Eeyores News and View

Wind spreads disease faster than thought CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - Plant and human diseases that travel with the wind can spread more quickly than previously believed, according to a study at Oregon State University and elsewhere. The findings cause concern not only for some human diseases but also a new fungus that threatens global wheat production. The research concludes that invading diseases do not always progress in an orderly, constant rate and that some airborne pathogens can actually accelerate as they move. "It's now becoming clear that some types of diseases can spread more rapidly and widely than we anticipated," said Chris Mundt, a professor of plant pathology at OSU. "This makes it especially important, in some cases, to stop a spreading disease quickly if you hope to stop it at all." The studies explain, in part, how West Nile Virus spread so rapidly across the United States when experts had been expecting a slower movement. They help analyze the progression of some historic disease problems, such as the potato blight that led to the Irish potato famine of the mid-1840s. And they suggest that a new fungal wheat pathogen that emerged a few years ago in Uganda may be a bigger threat to world production than first thought. Mundt, an international expert on pathogens of several important food crops, has studied wheat stem rust for years. "If we didn't have crops that could resist wheat stem rust, we pretty much wouldn't have a wheat industry," Mundt said. "From this pathogen we've learned a lot about plant disease resistance in general. "And this new study confirms that it is crucial to get prepared for the rapid spread of a new variety of wheat stem rust that appeared in Uganda in 1999." The new wheat stem rust, Mundt said, could attack 75 percent of the world's known wheat varieties, and in a bad year might cause up to 50 percent crop losses in some areas. "We don't want to suggest that the sky is falling, but major losses could occur if the right set of conditions converges," Mundt said. "This is something that we shouldn't take a chance on. It's already spread to Iran, and the new research shows that its global spread may be about to pick up speed." He said there is little time to waste. "This wheat disease problem could be global within a few years," Mundt said. "We would be foolish to ignore it." Most plant and animal diseases spread by contact or proximity tend to move in a fairly predictable way, researchers say. But some carried by wind-carried spores or migrating birds can spread rapidly. From 2004-06 the avian bird flu spread across parts of Africa, Europe and Asia through migrating birds. From New York City in 1999, the West Nile Virus spread across most of North America within three years. "It was surprising to see how closely the spread of very different plant, animal and human diseases followed the same mathematical relationship," Mundt said. "This is giving us a better ability to predict how various types of diseases may move, and hopefully prepare for them." The study was published recently in The American Naturalist, a professional journal.
http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/story/Wind-spreads-disease-faster-than-thought/Z2Huv2Xm5UO3KPFJmMd2jw.cspx

Canadians find vast computer spy network: report WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Canadian researchers have uncovered a vast electronic spying operation that infiltrated computers and stole documents from government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, The New York Times reported on Saturday. In a report provided to the newspaper, a team from the Munk Center for International Studies in Toronto said at least 1,295 computers in 103 countries had been breached in less than two years by the spy system, which it dubbed GhostNet. Embassies, foreign ministries, government offices and the Dalai Lama's Tibetan exile centers in India, Brussels, London and New York were among those infiltrated, said the researchers, who have detected computer espionage in the past. They found no evidence U.S. government offices were breached. The researchers concluded that computers based almost exclusively in China were responsible for the intrusions, although they stopped short of saying the Chinese government was involved in the system, which they described as still active. "We're a bit more careful about it, knowing the nuance of what happens in the subterranean realms," said Ronald Deibert, a member of the Munk research group, based at the University of Toronto. "This could well be the CIA or the Russians. It's a murky realm that we're lifting the lid on." A spokesman for the Chinese Consulate in New York dismissed the idea China was involved. "These are old stories and they are nonsense," the spokesman, Wenqi Gao, told the Times. "The Chinese government is opposed to and strictly forbids any cybercrime." The Toronto researchers began their sleuthing after a request from the office of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, to examine its computers for signs of malicious software, or malware. The network they found possessed remarkable "Big Brother-style" capabilities, allowing it, among other things, to turn on the camera and audio-recording functions of infected computers for potential in-room monitoring, the report said. The system was focused on the governments of South Asian and Southeast Asian nations as well as on the Dalai Lama, the researchers said, adding that computers at the Indian Embassy in Washington were infiltrated and a NATO computer monitored. The report will be published in Information Warfare Monitor, an online publication linked to the Munk Center. At the same time, two computer researchers at Cambridge University in Britain who worked on the part of the investigation related to the Tibetans are releasing an independent report, the Times said. They do fault China and warned that other hackers could adopt similar tactics, the Times added. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090328/ts_nm/us_security_spying_computers

DHS Signals Policy Changes Ahead for Immigration Raids By Spencer S. Hsu Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, March 29, 2009; 1:19 PM Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has delayed a series of proposed immigration raids and other enforcement actions at U.S. workplaces in recent weeks, asking agents in her department to apply more scrutiny to the selection and investigation of targets as well as the timing of raids, federal officials said. A senior department official said the delays signal a pending change in whom agents at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement choose to prosecute -- increasing the focus on businesses and executives instead of ordinary workers. "ICE is now scrutinizing these cases more thoroughly to ensure that [targets] are being taken down when they should be taken down, and that the employer is being targeted and the surveillance and the investigation is being done how it should be done," said the official, discussing Napolitano's views about sensitive law enforcement matters on the condition of anonymity. "There will be a change in policy, but in the interim, you've got to scrutinize the cases coming up," the senior DHS official said, noting Napolitano's expectations as a former federal prosecutor and state attorney general. Another DHS official said Napolitano plans to release protocols this week to ensure more consistent work-site investigations and less "haphazard" decision-making. Napolitano's moves have led some to question President Obama's commitment to work-site raids, which were a signature of Bush administration efforts to combat illegal immigration. Napolitano has highlighted other priorities, such as combating Mexican drug cartels and catching dangerous criminals who are illegal immigrants. Napolitano's moves foreshadow the difficult political decisions the Obama administration faces as it decides whether to continue mass arrests of illegal immigrant workers in sweeps of meatpackers, construction firms, defense contractors and other employers. Critics say workplace and neighborhood sweeps are harsh and indiscriminate, and they accuse the government of racial profiling, violating due process rights and committing other humanitarian abuses. The raids have enraged Latino community and religious leaders, immigrant advocates and civil liberties groups important to the Democratic base, who have stepped up pressure on Obama to stop them. At a rally last week in Chicago, Cardinal Francis George, head of the archdiocese of Obama's home city, called on the government "to end immigration raids and the separation of families" and support an overhaul of immigration law. "Reform would be a clear sign this administration is truly about change," George said. Also last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus made similar calls as the caucus met formally with Obama for the first time. "Raids that break up families in that way, just kick in the door in the middle of the night, taking [a] father, a parent away, that's just not the American way. It must stop," Pelosi added at a Capitol Hill conference on border issues sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. But Obama also faces pressure from conservative lawmakers and many centrist Democrats, who say that workplace enforcement is needed to reduce the supply of jobs that attract illegal immigrants, and that any retreat in defending American jobs in a recession could ignite a populist backlash. When the White House announced plans last week to move more than 450 federal agents and equipment to the border to counter Mexico's drug cartels, lawmakers warned Napolitano against diverting money from workplace operations. Rep. Lamar Smith (Tex.), ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said the administration "appears to be using border violence as an excuse" to undercut immigration enforcement in the nation's interior. "It makes no sense to take funds from one priority (worksite enforcement) to address a new priority (the growth in border violence). This is just robbing Peter to pay Paul," Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), the powerful chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee for homeland security, said in an e-mail. Led by Byrd, Congress this year ordered ICE to spend $127 million on workplace operations, $34 million more than President George W. Bush had requested. Reducing those amounts, even in ICE's overall $5 billion budget, would provoke a fight, senior aides in both parties said. DHS officials categorically deny any reduction. Instead Napolitano has sought to chart a middle course by ordering a review of which immigrants are targeted for arrest. While a policy is still under development, Napolitano has said she intends to focus more on prosecuting criminal cases of wrongdoing by companies. Analysts say they also think ICE may conduct fewer raids, focusing routine enforcement on civil infractions of worker eligibility verification rules. Former Bush administration officials said their raids were also targeted against supervisors, but that it took time to build complicated white-collar cases. In the meantime, they said, depriving companies of their workforces and in some cases filing criminal charges against illegal immigrant workers sent a clear message of deterrence to both management and labor. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which seeks to reduce immigration, said Obama aides are trying to manage the issue until an economic turnaround permits an attempt to overhaul immigration laws. "I think their calculus is, how do they keep Hispanic groups happy enough without angering the broader public so much that they sabotage health care and their other priorities?" Krikorian said. Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant advocacy group, said that to the contrary, groups such as his support Obama's focus on going after bad employers and criminal illegal immigrants first -- or as he put it, prioritizing "drug smugglers, not window washers." Within ICE, the front-office vetting of cases has led to some doubts. Last week, for example, ICE postponed plans to raid employers at a military-related facility in Chicago for which they had arranged to temporarily detain as many as 100 illegal immigrants, according to one official. A second official said Napolitano thought the investigative work was inadequate. The raid would have been the second under the Obama administration. After the first, a Feb. 24 sweep of an engine-parts maker in Bellingham, Wash., that led to 28 arrests, Napolitano publicly expressed disappointment that ICE did not inform her beforehand and announced an investigation into agency communication practices. In response, Leigh H. Winchell, the ICE special agent in charge in Seattle, wrote an e-mail to his staff -- subsequently leaked to conservative bloggers -- saying they had acted correctly. He also copied a statement from House Republicans calling Napolitano's review "beyond backwards." "You did nothing wrong and you did everything right," Winchell wrote. "I cannot control the politics that take place with these types of situations, but I can remind you that you are great servants of this country and this agency."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/29/AR2009032901109_pf.html

