Beware of bogus online ‘help’ for Haiti

This happened after 9-11. These animals should be thrown in jail and left there for a good long time.

in reference to:

"The urge to help — and to give money — is powerful following a devastating event like Haiti's earthquake, and one of the easiest ways to do it is online. It's also one of the easiest ways to get scammed if you're not sure what you're doing or who you're dealing with.The FBI, Better Business Bureau and software security companies Wednesday all warned Internet users to exercise caution before opening their wallets to organizations claiming to be charities that will send financial assistance to Haiti."Apply a critical eye," said the FBI in a statement, and do "due diligence before responding to those requests.""
- Beware of bogus online 'help' for Haiti - Security- msnbc.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

World Bank eyes US$100 million in aid to Haiti

The World Bank should have provided that money years ago. So that Haiti would have had better structures that wouldn't have collapsed so easily. Too little, too late.

in reference to:

"The World Bank said on Wednesday that it planned to provide an additional US$100 million in emergency aid to Haiti to help the impoverished country cope with a devastating earthquake. "This is a shocking event and it is crucial that the international community supports the Haitian people at this critical time," Robert Zoellick, president of the 186-nation development lender, said in a statement. "The World Bank is mobilizing significant financial assistance and sending a team to help assess damage and reconstruction needs. Our thoughts are with the people of Haiti, our staff, and our UN colleagues." The World Bank and other major multilateral financial institutions rallied to lend desperately needed assistance to the poorest country in the western hemisphere, where a powerful quake virtually flattened the capital Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, raising fears the death toll could reach 100,000. The Inter-American Development Bank, another Washington-based institution, announced late Tuesday US$200,000 for emergency assistance for Haiti, which can be used to provide food, potable water, medicines and temporary shelter."
- channelnewsasia.com - World Bank eyes US#dollar;100 million in aid to Haiti (view on Google Sidewiki)

World Bank eyes US$100 million in aid to Haiti

The World Bank should have provided that money years ago. So that Haiti would have had better structures that wouldn't have collapsed so easily. Too little, too late.

in reference to:

"World Bank eyes US$100 million in aid to Haiti"
- channelnewsasia.com - World Bank eyes US#dollar;100 million in aid to Haiti (view on Google Sidewiki)

Too much television can lead to heart attack

I needed to read this article.

in reference to:

"A report released in Australia has shown that there is a risk of death to people who view too much television. According to the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, every hour that viewers spend watching television increases the risk of premature death From a study of more than 8,000 adults in Australia, over a six-year period, findings have revealed that people who watch television the most die younger. So called "couch-potatoes," or people who watch four or more hours of television a day, have a 46 percent higher risk of death from all causes and an 80 percent increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease."
- Too much television can lead to heart attack (view on Google Sidewiki)

Olbermann: Rush, Robertson’s Lives not worth ‘lowest’ of Haiti’s Victims

Thanks to Raw Story:

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann pulled no punches in criticizing Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson over their eyebrow-raising comments in the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, now estimated to have taken the lives of "hundreds of thousands" of people.

"Even the worst of us in this political mosh pit of the early 21st century can stop on occasion in grief and human sympathy and mourning, or just in self-preservation," Olbermann said on Countdown Wednesday night. "Not Rush Limbaugh, and not Pat Robertson."

Olbermann took Limbaugh to task for the radio host's comment earlier Wednesday that the Obama administration would benefit politically from the disaster in Haiti because they would "use this to burnish their ... credibility with the black community, in ... the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country. It's made to order for them."

Is Capitalism Moral?

Certainly not the way it's practiced nowadays.

in reference to:

"Q: If capitalism isn't greedy, then why do some companies charge exorbitant prices for critical products like gasoline and lifesaving drugs? Aren't they gouging to reap excessive profits? A: Profit is a critical indicator of consumer demand and the only way to ensure that there will be a sufficient supply of anything. By the way, profit is among the smallest components of drug and oil prices. When gasoline prices soared between 2004 and 2008, people were enraged by the profits being made by oil companies. A Gallup poll found that more Americans believed the high price of gasoline was due to oil company greed rather than to other factors, including the Middle East conflict. Politicians from California senator Barbara Boxer to then New York senator Hillary Clinton called for measures to "get tough" on "Big Oil." Vermont senator Bernie Sanders sputtered in an editorial: "Exxon-Mobil has made more profits in the last two years than any company in the history of the world.""
- Is Capitalism Moral? - Forbes.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

