Dead seals, fish
Juris Graney/Transcontinental MediaBoat Harbour’s Wallace Woodward inspects some of the estimated 20 dead harp seals that have washed ashore in the community over the past couple of weeks.
Boat Harbour — As many as 20 dead harp seals have washed ashore in Boat Harbour over the past couple of weeks, leaving perplexed locals scratching their heads as to the reasons why.
Wallace Woodward, who has lived in the small community northwest of St. Anthony for most of his 52 years, says no one can remember such a thing happening before.
Last week, the carcasses of several seals lolled about in the breakwater; some had been pushed ashore by strong waves and others were buried under three feet of seaweed.
And it’s not just harp seals that have been swept into the harbour — hundreds of dead catfish have washed onto land, becoming entangled with the seaweed strewn along the shore. Read more…
Spike in world food prices: It’s more than bad weather
A global index for food prices, as measured by the UN, reached a record high last month. This on the heels of a food crisis in 2007-08. The weather isn’t the only culprit — or solution.
Of all the world headlines that Sen. Richard Lugar could have highlighted this week – the visit of China’s president in Washington, for instance, or the revolt in Arab Tunisia – the most burning issue for him was … alfalfa.
The plant, used for animal feed, was the surprising topic of the senator’s opening remarks at a Monitor breakfast with reporters Jan. 18. Alfalfa holds a special interest for this active Indiana farmer who is also the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Alfalfa, he notes, is one example of why world food prices have risen so sharply – the second such rise in just over two years.
Last month the global food price index reached a record high, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization, a United Nations body. It surpassed the levels of the last food crisis in 2007-2008, when rising prices caused riots in more than 30 countries.
The human misery from unaffordable – or unavailable – food isn’t as widespread this time, because the price of rice – a staple for more than 3 billion people – is relatively stable. Also, Africa and Asia have seen some good harvests, helping feed local populations. Read more…
Classified Spy satellite launched from California base
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — The largest rocket ever launched from the West Coast blasted off Thursday with a classified defense satellite on board.
The 235-foot-tall Delta IV Heavy Launch Vehicle lifted off at 1:10 p.m. carrying a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.
The booster rose into the sky over California’s central coast and arced over the Pacific Ocean, a spectacle visible over a wide area.
United Launch Alliance, the joint venture of rocket builders Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co., said in a statement that the launch was a success.
The launch was pushed back two minutes to avoid an object in space that could have been in the path of the rocket, said Michael J. Rein, a ULA spokesman.
No payload details were released. The NRO operates satellites that provide information to the Central Intelligence Agency and Department of Defense.
This was the fifth launch of a Delta IV but the first from the West Coast. The other four launches were at Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Capable of generating nearly 2 million pounds of thrust, the liquid-fuel rocket has a central core booster and two strap-on boosters that make the assembly 50 feet wide. An upper second stage takes over when the first stage is exhausted.
Preparing for the launch took three years and $100 million in infrastructure upgrades at Vandenberg, 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The launch director, Lt. Col. Brady Hauboldt, said in a statement before the liftoff that the launch would mark a milestone by restoring heavy lift capability in the nation’s western range. The last heavy lift Titan IV-B was launched at Vandenberg in 2005.
In its past, the launch complex was once configured for West Coast space shuttle launches, which were canceled after the 1986 Challenger disaster, and the Air Force’s Manned Orbiting Laboratory program, which was canceled in 1969. It was last used in 2006.
Scientists Warn Iran Could Produce Enough Nuclear Material for Warhead in 5 Months
ISTANBUL — The U.S. is joining five other world powers for talks with Iran this week publicly confident that international efforts have slowed Tehran’s capacity to make nuclear arms and created more time to press Tehran to accept curbs on its atomic activities.
But while diplomats and officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency — the U.N. nuclear monitor — agree that Iran’s enrichment program has struggled over past years, the Federation of American Scientists warns against complacency.
It notes impressive improvements in the performance of the Iranian machines that enrich uranium — an activity that has provoked U.N. sanctions because it could be used to make nuclear weapons.
Washington’s message is essentially this: Iran is struggling with uranium enrichment, a process that can create both nuclear fuel and fissile warhead material. Significantly, that view is backed by Israel, Iran’s implacable foe and considered to have the Mideast’s best intelligence on Iran’s nuclear strivings.
If true, that leaves more time to negotiate in hopes Iran will come around and give up enrichment — thereby removing the threat of an Israeli or U.S. military strike on Iran’s nuclear Read more…
Feds: leaking is worse than spying
Leaking classified information to the media is a more serious offense than spying, the Justice Department argued in a court filing last week.
The argument came in a motion supporting the detention of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer indicted for allegedly giving a reporter classified details about a CIA program aimed at interfering with Iran’s nuclear efforts.
“The defendant’s unauthorized disclosures…may be viewed as more pernicious than the typical espionage case where a spy sells classified information for money,” the prosecution team wrote in a brief submitted by attorneys at Justice Department headquarters and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Alexandria, Va.
“Unlike the typical espionage case where a single foreign country or intelligence agency may be the beneficiary of the unauthorized disclosure of classified information, this defendant elected to disclose the classified information publicly through the mass media. Thus, every foreign adversary stood to benefit from the defendant’s unauthorized disclosure of classified information, thus posing an even greater threat to society,” the brief said.
Sterling, who unsuccessfully sued the CIA for racial discrimination, was arrested earlier this month in Missouri on the indictment charging him with unauthorized disclosure of national defense information, mail fraud and obstruction of justice. The indictment doesn’t specify the precise nature of the information leaked, nor does it identify the reporter involved, but the charges contain enough detail to peg Sterling as a source for information contained in a book by New York Times reporter James Risen.
