Another German “Will Soon Unveil A Master Plan For A Transformation Of Society”

Forget democracy, human freedom and free markets. These concepts, which have made today’s human prosperity and long lifespans a reality for humans, wherever and whenever they are given the chance to work, are upsetting a small but very elitist group of  individuals who view these concepts as a disruption and a threat to their world view.

The English edition of Der Spiegel has a recent interview with Prof Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. In this interview Schellnhuber announced that he would unveil his “Master Plan” for transforming society – one no doubt that suits his world view. In Schellhuber’s view, human society needs to be scaled back and managed by an elite group of “wise men” who know what is best for the rest. More on NoTricksZone

Another Interview to Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber

Google making app that would identify people's faces

Google plans to introduce a mobile application that would allow users to snap pictures of people's faces in order to access their personal information, a director for the project said this week.

In order to be identified by the software, people would have to check a box agreeing to give Google permission to access their pictures and profile information, said Hartmut Neven, the Google engineering director for image-recognition development.

Profiles might include a name, phone number and e-mail address.

"We recognize that Google has to be extra careful when it comes to these (privacy) issues," Neven said. Before the app launches, Google plans to have acceptable privacy models in place, he said. While Google has begun to establish how the privacy features would work, Neven did not say when the company intends to release the product, and a Google spokesman said there is not a release timeline.

Google has had the technical capabilities to implement this type of search engine for years.

CNN

Chernokids

Chernokids (english subtitles) from Les Chernokids on Vimeo.

US Feds forbid scientists probing Gulf dolphin deaths from speaking to media

Last month dolphin corpses began washing up on the Gulf Coast in alarming numbers. Well, more dead dolphins continue to be found, bringing the total this year up to 114 -- 100 more than the average number of dead dolphins that washed ashore during the first three months of any year between 2002 and 2007.

So, naturally, there are quite a few people interested in what might cause such dramatic increases in marine mammal mortality. But Mississippi's WLOX reported recently that government testing on the animals has been slow to commence, and Reuters reported over the weekend that a gag order has been put into place forbidding wildlife biologists at the National Marine Fisheries Service to talk to the media about their findings.

Reports Reuters:

The gag order was contained in an agency letter informing outside scientists that its review of the dolphin die-off, classified as an "unusual mortality event (UME)," had been folded into a federal criminal investigation launched last summer into the oil spill.

"Because of the seriousness of the legal case, no data or findings may be released, presented or discussed outside the UME investigative team without prior approval," the letter, obtained by Reuters, stated.

The  Lookout - Yahoo! News

Counting corpses underestimates Deepwater Horizon whale toll  - The Great Beyond

Gaddafi’s foreign minister defects to UK

Muammar Gaddafi's authority inside Libya suffered a significant blow when his foreign minister quit and fled to the UK in a specially arranged flight organised by the British intelligence services.

Moussa Koussa, who was one of the Libyan leader's closest allies, arrived on a chartered plane from Tunisia and said he was "no longer willing" to represent the dictator's regime. "We can confirm that Moussa Koussa arrived at Farnborough airport on 30 March from Tunisia," a Foreign Office spokesman said.

Koussa's defection provides Britain with a figure of unparalleled intelligence value in terms of understanding the situation within Gaddafi's inner circle. The move also provides a morale boost to the disorganised rebel forces who have again suffered major reverses at the hands of pro-Gaddafi forces in the past 48 hours.

More on The Guardian

CIA operating in Libya, in consultation with opposition - CNN

INDECT

INDECT aims at developing tools for enhancing security of citizens and protecting confidentiality of recorded and stored information. INDECT targets crimes both in virtual (e.g. Internet child pornography, promotion of totalitarian symbols, trafficking in human organs,spread of botnets, viruses, malware) and real environments (e.g. terrorism, hooliganism, thievery). Furthermore, INDECT targets also threat detection (e.g. fire, artificial crowd, abandoned luggage, and people on rails).

INDECT homepage

Use a search engine, walk near a bank, or purchase a magazine subscription and you’re going to be monitored. Private companies are data mining your online behavior, recording your actions near their property, and purchasing your marketable information every day. Where does all your junk mail come from? Why does my Yahoo search for ‘great holiday vacations’ yield a different result than your search? The truth is that the social concept of privacy is already decades out of date.

Singularity Hub

The Hidden Roots of the European Union

Red Ice Creations Presentation by Henrik Palmgren

YouTube Playlist

US and Britain may arm Libya rebels if Gaddafi clings to power

The US and Britain have raised the prospect of arming Libya's rebels if air strikes fail to force Muammar Gaddafi from power.

At the end of a conference on Libya in London, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said for the first time that she believed arming rebel groups was legal under UN security council resolution 1973, passed two weeks ago, which also provided the legal justification for air strikes.

The British foreign secretary, William Hague, agreed that the resolution made it legal "to give people aid in order to defend themselves in particular circumstances".

