US Cities Running Low on Populations

The population of the United States has increased steadily by roughly 2.5 million people every year since World War II. Throughout prosperity and hard times, Americans continue to have families. Many of the country’s regions have expanded to accommodate this population increase. Some cities have grown faster than others as the result of being at the center of some important new technology or job market. Others have lost residents because of failing industries and migration. Nevertheless, some of these cities have continued to grow slowly, or at least remain relatively stagnant, buoyed by the rising tide of the national population.



There are some cities, however, which have experienced such severe hardship and decline that their populations have actually decreased significantly. New Orleans has lost more than a quarter of its population in the past ten years as the result of Hurricane Katrina. The rest of the cities that have lost major parts of their population have seen their flagship industries which include coal, steel, oil, and auto-related manufacturing fall off or completely collapse. America moved away from its status as an industrial superpower in the second half of the 20th century as the services sector rose to replace it. Millions of US manufacturing jobs have moved overseas. Cities such as Rochester, Cleveland and Buffalo declined in population because they were trade hubs, and new modes of transportation removed their geographical dominance. Cities like Flint, Michigan have economies based on a single major industry. In Flint’s case, that industry is auto manufacturing. When that industry began to decline, Flint was unable to diversify to prevent a population exodus.



All of the cities on this list experienced at least one of these devastating problems which have caused tens of thousands, and in some cases, hundreds of thousands of its residents to leave the region for other jobs and other homes. While it has been the primary focus of these cities to create new sources of employment for their residents, it may be years before people return, if they do at all.



Unfortunately, the populations of most of the cities on this list continue to decline and the situation could get worse for years. This loss of residents has caused severe drops in the social services that many of these cities can provide. Property and other taxes have fallen so much that the support that residents of other cities take for granted is at risk in the municipalities on this list. There is no longer any guarantee that they can maintain police and fire departments at reasonable levels. Some of these cities cannot continue to manage large neighborhoods which have become almost deserted as residents have left unoccupied homes behind. Home vacancy rates tell a great deal about how much a city’s population has dropped.



24/7 obtained its population data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Division. Housing Vacancy came from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. This is a list of the seven American cities that have lost the most people in the past decade.



7. Rochester, NY



Population: 207,294



Population Change 2000-2009: -12,180



Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -5.55%



Home Vacancy: 15.3%



The City of Rochester was once a booming trade center, largely due to its location at the midpoint between Albany and Buffalo on the Erie Canal. At its peak, the city was the major flour processor in the country, and was home to several key corporations including Xerox and Eastman Kodak. Rochester declined as the usefulness of the canal went out with the advent of railroads and its flagship companies began to lose their relevancy in the larger global economy. Rochester has yet to produce an important replacement industry to drive up the population, and even the success in the 1990’s of Xerox has faded. Between 1950 and 2000, Rochester lost 34% of its population.



6. Pittsburgh, PA



Population: 311,647



Population Change 2000-2009: -22,056



Population Percent Change 2000-2009: -6.61%



Home Vacancy: 14.1%



Known as the “Steel City,” Pittsburgh was once the forge for the American industrial engine from the late 1800′s through the late 1970′s. At its peak, the city was home to more than 1,000 factories, including the mills owned by Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, which by itself employed over 340,000 workers during World War II. As the American steel industry collapsed in the 19 80′s Pittsburgh suffered severe unemployment problems. In the past few decades, the city changed to a technology-based economy, but the population is still on the decline. Since 1950, Pittsburgh’s population has declined by more than 50%.







Read more: American Cities That Are Running Out Of People - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2010/12/27/american-cities-that-are-running-out-of-people/#ixzz19dOGMh00

Operation Paperclip details Nazi infiltration of US

Report details US letting in Nazis after WWII

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Pete Yost, Associated Press Sun Nov 14, 6:01 pm ET

WASHINGTON – A report chronicling the history of the Justice Department's Nazi-hunting unit criticizes the government for knowingly allowing some Nazis to settle in the United States after World War II.
"America, which prided itself on being a safe haven for the persecuted, became in some small measure a safe haven for persecutors as well," says the 600-page document.
The New York Times obtained a copy of the report, which the National Security Archive, a private group, posted on its website. Earlier, the Justice Department had declared dozens of pages from the document off-limits to the public after the archive sued to get it.
The long-secret report provided new details of many of the major cases handled by Justice's Office of Special Investigations. The report reflects the ways in which American officials, who were assigned to recruit foreign scientists after World War II, circumvented President Harry S. Truman's order that they not bring in Nazi Party members or people who had actively supported Nazi militarism.
Arthur Rudolph, one of hundreds of scientists brought to the United States after the war, told investigators in 1947 of attending a hanging during the war of inmates accused of sabotage at a plant near Nordhausen, Germany, where Rudolph was operations director. The plant he ran manufactured V-2 rockets using slave labor. U.S. immigration officials knew Rudolph had been a Nazi party member, but he was admitted to the U.S. anyway. Rudolph went on to become honored in the U.S. as the father of the Saturn V rocket, enabling the United States to make its first manned moon landing. Rudolph went to Germany in 1984 and forfeited his U.S. citizenship.
The report also details a discussion at the CIA over whether former Nazi party member Otto Von Bolschwing should acknowledge his Nazi past if confronted about it when applying for U.S. citizenship. Reversing earlier CIA advice, the agency concluded that Bolschwing should tell the truth. The agency hired Bolschwing during the Cold War for his contacts among ethnic Germans and Romanians. The Justice Department sought to deport Von Bolschwing when it found out about his past. Von Bolschwing, it turned out, had worked with Adolf Eichmann, helping devise programs in the 1930s to persecute and terrorize Germany's Jews. Eichmann was one of the architects of the Holocaust.
"Some may view the government's collaboration with persecutors as a Faustian bargain," the report states. "Others will see it as a reasonable moral compromise borne of necessity."
In court filings in the lawsuit brought by the National Security Archive, the Justice Department said that the report was never finalized, contains numerous factual errors and omissions and does not represent the official position of the Justice Department.
On Sunday, a Justice Department spokeswoman, Laura Sweeney, said: "The department is committed to transparency and providing information in accordance with relevant laws. Attorneys with expertise in the Freedom of Information Act make determinations about certain redactions based on privacy and other considerations under the law."
According to portions of the report that were deleted by the Justice Department:
_The department established in 1997 that Switzerland had bought gold from the Nazis that had been taken from Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
_Meetings in 2000 in which U.S. officials pressured Latvian officials to pursue Nazis were "a hideous failure."
_In hopes of establishing whether Dr. Joseph Mengele, known as the Angel of Death at Auschwitz, was dead, a director of the Office of Special Investigations kept in his desk a piece of scalp thought to belong to Mengele. OSI was the Justice Department entity created in 1979 to deport Nazis.
Also deleted was a portion of a 1993 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit that raised ethics accusations against Justice Department officials.

