Author: Serkadis

The current version of the universal Spectrum driver comes with full Windows 7 support for the complete product range of the fast digitizers and generators with sampling rates between 100 kS/s and 1 GS/s. This driver of cause also supports earlier Windows versions like Vista, XP or 2000.
After Windows Vista, being not the most successful start of a new operating system, Windows 7 seems to be the next generation stable Windows platform for industry, research and development. As Windows 7 already has more than 10% market coverage the support of Window 7 is an essential feature for measurement cards. At Spectrum the support of the latest operating system has highest priority: Even Spectrum products that left the market 10 years ago can be used under Windows 7 after doing a driver update.
PC systems are getting more and more powerful and use more and more memory this making 64 bit operating systems necessary to have access to full PC memory. Since the release of Windows Vista the 64 bit market is only accessible for hardware manufacturers being capable of digitally signing their software. Just a short time after Windows Vista has gone into market Spectrum drivers have been added a digital signature allowing to use the current hardware with no limits under Windows 7 64 bit as well as Windows Vista 64 bit. Drivers that are not signed cannot be loaded any more when using these operating systems!
Besides the hardware drivers the complete software suite of Spectrum is also running without any limits under Windows 7. The Spectrum software suite contains the Control Center being able to test. Update and calibrate the hardware as well as the sophisticated measurement software SBench. Using the integrated demo mode the current driver version can be tested at any time, even if no hardware is installed. This feature is very helpful for customers who wants to start software development in the few days they have to wait until the ordered hardware arrives.

Mobile suction and filter unit appropriate for one workplace
The new filtoo:
The recently developed filter unit „filtoo“ is a mobile filter unit that can be used for many applications requiring the filtration of fumes, dusts and even gases.
Functioning of filtoo:
The polluted air is extracted and led into the filter unit either by the suction arm or by other capturing elements. The particles or gases are extracted from the airflow during a filtering procedure consisting of several stages and the cleaned air returns to the working space.
Application:
For welding places, in workshops, for soldering applications, for restorers and in locksmith’s shops
Benefits:
You receive a complete „Plug and Play System“ that is ready for operation. It is only necessary to connect the intake elements before commissioning the unit.
Construction of filtoo:
The advantages of the compact unit are the robust and solid construction. The housing is made of a stable steel sheet construction and coated with powder from inside and outside. The filter elements are accessible via a maintenance flap. Therefore, they can be easily and rapidly withdrawn. The unit is equipped with suitable control elements.

With its champ’speed line, Bystronic glass is launching onto the market a brand-new generation of machines for preprocessing automotive glass. The line enables cutting, breaking, grinding and drilling of automotive glass with the utmost precision and flexibility. “The champ’speed line is currently the fastest machine of its quality on the market”, says Jean-Philippe Chételat, Sales Manager for the Automotive Glass Sector at the Technology Center Bystronic Maschinen AG in Switzerland.

“We have listened to our customers’ demands and now – with the champ’speed line – we have adapted our system solution for preprocessing automotive glass for the latest market requirements”, explaines Jean-Philippe Chételat. All the modules in the machine are individually matched to each other, the movements can be separately configured and, for example, optimized with regard to cycle time. The extremely stable, vibration-free process means that customers can work for many years with a consistently high quality level. “With a repeat accuracy of up to 99 percent, the champ’speed line outshines every other machine available on the market”, the Sales Manager is pleased to report. As all the machine parts are within easy reach, working with the new system is an extremely ergonomic process.

Customized, Intelligent State-of-the-art Technology
The heart of the system is the cutting and breaking unit. The cutting module contains a maintenance-free AC servo direct drive. Thanks to faster acceleration, it operates extremely dynamically with simultaneous maximum cutting accuracy. While doing so the machine automatically optimizes its speed to match the shape to be cut. Precutting of the glass lite along with shape cutting and breaking is conducted in two process steps and therefore enables parallel processing. This in turn results in a definitive cycle time advantage along with high productivity. In addition to this, the use of a special, maintenance-free breaking tool guarantees perfect quality of the edge breaks.

Maximum Grinding Standard
The grinding module can simultaneously use two grinding wheels enabling a fast bit change. “This means that, for example, automotive glass can be ground in different edge radii, without any need to change the tool in between”, explains Jean-Philippe Chételat. […]

-> read more at www.bystronic-glass.com

Sometimes the introduction of a simple device can make a significant difference to the application scope of a product. The LBG brake option from HepcoMotion® is a good example. It provides a compact and easy method of locking a bearing block in position on its LBG Linear Ball Guide.

Stainless steel bodied for non-corrosion, the brake is intended for manual locking of a stationary block and can be supplied with a range of brake plates to suit most of the LBG bearing block options.

The break assembly has two jaws which, when tightened via the ratchet locking lever, apply equal pressure to the LBG rail to ensure even clamping. When the brake is applied, the resulting clamping force does not impose any load on the bearing block.

Although designed principally to extend the capability of HepcoMotion® LBG linear ball guides, the brake is compatible with all other ball guide systems with which the LBG system is interchangeable. Brakes in sizes 15 through 30 are available ex-stock via the HepcoMotion® e-shop in combination with the most popular guide sizes to suit most automation requirements.

The new edge sensors type UBA with ultrasonic through beam sensors. New software algorhythms and a unique ultrasonic transducer material allow an accuracy and temperature stability so far only realized with optical systems. But the ultrasonic fork barrier is much less sensitive to dirt and dust compared to optical sensors. Further more transparent materials such as foils can be perfectly handled. The so called plane change error has been minimized to almost zero. Together with the high sampling speed of the sensor this means that fast moving and thus fluttering webs are well aligned.

