As we all approach the inevitable chaos of the holidays with shopping, company parties, and client gift lists - all on top of Q4 and 2009 reports and wrap ups - please take care care to protect yourself and your family from possible tragedy due to simple oversight...
Excerpt:
"Dupont, Monsanto, Syngenta, and Groupe Limagrain control 75 percent of the seed marketplace and this Saturday at 9:00 am pst, Michael Olson's Food Chain Radio hosts Steve Hixson from Steve's Seed Conditioning to discuss the politics of seeds. Currently, Monsanto and Dupont are going head to head for a bigger piece of the seed profit pie.
So what exactly does such dominance mean for our nation's food chain? With four massive corporations controlling the marketplace, it undoubtedly will have repercussions for the food industry. I wrote back in
September that farmers are essentially giving up the wheel to corporate entities that research, develop, and mass produce seeds. Tracts of land planted with commercial seeds are pushing out local crop varieties and erasing the knowledge gained from 10,000 years of farming." http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/the-politics-of-seeds.php
I will always quote this, it is so true:
" Societies and economies can be destroyed by bombs. Societies can also be destroyed by locking every aspect of life like provision of food and water through an economic war.”
By Vandana Shiva
As unemployment hits 10.2%, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is the richest Congressman worth an estimated $251 million. Perhaps this is what's really wrong with this country. We need some real people in there who know what it means to work for a living.
Next in line: Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), $244.7 million;
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), $214.5 million;
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), $209.7 million;
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), $208.8 million.
Seven members of Congress are worth over $100 million. But here's the sad part of the story. These numbers are down from their highs in 2007. Ain't that a bitch?
The biggest losers include Kerry, who lost a whopping $127.4 million; Warner lost about $28.1 million; Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) lost about $11.8 million; and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) lost about $10.1 million. Let's take up a collection. Oh, never mind. The health insurance industry is already on the case.
Banks are pushing against an independent financial regulatory board. This would result in banks being able to legally lie to the public and investors about their economic strength.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/06/house-panel-may-keep-publ_n_348685.html... more
WASHINGTON, DC -- Fannie Mae (FNM/NYSE) today announced the establishment of a new National Real Estate Owned (REO) Rental Policy that will allow qualified renters in Fannie Mae-owned foreclosed properties to stay in their homes. The company currently has an eviction suspension in place through the end of January which will allow for the new policy to be fully operationalized prior to the suspension concluding.
"Renters in foreclosed properties have often been a casualty of the foreclosure crisis the country is facing," said Michael Williams, chief operating officer of Fannie Mae. "This policy will allow qualified renters to remain in Fannie Mae-owned properties should they choose to do so, mitigate the disruption of personal lives that foreclosures can cause, and help bring a measure of stability to communities impacted by high foreclosure rates."
The new policy applies to renters occupying foreclosed properties at the time Fannie Mae acquires the property. Renters occupying any type of single-family property will be eligible including residents of two- to four-unit properties, condos, co-ops, single-family detached homes and manufactured housing. Eligible renters will be offered a new month-to-month lease with Fannie Mae or financial assistance for their transition to new housing should they choose to vacate the property. The properties must meet state laws and local code requirements for a rental property.
While the company markets the properties for sale, Fannie Mae will manage the properties through a real estate broker or a property management company. The company will not require security deposits to be posted in connection with this program.
Renters in the foreclosed properties will be asked to pay market rate rent under the new leases. Rates may be determined by reviewing local comparable rents, conducting a neighborhood survey, or through other relevant indicators. Rates will also be subject to any legal rent control restrictions. The company will review each instance where the market rate may require a tenant to pay additional rent and will work to reach an equitable resolution.
It's been tumultuous for the economy in the half-week since we launched The Real Recovery: unemployment benefits were extended and then October's unemployment numbers hit over 10 percent. It seems like just the right time to get to the real stories behind the economic stats.
Each week on The Real Recovery we're going to ask a big question - and then spend the week figuring out the answer with your help. For next week - we're looking at those entering the job market for the very first time.
If a tenth of America is unemployed - how hard is it going to be for recent college graduates to get jobs? For college seniors who expect to graduate in 2010? From the National Bureau of Economic Research: "The Career Effects Of Graduating In A Recession":
Graduating in a recession leads to large initial earnings losses. These losses, which amount to about 9 percent of annual earnings in the initial stage, eventually recede, but slowly -- halving within five years but not disappearing until about ten years after graduation.
Starting Monday - we're going to focus on college graduates. Here's how you can get involved:
Are you a college senior?: Post a story on The Real Recovery about your job search. Do you have something lined up? Are you just trying not to think about it?
