All posts by Hutchins AAron

Born in Deutschland 1965, hometown was Bütthart, parents were not U.S. government employees. However, when father was tricked into joining the U.S. Air Force Civil Service, in 1969, with the promise that we could remain in Germany, we were promptly shipped off to Iran. Due to one of my Iranian educators being disappeared, along with her husband, by the U.S. ally Shah of Iran's Israeli & U.S. created Savak (for the then official terrorist act of promoting the idea that women can vote), and due to my U.S. citizen mother being placed on Savak's Terrorist Arrest List (for supporting the idea that women should vote, at that time the U.S. ally Shah of Iran did not allow women to vote, now they can) we left Iran for the United States in 1973, literally in the middle of the night. At the U.S. Embassy airbase the CIA operated Gooney Bird (C-47) was so packed with other U.S. citizens fleeing our ally Iran (because the Shah gave the OK to arrest any U.S. citizen for such terrorist acts as promoting the concept of voting) that we were turned away by the Loadmaster and had to take a chance on a civilian flight out of Tehran's airport. My father told me he and my mother had three culture shocks; first when they arrived in Germany as civilians, then after being shipped off to Iran as U.S. government employees, then again returning to the United States as unemployed civilians (because so much had changed in the U.S. while they were gone, their only news source was the U.S. Armed Forces Radio & Television Service which heavily censored information about the home front). Since I graduated high school in 1982 I've worked for U.S. government contractors and state & local government agencies (in California), convenience store manager in California, retail/property management in Georgia, California and Idaho. Spent the 1990s in the TV news business producing number one rated local news programs in California, Arizona and Idaho. 14+ years with California and Idaho Army National Guard and the U.S. Air Force. Obtained a BA degree in International Studies from Idaho State University at the age of 42. Unemployed since 2015, so don't tell me the economy has recovered.
International

Roke now a Typhoon, heading towards Honshu

Tropical storm Roke stalled long enough over the warm water near Okinawa, to build into a Typhoon.  Japan’s Meteorological Agency says Roke will track northeast over the seas south of the island of Kyushu, before heading for Honshu, then Hokkaido.

Already parts of Kyushu have been hit with massive rain. Since Thursday about 1,000 millimeters (39 inches) have fallen on the southern island.

Typhoon Roke was moving at 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) per hour as of Monday noon, packing winds of up to 144 kilometers (89.4 miles) per hour.  It’s expected to pick up speed.

 

International

Typhoon Talas created lake begins overflowing its mud dam

When typhoon Talas blasted Japan, it left behind several lakes created by huge landslides.  Now, September 20 Japan time, one of those lakes is overflowing its mud dam, and could burst.

Japan’s Land Ministry says a lake created by a landslide rose to the top of its mud dam on Tuesday morning, and began overflowing 30 minutes later.

The town of Tanabe is in the path of the flood, as are several other towns further downstream.  Land Ministry officials say people living in the path of any massive flood, as a result of the dam possibly bursting, should evacuate now.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Occupy America Corporate Rip Off: Gas prices in Idaho go up despite most of the U.S. seeing prices go down, blame decreased production

September 19, gas prices in Idaho are about 70 cents above the national average.  One local TV station tried to give the usual explanation by saying it’s a mix of regional demand and state taxes.  FAIL!

I just checked on demand, and according to the latest numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, demand for gasoline across the country is still below last year’s numbers.  On August 26, 2011, the four week average demand for gasoline was at 9.169 million barrels per day.  Compare that to the four week average of a year ago at 9.261 million barrels.  So there is a slight decrease in demand.

Regarding fuel taxes; there has been no increase in Idaho fuel taxes since 1996!

What is happening is that production of fuels has been dropping.  In other words, production is falling faster than demand, and that has the same effect as demand going up; prices go up (when there is less of something, in relation to demand, it becomes more valuable).

According to U.S. Energy Information Administration, PADD 4 gasoline production is down from last year. PADD 4 includes Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.  The four week average for “finished gas” production, for August 2011 was 0.273 million barrels per day.  Compared to last year’s production of 0.296.

In other words, fuel producers are deliberately keeping production just under ‘demand’ in order to keep prices high.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Major East Idaho Employer makes surprise layoff announcement

September 19, a change of contractors with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) resulted in a surprise announcement; 204 employees will be let go at the end of the month.

On September 30, the existing contract with AMWTP (Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project) ends.  A new contract with Idaho Treatment Group begins on October 1.  The new contractor says they can do the same job with 204 less employees.

The contract involves preparing transuranic nuclear weapons waste stored at the INL, for shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

False christian Rick Perry a Poverty Miser?

