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A 15-year Mystery in Syracuse: Who Keeps Sending These Anthrax Hoax Letters?

John O'Brien
The Post-Standard
Sun, 09 Sep 2012 11:56 UTC
The FBI has evidence that for the past 15 years someone in Syracuse has been panicking office workers with powder-filled letters threatening an anthrax attack.
Anthrax Hoax Letters
© FBI
The drawing common to many of the letters, which appears to be drawn from the works of horror novelist H.P. Lovecraft.
The pattern is the same: A letter arrives with a mound of white powder inside. The writer claims it's anthrax. It terrorizes the poor soul who opens the letter and has to wait as long as 36 hours to find out it was only baby powder.

Then the terrorist disappears for months, even years.

For 15 years, through 21 scares in Syracuse and throughout the East, the FBI has tried to solve the mystery.

Now the FBI wants help.

The agency is sharing details about the chain of terror. It says the letters contained white powder with threats that it was lethal anthrax spores. But in each case, it turned out to be baby powder, detergent or other nonhazardous materials.

The letters also carry clues about the sender, including his penchant for the writings of a long-dead science fiction writer.

The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the conviction of whoever sent the powder in 21 threatening letters from Syracuse since 1997.
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Black Cat

World's Richest Woman Supports $2 per Day Slave Wages

Michael Allen
Opposing Views
Wed, 05 Sep 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
Gina Rinehart, the world's wealthiest woman, claims that iron-ore mining in Australia may have to abandoned if wages are not cut.

Rinehart then proudly added that African miners are "willing to work for less than $2 per day," reports the BBC (video below).

In a video recently posted on the Sydney Mining Club website, Rinehart, who is worth $18[B], said Australia should emulate Africa, reports RawStory.com.
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Dollar

Flying le coop: France's Richest Man Seeks Belgian Citizenship, Denies its an Attempt to Dodge Taxes


RT America
Sat, 08 Sep 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
Bernard Arnault, France's richest man with a net worth estimated at US$41 billion, has applied for Belgian citizenship - citing personal and business reasons and maintains this has nothing to do with François Hollande's 75 per cent tax hike on the super-r[ich].

As the Belgian authorities evaluate Arnault's request to determine whether or not he has demonstrable "real ties" to Belgium, it stands to reason that Arnault would wish to seek shelter under Belgium's 50 per cent tax rate.

Arnault insisted on Saturday that he was not becoming Belgian to dodge tax.
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Dollar

Debt Slavery! Collectors Cash in on $1 Trillion in US Student Loans


RT America
Sun, 09 Sep 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
Most US college students hope to land a good job with a high salary after graduation. But for some the reality is very different. Many find themselves faced with insurmountable debt - and a loan industry that's happy to cash in on their misfortune.

­As the number of people taking out government-backed student loans has soared, so has the number of borrowers who have fallen behind in making payments.

Around 5.9 million people nationwide have fallen at least 12 months behind in their payments. This number has grown by a third in the last five years, according to a State Higher Education Finance survey.

Many who can't repay their loans feel they have no choice but to default. It's a decision that can be disastrous - ruining a borrower's credit and increasing the amount they owe. It can also result in penalties of up to 25 per cent of the balance.

Comment: The student loan racket is destroying the future for many young people and often forces them to take desperate measures:
Prostitution Attractive Option for Med Students with Debt
"I Cannot Eat Your Prayers": How Student Debt Changed One Woman's Mind on "Christian Charity"
America's Student Loan Racket
US: Students Protest Debt While These Companies Rake in Money

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Heart - Black

Gardening company faces $12.5 million penalty for adding poison to bird food


RT
Sun, 09 Sep 2012 00:00 UTC
bird
© Agence France-Presse/Patrick Pleul
The US law and garden products company, Scotts Miracle Gro, the world's largest marketer of residential pesticides, is facing $12.5 million in fines for violating numerous federal pesticide laws and for adding illegal toxins to wild bird food.

The company pleaded guilty to distributing pesticides with misleading and unapproved labels, distributing unregistered pesticides and falsifying pesticide registrations - but the most disturbing was its use of toxic insecticide in its bird food products, including Storcide II and Actellic 5E.

Part of Friday's $12.5 million criminal settlement will go towards restoring some of the wildlife the company may have endangered. Scotts will be forced to contribute $500,000 to organizations that protect bird habitats. Other fines include a $6 million civil penalty, $2 million for environmental projects and a $4 million criminal state fine.

"Storcide II is extremely toxic to fish and toxic to birds and other wildlife," reads the label on the containers of the chemical. Still, Scotts used the substance and sold its illegally treated bird food for two years after it began making it and for six months after employees warned the company of its dangers. The company admitted it used the toxic substances to protect against insects in the bird food during storage.

Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had prohibited the use of Actellic 5E and Storcide II, both of which were used by Scotts and which the company imported illegally from other countries.
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House

Wells Fargo loses all of family's possessions after wrongfully foreclosing on home


RT
Fri, 07 Sep 2012 00:00 UTC

Wells Fargo employees wrongfully foreclosed a modest home near a small town in California, removing and destroying nearly all of an old couple's belongings.

