XIAM007 - Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Saturday, 18 June 2011

Two New York State Park Police officers hoisted to safety near Niagara Falls by a Canadian helicopter -

Two New York State Park Police officers have been hoisted to safety by a Canadian helicopter after they became trapped on the upper Niagara River.

The New York officers were trying to rescue a boat that was trapped on the river early Saturday morning.

But their boat was stymied by the fog and got trapped about a quarter mile from Niagara Falls at about 4 a.m.

Once the fog cleared, the officers were rescued by an Ontario Parks Police helicopter at about 8:15 a.m.

Officials tell The Buffalo News that the people on the first boat were brought safely to shore at about 3 a.m.

Reports say the helicopter was owned by a company that does helicopter tours.

A comedian impersonating Obama made racially tinged jokes at the Republican Conference before being pulled off the stage -

A comedian impersonating President Obama made racially tinged jokes Saturday at the Republican Leadership Conference before being pulled off the stage by an event organizer.

The Obama impersonator, Reggie Brown, said that while the First Lady celebrated all of Black History Month, the bi-racial president only celebrated half the month.

Brown also said: "My mother loved a black man, and she was not a Kardashian."

Flashing a picture on the screen of Fred Sanford of “Sanford and Son” fame, the comedian said that’s what Obama would look like when he got older.

Brown didn’t just limit his jokes to Obama, though. He also mocked Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith, ridiculed Newt Gingrich’s faltering campaign and suggested Tim Pawlenty needed a spinal transplant.

As Brown was preparing to make a Michele Bachmann joke, one of the conference’s officials came out to the lectern and told the comedian to leave the stage.

It was a remarkable display and came just one day after two high-profile Republicans —- Haley Barbour and Bobby Jindal — urged activists to focus only on going after Obama on policy and not engage in personal attacks.

The winner of the 2011 Republican Leadership Conference Straw Poll is . . . RON PAUL! -

The winner of the 2011 Republican Leadership Conference Straw Poll is . . .
RON PAUL! -

As has become typical at GOP cattle calls, Ron Paul captured the presidential straw poll at the Republican Leadership Conference here, easily besting his nearest competitor, Jon Huntsman.

Paul won 612 votes to Huntsman's 382. Michele Bachmann came in third with 191 votes and Herman Cain finished behind her, taking 104 votes.

Paul was edged by one vote at this same event last year, but this straw poll success has become de rigeur at such gatherings. And, just as they have at recent CPACs, Paul's backers in the crowd here let out loud cheers when the results were announced from the stage while the regular Republicans in the audience booed the Libertarian-leaning Texas congressman's success.

The more notable result was Huntsman's second place. The former ambassador was slated to speak to the confab, but backed out, citing a cold. That the little-known and pragmatic Huntsman would finish between Paul and Bachmann — each of whom enjoy a passionate following among more ideological activists — is surprising.

Rumors circulated here that Huntsman campaign had paid for supporters to attend the conference and a spokesman for the candidate, Tim MIller, didn't deny that they had.

"Not commenting on internal strategy," said Miller, adding: "The result demonstrates that young conservatives are responding to his record of success in Utah, willingness to take the debt problem seriously, and foreign policy message,"

The GOP's effective frontrunner Mitt Romney narrowly defeated Paul here last year but got only 74 votes this time. Romney didn't show up this year. Neither did Tim Pawlenty, who won just 18 votes.

Friday, 17 June 2011

Fort Knox U.S. Gold Reserves to be Independently Audited and Assayed? Congressman Ron Paul Pressures U.S. Treasury -

Gold has given up much of yesterday’s modest gains and is marginally lower in all currencies except the Swiss franc. The euro has stabilized despite continuing contagion concerns and an existential threat to the euro currency itself.

Gold remains close to record nominal highs in all major currencies but media coverage in the UK, Ireland and Europe remains minimal and skeptical. Focus continues to be almost exclusively on bond, equity and currency markets – with little or no coverage of gold.

The ramifications of contagion and a euro currency crisis which would lead to the price of gold in euros surging has not been covered in the media. This is of course bullish as it shows a continuing lack of understanding and appreciation of gold’s importance as a diversification and a safe haven asset.

The rout in peripheral Eurozone bond markets, and the Greek market in particular, seen yesterday has abated somewhat with prices stabilizing in most markets. Portugal is the exception and its 10 year bond has risen to a new euro era record high of 11.124%.