Here is a growing phenomenon around the country Tea Party's. I think it is a good thing as long as the stuff is done lawfully and non violent Civil Disobedience is not a bad thing,
Cape "tea party" canceled; City fears too many attendees
CAPE CORAL, Fla. - A tea party to protest government spending and taxing is canceled. Canceled by the government.Why? They feel too many people could show-up. Lynn Rosko planned to hold a tax payer tea party at Jaycee Park in Cape Coral on April 1st. The idea was announced at a Cape Coral City Council meeting, then an e-mail blast by the Republican Party and it was mentioned in the local media.With all of that attention, the City of Cape Coral felt there could be more than 500 people attending the tea party.Therefore Rosko needed to get a permit and insurance for the event. Rosko says she's not willing to get insurance and accept liability for something that a stranger could do. Rosko told WINK News, "I have rescinded any organizing or supervision or what ever you want to call it over this tea party on April 1st."WINK News spoke to the director of parks for Cape Coral. He says that even now if Rosko is willing to get insurance for the event he'll likely re-authorize it.For now Rosko's event is canceled, she's encouraging people to attend the April 15th Tax Payer Tea Party in Centennial Park in Fort Myers.
http://www.winknews.com/news/local/42019772.html

Another growing phenomenon around the country is raising you own food, it goes from the White house growing a Victory Garden to the city dwellers raising chickens.
Ground is broken for White House 'kitchen garden'
March 20, 2009 - 4:12pm
First lady Michelle Obama takes part in the groundbreaking of the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, March 20, 2009, with students from Washington's Bancroft Elementary School. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds) By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Twenty-six elementary schoolchildren wielded shovels, rakes, pitchforks and wheelbarrows to help first lady Michelle Obama break ground for a produce and herb garden on the White House grounds.
Crops to be planted in the coming weeks on the 1,100-square-foot, L-shaped patch near the fountain on the South Lawn include spinach, broccoli, various lettuces, kale and collard greens, assorted herbs and blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.
There will also be a beehive.
"We're going to try to make our own honey here as well," Mrs. Obama told the students from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington. The school has its own community garden.
The students will be brought back to the White House next month to help with the planting, and after that to help harvest and cook some of the produce in the mansion's kitchen. The first harvest is expected by late April.
Mrs. Obama said her family has talked about planting such a garden since they moved to the White House in January.
After she spoke, the students were paired off and handed a gardening tool. The first lady joined, with a tool of her own, and together they began raking and scraping up the grass and topsoil, dumping it into wheelbarrows and depositing the contents in a central location.
"Are we done yet?" Mrs. Obama jokingly said at one point. "I want to plant. Let's harvest something."
When the work was finished, the students sat at three nearby picnic tables and were treated to apples, apple cider and cookies baked in the shape of a shovel.
Some of the produce from the garden will be served in the White House, including to the First Family and at official functions. Some crops also will be donated to Miriam's Kitchen, a soup kitchen near the White House where Mrs. Obama recently helped serve lunch.
Assistant chef Sam Kass said the garden will exist year round, and the crops will change based on the seasons.
He gave no estimate on how much produce the garden would yield, but said, "It should be quite a bit, if we're lucky."
http://frc4u.org/phpbb/index.php?topic=555.0

Chickens vs. property values
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/25/2009
CHESTERFIELD — The four chicks came home in a small white box.
For months, Marci Davis watched them grow. One fell ill and died, but the three others became colorful hens that laid eggs with large, thick yolks.
"It completely changed my baking," she said. "It made it so much richer."
Then last fall, Davis spotted a blurb in a local news magazine. The City Council was considering restrictions on who could keep chickens in their backyards.
"It didn't make sense to me," Davis said. To her, keeping chickens was "the ultimate green family experience."
Backyard chicken owners cite a host of reasons for keeping poultry. They provide a cheap source of fresh eggs in a tough economy. The nitrogen in their droppings makes excellent fertilizer. They eat weeds and bugs.
And they're fun to watch.
But in Chesterfield, the growing popularity of urban fowl didn't go over so well with some residents. The concern? The effect on property values and attracting coyotes and other varmints.
"It has to do with health issues and being able to resell your property," said Barbara Nauert, president of the board of trustees for Clarkson Woods South, a subdivision that lobbied the City Council for the restrictions.
From Webster Groves to Wentzville, cities have had to confront backyard chickens, sometimes reaching drastically different solutions.
Officials in Chesterfield decided subdivisions were no place for chicken coops. So earlier this year, the council passed an ordinance prohibiting people who live on less than two acres from owning chickens.
'THEY COME IN THE MAIL'
"A lot of municipalities forbid it," Councilman Lee Erickson said. "There were a number of people in the city that wanted to do it."
Councilman Barry Flachsbart was the only one who voted against the ordinance. MORE METRO
"We really don't need to regulate this," he said.
At the Missouri Botanical Garden's EarthWays Center last week, a group of prospective backyard chicken owners sat at a round table learning how to build coops, where to buy feed, how to determine which breed is right for them and how to purchase chicks online.
"They come in the mail," said Julia Weese-Young, who taught the class. "The face on the postman is priceless."
The center scheduled one class in February on raising chickens, then promptly added two more to meet the demand.
Weese-Young keeps hens in the backyard of her Clifton Heights home and thinks more people have taken an interest in chickens because they want to be more aware of where their food comes from.
During the class, she showed a picture of hundreds of scraggly white chickens squeezed into tight quarters at a chicken farm. She talked about genetically modified chickens that gain weight too quickly and how the birds can sit in their feces and get ammonia burns.
Rob Ludlow, a California online consultant who owns the website backyardchickens.com, said more than 26,000 people have registered with the site and between 70 and 80 people join each day.
"They are the multipurpose pet," Ludlow said. "We have a bumper sticker on our site: 'My pet makes me breakfast.'"
LAWS VARY
Laws governing backyard poultry vary across the country.
In Chicago, officials flirted with the idea of banning fowl last year but decided against it. In Fort Collins, Colo., officials enacted a law allowing chickens with some restrictions.
The laws also vary in the St. Louis area. Brentwood and Ballwin, for example, forbid keeping chickens. But they are allowed in St. Louis, Clayton and Webster Groves.
Officials in St. Charles caused a stir last fall when they forced a resident to give up a potbellied pig. If the pet had been a chicken, it wouldn't have been a problem.
In 2007, a woman in Wentzville got in trouble with the city when a neighbor complained about the 20 chickens she kept in her backyard. She tried unsuccessfully to get aldermen to revise the ordinance forbidding them.
Most cities that do allow chickens limit the size of the flock and prohibit keeping roosters, which, contrary to popular perception, aren't needed to produce eggs.
Merryl Winstein, a Webster Groves resident who keeps chickens and goats on her property, fumed over Chesterfield's new ordinance.
"Where is one example of somebody's property being devalued because their neighbor had chickens?" Winstein asked.
Winstein enjoys the eggs from her four hens, and they help dispose of the droppings from the goats she also keeps. Pet chickens go unnoticed in many cases, she said, and some people keep them illegally.
"People will do more of it this year than last year," said Winstein. "That has no place in the legal books at all."
Chesterfield's ordinance was eventually amended so that current chicken owners who live on one to two acres of land, such as Davis, can keep the birds and replenish their flocks. Those who live on less than an acre won't have to get rid of their flocks but can't replace them once they die.
Chesterfield City Attorney Robert Heggie estimated only five to six people in the city owned chickens, but more than a dozen residents showed up at City Council meetings to speak on the matter. Many were Davis' neighbors, who didn't want to see her flock taken away.
Davis built a chicken coop with a green aluminum roof in her backyard about a year ago. It's outside the basement where her husband keeps a six-foot-long aquarium with exotic fish.
"He got the aquarium," she said. "I got the chickens. It's our midlife crisis."