Did you graduate this year?: How's it been out there in the job market? Have you been able to find work?
Did you graduate years ago?: How was your experience in the economic climate you had? How does it compare to today's?
You can post your story to Current by clicking the "Post a Story" button on The Real Recovery group page and then just start typing!
And also, if you want to get involved as an investigator - send me a message on Current.
Although the economy and markets will improve before businesses start employing more people, the holiday shopping season is destined to disappoint investors and children alike as personal disposable income promises to be much lower than last year.Although the economy and markets will improve before businesses start employing more... more
During this week’s Federal Executive Forum taping, Navy CIO Robert Carey discussed his views on cloud computing. Stating that the NGEN and CANES (Navy Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services) programs will both leverage cloud computing, he also describes a future of “grey clouds” on each ship.
The dilemma over how limited supplies of the H1N1 vaccine should be distributed was underscored today as government health officials defended their allocation of vaccine to Wall Street firms. But doctors around the country bristled at this news, asking why these firms can get the vaccine while physicians and hospitals still face shortages. It is a controversy that prompted a comment from the White House, a letter from the CDC, and protest to congress from a citizens group.
"Greed goes beyond just money," said Dr. Michael Coates, professor of Family and Community Medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., of the news, which first appeared in a BusinessWeek article on Monday. "We have neither the seasonal nor the H1N1 vaccines for our patients. I had several high-risk individuals in my clinic this morning who should get vaccinated."
The report also prompted Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) to demand an investigation into why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved small amounts of H1N1 vaccine for distribution at 13 companies including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.
Prompted by various news reports about Goldman Sachs officials receiving H1N1 vaccines, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden sent a letter to states reiterating the importance of vaccinating priority groups.
Frieden said in his letter, "The goal of the H1N1 vaccination program is to protect our population -- focusing first on these high-risk groups and ensuring equitable access to the vaccine. While vaccine supplies are still limited, any vaccine distribution decisions that appear to direct vaccine to people outside the identified priority groups have the potential to undermine the credibility of the program."
But because the vaccine is actually distributed through state health departments, the CDC may have little direct say in this matter. Moreover, some experts say that allowing large companies and businesses to become points of distribution for vaccine may be logical.
When you make [vaccination] easy and accessible to people, you improve immunization rates," said Dr. Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Vaccine Research Group at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "It's the nature of people who are in the workplace or in schools to congregate and that's where the virus spreads."
In New York City, the Health Department places vaccine orders on behalf of health care providers who register and submit requests. These providers, which include schools, hospitals, health centers and employee health services, must agree to recognize priority groups in order to receive any vaccine.
"The Health Department does not distinguish between workplace and non-workplace vaccination settings," said Jennifer Scaperotti, spokesperson for the New York City Health Department. "As a result, it is not always possible to determine where a particular provider will vaccinate patients in a workplace, an internist's office or another setting. As long as the provider is adhering to the priority groups listed in the vaccine application, either is legitimate."
So far, New York City has received 98 percent of the 873,600 doses of H1N1 vaccine allotted to them by the CDC, of which the majority of doses have gone to pediatric facilities and hospitals. Adult providers, which include workplaces, have received 6 percent of all the available doses so far.
Balancing Those Who Need Vaccine
Poland pointed out that it was important to strike a balance between vaccinating priority groups and the general population, and that while doling out vaccine on a rolling schedule is the best way to vaccinate the greatest number of people, the practice can be frustrating for some.
The BSE Sensex is set to open higher on Friday, mirroring the rise in world equities after better-than-expected U.S. jobs data bolstered investor confidence in the global economy.The BSE Sensex is set to open higher on Friday, mirroring the rise in world equities... more
A year after taxpayers forked over $700 billion to help rescue the biggest names in banking, insurance and the automotive industry, those same institutions are using portions of the cash to influence legislation with a direct impact on taxpayers.
The Senate passed a bill yesterday to extend unemployment benefits for the jobless to 14 weeks, and up to 20 weeks for those who live in states with over 8.5 percent unemployment.
From the Washington Post:
"More than 1 million people would have had their benefits ended without the extension, according to the National Employment Law Project, a nonpartisan group that tracks the issue. More than 15 million Americans are now unemployed, more than a third of whom have been out of work for more than six months."
The House has passed the bill today - and it's expected to be signed into law by President Obama very quickly.
Also yesterday we launched The Real Recovery (here's the intro blog post) - our group investigation into how the recession's effects are still lingering despite its end. Are you unemployed - directly affected by this news? Let us know. Go join The Real Recovery group and post your personal story.
