FSC – What Your Government Didn’t Tell You

Up in Smoke album cover
Image via Wikipedia

Fire Safe Cigarettes

My concentration levels have become shallower – I can’t follow a subject now for more than a couple of hours before I am actually confused! Some of you may not know me well enough to know that that state of mind is not one used to describe me very often. But there it is. I can’t make decisions easily anymore. I can’t type this message without having to hit the backspace key and correct my typing, not because of simple errors but because I am momentarily forgetting how to spell things. I find myself sitting for several minutes, who knows how many, trying to remember what it was I was just doing. I’ve been worrying about the possibility that I was forgetting everything again, like I did when I hit my head.

But I think I’ve found what might be the culprit. And it has nothing to do with that image on the right.

Additive-Free

I noticed that my 100% Additive free Winston Ultra Lights weren’t burning correctly about 3 weeks ago. They would just go out in my hand. So to keep them lit, I had to smoke them faster… which increased my cigarettes intake by about 40%. Then Brad told me2 that my state, North Carolina, has required cigarettes to have a fire retardant included. I looked at the pack of cigarettes here on my desk. Where it used to say ‘100% Additive Free”, there is nothing now. I looked all over the pack. And I did find something new, FSC stamped on the bottom of the pack.

Apparently, there is now a government mandated chemical added to my cigarettes. I looked around, and found that sodium silicate is the culprit. Sodium Silicate. Where have I heard that recently?

Johnny Law

Oh yes. The recent so-called ‘Cash For Clunkers’ program from the federal govt required that all those trade-ins be permanently disabled by pouring sodium silicate into the crankcase. It renders the engine completely and permanently unusable. (It won’t even turn over.)

North Carolina signed this into law August 24, 2007. It will become effective January 1, 2010. Nearly all states and the District of Columbia have passed a similar law. Look at your cigarettes if you are a smoker. Do you see the initials ‘FSC’ stamped on the pack somewhere? The you’re huffing sodium silicate, my friend. Inhaling the stuff described in this MSDS (emphasis mine):

http://web.grcc.edu/Pr/msds/visualarts/SodiumSilicateSolution.txt

Hazards Identification
Emergency Overview
————————–
WARNING! HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED OR INHALED. CAUSES SEVERE IRRITATION TO EYES,
SKIN AND RESPIRATORY TRACT.

J.T. Baker SAF-T-DATA(tm) Ratings (Provided here for your convenience)
———————————————————————————————————–

Health Rating: 1 – Slight
Flammability Rating: 0 – None
Reactivity Rating: 0 – None
Contact Rating: 2 – Moderate
Lab Protective Equip: GOGGLES; LAB COAT
Storage Color Code: Orange (General Storage)
———————————————————————————————————–

Potential Health Effects
———————————-

Diluted solutions of sodium silicate are strong alkaline irritants. The solid
sodium silicate is corrosive. Exposure to alkaline corrosives may result in
severe burns depending on the concentration and duration of exposure. Sodium
silicate is a type of amorphous silica and does not cause pulmonary silicosis.

Inhalation:
A strong alkaline irritant. Inhalation can cause severe irritation of mucous
membranes and upper respiratory tract. Symptoms may include burning sensation,
coughing, wheezing, laryngitis, shortness of breath, headache, nausea and
vomiting. High concentrations may cause lung damage.

Ingestion:
A strong alkaline irritant. Causes irritation to the gastrointestinal tract.
Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Solid sodium silicate:
Alkaline corrosive ingestion may produce burns to the lips, tongue, oral
mucosa, upper airway, esophagus and occasionally stomach.
Skin Contact:
A strong alkaline irritant. Causes severe irritation. Symptoms include
redness, itching and pain. Dries to form a glass film which can cut skin.
Solid sodium silicate: Dermal contact with alkaline corrosives may produce
pain, redness, severe irritation or full thickness burns.
Eye Contact:
A strong alkaline irritant. Alkaline eye exposures produce severe irritation
with effects similar to those of dilute caustics. Inflammation or burns with
possible damage to the eye tissues can occur together with tearing and
considerable pain.

Chronic Exposure:
No information found.
Aggravation of Pre-existing Conditions:
Persons with pre-existing skin disorders or impaired respiratory function may
be more susceptible to the effects of the substance.

4. First Aid Measures
Inhalation:
Remove to fresh air. If not breathing, give artificial respiration. If
breathing is difficult, give oxygen. Get medical attention.

Asses – We All Have Them

I just want to add one thing more before I go. To those of humanity who say things like, “Well, geez. You’re a smoker and you’re worried about what’s in your cigarettes? You’re a dumbass for smoking anyway!” all I can say is “Pull your head out of your ass.” This isn’t about smoking. This is about legislation that affects millions of Americans, who now are required by law to breathe chemicals which are known to be dangerous when inhaled. Addicts to cigarettes are no less addicted than addicts to alcohol. Personally, I don’t take that poison. But I would not agree that our government has the right to require a damaging chemical to be added to your beer or your whiskey.

Wouldn’t it be better to just make the damned things illegal and be done with it?

The estimates in lives saved is less than 600 nationwide. At the risk of sounding callous to many of you, I will state here: That is not a big enough benefit for the risk – the risk to literally millions. Do you hate smoking so much that you would risk millions of lives? Do you hate smokers that much?

If so, don’t tell me who you are. Look in the mirror and tell yourself.

“You Just Killed The HomeOwner”

Strange what you find if you just pay attention. Thanks to twitter, I found this…

PHOENIX (CN) – A homeowner says a Phoenix police officer shot him six times in the back during a 911 home-invasion call, and the 911 tape recorded the officer’s partner saying, “That’s all right. Don’t worry about it. I got your back. … We clear?” The family says the officers were not aware that the 911 call was still recording as they spoke about covering up the shooting.

In their complaint in Maricopa County Court, Anthony and Lesley Arambula say an armed intruder “crashed through the front window” of their home on Sept. 17, 2008 and ran into one of their son’s bedrooms.

Anthony, worried about his son who was still in his bedroom, says he “held the intruder calmly at gunpoint” and called 911.

Phoenix Police officers already in the neighborhood heard the crash of the Arambulas’ window. When they approached the house, Lesley says, she told Sgt. Sean Coutts that her husband was inside holding the intruder at gunpoint. Lesley says Coutts failed to pass on that information to the two other officers.

Inside the house, the Arambulas say, Officer Brian Lilly shot Anthony six times in the back while he was still on the phone with the 911 operator – twice when he was on the ground.
The officers ran into the bedroom after Anthony told them, “You just killed … you just killed the homeowner. The bad guy is in there.”

The complaint states that Officer Lilly “admitted that it was only after Tony was laying, bullet-ridden, on the ground that he assessed the situation. The 911 tape continued to record what happened even after Officer Lilly unloaded his weapon into Tony, including Officer Lilly’s post-shooting, one-word ‘assessment’: ‘Fuck.’

“Tony believed he was going to die; the 911 tape records his plaintive goodbye to his family: ‘… I love you … I love you.’ Then Tony made what he believed was a dying request to the officers; he did not want his young family to see him shot and bloodied. Officers callously ignored his request and painfully dragged Tony by his injured leg, through the home and out to his backyard patio, where they left him bloodied and shot right in front of Lesley, Matthew and Zachary.”

