Tag Archives: u.s.

What Economic Recovery? Italy becomes second European country to officially hit Double Dip Recession, blame increased budget cuts and unemployment

“The budget cuts are weighing it down…The conditions for a recovery in consumption are not there since unemployment hit a new record.”-Chiara Corsa, UniCredit bank

February 16, 2012, for the second month in a row, Italy’s economy shrank.  Two months in a row of contraction, that’s the official sign of recession.

Belgium was the first European country to officially go into a double dip recession. Interestingly this happened after they finally agreed to a new government, following more than a year without one.

 

 

World War 3: Former Israeli Mossad boss says war with Syria is bad for Israel

February 16, 2012, a former Israeli intelligence chief told Japan’s NHK news that the loss of the current Syrian government would actually be bad for Israel.

Efraim Halevy, who served as Mossad director from 1998 to 2002, is warning of chaos in the Middle East should the current Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad fall.

He said such a loss would create a power vacuum, and weapons would flow freely into the hands of those groups who hate Israel.  Halevy also suggested that it was in Israel’s interests to keep the Assad government in power, even if it meant supporting Assad militarily!

Corporate Crime: 40 years later, two former executives found guilty of the deaths of 2,000 of their Italian employees! Social health care found them out!

“This is the biggest trial in the world, and in history, as far as safety at work is concerned.”-Raffaele Guariniello, prosecutor

In a precedent setting trial in Italy, two former executives of a company that made fiber cement (cement made with asbestos), were found guilty in the deaths of more than 2,000 of their employees!

Another 1,000 employees, and people who lived near the factories, are now ill.  The Italian Health Ministry investigated due to the high rate of health cases hitting their social health care system, that were directly linked to the fiber cement factories.  The investigation revealed that employees were not given even basic safety gear for use around asbestos.  Things like masks and goggles.

One of the former executives is Belgian baron Jean Louis Marie Ghislain De Cartier De Marchienne, the other is Swiss billionaire tycoon Stephan Schmidheiny.

In his defense, Jean Louis Marie Ghislain De Cartier De Marchienne sent a written statement saying that at the time it was not known how deadly asbestos could be.

The factories were closed in 1986, six years before asbestos was banned in Italy.

The two wealthy one percenters face 16 years in prison, if they’re ever caught.  They were convicted in absentia.

Corporate Crime: Former officials of scandal ridden Olympus have been arrested

February 16, 2012, seven people connected to the scandal ridden Olympus have been arrested in Japan!

Those arrested include an adviser who instructed Olympus executives how to hide $1.2 billion in losses from investors and regulators, and it includes a former Olympus president, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa.

It also includes a former vice president, and a former auditor.  One of the charges is that Olympus filed false securities reports.  At least two of the arrested have already plead guilty!

The scandal at Olympus was revealed by a former executive of Olympus, who was fired for questioning suspicious bookkeeping.

Medical Incompetence: New study says AntiBiotics are useless for treating Sinusitis!

“It provides further evidence for what we’ve really suspected for a long time, that in the management of patients with acute sinusitis, antibiotics do not convey any additional benefit.-Jay Piccirilloof, senior author

A new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), says most antibiotics are useless in treating sinusitis.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, studied 166 people.  They spilt up the group by giving some patients amoxicillin for ten days, and others a placebo.  The results were that amoxicillin had absolutely no affect on sinusitis.

The study also stated that the majority of sinus infections are caused by viruses, not bacteria, which explains why antibiotics don’t work.

Iran unveils homemade Nuclear Fuel Rods, Nuclear Drugs, Nuclear Cake and 3,000 new Centrifuges

A few days ago Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said he would reveal Iran’s latest nuclear achievements.

Today, it was revealed that Iran makes its own nuclear fuel rods, radio-pharmaceuticals, and has added 3,000 centrifuges to its program to produce enriched uranium.

Iranian made nuclear fuel rods were placed in the Tehran Research Reactor.  The fuel rods were made under the supervision of the International Atomic energy Agency.  This is the last step in Iran’s nuclear fuel cycle.

Iran has also increased the number of centrifuges from 6,000 to 9,000.  This increases Iran’s ability to make uranium “yellow cake” by 50%.  Iranian officials say that their Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility is under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Iran has also begun production of several pharmaceutical drugs using radio isotopes (like cancer treatment drugs).

