August 24, 2007

IT COULD HAPPEN HERE: The worst ‘global warming’ story ever
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070422224626.hohkyjhk&show_article=1&catnum=4

Germans will have to dig deeper to indulge in their beloved beer in the next few months as barley is increasingly displaced in the country's fields by heavily subsidised crops used for biofuels. The German arm of Belgian brewer InBev, which owns the Beck's and Franziskaner brands, confirmed it would be implementing "slight" price rises, while Germany's Radeberger said it was considering a similar move.

FDA Was Aware of Dangers To Food
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/22/AR2007042201551_pf.html
The Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show. Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, according to agency documents. Congressional critics and consumer advocates said both episodes show that the agency is incapable of adequately protecting the safety of the food supply. FDA officials conceded that the agency's system needs to be overhauled to meet today's demands, but contended that the agency could not have done anything to prevent either contamination episode. The outbreaks point to a need to change the way the agency does business, said Robert E. Brackett, director of the FDA's food-safety arm, which is responsible for safeguarding 80 percent of the nation's food supply. On Tuesday, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee will hold a hearing on the unprecedented spate of recalls.


U.S. Social Security trust fund to be exhausted in 2041 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/24/content_6017622.htm
The growing annual deficits are projected to exhaust the Social Security trust fund in 2041 and the Medicare trust fund in 2019, the trustees of the U.S. government's two biggest benefit programs said Monday. The trustees said Social Security's current annual surpluses of tax income over expenditures will soon begin to decline and then turn into rapidly growing deficits as the baby boom generation retires. There are about 78 million Americans who were born during the baby boom period, from 1946 to 1964, and are going to retire. "Medicare's financial status is even worse," said the trustees. Medicare trust fund is already expected to pay out more in hospital benefits this year than it receives in taxes and other dedicated revenues. According to the trustees, the annual cost of Social Security benefits represented 4.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2006 and is projected to increase to 6.2 percent of GDP in 2030, and then rise slowly to 6.3 percent of GDP in 2081. Medicare's financial difficulties come sooner -- and are much more severe -- than those confronting Social Security. While both programs face demographic challenges, the impact is greater for Medicare because health care costs increase at older ages, the trustees said. The Social Security trust funds are the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Disability Insurance Trust Fund. These trust funds are managed by the Department of the Treasury. A Board of Trustees oversees the financial operations of the trust funds and reports annually to the Congress on the financial and actuarial status of the trust funds.


Democrats challenge Bush with Iraq bill http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8OMNKGG0&show_article=1

Democratic leaders agreed Monday on legislation that requires the first U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later. President Bush, confident of enough votes to sustain his veto, was unambiguous in his response. "I will strongly reject an artificial timetable (for) withdrawal…” he told reporters in the Oval Office as he met with his top Iraq commander, Gen. David Petraeus. Taken together, the day's events marked the quickening of a confrontation that has been building since Democrats took control of Congress in January and promised to change policy in a war has claimed the lives of more than 3,200 U.S. troops. Congressional negotiators for the House and Senate met in late afternoon and ratified the details of the legislation. Republicans voiced opposition, but made no attempt to delay or even seek changes. "We all know this bill is going nowhere fast," said Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., referring to the veto threat. The bill includes more than $90 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the withdrawal timetable that Bush finds objectionable and billions of dollars in domestic spending that he also has threatened to veto. Overall, the bill totals $124.2 billion. Democratic aides said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Reid hope to clear the measure through both houses by Friday and send it to Bush by early next week for his expected veto.



U.S. announces sanctions http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/851747.html

The United States has imposed sanctions on 14 foreign people, companies and government agencies, including the Syrian navy and air force, as it boosts efforts to stop transfers of advanced weaponry to and from Iran and Syria. The 14 - which also include Lebanon's radical Hezbollah movement and firms from China, Malaysia, Mexico and Singapore - are accused of selling to or buying from Iran or Syria missile technology or material to make weapons of mass destruction. State Department officials refused to comment on specific allegations against those listed in the notice because the determinations involved sensitive intelligence. But, they said Washington had credible evidence they had been involved in illicit transfers. The measures are largely symbolic because many of the targets are already subject to U.S. sanctions for previous similar transactions, most recently in December 2006, officials said. However, the Syrian navy and air force, have never before been identified as violators of the Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act, they said.

