http://barnhardt.biz/

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/240772-Forget-Global-Warming-It-s-Cycle-25-We-Need-to-Worry-About

The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.

The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century.

Based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. It confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.

Meanwhile, leading climate scientists yesterday told The Mail on Sunday that, after emitting unusually high levels of energy throughout the 20th Century, the sun is now heading towards a ‘grand minimum’ in its output, threatening cold summers, bitter winters and a shortening of the season available for growing food.

Solar output goes through 11-year cycles, with high numbers of sunspots seen at their peak.

We are now at what should be the peak of what scientists call ‘Cycle 24′ – which is why last week’s solar storm resulted in sightings of the aurora borealis further south than usual. But sunspot numbers are running at less than half those seen during cycle peaks in the 20th Century.

Analysis by experts at NASA and the University of Arizona – derived from magnetic-field measurements 120,000 miles beneath the sun’s surface – suggest that Cycle 25, whose peak is due in 2022, will be a great deal weaker still.

According to a paper issued last week by the Met Office, there is a 92 per cent chance that both Cycle 25 and those taking place in the following decades will be as weak as, or weaker than, the ‘Dalton minimum’ of 1790 to 1830. In this period, named after the meteorologist John Dalton, average temperatures in parts of Europe fell by 2C.

However, it is also possible that the new solar energy slump could be as deep as the ‘Maunder minimum’ (after astronomer Edward Maunder), between 1645 and 1715 in the coldest part of the ‘Little Ice Age’ when, as well as the Thames frost fairs, the canals of Holland froze solid.

Yet, in its paper, the Met Office claimed that the consequences now would be negligible – because the impact of the sun on climate is far less than man-made carbon dioxide. Although the sun’s output is likely to decrease until 2100, ‘This would only cause a reduction in global temperatures of 0.08C.’ Peter Stott, one of the authors, said: ‘Our findings suggest a reduction of solar activity to levels not seen in hundreds of years would be insufficient to offset the dominant influence of greenhouse gases.’

These findings are fiercely disputed by other solar experts.

‘World temperatures may end up a lot cooler than now for 50 years or more,’ said Henrik Svensmark, director of the Center for Sun-Climate Research at Denmark’s National Space Institute. ‘It will take a long battle to convince some climate scientists that the sun is important. It may well be that the sun is going to demonstrate this on its own, without the need for their help.’

He pointed out that, in claiming the effect of the solar minimum would be small, the Met Office was relying on the same computer models that are being undermined by the current pause in global-warming.

CO2 levels have continued to rise without interruption and, in 2007, the Met Office claimed that global warming was about to ‘come roaring back’. It said that between 2004 and 2014 there would be an overall increase of 0.3C. In 2009, it predicted that at least three of the years 2009 to 2014 would break the previous temperature record set in 1998.

So far there is no sign of any of this happening. But yesterday a Met Office spokesman insisted its models were still valid.

‘The ten-year projection remains groundbreaking science. The period for the original projection is not over yet,’ he said.

Dr Nicola Scafetta, of Duke University in North Carolina, is the author of several papers that argue the Met Office climate models show there should have been ‘steady warming from 2000 until now’.

‘If temperatures continue to stay flat or start to cool again, the divergence between the models and recorded data will eventually become so great that the whole scientific community will question the current theories,’ he said.

He believes that as the Met Office model attaches much greater significance to CO2 than to the sun, it was bound to conclude that there would not be cooling. ‘The real issue is whether the model itself is accurate,’ Dr Scafetta said. Meanwhile, one of America’s most eminent climate experts, Professor Judith Curry of the Georgia Institute of Technology, said she found the Met Office’s confident prediction of a ‘negligible’ impact difficult to understand.

‘The responsible thing to do would be to accept the fact that the models may have severe shortcomings when it comes to the influence of the sun,’ said Professor Curry. As for the warming pause, she said that many scientists ‘are not surprised’.

She argued it is becoming evident that factors other than CO2 play an important role in rising or falling warmth, such as the 60-year water temperature cycles in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

‘They have insufficiently been appreciated in terms of global climate,’ said Prof Curry. When both oceans were cold in the past, such as from 1940 to 1970, the climate cooled. The Pacific cycle ‘flipped’ back from warm to cold mode in 2008 and the Atlantic is also thought likely to flip in the next few years .

Pal Brekke, senior adviser at the Norwegian Space Centre, said some scientists found the importance of water cycles difficult to accept, because doing so means admitting that the oceans – not CO2 – caused much of the global warming between 1970 and 1997.

The same goes for the impact of the sun – which was highly active for much of the 20th Century.

