Eeyores news and view

I thought it was the "rightwing" terrorist that were the concern?
FBI's newest 'Most Wanted' terrorist is American
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, an accused domestic terrorist is being added to the FBI's list of "Most Wanted" terror suspects.
Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 31-year-old computer specialist from Berkeley, Calif., is wanted for the 2003 bombings of two corporate offices in California.
Authorities describe San Diego as an animal rights activist who turned to bomb attacks. They say wears a tattoo that reads: "It only takes a spark."
A law enforcement official said the FBI was to announce Tuesday that San Diego was being added to the "Most Wanted" terrorist list. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the announcement ahead of time.
San Diego would be the 24th person on the list, and the only domestic terror suspect.
The move to add a domestic, left-wing terrorist to the list comes only days after the Obama administration was criticized for internal reports suggesting some military veterans could be susceptible to right-wing extremist recruiters or commit lone acts of violence. That prompted angry reactions from some lawmakers and veterans groups.
An arrest warrant was issued for San Diego after the 2003 bombings in northern California of the corporate offices of Chiron Corp., a biotechnology firm, and at Shaklee Corp., a nutrition and cosmetics company. The explosions caused minor damages and no injuries.
A group calling itself "Revolutionary Cells" took responsibility for the blasts, telling followers in a series of e-mails that Chiron and Shaklee had been targeted for their ties to a research company that conducted drug and chemical experiments on animals.
Officials have offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to San Diego's capture, five times the reward amounts offered for other so-called eco-terrorists wanted in the U.S.
In February, the FBI announced San Diego may be living in Costa Rica, possibly working with Americans or people who speak English in the Central American country.
Law enforcement officials describe San Diego as a strict vegan who possesses a 9mm handgun. On his abdomen, he has images of burning and collapsing buildings.
The FBI's "Most Wanted" terrorist list is distinct from the much longer-running "Ten Most Wanted" list. Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is on both.
There is another American already on the list, but he is wanted for his work overseas for al-Qaeda. Adam Yahiye Gadahn grew up in California but moved to Pakistan and works as a translator and consultant to al-Qaeda.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-04-21-most-wanted-american_N.htm

Supreme Court limits warrantless vehicle searches April 21, 2009 - 10:42am
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that police need a warrant to search the vehicle of someone they have arrested if the person is locked up in a patrol cruiser and poses no safety threat to officers.
The court's 5-4 decision puts new limits on the ability of police to search a vehicle immediately after the arrest of a suspect.
Justice John Paul Stevens said in the majority opinion that warrantless searches still may be conducted if a car's passenger compartment is within reach of a suspect who has been removed from the vehicle or there is reason to believe evidence of a crime will be found.
"When these justifications are absent, a search of an arrestee's vehicle will be unreasonable unless police obtain a warrant," Stevens said.
Justice Samuel Alito, in dissent, complained that the decision upsets police practice that has developed since the court first authorized warrantless searches immediately following an arrest.
"There are cases in which it is unclear whether an arrestee could retrieve a weapon or evidence," Alito said.
Even more confusing, he said, is asking police to determine whether the vehicle contains evidence of a crime. "What this rule permits in a variety of situations is entirely unclear," Alito said.
The decision backs an Arizona high court ruling in favor of Rodney Joseph Gant, who was handcuffed, seated in the back of a patrol car and under police supervision when Tucson, Ariz., police officers searched his car. They found cocaine and drug paraphernalia.
The trial court said the evidence could be used against Gant, but Arizona appeals courts overturned the convictions because the officers already had secured the scene and thus faced no threat to their safety or concern about evidence being preserved.
The state and the Bush administration complained that ruling would impose a "dangerous and unworkable test" that would complicate the daily lives of law enforcement officers.
The justices divided in an unusual fashion. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, David Souter and Clarence Thomas joined the majority opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy were in dissent along with Alito.
http://wtop.com/?nid=343&sid=1655492

12 nations open naval warfare exercises off Fla.
By RON WORD
Associated Press Writers
MAYPORT NAVAL STATION, Fla. -- Navies from the United States and 11 other countries on Monday launched two weeks of war exercises off Florida's Atlantic coast that will include training in combating piracy and drug smuggling.
Several Latin American countries, Canada and Germany are taking part in UNITAS Gold, which is now in its 50th year and is the Navy's longest-running yearly exercise. Hundreds of white-uniformed officers held a starting ceremony before embarking on ships, submarines and aircraft to begin training meant to foster naval cooperation throughout the Americas.
Sailors, Marines and other military forces will perform live-fire exercises, undersea warfare, helicopter and amphibious operations, among other training. More than 25 ships, four submarines, 6,500 sailors and 50 aircraft are taking part in the exercise hosted by the U.S. Navy's 4th Fleet, based at Mayport Naval Station just north of Jacksonville.
U.S. ships participating in the $7 million exercise are the amphibious transport dock ship, the USS Mesa Verde, the guided missile destroyer the USS Donald Cook; guided missile frigates, USS Doyle and USS Kauffman, and the U.S. Coast Guard ship Thetis.
Rear Adm. Joseph Kernan, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and of the U.S. 4th Fleet, opened the exercises Monday. It was the first time that UNITAS was being held off the mainland United States, although the Navy has hosted the annual event in Puerto Rico.
Kernan noted that multi-national forces are combating piracy off Somalia and said exercises such as UNITAS will help nations coordinate efforts to oppose that scourge.
"If piracy proliferates into the region, my belief is that exercises of this nature will allow us to address it effectively," he said.
Other countries involved in UNITAS exercises are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.
"As we move forward together, I am confident that future opportunities to work with our partners will not only strengthen our ability to operate together and provide for our nations' security, but will also build personal respect and friendships," he told them.
Kernan said he expected individual sailors and junior officers to benefit the most from the training. Several countries are also trading sailors so they can observe operations of their respective navies, officials said.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1008724.html

I thought it was Right wing terrorist that were the problem?
Middle America: The new face of terror April 21, 2009 - 4:49am
WASHINGTON - Abu Mansour Al-Amriki whispers as he reveals his plans to ambush a unit of Ethiopian and Somali forces just outside Baidoa in Somalia.
He can hardly contain his excitement as he lays out his plan into the camera.
"As they entered into our ambush, we began opening up with small arms fire."
The video is then peppered with the crackle of small arms-fire and smoke. After a brief firefight, al-Amriki, the commander of a Mujahideen Youth Movement unit, returns to the camera and gloats about a "David vs. Goliath" like accomplishment.
"We attacked a number that was much greater than our size. We were maybe somewhere around 30 to 40. Whereas the Ethiopians were said to be anywhere between 3,000 to 4,000.
Al-Amriki's appearance may surprise you. He's a white American who speaks English and is one of what may be a growing number of born and bred Americans fighting against the U.S. in the war against terrorism.
But these new faces get no special treatment.
U.S. air strikes in Pakistan last year created an urgent question for the U.S. government: Where's Adam Gadahn?
Gadahn is better known as "Azzam the American" from California. He is said to be a top adviser to Osama Bin Laden.
"We need to get information -- we need to find him," says Michael Darmiento, assistant director of the Diplomatic Security Service directorate with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
Gadahn is known as al-Qaida's American connection.
"There have been some new developments," Darmiento says. "There's a lot of information about him having been killed possibly."
Intelligence sources say he may have been with top al-Qaida associate Abu Laith al Libi, who died in a January missile strike. But Darmiento said he can't confirm that. Therefore, a $1 million reward was put on the table to find out one way or the other.
Al-Amriki, a Muslim convert, can be seen on numerous videos bragging and laughing about Mujahideen Youth Movement's conquests. Federal law enforcement sources say he has been in Somalia for about two years.
Unconfirmed reports indicate he is former member of U.S. Special Forces.
http://wtop.com/?nid=778&sid=1654838

Gov. Palin to receive her own AR-15NRA members, keep an eye out for your copy of American Rifleman, if it hasn't already arrived. According to the latest edition of the magazine, Bob Reynolds, owner of Templar Consulting LLC, will make a special presentation at the NRA Foundation Banquet on May 14.
It's a modified AR-15 (civilian version of the milspec M16 rifle), specially customized in honor of Gov. Sarah Palin. Chambered for .50 Beowulf instead of the standard 5.56mm cartridge, this special AR features several custom engravings. The Big Dipper is on the magazine well, an outline of the state of Alaska is on the stock, and on the upper receiver are a moose, the NRA logo and an inscription, "In Honor of Governor Sarah Palin."
"Gov. Palin stood up and announced she was a supporter of the Second Amendment," says Reynolds. "I was really excited about that. I feel like the NRA has done a lot for my rights. And I feel the Governor has, too. I just wanted to do something to give back. And since the Governor lives in Alaska, I thought .50 Beowulf was appropriate."
Reynolds actually made two of these very special AR's. One will be presented to the governor, and the other will be auctioned at the Banquet.
http://texas4palin.blogspot.com/2009/04/gov-palin-to-receive-her-own-ar-15.html

