Saturday, June 2, 2012
Holy cow! EPA exposed to be using aerial surveillance on Midwest feedlots.
Holy cow! EPA exposed to be using aerial surveillance on Midwest feedlots.(WUWT).From Omaha.com, more indications that the EPA is out of control. I’m beginning to think the EPA is an enemy of the citizens of the United States with behavior like this. I guess we’ll need genetically engineered cattle with built in camouflage now.By Joe Duggan - WORLD-HERALD BUREAU - LINCOLN — A spy in the sky over Nebraska and Iowa has gotten under the hides of some livestock producers and their representatives in Washington.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s aerial photo surveillance of livestock feeding operations in both states flew under the radar for nearly two years.
But now the flyover program, conducted to help enforce the Clean Water Act, has prompted a demand for answers from all five members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation.
The delegation delivered a joint letter Tuesday to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, listing 25 questions about the legality of the surveillance and the privacy rights of business owners. Although the letter stopped short of calling for an end to the flyovers, the two senators and three representatives want to know more about their purpose.
“Nebraskans are rightfully skeptical of an agency which continues to unilaterally insert itself into the affairs of rural America,” Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said in a statement.
EPA representatives in Washington, D.C., did not immediately return messages seeking reaction. A spokesman for the agency’s Region 7 office in Kansas City said he was not authorized to comment.
In 2010, Nebraska had 862 concentrated animal feeding operations and Iowa 1,607, making them the two leading livestock states in Region 7, says the agency’s website. The region also includes Kansas and Missouri.
The livestock operations fall under an assortment of state and federal regulations intended to protect streams and aquifers from animal waste pollution, which can occur in the form of runoff from feed lots and discharges from manure lagoons.
The two-page letter was written at the urging of the Nebraska Cattlemen, an industry group made up of cattle producers.
“The frustration for livestock producers really is just the idea that the government has resorted to spying on facilities,” said Kristen Hassebrook, the group’s director of natural resources and environmental affairs.Among the questions posed by the congressional delegation’s letter: How many flyovers have been conducted? What are the criteria to identify an operation for surveillance? Have the flyovers resulted in fines against producers? Are the photographs shared with other agencies or individuals?
The letter also posed a much broader question: “On what statutory authority is the EPA relying to conduct aerial surveillance inspections?”
“Given EPA’s recent track record of aggressive and over-reaching agriculture regulation, these surveillance flights raise a lot of questions,” Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., said in a statement.Hmmmm.......More important what ELSE is EPA monitoring from the skies?Read the full story here.
Fisker Extends Battery-Pack Recall by 19 Cars built in............ four months.
Fisker Extends Battery-Pack Recall by 19 Cars built in..........four months.(WSJ).Fisker Automotive Inc. is recalling certain Karma plug-in hybrid cars from the 2012 model year to fix a battery-pack problem that could lead to fires.
In a document filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the car maker said the recall affects 19 cars built from Sept. 22, 2011, through Jan. 20, 2012. The company also said the recent filing is part of a recall filed late last year for a similar problem.
A company spokesman said that after filing the initial recall documentation with NHTSA, the company determined additional cars should also be included. Typically a car maker would simply add those vehicles to the original recall paperwork. But in this case, Fisker said, federal officials required a new filing because 2012 had begun and the previous recall filing was completed in 2011.
The additional cars bring the recall total to 258 vehicles.
As with the cars in the earlier filing, the latest 19 Karma’s may have hose clamps within the high-voltage battery pack that were installed incorrectly during assembly. As a result the battery compartment cover could conflict with the clamps and possibly cause a coolant leak.
If leaking coolant gets into the battery compartment it could cause an electrical short, which could lead to a fire.
Under the recall Fisker dealers will replace the high-voltage battery free of charge.Hmmmmm.......Yup 'free of charge' the taxpayer fitted the $ 290 million bill already.Read the full story here.
''From Home alone...to the 'Camp David house?" - Obama to Camp David.
''From Home alone...to the 'Camp David house?" (Politico).President Obama is returning to Washington from Chicago on Saturday. He will then head straight to Camp David where he will stay the night.On Sunday, he is scheduled to host a reception at the White House for the Ford's Theatre.Hmmmm.......We've all been there, and spend the night on the coach.Read the full story here.
Update: If you want to know – or be reminded – just how influential Valerie Jarrett is . . .(WHD)By KeithKoffler. From the pool report: Air Force One landed at Joint Base Andrews at 4:25 p.m. Eastern time. The president, wearing a dark windbreaker, boarded Marine One along with senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. David Axelrod and deputy press secretary Josh Earnest came off the rear staircase of the plane and did not board Marine One. Marine One took off at 4:43 p.m., bound for Camp David.Hmmmmm......"Romancing the stone"?Read the full story here.
Muslim Brotherhood Statement on Mubarak Trial Verdicts: "Absurd, illogical, unreasonable".