But Clinton admitted the Americans "do not know as much as we would like to" about the interim national council (INC). In Washington, Admiral James Stavridis, Nato's supreme allied commander in Europe, told the Senate that intelligence analysis had revealed "flickers" of al-Qaida or Hezbollah presence inside the movement, and argued it required further study.

Full article on The Guardian

Taxes US style

'Massive tax increases passed on poor and elderly. Taxes on rich and corporations cut by almost 2 billion. Elections to be suspended, officials summarily dismissed by corporate overseers.

Rachel Maddow Show

Baton-Wielding UK Police Medic

In the best tradition of the Hippocratic Oath,. presumably.

Internet Fuhrer-y over house that looks like AdolfHitler

Hundreds of thousands of people have viewed or shared the link to a photograph of the house after it was published on Twitter, the social networking site.

The slanted roof was said to resemble the Hitler fringe, the door lintel was the moustache and the small top windows were seen as the dictator’s piercing eyes.

The joke took off when it was tweeted by Jimmy Carr, the comedian, but the owner of the house in Port Tenant, Swansea, a man in his 70s, said he had never even heard of Twitter.

See Telegraph for more

Gbagbo forces behind Abidjan 'atrocity'

The UN peacekeeping mission in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) has released a statement saying forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, the country's incumbent leader, opened fire on civilians in Abidjan on Monday, killing about a dozen people.

The organisation said that in another incident, a group of pro-Gbagbo youths put a tyre around a young man and burnt him alive in the Riviera area of the city, and that another group "savagely attacked" two UN staff.

"With the increase in human rights violations and barbaric practices, there are grounds for wondering whether President Gbagbo is still in charge of his forces and supporters," Tuesday's statement said.

"UNOCI believes it is imperative to end this spiral of violence by finding a definitive solution to the political impasse which stemmed from the post-electoral crisis."

More on Al Jazeera

1 million have fled Ivory Coast capital - CBC News

Author fights back in Gandhi ‘gay lover’ row

An American author on Tuesday angrily dismissed claims his new book on Mahatma Gandhi alleged that India's independence leader was a racist bisexual who left his wife for a body-builder. Indian newspapers were outraged by reviews in the United States and Britain of Joseph Lelyveld's biography that focused on Gandhi's relationship with German-Jewish architect and amateur body-builder Hermann Kallenbach.

Gandhi lived with Kallenbach in Johannesburg for about two years from 1907 before leaving South Africa to return to India in 1914. "How completely you have taken possession of my body," Gandhi was quoted as saying in a letter to Kallenbach. "This is slavery with a vengeance."

The British Daily Mail ran the headline "Gandhi 'left his wife to live with a male lover' new book claims", while the Daily Telegraph review said he had "held racist views against South African blacks."

The Raw Story

Could Libyan Rebels Turn on Allies?

As reports suggest arrangements are being made to find Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi a new home, international leaders are debating whether to arm rebels who may or may not turn out to be future allies.

Scenarios for arming rebels -- who could then oust Qaddafi, thereby relieving the U.S. the responsibility of instituting "regime change" -- have been on the table since last week. But U.S. officials stressed Tuesday that no decision has been made, especially since the international community is still trying to figure out who the rebels are amid concerns that elements of Al Qaeda could be emerging.

Adm. James Stavridis said that intelligence has shown "flickers" of what could be Al Qaeda influence in opposition groups, but no detailed picture of the rebel organization has been formed yet.

FoxNews.com

Saudi Women Vote Ban Remains In Place During Municipal Elections

Women in Saudi Arabia will not be allowed to vote in the long-delayed municipal elections to be held in September, the election commission said on Monday. Saudi Arabia announced last week it will hold the elections, in the first political concession since protests sweeping the region reached the kingdom.

The Gulf Arab state is a monarchy ruled by the al-Saud family in alliance with clerics from the strict Wahhabi school of Islam. Women must be covered from head to toe in public and are not allowed to drive. Saudi women are also subject to a male "guardianship" system which requires they show permission from their guardian -- father, brother or husband -- to travel or, sometimes, work. Religious police patrol the streets regularly to ensure gender segregation and that women are dressed modestly.

Reuters - More on Huffington Post

Chernobyl-Style Yellow Rain Causes Panic In Japan

Radioactive yellow rain that fell in Tokyo and surrounding areas last night caused panic amongst Japanese citizens and prompted a flood of phone calls to Japan’s Meteorological Agency this morning, with people concerned that they were being fed the same lies as victims of Chernobyl, who were told that yellow rain which fell over Russia and surrounding countries after the 1986 disaster was merely pollen, the same explanation now being offered by Japanese authorities.

“The (Japan Meteorological) agency received more than 200 inquiries Thursday morning about yellowish residue left on roofs and elsewhere by the rain, stirring concerns that radioactive substances had fallen after accidents caused by the March 11 quake and tsunami at a nuclear power plant around 220 kilometers northeast of Tokyo,” reports Japan Today.

