Breaking News Tues. March, 20, 2012

I just found out that our own Chesire has a forum!!!
here it is.

Destiny Calls

 Let's give Ches some support and help his forum grow!

and check out this fascinating story from the Ozarker today

LAT: In China, millions make themselves at home in caves
Some are basic, others beautiful, with high ceilings and nice yards. 'Life is easy and comfortable here,' one cave dweller says.

Ma Liangshui, 76, has lived in caves around Yanan his entire life.

Thank, thanks, and thank you thanks to RJ at the Global Glass Onion and the Ozarker at Conflicted Doomer for their help today! LOL be sure to visit their blogs and support their work.
Posting a little early today as I have to get some work done around the doomstead, I hope you all have a wonderful day!


Global Conflict
 The photo and quote was sent in by RJ last night and kind of puts things in a bit of perspective.  thanks RJ!

NYT: U.S. War Game Sees Dire Results of Attack on Iran - WASHINGTON — A classified war simulation exercise held this month to assess the American military’s capabilities to respond to an Israeli attack on Iran forecast that the strike would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the United States and leave hundreds of Americans dead, according to American officials.
WSJ: Battle Hits Damascus Ahead of UN Team's Arrival
Reuters: New York man charged in fire-bombing of mosque - The attacks alarmed religious leaders concerned over violent religious bigotry, though police said the suspect may have also been motivated by personal grudges.

The suspect, Ray Lazier Lengend, 40, confessed to all five fire-bombings upon being arrested two days after the attacks, police said at the time.
His defense lawyer, Kenneth Deane, declined to comment on Monday.
Spiegel: Weapons Exports: EU Nations Sell the Most Arms to Saudi Arabia
NYT: Iran Eases its currency exchange UPI: Iraq looks to bypass Strait of Hormuz
CBSNews: Lawyer: Bales can't recall massacre
BBC: Gunmen kill 12 police in Mexico
WSJ: Gunman Likely Filmed French Attack
BBC: Camera 'clue' to French manhunt - The suspect in the killings at a Jewish school in France was wearing a camera and may have filmed the scene, say officials
BBC:Deadly explosions in Iraqi cities
SecurityBlogs: Iran gobbles up U.S. wheatNYT: Use of ‘Conflict Minerals’ Gets More Scrutiny
ABCNews: Pakistani Parliament Says No to US Drones
GlobeAndMail: Explosions Across Iraq Kill at least 43
WorldNews: Car bomb explodes outside newspaper offices in Northern Mexico 
CBSNews: Rice: We must "keep our nerve" in Afghanistan
CBSNews: Bales' cash woes included $1M judgment
BusinessInsider: UH OH: Israel Now Thinks It Can Smoke Iran--And May Be Considering A Pre-Emptive Strike - For those nervous that the world is lurching closer to another war in the Middle East, there's good news and bad news.
Atlantic: The Decline of the West: Why America Must Prepare for the End of Dominance
Spiegel: Accused of Terrorism: Turkish Reporters Struggle Against Repression


Hacker News
Cryptogon: The Pirate Bay to Fly ‘Server Drones’ to Avoid Law Enforcement
CNN: Anonymous members speak out at surreal SXSW panel 


Domestic Financial News
CNNMoney: TaxMasters files bankruptcy
FiscalTimes: $25B Profit on Mortgage Debt
The Treasury Department said on Monday it made a $25 billion profit on sales of mortgage-backed securities acquired during the financial crisis, part of its ongoing efforts to wind down taxpayer-financed bailout programs.
The sales were the latest indication that the multiple programs the government and Federal Reserve initiated to bail out the financial sector may turn out to be less costly than originally feared.
Reuters: Stockton: The town the housing boom broke
MyBudget360: Little Known Ways the Federal Reserve Punishes American Savers and Supports Conspicuous Consumption.
CNNMoney: A drop in new entrepreneurs might be a good sign
WSJ: GOP's Budget Targets Taxes 
TaxFoundation: Monday Map: State Cigarette Excise Tax Rates --Today's Monday Map looks at state excise tax rates on sales of cigarettes.

