Group Finds More Fake Food Ingredients

We don't need no stinkin' regulation!!!

Gee, I wonder what would happen if some Libertarian/Republican's kid was poisoned by fake food ingredients?  No matter, "the market is perfect", "the market will fix all"  --  I just wonder how many folks will have to die first.
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http://gma.yahoo.com/exclusive-group-finds-more-fake-food-ingredients-090412537--abc-news-topstories.html

It's what we expect as shoppers—what's in the food will be displayed on the label.

But a new scientific examination by the non-profit food fraud detectives the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), discovered rising numbers of fake ingredients in products from olive oil to spices to fruit juice.
"Food products are not always what they purport to be," Markus Lipp, senior director for Food Standards for the independent lab in Maryland, told ABC News.
In a new database to be released Wednesday, and obtained exclusively by ABC News today, USP warns consumers, the FDA and manufacturers that the amount of food fraud they found is up by 60 percent this year.
USP, a scientific nonprofit that according to their website "sets standards for the identity, strength, quality, and purity of medicines, food ingredients, and dietary supplements manufactured, distributed and consumed worldwide" first released the Food Fraud Database in April 2012.
The organization examined more than 1,300 published studies and media reports from 1980-2010. The update to the database includes nearly 800 new records, nearly all published in 2011 and 2012.
Among the most popular targets for unscrupulous food suppliers? Pomegranate juice, which is often diluted with grape or pear juice.
"Pomegranate juice is a high-value ingredient and a high-priced ingredient, and adulteration appears to be widespread," Lipp said. "It can be adulterated with other food juices…additional sugar, or just water and sugar."
Lipp added that there have also been reports of completely "synthetic pomegranate juice" that didn't contain any traces of the real juice.
USP tells ABC News that liquids and ground foods in general are the easiest to tamper with:

• Olive oil: often diluted with cheaper oils
• Lemon juice: cheapened with water and sugar
• Tea: diluted with fillers like lawn grass or fern leaves
• Spices: like paprika or saffron adulterated with dangerous food colorings that mimic the colors

Milk, honey, coffee and syrup are also listed by the USP as being highly adulterated products.
Also high on the list: seafood. The number one fake being escolar, an oily fish that can cause stomach problems, being mislabeled as white tuna or albacore, frequently found on sushi menus.
National Consumers League did its own testing on lemon juice just this past year and found four different products labeled 100 percent lemon juice were far from pure.
"One had 10 percent lemon juice, it said it had 100 percent, another had 15 percent lemon juice, another...had 25 percent, and the last one had 35 percent lemon juice," Sally Greenberg, Executive Director for the National Consumers League said. "And they were all labeled 100 percent lemon juice."
Greenberg explains there are indications to help consumers pick the faux from the food.
"In a bottle of olive oil if there's a dark bottle, does it have the date that it was harvested?" she said. While other products, such as honey or lemon juice, are more difficult to discern, if the price is "too good to be true" it probably is.
"$5.50, that's pretty cheap for extra virgin olive oil," Greenberg said. "And something that should raise some eyebrows for consumers."
Many of the products USP found to be adulterated are those that would be more expensive or research intensive in its production. "Pomegranate juice is expensive because there is little juice in a pomegranate," Lipp said.
But the issue is more than just not getting what you pay for.
"There's absolutely a public health risk," said John Spink, associate director for the Anti-Counterfeit and Product Protection Program (A-CAPPP) at Michigan State University. "And the key is the people that are unauthorized to handle this product, they are probably not following good manufacturing practices and so there could be contaminates in it."
Spink recommends purchasing from "suppliers, retailers, brands, that have a vested interest in keeping us as repeat customers."
Both the FDA and the Grocery Manufacturers Association say they take food adulteration "very seriously."
"FDA's protection of consumers includes not only regulating and continually monitoring food products in interstate commerce for safety and sanitation, but also for the truthfulness and accuracy of their labels," the FDA said in a statement to ABC News.
Most recently the FDA issued an alert for pomegranate juice mislabeled as 100 percent pomegranate juice, as well as one for the adulteration of honey.
The Grocery Manufacturers of America told ABC News in a statement that "ensuring the safety and integrity of our products – and maintaining the confidence of consumers – is the single most important goal of our industry," and that their members have "robust quality management programs and procedures in place, including analytical testing, to help ensure that only the safest and highest quality products are being offered to consumers."

Dr. John - Didn't He Ramble ; Closer Walk With Thee

Louis Armstrong - Basin St Blues-1928

Louis Armstrong - West End Blues 1928

Louis Armstrong - Beale Street Blues

Louis Armstrong and the All Stars 1954 Chantez Les Bas (Sing 'Em Low)

Barack Obama 2013 Inauguration Speech

#2

First Minnesota Bank, Minnetonka, Minnesota, Assumes All of the Deposits of 1^st Regents Bank, Andover, Minnesota

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 18, 2013

Media Contact: LaJuan Williams-Young (202) 898-3876 Email: Lwilliams-young@fdic.gov

