Wait, there’s more. I watched the CBS interview of 3 “Sandy Hook Officers” yesterday. To me, they bear more than a passing resemblance to the 3 guys in the link you posted from Natural News (maybe Craft, maybe not). If it were only one, perhaps, but all 3????

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBImsfaIzQg

http://www.naturalnews.com/039977_The_Craft_Boston_marathon_private_military_contractors.html

I’m not dismissing the potential danger out of hand, merely putting it into perspective.

BTW, the cause of the 1918 flu epidemic is unknown. The “where pigs and birds and humans collided” is a theory, albeit strongly anecdotal. Also strongly anecdotal is the significant role aspirin played in the death rate because of the pulmonary complications and liver & kidney damage it caused; both from overdose & suspected tainted batches.

I have had numerous encounters with deadly rattlesnakes, coral snakes and cottonmouths (water moccasins) in my native NC and in FL. Forewarned is forearmed.

“Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear -
kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervour -
with the cry of grave national emergency.
Always, there has been some terrible evil at home,
or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up
if we did not blindly rally behind it by
furnishing the exorbitant sums demanded.
Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened,
seem never to have been quite real.”

Whan, ed. “A Soldier Speaks: Public Papers and Speeches of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur,” (1965); Nation, August 17, 1957

As of yesterday, the death count was 3. The 2012 census of China shows 1.355 Billion. That is a death rate of .00000000255 or 000000255% – somebody check my math :)

Of important note:

“167 people have been in contact with the four most recently infected patients, but none of these individuals show symptoms of respiratory problems or fever, as the patients did when they fell ill. And so far, the WHO says there is no indication of human-to-human transmission.”

http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/02/bird-flu-is-back-in-china-but-this-time-its-h7n9/

According to a June 2010 article, 100,000 Americans die each year from prescription drugs taken as directed. That’s .0317% of the US population (315,620,191)

http://goo.gl/r9bda

Stockton: work month, get lifetime health care?

Milnes reminded the council that he had sent them information showing that “it’s a myth that employees could retire with full medical after one month,” a reference to a well-publicized remark made by Deis at the news conference last week.

Deis replied that Stockton in the 1980s offered retiree health care usually limited to seven years or age 62. He said the problem began in the 1990s when the city began offering lifetime retiree health without proper funding.

A “perfect storm” resulted, said Deis, when increased pension benefits during the 1990s and early 2000s allowed employees to retire earlier and receive lifetime health care for themselves and their spouses.

Under some of the plans, said Deis, a person with four years and 11 months of service with another employer such as Modesto could work one month at Stockton and be eligible for free lifetime health care.

http://calpensions.com/2012/03/01/stockton-work-month-get-lifetime-health-care/

Like most California cities, the city offers retirement at age 50 to police and firemen, at nearly (or in some cases more than) their last year’s pay. Plus, they decided that since so many city employees retire before they’re eligible for Medicare, the city would provide health insurance as an additional retirement benefit.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/03/the-most-miserable-city.html

In the video, Varney states: a firefighter in Stockton can retire at age 50 … they get 90% of their best years salary for the rest of their lives….. you can work for just 6 months and get lifetime health benefits.

If the comments aren’t moved, here they are:

http://firedoglake.com/2013/03/27/fatsters-roundup-126/#comment-2595348

bluewombat posed a ? to you on dakine01′s diary about the BRICS yesterday. “what’s the String of Pearls”? If s/he should reads this, here are my bookmarks on the subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_of_Pearls_(China)
(as always, Wiki is only a starting point)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/MC11Ad02.html

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/unraveling-chinas-string-pearls

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/08/31/china-to-add-pakistans-gwadar-port-to-string-of-pearls/

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GC04Df06.html

“I’m a history moron, esp when it comes to Mali, so I don’t know.”

I recently discovered a website with a wealth of information about US involvement in Africa.

http://www.usinafrica.com/

Here is the section on Mali

http://www.usinafrica.com/#/mali-senegal/4562587824

Definition of HYPOCRITE

1
: a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2
: a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

Your comment reminded me of the Banana Wars; during which the US engaged in a long series of interventions to protect US commercial ventures in the Caribbean and Central America. Most notable of the US commercial interests being protected was United Fruit Company, now known as Chiquita.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars

It appears United/Chiquita no longer has to rely solely on the US military.

You’re welcome. It is a rather interesting, between the lines, read.