Eeyore's News and View

Investors dump $89B in U.S. securities in historic fire sale
The deep river of private money that helped knit together the global economy has abruptly dried up, new government figures show.
As the global financial crisis grew more severe this summer, foreigners sold almost $90 billion of U.S. securities — the greatest quarterly fire sale by overseas investors since the government began keeping track in 1960. U.S. investors also are retrenching; they unloaded about $85 billion worth of foreign holdings in the quarter, says the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis.
"We've had a global panic. Everyone is pulling their money home," says economist Adam Posen of the Peterson Institute in Washington, D.C.
That's bad for economic growth in the U.S. because it threatens to starve capital-hungry companies and entrepreneurs. But it's especially serious for emerging-market countries that rely heavily on outside financing. Capital flows into countries such as South Korea, Turkey and Brazil were evaporating even before the mid-September Lehman Bros. bankruptcy made things worse.
The reversal of private capital flows signals an abrupt end to a nearly two-decades-long era of financial globalization, says economist Brad Setser of the Council on Foreign Relations. Private flows into and out of the U.S. for purchases of stocks, corporate bonds and federal agency bonds have dropped from around 18% of economic output to near zero "in a remarkably short period of time," Setser says.
The past five quarters — roughly since the August 2007 onset of the financial crisis — private foreign investors have been net sellers of U.S. securities. The turnabout represents a dramatic change from the first half of 2007 when foreign purchases of U.S. securities other than Treasuries averaged about $250 billion per quarter.
The past two quarters also have seen an about-face in cross-border bank flows as institutional investors found lenders unwilling to extend credit. In the first quarter of 2008, foreigners deposited more than $79 billion with U.S. banks. That flow reversed in the second quarter, as foreigners withdrew a staggering $256 billion, and the outflow continued in the third quarter with an additional $147 billion. Likewise, banks in the U.S. brought home more than $151 billion in the quarter, as overseas institutions repaid loans.
"Institutional investors, including banks, across the board are pulling their capital back home," says economist Eswar Prasad of the Brookings Institution.
One bright spot: Foreign central banks continue to spend heavily on U.S. government securities, allowing the U.S. to finance the gap between what it produces and consumes.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2009-01-04-foreign-investors-us-securities_N.htm

Tuna fetches more than $100K at auction After a spirited auction, AP says bidders ended up paying $104,700 -- about $370 a pound -- for this bluefin tuna today in Tokyo. AFP says the fish, which weighed in at 282 pounds, will be turned into sushi for restaurants in China and Japan.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/

Researchers focus on bringing missing bees back
January 5, 2009 - 3:51am
By GENARO C. ARMAS
Associated Press Writer
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - Scientists in the field and the lab are trying to solve a mystery critical to the future of American agriculture: Why are honeybee hives failing at a disturbingly high rate?
Some researchers are studying whether pesticides and other chemicals used in fields and gardens might affect honeybees, as well as bumblebees and other insects that pollinate crops. Other research is focusing on building more habitat _ planting trees, shrubs and flowers that pollinators prefer.
Bees are vital to U.S. agriculture because they pollinate many flowering crops, including almonds, apples and blueberries. The bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion annually in crop value.
Honeybees, a non-native species from Europe, are the pollinators of choice because they are easier to manage and are more plentiful _ a single colony can contain 20,000 workers. By comparison, a bumblebee colony may have only a couple of hundred worker bees.
The honeybees have taken a hit over the years from mites and, most recently, colony collapse disorder, in which beekeepers have found affected hives devoid of most bees. Bees that remain appear much weaker than normal.
Beekeepers in 2006 began reporting losing 30 percent to 90 percent of their hives. Since then the annual loss rate has been roughly 33 percent, according to government estimates.
The first case of colony collapse disorder was officially reported in Pennsylvania, and Penn State University has been spearheading research. Maryann Frazier, a senior extension associate at the school's entomology department, said researchers remain concerned about the number and combination of pesticides that have been detected in decimated hives.
"We realize it's much more complicated than what we thought a year ago," Frazier said recently. "From what we know now, it's not something we'll figure out very, very quickly."
Native pollinators also are being monitored. The National Academy of Sciences in 2006 found declining populations of several bee species, along with other native pollinators like butterflies, hummingbirds and bats.
The report suggested that landowners can take small steps to make sure habitats are more "pollinator friendly," like by growing more native plants.
And that's what scientists appear to be doing on a larger scale across the country in hopes of bringing bees back.
One such track is at the Environmental Research Institute at Eastern Kentucky University, where apiculturalist Tammy Horn oversees an experiment in apiforestation, a term described by the school as a "new form of reclamation focused on planting pollinator-friendly flowers and trees."
The project is in its first year. Horn is working with local coal companies to plant trees, shrubs, and native wildflowers on reclaimed lands that would be attractive to pollinators, rather than the once-typical scenario of planting only high-value hardwoods to establish a timber industry.
There are years of study still to go, though there are no signs of colony collapse disorder so far, Horn said.
Local support from residents and coal companies has been encouraging to Horn. It helps that locals have family ties to beekeeping, with parents and grandparents perhaps dabbling in the hobby before it started to become less popular locally.
The rallying point has been concern about the disappearing bees, she said.
"That's been important for my project to succeed," Horn said in a phone interview. "Even people who don't care about beekeeping show up to (beekeeping workshops) in eastern Kentucky and know it's important. They like showing up on mine sites to see that coal mines care enough to invest in it."
The idea is intriguing enough to draw interest for similar projects in other parts of the country, including California and Pennsylvania.
"The more of these pollinator-friendly areas we have... the more likely we are able to retain bee species," said Karen Goodell, an ecology professor at Ohio State University trying to find the right mix of plants and trees to build native bee populations.
Her project is housed at The Wilds, a private, nonprofit conservation center located on nearly 10,000 acres of reclaimed mine land in rural southeastern Ohio.
"It's not as much a scientific study as a 'Let's do this and see what happens,'" Goodell said.
Though Goodell's work deals with native bees, she said the plight of the honeybees has drawn more attention to her work. Boosting native bees also could end up helping farmers, she added.
"Those populations would then be contributing to colonizing areas that have lost bees because of poor management," Goodell said. "Definitely, these bees will be playing a role in pollination services."
On the Net:

Pollinator Partnership: http://www.polinator.org/

http://wtop.com/?nid=111&sid=1564467

Banks defy Brown call to free up creditLoans for business increasingly scarce and outlook bleak, says Britain's banks are defying the government by starving businesses and households of loans and warning that credit will become even scarcer in the first three months of this year.
A Bank of England survey found that in spite of Gordon Brown's call for more loans, lenders had further reduced the amount of credit available in the last three months of 2008 and warned that they planned to continue to pare back. Banks and building societies are being deterred from lending by the worsening economic outlook and the fall in house prices and other assets against which loans are secured.
The dire picture painted by the quarterly survey was reinforced by separate data yesterday showing a record low for new mortgages being granted and figures from Halifax, the UK's biggest mortgage lender, that showed house prices in December were down 16% on a year earlier.
Labour backbench MPs seized on the figures to put more pressure on Brown and Alistair Darling to take action to kick-start lending in the face of what economists warn could be a deep and painful recession. Interest rates are already at a 58-year low and are expected to fall even further from their current 2% after Thursday's meeting of the Bank's monetary policy committee.
Despite a £37bn bail-out package to buy shares in Royal Bank of Scotland and the soon-to-be-merged Lloyds TSB and HBOS, there are concerns that lenders are not heeding government demands to keep competitively priced loans available.
The government insisted it would "take whatever action is necessary to ensure the availability of new lending". Options presented to the Treasury are thought to include injecting more cash into the economy and buying banks' "toxic" assets.
"As the chancellor has said, he is prepared to look at further measures to make it more likely that banks will lend, but banks have to understand that with billions of pounds of taxpayers' money invested, or being made available as a guarantee, the public and businesses are looking for something in return," a Treasury spokesman said.
Major banks claimed that they were heeding the government's demands to maintain lending. They put the blame on the departure of Icelandic and Irish banks from the market for the reduction in credit reported by the Bank of England.
"The banks and Nationwide are approving one-third more loans as 12 months earlier but specialist lenders and small building societies have virtually disappeared from the market," the British Bankers' Association said.
That is unlikely to ease pressure on Brown from his own backbenchers. Nick Raynsford, who represents the views of many moderate Labour MPs, called on Brown to give "a touch on the tiller towards more prudent lending in the new year".
John McFall, Labour chairman of the Commons Treasury committee, said: "While I can see that individual banks might think it prudent to cut back on lending, it would be collective madness for their country if they all decide to do this."
The chief executives of the banks are expected to be called before the committee in February to face further questioning on why they have taken so little action to help business and creditworthy individuals.
The Conservative leadership blamed the prime minister yesterday for the figures, saying they proved government action had failed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/03/banks-credit-house-prices

New bird flu cases revive fears of human pandemic
Just when you thought you could scratch bird flu off your list of things to worry about in 2009, the deadly H5N1 virus has resurfaced in poultry in Hong Kong for the first time in six years, reinforcing warnings that the threat of a human pandemic isn't over.
India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and mainland China also experienced new outbreaks in December. During the same period, four new human cases -- in Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia -- were reported to the World Health Organization. A 16-year-old girl in Egypt and a 2-year-old girl in Indonesia have died.
In India In IndonesiaThe new cases come after a two-year decline in the number of confirmed human deaths from H5N1 bird flu and as fewer countries are reporting outbreaks among poultry. A United Nations report released in October credits improved surveillance and the rapid culling of potentially infected poultry for helping to contain and even prevent outbreaks in many countries.
Yet H5N1 has continued to "at the very least smolder, and many times flare up" since the chain of outbreaks began in 2003, said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
The year-end uptick is a reminder of how quickly the situation can turn as long as the H5N1 virus is still out there, Osterholm and other scientists said. "What alarms me is that we have developed a sense of pandemic-preparedness fatigue," he said.
H5N1 already has been a disaster for poultry farmers in Asia. Public health officials estimate that as many as half a billion fowl have been killed by the virus or culled to contain its spread, causing enormous economic strain and food shortages. But the bigger fear has always been that H5N1 would give rise to a human pandemic like the so-called Spanish flu of 1918, which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide.
It was in Hong Kong in 1997 that the H5N1 virus was first observed to jump from chickens to humans, infecting 18 people and killing six of them, raising fears of a worldwide catastrophe. Hong Kong ordered its entire poultry population, estimated at 1.6 million birds, destroyed within three days.
A more recent chain of poultry outbreaks began in South Korea in 2003 and spread over the years to 61 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe.
To fuel a pandemic, a virus must be able to both infect humans and spread readily from person to person. The currently circulating H5N1 strain does neither well.
The total number of verified human cases since the 2003 outbreak began is 391, of whom 247 died. After peaking in 2006 at 115 human cases with 79 deaths, human infections dropped to 40 in 2008, with 30 deaths, according to a World Health Organization update in mid-December.
Most of the human cases were traced to direct contact with poultry, especially in Southeast Asia where many people have backyard flocks and few wear gloves or masks while handling them. The few suspected human-to-human transmissions occurred in those who were closely involved in caring for an infected relative.
But as long as the virus continues to circulate, the threat that it could mutate to pass more easily among humans remains, according to the U.N. report.
The Hong Kong poultry outbreak last month is significant because the government thought it had stamped out H5N1 in the Chinese territory after an outbreak in 2003. Since then, Hong Kong has vaccinated poultry against the virus and strictly regulated farm sanitation.
The government ordered the slaughter of 80,000 fowl at two large farms after the latest outbreak killed 60 chickens at one of the farms. Investigators are looking for the source of the infection and testing the effectiveness of the vaccine used since 2003 to inoculate chickens, geese and ducks against H5N1.
Hong Kong uses a vaccine that protects poultry against several flu subtypes. But some scientists believe that the H5N1 virus may have mutated to break through the vaccine. Flu viruses change constantly, which is why human vaccines for seasonal flu are modified every year, said Scott P. Layne, a professor of epidemiology and environmental health sciences at UCLA.
Mainland China is using a newer poultry vaccine developed specifically for H5N1. But vaccination programs there and in Vietnam have not eliminated outbreaks.
The vaccine itself could be the problem, said Robert Webster, a virologist and avian flu expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
Vaccines should be used only in areas where the virus is out of control, and then only temporarily, he said. That is because routinely administering the vaccine encourages the evolution to resistant strains.
Some countries have managed to stop the virus by culling infected poultry flocks. Japan, South Korea and Malaysia are considered to be free of H5N1, according to the World Health Organization.
But the virus appears to be entrenched in Indonesia, parts of China, Vietnam, Egypt and other countries where backyard flocks are more difficult to regulate than commercial chicken farms, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.
Though bird flu viruses are common, highly pathological ones such as the 1918 virus and H5N1 -- which has been lethal to 100% of chickens infected and 63% of humans known to be infected -- are rare.
Scientists have little experience with which to gauge how H5N1 will evolve.
But, Webster said, "We still have to treat this as a potentially very, very dangerous virus."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-birdflu4-2009jan04,0,3010223.story

This year, the lucky wedding date was 7/7/07 but did you know that next year, 8/8/08 is considered equally as lucky especially in Chinese culture and Chinese weddings? Even if you are not of Chinese heritage, If you a bit superstitious or if you just want an extra bit of good fortune, a wedding held on 8/8/08 may be your lucky day.
Why 8? In Chinese culture, 8 is considered the luckiest of all numbers, as it portends prosperity and wealth. The number 8 is so lucky in fact for the Chinese, that in China, they often auction off license plates for thousands of dollars just because they contain the lucky number. The number is also coveted for addresses, phone numbers and bank accounts. A single 8 on a piece of property lends a sense of high status among the Chinese, as they know top dollars were paid just to obtain that number. Lucky 8 is so lucky, that the Beijing Olympics are due to open on 8/8/08 at exactly 8:08:08 PM. (for the whole story, if you really want it click the link)
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-NEW-Lucky-Wedding-Date---8-8-08&id=779719

Here are a few things to watch out for. You need to not only watch for this skimming thing but i have seen some articles recently when gas was at 4 gallons, of people having fuel stolen out of their vehicles. You have to watch out for your own back, no one will do it for you.

Be on the lookout for spam e-mails spreading the Storm Worm malicious software (malware) which mention "F.B.I. vs. facebook". The e-mail directs the recipient to click on a link to view an article about the FBI and Facebook. Once the user clicks on the link, malware is downloaded to the Internet connected device and causes it to become infected and become part of the Storm Worm botnet. A botnet is a network of compromised machines under the control of a single user. Botnets are typically set up to facilitate criminal activity such as spam e-mail, identity theft, denial of service attacks, and spreading malware to other machines on the Internet.
The following is a sample image of the web page utilized for the e-mail scheme:
http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/fbi-facebook.asp http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/storm.asp

Thieves skim credit card data at fuel pumps
By Katharine Lackey, USA TODAY
Customers and police agencies across the USA are dealing with another pain at the pump — thieves who install hard-to-detect electronic devices at stations to steal credit and debit card data.
The skimmed data are used to create cards used at the victims' expense, says James Van Dyke, president and founder of Javelin Strategy and Research, a financial consulting firm that focuses on fraud and identity theft.
Investigations of theft related to skimming devices at gas pumps continue in California, Washington, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Delaware, according to various police departments.
Though the most recent cases don't necessarily represent an epidemic, the Secret Service is investigating incidents across the country, says Ed Donovan, spokesman for the agency, which has financial and electronic crimes units.
Skimming devices have been used for several years, most often at ATMs. Thieves increasingly target pumps because it's a cheap, easy way to steal credit and debit card information, Van Dyke says.
"Card fraud at gas pumps is a significant problem, and that's because of the unintended nature of the checkout devices," he says. "Essentially, every gas pump is an electronic cash register."
The skimming devices can be installed outside or inside the pump. Thieves glue a plastic sleeve, equipped with covered wires that capture data, over the pump's card reader or connect the device directly to the reader inside.
The devices are molded and painted to match the machine and are small, making them hard to detect, Van Dyke says. Among recent cases:
•California: San Jose police are investigating a case that began in May, when thieves placed a skimming device at an Arco station, eventually taking more than $200,000 from up to 180 victims, says police department spokesman Jermaine Thomas. The device was on the pump for more than a month, after which the suspects retrieved the machine, Thomas says.
"Your normal, average person would not even know that the skimming device is attached," he says.
• Washington: The Pierce County Sheriff's Office is investigating a case where thieves installed a skimming device at an Arco gas pump last August, leaving it there for 11 months and cleaning out at least 120 victims' bank accounts over the July 4th weekend, says sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer.
Reports of fraudulent withdrawals are still pouring in, and the number of victims could reach 250 with a total of $500,000 stolen, he says.
• Pennsylvania: State police recovered four skimming devices installed inside gas pumps at Wawa stations in Delaware, Chester, Montgomery and Bucks counties beginning in April, trooper Christopher Shoap says. He suspects more devices were used at other stations and estimates that several dozen victims have lost tens of thousands of dollars.
•Delaware: The Pennsylvania case is linked to one in Delaware, where police suspect a device was placed and later retrieved at a New Castle Wawa pump, Shoap says. The Secret Service is investigating, says Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh of the Delaware State Police. The Secret Service would not comment because the investigation is continuing.
•Nevada: The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is investigating two devices placed at gasoline pumps within the past four months, in addition to several cases where devices were placed on ATMs, says Lt. Bob Sebby of the financial crimes unit.
The combined cases total $1 million to $3.5 million stolen from hundreds of victims' accounts, Sebby says. The department is trying to prevent additional identity fraud by asking gas stations to consider placing sticker seals on the pumps that employees can check daily.
"With identify theft, it's not a matter of if you're going to be a victim, it's a matter of when," Sebby says.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-08-04-gaspumpskimming_N.htm

This is probably a political stunt, but i personally think it is good thing. It may be nothing more then the house getting mad at DC for thumbing their nose at the Supreme court decision.

House seeks to end D.C. gun measures August 5, 2008 - 10:14amWASHINGTON (AP) - House leaders have agreed to allow a vote next month on a bill that would end local handgun control in the District of Columbia.
The measure was filed last week by several conservative Democrats, and supporters say it has a good chance of passing the House. Its prospects in the Senate are unclear.
The Supreme Court struck down the city's 32-year-old handgun ban in June. Since then, D.C. lawmakers have passed emergency legislation that maintains strict regulations.
The House bill seeks to eliminate those measures.
The legislation would allow D.C. residents to own handguns without registering them with police if they meet federal requirements for firearms ownership.
The bill also would end a requirement that owners keep their handguns unloaded and disassembled in their homes and would repeal the city's ban on most semiautomatic handguns. ___
Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/
http://wtop.com/?nid=596&sid=1441828

11 Charged in Massive Credit Card Fraud Case
NEW YORK — The Department of Justice announced Tuesday the indictment of 11 people whom they say stole millions of credit and debit card numbers from major retailers in the nation's largest case of identity theft.
The 11 people — including three Americans — allegedly targeted such retailers as TJX Companies, BJs Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21 and DSW.
"This is the single largest and most complex identity theft case ever charged in this country," Attorney General Michael Mukasey said at a hastily planned press conference in Boston Tuesday.
Named as the alleged ringleader in the indictment is Albert "Segvec" Gonzalez, of Miami, who had worked as a confidential informant for the Secret Service. He has been charged with computer fraud, wire fraud, access device fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy for his role in the scheme and faces the possiblilty of life imprisonment.
"The Boston indictment alleges that Gonzales and his co-conspirators stole over 40 million credit and debit card numbers making this the largest credit card fraud and identity theft scheme ever identified, investigated and prosecuted in the United States," U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Michael Sullivan said Tuesday.
Also named in the indictments are Christopher Scott and Damon Patrick Toey, also of Miami.
Investigators say Gonzalez and his cohorts were able to tap into computer networks using a technique called "war driving."
"War dirving is simply driving around in a car with a laptop computer looking for accessible wireless computer networks," Sullivan said.
Once they found a retailer's network, officials alleged the men would hack into the system and install "sniffer programs," which would relay sensitive credit card information back to the men.
"This allowed the defendants to remotely capture sensitive information such as the card numbers, passwords and account information," Sullivan said.
Those named in the indictment allegedly sold the information to criminals abroad and in the U.S., or encrypt blank credit cards to withdraw money from ATMs, officials said.
Federal officials discovered Gonzalez was involved in the scheme after he began working for the Secret Service as an informant. He is in custody.
Indictments were unsealed Tuesday in San Diego against Maksym "Maksik" Yastremskiy of Kharkov, Ukraine, and Aleksandr "Jonny Hell" Suvorov of Sillamae, Estonia. The indictments charge them with crimes related to the sale of the stolen credit card data.
Furthermore, indictments against Hung-Ming Chiu and Zhi Zhi Wang, both of China, and a person known only by the online nickname "Delpiero" were also unsealed in San Diego.
The heist was a black eye for retailers like TJX. The company, which initially disclosed the data breach in January 2007, said a few months later that at least 45.7 million cards were exposed to possible fraud in a breach of its computer systems that began in July 2005. Court filings by some banks that sued TJX put the number of cards affected at more than 100 million, based on estimates by officials with Visa and MasterCard, who were deposed in the suit.
In May, TJX said it won support from Mastercard-issuing banks for a settlement that will pay them as much as $24 million to cover costs from the data breach. A similar agreement reached last November with Visa-card issuing banks also was overwhelmingly approved. That agreement set aside as much as $40.9 million to help banks cover costs including replacing customers payment cards and covering fraudulent charges.
Federal officials urged those who think they may have been affected by the ID theft scheme to contact their bank.
FOXNews.com's Sara Bonisteel and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,398141,00.html

You can go to a couple of places that have a ton of info about identity theft and scams.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/lifestyle-and-money/consumer-debt/index.html

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=63

Well the DOW was up 180 points and oil went up 5 buck, watch for the spike in prices at the pump. It is amazing how quick the prices go up and how slow they come back down. But i guess that is just me.

Update on the Samonella thing. It is a good short article and it has a time line which is helpful if you don't remember the whole thing

FDA: Salmonella tracked to Mexican farm
WASINGTON (AP) — The salmonella strain linked to an outbreak of the disease in the USA has been found in irrigation water and a serrano pepper at a Mexican farm, U.S. government health officials said Wednesday.
Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration's food safety chief, called the finding a key breakthrough in the case, as did another health official.
"We have a smoking gun, it appears," said Dr. Lonnie King who directs the center for foodborne illnesses at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Acheson said the farm is in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Previously, the FDA had traced a contaminated jalapeno pepper to a farm in another part of Mexico.
Acheson and other officials were questioned at a congressional hearing about why the investigation originally focused on tomatoes.
The officials insisted that tomatoes still cannot be ruled out and that it is quite possible that the outbreak was caused by several different kinds of contaminated produce.
The outbreak has sickened more than 1,300 people since April.
Tomatoes had been the prime suspect in the U.S. outbreak for weeks. But last week, the FDA said only jalapeno peppers grown in Mexico were implicated in the U.S. salmonella outbreak. The FDA said then it had found the same strain of salmonella responsible for the outbreak on a single Mexican-grown jalapeno in a south Texas produce warehouse.
If it turns out the tainted irrigation water was also used on tomatoes, it could provide some of the evidence that federal authorities are looking for to back their original focus on the fruit.

OUTBREAK TIMELINE
April 10: Officials confirm first salmonella saintpaul case in this outbreak.
June 3: FDA warns consumers in New Mexico and Texas not to eat certain types of raw red tomatoes.
June 7: FDA warns consumers nationwide not to eat certain types of raw red tomatoes.
July 17: FDA lifts warning about tomatoes.
July 21: FDA finds outbreak strain of salmonella saintpaul on a jalapeno pepper from Agricola Zaragoza Inc. of McAllen, Texas.
July 25: FDA tells consumers that U.S.-grown jalapeno and serrano peppers are not connected to the outbreak.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-07-30-salmonella-mexico_N.htm

I'm sorry about this one, well no i'm not it is the real world. As you can see from the header of my blog, what i think about it. I could literally fill it with nothing but missing and abused kids and other sick stories. I'm trying not to do it. Every once and a while i'll do one like this just bear with me. The first story is just one that is hard to believe, why they are still in jail and the crooks and criminals are free. But like my old Pastor used to say, "if it does not make sense, then there is a buck in it somewhere". The others are about abuse of children. We are all about "for the children, for the children" but people abuse them physically and use them. It makes me sick. So here goes




Glenn Beck: Ramos & Compean - The Whole Story
July 29, 2008 - 12:43 ET
Border Patrol Fundraiser Shirt ***All of Glenn's proceeds from the sale of this shirt will be donated to a legal defense fund for Agents Ramos and Compean.***
GLENN: We've added a lot of new stations and, you know, a lot of new people that, you know, are just, they stumbled in, they might have been drunk and the radio stuck on this station and then they're like, I can't turn it off now; I don't know what happened. And so now they're forced to listen. So there's a lot of people in the audience that doesn't -- they're not really even aware of some of the things that we have discovered on the Compean and Ramos case. These are the two border agents that were thrown in jail for what it looked like shooting somebody in the back or in the butt as they were running away, just this poor helpless victim and then trying to cover it up. That's what it looks like. That's what the government would like to have you believe. That is not the case. We go to Tara Setmayer who has been on this case now for how long, Tara? Two years? SETMAYER: Almost two years, yeah.