The sensor can ideally be adjusted to the actual air conditions by the help of the teach-in function. Furthermore acoustically transparent materials such as textiles can be measured. With teach-in the signal output can be defined at fully closed as well as at fully open fork. In addition, the output signal can also be inverted via teach-in. The new sensors can be teached by push buttons or through the connector. 3 LED indicate the actual position in 5 steps.

Application:

The multi-channel gas warning unit MWS 906
continuously monitors the ambient air and issues an
early warning of gases and vapours that are dangerous
to health, or when there is a danger of explosion, for
non-combustible gases and vapours.

Fields of Application

Monitoring of:

– Heating systems
– Garages and tunnels
– Liquid gas storage plants
– Laboratories
– Cold-storage depots
– Plastic processing workshops
– Chemical industries
– Paint varnish manufacturers
– Concentration measurement of O2
– and many more

Features

6-section keyboard and backlit 4-line LC-display for displaying actual values, half-hourly average values and fault messages in cleartext

Ready for operation, fault and gas warning indicators

Menu-assisted adjustment of equipment parameters via 6-section keyboard

Three alarm thresholds for each sensor, indepen-
dently adjustable from 5-100% of the measurement range, also possible to from half-hourly average values

A maximum of 48 floating outputs for driving additional warning and control devices

Floating change-over contact for faults, sirens and warning banners

Serial output RS 232, for connecting a printer or PC

4-20 mA current interface as output signal

Plastic, wall-mounting housing (IP 54)

High degree of service reliability

Low power consumption

Easy installation

Un-interruptible power supply (UPS) can be used

Accessories

Signal horn, warning lights, warning banner, plotter,
stand-by power supply unit UPS 2000 24 V.
Further accessories will be available, according to the
proposed measurement tasks.

About us:

For more than 100 years our medium-sized company stands for innovation in gas analysis, gas warning and environmental protection.

We produce for nearly all the fields of application, transportable gas-measuring items and stationary gas-measuring systems, which can measure and detect by use of high-sensitive detectors a multitude of hazardous substances in smallest concentrations and therewith warn the people in time.

Our specialists offer all over the world expert advice, first-class installation as well as a reliable service on site.

At the Ernst Barre GmbH private brewery based in Lübbecke, Germany, a sense of tradition and a deep attachment to the region and its people go to hand in hand with innovation and strict quality standards. The brewery has been investing heavily in environmental protection measures for over 10 years. The beers and the beer-based mixed drinks – only traditional glass bottles are used – are filled in state-of-the-art bottling plants, running at a rate of up to 50,000 bottles per hour. A label with proof of origin and expiration date is attached to the back of the bottle, so that the consumer can see immediately that the drinks are in top condition. For reasons of traceability, an encrypted code is also applied, so that details of the filling can be pinpointed at any time.

The Barre brewery has already gained experience with laser-marking. However, as the mask laser in operation there was past its best, the firm was on the lookout for a flexible, economical and yet rugged laser marking system, which did not require any consumable resources. Thanks to tips from fellow brewers, who have had positive experiences with the K 1000 CO2 laser.

“During testing by KBA-Metronic’s competent staff, we discovered very quickly that this marking laser could be the answer. The design is much more compact than that of the masking laser, and no additional gas mixture is needed,” said Dirk Stapper, the Technical Director. “It was much easier to integrate into our bottling line than we had expected.”

The K-1000 CO2 laser system used, with a power of 60 W, marks the filled and labelled bottles inline, in other words, as part of the production process. The two-line code, consisting of the filling code and ‘best before’ date is applied, contactless, during product transport, on the paper rear label. The marking system receives the signal to activate the laser beam from sensors that announce when the bottle arrives to be marked.

“KBA-Metronic’s marking laser operates with full availability even at high speeds, and produces a clear, legible typeface without the need for any pre-treatment of the labels” confirmed Michael Boschan, Head of Production. “It was a good choice from our point of view”, he added.

Via Prison Planet.com » Prison Planet

poe.house.gov
Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Flashback: While Government Treats Citizens As Terrorists, Mexican Military Invades U.S.

Mr. Speaker, U.S. Border Patrol agents have spotted yet another Mexican military helicopter incursion into Texas. That makes three times these helicopters have crossed the border into America this year, that we know of.

On Saturday, another Mexican military helicopter was in Texas, hovering near the Roma-Miguel Aleman International Bridge. Two other times this year, Mexican helicopters were photographed in Starr and Zapata Counties in Texas.

These military incursions are becoming routine. What are they doing here? We don’t know. Has our government protested this violation of international law? No one is talking. Our own government seems to be blissfully silent about these incursions. That’s why I’m asking Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano for some answers.

The Federal Government is MIA on our borders. Our government ought to spend less time protesting States like Arizona, trying to protect their citizens from border violence, and start getting some answers from Mexico about their military helicopters flying into the United States.

And that’s just the way it is.

Via Prison Planet.com » Sci Tech

Vince Veneziani
Business Insider
May 20, 2010

According to NBC LA (via Drudge Report), an Arizona utility commissioner is going to shut off power to Los Angeles if LA decides to boycott Arizona.

NBC LA: In a letter to the city of LA, a member of Arizona’s power commission said he would ask Arizona utility companies to cut off the power supply to Los Angeles. LA gets about 25 percent of its power from Arizona.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is in Washington D.C., meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, but his deputy chief of staff issued the following statement: “The mayor stands strongly behind the city council and he will not respond to threats from the state that has isolated itself from an America that values freedom, liberty and basic civil rights.”

Continue reading ->

Via Prison Planet.com » Prison Planet

Washington’s Blog
May 20, 2010

Via Prison Planet.com » World News

Kim Young-jin
Korea Times
Thursday, May 20th, 2010

North Korea Thursday dismissed the allegation it attacked a South Korean Navy vessel in March as “sheer fabrication,” warning that punitive measures over the incident would be met with “tough measures including an all-out war.”

