30 Jul 2010

Brutal slaughter of pilot whales

The disembowelled bodies of brutally slaughtered whales line a dockside just 230 miles from Britain - as families with children wander among them.

islans

More than 200 protected pilot whales were hacked to death with knives and sharpened hooks by fishermen who trapped them in coves on the Faroe Islands.

Disturbing images show deep gouges where whalers hacked at the animals to sever their spinal cords. Others show the bodies of unborn calves torn from their mothers' wombs. Crowds of islanders, including youngsters, gathered to watch the slaughter, known as "the grind".

More on The Sun and on Sea Shepherd (shocking images)

29 Jul 2010

American Imperialist

Animated Soviet Propaganda from YouTube Channel of nuaragorn

Hamas bans women's underwear from Gaza shop windows

Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip have banned Gaza clothing outlets from displaying lingerie in their shop windows, police said Thursday.

The ban was not intended to "Islamise" Palestinian society, but restore "the public morals, " Hamas police spokesman Ayman Batniji said in a statement. Shop owners who violated the new edicts would be fined, he added.

gaza-window

The new order calls for removing scantily clad mannequins and security cameras, and also requires shops to keep their doors open. "The police will also launch investigations into the conduct of the stores' owners to avoid any suspicious behaviour with female customers," Batniji said.

Since seizing control of the coastal salient in 2007,the Islamist Hamas has been imposing restrictions on the population which critics say impinge on personal liberties.

More on Earth Times News

28 Jul 2010

Swedish police

Swedish policeman dancing in Malmo

Gulf downturn strands labourers

Gulf investors may have seen their investments shrink, but hundreds of foreign labourers in the United Arab Emirates are suffering a far worse fate as a result of the Dubai-centered economic bust.

labourers

Abandoned by companies that pulled up stakes in the downturn, hundreds have been left with no pay, confiscated passports and barely enough food to survive.

One camp in the emirate of Sharjah has had no electricity for two months, and the 38 men from Pakistan and Bangladesh who live there haven’t received their $220-per-month wage for 10 months.

According to Al Jazeera's Dan Nolan, the men live together in cramped rooms and take their mattresses onto the roof at night to escape the oppressive summer heat, which can reach 50 degrees Celsius.

The workers say their Indian employer has fled the country, and though they have registered their abandoned status with a court, they have only received new passports in return.

More on Al Jazeera

27 Jul 2010

The Afghan War Diary

british-army

The Afghan War Diary an extraordinary secret compendium of over 91,000 reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010. The reports describe the majority of lethal military actions involving the United States military. They include the number of persons internally stated to be killed, wounded, or detained during each action, together with the precise geographical location of each event, and the military units involved and major weapon systems used.

WikiLeaks The Afghan War Diary

5 Biggest Revelations of Wikileaks Documents on The Atlantic Wire

17 Jul 2010

Detect Aggressive Voices With Sigard

Sigard software can detect verbal aggression with a high level of accuracy. Combined with closed circuit television systems (CCTVs), Sigard by Sound Intelligence can detect verbally aggressive individuals in outdoor public spaces, public transportation, nightclubs and bars.

Here's how it works. A single analysis computer accepts sensor input from a variety of locations. Once the software detects a verbally aggressive human voice, it activates the camera associated with that sensor, bringing it to a security guard's attention. This helps cut down on the number of people needed to monitor CCTVs.

sigard-sound (Sigard aggressive voice sound analysis)

Sigard Sound Intelligence software imitates the way that humans deal with sound, splitting it into different frequencies with varying amounts of energy. Just as a person can immediately detect anger and aggression in the midst of background noise, Sound Intelligence software "listens" for the same parameters that humans use in detecting aggressive speech.

This system is already in place in a few locations in the Netherlands. Police in the UK are also considering installing the system.

More on sound intelligence website

Homophobia in Football

The Justin Campaign was founded to demonstrate that ten years after Justin Fashanu’s tragic suicide in 1998, homophobia is still hugely prevalent in the world of professional football.

Along with raising awareness the campaign has a strong focus on Art, Events, Education and football. Through these four key initiatives and some forward thinking strategic work with other inclusive sporting organisations The Justin Campaign seeks to challenge the stereotypes and misconceptions that exist around gay & bisexual men & women in football and work towards a future where the visibility of gay and bisexual men in professional football are both accepted and celebrated.

