XIAM007 - Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World: 10/05/11

Wednesday, 5 October 2011

World's most expensive telescope takes first pictures of deepest space in quest for more knowledge of outer universe -

This is the remarkable first picture taken by the new $1.3billion radio telescope sitting high in the Chilean Andes.

It shows two galaxies colliding in a view no other telescope on Earth or in space could capture.

The shot is a teasing glimpse of the capabilities of the Atacama Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array telescope - this picture has been taken using only a quarter of the antennae it will have when it comes into full operation in 2013.

But even now, this shot of the Antennae Galaxies is astonishing - showing off the telescope's exceptional power at detecting 'cold' matter using radio waves. The combined image shown would not be visible at all to visible-light and infrared telescopes.

Europe Plots Mission to the Sun -

Europe's collective space agency is planning an ambitious space mission that would send a satellite nearly three-quarters of the way to the Sun.

The Solar Orbiter, which would launch in 2017, would operate just 25 million miles from the Sun, far closer than any spacecraft ever sent from Earth. The mission was green-lighted by the European Space Agency member states on Tuesday, according to the BBC.

"I'm really looking forward to Solar Orbiter, which will become the reference for solar physics in the years to come," Alvaro Gimenez, ESA's director of science, told the BBC.

NASA will assist in the mission, providing instruments for the probe and the rocket that will propel it toward our star, which is about 93 million miles away from Earth.

The idea for the billion-euro Solar Orbiter has kicked around since the 1990s. Scientists hope it will help acquire measurements of the energetic particles and magnetic fields found near the Sun. It will move in an elliptical orbit that will follow the star's rotation, allowing it to observe specific areas for much longer than currently possible.

Only 2% Of Food Imported Into The US Inspected - simply not up to the task of ensuring the safety of food imports -

Critics, including the U.S. Government Accountability Office, say the FDA is simply not up to the task of ensuring the safety of food imports, which are entering this country in ever-growing numbers. The FDA expects 24 million shipments of FDA-regulated goods to pass through the nation’s ports of entry this year, up from 6 million a decade ago.

Studies show that glass-half-empty types don't live as long as those who look on the bright side. But if you're not the happy type, what can you do?
Cancer kiss-off: Getting dumped after diagnosis As farmers markets thrive, so do concerns Cancer spike in men tied to HPV from oral sex More parents think it's safer to delay vaccines About this project
This three-part food safety series is the result of a partnership between msnbc.com and the Carnegie-Knight News21 program. The project, "How Safe is your Food?" was reported by 27 journalism students from Arizona State University, Harvard University, University of Maryland, University of Missouri and the University Nebraska.
During that time, the number of FDA investigators stayed constant at about 1,350. The agency began adding investigators in 2009 and now has about 1,800 — still far short of the number required to keep up with the pace of imports.
In 2010, FDA inspectors physically examined 2.06 percent of all food-related imports. The FDA expects only 1.59 percent of all food imports to be examined this year and even less — only 1.47 percent — next year, according to its Office of Regulatory Affairs.
Which shipments get inspected is increasingly determined by a new computer system called PREDICT, or Predictive Risk-based Evaluation for Dynamic Import Compliance Targeting, that is now used at 70 percent of U.S. import operations at land, sea and air ports. It analyzes information such as a manufacturer’s history with the agency, lab test results and even current weather patterns, assigning a risk-based score to each shipment to direct investigators toward the riskiest ones.
After a shipment is flagged, it's up to a person to investigate further. Investigators give top priority to the items with the highest scores and work their way down — at least, to the point they can with limited staff.
This summer, the FDA gave News21 unusual behind-the-scenes access at its largest operating district to show the ways in which front-line operations attempt to keep unsafe food from reaching American supermarket shelves and dinner tables.

Read more -
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44701433/ns/health-food_safety/#.Tom6fnHV3bF

Sources In Washington Say IMF’s Pot Of Cash Could Be Expanded From $350 Billion To $3.5 Trillion -

It is no secret that IMF head Christine Lagarde wants a massive increase in the size of the IMF's bailout fund. She's been lobbying publicly along those lines for the past month. What is new is the dollar figure now being floated. Keep in mind as you read this story that U.S. taxpayers contribute roughly 18% of all IMF funds, so the $3.5 trillion headline figure means $700 billion from the United States.

Any IMF funding increase would have to be approved by Congress, and judging by the blistering response below from Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rogers (the leading U.S. anti-IMF advocate), it will not be an easy sell.