The Arambulas say the officers later dragged Anthony onto gravel, then put him on top of the hot hood of a squad car, and “drove the squad car down the street with Tony lying on top, writing in pain.”

According to the complaint, Lilly can be heard on the 911 tape telling Coutts, “We fucked up.”

Lilly says on the tape that he did not know where Anthony’s gun was when he shot him and that he “opened fire because he heard loud noises and saw someone who looked like he might be the ‘Hispanic’ male they were pursuing” before getting to the Arambulas’ house, according to the complaint.

The complaint states: “Sgt. Coutts knew that officers has just shot up and likely killed an innocent homeowner and the husband of Lesley, with whom he had spoken before entering the home, instead of the armed intruder. Sgt. Coutts was quick to commence the cover-up of their terrible mistake. Sgt. Coutts asked Office Lilly where Tony’s gun was at the time Officer Lilly had opened fire on Tony. Officer Lilly admitted that he did not know where Tony’s gun was: ‘I don’t know. I heard screaming and I fired.'”

Lilly later told a police internal affairs investigator that Anthony had pointed his gun in his direction, “in the ‘ready’ position,” the complaint states. But Anthony Arambula says he was facing away from the officers, who could not have even seen his gun.

The complaint continues: “Still not knowing that he is being recorded n the 911 tape, Sgt. Coutts interrupted Officer Lilly’s admission and apology with his assurance that the cover-up would commence: ‘That’s all right. Don’t worry about it. I got your back. … We clear?'”

After the shooting, the Arambulas say, the Phoenix Police Department treated them “like suspects in a drug bust,” denying Lesley, Michael and Zachary information about Anthony’s condition and denying friends and family members access to him at the hospital.

Anthony Arambula survived, but continues to suffer pain, which he expects will last for the rest of his life.

The City of Phoenix and Officer Dzenan Ahmetovic also are named as defendants.

The Arambulas seek punitive damages for gross negligence, civil rights violations, failure to supervise, excessive force, deliberate indifference to medical needs, false arrest, and emotional distress. They are represented by Michael Manning with son Morrison Hecker.

Original at CourthouseNews

NiteOwl’s GreenBrief #63

Location of IranImage via Wikipedia

News From Iran

The Green Brief is the best source of information from Iran, gathered from sources which are verified as well as they can be, under the circumstances. Nearly all of this information is gathered via twitter sources from inside Iran. An extremely small set of sources, considering the millions of Iranians who, not so long ago, carried on conversations with the world.

Josh, aka NiteOwl, has become a voice for some of them, and a valuable window for the rest of the world. I can’t stress how much I personally appreciate Josh and his small team for the work they’re putting into all this. As an American, it might seem strange that I would care at all. I can only stress that we are all brothers, sisters, and cousins on this world. We all come from a different place and we each have a unique journey.

We all share that.

The Green Brief #63 ( August 30 – Shahrivar 8 )

I’m NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar – twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter. I’m a journalist and a human rights activist and NOT Iranian. This is a compilation of news from Iran that I’ve gathered through twitter and Iranian sites that were advertised on twitter. Remember, this is all from tweets. (My work is released under Creative Commons (CC) under the condition that you provide a link to the original source.)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Sunday, August 30 – Shahrivar 8.

Protests / Unrest

1. More than 120 members of the detainees’ families gathered to protest their detention, in front of the Judiciary.

2. Dozens gathered at Amir Al-Momineen Mosque in Tehran and chanted anti-government slogans, as well as expressing support for Mir Hossein Mousavi.

3. There is word that a countrywide protest is being planned for September 18.

4. Partially confirmed reports, indicate that today in Karaj city’s Gowhardasht Prison, guards and members of the Intelligence Ministry, attacked political prisoners inside certain parts of the facility and severely beat them. Later, prisoners were dragged out and kept under the sun for over five hours. The report also suggested that some prisoners were injured and not given any medical attention for hours.

Opposition

5. Partially confirmed reports indicate that Mir Hossein Mousavi took part in the mourning ceremony of Saeeda Pour-Aghaie in Tehran. Saeeda was one of the protesters, who had been killed in detention and then buried in one of the unmarked graves in Beheshte Zahra.

6. In a meeting with the central committee of his party – Etemaade Melli – Mehdi Karoubi stressed, yet again, that he will not back down. He said even though reformists had been severely restricted by the government, it was time for them to stand firm because these restrictions would not last long.

He added, yet again, that he had never claimed something without evidence and he had evidence, at hand, that the rape of detainees had taken place. He asked the committee, not to be upset about the ban on Etemaade Melli newspaper and to continue on their current course.

He warned the government that they will see people’s stance on Quds Day – September 18 – the people would show the government who they really supported. He said the pressure that was being applied on reformists, university students and faculty members, was a sign of the government’s weakness.

7. Karoubi today also met with ten former detainees, who had been held at Kahrizak. Families of the detainees were also present. The detainees spoke of their conditions and of the abuse at Kahrizak and showed their support for his stance. Further details of the meeting are not available at this point.

8. Rafsanjani denied that his children had entered the country’s political affairs and said they were just outspoken and could not stand hypocrisy. This came after allegations, that one of his sons used government money to covertly fund Rafsanjani’s campaign in the 2005 presidential elections. Also one of his daughters took part in protests and was briefly detained.

9. The Combatant Clerics Association held a meeting under the supervision of former President Mohammad Khatami. The Association condemned illegal actions, especially the inhumane behavior of detainees by the government. They also asked, newly-appointed Judiciary Chairman Sadegh Larijani, to swiftly act and stop such actions from taking place.

10. In an open letter to members of Iran’s parliament, Azam Taloghani – the Secretary General of the Women’s Association of the Islamic Revolution – asked the members of parliament to support Mousavi and Karoubi. She warned them, if they did not pursue the people who had committed atrocities – including tortures, rapes and murders – against the Iranian youth, they would lose the trust of the people completely.

Government / International

11. Ahmadinejad formally presented his cabinet members to the Iranian parliament. He said all the members had been carefully chosen and fitted the criteria for selection. He also said Iran would stand up to global arrogance. There are indications, that at least five of Ahmadinejad’s proposed cabinet members, will likely fail the vote of confidence by the parliament.

12. Judiciary Chief Sadegh Larijani, appointed former Tehran Attorney General Saeed Mortazavi, as the country’s Assistant Attorney General. He also appointed Gholamhossein Esmaeli as the head of State Prisons and the State’s Corrections Department. On Saturday, he appointed Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi – the former head of Khuzestan province’s Judiciary – to replace Mortazavi as Tehran’s Attorney General.

13. Khamenei today, praised Iran’s establishment for standing up to post-election violence. He also said the country had successfully staved off the problems created, in the aftermath of the election. He said those who had committed crimes against the populace, by taking part in illegal activities during the post-election violence, will be dealt with, as well as those who had perpetrated the post-election events.

14. Sadegh Larijani has ordered the three-member commission, that has been set up to investigate the post-election violence, to also investigate Mehdi Karoubi’s letter. Attorney General Mohsen Ejaie is a member of the commission. He is also believed to be behind the brutal suppression of peaceful protesters.

15. Tehran’s Police Chief Azizollah Rajabzadeh, today said that no detainees had been killed at Kahrizak. He explained that detainees had not been kept at Kahrizak for more than three days. He also said that he had personally spoken to the official responsible for Kahrizak and had instructed him about conduct. He further added that all detainees had been arrested by judicial orders and no one had been detained illegally.