1^st Regents Bank, Andover, Minnesota, was closed today by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with First Minnesota Bank, Minnetonka, Minnesota, to assume all of the deposits of 1^st Regents Bank.
Depositors of 1^st Regents Bank's sole branch will automatically become depositors of First Minnesota Bank. The drive-through facility of 1^st Regents Bank will reopen on Saturday under normal business hours, but due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, the bank's lobby will reopen on Tuesday at its usual time. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship in order to retain their deposit insurance coverage up to applicable limits. Customers of 1^st Regents Bank should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from First Minnesota Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other First Minnesota Bank branches to process their accounts as well.
This evening and over the weekend, depositors of 1st Regents Bank can access their money by writing checks or using debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.
As of September 30, 2012, 1st Regents Bank had approximately $50.2 million in total assets and $49.1 million in total deposits. First Minnesota Bank will pay the FDIC a premium of two percent to assume all of the deposits of 1st Regents Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, First Minnesota Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.
Customers with questions about today's transaction should call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-886-2504. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Standard Time (CST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CST; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., CST; on Monday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., CST; and thereafter from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., CST. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/1stregents.html.
The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $10.5 million. Compared to other alternatives, First Minnesota Bank's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. 1st Regents Bank is the second FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the first in Minnesota. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was First Commercial Bank, Bloomington, on September 7, 2012

#1

For some reason I'm a week late  --  but, here's #1

Sunwest Bank, Irvine, California, Assumes All of the Deposits of Westside Community Bank, University Place, Washington

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 11, 2013

Media Contact: Greg Hernandez (202) 898-6984 Cell: (202) 340-4922 Email: ghernandez@fdic.gov

Westside Community Bank, University Place, Washington, was closed today by the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Sunwest Bank, Irvine, California, to assume all of the deposits of Westside Community Bank.
The two branches of Westside Community Bank will reopen on Monday as branches of Sunwest Bank. Depositors of Westside Community Bank will automatically become depositors of Sunwest Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship in order to retain their deposit insurance coverage up to applicable limits. Customers of Westside Community Bank should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Sunwest Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other Sunwest Bank branches to process their accounts as well.
This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Westside Community Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.
As of September 30, 2012, Westside Community Bank had approximately $97.7 million in total assets and $96.5 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Sunwest Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.
Customers with questions about today's transaction should call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-830-4705. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Pacific Standard Time (PST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., PST; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., PST; on Monday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., PST; and thereafter from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., PST. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/westside.html.
The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $20.3 million. Compared to other alternatives, Sunwest Bank's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Westside Community Bank is the first FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the first in Washington. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Bank of Whitman, Colfax, on August 5, 2011.

The ‘Climate Change Debate’ Is Science Versus Snake Oil

Ah yes, the "cortroversy" about global warming  --  what a JOKE!!

This from "Climate Progress" - please follow link to original
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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/03/01/174580/science-v-snake-oil/

These Groups Say The Danger Of Manmade Global Warming Is A . . .
FACT	FRAUD
U.S. Agency for International Development United States Department of Agriculture National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration National Institute of Standards and Technology United States Department of Defense United States Department of Energy National Institutes of Health United States Department of State United States Department of Transportation U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Environmental Protection Agency University Corporation for Atmospheric Research National Center for Atmospheric Research National Aeronautics & Space Administration National Science Foundation Smithsonian Institution International Arctic Science Committee Arctic Council African Academy of Sciences Australian Academy of Sciences Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and the Arts Academia Brasileira de Ciéncias Cameroon Academy of Sciences Royal Society of Canada Caribbean Academy of Sciences Chinese Academy of Sciences Académie des Sciences, France Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina of Germany Indonesian Academy of Sciences Royal Irish Academy Accademia nazionale delle scienze of Italy Indian National Science Academy Science Council of Japan Kenya National Academy of Sciences Madagascar’s National Academy of Arts, Letters and Sciences Academy of Sciences Malaysia Academia Mexicana de Ciencias Nigerian Academy of Sciences Royal Society of New Zealand Polish Academy of Sciences Russian Academy of Sciences l’Académie des Sciences et Techniques du Sénégal Academy of Science of South Africa Sudan Academy of Sciences Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Tanzania Academy of Sciences Turkish Academy of Sciences Uganda National Academy of Sciences The Royal Society of the United Kingdom National Academy of Sciences, United States Zambia Academy of Sciences Zimbabwe Academy of Science American Academy of Pediatrics American Association for the Advancement of Science American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians American Astronomical Society American Chemical Society American College of Preventive Medicine American Geophysical Union American Institute of Physics American Medical Association American Meteorological Society American Physical Society American Public Health Association American Quaternary Association American Institute of Biological Sciences American Society of Agronomy American Society for Microbiology American Society of Plant Biologists American Statistical Association Association of Ecosystem Research Centers Botanical Society of America Crop Science Society of America Ecological Society of America Federation of American Scientists Geological Society of America National Association of Geoscience Teachers Natural Science Collections Alliance Organization of Biological Field Stations Society of American Foresters Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society of Systematic Biologists Soil Science Society of America Australian Coral Reef Society Australian Medical Association Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Engineers Australia Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies Geological Society of Australia British Antarctic Survey Institute of Biology, UK Royal Meteorological Society, UK Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society European Federation of Geologists European Geosciences Union European Physical Society European Science Foundation International Association for Great Lakes Research International Union for Quaternary Research International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change World Federation of Public Health Associations World Health Organization World Meteorological Organization	American Petroleum Institute US Chamber of Commerce National Association of Manufacturers Competitive Enterprise Institute Industrial Minerals Association National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Great Northern Project Development Rosebud Mining Massey Energy Alpha Natural Resources Southeastern Legal Foundation Georgia Agribusiness Council Georgia Motor Trucking Association Corn Refiners Association National Association of Home Builders National Oilseed Processors Association National Petrochemical and Refiners Association Western States Petroleum Association

Whole Foods CEO retracts accusation that Obamacare is fascism

This from "AmericaBlog"  --  please follow link to original.

