Visitors on the observation deck of the world's tallest tower heard what sounded like a small explosion, then saw dust that looked like smoke seeping through a crack in an elevator door 124 floors above the ground. The 15 people inside were trapped for 45 frightening minutes until rescuers managed to pry open the doors.

Matt Ridley salutes the bloggers who changed the climate debate. While most of Fleet Street kowtowed to the green lobby, online amateurs uncovered the spin and deception that finally cracked the consensus

Did you catch the Super Bowl? If you did, that makes one of us. Your viewership helped make Super Bowl XLIV the most watched TV show of all time. Estimates are that more than 106 million people watched this coveted professional football game. Yay ball fans!

*hyperlinks and videos live at source*

The only trial on the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King found the US government guilty of his murder. Corporate media did not headline this news, and history textbooks excise this essential understanding of Dr. King’s life; providing an excellent case study of what the US Senate Church Committee disclosed as an active US propaganda program to disinform the American public. For comparison, please consider the corporate media coverage to inform in every detail of O.J. Simpson’s trials.

Chinese authorities are shutting dairy companies down following the discovery of new batches of poisoned milk powder.

In 2008, six children died and hundreds of thousands received medical treatment after Chinese producers added the toxic chemical Melamine to milk powder.

It was done to artificially boost protein levels but caused enormous damage to the Chinese dairy industry.

Now inspectors in China have found new batches of Melamine-contaminated milk powder.

Since the constitutional confederacy we supposedly inherited is not supposed to be burdened with a standing army, why are we even discussing the question of whether homosexuals should be permitted to serve in the same?

The kernel of Chodorov's insight, it seems to me, is this: Conservatives tend to bemoan what is being done to various federal agencies when they should focus instead on whether they should exist in the first place. It's for this reason that conservatives are scandalized over what the Gay Lobby wants to do to the military, when the real outrage is what is being done with it -- or whether that immense, costly, and destructive federal bureaucracy should exist, at least in its current form.

Last year the most horrifying photo captured was of a Detroit homeless man frozen in the ice. Over the summer I happened to be visiting Detroit and we drove by that building.

The observation deck of the world's tallest tower in Dubai has unexpectedly shut down, a little more than a month after it opened to international fanfare.

A local fire official said on Monday it was unclear whether everyone was accounted for after the explosion on Sunday that killed at least five people at the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown.

On Sunday night the Middletown Deputy Fire Marshal, Al Santostefano, had said officials believed no one else was missing amid the rubble.

But on Monday morning he said rescue crews had still not been able to search a section of the plant that remains unstable, and it was impossible to know if there were victims in that area.

Lonut Silviu Savin, a Romanian Counter-Strike gamer, was devastated when his mother attempted to stop his addiction to the game by simply not paying the internet bill. The adoptive mother paid alright; with her life. After Lonut was unsuccessful logging onto the internet to play Counter-Strike, he stabbed his adoptive mother 17 times, which ultimately, lead to her death.
Even more concerning is that the 17 year old continued on with his day, traveling to a local internet cafe to play Counter-Strike, leaving his adoptive mother to die in their home. Lonut was said to have played for 4 hours, and then turning himself to local authorities.

*hyperlinks and video live at source*

In November I documented current and historical evidence that the US “leadership” was considering “false flag” attack plans to kill Americans, plant evidence to blame Iran, and then launch a “defensive” attack upon Iran.

A huge explosion has rocked a power plant in the US state of Connecticut, killing at least five people and injuring 12, the local mayor has said.

Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said it was caused by a gas explosion.

People living up to 50km (30 miles) away reported that their homes were shaken by the blast at the Kleen Energy plant, being built outside Middletown.

There are reports of people trapped under the remains of a plant building, and a rescue operation is under way.

Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has spoken at the first US Tea Party convention, urging a return to conservative principles.

Speaking in Nashville, Mrs Palin called President Obama's 2011 budget "immoral" and said it would raise the US debt.

The year-old Tea Party movement includes many people who oppose Barack Obama's plans for healthcare reform and the president's stimulus package.

Mrs Palin said future generations would pay the cost if spending was not cut.

The tea party movement is dead. The one I was familiar with anyway. Judson Phillips held it down and Sarah Palin drove a stake right through its heart live last night on C-Span in front of an unsuspecting audience.

A U.S. soldier has been accused of 'waterboarding' his four-year-old daughter because she couldn't recite the alphabet.

Joshua Tabor admitted to police that he used the CIA torture technique because he was so angry.

