Israel Has Been Buying Iranian Oil For Years — And The Israeli Government Has Kept It Secret

Oil Behind Israel’s Iran Links. If you’ve ever wondered about the definition of hypocrisy you’ll find the answer right here. Last month the Swiss foreign minister visited Iran and, together with President Ahmadinejad, attended the signing of a multibillion euro contract for Iran to supply Switzerland with large amounts of natural gas over the next 25 years. The US State Department immediately condemned the deal. Israel complained too, describing the Swiss minister’s visit to Tehran as an “act unfriendly to Israel”. Various Jewish groups also joined in the protests. This righteous indignation was entirely predictable but more than a little odd nevertheless. On March 30, the Swiss newspaper Sonntag retaliated with the revelation that Israel, supposedly observing an ironclad boycott of all things Iranian, has been buying Iranian oil for years. The story is in German but Israeli journalist Shraga Elam has provided me with a translation which I’ll quote from here: “Israel imports Iranian oil on a large scale even though contacts with Iran and purchasing of its products are officially boycotted by Israel. Israel gets around the boycott by having the oil delivered via Europe. A reliable Israeli energy newsletter, EnergiaNews, reported this last week (March 1 … “EnergiaNews got the information about the Iran trade from sources with ties to the management of Israeli Oil Refineries Ltd … According to EnergiaNews the Iranian oil is liked in Israel because its quality is better than other crude oils. “The report by EnergiaNews editor Moshe Shalev states that the Iranian oil reaches various European ports, mainly in Rotterdam. It is bought by Israelis and the necessary European bill of lading and insurance papers are supplied. Then it is transported to Haifa in Israel. The importer is the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Co (EAPC), which keeps its oil sources secret.” EAPC was established in 1968 as a joint Israeli-Iranian company to transport oil from Iran to Europe. After the fall of the Shah, Iran ceased to play an active role in its affairs and there are ongoing legal disputes between the two partners. The Swiss report continued: “It is not clear if the Iranian exporters know about Israeli purchases of their oil. At the other end, the Israeli buyers and governmental offices are well aware of where the high-grade oil comes from, although it is a blatant defiance of the boycott. The EnergiaNews article even made it through Israeli censorship, which asked only for some changes in the text. The fact that the report cleared the censors increases the credibility of the information. In the past, such reports were forbidden. “When questioned by Sonntag, an energy expert of one of the leading Israeli papers confirmed the EnergiaNews report: Israel has been importing Iranian oil for many years. The expert stressed, however, that the purchases were made on the free market and not directly from Iran.” Sonntag quoted a spokesman for Oil Refineries Ltd as denying that his company imports and processes Iranian oil. However, Sonntag pointed to a report in Haaretz newspaper last October which said that an Israeli energy company called Paz would be refining Iranian oil and supplying it to the Palestinian Authority from the start of this year. This begs the question: If Iran is, as Bibi Netanyahu argues, an existential threat to Israel, why does the government allow such trade? Would Israel have the US attack Iran’s nuclear program and provoke a potential regionwide conflict while it cannot seem to wean itself from high quality Iranian crude? You’d think if Israelis are cowering in fear from an Iranian bomb and the arch anti-Semite Ahmadinejad, they wouldn’t want to trade with such an enemy. When is a boycott not a boycott? If Israel doesn’t honor its self-declared boycott of Iran, why should the rest of the world honor its boycott of Hamas and Gaza? If Israel doesn’t honor its own boycott, then why should members of Congress vote with AIPAC when it proposes a measure that even Israel honors only in the breach? It’s interesting to note from a discussion (in Hebrew) on the Kedma website that Israel does not formally define Iran as an “enemy nation” and therefore in a strictly legal sense such trade is permissible. Ironically, Iran too has a boycott against Israel in place and is violating its own measures in that regard. Furthermore, the same commenter notes that Israel last week dismissed attempts to engage Syria in a diplomatic process as a failure because Syria refuses to renounce its ties with Iran. Do I hear the word “hypocrisy”?