A clear, concise and comprehensive case for socialism, written by Albert Einstein in 1949. He discusses our nature as both solitary and social beings, simultaneously conditioned by biological and cultural constitutions, and what this means for the individual's role in society. He then asks "how the structure of society and the cultural attitude of man should be changed in order to make human life as satisfying as possible." The final passages prove particularly poignant in presaging the greatest atrocities committed by Soviet tyranny. The challenge: How is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?
Part of the answer may reside in bypassing the power of large bureaucracies through a decentralized system of democratic planning directed by workers' and consumers' councils. Moreover, with today's information communication technology, the capacity for mass collaboration and self-government/self-management has never been more viable and effective. Your thoughts?
An Excerpt:
"The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.
The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor—not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules. In this respect, it is important to realize that the means of production—that is to say, the entire productive capacity that is needed for producing consumer goods as well as additional capital goods—may legally be, and for the most part are, the private property of individuals...
(The) crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society."A clear, concise and comprehensive case for socialism, written by Albert Einstein in... more
We’re launching a big project today on Current News. And we’re going to need your help.
Here’s the idea:
Everybody says we’re headed for an economic recovery, right? The economy grew in the third quarter of this year, the Dow is hovering around 10,000, even Ford managed to make a profit. But the other thing that everybody says is that it’ll be a “jobless” recovery. The economy might grow, but unemployment will stay the same. To say nothing of underemployment – people who have taken lesser positions, started freelancing or stopped looking for new work. While the financial folks celebrate the return of the bull market – what about the rest of us?
We want to paint a picture of what’s really going on out there. As the recession comes to an end – what does the recovery really look like? What is the real recovery?
Over the next few months – until the end of the first quarter of next year – we’re going to conduct a special new experimental project to look at the state of our nation. This is where you come in.
My office is in San Francisco. I can give local perspectives from here. But in order to tell this story from every corner of the country – we need your help. What do things look like where you live? Do you have a personal story about how you’ve been affected by the recession?
How you can get involved:
- The big thing is that you can write your own posts in the group “The Real Recovery”. What are we looking for? Local perspectives and personal perspectives. Just a few paragraphs: How are you or your community affected? Every week we’ll have different questions we’re asking – and we want you to post your answers.
- Now, do you want to get really involved? You can become a part of our Current Investigation Network. That means we’ll put you on an email list where sometimes we’ll reach out digging for info or to ask you to help out with collaborative assignments. If you want to be a part of the project by doing a little real journalism – this is the way to do it.
- And as always, you can clip stories and you can weigh in on the comments of posts. We’ll be highlighting stories people post over on the Blog – and that could be yours.
This is a big new step for Current News, and I’m personally very excited about it. I worked on Collective Journalism for two years, our citizen journalism program, and I think this is an even bigger opportunity to get even more people involved in the journalism we make.
So, what’s the next step?
- Join the group: “The Real Recovery”
- Tell us your story – just a few paragraphs. Either post in the comments here – or post your own story to the group. This Friday we’ll feature some of your contributions.
- If you want to be a part of the investigation team – send me a direct message.
New York's attorney general has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel Corp., claiming the company used ``illegal threats and collusion'' to dominate the marketplace for computer microprocessors. http://www.wcbs880.com/Cuomo-Files-Antitrust-Suit-Against-Intel/5597896New York's attorney general has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel Corp.,... more
This is a very intelligent speech about the herd mentality, "the sheeple" and how people are being manipulated by a few in this world.
I know it's old but I have never seen this at Current, and his concepts refer to today society.
He talks about the pyramid structure adopted in every big and small company/organization and how this brings only tiny knowledge, if anything none to the ones at the bottom and the few on top control everything. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6334005121196324215#
Excerpt from the link:
"Exposing the real story behind global events, which shape the future of human existence and the world we leave our children. The veil lifts on an astonishing web of interconnected manipulation to reveal that the same few people, secret societies and organizations control the daily direction of our lives, & how the same people on apparently different sides of politics are actually connected to the same elite organizations. These organizations have the same proven agenda of a world government, a world central bank, a world army, a world currency, and some say a micro-chipped population. "OPPO-SAMES" These apparent opposites in politics are there to persuade us that we are not living in a prison, that we have a choice. Yet these persons are not opposites at all but are part of a one-party state."
With the threat of aftershocks in the US Stock market, continued bank closings and takeovers by the FDIC, serious consideration needs to be given to changing the current reporting, auditing and oversight regulations, and the public needs to pressure elected officials into action before our entire country is taken off financial life support.
In terms of speed, Retina performed much faster. In terms of scan depth, Nessus has a small advantage, since it includes a web mirroring tool that is very helpful in HTTP. In a direct comparison, Nessus wins simply because Retina manifested erroneous results on repeat scans.