16. Kargozaran Party, which is considered close to Rafsanjani, today declared their support for Mehdi Karoubi.

17. Khamenei met with the family of Mostafa Ghanian who was killed during the unrest in Mashhad.

18. MP Farhad Tajari – a member of the parliamentary commission to assess the condition of detainees – said today that the names of those accused of abuse, would not be released according to the country’s laws. The law forbids their names from being released unless they are convicted, he said.

19. Partially confirmed reports indicate that Tehran’s provincial government, has threatened Tehran University’s managing staff, that if students continue to use the university’s premises for demonstrations, the university would see the upcoming term cancelled. This comes as Amir Kabir University’s dorm has been ordered to be evacuated for a week, according to the authorities, it needs to be cleaned before the start of the new term.

Arrested / Released / Killed / Torture

20. Morteza Alviri, Mehdi Karroubi’s representative on the vote supervision committee, today said that at least seven people had gone missing during the post-election violence and 69 were confirmed dead – among them, Taraneh Mousavi. He added that these were only the people they could positively identify and confirm.

He said they had given these names to the parliament’s committee, assessing the condition of detainees. He said the missing people were not found on the lists of casualties or those in detention.

Morteza Alviri said, “Taraneh Mousavi is one of the casualties and what aired on the 20:30 program from channel 2 (a state run television) about her being alive is false.”

This is while yesterday, the Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Ali Jafari, claimed that during the post-election violence only 29 people had lost their lives. The official government statistic stands at around 30.

21. Saeeda Pour-Aghaie, a young girl, was raped and killed in detention. Confirmed reports say Saeeda was arrested by Basijis, from her home, for chanting Allaho Akbar from her rooftop. She was taken into detention, raped and then killed. Her body was burnt, except for her legs from her knees downwards, with a strong acid, to hide the evidence of her brutal ordeal.

Twenty days after her initial arrest, her mother was taken to the morgue and her body was identified. Her mother was not allowed to take her body for burial. She was later buried in the 302 section of Beheshte Zahra, in secret, without her family’s knowledge.

Her family has been put under extreme pressure, to say the cause of Saeeda’s death, was the result of complications arising from a kidney infection.

A picture of Saeeda and a full report in Farsi: http://www.mowjcamp.com/article/id/24124

22. At least two reliable sources, claim they have received reports, that unmarked graves in Beheshte Zahra’s 302 section, are the graves of women, who have been raped and then killed, after being arrested for protesting. This could not be confirmed by other sources at this time.

23. One reliable source, has reported another mass grave in Beheshte Zahra, but has not been able to provide ‘concrete’ evidence. As soon as more evidence is available, it will be presented here.

24. Mansoor Asanlo – a labor leader who is in detention – was badly beaten today, along with his other cell mates and accused of storing drugs in his cell.

25. It has been confirmed that Mehdi Hosseinzadeh has been in detention for three weeks. Hosseinzadeh is a journalist and analyst who had previously worked for Etemaad and is an expert in economics.

26. Fresh reports and testimonies now confirm that Kahrizak Prison may still be operational. One witness, who had been detained at Kahrizak, told an Iranian human rights agency yesterday, that after he had been released, he found out that Kahrizak had been ‘officially’ ordered shut down a week before.

The detainee also gave a full statement to the agency claiming:

– He was locked up, in a ship container at Kahrizak, with 75 other people in appalling conditions.

– They were underfed and rarely allowed to drink or allowed to take bathroom breaks.

– They were frequently beaten, to the point where they would almost faint.

– The detainee was beaten so badly, that one his earlobes was torn off his ear.

– Injured detainees, were simply tossed back into the container and were not given any medical help whatsoever.

– Detainees were only allowed to shower twice a month.

27. The judge, who was accused of having a hand in the incidents that occurred at Kahrizak is back, at his post, even though the government had announced earlier he has been fired from his job.

28. Kivan Samimi has been tortured so badly in detention, he had to be taken to hospital. He was admitted for several days to recover from his injuries, sustained during the beatings. He and other prisoners, have also been told repeatedly that Mousavi and Rafsanjani have been arrested, to break their morale and force them to make false confessions.

29. A prisoner, who has recently been released from Evin, tells of shocking news about the trials. According to him, detainees who were being put on trial, were told before being taken to court, that no one in the court was sympathetic towards them. They were told, that they might see media present, but they were all on the government’s side and if they said anything, other than what was pre-written for them, by the prison authorities, not only would it not get out of the courtroom, but they would also be severely punished for it, when brought back to prison.

30. Journalist Fariba Pajooh, has also been reportedly threatened that if she did not confess to being immoral, she would be hanged. Some of her reporter friends claim that authorities had used her ID on twitter and other sites to try and obtain information about her friends.

Media

31. According to IRIB Chief Zarghami, IRIB has lost more than 60% of its viewership in the aftermath of the election.

Miscellaneous

32. Montreal Film Festival Greened? http://bit.ly/WkDlz

33. Billboard greenings continue in Kerman: http://bit.ly/TWP47

34. Yachting tournament in Czech Republic greened?http://bit.ly/iuKIA

International Protests / Events / Warnings / Efforts

35. Thousands of people gathered at Kungsträdgården, central Stockholm, today to participate in a demonstration for human rights in Iran. Among the speakers were Mona Sahlin, party leader for the Social democrats and Jan Björklund, party leader for the liberals and Minister for education. Amnesty and the Swedish organization for sexual rights RFSL were among the arrangers. (Courtesy of StockholmNews.com and Mats Öhlén)

36. A petition to be signed and sent to ambassadors as well as their contacts: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcnj8jzc_8dxb9vbgf

37. PLEASE READ THIS FOR YOUR SAFETY’S SAKE: http://tinyurl.com/r2ow2c

38. For an unofficial list of upcoming protests in the US: http://protests.sharearchy.com/

39. For a list of protests that are being planned in Germany, please visit this link: http://tinyurl.com/nbzacj

40. A to the point website for help traumatized Greens: http://healingthegreensoul.blogspot.com/

(If you, your friends or your organization are holding events, protests or doing something else related to the Iranian election internationally, please send me an email with details and I will give you coverage. (Will only cost you 10 million dollars!) My email is: [email]dbosca@gmail.com

To Helpers

– Info on republishing the Green Brief: http://tinyurl.com/mjxrz3

– Information on Tor: http://torir.org

This page contains a listing of external mirrors of the GB, as well as various information about the GB. Links to translations are also encouraged: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief

– (A list of all the Green Briefs): http://ded1.hybrid-optix.com/greenbriefs.html

– A hearty thanks to S joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who’re spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Original GreenBrief at WhyWeProtest

NiteOwl’s GreenBrief #49+50

Location of IranImage via Wikipedia

News From Iran

The Green Brief is the best source of information from Iran, gathered from sources which are verified as well as they can be, under the circumstances. Nearly all of this information is gathered via twitter sources from inside Iran. An extremely small set of sources, considering the millions of Iranians who, not so long ago, carried on conversations with the world.

Josh, aka NiteOwl, has become a voice for some of them, and a valuable window for the rest of the world. I can’t stress how much I personally appreciate Josh and his small team for the work they’re putting into all this. As an American, it might seem strange that I would care at all. I can only stress that we are all brothers, sisters, and cousins on this world. We all come from a different place and we each have a unique journey.

We all share that.