Alvin and Pat Tjosaas, who have been married for 56 years, lost three generations worth of their belongings when a contracted foreclosure crew accidentally broke into the wrong house. The Tjosaas had no mortgage on the house that Alvin had built with his dad as a teenager.

"Good news, we know who took it: Wells Fargo. Bad news, the stuff is all gone," Alvin Tjosaas told CBS Los Angeles.

Subcontractors hired by the bank broke doors, smashed windows and stole valuables while foreclosing the couple's vacation home near Twentynine Palms.

A 14-year-old Alvin had build the house brick by brick with his dad in 1961 and has taken his family and kids there ever since.

"I put my whole life into this place, building it for my mom and dad," he told ABC News.

"I know every inch, every rock... my mom mixed all the cement by hand," he told CBS.

Among the stolen goods were three tractor mowers, three golf carts, masonry tools, carpenter tools, a WWI uniform and flag, and decades worth of family heirlooms.
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Che Guevara

Greeks protest fresh cuts as 'troika' auditors visit


Google
Sat, 08 Sep 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Agence France-Presse/Sakis Mitrolidis
Thousands of workers protest against budget cuts in Thessaloniki
More than 12,000 protesters marched Saturday against fresh austerity measures the Greek government has prepared to win another slice of an international bailout loan.

As auditors from Greece's international creditors inspected the government's books, four separate marches took place in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

"The Greek people can't take any more," read one banner. A number of ambulances joined the demonstration: hospital workers are among those hit, both by salary cuts and reduced public spending.

"Very soon, the vast majority of the Greek people is going to react," said Alexis Tsipras, leader of the main opposition radical Syriza party, currently riding high in the polls.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is leading the country towards a catastrophe, he warned.

After the main demonstrations, about a thousand activists confronted police near the university in the city centre.

The police, pelted with projectiles, responded with volleys of tear gas and stun grenades before charging the crowd and scattering them.

The main trade unions, opposition parties including the Syriza party and communist activists all joined the protest, and police put the turnout at more than 12,000.
      Read More...
Camcorder

Rochester Police Exempt from Red-Light Cameras

Brian Sharp
Democrat and Chronicle
Sat, 08 Sep 2012 08:19 UTC
Image
© MPR Photo/Sea Stachura
119 infractions recorded, but violators won't have to pay

New York - Over the past 18 months, city of Rochester employees have committed at least 119 red light violations while driving city vehicles, records show.

But while employees can be disciplined for the violation, "payment of the related fine will not be required," according to a newly adopted city procedure for handling the violations.

One-third of the infractions were by police department vehicles, including one driven by Police Chief James Sheppard. These are not instances where squad cars are going through intersections with lights and sirens blaring. But Sheppard said most do involve emergency responses, and typically are rolling stops on right turns.
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Arrow Down

Rising Food Prices Continue to Climb, with Prices Up 10% in July Alone

Lisa Garber
Natural Society
Sun, 09 Sep 2012 02:50 UTC
Rising Food Prices
© Natural Society
Food prices are rising, and consumers are feeling it. Rising food prices aren't only hitting America, they are happening around the world. Costs have gone up 10 percent between June and July alone, with corn, soybeans, and wheat reaching record prices. This outpaces the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's estimate of a 6 percent increase.

Rising Food Prices and Vulnerable Populations

While we may all see small changes in the grocery store and in grocery bills, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim says countries reliant on imported grains, especially "Africa and the Middle East are particularly vulnerable."

The World Bank attributes the price jump mainly to the American heatwave and drought in Eastern Europe, which has hurt corn and soy in the US and wheat in Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Use of corn in the production of ethanol in the U.S. - accounting for up to 40 percent of corn crop - has also been blamed for the price jump.

But of course this isn't the beginning of rising food prices. Costs have been going up for some time now; you can see a food price index we covered around just last Thanksgiving. The food index count, which is an overall score reflecting the total price of the top 6 food commodities, rose to 215 in December of 2010 - up from 90 in the year 2000. Sugar spearheaded the spike, hitting only 2 points away from the 400 mark in December of 2010.

Rice is the only staple that has actually decreased in price (by 4 percent).
      Read More...
Eye 1

Jacksonville Woman Strips Naked and Goes on Knife-Wielding Rampage

Dan Scanlan
The Florida Times - Jacksonville.com
Fri, 07 Sep 2012 08:13 UTC
Image
© mugshots.com
Cheri Dana
With a yell of "God is here, I'm going to repent," a woman swung a butcher knife Wednesday afternoon at someone inside Teen Challenge at 3333 Philips Highway, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

She next stabbed a table before stripping down and attacking two cars. She had chased children with the blade before a Taser stopped her rampage, police said.

Cheri Dana, a 42-year-old transient, has been jailed on charges of aggravated assault and criminal mischief. She remains in the Duval County jail on $90,000 bail, according to jail records.
      Read More...
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