The Justin Campaign - Campaigning Against Homophobia in Football

Justin Fashanu on Wikipedia

Military Camp for Kids

southkorea

South Korean elementary school students lay in the mud during a summer military camp for kids at the Cheongryong Self-denial Training Camp on Daebu Island in Ansan, southwest of Seoul, South Korea on Thursday. One-hundred fifty-six kids took part in the three-day camp to strengthen themselves mentally and physically. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

All Eyes; Reporting with a camera

Iranian scientist was CIA mole

Never work for the CIA, they will betray you…

The scientist claiming to have been kidnapped and tortured by the United States was a CIA mole who spied on Iran's nuclear programme for several years, American officials have said.

Shahram Amiri was a vital source whose "significant, original" intelligence allowed his US minders to build up a comprehensive assessment of Iran's clandestine nuclear capabilities, the officials claimed.

The allegations are the latest twist in an increasingly perplexing saga that has embarrassed the United States and prompted jubilant crowing in Iran, which has long maintained that the CIA kidnapped Mr Amiri during a visit to Saudi Arabia last year.

Mr Amiri was reunited with his wife and seven-year-old-son after flying back to a hero's welcome in Iran on Thursday. He repeated allegations that he had been abducted, tortured by Israeli and American officers, and later offered $10 million (£6.5 million) to say that he had come to the United States of his own volition

More on the Telegraph

15 Jul 2010

The Real Agenda Behind Cybersecurity

In this special video report for Prison Planet.tv members, Paul Joseph Watson explains why the real agenda behind cybersecurity is political oppression and the death of free speech on the Internet, and how the entire globe is now implementing Chinese style censorship policies to change the nature of the world wide web as we know it forever.

Also see this freepress site: Save The Internet

Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it

With 606 oilfields, the Niger delta supplies 40% of all the crude the United States imports and is the world capital of oil pollution. Life expectancy in its rural communities, half of which have no access to clean water, has fallen to little more than 40 years over the past two generations. Locals blame the oil that pollutes their land and can scarcely believe the contrast with the steps taken by BP and the US government to try to stop the Gulf oil leak and to protect the Louisiana shoreline from pollution.

Shell_Nigeria

"If this Gulf accident had happened in Nigeria, neither the government nor the company would have paid much attention," said the writer Ben Ikari, a member of the Ogoni people. "This kind of spill happens all the time in the delta."

"The oil companies just ignore it. The lawmakers do not care and people must live with pollution daily. The situation is now worse than it was 30 years ago. Nothing is changing. When I see the efforts that are being made in the US I feel a great sense of sadness at the double standards. What they do in the US or in Europe is very different."

Nigeria

"We see frantic efforts being made to stop the spill in the US," said Nnimo Bassey, Nigerian head of Friends of the Earth International. "But in Nigeria, oil companies largely ignore their spills, cover them up and destroy people's livelihood and environments. The Gulf spill can be seen as a metaphor for what is happening daily in the oilfields of Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

Read the full story at The Guardian - The Observer

Pale Blue Dot

Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot. There are several different versions of "The Pale Blue Dot" on-line.

14 Jul 2010

Jack White's Apollo Studies

Jack White's Apollo Studies – An extensive study of Apollo imagery by photo analyst Jack White.

noflagshadow

Much, much more on AULIS Online – Different Thinking

Tony Blair 'called Gordon Brown mad, bad, and dangerous'

Mr Blair described Mr Brown as "flawed, lacking perspective and having a paranoia about him", during their fractious relationship at the head of British politics, he claimed.

According to the former business secretary Mr Blair added that Mr Brown was "beyond hope of redemption".

blairbrownparliament

The fraught nature of the Blair-Brown relationship has long been known but Lord Mandelson’s memoirs reveal for the first time the level of animosity felt between the two.

Lord Mandelson disclosed that the then prime minister did promise the former chancellor in 2003 that he would step aside and not fight the next general election, a pledge he later reneged on.

At the same time, Mr Blair's advisers drew up plan "Operation Teddy Bear" to split the Treasury in two and weaken Mr Brown's power, it was claimed.

More on Telegraph

11 Jul 2010

Terrified Zimbabweans on the run again

Zimbabweans who fled political turmoil and poverty at home are returning to their country in droves - terrified of another outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa.