Iran says they don’t trust the latest negative reports from the IAEA, preciously because the IAEA has been openly watching their nuclear program, and has never lodged a formal complaint directly with the Iranian government.

 

World War 3: Iranian media reports suggest that Iran is about to cut off oil to 6 European countries, lack of Human Rights in Europe being blamed

February 15, 2012, confusing reports in the Iranian media.  Unofficial sources (like PressTV, it is not an official Iranian media source) are saying that Iran has blocked oil shipments to six European countries.

However, official sources (like Islamic Republic News Agency [IRNA]) say only that ambassadors from six European countries have been summed to the Iranian government, to discuss “issues”.

The six countries are Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Portugal, and Netherlands.

The IRNA is quoting Iran’s Director General of West Europe Affaires at Foreign Ministry, Hassan Tajik: “Our response is that sanctions cannot affect Iranians’ will, rather, it will have an adverse impact on European people. Europe is in a difficult economic condition and is facing a harsh winter. Iran cannot remain indifferent towards EU oil ban. We do not have any problem in terms of finding customers for our oil and selling it to other countries. However, based on humanitarian policies and given the conditions of European countries, we have decided to send a serious message to the Europeans which are parties to oil contracts. We can instantly replace oil customers.”

In other words it seems like Iran has identified which European countries it would cut off, and has given them warning, but they have not actually cut off the oil at this point.

It’s interesting that Iran is implying that violation of human rights within Europe is a main factor in their decision to possibly cut off the oil.

Corporate Crime: Problems with Idaho’s Coldwater Creek include theft by company officials

Recently Idaho made it into the top ten for number of embezzlement cases.  The study was done by Marquet International of Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Idaho ranks 7th for business related crimes committed by employees: “Small businesses are the ones at greatest risk because, typically, they have very little infrastructure or controls. There’s no budget for it. Or no perceived need. The business owner ends up relying on a single bookkeeper for 15 years.”-Chris Marquet, Marquet International

In a recent case, former Coldwater Creek executive assistant Susan Alene Hopkins, plead guilty in November to stealing more than $250,000. Sentencing is set for March 20, 2012.

Global Warming, Ice Age? U.S. study says Ice Age caused by particulate matter. Japan study shows Warming starts inside the Earth. Tropical Vietnam hits 25 Fahrenheit!!!

At the end of January 2012, the Christian Science Monitor published a story about a study done in the U.S. and Canada, which said, in a round-about way, that particulate matter in the air causes Ice Ages, not global warming.

A few days ago the Japanese Meteorological Agency reported the results of their  a study, which said ocean temperatures have increased.

I’ve been following the research on supposed global warming, with doubts about most of the claims, because traditional scientific hypothesis always said that large amounts of particulate matter in the air, either from volcanoes or man made pollution, causes cooling.

The latest study in the U.S. backs that up, but they found more than one cause.  What the researchers discovered is that changes in the weather are caused by  ‘triggers’.  Regarding Ice Ages; they found that it’s a combination of major triggers such as decreased activity from the Sun, increased particulate matter in the air and the depletion of the ozone in the upper atmosphere.

Although we’ve certainly had increased particulate matter in the air (from both pollution and volcanoes) the Japanese study showed that temps deep in the ocean have been rising about 0.02 Celsius (32.036 Fahrenheit) per year over the past decade!  They say the deep ocean temps are now an average of 0.15 C (32.27 F) warmer than 60 years ago.

But note that it’s deep ocean temperatures, not surface level.  The temp readings were taken at about 700 meters (2,297 feet) depth.  This means, to me, that the latest Japanese study says global warming originates inside the Earth.

Can there be warming and cooling happening, seemingly at the same time? Yes. There are hypothesis that say they are interactive cycles, one leading to the other.  This would mean that humans have nothing to do with it.

Studies have shown that decreased ozone in the upper atmosphere leads to a cooling of the atmosphere.  Everyone should know that there are now huge holes in the ozone above the North and South Poles.  Scientists say this is why ice forms at those regions, and why most of the Ice Age glaciers originate from the Poles.

Some scientists also say that ozone depletion is connected to Sun activity (not just pollution).  Is the Sun taking a break? Back in summer 2011, astronomers reported that Sun activity was declining.  Now, parts of Europe are being hit with a micro ice age (have you seen the pics of cars and buildings covered with inches of ice, which formed overnight?).

Another interesting thing is that even though South America is in the middle of summer right now, Peru’s mountainous areas have been hit with record cold temps and snowfall (at least 3,000 Alpacas froze to death)!