http://www.mywire.com/pubs/ArabNews/2008/04/04/6116197/print/

More Criminals Are Patriots — More Patriots Are Criminals

More Criminals Are Patriots — More Patriots Are Criminals

The percentage of recruits requiring a waiver to join the Army because of a criminal record or other past misconduct has more than doubled since 2004 to one for every eight new soldiers. The increase reflects the difficulties the Army faces in attracting young men and women into the military at a time of war. “Each month is a struggle, for the Army in particular,” said Bill Carr, a top military personnel official. CASEY: Deployments strain Army recruiting retention. INCENTIVE: Bonuses boost Reserve’s recruitment. The percentage of active and Reserve Army recruits granted “conduct” waivers for misdemeanor or felony charges increased to 11% last fiscal year from 4.6% in fiscal 2004, according to Army Recruiting Command statistics. So far this fiscal year, which began last October, 13% of recruits have entered the Army with conduct waivers. Most waivers involve misdemeanors. The Army has granted 4,676 conduct waivers among the 36,047 recruited from October through late February. The waivers have helped the Army meet its active and Reserve recruitment goals of about 100,000 people a year for the past several years. A recruit needs a waiver if he or she has one felony or serious misdemeanor or more than three minor misdemeanors. For example, a single charge of possessing marijuana or driving under the influence requires a waiver. Minor infractions include disorderly conduct, trespassing or vandalism. No exceptions can be made for a number of serious offenses, including sexual crimes or offenses related to drug or alcohol addiction. Carr and others say the military has granted waivers without hurting the quality of recruits. Exceptions are granted after examining recommendations from teachers, coaches and others. “We don’t look at them unless their community stands behind them,” Carr said. In another shift in the backgrounds of new Army personnel, the percentage of high school graduates among Army recruits was 79% last year, compared with 91% in 2001. Recruits who have come in with waivers generally perform better than peers who haven’t needed special permission to join the Army, Carr said. “When you have people volunteering that have made some mistakes in their life, you give them fair consideration,” said Frank Shaffery, deputy director of the Army’s Recruiting Command. The Air Force and Navy, smaller forces which have fewer troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, generally haven’t faced the same recruiting pressures. Waivers for the Marine Corps have remained relatively flat for the past four years, according to Pentagon data.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-04-06-Waiver_N.htm

Female Soldiers In Iraq Are More Likely To Be Raped By Fellow Soldiers Than Killed By The Enemy

Female Soldiers In Iraq Are More Likely To Be Raped By Fellow Soldiers Than Killed By The Enemy

Rapists in the ranks. The stories are shocking in their simplicity and brutality: A female military recruit is pinned down at knife point and raped repeatedly in her own barracks. Her attackers hid their faces but she identified them by their uniforms; they were her fellow soldiers. During a routine gynecological exam, a female soldier is attacked and raped by her military physician. Yet another young soldier, still adapting to life in a war zone, is raped by her commanding officer. Afraid for her standing in her unit, she feels she has nowhere to turn. These are true stories, and, sadly, not isolated incidents. Women serving in the U.S. military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq. The scope of the problem was brought into acute focus for me during a visit to the West Los Angeles VA Healthcare Center, where I met with female veterans and their doctors. My jaw dropped when the doctors told me that 41% of female veterans seen at the clinic say they were victims of sexual assault while in the military, and 29% report being raped during their military service. They spoke of their continued terror, feelings of helplessness and the downward spirals many of their lives have since taken. Numbers reported by the Department of Defense show a sickening pattern. In 2006, 2,947 sexual assaults were reported — 73% more than in 2004. The DOD’s newest report, released this month, indicates that 2,688 reports were made in 2007, but a recent shift from calendar-year reporting to fiscal-year reporting makes comparisons with data from previous years much more difficult. The Defense Department has made some efforts to manage this epidemic — most notably in 2005, after the media received anonymous e-mail messages about sexual assaults at the Air Force Academy. The media scrutiny and congressional attention that followed led the DOD to create the Sexual Assault and Response Office. Since its inception, the office has initiated education and training programs, which have improved the reporting of cases of rapes and other sexual assaults. But more must be done to prevent attacks and to increase accountability. At the heart of this crisis is an apparent inability or unwillingness to prosecute rapists in the ranks. According to DOD statistics, only 181 out of 2,212 subjects investigated for sexual assault in 2007, including 1,259 reports of rape, were referred to courts-martial, the equivalent of a criminal prosecution in the military. Another 218 were handled via nonpunitive administrative action or discharge, and 201 subjects were disciplined through “nonjudicial punishment,” which means they may have been confined to quarters, assigned extra duty or received a similar slap on the wrist. In nearly half of the cases investigated, the chain of command took no action; more than a third of the time, that was because of “insufficient evidence.” This is in stark contrast to the civilian trend of prosecuting sexual assault. In California, for example, 44% of reported rapes result in arrests, and 64% of those who are arrested are prosecuted, according to the California Department of Justice. The DOD must close this gap and remove the obstacles to effective investigation and prosecution. Failure to do so produces two harmful consequences: It deters victims from reporting, and it fails to deter offenders. The absence of rigorous prosecution perpetuates a culture tolerant of sexual assault — an attitude that says “boys will be boys.” I have raised the issue with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Although I believe that he is concerned, thus far, the military’s response has been underwhelming — and the apparent lack of urgency is inexcusable. Congress is not doing much better. Although these sexual assault statistics are readily available, our oversight has failed to come to grips with the magnitude of the crisis. The abhorrent and graphic nature of the reports may make people uncomfortable, but that is no excuse for inaction. Congressional hearings are urgently needed to highlight the failure of existing policies. Most of our servicewomen and men are patriotic, courageous and hardworking people who embody the best of what it means to be an American. The failure to address military sexual assault runs counter to those ideals and shames us all.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-harman31mar31,0,5399612.story