FT: What is the real rate of interest telling us?’ -The real interest rate on US and UK government debt is currently near to zero (see chart 1). This is a remarkable fact. True, real interest rates were negative in the 1970s. But it is extremely unlikely that anybody bought bonds expecting this to be the case. Now, however, the position is quite different.
YahooNews: Political intelligence: Wall Street pays handsomely for Washington inside dope
CNNMoney: Builders ready for home construction rebound
LAT: Federal Reserve to fine eight more banks on foreclosure violations
BottomLine: More Seniors use Reverse Mortgages to Raise Cash
Slate: Kill the JOBS Act! - The appalling bill that would repeal essential Wall Street reforms.
Propublica: Breaking Down the Mortgage Settlement 
SFGate: Disney says 'John Carter' to lose $200 million - "John Carter" is now officially a flop of galactic proportions.
The Walt Disney Co. said Monday that it expects to book a loss of $200 million on the movie in the quarter through March. That ranks it among Hollywood's all-time biggest money-losers.
Zerohedge: Housing starts disappoint: what else is new?
CreditWritedowns: Chart of the day: What’s driving US inflation?
CapitalGainsAndGames: It's March: Watch As The GOP Plays The Baseline Game Yet Again

Global Financial News
WSJ: Confused About China? So Is Credit Suisse - How divided are the experts on the near-term prospects for China’s economy? If an attempt by Credit Suisse analysts to predict China’s appetite for commodities is any indication, the answer is very.
Xinhuanet: IMF chief urges prominent Chinese role in global policy discussions - (Xinhua) -- China should maintain a prominent role in global policy discussions amid lingering weaknesses in the global outlook, visiting chief of International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde said here on Sunday
VoxEU: The Hungarian crisis
FT: Greece creditors get $2.5bn CDS payout - The market will pay out $2.5bn to creditors who have bought insurance-like products to protect them from a Greek default, according to results of an auction on Monday.
HuffingtonPost: With Larry Summers’ World Bank Bid in Trouble, Mexico Insists on Open Process - Early last week the New York Times reported that despite all the previous fine rhetoric about the G20 and consultation and open process, the U.S. Treasury Department had decided to rule by decree and impose its own candidate for the next president of the World Bank, the G20 be damned.
BusinessInsider: Italian Industrial Orders Fall
ETFDaily: China’s Structural Economic Reform (VWO, FXP, FXI, EEM)


Peak Oil and Energy News
Zerohedge: Based On This Chart, Can Saudi Arabia Bail Out The US Motorist From $5 Gas?

TheOilDrum: Tech Talk - Going Back to the First Look at Saudi Arabian Oil Production
FuelFix: China to Raise Fuel Prices
TransitionVoice: Why won’t Obama mention peak oil? Blame Rush Limbaugh
Telegraph: The oil price is the new eurozone crisis - No sooner has the pressure on markets from the eurozone crisis begun to ease than investors have found something else to worry about – the oil price.
ColumbusDispatch: Oil, gas taxes vary widely by state
ArabNews: Kingdom vows measures to bring down oil prices

Guardian: The oil market is warming up - The global economy remains vulnerable to steep rise in crude oil prices, which would raise business costs and hammer consumers
FuelFix: Crude drops after Saudi intervention

Commodities/Metals
Mineweb: What anthracite, Faberge Eggs and extinct gold mines have in common
ETFDaily: Gold and Silver: Headed for Dec. ’11 Lows? (GLD, IAU, SLV)

Environmental
USGS 
M 7.6, Oaxaca, Mexico
M 6.2, Papua, Indonesia
M 5.0, Vanuatu

M 3.7, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

M 4.7, Sumba region, Indonesia

M 2.6, Island of Hawaii, Hawaii

M 4.9, near the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, RussiaCBSNews: Gorilla tranquilized after zoo escape
ArsTechnica: Not just the weather: climate change acceptance nosedives with the economy - A few years back, the US public's acceptance of conclusions reached by climate scientists took a dramatic drop.
CNN: Rains soak southern Plains after suspected tornado touchdown in Texas
SCMonitor: Flooding, tornado hit San Antonio and other parts of Texas
DesdemonaDespair: Study ties GMO corn, soybeans to monarch butterfly decline
ExtinctionProtocol: Scientists study the use of nuclear bombs to avert asteroid doomsday
ArsTechnica: Environmental contribution of Tennessee's urban trees: $80 billion -A study published by the US Forest service values the State of Tennessee's urban forest at $80 billion thanks to its contributions to the environment. With an urban population of 284 million, that equates to a mean value of $282 per tree. (oh great, now that they've put a dollar value on them, some jackass will want to harvest them all)

America in Decline
TheTeemingBrain: Is America an economic hothouse for growing psychopaths?
BoingBoing: TOM THE DANCING BUG: "Hello! You've Been Targeted For a Drone Assassination!" Helpful Info From Your U.S. Government

Signon: “Are You Hungry?” - Is there anybody out there listening? Stop Mayor Michael Nutter’s ban on feeding homeless Philadelphians on the streets. The policy excludes homeless persons, homeless veterans, disabled homeless veterans and homeless families from receiving meals in public spaces. Since there has never been an epidemic of homeless persons being poisoned or sick on the streets from receiving meals from churches, civic organizations or non-profit organizations, the Mayor’s contentions that they would receive a safe meal in a confined space at the mayor’s discretion is baseless because there is no data that lends credence to this argument.
HuffingtonPost: Tennessee Abortion Bill Would Make Abortion Providers' Names Public

