iranian scientists.

The Cuban revolutionist claimed that the mercenaries who acted on behalf of these countries are also responsible for a series of other assassinations that are meant to thwart the development of an Iranian nuclear program.