Tag Archives: crime

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Chock Full o’Crap Western News Media: United States caves to Pakistan’s demands for mo money to open NATO occupation supply routes! $9 million for starters!

“We can seize any item, anything that be, if it is not mentioned in the agreements between Pakistan and Afghanistan and Pakistan and NATO.”-Qamar Thalho, Customs official

The full o’crap western news media has been reporting that Pakistan re-opened U.S./NATO supply routes into Afghanistan, because U.S. officials apologized for last year’s killing of Pakistani soldiers.  Wrong! It’s all about the money.

What the western media is not telling the tax payers of the U.S. and other NATO affiliated countries, is that Pakistan is now being paid about $6,000 for every U.S./NATO occupying force supply truck that crosses the Pakistani border into Afghanistan.

There are currently 1,500 trucks waiting to go through, that’s $9 million USD!!!  Pakistani news media said U.S. officials agreed to the higher fee because the alternate supply routes through other countries costs even more money!

Example: The Pentagon says its costs $100 million per month to take supplies through Central Asia, Russia and the Caucasus!!!

Question: Is this bull shit War on Terror in Afghanistan (a country where not one of the residents were involved with the 11 September 2001 attacks on the U.S.) really worth it?

To top it off, the new U.S./NATO supply agreement allows the Pakistani Customs officials to seize any truck that’s carrying “lethal” supplies!

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Average household income hits 25 year low!

06 July 2012, data from recent income surveys showed the average household income dropped to a 25 year low, and a record 62% of people say their lives are financially “difficult”.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry of Japan released the  data. Officials say average income in Japan peaked in 1994, at about $83,000 USD, but has been falling ever since then.

In 2010, the average income dropped to $67,300 USD per year.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Corporate Evil & Global Food Crisis: Monsanto found guilty of poisoning farmers! New study confirms Roundup destroys soil, reduces crop nutrition!

“I am alive today, but part of the farming population is going to be sacrificed and is going to die because of this.”-Paul Francois, victim of Monsanto’s LASSO 384

In February 2012, for the first time, a French court found Monsanto guilty of chemically poisoning a farmer who used an herbicide called LASSO 384. The active ingredient is called Alachlor.

This is the first court case that directly links Monsanto’s products with illnesses.

In 2004 the farmer suffered sever neurological problems that included memory loss, stammering and headaches, after using LASSO.  In 2007 the French government banned LASSO.  France has the largest agricultural economy of the European Union.

In 2003 Monsanto quietly paid a settlement of $700 million USD to victims of poisonings in Anniston, Alabama.

To add to the court cases, a recent study found that Kanup 480 SL (aka Roundup) actually destroys the soil it’s used on.  No shit Sherlock!!!  I’ve worked in landscaping for long enough to see the damage it causes to soil, and actually got in trouble with my bosses for refusing to use Roundup!

The study was published in Current Microbiology, and says the active ingredient, glyphosate, destroys beneficial microorganism that live in the soil, and results in crops with less nutritional value!  (I wounder if this has anything to do with mass colony collapse in bees?)

For example, the microorganism used in yogurt, Lactobacillus cremoris, has actually disappeared in areas where Roundup was used extensively.  The study also said such destruction occurres with much lower doses of Roundup, than what is recommended by Monsanto.

But it was discovered that many farmers end up using more and more Roundup, year after year, to fight the growing number of super weeds.  The results are huge tracks of farmland that are producing crops with very little nutrition!

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Corporate Evil: Mystery disease killing children in Cambodia? Remember Vientam’s Kanup/Roundup/Monsanto disaster?

05 July 2012, Cambodian health officials have turned to the UN World Health Organization for help in finding out what is killing their children.  A similar thing happened in Vietnam.

In Vietnam the mystery disease was made public in April this year.  It looks like a case of villagers incorrectly using a Monsanto product called Kanup 480 SL (Roundup in the United States).  The villagers had never used herbicides prior to a chemical company sale person tricking them into using the Roundup.

Now, Cambodian officials are reporting the deaths of at least 61 children.  The deaths began in April of this year.  Symptoms include sudden onset of fever, neurological problems and severe respiratory problems.  Officials say it is not contagious, implying it is not a virus or bacteria.