I have refused to shop at Whole Foods for quite a while.  Overpriced, with quality not commensurate with the price.  The nickname "Whole Paycheck" describes them very well.

The fact the owner of Whole Foods is an insane "libertarian" (AKA: "Republican on crack") made it very easy to boycott the store.  Anyway, there are far better places to shop.
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http://americablog.com/2013/01/whole-foods-ceo-retracts-fascis.html


Whole Foods founder and CEO John Mackey, after calling Obamacare “fascism,” now says he never realized people associate fascism with Nazi Germany.
Right.
Mind you, this is the man who two years ago associated President Obama’s health care reform proposal with “socialism.”  When asked yesterday by NPR if he still believed it was “socialism,” he said no, it’s more like “fascism.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time Whole Foods’ Mackey has tried to retract an obnoxious right-wing Republican smear of the President and his health care reform.  He previously tried to backtrack on the “socialism” smear too.  So the question arises: How many times does Whole Foods have to prove to us that it’s run by a, to borrow a phrase, “fascist,” before we stop shopping there?
Here’s Whole Foods’ Mackey’s newest statement about President Obama’s fascism:
I made a bad choice of language. I was trying to distinguish it between socialism so I took the dictionary definition of fascism, which is when the means of production are still owned privately but the government controls it — that’s a type of fascism. However, I realize that that word has so much baggage associated with it from World War II, with Germany, with Italy and Spain, that’s a very provocative word, so I regret using it. What I do believe in is free enterprise capitalism, and I’d like to see our healthcare system really unleash the power of free enterprise capitalism to create innovation and healthcare progress. I don’t think we have that – I think we’re moving away from that. So I do regret using that word, I won’t be using it in the future.
I do believe that the government can provide subsidies for our poorer citizens so that everyone can afford health insurance. One of the great examples that I point people to is what they’re doing in Switzerland, where you have still private health insurance markets and yet the government creates subsidies for all of its citizens so that everyone can afford health insurance. There you let the private market, competitive capitalism work and yet the government makes sure that there’s a safety net for people – that’s where I wish we were going in the United States.
And to put Whole Foods’ Mackey in perspective, he’s also a climate change denialist:

One of the books on the list was “Heaven and Earth: Global Warming—the Missing Science,” a skeptical take on climate change. Mackey told me that he agrees with the book’s assertion that, as he put it, “no scientific consensus exists” regarding the causes of climate change; he added, with a candor you could call bold or reckless, that it would be a pity to allow “hysteria about global warming” to cause us “to raise taxes and increase regulation, and in turn lower our standard of living and lead to an increase in poverty.” One would imagine that, on this score, many of his customers, to say nothing of most climate scientists, might disagree. He also said, “Historically, prosperity tends to correlate to warmer temperatures.”

Whole Foods’ Mackey is so bad on climate change that Media Matters went after him.
I also got a kick out of Mackey’s earlier attempt to wiggle out of the “socialism” debacle – shorter Mackey, it’s your fault for thinking Whole Foods was some liberal do-good company:

“I was so viciously attacked for two reasons,” Mackey told me. “One is that people had an idea in their minds about the way Whole Foods was. So when I articulated a capitalistic interpretation of what needed to be done in health care, that was disappointing to some people.” He begrudges the extent to which people have projected onto Whole Foods an unrealistic and idealistic vision of the company. “The C.E.O. of Safeway, Steven Burd, wrote an op-ed piece in June advocating, basically, market solutions to the health-care problem, and nobody gave a shit,” he said.

Get that?  You’re “vicious” for being upset that Whole Foods’ CEO basically called President Obama a socialist, which in American parlance, means Soviet communist.  And you’re also naive for having some idealistic vision of Whole Foods as a “good” company.  Silly you.
I’m guessing a lot of naive Whole Foods customers just grew up.

Lance

So, Lance Armstrong confessed.  After years of saying he was a victim, he was being hounded by jealous people, he was cleaner than the driven snow  --  he tells us it was all "shuck and jive".

After he tried to destroy other folks  --  he goes on his "apology tour".

This great hero.  This man beset by angry competitors  --  is just another con-man celebrity.

I guess he's going to claim his competitive spirit drove him to it  --  or some such hogwash.

Just another rich con-man trying to regain something or other.  To bad he didn't start the foundation AFTER his confession  --  then he might have become another Michael Milken, the FORMER "fraudster" who did jail time, was disgraced and had his firm go belly up (remember Drexel Burnham Lambert?).   

Anyway, he's now a respected philanthropist (in some circles).  America just LOVES these "tales of redemption". 

Lance, unfortunately, had to resign from HIS foundation.  Just bad timing on his part.

Anyway, I guess it's a good thing the emulate Lance craze is over  --  all that serious bicycle riding/racing seems to lead to impotence in men  --  it can do quite a bit of damage.

When we first moved down here to Texas we would see these groups/herds/clots/gaggles/ of spandex clad, helmeted, serious bicycle folk, on their serious bicycles, just about every weekend.  As Lance's popularity waned, there were fewer and fewer of these groups on the road.  Now, we rarely encounter more than two or three of those folks  --  perhaps they are lost, looking for the rest of their group (or whatever it's called).

Poor Lance.

Obama EPA Shut Down Texas Shale Gas Water Contamination Study

This from "FireDogLake"  --  please follow link to original
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 http://my.firedoglake.com/stevehorn1022/2013/01/16/obama-epa-shut-down-texas-shale-gas-water-contamination-study/

The Associated Press has a breaking investigative story out today revealing that the Obama Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) censored a smoking gun scientific report in March 2012 that it had contracted out to a scientist who conducted field data on 32 water samples in Weatherford, TX.