A new bill moving through the Tennessee House of Representatives would require the state to publish the names of each doctor who performs an abortion and detailed statistics about the woman having the procedure, which opponents worry will spur anti-abortion violence in the state.
ChicagoTribune: Chicago officials deny permit for May 20 NATO protest march
CNN: Video of toddler's screening at airport fuels criticism

Science and Technology
ScienceNewsDaily: Cosmic rays alter chemistry of lunar ice, may create building blocks of life
RawStory: Teens send an average of 60 texts a day: study
ExtinctionProtocol: Did the crash of Comet Swan trigger a CME on the Sun?
MSNBC: Archive puts original Einstein manuscripts online
Database will eventually offer all 80,000 items in Israeli university's collection

ScienceNewsDaily: Experients may force revision of astrophysical models of the universe
TechnoLog: Is your TV watching you? Latest models raise concerns
TechReview: Microsoft Builds a Browser for Your Past - Technology Review - Prototype software called Lifebrowser uses artificial intelligence to help you revisit important events, photos, and e-mails from your own life.

ScienceNewsDaily: Geologic map of Jupiter's moon Io details an otherworldly volcanic surface

NewScientist: Fibre optics to connect Japan to the UK – via the Arctic


Medical and Health
ScienceNewsDaily: Smoking May Restore Tapped-out Self-Control Resources
NYT: Why Bilinguals Are Smarter
Zerohedge: Animals and 6-Month-Old Infants Are Getting Fatter … Which Mean that It’s Something In the Environment
ScienceDaily: Novel therapy discovered for Crohn's disease 
TheChart: Attention, allergies sufferers: Pollen has arrived
TheChart: Keep kids away from the medicine cabinet - It’s a stunning statistic: Each day roughly four school busloads of U.S. children – about 165 young kids – are seen in emergency rooms after getting into medications - and each visit is preventable. 
BodyOdd: What your handshake says about your health  - If you want to know what your risk of dementia and stroke will be down the line, new research finds that surprisingly simple tests today could give you the answer.



Doomsteading, Gardening, Urban Farming
WaldenEffect: Chicken webcam update
ExtinctionProtocol: William Shatner dives into 2012 territory with show ‘doomsday theories’ 
SurvivorJane: Bags Under Your Eyes - (Survival Bags)


Other News
CNN: Justices at odds over benefits for child conceived after death of a parent
Reuters: Supreme court to hear death row mental competency cases
ChicagoTribune: Outrage builds over Florida vigilante-style killing
BottomLine: Listing of the Week: A home as big as Texas

BlacklistedNews: Secret files reveal 9,000 Nazi war criminals fled to South America after WWII
LegitGov: Missouri National Guard sergeant tied to Nazism is fired
Boston.com: Clinton wades into Amelia Earhart mystery 
CNNMoney: Prenups aren't just for married couples anymore 
TriCitiesnews: Sullivan East High School asks parent not to fly confederate flag on property
This is the sort of nonsense that goes on aroun here.. LOL
Buzzflash: Archie Comics Defies Religious Extremists and Celebrates Gay Marriage
WBIR: World Trade Center gun-packing tourist gets no jail time - A Tennessee woman arrested for bringing her gun along on a visit to New York City has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.
RawStory: Fox News host tries to walk back persistent Obama-Muslim talk


Politics

Alternet: Knit Your Congressman a Vagina

WSJ: Job Gains Drive Romney to Attack Obama Over Gas
UPI: McCain to GOP: Drop contraception issue - WASHINGTON, March 18 (UPI) -- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Sunday the Republican party should drop the entire contraception issue and stick to talking about jobs and the economy.
McCain said on NBC's "Meet the Press," he doesn't think Arizona's new contraception bill will reach the governor's desk, and if it does, it would be vetoed. The legislation, if passed, would force Arizona women to tell their employers why they want birth control.
FirstRead: Santorum on defensive in Illinois over unemployment remarkBusinessInsider: Hey, Rick Santorum, Why Do You Hate America?
CBSNews: GOP plan would slash 2013 budgets


Forums
TinfoilPalace: Greece on the breadline: cashless currency takes off 
TinfoilPalace: ARE YOU LIVING IN A COMPUTER SIMULATION?
TheOilAge: NY Times best-sellers list: Abundance, great future 
TheOilAge: Monster Quake - March 22?? 
HubbertsArms: Shelling dried beans

HubbertsArms: The U.S. Economy: Soul Crushing Total System Failure
SilentCountry: Samsung could be watching you 
SilentCountry: Drug-resistant "white plague" lurks among rich and poor