The statement issued by Pyongyang¡’s National Defense Commission (NDC) came in response to the findings of a multinational investigation team that probed the March 26 sinking of the frigate Cheonan.

“They are pointing a dirty accusing finger at us like a thief,” an unidentified spokesman for the NDC said in the statement. The commission is headed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Calling President Lee Myung-bak a “traitor,” the statement also offered to dispatch a delegation of North Korean investigators to Seoul to check the veracity of the international findings.

“We remind the group of traitors in advance that there should be not a shred of doubt about the material evidence to be produced before the inspection group,” the statement said.

It promised a “merciless strong physical blow,” if South Korea responds with even a minor act of aggression on its territory.

The attack on the Cheonan is speculated to be retaliation for a naval skirmish that occurred in November last year, when a North Korean boat crossed the maritime border and exchanged fire with a South Korean vessel before retreating in flames.

Via Prison Planet.com » World News

Neil Foster
sovereignindependent.ie
Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Here’s a short clip showing the national broadcaster, the equivalent in Ireland of the BBC outright refusing to discuss anything to do with the Trilateral Commission meeting recently held in Dublin.

In a blatant example of mainstream media censorship, by the national broadcaster in Ireland RTE, who have an obligation to inform the public and to give a fair and balanced viewpoint, Monday nights airing of The Frontline on RTE 1, hosted by Pat Kenny, we witnessed the type of censorship one would expect from a Third World dictatorship. Up to the point where the lady in the audience mentions the Bilderberg Group and Trilateral Commission meeting in Dublin last week, Kenny remains silent but immediately steps in to talk over the questioner.

Kenny can be heard giving the tired excuses that there is a complaints department at RTE which he tells the questioner to contact about her issues with the station.

He then scurries away, it appears in panic. He can clearly be heard saying:

‘I’m not going to go there, I’m not going to go there’ in reply to persistent attempts by the questioner for an answer.

Indeed, when combined with the miniscule coverage of the Trilateral Commission meeting in Dublin by the mainstream press, this disgraceful sidestepping of a pertinent question from a member of the audience as to why RTE had not covered such an important meeting.

This shows the scant regard and outright contempt that the national broadcaster has for its audience who fund the station through their taxes.

Welcome to the Soviet Republic of Ireland.

Thank you Mr. Kenny for you pathetic allegiance to your banker masters!

If you fast forward to the 59 th minute in the video below you can see the brief exchange.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0517/thefrontline_av.html

Via Prison Planet.com » World News

David Edwards
Raw Story
May 20, 2010

People watching MSNBC Wednesday morning could be forgiven for believing that the Taliban had invaded Bangkok. As NBC’s Ian Williams reported on violent protests in the capital city of Thailand, a graphic on the lower third of MSNBC’s screen read: “NEW TALIBAN ATTACKS, BANGKOK BURNS.”

In truth, fires in the Thai capitol were not caused by the Taliban. Bangkok “burned” Wednesday because of rioting by anti-government protesters, according to The Associated Press.

Downtown Bangkok became a flaming battleground Wednesday as an army assault forced anti-government protest leaders to surrender, enraging followers who shot grenades and set fire to landmark buildings, cloaking the skyline in black smoke.

Using live ammunition, troops dispersed thousands of Red Shirt protesters who had been camped in the capital’s premier shopping and residential district for weeks. Five protesters and an Italian news photographer were killed in the ensuing gunbattles and about 60 wounded.

After Red Shirt leaders gave themselves up to police, rioters set fires at the Stock Exchange, several banks, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Electricity Authority, the Central World, one of Asia’s biggest shopping malls, and cinema that burned to ground. There were reports of looting.

Firefighters retreated after protesters shot guns at them, and thick smoke drifted across the sky of this city of 10 million people.

Following MSNBC’s report on Bangkok, the NBC’s Tom Aspell began a separate report on a Taliban attack in Afghanistan. The confusing chyron was replaced with “INSURGENTS ATTACK BAGRAM AIR BASE.”

Taliban had attacked the second biggest US base in Afghanistan Tuesday, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Insurgents early Wednesday launched a bold attack on the largest U.S. installation in Afghanistan, leaving at least seven of the attackers dead.

The fighting at the sprawling, heavily fortified Bagram air base, about 30 miles north of Kabul, began at dawn when Taliban fighters attacked with rockets, guns and grenades, the military said.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said in a statement that five Western service members had been wounded, but did not characterize the seriousness of their injuries. Most of the troops at Bagram are Americans.

Of course, all news organizations make mistakes. RAW STORY had to apologize Monday after a headline had incorrectly labeled a Democrat under fire as a Republican.

Fox News has often been called out for doing the exact opposite on a number of occasions, and for other mistakes which often seem to benefit the GOP.

This time, however, only the Taliban could potentially benefit from such an error.

This video is from MSNBC’s News Live, broadcast May 19, 2010.

Via Prison Planet.com » Commentary

Jacob Hornberger
Campaign For Liberty
Thursday, May 20th, 2010

A recent op-ed entitled “We’re Not Greece” by Paul Krugman in the New York Times encapsulates everything that is wrong with liberals when it comes to economics.

The good liberal that he is, Krugman suggests that the welfare state is about “taking care of those in need.”

What he misses, however, is the issue of means, which, not surprisingly, he totally fails to address in his op-ed.

Suppose I accost you with a loaded gun and force you to take me to an ATM. I tell you to withdraw $5,000 or I’ll shoot you. You withdraw the money and give it to me. I go and give all the money to people in need. I don’t keep one dime for myself.

Haven’t I taken care of people in need? Isn’t what I did moral? Isn’t it consistent with God’s will? Aren’t I a good person?