The Green Brief 49-50 (August 4,5 – Mordad 13,14)

I’m NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar – twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter. I’m a journalist and a human rights activist and NOT Iranian. This is a compilation of news from Iran that I’ve gathered through twitter and Iranian sites that were advertised on twitter. Remember, this is all from tweets. (My work is released under Creative Commons (CC).)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Tuesday and Wednesday, August 4,5 – Mordad 13,14.

Protest / Unrest

1. A protest is scheduled for today – August 6 – at Vanak Square and Valiasr Square. Should be underway by the time this Brief is out. Protests are also planned for Mashhad – at Malikabard Blvd – and other cities – but confirmation for cities other than Mashhad is not available.

August 5

2. Mass protests were held in Tehran on August 5. The main location was at Baharestan Square, close to the parliament, 1,500 to 2,000 people gathered and chanted against the regime. Thousands gathered at other locations in the city, mainly the Bazaar, Vanak Square, Mirdamad, Yosufabad and Sa’aie Park. Baharestan was important both to the government and the protesters as that is where Ahmadinejad was being sworn in. Thousands of protestors were marching on the streets. Partially confirmed reports suggest that the bazaar was almost paralyzed by the crowd.

3. Thousands of security forces were employed, effectively blocking the parliament from outside access. It has been confirmed that Ahmadinejad flew in by helicopter to avoid the protesters. Helicopters flew overhead in many parts of central Tehran. Security forces were so numerous, that in some areas, they outnumbered protesters.

4. Protesters were again badly beaten during clashes in many parts of the city. Partially confirmed reports also indicated that tear gas was used to disperse protesters in some locations. Subway stations, including the one close to Baharestan, were closed by the police to stop protesters from getting into central Tehran.

5. At least 20 people were arrested according to confirmed sources. Dozens more were also reportedly arrested – but confirmation has not been reliable. It was, however, confirmed that a high school near Baharestan was converted into a temporary holding place for arrested protesters, until they could be moved to detention centers/prisons elsewhere. Reportedly, the number of people arrested may be very high.

6. Detainees’ families also gathered in front of Evin Prison today.

7. Cell phone service was cut off throughout central Tehran, once again.

8. There were also reports of a smaller protest in Sari.

Opposition

August 4

9. Ayatollah Montazeri released a statement denouncing the government’s obtaining confessions from prisoners and called them illegal and a major sin.

10. Karroubi released a statement saying that both he and Mousavi would continue their protests over the rigged elections.

August 5

11. Mousavi, Rahnavard, Mirdamadi, Nabavi and Ramezanzadeh’s Facebook accounts were attacked today and were inaccessible at the time of the writing of this Brief.

12. Mousavi stated today, that the government thought it could quell the people’s demands by arresting reformist leaders and calling them leaders of a ‘velvet revolution’ but protesters have shown that people’s demands were not tied to individuals. He added that the arrests were not going to stop the political movement.

13. IIPF released a statement today calling the government illegal. The statement also asserted that the government had no longer remained true to the constitution and was not democratic.

14. Ayatollah Sane’ie and Ayatollah Zanjani joined Ayatollah Montazeri in calling the government’s confession program illegal and sinful. Sane’ie went as far as saying that those who were forcing prisoners to confess would soon see the results of their traitorous actions.

15. Ayatollah Moaghegh-Damad sent a letter to Judiciary Chief Shahrodi and literally blasted him for his conduct. Excerpts from his statement are here: Legal Scholar Blasts Judiciary Chief – Tehran Bureau

16. It is unclear whether Hashemi Rafsanjani will be leading Friday prayers this week, even though it is his turn to do so.

Arrested / Released / Killed

August 4

17. Mir hamid Hassanzadeh – the owner of Ghalam, a website that has gained a reputation as Mousavi’s semi-official page online – has been arrested and his computer together with other equipment was confiscated. Hassanzadeh is also the head of Mousavi campaign’s media outreach program.

18 Khomeini’s granddaughter asked the government to reveal the names of detainees so their release could be pursued through legal means by their families. Full story: Khomeini’s granddaughter speaks out – Tehran Bureau

19 Hoshang Baba’ie, the legal counsel of Tajzadeh, Nabavi and Mirdamadi, told ILNA that he would not be attending court on Saturday as the trial was illegal.

August 5

20. Shocking news of Alireza, a 12 year old boy killed at Beheste Zahra, last Thursday, has now been confirmed. He had accompanied his father to the mourning for Neda and the other protestors at the cemetery. He was killed by the security forces after being hit on the head with a baton. His body was returned to his family four days after he was killed. (I have withheld publication of his death since Monday because I wanted full confirmation of this very serious incident.) There are reports of a parliamentary investigation into the circumstances of his death.

21. The body of an unnamed protester was returned to his family 20 days after his disappearance. His heart and kidneys were missing and stitches could be seen on his abdomen. His badly bruised body also lacked finger nails.

22. Mahdi Yazdani Khorram, an editor at Etemaade Melli newspaper, has been arrested. Reza Nourbakhsh – the chief editor of Farhikhtegan newspaper – also arrested, his equipment was ceased and his office was searched thoroughly. Fereydoon Amozadeh – the chief editor of Chilcheragh Weekly – arrested.

23. Ali Vaghefi, the head of Mousavi campaign’s students’ division in Tehran, was released on bail. Also released was Mehadi Hashemi’s wife.

24. The second session of reformists’ trial in Tehran has been postponed to Saturday.

25. The office of the Association of Iranian Journalists has been sealed by agents of the Judiciary. The office has been sealed by the order of Mortazavi. The association was supposed to be holding a meeting on Friday.

Government / International

August 4

26. Iran’s National Security Council has announced that the people in charge of Kahrizak, would be fired and prosecuted, if charges of misconduct are proven against them after investigations were done. (Take them to Evin, give them psychoactive drugs, rip their nails and lash them with different types of electrical cables and they’ll readily confess. You don’t need an investigation.)

27. In an open letter, 44 Nobel laureates have condemned the human rights violations in Iran.

August 5

28. Ahmadinejad’s inauguration ceremony was held in the Iranian parliament with the absence of prominent reformists and Khamenei. Only Shahroudi was present as the highest ranking government official. Several embassies sent low-ranking officials rather than ambassadors to attend the ceremony. (The names of these embassies will be released as soon as I have confirmation. Count on it!)

29. Other people present were; Mohmmadi Golpaygani, Samara Hashemi, Sardar Jafari, Rahim Masha’ie and Mohseni Ejaie. Absentees including all reformist directly tied to the Green Movement, Ayatollah Yazdi, Ahmad Khatami – both staunch Ahmadinejad supporters – Ali Akbar Nategh Noori, former speaker of the house, Mohsen Reza’ie, a conservative and a candidate in the elections for president and Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, Tehran’s mayor. Even though the government had invited over 250 people besides the MPs, many seats were empty. Foreign media was barred from the event.

30. Dozens of reformist MPs walked out as Ahmadinejad started his speech. Ahmadinejad did not say a word regarding the protests and simply continued to call his ‘selection’ historic.

31. So far, the governments of France, Great Britain, the US and Belgium have declined to congratulate Ahmadinejad on his historic ‘selection’ as Iran’s president. In a separate statement, EU spokesperson Amadeu Altafaj made it clear that the EU was not going to send a letter either.

32. The Norwegian government summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires to protest human rights violations and imprisonment of opposition politicians.