Officials later suggested the discoloration was caused by air-borne pollen falling with the rain. “The JMA believes the yellow patches are pollen, but has yet to confirm this,” reports the Wall Street Journal, adding that the JMA received over 280 calls after residents in the Kanto region discovered yellow powder on the ground.

Full article on Prison Planet

Let’s Bomb Syria

On Sunday, Lieberman said he would support military intervention in Syria if its president, Bashar al-Assad, resorts to the kind of violent tactics used by Libya’s Muammar al-Qaddafi, according to Fox News. Lieberman is the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

“There’s a precedent now that the world community has set in Libya, and it’s the right one,” he said.

In essence, Lieberman said the “Arab street” wants us to kill civilians and bomb hospitals.

The precedent in Libya is the slaughter of Arabs, same as it continue to be in Iraq. This was recently confirmed by a team of Russian doctors in the country. NATO bombs have hit hospitals – including the Beir al-Osta Milad hospital – and residential areas in Tripoli and other cities, but this of course is not mentioned by the corporate media. “The bombing of Tripoli and other cities in Libya is aimed not only at the objects of air defense and Libya’s Air Force and not only against the Libyan army, but also the object of military and civilian infrastructure,” the doctors from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia wrote.

See Infowars for more

Japan Radiation May Be Spreading In Seawater

Workers discovered new pools of radioactive water leaking from Japan's crippled nuclear complex, officials said Monday, as emergency crews struggled to pump out hundreds of tons of contaminated water and bring the plant back under control.

Officials believe the contaminated water has sent radioactivity levels soaring at the coastal complex and caused more radiation to seep into soil and seawater. Crews also found traces of plutonium in the soil outside of the complex on Monday, but officials insisted there was no threat to public health.

Plutonium – a key ingredient in nuclear weapons – is present in the fuel at the complex, which has been leaking radiation for over two weeks, so experts had expected some to be found once crews began searching for evidence of it this week.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. official Jun Tsuruoka said only two of the plutonium samples taken Monday were from the leaking reactors. The other three were from earlier nuclear tests. Years of weapons testing in the atmosphere left trace amounts of plutonium in many places around the world.

More on Huffington Post

Omar Mukhtar

Omar Mukhtar (1862 - September 16, 1931), was born in the small village of Janzour, near Tobruk in eastern Barqa (Cyrenaica) in Libya. Beginning in 1912, he organized and, for nearly twenty years, led native resistance to Italian colonization of Libya. The Italians captured and hanged him in 1931.

Mukhtar’s struggle of nearly twenty years came to an end on September 11, 1931, when he was wounded in battle near Slonta, then captured by the Italian army. The Italians treated the native leader hero as a prize catch. His resilience had an impact on his jailers, who later remarked upon his steadfastness. His interrogators stated that Mukhtar recited verses of peace from the Qur'an.

In three days, Mukhtar was tried, convicted, and, on September 14, 1931, sentenced to be hanged publicly (historians and scholars have questioned whether his trial was fair or impartial. On September 16, 1931, on the orders of the Italian court and with Italian hopes that Libyan resistance would die with him, Mukhtar was hanged before his followers in the concentration camp of Solluqon at the age of 73 years.

Omar Mukhtar on Wikipedia - History of Omar Mokhtar and Libya

China and US among top punishers but death penalty in decline

China, Iran, North Korea, Yemen and the US carried out the most executions last year, bucking a global trends towards abolition of the death penalty, a report has said .

China again was by far the world's most prolific executioner in putting to death thousands, said Amnesty International in its report on the death penalty worldwide. Amnesty does not provide a precise figure of executions in China as Beijing keeps such figures secret.

Instead, it has challenged the Chinese authorities to publish figures for the number of people sentenced to death and executed each year to confirm claims of a reduction in the use of the death penalty.

See The Guardian for full story

Radioaktivität

Also see the very nice Kraftwerk website

Libyan rebels 'sign oil export deal with Qatar'

Libyan rebels say they have signed an oil contract with Qatar to export oil from rebel-held territory. "We are producing about 100,000 to 130,000 barrels a day, we can easily up that to about 300,000 a day," rebel spokesman Ali Tarhouni told the Associated Press. He said that shipments of crude would start in "less than a week".

The rebels say their main concern is obtaining insurance for any tankers taking oil from Libya. Libya produces 1.6m barrels per day of oil but analysts believe this has fallen by at least two-thirds since unrest began last month.

More via BBC News

Rare Penguins Blackened by Remote Oil Spill

Oil patches cover a northern rockhopper penguin on March 23, a week after a cargo vessel slammed into Nightingale Island in the South Atlantic, initiating a roughly 1,500-ton of fuel-oil spill, according to the U.K.-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

The island, part of the British territory of Tristan da Cunha (see map), is home to 200,000 northern rockhopper penguins, half the world's population. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the bird as endangered, due to its mysteriously rapid decline in the past three decades.