No. I’m nothing more than a common thief. The fact that I’ve used the money to help the needy is irrelevant. The end doesn’t justify the means. I should be prosecuted and convicted.

Presumably Krugman would agree. But his moral blind spot — indeed, the moral blind spot that afflicts all liberals — is his inability to see that the same principle applies to the coercive apparatus of the welfare state. Who are the compassionate, caring people in a welfare state? All the citizens of the nation? Only the taxpayers? How about the IRS officials, especially those who harass and persecute people into paying their taxes? What about the welfare bureaucrats who distribute the dole to people? What about the congressmen, who claim credit for the federal money they bring back to their district? What about tax protestors, who don’t pay any income taxes? How about illegal immigrants who have taxes withheld from their pay?

The real answer is: None of the above. Why? Because the entire welfare-state system is founded on force, which is antithetical to moral values, compassion, and free will. The only help for the needy that matters is that which comes from the willing heart of an individual, not at the point of some bureaucrat’s gun.

Krugman laments the fact that the Greek government doesn’t have control over its own money supply, like the United States does through the Federal Reserve. If it did have that control, Krugman says, it could begin stimulating the economy with inflation — that is, by printing the money to pay off that ever-increasing mountain of debt.

What he misses, however, is not only the moral implications involved with inflationary liquidation of debt but also the fact that inflation never accomplishes anything constructive in the long term. Let’s not forget, after all, that the principal reason the Framers established a gold standard was to prevent the federal government from inflating the money supply. By manipulating money and prices, inflation produces distortions and perversions by sending bad signals to the private sector. Ultimately, those distortions and perversions become manifest, which causes things to go into a tailspin. Thus, while inflation can delay the day of reckoning, that’s all it can do.

The day of reckoning has obviously come for Greece and other European welfare states. For decades, such regimes been spending money on the dole that they didn’t have. To keep the dole payments going to Greek citizens, officials went out and borrowed money to their heart’s content and then lied about it to the other Euro countries. Ultimately, people figured out what was going on, and the jig was up.

Not surprisingly, despite facing national bankruptcy the Greek people refuse to let go of their dole system. That’s what the dole does to people — it creates a sense of hopeless dependency and also a sense of entitlement. Young Greeks are also protesting, because they feel their future life on the dole is now threatened.

Rather than dismantling their dole system, which is what they should do, the Greeks have induced foreign taxpayers to underwrite their dole, including German and American taxpayers. That’s what the U.S. Federal Reserve has committed Americans to do, without even the semblance of congressional approval.

But despite a massive Greek bailout, speculators aren’t buying it. They’re continuing to send the value of the Euro into the tank. They’re not buying it because they know that the Greeks have no intention of doing what is necessary to save themselves — dismantle their dole system. At most, they’ll reform it by reducing welfare spending a bit … and by raising taxes — the very things that Krugman recommends that U.S. officials do to address the worsening welfare-warfare spending and debt problems facing our country.

Krugman and the Greek statists recommend raising taxes as part of a welfare-state reform plan. But the problem is that the more they raise taxes, the more they send marginal firms — that is, firms that are barely making it — into closing down operations, which in turn increases unemployment, which then sends more people into the dole system.

Moreover, as people learn about the benefits of going on the dole, more and more of them look for ways to do it themselves. Why work when the government will pay you for not working? The number of people on the dole — and the amount of the dole — skyrockets while the number of people producing wealth — and the amount of such wealth — diminish.

Krugman acknowledges that Americans do have a “serious long-run budget problem,” but he says that America’s “fiscal outlook over the next few years isn’t bad” and certainly not as bad as Greece’s. He’s hoping that inflation will nurse the economy back to health so that there will be more private-sector producers paying the taxes to fund the parasitic welfare-warfare-state sector.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government continues to spend and borrow as if there were no tomorrow, both on its welfare state (including the recent bailout of Greece) and its warfare state (e.g., Iraq and Afghanistan). For decades, Krugman and others of his liberal ilk, together with conservatives, have taken our nation down the road to Greece and the Roman Empire, with their out of control federal spending, taxes, inflation, moral debauchery, socialism, interventionism, and imperialism. Today, the welfare-warfare-state chickens are coming home to roost.

There is only one solution to what they have wrought — a total dismantling of all their statism, both foreign and domestic. Tinkering will only delay the inevitable. It’s time for economic liberty, free markets, and a constitutional republic for our land.

We’ve already heard about what carries over to White Knight Chronicles 2 from the original, but apparently what Famitsu revealed last week was just the tip of the iceberg. Sony has released further details on the game’s Japanese website.

Via Prison Planet.com » Sci Tech

Natural News
Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Rotavirus vaccines are commonly given to children, and this year’s batch of vaccines made by GlaxoSmithKline and Merck are contaminated with a pig virus, the FDA recently discovered. So the FDA called a meeting to determine whether injecting a pig virus into the bodies of young children might be some sort of problem requiring a recall of the vaccines.

Can you guess what conclusion the agency reached? As reported by Reuters, the FDA concluded “…it was safe for doctors to resume giving patients Glaxo’s Rotarix and continue using Merck’s Rotateq. The agency said there was no evidence the contamination caused any harm…”

In other words, as long as they can bury the evidence and deny any link between vaccines and health problems — which has been the standard excuse of the FDA for decades — they can continue to claim the vaccines are safe enough to inject into little children.

Never mind the fact that the pig virus found in the vaccines actually causes a wasting disease in baby pigs, giving them intense diarrhea and causing them to rapidly lose weight. DNA from these viruses was detected in the “master cells” used to make the vaccines.
Suppressing the evidence of harm
An FDA advisory panel said the risk to human health from the viral contamination was only “theoretical.” But of course it’s easy to claim anything is “theoretical” if you suppress the evidence that it’s real. By simply ignoring any reports of neurological side effects from the vaccine, the FDA can always claim there is “no evidence” of harm. Well, no evidence they’re willing to accept as real, anyway.

