Saturday, April 2, 2011
Huckabee Wins South Carolina GOP Straw Poll
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has won a 2012 GOP presidential straw poll in the key early primary state of South Carolina.
Huckabee topped the York County Republican Party poll Saturday with 23 percent of first-choice votes according to the party, followed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 11 percent and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann at 10 percent.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney garnered eight percent of the 152 votes cast; Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Donald Trump each won seven percent.
The rest of field--including Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum--earned between one and four percent of the vote.
Half of the 149 convention attendees who voted on the issues ballot said that reducing government spending and reducing the size of government were the biggest concerns going into 2012.
Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/04/02/huckabee-wins-south-carolina-gop-straw-poll#ixzz1IQY06OPS
Global Observer Crash Rattles Observers
AeroVironment’s GO-1 Global Observer hydrogen-powered high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft crashed at Edwards AFB, Calif., on April 1.
The aircraft was 18 hr. into its ninth envelope-expansion test flight.
The cause is being investigated. A second aircraft is almost complete, but funding for the U.S. Special Operations Command-led Global Observer joint concept technology demonstration (JCTD) is running out.
Early last month, AeroVironment told Aviation Week that the company was looking for sources of incremental funding beyond the end of March to provide a bridge between the demonstration and a future procurement program.
Cultivating the New World Order
The conservative libertarian writer Paul Craig Roberts has posted an article, "The New Colonialism: Washington's Pursuit of World Hegemony" that has received much attention from the alternative-news blogosphere. In this article, I want to comment on the story from a larger point of view. Robert's perspectives are probably the last piece of the puzzle that we've been working on putting together here at DB. With his courageous input, we now have a clearer vision now of how the New World Order is coming together and how it will function. That sounds like a large statement, but in this article I will try to explain it and justify my presentation.
It is important to understand such things. If one does not understand the world, one is doomed to make numerous mistakes in investing and even in life itself. There is the old saying, referring specifically to software: "garbage in, garbage out." If one's INPUTS are wrong, then one's conclusions may be too. In this fraught day and age one should work steadily at refining one's inputs to make sure that the best and most foolproof conclusions are reached in all areas of existence. It's actually a survival issue.
So let us begin. We need to start with the idea that there is an Anglo-American power elite trying to establish a world government. We cannot necessarily explain WHY anyone would want to do such a thing. But apparently someone does. Actually more than a "someone" – a handful of impossibly wealthbanking families, located mainly in the one-square-mile City of London.
These families – and one family in particular – apparently have control of a worldwide central banking apparatus. With the ability to print money-from-nothing around the world, the Rothschilds have amassed a fortune that may be in excess of US$300 trillion. (Nobody really knows.) In the 1800s, such an impossible amount of money gave rise to the concept of "money power." This was an implacable force that controlled the destinies of countries and even continents. Money power caused wars to take place and elevated certain men to high places while casting down others.
ND Senate defeats mandatory evacuation measure; senator calls it virtual martial law
A victory against tyranny in North Dakota
BISMARCK, N.D. — Giving local officials power to order people from their homes in emergencies proved too much for the North Dakota Senate on Friday, with one lawmaker calling the idea "virtually the same as imposing martial law."
North Dakota's homeland security director has been advocating the measure, which he said would be used only in circumstances where it was deemed necessary to save lives.
It would give a local "incident commander" who was in charge of directing emergency response to a flood, chemical spill or other incident the authority to order mandatory evacuations. Violators could be fined up to $500.
North Dakota law now gives the governor power to order evacuations. City mayors may issue similar orders, but Sen. Connie Triplett, D-Grand Forks, who is an attorney and former Grand Forks County commissioner, said she believed those declarations are made to protect local governments from lawsuits in case government services are lost, such as water supplies or fire protection.
"Some incident commander may think something is a matter of life and death. An individual may choose to think it's not a matter of life and death, and it's not for us in any particular sense, here, to decide who is right," Triplett said. "People have a right to make choices for themselves."
Senators voted 29-18 on Friday to defeat the measure. A supporter, Sen. Carolyn Nelson, D-Fargo, said she was confident the mandatory evacuation power would be used judiciously if put into state law.
Safety bonuses given despite Gulf spill deaths
- Font:
Transocean Ltd. gave its top executives bonuses for achieving the "best year in safety performance in our company's history" — despite the explosion of its oil rig that killed 11 people and spilled 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
The company said in a regulatory filing that its most senior managers were given two thirds of their total possible safety bonus.
Transocean noted "the tragic loss of life" in the Gulf when the rig operated by BP PLC exploded last April. But it said the company still had an "exemplary" safety record because it met or exceeded certain internal safety targets concerning the frequency and severity of its accidents, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
Safety accounts for a quarter of the executives' total cash bonuses. The total bonus for CEO Steve Newman last year was $374,062.
According to calculations by The Associated Press, the total value the company assigned to Newman's compensation package was $5.8 million.
That figure includes an $850,000 base salary — a 34 percent increase from the prior year; perquisites of $622,057, which includes housing and vacation allowances, among other things; and the $374,062 bonus. Also included in the figure are stock options valued at $1.9 million and deferred shares valued at $2 million when those awards were granted in March 2010.
Agenda 21 In One Easy Lesson
By Tom DeWeese
Awareness of Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development is racing across the nation as citizens in community after community are learning what their city planners are actually up to. As awareness grows, I am receiving more and more calls for tools to help activists fight back. Many complain that elected officials just won't read detailed reports or watch long videos. "Can you give us something that is quick, and easy to read that we can hand out," I'm asked.
So here it is. A one page, quick description of Agenda 21 that fits on one page. I've also included for the back side of your hand out a list of quotes for the perpetrators of Agenda 21 that should back up my brief descriptions.
A word of caution, use this as a started kit, but do not allow it to be your only knowledge of this very complex subject. To kill it you have to know the facts. Research, know your details; discover the NGO players in your community; identify who is victimized by the policies and recruit them to your fight; and then kill Agenda 21. That's how it must be done. The information below is only your first step. Happy hunting.
What is Sustainable Development?
According to its authors, the objective of sustainable development is to integrate economic, social and environmental policies in order to achieve reduced consumption, social equity, and the preservation and restoration of biodiversity. Sustainablists insist that every societal decision be based on environmental impact, focusing on three components; global land use, global education, and global population control and reduction.
Social Equity (Social Justice)
Social justice is described as the right and opportunity of all people “to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment.” Redistribution of wealth. Private property is a social injustice since not everyone can build wealth from it. National sovereignty is a social injustice. Universal health care is a social justice. All part of Agenda 21 policy.
Economic Prosperity
Public Private Partnerships (PPP). Special dealings between government and certain, chosen corporations which get tax breaks, grants and the government’s power of
Eminent Domain to implement sustainable policy. Government-sanctioned monopolies.
Local Sustainable Development policies
Smart Growth, Wildlands Project, Resilient Cities, Regional Visioning Projects, STAR Sustainable Communities, Green jobs, Green Building Codes, “Going Green,” Alternative Energy, Local Visioning, facilitators, regional planning, historic preservation, conservation easements, development rights, sustainable farming, comprehensive planning, growth management, consensus.
Who is behind it?
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (formally, International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives). Communities pay ICLEI dues to provide “local” community plans, software, training, etc. Addition groups include American Planning Council, The Renaissance Planning Group, International City/ County Management Group, aided by US Mayors Conference, National Governors Association, National League of Cities, National Association of County Administrators and many more private organizations and official government agencies. Foundation and government grants drive the process.
Where did it originate?
The term Sustainable Development was first introduced to the world in the pages a 1987 report (Our Common Future) produced by the United Nations World Commission on Environmental and Development, authored by Gro Harlem Brundtland, VP of the World Socialist Party. The term was first offered as official UN policy in 1992, in a document called UN Sustainable Development Agenda 21, issued at the UN’s Earth Summit, today referred to simply as Agenda 21.
What gives Agenda 21 Ruling Authority?
More than 178 nations adopted Agenda 21 as official policy during a signing ceremony at the Earth Summit. US president George H.W. Bush signed the document for the US. In signing, each nation pledge to adopt the goals of Agenda 21. In 1995, President Bill Clinton, in compliance with Agenda 21, signed Executive Order #12858 to create the President’s Council on Sustainable Development in order to “harmonize” US environmental policy with UN directives as outlined in Agenda 21. The EO directed all agencies of the Federal Government to work with state and local community governments in a joint effort “reinvent” government using the guidelines outlined in Agenda 21. As a result, with the assistance of groups like ICLEI, Sustainable Development is now emerging as government policy in every town, county and state in the nation.
Revealing Quotes From the Planners
“Agenda 21 proposes an array of actions which are intended to be implemented by EVERY person on Earth…it calls for specific changes in the activities of ALL people… Effective execution of Agenda 21 will REQUIRE a profound reorientation of ALL humans, unlike anything the world has ever experienced… ”Agenda 21: The Earth Summit Strategy to Save Our Planet (Earthpress, 1993). Emphases – DR
Urgent to implement – but we don’t know what it is!
“The realities of life on our planet dictate that continued economic development as we know it cannot be sustained…Sustainable development, therefore is a program of action for local and global economic reform – a program that has yet to be fully defined.” The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide, published by ICLEI, 1996.
“No one fully understands how or even, if, sustainable development can be achieved; however, there is growing consensus that it must be accomplished at the local level if it is ever to be achieved on a global basis.” The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide, published by ICLEI, 1996.
Agenda 21 and Private Property
“Land…cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principle instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth, therefore contributes to social justice.” From the report from the 1976 UN’s Habitat I Conference.
“Private land use decisions are often driven by strong economic incentives that result in several ecological and aesthetic consequences…The key to overcoming it is through public policy…” Report from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, page 112.
“Current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class – involving high meat intake, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work air conditioning, and suburban housing are not sustainable.”Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the UN’s Earth Summit, 1992.
Reinvention of Government
“We need a new collaborative decision process that leads to better decisions, more rapid change, and more sensible use of human, natural and financial resources in achieving our goals.” Report from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development
“Individual rights will have to take a back seat to the collective.” Harvey Ruvin, Vice Chairman, ICLEI. The Wildlands Project
“We must make this place an insecure and inhospitable place for Capitalists and their projects – we must reclaim the roads and plowed lands, halt dam construction, tear down existing dams, free shackled rivers and return to wilderness millions of tens of millions of acres or presently settled land.” Dave Foreman, Earth First.
What is not sustainable?
Ski runs, grazing of livestock, plowing of soil, building fences, industry, single family homes, paves and tarred roads, logging activities, dams and reservoirs, power line construction, and economic systems that fail to set proper value on the environment.” UN’s Biodiversity Assessment Report.
Hide Agenda 21’s UN roots from the people
“Participating in a UN advocated planning process would very likely bring out many of the conspiracy- fixated groups and individuals in our society… This segment of our society who fear ‘one-world government’ and a UN invasion of the United States through which our individual freedom would be stripped away would actively work to defeat any elected official who joined ‘the conspiracy’ by undertaking LA21. So we call our process something else, such as comprehensive planning, growth management or smart growth.” J. Gary Lawrence, advisor to President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development.
Red Cross: 800 killed in Ivory Coast town - CNN.com
CNN) -- In an especially grisly chapter of Ivory Coast's four-month conflict, hundreds of people have been killed in the western cocoa-producing town of Duekoue.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said 800 people were shot to death. A United Nations official put the death toll so far at 330.
Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya deal
Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
April 2, 2011
You invade Bahrain. We take out Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. This, in short, is the essence of a deal struck between the Barack Obama administration and the House of Saud. Two diplomatic sources at the United Nations independently confirmed that Washington, via Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, gave the go-ahead for Saudi Arabia to invade Bahrain and crush the pro-democracy movement in their neighbor in exchange for a “yes” vote by the Arab League for a no-fly zone over Libya – the main rationale that led to United Nations Security Council resolution 1973.
The revelation came from two different diplomats, a European and a member of the BRIC group, and was made separately to a US scholar and Asia Times Online. According to diplomatic protocol, their names cannot be disclosed. One of the diplomats said, “This is the reason why we could not support resolution 1973. We were arguing that Libya, Bahrain and Yemen were similar cases, and calling for a fact-finding mission. We maintain our official position that the resolution is not clear, and may be interpreted in a belligerent manner.”
As Asia Times Online has reported, a full Arab League endorsement of a no-fly zone is a myth. Of the 22 full members, only 11 were present at the voting. Six of them were Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, the US-supported club of Gulf kingdoms/sheikhdoms, of which Saudi Arabia is the top dog. Syria and Algeria were against it. Saudi Arabia only had to “seduce” three other members to get the vote.
Commuter plane strikes flock of birds, makes emergency landing - CNN.com
(CNN) -- A commuter plane with dozens of passengers aboard struck a flock of large birds, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing, the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 5087 was coming in for a landing at the Little Rock National Airport in Arkansas when the pilot made an emergency call at 4:38 p.m., according to FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford.
Radioactive water from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant is leaking into sea
Radioactive water from Japan's quake-striken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is leaking into the sea, its operator said.
The 20cm (8in) crack in a containment pit under reactor two may be the source of recent radiation in coastal waters, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) officials said