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NOTE - In the excerpt below we have changed all figures to U.S. dollars.

Source - Daily Mail

Sources in Washington said the IMF’s pot of cash could be expanded to $3.5 trillion.

Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, said the current war chest of around $350 billion ‘pales in comparison with the potential financing needs of vulnerable countries’ and needs to be expanded to deal with ‘worst-case scenarios’.

Following crisis talks in Washington at the weekend, Mrs Lagarde said: ‘The Fund’s credibility, and hence effectiveness, rests on its perceived capacity to cope with worst-case scenarios. Ourlending capacity looks comfortable today but pales in comparison with the potential financing needs of vulnerable countries and crisis bystanders. It will be useful to discuss, soon, the needsand contingency options.’

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Now for some sanity on this issue:

U.S. Has Already Contributed $100 Billion + to Bailouts

“We Cannot Take the ‘Too Big to Fail’ Philosophy to a Global Level”

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference, released the following statement today after International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director Christine Lagarde distributed a document at an IMF steering committee meeting warning that the IMF’s growing participation in European bailouts means the organization will likely need to increase its global bailout fund – a fund to which U.S. taxpayers have already contributed over $100 billion:

“At a time when the federal government is borrowing $5 billion every day on top of a $14 trillion national debt, we should not be funneling billions of dollars through the IMF to bail out Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and other European countries. The European Union was set up to be an economic competitor to the United States, and therefore, any bailout funds should come from the E.U., not the U.S.

The global debt crisis was caused by too much spending and borrowing and that crisis will not be solved by more spending and borrowing. We cannot take the ‘too big to fail’ philosophy to a global level. The only thing ‘too big to fail’ is America itself.”

The U.S. is the leading contributor to the IMF, providing the organization with 17.3 percent of its funding.

85-year-old Duchess of Alba Marries 60-year-old civil servant - I am pretty sure he did it for the Money - WTF? - WOW! -

The 85-year-old Duchess of Alba got what she wanted in the end … a third husband.

After feuding with her children who opposed to the marriage to a 60-year-old civil servant, the wealthy and colourful Spanish duchess finally wed Alfonso Diez on Wednesday in the chapel of her 15th century Palacio de las Duenas in Seville.

Hundreds stood outside the estate as the twice-widowed noble exchanged vows with Diez, a civil servant, before a small gathering of family and Spanish celebrites.

The frizzy-haired duchess, one of Spain’s most flambouyant public figures and a frequent patient for cosmetic surgery, was locked in a battle with her children earlier this year as they squabbled over the what might happen with her vast estate, which is estimated between $850 million and $5 billion.

In the end, she gave her five sons and one daughter much of her wealth – including palaces and art masterpieces from the likes of Rembrandt and Rubens – but will keep it all under her control until her death. Four of her children attended the wedding. One of the absent sons is reportedly unhappy with his slice of the Alba empire.

The marriage has been the talk of the gossip magazines, culminating this week when a tabloid magazine, Interviu, published 30-year-old topless pictures of the duchess. That prompted her lawyer to say he was suing.

The duchess, who has more titles (44) than any other noble on Earth according to Guinness World Records, said she confronted opposition to the union with Diez from family and friends "until they realized the calibre of the man he was, he is".

Fast And Furious: 22 Shocking Facts About The Scandal That Could Bring Down The Obama Administration -

Could Fast and Furious be the scandal that brings down the Obama administration? With the full knowledge of the Department of Justice, ATF agents facilitated the sale of thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels and dropped all surveillance of those weapons once they crossed the border. Weapons sold during Operation Fast and Furious have been used to shoot U.S. border control agents. Weapons sold during Operation Fast and Furious have been found at dozens of crime scenes in Mexico. Nobody has been held accountable for this scandal yet. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been stonewalling all efforts by members of Congress to look into Fast and Furious. A CBS reporter that has been aggressively investigating this story was recently screamed at and cussed at by a high ranking official that works in the White House. It has become abundantly clear that the Obama administration desperately wants to hide what went on during Operation Fast and Furious. So will they succeed or will we eventually find out the truth?
What you are about to read should shock the living daylights out of you. The U.S. government purposely armed Mexican drug cartels with thousands of guns and then ordered agents not to follow the weapons across the border.
This should be a story that the mainstream media is pounding on every single day.
But they aren’t.
In fact, they are mostly ignoring it.
However, if the truth starts getting out and the American people start grasping what really happened this thing could become absolutely huge.
In fact, this could end up being Obama’s Watergate.
The following are 22 shocking facts about the scandal that could bring down the Obama administration….
#1 During Operation Fast and Furious, ATF agents purposely allowed thousands of guns to be sold to individuals that they believed would get them into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
#2 ATF agents were specifically ordered not to intercept the guns before they crossed the border. The following is a brief excerpt from a CBS News reportthat detailed the fierce objections that many ATF agents expressed when they were ordered to stand down….