Cases have been reported in 14 Cambodian provinces.  At this point health officials are treating this as a traditional disease.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Chock Full o’Crap Western News Media: Korea South caves to Iran’s growing Purchasing Power!

“Iran is one of the major importers of Korean products. And in the eventuality that the policy of sanctioning Iranian oil is implemented, then that nation will suffer.”-Rostam Qasemi, Iranian Oil Minister

On 02 July 2012, I posted how Korea South (a U.S. ally/puppet) was getting around oil sanctions against Iran, by using Iranian tanker ships.

On 03 July 2012, Iranian media revealed the reason Korea South went against its master’s (United States) wishes: Iran has more purchasing power than the United States!

On 26 June 2012, Korea South announced they would stop oil shipments from Iran.  Iranian diplomats quickly threatened the embargo of all products made in Korea South.  Officials in the southern half of Korea did the math and decided it was not economically sound to go along with the puppet master’s (U.S.) oil embargo against Iran.

Just how much does Korea South rely on Iran for trade?

In 2007 Korea South signed a trade agreement with Iran.  According to the Korea International Trade Association, exports to Iran have increased 32%, while imports of Iranian goods increased 63.7% (the way the data was presented wasn’t clear, the percentages could be 32% for imports and 63.7% for exports)!

“Korea’s shipments to Iran amounted to $6 billion [USD] last year.”-Korea Times

The Korean Times reported that the threat by Iran, to embargo all southern Korean products, would slam 2,900 companies!

There are at least two petroleum companies from southern Korea working in Iran, and they have backing from U.S. investors!  In fact U.S. companies are involved with at least $1.4 billion USD worth of North American investments into Iran!

Here’s the bottom line; Iran is a big spender, and they pay in cash or trade!  The United States is broke, and they pay with credit, or steal it from you with bogus War on Terror tactics.  Who’s gonna get the World’s business in the long run?

 

Fukushima

Government Incompetence One Year Later: 600 page report blames ongoing nuclear disaster on idiots in government! Faulty construction of disaster reactors blamed!

“The accident was not a natural disaster but was obviously a man made disaster.”-Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission

On 05 July 2012, the results of a months long Diet (Japanese parliament) investigation into the ongoing nuclear disaster at the General Electric designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power factory, places blame squarely on Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo), and the government.

The report also stated that failings in management began years before the  March 2011 disaster.

The report criticizes government response to the nuclear disaster.  The former prime minister who was in charge last year, Kan Naoto, gave a typical Japanese political response, agreeing with parts of the report and refuting other parts.

The report said that construction of Fukushima Daiichi was not up to earthquake standards, as claimed by TEPCo. The report says the nuclear disaster might have actually started with the earthquake, not the tsunami.

Government and corporate leadership only made things worse: Self serving attitudes of leaders resulted in willful negligence, both in the construction of the nuke plant, and the disaster response.

There were plenty of opportunities for TEPCo to upgrade Fukushima Daiichi with stronger construction and better safeguards.

In the first hours of the disaster the government interfered at different levels, causing confusion within corporate chains of command.

The government also confused the general public, by giving reports that conflicted with media reports. In some cases government reports outright contrasted with events watched live on Japanese TV  (I remember watching live on the internet as the tsunami swept over three story buildings, then heard a government official saying the waves were only 3 meters tall!!!)!

The government issued confusing evacuation advise, in some cases people actually evacuated into areas being contaminated with radiation. The report suggests that government leaders were trying to avoid taking full responsibility for the disaster by making evacuations voluntary, and using terms like “just in case”.

Another issue was the announcement of radiation danger zones long after the nuclear disaster began. The report says the government had radiation data for a whole month before hand, and could have declared the danger zones much sooner.

The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (NAIIC) began in December 2011, interviewing 1,167 people, including former government and TEPCo officials.   The NAIIC is planning “…to make an English version of the final report to show it to the world.”-Kurokawa Kiyoshi, lead investigator

Japanese version of report here.

 

 

Fukushima

One Year Later: Fresh water fish more radioactive than salt water fish! More proof that you need lots of salt in your diet!

03 July 2012, the Ministry of Environment in Japan discovered that fresh water fish are more susceptible to radiation contamination than salt water fish.