And that’s how vaccine science works these days: Suppress any evidence of harm, deny any links between vaccines and neurological problems, then okay practically any viral contamination from any animal and declare it’s all safe to be injected directly into the bodies of infants and children.

So much for science, huh? The vaccine industry operates more like a cult than a scientific organization, and anyone who questions the beliefs of their cult is immediately branded a heretic and publicly condemned.

By the way, even though these rotavirus vaccines are contaminated with a pig virus, the companies that make them claim there is “no manufacturing or safety issue” with the vaccines. In other words, this is normal!

Think about that for a moment: The discovery that a vaccine being injected into children is contaminated with a virus from a pig doesn’t even result in a product recall! It doesn’t raise any red flags! It’s just business as usual in the vaccine industry, where DNA from any number of diseased animals is often used in the vaccine formulas.

Last year, rotavirus vaccines earned nearly a billion dollars in revenues for Big Pharma. The risk of a child in the United States actually dying from a rotavirus infection is ridiculously small. What these kids need is good nutrition and vitamin D, not an injection of a questionable vaccine made with pig virus DNA.

Sources for this story include:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS…

Cyclone Laila arriving at 90 miles per hour struck the southern coast of India killing 15 people, 55 fishermen missing, and left 50,000 people temporarily homeless. Uprooted trees and electric lines blocked off roads and caused widespread 10-hour blackout in hundreds of villages. The state government started rescue missions in nine coastal districts with helicopters and buses readied for evacuation and relief operations.

Andhra Pradesh was hit by the worst cyclone in 1977 leaving 10,000 people dead. The tropical cyclone originated in the Bay of Bengal and move northwestward before reaching India. Around 120 relief camps were opened in Machlipatanam, a possible cyclone landfall point. Although the cyclone is weakening, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah said it still could cause heavy damage.Other parts of the state had been experiencing heavy rainfall before the cyclone arrived. Around 800 villages were left vulnerable. Armed forces were mobilized to help out in the rescue and relief operations. The state government had been preparing for this natural calamity.

Related posts:

1. Cyclone Tomas Hits Island of Fiji
2. Tomas Cyclone Battered Fiji
3. Two Remote Bombs Explode In Russia’s Dagestan Killing Nine People, Injuring Many

Via Prison Planet.com » Commentary

Washington’s Blog
May 20, 2010

The U.S. government suppressed health information after 9/11. For example, as Newsday noted in 2003:

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, the White House instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to give the public misleading information, telling New Yorkers it was safe to breathe when reliable information on air quality was not available. 

That finding is included in a report released Friday by the Office of the Inspector General of the EPA.

Because the government lied about the health risks involved, many heroic first responders didn’t use any real precautions, and so have gotten sick and died. And see this.

The same thing appears to be happening in connection with the Gulf oil spill.

Specifically, marine toxicologist Ricki Ott writes:

Local fishermen hired to work on BP’s uncontrolled oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico are scared and confused. Fishermen here and in other small communities dotting the southern marshes and swamplands of Barataria Bay are getting sick from the working on the cleanup, yet BP is assuring them they don’t need respirators or other special protection from the crude oil, strong hydrocarbon vapors, or chemical dispersants being sprayed in massive quantities on the oil slick.

Fishermen have never seen the results from the air-quality monitoring patches some of them wear on their rain gear when they are out booming and skimming the giant oil slick. However, more and more fishermen are suffering from bad headaches, burning eyes, persistent coughs, sore throats, stuffy sinuses, nausea, and dizziness. They are starting to suspect that BP is not telling them the truth.

And based on air monitoring conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a Louisiana coastal community, those workers seem to be correct. The EPA findings show that airborne levels of toxic chemicals like hydrogen sulfide, and volatile organic compounds like benzene, for instance, now far exceed safety standards for human exposure.

***

There is no excuse for sick people. BP and the federal agencies charged with worker safety know that the risks of working on a hazardous waste cleanup are extraordinarily high and that it will take a concerted effort to keep workers safe and healthy. Further, it will take an equally extraordinary effort by BP and the federal government to protect public health in coastal communities downwind or downstream from the toxic stew in the Gulf.

Yet I don’t see either BP or the federal government taking sufficient–or any–action to prevent human tragedy in the form of acute and likely long-term illnesses from its uncontrolled leak.

Update: McClatchy is reporting on some of these issues today.

Via Prison Planet.com » World News

Vincent Fernando, CFA
Business Insider
May 20, 2010

This morning we learned that the Independent’s Andrew Buncombe was one of the foreign journalists injured during last night’s Bangkok violence.

He was the one referred too by this:

He’s now recovering, and he’s already written a piece describing the violence which ensued after ‘red shirt’ protest leaders surrendered to police.

One of the broader take-aways from his eye-witness account, to us, is that the official death toll so far from yesterday seems too low. Mr. Buncombe describes seven people dead in his area:

Independent:

Of those killed yesterday, several died directly outside the temple – and many, many more wounded. Those sheltering inside the temple were just as vulnerable. In one of the compound’s buildings, seven bodies were laid out on the floor.

Seven dead here, yet what’s the official death toll for all of yesterday’s violence, which included multiple locations across Bangkok, and gun skirmishes for many hours? Seven, according to the medical authorities. Does this mean that nobody died outside of the temple? Have they failed to count the temple deaths yet? We know for sure there was at least one more, the Italian journalist Fabio Polenghi who died. That would seem to make eight deaths based on just this basic count. Perhaps the medical authorities are still running their tally, but it seems like the official death count is substantially lower than what likely transpired.