On the phone, one Project Gunrunner source (who didn’t want to be identified) told us just how many guns flooded the black market under ATF’s watchful eye. “The numbers are over 2,500 on that case by the way. That’s how many guns were sold – including some 50-calibers they let walk.”
50-caliber weapons are fearsome. For months, ATF agents followed 50-caliber Barrett rifles and other guns believed headed for the Mexican border, but were ordered to let them go. One distraught agent was often overheard on ATF radios begging and pleading to be allowed to intercept transports. The answer: “Negative. Stand down.”
CBS News has been told at least 11 ATF agents and senior managers voiced fierce opposition to the strategy. “It got ugly…” said one. There was “screaming and yelling” says another. A third warned: “this is crazy, somebody is gonna to get killed.”

#3 Operation Fast and Furious remained a secret until the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December. Two guns that were sold during Operation Fast and Furious were found at the scene of the murder.
#4 ATF Special Agent John Dodson was one of the first to blow the whistle on Operation Fast and Furious. Dodson explained to the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee on June 15, 2011 that many ATF agents were becoming extremely frustrated when they were ordered to cut off surveillance on the weapons that were being sold because they knew “that just days after these purchases, the guns that we saw these individuals buy would begin turning up at crime scenes in the United States and Mexico.”
#5 It appears that Operation Fast and Furious began some time around September 2009. At that time, the ATF began pressuring gun shops near the border with Mexico to participate in a new covert operation that was being set up. The gun store owners were told to help the ATF get guns into the hands of people that would take them back to the Mexican drug cartels.
The following description of the mechanics of Operation Fast and Furious comes from a recent Los Angeles Times article….

In the fall of 2009, ATF agents installed a secret phone line and hidden cameras in a ceiling panel and wall at Andre Howard’s Lone Wolf gun store. They gave him one basic instruction: Sell guns to every illegal purchaser who walks through the door.
For 15 months, Howard did as he was told. To customers with phony IDs or wads of cash he normally would have turned away, he sold pistols, rifles and semiautomatics. He was assured by the ATF that they would follow the guns, and that the surveillance would lead the agents to the violent Mexican drug cartels on the Southwest border.
When Howard heard nothing about any arrests, he questioned the agents. Keep selling, they told him. So hundreds of thousands of dollars more in weapons, including .50-caliber sniper rifles, walked out of the front door of his store in a Glendale, Ariz., strip mall.

#6 In some gun stores, cameras were set up so that top ATF officials could actually watch these transactions take place. Back in June, U.S. Representative Darrell Issa stated the following….

“Acting Director Melson was able to sit at his desk in Washington and himself watch a live feed of straw buyers entering the gun stores and purchasing dozens of AK-47 variants.”

#7 It has also come out that in some cases ATF agents were actually the ones buying the guns and getting them into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. The following is how author Michael A. Walsh recently explained this in an article in the New York Post….

This just might be the smoking gun we’ve been waiting for to break the festering “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal wide open: the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives apparently ordered one of its own agents to purchase firearms with taxpayer money, and sell them directly to a Mexican drug cartel.
Let that sink in: After months of pretending that “Fast and Furious” was a botched surveillance operation of illegal gun-running spearheaded by the ATF and the US attorney’s office in Phoenix, it turns out that the government itself was selling guns to the bad guys.

#8 According to the Los Angeles Times, guns that were purchased during Operation Fast and Furious have “turned up at dozens of additional Mexican crime scenes, with an unconfirmed toll of at least 150 people killed or wounded.”
#9 Mexican authorities were never informed that thousands upon thousands of guns were being allowed into Mexico.
#10 Authorities in Mexico have asked the U.S. government over and over to explain what in the world happened during Operation Fast and Furious but they have not been given an adequate answer. In fact, according to the Los Angeles Times, the Obama administration has not even responded to questions from the attorney general of Mexico….