US nonprofits sue over patent to feed hungry

meanwhile millions starve3

in reference to:

"A pair of American nonprofits want to ramp up production in the next year of a high-protein peanut butter-like paste that could feed some of the more than 1 billion people around the world who don't have enough to eat. But Breedlove Foods Inc. and the Mama Cares Foundation believe one thing stands in their way: U.S. patent No. 6,346,284, held by a French company and a French government research institute that are pioneers in so-called ready-to-use foods — food intended for the severely malnourished. The American nonprofits filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., last month challenging the patent. "Their patent is so broad and generic," said Mike Mellace, executive director of the Carlsbad, Calif.-based Mama Cares Foundation, a nonprofit offshoot of his Mellace Family Brands snack business. "There are numerous products on the market today that would violate this patent.""
- US nonprofits sue over patent to feed hungry - Yahoo! News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Send Help to Haiti With Donation to American Red Cross

Follow the link below to donate.

in reference to:

"The American Red Cross has pledged an initial $200,000 to assist communities impacted by today’s earthquake in Haiti, and is prepared to take further action as local responders assess the situation. “Initial reports indicate widespread damage in Port au Prince, with continuing aftershocks,” says Tracy Reines, director of international disaster response for the American Red Cross. “As with most earthquakes, we expect to see immediate needs for food, water, temporary shelter, medical services and emotional support.” The American Red Cross has made available all of the relief supplies from its warehouse in Panama which would provide for basic needs for approximately 5,000 families. In addition, it is deploying a disaster management specialist to Haiti, and has additional disaster specialists on standby if needed."
- American Red Cross releases $200,000 in aid to help communities affected by earthquake in Haiti (view on Google Sidewiki)

Pope gunman to be freed from Turkish prison

Will we finally get the truth that the media has ignored for so long.

in reference to:

"The gunman who wounded Pope John Paul II said Wednesday he would answer questions about the 1981 attack after he is released from prison next week.Little is known about what led Mehmet Ali Agca to shoot at the pope while he was greeting the faithful in St. Peter's Square, but rumors have swirled about whether foreign powers had conspired to have the Polish-born pontiff killed."I will answer to all of these questions in the next weeks," Agca said in a letter written in English and released by his lawyers.

Historians, law enforcement officials and John Paul's followers have long sought answers about the attack, including whether it was a plot to assassinate the pope whose championing of Poland's Solidarity labor movement figured in the demise of communism in the Soviet bloc.When Agca was arrested minutes after the attack, he declared he had acted alone. Later, he suggested Bulgaria and the Soviet Union's KGB were behind the attack, but then backed off that line. His contradictory statements, including claims to be a Messiah, have frustrated prosecutors over the decades and raised questions about his mental health."
- Pope gunman to be freed from prison - Europe- msnbc.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

White House: Stimulus has saved 2 million jobs

The administration is starting to run out of excuses.

in reference to:

"President Barack Obama's emergency spending measures last year saved up to 2 million U.S. jobs, the White House said on Wednesday, but it warned that the outlook for the economy remained uncertain.Obama, anxious to reduce double-digit U.S. unemployment which has dented his popularity, has already called for additional government measures to boost jobs on top of the $787 billion stimulus package he signed in February 2009.Christina Romer, head of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, said she expects positive job creation by the spring, but stressed that there was definitely a need for additional "targeted action" to aid employment."
- White House: Stimulus saved 2 million jobs - Economy at a Crossroads- msnbc.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Red Cross: 3M Haitians Affected by Quake

There will be a flood of Haitians trying to get into the U.S. Will they be turned away? Will the media ignore their plight after a few days, as they have for so many years.

in reference to:

"The International Federation of the Red Cross estimates that up to 3 million people have been affected by a powerful earthquake that caused massive destruction in the Haitian capital. Spokesman Paul Conneally says the fact that the quake occurred very close to Port-au-Prince was "not a good indicator" He says Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the northern hemisphere and is ill-prepared to handle a major disaster Conneally told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it would take 24-48 hours before a clear picture emerges of the scale of the destruction. It was still too early to estimate the overall toll in human lives from the massive quake, but an official Chinese newspaper said Wednesday that eight Chinese peacekeepers were killed and that 10 others were missing. The China Daily newspaper reported online Wednesday that the dead were buried under the rubble. The report cited Liu Xiangyang, the vice-president of the China National Earthquake Disaster Emergency Rescue Team. International aid groups including the Red Cross were gearing up for a major relief effort in Haiti focused on rescuing survivors and setting up field hospitals for the wounded."
- Red Cross: 3M Haitians Affected by Quake - CBS News (view on Google Sidewiki)

What happened to terror suspects Washington turned over to foreign governments?