Man Arrested For Making Counterfeit $20 Bills

Beware Of $50 Bill Counterfeit Scam
Be On The Lookout For Counterfeit Cash In Valley
Brookline Man Faces Counterfeiting Charge
Orange County Traffic Stop Leads To Counterfeit Money Bust

.. ..the bills range from $5 to $100.. ..the bills may be connected to an organized counterfeiting ring.. ..bills were exchanged in high-traffic services such as gas stations, where workers are in a hurry to move customers along.. ..real bills also should have raised printed ink.. ..businesses and residents are being warned about a counterfeit bill scam.. ..real $5 bills are being doctored to look like $50 bills.. ..some of the fake bills are accurate re-creations.. ..most of the bills were passed in dimly lit places such as bars.. ..real bills should have visible red and blue fibers.. ..counterfeit bills being passsed at fast food restaurants and mini marts.. ..the bills will still pass the counterfeit detection pen test.. ..manufacturing counterfeit currency.. ..

[1]
http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=584ea07b-dcff-4baf-a6b3-16dc02be8ed9&rss=795
[2]
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080326/NEWS/803260311/-1/rss14
[3]
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/crime/stories/MYSA032108.counterfeiting.KENS.12d86019.html
[4]
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_558691.html?source=rss&feed=7
[5]
http://www.theolympian.com/breakingnews/story/398024.html

POLL — Temperature and Molten Metal on 9/11

Do you believe that at the end of September 11, the temperature at the base of the Twin Towers and the temperature at the base of WTC7, was almost the same?
http://www.vizu.com/poll-vote.html?n=83240

Do you believe there was molten metal at the base of the Twin Towers?
http://www.vizu.com/poll-vote.html?n=83238

Do you believe there was molten metal at the base of WTC7?
http://www.vizu.com/poll-vote.html?n=83239

