Thursday, May 24, 2012

Breaking News Thurs. May 24, 2012

Just wanted to put this up so it isn't lost. An artist in South Africa has riled up the South African pres with a painting showing dude's dangly bits and the painting was defaced. Fortunately there is the internet where things like that can be preserved. LOL 
Long live art!
Oh, and a church there has called for the artist to be stoned to death. 
What. The. Hell.




Be sure to check out RJ at the Global Glass Onion and the Ozarker at Conflicted Doomer , and Doug at 3Es News and David at ETF Daily.
And whatever you do, don't miss out on the forums! You'll find them linked at the bottom of the blog post.


Peak Oil and Energy News
Businessweek: Oil Drops, But the Energy Market Is Still Wacky 
TheOilDrum: Greasing the Wheel: Oil’s Role in the Global Crisis

Grist: Republicans try to force the military to use dirty energy it doesn’t want - The U.S. military recognizes that dependence on fossil fuels is a threat to U.S. strategic influence and its own operational effectiveness. With that in mind, it’s trying to make itself lighter and leaner, reducing energy consumption at bases and on the battlefield while working to develop fuel alternatives for its ship and plane fleets. Last week, the Republican-led House Armed Services Committee proposed a new Pentagon budget. Tucked away inside it was a provision that would prohibit the Department of Defense from buying any alternative fuels that cost more than conventional fossil fuels. TPM has the story. Slate’s Fred Kaplan laments that this provision would kill the $12 million “Green Strike Group” program the Navy is running, which would field a strike group running entirely on biofuels (and a nuclear-powered carrier) for a naval exercise in June.

UPI: Report: Keystone XL = high gasoline prices
CNNMoney: When 'Drill Baby Drill' means 'Export Baby Export'
OilPrice: OPEC's View of the World Oil Market 




Global Conflict
Haaretz: Baghdad summit: Iran, powers exchange proposal, but no progress
WashingtonPost: Hopes fading for progress at Iran nuclear talks in Baghdad
LAT: Hopes fade for quick progress at Iran nuclear talks 

WSJ: Support Seen Falling for Putin
BBC: Iran talks to extend to extra day 
Hosted: Syrian opposition accepts leader's resignation 

WashingtonPost: US drone strike kills 10 suspected militants in Pakistan
ChicagoTribune: Iran says world powers creating "difficult atmosphere" at talks
Telegraph: US threatens to cut Pakistan aid following jailing of Osama bin Laden doctor

NYT: Turkey May Indict Israeli Generals Over Flotilla Raid
Reuters: Iran talks with world powers hit snag over sanctions
CBSNews: UN human-rights panel accuses Syrian forces, opposition of torture, unlawful killings, abuses

Reuters: Insight: Iran's "Great Game" in Afghanistan
Truthout: Evidence Mounts That Afghan Massacre Was Linked to Special Operations Forces' Response to Improvised Explosive Device
Gareth Porter and Shah Nouri, Truthout: "Interviews with survivors, relatives of the civilians massacred in Panjwai on March 11 ... add new evidence suggesting that the massacre was linked to the response by the US Special Operations Forces (SOF) unit to a roadside bomb that had blown up a US troop carrier three days earlier. The brother of one of those killed said that the victim had been warned by a US soldier at a checkpoint near the Special Forces camp that the Americans knew his vineyard was very close to where the improvised explosive device (IED) exploded."


MSNBC: Aid workers targeted amid new Pakistan crisis
Reuters: Brother of blind China activist flees village
MSNBC: Russia tests missile designed to counter US defense shield

Worldnews: 'Boiling point': On Lebanon's Syria Street, a civil war brews
BusinessInsider: Here's Why Western Sanctions On Iran Are Not Working
CNN: Syria's conflict stirs up old rivalries in Lebanon
CTV.ca: Iran rejects West's plan to curb nuclear program
Worldnews: Pakistan official: US drone strike hits mosque; 10 killed
CBSNews: Raul Castro's daughter in U.S., blasts "Cuban Mafia" 

Worldcrunch: Syria: Christian Patriarch Backs Off Support For Assad 
BBC: Was 'Bin Laden doctor' Shakil Afridi an unsuspecting pawn?