That report, according to the AP, would have explicitly linked methane migration to hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in Weatherford, a city with 25,000+ citizens located in the heart of the Barnett Shale geologic formation 30 minutes from Dallas.

It was authored by Geoffrey Thyne, a geologist formerly on the faculty of the Colorado School of Mines and University of Wyoming before departing from the latter for a job in the private sector working for Interralogic Inc. in Ft Collins, CO.

This isn’t the first time Thyne’s scientific research has been shoved aside, either. Thyne wrote two landmark studies on groundwater contamination in Garfield County, CO, the first showing that it existed, the second confirming that the contamination was directly linked to fracking in the area.

It’s the second study that got him in trouble.

“Thyne says he was told to cease his research by higher-ups. He didn’t,” The Checks and Balances Project explained. ”And when it came to renew his contract, Thyne was cut loose.”

From Smoking Gun to Censorship: Range Resources Link

The Obama EPA’s Weatherford, TX study was long-in-the-making, with its orgins actually dating back to a case of water contamination in 2010. The victim: Steve Lipsky.

“At first, the Environmental Protection Agency believed the situation was so serious that it issued a rare emergency order in late 2010 that said at least two homeowners were in immediate danger from a well saturated with flammable methane,” the AP wrote.

AP proceeded to explain that Lipsky had “reported his family’s drinking water had begun ‘bubbling’ like champagne” and that his “well…contains so much methane that the…water [is] pouring out of a garden hose [that] can be ignited.”

The driller in this case was a corporation notorious for intimidating local communities and governmental officials at all levels of governance: Range Resources. Range, in this case, set up shop for shale gas production in a “wooded area about a mile from Lipsky’s home,” according to the AP.

As DeSmogBlog revealed in November 2011, Range Resources utilizes psychological warfare techniques as part of its overarching public relations strategy.

Due to the grave health concerns associated with the presence of methane and benzene in drinking water, the Obama EPA “ordered Range…to take steps to clean their water wells and provide affected homeowners with safe water,” wrote the AP.

Range’s response? It “threatened not to cooperate” with the Obama EPA’s study on fracking’s link to water contamination. The non-cooperation lead to the Obama EPA suing Range Resources.

It was during this phase of the struggle where things got interesting. As the AP explained,

Believing the case was headed for a lengthy legal battle, the Obama EPA asked an independent scientist named Geoffrey Thyne to analyze water samples taken from 32 water wells. In the report obtained by the AP, Thyne concluded from chemical testing that the gas in the drinking water could have originated from Range Resources’ nearby drilling operation.

Despite this smoking gun, everything was soon shut down, with the Obama EPA reversing its emergency order, terminating the court battle and censoring Thyne’s report. The AP explained that the Obama EPA has “refused to answer questions about the decision.”

“I just can’t believe that an agency that knows the truth about something like that, or has evidence like this, wouldn’t use it,” Lipsky, who now pays $1,000 a month to have water hauled to his family’s house, told the AP.

“Duke Study” Co-Author Confirms Veracity of Thyne’s Study 

Robert Jackson, a Professor of Global Environmental Change at Duke University and co-author of the “Duke Study” linking fracking to groundwater contamination did an independent peer review of Thyne’s censored findings. He found that it is probable that the methane in Lipsky’s well water likely ended up there thanks to the fracking process.

Range predictably dismissed Thyne and Jackson as “anti-industry.”

Americans Against Fracking: An “Unconscionable” Decision

Americans Against Fracking summed up the situation best in a scathing press release:

It is unconscionable that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is tasked with safeguarding our nation’s vital natural resources, would fold under pressure to the oil and gas industry…It is again abundantly clear that the deep pocketed oil and gas industry will stop at nothing to protect its own interests, even when mounting scientific evidence shows that drilling and fracking pose a direct threat to vital drinking water supplies.

There’s also a tragic human side to this tale.

“This has been total hell,” Lipsky told the AP. “It’s been taking a huge toll on my family and on our life.”

NYT: Women cause rape by being too scarce

This from "Pharyngula"  --  of course it's all the fault of "teh wimmins"  --  Please follow link to original.

So, now "the grey lady", "The New York Times" is a "bastion of RAPE CULTURE"!

Does anyone remember the late '60s and '70s, when women could wear damn well what they wanted, and only total ASSHOLES supported sexual assault of any kind?  Does anyone remember when women could actually go places SAFELY? 

It's changed.  Now, it's back to the 1910's  --  worse even than the '50s.  Now it seems like it's ALWAYS the fault of the women  --  ALL WOMEN.

gee-golly  --  it's "man caves", "bros", etc., etc., etc.  ---  I guess it pays to keep men little boys  --  they buy more "toys".

I always thought MEN (real men) could actually control themselves.  I did not know they were unable to control their impulses.  It makes me think that NO MEN should EVER be licensed to carry any sort of weapon, while ALL WOMEN should.  If women are in control of men's "impulses", don't you think they should be able to protect themselves in case of an inadvertent "transgression"?
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http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/

Hey, remember New York Times reporter John Eligon? The one who crafted this bit of drunk-shaming apologetic for a couple of alleged rapist NYPD officers? Eligon’s piece, which followed shortly on the heels of this notorious victim-blaming piece by James McKinley, Jr., helped reinforce the Times‘ reputation as a media bastion of rape culture.
And now he’s done it again, in his profile of rape and sexual assault in Williston, North Dakota:

The rich shale oil formation deep below the rolling pastures here has attracted droves of young men to work the labor-intensive jobs that get the wells flowing and often generate six-figure salaries. What the oil boom has not brought, however, are enough single women.