Miscellaneous

33. The first game of Iran’s Premier League will be held without spectators on Friday for fear of Green Movement participation.

To Helpers

– Anonymous – the collective that organizes and runs this forum – needs donations to keep the servers running. They only need about 22,500
Cents a month to make this possible. If you do want to make a donation, please chip in your pennies here for the month of August: General Expense – Why We Protest

– Info on republishing the Green Brief: For Bloggers, News Sites and Forum who want to republish the Green Brief Plesae Read! – Why We Protest – IRAN

– Information on Tor: Tor Browser Bundle

– Discuss/Annotate: http://aic.openmsl.net/wiki/index.php/Green_Brief_48 ; Create it if it doesn’t exist.

– (A list of all the Green Briefs: http://ded1.hybrid-optix.com/greenbriefs.html

– A hearty thanks to Sahar joon and S joon for helping me out with proof-reading and very valuable tips. Also, a BIG THANKS to all the translators who’re spending their precious time on getting this to as many people as possible.

Original GreenBrief at WhyWeProtest

Reading List

Uhh… I Got Behind A Bit…

I got a bit behind this past week. Whether treating my illness or dealing with Thanksgiving, I just didn’t have enough time to keep up here at Wordout. So here is my recent reading list, which I am STILL behind on. My reading list is usually where I get the beginning information for many of the pieces I publish here. Since I am so far behind, some of these things may never get the chance to appear here, but they are worth looking into for those of you who are interested.

For those of you who are not: move along, nothing to see here right now.

Failed Bank List

Too Tired To Succeed

Atlas Shrugged (updated for the markets)

Credit Crisis — The Essentials

Why Did TARP Change Course?

$7.8 TRILLION Bailout

Climate Progress – The Northwest Passage “Not One Cube Of Ice”

Trading Analog Dollars For Digital Pennies

Robert Rubin, Citibank CEO: ‘Nobody was prepared…’

More on Rubin, Citi

Higher Interest Rates on Public Debt

WorldBank Quarterly – China

Nassim Taleb

I am Jon, and that is about an average day’s reading, plus a bit.

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What Do Obama Supporters Do Now?

From The Onion

Horrible (fake) stories are being reported across America in the wake of the Obama win on Tuesday. First the video(fake), and then the Obama solution(real)…


Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

The Obama Solution

If this is happening to you, or to someone you know, President Obama has already setup a new website, www.change.gov. That’s right, dot GOV. So if you’re having withdrawal symptoms since the election this past Tuesday, click through on that link to get your fix of ‘Yes, We Can!‘.

I’ll be investigating the change.gov website sometime between now and the inauguration. I poked around a bit today and quite frankly, it’s a brand new site: there just ain’t much there yet.

I expect that will change quite a bit over the next couple of months, though. The beginnings of a great site are already included in the design. They have the beginnings of a blog (hmmm closed comments, Barack? Well, maybe that does make sense, now that I think about it a moment.).

They have a study area where you can learn what the Obama/Biden agenda really is. And they have an area where they ask for input from the American public, What’s Your Story?, which might prove to be the most visited part of the site.

I am Jon. Jerry Yang: Email me, man! I have a great idea that I think you will love! (seriously)

US Election Streaming Results

UPDATE:
Congratulations to Barack Obama, elected President Of The United States by an uncontestable majority.
Congratulations also to newly elected Senator Hagan, who defeated Lizzy Dole in the North Carolina Senate race.
And congratulations to my Congessman, Brad Miller, for being Re-elected. I respect a Congressman who says what he’ll do and then does what he said.

National Elections

North Carolina Elections

I am Jon. It’s 10pm. I’m watching Stewart and Colbert Indecision Coverage.

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Investment Goals

The Next Rout Begins

I notice in the Asian markets a bit of mixed results, and in Europe a general decline with only a few gainers. Narrow margins in either direction.

Looks like today may be rough in New York and Chicago.

Hopefully you aren’t lulled into complacency by the latest rally. If you’ll notice, the gains made this week haven’t even brought us close to the highs of the last rally.

I think all the dismal news from the week is going to finally sink in sometime today, and people are going to start moving into cash again.

If not today, then, soon.

Whatever You Thought They Were…

I don’t really know why this makes me laugh so much.

[:.:]

(sigh…)

I am Jon. Beware The Friday Moves.

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Dear Investor – Andrew Lahde’s Farewell

Description unavailableImage by Sinsong via Flickr
Name Dropping

You would think that if I’m going to be dropping names to drive traffic to this site, that I might choose a name known the world over. On a financial piece, you’d expect Kashkari or Bernanke or Paulson, or some other name that gets lots of search traffic.

But Andrew Lahde is a name worth remembering, even if you’ve never heard his story before finding your way here today. He’s the guy who ran a small hedgefund for the past couple of years and made headlines (and fortunes) last year when one of his funds posted near 1000% earnings in less than 12 months.

No. I did not add an erroneous ‘zero’ to that. One Thousand Percent in a year.

He did it by recognizing the shabby state of the subprime markets and then hedging his bets against them. He did the same thing with the financial securities this year.

But now, he’s calling it quits. Seems that he also knows what I call ‘Jon’s 1st Rule Of Markets’: I don’t have to be an active player to win’.

Below is his farewell letter to the markets. It’s a fascinating read.

Dear Investor:

Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.

Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

There are far too many people for me to sincerely thank for my success. However, I do not want to sound like a Hollywood actor accepting an award. The money was reward enough. Furthermore, the endless list those deserving thanks know who they are.

I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they look forward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.

So this is it. With all due respect, I am dropping out. Please do not expect any type of reply to emails or voicemails within normal time frames or at all. Andy Springer and his company will be handling the dissolution of the fund. And don’t worry about my employees, they were always employed by Mr. Springer’s company and only one (who has been well-rewarded) will lose his job.

I have no interest in any deals in which anyone would like me to participate. I truly do not have a strong opinion about any market right now, other than to say that things will continue to get worse for some time, probably years. I am content sitting on the sidelines and waiting. After all, sitting and waiting is how we made money from the subprime debacle. I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life — where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management — with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established.

On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal. First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government. Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft’s near monopoly. I believe there is an answer, but for now the system is clearly broken.

Lastly, while I still have an audience, I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in BP’s, “Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,” television commercials, nor is it mentioned in ADM’s similar commercials. But hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products. Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. Hemp is the male plant and it grows like a weed, hence the slang term. The original American flag was made of hemp fiber and our Constitution was printed on paper made of hemp. It was used as recently as World War II by the U.S. Government, and then promptly made illegal after the war was won. At a time when rhetoric is flying about becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, why is it illegal to grow this plant in this country? Ah, the female. The evil female plant — marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country. My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other additive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. This policy is ludicrous. It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western). You would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week. Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient.

With that I say good-bye and good luck.

All the best,

Andrew Lahde”


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I am Jon. I think we’ll be hearing more from Andrew in a few years… and I’m looking forward to it.

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Wall Street Shuffle

CHICAGO - JULY 09:  Traders in the soybean fut...Image by Getty Images via DaylifeThe Past

Monday markets in Asia are generally seeing a slight recovery from the lows posted last week. Although the gains recorded today didn’t even come close to correcting the massive selloff, it’s nice to see that there is a pause in the panic.

The gains come after a weekend of strategy sessions which culminated in governments worldwide stepping up and promising to invest in banks, to shore up the liquidity crisis that has paralyzed the financial markets in the past few weeks.