Foster Baloyi, 26, who has worked on a farm in Groblersdal for nine years, was camped yesterday on the side of the road at the Musina border.

sa_xenophobic_attacks_17nov

He had spent the past three days there with his eight-month-old daughter, wife and three brothers in an old bakkie loaded with belongings - with no money or petrol to get to Zimbabwe.

"We don't want to take chances with our lives. The community said they will burn us if we don't go. We just packed our things and left," he said. The family has been surviving on oranges.

Hunched dispiritedly on suitcases and piles of bedding, people camped on the N1 highway outside Cape Town this week, hoping to hitch truck rides to Johannesburg.

Refugees, workers and NGOs fear more xenophobic attacks after the World Cup in a repeat of the 2008 flare-up that claimed more than 60 lives and left thousands displaced in refugee camps.

More on SA Times LIVE

In Haiti, the Displaced Are Left Clinging to the Edge

Hundreds of displaced families live perilously in a single file of flimsy shanties planted along the median strip of a heavily congested coastal road here called the Route des Rails.

haiti

A planned tent city in Corail-Cesselesse, about 10 miles north of Port-au-Prince, is now home to about 5,000 displaced people whose previous camp was at risk from flooding or landslides.

Vehicles rumble by day and night, blaring horns, kicking up dust and belching exhaust. Residents try to protect themselves by positioning tires as bumpers in front of their shacks but cars still hit, injure and sometimes kill them. Rarely does anybody stop to offer help, and Judith Guillaume, 23, often wonders why.

“Don’t they have a heart, or a suggestion?” asked Ms. Guillaume, who covers her children’s noses with her floral skirt when the diesel fumes get especially strong.

Full story on NYTimes.com

10 Jul 2010

Former rebel hostage asks for $7M from Colombian government

Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt is asking for about $7 million from the country's government for the years she spent as a hostage of leftist rebels.

betancourt

In documents submitted to the Colombian government last month, Betancourt and her family members say the government did not do enough to protect her.

Colombia's defense ministry publicized Betancourt's request Friday, declaring its "surprise and sorrow" at the news.

"If you ask me, it seems in very bad taste, very badly done. One does not do this. She has no case," Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos said.

More on CNN.com

Also see Ingrid Betancourt was 'worse than guards', claims a fellow hostage on the Telegraph

Did the US Military stop Cheney from Destroying the World?

“Remember the one about the B-52 bomber that, according to legend, had six nuclear weapons loaded onto it by accident, which, of course, could not have happened—by accident—for a dozen different reasons, or more.”

dick_cheney

In 2007, a bizarre event occurred. Six nuclear weapons showed up on a B-52 out of nowhere. The public was told they were mistakenly loaded onto the bomber and send flying around the United States. After a 6 week investigation, 70 airmen were punished for the “mistake” but the story hardly ends there. Key personnel at Minot Air Force Base, origin of the “loading mistake” began to have accidents. Loaders and pilots from Minot became some of the unluckiest people on earth. Coincidences pile up as the death toll rises. For every news story available for review, two have disappeared, almost as mysteriously as the deaths they reported.

Read the full story on un[redacted] news

Old Fashioned Spy Swap

Ten convicted Russian sleeper agents were whisked out of the United States on a plane headed over the Atlantic Ocean late Thursday as part of a deal with Moscow to put a quick end to an episode that threatened to disrupt relations between the two countries.

Glienecke

Even as the Russian spies were being hastily deported, four Russian men deemed spies for the United States and its allies were being pardoned by the Kremlin and prepared for release to the West in exchange. President Dmitri A. Medvedev signed an order to free them and they were expected to leave Russia promptly.

Neither government would say where their respective prisoners were heading initially, but one official familiar with the situation said the Russian spies were flying first to Vienna, where they would be handed over before travelling onto Moscow or any other final destination. The four Russians were to be released Friday morning Moscow time and also head first to Vienna as both sides made clear they hoped to put the incident behind them soon.

More on NY Times

It is a shame they can’t use the Glienicke Bridge (pictured) anymore.