Anyhow, at the very least we expect the official death toll to climb once things have calmed down here. Yet with media locked down and curfews, we wouldn’t be surprised if the real number will be higher, but never proven. (UPDATE: Thai media is now reporting 14 as the total death count)

Regardless, without further ado, a first-hand account of one flash point, from the brave Andrew Buncombe:

Independent:

And then things rapidly changed. From the west, we could hear loud firing as troops advanced towards the temple area. Some reporters who had been outside said that a small number of Red Shirts were firing back with sling-slots, hand guns and petrol bombs. A photographer said he saw a man shot in front of him as he ran away from a line of soldiers, two bullets hitting him in the back and apparently exiting from the chest. The image that photographer had taken did not look good.

Suddenly the firing intensified. The explosions grew louder and appeared to get nearer to us and the crack of weapons became more frequent, their cap-gun noises giving no clue as to their deadly capability.

Continue reading the full account here >

Via Prison Planet.com » Commentary

The initial official excuse for such a perceptions drop in the Dow was a wrong keystroke, which is ludicrous.

Then there is the almost total control by Goldman Sachs of the market and control via the Supplementary Liquidity Provider. All they have to do is cut off liquidity and the market plunges. Thus, there is no question in our minds that Goldman attacked the market and took it down to let House and Senate members know that they can make the market do whatever they please with the full cooperation of the SEC and CFTC, this convinced lawmakers that the Illuminist threat was very real. There would be no breakup of too big to fail banks and no real audit of the Fed. The public would be thrown a bone. This is a good reason why program trading has to end and why derivatives have to be abolished. This is all a reflection of two sets of justice. One for the elitists and one for us. This also shows us that crime pays. It also proves our country is under the financial control of terrorists. This power has to be taken away from these criminals. The legal way to do that is by throwing most all of Congress and the Senate out of office. Then we will have a chance to save our country. Otherwise you will see this all move into the streets.

This same cabal has arranged for Europe’s $1 trillion bailout, which will not be successful and they know that. As a result the euro has fallen from $1.50 and is approaching $1.20. Could it be that the euro could go to parity? Yes, of course, it could. Then what or who is next? The pound, yen and then the dollar? Then we ask, “Who will save them?” Who will rescue the world from deflationary depression and another planned world war? You say they actually plan wars? Well, of course, they do. How do you think we were able to predict a 9/11, and the wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan? They were profitable diversions for the Illuminists. They kept the potboiling and sidetracked public thinking away from economic and financial problems. The propagandized and mindless public did not know they were being bamboozled again. In the meantime the Trilateralists tell us Israel should be attacking Iran, which in part proves our point. It is now just a question of when. Hasn’t the world public been deceived enough? When are they going to catch on? Do we have to pound it into their heads with a hammer? Of course, in time this is going to affect the dollar, particularly versus gold, which is the world’s ultimate currency. What will the world say when it discovers the US has little or no gold left? Will by that time 25% to 50% unemployed stand still and tolerate this crime? Will they riot and demand changes? Of course, they will and the elitists won’t listen, which will bring about their demise, as masters of the universe. This is why November’s election is so important. It is the last hope of changing our country without resorting to protest in the streets, as we are now seeing in the streets of others. What happens when Americans find out we have no gold left? That it was wasted in an attempt to cover up the seriousness of our collapsing economic and financial system that was being systematically looted. America is just as bad off as Europe. How can throwing money and credit at the system solve the problem? How can austerity solve the problem? It has all gone to far. The world has to have depression – there is no other solution. These are all legitimate questions, because no one is safe or exempt. Government cannot and does not even want to protect you. We no longer have a sovereign government; we have an ongoing criminal enterprise controlling our country. What we have seen over the past several years, what could never happen, has already happened. What is to come is going to be a nightmare.

World markets are dysfunctional and stability doesn’t exist. Man set distortions and economic imbalances – a system that functions without regulation, derivatives and unbridled and unfettered speculation, surrounds us. Leveraged speculation dominates the markets, particularly debt instruments. Unfortunately, this speculation is fostered by government and central banks perpetual willingness to bail out everyone in banking and finance just to keep the system afloat.

This brings us to the dilemma of Greece again. Eurozone policymakers, bankers and governments have been caught again perpetuating imprudent lending to a profligate Greece, whose leadership for years lied to the Greeks, kept two sets of books and were aided and abetted by international elitist bankers, such as Goldman Sachs. Those in authority in the eurozone and the bankers knew exactly what was going on. They deceived everyone in the eurozone including the Greeks. They did this because they knew the public would be called upon to bail them out in a European version of TARP, which was used to bailout the American financial community that was elitist connected. Our markets have been dominated by this cabal of crooks for the past 15 years. They held one interest rate for all to the limits, and the result of that is the deplorable financial condition not only in Greece, but in Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy as well. This situation was allowed to flourish. The ECB should get no sympathy, because they did what they did knowingly. They have been monetizing just like the Federal Reserve for the past seven years. The creation of money and credit slowed over the past year, but it will have to resume if Europe and the US expect to survive financially and economically.

Even with the problems we have seen over the past two years and 10 months, now those in Europe you would think would realize how serious these situations are. Now we have debtors in trouble having to lend to serious debtors in more serious trouble. That surely doesn’t make things better; it makes them worse. Incidentally, these are the people who caused the problems in the first place. They knew and we know, no matter what they say that their policies are unsound, unstable and unsustainable. As a result they are faced with a collapsing market for sovereign debt, which is affecting other debt and stocks worldwide. The fact that the Fed failed to solve the credit crisis and affect a recovery tells us that they are ineffective and the ECB is no more competent as well. Debt contagion is on and will sweep the world. Dead beats are dead beats even if they are sovereign nations.