The Justice Department’s brief emphasizing the dangers of leaks could be seen as a preview of arguments the government will make against Wikileaks if authorities proceed with a prosecution of its founder, Julian Assange, or others who are part of the group. A prosecution of Wikileaks would open a significant new front in the Obama Administration’s war on leaks, which has so far targeted only leakers for prosecution and not those who receive the leaks.
Home Price Declines Greater than Great Depression
(Reuters) – Home prices fell for the 53rd consecutive month in November (the latest data available), taking the decline past that of the Great Depression for the first time in the prolonged housing slump, according to Zillow.
Home prices have fallen 26 percent since their peak in 2006, exceeding the 25.9 percent drop registered in the five years between 1928 and 1933, the housing data company said in a report on Monday. Prices fell 0.8 percent over the month.
It is a dubious milestone for the U.S. housing market which has failed to gain much traction despite a host of government programs to reduce delinquencies and encourage demand with temporary tax credits and lower interest rates. Many economists expect further price drops, even if there are some anecdotal signs of growing demand, such as in pending home sales data.
“For the next six to nine months, the larger factors affecting the housing market that will produce more home price declines will be the excess inventory of homes, high negative equity and foreclosure rates, and weakened demand due to elevated employment, Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, said in a blog post.
Declines are accelerating, and it will take a while before falling unemployment and other signs of economic improvement support the market, Zillow said.
Home prices fell at a 0.78 percent pace in November, the fastest since February 2009, the company said.
12 Economic Collapse Scenarios That We Could Potentially See In 2011
What could cause an economic collapse in 2011? Well, unfortunately there are quite a few “nightmare scenarios” that could plunge the entire globe into another massive financial crisis. The United States, Japan and most of the nations in Europe are absolutely drowning in debt. The Federal Reserve continues to play reckless games with the U.S. dollar. The price of oil is skyrocketing and the global price of food just hit a new record high. Food riots are already breaking out all over the world. Meanwhile, the rampant fraud and corruption going on in world financial markets is starting to be exposed and the whole house of cards could come crashing down at any time. Most Americans have no idea that a horrific economic collapse could happen at literally any time. There is no way that all of this debt and all of this financial corruption is sustainable. At some point we are going to reach a moment of “total system failure”.
So will it be soon? Let’s hope not. Let’s certainly hope that it does not happen in 2011. Many of us need more time to prepare. Most of our families and friends need more time to prepare. Once this thing implodes there isn’t going to be an opportunity to have a “do over”. We simply will not be able to put the toothpaste back into the tube again.
So we had all better be getting prepared for hard times. The following are 12 economic collapse scenarios that we could potentially see in 2011….
#1 U.S. debt could become a massive crisis at any moment. China is saying all of the right things at the moment, but many analysts are openly worried about what could happen if China suddenly decides to start dumping all of the U.S. debt that they have accumulated. Right now about the only thing keeping U.S. government finances going is the ability to borrow gigantic amounts of money at extremely low interest rates. If anything upsets that paradigm, it could potentially have enormous consequences for the entire world financial Read more…
We told you so: government gearing up to go after churches
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has asked the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability to head an independent commission that will obtain feedback about the financial practices and oversight of churches and religious groups nationwide.
The goal is to help determine best practices and changes that encourage compliance with federal tax laws and maintain financial integrity within the religious community while avoiding new laws mandating such behavior. But those involved say it’s too early to tell how the commission’s work will affect any changes—or whether it can prevent any new laws—and how long it will take.
In a press conference called this morning in Washington, D.C., ECFA leaders outlined requests made by Grassley, who yesterday released his final report of a three-year inquiry into the financial activities of six high-profile media ministries. The issues to be explored “could potentially affect every house of worship and every member of the clergy in America,” said Michael Batts, an ECFA board member who will chair the special commission.
Grassley’s office contacted the ECFA three weeks ago to indicate its report of the six ministries—in which only two fully cooperated with investigators and no ministry received a penalty—was imminent. Read more…
A Time of Many Dangers
Glynda Lomax
“My People, you are coming into a time of many dangers. Dangers will lurk all around you and many of them will be unseen to the human eye. For this reason I have been calling many of you to come into a place of more intimacy with Me. I desire to shield you under the protection of My mighty wings but many of you have been too busy for Me.”
“Later, Lord, you keep saying. What you do not know is that for many of you, later will never come for calamity shall strike and you will be unprepared, so busy are you with the things of the world.”
“I speak this warning to you now – If you do not make time for Me now, I will not be able to protect you from what is coming. You are worried about many things, but I desire you to cast your cares on Me – let Me carry your burdens, My Child. You need only be mindful of spending time with Me, of seeking My Face, and all the other things you need will fall into place.”
Read more…
USGS records sights and sounds of Hawaii Volcano
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has been keeping a close eye on the fascinating activity at the summit of the Kilaeua volcano.
This footage – taken last week – shows spattering of the lava lake within the Halemaumau vent. The video also captures audio from the vent, which sounds like the churning of the ocean.
In recent weeks, geologists have observed high lava stands – which is what the scientists call the rise-and-fall cycles of the lava lake – at the summit of the active volcano. For each high stand, the lava surface rose several meters over a base level of about 395 ft. below the Halema`uma`u Crater floor.
The lava lake continues to have an overall north-to-south circulation.
Since early 2010, glow has been most intense between high stands from the Jaggar Museum Overlook overnight.
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