World Gold Reserves, December 2010. Source Wikipedia via World Gold Council

Congressman Ron Paul, the Republican presidential candidate who is chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services subcommittee and chairs the House's Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy plans to question U.S. Treasury officials next Thursday (June 23) about the U.S. gold reserves and get them to testify regarding the authenticity of the nation’s gold reserves.

This is an important question given the increasingly precarious state of the U.S.’ finances and is important to the gold market as the unaudited U.S. gold reserves are the largest holdings of gold bullion in the world (see table above).

Paul, who has said he thinks it's possible there is no gold at Fort Knox, recently said that the government is asking the American people to trust that all the gold is there, while not allowing site visits or an audit.

Read more -
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fort-knox-us-gold-reserves-be-independently-audited-and-assayed-congressman-ron-paul-pressur

Thursday, 16 June 2011

Fukushima: It’s much worse than you think - is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind -

Scientific experts believe Japan’s nuclear disaster to be far worse than governments are revealing to the public.
“Fukushima is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind,” Arnold Gundersen, a former nuclear industry senior vice president, told Al Jazeera.
Japan’s 9.0 earthquake on March 11 caused a massive tsunami that crippled the cooling systems at the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan. It also led to hydrogen explosions and reactor meltdowns that forced evacuations of those living within a 20km radius of the plant.
Gundersen, a licensed reactor operator with 39 years of nuclear power engineering experience, managing and coordinating projects at 70 nuclear power plants around the US, says the Fukushima nuclear plant likely has more exposed reactor cores than commonly believed.
“Fukushima has three nuclear reactors exposed and four fuel cores exposed,” he said, “You probably have the equivalent of 20 nuclear reactor cores because of the fuel cores, and they are all in desperate need of being cooled, and there is no means to cool them effectively.”
TEPCO has been spraying water on several of the reactors and fuel cores, but this has led to even greater problems, such as radiation being emitted into the air in steam and evaporated sea water – as well as generating hundreds of thousands of tons of highly radioactive sea water that has to be disposed of.

Read more -
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/201161664828302638.html

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Pelosi's wealth grows by 62 percent - cementing her status as one of the wealthiest members of Congress -

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) saw her net worth rise 62 percent last year, cementing her status as one of the wealthiest members of Congress.

Pelosi was worth at least $35.2 million in the 2010 calendar year, according to a financial disclosure report released Wednesday. She reported a minimum of $43.4 million in assets and about $8.2 milion in liabilities.

For 2009, Pelosi reported a minimum net worth of $21.7 million.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) also remained a multimillionaire. He reported that his minimum net worth in 2010 was close to $2.1 million, with zero liabilities. His 2009 minimum net worth was more than $1.8 million.
Forms disclosing the assets and liabilities of lawmakers for the 2010 calendar year were released Wednesday. The forms give a good estimate of lawmaker wealth, though they show ranges and not precise values for stocks, pension plans, vacation homes and other assets of lawmakers.

Pelosi saw her wealth rise due to some stock gains and real estate investments made by her husband, Paul.

Apple stock owned by Pelosi's spouse rose from at least $500,000 in 2009 to $1 million in 2010. The minority leader's husband also took a bigger stake in Matthews International Capital Management — worth at least $5 million last year, compared to $1 million in 2009 — and his investment in some undeveloped residential real estate in Sacramento, Calif., jumped to at least $5 million in value.

Paul Pelosi also has sizable assets in the United Football League, including $1 million in a partnership interest in a Jacksonville, Fla., franchise and $5 million in a partnership interest for the Sacramento Lions.

Read more - http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/801-economy/166599-pelosis-net-worth-rises-62-percent-

Google, one of the largest corporate donors to Obama, gives re-election campaign special access to a new ad program -

Google denied Wednesday that it gave President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign special access to a new advertising program, something a sales representative from the search and advertising giant had claimed in an email to customers.

The new ad program would charge clients for every email address (or other piece of user data) they collect. The program is attractive to campaigns eager for that information, so when a staffer at the National Republican Senatorial Committee saw what appeared to be an Obama ad built on this technology on the RealClearPolitics website last month, she emailed a Google sales rep to ask about creating a similar ad campaign for Republicans.

The saleswoman, Sirene Abou-Chakra, replied by suggesting that Obama had a special deal.

“This is a pre-alpha product that is being released to a select few clients,” she wrote in an email, referring to the first stage of a product’s roll-out. “I’d be happy to get you into the beta if you’re interested.”