Other violators named in Monday's notice are:- The China National Precision Machinery Import/Export Corporation (CPMIEC)- The Shanghai Non-Ferrous Metals Pudong Development Trade Company of China- The Zibo Chemet Equipment Company of China- Iran's Defense Industries Organization- Singapore's Sokkia company- Syria's Army Supply Bureau- Syria's Industrial Establishment of Defense- Malaysia's Challenger Corporation of Malaysia- Malaysia's Target Airfreight- Mexico's Aerospace Logistics Services- A Pakistani individual named Arif Durrani


EU ministers agree to impose sanctions against Iran http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/24/content_6017833.htm
Foreign ministers from all the 27 European Union (EU) member states agreed on Monday in Luxembourg to introduce sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions in line with a UN Security Council resolution, an EU spokeswoman said on Monday. EU foreign ministers, who met in Luxembourg on Monday, also agreed on a blacklist of people and organizations linked to Iran's nuclear industry, based on UN Security Council sanctions passed in December. The full list of the Iranian persona non grat a subject to a travel ban and assets freeze will be published in the official EU gazette on Tuesday or Wednesday. Foreign ministers also agreed in principle to apply a second UN resolution against Iran, which was passed last month and introduces fresh sanctions against Tehran if it fails to suspend its uranium enrichment activities within 60 days. The latter resolution, whose details EU ministers will outline at a later date, involves notably restriction on arms sales. Earlier on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana confirmed that he would meet this week with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Turkey. Iran rejected on Sunday Western calls for a suspension of its sensitive nuclear activities.

Turkey's military prepares for May invasion of N. Iraq
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/front.html

On April 20, Turkey's NTV television said the Turkish military has set a "specific timetable" for the offensive against the Kurdish Workers Party in Iraq. NTV said the proposed force would attack PKK camps in the Kandil mountains. Turkish sources said a force of at least 10,000 troops, backed by main battle tanks, armored vehicles, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, was being formed for the invasion. They said the operation could take place in May. NTV said the military would monitor the PKK insurgency campaign until May. At that point, the military would be ready to send forces into Iraq. Over the last two weeks, Turkish military commanders have been urging the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan to approve an offensive against the PKK. The commanders were said to have assessed that U.S. efforts to block PKK activities in northern Iraq failed.


US accuses Eritrea of fueling deadly fighting in Somalia
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070423212744.innq7rup&show_article=1&catnum=3

The fighting in Mogadishu pits heavily armed Ethiopian troops allied to the country's UN-recognized interim government against an Islamist militia known as al-Shabab and other insurgents supported by the city's dominant Hawiye clan. Ethiopia intervened in Somalia, with tacit US support, in December to help oust an Islamist movement which had seized control of much of the country from the transitional federal government. Since then, Ethiopian forces and the insurgents in Mogadishu have battled with tanks, mortars and other heavy weapons in fighting that has claimed over 1,000 lives, more than 250 of them in the past week, and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. The State Department's top Africa official, Assistant Secretary of State Jendaye Frazer visited Somalia early this month and singled out Eritrea on Monday for helping fuel the fighting in order to weaken Ethiopia, its regional arch rival. Frazer also said the Ethiopians were actively trying to negotiate a truce with the Hawiya clan, which has remained estranged from the interim government. Frazer also called on the interim government to step up efforts to broaden its base to include more clans. Frazer went on to accuse the Islamist militia of trying to undermine reconciliation efforts by targeting Hawiya clan leaders willing to talk to the government. The US also backs the planned deployment of some 8,000 African Union peacekeepers to help stabilize Somalia. But so far only about 1,500 Ugandan soldiers have arrived and their presence has made little difference.