From December 2011 to February 2012, they sampled fish from rivers, lakes and eight locations in the Pacific Ocean.  Fresh water fish were much more contaminated than salt water fish.

In a river north of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, goby fish were found with 2,600 becquerels per kilogram of cesium!  The highest readings of cesium in salt water flounder and bass were 260 becquerels per kilogram.

The researchers speculate that the salt in the ocean water absorbs much of the radiation, and then the fish excrete it (the concept is similar to the idea of taking iodide pills after a nuclear accident).

Radiation ends up being concentrated in the bodies of fresh water fish.

ONE YEAR LATER: LEFT BEHIND; FUKUSHIMA PETS STILL WITHOUT HOMES, NEW KITTENS FOUND NEAR NUCLEAR PLANT

Business/Economics, U.S.

Corporate Evil & Investor Evil: U.S. drug maker hit with record fine for fraudulent claims on Paxil, Avandia and Wellbutrin! Stock price shoots up!

02 July 2012, GlaxoSmithKline reportedly pled guilty to fraudulent activities involving the drugs Paxil, Avandia and Wellbutrin.  The company is being fined a record $3 billion USD!

The U.S. Department of Justice says the pharmaceutical giant claimed the drugs could be used to treat conditions and/or people for which they were not approved!

Paxil is meant for adults only, but was sold for use in children! The antidepressant Wellbutrin was sold as a weight loss drug!  GlaxoSmithKline was also accused of failing to report safety data, concerning the diabetes drug Avandia, to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration from 2001 to 2007.

Also, under a type of probation, for the next five years company executives could lose their bonuses to the government, if any employee is caught conducting fraudulent activity.  As well, sales reps will no longer be paid based on total sales, but on the quality of their job performance.

Interestingly, when news of GlaxoSmithKline’s guilty plea was heard investors jumped on the company’s stock driving the price up!  Why would an ‘honest’ investor want to buy stock in a company who admits to fraud?

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

LIBOR: U.K. orders new investigation! Top three Japanese banks involved in international rate fixing! Bank governor admits banks are “deceitful”! More proof of Trilateral policies, & that the Too Big to Fails caused the economic mess!

“Your working hypothesis should be that every bank in the industry did some version of this same thing. There will be more to come.”-unnamed banking official in letter to British news media

02 July 2012, Marcus Agius, a chairman of evil British Empire’s Barclays has resigned.  Barclays recently settled with U.S. and U.K. regulators over the LIBOR scandal. The settlement was a pittance compared to the damage Barclays, and other banks caused.

The general public in Britain has been calling for Barclays boss, Bob Diamond, to resign as well.  Public officials are calling for criminal charges: “…when we’re setting up the National Crime Agency we should look at the record of the Serious Fraud Office. I suspect financial crime is easier to get away with in this country than practically any other sort of crime.”-Ken Clarke, Justice Secretary of United Kingdom

Barclays “systematically” falsified data to set the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR.  Regulators from Switzerland and U.K., are investigating at least 20 banks, including the top three banks in Japan (for fraudulent Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate or TIBOR), banks in Canada, U.S. and European Union!  Elites from Japan, North America and Europe are members of the private organization Trilateral Commission.

Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, said LIBOR “is now dead”, and even called the very banking system he represents “deceitful”!  Now the British government is calling for a new independent investigation into the British banking system and LIBOR.

The amount of money manipulated by the LIBOR (and now TIBOR) scandal is estimated at more than $361 trillion USD!!!

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? European unemployment rate holds on to record highs! Austerity policies to blame! Trilateral policies in motion!

02 July 2012, the European Union (EU) statistical office released unemployment data from its member countries.  Record high rates persist.

For the month of May, Spain set a new record of 24.6%! Unemployment for Spanish people under 25 years of age hit 52.1%!  For perspective, that’s more than 5.6 million people out of work in a country with a population of 46 million people!

Portugal at 15.2%, Italy at 10.1%.  In total, the number of people unemployed in the EU reached 17.6 million, an increase of 88,000 from April to May 2012!

Greek numbers are months behind, but their report for March shows an increase in unemployment, to 21.9%!  Unemployed Greek youths are also at 52.1%!

EU officials noted that the greatest increase in unemployment are in member countries that have harsh austerity policies (cut spending, increase taxes, which are publicly stated policies of the Trilateral Commission).