Muslim Brotherhood Statement on Mubarak Trial Verdicts: "Absurd, illogical, unreasonable".(IW).The ruling, earlier today, Tuesday June 2, in the case of killing of demonstrators in Egypt’s January 25 revolution was shocking to the families of the martyrs and indeed to all the Egyptian people. Once again the questions are heard: who killed the martyrs, then, if the leaders and commanders of police are innocent? If the evidence before the court is not sufficient, government authorities and officials who concealed or destroyed evidence must be tried for those crimes and for refusing to provide evidence to the public prosecutor in spite of formal request for evidence and relevant information, as stated by prosecutors in court. This failure to provide available incriminating evidence is nothing but a cover-up for those serious crimes, a humiliating and horrendous waste of the pure blood of the martyrs, an obstacle thrown in the way of establishing truth and justice, assistance for murderers and criminals to evade fair punishment, and a chain that shackles the hands of judges so they cannot rule with justice. Indeed, the verdicts successively issued acquitting police officers accused of killing martyrs send a message to these officers and others to continue their oppression and aggression against the citizens to the point of murder, and that they are safe in the protection of the system.
Today’s ruling means that the head of the regime and the Interior Minister only have been toppled. Meanwhile, the rest of the system is completely intact. We are beginning to doubt the possibility of recovering the enormous moneys stolen and smuggled abroad by the heads of the old regime. This ruling has indications and repercussions on the ground throughout the country and its political future. The Egyptian people must recognize the great danger which threatens their revolution, their hopes and aspirations, and lies to waste the pure blood of the martyrs and the sacrifices the whole nation made. We call all revolutionary and political players and stakeholders to an emergency meeting to agree on what actions need to be taken to face up to this serious event.The Muslim Brotherhood.Read the full story here.
Iran blasts Turkey, Saudi, Qatar over ally Syria.
Iran blasts Turkey, Saudi, Qatar over ally Syria.(HD).A top military aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today accused Ankara, Riyadh and Doha of serving US and Israeli interests in Syria, in a veiled warning to Turkey of worsening ties. "The Americans, Israelis, and some European and Persian Gulf nations, in particular Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have delegated to Turkey the task of achieving their goal to weaken or topple Bashar al-Assad's government or make it surrender," Fars news agency reported General Yahya Rahim Safavi as saying. "Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are acting in the interests of the US and the Zionists to weaken the resistance axis comprising Iran, Syria and Hezbollah," said the former Revolutionary Guards commander. He was referring to the Shiite armed militia in Syria's neighbour Lebanon, dubbed by Tehran's nemesis Washington as a terrorist organisation. Syria, whose government is Tehran's key Middle East ally, has been engulfed in a 15-month crisis in which the United Nations says more than 10,000 people have been killed. Syrian activists put the death toll at more than 13,000. Calling Turkey "a strategic competitor of Iran," Rahim Safavi said that Iran-Turkey relations are still "good." But in in a veiled warning, he added: "We hope that America and the Zionists will not be able to disrupt relations" between Tehran and Ankara. For the past two years, Turkey has acted as an intermediary between Iran and world powers on the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear programme of uranium enrichment.But Turkey's position on Syria, with Ankara calling on Assad to step down to end the bloody strife there, has soured bilateral relations for several months.Hmmmm......Turkey can't go on playing both sides sooner or later they will have to choose.Iran needs Turkey......but might have stopped 'loving' them.Read the full story here.
Mubarak suffers heart attack moments after being told he will spend the rest of his life in jail.
Mubarak suffers heart attack moments after being told he will spend the rest of his life in jail.(DM).Former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak suffered a heart attack today just moments after being told he would spend the rest of his life in jail. Following a lengthy trial, the man who ruled over the country for 30 years was sentenced after being found guilty of being complicit in the killings of protesters during the country's uprising. The ruling came at a politically fraught time for Egypt, two weeks before a run-off in its first free presidential election that will pit the Muslim Brotherhood, which was banned under Mubarak, against the deposed autocrat's last prime minister. Mubarak, propped up on a hospital stretcher and wearing dark sunglasses, heard the verdict with a stony expression. He had been wheeled into the cage used in Egyptian courtrooms, while the other defendants stood. Over the past months, Mubarak has been held in a presidential suite in a hospital on the outskirts of Cairo. Doctors treating him have said he is weak and has lost weight from refusing to eat. They have also said he suffers from severe depression. The Times newspaper today reported that Mubarak has even asked his doctors for prescription drugs so he can take an overdose. The trial found Mubarak's two sons Alaa and Gamal not guilty of corruptions charges, but they both still face a separate trial on charges of insider trading. Former interior minister habib El-Adly was sentenced to life in prison for complicity in murder and attempted murder of protesters. He was convicted and sentenced in two other corruption cases. Hussein Salem, an ex-army and intelligence officer closely linked to Mubarak was acquitted in absentia of corruption charges. Demonstrators outside the court, many of whom had been demanding the death penalty for Mubarak, greeted the verdict with fireworks and cries of 'Allahu akbar' meaning God is great. Soha Saeed, the wife of one of about 850 people killed in the street revolt that toppled Mubarak on February 11, 2011, shouted: 'I'm so happy. I'm so happy.'Read the full story here.
"I do think at a certain point you've made enough money" -Google To Start Charging Companies For Listings."