As his daughter 'squirmed' to get away, Tabor said he submerged her face - upwards - three or four times until the water was lapping around her forehead and jawline.

Tabor, 27, admitted to investigators that his daughter was terrified of water and he had deliberately chosen the punishment.

Palestinians and Israeli dissenters are getting together to fight Israel's plan to build another section of the separation wall in the occupied West Bank.

According to environmentalists, the wall will stop the flow of water to the natural springs and thus threatens to dry out much of the Palestinian land.

They also see the wall - illegal under international law - as a part of long-term Israeli policy to grab more and more Palestinian land in the West Bank.

But the Israeli government says the separation wall is for security reasons, in order to stop Palestinians carrying out attacks in Israel.

Watch the report from al-Jazeera TV:

San Jose: Costa Ricans could elect their first female president on Sunday as Central America's most politically and economically stable country chooses between a career politician from the ruling party and an anti-taxation Libertarian.

Pre-election polls gave a nearly 20-point lead to Laura Chinchilla, who served as vice president under current President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and free market enthusiast.

Cindy Sheehan piece.

Transport networks were preparing to shut down and residents were warned they could be forced to spend up to five days indoors. The forecast was for 2.5 feet (0.76 metres) of snow to fall, and for blizzard conditions.

Heavy snowfall has already been blamed for hundreds of accidents and the deaths of a father and son who were trying to help a crashed motorist in Virginia.
A huge area of the eastern seaboard was affected. Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia each declared "snow emergencies", allowing them to call in assistance from the National Guard.

Please help Iceland to fight the international crime syndicates by signing this petition.

Terrorists who want to overthrow the United States government must now register with South Carolina's Secretary of State and declare their intentions -- or face a $25,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison.

Hackers seeking source code from Google, Adobe and dozens of other high-profile companies used unprecedented tactics that combined encryption, stealth programming and an unknown hole in Internet Explorer, according to new details released by researchers at anti-virus firm McAfee.

“We have never ever, outside of the defense industry, seen commercial industrial companies come under that level of sophisticated attack,” says Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research for McAfee. “It’s totally changing the threat model.”

Linked because of Charlie Sheen's car...

Senator McCain Files New Bill That Attacks Your Access to Supplements
and Repeals Key Sections of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act
2-4-10

TAKE ACTION AND TELL YOUR SENATOR NOT TO CO-SPONSOR THIS BILL

Senator McCain's bill is called The Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA). It would repeal key sections of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). DSHEA protects supplements if 1) they are food products that have been in the food supply and not chemically altered or 2) if they were sold as supplements prior to 1994, the year that DSHEA was passed. If a supplement fits one of these two descriptions, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cannot arbitrarily ban it or reclassify it as a drug.

Simply stated, we've been swindled. We've been set up as marks by a gang of opportunistic hucksters who have exploited the naïvely altruistic intentions of the environmental movement in an effort to control international energy consumption while redistributing global wealth and (in many cases) greedily lining their own pockets in the process.

Original post at Scienceblogs.com, by Erik Klemetti.

If we take a look at historical seismicty around Yellowstone (see below), we can see that quite a bit it is near the ring fracture of the caldera. This means that thesuggested structural source of the current seismicity makes sense - as I've mentioned, the earthquakes in these locations in historic times have not lead to eruptions.

Magma rising would need corroborating evidence... [such as (list factors)]. ...While the current earthquake swarm does appear to be getting shallower, you can see how it is part of life at an active caldera system.

The factors mentioned are monitored by the USGS YVO website.

The Haitian prime minister has warned that the case of 10 US missionaries charged with child abduction is a "distraction" from earthquake recovery.

Jean-Max Bellerive said more than 200,000 people had died in the quake and one million still needed help.

"I think the combination of a bi-racial, mentally challenged gay male may be too much for them," Suzanne said.

"Nonetheless, Toyota faces a perfect storm from SUA. But is government "greed" a factor here? As a co-owner of Toyota rivals GM and Chrysler, is the Obama administration and its jihad against Toyota "consumer protection" or revenge against a successful, non-union, red state based rival? Given what Rahm Emanuel said about crisis as an opportunity to "advance the agenda," this question deserves closer attention".

Also, blackmail against Japan for opposing military bases, for refusing to cooperate in certain financial games? Protecting union manufacturing?

The airport was not aware the credentials were fake until notified by Hemet police three days later, Trevino said.