National Healthcare Bill will fund Brave New World implantable contraceptives

Contraception could be free under health care law

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Ricardo Alonso-zaldivar, Associated Press 

WASHINGTON – Fifty years after the pill, another birth control revolution may be on the horizon: free contraception for women in the U.S., thanks to the new health care law.
That could start a shift toward more reliable — and expensive — forms of birth control that are gaining acceptance in other developed countries.
But first, look for a fight over social mores.
A panel of experts advising the government meets in November to begin considering what kind of preventive care for women should be covered at no cost to the patient, as required under President Barack Obama's overhaul.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., author of the women's health amendment, says the clear intent was to include family planning.
But is birth control preventive medicine?
Conflicting answers frame what could be the next clash over moral values and a health law that passed only after a difficult compromise restricting the use of public money for abortions.
For many medical and public health experts, there's no debate.
"There is clear and incontrovertible evidence that family planning saves lives and improves health," said obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. David Grimes, an international family planning expert who teaches medicine at the University of North Carolina. "Contraception rivals immunization in dollars saved for every dollar invested. Spacing out children allows for optimal pregnancies and optimal child rearing. Contraception is a prototype of preventive medicine."
But U.S. Catholic bishops say pregnancy is a healthy condition, not an illness. In comments filed with the Department of Health and Human Services, the bishops say they oppose any requirement to cover contraceptives or sterilization as preventive care.
"We don't consider it to be health care, but a lifestyle choice," said John Haas, president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, a Philadelphia think tank whose work reflects church teachings. "We think there are other ways to avoid having children than by ingesting chemicals paid for by health insurance."
So far, most other religious conservatives have stayed out of the debate, though that could change. Some say they are concerned about any requirement that might include the morning-after pill. The Food and Drug Administration classifies it as birth control; some religious conservatives see it as an abortion drug.
Jeanne Monahan, a health policy expert at the conservative Family Research Council, said her group would oppose any mandate that lacks a conscience exemption for moral and religious reasons. She said there's "great suspicion" that a major abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, is leading the push for free birth control.
As recently as the 1990s, many health insurance plans didn't even cover birth control. Protests, court cases, and new state laws led to dramatic changes. Today, almost all plans now cover prescription contraceptives. So does Medicaid, the health care program for low-income people.
The use of birth control is "virtually universal" in the U.S., according to a government report this summer from the National Center for Health Statistics. Nearly 93 million prescriptions for contraceptives were dispensed in 2009, according to IMS Health, a market analysis firm. Generic versions of the pill are available at Walmart stores, for example, for $9 a month.
Still, about half of all pregnancies are unplanned, and many occur among women using some form of contraception. The government says the problem is rarely the birth control method, but "inconsistent or incorrect use," such as forgetting to take a pill.
Advocates say free birth control would begin to address the problem.
"We can look at other countries where birth control is available for no cost, and what we see are lower pregnancy rates, lower abortion rates and lower teen pregnancy," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood.
It would remove a cost barrier that may be keeping women away from more reliable long-acting birth control, and also affects those who don't do well on inexpensive generics.
A major research study now taking place in St. Louis provides a glimpse of how things might change.
The Contraceptive CHOICE Project is providing free birth control to as many as 10,000 women, tracking their decisions and the results. About 70 percent have chosen long-acting contraceptives such as IUDs (intrauterine devices) or implants, which are reversible and have a much lower failure rate than pills or condoms. The proportion of U.S. women using such methods remains low; part of the reason seems to be higher upfront cost.
"The shift we need to see in the United States is a shift away from methods like the pill and condoms to the most effective methods, like implants and IUDs," said Dr. Jeffrey Peipert, a principal investigator on the study. "And we'll only see that shift if somebody is willing to pay for it."
How the Obama administration will apply the law remains to be seen. It could allow insurance plans wide discretion on meeting the coverage requirement. A panel convened by the Institute of Medicine will hold its first meeting Nov. 16 to begin work on recommendations to HHS. The department has until next August to make its decision.
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Online:

Department of War Targets Mexico offers Citizenship for Military Service

USA Today 9/23/2010

Alien Minors Act could boost U.S. military ranks

 

Immigration advocates have long pushed for the DREAM Act as a way to give children who were brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents a chance to become legal residents and have access to higher education.