‘Nature is about to carry out a very interesting experiment,’ he said. ‘Ten or 15 years from now, we will be able to determine much better whether the warming of the late 20th Century really was caused by man-made CO2, or by natural variability.’

Meanwhile, since the end of last year, world temperatures have fallen by more than half a degree, as the cold ‘La Nina’ effect has re-emerged in the South Pacific.

‘We’re now well into the second decade of the pause,’ said Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. ‘If we don’t see convincing evidence of global warming by 2015, it will start to become clear whether the models are bunk. And, if they are, the implications for some scientists could be very serious.’

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this article has really stirred up the met office..they dont like it..its now a pissing contest between the 2 sides..i am sticking with my beliefs and they certainly arent changing ..if anything i am even more convinced this scam is a scam..and heres a thought..if it were found to be a scam via the cooling of the world..what sort of pop would we see in the green bubble!

401

http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/EU-leaders-pledge-to-stimulate-growth-create-jobs-2835279.php

All countries in the European Union, except Britain and the Czech Republic, agreed Monday to sign up to a new treaty designed to stop overspending in the eurozone and put an end to the bloc’s crippling debt crisis, while also pledging to stimulate growth across the region.

The new treaty, known as the fiscal compact, was agreed at a summit of European leaders in Brussels on Monday. It includes strict debt brakes and makes it more difficult for deficit sinners to escape sanctions. The 17-country eurozone hopes that the tighter rules will convince investors that all countries will get their debts under control and restore confidence in their joint currency.

“We have a majority of 25 that will now sign up to the fiscal compact,” Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said after the summit.

Although the new rules only apply to the 17 euro states, the currency union was hoping to get broad support from the other EU states, in the hope that the accord could eventually be integrated into the main EU treaty.

Britain had already said in December that it wouldn’t sign the new treaty. Reinfeldt said that the Czech Republic didn’t sign up because of parliamentary procedural problems.

The summit also promised Monday to stimulate growth and create jobs across the region, in a tacit acknowledgment that their exclusive focus on austerity has had painful side effects.

“Yes we need discipline, but we also need growth,” said Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission.

The leaders pledged to offer more training for young people to ease their transition to the work force, deploy unused development funds to create jobs, reduce barriers to doing business across the EU’s 27 countries, and ensure that small businesses have access to credit. However there was no offer of any new financial stimulus.

http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbusiness/aap/8411184/eu-summit-opens-amid-rift-over-greece

The Czech Republic joined Britain on the outside looking in, but a threat by Poland to withdraw evaporated after France gave ground in an argument about giving non-euro countries a seat at future summits to decide eurozone economic governance.

Pushed by Germany and the ECB, the treaty – to be formally signed in March – will require governments to introduce laws on balanced budgets and impose near automatic sanctions on countries that violate deficit rules.

It will enter force after 12 nations ratify it, and only those countries that sign up will be able to access bailout aid from a new rescue fund whose legal basis was also ticked off at the talks.

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as 23 nations throw away more of their independence..and give it to the french and germans..we note the czechs and brits said no..well done..you will survive..look at sarkozy their laughing his ass off..

please note you cant have deficits now..hows that going to work with the growth requirements of capitalism???

401

http://www.damanhur.org/

Damanhur, is an eco-society based on ethical and spiritual values, awarded by an agency of the United Nations as a model for a sustainable future.

Founded in 1975, the Federation has about 1,000 citizens and extends over 500 hectares of territory throughout Valchiusella and the Alto Canavese area, at the foothills of the Piedmont Alps.

Damanhur offers courses and events all year round, and it is possible to visit for short periods as well as longer stays for study, vacation or regeneration.

Damanhur promotes a culture of peace and equitable development through solidarity, volunteerism, respect for the environment, art, and social and political engagements.

http://www.thetemples.org/

Every year thousands of people from all over the world visit this large contemporary cathedral. Many use it as a tool for personal research, and to open within themselves new paths to inspiration and creativity.

The Temples can be visited every day. They are available for individual or group meditation, to celebrate life’s milestones such as a wedding or the welcoming of a newborn child.

Ceremonies and initiations of all spiritual schools of the world are welcome.

***

http://www.thetemples.org/tour/

***

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Damanhur

The Federation Of Damanhur, often called simply Damanhur, is a commune, ecovillage, and spiritual community situated in the Piedmontregion of northern Italy about 30 miles (50 km) north of the city of Turin. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the Valchiusella valley, bordering on the Gran Paradiso National Park. The community has its own constitution and currency, the Credito.

Damanhur is named after the Egyptian city of Damanhur which was the site of a temple dedicated to Horus.