Marisela Morales, Mexico’s attorney general and a longtime favorite of American law enforcement agents in Mexico, told The Times that she first learned about Fast and Furious from news reports. And to this day, she said, U.S. officials have not briefed her on the operation gone awry, nor have they apologized.

#11 U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been withholding key documentsabout Fast and Furious from Congress and has been consistently stonewalling U.S. Representative Darrell Issa, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley and other members of Congress that have attempted to look into this matter.
#12 The acting director of the ATF, Kenneth Melson, had been cooperating with the investigation. At the end of August he was suddenly transferred to the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy.
#13 Several other key officials that were heavily involved in Operation Fast and Furious actually got promoted.
#14 On May 3rd, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testified under oath in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Operation Fast and Furious. During that testimony, Holder made the following statement….

“I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.”

#15 Since that time, a large amount of evidence has come out that Holder was not telling the truth. For example, a recent Fox News article discussed some of the very revealing memos about Fast and Furious that have been discovered recently….

However, newly discovered memos suggest otherwise. For instance, one memo dated July 2010 shows Michael Walther, director of the National Drug Intelligence Center, told Holder that straw buyers in the Fast and Furious operation “are responsible for the purchase of 1,500 firearms that were then supplied to the Mexican drug trafficking cartels.”
Other documents also indicate that Holder began receiving weekly briefings on the program from the National Drug Intelligence Center “beginning, at the latest, on July 5, 2010,”

#16 Holder now claims that he simply misunderstood the question. He now says that he had heard of Operation Fast and Furious previously but that he was not aware of the specific details.
#17 Emails exchanged between two Department of Justice officials last October make it abundantly clear that high level officials at the DOJ were very aware of what was going on…

Two Justice Department officials mulled it over in an email exchange Oct. 18, 2010. “It’s a tricky case given the number of guns that have walked but is a significant set of prosecutions,” says Jason Weinstein, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division. Deputy Chief of the National Gang Unit James Trusty replies “I’m not sure how much grief we get for ‘guns walking.’ It may be more like, “Finally they’re going after people who sent guns down there.”

#18 House Republicans are now asking for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate whether or not U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress during his recent testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Operation Fast and Furious.
#19 U.S. Representative Darrell Issa believes that those involved in the Fast and Furious gun trafficking operation may have violated international arms trafficking agreements and could potentially face very serious criminal charges.
#20 U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley is absolutely convinced that a major coverup is going on….

“But I can tell you this. They’re doing everything they can, in a fast and furious way, to cover up all the evidence or stonewalling us. But here’s the issue, if he didn’t perjure himself and didn’t know about it, the best way that they can help us, Congressman Issa and me, is to just issue all the documents that we ask for and those documents will prove one way or the other right or wrong.”

#21 Did Barack Obama ever know about Operation Fast and Furious? He says that he did not authorize the program. On March 22, 2011 Obama made the following statement….

“I did not authorize [Fast and Furious]. Eric Holder, the attorney general, did not authorize it. There may be a situation here in which a serious mistake was made. If that’s the case, then we’ll find — find out and we’ll hold somebody accountable.”

#22 CBS News investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson claimed on the Laura Ingraham show the other day that officials in the Obama administration were literally screaming and yelling at her for aggressively investigating the Fast and Furious scandal….

Ingraham: So they were literally screaming at you?
Attkisson: Yes. Well the DOJ woman was just yelling at me. The guy from the White House on Friday night literally screamed at me and cussed at me. [Laura: Who was the person? Who was the person at Justice screaming?] Eric Schultz. Oh, the person screaming was [DOJ spokeswoman] Tracy Schmaler, she was yelling not screaming. And the person who screamed at me was Eric Schultz at the White House.”

Where there is smoke there is usually fire.
Something about this whole thing really stinks.
It would be a shame if Operation Fast and Furious is allowed to be swept under the rug.
The weapons sold during Operation Fast and Furious are going to be used to kill a lot of people. The legacy of this scandal will be felt on both sides of the border for years to come.
The Mexican government deserves some answers.
The American people deserve some answers.
Hopefully we will get some.

Read more -
http://www.blacklistednews.com/Fast_And_Furious%3A_22_Shocking_Facts_About_The_Scandal_That_Could_Bring_Down_The_Obama_Administration_/15996/0/0/0/Y/M.html