The less publicized part of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act is that the Pentagon is pushing for it as a means to staff the armed forces.

Prospects dimmed Tuesday when Senate Republicans prevented a vote on a defense spending bill, because the DREAM Act was attached as an amendment. Senate Democrats vowed to reintroduce it.

When the Department of Defense published its three-year strategic plan, it listed the DREAM Act as a way it could replenish its ranks.

Transhumanism on the Horizon

http://www.ted.com/talks/tan_le_a_headset_that_reads_your_brainwaves.html

Source: Ted.com

The potential perversity of technological advance has been illustrated in such novels as Brave New World, We, 1984, and infamous films such as Minority Report, Terminator, and Running Man, but how close are these fictions to reality? Tech developer Emotiv is showing that yesterday's science fiction is today's science fact. Emotiv's patented product, the Epoch headset, has the ability to turn brain waves into concrete actions in the real world. A simple tactile head-mounted device with an array of cerebral nodes receives frequencies from the brain which are in turn transmitted to a receiver which then converts those frequencies into real world responses. The potentialities of this invention are both empowering and dangerous. Consider the following. This technology could enable a paraplegic to mentally command an exoskeleton linked to the unit to move at their will. On the otherside, imagine governments using remote frequencies to control killing robots or other destructive devices. The benefits are perhaps overshadowed by the perils of potential misuse. The reality is that the technology will fall prey to the will of man, whether it be create or destructive in its ends.

Healthcare Rationing Hits the UK First

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/7908742/Axe-falls-on-NHS-services.html
source: London Telegraph

Axe falls on NHS services

NHS bosses have drawn up secret plans for sweeping cuts to services, with restrictions on the most basic treatments for the sick and injured.

 

By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent
Published: 9:19PM BST 24 Jul 2010

The NHS faces extensive cuts Photo: ALAMY

 

Some of the most common operations — including hip replacements and cataract surgery — will be rationed as part of attempts to save billions of pounds, despite government promises that front-line services would be protected.

Patients’ groups have described the measures as “astonishingly brutal”.

An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has uncovered widespread cuts planned across the NHS, many of which have already been agreed by senior health service officials. They include:
* Restrictions on some of the most basic and common operations, including hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and orthodontic procedures.
* Plans to cut hundreds of thousands of pounds from budgets for the terminally ill, with dying cancer patients to be told to manage their own symptoms if their condition worsens at evenings or weekends.
* The closure of nursing homes for the elderly.
* A reduction in acute hospital beds, including those for the mentally ill, with targets to discourage GPs from sending patients to hospitals and reduce the number of people using accident and emergency departments.
* Tighter rationing of NHS funding for IVF treatment, and for surgery for obesity.
* Thousands of job losses at NHS hospitals, including 500 staff to go at a trust where cancer patients recently suffered delays in diagnosis and treatment because of staff shortages.
* Cost-cutting programmes in paediatric and maternity services, care of the elderly and services that provide respite breaks to long-term carers.
The Sunday Telegraph found the details of hundreds of cuts buried in obscure appendices to lengthy policy and strategy documents published by trusts. In most cases, local communities appear to be unaware of the plans.
Dr Peter Carter, the head of the Royal College of Nursing, said he was “incredibly worried” about the disclosures.
He urged Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, to “get a grip” on the reality of what was going on in the NHS.
The Government has promised to protect the overall budget of the NHS, which will continue to receive above-inflation increases, but said the service must make “efficiency savings” of up to £20 billion by 2014, which would be diverted back to the front line.
Mr Lansley said last month: “This protection for the NHS is protection for patients – to ensure that the sick do not pay for the debt crisis.”
Dr Carter said: “Andrew Lansley keeps saying that the Government will protect the front line from cuts – but the reality appears to be quite the opposite. We are seeing trusts making job cuts even when they have already admitted to being short staffed.
‘‘The statements he makes may be well intentioned – but we would implore him to get a grip on the reality, because these kinds of cuts are incredibly worrying.”
Katherine Murphy, of the Patients Association, said the cuts were “astonishingly brutal” and expressed particular concern at moves to ration operations such as hip and knee operations.
“These are not unusual procedures, this is a really blatant attempt to save money by leaving people in pain,” she said.
“Looking at these kinds of cuts, which trusts have drawn up in such secrecy, it particularly worries me how far they disadvantage the elderly and the vulnerable.
‘‘We cannot return to the days of people waiting in pain for years for a hip operation or having to pay for operations privately.”
She added that it was “incredibly cruel” to draw up savings plans based on denying care to the dying.
On Thursday, the board of Sutton and Merton primary care trust (PCT) in London agreed more than £50 million of savings in two years. The plan included more than £400,000 to be saved by “reducing length of stay” in hospital for the terminally ill.
As well as sending more patients home to die, the paper said the savings would be made by admitting fewer terminally ill cancer patients to hospital because they were struggling to cope with symptoms such as pain. Instead, more patients would be given advice on “self management” of their condition.
Bill Gillespie, the trust’s chief executive, said patients would stay at home, or be discharged from hospital only if that was their choice, and would be given support in their homes.
This week, Hertfordshire PCT plans to discuss attempts to reduce spending by rationing more than 50 common procedures, including hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and orthodontic treatment.
Doctors across the county have already been told that their patients can have the operations only if they are given “prior approval” by the PCT, with each authorisation made on a “case by case” basis.
Elsewhere, new restrictions have been introduced to limit funding of IVF.
While many infertile couples living in Yorkshire had previously been allowed two cycles of treatment — still short of national guidance to fund three cycles — all the primary care trusts in the county are now restricting treatment to one cycle per couple.
A “turnaround” plan drawn up by Peterborough PCT intends to make almost £100 million of savings by 2013.
Its cuts include closing nursing and residential homes and services for the mentally ill, sending 500 fewer patients to hospital each month, and cutting £17 million from acute and accident and emergency services.
Two weeks ago, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals trust agreed plans to save £55 million in two years, with £20 million coming from about 500 job losses.
Yet, a month before the decision was taken, senior managers at a board meeting described how staff shortages were already causing delays for patients being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer.
Mr Lansley said any trusts that interpreted the Government’s demands for efficiency savings as budget or service cuts were wrong to do so, and were “living in the past”.