It was founded in 1975 by Oberto Airaudi with around 24 followers, and had grown to 800 by the year 2000. The group holds a mix of New Age and neopagan beliefs. They gained fame in 1992 through the disclosure of their secret excavation of an extensive underground temple, the Temples of Humankind, which was begun in 1978 under complete secrecy. The Italian authorities ordered construction work to stop because it had been constructed without planning approval, although artwork could continue. Retroactive permission was subsequently granted.

Damanhur’s supporters claim the growth and activity of the community has revitalized the local area.

The Federation of Damanhur has centers in Europe, America, and Japan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberto_Airaudi

Oberto Airaudi was born in Balangero, near Turin, Italy on May 29, 1950. He is a philosopher, healer, writer, and painter.

In 1975 he and a group of fellow friends and researchers founded the spiritual, human, and social experience of the Federation of Damanhur, for which he serves as the spiritual guide and the inspiration behind the construction of the Temples of Humankind. The path that he proposes “leads to the awakening of the inner teacher through study, research, experimentation and the complete expression of individual potential.”

Based on the tradition of Damanhurian citizens adopting animal names, Airaudi also goes by the name of “Falcon”.

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hmm.. a decorated cave for the heads of the worlds governments to come and discuss the problems of the world..i have my thoughts..what do you think readers?

the UN loves new age religion dont they?

spectacular halls..filled with esoteric symbols..

401

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/secretary-of-state-hillary-clinton-calls-for-action-on-syria/story-e6frg6so-1226257930369

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that the UN Security Council “must act” on Syria to end President Bashar al-Assad’s “violent and brutal attacks” against demonstrators.

Amid Russian opposition to a tough resolution on Syria, Clinton said that she would travel to the United Nations tomorrow to “send a clear message of support to the Syrian people: we stand with you.”

“The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the escalation of the Syrian regime’s violent and brutal attacks on its own people,” Ms Clinton said in a statement.

“The Security Council must act and make clear to the Syrian regime that the world community views its actions as a threat to peace and security. The violence must end, so that a new period of democratic transition can begin,” she said.

“The longer the Assad regime continues its attacks on the Syrian people and stands in the way of a peaceful transition, the greater the concern that instability will escalate and spill over throughout the region,” she said.

http://rt.com/news/russia-assad-talks-opposition-083/

Russia will not bargain with the West over the fresh draft resolution on Syria, says Russia’s deputy foreign minister. The draft in its current form ignores the Russian position and therefore, has no chance of being accepted, Gennady Gatilov said.

“It is not part of our political practice to trade our principles,” Gatilov said on Monday as cited by Interfax. “We don’t bargain, but seek consideration for our positions and our vision, which are based on our knowledge of regional realities and our historical experience.”

“Russia can only support the resolution if it fixes Russia’s principled approaches, which I have mentioned and which are shared by many other countries,” he added.

On Tuesday, the UNSC will hear the Arab League’s report on the findings of its recent mission to monitor the ruling regime’s response to the popular uprising in Syria. France and the UK are pushing for the adoption of a new resolution drafted by Morocco. The resolution would back the Arab League’s plan for the transition of power in Syria from President Assad to a unity government.

Russia resists a swift vote on this, saying it wants to study the Arab League’s report in detail before taking any step. Moscow has vetoed a previous UN resolution on Syria, citing its ambiguous language that could provide for a foreign intervention, and contemplates banning the new one.

The UK urges Russia to stop blocking the UN move.

“We believe that the UN must act to support the people of Syria and that Russia can no longer explain blocking the UN and providing cover for the regime’s brutal repression,” the UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said on Monday.

The UN estimates over 5,400 people have been killed in Syria since the popular uprising against the regime broke out ten months ago. Assad says he is fighting an armed foreign insurgency and bears heavy troop losses.

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i cannot see russia or china changing their minds so these resolutions are a waste of time..for now..and do you really think handing power to his deputy will stop the “rebels”?..it wont..

401

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16770932

The African Union has inaugurated its newly built headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The entire $200m (£127m) project was funded by China as a gift to the AU, as Beijing continues to strengthen its influence in Africa.

In front of African leaders a huge golden key was handed over and the 100m high building was officially opened.

The tower overlooks a vast conference centre where African heads of state are expected to meet for years to come.

Their first AU summit in the building will take place on Sunday.

China’s most senior political adviser, Jia Qinglin, attended the opening of the new headquarters.

“The towering complex speaks volumes about our friendship to the African people, and testifies to our strong resolve to support African development,” he said, according to AFP.

The AU chairman, Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, said the complex was “a reflection of the new Africa,” the agency reports.

