God bless the United Matrix of Oligarchy….

The key take away for me is to realize that there is no party differences. Those who manipulate the system will go to what ever party necessary to get what they want accomplished. The politician wears the same shoes and will satisfy whomever to get the money they need.

In the end we, the citizens, lose the most.

Cheers on your weekend!

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6niWzomA_So 450 300]

Link for iPhone users: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6niWzomA_So

 

Comments »

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXFUUGeV1DI 450 300]

Link for iPhone users: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXFUUGeV1DI

Comments »

 

“Dating drug dealers, harassing ex-boyfriends with naked pictures, and pointing guns at pet dogs: these were just a few of the offences committed recently by serving FBI agents, according to internal documents.

Full article

Comments »

“LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The feds are descending on downtown Los Angeles to combat a dangerous outbreak of a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis.

KCAL9′s Jeff Nguyen went downtown in search of people who may have been exposed.

John Williams started living at the Weingart shelter on LA’s Skid Row two weeks ago. Before he could be admitted, he had to undergo a screening for tuberculosis.

“They make you go get checked before you get into one of these programs because they don’t want it spread out in there,” Williams said….”

Full article

Comments »

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBuPiC3ArL8 450 300]

Link for iPhone users: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBuPiC3ArL8

Comments »

“RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Food and Drug Administration veteran who helped spearhead efforts to regulate the tobacco industry in the 1990s is taking over the agency’s Center for Tobacco Products.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg says Mitch Zeller will become the center’s director on March 4.

The center’s first chief, Dr. Lawrence Deyton, plans to step down and become a professor of medicine and health policy at George Washington University.

A law enacted in 2009 gave the FDA authority to regulate a number of aspects of tobacco marketing and manufacturing, though the agency cannot ban nicotine….”

Full article

Comments »

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNDRx24odOs 450 300]

Link for iPhone users: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNDRx24odOs

Comments »

“A Milwaukee County Sheriff has warned that a second American Revolution may be sparked if unconstitutional gun laws are enforced by police and sheriff’s department officials.

Sheriff David Clarke recently urged the citizens he serves to consider learning firearm safety because of “a duty to protect yourself and your family.”

In a message posted on the Sheriff’s website, Clarke wrote “I need you in the game, but are you ready? With officers laid-off and furloughed, simply calling 9-1-1 and waiting is no longer your best option. You can beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back; but are you prepared?”

“Consider taking a certified safety course in handling a firearm so you can defend yourself until we get there. You have a duty to protect yourself and your family. We’re partners now. Can I count on you?” the message urged.

Speaking on the Alex Jones Show yesterday, the Sheriff hit home his opinions on the gun control proposals that are being pushed via presidential executive orders.

“First of all, to me that would be an act of tyranny. So the people in Milwaukee County do not have to worry about me enforcing some sort of order that goes out and collects everybody’s handgun, or rifles, or any kind of firearm and makes them turn them in.” Clarke said.

“The reason is I don’t want to get shot, because I believe that if somebody tried to enforce something of that magnitude, you would see the second coming of an American Revolution, the likes of which would make the first revolution pale by comparison.” the Sheriff urged….”

 

Full article

Comments »

“Sorry, Louisiana, you are the saddest state. And Hawaii (shocker!) you are the happiest.

That’s according to a team at the Vermont Complex Systems Center, who posted their new analysis of 10 million geotagged tweets to to arXiv.org. They call their creation a “hedonometer.”

They also found that the Bible belt stretching across the American south and into Texas was less happy than the west or New England. The saddest town of the 373 urban areas studied was Beaumont in east Texas. The happiest was Napa, California, home of many drunk people wine makers. The only town among the 15 saddest that was not in the south or Rust Belt was Waterbury, Connecticut. (Although Waterbury has appeared on several “worst places to live” lists, which seems like mean lists to make.) …”

Read more

Comments »

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrdmjBAX0E0 450 300]

Link for iPhone users: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrdmjBAX0E0

Comments »

For my money i must know that the place grinds their own meat from reputable cuts of meat. I still have a pink slime issue.

“As Adam Berger travels from town to town recruiting hockey players, he also seeks out the best hamburgers wherever he goes.

“There is nothing better than a simple char-grilled burger with cheddar cheese and fresh-cut fries,” says Berger, the assistant hockey coach at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt. “It’s always interesting to try the different grinds and creations.”