It turns out, according to Eligon, that scarcity economics applies to that commodity Amanda Marcotte refers to as “vaginal access” [content warning applies]:

Here, men talk of a “Williston 10” — a woman who would be considered mediocre in any other city is considered a perfect 10 out here.

“I’ve noticed my standards dropping,” said Ian Hernandez, 24, who moved to Williston from Chicago a couple of months ago. “I just went home two weeks ago. I saw the girls I had planned to see. That, hopefully, should hold me off until I go back next time in two months or so.”

Some men have forced themselves on women.

Jessica Brightbill, a single 24-year-old who moved here from Grand Rapids, Mich., a year and a half ago, said she was walking to work at 3:30 in the afternoon when a car with two men suddenly pulled up behind her. One hopped out and grabbed her by her arms and began dragging her. She let her body go limp so she would be harder to drag. Eventually, a man in a truck pulled up and began yelling at the men and she got away, she said. The episode left her rattled.

Going out alone is now out of the question, and the friend she moved here with no longer has much time to spend with her because she has since found a boyfriend and had a baby. Ms. Brightbill said she has difficulty finding other young single women with the freedom to hang out. And, she said, finding good men does not come easy.

“It’s just people trying to have sex,” she said.

Not that Eligon portrays women in Williston as just hapless victims. Some, he reports, are savvy capitalists seeking to leverage their assets:

Some women have banked on the female shortage. Williston’s two strip clubs attract dancers from around the country. Prostitutes from out of state troll the bars.

Eligon’s only reference in the piece to law enforcement is a mention of a notable increase in local domestic and sexual assaults, and a quick quote from a nearby prosecutor about newcomers not “respecting the laws of people of North Dakota.”   He doesn’t mention plans for enforcement of the laws against assaulting women, access to support services for crime victims, or anything, really, of the sort.

Instead, he closes his article with the same old “solution” offered up by everyone who works to shift the blame for sexual assault:

At the urging of her family, Barbara Coughlin, 31, who recently moved to Williston after her 11-year marriage ended, is now getting her concealed weapons permit so she can carry a Taser. Ms. Coughlin, who wore silver glitter around her eyes at work as a waitress on a recent day, said her mother and stepfather, who live here, advised her to stop wearing the skirts and heels she cherishes, so she does not stand out like “a flower in the desert,” as her stepfather put it. Her family hardly ever lets her go out on her own — not even for walks down the gravel road at the housing camp where they live.
“Will I stay for very long? Probably not,” she said. “To me, there’s no money in the world worth not even being able to take a walk.”

It Might As Well Be Spring / Jam Session - Clifford Brown

Dinah Washington (vo)
Clifford Brown (tp)
Maynard Ferguson (tp)
Clark Terry (tp)
Max Roach (ds)
Keeter Betts (b)
George Morrow (b)
Richie Powell (p)
Junior Mance (p)
Harold Land (ts)
Herb Geller (as)

Art Farmer - Gigi Gryce Quintet 1955 ~ Forecast

Art Farmer - Trumpet
Gigi Gryce - Alto Sax
Duke Jordan -Piano
Addison Farmer - Bass
Philly Joe Jones - Drums

Ritchie Valens-Donna

This in memory of an old friend  --  peace.

Santo & Johnny, Sleepwalk, 1959

Remember Penn State?

Do you remember the Penn State pedophile?  do you remember the scandal?

Of course you know that Jerry Sandusky was convicted, and sentenced to jail.  I suspect you also know he's appealing his conviction.

Now, after the case is (more or less) settled, Penn State and the Pennsylvania Government is pushing back.  Let's be very clear   --  all they give a damn about is MONEY!!  In this country, children are less than an afterthought.  Schools are underfunded.  The radicals conservatives want to end public education.  They want to kill off teachers unions.  They want to turn EVERYTHING into a profit making organization.  the welfare of children doesn't even figure into their calculations.  It's about THE MONEY!

So, we have headlines like this  --  "Penn St. attacks claims by ex-assistant McQueary", and,
"Penn State Sanctions Prompt Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett To Sue NCAA".

All this says is, "SCREW THOSE KIDS!!".

These folks have no scruples.  They have no integrity.  nor do they think personal responsibility relates to them in any way.

The NCAA was not harsh enough in the sanctions imposed on Penn State.  They should have imposed the "death penalty".

Screw college athletics!

NYT Nails It on Social Security and the Chained CPI

Everyone just LOVES to screw the old and the poor  I guess it's just impossible to leave programs that are working alone.  I hope every one of these supposed "Very Serious People" suffer massive financial reverses, and are dependent on both Social Security and Medicare.  What a bunch of miserable, hateful, people.

Please follow link to original
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http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/nyt-nails-it-on-social-security-and-the-chained-cpi

"Chained CPI" is the new magic phrase going around Washington these days. This is how the government can cut Social Security and pretend it is not really cutting Social Security.
If anyone has not yet heard the story, the plan is to change the indexation formula for the annual cost of living adjustment by using the chained CPI to measure inflation. It's not worth going into the details (the people proposing it don't care, why should you?), but the point is that the chained CPI would reduce the annual adjustment by 0.3 percentage points.
This may sound trivial but it adds up over time. After ten years a retiree's benefits would be 3 percent lower, after twenty years 6 percent lower and someone surviving to collect benefits for thirty years would see a 9 percent cut. If we assume the average retiree collects benefits for 20 years, this amounts to a 3 percent cut in total benefits. If that sounds small, ask the "job creators" about the impact of a 3 percentage point increase in their tax rate.
Anyhow, a NYT editorial on the topic makes all the right points, including an obvious one, if the concern is making the indexation formula more accurate we can have the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) construct a full cost of living index for the elderly. An experimental index that BLS already produces shows that the current cost of living adjustment is actually less than the rate of inflation seen by the elderly. There is a long way from this experimental index to a full elderly CPI, but given that we will index $10 trillion in Social Security benefits over the next decade, it might be worth going this route.