More on nationalgeographic.com

Dum Dum Girls

official website

Russia Sets Up University Institute To Study Yeti Sightings

As geeks, we are encouraged to suspend our disbelief while simultaneously challenging everything we see and hear. In the words of Agent Mulder, we want to believe, but our geek roots are firmly planted in the scientific method.

That tension is possibly being resolved on one front. The Russians are establishing a scientific institute on the study of yetis, hairy ape-like creatures rumored to inhabit the Himalayas.

Officials in coal-mining region of Kemerovo Oblast announced plans today to open a Yeti Institute at the Kemerovo State University, a 38-year-old higher education entity in western Siberia. KSU boasts 31,000 students and is best known for reviving regional languages, like Shor. Yeti researcher Igor Burtsev reportedly claimed that 30 Russian scientists are currently studying yetis, or Abominable Snowmen, and the Institute could allow them to better collaborate.

“We think that the yeti is a separate branch of human evolution. It lives in harmony with nature,” Burtsev was quoted as saying. Burtsev believes there may be a local community of these creatures that are Neandertals who survived extinction.

Wired.com

Libyan woman who claims rape by soldiers is dragged away

A distraught Libyan woman stormed into a Tripoli hotel Saturday to tell foreign reporters that government troops raped her, setting off a brawl when hotel staff and government minders tried to detain her. Iman al-Obeidi was tackled by waitresses and government minders as she sat telling her story to journalists after she rushed into the restaurant at the Rixos hotel where a number of foreign journalists were eating breakfast.

She claimed loudly that troops had detained her a checkpoint, tied her up, abused her, then led her away to be gang raped.

Her story could not be independently verified, but the dramatic scene provided a rare firsthand glimpse of the brutal crackdown on public dissent by Moammar Gadhafi's regime as the Libyan leader fights a rebellion against his rule that began last month. The regime has been keeping up a drumbeat of propaganda in the Tripoli-centered west of the country under its control even as it faces a weeklong international air campaign against the Libyan military.

More on The Huffington Post

Already on Wikipedia

Myanmar quake victims await relief

At least 70 people have been killed, and many more injured since an earthquake hit Myanmar on Thursday.

The township of Tarlay in eastern Shan state is where Myanmar, Thailand and Laos meet to form the golden triangle, about 50 kilometres from the epicentre of the quake.It now lies in ruins. Officials fear the overall number of casualties could be much higher.

Al Jazeera's Aela Callan reports from the border town of Mae Sai.

March for the Alternative

More than a quarter of a million people have marched through central London to deliver a powerful message about the government's cuts in public spending. The generally good-natured mood was soured by violent and destructive attacks on symbols of wealth including the Ritz, banks and a luxury car dealer; and an occupation of the upmarket food store Fortnum and Mason.

Trade union organisers said that the turnout had exceeded their expectations, and thousands had travelled by coach and by train from as far away as Edinburgh to vent their anger at the government's cuts by marching through London to a rally in Hyde Park.

Police said 202 people were arrested for offences including using threatening or insulting words or behaviour, criminal damage, aggravated trespass, violent disorder and for going equipped with intent to cause criminal damage. They said video evidence would be used to make further arrests.

More on guardian.co.uk

General Wesley Clark

Amy Goodman on March 2, 2007, U.S. General Wesley Clark (Ret.), explains that the Bush Administration planned to take out 7 countries in 5 years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Iran (2007 upto 2012)
securingamerica.com

General Wesley Clark, U.S. Army (ret) -- Former Commanding General of U.S. European Command, which included all American military activities in the 89 countries and territories of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Additionally, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), which granted him overall command of NATO military forces in Europe 1997 - 2001. Awarded Bronze Star, Silver Star, and Purple Heart for his service in Viet Nam and numerous subsequent medals and citations. Graduated valedictorian of his class at West Point. " 
Bio on Wikipedia

Syrian Troops Open Fire On Protesters

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad faced the deepest crisis of his 11 years in power on Saturday with one city at the heart of anti-government protests planning to bury its dead after a security forces’ crackdown.

Mosques across Deraa announced the names of "martyrs" whose funerals would be held on Saturday in the southern city, which was described as quiet but tense after reformists were fired on on Friday. The government said protesters were armed.

Read more on the Montreal Gazette

The N799WW mystery: CIA-linked plane left Libya on eve of UN vote

What exactly was a CIA-linked jet doing landing in Tripoli as the UN Security Council met to approve military action? Exchanges with air traffic control recorded by amateur radio hams show a plane with registration N799WW was cleared for landing at Mitiga International Airport 11km east of Tripoli on the evening of 17 March.