A puck of beef means a lot to the aptly named Berger and to many other frequent business travelers. A well-made burger is not only tasty, but is often a quick meal for a tight schedule and easy on a travel budget.

Next time burger-loving business travelers crave a fix, why not head to a place considered among the best?

Restaurant guidebook and online publisher Zagat makes that possible by identifying for USA TODAY the top burger joints in or near 25 cities.

Nearly all are inexpensive, and many may not be suitable for entertaining a client. They were selected for their mouthwatering burgers. And at some, be prepared for rude or surly service, only counter service, no dinner hours and no credit cards. There is no bathroom at Zagat’s choice in Boston, for instance, and its selection in Las Vegas is a food truck.

In Atlanta, Zagat’s top-rated burger joint, the Vortex Bar & Grill, has its own unique vibe.

Besides delicious “food-coma-inducing burgers” and an “amazing selection of beers and single-malts, the restaurant has a “vintage Goth décor, a sexy biker vibe” and “customer-isn’t-always-right service from a punk-rock staff,” Zagat and its reviewers say.

In the Kansas City area, the “bustling” vibe at Burger Stand at the Casbah, a “cool” Lawrence, Kan., joint, “feels vital without being obnoxious,” Zagat and its reviewers say.

The joint has “outstanding gourmet burgers and the best sides,” including truffle and duck-fat fries.

The secret is out

New York’s top hamburger restaurant, the Burger Joint, is an anomaly, and, according to Zagat and its reviewers, the city’s “worst-kept secret.”

It’s a “burger speak-easy hidden behind a giant curtain” in the luxurious lobby of the Le Parker Meridien hotel, where the daily room rate exceeds $325. The speak-easy “flips damn-fine patties in tacky digs,” lacks service, has long lines and a cash-only policy, Zagat and its reviewers say….”

Full article and list

Comments »

“Every day, public and private data-gathering agencies publish economic reports that are widely reported on by the business media.

GDP, manufacturing, and labor market data all help to inform us about what’s going on in the economy – but there are other things we can look at to supplement our view.

Some of the more unusual ones we’ve come across include the Guns-to-Caviar Index, Tylenol usage, and the Mosquito Bite Indicator.

Comments »

From ‘the resurgence of religion’ to ‘food price volatility’, cyber-viruses, urbanization, quantum computing, and peak water, Richard Watson’s table highlights societal, technological, economic, and political trends that the world faces in the next decade…..”

Full article

Comments »

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlxztrFLg-8 450 300]

Link for iPhone users: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlxztrFLg-8

Comments »

“Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker was accused of shoplifting and then publicly frisked inside a Manhattan deli yesterday morning.

The movie star, in town filming “Black Nativity” with Jennifer Hudson, was about to leave the Milano Market on Broadway when one of the workers there claimed to have seen him snag an item from a store shelf, his spokesperson said.

The worker stopped Whitaker and allegedly gave him a humiliating pat down in full view of everyone in the Morningside Heights store….”

Full article

Comments »

“Police in South Africa are reportedly investigating the discovery of a bloodied cricket bat at the home of Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius.

Local reports stated police believe he may have used the bat to attack girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp before shooting her dead on St Valentine’s Day morning, according to a local report.

Detectives are working on two other theories concerning the bat: that it was either used to break down the door of the bathroom where she hid, or that she used it to defend herself against Mr Pistorius, South Africa’s City Press reported.

One bullet cartridge was found in the champion sprinter’s bedroom and police are looking at whether he “chased” his girlfriend and fired the first shot before she locked herself in the bathroom and he fired three more through the door, the paper said.

It cited three sources “close to the high-profile investigation” who said the police had a “rock solid” case against South Africa’s former golden boy.

A post-mortem examination on the body of the 29-year-old model revealed that as well as bullet wounds to the head, arm, hand and hip, she suffered a fractured skull, it reported.

“There was lots of blood on the bat. Forensic tests will show whose blood it was,” one source was quoted as saying….”

Read more 

Comments »

“Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests have accused the pope, the Vatican secretary of state and two other high-ranking Holy See officials of crimes against humanity, in a formal complaint to the international criminal court (ICC).

The submission, lodged at The Hague on Tuesday, accuses the four men not only of failing to prevent or punish perpetrators of rape and sexual violence but also of engaging in the “systematic and widespread” practice of concealing sexual crimes around the world.

It includes individual cases of abuse where letters and documents between Vatican officials and others show a refusal to co-operate with law enforcement agencies seeking to pursue suspects, according to the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a US-based organisation that represents the claimants.