OWS/Protests
WSJ: Mexicans Protest Ties Between Politics, Media
OccupyTheory: “We didn’t know it was impossible, so we did it!” The Quebec Student Strike celebrates its 100th day
CommonDreams: 'Biggest Act of Civil Disobedience in Canadian History' - "The single biggest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history." That's how yesterday's Montreal protest is being described today. 
BBC: 700 protesters arrested in Quebec


Domestic Financial News
WSJ: H-P to Lay Off 27,000 Workers 
Guardian: Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg accused of misleading investors 
WSJ: Fed’s Dudley Doesn’t See Need for More Easing

WSJ: Some Big Firms Got Facebook Warning
Time: Has Facebook Jinxed the IPO Market for Everyone?
WSJ: WORLD FOREX: Euro Falls As EU Leaders Fail To Reassure Market

Atlantic: The Sorry Six-Day History of Facebook, Inc: A Glitch, a Snitch, and a TumbleWe AtlanticWire: Should Have Known About Facebook's Shady IPO Zerohedge: Guest Post: Is China Really Liquidating Treasuries? 

TPM: CBO Says Coming Fiscal Cliff Will Devastate The Economy - A giant austerity bomb is timed to go off at the beginning of next year, and the threat of significantly higher taxes and lower spending has Republicans running around the Capitol sounding more like John Maynard Keynes than John Boehner.

Businessweek: Unemployed Burn as Fed Fiddles in Debate Over Natural Rate: Jobs - Federal Reserve officials and economic advisers are debating far-reaching differences on whether to accept a jobless rate that doesn’t fall much below 6.5 percent or act more aggressively to reduce it to 5 percent or less.

WSJ: Vital Signs: New Home Sales Still Way Below Historical Average
Economist: What the Fed fears
BizJournals: Zillow: Phoenix has second-highest rate of underwater homeowners 

Global Financial News
ETFDaily: Europe’s ‘New Austerity’ – The Cheesecake Diet NYT: Euro Crisis Intensifies as Leaders Bicker
WSJ: Spain to Recapitalize Bankia 

BBC: Nick Clegg: 'Not rational' to support Greek exit
WSJ: Yields on German and Dutch Bonds Decline to Record Lows
Businessweek: Who Lost the Euro? 

Time: Euro Crisis: Is the Currency (Finally) Doomed? 
Zerohedge: Spain 'Discovers' 28 Billion In Debt 
WSJ: Chinese Manufacturing Falls 

WSJ: Europe Plans for Greece Exit -European officials are stepping up contingency planning for a possible Greek exit from the euro zone, even as Europe's leaders struggled to overcome differences on how to resolve the currency bloc's crisis at a summit meeting here.

Bloomberg: War-Gaming Greek Euro Exit Shows Hazards In 46-Hour Weekend - Greece may have only a 46-hour window of opportunity should it need to plot a route out of the euro. That’s how much time the country’s leaders would probably have to enact any departure from the single currency while global markets are largely closed, from the end of trading in New York on a Friday to Monday’s market opening in Wellington, New Zealand, based on a synthesis of euro-exit scenarios from 21 economists, analysts and academics.

EconomistsView: Total Failure, by Tim Duy: With the crisis once again nipping at their heels, European policymakers accomplished exactly what was expected of them. Absolutely nothing.

FT: Greeks pay full price for medicines -Millions of Greeks are being forced to pay full price for essential medicines because the state health system has run out of cash to pay pharmacies for supplying prescriptions, health officials said on Wednesday.

