Land Of The Flea

Monsanto unapproved GMO wheat was in Colorado government storage facility until 2011

"Monsanto Co’s unapproved, experimental genetically engineered wheat, which is feared to have potentially contaminated U.S. wheat supplies after it was found growing in an Oregon field this spring, was kept in a U.S. government storage facility until at least late 2011, according to documents obtained by Reuters. The revelation that the seed for the controversial genetically engineered wheat was kept viable in a Colorado storage facility as recently as a year and a half ago comes as the U.S. government is investigating how the strain of experimental wheat wound up growing in an Oregon field this spring." Continue reading →

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Bizarre Zimmerman Protests Across the Country : LA, NYC, SF, Pitt.

"Freeway in LA blocked. Times Square shut down. Oakland crowd size increasing. What are these people protesting? Do they want mob rule over court trials? Why isn't mass media releasing the racial make up of the jury? The closest a reporter came to revealing the ethnic background was a CNN reporter who said that it was mixed like her, black, white and Hispanic. Do these protesters think the jury had an agenda? Bizarre. If anything, it appeared the court was trying to push a verdict in the direction of guilty." Continue reading →

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Customs & Border Protection Logged Eight-Fold Increase in Drone Surveillance for Other Agencies

"Daily flight logs from Customs & Border Protection (CPB) show the agency has sharply increased the number of missions its 10 Predator drones have flown on behalf of state, local and non-CPB federal agencies. Yet, despite this increase—eight-fold between 2010 and 2012—CBP has failed to explain how it’s protecting our privacy from unwarranted drone surveillance. CBP already appears to be flying drones well within the Southern and Northern US borders, and for a wide variety of non-border patrol reasons. The agency is planning to increase its Predator drone fleet to 24 and its drone surveillance to 24 hours per day / 7 days per week by 2016." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCustoms & Border Protection Logged Eight-Fold Increase in Drone Surveillance for Other Agencies

DOE Green Energy Loans: $11.45 million per job and a rounding error’s worth of averted carbon emissions.

"Green energy jobs and DOE loans are tallied under programs 1703 and 1705 on this list. Permanent jobs created: 2,298; Taxpayer financed loan guarantees: $26.33 billion. 19 of the projects cost more than $10 million per permanent job. Even if you use the Obama maldaministration’s accounting methods and include temporary employment, the totally idiotic 'jobs created/saved' category and include the 33,000 Ford Motor Company jobs 'saved', you get ~60,000 jobs at a cost of $34.5 billion –> $580,000 per job." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDOE Green Energy Loans: $11.45 million per job and a rounding error’s worth of averted carbon emissions.

Documentary producers sue music company over copyright to ‘Happy Birthday To You’

"'Happy Birthday to You' is the subject of a fresh US legal dispute, with a production firm claiming the tune’s copyright owner has no exclusive right to the most popular song in the English language. Good Morning to You Productions (GMTY) has filed suit in a federal court in New York against Warner/Chappell Music demanding that the government declare invalid its copyright over the song, saying it belongs in the public domain. The lawsuit also demands the return of 'millions of dollars of unlawful licensing fees collected by defendant Warner/Chappell pursuant to its wrongful assertion of copyright ownership of the song,' the 26-page suit says." Continue reading →

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The Endgame of State/Local Government Pensions

"During the past 30 years of financialized abundance, the benefits and pensions promised to public employees were increased substantially. Public unions are a powerful political force in many states, and in eras of rising tax revenues, it's an easy political decision to increase public employee benefits and pension payouts. The rising stock and bond markets generated huge profits for the public-employee pension funds, enabling them to grow without taxpayer contributions. The effortlessness and persistence of this growth encouraged the mindset that pensions would be paid for via the magic of ever-rising markets." Continue reading →

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Texas City Council Rejects Red Light Camera Initiative

"The city council in Sugar Land, Texas does not want voters to have a say in whether red light cameras are used in the Houston suburb. Although more than 3000 residents signed a petition requesting the issue be placed on the November ballot, and the city secretary verified a sufficient number met the legal requirement, the council voted Tuesday to reject the petition. The council's decision protects the four intersection cameras operated by American Traffic Solutions, one of which only began issuing $75 tickets a month ago. Before that device was added, the cameras issued 10,549 tickets worth $791,175 in a twelve-month period." Continue reading →

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College Girls, Bottled Water and the Emerging American Police State

"Public outcry has gone viral over an incident in which a college student was targeted and terrorized by Alcohol Beverage Control agents (ABC) after she purchased sparkling water at a grocery store. The girl and her friends were eventually jailed for daring to evade their accosters, who failed to identify themselves or approach the young women in a non-threatening manner. What makes this particular incident significant is the degree to which it embodies all that is wrong with law enforcement today, both as it relates to the citizenry and the ongoing undermining of our rule of law." Continue reading →

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What Bothered Me Most About the Zimmerman Trial

"Toward the end of the state’s summation, it was said that if a person wanted to do what George Zimmerman did 'you’d better have one of these' (whereupon a photo of a policeman’s badge was projected onto the screen). What the state was implicitly acknowledging – whether such was its intent or not – was the real-world dual standard that operates on the streets of virtually every city in every state: a police officer will almost never be held to account, criminally, for wrongs committed against innocent victims. Take the identical facts in the Zimmerman case and change just one: have George Zimmerman be a city-appointed police officer." Continue reading →

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DHS’ Napolitano Leaves Legacy of Corruption, Lies, Lawsuits, and Waste

"One of the most outrageous incidents concerned the publishing of a threat assessment report entitled 'Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence of Radicalization and Recruitment' in April, 2009. The report claimed that the election of a black president, the economic meltdown, home foreclosures, concerns about impending gun control legislation, illegal immigration, and other factors were likely to drive recruiting into right-wing extremist factions. When challenged about those 'findings,' Napolitano was forced to make numerous apologies and her department admitted to a 'breakdown in internal processes' in creating the report." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDHS’ Napolitano Leaves Legacy of Corruption, Lies, Lawsuits, and Waste