The Bombardier BD-700 plane is registered to Wells Fargo Bank Northwest NA, a subsidiary of US superbank Wells Fargo & Company. What has set tongues wagging is that the same subsidiary is the trustee for a Raytheon Hawker aircraft with a tail number N168BF which was allegedly used for extraordinary rendition flights by the CIA.

More (incl. audio) on Political Scrapbook

Celebrate the Bullet

The Selecter

Warning

Bill Hicks' Legendary One Night Stand

From 1990. Jam-packed with Hicks' golden insight and containing some of the best comic delivery to date, this is not to be missed by anyone. If you are offended by him then you miss his points on a grand level, and it is at your loss. Enjoy RIP Bill, the Dream lives on.

Hungarian Right-wing vigilantes take over Roma neighbourhood

On March 1st, uniformed members of the vigilante group Civil Guard (Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület), an offshoot of the dreaded Magyar Garda, took control of a Romani neighbourhood in the village of Gyöngyöspata. They set up two checkpoints at the entrance to the neighbourhood and formed a human chain around the houses of Romani residents. The Civil Guard are supported by the right-wing Jobbik party, and now intend to set up chapters in other towns in Hungary, to expand their patrols.

The European Roma Rights Centre, Amnesty International and Human Rights First sent a letter [PDF] urging Hungarian authorities to intervene and protect the Romani residents of Gyöngyöspata from the intimidation and harassment they have been subjected to by the vigilante organisation, Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület (Civil Guard Association for a Better Future), since 1 March. The Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület patrols have been supported by the far-right political party Jobbik, which organised a march of thousands through the village in black military uniform on 6 March. According to the ERRC’s monitoring, there were at least 48 attacks against Roma in Hungary between 2008 and 2010, which resulted in at least 9 deaths. The presence of anti-Roma vigilante groups in Roma neighbourhoods adds to growing inter-ethnic tensions and fuels a climate of violence.

The ERRC called for Hungarian authorities to fulfil their domestic and international human rights obligations in Gyöngyöspata, to intervene immediately to ensure the situation does not escalate into physical violence and to protect the Roma from intimidation and harassment.

mir.indymedia.org

Rights Groups Demand Protection for Hungarian Roma - ERRC.org - European Roma Rights Centre

Japanese nuclear officials fear crack in reactor core

Nuclear safety officials in Japan fear the core of a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have cracked, causing a leak of high levels of radiation. Growing uncertainty over the state of the stricken reactor prompted the government to tell people living within a 12-19 mile (20-30km) radius of the plant to consider leaving their homes temporarily.

The government's chief spokesman, Yukio Edano, said 130,000 residents in the area had been encouraged to leave to improve their quality of life, not because their health was at risk. The nuclear emergency, 150 miles north of Tokyo, has caused severe disruption to business, supply routes and other services in the area.

On Thursday, three workers were exposed to radiation after stepping in contaminated water in the turbine building of the No 3 reactor. They were trying to cool the crippled reactor when the accident occurred.

"The contaminated water had 10,000 times the amount of radiation as would be found in water circulating from a normally operating reactor," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan's nuclear safety agency. "It is possible that there is damage to the reactor."

Story on The Guardian

Obama takes ‘unprecedented’ aim at leakers

Elected on a promise of a more transparent government, President Barack Obama has taken "unprecedented" aim at leakers who divulge classified information to journalists, critics say.

"We've seen the current president bringing five prosecutions so far... against people for whistleblowing, for leaks of classified information," said Daniel Ellsberg, famous for his 1971 leak of the "Pentagon Papers," which helped turn the tide of public opinion against the Vietnam War. "All previous presidents put together brought three prosecutions... We see a campaign here against whistleblowing that is highly unprecedented in legal terms." The White House declined to answer questions about its policy towards those who leak government secrets.

The five prosecutions include the case of US soldier Bradley Manning, who is accused of having handed hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks.

More on The Raw Story

standwithbrad.org - View Collateral Murder video

Egypt to protest against anti-protest law

The Egyptian cabinet approved yesterday a decree-law that criminalises strikes, protests, demonstrations and sit-ins that interrupt private or state owned businesses or affect the economy in any way.

The decree-law also assigns severe punishment to those who call for or incite action, with the maximum sentence one year in prison and fines of up to half a million pounds. The new law, which still needs to be approved by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, will be in force as long as the emergency law is still in force. Egypt has been in a state of emergency since the assassination of former president Anwar Sadat in 1981.

Since former president Hosni Mubarak stepped down on 11 February, Egypt has witnessed escalating nationwide labour strikes and political protests. Amongst those protesting have been university students, political activists, railway workers, doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, journalists, pensioners and the police force.

Many labourers have expressed their shock at the decree. “We really had hopes that the new government will support us and look into our demands. We expected them to say we have all of your legal demands on our desks and there is a timeline of a month or two within which they will be achieved,” said Ali Fotouh, a driver in the public transportation sector.