The new AU building dominates the skyline of Addis Ababa and is the city’s tallest building.

Most of the materials used were imported from China and even the furnishings were paid for by Beijing, AFP news agency reports.

Construction began in January 2009 and involved 1,200 Chinese and Ethiopian workers.

The project co-ordinator, Fantalum Michael, says the new building signifies China’s growing friendship with Africa.

“It’s a testimony that this relationship will continue in the future,” he told AFP.

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a shrine to the massive influence china is having in africa..the giver of last resort.. thanks for the building guys..

401

http://rt.com/news/femen-protest-davos-topless-963/

Three activists from the notoriously clothing-optional FEMEN protest group were arrested in Davos Saturday as they raged against the current World Economic Forum, which they say overlooks the poorest amongst us.

Braving freezing temperatures to deliver their typically over the top, topless protest against the world’s economic and political elite, the three activists were detained after climbing a security fence guarding the site of this year’s forum.

According to the statement released by the group, the activists “reached the entrance to the congress hall, and, at snipers’ gunpoint, carried out a protest act under the motto ‘Stop the Davos conspiracy!”

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“gangsters party in davos”..indeed..those crazy femen ladies are doing a great job..but they need to find some warmer places to protest

401

http://www.jsmineset.com/

The following interview with Ellis Martin of www.EllisMartinReport.com covers in detail the impending undeclared default of 5 major US banks this week by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.

This even has the potential to cause a second financial crisis that would require significant financial intervention. If you have time to spare, listen to this interview. If you don’t have time to spare, listen to it anyway.

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make your own minds up..and keep in mind..legatus pilgrimage starts Feb 2nd:

http://www.legatusmagazine.org/?page_id=117

the ISDA..they make the calls..the CDS bombs are still the most destructive and important pieces in the whole system of finance..

default..the word they cannot say..the ones who run the ISDA also own the banks on who they should make calls on!! get it?

97% of outstanding CDS are with the 5 banks..get that?

401

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16763954

The BBC has seen more evidence of the extent to which the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has lost control of sections of the poor suburbs of Damascus.

We had no luck following Arab League observers. They drove round a middle class, largely Christian and largely pro-Assad neighbourhood in the centre of the capital, without stopping, before returning to their hotel with their escort of regime security men.

So a convoy of journalists, without regime minders, went alone to Saqba, a poor district about 20 minutes from central Damascus – where a funeral was due to take place of a man killed by the Assad regime’s forces.

Once we left the centre we saw no regime security men. Then on the edge of Saqba we came upon several dozen armed and masked fighters from the Free Syria Army (FSA).

An older man – who said he had been a general in the Syrian army – was in charge.

He wasn’t masked, had a stubbly, scarred face and was carrying a hand grenade.

His men had sandbagged positions, and said they were protecting the local people.

They took us deeper into Saqba where several thousand local men had gathered, marching through the streets and chanting anti-regime slogans, some calling for President Assad’s execution.

They processed the body of the dead man on an open stretcher.

It’s clear that the regime forces, when they deploy enough men, can enter the rebellious suburbs of Damascus.

But they do not appear to have the force to hold them.

It is equally clear that the only way the president can enforce his authority in Saqba, and other suburbs of the city, is through the barrel of a gun.

His regime faces opposition in the capital that is increasingly armed and organised.

This does not mean that the president is about to fall. He has his own hardcore support, based on minority communities – his own Alawites, Christians, some Druze and Kurds, and also well-off Sunnis.

Mr Assad also has well-armed forces – in and out of uniform.

It looks as if Syria faces more blood and more bitterness.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/6396abc0-4a5d-11e1-a11e-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz1ktc1bkQe

Syrian troops battled for control of some Damascus suburbs as Arab and western diplomats intensified their efforts to secure a United Nations Security Council resolution calling on President Bashar al-Assad to step aside.

Activists said that at least 99 civilians had been killed across the country since Thursday as the regime sought to regain areas where armed rebels have established a presence. Meanwhile, authorities said six soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack in the suburbs alone.

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its now the FSA backed by all the “good” guys versus assad and his “bad” guys..the “rebels” got very close to damascus but were pushed back in the last 2 days..UN resolutions will fail along russian and chinese lines..whats next?

401

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-report-that-will-blow-up-the-eurozone-2012-1

No, I’m not talking about the fact that Germany and Holland want to take over as the de facto government in Greece, as Noah Barkin writes for Reuters (that they want to do it through Brussels is a mere technicality).

