Good riddance!

O’drama is just wonderful.

The hits just keep coming! For the greatest nation on earth.

They also, I believe do not county energy-gas costs, because the rules to calculate the cpi changed some time ago (not sure when). So combined with food, the real inflation rate is more like 10-12 percent than the 1-2 percent cpi.
Similar to them throwing out the unemployment rate going from 9.5 to 9.2 to 8.5 to 7.8 percent is just as misleading because they don’t factor those that have been removed from the rolls or those who stopped looking for work.
Part of the societal taming. When statistics don’t work to your benefit, change the rules.

so smug, too.

Next thing you know, Holder will drop a big case against Wall Street because it’s “too dangerous.” Wait, that’s already been done.

It’s odd, isn’t it, when you’ve got to turn the channel from MSDNC to Fox to see a report on foreclosure fraud. Sean Hannity, a good guy. Good grief.

I don’t think the cost of razors is included in the Consumer Price Index inflation gauge.

The people will complain, some will whine, others will yell and raise hissy fits. Just pretend to listen, stay the course and continue to do what you do. — Playbook of the oligarchs.

Therefore the only ones who still have 100,000 euros or more in either bank are not politically connected, a small business person who just might be put out of business, or the average shmuck who was saving for retirement.
And then therefore, since most of the multi-million euro accounts have now disappeared, there won’t be much money left over for the troika to grab. And the $5.8 billion in euros Cyprus agreed to raise will be that much more difficult to achieve — requiring further severe actions likely to come, perhaps as early as this week.
And a run on the banks still isn’t out of the question. Will be interesting to watch how Italy and Spain bank customers react early this week.

Well, we know austerity will not be experienced by one class of people.
Apparently, the wealthy and connected bank customers in Cyprus were moving their money out of the banks there during the week that all the debate was raging on about how big a “haircut” smaller customers should take.
Case in point:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-31/cyprus-presidents-family-transferred-tens-millions-london-days-deposit-haircuts

It is class war, and guess which class is winning.

A fine example of “The fix is in.”
Talk about collusion. The system as it stands now has a rock-solid barrier protecting the oligarchs, banksters, and friends. They get to kick back and enjoy watching citizens bang their heads against the wall by voting Democrat or Republican, writing to their congressperson, turning in petitions signed by thousands of well-meaning citizens, organizing marches and protests — while the judges and politicians take turns playing good cop, bad cop, passing the buck and stalling and watering down everything that might put a dent in that wall.
What a great country!

