Past free trade pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are not actually free, and have come at great costs. The price we’ve paid for the abuse of human rights, offshoring of jobs, downward pressure on wages, destruction of our environment and loss of family farms is far too great.
Trade agreements should serve a majority of people on issues such as public health, the environment, human rights, food and consumer safety and access to essential services. Instead, these "free trade" policies, along with others put forth in the World Trade Organization (WTO), have merely worked to serve corporate interests and profit margins. http://www.change.org/ideas/view/replace_nafta_and_the_so-called_free_trade_model_with_a_fair_way_forward_the_trade_actPast free trade pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are not... more
TELFORD - Two women from Telford have been arrested for allegedly filing a false report of rape - then later admitting the sex was consensual in exchange for a pack of cigarettes.
One of the women allegedly told police they decided to file the report because they "didn't enjoy the sex."
According to the Washington County Sheriff's Office, the women reported they went outside their home at 255 Browning Road, Telford, when they heard barking dogs. Jessica Kathleen Alexander, 18, and Tammy Nicole Ortego, 29, said two men then threw them to the ground and raped them.
However, police said both women later recanted their original story.
They allegedly admitted they had met a man on a telephone chat line and then met him for sex. In exchange, the man - who police say was previously unknown to the women - gave them one pack of cigarettes.
The WCSO said Alexander advised they filed the report because they "didn't enjoy the sex."
Both women were arrested and charged with filing a false police report. Ortego was charged with an additional count of the offense in connection with a report of arson at her home on Nov. 11, 2009. She allegedly admitted to giving false information in that investigation as well.
Ortego was being held in the Washington County Detention Center on a $10,000 bond, while Alexander's bond was set at $5,000. They are each scheduled for arraignment this morning.
Police say an investigation is ongoing, and more arrests are pending.
This Disgruntled Artwork Perpetually Sells Itself on eBay
Caleb Larsen's "A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter" isn't quite as menacing as its name makes it out to be, but it's definitely a flighty little fellow: it continually creates new eBay auctions for itself via a built-in Ethernet jack.
No owner is quite good enough for this big-headed piece. Larsen's "Tool," a shiny, black cube with an Ethernet jack, pings a server every ten minutes to determine if it is listed for sale on eBay. If it's not, it creates a new auction. Mind you, this isn't only a conceptual function of the piece; it really is constantly auctioning itself and being purchased by new owners. You can view the current auction at http://atooltodeceiveandslaughter.com/.
Around the end of 2009, Apple mobile phone profits overtook those of the worldwide leader in smart phone sales: Nokia.
Nokia sued Apple for patent infringement, and asked for a ban on iPhone imports. Apple sued them right back, and asked for a ban on Nokia imports. Both companies hold a number of patents that are relevant to smart phone products.Around the end of 2009, Apple mobile phone profits overtook those of the worldwide... more
LOS ANGELES - Barred from using lead in children's jewelry because of its toxicity, some Chinese manufacturers have been substituting the more dangerous heavy metal cadmium in sparkling charm bracelets and shiny pendants being sold throughout the United States, an Associated Press investigation shows.
more at link
NAFTA and GATT was a bipartisan effort, led by Al Gore and Newt Gingrich b/c both parties are owned by the NWO. If we support the Freedom of Currency Act, Industrial Hemp Act and End the Fed, all proposed by Ron Paul, we can save this country and protect our children.LOS ANGELES - Barred from using lead in children's jewelry because of its... more
To fight terrorism we should arrest terrorists, not bombing innocent civilians. It's obvious, yet Obama's policy for 2010 is the old one of Bush, the policy of the war party http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/world/paceguerra311209.htmlTo fight terrorism we should arrest terrorists, not bombing innocent civilians.... more
Evan Kopelson looks at the incentives to drive America to a low carbon economy, including a cap and trade system, and subsidies of clean energy investments. He looks at the pros and cons of each, and issues recommendations. Evan is president of Green Media Consulting Inc, and founder of Green Media News. He advises on issues of climate change, sustainability, corporate and personal responsibility.Evan Kopelson looks at the incentives to drive America to a low carbon economy,... more
TO: All Employees of Santa's Workshop and Associated Businesses
FROM: Santa
RE: Restructuring
As many of you know, our business, once thought to be recession-proof, has been severely affected by the current economic crisis. The worldwide downturn and global changes in manufacturing and transport have led me to a very difficult decision: Effective Dec. 26, 2009, we will be closing the main workshop facility and scaling back or restructuring most of our other operations. While this transition will be painful, I believe it is the best way to stem our losses, reinvigorate the Santa brand and, ultimately, move the business into the 21st century.