Belgian Cardinal Linked to Convicted Sex Killer

The Catholic Church child abuse scandal in Belgium just got a whole lot worse. Belgian newspaper Het Laaste Niews is reporting that when authorities searched the home of the former archbishop of Brussels, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, they discovered a hidden cache of documents and photographs on notorious child sex killer Marc Dutroux — documents that Danneels was not supposed to have. Here’s a Google translation of one of their reports:

“The Brussels court at the searches in the archbishop’s palace in Mechelen found documents which are wondering how it ended up. That requires the latest news.

Dutroux

These include photographs of the excavations and the children’s corpses of Julie and Melissa, and documents about pedophilia that was only intended for the court. Cardinal Danneels may be explained by the detectives.

Not intended for Church
The confidential, court documents in the last days found among the many documents that were seized June 24 in Mechelen archiepiscopal palace. These reports between magistrates, which was only intended to justice, especially for the Church. It’s a mystery what the researchers that documents in the basement of the archbishop did.

The same goes for hundreds of photos from the Dutroux investigation and large parts of the court record of the victims Julie and Melissa. The investigators were in the archbishop’s palace, dozens of photographs from the excavations of their cells, to allow autopsies”, according to Het Laatste Nieuws.

More on The Lizard Annex

Protect your children

sticker3

GodBlock is a web filter that blocks religious content. It is targeted at parents and schools who wish to protect their kids from the often violent, sexual, and psychologically harmful material in many holy texts, and from being indoctrinated into any religion before they are of the age to make such decisions. When installed properly, GodBlock will test each page that your child visits before it is loaded, looking for passages from holy texts, names of religious figures, and other signs of religious propaganda. If none are found, then your child is allowed to browse freely.

Download GodBlock here

6 Jul 2010

Death by stoning imminent for Iranian woman

Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani, a mother of two, could be stoned to death at any moment under the terms of a death sentence handed down by Iranian authorities.

Ashtiani, 42, will be buried up to her chest, according to an Amnesty International report citing the Iranian penal code. The stones that will be hurled at her will be large enough to cause pain but not so large as to kill her immediately.

Ashtiani, who is from the northern city of Tabriz, was convicted of adultery in 2006. She was forced to confess after being subjected to 99 lashes, human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei said Thursday in a telephone interview from Tehran. More on CNN

More on stoning on Wikipedia

Israel plans 2700 new settlements

Israeli settlement councils plan to build 2700 new settlements in the West Bank immediately after the existing settlement freeze on September 27.

israeli_settlement
The plans await approval by Israeli Housing Ministry and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, daily Haaretz reported on Monday. In larger cities, plans have already been authorized, the report said.
The news comes after Israeli ministerial committee rejected a key bill on giving Tel Aviv the power to block extension to a settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank.

More on Press TV

Also see: Israeli settlements control 42 per cent of West Bank on Haaretz and a Map of Gaza Strip settlements

Numbers, Statistics and Law Regarding Israel's Illegal Settlements in the West Bank on About.com

5 Jul 2010

Scientists Admit Chemtrails Are Creating Artificial Clouds

Scientists now admit that emissions from aircraft are forming artificial clouds that block out the sun, precisely what geoengineering advocates like top eugenicist and White House science advisor John P. Holdren have called for, but the article tries to insinuate that the effect is caused by natural “vapours,” when in reality it can be attributed to chemtrails that contain substances harmful to humans.

CHEMTRAILS

“The phenomenon occurs when aircraft fly above 25,000ft, where the air temperature is around minus 30C. This causes water vapour emitted by the engines to crystallise and form the familiar white streaks across the sky, known as contrails,” writes Oliver Tree for the Daily Mail.

Chemtrails are the consequence of the agenda to geoengineer the earth in the name of combating climate change, a science vehemently backed by people like John P. Holdren, who in his 1977 book Ecoscience advocated poisoning the water supply to involuntarily sterilize humans as part of a “planetary regime” that would control every aspect of our existence. The fact that such eugenicists are now in control of geoengineering programs that will have a direct impact on our health is alarming.

Geoengineering programs have also been promoted by the Council on Foreign Relations, which is one of the main steering committees behind the implementation of global governance.

A recent report issued by the UK government also calls for the UN to exclusively regulate world wide geoengineering of the planet in order to stave off man made global warming.

Much more on PrisonPlanet - Image from Dees Illustration

Reptilian/ Reptoid; humanities biggest threat!

It can't be ignored, due to the sheer magnitude of reports and information throughout history, that there is a  serious case to answer that suggests reptilian humanoid species are dwelling on (or beneath) The Earth.