Article on Ahram Online

Just Keep Going, You Got Nothing To Lose

Friday

The dark depressing re-mix by Matt Mulholland

Friday by Rebecca Black

Knesset passes segregation law

The Israeli Knesset passed a segregation bill today. Palestinian Israelis are not allowed to live in Jewish localities built on land confiscated from them. Government policy also makes sure they cannot build on the little private land that was left in their ownership. How long can Jewish Israelis continue pretending that Palestinians do not exist?

In a session lasting well after midnight, the Knesset passed (Hebrew) a new law, which allows communities of up to 400 members, in the Negev and Galilee (the south and north of Israel, respectively) to form "acceptance committees" that will screen candidates who wish to live in their locality, on the basis of various parameters, including vague wording relating to social and cultural compatibility. The law nominally forbids discrimination on the basis of race, gender or religion, but its effect and intent to segregate Palestinian Israelis are clear. I highly recommend reading the excellent post by Nimrod Lutz which outlines the background and implications of the bill. But there is an even broader context that should be remembered when this legislation is discussed.

More on www.uruknet.info

Waking Up To The Bigger Picture

The World Around You - gaiafoundation.org

Engineer Says Fukushima Reactor 4 Has Always Been A "Time Bomb"

It was only a matter of time before someone grew a conscience, and disclosed to the world that in addition to the massive cover up currently going on with respect to the true extent of the Fukushima catastrophe, the actual plant itself, in borrowing from the BP playbook, was built in a hurried way, using cost and labor-cutting shortcuts, and the end result was a true "time bomb."

Bloomberg has just released a report that if and when confirmed should lead to the prompt engagement of harakiri by the Hitachi executives responsible for this unprecedented act of treason against Japan's citizens. Quote Bloomberg: "One of the reactors in the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant may have been relying on flawed steel to hold the radiation in its core, according to an engineer who helped build its containment vessel four decades ago.

Mitsuhiko Tanaka says he helped conceal a manufacturing defect in the $250 million steel vessel installed at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi No. 4 reactor while working for a unit of Hitachi Ltd. in 1974. The reactor, which Tanaka has called a “time bomb,” was shut for maintenance when the March 11 earthquake triggered a 7-meter (23-foot) tsunami that disabled cooling systems at the plant, leading to explosions and radiation leaks....“Who knows what would have happened if that reactor had been running?” Tanaka, who turned his back on the nuclear industry after the Chernobyl disaster, said in an interview last week. “I have no idea if it could withstand an earthquake like this. It’s got a faulty reactor inside.”

What follows is the harrowing tale of a criminal cover up at the only reactor that luckily was empty when the catastrophe occurred. We can only imagine what comparable horror stories will emerge in the next several days as other whistleblowers emerge and disclose that Reactors 1 through 3 (which unfortunately do have radioactive fuel in their reactors) passed the same "rigorous" quality control process that makes them the same time bombs just waiting or the signal to go off (and probably already have... but since the truth is the last thing the public will uncover one can only speculate).

More on zero hedge

Radiation Is Good For You

Ann Coulter went on Fox to talk about the danger of radiation from the nuclear reactor, and then began talking about how radiation is good for you.

RepublicanStupidity

Fork in The Road

They Want To Trigger World War III- David Icke Website

Is It Unethical To Kill Plants?

Our green, leafy friends lack faces and voices, but below the surface, they possess a surprising sensitivity and a desperate will to remain alive and unharmed. The New York Times questions the ethics of vegetarianism:

Surely, I’d thought, science can defend the obvious, that slaughterhouse carnage is wrong in a way that harvesting a field of lettuces or, say, mowing the lawn is not. But instead, it began to seem that formulating a truly rational rationale for not eating animals, at least while consuming all sorts of other organisms, was difficult, maybe even impossible. More on Disinformation

Libya. Retrospective

Middle-Eastern leaders in Cairo for talks on the situation in Jordan, September 1970. Left to right: King Faisal of Saudi Arabia (1904 – 1975), President Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya, President Abdul Rahman Iryani (1910 – 1998) of the Yemen Arab Republic and President Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918 – 1970) of Egypt.

Libya. Retrospective - Avaxnews

Japan nuclear firm admits missing safety checks at disaster-hit plant

The power plant at the centre of the biggest civilian nuclear crisis in Japan's history contained far more spent fuel rods than it was designed to store, while its technicians repeatedly failed to carry out mandatory safety checks, according to documents from the reactor's operator.

The risk that used fuel rods present to efforts to avert disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant was underlined on Tuesday when nuclear safety officials said the No 2 reactor's storage pool had heated to around boiling point, raising the risk of a leakage of radioactive steam.

"We cannot leave this alone and we must take care of it as quickly as possible," Hidehiko Nishiyama, of the nuclear and industrial safety agency, said.