Max Julius of Citywire.uk did a piece on the report, without mentioning it directly, 10 days ago:

Why Germans and Dutch will exit ‘suicide pact’ eurozone

Germany and the Netherlands are likely to quit the eurozone rather than swallow an indefinite number of ‘unrequited transfers’ to the union’s crisis-stricken nations, according to Charles Dumas, chief economist at Lombard Street Research.

Speaking at an event in central London, he said that before joining the single currency, German incomes had stayed level but their purchasing power had increased as the Deutschmark appreciated. With the weaker euro, the economist said, they have seen ‘tremendous’ wage restraint, leading to huge growth in German firms’ market share but ‘no serious growth of the economy’ and a squeeze on disposable incomes. Meanwhile, consumption rose elsewhere in the eurozone, he said.

‘So what you’re actually dealing with here… is a German population which has had a rotten deal – and that’s why they’re all so angry’ noted Dumas, who is also chairman of the macroeconomic forecasting consultancy. Branding the monetary union a ‘suicide pact’, he continued: ‘So what this exercise in uniting Europe has achieved is to divide Europe.’

Dumas [noted that] the ‘Club Med’ nations needed about 5% of gross domestic product in annual debt refinancing ‘more or less indefinitely’.

This would amount to €150 billion a year, of which Germany would have to stump up just over €60 billion, France a little under €50 billion and €15 billion from the Netherlands, he said. And this would be on top of the shortfall in consumer spending, in addition to the fact that wages and consumption may have to be held down in the future, Dumas warned.

Ilargi: This morning, Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad cited Dumas as saying these numbers are “cautious estimates”. They are valid only if Greece and Portugal would leave the Eurozone in 2012 – which Dumas expects will happen -. If they don’t, the payments will be even higher.

He predicts the costs of a return to the guilder will be much less than for instance the Dutch government’s Central Planning Bureau claims, which warns of huge losses if Holland were to leave the Euro.

Continue here: http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2012/01/report-that-will-blow-up-eurozone.html#ixzz1ktPPkw4S

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lots of information to digest here..the key part is that germany may dump the eurozone..and that would blow up the EU..have no doubts..and a reader, mariorules, told us this over a year ago..

401

http://www.merrittnews.net/article/20120124/MERRITT0101/120129916/-1/MERRITT/thursday-was-coldest-day-of-the-year-globally-since-2002

Bitter cold winter weather broke some records last week in Merritt and around the world.

The thermometer’s Jan. 18 reading of a high of -21 degrees in Merritt was the coldest Jan. 18 since Environment Canada began recording temperatures in 1968. An arctic front plunged the Nicola Valley and much of the province into a deep freeze last week, with Environment Canada issuing extreme wind chill alerts that brought temperatures down between -35 and -45.

The following day, Jan. 19, the AMSU satellite of 251.858K recorded the coldest day of the year globally since 2002, based on the daily global average temperature.

Things warmed up considerably in the valley by the weekend with temperatures hovering just below and above zero.

Environment Canada forecasts mild temperatures throughout the week and this weekend with highs and lows between -5 and 7 degrees.

————

get this in your heads..the world is not warming up..they can place their weather stations closer to cities and near warmer city environments but you wont fool all of us..more on this tomorrow..

401

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/01/the_strange_dea.php

We were stunned when Debrah Kitchings said it: in the 26 years since she investigated the odd death of Mary Florence “Flo” Barnett for the Los Angeles County Coroner, she has not once been asked by a reporter about what she remembers of the case.

Only once in that time, she says, was she ever asked about it at all.

“I think her daughter or a relative sent a letter, an inquiry, I think,” Kitchings says.

Today, Kitchings is retired and lives in Riverside County, California, but in 1985, she was an investigator with the LA Department of Coroner when, on the night of September 8, she was called to Dominguez Valley Hospital in Compton to conduct a gunshot residue test on the hands of the dead woman.

Despite the passage of time, Kitchings remembers the case well. And she suspects that there’s a reason I’m interested in this one death out of the many she handled over her career.

“It has something to do with Scientology, right?”

Continue here: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/01/the_strange_dea.php

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this is really worth a read..how miscaviges wife managed to shoot herself 3 times in the chest with a rifle and then have enough strength to fire another shot off into her head..must be wonderwoman..

401

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16771939

Inappropriate spending cuts could “strangle” growth prospects, the head of the IMF has warned.

Austerity programmes must be tailored to each economy, Christine Lagarde said, and not be “across the board”.

The International Monetary Fund has been one of those stressing the need for countries to cut their debts, but some fear this could hit growth.

The correct response to the eurozone debt crisis has been a major debate at World Economic Forum in Davos.

“We are not suggesting there should be fiscal consolidation across the board,” Ms Lagarde stressed.