Eeyores News and View

What most of the talking-heads fail to mention is that Iran has and is capable of using long range missles.
Report: Iran sends satellite to orbitTEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has successfully sent its first domestically made satellite into orbit, state radio reported Tuesday, another development in the country's ambitious space program that has worried many international observers.
The satellite called Omid, or hope in Farsi, was launched late Monday after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave the order to proceed, according to the radio report. State television also showed footage of what it said was the satellite blasting off in the darkness from an unidentified location in Iran.
The reports could not be independently verified by outside observers. Some western observers have accused Tehran of exaggerating its space program.
Iran has long held the goal of developing a space program, generating unease among world leaders already concerned about its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. One of the worries associated with Iran's fledgling space program is that the same technology used to put satellites into space can also be used to deliver warheads.
The satellite was taken into orbit by a Safir-2, or ambassador-2 rocket, which was first tested in August and has a range of 155 miles.
Despite the anxiety by the U.S. and its allies over Iran's space program, it is not exactly clear how developed it is.
In 2005, Iran launched its first commercial satellite on a Russian rocket in a joint project with Moscow, which appears to be the main partner in transferring space technology to Iran. Also in 2005, the government said it had allocated $500 million for space projects in the next five years.
Iranian officials first started developing the satellite, which weighs 60 pounds, in 2006.
Iran has said it wants to put its own satellites into orbit to monitor natural disasters in the earthquake-prone nation and improve its telecommunications. Iranian officials also point to America's use of satellites to monitor Afghanistan and Iraq and say they need similar abilities for their security.
Iran hopes to launch three more satellites by 2010, the government has said.
The radio says the satellite launched Monday is designed to circle the earth 15 times during a 24-hour period and send reports to the space center in Iran. It has two frequency bands and eight antennas for transmitting data.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2009-02-03-iran-space-satellite_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Experts question fallout from new Monster hack
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — For the second time in less than 18 months, the job-search website Monster.com was breached, along with USAJobs.gov, which Monster's parent company runs for the federal government. And yet Monster might suffer little fallout — because the overall state of computer security is so bad anyway.
Attacks against websites have become so common, security experts say, that Monster Worldwide Inc. won't necessarily scare customers away with its January disclosure that its database was plundered of user IDs, passwords, e-mail addresses, names and phone numbers. Monster makes money by charging employers that post jobs and scan the resumes of applicants, who use the service for free.
Security experts said Monster didn't appear to be doing enough to secure its computers, but many played down the latest breach because Monster said no Social Security numbers, personal financial information or resumes were stolen. However, Monster didn't say how many records were exposed. In a previous breach, in August 2007, con artists grabbed resumes on 1.3 million people.
Both incidents affected Monster.com, which boasts more than 75 million members, and USAJobs.gov, which has 8 million registered users. They're both alluring targets because people give job search sites all kinds of personal information. Even just the user names and passwords people use on the sites can be golden to a thief, since people often don't change their information from site to site.
Michael Orenstein, a spokesman for Office of Personnel Management, which oversees USAJobs.gov, wouldn't say whether the government is reconsidering its contract with Monster, which is up in about a year. He said there's no indication that information on USAJobs' members has been used against them.
"We will continue to work with Monster to ensure we have the best available security, so that incidents like this do not occur, or when they do, the damage is limited or of an inconsequential nature," he said. "No breach is good, don't get me wrong, but the information obtained was limited."
Monster declined to comment.
Security analysts noted that if the government — or any other Monster user — switched to another online job-listing service, there would be no guarantee against trouble at the next provider.
"No matter what you pick after Monster, they're just as susceptible to fraud as anybody else — it won't solve the problem," said Ori Eisen, founder of 41st Parameter, a security firm. "The fact that they've been hit twice is because they have the goods. A bank with no money doesn't get hacked. It's because they're an absolutely known target."
Companies often don't know when they've been breached, since the most well-crafted attacks come and go silently. And companies with big targets on their backs can be attacked hundreds of times a day.
Monster's latest breach "shouldn't have happened," said Bruce Schneier, chief security technology officer for BT Group. "But you can't understand a company's network security by looking at public events — that's a bad metric. All the public events tell you are, these are attacks that were successful enough to steal data, but were unsuccessful in covering their tracks."
Jeremiah Grossman, chief technology officer for WhiteHat Security Inc., said he questioned Monster's refusal to publicly discuss how its latest breach happened.
"It doesn't look good, but on its own it's not a complete indictment of them until we know more facts," he said.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2009-02-04-monster-breach_N.htm
Strange, diffidently a target, not random
Bomb critically wounds head of Ark. medical board
WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. (AP) - A car bomb explosion critically wounded the head of the Arkansas panel that licenses and disciplines doctors, detonating in his driveway as he was leaving for work, authorities said.
Police said they had no idea why someone would target Dr. Trent P. Pierce, chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board. The explosive device placed on or near the car shattered the front of his white Lexus hybrid in a blast the police chief said could be heard a mile away.
"We don't know if this was a random target or someone specifically targeted him," said West Memphis Police Chief Bob Paudert. He said it wasn't known if the doctor was in his car or outside it when the device exploded.
Pierce, a family physician, was taken to Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tenn., where he was listed in critical condition, hospital spokeswoman Sandy Snell said.
The FBI said a second person was injured outside Pierce's home, but Paudert said only one was hurt. The discrepancy could not be resolved immediately.
Pierce had been due in Little Rock later Wednesday in advance of Thursday and Friday's medical board meeting. The board agenda includes at least seven doctors who previously faced discipline.
Board attorney William Trice, of Little Rock, said he knew of no heated disputes involving Pierce and that Pierce often didn't even take part in board votes.
"This is just off the wall," Trice said. "It's just such bizarre circumstances."
State police used bomb-sniffing dogs Wednesday afternoon to scan the board's headquarters office. The board regulates more than 8,000 doctors, 3,000 therapists and nearly 400 osteopaths.
Though the motive for the attack was unknown, Gov. Mike Beebe was among those expressing concern for other board members.
"I think law enforcement's reaching out, because you don't know if this was connected to the medical board or it was just something individual," Beebe said. "To be safe, I think everybody's trying alert all the members of the medical board to be able to use extra caution."
Pierce is a family-practice physician who patients include the West Memphis police chief.
"He was loved and respected by everybody in this community," Paudert said. "He was a kind and gentle person."
Pierce's car sat wrecked in his driveway, its hood open and bumper partially torn away.
Police blocked off the tree-lined street about 100 yards from the site. Onlookers could see police officers walking back and forth with dogs, while other investigators wore jackets identifying themselves as members of the Arkansas State Police bomb squad or federal agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
ATF agents did not immediately return a call for comment. Paudert said he planned to meet with ATF agents.
Neighbor Julanne Ingram said she heard the explosion about 8 a.m.
"It was a huge explosion," she said. "It rattled the windows in this house."
Pierce, who is in his 50s, was to have attended board subcommittee meetings Wednesday in Little Rock.
He was appointed to the board in January 1997 and reappointed in 2005 by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee. The board oversees the practice of medicine in Arkansas and can discipline doctors for wrongdoing, including revoking their medical licenses.
In August, the chairman of Arkansas' Democratic Party was slain by a man who was later killed by officers after he threatened them. The motive for the shooting of Bill Gwatney was never determined.
http://wtop.com/?nid=104&sid=1592909

Google Offers "Latitude" To Track People
Google is releasing free software Wednesday that enables people to keep track of each other using their cell phones.
CNET got a sneak peek at it, and CNET-TV Senior Editor and Early Show contributor Natali Del Conte explained how it works on the show Tuesday.
She says "Latitude" uses GPS systems and what's called cell tower triangulation to do the job. The software seeks the closest three cell towers and, with GPS, combines the data to show where someone is.
It is designed to work on any phone with Internet capabilities, except the iPhone.
"Latitude" is being marketed as a tool that could help parents keep tabs on their children's locations, but it can be used for anyone to find anyone else, assuming permission is given.
"What Google Latitude does is allow you to share that location with friends and family members, and likewise be able to see friends and family members' locations," Steve Lee, product manager for Google Latitude, told CNET. "For example, a girlfriend could use it to see if her boyfriend has arrived at a restaurant and, if not, how far away he is."
CNET points out that, "To protect privacy, Google specifically requires people to sign up for the service. People can share their precise location, the city they're in, or nothing at all."
"What we found in testing," Lee added to CNET, "is that the most common scenario is a symmetrical arrangement, where both people are sharing with each other."
For complete details from CNET on "Latitude," click here.
But how accurate is "Latitude"?
Del Conte found a family willing to give it a try. The results? Mixed:
The family lives in an area with spotty cell phone reception, Del Conte points out. They found that, if they went to more urbanized areas, the accuracy of the program increased.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/04/earlyshow/leisure/gamesgadgetsgizmos/main4774320.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories

Better watch out what you allow on your websites and blogs, it coming here sooner then later.
4 Google execs on trial in Italy for abusive video
Wednesday February 4, 11:03 am ET
4 Google Italy execs on trial in Milan over video showing abuse of disabled youth
ROME (AP) -- Google Italy says four of its executives are being tried in Milan over a video uploaded onto the Italian site that showed a disabled youth being abused.
The company said Wednesday that the four are facing trial on accusations that they failed to control the content of the video, which surfaced on Google's Italian video site in September 2006. Google denies wrongdoing and said in a statement that the trial is "absolutely unjustified."
Google Italy said the opening hearing at a Milan courthouse Tuesday was devoted to technicalities. Proceedings were adjourned until Feb. 18.
The trial was sought by Vivi Down, an advocacy group for Down syndrome.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090204/eu_italy_google_videos.html?.v=1


Canada: 36 farms quarantined for bird flu 02 Feb 2009In Canada, 3 of 4 of the most recent bird flu outbreaks have occurred in British Columbia's Fraser Valley. There are theories, but no evidence, as to why the valley attracts the virus. In the most recent avian influenza outbreak, 60,000 turkeys were culled. Tests indicate the virus has not spread to any other poultry producers within a 3-km quarantine zone.The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has quarantined 7 premises outside the zone and an additional 2 inside, based on an analysis of the movement of people, products and equipment. In total, 36 premises are under quarantine.Third major outbreakThis is the third bird flu outbreak in the Fraser Valley in recent years. Some scientists believe this to be related to the high-concentration of poultry operations in the valley and its location under the Pacific migratory flyway for wild birds that carry the disease.History of AI in the regionFraser Valley's first outbreak occurred in 2004 when an H7-type flu transformed into a highly contagious strain.The second outbreak occurred in November 2005, when 2 duck farms were infected with the H5N2 strain of the virus.In 2007, a highly pathogenic H7N3 strain was found in Saskatchewan on a farm that produced hatching eggs to produce broiler chickens.
http://www.worldpoultry.net/news/canada ... -3544.html

Eeyore's Important News and Views

The economy is a big deal for the last week, the markets are still going crazy with the huge swings up and down. It appears that Gold and silver have found their bottom and raising again. The dollars "seems" to grow stronger, and oil on it's way down is now making a come back. So here are a few articles about it to help you understand what is going on.