Radical Domestic Terrorism or Psywar?

Police: Alleged freeway shooter was targeting ACLU

By TERRY COLLINS
Associated Press Writer

AP Photo

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- A California man known for his anger over left-leaning politics said after a freeway shootout with CHP officers that he had been planning an attack on the ACLU and another nonprofit group, police said Tuesday.

Byron Williams, 45, a parolee with two previous bank robbery convictions, wanted to "start a revolution" by killing people at the American Civil Liberties Union and Tides Foundation, both in San Francisco, Oakland police Sgt. Michael Weisenberg said in court documents.

The weekend shootout occurred during a 24-hour span in Oakland when a sniper shot at police officers from a high-rise building, and a Virginia man who had a job interview in the San Francisco Bay area was fatally shot in downtown Oakland by robbers who got away with just $17.

The spate of violence came just a week after budget problems led Oakland to lay off 80 police officers.

The Oakland Police Department is leading the investigation into the shootout, but no city officers were involved in the incident that occurred on Interstate 580.

The FBI joined the case after a binder entitled "California" was discovered in the truck driven by Williams and removed by a bomb squad robot, CHP spokesman Sam Morgan said.

Officer Jeff Thomason, an Oakland police spokesman, said the two nonprofit groups were targeted because of their political ideologies. The ACLU is a civil rights group, while the Tides Foundation says on its website that it works to advance progressive social change.

"It's an unbelievable incident," Thomason said, adding that authorities believe Williams was acting alone. "We're very fortunate in the Bay Area that the CHP was able to stop him."

Sitting in a wheelchair, Williams was arraigned Tuesday in Alameda County Superior Court after being released from a hospital where he was treated for gunshot wounds to his arms and legs. He looked down and did not enter a plea as a judge read the charges - four counts of attempted murder on peace officers, plus weapons and body armor enhancements.

The judge also noted that Williams' two previous convictions for bank robbery could make him eligible for life in prison under California's Three Strikes Law if he is convicted in the CHP shootout.

No CHP officers were seriously injured in the incident.

Williams was wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with three guns, including a rifle, as he traveled to San Francisco late Saturday night in his mother's Toyota Tundra, police said. He is accused of opening fire on California Highway Patrol officers who approached his truck after pulling him over for speeding and weaving in traffic.

Williams surrendered and was arrested after a 12-minute gunbattle with 12 officers, most of whom responded as Williams reloaded several times, police said. Morgan said about 150 rounds were fired during shootout.

Williams had "made a decision that he would not be arrested and that he was willing to shoot and kill the officers," according to the probable cause statement filed in court.

During a police interview at the hospital, Williams said he had planned to camp out in San Francisco on Sunday night then begin his attack when the ACLU and Tides Foundation opened Monday, Thomason said.

Christine Coleman, spokeswoman for the foundation, said the organization had taken additional security measure to protect its staff.

"We had never heard of this man before," Coleman said. "We cannot speculate about the incident while the investigation is going on."

Phone calls to the ACLU of Northern California were not immediately returned.

Williams also told investigators he was upset because he had not been able to find a job and because of the poor economy, Thomason said.

Williams' mother, Janice Williams, told the San Francisco Chronicle her son had been angry with "the way Congress was railroading through all these left-wing agenda items."

A phone message left for Janice Williams by The Associated Press was not immediately returned.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FREEWAY_SHOOTOUT?SITE=NCBER&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