“Some countries have to go full-speed ahead to do this fiscal consolidation, but other countries have space and room. They should explore what to do… in order to help themselves.

“It has to be tailor-made.”

One of those expressing concerns about the possible implications of fiscal consolidation at the gathering at the Swiss ski resort was US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

He told the annual meeting of political and business leaders on Friday that there was a risk of a recessionary “cycle” from austerity measures.

“There is a risk that every disappointment in growth will be met with an austerity that will feed the decline, and that is a cycle you have to arrest to solve financial crises,” Mr Geithner said.

Crisis-hit countries such as Greece and Spain are implementing deep government spending cuts and raising taxes in order to try to bring down their deficits.

“For parts of Europe for a long time, there will be no alternative to very substantial adjustment in budget deficits,” Mr Geithner said.

He is one of a number of leaders who have said this week that the deficit-cutting measures have been an important step in addressing the eurozone debt crisis.

Ms Lagarde echoed those on Saturday: “There is work under way. There is progress, as we see it,”

But some see these policies as potentially very damaging. Financier George Soros told the BBC that the fiscal cuts, which Germany supports, could even lead to a “lost decade” of economic stagnation in Europe.

“This German insistence on austerity could destroy the European Union,” he said. “This is reality, this is the harsh reality that we need to face.

“It is not written in stone, the future is not predetermined. We determine the future, so it would be well within the possibilities of the authorities to change it.”

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christine and her bag..

so let me get this right..they tell europe to stop spending and reign in debt..and then in the same breath they say you cant have to much austerity..i am no economist but please..WTF?

401

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/world/space-experts-ground-gingrich-moon-plan/story-e6frea8l-1226255247516

REPUBLICAN presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has stirred strong passions by claiming he will establish a permanent moon base by 2020 if elected, but experts say he is living on another planet.

The basic idea is not actually as far-fetched as it sounds. NASA in 2006 announced plans to set up a colony on the south pole of the moon, in around 2020, as a base for further manned exploration of the solar system.

The problem for Gingrich, a space enthusiast with ideas dating back decades for zero-gravity honeymoons and lunar greenhouses, is that the 2008 financial crisis came along and turned feasible projects into pipe dreams.

“A lunar base by 2020 is a total fantasy,” John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute, told AFP.

“We got to the moon in the 1960s by spending over four per cent of the federal budget on Apollo. NASA’s now at one-tenth of that level.”

During boom-time, President George W Bush called for a return to the moon, followed by Mars expeditions, and NASA drew up plans called Constellation to meet these goals and replace the shuttle fleet when it retired.

But President Barack Obama scrapped Constellation in 2010, saying the plans were “over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation”. The once-proud shuttle fleet now lies mothballed.

American astronauts now have to rely on Russian spacecraft to get to the International Space Station.

Against this depressed backdrop, Gingrich has left himself open to the charge that his grandiose vision for human spaceflight is simply an attempt to pander to vulnerable voters.

“By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon, and it will be American,” he told supporters at a Florida rally.

Never one to shy away from bold statements, Gingrich compared himself to Abraham Lincoln, John F Kennedy, and the Wright Brothers, boasting: “I accept the charge that I am an American and Americans are instinctively grandiose.”

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oh newt..come on now..you been stealing barrys coke?

it

wont

happen

k?

401

http://rt.com/news/anonymous-mexico-sopa-acta-941/

Online hacktivist group Anonymous has blocked access to Mexican Senate and Interior Ministry websites. The attack is a protest against a proposed law that will see those who violate copyright online fined one million pesos (over $100,000).

The proposal, from conservative senator Federico Doring, is widely seen as the Mexican version of the SOPA/ PIPA bills, denounced by Wikipedia and other web giants, as well as by the internet community at large, as a threat to internet freedom.

Google, YouTube, Yahoo, AOL and many others have likened the bills to China-style censorship. The deals were supposedly created to protect copyrighted material, but most believe they would cripple the internet, effectively killing all websites allowing user-uploaded content, endangering potential whistleblowers and severely damaging online freedom of speech.

The controversial bills have been shelved indefinitely by the US Congress after the wave of protests and blacking outof popular websites such as Wikipedia, to get the point across.

Despite the victory of internet users in the SOPA/PIPA case, however, other battles rage on. Another controversial treaty – ACTA, an international agreement aimed at protecting intellectual property – sparked mass protests in Poland after its signing by the country.

Anonymous has already targeted official websites in the countries that have signed ACTA. They struck the Polish, French and Czech government websites, as well as the sites of the Irish ministries of justice and finance, the European Parliament, Ireland’s Innovation Minister Sean Sherlock and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

The proposed Mexican law is the new target for Anonymous, who seem ready to tackle any organization or government on the planet that threatens internet freedom and free speech. Anonymous claimed responsibility for the attacks on Mexican websites on their Spanish Twitter account Friday.

Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire told a news conference that the ministry’s site had been blocked late morning. It lasted for a little less than five minutes, the site was not compromised and officials were investigating, Poire said.

Doring said in his Twitter feed that Anonymous have the right to show they are against his proposal, but do not have the right to attack websites. He also insisted that the proposal “does not contemplate any criminal punishment” and would not sanction users of social networks because they do not make a profit.

This is not the first time the elusive internet collective is operating on Mexican online turf. Last October, Anonymousthreatened to publish information on drug cartels in the country, with the main focus on Los Zetas (one of the most powerful and violent drug cartels) and those, who have been collaborating with the cartels, such as police officers and taxi drivers.

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once again..if they are targetting ACTA supporters then they have  friend in me..more power to them as they go down this path..

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204573704577185591620344190.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

A maker of rechargeable car batteries that was using a $118.5 million Energy Department grant to build a factory in Indiana filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday, becoming the latest green-energy company backed by the Obama administration to run into trouble.

Ener1 Inc. said its prepackaged bankruptcy filing will enable the company to receive a new infusion of capital and keep its operations going. Ener1 reached a deal with lenders to cut its $91 million debt in half and said it would receive $81 million in new funds, mostly from Bzinfin S.A., a company backed by Russian businessman Boris Zingarevich.

A subsidiary of Ener1 called EnerDel Inc. employs 275 workers outside Indianapolis and is going forward with building its battery plant, Ener1 said. The subsidiary isn’t in bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy filing is the latest embarrassment for the clean-energy program included in President Barack Obama’s 2009 economic-stimulus package. Last September, Solyndra LLC, a California solar-panel maker, declared bankruptcy and shut down, leaving taxpayers with losses on the $527 million in government loans the company had received. A smaller company that was developing electric-grid technology with U.S. support also filed for bankruptcy protection last fall.

The Solyndra bankruptcy has triggered months of investigations by Republicans in Congress, with lawmakers questioning whether the company got favors because one of its main backers was a foundation led by a donor to Mr. Obama’s campaign.

The Obama administration has denied giving Solyndra special treatment and said the loan was made on the merits. It has said failures are to be expected in the still-emerging clean-energy industry.

Mr. Obama defended his efforts in Tuesday’s State of the Union speech, specifically mentioning batteries.

“In three years, our partnership with the private sector has already positioned America to be the world’s leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries,” he said. “Because of federal investments, renewable energy use has nearly doubled, and thousands of Americans have jobs because of it.”

Rep. Cliff Stearns, (R., Fla.), who has led the Solyndra investigation, said the Ener1 bankruptcy showed the failure of the president’s agenda. “One bankruptcy may be a fluke, two could be coincidence, but three is a trend,” Mr. Stearns said. “The Department of Energy’s jobs record seems to grow worse by the day … and it is American taxpayers who are paying the price.”

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another month, another failed green venture..costing a couple of hundred million only..thats not to bad…its not their money so why should they care..its your money!

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16738209

The FBI is seeking to develop an early-warning system based on material “scraped” from social networks.

It says the application should provideinformation about possible domestic and global threats superimposed onto maps “using mash-up technology”.

The bureau has asked contractors to suggest possible solutions including the estimated cost.

Privacy campaigners say they are concerned that the move could have implications for free speech.

The FBI’s Strategic Information and Operations Center (SOIC) posted its “Social Media Application” market research request onto the web on 19 January, and it was subsequently flagged up by New Scientist magazine.

The document says: “Social media has become a primary source of intelligence because it has become the premier first response to key events and the primal alert to possible developing situations.”

It says the application should collect “open source” information and have the ability to:

• Provide an automated search and scrape capability of social networks including Facebook and Twitter.
• Allow users to create new keyword searches.
• Display different levels of threats as alerts on maps, possibly using colour coding to distinguish priority. Google Maps 3D and Yahoo Maps are listed among the “preferred” mapping options.
• Plot a wide range of domestic and global terror data.
• Immediately translate foreign language tweets into English.

The FBI says the information would be used to help it to predict the likely actions of “bad actors”, detect instances of people deliberately misleading law enforcement officers and spot the vulnerabilities of suspect groups.

http://rt.com/news/fbi-social-networks-privacy-781/

The FBI has got tired of monitoring social media sites manually and wants to reinvent the process. So, soon your posts may instantly light up on a map as a big red dot if considered suspicious, marking the location of the ‘bad actor.’