GLENN: And you and your illustrious boss in Washington have been on this case trying to set this right and so far you're beating your head against the wall. Let's start with the story, and if we could tell the story here in a five minute period here as much as you can, tell everybody the history of this case.
SETMAYER: Well, in February 2005 Ramos and Compean were on routine patrol down in Fabens, Texas along the border. A drug smuggler was detected -- well, they didn't know he was smuggling drugs yet. A border breach was detected by Compean, he radioed it in. They gave chase to a van, started to speed back toward the border. The individual, which is Aldrete Davila, he abandoned the van and decided to head for the border on foot. At the time other border patrol agents joined the pursuit and the drug smuggler confronted Compean on the other side of a drainage ditch on his way back to Mexico. At the time Compean tried to arrest him, he tried to apprehend him, they got into a scuffle and shots were fired. In the meantime Ramos is climbing down this drainage ditch to assist his fellow border agent. He hears shots fired. As he emerges, he sees Compean on the ground, he sees a drug smuggler running away. He shoots at him. He thinks he has a gun. He doesn't know what's happening. He shoots at him. He hits him, but he doesn't know he hit him because the guy kept running and escapes back to Mexico, where on the other side of the border there were other people waiting to pick him up and take him away. As they walk back, they noticed that inside this van is a million dollars worth of marijuana, about 750 pounds. So other agents are on scene including two supervisors. The mistake they made, they did not orally report the shooting.

GLENN: But it's important at this point of the story to know that supervisors were on the scene.

SETMAYER: Yes.

GLENN: Others were there. It is almost a loophole there that they nailed them on and said, well, they didn't report the shooting. The idea was they didn't need to report the shooting. People were on the scene.

SETMAYER: That's right. And border patrol regulations state that they're only supposed to orally report it. That supervisor is supposed to file a written report. So this is a policy violation. It's not criminal. Well, three weeks go by. They catalog the drugs. You know, the guy absconded, he escaped to New Mexico. You know, routine day on the border so one would think. Anyone who knows or is familiar with what's going on in the southern border, it's a war zone there. So the fact that they weren't shot is actually a good thing. A few weeks go by and we find out that the Department of Homeland Security has opened up an internal affairs investigation because the drug smuggler that they shot grew up with a border patrol agent in Arizona. The incident happened in Texas. Their families talk and they find out that Aldrete Davila has been shot by a border agent. So this agent in Arizona takes it upon himself to research what's going on, look for the shooting report. GLENN: Okay. Stop for a second. This is an important thing for people to really focus on for just 10 seconds. A border agent who grew up with a drug smuggler in Mexico. Their families still talk. The drug smuggler called -- the drug smuggler's mother called the border agent and said, "My son's just been shot on the border," et cetera, et cetera. So you've got the connections now between the U.S. border agents and a drug smuggler. Now, it's never been -- nobody's ever accused this guy of being a dirty border agent, if I'm not mistaken, Tara, right?
Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames.
SETMAYER: Oh, that's correct. No one questioned or investigated the nature of this relationship.
GLENN: Correct.

SETMAYER: I mean, he was best friends with the drug smuggler's brother. He accompanied the drug smuggler's sister on her 15th birthday. They have close ties. So we move forward. No one seems to think anything's wrong with that. They move forward and Homeland Security opens up this investigation. They send Christopher Sanchez, who is the investigator, down to Fabens, Texas and they send him over into Mexico to find the drug smuggler. They offer him immunity, free border crossing cards and free healthcare to come back across the border and testify against Ramos and Compean. Now, at this point Ramos and Compean are arrested, and I have to tell you that when they interviewed the other agents who were on scene, those other agents' stories changed dramatically from their initial version of events to what they testified to at trial. Basically they were all given proffer letters, which is some sort of an immunity deal after --

GLENN: We won't come after you.

SETMAYER: That's right, we won't come after you if you tell us the "Real" story.

GLENN: Right.

SETMAYER: Which was that Ramos and Compean shot an innocent guy as he was running away. Now, anyone who knows Ramos and Compean or just looks at the basic facts of this case, it's reasonable for them to believe this gentleman was armed. Sara Carter, who is a reporter who broke this story nationally, she interviewed Davila's family and they said that he's been running drugs since he was 14 years old and he was never seen without a gun. Now, during the trial that image of Mr. Davila was completely changed. He was a poor innocent waif who was just smuggling drugs one time to pay for money for his sick mother's medicine -- to get money for his sick mother's medicine. We all know that that's not true. As a matter of fact, while he was under immunity waiting to testify against the agent, he smuggled another load of drugs four months before the trial. The government knew it and they went before the judge and asked all of that evidence to be sealed so the jury would never hear about it.

GLENN: Which is highly unusual when somebody is convicted -- or when somebody else is arrested again. During a trial usually that person is thrown out.

SETMAYER: Well, the interesting thing about this, Glenn, is that he actually was not arrested. According to the -- this is --

GLENN: I know.

SETMAYER: This is where it gets interesting. According to the DEA report which we were able to obtain, about six months after all hell broke loose, they had already been convicted and Johnny Sutton was denying that the October load ever happened and he was, you know, speaking in lawyer, lawyerly terms to try to deny that that had ever happened because it was all under seal. One day the DEA documents show up at my door and it was proof and it was a full account of what happened in October of 2005 before the trial. And what happened is that Davila was identified as dropping off a load of 800 pounds of drugs at a stash house in Texas. When the DEA and border patrol raided that stash house, they were told by the U.S. attorney's office that no one was to be taken into custody at that time. That came from Johnny Sutton's office. So it's very curious why they didn't pursue arresting anyone at the stash house even though they fully identified -- the occupants of that stash house fully identified Aldrete Davila as being the individual who dropped off that load of drugs. So no, technically he wasn't arrested. Why the hell not.

GLENN: Now, Johnny Sutton at the time said there weren't any of these cards that helped people go across the border and if he knew where he was, he would make sure that he was arrested and all of these things, which have all turned out to be false. Johnny Sutton I believe is a dirty official and I believe the dirt and the grime go all the way to the President of the United States. I think this is a -- my spider senses, everything in me tells me something isn't right. But to try to get anybody to talk is impossible. I've talked to several people who have been instrumental in this case and other cases like it, who have been -- who are instrumental at the highest levels that are now starting to say, "Wait a minute, you know what, I was part of, you know, X, Y and Z and now I see I've been lied to and being used and we're in real trouble because there's something else going on. But they won't go on the air because some of these people are still sitting in those positions and they are trying to figure out what it is. But they are looking.

SETMAYER: Glenn, let me tell you. When we first start -- when members of congress first started to raise the profile of this case a year and a half ago, right before the agents had to report for it to begin their prison terms in January, there were a lot of very strange things going on, including the fact that Department of Homeland Security officials lied to four Texas members of congress.

GLENN: This is where I got involved.

SETMAYER: Yes. This is in September of 2006 when members of congress first started to investigate, they asked for a briefing from Homeland Security to say, okay, what's really going on here. Well, those Homeland Security officials told those members of congress that, one, Ramos and Compean confessed; two, they knew the guy was unarmed; and three, that they said they wanted to shoot some Mexicans that day. Well, that didn't sit too well with those members of congress. So they asked for proof of these allegations. And guess what, that proof never happened. And for four and a half months after that, the official report of investigation that was used to prosecute these gentlemen was not released. It hadn't even been finished yet, which is highly unusual. And it took members of congress complaining and going public about it for the Homeland Security department to finally release the report of investigation which they did under classified -- it was classified first. And then we said, that's not acceptable. So they released a redacted version. And guess what. None of what they claimed was in that report.