End Climate Silence Now: Draft Climate Assessment Warns Of Devastating 9°-15°F Warming Over Most Of U.S.

This from "Climate Progress"  --  perhaps it might just be time to look at this stuff  --  otherwise all the guns in the world, or banning all the guns in the world will not make a difference.
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http://thinkprogress.org/climate/issue/

The rule in Washington, DC is if you want to bury news, release it late on a Friday afternoon. So one can only assume the climate silence crowd prevailed in the release this afternoon of the draft U.S. Climate Assessment.
 The Assessment, put together by dozens of the country’s top climate experts, makes clear that if we stay anywhere near our current emissions path, we are headed towards a devastating 9°F to 15°F warming over most of the United States (this century), with ever-worsening extreme weather, heat waves, deluges and droughts. As the report notes “generally, wet [areas] get wetter and dry get drier.” Future generations will be wishing for the boring “moist” and “cool” days of 2012 (when they aren’t cursing our names).
But if the administration were to give this news the attention it is due, then it would have to prioritize climate action above gun-control and immigration and deficit reduction (or, in the latter case, insist upon a carbon tax as part of any comprehensive deficit bill). For the Administration, climate action appears to always be the lowest of top priorities — and when the priorities above it (like health care, economic stimulus) are dealt with, new priorities take their place at the top of the list.
In a statement (bel0w), Center for American Progress Distinguished Senior Fellow Carol M. Browner, former EPA administrator and former director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, said that the Assessment makes clear “The time to act is now” with “significantly steeper reductions in industrial carbon pollution” than we’ve seen to date — if we are to avoid the worst impacts. She notes the report makes clear, “no part of the nation is safe” from manmande climate change.
Here are the key points from the Assessment’s Executive Summary:

1. Global climate is changing now and this change is apparent across a wide range of observations. Much of the climate change of the past 50 years is primarily due to human activities.
2. Global climate is projected to continue to change over this century and beyond. The magnitude of climate change beyond the next few decades depends primarily on the amount of heat-trapping gases emitted globally, and how sensitive the climate is to those emissions.
3. U.S. average temperature has increased by about 1.5°F since record keeping began in 1895; more than 80% of this increase has occurred since 1980. The most recent decade was the nation’s warmest on record. U.S. temperatures are expected to continue to rise. Because human-induced warming is superimposed on a naturally varying climate, the temperature rise has not been, and will not be, smooth across the country or over time.
4. The length of the frost-free season (and the corresponding growing season) has been increasing nationally since the 1980s, with the largest increases occurring in the western U.S., affecting ecosystems and agriculture. Continued lengthening of the growing season across the U.S. is projected.
5. Precipitation averaged over the entire U.S. has increased during the period since 1900, but regionally some areas have had increases greater than the national average, and some areas have had decreases. The largest increases have been in the Midwest, southern Great Plains, and Northeast. Portions of the Southeast, the Southwest, and the Rocky Mountain states have experienced decreases. More winter and spring precipitation is projected for the northern U.S., and less for the Southwest, over this century.
6. Heavy downpours are increasing in most regions of the U.S., especially over the last three to five decades. Largest increases are in the Midwest and Northeast. Further increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation events are projected for most U.S. areas.
7. Certain types of extreme weather events have become more frequent and intense, including heat waves, floods, and droughts in some regions. The increased intensity of heat waves has been most prevalent in the western parts of the country, while the intensity of flooding events has been more prevalent over the eastern parts. Droughts in the Southwest and heat waves everywhere are projected to become more intense in the future.
8. There has been an increase in the overall strength of hurricanes and in the number of strong (Category 4 and 5) hurricanes in the North Atlantic since the early 1980s. The intensity of the strongest hurricanes is projected to continue to increase as the oceans continue to warm; ocean cycles will also affect the amount of warming at any given time. With regard to other types of storms that affect the U.S., winter storms have increased slightly in frequency and intensity, and their tracks have shifted northward over the U.S. Other trends in severe storms, including the numbers of hurricanes and the intensity and frequency of tornadoes, hail, and damaging thunderstorm winds are uncertain and are being studied intensively.
9. Global sea level has risen by about 8 inches since reliable record keeping began in 1880. It is projected to rise another 1 to 4 feet by 2100.
10. Rising temperatures are reducing ice volume and extent on land, lakes, and sea. This loss of ice is expected to continue.
11. The oceans are currently absorbing about a quarter of the carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere annually and are becoming more acidic as a 36 result, leading to concerns about potential impacts on marine ecosystems.