Last week the Dow gained 2.3%; the S&P rose 2.2%; the Russell 2000 rose 6.3% and the Nasdaq 100 rose 3.1%. Cyclicals rose 4.4%; transports 4.4%; consumers 1.8%; utilities 2.4%; high tech 2.1%; semis 2.1%; Internets 4.5% and biotechs 3.7%. Gold bullion rose $22.00; the HUI rose 7.9% and the USDX rose 2.1% to 86.25, as the euro and other currencies folded. Two-year T-bills fell 3 bps to 0.72%; the 10-year notes increased 3 bps to 3.46% and the 10-year German bund rose 6 bps to 2.88%.

The Freddie Mac 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell 7 bps to 4.93%; the 15’s fell 6 bps to 4.30%. The one-year ARM’s fell 4.02% and 3-year jumbos fell 15 bps to 5.63%.

Fed credit dipped $1.2 billion to $2.310 trillion – it was up $90.3 billion y-t-d and 9.2% yoy. Fed foreign holdings of Treasuries and Agency debt fell $11.8 billion, as custody holdings for foreign central banks increased $108 billion ytd, up 14.2% yoy.

M2 narrow money supply rose $34.3 billion to $8.504 trillion. It is off $8.1 billion ytd and 1.4% plus yoy.

Total money market fund assets rose $24.2 billion to $2.878 trillion. This year assets are off $416 billion, with a yoy decline of $912 billion, or 24.1%.

Amports Inc. will lay off 116 workers at two auto terminals at the Port of Baltimore this summer.

As teachers marched nearby in protest, members of the Long Beach Board of Education on Tuesday voted to issue pink slips to 243 employees – mostly teachers – at the end of this school year as part of a budget-cutting effort.

The five-member board unanimously voted to lay off the employees to help the Long Beach Unified School District cut $90 million over the next two fiscal years. Ninety of those affected are workers on year-to-year contracts, while the remainder are permanent or probationary employees.

Drug company Takeda cutting 1,600 jobs.

The West Coast’s last big shipbuilder, a major employer in San Diego County, is planning at least 900 layoffs because of a prolonged industry slump.

General Dynamics NASSCO says it has sent letters to about a fourth of its 4,100 workers about possible layoffs in mid-July. Half of NASSCO’s 500 subcontractor jobs might be cut, too.

NASSCO spokesman Karl Johnson on Wednesday blamed the downturn in commercial and government shipbuilding as well as fluctuations in the Navy’s repair schedule.

NASSCO builds logistics ships for the Navy and commercial container ships and tankers.

Payment networks giants Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. were beaten down after the US Senate included limits on debit card fees in the financial overhaul bill and analysts said the House is likely to approve the measure. The proposal would give the Federal Reserve the power to curb debit card “swipe’’ fees charged to merchants. The limits may crimp revenue at Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan, the biggest US debit card issuers. The measure cleared the Senate because of the industry’s “terrible’’ attitude toward merchants, said majority whip Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, who pushed the fee curbs. Merchants last year paid $19.7 billion in fees tied to debit transactions processed by the two networks. The firms counter the bill would benefit retailers at the expense of consumers.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a revised spending plan Friday that pegged the state’s budget shortfall at $19.1 billion and called for deep cuts to welfare and health programs—but no tax increases—to close the gap.

The new shortfall estimate is higher than the previous projection of $18.6 billion partly because the state collected less tax revenue than expected in April for the 2009 tax year. Court decisions challenging some of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s cuts also added to the budget gap.

This will be the third straight year that Mr. Schwarzenegger has proposed deep spending cuts. Tax revenue in California has plunged because of the collapse of the real estate and financial markets. Legislators closed a $60 billion budget gap last year, but not before state officials had to issue IOUs to creditors to keep the state solvent.

‘It is very hard to believe that the total US notional derivatives positions of US commercial banks and trusts is $43.9 TRILLION dollars. By comparison, the US GDP, all the goods and services produced and consumed in our entire great nation by every single American each year, was only running $10.1t in the first quarter. The US M3 money supply, the broadest measure of money, was only $7.4t at the time. The 500 best and biggest companies in the United States, the S&P 500, were only worth $10.4t at the end of the first quarter. Clearly, the $43.9t dollars of the notional value of derivatives that a mere 395 commercial banks and trusts control is simply staggering as it far exceeds the entire US GDP, the entire broad US money supply, and the entire value of all the stocks traded in the United States! BIG, BIG, BIG numbers!’

Global demand for long-term U.S. financial assets strengthened in March to a record as investors from China to the U.K. purchased the most Treasuries since November, a Treasury Department report said.

Net buying of equities, notes and bonds totalled $140.5 billion in March, more than double economists’ projections, after net buying of $47.1 billion in February, the report released today in Washington showed. Including short-term securities such as stock swaps, investors abroad purchased

Manufacturing in the New York region expanded at a slower pace in May than forecast as sales cooled.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index fell to 19.1 from 31.9 in April, which was the second- highest level in four years. Readings greater than zero signal gains in the so-called Empire State Index that covers New York, northern New Jersey and southern Connecticut.

US NAHB Housing Market Index improves to 22 in May from 19.

US Net Long-term TIC Flows rise to $140.5B in Mar vs. $47.1B in Feb.

Goldman Sachs is ceasing proprietary trading in one type of structured debt. A group of traders who were focused on making bets on collateralized loan obligations with the New York-based firm’s own money are now handling trades for clients.

Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman denied allegations the U.S. bank misled investors about mortgage derivatives it sold them.  The firm is being probed by U.S. prosecutors over whether the bank misled clients when it sold them collateralized debt obligations as its own traders bet that the value of the securities would drop. Wall Street firms are facing unprecedented scrutiny from lawmakers and prosecutors over whether they mis-sold CDOs linked to the subprime mortgages that caused the credit crisis.