According to documents from Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the company repeatedly missed safety checks over a 10-year period up to two weeks before the 11 March disaster, and allowed uranium fuel rods to pile up inside the 40-year-old facility.

The Guardian

Wayseer Manifesto

ATTENTION: All you rule-breakers, you misfits and troublemakers - all you free spirits and pioneers - all you visionaries and non-conformists ... Everything the establishment has told you is wrong with you - is actually what's right with you...

Wayseer Manifesto website

Why the West sanctions some dictators and rewards others

The US and EU have long condemned the dictatorship in Belarus. Yet Arab strongmen like Hosni Mubarak and Moammar Gadhafi received military support from the West. How should Washington and Brussels deal with dictators?

Grassroots uprisings have gripped not just the Arab World as of late. Last December, around 15,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Minsk to challenge the manipulated presidential election that awarded long-time Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko another term in office with 80 percent of the vote.

The Belarusian security apparatus struck back and effectively decapitated the opposition. Around 600 protesters were arrested as well as eight of the nine candidates who ran against Lukashenko. In a little over a month, the EU and the US had imposed travel restrictions and asset freezes on more than 150 members of the country's political elite.

But as uprisings spread across North Africa and the Mideast, both the EU and the US responded tepidly as friendly dictators like Hosni Mubarak and Moammar Gadhafi used violence against peaceful protesters to maintain their grip on power. In the case of Mubarak, sanctions were not imposed at all. And although the US and EU condemned the recent violence in Libya, imposed sanctions and have now launched military action, they have a history of cooperating with Gadhafi's now embattled dictatorship.

Full article on Deutsche Welle

Control

Spoek Mathambo (Joy Division cover)

US Army 'kill team' in Afghanistan posed for photos of murdered civilians

Commanders in Afghanistan are bracing themselves for possible riots and public fury triggered by the publication of "trophy" photographs of US soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenceless Afghan civilians they killed.

Senior officials at Nato's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul have compared the pictures published by the German news weekly Der Spiegel to the images of US soldiers abusing prisoners in Abu Ghraib in Iraq which sparked waves of anti-US protests around the world.

They fear that the pictures could be even more damaging as they show the aftermath of the deliberate murders of Afghan civilians by a rogue US Stryker tank unit that operated in the southern province of Kandahar last year.

Some of the activities of the self-styled "kill team" are already public, with 12 men currently on trial in Seattle for their role in the killing of three civilians.

Read article on The Guardian – Pictures on Spiegel Online

Lets all make a Bomb

Heaven 17

Manning supporters rally at Quantico

Twice this weekend, police put plastic riot cuffs on Daniel Ellsberg’s hands. The man who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971 was arrested Saturday in Washington and again Sunday in Quantico. Ellsberg was one of about 35 protesters taken into custody for refusing to leave U.S. 1 in front of the main gate of the Marine Corps base.

Hundreds rallied in support of Pfc. Bradley Manning, an Army intelligence analyst accused of leaking classified documents to Wikileaks. Manning has been in the Quantico brig since May, awaiting a court martial. Supporters said the 23-year-old Manning is confined to his cell for 23 hours each day. He is given a tear-proof smock to wear to bed, but until recently was required to sleep naked.

To decry these conditions, some protesters donned prison garb and carried signs saying “I am Bradley Manning.” Many wore masks with Manning’s boyish face and shy smile. They kept their clothes on this time. But at earlier rallies, protesters stripped to their underwear as a visual protest of Manning’s treatment.

More on Fredericksburg.com - bradleymanning.org

Five days of Terror in the West Bank

According to eyewitnesses, around 300 Israeli settlers, of whom some were masked, entered the village on saturday the 12th of March and threw stones at windows, injuring two Awarta residents by breaking their arms. Villagers tried to protect homes while israeli soldiers responded by shooting teargas at the villagers.

During the five day curfew in the village of Awarta, south of Nablus, the Israeli military raided homes and detained around 300 people, the youngest 14 years old. Some of the men were taken to the local boy school were they had to leave their finger prints and DNA and some were taken to the military base at Huwwra checkpoint. According to mayor, Qays Awwad, 55 men are still in Israeli custody. Some of the detainees reported that they had been abused by the soldiers while they were detained and handcuffed. It has been reported that a 75 year old woman was handcuffed and had to sit on the ground while the soldiers went through her home, and that an 80-year-old woman was beaten by soldiers.

Full article on Desertpeace

Rescue in Japan

Members of Japan Self-Defense Force pray for the body of a tsunami victim wrapped in a tarp in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan on Sunday. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

But for many Japanese people, the search now is not for survivors -- it is for the bodies of their loved ones. In the town of Otsuchi, Keiko Chiba pointed to where she believes her husband's body may be. Even if he survived the tsunami, she says, a resulting gas explosion that burned through the town likely killed him.