Oil jumps above $104 a barrel on US bailout plan

September 19, 2008 - 4:36pmBy STEVENSON JACOBS
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - Oil prices shot up more than $6 a barrel Friday, breaking back into $100 territory as a sweeping government plan to rescue the imperiled U.S. financial system emboldened investors to re-enter the markets.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose $6.67 to settle at $104.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier rising as high as $105.25. It was oil's first close above $100 in a week.

Crude has climbed over $13 in the past three days as the government carries out a historic intervention into the financial system. But analysts say prices could resume their downward trend, noting that demand for energy will likely remain weak as a slumping economy leads Americans to drive less and businesses to scale back operations.

On Friday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the rescue plan was aimed at removing billions of dollars of troubled assets from the books of banking institutions and restoring calm to panicky financial markets after a week of intense volatility. The Securities and Exchange Commission also temporarily banned short-selling _ or betting that a stock will fall _ of about 800 financial firms, hoping to stem heavy losses in that sector.

The moves soothed skittish traders and sent stocks surging on Wall Street, giving a boost to energy and other commodities. Crude jumped nearly $5 in morning trading, gave back most of the gains later in the day and then climbed again toward the end of regular trading.

"The government rescue plan has reduced the likelihood of a financial meltdown, so the theme of energy demand deterioration is being pushed to the back burner for the time being," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.

But he and other analysts pointed out that oil's fundamentals remain largely bearish.

Crude prices have fallen about $43 since reaching a record $147.27 a barrel on July 11 on concern that slowing economic growth in developed countries will undermine crude demand.

Those fears deepened this week as turmoil in the U.S. financial system led to the bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. and an $85 billion government rescue of insurer American International Group Inc.

"People realize we still have a weak economy and $100 oil in these conditions is still very expensive," said Stephen Schork, an analyst and oil trader in Villanova, Pa. "I'm not a believer that the ship has been turned around and that we're going back toward $150 oil."

Meanwhile at the pump, gas prices eased slightly as more Gulf Coast refineries came back on line following the passage of Hurricane Ike last weekend. A gallon of regular fell less than half a penny to a new national average of $3.807, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.

Nigeria's main militant group said Thursday it bombed another oil pipeline, marking a sixth straight day of stepped-up violence in Africa's oil giant.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in a statement it used high explosives to destroy the conduit run by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

Shell officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The militants have declared an "oil war" in the Niger Delta, where militants demanding more oil-industry funds from the federal government have increased attacks. About 40 percent of Nigeria's normal daily oil production is now off-line, severely curtailing exports.

Still, oil traders seemed to largely ignore the violence, repeating a trend of recent weeks in which normally bullish news fails to rally the market.

"The focus of the market right now has switched from supply to demand," said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist with ANZ Bank in Melbourne. "So these stories will have some impact, but not as much as they had during the last six months when the market was supply-driven."

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 11.54 cents to settle at $2.8978 a gallon, while gasoline prices gained 11.73 cents to settle at $2.5997 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 7.8 cents to settle at $7.848 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, November Brent crude rose $4.42 to settle at $99.61 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

http://wtop.com/?nid=111&sid=577994

Central Banks Offer Extra Funds to Calm Money Markets

By John Fraher and Simon Kennedy
Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve almost quadrupled the amount of dollars central banks can auction around the world to $247 billion in a coordinated bid to ease the worst crisis facing financial markets since the aftermath of the 1929 Wall Street crash.
The Fed increased the amount of dollars that the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and other counterparts can offer from $67 billion ``to address the continued elevated pressures in U.S. dollar short-term funding markets.'' The Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank also participated. Several of them lent funds in their own currencies as well with the Fed adding a record $105 billion in temporary reserves.
Policy makers have struggled to revive confidence in markets this week as investors stockpiled money on concern more financial institutions would fail after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the U.S. government bailout of American International Group Inc. The cost to hedge against losses on U.S. government debt climbed to a record yesterday.
``There's a complete lack of faith in the markets,'' said Jim O'Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in London. ``There's a lot of cash hoarding and people losing trust in banks, so the central banks are acting to relieve that. This might not be the last time they have to act.''

Cheaper Borrowing

Markets welcomed the announcement, which was made in statements from each central bank at 9 a.m. Frankfurt time at the start of European trading. The cost of borrowing dollars overnight slid to 3.84 percent from 5.03 percent yesterday. It was 2.15 percent last week and reached the highest since 2001 on Sept. 15.
The Fed will spray dollars around the world via swap lines with other central banks. They can then auction them in their own markets.
The ECB, Bank of England and SNB allotted a total of $64 billion for one day today. With both the ECB and Bank of England offering $40 billion, U.K. banks bid for just $14 billion, while those in the 15-nation euro area sought almost $102 billion.
``The timing, so early in the trading day, shows both the severity of the strains in the interbank market and as well the authorities' determination to resuscitate orderly functioning of the money markets,'' said Julian Callow, head of European economics at Barclays Capital in London.

$110 Billion for ECB

Under the new arrangements, the ECB doubled the limit of dollars it can get from the Fed to $110 billion and Switzerland's central bank can offer $27 billion, an extra $15 billion. Today marked the first time the two had auctioned dollars overnight since swap lines were opened with the Fed last December.
New swap facilities with the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada amount to $60 billion, $40 billion and $10 billion, respectively. The arrangements are authorized until Jan. 30.
The ECB said it would offer $40 billion ``for as long as needed'' in overnight funds to the region's banks. It will also increase by $5 billion the amount it lends for 28 days and 84 days to $25 billion and $15 billion. The Swiss National Bank will boost its 28-day auctions to $8 billion and the 84-day offering to $9 billion. Both were previously $6 billion.
The Bank of Canada said it has decided not to draw on its $10 billion swap facility at this time. The Bank of Japan, whose policy board held an emergency meeting today, said it will use its $60 billion as required by market conditions.

Adding Euros, Pounds

In auctions of their own currencies, the ECB today lent 25 billion euros in one-day money and the Bank of England 66.2 billion pounds in one-week loans.
The joint action is the latest attempt by central bankers to fight the financial crisis which deepened this week after Lehman and AIG tumbled and Merrill Lynch & Co. was sold. The crisis began over a year ago after the U.S. housing market imploded and has pushed the world economy to the brink of recession.
As markets seized up this week, central bankers pushed more than $200 billion into markets with those in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Australia doing so again today. The U.S. Treasury today announced plans to sell an additional $100 billion in short- term debt to aid the Fed's balance sheet as it extends credit to financial companies.
Wall Street's woes have gone global, forcing the U.K. government to sponsor a rescue of mortgage lender HBOS Plc and Russia to pour money into its banks. Russia's government said today it would invest in the country's stock market when it reopens tomorrow. The official Xinhua News Agency said China will buy equity stakes in state-owned banks to stabilize its market.

Swap Lines

Swap lines were first established in December when officials joined forces to boost dollar liquidity around the world after interest-rate reductions in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada failed to ease concerns about bank lending. The Fed increased its link with the ECB in July.
The announcement today boosted U.S. shares, which have been pummeled this week as contagion spread through financial markets. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 9.47, or 0.8 percent, to 1,165.86 at 11:05 a.m. in New York, recovering about one-fifth of its loss from yesterday. More than $19 trillion has been wiped off the value of global stock markets since Oct. 31.
Failure to calm markets will see central banks inject even more cash, said Robert Barrie, an economist at Credit Suisse Group in London. Other options central banks could take include accepting greater collateral denominated in foreign currencies, increasing lending to banks abroad and eventually even buying assets directly.
``The lack of dollars has been making the financial crisis worse around the world, which is why we now have this coordinated response,'' Barrie said. The rate of borrowing in dollars for three months rose to the highest since January, indicating bankers are still wary.

Unaddressed Problem

Laurence Mutkin, head of European fixed income strategy at Morgan Stanley, said that while the central banks had prevented money markets from failing, their intervention didn't ``address the key problem'' of banks sitting on cash and refusing to lend.
Since the credit squeeze began in August 2007, central banks have sought to keep apart the need to soothe markets and to combat inflation. They argue that interest rates are a blunt tool for helping markets and that price pressures prevent them from cutting rates.
While the Fed slashed its key lending rate to 2 percent, the central bank has left it there since April. The Bank of Japan kept its key rate at 0.5 percent this week and the European Central Bank increased its benchmark to a seven-year high in July. The Swiss National Bank kept its key rate on hold today.
If the spasms in the markets continue and threaten to derail growth central bankers may shift, although for now they will want to wait, said Kevin Gaynor, head of economics at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London.
``Partly this is to keep powder dry and partly because cutting interest rates won't make much difference,'' he said.
To contact the reporters on this story: John Fraher in London at jfraher@bloomberg.net; Simon Kennedy in Paris at Skennedy4@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abyFUcrzapb4&refer=home

Treasury pulls out stops to support money markets

By Mark Felsenthal Fri Sep 19, 9:28 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials rushed to shore up ailing money markets on Friday after signs that this long-safe corner of financial markets, home to some $3.5 trillion of deposits, was at risk of falling victim to the year-old credit crunch and bring the crisis to Main Street.
The U.S. Treasury Department said it would use $50 billion to back money market mutual funds whose asset values fall below $1 a share. Separately, the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would lend even more money directly to financial institutions so they could purchase certain assets from money market funds.
The latest government efforts come after the credit crisis, which had largely been seen as problem for Wall Street risk takers, threatened to spill over into Main Street after some super-safe money market funds buckled.
"For the next year, the U.S. Treasury will insure the holdings of any publicly offered eligible money market mutual fund -- both retail and institutional -- that pays a fee to participate in the program," the Treasury said in a statement.
President George W. Bush approved use of the Exchange Stabilization Fund to guarantee payments, Treasury said. The fund, which traces its roots to the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, allows the Treasury to conduct various transactions with the Treasury secretary's authorization.
The surprise moves comes as the Treasury and the Federal Reserve consider broad government intervention to prevent the collapse of the financial system, shaken in recent days by a crisis at insurer American International Group that required a $85 billion government rescue and the bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
The move shows authorities are trying to get out in front of problems before another institution is pushed to the brink of failure, an analyst said.
"It is probably a testament to how bad things really are when you look beneath the hood," said Weston Boone, vice president of listed trade, Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets, in Baltimore.
"The markets are frozen," he said.
News of the backstop for money market funds had instant impact in stock, bond and currency markets.
U.S. equity index futures, already soaring on optimism for other measures authorities are taking to contain the spiraling credit crisis, shot to session highs, indicating Wall Street will add to gains after its best day in six years on Thursday.
Rates on U.S. Treasury bills shot higher, too. They had fallen to near zero earlier in the week as investors panicked and rushed for the safety of government securities after the oldest U.S. money market fund "broke the buck," or fell below $1 net asset value.
The dollar, meanwhile, rose to a one-week high against the Japanese yen as investors regained an appetite for risk amid all the steps being taken to address the credit crunch.
The Treasury said concerns about the net asset value of money market funds falling below $1 have exacerbated global financial market turmoil and caused severe liquidity strains in world markets.
"Maintaining confidence in the money market fund industry is critical to protecting the integrity and stability of the global financial system," the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The panic in money markets began Tuesday, when the Reserve Primary Fund, a money-market mutual fund whose assets have tumbled 65 percent in recent weeks, fell below $1 a share in net asset value, because of its losses on debt issued by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
In the industry, money money funds whose net assets drop below $1 a share are said to have "broken the buck."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080919/bs_nm/financial_treasury_dc

Paulson plan could cost $1 trillion

Congressional leaders said after meeting Thursday evening with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that as much as $1 trillion could be needed to avoid an imminent meltdown of the U.S. financial system.