From AP:

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, which tumbled more than 7 percent Friday, rose about 478.80 points higher, or 3.24 percent, at 15,275.67.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 index was up 4.71 percent in response to a government plan to guarantee bank and other lender deposits for three years. The benchmark plunged over 8 percent on Friday, its biggest single-day fall ever.

South Korea’s benchmark gained 2.8 percent and Singapore’s key stock measure was up 2 percent. But indices in Shanghai and the Taiwan benchmark lost more than 3 percent.

Japan’s market, where the Nikkei 225 tanked nearly 10 percent Friday to close out its worst week in history, was closed for a public holiday.

The region’s markets showed signs of life after leaders of the 15 euro-zone countries unveiled measures Sunday to prop up the region’s ailing financial institutions. Under the plan, governments would guarantee new bank debt until the end of 2009, allow governments to help banks by buying preferred shares, and vowed to rescue important failing banks through emergency recapitalizion(sic).

The Futures

Futures charts found at Bloomberg.com indicate the major players think the US will follow suit and have an up day on Wall Street.

Currently predicting gains of around 373 basis points, they are perhaps betting on market reaction to the expected announcement of government investment in US banks. General world consensus is that the agreements reached in Europe over the weekend which extend guarantees of private bank deposits and virtually all new bank debt through 2009 has bolstered trust in the system.

The lack of trust is thought to be the key issue in the global crisis. No one is sure who has funds and who doesn’t, so everybody simply holds onto what they have. With no funds moving, the financial markets have seized-up. Government guarantees are expected to alleviate some of that lack of trust.

If today’s pause is any indication, the plan seems to have worked. At least for today. But it still feels like the risk is on the downside and some wonder if Monday’s rally is just setting the world markets up for a sucker punch later in the week.

The Present

Right about now would be a good time to take a moment out of your crazy day and listen to 10cc from 1974… singing about the Wall Street Shuffle. I hope you enjoy it:


The Wall Street Shuffle

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I am Jon, and I am wondering: Do you think the markets will continue to fall, or is that darkness behind us?

Image 17

Some Thoughts On The Presidential Debate

Presidential sealImage by Scott Adams via FlickrObama v McCain

Below are some notes I took during the debate this evening. The times are approximate.

I’m sure I missed some things here that I would just love to bring to your attention. I have to admit, boring as the whole thing was, certain parts of it had my undivided attention and I forgot to make a note, listening to what was said.

Sorry ’bout that. Look below for links to other blogs with more commentary.

If you watched the debate, hopefully you caught most or all of the deceptions going on. There were several, and I tried to catch them. If not, read on for a few of the most obvious…

910
McCain’s ‘greatest fiscal crisis’ remark. I wonder if he remembers the 1980s, the Savings and Loan mess. Google Keating Five. Wikipedia reports “Senators John Glenn and John McCain were cleared of having acted improperly but were criticized for having exercised “poor judgment”.

915

Did McCain warn evrybody about the financial crisis for the past 2 years? ABC News reports that just last year he said he was ‘surprised’.

920
McCain talking about earmarks. Sarah Palin is known as the (google link)’earmark queen‘.

925
Corporate taxes. Did you know that 2 out of 3 corporations in the US pay NO taxes?

930

More McCain earmark talk… why doesn’t he mention the bridge to Nowhere, Alaska?

935
All this talk about how to handle our energy needs. Good grief.
Drilling will not do anything at all for a minimum of 10 years, with only marginal impact then.
Biofuels? Waste of good food while people are starving.
Nukes? They really do cost too much, take too long to build, and have other inherent risks that have yet to be addressed… just look at France.
And clean coal? It DOES NOT EXIST and industry experts expect that it never will exist.
Both candidates gave only a passing mention of solar, wind and geothermal. At least Obama talks a bit about rebuilding infrastructure, something that goes with the wind and solar.

940
Spending freeze? That’s not gonna help anybody! Unless maybe that’s how McCain plans to bail out his buddies on Wall Street. I guess if you cut everything but defense and ‘critical’ government services, there just might be $700 billion there.

942
OK, this is just out and out lies. McCain, the great prisoner of war from ancient times, the man who has seen torture 1st hand, McCain, the man with the same lame slogan that failed him 8 years ago… McCain voted to allow waterboarding.

945
McCain says the surge worked, and without it we might have seen more sectarian violence. He says Patraeus had a great strategy. He actually calls that man a ‘great general’. What the great general did was to hand out guns and ammo to certain factions and then looked the other way. Immediately after the surge and most likely because of it, a period of massive ethnic cleansing ensued. The real reason that the violence dropped off after the surge was that each neighborhood had reasonable success at killing the families they didn’t want there. This great general enabled that to happen by handing out weapons and ammo for free, with no accounting whatsoever.

950
McCain doesn’t know what the troops want. The troops are financing Obama over McCain by a 6:1 ratio.

955
If we pull out of Iraq it will help Iran? Going into Iraq has already helped Iran. The border there is nearly 400 years old, made to separate the Sunnis(Iran-Persians) from the Shi’ites(Iraq-Ottomans). And who now rules Iraq? The Sunnis. What we have done in Iraq has helped the Iranians more than anything in the last 400 years.

And let’s not forget what a great vocalist McCain is. He does a great bomb bomb song.

1005
Pakistan was not a ‘failed state’! Musharef came into power by orchestrating a military coup when the Prime Minister tried to replace him. McCain Lies Again!

1010
The idea of a ‘League of Democracies’ is a direct attack on the founding principles of the United Nations. I’m against it but I think it’s such a stupid idea that it won’t get much traction, so I won’t discuss it further.

1020
All this talk about whether we should talk to our enemies or not, what did Kissinger really say, it’s all rhetoric. I give the point to Obama, because he references Kissinger, a McCain advisor and ‘good friend’ accurately to support his position. Kissinger did indeed say that high level talks should be held without preconditions.

1025
The Russia-Georgia conflict. I remember reading Obama’s initial statement, and McCain quotes it fairly accurately. I just can’t find anything wrong with calling for restraint from both sides in a conflict. McCain thought it was an inappropriate response. I think differently. Point Obama.

1030
They both mention offshore drilling. Again, offshore drilling will do absolutely NOTHING to help us in a timeframe that makes any difference. In the time that it takes that oil to reach our pumps, an entirely new industry of clean energy needs to be developed.

1035
For the record, John McCain has a lousy record with veterans. Look HERE for more on that.

Here are some links to other blogs covering the debate:
ThinkProgress
WashingtonIndependent
HuffingtonPost
ModerateVoice

I am Jon. Match: Obama.

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Proposed Changes Would Legislate Stupidity

Polar Bear at Cape Churchill (Wapusk National ...Image via Wikipedia
Why Even Have An EPA?

Way back in 1973 the US passed a law which required us to start looking ahead to gauge the environmental impact of our actions. The Environmental Protection Agency was created to regulate how much damage we would allow ourselves to do the planet.

This is the same EPA which recently released a report on the harmful effects of CO2, as directed by the New Jersey Supreme Court. The report was censored by the Bush administration to the point that the report became virtually meaningless. All references to CO2 being harmful to humans was removed from the report, even though that was the general finding of the EPA’s investigation.

Being Dumb Was Good Enough For Bush, Why Not Include Everybody?