"He did go through security with a fake law enforcement credential, as well as a gun belt and wearing a jacket identified as a U.S. marshal," Trevino said. "He appeared legitimate, walked the woman to the gate and left the airport."

St. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Harmon wrote in a recent memo that officers Bayluss J. Earle, Bobby L. Johnson Jr. and Latoya R. Mathis — received groceries and other goods from the Obama Express...

Despite privacy concerns, figures show tens of thousands of curious Australians volunteered for controversial 'nude' security scanners during trials at the nation's airports.

A bill that prohibits microchips from being involuntarily implanted in humans overwhelmingly passed the State Senate today.

One of Britain's biggest health clubs has been criticized for putting up a sign warning "fatties" they would be eaten first by aliens.

Over the past four decades Israel has defrauded Palestinians working inside Israel of more than two billion US dollars by deducting from their salaries contributions for welfare benefits to which they were never entitled, Israeli economists have revealed.

Many parents don't realize their baby's DNA is being stored in a government lab, but sometimes when they find out, as the Browns did, they take action. Parents in Texas, and Minnesota have filed lawsuits, and these parents' concerns are sparking a new debate about whether it's appropriate for a baby's genetic blueprint to be in the government's possession.

There is a battle going on in the White House for the very soul of the organic dairy movement - and possibly over the future of small family-operated dairy farms - and you don't even know it. I'd like to think that I'm overstating things but no.

And guess who has been lobbying hard to "sway the Obama administration," according to the Organic Consumers Association? None other than Aurora Dairy (whose chairman Mark Retzloff and his wife, Theresa, contributed $4,600 to the 2008 presidential campaign of Thomas Vilsack, the current head of the USDA, according to Campaignmoney.com) "That level of donor historically buys access," said Kastel.

Bacteria are weird. Generally, they reproduce asexually by cloning themselves, but about one in a million will undergo quasi-sexual reproduction, taking a gene from another organism and putting it into its own genome—and they can take that gene from anything at all.

"Which is heavier a soldiers pack or a slaves chains" Napoleon

Soon after you confront the matter and necessity of survival planing and stockpiling, another question will occur to you: “What will I do if I loose all this stuff?”

It's a fundamental question, and it has a fundamental answer: You need a backup plan.

A New York man repeatedly mistaken by police for a fugitive with the same name said legal action against the department has not stopped the arrests.

In a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Chattanooga, Shawn and Michelle Graham allege that a group of police deputies, wearing camouflage and not identifying themselves as law enforcement officers, stopped the Grahams' car in January, 2009, pushed a gun through the window of the Grahams' Nissan and pointed it at the husband, "sometimes tapping his head with the barrel."

A fourth grade New Dorp boy faced the prospect of suspension after the principal at his South Beach school saw him playing with an action figure carrying a toy machine gun.
The 9-year-old and friends were playing with LEGOs during their lunch period when the principal took him into her office over the two-inch toy gun carried by a standard policeman figure.

Former gang-members have teamed up with a non-profit outreach organization to offer a look at the inner city by conducting gang tours in South Central Los Angeles.

The Israeli military returned a 17-year-old shepherd Monday who was arrested after he wandered into Israeli territory during the weekend. Lebanese media reports said he showed signs of abuse upon his return to Lebanese authorities.

According to this, Lebanon is filing a complaint.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/307192,lebanon-files-complaint...
Good luck with that.

Ending the U.S. Travel Ban Should Be First Step in Normalizing Relations with Cuba

Legendary author of scores of books and pamphlets demolishing the lies of war making mainstream media, historian Eustace Mullins died Tuesday, Feb. 2

is still Blackwater.

According to several military and government sources familiar with Xe's contracts, Xe also operates under the names Paravant and XPG. Both "affiliates" are based at the same Moyock, North Carolina address as Xe. Other Prince-owned companies that have received government contracts include Greystone, Raven, Constellation, US Training Center, GSD Manufacturing, and Presidential Airlines. The companies are among a total of 20 different limited liability corporations owned by Prince and registered to the same address as Blackwater-Xe.

*hyperlinks live at source*

The US Senate Church Committee disclosed in 1975 that more than over 400 government propagandists had infiltrated American corporate media to manipulate public opinion on key policies, including war. CIA Director William Colby testified that Operation Mockingbird had been operational since the late 1940s to control what was reported through American television, newspapers, and magazines. President Ford fired Colby after his testimony and replaced him with George H. W. Bush. Bush Sr. ended the CIA’s testimony, stating that there were no other programs of concern to disclose and promised that the CIA would no longer influence the media (for Bush Sr.’s lies to initiate the first war with Iraq, click here).