Paulson announced plans Friday morning for a "bold approach" that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. At a news conference at Treasury headquarters, he called for a "temporary asset relief program" to take bad mortgages off the books of the nation's financial institutions. Congressional leaders had left Washington on Friday, but Paulson planned to confer with them over the weekend.

"We're talking hundreds of billions," Paulson told reporters. "This needs to be big enough to make a real difference and get to the heart of the problem."

Stock markets soared around the world in anticipation of the rescue, with British and Chinese indexes recording their biggest gains ever.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” said lawmakers were told last night “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications, here at home and globally.”
“What you heard last evening is one of those rare moments — certainly rare in my experience here — was that Democrats and Republicans decided we needed to work together, quickly,” Dodd said.
The solution being proposed by the Bush administration is the most expensive bailout in the nation’s history, sharply curtailing the ability of the next president to push for tax cuts or new spending.
Congressional leaders tell Politico that to expedite the rescue, Treasury plans to seek additional authority rather than creating a new entity. The plan involves buying up hundreds of billions of dollars in bad mortgages to take them off the books of financial institutions that otherwise might fail.

Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, told “Good Morning America”: “I figure it will be at least half a trillion. But if you look at what the Fed has already done [by rescuing insurance giant AIG], and the extension of power to Treasury to deal with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I believe we're talking about a trillion dollars.”
Some Republicans are expressing concerns about writing essentially a blank check to the Bush administration.
“They're lurching from one crisis to another,” Shelby said. “They don't seem to have a superplan to deal with this. ... We want to see the plan. This is not a done deal yet. But we know there's crisis, there's stress, in the financial markets that we haven't seen in, say, 70 years.”
Some conservatives are balking even more bluntly.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a member of the Joint Economic Committee, told the Los Angeles Times: “What is missing from it and from the recent string of bailouts is a commitment to return to a free enterprise economy. ... What we need now is not what could be nearly a trillion dollars in new taxpayer bailouts but pro-growth policies that allow our markets to correct and start growing again.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13602.html

Switching gears here for a second. Terrorist is becoming more active and varied country's, here are a couple of articles.

Suicide bomb guts Pakistan Marriott hotel; 40 dead

By STEPHEN GRAHAM and NAHAL TOOSI

Associated Press Writers

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - A massive suicide truck bomb gutted the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Saturday, killing at least 40 people and wounding hundreds. Dozens more were feared dead inside the building that was still burning hours after the attack.

The targeting of the American hotel chain appeared to be one of the largest terrorist attacks ever in Pakistan and came at a time of growing anger in Pakistan over a wave of cross-border strikes on militant bases by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The bomb left a vast crater some 30 feet deep in front of the main building, where rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies. The fire was still burning six hours after the blast and had devastated most of the five-story hotel, sending up a thick pall of smoke over the area.

"The fire has eaten the entire building," said Mohammed Ali, an emergency service official at the scene. He said that after an initial chaotic search to find survivors, rescue teams had only been able to make two brief forays inside but found no bodies or survivors and had to retreat quickly.

The bombing came just hours after President Asif Ali Zardari made his first address to Parliament, less than a mile away from the hotel, and days ahead of the new leader's meeting with President Bush Tuesday in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

Rehman Malik, head of Pakistan's Interior Ministry, told the AP authorities had received intelligence that there might be militant activity timed to coincide with Zardari's inaugural address and security had been tightened.

Zardari reappeared after midnight on state television to condemn the "cowardly attack."

He said he understood the victims' pain because he had buried his own wife _ assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto _ in December.

"Make this pain your strength," he said. "This is a menace, a cancer in Pakistan which we will eliminate. We will not be scared of these cowards," he said.

Witnesses and officials said the truck exploded about 60 feet away from the hotel at two heavy metal barriers blocking the entrance. It went off at about 8 p.m., when four restaurants inside would have been packed with diners at the hour that Muslims break their daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

The Marriott had been a favorite place for foreigners as well as Pakistani politicians and business people to stay and socialize in Islamabad despite repeated militant attacks on the hotel. One American was confirmed among the dead.

Earlier, a U.S. State Department official led three colleagues through the rubble from the charred building, one of them bleeding heavily from a wound on the side of his head.

One of the four, who identified himself only as Tony, said they had been moving toward the rear of a Chinese restaurant inside the hotel after a first, small blast when a second explosion hurled them against the back wall.

"Then we saw a big truck coming to the gates," he said. "After that, it was just smoke and darkness."

Mohammed Asghar, a worker from a nearby office with a makeshift bandage round his head, said there was more than one man in the truck and that they had argued with the hotel guards.

"Then there was a flash of light, the truck caught fire and then exploded with an enormous bang," he said.

Mohammad Sultan, a hotel employee, said he was in the lobby when something exploded. He fell down and everything temporarily went dark.

"I didn't understand what it was, but it was like the world is finished," he said.

Senior police official Asghar Raza Gardaizi said rescuers had counted at least 40 bodies at the scene and that he feared that there "dozens more dead inside."

Associated Press reporters saw at least nine bodies scattered at the scene. Scores of people, including foreigners, were running out _ some of them stained with blood.

Information Minister Sherry Rehman said 250 people were wounded. Two hospitals said 10 foreigners were among those in their treatment, including one each from Germany, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Afghanistan.

Pakistan faces a raging insurgency by the Taliban in the border areas, where Western governments worry that al-Qaida militants could be plotting more attacks on their cities. Security officials say the two groups work together to carry out attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Though there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, officials have warned that the U.S. cross-border raids on Pakistani territory could fuel violent extremism.

President Bush said the attack was "a reminder of the ongoing threat faced by Pakistan, the United States, and all those who stand against violent extremism." "We will fully support the democratically elected government of Pakistan and the Pakistani people as they face enormous challenges economically as well as from terrorism," he said.

IntelCenter, a group which monitors al-Qaida communications, said senior al-Qaida leader Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, who claimed the June Danish Embassy bombing in Islamabad, threatened additional attacks against Western interests in Pakistan in a video timed to the recent anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said officials were trying to account for embassy staff and any other Americans affected.

Ambulances rushed to the area, picking their way through the charred carcasses of vehicles that had been in the street outside. Windows in buildings hundreds of yards away were shattered. Tropical fish from the tanks inside lay among the torn furnishings in the entrance area.

"We live in a dangerous world and this is a terrible tragedy. We grieve for those people who died, or were injured, and their families," Bill Marriott, chairman and CEO of Marriott International, said in a statement.

The hotel served as the headquarters for the international media during the 2001 war against the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. Its 290 rooms and suites and popular health club stood in a plot surrounded by government office buildings less than a mile from the president's office and Parliament. It had been targeted before.

In January 2007, a security guard blocked a suicide bomber who triggered a blast just outside the Marriott, killing the guard and wounding seven other people.

Pakistan has faced a wave of militant violence in recent months following army-led offensives against insurgents in its border regions, including several in the capital.

The country's deadliest suicide bombing was on Oct. 18, 2007 and targeted Bhutto, who survived. It killed some 150 people in Karachi during celebrations welcoming her home from exile. Bhutto was assassinated in a subsequent attack on Dec. 27.

On Aug. 21, 2008, suicide bombers blew themselves up at two gates into mammoth weapons factory in town of Wah, killing at least 67 people and wounding more than 70.

http://wtop.com/?nid=105&sid=1481854

Yemen bomb raises fears of greater threat

BY PAMELA HESS AND MATTHEW LEE
IN WASHINGTON

19/09/2008 12:00:00 AM

A bombing plot carried out against the United States embassy in Yemen supports fears that Muslim extremists are gathering strength in the nation and could make it a headquarters for terrorism.

The attack outside the perimeter of the compound, which killed 16 people, including six assailants, follows a March mortar attack on the embassy and two attacks against Yemen's presidential compound in late April.

None of those killed or wounded in the latest attack were US diplomats or embassy staff.

US intelligence officer for transnational threats Ted Gistaro said, ''Yemen is rapidly re-emerging as a jihadist battleground and potential base of operations''.

The extent of Yemen's problem with extremists and the shortcomings of its counterterrorism efforts are underscored by the fact Yemenis make up the largest population of detainees at least 108 of 270 held at Guantanamo Bay.

The Bush Administration has sought to return dozens of these prisoners to Yemen but has been unable to gain assurances from the Yemeni Government they would be held or rehabilitated.

Yemen poses a frustrating problem for US counterterrorism efforts.

It considers itself a strong partner with the US in the fight against terrorism, and US officials say Yemeni intelligence services have been helpful since the suicide bombing of the USS Cole in 2000.