Will The Real Conspiracy Nuts Please Stand Up

August 2006 — I have some friends who are conspiracy nuts. They believe, for example, that on 9/11 some clown named Osama bin Laden picked up his cell phone in a cave in Afghanistan and directed 19 Muslims, none of them professional pilots, to hijack four airliners and fly them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, thereby bringing down three steel-skeleton skyscrapers, the only time in world history that has ever happened. A humdinger of a conspiracy, that one. My conspiracy nut friends know it’s true because they have it on good authority — George Bush told them so. These conspiracy nuts also believe Osama is part of some mysterious worldwide “terrorist” organization of “Islamic fascists” that hates us because of our freedoms and democracy, and have enough power to destroy us — despite our thousands of nuclear warheads, ships, warplanes, tanks, and countless men under arms. A fearsome enemy, to be sure, as President Bush frequently tells us. For once, I agree with George Bush; 9/11 was a conspiracy. We just disagree on who was involved in that conspiracy. That is, we MAY disagree — if he really believes what he told us. In other words, whether or not he was in or out of the loop. 9/11 was an inside job. The facts are indisputable. There was no way that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda could have pulled it off, or at least pulled it off without help. Official story — AKA Alternative Reality. Let’s examine some of the absurdities that official government story on 9/11 would have us believe: Nineteen hijackers were sent to the U.S., some of them taking flying lessons, apparently because Al Qaeda couldn’t find any trained pilots. They didn’t bother with aliases. One of them leaves his copy of the Koran at a bar, some of the others leave flight manuals in Arabic in parked cars. They use undetected box cutters to overwhelm the crew and passengers of four different airliners and then engage in some miraculous precision flying to crash two of them into the WTC and one into the Pentagon. The fourth crashes into a field. President Bush, meanwhile, is reading to some school kids when he is told about the hijackings. With the United States apparently under attack, he seems unconcerned and stays with the kids for quite some time. Though the whole sequence of events takes more than an hour, none of the hijacked planes are intercepted, or even seen, by the Air Force. The WTC South Tower collapses less than an hour after it was struck by one lone airplane; the North Tower falls in less than two hours. A third building, unhit by planes, falls later. If you believe all of this, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. Back in the Real World. The official story is so absurd on the surface that we have to consider some more realistic possibilities. There are really only three others, although they have hundreds of variations. 1) Incompetence: Everybody just goofed — from intelligence agencies to the Air Force. 2) They knew but … Various people in power knew about the plot, the conspiracy, but they let it happen. 3) It was an inside job. Number one is a nonstarter. It is impossible to believe in such massive incompetence. If our intelligence agencies and military and political establishments were that incompetent, the country would have fallen years ago. Number two is a bit more plausible. If the neocons currently in power knew about the Al Qaeda plot, they might have decided to let it go ahead in order to serve their own purposes; a war on Iraq, for example. A bit more plausible, but not very persuasive. It still assumes some of the most absurd aspects of the official story. Number three is the scenario of choice. Let’s briefly examine just a couple of the problems with the official fantasy. Our Missing Air Force The Air Force is protecting the United States with the most advanced fighter planes in the world. But on 9/11, planes that routinely fly at close to 2000 miles an hour, somehow couldn’t catch up with airliners that fly at one quarter the speed. The official fairy tale talks of war games, communications mix-up between the FAA and NORAD, fighters out of position in training exercises, etc. No matter how you slice it, it’s still baloney. While planes were flying into the WTC towers, F-15s from Otis Air Force Base were sent off Long Island and ordered to remain in a holding pattern. Why weren’t they ordered to protect New York? For the hour that the plane that supposedly hit the Pentagon was under the control of hijackers, military officials in a command center on the east side of the building were urgently talking to law enforcement and air traffic control officials about what to do. In the end, they did nothing. Why? If we can’t protect the Pentagon from attack, no place in the country is safe. You Canna’ Change the Laws of Physics! We are told that both the North and South World Trade Center towers collapsed because of the plane impacts and fires. The “pancake” theory explains this — i.e., each floor fell on the one below until the building is totally destroyed. The trouble with this, it’s physically impossible. The burning kerosene from the plane’s fuel tanks does not create a hot enough fire to melt the steel skeletons of a modern skyscraper. No skyscraper in the world has ever collapsed from a fire, not even buildings that burned for days. You can get tangled up in conflicting expert opinion. But the opinions that allow for this kind of collapse are so tortured that they defy reason, logic, and common sense. And even then, they are defeated by the simple fact that all three buildings — the two hit by planes and the one that wasn’t — fell at near freefall speed, impossible for a pancaking building. Each floor would be slowed as it hit the one below, appreciably lengthening the building collapse. Then you have the minor but vexing problem, of course, that each building fell so perfectly within its own footprint. The only way the buildings could have fallen the way they did was through controlled demolition. In short, they were blown up. Who Did It? The fact that it was an inside job is evident. There was enormous expertise involved. Beyond that, is impossible to know. We don’t have the facts to point to anybody. And we’ll never have those facts, if there is not a real serious investigation. That yet isn’t in the cards. While there is a great deal of skepticism about the official story, the corporate media flatly refuses to examine it. And that isn’t likely to change soon. But, as Fox Mulder said, the truth is out there. We have to look for it. Read some books about 9/11. The corporate media refuses to review books that challenge the official line, but you can find them in bookstores. Try Towers of Deception; The Media Cover up of 9/11 by Barrie Zwicker. There are a dozen major websites that are seeking the truth about 9/11. Look at them, study the evidence, and demand that your congressman and senators do something. They won’t, of course, but we have to start somewhere. Unless, of course, you prefer living in the Land of Oz.

[1]
http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=702
[2]
http://wtc7.net/
[3]
http://www.orwelltoday.com/reader911conspiracy.shtml

Points to debate:

(a)
Are all conspiracy theorists “kooks” or “tin-foil-hatters”?
(b)
Have there ever been any real conspiracies in history?
(c)
Are some conspiracy theories more probable than other conspiracy theories?
(d)
Are conspiracy theorists always wrong, or are they sometimes right?
(e)
When the local sheriff suspects murder, is he a conspiracy theorist?

Homeschooling — An Issue On Which Parents Have Strong Feelings

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell comes to the defense of homeschool families. “The California Department of Education policy will not change in any way as a result of this ruling. Parents still have the right to homeschool in this state,” he said. After the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District in Los Angeles ruled on February 28 that parents had to be credentialed teachers to educate their own children, the statement from O’Connell is encouraging news for the homeschool community. “O’Connell has it right,” said Michael Farris, Chairman of HSLDA. “But the court decision must still be overturned before homeschool freedom can be restored in California.” The Court of Appeal ruling shocked the homeschool community because in one sweeping decision it effectively outlawed homeschooling. “We hope the statement from O’Connell puts the brakes on any enforcement action,” said Farris. HSLDA will be pursuing several legal options, including seeking review by the California Supreme Court and petitioning the same court to depublish the opinion in order to return California to being a state where a family can legally homeschool in California without fear. “We have just started the legal battle to restore homeschool freedom in California,” said Farris.