Akihito Yamaguchi, in the town of Kamaichi, lost his 71-year-old father in the tsunami. He had been holding onto his father, but the force of the waves were too strong. Both his parents washed away before his eyes. He survived when the tsunami's waters flung him against a tree.

More on CNN.com

Top army generals defect in Yemen

Three top Yemeni army generals have declared their support for anti-government protesters seeking the resignation of the country's president, Ali Abudullah Saleh.

Brigadier Ali Mohsen Saleh, the head of the north western military zone and the head of the first armoured division, said on Monday that he had deployed army units to protect the protesters. Two more generals rallied behind Brigadier Saleh soon after.

Addressing a news conference, Brigadier Saleh said: "Yemen today, is suffering from a comprehensive and dangerous crisis and it is widespread. "Lack of dialogue and oppression of peaceful protesters in the public sphere, resulted in crisis which has increased each day. "And it is because of what I feel about the emotions of officers and leaders in the armed forces, who are an integral part of the people, and protectors of the people, I declare, on their behalf, our peaceful support of the youth revolution and their demands and that we will fulfil our duties."

The announcement came days after scores died when armed men fired at an anti-government protest in the capital Sanaa.

Al Jazeera

Filmmaker Michael Moore Rips President Obama Over Libya

Anti-war filmmaker Michael Moore tore into President Obama for taking military action in Libya on Saturday.

Moore, a frequent critic of President Bush for launching the Iraq War, unleashed a string on tweets comparing the U.S. military's mission in Libya to Iraq and Afghanistan, using a mantra coined by Charlie Sheen:

- It's only cause we're defending the Libyan people from a tyrant! That's why we bombed the Saudis last wk! Hahaha. Pentagon=comedy
- And we always follow the French's lead! Next thing you know, we'll have free health care & free college! Yay war!
- We've had a "no-fly zone" over Afghanistan for over 9 yrs. How's that going? #WINNING !
- Khadaffy must've planned 9/11! #excuses
- Khadaffy must've had WMD! #excusesthatwork
- Khadaffy must've threatened to kill somebody's daddy! #daddywantedjeb

Moore also suggested that Obama should return the Nobel Peace Prize he won in 2009:

- May I suggest a 50-mile evacuation zone around Obama's Nobel Peace Prize? #returnspolicy

TheHill.com - Twitter

Missile strike destroys Gaddafi 'command centre'

A missile strike has destroyed a building in Libya's capital, Tripoli, which Western officials say was one of Col Muammar Gaddafi's command centres.

Libyan government spokesman Ibrahim Musa said the strike had targeted an 'administrative building'. Journalists were shown the wrecked building but it was not clear if there were any casualties.

Countries including the US, UK and France are continuing strikes after the UN authorised action to protect Libyan civilians from government forces. Col Gaddafi has been fighting a rebellion that broke out last month.

US officials have said Col Gaddafi himself is not a target of the air strikes, which they say are aimed at his armed forces and air defence systems. A Libyan official said 64 people had been killed in strikes at the weekend, but the figure could not be verified.

BBC News

The Killing Moon

Echo & The Bunnymen

Is Anonymous The New WikiLeaks?

After defending WikiLeaks late last year, hactivist collective Anonymous may have just scooped it.

At midnight last night an Anonymous member who goes by the Twitter handle OperationLeakS released a series of e-mails with an employee at a Bank of America subsidiary, who is accusing the bank of fraud through inappropriately tracking loan documents. (WikiLeaks claimed last year that it had a trove of damaging, and as-yet-unreleased data about Bank of America that could take the bank down.)

The e-mails, between OperationLeakS and the Balboa employee, claim among other things that the bank is run “like a cult.”

How damning is the leak? Forbes’ Wall Street writer Halah Touryalai has taken a look and says it’s “tough to tell if there’s anything truly damning” about them. Meanwhile some of the leaks from bankofamericasuck.com have been removed, and a Bank of America spokesman told Reuters that the bank is “confident that [the former employee's] extravagant assertions are untrue.”

However inconclusive the e-mails may be, the leak may have wider implications for Anonymous as it gradually proves itself a source of comeuppance for disgruntled employees with damning information about a company or institution. “A lot depends on the impact of this week,” says Gabriella Coleman, a professor at NYU who is researching Anonymous, adding that the online collective could go in a similar direction to WikiLeaks.

Forbes Blog

World's Ugliest Buildings

Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool, England:
Cathedrals like this one, officially named Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, should conjure up thoughts of heavenly repose. But here, congregants look up and imagine getting impaled on those unfriendly spires—that, or they plan their next camping trip, inspired by buttresses that recall a fancy beige tent.
The Ugly Truth:
Well, it was the ’60s. Plus, architect Frederick Gibberd was charged with getting the cathedral up on a tight schedule and budget. Result: not long after the 1967 opening, mosaic tiles started popping off, and the roof began leaking.

14 more architectural monstrosities on Travel + Leisure