“Social media has become a primary source of intelligence because it has become the premier first response to key events and the primal alert to possible developing situations,” says the Request for Information published by FBI on January 19.

The FBI’s ‘market research’ shows that the bureau is planning to monitor all ‘publicly available’ data on social media sites through a new game-changing system.

The bureau is looking for a company which is interested in and capable of building such a system and has published a list of requirements for it.

The enquiry says that the system should provide an automated search and scrape capability of both social networking sites and open source news sites for breaking events, crises, and threats that meet the search parameters defined by the FBI.

It should also be capable of automated filtering of the data and of providing the operator with instant notification of breaking events and emerging threats.

The FBI places strong emphasis on the fact that the system should access only ‘publicly available’ data, taking every occurrence of this phrase in quotes throughout the whole document.

But most people do not realize that the data they are sharing with their friends on social networking sites is in fact publicly available.

The average user believes that only a narrow circle of close friends and relatives are reading his or her blog, and this gives them “the sense of freedom to say what they want without worrying too much about recourse,” says Jennifer Lynch at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as cited by newscientist.com. “But these tools that mine open source data and presumably store it for a very long time do away with that kind of privacy. I worry about the effect of that on free speech in the US.”

All the collected data will be stored in the FBI database and conveniently displayed on a map upon request (by the way, FBI prefers Google, ESRI, and Yahoo maps to any other service). Of course the functionality of the map will be increased beyond the limits set for the common user.

The interactive map will have additional layers, such as US domestic and worldwide terror data, US embassies and military installations around the world, weather conditions and forecasts, and video feeds from surveillance and traffic cameras.

The revelation of the FBI’s ‘market research’ raises even more concerns about the aspects of private data safety on the Internet, as more and more data about the users is being collected and stored – for different reasons – in numerous databases around the globe.

Collecting the information in not a challenge anymore, but analyzing the data is. But there are companies, for example Google, which can crack such a problem.

Recently Google announced plans to bring all data collected from users’ separate accounts on its sites into a combined profile. Google is seeking ways of creating a simpler product experience and providing better services to its clients. But that move has triggered a lot of outrage and raised more questions about privacy on the Internet.

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“The FBI’s ‘market research’ shows that the bureau is planning to monitor all ‘publicly available’ data on social media sites through a new game-changing system”

the obsessive need to track information and see exactly what we are all doing is out of control..it borders on paranoia..the cat is really out the bag..

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/gov-rick-perry-texas-coul_n_187490.html

Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired up an anti-tax “tea party” Wednesday with his stance against the federal government and for states’ rights as some in his U.S. flag-waving audience shouted, “Secede!”

An animated Perry told the crowd at Austin City Hall — one of three tea parties he was attending across the state — that officials in Washington have abandoned the country’s founding principles of limited government. He said the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation, spending and debt.

Perry repeated his running theme that Texas’ economy is in relatively good shape compared with other states and with the “federal budget mess.” Many in the crowd held signs deriding President Barack Obama and the $786 billion federal economic stimulus package.

Perry called his supporters patriots. Later, answering news reporters’ questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union, though he said he sees no reason why Texas should do that.

“There’s a lot of different scenarios,” Perry said. “We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot.”

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the name of this video game maybe incorrect..but the message isnt..its the break up of the USA..and its nots as far fetched as you think..

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16712239

The Zetas cartel has become the biggest drug gang in Mexico, overtaking its bitter rival, the Sinaloa cartel, a new report suggests.

The report by US security firm Stratfor says the Zetas now operate in more than half of all Mexican states.

Stratfor says the Zetas’ brutal violence seems to have given the gang an advantage over the Sinaloa cartel, which prefers to bribe people.

Since 2007, 47,500 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico.

The report says that drug-related violence in Mexico has persisted, despite the government’s efforts to fight the cartels.

According to the study, most smaller drug gangs have been subsumed by either the Zetas or the Sinaloa cartel, turning the two groups into the predominant criminal forces in Mexico.

The Zetas control much of eastern Mexico, while the Sinaloa cartel has its stronghold in the west of the country.

The authors also point out their differences in strategy.

They say that the Zetas whose leadership is composed of ex-special operations soldiers, resort to extreme violence.

The Sinaloa cartel, although also ruthless, prefers to bribe and corrupt people, as well as providing intelligence on rivals to the authorities.

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note “since 2007″..that would be when the guns started arriving..via the USA..

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that was my week..a few highlights including the new egyptian parliament and bieber flashing the horns, why does marilyn have a blood cross over here? and of course my favorite event of the week..JuLiar getting rolled on australia day..enjoy..

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