But the country has a weak central government and a powerful tribal system. That leaves large, lawless areas open for terrorist training and operations.

A senior US military official said, ''Al-Qaeda senior leaders have called for increased pressure in Yemen, and their northern territory is not under central government control.''

Yemen has a history of being unable to keep imprisoned terrorist suspects.

Seventeen suspects in the 2000 USS Cole bombing that killed 17 American sailors were arrested; 10 of them escaped in 2003. One of the primary suspects in the attack, Jamal al-Badawi, escaped jail in 2004. He was returned to custody last autumn under pressure from the US government. The fallout from that incident reinforced US officials' worries about Yemen's commitment to fighting terrorism and led Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to cancel a visit to Yemen last year for an international conference.

Dr Rice spoke to Yemen's President earlier this week to express regret at the loss of Yemeni lives in the attack and to reinforce the importance of counterterrorism cooperation.

Al-Qaeda's history is intertwined with Yemen. Osama bin Laden's family came from Yemen and it was home to several al-Qaeda training camps in the late 1990s.

The USS Cole bombing was one of al-Qaeda's most devastating attacks on a US target before the September 11 attacks.

The latest attack has not been attributed to al-Qaeda, however, officials say it follows the terrorist organisation's modus operandi.

The attack involved multiple vehicle-borne devices and armed personnel on foot, seemingly in an attempt to try to breach the embassy's perimeter, enter the compound and inflict further damage and loss of life.

The bombings were carefully orchestrated, with sniper fire and some attackers apparently dressed as soldiers.

As many as five explosions struck the embassy, and Yemeni authorities who first responded were ambushed by snipers.

Yemeni officials said a little-known group called Islamic Jihad, unrelated to the Palestinian group of the same name, claimed responsibility for the attack. AP

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/yemen-bomb-raises-fears-of-greater-threat/1276894.aspx

Arabs denounce cleric's fatwa on 'immoral' TV

September 19, 2008 - 6:36am

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Arabs across the ideological spectrum, from secular-minded liberals to Muslim hard-liners, are denouncing a top Saudi cleric's edict that it was permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV stations that show "immoral" content.

Many expressed worry the recent comments by Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan _ chief of the kingdom's highest tribunal, the Supreme Judiciary Council _ would fuel terrorism, encouraging attacks on station employees and owners.

The edict, or fatwa, has also focused the spotlight on Saudi Arabia's legal system because of al-Lihedan's senior position in the judiciary. The system is run by Islamic cleric-judges, many of them hard-liners, and has increasingly been criticized by some Saudis because of the wide discretion judges have in punishing criminals and the perception that many judges are out of touch with the realities of the world.

Even conservative clerics who agree that Arab satellite networks show too many "indecent" programs said al-Lihedan had gone too far.

"Our religion prevents Muslims from watching films that provide seduction, obscenity and vulgarity," said Sheik Hazim Awad, an Iraqi cleric, who, like al-Lihedan, is Sunni Muslim.

But "the real Muslim can just cancel (subscriptions to) these channels," he said.

Many conservatives frown on the Arab world's numerous satellite networks for airing music videos _ often with scantily clad women singers _ or Western movies and TV shows like "Sex and the City," from which nude scenes are sometimes but not always cut.

Obscenity isn't the only thing that disturbs some. On Tuesday, another Saudi cleric, Sheik Mohammed Munajjid, said the cartoon character Mickey Mouse should be killed. Munajjid said in an interview with a religious Web site that under Islamic law, rats and mice are considered "repulsive" and as "soldiers of Satan."

"For children they've become something great and beloved. Like this Mickey Mouse, who is seen as a great figure, even though under Islamic law, Mickey Mouse should be killed," said Munajjid, who is a well-known cleric but does not hold a government position.

The controversy over al-Lihedan's fatwa began a week ago, when the cleric was answering questions from callers to the daily "Light in the Path" religious program on Saudi state radio. One caller asked about Islam's view of the owners of satellite TV channels that show "bad programs" during the holy month of Ramadan, which began more than two weeks ago.

"I want to advise the owners of these channels, who broadcast calls for such indecency and impudence ... and I warn them of the consequences," al-Lihedan said in the program. "Those calling for corrupt beliefs, certainly it's permissible to kill them."

The remarks were especially surprising because many of the most popular Arab satellite networks are owned by Saudi princes and well-connected Saudi and Gulf businessmen.

On Sunday, reportedly under pressure from senior government figures, al-Lihedan appeared on Saudi state TV to explain his comments, apparently to prevent vigilante killings. He said owners should first be brought to trial and then sentenced to death if other penalties don't deter them.

He said his "advice" was aimed at owners who broadcast witchcraft, indecent programs, shows mocking Islamic scholars or religious police and comedies inappropriate for Ramadan.

The edict chilled managers of satellite networks. Several channels based in Dubai declined comment. One network representative said the staff was taking the fatwa very seriously, but he did not want his name or channel revealed. "Why select yourself as a target by commenting on it?" he said.

Saudi Arabia's judiciary is a bastion of hard-line clerics implementing Islamic law under the strict Wahhabi interpretation. Judges are appointed by the king on the recommendation of the Supreme Judicial Council and have complete discretion to set sentences, except in cases where Islamic law outlines a punishment, such as capital crimes.

King Abdullah has said reforming the legal system is one of his priorities, but so far few changes have been announced _ a sign of wariness in confronting the powerful clerics.

One Saudi cleric challenged al-Lihedan, telling the Saudi Al-Jazirah newspaper that the new edict would "lend support to terrorism."

Militants will "recruit our youths to take lives and blow up stations and the properties of the owners of the stations, all based on (al-Lihedan's) grave response," said Sheik Abdul-Mohsen al-Obaikan, an adviser at the Justice Ministry and a member of the appointed Consultative Council, which acts like a parliament.

In Jordan, hard-line cleric Ibrahim Zeid Kailani said although the networks are spreading "decay" among the youth, it's the responsibility of the government and not individuals to deal with the issue.

"Such edicts, which call for killing people, instigate sedition," said Kailani, who heads the Islamic Action Front's Scholars Committee, a hawkish group. "They could transform the countries into internal battlefields."

Around the Arab world, many said el-Lihedan was out of line.

"He shouldn't give such a judgment because he's not God," said Noora Baker, a 27-year-old folkloric dancer from the Palestinian city of Ramallah. "I am against religion interfering with the matters of society."