Reptoids, also known as Reptiloids, Draco's and Shape Shifting Reptilians have been spoken of and referenced throughout world history. There are also increasing reports today, and, with the availability of the internet, people are now sharing their experiences, and this subject, where once was maybe feared to mention, is now in the public perception.

Reptilian/ Reptoid Information Resource

The Reptilian Resistance Forum

4 Jul 2010

Banned for life from the Miami-Dade Metrorail for taking photos

“We had planned to ride the Metrorail through three stations to see if anybody would try to stop us from taking pictures of the trains. We didn’t even make it inside the first station.

By the time it was over, three hours after a security guard told us it was against the law to take pictures in the parking lot of the Douglas Road Metro Station in Miami, a 50 State Security Captain had banned us for life from ever setting foot on the Metrorail again.

All because of those photos we took in the parking lot.”

Photography is Not a Crime

2 Jul 2010

Whistle blower to testify BP deliberately sinks oil with Corexit as cover up

Testimony before a Senate investigative panel this week is expected to reveal what many have suspected about BP all along; they don’t care about the environment, the animals that are dying, and the lives that are being destroyed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.



In a shocking interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on June 29th, Allegiance Capitol Corporation V.P. Fred McCallister said that BP is deliberately sinking oil with the toxic chemical disbursant Corexit, to hide the size of the oil spill. By sinking the oil before it can be collected, BP won’t have to pay fines on it.
McCallister said, “Everybody in Europe, where the standard practice is to raise the oil and collect it, is scratching their heads, and quite honestly laughing at what’s happening in the Gulf.” He added, “Everyone is looking at us and wondering why we’re allowing this to happen.”

More on Examiner.com

Poor in UK dying 10 years earlier than rich

The life expectancy gap between rich and poor people in England is widening, despite years of government and NHS action, a hard-hitting National Audit Office report reveals today.

Extensive efforts have failed to reduce the wide differential, which can still be 10 years or more depending on socio-economic background, says the public spending watchdog. While life expectancy has risen generally, it is increasing at a slower rate for England's poorest citizens.

blackpool

In Blackpool, for example, men live for an average of 73.6 years, which is 10.7 fewer than men in Kensington and Chelsea in central London, who reach 84.3 years. Similarly, women in the Lancashire town typically die at 78.8 years – 10.1 years earlier than those in the London borough, who reach an average 89.9.

The gap in life expectancy between government-designated areas of high deprivation and the national average has continued to widen, so Labour's aim of reducing it by 10% will not be met, the NAO concludes. The failure to meet the target has cost an estimated 3,300 lives.

More on The Guardian

No Hope for Humans

Frank Fenner doesn't engage in the skirmishes of the climate wars. To him, the evidence of global warming is in. Our fate is sealed.

"We're going to become extinct," the eminent scientist says. "Whatever we do now is too late."

Frank_Fenner

Fenner is an authority on extinction. The emeritus professor in microbiology at the Australian National University played a leading role in sending one species into oblivion: the variola virus that causes smallpox.

And his work on the myxoma virus suppressed wild rabbit populations on farming land in southeastern Australia in the early 1950s.

He made the comments in an interview at his home in a leafy Canberra suburb. Now 95, he rarely gives interviews. But until recently he went into work each day at the ANU's John Curtin School of Medical Research, of which he was director from 1967 to 1973.

Full article on The Australian

The Christian Side-Hug: “Front Hugs Be Too Sinful”

Attention, Christian kids: If you like not having sex, not speaking the Lord’s name in vain, and not being gay, then you’ll love the newest trend in policing typical adolescent behaviors in the name of God. It’s called the The Christian Side-Hug, and it’s here to help the devout avoid the temptation of full frontal hugging. Don’t worry—it’s cool, because they made a “rap” song about it.

According to Stuff Christians Like, there’s no “exact scripture reference” banning normal hugging. But the Side-Hug does significantly lower the “risk of two crotches touching,” which has got to be in the Bible somewhere. Here’s how you do it:

Instead of face to face, you go side to side, putting your arm around the person and your hip against their’s. Still having a hard time mastering it? Pretend you’re taking a photo and you’re both looking at the camera together. The side hug, or A frame as it is also called, is safe for the whole family, friendly and above all holy.

Washington City Paper