Pam Spees, human rights attorney with CCR, said: “The point of this is to look at it from a higher altitude. You zoom out and the practices are identical: whistleblowers are punished, the refusal of the Vatican to co-operate with law enforcement agencies. You see the protection of priests and leaving them in the ministry and because of these decisions otherchildren are raped and sexually assaulted.”

She said: “It’s not only the facts of the abuse but the way that the church deepened the harm in sometimes irreparable ways.”

According to the document filed by CCR, the pope, as head of the Catholic church, is ultimately responsible for the sexual abuse of children by priests and for the cover-ups of that abuse. The group argues that he and others have “direct and superior responsibility” for the crimes of those ranked below them, similar to a military chain of command.

The others named in the complaint are Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals and former Vatican secretary of state; Cardinal Tarcissio Bertone, now secretary of state, who previously served at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the organisation tasked with handling sexual abuse cases under the pope when he was Cardinal Ratzinger; and Cardinal William Lavada, head of the CDF, whose handling of previous sexual abuse cases has been criticised in the past….”

Full article

Comments »

Nearly one in four males in the U.S. Marine Corps said they would leave the service if women were involuntarily posted in combat positions, according to the executive summary of a little-known survey commissioned by Marine Corps leaders and obtained by the Free Beacon.

A similar number of Marines of both sexes said they would not have enlisted in the corps if this had been policy at the time.

Twenty-three percent of both male and female Marines “said that they would not have joined” if women were involuntarily placed onto the front lines of combat, such as in the infantry, according to a summary of the surveyprovided to the Free Beacon.

Retention rates also could be affected at a time when the Marines areshrinking the force to cope with budgetary constraints.

Twenty-two percent of males who were surveyed said they “likely would leave the corps at their next opportunity” if women were involuntarily placed into primary combat roles.

Full Article Here

Comments »

“Amazon is at the centre of a deepening scandal in Germany as the online shopping giant faced claims that it employed security guards with neo-Nazi connections to intimidate its foreign workers.

Comments »

Washington, D.C., Feb. 15, 2013 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today obtained an emergency court order to freeze assets in a Zurich, Switzerland-based trading account that was used to reap more than $1.7 million from trading in advance of yesterday’s public announcement about the acquisition of H.J. Heinz Company.

The SEC’s immediate action ensures that potentially illegal profits cannot be siphoned out of this account while the agency’s investigation of the suspicious trading continues.

In a complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, the SEC alleges that prior to any public awareness that Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital had agreed to acquire H.J. Heinz Company in a deal valued at $28 billion, unknown traders took risky bets that Heinz’s stock price would increase. The traders purchased call options the very day before the public announcement. After the announcement, Heinz’s stock rose nearly 20 percent and trading volume increased more than 1,700 percent from the prior day, placing these traders in a position to profit substantially.

“Irregular and highly suspicious options trading immediately in front of a merger or acquisition announcement is a serious red flag that traders may be improperly acting on confidential nonpublic information,” said Daniel M. Hawke, Chief of the Division of Enforcement’s Market Abuse Unit.

Sanjay Wadhwa, Senior Associate Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office, added, “Despite the obvious logistical challenges of investigating trades involving offshore accounts, we moved swiftly to locate and freeze the assets of these suspicious traders, who now have to make an appearance in court to explain their trading if they want their assets unfrozen.”

The SEC alleges that the unknown traders were in possession of material nonpublic information about the impending acquisition when they purchased out-of-the-money Heinz call options the day before the announcement. The timing and size of the trades were highly suspicious because the account through which the traders purchased the options had no history of trading Heinz securities in the last six months. Overall trading activity in Heinz call options several days before the announcement had been minimal.

The emergency court order obtained by the SEC freezes the traders’ assets and prohibits them from destroying any evidence. The SEC’s complaint charges the unknown traders with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5. In addition to the emergency relief, the SEC is seeking a final judgment ordering the traders to disgorge their ill-gotten gains with interest, pay financial penalties, and be permanently barred from future violations.

The SEC’s expedited investigation is being conducted by Market Abuse Unit members Megan Bergstrom, David S. Brown, and Diana Tani in the Los Angeles Regional Office with substantial assistance from Charles Riely, Market Abuse Unit member in the New York Regional Office who will handle the SEC’s litigation. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Options Regulatory Surveillance Authority (ORSA).

# # #

Comments »