"I do think at a certain point you've made enough money" - Google To Start Charging Companies For Listings.(Matzav).Google is to start charging companies for listing their products in a core part of its search service, the first time it has converted a free section of its giant online index into a purely commercial venture. The change to Google Product Search will mean that many merchants that have relied on the search engine to lure potential customers online will face higher costs, according to analysts. The move also raises the prospect that Google will eventually replace other parts of its free listings with adverts, said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land. “It represents an attitude that they’re no longer going to go out and gather stuff up for free,” he said. Google said it was making the switch to enable it to show users higher quality results when they are looking for products online. It also said the service would be relabelled as a “sponsored” venture to show it was now based on advertising. The change in direction brings an end to a 10-year-old experiment in which Google tried to filter information about products from the Web and make it available through a separate panel on its results pages. When it launched the service, first known as Froogle, the company said that not charging merchants to list items would give internet users “confidence that the results we provide are relevant and unbiased”.
On Thursday, however, Google said that after a transitional period, only merchants who pay will be able to have their products appear in the service, now called Google Shopping. Its algorithms will sort through commercial listings and select which to show using a formula based on relevance and the amount of money the advertisers are prepared to pay.
Google sought to depict product search as separate from typical web search and as an area that could be improved by making it commercial. Information about many products is not available on the web and is often supplied directly by merchants, requiring “deeper relationships” with them, Sameer Samat, product manager for Google Shopping, wrote in a blog post announcing the news. “We believe that having a commercial relationship with merchants will encourage them to keep their product information fresh and up to date,” he added. Similar arguments could be made about other areas of information that Google presently indexes free of charge, raising the possibility that more parts of its service will eventually be replaced by advertising, Mr Sullivan said. These include Google Places, the company’s local listings service, which relies partly on information supplied by restaurants, stores and other providers of local services. Google refused to comment on its future plans.Hmmm......."Now you see me......now you don't"Read the full story here.
Mubarak, ex-interior minister sentenced to life for protester deaths in Egypt.
Mubarak, ex-interior minister sentenced to life for protester deaths in Egypt.(AA).An Egyptian court sentenced former president Hosni Mubarak to life in prison on Saturday after convicting him of involvement in the murder of protesters during the uprising that ousted him last year. Mubarak’s former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, was also sentenced for life in prison for the protesters’ killing in January. Meanwhile, corruption charges against Mubarak’s sons, Alaa and Gamal, were dropped. Scuffles broke out soon after the verdicts were delivered, and chants of “Void, void” and “The people want the judiciary purged” could be heard. Lawyers inside the courtroom were furious over the acquittals, and told AFP they feared that Mubarak and Adly would be found innocent on appeal.
The former strongman, wearing dark classes and a beige tracksuit, showed no emotion as Judge Ahmed Refaat read out the sentence. His two sons, both looking tired with dark circles under their eyes, appeared close to tears on hearing the verdict. Clashes erupted out outside the court following the sentencing, as police used stun grenades to control the crowds. The deposed president was wheeled into court on Saturday to hear the verdict in the case against him on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protesters last year. Mubarak has become the only autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring to be put in the dock. At the start of the trial’s session, Chief Judge Ahmed Rifaat criticized Mubarak’s three-decade rule and hailed the revolution that toppled him. Rifaat also ordered families of those killed in the revolution to leave the courtroom, Al Arabiya's correspondent reported. The verdict was broadcasted live on Egyptian state television and other channels that agreed to buy its coverage. The first several hearings the trial, which started in August, were broadcast live, but Judge Rifaat then ordered cameras out before witnesses began to take the stand.And the former president was also accused of selling natural gas to Israel at lower than market prices. A security official said 5,000 policemen and 2,000 soldiers secured the area, to which Mubarak was be helicoptered in from a military hospital. During the trial, Mubarak was wheeled into the lecture hall that serves as a courtroom on a stretcher. He reportedly suffers from a heart condition, but the health ministry has denied his lawyer’s claim that he has cancer. Along with Adly, Mubarak’s co-defendants include six former police commanders.Hmmm.........Meanwhile 'the piper' plays on.Read the full story here.
Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi Confirms Iran's Quest for OPEC 'secretary general' Top Post.
Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi Confirms Iran's Quest for OPEC 'secretary general' Top Post.(Fars).Tehran - Iran plans to introduce a candidate for the position of the secretary general at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi confirmed on Saturday.Speaking at a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Asim Hussain, Qassemi stated that electing the new secretary general of the organization is on agenda in the coming session of the organization. Iran is going to introduce a candidate for the post, he announced. Qasemi stressed that Iran will definitely stress fixing the present production level of OPEC member states in the coming session of the organization. Iran's OPEC Governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi told Dow Jones on Friday that the country is preparing to field a candidate for the position. A candidate from Iran will bring the number of countries competing for the role to four. Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Ecuador have already nominated potential successors to current OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri whose term ends at the end of 2012. OPEC will discuss the issue at its next meeting on June 14 in Vienna. Iran, OPEC's second largest crude exporter, currently holds the presidency of the cartel, a position it is holding for the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution.Read the full story here.
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