[01]
http://returnoftheconservatives.blogspot.com/2008/03/california-state-superintendent.html
[02]
http://www.maxpreps.com/FanPages/Content/Article.mxp/ArticleID-f9114722-fc33-4693-8947-cc772d53bb70
[03]
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080316/31537_Court_Asked_to_Reconsider_Homeschool_Ruling.htm
[04]
http://www.redcounty.com/placercountyca/2008/03/ted-gaines-update-leadership-o/
[05]
http://toleavealegacy.wordpress.com/2008/03/15/the-criminalization-of-parents-homeschooling-in-california/
[06]
http://charleystar.typepad.com/charley_star/2008/03/protect-homesch.html
[07]
http://backwaterreport.com/?p=874
[08]
http://offthecuff.lurasbookcase.com/2008/03/14/calif-judge-crime-to-homeschool-kids-without-credentials/
[09]
http://noisyroom.net/blog/2008/03/14/congress-outraged-by-california-homeschool-case/
[10]
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0%2C8599%2C1721703%2C00.html
[11]
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art56053.asp

Witches In America — Salem, Massachussetts, New England, 1692

It’s Possible There Were Witches In New England In 1692 — But It’s Unlikely All The Women Who Were Hanged Were Witches

[01]
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/
[02]
http://members.aol.com/WARLOCK92/
[03]
http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/salemwitchtrials/
[04]
http://www.curriculumunits.com/crucible/background/framestimeline.htm
[05]
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/salem.htm
[06]
http://www.geocities.com/salemwitches_ca/
[07]
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/salem/
[08]
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM
[09]
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/salem/
[10]
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_salem/
[11]
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nwa/witch.html
[12]
http://www.salemweb.com/guide/witches.shtml
[13]
http://www.salemwitch.com/
[14]
http://www.salemwitchmuseum.com/
[15]
http://www.witchvox.com/basics/salemtrials.html

Everything (Almost Everything) You Wanted To Know About Foreclosure But Were Afraid To Ask

[1]
http://www.all-foreclosure.com/
[2]
http://www.hud.gov/foreclosure/index.cfm
[3]
http://www.realtytrac.com/foreclosure/overview.html
[4]
http://www.stopping-foreclosures.com/stop-home-foreclosure.html
[5]
http://www.larcc.org/pamphlets/housing/about_foreclosure.htm
[6]
http://www.foreclosurefish.com/blog/index.php?id=317
[7]
http://www.biggerpockets.com/foreclosure-process.html
[8]
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/07/real_estate/foreclosures_money_0603/index.htm
[9]
http://market.defaultresearch.com/

Article I, Section 5, The Constitution of the United States of America

Closure Of A Rare Sort

Last time the U.S. House of Representatives did this, the beloved television show “M.A.S.H.” was ending its run, the “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign was starting and “The Big Chill” was breeding baby boomer self-examination. It was July 1983 that the House last closed its doors to keep the public from hearing a session. And that was only the third time since 1830 it had done so. Thursday night’s hourlong session was the fourth. The House closed its doors to listen to secret aspects of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — the law that has, in recent years, been tweaked to support an ongoing domestic surveillance program. Before today’s planned public debate on reactivating an expired portion of FISA, a senior Republican congressman requested the secret session. Article 1, Section 5 of the Constitution says Congress can talk about something in private, such as impeachment plans or matters of national security, when the topic “may in their Judgment require Secrecy.” In its first several decades, the House routinely held secret meetings. But the practice ceased around 1830. In 1979, a Panama Canal discussion was closed, and in 1980 the House secretly talked about aid to Central America. The last time, in 1983, the topic was paramilitary operations in Nicaragua. Before the House went into its secret hour, members debated the idea of the session on the House floor. Onetime presidential hopeful Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D- Ohio, refused to support it. “What would conceivably be the nature of the debate?” he asked Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D- Maryland. “I can’t tell you that, because I don’t know,” Hoyer said. The information discussed, according to Minority Whip Roy Blunt, included secret points that had already been shared with the intelligence committee, which routinely hears classified and sensitive information. “It’s not a political ploy,” the Missouri Republican said. “I did have some information that I thought would help the debate.” Some members said they were suspicious about the timing of the closed meeting, on the eve of a debate on the controversial bill. Others simply didn’t like the message it sends. “This is the citadel of free speech,” Kucinich said. “Once we close that up, we’re changing the nature of it.”" “I’m not going to attend such a session,” he declared.