The problems we have faced in recent years have proved insurmountable. You're all familiar with our difficulty in obtaining sleigh parts, the increasingly incomprehensible requests from spelling-challenged children and injuries sustained in faux fireplaces, to name just a few.
In the past 12 months, Mrs. Claus and I have worked tirelessly to save the business and avoid cutbacks in staff. We spent weeks working out a merger with the Tooth Fairy, only to have the deal fall through when TF Inc. insisted that I be replaced with a younger, "less cholesterol-driven, more ethnically ambiguous" spokesperson. Company officials also demanded that I retire the phrase "ho, ho, ho" (which they seemed to think was disrespectful toward young women). I of course could not agree to such drastic alterations in the brand.
A short portrait film about a old fashioned sign writer in Cardiff, the details of his amazing work and his amazing character.A short portrait film about a old fashioned sign writer in Cardiff, the details of his... more
Democracy Now! Tuesday, December 15, 2009l the expansion of carbon emissions trading help stop global warming or just create a new market for Wall Street to make billions? We air excerpts of Annie Leonards The Story of Cap and Trade and speak with Larry Lohmann and Frank Ackerman.Democracy Now! Tuesday, December 15, 2009l the expansion of carbon emissions trading... more
Russian Northern coast is a vast territory lays for a few thousand of miles and all this coastline is inside the Polar Circle. Long polar winters mean no daylight at all, just one day changes another without any sign of the Sun rising above the horizon. There is only polar night for 100 day a year.
But across this Northern coast there was always a short way for the cargo boats to travel from Eastern part of Russia to the Western. Now this trip can be made fairly easy with the appearance of all the satellite navigation equipment like GPS and others, but during the Soviet Era they had none of this.
So, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union decided to build a chain of lighthouses to guide ships finding their way in the dark polar night across uninhabited shores of the Soviet Russian Empire. So it has been done and a series of such lighthouses has been erected. They had to be fully autonomous, because they were situated hundreds and hundreds miles aways from any populated areas. After reviewing different ideas on how to make them work for a years without service and any external power supply, Soviet engineers decided to implement atomic energy to power up those structures. So, special lightweight small atomic reactors were produced in limited series to be delivered to the Polar Circle lands and to be installed on the lighthouses. Those small reactors could work in the independent mode for years and didn’t require any human interference, so it was very handy in the situation like this. It was a kind of robot-lighthouse which counted itself the time of the year and the length of the daylight, turned on its lights when it was needed and sent radio signals to near by ships to warn them on their journey. It all looks like ran out the sci-fi book pages, but so they were.
Then, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the unattended automatic lighthouses did it job for some time, but after some time they collapsed too. Mostly as a result of the hunt for the metals like copper and other stuff which were performed by the looters. They didn’t care or maybe even didn’t know the meaning of the “Radioactive Danger” sign and ignored them, breaking in and destroying the equipment. It sounds creepy but they broke into the reactors too causing all the structures to become radioactively polluted.
Those photos are from the trip to the one of such structures, the most close to the populated areas of the Russian far east. Now, there are signs “RADIOACTIVITY” written with big white letters on the approaching paths to the structure but they don’t stop the abandoned exotics lovers.
Obama can learn a thing or two from Europe's scheme.
The Obama administration has, as expected, re-engaged the U.S. in the negotiations for a global climate change mitigation regime after the Kyoto protocol expires at the end of 2012. A bill setting greenhouse gas reduction targets is currently progressing through Congress, with strong backing from the president. But apart from the warm feeling that comes with an improvement in America's international image, what is likely to be achieved in real terms, and at what cost?