From Newsweek:

The CIA quietly moved scores of detainees out of its own "black site" prisons in recent years and turned them over to foreign governments, refusing to provide the International Red Cross any information about their treatment or whereabouts, according to a report made public this week.

Although President Bush made a brief public allusion to the transfers in September 2006, the U.S. government has never offered any accounting of precisely how many detainees were moved and what became of them. The issue became a major bone of contention between the Red Cross and the CIA, according to little-noticed language in the Feb. 14, 2007, Red Cross report to CIA acting general counsel John Rizzo that was publicly posted on a magazine Web site this week.

There is substantial reason to believe that these "ghost detainees" included some high-profile suspects, including Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a Libyan-born jihadist captured in Afghanistan whose claims about ties between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were prominently used by top Bush administration officials to justify the war in Iraq, according to human-rights activists who have closely followed the issue. Following the U.S. invasion, al-Libi recanted those claims, saying he fabricated his story about Iraq-Qaeda ties in order to get his interrogators to stop their abusive treatment of him. After his recantation became known in 2004, U.S. government officials dropped all public references to him and he was never heard from again—even though he was once hailed as the U.S. military's first big "catch" after the 9/11 attacks.

When Red Cross officials later pressed for information about what happened to such "ghost" detainees, U.S. government officials insisted they were returned to their country of origin under assurances they would be given "humane" treatment, the report states. But the Red Cross was never given access to the detainees—nor told anything about what happened to them after they were sent back Nor were U.S. State Department officials given details of the transfers or details about the nature of the "assurances" of humane treatment provided by foreign intelligence services to the CIA, according to a former top Bush administration official who was aware of the transfers but who asked not to be publicly identified because the issue remains highly classified. "This issue has been hiding in plain sight—but nobody has connected the dots," said the former official.

Will Robinson Sex Scandal Break Northern Ireland Peace?

Just like Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky/Paula Jones problem distracted the government from preventing the rise of al Qaeda.

in reference to:

"The scandal has riveted Northern Ireland like few things before. First, Peter Robinson, leader of the province's Protestant-Catholic coalition government, admitted that his 60-year-old wife Iris had embarked on an affair with a teenager two years ago. Then came the allegations that she had obtained $80,000 from two property developers to help her lover set up a cafÉ and that Peter Robinson, upon learning of the deal, failed to report it. Now that the Evangelical base of Robinson's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has had time to digest the lurid headlines, the political fallout begins. On Monday, Peter Robinson announced that he would step aside as First Minister for six weeks, saying he needed "time to deal with family matters" and vowing to clear his name. Iris Robinson, a prominent politician in her own right, gave up her seats in the British Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly and checked into a hospital for acute psychiatric treatment. Arlene Foster, 39, was selected to replace Peter Robinson at the helm of the DUP - she becomes the first woman since former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to lead a government in the U.K. (See pictures of new hope for Belfast.) But much more is at stake over the next six weeks than one man's political career. The scandal broke at a critical time for the province's shaky power-sharing agreement. For months, the two biggest parties in government, the DUP and the Catholic-backed Sinn Fein, have been at loggerheads over the devolution of policing and justice powers from London to the Northern Ireland Assembly, which was reconvened two years ago following its suspension in 2002. Sinn Fein wants control over the province's police force to be transferred to Belfast to end what it perceives to be a longtime pro-Protestant bias. But many Protestants, including Peter Robinson, are reluctant to change the status quo. Even before Iris Robinson's affair came to light, Sinn Fein had signaled that it could walk away from the power-sharing deal - painfully negotiated throughout the 1990s - if the DUP fails to compromise. Now, the Robinsons' personal crisis threatens to turn an impasse into a political vacuum - with potentially deadly results."
- Will Robinson Sex Scandal Break Northern Ireland Peace? - Yahoo! News (view on Google Sidewiki)