GLENN: Didn't the -- didn't the head of Homeland Security or one of the head guys of Homeland Security actually say in testimony in congress that you had been -- congressman, I'm sorry, you have been misled?

SETMAYER: Yes. He said misinformed. It was the inspector general Richard Skinner. He was being questioned by congressman John Culberson and that was his response: Well, I'm sorry, but you were misinformed. Well, you know, where I come from, that's called a lie.

GLENN: Yeah. Now, Tara Setmayer is with Congressman Rohrabacher and she and the congressman has been on this nonstop. Congressman is going to join us tone. In a few minutes I'm going to play some audio. Dan, is this the first time this audio has been heard? Okay. You probably have not heard this audio most likely. It is audio from the jurors saying, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. If I would have known these things about the drug smuggler, things would have been wildly different." And it shows how -- because remember, "The jurors have spoken. Don't you believe in the rule of law?" No, not when the rule of law has been so turned upside down on its head. Justice is justice. You've got to make sure that it is equally applied and there's not something else going on. There is something else going on. We're going to give you that audio which has not been heard and has not been played on this program until today. We will give you this audio here in just a second. And also somebody who has been very, very close to this case with some more insight coming up in just a minute. But also when -- Tara, when we come back, Tara actually had to speak to Compean and Ramos yesterday. It was just Ramos yesterday that you spoke to?

SETMAYER: Yes, just Ramos.

GLENN: And she broke the news to him. Remember, he's in solitary confinement, quote, for his own protection. We will get that story from her coming up in just a second. Don't miss a second of the next few minutes on the Glenn Beck program.

GLENN: Tara, yesterday -- we've got about two minutes. Tell me what happened yesterday afternoon when you had to deliver the news yesterday afternoon that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had denied the appeal for Compean and Ramos?

SETMAYER: Now, I had my normal status call scheduled already yesterday and we got the decision about 30 minutes before I had to speak to Nacio and so, I being sure that his lawyer was on the phone, because I honestly couldn't bring myself to break the news to him but I was on the call and it was devastating. It was one of the most difficult conversations I've ever had to endure. Nacio was crushed. You know, he was obviously upset and his biggest concern was, Tara, what can you do to get me out of solitary confinement. These gentlemen are enduring conditions worse than prisoners of Guantanamo Bay. He is in a cell 23 hours of 24 hours a day. He is not allowed on weekends. He is not allowed to watch television. He is not allowed to socialize with anyone. He is in the hole.

GLENN: He does, he does listen to the radio, right?

SETMAYER: He does.

GLENN: He does listen to this program?
SETMAYER: He does. He's listening to this program. And Nacio, we're fighting for you. We're going to do what we can to get you out of there and keep your head up because the American people are behind you and members of congress are behind you and we're going to do whatever we can to get you out of there.
GLENN: You know, Nacio, I know you're listening. It is -- I, last week, what is it, two weeks ago I actually spent some time with your wife and it was -- I didn't take it lightly when I looked her in the eye and said, there's a lot of us fighting. There's a lot of us that believe in this cause and we are not going to give up. And it was something that you don't say lightly to somebody who has somebody in prison for something that you believe is an unjust verdict but I tell you it is a sentiment that runs through a large sector of our society that is aware of this case.
SETMAYER: Well, Glenn, I agree with you and it's amazing to me how the President and Johnny Sutton can sleep at night if they looked into the eyes of the wives and the children of these agents, I can't imagine they would feel the same way. I can't believe, was it really worth it for them.
GLENN: Tara, we will talk to you again and thank you so much for your hard work. And we'll also give you an opportunity to speak directly to Nacio Ramos coming up on the program here.


Man Accused Of Sex Assault Of Girl, 1, After Christening
Alleged Assault Took Place At Child's Christening Party
POSTED: 1:43 pm EDT July 28, 2008
UPDATED: 3:43 pm EDT July 28, 2008

ANNANDALE, Va. -- A 25-year-old Fairfax-area man is accused of sexually assaulting a 1-year-old baby girl at a party to celebrate the child's christening.
Investigators said baby's parents were cleaning up Saturday night at the banquet hall facility of the Annandale Boys and Girls Club after a late-night party celebrating the baby's christening.
Investigators said the parents left their sleeping child in the care of several family members in the party room. One of the family members found the victim crying in the hands of an unknown man and took the child from him, police said

The victim’s mother discovered the child was injured, and the parents immediately took her to Inova Fairfax Hospital for treatment, authorities said.
Investigators were called the hospital early Sunday morning.
Police arrested Juan Miguel Sejas Castellon. He was taken to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center and charged with one count of animate object penetration and one count of abducting an infant child with the intent to defile.


http://www.nbc4.com/news/17015587/detail.html

Beware your children: They might be 'Climate Cops'Company recruits kids to keep records, bust parents for 'energy crimes'
Posted: July 28, 20088:44 pm Eastern© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A new website campaign designed by a British power company recruits children through games, badges and cartoons to enlist as "Climate Cops," actively keeping records on their parents and neighbors for violations of "energy crimes" against the planet.
The "Climate Cops" website encourages children to investigate family and friends and "then build your 'Climate Crime Case File' and report back to your family to make sure they don't commit those crimes again (or else)!" The site also warns children that they "may need to keep a watchful eye" to prevent future violations.
A link on the site for teachers to download free materials for building lesson plans indicates the website is targeting children from ages 7-11.
The so-called crimes children are to watch for are listed on a poster (visible at right) and range from leaving the tap running and failing to use energy-saving light bulbs to running the dryer on a sunny day and putting hot food in the refrigerator.
The website also encourages children to download a series of "Climate Crime Cards" (such as the one pictured below) in which enlisted "Climate Cops" can keep an ongoing record of their family's violation of energy "crimes."

Recruiting children to spy on and keep records of their parents' infractions reminds some of Adolf Hitler's Nazi youth program, only with an environmentalist bent. The author of the blog EU Referendum wrote: "In a system which has echoes of Hitler's Deutsches Jungvolk movement … perhaps successful graduates can work up to becoming block wardens, then street and district 'climate crime Fuehrers,' building a network of spies and informers."
Hitler's youth program, which began in the 1920s and ended in 1945, enlisted children to be trained in the ideals of the Nazi party. Eventually folded into the German Sturmabteilung, also known as the SA or the "brownshirts," the Hitler Youth were given authority over different regions to report and keep records on neighbors, especially Jewish neighbors, as part of Nazi Germany's fear- and propaganda-based social control efforts.

A blogger at Watts Up With That? wrote, "I find this method of indoctrinating school children to normal everyday living being harmful to the earth with the 'climate crime' connotation as distasteful and wrong headed."
"I have no problems with energy conservation, in fact I encourage it," the blogger wrote, "But combining such advice with a 'climate cop' idea is the wrong way to get the message across. Can you imagine what sort of reaction the neighbors will have? … Will the result of this now be hiding your electric dryer behind false walls so the kids and neighbors don't see it?"
The "Climate Cops" website was created by the British power company npower, which has received recognition for investing in community causes through partnerships with youth sports programs, cancer victim support charities and an environmental group called The National Trust.
The website targets children with flashy graphics and cartoon characters. The site's opening video shows cartoon depictions of hurricanes and floods, stating, "Climate change is threatening our world. The more energy we waste the worse it gets. It's time to fight back."
Children who visit the site can then play games, including one game in which "Climate Cops" chase down a gas-guzzling SUV that discharges incandescent light bulbs to slow them and another in which children zap as many energy wasters as they can find before a poor polar bear's iceberg melts.
Those who complete the site's three games receive code numbers that unlock a codeword, enabling visitors to "join the elite cadets and train to become a Climate Cop." The codeword then unlocks a download, where successful "cadets" can print out a "Climate Cop ID".

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=70811

Doc, what’s up with snooping?