U.S. Is Said to Expand Secret Actions in Mideast

By MARK MAZZETTI

WASHINGTON — The top American commander in the Middle East has ordered a broad expansion of clandestine military activity in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and other countries in the region, according to defense officials and military documents.
The secret directive, signed in September by Gen. David H. Petraeus, authorizes the sending of American Special Operations troops to both friendly and hostile nations in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa to gather intelligence and build ties with local forces. Officials said the order also permits reconnaissance that could pave the way for possible military strikes in Iran if tensions over its nuclear ambitions escalate.
While the Bush administration had approved some clandestine military activities far from designated war zones, the new order is intended to make such efforts more systematic and long term, officials said. Its goals are to build networks that could “penetrate, disrupt, defeat or destroy” Al Qaeda and other militant groups, as well as to “prepare the environment” for future attacks by American or local military forces, the document said. The order, however, does not appear to authorize offensive strikes in any specific countries.
In broadening its secret activities, the United States military has also sought in recent years to break its dependence on the Central Intelligence Agency and other spy agencies for information in countries without a significant American troop presence.
General Petraeus’s order is meant for small teams of American troops to fill intelligence gaps about terror organizations and other threats in the Middle East and beyond, especially emerging groups plotting attacks against the United States.
But some Pentagon officials worry that the expanded role carries risks. The authorized activities could strain relationships with friendly governments like Saudi Arabia or Yemen — which might allow the operations but be loath to acknowledge their cooperation — or incite the anger of hostile nations like Iran and Syria. Many in the military are also concerned that as American troops assume roles far from traditional combat, they would be at risk of being treated as spies if captured and denied the Geneva Convention protections afforded military detainees.
The precise operations that the directive authorizes are unclear, and what the military has done to follow through on the order is uncertain. The document, a copy of which was viewed by The New York Times, provides few details about continuing missions or intelligence-gathering operations.
Several government officials who described the impetus for the order would speak only on condition of anonymity because the document is classified. Spokesmen for the White House and the Pentagon declined to comment for this article. The Times, responding to concerns about troop safety raised by an official at United States Central Command, the military headquarters run by General Petraeus, withheld some details about how troops could be deployed in certain countries.
The seven-page directive appears to authorize specific operations in Iran, most likely to gather intelligence about the country’s nuclear program or identify dissident groups that might be useful for a future military offensive. The Obama administration insists that for the moment, it is committed to penalizing Iran for its nuclear activities only with diplomatic and economic sanctions. Nevertheless, the Pentagon has to draw up detailed war plans to be prepared in advance, in the event that President Obama ever authorizes a strike.
“The Defense Department can’t be caught flat-footed,” said one Pentagon official with knowledge of General Petraeus’s order.
The directive, the Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force Execute Order, signed Sept. 30, may also have helped lay a foundation for the surge of American military activity in Yemen that began three months later.
Special Operations troops began working with Yemen’s military to try to dismantle Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an affiliate of Osama bin Laden’s terror network based in Yemen. The Pentagon has also carried out missile strikes from Navy ships into suspected militant hideouts and plans to spend more than $155 million equipping Yemeni troops with armored vehicles, helicopters and small arms.
Officials said that many top commanders, General Petraeus among them, have advocated an expansive interpretation of the military’s role around the world, arguing that troops need to operate beyond Iraq and Afghanistan to better fight militant groups.
The order, which an official said was drafted in close coordination with Adm. Eric T. Olson, the officer in charge of the United States Special Operations Command, calls for clandestine activities that “cannot or will not be accomplished” by conventional military operations or “interagency activities,” a reference to American spy agencies.
While the C.I.A. and the Pentagon have often been at odds over expansion of clandestine military activity, most recently over intelligence gathering by Pentagon contractors in Pakistan and Afghanistan, there does not appear to have been a significant dispute over the September order.
A spokesman for the C.I.A. declined to confirm the existence of General Petraeus’s order, but said that the spy agency and the Pentagon had a “close relationship” and generally coordinate operations in the field.
“There’s more than enough work to go around,” said the spokesman, Paul Gimigliano. “The real key is coordination. That typically works well, and if problems arise, they get settled.”
During the Bush administration, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld endorsed clandestine military operations, arguing that Special Operations troops could be as effective as traditional spies, if not more so.
Unlike covert actions undertaken by the C.I.A., such clandestine activity does not require the president’s approval or regular reports to Congress, although Pentagon officials have said that any significant ventures are cleared through the National Security Council. Special Operations troops have already been sent into a number of countries to carry out reconnaissance missions, including operations to gather intelligence about airstrips and bridges.
Some of Mr. Rumsfeld’s initiatives were controversial, and met with resistance by some at the State Department and C.I.A. who saw the troops as a backdoor attempt by the Pentagon to assert influence outside of war zones. In 2004, one of the first groups sent overseas was pulled out of Paraguay after killing a pistol-waving robber who had attacked them as they stepped out of a taxi.
A Pentagon order that year gave the military authority for offensive strikes in more than a dozen countries, and Special Operations troops carried them out in Syria, Pakistan and Somalia.
In contrast, General Petraeus’s September order is focused on intelligence gathering — by American troops, foreign businesspeople, academics or others — to identify militants and provide “persistent situational awareness,” while forging ties to local indigenous groups.

Pesticides tied to ADHD in children in U.S. study

Reuters

Mon May 17, 7:35 PM EDT

 

A plane distributes pesticides

Children exposed to pesticides known as organophosphates could have a higher risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a U.S. study that urges parents to always wash produce thoroughly.
Researchers tracked the pesticides' breakdown products in children' urine and found those with high levels were almost twice as likely to develop ADHD as those with undetectable levels.
The findings are based on data from the general U.S. population, meaning that exposure to the pesticides could be harmful even at levels commonly found in children's environment.
"There is growing concern that these pesticides may be related to ADHD," said researcher Marc Weisskopf of the Harvard School of Public Health, who worked on the study.
"What this paper specifically highlights is that this may be true even at low concentrations."
Organophosphates were originally developed for chemical warfare, and they are known to be toxic to the nervous system.
There are about 40 organophosphate pesticides such as malathion registered in the United States, the researchers wrote in the journal Pediatrics.
Weisskopf said the compounds have been linked to behavioral symptoms common to ADHD -- for instance, impulsivity and attention problems -- but exactly how is not fully understood.
Although the researchers had no way to determine the source of the breakdown products they found, Weisskopf said the most likely culprits were pesticides and insecticides used on produce and indoors.
Garry Hamlin of Dow AgroSciences, which manufactures an organophosphate known as chlorpyrifos, said he had not had time to read the report closely.
But, he added" "the results reported in the paper don't establish any association specific to our product chlorpyrifos."
Weisskopf and colleagues' sample included 1,139 children between 8 and 15 years. They interviewed the children's mothers, or another caretaker, and found that about one in 10 met the criteria for ADHD, which jibes with estimates for the general population.
After accounting for factors such as gender, age and race, they found the odds of having ADHD rose with the level of pesticide breakdown products.
For a 10-fold increase in one class of those compounds, the odds of ADHD increased by more than half. And for the most common breakdown product, called dimethyl triophosphate, the odds of ADHD almost doubled in kids with above-average levels compared to those without detectable levels.
"That's a very strong association that, if true, is of very serious concern," said Weisskopf. "These are widely used pesticides."
He emphasized that more studies are needed, especially following exposure levels over time, before contemplating a ban on the pesticides. Still, he urged parents to be aware of what insecticides they were using around the house and to wash produce.
"A good washing of fruits and vegetables before one eats them would definitely help a lot," he said.

Gameshow Experiment Imitates Nazi Torture, Contestants and Audience LOVE IT!

French contestants torture each other on TV Game of Death

Contestants on a new French game show torture fellow players with electric shocks - zapping one man until he cries for mercy and apparently drops dead - in a controversial programme that has drawn comparisons with Nazi atrocities.

Published: 6:00AM GMT 17 Mar 2010

Link to this video

Like any traditional quiz show, "Le jeu de la mort" (The Game of Death) has a lively audience, a glamorous hostess, and a list of trivia questions for contestants.
However, unlike typical game shows, punishment for wrong answers is a 460-volt electric shock.

To chants of "punishment" from the studio audience, contestants zap their victims who scream in agony and eventually appear to die.
The aim of the experiment - to be aired as a documentary on France 2 TV on Wednesday evening - is to show how the manipulative power of television can push people to ever more outrageous limits.
A team of psychologists recruited 80 volunteers, telling them they were taking part in a pilot for a new television show.
They were instructed to pose questions to another "player", and punish him with up to 460 volts of electricity when he got answers wrong.
Not knowing that the screaming victim was really an actor, the apparently reluctant contestants yielded to the orders of the presenter and audience, who also believed the game was real.
The show's producer, Christophe Nick, said of the 80 participants who agreed to take part in the "game show", only 16 refused to obey orders to inflict pain.
Psychologists said the blind obedience seen on the show was the same as that seen among German soldiers ordered to commit atrocities in the Nazi death camps.
The experiment was modelled on a famous study conducted at Yale University in the 1960s, which used similar methods to examine how obedient citizens could be driven to take part in mass murder.
Jacques Semelin, a psychologist who took part in the documentary, said the participants were made to sign a contract obliging them to obey the presenter's instructions.
"They are obedient, but it's more than mere obedience, because there is also the pressure of the audience and cameras everywhere."
One contestant said after filming that taking part had helped her to understand why her own Jewish grandparents had been tortured by the Nazis.
She said: "Since I was a little girl, I have always asked myself why the Nazis did it and how they could obey such orders? And then there I was, obeying them myself.
"I was worried about the contestant, but at the same time, I was afraid to spoil the programme."

Federal Reserve Bank Sponsors Anti-foreclosure Seminar for Homeowners

How scurrilous can one organization be?

On Saturday, April 24, 2010, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond is scheduled to co-sponsor a free "home preservation clinic" to "help homeowners in risk of foreclosure".  The aforementioned would be laughable if the implications were not of dire circumstance.  For nearly a century the manipulative Federal Reserve institution has progressively embedded itself deeper and deeper into the seat of financial dictation and in doing so, has garnered the near irresistible compulsion of all inhabitants from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The pro-Federal Reserve pr stunt comes in simultaneous opposition to nationwide anti-Federal Reserve protests scheduled in dozens of cities on the very same day. A clever attempt by "the Fed" to schmooze the disaffected homeowners and curb growing public distrust, however as the tides of opposition rush toward the sandcastle of deception and depravity which is the Fed, the waters are likely to squelch any token gesture of the Fed, leaving behind only a murky watery grave filled with worthless electronic I.O.U.s.

Original article/advertisement for the event: (if you are in Richmond or nearby, be there!)

http://www.richmondfed.org/conferences_and_events/community_development/2010/homeownership_preservation_event20100424.cfm

SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND? National Health care Defiles the Republic

It's the law of the land: Health overhaul signed

By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent Jennifer Loven, Ap White House Correspondent 1 hr 51 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Claiming a historic triumph that could define his presidency, a jubilant Barack Obama signed a massive, nearly $1 trillion health care overhaul on Tuesday that will for the first time cement insurance coverage as the right of every U.S. citizen and begin to reshape the way virtually all Americans receive and pay for treatment.

