http://www.sott.net Signs of the Times: The World for People who Think. Featuring alternative news and commentary on world events. en-us Original content Copyright 2012 by Signs of the Times/Sott.net. For other content, see our Fair Use Policy at www.sott.net. Wed, 16 May 2012 20:54:57 -0500 http://www.sott.net/images/sottlogo_rss.jpg SOTT.net http://www.sott.net http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245549-Police-Officers-to-Stand-Trial-in-Kelly-Thomas-Beating-Case Fullerton Officer Manuel Ramos and Cpl. Jay Cicinelli charged in the beating death of transient Kelly Thomas have been ordered to stand trial following a three-day preliminary hearing. Vikki Vargas reports from Santa Ana for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on May 9, 2012. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245549-Police-Officers-to-Stand-Trial-in-Kelly-Thomas-Beating-Case Wed, 16 May 2012 20:54:56 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245548-Wife-of-Missing-Burbank-FBI-Agent-Implores-Public-for-Help He would "never hurt" anyone, Stephen Ivens' wife said in a statement .It's being called the largest search in Burbank in the past 20 years. FBI Agent Stephen Ivens disappeared after going for a hike near his home. John Cadiz Klemack reports from Burbank for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on May 15, 2012. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245548-Wife-of-Missing-Burbank-FBI-Agent-Implores-Public-for-Help Wed, 16 May 2012 20:45:23 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245547-FBI-veteran-arrested-on-child-pornography-charges Donald J. Sachtleben, 54, was charged with possessing and distributing child pornography. A former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and Carmel resident was arrested on child pornography charges. Donald J. Sachtleben, 54, has been charged with possessing and distributing child pornography. U.S. Attorney Joseph Hogsett announced the criminal charges Monday, stating law enforcement began investigating an individual suspected of trading child pornography online in September 2010. That individual, who resided in Illinois, was arrested in January 2012. After searching the Illinois suspect's computer, authorities discovered he was trading material with several other people. Hogsett said law enforcement was able to trace the alleged online activity to Sachtleben's home in Carmel. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245547-FBI-veteran-arrested-on-child-pornography-charges Wed, 16 May 2012 20:29:50 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245546-Judge-Blocks-Controversial-NDAA Manhattan, New York - A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction late Wednesday to block provisions of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that would allow the military to indefinitely detain anyone it accuses of knowingly or unknowingly supporting terrorism. Signed by President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve, the 565-page NDAA contains a short paragraph, in statute 1021, letting the military detain anyone it suspects "substantially supported" al-Qaida, the Taliban or "associated forces." The indefinite detention would supposedly last until "the end of hostilities." In a 68-page ruling blocking this statute, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest agreed that the statute failed to "pass constitutional muster" because its broad language could be used to quash political dissent. "There is a strong public interest in protecting rights guaranteed by the First Amendment," Forrest wrote. "There is also a strong public interest in ensuring that due process rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment are protected by ensuring that ordinary citizens are able to understand the scope of conduct that could subject them to indefinite military detention." Weeks after Obama signed the law, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges filed a lawsuit against its so-called "Homeland Battlefield" provisions.Several prominent activists, scholars and politicians subsequently joined the suit, including Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg; Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Noam Chomsky; Icelandic parliamentarian Birgitta Jonsdottir; Kai Wargalla, an organizer from Occupy London; and Alexa O'Brien, an organizer for the New York-based activist group U.S. Day of Rage. They call themselves the Freedom Seven. In a signing statement, Obama contended that the language in Section 1021 "breaks no new ground" and merely restates the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF). Government lawyers whistled the same tune to swat away the lawsuit, but they failed to convince the judge that no changes had been made. "Section 1021 tries to do too much with too little - it lacks the minimal requirements of definition and scienter that could easily have been added, or could be added, to allow it to pass constitutional muster," Forrest wrote. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245546-Judge-Blocks-Controversial-NDAA Wed, 16 May 2012 19:10:14 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245543-World-s-Oldest-Antibiotic-Also-Shows-Promise-as-an-Anti-Cancer-Therapy Colloidal silver is a powerful healer, despite irrational FDA opposition to it. Silver has been used medicinally throughout the ages, with great success. And now some very promising research is being done on silver as a cancer treatment. Patients have previously been treated with chemotherapy drugs containing another metal, platinum. In a head-to-head comparison against a leading platinum-based chemo drug, cisplatin, a silver-based drug was found to be just as effective - and far less toxic to normal cells than platinum. Dr. Charlotte Willans, the lead researcher, calls the research an important step in the quest for effective, non-toxic cancer treatments. Silver also happens to be the world's oldest known antibiotic. There's written evidence that the ancient Egyptians made use of it; the ancient Greeks and Romans stored their water, wine, and other liquids in silver vessels to prevent spoiling and contamination; ancient Chinese emperors ate with silver chopsticks, and wealthy Europeans in the Middle Ages used silver utensils to protect themselves from illness (we still call our eating utensils "silverware" despite it being made from other metals these days). http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245543-World-s-Oldest-Antibiotic-Also-Shows-Promise-as-an-Anti-Cancer-Therapy Wed, 16 May 2012 17:43:04 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245542-Why-omega-3-oils-help-at-the-cellular-level For the first time, researchers at the University of California, San Diego have peered inside a living mouse cell and mapped the processes that power the celebrated health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. More profoundly, they say their findings suggest it may be possible to manipulate these processes to short-circuit inflammation before it begins, or at least help to resolve inflammation before it becomes detrimental. The work is published in the May 14, 2012 online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The therapeutic benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, which are abundant in certain fish oils, have long been known, dating back to at least the 1950s, when cod liver oil was found to be effective in treating ailments like eczema and arthritis. In the 1980s, scientists reported that Eskimos eating a fish-rich diet enjoyed better coronary health than counterparts consuming mainland foods. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245542-Why-omega-3-oils-help-at-the-cellular-level Wed, 16 May 2012 17:29:59 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245541-How-Neuroscientists-and-Magicians-Are-Conjuring-Brain-Insights "I see you have a watch with a buckle." Standing at my side, Apollo Robbins held my wrist lightly as he turned my hand over and back. I knew exactly what was coming but I fell for it anyway. "Yes," I said, trying to keep an eye on him, "that looks pretty easy for you to take off, but my rings would be harder." He agreed, politely, while looking down at my hands and then up into my eyes: "Which one do you think would be hardest to remove?" While I considered the answer, he had already removed my watch and put it on his own wrist behind his back, unseen. He isn't called the "The Gentleman Thief" for nothing. Robbins had just skillfully managed my attentional spotlight - that is, the focus of awareness at any given moment. To conceal his pilfering, Robbins had employed what is generally called "misdirection": he got me to attend to the wrong things, added to my brain's cognitive load with his humorous patter, created a distracting internal dialogue in me by giving me a question to answer, and generally flummoxed me all the while by pressing here and there on a shoulder or wrist. Adding insult to injury, Robbins had just described what he does - and shown his techniques while swiftly lifting another watch and emptying the pockets of the amiable Flip Phillips of Skidmore College. Still, I never stood a chance. My response to being fooled so easily? I laughed out loud. (Watch Robbins work in this Scientific American video, "Magic and Science Together Again at Last" and learn more in this blog post.) http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245541-How-Neuroscientists-and-Magicians-Are-Conjuring-Brain-Insights Wed, 16 May 2012 17:21:20 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245540-Robert-Kennedy-Jr-s-ex-wife-Mary-found-dead-in-New-York-home-in-apparent-suicide Mary Kennedy, the ex-wife of Robert Kennedy Jr., was found dead this morning in her home. Initial reports point to suicide as the cause of death for the 52-year-old. She and Robert Kennedy, the third-eldest of Robert Kennedy's 11 children, were married for 16 years before they divorced in May of 2010. The mother-of-four was found dead in her Mount Kisco home Wednesday but there have yet to be formal reports about the exact cause of death. 