CNNMoney: World Bank warns of China slowdown
JOC: Japanese Exports to US Surge 42.9 Percent
MSNBC: So much for 'the Spanish dream': Euro crisis turns suburbs into ghost towns
FP: EU urges Greece to remain in eurozone
Reuters: Europe's slump deepens; US, China lose momentum


Commodities/Metals
ETFDaily: Gold Alert: “This Has Happened Only 5 Times In The Last 100 Years” 


Environmental
USGS
M 4.7, 67km W of Copiapo, Chile
M 4.5, Off the west coast of northern Sumatra

GlobeAndMail: B.C. scientists begin hunt for dangerous snakehead fish 
ScienceDaily: Turtles more closely related to birds than lizards and snakes, genetic evidence shows 
Reuters: Trainer filmed abusing horses banned from show for life 

MSNBC: Sneezing monkey highlights new species list
SpongeBob SquarePants mushroom and mile-deep worm also cited in 2011's top 10 inventory
Tennessean: Tennessee Walking Horse soring may be motivated by big money

DesdemonaDespair: Heartland Institute on life support, asks for donations from ‘rich uncle’ 
RedditScience: Apocalypse Soon: Has Civilization Passed the Environmental Point of No Return? 

MSNBC: LA becomes largest US city to ban single-use plastic bags
Guardian: Heartland Institute in financial crisis after billboard controversy
Heartland president admits advertisment comparing believers in human-made climate change to psychopaths has taken a toll

MSNBC: Grabbed from the 'throne': Man on camping trip survives outhouse bear attack
GuyMcPherson: Earth: the final frontier 

ChinaDaily: Better tech to boost weather manipulation
Rainmaking technology will be better deployed and there will be more of it, a leading meteorologist promised.

The country plans to increase artificial precipitation by 3 to 5 percentage points in the next five years, Zheng Guoguang, administrator of the China Meteorological Administration, said.

Rainmaking technology in China lags behind the leading countries in the field by between 15 and 45 percent, depending on the region, he said. The arsenal targeting the weather includes more than 7,000 rocket launchers, at least 50 planes and nearly 7,000 guns.

Management capability will also be enhanced, Zheng said during the National Weather Modification Conference in Beijing on Tuesday.
Env-Econ: Majority of Americans Agree: Protecting the Environment Creates Jobs - The majority of Americans (58 percent) think that protecting the environment improves economic growth and creates new jobs.


America in Decline 
Truthout: 35,948 Arrested Yesterday
Maya Schenwar, Truthout: "Last Friday, the day the NATO 3 were arrested, approximately 35,948 people were arrested across the United States.... I wonder if these moments in the wake of mass activist arrests - specifically, when vocal activists (some of them white and middle class) are arrested by the dozen and thrust into the public eye - might be an apt time to spread awareness of the stark injustices perpetrated every minute, across the country, in the name of 'criminal justice.'"

Forbes: You May Have To Pay More To Be Groped And Scanned By The TSA - Sorry, TSA haters. Unfortunately, the $400K the Transportation Security Administration collects in loose change each year is not enough to make good on their budget shortfalls. Airline passengers may need to pay double what they’re paying now to cover the airport security agency’s growing costs. Via the Hill:

Truthout: Rape Behind Bars: New Rules to Protect LGBTQ Inmates, but Will Immigration and Customs Enforcement Comply?
Mike Ludwig, Truthout: "After living in Tucson, Arizona, for 20 years, Tanya Guzman-Martinez was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and placed in a detention center for suspected undocumented immigrants. Guzman-Martinez identifies and lives as a woman, but ICE ignored her transgendered status and put her in a male housing unit where she endured "extreme" harassment and abuse, including two sexual assaults, at the hands of guards and male detainees, according to a the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)."

Hosted: States looking to new tolls to pay for highways
SeattleTimes: Highway, bridge tolls higher for out-of-towners  - Some tolling authorities have found a way to give local motorists a discount on tolls while charging out-of-towners a higher rate for using the same roads and bridges.
OverheadBin: Want to fly next to your child? Prepare to pay


Food and Water
MiamiHerald: Gov't taking new steps to combat food stamp fraud
Vitals: Starter for tempeh tied to salmonella outbreak


Internet and Online Privacy News
DailyFinance: Apple-0-7: Is Siri Spying on You?