http://wtop.com/?nid=105&sid=1481161

This week's Prep Talk is about Lighting and Cooking. I guess this would be a good time to introduce "the rule of three's". Because things get fouled up and because "anything that can go wrong will go wrong" is why the rule of three's was conceived. You should have three ways to do everything. So here we are again in an ice storm or tornado, earthquake, flood, or what ever... something has caused you to lose power what do you do? I guess you could get in the car and drive to the local diner and get dinner if they had electricity. But that big tree that fell down, it also took down your power lines is blocking the road also. So you are trapped at home how do you cook and light the house enough so someone does not get hurt?
For lighting for a short time, flashlights, candles and battery powered lanterns would be the best and easiest solution.
The best flashlights to get in my opinion are LED type. They use less power and help your batteries last long. Another good flashlight is a PAL light, they use 9 volt batteries. One of the good things about 9 volt, it is usually the last battery to sell out in the store, also if you change out your smoke alarm batteries regularly, you have some 9 volts that have not been used up yet. http://www.buckshotscamp.com/Flashlight-PALight-Sales.htm
Here is an article that friend wrote about candles
CandlesThe Roman Empire was the first to provide evidence of a candle that resembles the candle today. They melted the tallow until it was a liquid and poured it over fibers of flax, hemp, and/or cotton, which were used as a wick. The braided wick was also invented in the 19th century. Wicks before this time were made simply of twisted strands of cotton, which burned very poorly and needed constant maintenance. The braided wick was tightly plaited and a portion of the wick curled over and enabled it to be completely consumed. There are three main methods of making candles by hand: rolling sheets of beeswax around a wick, dipping the wick in hot wax, and pouring hot wax into a mould.
WICKS Wick’s, the “souls” of the candles, are manufactured from bleached cotton yearn in various thicknesses. The thicker the candle, the thicker the wick for it. Also the addition of beeswax plays a role when selecting a wick for it’s strength. For paraffin you would require the thinnest kind of wick, for stearin medium-strong ones and the thickest wicks are reserved for beeswax candles. In other words, the circumference of the candle and the wax required for making it determine the thickness of the wick. Finished wicks are obtainable in candle stores; all you have to do is to mention the thickness of the candle and it’s components. For “swaddled”, or roll up candles. And for thin, dip candles you might try to prepare your own wicks. Take some fine, bleached, not-to-course cotton yarn and twirl it into a cord consisting of four threads. You can also crochet a chain stitch, or braid a finely-honed “pigtail” of three threads. To guarantee the right degree of flammability, dip the wick into a caustic made up of 2 per cent boric acid diluted in distilled water. When the wick is dry you proceed to dip it into the wax and manipulate it from there. 1. for wicks meant for use with lard or tallow (which is much poorer candle material than wax) a. Soak wick in a solution of 1oz saltpeter + 4 oz Quick Lime + 2 Qt water and dry toughly b. Soak wick in turpentine and toughly dry. 2. for wicks meant for use with wax a. Soak wick in melted bee’s wax or low temperature wax, remove and let cool The wicks you buy in stores are mostly spun wicks. These have a “bottom” and a “top”. The top of the wick is parallel with the top of the candle. Waxchandlers indicate it with a knot because a layman would have difficulty seeing the difference between the unmarked top and bottom of wicks
Cotton Cored Wicks Cotton core wicking is for applications such as votives, pillars and containers. Cotton core wicks produce the hottest flame of all the cored wicks and will help minimize carbon buildup. These wicks are constructed of 100% natural fibers. These wicks are effective in paraffin-based waxes and natural/renewable waxes Square Braided Wicks (Pillar, Taper, and Large Container Candles) Square braided wicks were originally designed for beeswax candles but can be used in all types of waxes. Their open construction and special treatment make them a good selection for viscous material (beeswax and vegetable waxes). Square wick is designed to give you a curl when it is burned to minimize carbon buildup. This wick is constructed of 100% natural fibers with a special treatment. This wick is very effective in large containers or as custom wick assemblies Flat Braided Wicks (Pillar and Taper Candles) This wick is designed for use in pillars and tapers. This wick gives a slight curl when burning which reduces carbon buildup and makes the wicks self-trimming. This wick is ideal for hand dipping and extruding and dipping machines. This wick is constructed of 100% natural fibers with a chemical treatment to improve the burn performance. These wicks are effective in paraffin-based waxes
BEESWAX Beeswax, which has always played a large role in liturgical functions of the Catholic Church, is a fatty substance which can be obtained through rendering (extraction by melting) of the honeycombs. This kind of wax melts at temperatures of about 145 degrees F. It is soft and supple and pliant, it becomes sticky when heated and has the unmistakable fragrance of honey. To obtain about two pounds of wax, bees would have to consume about fourteen times this weight in honey. Part of the bee’s honey and pollen, when converted into wax inside the bees body, is secreted in minuscule amounts under it’s rear-segment, and is stripped off with its hind legs to be utilized for the construction of the combs. Initially the wax is white and is referred to as pure wax. Once formed into a beehive, the white honeycomb wax soon turns yellowish. The older the combs, the darker the color becomes. This explains why genuine wax candles in stores frequently show a variation in color. Since honey is more valuable than wax, it pays to save the bees as part of their work by hanging wooden-framed sheets of pure bees wax inside the hive. In this way the bees can immediately start stocking the cells with winter supplies and build them up for their larvae. The artificial honeycombs of beeswax are used for the rolling of candles or you can roll out your own sheets from warned bee’s wax.
OTHER WAXES Paraffin is a white, translucent, glasslike way substance distilled from petroleum. It has a low melting point. A candle made entirely of paraffin will drip considerably. Hard paraffin melts at temperatures ranging from 125-158 degrees F. and its chief purpose is to serve as a supplementary addition to stearin and beeswax in the manufacture of candles. Soft paraffin wax can be melted at temperatures as low as 86 degrees F. It can be added to the wax mixture when the latter is supposed to be poured or pressed. The malleable wax becomes even more elastic and flexible. There are other waxes, such as earth wax or ceresin (melting point 170 degrees F.) or carnuba (melting point 196 degrees F.) which when added to paraffin tends to harden the mixture. Tallow is made up of fatty animal tissue found in ox kidneys suet, mutton drippings or goat fat, and it was used long ago for the manufacture of candles. Even today you can still find tallow candles in parts of Spain and other remote villages where farmers frequently make their own candles after the slaughter of cattle. Lime (calcium oxide) is added to the melted or rendered-down tallow and the lime absorbs all the impurities; next the tallow is carefully poured into a pot and cooked for about 3 to 4 hours with vinegar. Candles made with tallow do have a greasy touch and rather unpleasant, rancid odor. These disagreeable characteristics can be removed by a process of refinement. Stearin (ester of glycerol and stearic acid) is a soft, opaquely white, odorless solid made of natural and plant fats (palmitin). The melting point is between 122 and 156 degrees F.; the stage where it becomes malleable is about 120 degrees F. Adding paraffin to stearin will help in the casting of candles. Stearin candles burn well and do not bend as a result of the flame’s heat. Molding wax is a combination of paraffin, stearin, with possibly a small amount of beeswax, and coloring and dyeing matter. You will need it in a hot, fluid, melted stage for dipping of candles to imbue it with an even coating of color. Molding was is a mixture of bleached beeswax and an equal amount of paraffin with dyes added to it. Drop was consists of collected remnants of wax, and leftovers of candles and candle-drippings. You can collect this kind of wax all year or get it at a low price from candle makers. Melt the leftovers in water, in process of which all impurities (soot, wicks, ect.) sink to the bottom of the hot water. They are left behind when the melted wax is carefully poured into another receptacle. To color or dye the wax, you can buy dye that is soluble in fat in art supply shops. Obviously the more dye you add to the wax the deeper the color. These dyes are rich in color and are added to the fluid (melting) wax (or the paraffin-stearin composite). Since it is not always easy to obtain such dyes you can also use colored wax crayons for this purpose, melting them in with the wax.

Battery Lanterns are the safest to illuminate a room, but batteries are the problem. They are good for the short term.
But what happens if the electric is out a week or more? A better long term lighting solution i will discuss that is the kerosene lantern, here is another short article, written by some in a forum
The one piece of equipment that seems to do it all. Providing light equal to a 60 watt light bulb, enough heat output to heat a medium sized area, the ability to cook and bake, and it sips fuel like a miser. The Aladdin lamp does not get much mention but, in my opinion, it is a must have. I would not trade the two I have for anything if I could not replace them. They have been priceless during the many power outages experienced, even rivaling my generators in their importance. Those of you who have one will most likely agree. The Aladdin lamp is far superior to the standard hurricane lamp. The light output is intense. They say that it is equal to a 60W light bulb but it sure seems brighter when you are relying on it during a power outage. Thanks to the Thorium mantle, the light produced far exceeds that of candles or hurricane lights.Aladdin lamps burn HOT. A piece of paper held over the chimney will burst into flame immediately. The heat pours out the top to such a degree that it will heat quite a large area. If you live in an apartment or in an area that you cannot have a generator or wood stove, the Aladdin lamp will keep you warm. The heat from these lamps rivals that of the wood stove I use during power outages. Many times it starts to get uncomfortably warm in the rooms that the lamps are being used in even though it is in the teens outside.Because of the high heat output, it also can be used to cook. Using scrap metal, I fabricated a high cooking tripod that will hold standard pots and pans. You can cook on it by removing the Thorium mantle and just use the wick but I have found it works much better leaving the mantle in place. Also, by using heat ducting, an oven can be easily fabricated. My first prototype used 8" stovepipe. When I found that this crude oven worked so well, I constructed a better model using rectangular, galvanized ducting available at any home improvement center. Fabrication of an oven is simple. Put together the two halves of the square duct. Then seal both ends with sheet metal, in effect forming a box. One end must be hinged to act as a door, the other end can be permanently fixed. Cut a 3 or 4 inch hole towards the end of one side of the duct and cut the same size hole on the other side of the duct, near the other end. One hole is for the end of the Aladdin lamp chimney top to feed heat into the oven, the other hole is to allow excess heat to escape. I used steel shelving legs (scrap) to support the oven at the height necessary to allow the chimney to come within an inch or so of the heat collection hole. Once into place, a small piece of sheet metal is just laid over the hole cut to allow excess heat to escape. All you have to do is slide it around to reduce or increase the amount of heat that escapes, thus controlling the heat level in the oven. Bread bakes very well using this oven. The bread pan must be supported to allow heat under it, of course. I also wrapped a thin layer of insulation over parts of it. Works great. Not a great cook here but I see no reason why anything can't be baked in it. The high heat of the Aladdin lamp makes its use in this manner possible.Aladdin lamps burn much cleaner than hurricane lamps and they require little fuel to keep them going. I keep some old dish detergent (squeeze type) plastic bottles filled with standard kerosene for efficient filling. Better than using funnels because you can see when to stop fueling. No, the kerosene won't dissolve the plastic. Have been using the same ones for years.When using Aladdin lamps, do not leave them unattended. In addition to the high heat hazard, if you burn them at maximum they may start to form carbon on the mantle. If you get carbon formation on the mantle, simply turn the lamp down and it will burn off gradually. Like any mantle, it will break if abused. The spare parts to be stored include wicks, mantles, a spare chimney, and a wick trimmer. Extra mantles are most important. I have never had to replace a wick or chimney but you never know!I purchased mine 30+ years ago from NitroPack. I do not know if they still carry them. They are definitely worth looking for. Perhaps others know who still sells them. The technology has been around 100 years. There are Aladdin lamps in antique shops although I have found these to be less desirable than the newer ones. The new ones are sold as fancy ones with expensive glass shades or simple ones with aluminum bodies and simple chimneys. I use the simple ones since I am only interested in utility. The fancy ones are beautiful, worthy of a show piece in any home.After one severe power outage in the the 1980's. I bought 2 dozen of them and sold them where I was working at the time (in a city), making a small profit , of course. Everyone loved them even though they weren't into preparedness as we are. The same lamps were still on the job when I retired. In my opinion, you will not be disappointed if you decide to get one. I also store 60 gallons of kerosene just for these lamp. The lamps work fine with 30 year old, untreated kerosene. They use so little fuel that these 60 gallons will see me through any uncertain future. For your consideration.

Ok lets talk about cooking, if you have a propane stove your fine. But if it is electric it will be useless to you. So with our rule of three in thought, how would you cook? If it just a short emergency you could get by with just eating out of the can or off the shelf. But anything longer then that i would opt for an option. I guess you could always go out in the yard and dig a pit, line it with rocks and cook over a fire. Very romantic but not practical unless you are prepared for it. A camping stove that either uses propane or Coleman fuel would be a good option. They are relatively cheap and good insurance. You grill either charcoal, wood or propane, it it has a plate on the top or side burner good for in a pinch. As i said in future weeks we will (i plan to) go more in depth into each subject.