[1]
http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-caucus0314.artmar14,0,4615303.story
[2]
http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/art1frag19_user.html
[3]
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articlei.html

> PDF > http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RS20145.pdf

Haiti Goes Hungry, Food Rots At Its Ports, Shipments Back Up In Miami

While millions of Haitians go hungry, containers full of food are stacking up in the nation’s ports because of government red tape - leaving tons of beans, rice and other staples to rot under a sweltering sun or be devoured by vermin. A government attempt to clean up a corrupt port system that has helped make Haiti a major conduit for Colombian cocaine has added new layers of bureaucracy - and led to backlogs so severe they are being felt 600 miles away in Miami, where cargo shipments to Haiti have ground almost to a standstill. The problems are depriving desperate people of donated food. Some are so poor they are forced to eat cookies made of dirt, salt and vegetable oil to satisfy their hunger. An Associated Press investigation found the situation is most severe in Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second-largest city. One recent afternoon, garbage men shoveled a pile of rotting pinto beans that had turned gray and crumbled to dust as cockroaches and beetles scurried about. The men had found the putrid cargo by following a stench through stacked shipping containers to one holding 40,000 pounds of beans. It had been in port since November. “So many times, by the time the food gets out of customs it’s expired and we’re forced to burn it,” said Susie Scott Krabacher, whose Colorado-based Mercy and Sharing Foundation has worked in Haiti for 14 years. “The food is there. It is available. It just can’t get to the people.” Though it is unclear how much of Haiti’s food supply is tied up in the port delays, the effects could be serious. Haiti imports about 75 percent of its food supply, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

[1]
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/mar/07/na-red-tape-stops-desperately-needed-food-in-haiti/?news-nationworld
[2]
http://www.kgan.com/template/inews_wire/wires.international/2c84b586-www.kgan.com.shtml
[3]
http://www.miamiherald.com/top_stories/story/447268.html
[4]
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20080307_Corrupt_port_system_stops_Haiti_food_aid_Bribery_and_customs_paperwork_are_keeping_goods_from_millions_of_poor__hungry_people_.html
[5]
http://povertynewsblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/poor-haitians-resort-to-eating-dirt.html
[6]
http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/world/2008/2/17/27052/Haiti-nears-grim-future-without-trees-as-efforts-to-halt
[7]
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080205/business/business4.html

New Minnesota Legislation Requires Lenders To Defer Foreclosures On Subprime Loans

Americans’ percentage of equity in their homes fell below 50 percent for the first time on record in the final quarter of last year while home foreclosures soared to an all-time high, according to a pair of reports released Thursday. The news underscored the suffering of distressed U.S. homeowners and the growing danger the housing meltdown poses for the economy. Homeowners’ portion of equity slipped to a downwardly revised 49.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007, the central bank reported in its quarterly U.S. Flow of Funds Accounts, and declined further to 47.9 percent in the fourth quarter - the third straight quarter it was under 50 percent. That marks the first time homeowners’ debt on their houses exceeds their equity since the Fed started tracking the data in 1945. The total value of equity also fell for the third straight quarter to $9.65 trillion from a downwardly revised $9.93 trillion in the third quarter. Home equity, which is equal to the percentage of a home’s market value minus mortgage-related debt, has steadily decreased even as home prices jumped earlier this decade due to a surge in cash-out refinances, home equity loans and lines of credit and an increase in 100 percent or more home financing. Economists expect this figure to drop even further as declining home prices eat into the value of most Americans’ single largest asset. Moody’s Economy.com estimates that 8.8 million homeowners, or about 10.3 percent of homes, will have zero or negative equity by the end of the month. Even more disturbing, about 13.8 million households, or 15.9 percent, will be “upside down” if prices fall 20 percent from their peak. The latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index showed U.S. home prices plunging 8.9 percent in the final quarter of 2007 compared with a year ago, the steepest decline in the 20-year history of the index. A report from the Mortgage Bankers Association on Thursday said that home foreclosures skyrocketed to an all-time high in the final quarter of last year. The proportion of all mortgages nationwide that fell into foreclosure surged to a record of 0.83 percent, while the percentage of adjustable-rate mortgages to borrowers with risky credit that entered the foreclosure process soared to a record of 5.29 percent. Experts expect foreclosures to rise as more homeowners struggle with adjusting rates on their mortgages, making their monthly payments unaffordable. Problems in the credit markets and eroding home values are making it harder to refinance out of unmanageable loans. The threat of so-called “mortgage walkers,” or homeowners who can afford their payments but decide not to pay, also increases as home values depreciate and equity diminishes. Banks and credit-rating agencies already are seeing early evidence of this. On Tuesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested lenders reduce loan amounts to provide relief to beleaguered homeowners. While the Bush administration has no plans to do more to address the situation, CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason reports that Congressman Barney Frank, head of the Financial Services Committee, will introduce legislation next week to help lenders who agree to reduce the principal on delinquent loans for borrowers who could then afford to pay. “If you insist on not doing anything at all to help them, they’re not the only ones who will suffer. The whole economy will,” Frank said. In Minnesota, legislators aren’t waiting for outside help, reports Mason. They’ve introduced legislation to require lenders to defer foreclosures on subprime loans for a year. The worsening foreclosure and late payment figures come as fears grow that the country is teetering on the edge of a recession or in one already. The wave of foreclosures threatens to deepen the already severely depressed housing market. The homes people are forced out of add to the big glut of unsold homes already on the market. That forces even more cutbacks by homebuilders, taking a big bite out of national economic activity. Harder-to-get credit, meanwhile, has thwarted would-be home buyers, aggravating problems in the housing market. Homeowners with spotty credit histories or low incomes who took out higher-risk subprime adjustable-rate mortgages have suffered the most distress as the housing market went from boom to bust. Initially low interest rates that reset to much higher rates have clobbered these borrowers. With home values dragged down by the slump, many borrowers were left with mortgages that eclipsed the value of their homes. “Declining home prices are clearly the driving factor behind foreclosures, but the reasons and magnitude of the declines differ from state to state,” Duncan said.