Science and Technology
PopSci: DARPA and Craig Venter Fire Up Bio-Factories For Quick, Streamlined Genetic Engineering 
TheAtlantic: Picture of the Day: The Mars Horizon
PopSci: New 'Mechanical Metamaterial' Expands When You Compress It, Shrinks When You Stretch It 
MSNBC: Commercial spacecraft flies under space station 

MSNBC: Stuck ketchup problem solved by MIT engineers 
TechReview: Software Better at Detecting Frustration Than Humans 
UniverseToday: Going to the Moon? Don’t Touch the Historical Artifacts, NASA Says


Medical and Health
CBSNews: Drug that Jackson OD'd on to be used in executions

CloserLook: Fever During Pregnancy More Than Doubles the Risk of Autism or Developmental DelayGuardian: Fewer in US identify as 'pro-choice' but support for abortion is unchanged
Gallup poll finds four in ten Americans willing to say they are 'pro-choice', but two-thirds believe abortion should be legal

Four out of ten Americans identify themselves as "pro-choice" on abortion, the lowest proportion in almost two decades, according to a Gallup poll published on Wednesday. 
ScienceDaily: Caesarean section delivery may double risk of childhood obesity: May be due to different gut bacteria
IBTimes: New Zealand to become First Smoke Free Country? 

CNN: Study: IUDs, implants vastly more effective than the pill
MSNBC: Too many people get angioplasties, study suggests


Doomsteading, Gardening, Urban Farming 
PermacultureMag: Planting Naturalistic Polycultures in the Vegetable Garden 
UrbanFarmOnline: The Future of Food Production



Other News
CBSNews: Reagan son blasts purported sale of father's blood
Online auction taking bids on vial said to contain blood dating from 1981 assassination attempt; Michael Reagan calls it "outrageous"

CSMonitor: Nuclear sub fire doused, leaves seven with minor injuries (+video)ENENews: Nuclear sub burning 50 miles from Boston — “It doesn’t smell like a regular fire” — Black smoke continues billowing (PHOTOS)
 
CNN: Zimmerman's relationship with police evolved, city files show
SMH: Sydney child prostitute ring smashed 
MSNBC: More military tombstones found in backyard 

CBSNews: Md. police: Man, 2 sons found dead in manure pit
WashingtonPost: EXCLUSIVE: Support grows for Maryland's same-sex marriage law
NYT: Man Claims He Strangled Patz and Put Body in Box, Police Say


Politics
WashingtonPost: Romney proposes steps to overhaul public education
CSMonitor: Obama under fire for giving Hollywood access to Bin Laden SEALs
GlobeAndMail: Gay marriage as America's latest culture war


Reuters: Missouri to vote on "right to pray" constitutional amendment
CSMonitor: Mitt Romney unveils education reform plan heavy on 'parental choice' (+video)
WashingtonPost: Casting call: Republicans audition to be Romney's running mate by taking on role of attack dog

CBSNews: Why Mitt Romney won't get specific 
MSNBC: Poll: Dems have slight edge in 3 key Senate races 
Politico: Flashback: Issa called W.H. records probe 'shameful'
Businessweek: Is Grover Norquist Losing His Grip on the GOP?
MJ: Most of Obama's "Controversial" Birth Control Rule Was Law During Bush Years
The right has freaked out over an Obama administration rule requiring employers to offer birth control to their employees. Most companies already had to do that. 
FirstRead: NBC polls: Obama edges Romney in three key battleground states


Forums
TinfoilPalace: 2012 ‘White Horse Prophecy’ Warned Is Coming True In America
TinfoilPalace: Meteor Strikes Imminent?

TheOilAge: Wireless hazards/evidence of harm
TheOilAge: How Far We Have Fallen


HubbertsArms: Crow alarm in Berlin - birds attacking people
HubbertsArms: Savers are Losers


SilentCountry: Internet Protection Act Would Eliminate Anonymous Online
SilentCountry: The Canadian Oil Sands-A Photographic Essay

DestinyCalls: Anthology on strange things in the simpson's cartoon

DestinyCalls: Britain, America, The Bank of England, The Fed and Two World Wars

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