Guardian: China used prisoners in lucrative internet gaming work
Labour camp detainees endure hard labour by day, online 'gold farming' by nightThanks today to my friends The Ozarker and rj for links today. I wish I could post all of them all the time but if I did, we'd all run out and kill ourselves!! LOL jk.
As a prisoner at the Jixi labour camp, Liu Dali would slog through tough days breaking rocks and digging trenches in the open cast coalmines of north-east China. By night, he would slay demons, battle goblins and cast spells.
Be sure to check out the Ozarker's beautiful writing over at Conflicted Doomer. She has a book out too.
And remember, today is the day that rj puts out his big end of the week wrap up so don't miss that!
You can find our friend at Global Glass Onion.
Japan
DesdemonaDespair: Is Fukushima now ten Chernobyls into the sea?
TheOilDrum: Ten Thousand Holes in Fuku Dai-ichi
Global Conflict
BBC: Anti-pirate training in West Virginia (video)
ZeroHedge: Video From The Second "Egyptian Revolution"
Time: Egypt Pulls the Plug on a Failed U.S.-Israeli Gaza Strategy
It might have been easy, amid the raucous cheering at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Capitol Hill pep rally on Tuesday, for Israelis to ignore President Obama's earlier warning of a gathering storm on Israel's horizon. But Wednesday's announcement that Egypt plans, on Saturday, to effectively end the siege of Gaza by permanently opening the Rafah border crossing brought home the harsh truth of Israel's increasingly isolated position. (Obama, the same day, got a non-commital response from Prime Minister David Cameron in London when urging Britain to join the U.S. in opposing a September U.N. vote recognizing Palestinian statehood.)Politico: 26 Republicans join Democrats on Afghan withdrawal vote
BBC: Iraq's Moqtada al-Sadr warns Mehdi Army ready to fight
Iraqi cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr has threatened to take up arms against US troops unless they leave the country by the end of the year.
Bloomberg: Explosions in China’s Jiangxi Province Kill Two People, Including Bomber
MailOnline: Eight troops die in Afghanistan's bloodiest day since Osama bin Laden was killed
VancouverSun: CIA forensic team to scour bin Laden hideout
JapanToday: 25 killed, over 30 injured in suicide attack in Pakistan
BlackListedNews: Georgia Violence: Video of brutal police crackdown on Tbilisi protests(check out the comments)
TheAtlantic: Is Rape Inevitable in War?
Financial News
Here is a story about El-Erian that was mentioned by Max Keiser in the video I posted yesterday. It's a week or so old but I wanted to see what he'd said first hand. Thought you would too.
CNBC: Financial Repression Coming to America: El-ErianThe co-CEO of the world’s largest bond fund has warned America that it faces a combination of higher inflation, austerity and financial repression over the coming years as policy makers grapple with the impact of the financial crisis and the subsequent policy response.
Telegraph: Give new world order its head on the IMF
Peter Bofinger's analysis that Greece's creditors need to take a 40pc hit on their Athenian loans reveals what a mess Europe's monetary system is in.Reuters: Pending home sales plunge in April
LAT: Treasury bond yields tumble on economic fearsNewmarksDoor: "Entrepreneur Magazine Has Trademarked The Word Entrepreneur And Is Suing Anyone Who Uses It"
see also
Entrepreneur Magazine Vigorgously Defends 'Entrepreneur' Trademark
Policing the use of 'entrepreneur' are the 2,000 lawyers employed by Latham & Watkins who work out of 31 offices around the world.Bloomberg: Cargo Theft: The New Highway RobberyBoosting trucks laden with pharmaceuticals is a low-tech, low-risk road to riches for organized criminals
We're not talking just about letters; they go after small businesses in court and win big judgments.
Time: Jobless Discrimination? When Firms Won't Even Consider Hiring Anyone Unemployed
TheAtlantic: The Government Is Preventing Private Housing Finance
Reuters: Fed balance sheet hits another record size
The Federal Reserve's balance sheet expanded to a record size in the latest week, as the central bank bought more bonds in an effort to support the economy, Fed data released on Thursday showed.
DailyBail: Video: Nigel Farage - No More Euro Bailouts!
MyBudget360: The brittle financial American middle class
50 percent of Americans would be in financial trouble if $2,000 of expenses came up in 30 days. By 2020 the world’s richest households will control $202 trillion in wealth, 4 times current global GDP.
BusinessInsider: STEPHEN ROACH: 10 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Bet Against China
NYT: The Economy Is Wavering. Is Anyone Paying Attention?
Barron's: Ira Sohn: Marc Faber Says Prepare for War, Inflation…What About Pestilence?
BusinessInsider: PayPal Sues Google Over Mobile Payments Trade Secrets
Wired: The Pics the NYSE Doesn’t Want You to See
Cryptogon: Fed’s Secret Loans to Big Banks
CBPP: Misconceptions and Realities About Who Pays Taxes
EconomistMom: Tax Base Broadening a Part of Everyone’s Deficit Reduction Plan–Even Paul Ryan’s
GlobeandMail: Are China's factories running out of power?
CommonDreams: Thank George W, Again
Tax Cuts, Wars Account for Nearly Half of Public Debt by 2019
MarketWatch: House Republicans roll out jobs plan
GOP proposal may shift debate away from Medicare controversy
Reuters: Consumers hold back growth, rebound seen muted
Unexpectedly weak consumer spending hobbled the economy in the first quarter and fresh signs of a slowdown in the labor market pointed to an uphill struggle for the recovery.
Peak oil and Energy News
ChrisMartenson: Past Peak Oil - Why Time Is Now Short
The only thing that could prevent another oil shock from happening before the end of 2012 would be another major economic contraction. The emerging oil data continues to tell a tale of ever-tightening supplies that will soon be exceeded by rising global demand. This time, we will not be able to blame speculators for the steep prices we experience; instead, we will have nothing to blame but geology.DeclineoftheEmpire: America's Invisible Energy Policy
Once in a while I point out that the United States lacks an energy policy to deal with our oil problems, but we do have one. You can be forgiven for not knowing much about it because that energy policy is largely invisible. I was reminded about it by a story at physorg.com called $25,000, 350-mile-per-charge electric car could be reality by 2017, DOE says.
FastCompany: America's Most Gas-Dependent States Also The Least Prepared For Having No Gas
TechnologyReview: Do Biofuels Reduce Greenhouse Gases?
A new study fuels the debate over the impact of growing crops for fuel.
EconBrowser: Oil price manipulation
TheGlobeandMail: Mongolia faces critical diesel shortage
Mongolia is running critically low on diesel after Russian deliveries failed to arrive, a development that threatens to crimp mining activity in the resource-rich country.
People'sDailyEnglish: Electricity shortage a growing pain for China
Gregor.us: Speculator Ghosts in the Oil Machine
EarlyWarning: Global Oil Exports/Imports
GlobeandMail: Shell may partner with Rosneft in Arctic offshore oil venture
Rosneft has said that oil majors Exxon, Chevron, China’s CNPC [CNPET.UL], Malaysia’s Petronas and Brazil’s Petrobras are other candidates for Arctic deals.
Environmental News
CNN: Boy's death, father's anguish mark storm's fury
"I lost both of my boys," said Ryan's father, Hank Hamil, crying before cameras at a news conference Thursday morning.
"Ryan was my little buddy. Cole was too. I loved them both," he said.
CNN: Is the U.S. entering a population slump?
TheAtlantic: View of Deadliest Tornado, from Above - In Focus
NewYorkPost: Storms leave 65,000 people without power in eastern NY
NewsDaily: Joplin tornado chaos leaves hundreds still missingBBC: Britons evacuated as Ibiza forest fire rages (video)
NewsDaily: Missouri tornado could cost insurers $1 billlion-$3 billionNaturalNews: Research bees stolen from scientists trying to test effects of pesticides
A $3.3 million research project into colony collapse disorder (CCD), the phenomenon of honeybees mysteriously dying in droves, lost thousands of its test bees to thieves. Researchers at the Center for Neurosciences at Dundee University in Scotland, reported that the British black bees, contained in four hives, were taken on the morning of Sunday, May 8, 2011.
DesdemonaDespair: Ethiopia drought: ‘The worst is yet to come’
Politico: Chris Christie: Global warming is 'real,' but program is ineffective
WSJ: Christie Quits Carbon-Reduction Program
NYT: Republican’s Climate Solution: Clear-Cut the Rain Forest
Representative Dana Rohrabacher, Republican of California, needs to hit the science books, forestry experts suggest.
They reached that conclusion after hearing Mr. Rohrabacher declare during a Congressional hearing on Wednesday that clear-cutting the world’s rain forests might eliminate the production of greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. (you just can't make stuff like this up! People didn't have a problem ridiculing the Rapture Pastor, Harold Camping, where's the humiliation for this guy?)
GlobeandMail: China faces worst drought in 50 years
CNN: Authorities to release new list of missing in tornado-ravaged Joplin
ExtinctionProtocol: Geological upheaval risks now increasing for Indonesia
AmericanDream: Why Are There So Many Natural Disasters In 2011?
CNN: Tornado weather won't stop
CNN: Up until 1940s, Americans didn't even get tornado forecastsAs Finley was doing his research, tornado forecasting came to a screeching halt when the Signal Corps banned the word "tornado" from official forecasts because they were concerned the word would cause widespread panic.
(we freaked out easy back in the good ole days didn't we? )
America in Decline
BuzzFlash: Scott Walker Gives Wisconsin Nursing Homes a Virtual Green Light to Abuse Granny and Grandpa
CNN: Report: Marine never fired on SWAT officers who fatally shot him
USAToday: Doomsday predictions no laughing matter for some
"We absolutely should feel sad for the followers, but it is amazing how little sympathy people have. I link that very much to TV shows like X Factor, American Idol and Britain's Got Talent where part of the allure is seeing people publicly humiliated. We actually like to see people failing and being belittled in public," Dutton says.
(speak for yourself)
BigThink: New York City Cops Acquitted of Rape
In the words of New York lawyer and blogger Jill Filipovic, "This is fucked up."
The upshot of this verdict is that drunk women are unrapeable in New York City. We have a victim who remembered being raped from the very beginning and went to the authorities promptly. Her story was corroborated the fact that the officers went back to her apartment multiple times that night, lied to a neighbor about why they were in the building, and made a fake 911 call to cover for it. Plus the prosecution had a taped admission by the officer that he had sex with the victim.
BlackListedNews: Obama: “I’m working on gun control under the radar”
BeforeItsNews: 32 Signs That The Entire World Is Being Transformed Into A Futuristic Big Brother Prison Grid
Guardian: Patriot Act surveillance provisions extended in nick of timeUS anti-terror renewal bill raced through Congress and signed with 'auto pen' by Barack Obama from Europe to meet deadline (he had to go hide in Europe to sign the damned thing. Chicken.)
AmericanDream: 32 Signs That The Entire World Is Being Transformed Into A Futuristic Big Brother Prison GridDo you want your children and grandchildren to live in a futuristic "big brother" control grid where everything they do is watched, recorded, tracked and tightly controlled? Well, that is exactly where things are headed.
HuffingtonPost: Improper Military Foreclosures: U.S. Settles With Two Firms [UPDATE]
Amid blistering heat and thunderous bombing in central Iraq during summer 2005, U.S. Army Sgt. James Hurley suddenly found it difficult to reach his wife back home in Michigan.SeattleTimes: Obama signs 4-year Patriot Act extension in France
For four days straight, he called and got a troubling message that the line had been disconnected. Eventually, Hurley tracked her down through his uncle.
"She tells me, 'We got kicked out of the house, we're foreclosed,'" Hurley recalled. "I was so pissed off. If it wasn't for my roommate and my sergeant who was over me, I think I would have gone nuts."
Congress on Thursday passed a four-year extension of post-Sept. 11 powers to search records and conduct roving wiretaps in pursuit of terrorists. Votes taken in rapid succession in the Senate and House came after lawmakers rejected attempts to temper the law enforcement powers to ensure that individual liberties are not abused.
Food and Water
NYT: Tests Reveal Mislabeling of Fish
Scientists aiming their gene sequencers at commercial seafood are discovering rampant labeling fraud in supermarket coolers and restaurant tables: cheap fish is often substituted for expensive fillets, and overfished species are passed off as fish whose numbers are plentiful.
Science and Technology
ArchaeologyNewsNetwork: Scientists discover fossil of giant ancient sea predator
Paleontologists have discovered that a group of remarkable ancient sea creatures existed for much longer and grew to much larger sizes than previously thought, thanks to extraordinarily well-preserved fossils discovered in Morocco.
Cryptogon: Why Are Spy Researchers Building a ‘Metaphor Program’?
ScienceInsider: Concerns Aired About Arsenic-Containing Bacteria
Medical and Health
TechnologyReview: Biomedicine: A Blood Test for Depression
A commercial test could let doctors easily screen for major depressive disorder. (something about this doesn't bode well)
CSMonitor: Single-payer health care: Vermont takes lead
Single-payer health care bill – the nation's first – is signed into law. But Vermont's governor says single-payer health care faces 'a few challenges' before it becomes reality.
RealSimple: The Secrets of Thin People How they get there, how they stay there.
Doomsteading, Gardening, Urban Farming
BigPictureAgriculture: Farm Photo: Artificial Insemination 1935
FoodRenegade: Those Pesky Amish Criminals
The Amish are known for their forgiving, peaceful, buggy-driving, agrarian ways. To those of us who buy raw milk, the Amish are also some of our least expensive, neighborly suppliers. But criminal? That’s not usually a word we’d use to describe them.
ContainerGardening: Full choice of containers for plant growth
Other News
Slate: Too Crazy for Court How do you make someone fit to stand trial?
DailyBeast: Politics
Just when it looked like she was out, a documentary defending Sarah Palin’s record points strongly to a 2012 run. Shushannah Walshe on how it stayed secret—and its impact on her chances.
MotherJones: A New Birther Conspiracy Theory: Trump Tricked Us
On Wednesday night, the conservative news outlet WorldNetDaily published a story in which prominent birther Jerome Corsi claimed that Donald Trump had told him that President Barack Obama's recently released birth certificate was a fake. We asked Trump about that, and he told Mother Jones that he had done no such thing.
LAT: House GOP tries to shift focus from Medicare to jobs
ChinaHush: Old woman give herself a surgery by slitting her belly
BeforeItsNews: Extraterrestrial Mummy Found In Peru?
Time: Priest Sex-Abuse Case Hits Church of Pope's Adviser
RawStory: GOP Rep claims Obama elected because of ‘white guilt’
The Illinois Republican added that journalists "were in love with him because he pushed that magical button: a black man who was articulate, liberal, the whole white guilt, all of that."
The Forums
TinfoilPalace: Spanish Police Beat Peaceful Protesters (protest advice..for what it is worth)
TinfoilPalace: Communist Goals (1963)
TheOilAge: Scientific report: changing climate means increasing floods
TheOilAge: The Myth of the Founding Fathers...
Hubberts-Arms: Belarus devaluation spreads panic
Hubberts-Arms: Forgive Them Father, For They Know Not What They Do
SilentCountry: Turning plastics into fuel
SilentCountry: Teen girl shoots dad with arrow because he took away her cell phone: cops
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