[1]
http://wjz.com/business/home.foreclosure.record.2.670801.html
[2]
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/11/foreclosureredemptions/?rsssource=1
[3]
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/nyregion/03foreclose.html?ex=1362200400&en=e96e1f00e19f5a5c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
[4]
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/Fed_chief_urges_foreclosure_aid.html
[5]
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/03-06-2008/0004769033&EDATE=

Legalized Human-Robot Marriages

People Of Massachusetts To Be Having Sex With Robots (sexbots) By 2012

MSNBC is running a report on the impending likelihood of legalized marital relations with robots. They have word from a leading researcher at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, Dr. Levy, who seems to think peeps will be getting freaky with their robots by 2012, with marriage following by 2050. One thing is for sure; Gizmodo shall be supporting the revolution all the way! Dr. Levy said: “Once you have a story like ‘I had sex with a robot, and it was great!’ appear someplace like Cosmo magazine, I’d expect many people to jump on the bandwagon.” We are thinking you could probably drop the phrase “with a robot,” as well as the blurb after the exclamation mark, and still have us convinced. Dr. Levy goes on to suggest that Massachusetts will be the first state to contain a robot-human sexing population. He justifies his theory by stating: “Massachusetts is more liberal than most other jurisdictions in the United States and has been at the forefront of same-sex marriage.” Though we aren’t too sure the reasoning is sound, we have already seen Roomba owners gaining an emotional attachment to their machines. Whether they will be putting their winkles in the Roomba’s dinkle and allowing it to have a tinkle, we very much doubt. However, if sexbots get this real (NSFW), well, perhaps the ethics of robosexuals is a serious debate, after all. If that was a bit too technical for you, don’t hit up the link for a more detailed overview of the human-robot emotional landscape and its likely evolution.

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/robot-sex/people-of-massachusetts-to-be-having-sex-with-robots-by-2012-310568.php