Here is the full statement by Carol Browner:

The draft climate assessment released today confirms what the science says and what our eyes are telling us: It’s getting hotter, and that carbon pollution is driving climate change, fueling more violent and frequent weather events and threatening public health. Climate alarms continued to blare in 2012, which was the hottest year on record in the United States. And destructive superstorm Sandy was one of 11 storms, floods, droughts, and heat waves last year that each caused at least $1 billion in damages. The draft assessment warns us that the loss of lives and livelihoods will only get worse, and no part of the nation is safe.
Senior citizens, children, and middle- and lower-income Americans will experience increasing vulnerability to more frequent and ferocious extreme weather events. Residents and businesses in coastal towns will face more damaging storm surges and sea-level rise. Our aging roads, water plants, electricity generation, and other infrastructure will also face more climate-related threats.
We made some progress in reducing climate pollution since 2009 but the draft assessment is a reminder that we must make significantly steeper reductions in industrial carbon pollution. We all need the courage to stand up to the special interests and instead support immediate action to address carbon pollution and climate change. We can start with strict carbon pollution standards for power plants and we must significantly expand investments in community resiliency to protect people and the economy from the gathering storms—and floods, droughts, wildfires, and heat waves. The time to act is now.

Hear! Hear! Or perhaps, in the case of President Obama, Speak! Speak!

THAT CEO!!

The "we will start killing people" CEO has posted another YouTube video where he doubles down  --  going so far as to say he now has an army of like minded folks.

Please remember, NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE.  There is not that much Obama can do without Congress.  If you do not even trust your "teaparty" sorta-Republicans to block all the anti-gun legislation  --  well then, perhaps you should look at YOUR POSITION.

I know the guy is a CEO of a gun related business.  Perhaps he's just frightened that his "ricebowl" will be affected.  So, did this guy threaten insurrection simply because his business and income might be impacted by restrictions?  Don't you think all the folks who are ready to go out and die with him should know that?

I'm a gun owner.  I think the restrictions suggested are bull crap.  I shoot at targets.  But, I also have weapons for self defense.  I really think more LGBT folks should consider that.  I also think liberal and progressive folks should consider learning how to protect and defend themselves  --  especially after so many of the radical-right-wing-republican-christian-fascist-anti-gay-anti-"libtard"-"patriots" (who want to secede from the Union) have made threatening statements, going as far as calling for our deaths.

I have no illusions about defending myself from a "tyrannical government", but I think I could at least discourage a rabid mob for a while.  Being old and having limited mobility means staying put, and fighting back for as long as I can , as the only option other than leaving. 

Truth is, I don't think most places are any better than Texas.  Folks who have never lived here    ---   please be quiet.  That also goes for folks who have never lived anywhere else, or who have not been subjected to anti-gay, anti-LGBT attitudes.  Most places have their share of bias  --  as a result, do what you can to protect yourselves.

California in Surplus

From Dr. Krugman's blog  --  a glimmer of good news

Follow link to original
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http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/

Guess whose state budget crisis seems to be over?
As best I understand it, what’s going on in CA is a microcosm (a pretty big microcosm, actually — maybe more of a mesocosm or something?) of what’s going on at the national level. A severely depressed economy led to big deficits, because tax receipts are strongly affected by the state of the economy — indeed, are almost certainly much more cyclical than they used to be.
In response to those deficits, there was a lot of spending reduction plus some more modest efforts to increase revenue. And now that we have the beginnings of real recovery, it’s turning out that those efforts were enough to remove much if not all of the “structural”, as opposed to recession-driven, deficit.
As this reality becomes more obvious, the deficit scolds will of course go wild. They have staked their careers on crusading against supposedly intractable deficits, and they have their hearts (and more important, their wallets) set on exploiting the alleged fiscal crisis to dismantle social insurance programs. Good news will be a blow to everything they want, and will be furiously and vigorously denied.
But once again: deficits are receding as an issue before our eyes.

Unhinged Tactical Response CEO threatens to ‘start killing people’ over Obama’s gun control

This from "Raw Story"  --  please follow link to original.

This crap has got to stop.  I'm a gun owner and a shooter.  I belong to a range and shoot on a regular basis.  I am committed to self defense and actually enjoy shooting those "ohhh sooo scary" "black rifles".  No, I do not favor stringent gun control measures.  Yes I do favor having more LGBT folks become shooters  --  especially in places where various and sundry "Pastors", "Preachers", "Bishops", "Priests", and "Cardinals" advocate measures that promote violence against LGBT folks.  Some even DIRECTLY promote violence against all LGBT folks.

At the same time saying you want to start "killing people" over gun control measures should result in a through investigation, removal of any gun permits, and perhaps even some additional punishments.  This stuff is totally insane.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/10/unhinged-tactical-response-ceo-threatens-to-start-killing-people-over-obamas-gun-control/

The CEO of a Tennessee company that specializes weapons and tactical training is threatening to “start killing people” if President Barack Obama moves forward with gun control measures.
In a video posted to YouTube and Facebook on Wednesday, Tactical Response CEO James Yeager went ballistic over reports that the president could take executive action with minor gun control measures after the mass shooting of 20 school children in Connecticut last month.
After the Drudge Report likened Obama to Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin on Wednesday, pro-gun conservatives expressed outrage over the idea that the White House could act without Congress.
“Vice President [Joe] Biden is asking the president to bypass Congress and use executive privilege, executive order to ban assault rifles and to impose stricter gun control,” Yeager explained in his video message. “Fuck that.”
“I’m telling you that if that happens, it’s going to spark a civil war, and I’ll be glad to fire the first shot. I’m not putting up with it. You shouldn’t put up with it. And I need all you patriots to start thinking about what you’re going to do, load your damn mags, make sure your rifle’s clean, pack a backpack with some food in it and get ready to fight.”
The CEO concluded: “I’m not fucking putting up with this. I’m not letting my country be ruled by a dictator. I’m not letting anybody take my guns! If it goes one inch further, I’m going to start killing people.”
As The Atlantic noted on Wednesday, gun advocates can stop “freaking out” because Obama cannot ban assault weapons or close the gun show loophole without Congress.
The president, however, can take small steps like modernizing the background check system and limiting importation of assault rifles.
By Thursday morning, the video promising violence in response to gun control measures had been removed from Yeager’s YouTube page, but the link had not been removed from Facebook.
Calls to Yeager and Tactical Response were not returned by the time of publication.