I don't care what agency they are with, what country they are from, or what traitorous pen stroke our bogus appointed rulers create in the way of Executive Orders, ANYONE that tries to disarm law abiding Americans should be SHOT ON SIGHT. And if you don't, if you allow them to takes us out one at a time while hiding in the basement instead of attacking the attackers, you deserve the chains they have waiting.

Since 1948, hundreds of UN resolutions and civil society actions condemned Israel's lawlessness; its crimes of war and against humanity; occupation; discriminatory policies; illegal home demolitions, land seizures and settlements; oppression of a civilian population; the Separation Wall; the Gaza siege; and preemptive imperial wars.

Nothing so far has worked. Palestine is still occupied. Its people continue to suffer. Their human rights are denied. World leaders ignore them. This no longer can be tolerated. In solidarity, people of conscience everywhere must pressure Israel with BDS initiatives that include boycotting Israeli companies, their products and services, and global ones supporting the occupation. They're numerous, many with familiar names.

The Obama administration says the government will grow to 2.15 million employees this year, topping 2 million for the first time since President Clinton declared that "the era of big government is over" and joined forces with a Republican-led Congress in the 1990s to pare back the federal work force.

As we libertarians have been pointing out for decades, the paternalistic state is nothing more than a big fraud and sham, one designed to convince people to fund a gigantic, bureaucratic, parasitic state that will keep them safe from the vicissitudes of life. Yet, as people once again learn, all those beloved regulations and regulators don’t keep people safe at all. Bad things continue to happen in life, as they always will. The nanny society can’t stop that.

I have been driving all week around Port-au-Prince taking photos of the destroyed homes and buildings and as I've gone from one end of this city to the other, the US is military is only found at the airport - nice and secured behind those gates.

Meanwhile, the UN and its white Jeeps are driving all around this city, but I haven't seen them stop at any particular location to give food or water. Where is all the aid going, if any?

Michel David Stephan is a 22-year-old Haitian university student who has not been able to continue his studies because the campus has been badly damaged. I asked him what he thought of the UN.

"We call them 'tourists' because they don't do nothing," Stephan told me.

I also asked Stephan what he thought of the US military.

In this video I talk about Target Corp. closing its Port Richey location and how this closing will have an effect on the local economy.

Leaders of the Arab minority in Israel have warned that they are facing an unprecedented campaign of persecution, backed by the right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu, designed to stop their political activities, Jonathan Cook reports.

The Democratic-led Virginia Senate sent a strong message about health care reform efforts in Washington, D.C., on Monday (Feb. 1), passing a bill that makes it illegal for Virginians to be required to buy health insurance.

With Republicans in control of the state’s House of Delegates and governor’s mansion, the bill could become law, The Washington Post reported. The effort would throw another wrench into congressional Democrats’ plans to revamp the nation’s health care system in the wake of a special election in Massachusetts that stripped the party of its 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate.

*hyperlinks and video live at source*

Laws are meant to be perfectly clear and followed; especially those to save human beings from the scourge of war. The UN Charter are those laws, fortified with treaty status that under the US Constitution puts the Charter equal in authority to US law. The problem is that when political “leadership” of both parties want war, and then engage their propaganda minions in corporate media disclosed in the 1975 Church Senate Committee as “Operation Mockingbird,” Americans can easily be dis-informed. After all, Americans witness few wars and not many of us study the UN Charter to clearly understand lawful and unlawful wars.

Today's Feds continue fervent in their fanaticism for the census, so much so that you'd think they lack computers, the IRS, FISA's warrantless wiretaps, "pen/trap devices," black boxes at compliant ISP's, and the myriad bureaucracies that monitor all we say and do. Why? When the Feds already know the answers to their infernal questions, why bother asking us? What explains their devotion to this charade?

The Census Bureau blames it partly on the Constitution's "mandate," of course. Hooey. The Feds have proved for decades that they rank the Constitution somewhere below used toilet paper.

*hyperlinks and video live at source*

John Hankey is the author of the following compelling analysis that considers if President Obama is under threat to comply with US military orders for supporting war escalation (and its funding). This is part one of two.

John is the creator of the stunning and historically accurate documentary, "Dark Legacy: George Bush and the assassination of JFK." A 10-minute excerpt from the video is at the end of the article.