31,000 scientists reject 'global warming' agenda'Mr. Gore's movie has claims no informed expert endorses'
Posted: May 19, 20088:51 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh© 2008 WorldNetDaily
More than 31,000 scientists across the U.S. – including more than 9,000 Ph.D.s in fields such as atmospheric science, climatology, Earth science, environment and dozens of other specialties – have signed a petition rejecting "global warming," the assumption that the human production of greenhouse gases is damaging Earth's climate.
"There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate," the petition states. "Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth."
The Petition Project actually was launched nearly 10 years ago, when the first few thousand signatures were assembled. Then, between 1999 and 2007, the list of signatures grew gradually without any special effort or campaign.
But now, a new effort has been conducted because of an "escalation of the claims of 'consensus,' release of the movie 'An Inconvenient Truth' by Mr. Al Gore, and related events," according to officials with the project.
"Mr. Gore's movie, asserting a 'consensus' and 'settled science' in agreement about human-caused global warming, conveyed the claims about human-caused global warming to ordinary movie goers and to public school children, to whom the film was widely distributed. Unfortunately, Mr. Gore's movie contains many very serious incorrect claims which no informed, honest scientist could endorse," said project spokesman and founder Art Robinson. Robinson, a research professor of chemistry, co-founded the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine with Linus Pauling in 1973, and later co-founded the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine. He also publishes the Access to Energy newsletter.
WND submitted a request to Gore's office for comment but did not get a response.
Robinson said the dire warnings about "global warming" have gone far beyond semantics or scientific discussion now to the point they are actually endangering people.
"The campaign to severely ration hydrocarbon energy technology has now been markedly expanded," he said. "In the course of this campaign, many scientifically invalid claims about impending climate emergencies are being made. Simultaneously, proposed political actions to severely reduce hydrocarbon use now threaten the prosperity of Americans and the very existence of hundreds of millions of people in poorer countries," he said.
In just the past few weeks, there have been various allegations that both shark attacks and typhoons have been sparked by "global warming."
The late Professor Frederick Seitz, the past president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and winner of the National Medal of Science, wrote in a letter promoting the petition, "The United States is very close to adopting an international agreement that would ration the use of energy and of technologies that depend upon coal, oil, and natural gas and some other organic compounds."
"This treaty is, in our opinion, based upon flawed ideas. Research data on climate change do not show that human use of hydrocarbons is harmful. To the contrary, there is good evidence that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is environmentally helpful," he wrote.
Accompanying the letter sent to scientists was a 12-page summary and review of research on "global warming," officials said.
"The proposed agreement would have very negative effects upon the technology of nations throughout the world, especially those that are currently attempting to lift from poverty and provide opportunities to the over 4 billion people in technologically underdeveloped countries," Seitz wrote.
Robinson said the project targets scientists because, "It is especially important for America to hear from its citizens who have the training necessary to evaluate the relevant data and offer sound advice."
He said the "global warming agreement," written in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, and other plans "would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind."
"Yet," he said, "the United Nations and other vocal political interests say the U.S. must enact new laws that will sharply reduce domestic energy production and raise energy prices even higher.
"The inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness include the right of access to life-giving and life-enhancing technology. This is especially true of access to the most basic of all technologies: energy. These human rights have been extensively and wrongly abridged," he continued. "During the past two generations in the U.S., a system of high taxation, extensive regulation, and ubiquitous litigation has arisen that prevents the accumulation of sufficient capital and the exercise of sufficient freedom to build and preserve needed modern technology.
"These unfavorable political trends have severely damaged our energy production, where lack of industrial progress has left our country dependent upon foreign sources for 30 percent of the energy required to maintain our current level of prosperity," he said. "Moreover, the transfer of other U.S. industries abroad as a result of these same trends has left U.S. citizens with too few goods and services to trade for the energy that they do not produce. A huge and unsustainable trade deficit and rapidly rising energy prices have been the result.
"The necessary hydrocarbon and nuclear energy production technologies have been available to U.S. engineers for many decades. We can develop these resources without harm to people or the environment. There is absolutely no technical, resource, or environmental reason for the U.S. to be a net importer of energy. The U.S. should, in fact, be a net exporter of energy," he said.
He told WND he believes the issue has nothing to do with energy itself, but everything to do with power, control and money, which the United Nations is seeking. He accused the U.N. of violating human rights in its campaign to ban much energy research, exploration and development.
"In order to alleviate the current energy emergency and prevent future emergencies, we need to remove the governmental restrictions that have caused this problem. Fundamental human rights require that U.S. citizens and their industries be free to produce and use the low cost, abundant energy that they need. As the 31,000 signatories of this petition emphasize, environmental science supports this freedom," he said.
The Petition Project website today said there are 31,072 scientists who have signed up, and Robinson said more names continue to come in.
In terms of Ph.D. scientists alone, it already has 15 times more scientists than are seriously involved in the U.N.'s campaign to "vilify hydrocarbons," officials told WND.
"The very large number of petition signers demonstrates that, if there is a consensus among American scientists, it is in opposition to the human-caused global warming hypothesis rather than in favor of it," the organization noted.
The project was set up by a team of physicists and physical chemists who do research at several American institutions and collects signatures when donations provide the resources to mail out more letters.
"In a group of more than 30,000 people, there are many individuals with names similar or identical to other signatories, or to non-signatories – real or fictional. Opponents of the petition project sometimes use this statistical fact in efforts to discredit the project. For examples, Perry Mason and Michael Fox are scientists who have signed the petition – who happen also to have names identical to fictional or real non-scientists," the website said.
The petition is needed, supporters said, simply because Gore and others "have claimed that the 'science is settled' – that an overwhelming 'consensus' of scientists agrees with the hypothesis of human-caused global warming, with only a handful of skeptical scientists in disagreement."
The list of scientists includes 9,021 Ph.D.s, 6,961 at the master's level, 2,240 medical doctors and 12,850 carrying a bachelor of science or equivalent academic degree.
The Petition Project's website includes both a list of scientists by name as well as a list of scientists by state.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=64734


Animal Rights Terrorists Strike Again
8/11/2008The animal rights terrorists have struck again. This time, they firebombed the home and car of two researchers at UC-Santa Cruz in California. According to Inside Higher Ed, one researcher (who works with mice) had to help his children climb down a ladder from the second story of their home to escape after the firebomb exploded. And the site notes that back in February, masked animal rights terrorists broke into a professor's home during a birthday party for the teacher's daughter. This is terrorism, pure and simple. And they aren't just targeting medical researchers. They've gone after hunters before, and I'm sure they'll target us again. The FBI's now investigating the attacks at UC-Santa Cruz. I hope they catch these animal rights terrorists, and when they do, I hope they throw the book at them. Any criminal willing to take a human life for a lab rat ought to be treated like one- in prison for life.
http://www.nranews.com/blogarticle.aspx?blogPostId=430

Our Electrical delievery service has not improved at all in five years. We are actually worse, because we have fallen another five years behind the curve of getting it fixed. A new definition of "if you don't learn from history you are doomed to repeat it."



5 Years After Blackout, Power Grid Still in 'Dire Straits' By Jason Leopold The Public Record Thursday, August 07, 2008 Five years ago this month, a devastating blackout rippled through the Northeastern United States. The blackout plunged more than 50 million people into darkness for nearly three days and left a gaping $10 billion hole in the nation’s economy. The power outage, however, wasn't an isolated incident. Three years later, in July 2006, Queens, New York lost power for nine days, which resulted from the deterioration of decades old electrical cables responsible for sending power to the city’s 100,000 residents. The US power grid - three interconnected grids made up of 3,500 utilities serving 283 million people - still hangs together by a thread, and its dilapidated state is perhaps one of the greatest threats to homeland security, according to Bruce deGrazia, the president of Global Homeland Security Advisors and a former assistant deputy undersecretary for the Department of Defense, who spoke at an electricity industry conference in Shepherdstown, Va. The slightest glitch on the transmission superhighway could upset the smooth distribution of electricity over thousands of miles of transmission lines and darken states from Ohio to New York in a matter of seconds, bringing hospitals and airports to a standstill. “The U.S. electrical grid—the system that carries electricity from producers to consumers—is in dire straits,” the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank, said in a report last year. “Electricity generation and consumption have steadily risen, placing an increased burden on a transmission system that was not designed to carry such a large load.” President George W. Bush made grand promises in the aftermath of the August 2003 blackout, vowing to modernize the nation’s dilapidated electricity grid, and to work with Congress on a comprehensive energy bill that encouraged investment in the country’s energy infrastructure. Yet, in the five years that have passed since the worst blackout in US history blanketed the Northeast, nothing substantial has been done to overhaul the power grid and Bush has failed to follow through on his pledge. Now, severe power shortages and rolling blackouts have become a daily occurrence around the country as the antiquated power grid is continuously stretched beyond its means - mainly a result of electricity deregulation - whereby power is sent hundreds of miles across the grid to consumers by out-of-state power companies instead of being sent directly to consumers by their local utilities, which is what the grid was designed for. Although tackling energy issues have taken center stage in the presidential campaigns of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, neither candidate has outlined a comprehensive plan for dealing with the country’s electricity woes. Instead, both campaigns have focused primarily on skyrocketing gasoline prices and ways in which the country can tap additional oil resources. But the power problems, which are likely to persist, will have a direct impact on the oil markets if grid reliability continues to be ignored. In an article in the May 7, 2008 issue of Energy Bulletin, Gail E. Tverberg wrote “in the years ahead, we in the United States will have more and more problems with our electric grid. This is likely to result in electrical outages of greater and greater durations.” "Quite a few people believe that if there is a decline in oil production, we can make up much of the difference by increasing our use of electricity--more nuclear, wind, solar voltaic, geothermal or even coal. The problem with this model is that it assumes that our electric grid will be working well enough for this to happen. It seems to me that there is substantial doubt that this will be the case. "If frequent electrical outages become common, these problems are likely to spill over into the oil and natural gas sectors. One reason this may happen is because electricity is used to move oil and natural gas through the pipelines. In addition, gas stations use electricity when pumping gasoline, and homeowners often have natural gas water heaters and furnaces with electric ignition. These too are likely to be disrupted by electrical power outages," Tverberg wrote. In 2005, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave the power grid a ‘D’ rating in its report card on the state of domestic infrastructure. The group issues “report cards” every four years. “The U.S. power transmission system is in urgent need of modernization,” a summary of ASCE’s report says. “Growth in electricity demand and investment in new power plants has not been matched by investment in new transmission facilities. Maintenance expenditures have decreased 1% per year since 1992. Existing transmission facilities were not designed for the current level of demand, resulting in an increased number of "bottlenecks," which increase costs to consumers and elevate the risk of blackouts.” A study conducted earlier this year by the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center concluded “Despite efforts to mitigate blackout risk, the data available from the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) for 1984-2006 indicate that the frequency of large blackouts in the United States is not decreasing.” According to George Gross, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign professor of electrical and computer engineering who specializes in utility policy, a serious lack of investment in the power grid continues to put reliability at risk and is the "Achilles heel" of the country's electric system. "The August 2003 blackout was a wake-up call for the country to upgrade its transmission grid system," Gross said. "But the truth is that very few major transmission projects have been constructed and, as a result, transmission capacity has failed to keep pace with the expansion of power demand." Power companies maintain grid reliability by following voluntary guidelines designed by the power industry, just like the voluntary emissions limits that the fossil-fuel industry says it upholds. The US-Canadian task force that investigated the August 2003 blackout found numerous violations of the voluntary standards, and concluded that utilities botched routine monitoring of transmission lines and failed to trim trees along transmission passageways. Since July, all seven of the country's regional grid operators that monitor power flow throughout the nation reported record electricity consumption as temperatures increased. Blackouts struck many parts of the country during the month of July, not because of a shortage of supply, but because the dilapidated power grid could not handle the amount of electricity that was sent back and forth across the transmission lines. Demand for electricity is expected to increase by 45 percent by 2025, according to the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC), a power industry-funded organization in charge of overseeing the rules for operating the nation's power grid. “In some cases, demand has reached levels that were not expected for another three or four years," said Jone-Lin Wang, most recently the managing director of the Global Power Group at Cambridge Energy Research Associates. "Very hot weather tends to cause more incidents of equipment failure in the distribution systems. Although the bulk power system provided adequate supply, extreme heat and surging demand put the distribution systems through extreme stress, leading to some equipment failures and localized power outages." But neither the Bush administration nor federal lawmakers have developed a comprehensive plan to handle, at the very least, the annual increase in demand. Blackouts will likely become more frequent in areas like New York and New England, Wang said. “We are concerned about New England because there is nothing in the pipeline, but some small renewable projects and wind," Wang said. "New England is in trouble." The 2003 blackout led to calls for spending of up to $100 billion to reduce severe transmission bottlenecks and increase capacity so the transmission lines can carry additional electricity from power plants to homes and businesses. But investment in the grid has lagged, and progress has been slow. "Transmission capacity is still below 5 percent," Gross said. "The need to strengthen the existing transmission infrastructure, to expand it and to effectively harness advances in technology constitutes the single most pressing challenge for the country's electricity system."
http://www.pubrecord.org/component/content/239.html?task=view