A similar email went out to at least one other Republican digital media firm, a Republican source said.

“It certainly raises some red flags that the Obama campaign appears to have been given special access to a new online advertising product,” said NRSC communications director Brian Walsh in response to an inquiry from POLITICO.

But Google spokesman Jake Parrilo denied strenuously that the Obama campaign had been granted special access to the pilot program, and chalked the email up to inaccurate “puffery” by the sales

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57084.html#ixzz1POclXxNP

'Unhealthy' corn dogs, chicken nuggets out, sushi IN at L.A. schools -

The L.A. school board's decision to stop serving flavored milks on campuses is just the beginning.

A menu overhaul is underway that will mean fewer meals that resemble fast food and more vegetarian offerings. Spinach tortellini in butternut squash sauce and California sushi rolls, along with many ethnic foods, are to be added.

Corn dogs, chicken nuggets and other breaded items are out, said Dennis Barrett, food services director.

Megan Bomba, a project coordinator with Occidental College's Urban and Environmental Policy Institute, agreed with the move, saying "the meal needs to be better, not [that] we need to keep chocolate milk" to attract students to the cafeteria, she said.

The menu proposed for fall sounds more appealing and sophisticated, she added.

The district banned sodas on campuses in 2004, starting a trend followed by the state as well as districts across the country. Later that year, the school board passed a motion to ban the sale of junk food during the school day by restricting the calories and fat content in snack foods.

Obama took office vowing to banish “special interests” - nearly 200 of his biggest donors now have plum government jobs -

Telecom executive Donald H. Gips raised a big bundle of cash to help finance his friend Barack Obama’s run for the presidency.

Gips, a vice president of Colorado-based Level 3 Communications, delivered more than $500,000 in contributions for the Obama war chest, while two other company executives collected at least $150,000 more.

After the election, Gips was put in charge of hiring in the Obama White House, helping to place loyalists and fundraisers in many key positions. Then, in mid-2009, Obama named him ambassador to South Africa. Meanwhile, Level 3 Communications, in which Gips retained stock, received millions of dollars of government stimulus contracts for broadband projects in six states — though Gips said he had been “completely unaware” that the company had received the contracts.

More than two years after Obama took office vowing to banish “special interests” from his administration, nearly 200 of his biggest donors have landed plum government jobs and advisory posts, won federal contracts worth millions of dollars for their business interests or attended numerous elite White House meetings and social events, an investigation by iWatch News has found.

These “bundlers” raised at least $50,000 — and sometimes more than $500,000 — in campaign donations for Obama’s campaign. Many of those in the “Class of 2008” are now being asked to bundle contributions for Obama’s reelection, an effort that could cost $1 billion.

As a candidate, Obama spoke passionately about diminishing the clout of moneyed interests. Kicking off his presidential run on Feb. 10, 2007, he blasted “the cynics, the lobbyists, the special interests,” who had “turned our government into a game only they can afford to play.”

“We’re here today to take it back,” he said.

But just like other presidential aspirants, Obama relied heavily on megadonors to propel his campaign across the finish line, and many fundraisers have shared in the spoils of victory.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56993.html#ixzz1POK15cmf

Mitt Romney - Caught Lying - thought he’d win over the waitresses by pretending one of them tried to grab his butt -

As a public service, we interrupt our Stanley Cup coverage to alert you to an asinine trend. It can make for an awkward mo at a presidential campaign stop or land you in hot water with the cops. We are talking about a good ol’ fashioned cheek tweak.

First up is former Gov. Mitt Romney. The GOP presidential candidate, fresh off a win at the debate in Manchester, N.H., yesterday popped into Mary Ann’s Diner in Derry, where he thought he’d win over the waitresses by pretending one of them tried to grab his butt.

During the photo op in front of the jukebox with the poodle skirt-wearing gals, Romney suddenly jumped forward with a startled look on his face, and said, “Oh, my goodness!”

For the record, not one of startled servers did pinch an inch.

“I would never do that,” one of the tray jockeys told a reporter from Politico.

Later, Mitt reported that he “was just teasing” the girls at Mary Ann’s, although it happened for real at a fund-raiser during his last run for the White House. Which gives new meaning to the phrase “money grab,” don’t you think?

Read more - http://www.bostonherald.com/track/inside_track/view/2011_0615mitts_pinch_of_humor_falls_flat_in_nh/