“There are parts of Texas that are doing well. And there is a tremendous number of Texans, more than Perry has ever wanted to acknowledge, that are doing very, very poorly.”-Miguel Ferguson, University of Texas

Texas Governor Rick Perry likes to claim having created jobs for Texans, but he’s also to blame for increasing the poverty rate!

In the past two years Texas has created 40% of new U.S. jobs, but also has the fastest growing poverty rate in the whole country. That means most of those new jobs are not paying enough to cover the basic cost of living.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics about 550,000 workers last year were paid at, or even below, the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour!

According to the U.S. Census Bureau the national average poverty rate is 15.1%, and as of 2010 the poverty rate in Texas is 18.4%.

The main reason for the poverty; Perry’s so called job creation isn’t happening fast enough: “The middle class are losing their jobs and are not able to replace them fast enough. That’s driving them straight into poverty.”-Bradley Manning, Texas Neighborhood Services

To make matters worse, Texas has one of the worst social service programs in the country: “We don’t have the support system in place to provide economic support or economic opportunity to help families lift themselves out of poverty.” said Frances Deviney, Center for Public Policy Priorities

 

International

Climate Change: Starving, and normally solitary, Polar Bears form packs, attack people in Siberia

No thanks to the melting ice caps, Polar Bears are getting desperate to survive.

In the Russian Chukotka region (directly across from Alaska), Polar Bears are forming packs, like wolves, and attacking villages.  An unsuccessful attack on a woman was recorded and uploaded to YouTube, but there are reports that another woman was eaten alive, and a man was killed.

Many people have been attacked as they left for work.  The bears, which roam in groups of up to five, have taken over abandoned houses and pig styes.  People formed hunting to groups and have killed several of the man eating Polar Bears, including their cubs.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? New G20 meeting will reveal how bad the situation is, the United States is now a beggar thy neighbor nation

September 19, later this week the Group of 20 developed and developing economies will meet in Washington DC.  The main issue, as always, the collapsing global economy.

Actually the main stream western media wants you to think the “global” economy is collapsing, in reality it’s just the ‘western/capitalist’ economies that are going down the toilet.

Demands from the European Union, United States and Japan are revealing how bad the situation is: “The consolidation plans to be undertaken in most EU countries, in the U.S. and in Japan need to be accompanied by appropriate policies in other regions of the world so as to avoid an undesired compression of global demand.”-European Union statement

What this means is that the economies that are going down the toilet need more help from the economies that are actually booming (the “other regions”).  Basically the EU, U.S. and Japan have become beggar they neighbor nations; needing to borrow from the wealthier BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), just to survive.

In order to get the much needed cash, expect the EU, U.S. and Japan to make some huge concessions at this weeks G20 meeting.  One thing China and Russia would like to see is a new currency to replace the U.S. dollar as the World’s reserve money.   It’s unlikely the U.S. would support that, ’cause it could make the economic situation in the U.S. even worse.

However, the latest European Union statement indicates that if the EU, U.S. and Japan don’t get financial help from the BRICS, then it could be lights out for the ‘West’.

Business/Economics, U.S.

United Police States of Incompetent America: 28 TSA guards fired in Hawaii, proof that the TSA is a waste of tax dollars

September 19, three TSA guards quit, and the Transportation Security Administration fired 28 other guards, as well as suspending another 15.

This after an investigation was started back in 2010.  TSA guards assigned to the morning shift allowed checked bags to be loaded onto flights without being screened for explosives, at Hawaii’s Honolulu International Airport.

This proves that the government is not only incompetent, but that the people of the U.S. don’t need the tax money sucking TSA!!!

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Oliver Stone, and son, to make movie in Iran, despite pissing them off with his version of Alexander the Great

On September 26 Oliver Stone will join his son Sean, in Iran. They are trying to get permission to shoot a movie there.

Stone’s last documentary was about anti-U.S. Latin American leaders: “South of the Border”.

Stone’s last big budget movie was “Alexander: Fortune Favors the Bold”, and yes like most people who saw it, Iranians did not like it.

Alexander the Great is not a hero to the Iranians, especially since he massacred most of the Zoroastrian priests, and destroyed their temples. Iran banned the movie from being shown in theaters.  Oliver Stone’s version is based on an outdated 1970’s history book.

In 2009, Stone tried to do a documentary on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but claims scheduling conflicts ended that project.  No word on what kind of movie he wants to make now.

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: True Christian Jimmy Carter says give Palestine statehood

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is calling on the Obama administration not to veto a UN Security Council vote for Palestinian statehood.

“If I were president, I’d be very glad to see the Palestinians have a nation recognized by the United Nations.”-Jimmy Carter, NPR interview

Carter does believe that if President Obama did not veto Palestinian statehood, then the powerful Israeli lobby in the U.S. would punish Obama.  The United Nations begins a new session on September 20.  The Palestinians will push for recognition this week.