Now, the administration is trying to legislate the kind of stupidity we’ve grown accustomed to during the Bush reign over terror. I guess they figured they gutted FISA, which was working fine (except that it cramped their style), why not the EPA as well?

Below is an excerpt from the proposed changes, which is enough to show just exactly what these changes are all about. Parts BOLDED by me…

Document ID: NOAA-NMFS-2008-0213-0001
Interagency Cooperation under the Endangered Species Act

‘These [proposed] regulations would reinforce the Services’ current view that there is no requirement to consult on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions’ contribution to global warming and its associated impacts on listed species (e.g., polar bears).

For example, when a Federal agency provides funding for a new highway, vehicle use of the highway may result in changes in GHG emissions. The proposed revisions make explicit that while the impact of tailpipe emissions on local air pollution could be an effect of the action, the GHG emissions’ contribution to global warming and associated impacts to listed species (e.g., polar bears) are not, and the effects of those impacts would not need to be considered in any consultation.

First, GHG emissions from building one highway are not an “essential cause” of any impacts associated with global warming. Moreover, any such effects are later in time, but are not reasonably certain to occur (i.e., a finding that an effect is reasonably certain to occur must be based on clear and substantial information, cannot be speculative, and must be more than just likely to occur). For both reasons, impacts associated with global warming do not constitute “effects of the action” under the proposed revision to that definition. See proposed 50 CFR 402.02, 402.03(b)(1), (c).

Even if these impacts would otherwise fall within the definition of “effects of the action,” they need not be considered in any consultation because under the proposed Applicability section the building of one highway is “an insignificant contributor” to any such impacts. Further, any impacts associated with the GHG emissions from the building of one highway are “not capable of being meaningfully identified or detected in a manner that permits evaluation” and “are such that the potential risk of jeopardy to the listed species or adverse modification or destruction of the critical habitat [from those GHG emissions] is remote.” See proposed 50 CFR 402.03(b)(2)-(3), (c).

Do you see the pure stupidity of this line of (false) reasoning? First off, it disagrees with generally accepted and vigorously tested science. Global warming is real. Human activity, as a primary catalyst of global warming, is an accepted fact. Real scientific debate has given way in many parts of the world to the search for solutions. Without solutions, global warming will destroy many, if not most, of the species on this planet. Us included.

To lobby the view that greenhouse gases, accepted by the scientific community as one of the leading causes of global warming, are exempt from consultation under the Act, is just plain stupid. Examining the proposal’s reasoning, we find 2 reasons given for their beliefs, with a catch-all loophole that makes any debate meaningless.

Logic Of The Damned

The first states that a single highway cannot be held accountable for an increase in greenhouse gases or global warming. If there were only one highway on the planet that would be true. But the reality of it is, we have highways enough for more than 300 million vehicles in the US alone. All that traffic on all those highways adds up. It’s true that one SUV on a highway isn’t going to cause catastrophic change. It’s also very true that there are more than one SUV on the roads.

The second tries to fudge the accepted scientific view of climate change into something it is not. This administration has argued consistently that warming wasn’t occurring, and when that message finally failed in the face of real science, they have recently pushed the idea that greenhouse gases were not responsible. The accepted science these days shows plainly that is wrong.

Finally, the text states that regardless of all else, ‘building of one highway is “an insignificant contributor” to any such impacts’. This completely ignores the cumulative effects of many highways. The overall stupidity of the last paragraph is amazing. Perhaps these guys have forgotten how weights and balances work. Perhaps they’ve overlooked the significance of a penny, when saved each day for a lifetime. They certainly have no idea what they’re talking about.

Cuddly Humans

Or perhaps they’ve just forgotten that we are starting to pay attention. Maybe they think we’re as stupid as we have shown ourselves to be during these past 7 years. Maybe they are counting on us to be the complacent little sheeple we’ve shown ourselves to be through most of this century. Maybe they’re right. Maybe we just don’t give a damn.

But maybe we do. If you care about what we let huge corporations get away with in their soulless search for profit, if you want to make sure that there’s at least the level of oversight we’ve had these past 35 years, then you need to comment on this thing before September 15th. You can register your comment here. They won’t accept emails, so your only choices are to use the online form at that link or mail your comments to them at the following address:

Public Comment Processing
Attention: 1018-AT50, Division of Policy and Directives Management
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 222
Arlington, VA 22203

Remember, it’s not just the polar bears we need to worry about. It’s also the cuddly humans that you love so much. Global warming endangers us as much as any other animal on the planet.

I am Jon, fighting stupidity as best I can… with information.

New Pentagon Robotic Spokesdrone

Just For Fun

Thanks to GeeksAreSexy for pointing me to this quick blurb from TheOnion. Of course, this is as yet just for fun. It’ll be a few years yet before AI starts taking over these kinds of jobs.

Of course, I may be wrong about that. Is it possible that Scott McClellan was the last human to field questions from political journalists about what happened that day?

Enjoy the video…

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Pentagon’s Unmanned Spokesdrone Completes First Press Conference Mission


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I am Jon, and even though I’m not feeling up to par yet, I just wanted to say hi.

Stretching

Past The Prime Hippie Tackles Javascript

New, Improved *Semantic* Web!
Diving In

All I can say is, maybe I am getting a little bit too old to try to learn new tricks.

I can fool around with the blog here, do little things like change the CSS and play with the widgets, mostly copy-and-paste type stuff. I can even do a bit with php and html in an editor. But I’ve never actually ‘learned’ how to code.

I remember back in the mid 80s I read a few books on ‘programming’. I was rather interested in Forth for awhile, but an accident kinda sidelined me for a few years and the time just passed me by. I dove backwards into a pool of water about 2 feet deep. I just forgot about it after that.

So here I am, curiously enough, about the amount of years since the accident as I was old when the accident occurred. I’ve always felt like I was starting over somehow, from scratch, and it’s been interesting how in some ways this life parallels that one. It makes me wonder sometimes what I would be doing now if all that had been avoided…

Regardless, here I sit taking a break from my meticulous study of javascript. I’ve decided that the best way to do what I want to do is from within the browser, so I’ll be developing a Firefox extension.

Hopefully, soon.

I am Jon. I want to change your world. (insert bwah ha ha here)


Spiral

Zemanta Pixie

Alltel Already Looks Alot Like Verizon (Not Good)

Alltel CorporationDownright Lousy Customer ServiceImage via Wikipedia
40 Bucks For An 18 Dollar Adapter?

Following is the content of an online email I sent this afternoon to Alltel. The ‘Customer Service’ guy at the local store was rude. Yesterday when I went in, he tried to sell me a car-adapter when I wanted a home adapter. The car adapter was 40 bucks. Then he told me that the home adapter was 40 bucks also.

I looked these things up on Alltel’s site. The car adapter is indeed about 40 bucks, but the home adapter was 18. So I printed that page and went back today to get my 18 dollar adapter. He insisted it was 40 bucks, even though the page from the website clearly shows it isn’t. All I wanted was a new AC adapter for my phone….

‘Went to the local Alltel store to replace my AC adapter for my phone. The adapter is sold online by Alltel for about 18 dollars. The local Alltel store in Reidsville NC wanted to charge me 39.99 plus tax. THIS IS MORE THAN TWICE what is advertised online. The CSR told me it was because online I pay no shipping. WHAT HAS THAT TO DO WITH ME WALKING INTO A LOCAL STORE? When I asked for a manager I was told the manager was not there. When I asked to speak to anyone in charge I was told there was no one in charge.
I agreed and left the store.
Can you guys explain to me why I should:
1. Pay 40 bucks for an AC adapter that is listed online for 18?
2. Continue to use Alltel services?