  

TARP is Over, But the Bailouts Will Continue Until the Big Banks are Broken Up — And Washington Knows It

This from Robert Reich  --  please follow link to original
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http://robertreich.org/

TARP – the infamous Troubled Assets Relief Program that bailed out Wall Street in 2008 – is over. The Treasury Department announced it will be completing the sale of the remaining shares it owns of the banks and of General Motors.

But in reality it’s not over. The biggest Wall Street banks are now far bigger than they were four years ago when they were considered too big to fail. The five largest have almost 44 percent of all US bank deposits.

That’s up from 37 percent in 2007, just before the crash. A decade ago they had just 28 percent.

The biggest banks keep getting bigger because they can borrow more cheaply than smaller banks. That’s because investors believe the government will bail them out if they get into trouble, rather than force them into a form of bankruptcy (as the new Dodd-Frank law makes possible).

That’s why it’s necessary to limit their size and break up the biggest.

Washington may be getting the message. A few months ago Dan Tarullo, the Fed governor who specializes in bank regulation, proposed capping the size of the banks’ balance sheets.

Some former titans of Wall Street are saying much the same thing. Even Sandy Weill, who created Citigroup (which required $445 billion in TARP loans and asset guarantees) is proposing the biggest banks be broken up. 

The new Congress may also be supportive. The new chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling, has been a strong ally of small banks in their push to rein in their bigger rivals, and has expressed concern about the largest being too big to fail.

It’s not irrelevant that the Dallas branch of the Federal Reserve Board, in Hensarling’s home district, has also proposed breaking up the biggest.

Meanwhile, over in the Senate, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, is a strong advocate for breaking up the big banks and is now on the Senate Finance Committee. And Elizabeth Warren, scourge of Wall Street, will sit on the Senate Banking Committee.

In other words, the timing is right. The oven is ready. All we need is another multi-billion dollar banking loss – like JP Morgan Chase’s last year – and the biggest banks are cooked.

Australia on Fire: Record-Shattering Heat, Wildfires Engulf World’s Largest Exporter of Coal

Millions Of Americans Renounced GOP In 2012, Says Gallup

Picked this up at "Addicting Info"  --  seems to be proof we are not TOTALLY crazy.

Follow link to original
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http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/01/09/millions-of-americans-renounced-gop-in-2012-says-gallup/

Peggy Lee & Benny Goodman Sext - Where Or When

Jon Stewart Slams House Republicans For Opposing Hurricane Sandy Relief

Taco Bell joins Wendy’s in gutting blue-collar employee hours allegedly to avoid Obamacare

Here's more  --  now it's Taco Bell.  Damn!!  I happen to like Taco Bell once in a while.  Guess they go on the shit list now.  Oh well, there always are alternatives.

BOYCOTT TACO BELL!!  Let's show some solidarity.

Please follow link to original
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http://americablog.com/2013/01/taco-bell-franchise-cut-hours-obamacare.html

Yo no quiero Taco Bell.
Funny thing about Taco Bell’s franchise in Oklahoma claiming it’s gutting blue collar employee hours in order to avoid Obamacare’s requirement that employees working an average of 30 hours a week or more must be provided health insurance. I called around, and the requirement doesn’t kick in until 2014. So why is Taco Ball cutting employee hours now, a year early? Same question for Wendy’s.
But it gets even odder.  The company that owns the local Taco Bells seems to be saying that they still don’t fully know what Obamacare (aka the Affordable Care Act) requires of them.

Treadwell Enterprises released the following statement Monday to News 9:
“Treadwell Enterprises, like most businesses, is still researching what the Affordable Care Act means to our operations. Regardless of the conclusion of our analysis, we will comply with this law, as we do all laws.”

If the company is still analyzing how Obamacare affects their business, then why is the franchise owned by this company already cutting back employee hours in order to save money on something that not only reportedly hasn’t even been implemented yet, but about which they haven’t even reaching any “conclusions” yet?

Yo no quiero Taco Bell.

The more these big brands like Wendy’s and Taco Bell strike out against their blue collar employees supposedly because of an Obamacare provision that reportedly doesn’t even apply to them yet, the more it sounds like these are Republican companies simply trying to save money by making a political statement about a Democratic program and Democratic President they don’t like.
And I’m getting tired of hearing these parent companies tell us that they’re not responsible for what their franchises do.  You license them your good name, you’re responsible for what they do under your name. Period.
It’s time to write Taco Bell off along with Wendy’s, unless both companies get their franchises in line.  I go to both Taco Bell and Wendy’s.  But I wont in the future if it means financing Republican activists who are out to hurt their workers.
And this parent company of the Taco Bell in Oklahoma also runs a series of KFC’s and Ruby Tuesdays in the state, so those brands are implicated in this as well, since KFC and Ruby Tuesday seem to think this company is a fine business to partner with.
PS Someone on Facebook just made a fascinating point: There are employees at Taco Bell and Wendy’s who are touching our food and who don’t have adequate health insurance, and thus adequate health care? And they’re touching our food.
Here’s the news report on this: