Breaking News Thurs. Sept. 1, 2011

Hello Doomers! Good Thursday to you!
I hope everyone is having a good week so far. One more day to go and then the weekend!
Thanks to RJ  at Global Glass Onion and  the Ozarker at Conflicted Doomer,  for their contributions and help. Be sure to check out their great blogs today!.

We have a new video from Guy McPherson this morning!! I love his videos!
Film series: food storage

Oh, and if you're in the mood to boycott something, here's a handy dandy list of boycott worthy items!
ACloserLook: List of Koch Products to Boycott 

Global Conflict
CNN: War's forgotten: Tripoli Zoo animals suffer, lacking food, water

CNN: Rights group details death, torture in Syrian detention
Cnn: Bahrain streets tense after boy's funeral
TruthOut: Dick Cheney, the Ultimate American Terrorist 
McClatchy: WikiLeaks: Iraqi children in U.S. raid shot in head, U.N. says

This cell phone photo was shot by a resident of Ishaqi on March 15, 2006, of bodies Iraqi police said were of children executed by U.S. troops after a night raid there. Here, the bodies of the five children are wrapped in blankets and laid in a pickup bed to be taken for burial. A State Department cable obtained by WikiLeaks quotes the U.N. investigator of extrajudicial killings as saying an autopsy showed the residents of the house had been handcuffed and shot in the head, including children under the age of 5. McClatchy obtained the photo from a resident when the incident occurred. 

Hosted: Pakistan, US struggle to define their relationship Pakistan wants to define U.S. relationship in writing but American officials are resisting:  
IntelDaily: New Zealand base in Afghanistan was secret CIA station, book claims

A Kiwi “peacekeeping” and “civil reconstruction” base in Afghanistan was a secret station for the US Central Intelligence Agency, according to a new book by New Zealand’s preeminent investigative writer. Nicky Hager first made international headlines in 1996, with his groundbreaking book Secret Power: New Zealand’s Role in the International Spy Network. In it, he revealed the existence of the UK-USA Security Agreement and of ECHELON, a US-managed signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection and analysis platform that serves as an intelligence-sharing mechanism between UK-USA signatories.

TruthOut: This month America's deadliest in long Afghan war: 66 troops dead, nearly half in 1 attack
CNN: Clashes in Bahrain continue after boy's death
Yahoo: US counterterror chief: Al-Qaida now on the ropes
Reuters: Iraq toll still high a year after U.S. combat halt
At least 2,600 civilians, police and soldiers, along with 35 U.S. military personnel, have been killed in violence in Iraq since Washington formally ended combat operations a year ago, U.S. and Iraqi statistics show.

Hacker News
GlobeandMail: Wikileaks website crashes under 'attack'
The Wikileaks website crashed Tuesday in an apparent cyberattack after the accelerated publication of tens of thousands of once-secret State Department cables by the anti-secrecy organization raised new concerns about the exposure of confidential U.S. embassy sources.
AlJazeera: A master hacker's take on hacktivism today
Before Anonymous and LulzSec, there was Kevin Mitnick.
Wired: ‘Spyware’ Incident Spooks Jihadi Forum
A prominent poster on the elite password-protected jihadi web site Shumukh has told fellow forum members his account on the site has been hacked to send spyware to fellow forum participants.

Financial News
Salon: The decade's biggest scam - The Los Angeles Times examines the staggering sums of money expended on patently absurd domestic "homeland security" projects: $75 billion per year for things such as a Zodiac boat with side-scan sonar to respond to a potential attack on a lake in tiny Keith County, Nebraska, and hundreds of "9-ton BearCat armored vehicles, complete with turret" to guard against things like an attack on DreamWorks in Los Angeles.
LAT: Bank of America puts Countrywide lending unit up for sale
Bank of America is looking to rid itself of a low-margin Countrywide unit that buys loans from smaller mortgage companies. Hundreds of jobs could be at stake.
Hosted: Ireland's unemployment rate rises to 14.4 percent
NewsChannel5: More Tennesseans Relying On Food Stamps - (video) New numbers reveal one out of six Tennesseans are on food stamps. For many, the extra help they get from the government to put food on the table still isn't enough. The cost of living has increased, and there's record unemployment in the state. Since 2008 an additional 350,000 people are now on food stamps. 
MoneyWatch: Federal cuts could cost Tenn. more than 5,000 jobs - Tennessee agencies would have to cut more than 5,000 jobs if Congress reduces the state's federal funds by as much as 30 percent. Deep federal spending cuts are required under the recent debt-ceiling agreement in Congress.
Reuters: Debt super committee vexes even lobbyists - Thousands of Washington lobbyists are scrambling to influence the work of a congressional "super committee" given the job of identifying up to $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions, with many worried about how to gain access to its 12 members.
FDL: Foreclosure Fraud Settlement Crumbles As Tom Miller Whines
CalculatedRisk: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Serious Delinquency Rates mostly unchanged in July
TaxPolicyCenter: A Grim Prognosis for Deficit Reduction
TaxPolicyCenter: Why Investors Pay Less Tax than the Rest of Us 
NakedCapitalism: Chinese manufacturing takes a hit from abroad
TruthOut: Corporate Elites Still Doing a Job on American Workers 

WSJ: Goldman Takes a Dark View - A top Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategist has provided the firm's hedge-fund clients with a particularly gloomy economic outlook and suggestions for how these traders can take advantage of the financial crisis in Europe. In a 54-page report sent to hundreds of Goldman's institutional clients dated Aug. 16, Alan Brazil—a Goldman strategist who sits on the firm's trading desk—argued that as much as $1 trillion in capital may be needed to shore up European banks; that small businesses in the U.S., a past driver of job production, are still languishing; and that China's growth may not be sustainable.
AdvisorPerspectives: Recession? No. We're in the Second Great Contraction
ZeroHedge: Annual Inflation Hits 4%
VancouverSun: Canadian economy regaining momentum after dip
NYT: Range of Data Calms Fear of a Return to Recession
MSNBC: Most US cities see drop in unemployment rate
Bloomberg: Shrinking Labor Force May Curb U.S. Expansion for Two Decades
theBigPicture: Nouriel Roubini: 60% Probability of Recession
NYTOpinion:The New Resentment of the Poor
In a decade of frenzied tax-cutting for the rich, the Republican Party just happened to lower tax rates for the poor, as well. Now several of the party’s most prominent presidential candidates and lawmakers want to correct that oversight and raise taxes on the poor and the working class, while protecting the rich, of course.

Peak oil and Energy News
BusinessInsider: Russian Special Forces Raid BP's Moscow OfficesJust days after losing an Arctic drilling deal to ExxonMobil and Rosneft, a court in western Siberia Wednesday ordered a raid on BP's Moscow offices.
UPI: Iraqi oil deal signed despite U.S. warning - Hunt Oil Co. was warned before it signed a contract with the Kurdish government in Iraq that it might not be dealing in Kurdish territory, cables reveal.
FDL: Nebraska Gov. Heineman Comes Out Against the Keystone XL Pipeline
EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: a billion vehicles by Tom Whipple 
HeatingOil.com: Keystone Pipeline Necessary to Supply US Refineries 
Platts: US production of ultra low sulfur diesel reached a record high for the third week in the row, while US Gulf Coast output eclipsed its all-time high as well, US Energy Information Administration data showed Wednesday.
FuelFix: Chevron CEO sees U.S. energy “renaissance” with right policies

Commodities/Metals
Mineweb: Cameco signs MOU to increase Inkai JV uranium production to 5.2m pounds
Located in a remote part of south central Kazakhstan, the Inkai JV plays a crucial role in Cameco's goal to double its uranium production in 2018.
Mineweb: Long term, iron ore, copper looking good - Rodney Cooper
Dundee Wealth Economics, senior mining analyst, Rodney Cooper, is rather bullish on the longer term outlook for copper and iron ore, despite a belief that growth in China is likely to moderate. A Gold Report interview
Mineweb: LME copper falls 0.7%
Weighed down by a fall in China's export orders and wider concerns about the global economy ahead of Friday's key U.S. employment data, LME copper fell 0.7% on Thursday. 

Environmental News
TheStateColumn: The largest earthquake to hit Virginia since an earlier 5.9-magnitude earthquake rattled the state Thursday.
USGS has confirmed that a 3.4-magnitude aftershock hit at 5:09 Thursday morning 4 miles southeast of Mineral, Virginia, the epicenter of the August 23 5.8 earthquake.
MotherJones: Tar Sands Promoters Turn to Oprah Fans for Support
MSNBC: Northeast mops up, counts costs as Irene water recedes
At least $7.2 billion in estimated damage, 45 deaths blamed on massive storm
MotherJones: As Texas Withers, Gas Industry GuzzlesDrought restrictions are forcing homeowners to quit watering their gardens, even as thirsty fracking operations help themselves to the agua. 

ExtinctionProtocol: The day the Earth flips out- scientists race to unravel mystery of planet’s magetic field
CNN: Apple attacked over pollution in China
LAT: How to avoid hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, flooding

NYT: Fancy Batteries in Electric Cars Pose Recycling Challenges
EarthquakeNews: M 5.9, Santa Cruz Islands 
TeemingBrain: Report warns of society-wide increase in mental illness due to climate change and severe weather
USAToday: 1st Person: Irene aftermath a 'stinky nightmare' 
LAT: Tropical storm officially becomes Hurricane Katia 
TruthOut: With 595 Arrested, Pipeline Protests Heat Up 
MotherJones: Attack of the Monsanto Superinsects 
AccuWeather: More Epic Flooding? Gulf Storm Being Watched 
CNN: North Texas wild fire 
MSNBC: Second giant ice island set to break off Greenland glacier
Astonished scientist says he was 'completely unprepared for the gob-smacking scale of the breakup, which rendered me speechless'  

America in Decline
WashingtonPost: Tales from the birth of the Dept. of Homeland Security
MSNBC: U.S. newborn death rate tied with Qatar. South Korea, Cuba, Malaysia, Lithuania, Poland and Israel all outrank the U.S. 
WiredDangerRoom: China Analyst: U.S. Can’t Win in Space, So Why Bother Racing?With access to more than 400 satellites plus at least two tiny, maneuverable robotic shuttles, the U.S. military is the clear leader in military spacecraft. But with 70 orbiters of its own, China is catching up fast. Last year, Beijing matched Washington in space launches for the first time, boosting no fewer than 15 satellites into orbit. It was the first time any nation China kept a celestial pace with the U.S.
CNN: Cops: Video shows dad fighting teen (I don't know why they say "fighting" in the title. There was no fighting, just beating.)
BlackListedNews: Secret CIA flights exposed in billing dispute 
TruthOut: What a Difference a Decade Makesby: Nancy Murray and Kade Crockford, "Ten Years Later: Surveillance in the 'Homeland'" | Special Feature 


Food and Water
M&C: Hong Kong checks vegetable imports after China chemical scare
Hong Kong - Vegetables from China are being tested by inspectors in Hong Kong after a scare over toxic chemical waste, the city's health secretary said Wednesday.
The tests came after tons of toxic waste containing the cancer-causing chemical chromium were dumped in waterways feeding farmland in China's southern province of Yunnan.
CNN: Agriculture 'next big thing' in Africa, says World Bank expert
(CNN) -- While the Horn of Africa region is suffering the devastating effects of food shortages, a senior World Bank official says it is time for Africa to focus on its agriculture sector.
Some 12.4 million people in the Horn of Africa currently require humanitarian assistance as a result of food shortages, the U.N. estimates.
But according to Nigerian Obiageli Ezekwesili, vice president of the World Bank's Africa region, market reforms to encourage the growth of new agri-businesses could help tackle food insecurity in the future and help African nations become major food exporters.
Slate: Would You Eat Synthetic Meat?
The New Scientist writes that lab-grown meat might be a reality soon, with one scientist estimating that he is six months away from creating a sausage, a year from a hamburger. Synthetic meat could have all sorts of positives, chiefly that it would be cruelty-free and eco-friendly (“cultured meat will require 99 per cent less land than beef farming”). Vegetarians tempted by the siren scent of bacon would surely rejoice to indulge without the guilt.


Science and Technology
ScienceBlog: Viral Video: Two chatbots talking to each other 

http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/30/7526748-us-aims-to-track-untraceable-prepaid-cash-cards

PopSci: New 'Goldilocks' Exoplanet Could be the Most Earth-Like We've Yet Seen
Forbes: Teen Programmer Hopes To Make A Million From A.I. App 
CosmicLog: Atom-smashing hype faces reality 
CosmicLog: Super-Earth on 'edge of habitability' 
OpenChannel: U.S. aims to track 'untraceable' prepaid cash cards

Medical and Health
M&C: Philippines on alert against deadlier bird flu strainManila - The Philippines' Department of Health on Wednesday alerted the public to a new and deadlier strain of bird flu or avian influenza virus which was detected in China and Vietnam.
ScienceDaily: Mistaken Fear of Measles Shot Has 'Devastating' Effect, Physician Says 
MSNBC: Hurricane power outages endanger those on home medical machines
1.1 million on the East Coast still without power, including some who need home oxygen  
CNN: FDA panels put silicone breast implants back under microscope
WSJ: Tying Health Problems to Rise in Home Foreclosures
CNN: Man's eye saved after impalement
MSNBC: Potatoes may help lower blood pressure. Purple ones, that is

Eating potatoes can benefit blood pressure without causing weight gain

Doomsteading, Gardening, Urban Farming
SHTFPlan: Breaking Point: People Are Shellshocked, Extraordinarily Nervous
TransitionVoice: Beyond ecological stewardship: Toward a new planetary culture By Daniel Pinchbeck

I believe we have entered an initiatory crisis for the human species brought about by Western Europeans’ sense of separation from the earth. This separation has led us to dominate nature, and defined the natural world as a set of resources to be extracted for human consumption. Industrialization has unleashed processes that have reduced soil fertility, depleted basic resources like fresh water, and accelerated climate change.

ModernSurvivalOnline: Guest Post: A Prepper’s Nightmare

Other News
CNN: Another foot found in Canadian waters
(CNN) -- Authorities have found what appears to be a severed human foot this week, the 11th found in waterways in British Columbia in the past four years.
LeftwingNutjob: MLK Memorial: Made In China. This is not a joke.
UPI: Texas State Fair picks food finalistsThe finalist foods also include deep-fried pineapple upside down cake, deep fried Texas salsa, fried autumn pie and fried bubblegum.
PoliticalCalculations: The Hottest States for Motor Vehicle Theft
CNN: Father accused of throwing son off boat says he was joking 
WashingtonPost: D.C. sues nonprofit, alleges misuse of HIV/AIDS funds to renovate night club 
CNN: Mentally ill sisters freed from chains in West Bank 

Politics
RollingStone: The GOP War on Voting
In a campaign supported by the Koch brothers, Republicans are working to prevent millions of Democrats from voting next year
BusinessInsider: GOP Plans Weekly Votes To Repeal "Job-Destroying Regulations," New Tax Cuts
PoliticalCarnival: VIDEO- Fox’s Megyn Kelly On Presidential Elections: “Does It Matter — Should It Matter — If Somebody Is Dumb?”

The Forums
TinfoilPalace:The real experiences of a microchip implantee
TinfoilPalace:Mandatory Whooping Cough Vaccine in California
TheOilAge:Imagine yourself naked in a crowded square
TheOilAge:Doug Casey: A Year Before This Thing Breaks Down
Hubberts-Arms:Gulf slick matches oil from BP spill
Hubberts-Arms:Naked man shows penis to Hurricane Irene and weather channel
SilentCountry:Tropical weather starter thread
SilentCountry: Global debt more than double global GDP