After more than a year of hyperpartisan struggle — and numerous near-death moments for the measure — Obama declared "a new season in America" as he sealed a victory denied to a line of presidents stretching back more than half a century. Democratic lawmakers cheered him on, giving the White House signing ceremony a rally-like atmosphere as they shouted and snapped photos with pocket cameras or cell phones.
Not everyone was cheering. The Democrats pushed the bill through Congress without GOP support, and the Republicans said Tuesday that those Democratic lawmakers would pay dearly in this November's elections. Opinion polls show the public remains skeptical, too, and Obama will fly to Iowa on Thursday for the first of a number of appearances that will be more like a continuing sales job than a victory lap.
Aside from the huge, real-life changes in store for many Americans, the White House hopes the victory — even as a companion Senate "fix-it" bill moves through the Senate — will revitalize an Obama presidency that has been all but preoccupied with health care for his first year and two months in office. Vice President Joe Biden was caught whispering a profanity as he exclaimed to the president what a big deal it was.
Indeed, the reshaping of one-sixth of the U.S. economy, to be phased in over several years, ranks among the biggest changes ever devised by Washington. That was a main complaint from Republicans who characterize the measure as a costly, wrongheaded government power grab. Obama and the Democrats portray it as literally a lifesaver for countless Americans.

Cell Phone Usage Causes Biological Damage

 

Christopher Ketcham: Are cellular
phones safe or unsafe? Yes.

It's unresolved, but we shouldn't be
indifferent to the potential hazard.

By CHRISTOPHER KETCHAM, Los Angeles Times

Last update: March 2, 2010 - 10:42 AM

We love our digital gadgets. But there is
growing evidence of a dark side to the
techno-magic. Your cell phone, and any
other wireless device that depends on
electromagnetic (EM) microwave radiation,
may be hazardous to your health.

Most of the bad news comes from major labs
and research institutions in Europe. They're
reporting that using cell phones and Wi-Fi
transmitters can have biological effects on
the brain and body.

The scientific debate remains heated and far
from resolved. But the research to date
suggests a number of chilling possibilities.

For example, in 2008, neuroscientists at
Swinburne University of Technology in
Australia strapped Nokia phones to subjects'
heads, then turned the phones on and off.
On -- the brain's alpha waves spiked. Off --

 

the brain settled. The researchers speculated
that the effect was the result of the brain
"concentrating to overcome the electrical
interference in brain circuits caused by the
pulsed microwave radiation."

Swedish neuro-oncologist Leif Salford,
chairman of the department of neurosurgery
at Lund University, has found that cell phone
radiation kills brain cells in rats, especially
those cells associated with memory and
learning. The damage occurred after an
exposure of just two hours. Salford also
found that cell phone microwaves produce
holes in the barrier between the circulatory
system and the brain in rats. One potential
outcome is dementia.

Meanwhile, Austrian researchers reported in
2004 that cell phone radiation can induce
double-strand breaks in DNA, one of the
undisputed causes of cancer.

So why isn't this a bigger issue in the United
States? Partly because there are
countervailing studies and other scientists
telling us not to be worried, or that we just
don't know enough to say that the risks are
real.

Consider the biggest study being done on the
question of whether cell phones cause 

Body Scanners Destroy Genetic Code, ACLU FAILS!

"As full-body scanners are implemented at airports and government facilities nationwide, are the people aware of the true danger posed to the health of their liberty and physiology?"

Full-body scanner debuts at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport

Michael Tarm, Associated Press Writer, On Monday March 15, 2010, 6:50 pm EDT

CHICAGO (AP) -- Some air travelers already uneasy about a range of security checks at the nation's second-busiest airport can add another potential anxiety: The first full-body scanner at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport made its debut Monday.

The imaging technology, which effectively sees through clothes by scattering low-dose x-rays at a passenger's front and back, is one of 150 such scanners bought with federal stimulus money last year and now being deployed at major airports across the United States.

"It's another layer -- technology being used to provide a more secure environment," Rosemarie Andolino, the commissioner for Chicago's department of aviation, said Monday during a demonstration of the equipment.
Civil libertarians, however, have complained that the new machines can violate a passenger's privacy.
The Transportation Security Administration has been deploying the body-scanning technology in an effort to ensure that airports can detect hidden explosives and other weapons in the wake of an attempted bombing on Christmas Day. In that case, a Nigerian man is charged with trying to set off explosives that had been hidden in his underwear.

Another Likely Staged Terror Event, Imbecile Shoots Two Police Near Pentagon

 2 Pentagon officers shot near Metro station

Suspect also wounded; feds say shooting not an act of terrorism

The Associated Press

updated 10:06 p.m. ET, Thurs., March. 4, 2010

 

A gunman coolly drew a weapon from his pocket and opened fire at the teeming subway entrance to the Pentagon complex Thursday evening, wounding two police officers before being shot and critically wounded, officials said.

Authorities said all three were taken to a hospital. Richard Keevill, chief of Pentagon police, said the two officers suffered grazing wounds that were not life-threatening.

The suspect, identified as 36-year old John Patrick Bedell, allegedly walked up to a security checkpoint at the Pentagon in an apparent attempt to get inside the Defense Department headquarters, at about 6:40 p.m. "He just reached in his pocket, pulled out a gun and started shooting," Keevill said. "He walked up very cool. He had no real emotion on his face." The Pentagon officers returned fire with semiautomatic weapons.

Of the suspect, the chief said, "His injury is pretty critical."

Three law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation, said authorities were also scrutinizing a second man who may have accompanied the shooting suspect.

Two of the officials said investigators had not yet determined whether that second man had any involvement in the attack.

The rush-hour assault happened outside a massively fortified building that nevertheless is near busy crowds of transit riders.