FYI: Two good news releases related to cancer and radiation:
NEW STUDY SHOWS THYROID DISORDER INCREASED 28% AMONG NEWBORNS IN U.S. WEST COAST STATES AFTER ARRIVAL OF FALLOUT FROM FUKUSHIMA
[March 29, 2013] Newborns with under-active thyroid glands in the five Pacific/West Coast states rose 28% in the four months after fallout from the Fukushima meltdown arrived in the U.S., according to a new article in the Open Journal of Pediatrics.
The study is the first to examine actual U.S. changes in cases or deaths for a particular disease after Fukushima. Newborn hypothyroidism was selected because 1) infants are very susceptible to radiation damage, and 2) radioactive iodine targets the thyroid gland, where it injures or kills cells. All U.S. newborns are screened for hypothyroidism.
“The study shows that even relatively low-dose radiation exposure in the U.S. may have harmed humans,” says co-author Joseph Mangano, Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project. “The fetus and newborn are especially vulnerable to radiation exposure, and those with hypothyroidism must be treated promptly, or suffer from dwarfism and mental retardation,” adds co-author Janette Sherman MD.
Mangano and Sherman cite articles documenting high levels of Iodine-131 in West Coast precipitation, kelp, and soil after Fukushima, sometimes hundreds of times above normal. EPA measurements of total radiation in the air in late March and all April 2011 were 7.3 times higher than the year before at 18 West Coast/Pacific stations and just 2.3 times higher in 31 other U.S. locations.
The 2010-2011 change in newborn hypothyroid cases in the five West Coast/Pacific states was 95 to 122 (+28%) in the period March 17-June 30, and 281 to 327 (+16%) in the period March 17-December 31. The change in 36 other states was -3%.
The authors urge that future research address post-Fukushima health changes, to include fetal and infant deaths, low-weight births, birth defects, and other fetal/infant conditions.
The new study may be accessed at http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojped.
—
ARTICLE: DROP IN CANCER AFTER CLOSURE OF CALIFORNIA REACTOR SHOWS NEED FOR FULL REVIEW OF LOW-LEVEL RADIATION RISKS
In-Depth Look at Aftermath of Idled Sacramento Reactor Finds Cancer Declines for Women, Hispanics and Children; Implications Seen for Shutdown Reactors in CA, CT, IL, NY, OR, PA, and RI.
WASHINGTON, D.C.///March 28, 2013///The first long-term study of the full-population health impacts of the closure of a U.S. nuclear reactor found 4,319 fewer cancers over 20 years, with declines in cancer incidence in 28 of 31 categories (14 of them statistically significant), including notable drops in cancer for women, Hispanics and children.
Published in the peer-reviewed medical journal, Biomedicine International, the major new article, “Long-term Local Cancer Reductions Following Nuclear Plant Shutdown,” is the work of epidemiologist Joseph Mangano MPH MBA, executive director of the Radiation and Public Health Project; and internist and toxicologist Janette Sherman MD, who was an adjunct professor at Western Michigan University.
Mangano and Sherman conclude that further research is warranted to determine if there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the elimination of radioactive emissions from nuclear power plants and significant long-term declines in human cancers.
At the heart of the article is the Rancho Seco nuclear reactor project in Sacramento County, an area with a relatively large 2010 population of more than 1.4 million. Rancho Seco has been closed for over 23 years, providing a long period to examine post-shutdown local health patterns. The closest operating nuclear plant is Diablo Canyon, over 200 miles to the south. Mangano and Sherman examined official California Cancer Registry data on cancer incidence for Sacramento County versus the entire state, using the last two years of reactor operation (1988-1989) as a baseline for analysis.
The Mangano/Sherman study will resonate far beyond California. The 104 aging U.S. reactors at 65 plants affect many Americans. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, over 18 million Americans live within 20 miles of a nuclear power plant, and over 116 million live within 50 miles. Major populations live nearby other idled reactors: Los Angeles (San Onofre 1), New York City (Indian Point 1 and Shoreham), Chicago (Dresden 1 and Zion), San Diego (San Onofre 1), Portland (Trojan), New Haven (Millstone 1 and Connecticut Yankee), Providence (Millstone 1), and Harrisburg (Three Mile Island 2).
Author Joseph Mangano said: “This article is the first of its kind: No other peer-reviewed journal article has examined long-term changes in health status near closed nuclear plants. The need here more knowledge is great, given how many reactors are near major population centers. San Onofre, in southern California, has 8.4 million persons living within 50 miles. Indian Point, in southern New York, has 17.2 million within 50 miles. We need more information about the long-term impact of low-level radiation from both idled and currently operating reactors.”
Author Janette Sherman said: “The impact of reactors should be measured not only in terms of health, but also in terms of cost. For example, the 4319 fewer cancers than expected in Sacramento County during the first 20 years after the Rancho Seco closure translates into many millions saved in direct medical costs, reduction of productivity lost, and additional savings associated with the value of a human life. With large numbers such as these, and with the future of this source of power a matter of great public concern, reports like this one must be followed by ongoing efforts to attain better understanding of potential improvements in public health after reactors are shutdown.”
Joseph Mangano, odiejoe@aol.com

Other key findings in the article include the following:

• Declines in Sacramento County cancer were observed for both males and females. The change was four times greater in females than in males, so it was statistically significant only for females. Among the four types of cancer with a significantly decreased frequency were cancers of the female breast and thyroid.

• From 1988-1989 to 1990-1994, the Sacramento County child cancer rate age 0-19 fell from 17.92 to 15.49 cases per 100,000 population, a drop of 13.6 percent while the state rate remained virtually unchanged. Over the next two five year periods the county rate continued to decline before rising in 2005-2009 (to a level still lower than in the late 1980s). Children age 0-2 and 2-16 years have been estimated to be 10 and 3 times more sensitive to radiation exposure, respectively, than adults. The developing fetus undergoes rapid cell proliferation, self-programmed cell death (apoptosis), and cell re-arrangement. The developing infant is similarly susceptible to cellular and metabolic damage. Unrepaired damage becomes magnified with time.

The Mangano/Sherman long-term findings are mirrored in earlier studies covering shorter periods of time. Examination of the short-term local health status changes in young persons immediately after shutdown of eight U.S. nuclear plants between 1987 and 1997 compared infant mortality for the two years before shutdown (including shutdown year) with the two years following. Rates in each of the eight areas decreased more rapidly than in the U.S. as a whole; the total decline for the eight areas was -17.4 percent vs. -6.4 percent nationally. The three areas for which cancer incidence was available showed a decrease of -25.0 percent, in children age 0-4, vs. a rise of 0.5 percent for the entire U.S.