Here is the gov document on fusion center sharing of information with the private sector through the ISE.

http://www.ncirc.gov/documents/public/Defining_Fusion_Center_Business_Processes_Final.pdf

“Information Sharing Environment Enterprise Architecture Framework (ISE-EAF)
The ISE outlines the enterprise architecture framework for sharing terrorism information among all appropriate local, state, tribal, and federal entities and the private sector through the use of policy guidelines and technologies.”

“People are pissed!”

And well they should be. The following is a quote from an article discussing a study conducted at Harvard.

“Fluoride seems to fit in with lead, mercury, and other poisons that cause chemical brain drain,” Grandjean says. “The effect of each toxicant may seem small, but the combined damage on a population scale can be serious, especially because the brain power of the next generation is crucial to all of us.”

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/features/fluoride-childrens-health-grandjean-choi.html

Charter schools are merely the transitional phase in a move toward a fully privatized school system:

http://ncspe.org/

http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2011/07/braun_goal_of_education_privit.html

http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-023.html

http://monthlyreview.org/2006/03/01/privatizing-education

http://www.thenation.com/interactive/164595/education-reform

Good Morning. I read your question about Michael Ratner late last night. He is a legal representative for Assange. He is attending & reporting on Manning’s trial.

My jury is still out on Ratner. A couple of months ago I listened to Bonnie Faulkner’s interview of him on Guns & Butter (rebroadcast of previous July 4th) and strongly disagree with his interpretation of the 2nd amendment. He believes the 2nd amendment is not about the individual right to bear arms in order to protect oneself. Rather, he believes it is about the militia being able to “put down an insurrection” & “protect the Republic.”

Begin listening at 25:18

http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/82090

The 2nd amendment does not grant citizens the right to bear arms. It merely protects the existing, inherent right of citizens to do so by virtue of their humanity. The Supreme Court ruled in the Heller case:

“The Court reasoned that this right is fundamental to the nation’s scheme of ordered liberty, given that self-defense was a basic right recognized by many legal systems from ancient times to the present, and Heller held that individual self-defense was “the central component” of the Second Amendment right. Moreover, a survey of the contemporaneous history also demonstrated clearly that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Framers and ratifiers counted the right to keep and bear arms among those fundamental rights necessary to the Nation’s system of ordered liberty.”

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment02/

BTW, the US has deployed 200 Marines to patrol the western coast of Guatemala to “beat drug traffickers.” It has been dubbed Operation Martillo (hammer). It is yet another case of imperial hubris to protect human rights and democratic governments. Will history repeat?

“It was 50 years ago when the U.S. military last sent any significant aid and equipment into Guatemala, establishing a base to support counter-insurgency efforts during a guerrilla uprising. That movement led to 36 years of war that left 200,000 dead, mostly indigent Maya farmers. The U.S. pulled out in 1978.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57503167/200-u.s-marines-join-drug-war-in-guatemala/?tag=contentMain;contentBody

“US President Barack Obama has signed a secret order allowing the CIA and other American agencies to support rebels seeking to overthrow the Assad regime, a US government source told Reuters.

Obama reportedly gave the order, known as an intelligence “finding”, earlier this year. The presidential finding also provides for US collaboration with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.”

http://www.rt.com/news/us-support-syrian-rebels-obama-650/

The article notes a prior, similar action regarding Libya:

“Last year, Obama also signed an initial “finding” authorizing US support for Libyan rebels seeking to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi.”

Here is another reason to consider patronizing Citgo.

Venezuela Heating Oil Program Helps Families in Need for Seven Years in a Row- serves 25 US states.

http://www.citgoheatingoil.com/whoweserve.html

https://www.commondreams.org/views06/1224-21.htm

http://www.fueloilnews.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?nm=News&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=651A8543BA3249049946C2E28020D637

I can’t claim that one. My 3 grandchildren call me Gigi. It doesn’t trip the tongue of a 2 year old the way Virginia would.

“The Rodale Institute Farming Systems Trial has been tracking the performance of organically managed fields and conventionally managed fields for the last 30 years. The yield results dispute the oft-cited misconception that organic farming uses more resources to produce less food. And, the resilience of the organically-managed fields in drought years is incredible.”

http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/20100827_drought-tolerance-critical

“The Rodale Institute’s organically managed corn yielded between 28.4% and 33.7% higher than non-modified conventionally managed corn under drought conditions.”