Government Maligns Swine Flu Criticism with Kooky Concepts

The following TV public service announcement released in early 2010 by the Kentucky Department for Public Health, projects to stifle criticism of the H1N1 vaccination campaign.  The production is at the least appalling, more accurately it is a scandalously heinous advertisement deserving of sharp public decry. A negligent characterization of a voluminous body of medical studies and independent research that unequivocally demonstrates the dangerous nature of the "swine flu" inoculation. What the viewers should be asking is the age old question "Cui bono?" (latin for "Who benefits?"), as to discern why the government is so concerned with pushing this vaccination. Keep mindful, billions of dollars are at risk for the vaccine and insurance companies.

Super Virus Immune to Antibiotics: The Second Wave

Rising Threat of Infections Unfazed by Antibiotics

By ANDREW POLLACK

A minor-league pitcher in his younger days, Richard Armbruster kept playing baseball recreationally into his 70s, until his right hip started bothering him. Last February he went to a St. Louis hospital for what was to be a routine hip replacement.

By late March, Mr. Armbruster, then 78, was dead. After a series of postsurgical complications, the final blow was a bloodstream infection that sent him into shock and resisted treatment with antibiotics.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think my dad would walk in for a hip replacement and be dead two months later,” said Amy Fix, one of his daughters.

Not until the day Mr. Armbruster died did a laboratory culture identify the organism that had infected him: Acinetobacter baumannii.

The germ is one of a category of bacteria that by some estimates are already killing tens of thousands of hospital patients each year. While the organisms do not receive as much attention as the one known as MRSA — for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — some infectious-disease specialists say they could emerge as a bigger threat.
That is because there are several drugs, including some approved in the last few years, that can treat MRSA. But for a combination of business reasons and scientific challenges, the pharmaceuticals industry is pursuing very few drugs for Acinetobacter and other organisms of its type, known as Gram-negative bacteria.

School Spies on Students at Home via State Issued Laptops

School Spies on Students at Home With Webcams: Suit

Administrator remotely activates student's webcam to watch his “improper behavior” at home: lawsuit

By TERESA MASTERSON

Updated 3:29 PM EST, Thu, Feb 18, 2010

James Woodson

A Philadelphia-area school official confronted a student with photographic evidence that he was doing bad things at home. She got her evidence by activating the webcam on the laptop in his house, a lawsuit claims.

Lower Merion School District officials are spying on students and their families inside their homes with Web cameras installed in pupil laptops, claims Blake J. Robbins in a lawsuit against the district.

The lawsuit,  filed Feb. 11, alleges that webcams in personal laptops -- that are issued to every high school student --  can be, and have been, remotely activated by school administrators without a person in the same room as the laptop being the wiser.

Austin Plane Attack Likely Staged Terror

Plane Collides with Office Building in Austin Texas, Pilot's Intentions Magnified by Anti-government Blog Rant!

Initial reports are mixed, some say accidental others claim the attack was intentional.

http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/news/local/021810-small-aircraft-crashes-into-office-building
AUSTIN, TX (myFOXaustin) - A small aircraft plane has crashed into a 7-story office building in North Austin near Mopac and 183. The plane crashed into the Echelon building around 10 a.m. Thursday morning. Police have blocked off access roads around the building.

According to Corp. Scott Perry with APD several federal offices were located inside the building that was struck by the plane. Officials with NTSB say that IRS offices were some of the federal offices.

CBS is reporting that there is "no indication that this was an act of terrorism or otherwise intentional." Oh really? Then how come CNBC is claiming on-air that the man involved set fire to his own house first? And then, Fox News states that the name of the pilot was.... Mr. Joe Stack.

And a highlight of Stack's last words.

I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me,

Green Car Commercial Leads Behavior Modification - Eco Police

Haiti Under Attack by The United Nations Before Quake

The recent devastation in Haiti is but another chapter in the brutal history of the Haitian struggle for independence.  The hurricanes of 2004 and 2008 left the bi-national island that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, in a state of material lack and political upheaval. The United Nations "Peace Keeping Force" has since occupied the Haitian territory to oversee and "assist" with reconstruction efforts.  The UN forces are known to be violent in their oversight, inciting riotous behavior through mismanaged economic programs and malicious treatment of the struggling Haitian people.  The actions of the UN army, as reported in the attached video produced by Journeyman Productions, shows that the United Nations' reconstruction program is really a cloaked eugenics program.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv7oc99y2Ro

Confessions of an Economic Hitman: End game 2010

The United Nations is stopping "aid" to Somalia in response to purported attacks by radical Somalis against UN staff and supply convoys.  The UN has deemed the aggression by the minority Somali groups as unacceptable and subsequently has decided to cease all humanitarian aid to Somalia. The aid currently consists of enough food and medical supplies to subsidize 1,000,000 Somalians.

The decision to withdraw aid invariably will result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of the Somali people. This comes after decades of exploitation by European industrial and financial interests that have targeted the nation's wealthy uranium and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt, and natural gas reserves. Like most countries in the "third-world", this once prosperous and culturally rich nation, was sacked by imperialistic ventures that have bankrupted it through furtive financial lending schemes of the International Monetary Fund. The present state of Somalia has become one of utter dependency upon the "generous" United Nations and now that support is being wrenched from under them, bringing the work of the Economic Hitmen closer to the final goal of population reduction.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-01-05-un-food-somalia_N.htm?csp=34&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-NewsTopStories+%28News+-+Top+Stories%29