Thank you.
Jon Knight
ps. the preferred call number is the alltel number, but since i don’t have a charger now, you probably cannot reach me there. best to use email. also, why do i have to enter my information 2 times on consecutive pages? do you think this is customer service?’

This reminds me of the run-in I had with Verizon several years ago. I gave them precise information about where I lived and they looked the address up in their database. I was assured that my service would be exemplary there. I got home and there was no signal at all, not even one bar. So I went back to their store, canceled the account and was told I would not get my deposit back because I canceled the account early. It took 13 months, almost to the day, to get my money back, but I did get it back.

Alltel might not have lost me because of the merger with Verizon. But they have definitely lost me because of their downright lousy customer service. They have no idea what customer service is.

I am Jon, looking really hard at Nextel Wireless…

Zemanta Pixie

Errant Data

A Dataflow Diagram of backup and recovery procedures.Image via Wikipedia

Wordout has lost some data. Posts from the entire year of 2008 were lost today. Then I found out that my last backup (June 1st) was corrupted. All the posts from May and June are still missing. I’ve been able to recover much of it, using a hit-or-miss technique in Google caches, but that will require reformatting before I can republish.

Believe me, this hurts me more than it hurts you.

I am Jon, and I think it’s time to move to a DAILY backup.

EDIT: Just remembered that I have Wordout sent to my email every day, so I will be able to recover everything using those copies. May take a few days, but at least I can recover…
EDIT2: But that means the comments are lost. Crap!

Zemanta Pixie

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Tommy Clymer’s Surgery

Dignity and Honor

One of my favorite people ever went under the knife this morning. Seems this man, who never drank or smoked and was in fine shape, had developed a right hefty tumor in his abdomen. As a matter of fact, it was very hefty, filling his abdominal cavity from top to bottom, wrapping around a kidney, all around and in the midst of the colon and intestines, past the stomach and pancreas, reaching upwards to his lungs.

Back in February, he had a heart attack which required quadruple-bipass surgery.

Before the heart attack, his cancer specialist gave him a 35% chance of surviving the tumor surgery. But he also gave him a 100% chance to die this year without it.

Tommy decided to live. He almost didn’t. Back in the winter, when he realized what his situation was, he seemed resolved to finish his life with honor and dignity, the same as he had lived it. His friends and his family were too important to him, though. In the end, he decided to keep living, the same as he always has, with dignity and honor.

So he took the radiation treatments. He survived the heart attack and the bipass surgery. He took more radiation.

And this morning he went to Chapel Hill, where the surgeon removed over 20 pounds of tumor with barely a ‘nick’ to any other organ. No lost kidney. No damaged colon. No half a stomach. Every complication we worried about seems to have been avoided.

Now comes a long fight back to the perfect health he used to enjoy. I think I’m gonna wait about a month and challenge him to some golf. If I wait much longer than that, I’m sure I’d lose.

I am Jon, just one of Tommy’s friends.

Fake Microsoft Mega Jackpot Lottery EMail

The Sophisticated Scammer

Scammer school must have hired some new professors. Lately, I’ve noticed these emails are getting more sophisticated, and this one is a great example. Here, the use of the Microsoft logo in the header is a master stroke. The layout of the text adds to the authoritative presentation. The wording has been reasonably proofread, though it still contains enough Scam Flags to make it easy to expose.

Before we get started, take a look at the email as it appeared in my Thunderbird. Notice 1st who the email is “from”. Firstly, the only match with that phrase in Google is this email. But more than that, just who is “ladyx_m@terra.cl”? (Dot cl is the internet country code for Chile.) Now notice the “reply-to” address. Notice anything? That’s right, it’s a Yahoo.com.uk address! So already, we’re seeing right through the ruse.

Fake MS Lottery

We can explore this piece of fakery now, and see what else they got right (or wrong). As always, Scam Flags are in BOLD, and my comments usually in parentheses.

MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTERY UK .

REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L
BATCH: 4583JL/WIN
MICROSOFT EMAIL LOTTERY AWARD PROMOTION: UNITED KINGDOM

Finally today (finally?), we announce the winners of the MICROSOFT MEGA JACKPOT LOTTO WINNINGS PROGRAMS held on the 1st of MAY, 2008. Your company or your personal e-mail address, attached to winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100, With,(CAPS) serial number 647489, consequently won in the Tenth(CAPS) lottery category.

You have been approved for lump sumspay out ( “lump sum” ) of $8,000,000 USD in cash Credited(CAPS) to file REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L and winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100. Selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ)(probably a catch-word. TOPAZ is the name of a rather old technology for monitoring things on the net) from a database of over 1,000,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world.

The online draws was(verb agreement) conducted by a random selection of email addresses from an exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet. No ticket were (verb agreement) sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers for representation and privacy. This is to encourage our prominent Microsoft Internet Explorer users all over the world, and for the Continues use ( “continued” ) of E-mail.

Your Prize-fund has been insured with your REF NO: MSW/56B-672GH/L and winning number 23-76-06-54-42-100. To claim your winning prize, you must first contact the claims department by email for Processing(CAPS) and remittance of your prize to you.

The Claims Processor :
Name: DR. PHILIP GEORGE
E-mail: pgeorge.mmjlinc2008@yahoo.co.uk
(SCAM FLAG!)
Tel: +44 702 406 4007, +44 702 406 3733
Fax: +44-700-598-3040.
Dr. Philip George
Regional Claims Officer U.K.

Do email the above email address all at once.(Just a Lousy Sentence.) In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference and winning numbers in all correspondences with your claims officer. You are to keep all lotto information away from the general public especially your ticket number and ballot number.

(This is important as a case of double claims will not be entertained) .

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE TO SEND THE BELOW INFORMATION REQUIRED TO CLAIM YOUR WINNING PRIZE:

1. Full Name :………………………………………………………….
2. Address :……………………………………………………………..
3. Nationality :………………………………………………………….
4. Age :……………………. Date of Birth :…………………………..
5. Occupation :…………………………………………………………
6. Home Tel :……….. Mobile Tel :……………. Fax :……………..
7. State of Origin :…………………. Country :……………………..

(Everything needed to steal your identity.)

Yours Sincerely,

Kenneth Andersson (Mr.)(That’s done wrong.)
Online Co-ordinator

Mrs. Marie-Ann Fergusson Kenneth Andersson (Mr.)(Still wrong!)
Secretary Lotto Online Co-ordinator

LOTTERY SPONSOR
Microsoft Corporation U.K.
(Not only do they not exist except here in this fake email, but it’s not written the same here as it is earlier.)

_____________________________________________________________
Note;
Do not reply this mail, you are to contact your claims officer immediately by email. Microsoft Electronic Mail Lottery is approved and Licensed by The International Association.
( Sentences like this make me laugh. ‘The International Association, indeed!)

Not a bad attempt, even better than most. Yet even this one, which was obviously put together with more care than most, still contains too many lousy sentences and bad grammar to be believed. As always, a careful examination reveals flaws that just couldn’t possibly be there if the email were real.

I am Jon, reminding you that Microsoft wouldn’t use a Yahoo email address.