There are other reports that show a connection between depletion of ozone and the weakening of the Earth’s magnetic field.  A few years ago PBS did a report that showed the magnetic poles have become extremely weak, and that mini poles were popping up in other parts of the world (specifically one near south western Africa).

Sun activity was high in the past decade, which just happens to be when many people were crying “Global Warming”.  But increased Sun activity can only account for surface warming, and atmospheric warming, and it’s obvious now that many parts of the surface of the Earth are cooling.

Increased ocean temperatures, at more than 2,000 feet down, can only be caused by activity within the Earth.  Yes, there is an increase of earthquake and volcanic activity.  Especially around the Pacific Ring of Fire. Already there have been seven “significant” (magnitude 6.5 or higher) earthquakes in the first month of 2012, and all seven have happened around the Ring of Fire (or adjacent to it).

In total there have been more than 500 earthquakes around the Pacific Ring of Fire, since January 1, 2012!

Activity inside the Earth also affects the magnetic field.  One scientists described the core of the Earth more like an old wind up watch spring.  As it spins it releases energy such as the magnetic field, and like a watch spring it winds down weakening the magnetic field.  As it slows down it’s actually winding itself back up, eventually to spring back the other way, releasing the built up energy when it was winding up.

When you compress a spring, it builds up energy, and heat.  Scientist know that the Earth’s core is about to spring back into action, sometime soon.  The core is winding up, building up energy and heat, which could explain the deep ocean temperature increases.

Increased ocean temps would melt the fresh water polar glaciers faster than warm air temps.  Realize that the oceans are now full of fresh water, which floats on top of salt water.

The atmosphere of Earth is cooling and drying.  Anyone who’s lived in a freezing, yet dry, environment knows that you still have lots of evaporation (I’ve even seen what I call freeze dried snow and ice).

Ice that is evaporating, but not melting, is recognizable by the cavities forming inside.  It melts but that ice melt is almost instantly evaporated into the air.

Other studies have shown that it doesn’t take much of a surface temperature change to effect radical weather changes.  Only about 3 degrees Fahrenheit, plus or minus, over about ten to 20 years. Scientist have also realized that radical weather changes happen fast, not slowly as once thought.  Again, anyone notice how much the ice built up in the micro ice age that’s hitting parts of Europe right now?

What about tropical Vietnam?  Vietnam is partly blaming an outbreak of H5N1 influenza on unusual cold weather. On top of that, on January 15, 2012, Vietnamese media reported that 7,000 water buffalo froze to death, after temps in tropical northern Vietnam hit minus four degrees Celsius (25 Fahrenheit)!!!

So we now have a situation with lots of fresh water in the oceans and an extremely dry, and cool, atmosphere.  A dry atmosphere, even though cool, will suck up as much water as it can. When it gets saturated it’ll dump out the excess water.  If overall temps are still warm, we could see tropical weather almost everywhere.  But if temps are cold…Ice Age.

What we are seeing now, is an Earth that is in between major cycles. An Earth whose watch spring core has wound down, and is winding back up for the next run. Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows.  Maybe the Mayans are correct about 2012?

Pale Green Horse & Global Food Crisis: Nepal food economy being destroyed by H5N1 and Wild Elephant Terrorists. H5N1 in the chicken feed?

Nepal’s poultry industry is being devastated by H5N1 bird flu.  As of February 12, 2012, 8,353 chickens have been killed in just one district.

Jhapa, Nepal, has seen 3,500 chickens die from H5N1, and another 4,853 put down in an effort to stop the virus, in the past two weeks.  Also, 2,400 eggs were destroyed along with 140 kg (308.6 pounds) of chicken feed.

The local government says they’re on top of the situation: “The influenza control team has sped up its work. The outbreak would be controlled very soon. We have deployed rapid response team…”-Radheshyam Mandal, Veterinary Service Center of Jhapa

H5N1 is also hitting other districts of Nepal.

To make matters worse for those living in Jhapa, wild elephants have been terrorizing farmers.  Farmers and armed Forest Security personnel have been trying to chase off the elephants. 

In some areas farmers have taken to a kind of Neighborhood Watch, where they patrol each others farms and villages, on the look out for wild elephants.  They say the government is not protecting them: “Nothing has been done except following the tuskers. Elephant terror is on the rise in the village.”-Dipendra Katawal

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.