By Micheal Graham
They’re watching you right now.They counted every beer you drank during last night’s Red Sox game.They see you sneaking out to the garage for a smoke.They know if you’ve got a gun, and where you keep it.They’re your kids, and they’re the National Security Agency of the Nanny State.I found this out after my 13-year-old daughter’s annual checkup. Her pediatrician grilled her about alcohol and drug abuse.Not my daughter’s boozing. Mine.“The doctor wanted to know how much you and mom drink, and if I think it’s too much,” my daughter told us afterward, rolling her eyes in that exasperated 13-year-old way. “She asked if you two did drugs, or if there are drugs in the house.”“What!” I yelped. “Who told her about my stasher, I mean, ‘It’s an outrage!’ ”I turned to my wife. “You took her to the doctor. Why didn’t you say something?”She couldn’t, she told me, because she knew nothing about it. All these questions were asked in private, without my wife’s knowledge or consent.“The doctor wanted to know how we get along,” my daughter continued. Then she paused. “And if, well, Daddy, if you made me feel uncomfortable.”Great. I send my daughter to the pediatrician to find out if she’s fit to play lacrosse, and the doctor spends her time trying to find out if her mom and I are drunk, drug-addicted sex criminals.We’re not alone, either. Thanks to guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics and supported by the commonwealth, doctors across Massachusetts are interrogating our kids about mom and dad’s “bad” behavior.We used to be proud parents. Now, thanks to the AAP, we’re “persons of interest.”The paranoia over parents is so strong that the AAP encourages doctors to ignore “legal barriers and deference to parental involvement” and shake the children down for all the inside information they can get.And that information doesn’t stay with the doctor, either.Debbie is a mom from Uxbridge who was in the examination room when the pediatrician asked her 5-year-old, “Does Daddy own a gun?”When the little girl said yes, the doctor began grilling her and her mom about the number and type of guns, how they are stored, etc.If the incident had ended there, it would have merely been annoying.But when a friend in law enforcement let Debbie know that her doctor had filed a report with the police about her family’s (entirely legal) gun ownership, she got mad.She also got a new doctor.In fact, the problem of anti-gun advocacy in the examining room has become so widespread that some states are considering legislation to stop it.Last year, my 7-year-old was asked about my guns during his physical examination. He promptly announced to the doctor that his father is the proud owner of a laser sighted plasma rifle perfect for destroying Throggs.At least as of this writing, no police report has been filed.“I still like my previous pediatrician,” Debbie told me. “She seemed embarrassed to ask the gun questions and apologized afterward. But she didn’t seem to have a choice.”Of course doctors have a choice.They could choose, for example, to ask me about my drunken revels, and not my children.They could choose not to put my children in this terrible position.They could choose, even here in Massachusetts, to leave their politics out of the office.But the doctors aren’t asking us parents.
They’re asking our kids.Worst of all, they’re asking all kids about sexual abuse without any provocation or probable cause.The American Academy of Pediatrics has declared all parents guilty until proven innocent.And then they wonder why we drink.

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=23952

Doctors will question your kids
Encouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), pediatricians across the United States have begun questioning children about their parents' habits, in some cases even filing police reports based on this information, according to an opinion article published in the Boston Herald. Article author Michael Graham recounts that his own children were asked by their doctor whether their parents used drugs and alcohol, owned guns, or were abusive. The doctor did not seek parental permission before asking the questions, nor did he inform them that they were being asked; Graham and his wife found out only after their children came home from the visits. "The doctor wanted to know how much you and mom drink, and if I think it's too much," Graham reports his daughter saying. "She asked if you two did drugs, or if there are drugs in the house. The doctor wanted to know how we get along. And if, well, Daddy, if you made me feel uncomfortable." Graham also reports the case of an Uxbridge, Massachusetts man who had his legal gun ownership reported to the police by his daughter's doctor. The doctor filed a police report after asking the 5-year-old girl if her father owned a gun, then following up with questions to her and her mother about the type and number of the weapons. Graham blames the trend on guidelines issued by the AAP, which classifies parents as "persons of interest" and encourages doctors to ask children questions in order to uncover inappropriate or illegal behavior. "The paranoia over parents is so strong that the AAP encourages doctors to ignore 'legal barriers and deference to parental involvement' and shake the children down for all the inside information they can get," Graham writes. According to Graham, anti-gun advocacy by pediatricians is widespread enough that "some states are considering legislation to stop it." "What this interrogation of children demonstrates," added consumer health advocate Mike Adams, "is just how deeply the medical establishment now believes it has total authority over the lives of patients. This kind of behavior is arrogant, outrageous and should be outlawed," Adams said.
http://www.naturalnews.com/022764.html

Do we really want to Chip our kids?
NaturalNews) A Rhode Island school district has announced a pilot program to monitor student movements by means of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips implanted in their schoolbags.The Middletown School District, in partnership with MAP Information Technology Corp., has launched a pilot program to implant RFID chips into the schoolbags of 80 children at the Aquidneck School. Each chip would be programmed with a student identification number, and would be read by an external device installed in one of two school buses. The buses would also be fitted with global positioning system (GPS) devices.Parents or school officials could log onto a school web site to see whether and when specific children had entered or exited which bus, and to look up the bus's current location as provided by the GPS device.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has criticized the plan as an invasion of children's privacy and a potential risk to their safety."There's absolutely no need to be tagging children," said Stephen Brown, executive director of the ACLU's Rhode Island chapter. According to Brown, the school district should already know where its students are."[This program is] a solution in search of a problem," Brown said.The school district says that its current plan is no different than other programs already in place for parents to monitor their children's school experience. For example, parents can already check on their children's attendance records and what they have for lunch, said district Superintendent Rosemary Kraeger.Brown disputed this argument. The school is perfectly entitled to track its buses, he said, but "it's a quantitative leap to monitor children themselves." He raised the question of whether unauthorized individuals could use easily available RFID readers to find out students' private information and monitor their movements.Because the pilot program is being provided to the school district at no cost, it did not require approval from the Rhode Island ethics commission
http://www.naturalnews.com/023445.html

FBI Warns of Storm Worm Virus

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 2:18 PMBy: Newsmax Staff

The FBI and its partner, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), have received reports of recent spam e-mails spreading the Storm Worm malicious software, known as malware.
These e-mails, which contain the phrase “F.B.I. vs. facebook,” direct e-mail recipients to click on a link to view an article about the FBI and Facebook, a popular social networking website. The Storm Worm virus has also been spread in the past in e-mails advertising a holiday e-card link.
Clicking on the link downloads malware onto the Internet connected device, causing it to become infected with the virus and part of the Storm Worm botnet. A botnet is a collection of compromised computers under the remote command and control of a criminal “botherder.”
Most owners of the compromised computers are unsuspecting victims. They have unintentionally allowed unauthorized access and use of their computers as a vehicle to facilitate other crimes, such as identity theft, denial of service attacks, phishing, click fraud, and the mass distribution of spam and spyware.
Because of their widely distributed capabilities, botnets are a growing threat to national security, the national information infrastructure, and the economy.
“The spammers spreading this virus are preying on Internet users and making their computers an unwitting part of criminal botnet activity. We urge citizens to help prevent the spread of botnets by becoming web-savvy. Following some simple computer security practices will reduce the risk that their computers will be compromised,” said Special Agent Richard Kolko, Chief, FBI National Press Office. Everyone should consider the following:

The FBI and its partner, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), have received reports of recent spam e-mails spreading the Storm Worm malicious software, known as malware.
These e-mails, which contain the phrase “F.B.I. vs. facebook,” direct e-mail recipients to click on a link to view an article about the FBI and Facebook, a popular social networking website. The Storm Worm virus has also been spread in the past in e-mails advertising a holiday e-card link.
Clicking on the link downloads malware onto the Internet connected device, causing it to become infected with the virus and part of the Storm Worm botnet. A botnet is a collection of compromised computers under the remote command and control of a criminal “botherder.”
Most owners of the compromised computers are unsuspecting victims. They have unintentionally allowed unauthorized access and use of their computers as a vehicle to facilitate other crimes, such as identity theft, denial of service attacks, phishing, click fraud, and the mass distribution of spam and spyware.
Because of their widely distributed capabilities, botnets are a growing threat to national security, the national information infrastructure, and the economy.
“The spammers spreading this virus are preying on Internet users and making their computers an unwitting part of criminal botnet activity. We urge citizens to help prevent the spread of botnets by becoming web-savvy. Following some simple computer security practices will reduce the risk that their computers will be compromised,” said Special Agent Richard Kolko, Chief, FBI National Press Office.
Everyone should consider the following:
· Do not respond to unsolicited (spam) e-mail.
· Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as officials soliciting personal information via e-mail.
· Do not click on links contained within an unsolicited e-mail.
· Be cautious of e-mail claiming to contain pictures in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.
· Validate the legitimacy of the organization by directly accessing the organization's website rather than following an alleged link to the site.
· Do not provide personal or financial information to anyone who solicits information.

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/storm_worm_virus/2008/07/30/117563.html