Hillary 'smoking gun' tapes alleged http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55320
A business mogul who says he was Hillary Clinton's biggest donor in her 2000 Senate campaign is preparing to release a newly recovered videotape his lawyer calls "smoking-gun evidence" of the New York Democrat's commission of a series of felonies, each punishable by up to five years in prison. Peter Franklin Paul, in a civil fraud suit filed against Bill and Hillary Clinton, claims the former president destroyed his entertainment company to get out of a $17 million deal in which Clinton promised to promote the firm in exchange for stock, cash options and massive contributions to his wife's 2000 campaign. Paul contends he was directed by the Clintons and Democratic Party leaders to foot the bill for a lavish Hollywood gala and fund-raiser prior to the 2000 election that eventually cost him nearly $2 million. Sen. Clinton has claimed through her spokesman Howard Wolfson that Paul gave no money to her campaign, and her supporters have denied she had any anything to do with coordinating the August 2000 event or soliciting contributions directly from donors. Doing so would make Paul's substantial contributions a direct donation to her Senate campaign rather than her joint fundraising committee, violating federal statutes that limit "hard money" contributions to a candidate to $2,000 per person. Furthermore, knowingly accepting or soliciting $25,000 or more in a calendar year is a felony carrying a prison sentence of up to five years.

U.S. had emergency plan for attacking Israel in 1967
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/851708.html

In February 1968, an institute expert, L. Weinstein, wrote an article called "Critical Incident No. 14," about the U.S. involvement in the Middle East crisis of May-June 1967.Only 30 copies of his study were printed for distribution. Years later the material was declassified and can now be read by everyone, although details that are liable to give away sources' identities and operational ideas have remained censored. Strike Command, the entity that was to have launched the attack on Israel, no longer exists. It was annulled in 1971 for domestic American reasons and superseded by Readiness Command, which was abolished in the 1980s in favor of Central Command (CENTCOM) which today includes forces in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Afghanistan; and the Special Operations Command (SOCOM).The general who oversaw the planning in 1967 was Theodore John ("Ted") Conway, then 56 and a four-star general, the head of Strike Command.On May 20, 1967, according to L. Weinstein's confidential study for the Institute for Defense Analyses, cable No. 5886 of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was sent to EUCOM and STRICOM. STRICOM was asked to refresh the emergency plans for intervention in an Israeli-Arab war: one plan on behalf of Israel and the other, on behalf of the Arabs.The basis for the directive was Washington's policy of support for the existence, independence and territorial integrity of all the states of the region. This translated into adherence to the Israeli-Arab armistice lines of 1949. The policy was not to allow Egypt, or any combination of Arab states, to destroy Israel, but also not to allow Israel to expand westward, into Sinai, or eastward, into the West Bank.

Soap-like molecules may regenerate injured nerves http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/23/content_6016068.htm
The soap-like molecules contain a small piece of laminin. After these molecules are injected into the body, they react with chemicals there, assembling themselves instantly into scaffolds of super-thin fibers just six billionths of a meter wide. They biodegrade after roughly eight weeks. The scientists experimented with their molecules on dozens of mice and rats that experienced spinal cord injuries that paralyzed their hind legs. After six weeks, damaged nerves regenerated enough for the paralyzed legs of the rodents to regain some ability to walk. The researchers are currently in talks with the FDA regarding their work and hope to start phase I clinical trials (for toxicity and safety testing) in humans two years from now.


Rabbits wrecking Australian isle
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070422120641.jubfhwn6&show_article=1

An explosion in the rabbit population has "trashed" the World Heritage listed Macquarie Island, which is home to endangered penguins and albatrosses, the World Wide Fund for Nature said.
The conservation group is calling on the government to implement a 25 million dollar (21 million US) strategy to eradicate rabbits, rats and mice on the sub-Antarctic territory. WWF spokesman Andreas Glanznig said it was possible that mice, which have been shown to become carnivorous on an island in the Atlantic, could evolve enough to threaten endangered bird species on the remote scrap of land. The rabbits, which were introduced by sealers in the 1870s but until recently had been kept in check by cats, have destroyed all the vegetation holding the land together, causing dangerous landslides, Glanznig said.


8 TV stations exposed for broadcasting illegal ads
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/23/content_6017504.htm

China's watchdogs exposed eight local television stations on Monday for broadcasting adverts for illegal drugs over the nationwide satellite network. China's State Industry and Commerce Administration and State Food and Drug Administration published a blacklist that included television stations of Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Heilongjiang and Hebei Provinces, Tianjin Municipality and the Inner Mongolia and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regions. According to the report, the television stations broadcasted adverts for prescription drugs that exaggerated the effects of certain drugs or used celebrities to guarantee a drug's effectiveness. The illegal adverts also included health foods that were advertised as medicines without permission from the authorities.