To get a good idea, U.S. policy makers need only look across the Atlantic. The European Union, keen to show global leadership, introduced the world's first Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in January 2005, just before the Kyoto protocol came into force. The principle of this and similar schemes -- including the proposed U.S. cap and trade regime -- is that certain sectors of industry are allocated permits to emit fixed amounts of carbon dioxide, held to be the primary driver of climate change. If they manage to reduce emissions more than planned, companies can sell their excess permits; if they need more, they have to buy them.
Advocates of the system like it because "the polluter pays." Setting aside for the moment the question of whether it is justifiable to call carbon dioxide a pollutant, companies of course do not simply absorb these extra costs. Instead, they pass them on to their customers who are also, by and large, taxpayers. Not only does the taxpayer carry the cost of any cap and trade scheme, but their money also provides profit for a whole new industry: the new carbon trading sector, the middlemen who make the system work
"This week marks the 10th anniversary of the famous Seattle protests, which succeeded in temporarily shutting down World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. The implications of its success were considerable, but I mention it now primarily for irony's sake. For on December 5th there will be nation-wide protests against the policies of the WTO in remembrance of the Battle of Seattle. One of the larger gatherings has been put together in Portland by an organization called D5. Okay...so far, so good.
Now let's take a look at the itinerary:
12pm- Meet under the Hawthorne Bridge
1pm- March to the World Trade Center
2pm- Indoor Rally and Concert at Portland State Univers-
--wait, what!? An indoor concert at PSU? Why would we want to cut our own protest short by having a concert inside a building 10 blocks away from the World Trade Center? What a half-ass attempt at activism. I wonder if we think listening to certain music will directly change the world, or if we've simply given up..."http://itpoliticsnews.blogspot.com/2009/12/odd-d5-world-trade-protest.html
From It!... more
With the upcoming trial, 5 men will come face to face with the death sentence for the atrocities of 9/11. Without question the people who are at fault deserve to be punished but is it fair to limit the trial to only 5 possible suspects? If the answer is yes. Consider changing your mind after watching this...
Now I know, 20 minutes is longer than our attention span but give it a chance, if you aren't convinced there's more to the story after 5 minutes, keep watching. By the end if you're still not convinced there is a higher power creating this awe-full situation then, "We've got a Winner" and you're it.
The full version of this Truth Movement Doctrine or "Zeitgeist: The movie" can be found all over the internet but at it's source here...http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com
PEACE www.causes.com/WorldPeaceWith the upcoming trial, 5 men will come face to face with the death sentence for the... more
Victims of justice
Ya Rab (GOD) Bless those Who are poor , helpless, hungry, Victims of war, Victims of modern slave trade, Victims of justice, Victims of color, Victims of faith, Victims of race, Victims of name. Victims of religious asylum, Victims of human rights. Victam of Basic Freedom. Blessing on Humanity from American Slave Ajmal Mehdi (Imam) and Adam Mehdi (Jesus Christ) of humanfealty the father and the son with Holy Spirit!
Saint Human faith of humanfealtyVictims of modern Slave Trade
Victims of justice
Ya Rab (GOD) Bless those Who are... more
Consumer demand for organic, fair trade chocolate is helping to revive an entire sector of the economy in Sao Tome. Thanks to an initiative first proposed by IFAD, 1400 farmers on this island 230 kilometres of the west coast of Africa have switched to organic cocoa production and are earning more money as a result.Consumer demand for organic, fair trade chocolate is helping to revive an entire... more
After baptizing the remaining HD DVD faithful, Warner has moved on to teaching new Blu-ray converts the five pillars of faith with a trade-up program. Send in your old DVDs (just the box art won't cut it this time around, better buy some blanks and get to ripping if you still enjoy Training Day on long car trips), $7.95 - $9.95 per movie plus $4.95 for s&h (orders over $25 ship for free) and expect HD versions back in 4 - 5 weeks. Is it worth it? Depends on how many of the 55 flicks on the approved list you own (included after the break) but for most you're probably better off keeping the ones you have and eyeing budget bins carefully, nabbing catalog flicks like Harold & Kumar for less than $15 without any mail-in shenanigans shouldn't be too hard for the truly thrifty.