Police turn to secret weapon: GPS device
Privacy advocates say electronic tracking violates Fourth Amendment rights
Someone was attacking women in Fairfax County and Alexandria, grabbing them from behind and sometimes punching and molesting them before running away. After logging 11 cases in six months, police finally identified a suspect.
David Lee Foltz Jr., who had served 17 years in prison for rape, lived near the crime scenes. To figure out if Foltz was the assailant, police pulled out their secret weapon: They put a Global Positioning System device on Foltz's van, which allowed them to track his movements.
Police said they soon caught Foltz dragging a woman into a wooded area in Falls Church. After his arrest on Feb. 6, the string of assaults suddenly stopped. The break in the case relied largely on a crime-fighting tool they would rather not discuss.
"We don't really want to give any info on how we use it as an investigative tool to help the bad guys," said Officer Shelley Broderick, a Fairfax police spokeswoman. "It is an investigative tool for us, and it is a very new investigative tool."
Across the country, police are using GPS devices to snare thieves, drug dealers, sexual predators and killers, often without a warrant or court order. Privacy advocates said tracking suspects electronically constitutes illegal search and seizure, violating Fourth Amendment rights of protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, and is another step toward George Orwell's Big Brother society. Law enforcement officials, when they discuss the issue at all, said GPS is essentially the same as having an officer trail someone, just cheaper and more accurate. Most of the time, as was done in the Foltz case, judges have sided with police.
With the courts' blessing, and the ever-declining cost of the technology, many analysts believe that police will increasingly rely on GPS as an effective tool in investigations and that the public will hear little about it. Last year, FBI agents used a GPS device while investigating an embezzlement scheme to steal from District taxpayers, attaching one to a suspect's Jaguar.
"I've seen them in cases from New York City to small towns -- whoever can afford to get the equipment and plant it on a car," said John Wesley Hall, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "And of course, it's easy to do. You can sneak up on a car and plant it at any time."
Most police departments in the Washington region resist disclosing whether they use GPS to track suspects. D.C. police spokeswoman Traci Hughes said D.C. police do not use the technique. Police departments in Arlington, Fairfax and Montgomery counties and Alexandria declined to discuss the issue.
Cpl. Clinton Copeland, a Prince George's County police spokesman, said his department does use the technique. "But I don't think that's something [detectives] would be too happy to put out there like that," Copeland said. "They do have different techniques they like to use on suspects, but they don't really want people to know."
Details on how police use GPS usually become public when the use of the device is challenged in court. Such cases have revealed how police in Washington state arrested a man for killing his 9-year-old daughter: the GPS device attached to his truck led them to where he had buried her.
Cases have shown how detectives in New York caught a drug-runner after monitoring his car as he bought and sold methamphetamine. In Wisconsin, police tracked two suspected burglars by attaching a GPS device to their car and apprehending them after burglarizing a house.
The Foltz case offers a rare glimpse into how a Washington area police department uses GPS. Foltz's attorney, Chris Leibig, challenged police in court last week and tried to have the GPS evidence thrown out. He argued at a hearing at Arlington County General District Court that police needed a warrant since the device tracked Foltz's vehicle on private and public land. The judge disagreed, and the evidence will be used at Foltz's trial, which will begin Oct. 6. Foltz was charged in the Feb. 6 attack, but not in the others.
Without obtaining a warrant, Jack Kirk, a detective from the Fairfax police department's electronic-surveillance section, placed a GPS device on Foltz's van while it was parked in front of his house, Kirk testified. He said it took three seconds. Another vehicle was not targeted because it was on private property, he said.
Detectives began actively monitoring the van four days later, when it appeared to be moving slowly through neighborhoods, Kirk said. Foltz was caught the next day.
In preparing to defend Foltz, Leibig filed Freedom of Information Act requests with every police department in Virginia, asking about their use of unwarranted GPS tracking. Most departments said they had never used the device. About two dozen refused to respond, including Loudoun and Prince William counties, Alexandria and the Virginia State Police.
Arlington police said they have used GPS devices 70 times in the last three years, mostly to catch car thieves, but also in homicide, robbery and narcotics investigations.
Fairfax police used the technology as early as 2003 and have used it many times since, according to year-end reports Leibig received. Police used GPS devices 61 times in 2005, 52 times in 2006 and 46 times in 2007.
Five other Virginia departments reported using GPS once for specific investigations.
GPS advocates said police do not need a warrant to track suspects electronically on public streets because the device provides the same information as physical tracking.
"A police officer could do the same thing with his or her own eyes," said Arlington Commonwealth's Attorney Richard E. Trodden. "It helps to cut down on the number of police officers who would have to be out tracking particular cars."
Leibig said GPS should be held to a different standard because it provides greater detail. "While it may be true that police can conduct surveillance of people on a public street without violating their rights, tracking a person everywhere they go and keeping a computer record of it for days and days without that person knowing is a completely different type of intrusion," he said.
GPS devices receive signals from a network of satellites, then use the information to calculate their precise location. By taking readings at different times, they can also calculate speed and direction.
The Defense Department operates the system, which was made available for civilian use in 1996. The technology's price has dropped since then, with new dashboard models available for less than $200. Some cellphone models are equipped with GPS, and many companies and local governments rely on GPS to track vehicle fleets.
Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and liberty program, considers GPS monitoring, along with license plate readers, toll transponders and video cameras with face-recognition technology, part of the same trend toward "an always-on, surveillance society."
"Things that would have seemed fantastic 15 years ago are now routine," he said. "We have to rethink what is a reasonable expectation of privacy."
So far, the U.S. Supreme Court has not weighed in on unwarranted GPS tracking, but supporters point to a 1983 case that said police do not need a warrant to track a car on a public street with a beeper, which relays the car's location to police.
Lower courts that have addressed the issue have not all agreed. The Washington state Supreme Court has ruled that police must obtain a warrant to use the device in that manner, but courts in New York, Wisconsin and Maryland, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago, have held that a warrant is not necessary.
Craig Fraser, director of management services for the Police Executive Research Forum, said tracking technology's new capabilities might eventually require legal adjustments.
"The issue is whether the more sophisticated tools are doing the same things we used to do or are creating a different set of legal circumstances," he said.
Paul Marcus, a law professor at Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, said the debate will only grow stronger as more departments substitute old-fashioned manpower for better and cheaper electronics.
"It is going to happen more and more," he said. "No question about it."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26167805/

Makes me want to move to Minneasota, how about you?


Planet’s been saved already, Bachmann says August 12th, 2008 – 4:24 PM
by Emily Kaiser
Continuing her push for a comprehensive energy plan that includes increased oil drilling, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., reminded Americans that the Democrats message to save the planet doesn’t add up. The world has been saved already, she says.
Responding to Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s comment about creating an energy policy to help save the planet, Bachmann added religion to the energy crisis during her interview with OneNewsNow, a Web site run by Christian American Family News Network.
“[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she’s just trying to save the planet,” Bachmann said. “We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet — we didn’t need Nancy Pelosi to do that.”
Bachmann said Democratic leaders are committed to stopping bills that allow drilling. Bachmann plans to join other Republicans in the House chamber on Friday to continue their protest during the congressional recess to bring members back for a vote on an energy bill.
The Minnesota DFL released a statement Tuesday denouncing the protest at the Capitol, calling it an “Olympics of meaningless rhetoric.
According to the statement, Republicans “would rather grandstand in a meaningless charade in Washington that will do nothing to reduce the cost of gas or the overall economic squeeze on Minnesota’s working families.”
Bachmann’s recent comments are reminiscent of her earlier religious comments in 2006 at the Living Word Church in Brooklyn Park when she said she was “hot” for Jesus.
“What does God say when he looks at you or looks at me? He wants to say, ‘she’s hot, he’s hot,’ because we are hot for him on the inside,” Bachmann said. “When you are hot for Jesus Christ, nothing is like that life.”
http://politicalblogs.startribune.com/bigquestionblog/?p=1119