time*treat's Blog

actually, the story would have ended like this...

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/08/portland_lemonade_stand_runs_i.html

Yep, got yer 'cashless' society right here.
Although it doesn't, "smh" should stand for "shake my head".

http://www.smh.com.au/business/millions-cashless-in-bank-glitch-20101126-18akf.html

ONE of Australia's biggest banks is scrambling to process payments to millions of customers, who potentially face days of uncertainty about when they will be able to access their money.

A corrupted file in the National Australia Bank's computers on Wednesday jammed its payment system, hitting customers from a range of banks who rely on the NAB to process payments.

The bank, which last night was considering opening extra branches during the weekend, could not say when the problem would be fixed. It had hoped to resolve the problem on Thursday.

The Herald has been inundated by anxious NAB customers, some of whom had checked online to find their past month's transactions rubbed out and their accounts credited with nothing.

Property deals were being put on hold, car sales suspended, wages not transferred, and direct debit payments for mortgages and bills stopped.

The glitch is a humiliation for the chief executive, Cameron Clyne, who this week said customers were beginning to appreciate the bank's efforts to differentiate itself from its rivals.

A spokeswoman said any charges incurred because of the computer failure would be covered by the bank. But customers would have to make their own arrangements to contact the NAB.

The smaller banks Citibank and HSBC confirmed that their payments had also stalled because they use the NAB to process transactions.

The executive director of the Australian Retailers' Association, Russell Zimmerman, lamented the possible impact on the weekend's trade. ''It is a huge disappointment for the retail industry, and for those people who have been relying on their funds to come in from their wages and can't access them.

''People have to be aware that if they are going to use taxis, or load up their supermarket trolleys, they could get to the counter and find they can't process their sales,'' he said.

NAB customers expressed anger, grief and disbelief that such a crippling problem could hit one of the big four banks.

Peter Bogdanoff, a car salesman at Central Coast Eurocars Gosford, said not only had his pay not gone in, but a whole month's worth of transactions appeared to have been wiped from his online account.

Mr Bogdanoff also had clients with no money to finalise their car purchases this weekend.

Derek Sequeira, a manager at Charles Sturt University in Albury, said he would try to organise a class action against the NAB.

Emma Jane, a 34-year-old administrator from Townsville, said she had just returned from holidays and was relying on her pay packet to last the weekend.

The NAB spokeswoman said the bank had put on additional call centre staff. Some customers would also have difficulty taking money out from ATMs.

On Thursday Mr Clyne issued a rallying call to the banking industry to acknowledge why it was so unpopular with the public.

''The industry needs to stop being as arrogant as it has been. It needs to be less defensive, less dismissive. It needs to be more open, it has to do more listening, it has to display more empathy, it has to display more action,'' he said.

Daniel Hannan giving an explanation of the vote in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 24th November, concerning European regulations on herbal medicines which will put companies selling harmless products out of business.

George Hemminger says that as many people are feeling the economic downturn hit them, they are growing their own food. However, the government might try to take that choice away from the people as well by passing a bill that would make it illegal to clean and store seeds.

A Glimps into S 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-510

 

Vandana Shiva, ISEC - Indian Food Laws

Am I still "making it up"?

Gasland trailer & clip

Here's a blog write-up that links back to its source stories, articles, and documents (saving me a whole lot of work)

Energy Industry Fights Chemical Disclosure
Natural Gas Companies Want to Prevent Oversight of Fracking
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/04/fracking.html

from: Energy Industry Reps Greet House Fracking Probe With Shrug
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/02/22/22greenwire-energy-industry-reps-greet-house-fracking-prob-63352.html

"The EPA study, released in 2004, found that hydraulic fracturing posed "little or no threat" to drinking water. Environmentalists contended that the study was scientifically unsound, but Congress endorsed it and used it to override the earlier decision to regulate hydraulic fracturing under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Lawmakers specifically exempted the practice from federal regulation in a broad 2005 energy law." 

We are all equal under the law ... unless you can get a waiver or exemption.

Special Climate Change Program 2009-2012 Mexico
Executive Summary

http://www.cc2010.mx/assets/001/5026.pdf or
http://cc2010.mx/en/climate-change/executive-summary-special-climate-change-program-20092012-mexico/index.htm

(from page 6)

The first stage of vulnerability assessment and economic valuation of priority measures corresponds to the enactment of this Special Program in the 2009–2012 period, the main result of which will be the design of an integrated program of adaptation, executed progressively.

The second stage, strengthening strategic, large-scale adaptation capacities, from 2013 to 2030, includes as priorities: attaining equilibrium between degradation/deforestation and restoration/reforestation; the adoption and implementation of sustainable agriculture and livestock production systems; the eradication of measures that encourage environmental degradation and cause GHG emissions; the implementation of relocation programs for human settlements and infrastructure in high risk areas, and the implementation of policies aimed at climate stability and sustainable development.

http://nation.foxnews.com/airport-screening/2010/11/23/man-strips-airport

Well, looks like it ain't as much fun if the victim self-inflicts.

'Seems it's not so much about safety and concealed weapons, after all.

Remind me again how the xmas undies bomber got onto an international flight last Christmas. Without a passport. After his own father had warned U.S. security about him. Six months prior. Oh, yeah ...  http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17345*

*I prefer "mainstream" sources because some people only have faith in those, problem is those links tend to die after the story has been assigned to the memory hole.

from February 2010

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Shah-Rukh-signs-off-sexy-body-scan-printouts-at-Heathrow/Article1-505859.aspx

May as well throw this one on the pile, too.
Now Showing at MMIA: Nude Images of Passengers
http://allafrica.com/stories/201009210101.html

Conspiracy Theory With Jesse Ventura
Season 2 Episode 4 (THE POLICE STATE)

part 1 of 4

2 of 4

3 of 4

extra credit:

Rex-84 (but, not totally)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug0IL7k3elQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_gD25lwjAk

Council of Governors EO

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-signs-executive-order-establishing-council-governors

H.R. 111-645

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-645

Most so-called news outlets begin this story with

In a rambling “open letter” to Congress...

then proceed to not provide the actual text (lest it make a valid point or two) but rather give a dismissive description of its contents and critique its spelling. Given the awful spelling, grammar, and syntax I catch in "mainstream" articles written by people who speak only english (and poorly, at that), I'm inclined to give a break to folks who can get by in 3 or 4 languages.

So much for them informing and you deciding.

Anyway, here's a full text version.

http://blog.thescoop.com/2010/11/full-text-of-taliban-open-letter-to.html

... and they deserve to get it good and hard.

 

Usually a "task force" is designed to create less of something.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/100226-annual-report-middle-class.pdf

Interesting phrase on the page numbered 28: "Guaranteed Retirement Accounts". 

Well, I'm sure it's all just a rough draft ... and section III is completely harmless -- at least as harmless as the minimum wage laws on the canning industry of American Samoa.

Rahm Emanuel cynically said, "You never want a crisis to go to waste." It is now becoming clear that the crisis he was referring to is Barack Obama's presidency.

Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within. -- Wayne Allyn Root

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/obama-s-agenda--overwhelm-the-system-95716764.html

http://www.marklevinshow.com/Article.asp?id=1312416&spid=32364

Listen to Mark interview Professor Teresa Ghilarducci from October 2008

It’s time to fix the 401(k)

I'm just gonna leave this here, for later.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2010/10/24/5344949-slovenia-elects-its-1st-black-mayor

Slovenia elected its first black mayor on Sunday, an immigrant from Africa known as the "Obama of Piran," the town where he lives.

In fact, Peter Bossman, a Ghana-born physician, could be the first black mayor elected anywhere in his region of Europe.

Bossman, who settled in this tiny Alpine nation in the 1970s to study medicine in what was then known as Yugoslavia, won a runoff election in the coastal town of Piran with 51.4 percent of votes, defeating Dr. Tomaz Gantar, the outgoing mayor.

The 54-year-old Bossman is a member of Slovenia's governing Social Democrats. He runs a private practice and was previously a member of the Piran City Council.

Following the vote, Bossman said he was "happy and proud."

"I based my campaign on a dialogue, and I think the dialogue has won," he said.

Slovenia, a country of 2 million people is located near Italy, Austria and Croatia, and is a member of European Union and NATO. The vast majority of Slovenians are white, and there are few immigrants. The few blacks who are seen in the country tend to be tourists.

Vlado Miheljak, a political analyst, said the vote in Piran was a test about whether Slovenia was "mature enough to elect a nonwhite political representative."

No racial issues were raised during the campaign in Piran, where Bossman was nicknamed after President Barack Obama, the first African American to hold that office in the U.S. But he was criticized for not speaking fluent Slovene, the nation's official language.

In an interview with Delo, a leading daily newspaper, Bossman said he has a friend who is a professor of Slovenian "and she offered to give me additional lessons."

Piran is a picturesque town of about 17,000 people, surrounding the tiny Gulf of Piran in the Adriatic Sea. Its main revenue comes from tourism.