The fallout from the European debt crisis raises the risk of a ‘double dip’ recession for the global economy, said Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd.  ‘When you have a vulnerable post-crisis economic recovery and crises reverberating in the aftermath of that, you have some very serious risks to the global business cycle,’ Roach said. This concept of the global double dip which no one wants to talk about is alive and well.

New Jersey’s Democratic lawmakers plan to introduce legislation to resurrect an income-tax surcharge on residents who earn $1 million a year or more.

The U.S. posted its largest April budget deficit on record as receipts declined in a month that typically sees an increase in individual income tax payments.  The excess of spending over revenue rose to $82.7 billion last month compared with a $20.9 billion gap in April 2009. April marked a record 19th straight monthly shortfall. Deterioration in the government’s balance sheet in coming years raises the risk of higher interest rates even as an improving economy helps lift tax receipts.  ‘With the recovery in place, we should be seeing higher revenue and lower outlays, not the other way around,’ said Win Thin, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman. The government’s April budget deficit compares with a median forecast of $57.9 billion. The last time the U.S. had back-to-back April deficits was 1963-1964. For the fiscal year that began in October, the budget deficit totalled $799.7 billion compared with $802.3 billion during the same period last year.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will seek ‘terrible cuts’ to eliminate an $18.6 billion budget deficit facing the most-populous U.S. state through June 2011. California’s revenue in April, when income-tax payments are due, trailed the governor’s estimates by $3.6 billion, or 26%.

“California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a new round of budget cuts, including eliminating the state’s main welfare program for families, to close a $19.1 billion budget deficit for the year starting July 1.  The $83.4 billion plan calls for $12.4 billion in spending reductions, $3.4 billion in additional federal aid and $3.4 billion in fund shifts, fees and assessments…”

“In June 2006, a year before the subprime mortgage market collapsed, Morgan Stanley created a cluster of investments doomed to fail even if default rates stayed low — then bet against its concoction.  Known as the Baldwin deals, the $167 million of synthetic collateralized debt obligations had an unusual feature… Rather than curtailing their bets on mortgage bonds as the underlying home loans paid down, the CDOs kept wagering as if the risk hadn’t changed. That left Baldwin investors facing losses on a modest rise in U.S. housing foreclosures, while Morgan Stanley was positioned to gain.  ‘I can’t imagine anybody would take that bet knowingly,’ said Thomas Adams, a former executive at bond insurers Ambac Financial Group Inc. and FGIC Corp… ‘You’re overriding the natural process of risk-mitigation.’”

 David Rosenberg echoes our view: There are classic signs indeed that the recession in the U.S. ended last summer — output, sales, etc. But the depression is ongoing and the reason we say that is because real personal income, excluding handouts from the government, has barely budged. In fact, real organic personal income is nearly $500 billion lower now than it was at the peak 16 months ago and this has never occurred before coming out of any technical recession. It is a depression. The share of U.S. personal income being derived from Uncle Sam’s generosity has risen above 18% for the first time ever.

Estimates of how much the government’s spending is actually stimulating growth vary wildly — some economists contend it has no net effect at all. But if you believe the economists at Goldman Sachs, who have spent a lot of time poring over the details, the effect is quite significant: about two percentage points of annualized growth in both this quarter and the last. Indeed, if one subtracts that stimulus effect and the boost from changing inventories — also a temporary factor — there’s been no recovery at all. Growth in the first and second quarters of 2010 would be zero.

In the second half of this year, both those temporary factors will fade. The stimulus could even become a drag as it winds down: Goldman estimates it will shave about half a percentage point from annualized growth in the fourth quarter of this year, moving up to nearly two percentage points in the third quarter of 2011, as the overall amount of spending shrinks.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are among 10 banks Massachusetts is targeting in a probe of trading of municipal credit default swaps, according to the office of Secretary of State William Galvin.  

The state’s securities division sent letters today to 10 underwriters of municipal bonds, asking them to detail their trading of credit-default swaps linked to state and local government bonds they’ve underwritten in Massachusetts since 2003. Recipients have until May 28 to respond. The letter asked each bank to “identify the entity that purchased CDS from your firm for each Massachusetts state or municipal bond offering.”

China boosted its holdings of U.S. Treasury debt for the first time in six months, U.S. officials said Monday. That development could ease concerns that lagging foreign demand will force the United States to pay higher interest rates to finance its debt.

The Treasury Department said that China’s holdings of U.S. Treasury securities rose 2 percent in March, to $895 billion, the first increase since last September. The purchases solidified China’s position as the world’s largest holder of U.S. debt.

Japan, the No. 2 investor, also increased its holdings in March. They rose 2.1 percent, to $784 billion. Total foreign holdings of Treasury securities rose 3.5 percent, to $3.9 trillion.

The government reported that net holdings of long-term securities, which includes the debt of U.S. companies as well as government debt, rose $140 billion in March, the largest one-month gain on record. It surpassed the old record of $135.8 billion in May 2007.

You’ve got hundreds of billions of recapitalization’s needed in Europe, says Meredith Whitney, who is speaking on CNBC this afternoon.

And the fact that Europe is worse than the US is saying something, she says, since she’s definitely still not positive on US banks.

Other than that, her interview appears to be a rehash of her op-ed arguing that financial reform will kill jobs.

“It could be very bad.”

As for specific aspects of financial reform that concern her: pre-emption (rules that would allow banks to move to different states and take advantage of lower interest rates in some markets) and interchange fees regulation.

Specifically, she expects that interchange regulations will cream smaller banks to the benefit of the larger banks, hampering merchants’ access to capital.

As for the stock market: The second half will be “bleak.”