California Court Threatens Homeschoolers

The war on homeschooling is a longstanding one. Parents who take their children’s education into their own hands threaten the creaking, bloated public school monopoly here at home and abroad. The HS community is buzzing about the latest salvo in the war–a troubling ruling in California that imposes credentialing requirements on parents: Parents who lack teaching credentials cannot educate their children at home, according to a state appellate court ruling that is sending waves of fear through California’s home schooling families. Advocates for the families vowed to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court. Enforcement until then appears unlikely, but if the ruling stands, home-schooling supporters say California will have the most regressive law in the nation. “This decision is a direct hit against every home schooler in California,” said Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which represents the Sunland Christian School, which specializes in religious home schooling. “If the state Supreme Court does not reverse this . . . there will be nothing to prevent home-school witch hunts from being implemented in every corner of the state of California.” The institute estimates there are as many as 166,000 California students who are home schooled. State Department of Education officials say there is no way to know the true number. Unlike at least 30 other states, home schooling is not specifically addressed in California law. Under the state education code, students must be enrolled in a public or private school, or can be taught at home by a credentialed tutor. The California Department of Education currently allows home schooling as long as parents file paperwork with the state establishing themselves as small private schools, hire credentialed tutors or enroll their children in independent study programs run by charter or private schools or public school districts while still teaching at home. California does little to enforce those provisions and insists it is the local school districts’ responsibility. In addition, state education officials say some parents home school their children without the knowledge of any entity. Home schoolers and government officials have largely accepted this murky arrangement. “This works so well, I don’t see any reason to change it,” said J. Michael Smith, president of the Virginia-based Home School Legal Defense Assn. From the court opinion (the full PDF is here): “Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children,” wrote Justice H. Walter Croskey in a Feb. 28 opinion signed by the two other members of the district court. “Parents who fail to [comply with school enrollment laws] may be subject to a criminal complaint against them, found guilty of an infraction, and subject to imposition of fines or an order to complete a parent education and counseling program.” Homeschooling parents of more than 166,000 children in California could face criminal charges. Government monopolies die hard. *** The Pacific Justice Institute is defending the homeschoolers. More here. Details about the family: The appellate court ruling stems from a case involving Lynwood parents Phillip and Mary Long, who were repeatedly referred to the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services over various allegations, including claims of physical abuse, involving some of their eight children. All of the children are currently or had been enrolled in Sunland Christian School, where they would occasionally take tests, but were educated in their home by their mother, Phillip Long said. A lawyer appointed to represent two of the Long’s young children requested that the court require them to physically attend a public or private school where adults could monitor their well-being. A trial court disagreed, but the children’s lawyer appealed to the 2nd District Court of Appeal, which has jurisdiction over Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The appellate panel ruled that Sunland officials’ occasional monitoring of the Longs’ home schooling — with the children taking some tests at the school — is insufficient to qualify as being enrolled in a private school. Since Mary Long does not have a teaching credential, the family is violating state laws, the ruling said. *** Homeschoolers point out that the ruling could have serious implications for families considering withdrawing from California public schools over SB777, which critics say is a mandate for left-wing sexual indoctrination. Stay tuned. *** Update: Gabriel Malor says homeschoolers and bloggers like me are overreacting to the ruling. The Home School Legal Defense Association, whose legal counsels have been battling the anti-homeschooling forces for decades, weighs in and sees plenty of cause for alarm: On February 28, 2008, the California Court of Appeals issued a ruling in a juvenile court proceeding that declared that almost all forms of homeschooling in California are in violation of state law. (Private tutoring by certified teachers remains an option.) Moreover, the court ruled that parents possess no constitutional right to homeschool their children. This family was not a member of Home School Legal Defense Association. They were represented by court-appointed counsel throughout the proceeding. Since it was by law a confidential proceeding, to the best of our knowledge neither HSLDA nor any other legal advocacy organization had any knowledge that the right of all homeschoolers in California was depending upon the outcome of this family’s case. There are two appellate options at this time. First, we have been told that the family is appealing this decision to the California Supreme Court with their California counsel. HSLDA will file an amicus brief on behalf of our 13,500 member families in California. We will argue that a proper interpretation of California statutes makes it clear that parents may legally teach their own children under the private-school exemption. However, if the court disagrees with our statutory argument, we will argue that the California statutes as interpreted by the Court of Appeal violate the constitutional rights of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children. HSLDA welcomes other organizations and persons to assist with the amicus process so that a full defense of home education, religious freedom, and parental rights can be given to the California Supreme Court. The second appellate option is to seek to have this particular decision “depublished.” Depublication is a decision that can only be made by the California Supreme Court. If the Court determines that the decision should stand, regarding this family, on the facts presented, but that the general pronouncements of law for all of homeschooling should not be determined by this case, then the Court has the option of “depublishing” the Court of Appeal’s decision. This would mean that the case is not binding precedent in California and has no effect on any other family. HSLDA will take the lead in an effort to seek to have this case depublished. Homeschooling has offered a great opportunity for families to give their children a quality education with a moral and philosophical approach that is consistent with each family’s beliefs. The ability to homeschool freely in California should not depend upon one family in a closed-door proceeding. All families should have the right to be heard since the rights of all are clearly at stake.

[01]
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/03/06/california-court-threatens-homeschoolers/
[02]
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=69235
[03]
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58205
[04]
http://bendegrow.com/2008/liberal-activist-judge-threatens-to-criminalize-homeschool-parents/
[05]
http://www.townhall.com/blog/g/07b75e8a-e1d0-4c4b-99ae-4d9c02751e3d
[06]
http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2008/03/anyone-following-closely-recent-court.html
[07]
http://happymills.com/2008/03/06/homeschooling-under-fire-in-california/
[08]
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000006717.cfm
[09]
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=22862
[10]
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=22858

Who are they trying to fool with the official account of 9/11? ____ pick TWO answers

http://www.vizu.com/poll-vote.html?n=79702