'There was an EMT vehicle outside the home about an hour ago,' a source told Radar Online. Just three days after her ex filed for divorce, she was arrested for suspected drunk driving. She was arrested when police saw her drive over a curb outside of a school carnival. When she failed several sobriety tests, she was given a breathalyzer test and blew a 0.11 which is above the legal limit of 0.08. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245540-Robert-Kennedy-Jr-s-ex-wife-Mary-found-dead-in-New-York-home-in-apparent-suicide Wed, 16 May 2012 16:30:51 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245539-By-Their-Fruits-Ayn-Rand-or-Jesus-Christ-Conservatives-Can-t-Have-It-Both-Ways Many conservatives swear on a stack of Bibles that they worship Jesus Christ when they really bow down to the philosophy of Ayn Rand Last week Paul Ryan said that his fondness for the philosophy of Ayn Rand is an "urban legend." You have to give these wild and crazy Republicans credit for at least one thing: they have cojones the size of the elephants which are the mascots for the party. The urban myth quote came after a career of Ayn Rand idolatry special even for right-wing Republicans: giving the book to his interns, speaking at Ayn Rand tributes, doing videos about her, saying her philosophy inspired him to get involved in politics. This was no youthful fling, but a lifelong love affair -- until last week , apparently. I've always wondered what politicians are thinking when they say something like this that is so obviously easy to check and refute. Do they really think people are that stupid? Maybe they just think that with the kind of money they can raise, and the Fox News-style, right-wing media to help support them, they can just obliterate the truth with bluster and deafening bombast. So why is Ryan, who is on the short list for Romney's VP candidate, so eager to erase his (very recent) past obsession with Ayn Rand, whom so many other right wingers adore as well? Because her writing really is so blatantly offensive to anyone not besotted with her. She preached not only the virtue of selfishness, but that any compassion and generosity was a moral wrong because it helped those who were weakening society. She despised not only the poor but even people with disabilities as leeches draining strength from society. She actually hated the Christianity Ryan and every other Republican is obligated by their base to claim they believe in because Jesus taught that the poor were to be cared for, making her views dangerous for Republican politicians to adhere to as much as they love all that pro-selfishness talk. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245539-By-Their-Fruits-Ayn-Rand-or-Jesus-Christ-Conservatives-Can-t-Have-It-Both-Ways Wed, 16 May 2012 16:10:04 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245538-Jupiter-2-of-its-moons-and-a-sun-grazing-Comet Here's a neat video posted by SungrazerComets (the Twitter identity of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's Sungrazing Comets website) this morning. It's an animation of images taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) on May 13 and 14, when Jupiter was passing through solar conjunction. It's pretty spiffy that SOHO can spot two of Jupiter's moons. As icing on the cake, the video also captures a sungrazing comet and a coronal mass ejection. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245538-Jupiter-2-of-its-moons-and-a-sun-grazing-Comet Wed, 16 May 2012 15:10:25 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245537-New-Comet-C-2012-J1-Catalina- Discovery Date: May 13, 2012 Magnitude: 16.4mag Discoverer: A. R. Gibbs (Catalina Sky Survey) The orbital elements are published on M.P.E.C. 2012-J49. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245537-New-Comet-C-2012-J1-Catalina- Wed, 16 May 2012 14:11:09 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245536-Report-Shows-How-Radiation-Can-Destroy-DNA The threat of radiation is constant and growing; too much radiation from medical testing and other sources is increasingly becoming a concern for many individuals around the world. The average child will receive more than seven radiation emitting scans for medical procedure by age 18, not to mention all of the background radiation emitted from cell phones, as well as other various electronic devices. With the advent of the TSA body scanners, using deadly terahertz radiation only adds to the controversy. An array of DNA destroying and cancer causing devices pervade our natural lives. A recent study conducted using THz radiation found that the radiation's effects on genetic material are so devastating that they can actually destroy it. THz radiation effectively unzips the double helix strands, creating anomalies that would be detrimental to gene expression and replication. The report concludes by saying that TSA scanners are not only a gross invasion of privacy, but are also producing long term effects on human health that ultimately shorten the lifespan of those who are unfortunate enough to be affected by them. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245536-Report-Shows-How-Radiation-Can-Destroy-DNA Wed, 16 May 2012 14:03:28 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245535-Black-Boxes-in-Cars-Will-Likely-Become-Mandatory Cue the Big Brother talk. This year's transportation bill has a section mandating the installation of event recorders or so-called black boxes in all new cars by 2015. According to Autoblog.com, the Senate has already passed the bill and the House is expected to pass it as well. To assuage at least some privacy concerns, the Senate bill also makes it clear that any data taken from the boxes is the property of car owners, unless there are extenuating circumstances. Car and Driver calls the language in the Senate bill vague, and quotes it saying that the boxes "must capture and store data related to motor vehicle safety." What specific data relates to "motor vehicle safety" is not defined. Of course, the language in the bill will change as the House and the Senate work to agree on a final version. Before anyone gets too worked up, it should be pointed out that black boxes have existed since 1996 and, as of right now, 85% of new cars come equipped with them. Beyond that, as Slate points out, many insurance companies offer lower rates to customers who have boxes installed. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245535-Black-Boxes-in-Cars-Will-Likely-Become-Mandatory Wed, 16 May 2012 13:54:25 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245534-Computer-Reads-Your-Thoughts-Does-Your-Multi-tasking-Dirty-Work Researchers from MIT, Indiana University and Tufts University have developed "Brainput," a system which detects when your brain is trying to multitask, then offloads some of that work to a computer. Erin Treacy Solovey led the new research in hopes of increasing productivity and focus by letting computers do some of our grunt work. The novel idea of having computers do our dirty work isn't a new one. After all, we did invent the calculator and computer, and without these there would be no internet and no world of knowledge one Google search away. Brainput will work in a different way, however. The device uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure the activity of your brain. The data is then analyzed to determine what you're busy thinking about. If Brainput determines your mind is busy multitasking, its software will kick in and begin to take over some of that work for you. To test this system, Solovey created some robots and a maze. The goal was to have someone navigate both of these robots simultaneously via remote controls through a maze while wearing the Brainput device on their head. When the software determined the person's brain was focused on one of the robots and not the other, it would tell the ignored robot to use its sensors to pilot itself through the maze. In the end, while Brainput was being used, the operators performance was improved. What's more, they generally didn't notice the robots were partially moving on their own, giving the user a sense of having controlled both simultaneously with their mind. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245534-Computer-Reads-Your-Thoughts-Does-Your-Multi-tasking-Dirty-Work Wed, 16 May 2012 13:41:50 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245533-Scientists-turn-to-Alaska-over-fears-active-fault-line-could-cause-Japan-style-tsunami-that-could-devastate-California-and-Hawaii Scientists say a fault-line running across Alaska could cause tsunamis of the same magnitude as the Japanese disaster of March last year. Attention has turned to the Alaskan-Aleutian subduction zone, a region where one of the earth's tectonic plate, carrying the Pacific Ocean, drops beneath the North American plate. A particular section of the fault near the Semidi Islands has not ruptured since at least 1788, and measurements on this area - which lies four to five kilometres under water - reveal the pressure is accumulating rapidly. If the Pacific Ocean plate slips, as happened in the geographically-similar Tohoku subduction zone off the coast of Japan, a tsunami could occur - and the deaths could happen as far away as Hawaii and California. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245533-Scientists-turn-to-Alaska-over-fears-active-fault-line-could-cause-Japan-style-tsunami-that-could-devastate-California-and-Hawaii Wed, 16 May 2012 11:08:09 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245532-Greeks-withdraw-894-million-in-a-day-Is-this-beginning-of-a-run-on-banks- Political leaders in Athens were due to discuss an emergency government Wednesday to deal with a possible run on banks as it emerged Greeks withdrew almost $900 million in a single day, fearing their country could crash out of the euro currency by the end of the week. An interim government would take the country through to new elections on June 17, triggered by the collapse on Tuesday of talks to form a coalition between winners of the inconclusive May 6 election. Greeks are withdrawing euros from banks, apparently afraid of the prospect of rapid devaluation if the country leaves the European single currency and returns to the drachma. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245532-Greeks-withdraw-894-million-in-a-day-Is-this-beginning-of-a-run-on-banks- Wed, 16 May 2012 10:34:20 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245531-Snow-and-unusual-weather-in-the-Midlands Snow fall as far south as the Midlands and overnight frosts were described as "unusual" weather for mid May by the Met Office as the forecasters admitted the Jubilee could be a washout. Just 17 days before summer starts, hail and sleet hit the morning rush-hour in Wolverhampton, West Mids, as well as Staffordshire, Shropshire, Cheshire and Durham. The Met Office said Scotland - where temperatures fell to a near record low for this time of year at -4C (25F) at Cairngorm, could see snow settling on the mountains and in the Pennines, Cumbria and southern Scotland, Temperatures could even get below freezing overnight in the south in sheltered spots as the "unusual but not unprecedented" mid-May weather continues. Usually temperatures are up to 16C (61F) at this time of year but even in the sunshine the mercury is only reaching 14C and in the wind most parts of the country are much colder. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245531-Snow-and-unusual-weather-in-the-Midlands Wed, 16 May 2012 09:18:29 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245529-The-Bank-Runs-In-Greece-Will-Soon-Be-Followed-By-Bank-Runs-In-Other-European-Nations The bank runs that we are watching right now in Greece are shocking, but they are only just the beginning. Since May 6th, nearly one billion dollars has been withdrawn from Greek banks. For a small nation like Greece, that is an absolutely catastrophic number. At this point, the entire Greek banking system is in danger of collapsing. If you had money in a Greek bank, why wouldn't you pull it out? If Greece leaves the euro, all euros in Greek banks will likely be converted to drachmas, and the value of those drachmas will almost certainly decline dramatically. In fact, it has been estimated that Greek citizens could see the value of their bank accounts decline by up to 50 percent if Greece leaves the euro. So if you had money in a Greek bank, it would only make sense to withdraw it and move it to another country as quickly as possible. And as the eurozone begins to unravel, this is a scenario that we are going to see play out in country after country. As member nations leave the eurozone, you would be a fool to have your euros in Italian banks or Spanish banks when you could have them in German banks instead. So the bank runs that are happening in Greece right now are only a preview of things to come. Before this crisis is over we are going to see bank runs happening all over Europe. If Greece leaves the euro, the consequences are likely to be quite messy. Those that are promoting the idea that a "Grexit" can be done in an orderly fashion are not being particularly honest. The following is from a recent article in the Independent.... "Whoever tells you a Greek exit would be no big deal is an idiot, lying or disingenuous," said Sony Kapoor of the European think-tank Re-Define. Economists fear that a disorderly exit would prompt a huge run by investors on Spanish and Italian debt, forcing those countries to seek support from an EU bailout fund, which, with a capacity of just €500bn, is widely regarded as too small to cope with those pressures. A Greek exit from the euro would not only result in a run on Spanish and Italian bonds, but it would also likely result in a run on Spanish and Italian banks. If Greece is allowed to leave the euro, that will be a signal that other countries will eventually be allowed to leave as well. Nobody in their right mind would want their euros stuck in Spanish or Italian banks if those countries end up converting back to national currencies. Fear is a powerful motivator. If Greece converts their euros back to drachmas, that will be a clear signal that all euros are not created equally. The race to move money into German banks will accelerate dramatically. And a Greek exit from the euro is looking more likely with each passing day. Even the IMF is now admitting that it is a very real possibility.... Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, warned she was "technically prepared for anything" and said the utmost effort must be made to ensure any Greek exit was orderly. The effect was likely to be "quite messy" with risks to growth, trade and financial markets. "It is something that would be extremely expensive and would pose great risks but it is part of options that we must technically consider," she said. Meanwhile, banks in other troubled European nations are already on shaky ground. The Spanish banking system is an absolute disaster zone at this point and on Monday night Moody's downgraded the credit ratings of 26 Italian banks. The situation in Italy is especially worth keeping a close eye on. As Ambrose Evans-Pritchard recently noted, things are not looking good for Italy at all.... Italy's former premier Romano Prodi said the EU risks instant contagion to Spain, Italy, and France if Greece leaves. "The whole house of cards will come down", he said Angelo Drusiani from Banca Albertini said the only way to avert catstrophe is to convert the European Central Bank into a lender of last resort. Otherwise Italy faces "massive devaluation, three to five years of hyperinflation, and unbearable unemployment." So what can be done about any of this? http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245529-The-Bank-Runs-In-Greece-Will-Soon-Be-Followed-By-Bank-Runs-In-Other-European-Nations Wed, 16 May 2012 00:25:32 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245528-Accidentally-Released-and-Incredibly-Embarrassing-Documents-Show-How-Goldman-et-al-Engaged-in-Naked-Short-Selling- It doesn't happen often, but sometimes God smiles on us. Last week, he smiled on investigative reporters everywhere, when the lawyers for Goldman, Sachs slipped on one whopper of a legal banana peel, inadvertently delivering some of the bank's darker secrets into the hands of the public. The lawyers for Goldman and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch have been involved in a legal battle for some time - primarily with the retail giant Overstock.com, but also with Rolling Stone, the Economist, Bloomberg, and the New York Times. The banks have been fighting us to keep sealed certain documents that surfaced in the discovery process of an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit filed by Overstock against the banks. Last week, in response to an Overstock.com motion to unseal certain documents, the banks' lawyers, apparently accidentally, filed an unredacted version of Overstock's motion as an exhibit in their declaration of opposition to that motion. In doing so, they inadvertently entered into the public record a sort of greatest-hits selection of the very material they've been fighting for years to keep sealed. I contacted Morgan Lewis, the firm that represents Goldman in this matter, earlier today, but they haven't commented as of yet. I wonder if the poor lawyer who FUBARred this thing has already had his organs harvested; his panic is almost palpable in the air. It is both terrible and hilarious to contemplate. The bank has spent a fortune in legal fees trying to keep this material out of the public eye, and here one of their own lawyers goes and dumps it out on the street. The lawsuit between Overstock and the banks concerned a phenomenon called naked short-selling, a kind of high-finance counterfeiting that, especially prior to the introduction of new regulations in 2008, short-sellers could use to artificially depress the value of the stocks they've bet against. The subject of naked short-selling is a) highly technical, and b) very controversial on Wall Street, with many pundits in the financial press for years treating the phenomenon as the stuff of myths and conspiracy theories. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245528-Accidentally-Released-and-Incredibly-Embarrassing-Documents-Show-How-Goldman-et-al-Engaged-in-Naked-Short-Selling- Wed, 16 May 2012 00:19:21 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245527-Prime-Minister-Hopes-Price-Increase-Will-Help-Brits-Hold-Their-Liquor The British government has apparently had it with the nation's binge drinking and the resultant drain on the universal health care system. Calling the situation a "scandal," Prime Minister David Cameron wants to raise the minimum price for booze across the board to $0.80 per unit. Britain's National Health Service estimates that drinking costs the state $4.4 billion per year once liquor-related violence and disease are included in the mix, and liver disease has risen by 25% over the last decade, according to AP. The wire service notes that "men chasing each other and shrieking like teenagers; women stumbling and falling over in their too-short skirts and high heels" and "sidewalks ... littered with empty beer bottles and reeking puddles" are a common sight, as are government-run "booze buses" whose job it is to transport revelers to a clinic when they get falling-down drunk. Still, drinking in general has actually decreased during the same period, leading to the conclusion that a small but dedicated cadre of mostly young people (the legal drinking age is 18) is responsible. Predictably, the Wine and Spirit Trade Association was less than thrilled with the prime minister's proposal. The association, whose hundreds of members include Heineken, Pernod Ricard, Concha y Toro, Sainsbury, and Diageo, which makes Smirnoff, Bailey's, Johnnie Walker, and Guinness, told the Daily Mail: "We think this is going to lead ultimately to legal challenges...It would be a drinks company taking the case, or perhaps a group of drinks companies." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245527-Prime-Minister-Hopes-Price-Increase-Will-Help-Brits-Hold-Their-Liquor Wed, 16 May 2012 00:10:55 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245526-Beheading-Once-a-Nobleman-s-Death When most people think of beheadings they probably think of events far away in time and place, such as Marie Antoinette's 1793 guillotine execution during the French revolution. But beheadings are hardly a thing of the past; in fact in some places they are becoming increasingly commonplace. Though most Americans are unaware of it, many beheadings take place very near the United States, in Mexico. As Will Grant noted in a BBC News story, This month has been perhaps the worst in terms of decapitations. In the past 10 days alone, there have been an unprecedented 81 beheaded bodies discovered in the country. In early May, 14 decapitated bodies were found in Nuevo Laredo, just over the border from Texas. Last week, 18 bodies and severed heads were left in two mini-vans near Lake Chapala, an area popular with tourists in western Mexico. Finally, in one of the most shocking incidents of its kind since the current drug war began, 49 headless and mutilated bodies were left in plastic bags on a road outside the industrial city of Monterrey. The idea of execution by decapitation is bizarre and horrific, though for millennia public beheadings around the world were fairly common. It's only in modern times that cutting a person's head off has come to be considered barbaric. In centuries past beheading was actually preferable to other common forms of execution (such as being burned alive or disemboweled). In early England beheading was considered a noble, and even honorable, death. Nigel Cawthorne, author of Public Executions (2006, Capella Press) notes that "Hanging was usually reserved for the lower classes." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245526-Beheading-Once-a-Nobleman-s-Death Wed, 16 May 2012 00:01:20 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245525-Solar-Eclipse-this-Weekend Something strange is about to happen to the shadows beneath your feet. On Sunday, May 20th, the Moon will pass in front of the sun, transforming sunbeams across the Pacific side of Earth into fat crescents and thin rings of light.1 It's an annular solar eclipse, in which the Moon will cover as much as 94% of the sun. Hundreds of millions of people will be able to witness the event. The eclipse zone stretches from southeast Asia across the Pacific Ocean to western parts of North America: animated eclipse map. In the United States, the eclipse begins around 5:30 pm PDT. For the next two hours, a Moon-shaped portion of the sun will go into hiding. Greatest coverage occurs around 6:30 pm PDT. Because some of the sun is always exposed during the eclipse, ambient daylight won't seem much different than usual. Instead, the event will reveal itself in the shadows. Look on the ground beneath leafy trees for crescent-shaped sunbeams and rings of light. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245525-Solar-Eclipse-this-Weekend Tue, 15 May 2012 23:51:26 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245524-Is-Earth-Alive-Scientists-Seek-Sulfur-For-An-Answer Researchers at the University of Maryland have discovered a way to identify and track sulfuric compounds in Earth's marine environment, opening a path to either refute or support a decades-old hypothesis that our planet can be compared to a singular, self-regulating, living organism - a.k.a. the Gaia theory. Proposed by scientists James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 70s, the Gaia theory likens Earth to a self-supporting singular life form, similar to a cell. The theory claims that, rather than being merely a stage upon which life exists, life - in all forms - works to actively construct an Earthly environment in which it can thrive. Although named after the Greek goddess of Earth, the Gaia theory is not so much about mythology or New Age mysticism as it is about biology, chemistry and geology - and how they all interact to make our world suitable for living things. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245524-Is-Earth-Alive-Scientists-Seek-Sulfur-For-An-Answer Tue, 15 May 2012 23:37:12 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245523-20-Fat-Tax-Needed-to-Fight-Obesity It's a proposition some might find hard to swallow: a 20-percent tax on unhealthy food to improve the health of the nation. Yet such a tax - spread across the food chain from manufacturer to consumer, coupled with changes in food policy to spur production of healthier food - is needed to reverse the pandemic of obesity and chronic diseases, researchers say. Two articles published online today (May 15) in the British Medical Journal describe this course of action. These opinion pieces come one week before the 65th World Health Assembly, to convene on May 21 to 26 in Geneva, where diet-related diseases will be the primary topic. Size of fat tax One article, led by Oliver Mytton of Oxford University's Department of Public Health, looked at tax schemes worldwide to see what has worked, however marginally. Many countries are now using such "sin" taxes, which have curbed tobacco and alcohol use, to limit the consumption of unhealthy food, Mytton said. These taxes are based on the basic economic theory that, as the price of an item rises, the consumption of that item will fall. But this theory isn't necessarily true with food, Mytton said. Just because the price of microwave-ready, deep-fried, gooey cheese sticks goes up doesn't mean the nation will switch to kale. People might continue eating deep-fried, gooey cheese sticks, because that's what they like to eat and that's all they know how to eat. Mytton's group, however, found numerous cases in which a relatively high tax altered food consumption in a healthful way. One example comes from Denmark, where early assessment is showing that a new relatively high "fat tax" on oh-so-cherished saturated fat has prompted people to eat foods with a healthier fat profile. Another study comes from Boston, at the Brigham and Women's Hospital cafeteria, where a 35-percent increase in the price of sugary drinks led to a 26-percent reduction in consumption. Analyzing such food tax schemes, Mytton's group eyeballed a 20-percent tax as the level at which changes on food consumption become noticeable. Mytton is cognizant of unintended consequences of food taxes - for example, trading one evil for another, less sugar for more fat, or buying less healthy food for lack of money to buy any food. For this reason, he suggests introducing a sugary beverage tax, in which the alternative is usually drinking more tap water. "A tax isn't going to fix obesity; it's not going to fix diet-related diseases," Mytton said. "There's no single solution. But it can have a role in moving people in the right direction" with their eating patterns. Mytton also would like to see subsidies for healthy foods, such as fruit and vegetables. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245523-20-Fat-Tax-Needed-to-Fight-Obesity Tue, 15 May 2012 23:30:24 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245522-Does-Sugar-Make-You-Stupid- A study on rats suggests that eating a high fructose diet for as little as six weeks may make you stupid. Luckily, a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids can counteract this IQ loss, researchers suggest. "Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think," study researcher Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, of the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a statement. "Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain's ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage." The study was published in the May 15 issue of the Journal of Physiology. The research was done on rats, but the researchers believe their brain chemistry is similar enough to humans to extend the findings. Sugar v. syrup The researchers zeroed in on high-fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive liquid six times sweeter than cane sugar, that is commonly added to processed foods, including soft drinks, condiments, applesauce and baby food. The average American consumes more than 40 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup per year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Some scientists even think sugar should be taxed the way alcohol and tobacco products are. "We're not talking about naturally occurring fructose in fruits, which also contain important antioxidants," Gomez-Pinilla said. "We're concerned about high-fructose corn syrup that is added to manufactured food products as a sweetener and preservative." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245522-Does-Sugar-Make-You-Stupid- Tue, 15 May 2012 23:22:46 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245521-USGS-Earthquake-Magnitude-6-0-Papua-New-Guinea Date-Time: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 00:59:34 UTC Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 10:59:34 AM at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones Location: 5.556°S, 149.710°E Depth: 154 km (95.7 miles) Region: NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA Distances: 48 km (29 miles) W of Kimbe, New Britain, PNG 74 km (45 miles) NNE of Kandrian, New Britain, PNG 513 km (318 miles) NNE of PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea 2453 km (1524 miles) N of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245521-USGS-Earthquake-Magnitude-6-0-Papua-New-Guinea Tue, 15 May 2012 23:14:53 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245520-2-Years-After-the-BP-Oil-Spill-Is-the-Gulf-Ecosystem-Collapsing- The Gulf Ecosystem Is Being Decimated The BP oil spill started on April 20, 2010. We've previously warned that the BP oil spill could severely damage the Gulf ecosystem. Since then, there are numerous signs that the worst-case scenario may be playing out: New York Times: "Gulf Dolphins Exposed to Oil Are Seriously Ill, Agency Says MSNBC: Gulf shrimp scarce this season (and see the Herald Tribune's report) Mother Jones: Eyeless shrimp are being found all over the Gulf NYT: Oil Spill Affected Gulf Fish's Cell Function, Study Finds CBS:Expert: BP spill likely cause of sick Gulf fish (and see the Press Register's report) Study confirms oil from Deepwater spill entered food chain Pensacola News Journal: "Sick fish" archive Agence France Presse: Mystery illnesses plague Louisiana oil spill crews MSNBC: Sea turtle deaths up along Gulf, joining dolphin trend MSNBC:Exclusive: Submarine Dive Finds Oil, Dead Sea Life at Bottom of Gulf of Mexico AP: BP oil spill the culprit for slow death of deep-sea coral, scientists say (and see the Guardian and AFP's write ups) A recent report also notes that there are flesh-eating bacteria in tar balls of BP oil washing up on Gulf beaches And all of that lovely Corexit dispersant sprayed on water, land and air? It inhibits the ability of microbes to break down oil, and allows oil and other chemicals to speed past the normal barriers of human skin. Background here. NYT: Impact of Gulf Spill's Underwater Dispersants Is Examined Speaking on the chemical ingredients of the dispersants used, "The report finds that "Of the 57 ingredients: 5 chemicals are associated with cancer; 33 are associated with skin irritation from rashes to burns; 33 are linked to eye irritation; 11 are or are suspected of being potential respiratory toxins or irritants; 10 are suspected kidney toxins; 8 are suspected or known to be toxic to aquatic organisms; and 5 are suspected to have a moderate acute toxicity to fish." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245520-2-Years-After-the-BP-Oil-Spill-Is-the-Gulf-Ecosystem-Collapsing- Tue, 15 May 2012 22:36:46 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245519-Eugenics-Project-Prevention-Pays-Drug-Addicts-300-to-Get-Sterilized Project Prevention is raising eyebrows and controversy by offering drug addicts $300 to either undergo sterilization or use a form of long-term birth control. Project Prevention has paid a total of 4,077 people (including 65 men) to get a tubal ligation (tube-tying), an IUD, implanon (a hormonal contraceptive that is implanted), Depro-Provera (an injection that lasts three months) or (for men) a vasectomy. Based in North Carolina, Project Prevention hangs posters in nationwide in homeless shelters, methadone clinics, AA and NA meeting rooms, and near needle exchange programs. The posters say: "Don't let a pregnancy ruin your drug habit." and "She has her daddy's eyes ... and her mommy's heroin addiction." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245519-Eugenics-Project-Prevention-Pays-Drug-Addicts-300-to-Get-Sterilized Tue, 15 May 2012 21:48:05 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245518-Fukushima-Radiation-Release-Worse-than-You-Have-Been-Told-Large-Doses-of-Vitamin-C-Important People have been misinformed about the tragedy at Fukushima and its consequences. There is a continuing cover up, the reactors have not been stabilized, and radiation continues to be released. The Japanese College of Intravenous Therapy (JCIT) has recently released a video for people wishing to learn more about how to protect themselves from contamination by taking large doses of vitamin C http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245518-Fukushima-Radiation-Release-Worse-than-You-Have-Been-Told-Large-Doses-of-Vitamin-C-Important Tue, 15 May 2012 21:42:53 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245517-Infrastructure-is-Crumbling-While-US-Congress-Blathers-Bridges-Tunnels-and-Railroads-Structurally-Deficient Congressmen don't always see eye-to-eye when it comes to many issues and earlier this week Congress took up a transportation bill that many critics believe won't go anywhere. Across America there are many roads and bridges that are in need of repair, so why can't Congress come to terms with improving America's infrastructure? Wilmer J. Leon, political science professor at Howard University, helps us answer some of these questions. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245517-Infrastructure-is-Crumbling-While-US-Congress-Blathers-Bridges-Tunnels-and-Railroads-Structurally-Deficient Tue, 15 May 2012 21:19:19 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245516-Alzheimer-s-Research-Fraud-Harvard-To-Go-on-Trial The US Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit overturned a summary judgement by a lower court ordering a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Dr. Kenneth Jones against Harvard Medical School, its teaching hospitals, Brigham and Women's and Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Marilyn Albert (Principal Investigator) and Dr. Ronald Killiany to proceed to trial. The case involves the largest Alzheimer's disease [AD] research grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health (from 1980 through 2007) for a large project aimed at identifying early physical signs of Alzheimer's by scanning certain regions of the brain with MRIs. Dr. Jones was the chief statistician for the NIH grant. He blew the whistle after realizing that measurements used to demonstrate the reliability of the study had been secretly altered. Without these alterations, Dr. Jones explained, there was no statistical significance to the major findings of the study. When he insisted that the altered measurements be subjected to an independent reliability study, and that the manipulated results could not be presented as part of a $15 million federal grant extension application, he was terminated and his career came to an end. The allegations in the suit concern multiple research fraud: data manipulation, significant deviations from the protocol, altered and re-traced MRI scans. To get positive results, Dr. Jones alleges, Dr. Killiany "fraudulently altered the MRI study data prior to 1998 to produce false results of a statistically significant correlation between conversion to AD and volume of the EC [entorhinal cortex]." US ex rel. Jones v. Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245516-Alzheimer-s-Research-Fraud-Harvard-To-Go-on-Trial Tue, 15 May 2012 21:04:03 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245515-Profit-Motive-Big-Psychiatry-Invents-and-Redefines-Mental-Illnesses Unlike in conventional medicine where objective diagnoses and treatments are made based on observable biological evidence, psychiatrists get together every so often to decide what should or should not be considered a "mental illness." And they do not always agree, as evidenced by the more than 13,000 professionals from around the world who recently signed an open letter demanding that the upcoming edition of the psychiatry industry's "diagnostic manual" be put on hold and reconsidered. As the elite of the nation's psychiatric establishment work in the shadows to fully revise the highly controversial handbook labeling various behaviors and emotional states as "illnesses," experts across the board are crying foul. A handful of new potential mental disorders and the revised definitions for others have caused a particularly fierce uproar among some psychiatrists and mental health professionals. At least 25,000 comments have already been submitted about the proposals. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245515-Profit-Motive-Big-Psychiatry-Invents-and-Redefines-Mental-Illnesses Tue, 15 May 2012 20:51:10 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245514-Obama-financial-forms-show-big-JP-Morgan-account Maybe it's a case of putting your mouth where your money is. President Barack Obama praised JP Morgan Chase in an interview recorded Monday as "one of the best managed banks there is" and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, as "one of the smartest bankers we got." On Tuesday, the White House made public financial disclosure forms showing the president and First Lady Michelle Obama had between $500,001 and $1,000,000 in a "JP Morgan Chase Private Client Asset Management Checking Account." The annual peek into the Obamas' finances showed that the president held between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000 in U.S. Treasury Notes, generating between $5,001 and $15,000 in interest. They also held between $500,001-$1,000,000 in Treasury Bills. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245514-Obama-financial-forms-show-big-JP-Morgan-account Tue, 15 May 2012 20:50:43 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245513-Fertility-Firm-Targets-Financially-Vulnerable-College-Students Thousands of Cambridge students have been targeted by a firm offering up to £750 to egg donors. Leaflets were stuck in their university pigeonholes, making an emotional plea to help a couple unable to have children. It said: 'We are looking for a real-life angel to be our egg donor.' The development appears to be a result of an increase in the amount of 'compensation' that can be given to donors, and may confirm fears of a rise in 'egg brokers' profiting from dealing in human lives. The targeting of elite students also raises concerns about attempts to create 'superbabies'. Last night critics warned that young women are often unaware of the risks of egg donation, and a fertility expert said the firm's tactics were 'unacceptable'. Donors have to take drugs to stimulate egg production, and complications may cause death in rare cases. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245513-Fertility-Firm-Targets-Financially-Vulnerable-College-Students Tue, 15 May 2012 20:42:06 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245512-The-JPMorgan-debacle-Dictatorship-of-the-financial-aristocracy The economic and political fallout from JPMorgan Chase's sudden announcement last Thursday night that it lost more than $2 billion from speculative bets on credit derivatives continued to grow on Monday. The biggest US bank announced the forced retirement of Ina Drew, who headed up the bank's London-based Chief Investment Office, which placed huge bets on the creditworthiness of a collection of US corporations. Other top executives and traders are expected to be sacked or demoted. The bank's shares fell another 3.2 percent, bringing its two-day market capitalization loss to nearly $19 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported that JPMorgan was prepared for a total loss of more than $4 billion over the next year from its soured stake in credit default swaps - the same investment vehicle that played a central role in the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the government bailout of insurance giant American International Group (AIG) in September of 2008. In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" program on Sunday, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon sought to present the loss as an innocent mistake, resulting from "errors, sloppiness and bad judgment." Only a month ago, Dimon, who has led the public campaign by Wall Street against even the mildest restrictions on speculative banking practices, dismissed warnings over the massive bets being made by his Chief Investment Office as "a complete tempest in a teapot." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245512-The-JPMorgan-debacle-Dictatorship-of-the-financial-aristocracy Tue, 15 May 2012 20:34:24 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245511-Unregulated-Antibiotics-in-American-Animal-Feed-from-Spent-Ethanol-Grain Lawmakers press FDA on this unregulated practice As the battle wages on over the safety of feeding antibiotics to livestock for growth promotion, a new report reveals yet another source of unregulated antibiotics in American animal feed--spent ethanol grain. The new report by advocacy group the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy suggests that a relatively new source of food for livestock may contain levels of penicillin, erythromycin and other antibiotics. Both of these are medically important drugs whose effectiveness in treating humans can be compromised by overuse in animal feed for non-sick animals. When the Food and Drug Administration discovered the antibiotic residues in the grain in 2008, it started requiring ethanol/distiller grain producers to get approval for their presence as a food additive. But the IATP report claims that the antibiotic companies are skirting this rule by relying on their self affirmed GRAS status as approval enough. GRAS (generally recognized as safe) approval requires only that a company proves to itself that its product is safe. It can voluntarily report those findings to the FDA as well. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245511-Unregulated-Antibiotics-in-American-Animal-Feed-from-Spent-Ethanol-Grain Tue, 15 May 2012 20:29:36 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245510-Low-level-cadmium-exposure-can-increase-female-cancer-risk- Hossain, MB, M Vahter, G Concha and K Broberg, 2012. Low-level environmental cadmium exposure is associated with DNA hypomethylation in Argentinean women. Environmental Health Perspectives. Women exposed to low levels of cadmium in their food have changes in DNA markers that alter gene regulation and increase their cancer risk. This study for the first time suggests that cadmium may be turning genes on or off in a way that triggers disease. A recent study suggests a new understanding of the way long-term cadmium exposure from a women's diet can increase her risk for cancer. Cadmium levels in the blood of women from Argentina were linked to changes in how the DNA in cells is tagged or marked by a methyl group, a process that can alter the way the genes are read and expressed. The decreased number of DNA markers associated with cadmium exposures in the women resemble genes commonly found in cancer cells and not normal cells. While cadmium is long associated with higher cancer risk and some illnesses, how it exerts its effects is still not clear. Lab studies indicate cadmium can alter DNA tags, or DNA methylation. This study is important because it is the first to report this type of epigenetic effect of cadmium exposure in people. It offers a possible mechanism for the metal's link to cancer. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245510-Low-level-cadmium-exposure-can-increase-female-cancer-risk- Tue, 15 May 2012 20:19:10 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245509-Poisoned-by-greed-Fracking-causing-serious-illness-in-Pennsylvania Kay Allen had just started work, and everything seemed quiet at the Cornerstone Care community health clinic in Burgettstown, Pa. But things didn't stay quiet for long. "All the girls, they were yelling at me in the back, 'You gotta come out here quick. You gotta come out here quick,' " said Allen, 59, a nurse from Weirton, W.Va. Allen rushed out front and knew right away what all the yelling was about. The whole place reeked - like someone had spilled a giant bottle of nail polish remover. "I told everybody to get outside and get fresh air. So we went outside. And Aggie said, 'Kay, I'm going to be sick.' But before I get in, to get something for her to throw up in, she had to go over the railing," she said. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245509-Poisoned-by-greed-Fracking-causing-serious-illness-in-Pennsylvania Tue, 15 May 2012 20:12:15 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245508-Whole-Foods-organic-comes-from-China Whole Foods, the self proclaimed 'worlds largest retailer of natural and organic foods (1)' is outsourcing production for many of its products from China, of all places. The problems with this are that in China there is little to no oversight to ensure that 'organic' products meet USDA standards for food that qualifies as organic. In addition to this, no US agencies are allowed to monitor the legitimacy of these claims within the People's Republic of China, thus we have to take them at their word. In a country where up to ten percent of the groundwater is contaminated by arsenic, zinc, cadmium and lead, one has to wonder about the quality of vegetables grown in China. According to a report by ABC 7 Iteam (2), Whole Foods is selling products labeled as 'organic' which have been grown in China. The report goes on to state that neither Whole Foods nor the US government has agencies operating within China to verify that the products actually meet the 'organic' standards. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245508-Whole-Foods-organic-comes-from-China Tue, 15 May 2012 18:04:52 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245507-Why-JP-Morgan-s-2-Billion-Gambling-Loss-at-Will-NOT-Speed-Financial-Reform Among the more laughable features of commentaries on Jamie Dimon's recently revealed $2 billion (at least) gambling losses are earnest pronouncements that the debacle will stymie the efforts by Dimon and Wall Street in general to further deregulate the financial industry. A scheduled vote this coming Thursday in the House Agriculture Committee should reassure Wall Street that nothing has changed. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245507-Why-JP-Morgan-s-2-Billion-Gambling-Loss-at-Will-NOT-Speed-Financial-Reform Tue, 15 May 2012 17:28:16 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245506-Perverted-Justice-The-Rise-of-Secret-Trials-in-America One of the lasting challenges to America's federal judiciary will be addressing American complicity in the tortures and disappearances of the past ten years. Two recent appeals-court decisions show us how judicial panels are tackling these issues: by shielding federal officials and their contractors from liability, and even by glorifying the fruits of their dark arts. In the process, legal prohibitions on torture are being destroyed through secrecy and legal sleight of hand, and our justice system is being distorted and undermined. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245506-Perverted-Justice-The-Rise-of-Secret-Trials-in-America Tue, 15 May 2012 17:14:17 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245505-Vote-for-Endless-War-In-2012-whoever-gets-elected-its-the-Pentagon-that-wins Let's start with this: according to the Pentagon, the production and acquisition costs of Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet, the military's most expensive weapons program, have risen yet again, this time by 4.3% since 2010 to $395.6 billion. If you're talking about the total cost of the system, including maintenance and support for the nearly 2,500 planes that will some (endlessly delayed) day be produced for the military, that has now reached an estimated $1.51 trillion, a 9% rise since 2010. All this for a plane that some experts doubt has any particular purpose in the future U.S. arsenal. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245505-Vote-for-Endless-War-In-2012-whoever-gets-elected-its-the-Pentagon-that-wins Tue, 15 May 2012 16:45:06 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245504-Astrophysicists-discover-new-heating-source-in-cosmological-structure-formation So far, astrophysicists thought that super-massive black holes can only influence their immediate surroundings. A collaboration of scientists at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) and in Canada and the US now discovered that diffuse gas in the universe can absorb luminous gamma-ray emission from black holes, heating it up strongly. This surprising result has important implications for the formation of structures in the universe. The results have just been published in The Astrophysical Journal and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Every galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole at its center. Such black holes can emit high-energy gamma rays and are then called blazars. Whereas other radiation such as visible light and radio waves traverses the universe without problems, this is not the case for high-energy gamma rays. This particular radiation interacts with the optical light that is emitted by galaxies, transforming it into the elementary particles electrons and positrons. Initially, these elementary particles move almost at the speed of light. But as they are slowed down by the ambient diffuse gas, their energy is converted into heat, just like in other braking processes. As a result, the surrounding gas is heated efficiently. In fact, the temperature of the gas at mean density becomes ten times higher, and in underdense regions more than one hundred times higher than previously thought. A Journey into the Cosmic Youth "Blazars rewrite the thermal history of the universe", emphasizes Dr. Christoph Pfrommer (HITS), one of the authors. But how can this idea be tested? In the optical spectra of quasars there is a plethora of lines, called the "line forest". The forest originates from the absorption of ultra-violet light by neutral hydrogen in the young Universe. If the gas becomes hotter, weak lines in the forest are broadened. This effect represents an excellent opportunity to measure temperatures in the early Universe, while it was still growing up. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245504-Astrophysicists-discover-new-heating-source-in-cosmological-structure-formation Tue, 15 May 2012 16:21:20 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245503-The-Corruption-of-Science-How-Corporations-Like-Monsanto-Have-Hijacked-Higher-Education Academic research is often dictated by corporations that endow professorships, give money to universities, and put their executives on education boards. Here's what happens when corporations begin to control education. "When I approached professors to discuss research projects addressing organic agriculture in farmer's markets, the first one told me that 'no one cares about people selling food in parking lots on the other side of the train tracks,'" said a PhD student at a large land-grant university who did not wish to be identified. "My academic adviser told me my best bet was to write a grant for Monsanto or the Department of Homeland Security to fund my research on why farmer's markets were stocked with 'black market vegetables' that 'are a bioterrorism threat waiting to happen.' It was communicated to me on more than one occasion throughout my education that I should just study something Monsanto would fund rather than ideas to which I was deeply committed. I ended up studying what I wanted, but received no financial support, and paid for my education out of pocket." Unfortunately, she's not alone. Conducting research requires funding, and today's research follows the golden rule: The one with the gold makes the rules. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245503-The-Corruption-of-Science-How-Corporations-Like-Monsanto-Have-Hijacked-Higher-Education Tue, 15 May 2012 16:10:55 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245502-Meet-the-new-normal-Fordham-University-to-give-Honorary-Doctorate-in-Humane-Letters-to-Kidnap-Torture-and-Drone-Killings-Advocate-John-Brennan In this season of graduations - and the rush to bestow honorary degrees on the "great and powerful" - one ironic moment will play out at Fordham University, where Jesuits are giving top billing among its honorees to White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan, notes Fordham grad (and ex-CIA analyst) Ray McGovern. Since even readers of the New York Times are aware of deputy national security adviser John Brennan's open identification with torture, secret prisons and other abuses of national and international law, Fordham University's invitation to him to give the commencement address on May 19 brought, well, shock and awe to many Fordham students, faculty and alumni. It now turns out we didn't know the half of it. Piling outrage upon indignity, Fordham announced this week that Brennan will enjoy pride of place among the "eight notables" on whom it will confer honorary degrees at commencement. The others receiving a Doctorate in Humane Letters, honoris causa, include Timothy Cardinal Dolan (Archbishop of New York), and Brooklyn congressman Edolphus Towns. Unlike his co-recipients, Brennan is widely known for his advocacy of kidnapping-for-torture (aka "extraordinary rendition") and killing "militants" (including U.S. citizens) with "Hellfire" missiles fired by "Predator" and "Reaper" drone aircraft. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245502-Meet-the-new-normal-Fordham-University-to-give-Honorary-Doctorate-in-Humane-Letters-to-Kidnap-Torture-and-Drone-Killings-Advocate-John-Brennan Tue, 15 May 2012 15:54:27 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245501-Brevard-Mother-Killed-Her-Four-Children-Then-Herself-Deputies US, Florida - The unmistakable sound of gunfire stirred the neighbors early Tuesday. Moments later, there was a knock at the front door. They opened it to find three children from next door - at least one of them shot and wounded, authorities said. The neighbors called 911, grabbed a towel and tried to attend to the kids. Then, they told deputies later, a calm voice in the darkness summoned the three children back to their home on Bright Avenue in Port St. John. It was their mother, 33-year-old Tonya Thomas. They kids walked back obediently. And once inside, Thomas shot and killed them. Brevard County Sheriff's deputies were just arriving at 4:54 a.m. Tuesday when they heard the shots that ended the lives of Joel, Jazlin and Jaxs Johnson. They were 12, 13 and 15. Their oldest sibling, 17-year-old Pebbles Johnson, was stretched out on the front yard motionless when deputies arrived. They drove onto the lawn and loaded her into the back of a deputy's cruiser, but by the time they could get her to paramedics waiting nearby, she was dead. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245501-Brevard-Mother-Killed-Her-Four-Children-Then-Herself-Deputies Tue, 15 May 2012 15:25:45 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245500-Henry-Kissinger-Receives-Full-TSA-Pat-Down-at-Airport Henry Kissinger was searched by the Transportation Security Administration at New York's LaGuardia Airport on Monday. Matthew Cole, a freelance reporter for The Washington Post, recognized the former secretary of state, who was in a wheelchair, at a security checkpoint. The 88-year-old Kissinger, Cole said, got a "full pat-down." "He stood with his suit jacket off, and he was wearing suspenders," Cole told the Post's "In the Loop" blog. "They gave him the full pat-down. None of the agents seemed to know who he was." In March, the TSA said it would begin testing a program that would allow passengers 75 and older to keep their shoes and light jackets on as they pass through security. But the TSA said that older passengers may still be subject to normal screening procedures if the full-body scanners detect any anomalies. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245500-Henry-Kissinger-Receives-Full-TSA-Pat-Down-at-Airport Tue, 15 May 2012 15:13:28 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245499-Conservatives-End-Four-Years-of-Denial-Plead-Guilty-to-Illegal-Campaign-Spending As court orders maximum fine of $52,000, Liberals ask: Did Tories buy their victory? It was a case that dragged on for years amid rumour, speculation and finally formal charges that accused Stephen Harper's Tory party of a financial sleight-of-hand that allowed it to illegally overspend on campaign advertising. Now, after four years of denying that it broke the rules on election spending during the 2006 campaign, the federal Conservative Party has admitted that it overspent on ads in the vote that brought Harper to power. On Thursday, the party and its fundraising arm pleaded guilty of spending more than the $18.3-million legal limit and of filing an election return that failed to report all the expenses it incurred. The court levied the maximum fine possible: $52,000. Tory spokesmen dismissed the whole mess as an "administrative dispute." The NDP said the ruling party had undermined democracy and it demanded an apology; the Liberals called it an "administrative scam" and speculated that Harper's party may have bought him an election. The Canadian Press has the latest details: Ottawa -- The Conservatives are being accused of buying victory in the 2006 election that brought Stephen Harper to power, after pleading guilty Thursday to exceeding their campaign spending limit and failing to report all advertising expenses. The Conservative party and its fundraising agency both pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the Elections Act and agreed to pay maximum fines totalling $52,000. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245499-Conservatives-End-Four-Years-of-Denial-Plead-Guilty-to-Illegal-Campaign-Spending Tue, 15 May 2012 15:08:02 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245498-Researchers-Examine-Human-Breast-Milk-Ingredient A report by the University of Illinois (UI) demonstrates that human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) can create short-chain fatty acids that can help beneficial microbial populations in an infant's gut. The bacterial composition can alter itself as the baby grows older and its needs change. Based on the fact that HMOs are a large part of human milk and absent from infant formula, the researchers wanted to better understand what formula-fed babies were not receiving. Published in the April issue of the Journal of Nutrition, the study was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The researchers worked to identify HMO's actions in the infant. Sharon Donovan of UI was one of the lead researchers on the project who wanted to demystify the influences of HMO. "We refer to HMO as the fiber of human milk because we don't have the enzymes to break down these compounds. They pass into the large intestine where the bacteria digest them," commented Donovan, the Melissa M. Noel Endowed Professor in Nutrition and Health at UI. "We're curious about the role they play in the development of the breast-fed infant's gut bacteria because the bacteria found in the guts of formula-fed infants is different." The researchers found that a complex combination of HMO and a single HMO component could create patterns of short-chain fatty acids that would adapt as the baby got older. For the infant, the healthy microbiome could have short and long term effects. While beneficial bacteria could protect the infant from infections caused by virulent bacteria in the short term, it bolstered the immune system to address chronic health problems like asthma and food allergies in the long term. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245498-Researchers-Examine-Human-Breast-Milk-Ingredient Tue, 15 May 2012 13:20:52 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245497-Expectations-Previous-Experiences-Influence-Perception-Of-Pain For many people, pain and needles go hand in hand. They shudder at the thought of going to the dentist or the doctor because of those pointy items. A new study looks at these preconceived notions of pain and needles, looking specifically at how these thoughts can affect a patients' experience. The project, completed by a group of German researchers, states that past experiences with needle pricks, combined with information received before having an injection, can influence pain experience. The new research is published in the May issue of the journal Pain. "Throughout our lives, we repeatedly experience that needles cause pain when pricking our skin, but situational expectations, like information given by the clinician prior to an injection, may also influence how viewing needle pricks affects pain," noted lead author Marion Höfle, a doctoral student in the research Multisensory Integration group led by Dr. Daniel Senkowski of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Charité University Medicine Berlin, in a prepared statement. In the experiment, study participants watched various clips while also receiving painful or painless electric stimuli that were administered on their hand. The clips included images of a needle pricking a hand, a Q-tip touching a hand, and a hand standing alone. The images were shown to the participants on a screen that was placed above the participants' hand; it gave the participants the experience that the video image was their own hand. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/245497-Expectations-Previous-Experiences-Influence-Perception-Of-Pain Tue, 15 May 2012 13:15:45 -0500