Media ignores yet another press conference with Sheriff of one of largest counties in US

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The lead investigator in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s probe of Barack Obama’s eligibility for Arizona’s November presidential ballot is convinced he has “indisputable proof” the document presented by the White House as Obama’s birth certificate is fraudulent.

But after presenting his latest evidence at a press conference in Phoenix Tuesday, the gathered media wanted to talk about him, not the evidence.

“Obviously, the information we are bringing forth is becoming very difficult for them to refute,” Mike Zullo told WND in an interview after the event.

“What the media was trying to do was the Saul Alinsky tactic of discrediting the person that is bringing forth the information,” he said, referring to the 1960s Marxist activist whose book “Rules for Radicals” is a manual for left-wing activists.

The first question from the media referred to a short e-book Zullo wrote with WND senior reporter Jerome Corsi, who has assisted the Cold Case Posse in its investigation.

Read more from this story HERE.

Publisher’s note:  After this article was published yesterday, the LA Times put out a story on on the press conference at 11 a.m. this morning.  You can read that column HERE.

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NOAA Scientist: Experiment Suggests Worst of Fukushima “still on the way”

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It’s been over a year since natural disaster ravaged a nuclear plant in Fukushima and interrupted the lives of millions of Japanese. Scientists now fear though that contaminated water is on course to America, and it could be more toxic than thought.

Researchers have released the findings of an intense study into the aftermath of last year’s Fukushima nuclear disaster and warn that the United States isn’t exactly spared just yet. In fact, scientists now fear that incredibly contaminated ocean waters could be reaching the West Coast of the US in a matter of only five years, and the toxicity of those waves could eventually be worse than what was seen in Japan.

A team of scientists led by Joke F Lübbecke of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory have published the findings of an experiment recently conducted to measure the impact of last year’s nuclear disaster and the results are eye-opening to say the least. By simulating the spreading of contaminated ocean waters and seeing how currents could carry them across the Pacific from Japan to the US, scientists believe that the worst might be still on the way.

“Within one year it will have spread over the entire western half of the North Pacific and in five years we predict it will reach the US West Coast.” Claus Böning, co-author of the study, tells the website Environmentalresearchweb.

Böning adds that “The levels of radiation that hit the US coast will be small relative to the levels released by Fukushima,” yet fails to exactly stand by that statement in the fullest. “But we cannot estimate accurately what those levels will be because we do not know for certain what was released by Fukushima,” the doctor adds.  In fact, others fear that contaminated ocean waters may collect in packets and produce waves of highly concentrated nuclear toxins that could pose a dangerous toll to Americans.

Read more from this story HERE.

Publisher’s note:  This article was originally published by RT News.  Shortly after posting, Restoring Liberty received a voice mail from Ms. Jana Goldman, a ” NOAA Communication officer.”  Ms. Goldman reported that the scientist involved in the above-referenced study regarding Fukushima was not actually with NOAA at the time the report was prepared.  Rather, she was with a team from Germany, even though she is now employed by NOAA.  Ms. Goldman confirmed this information by email as well.

Photo credit: Ryan Somma

 

Grassley accuses FDA of acting like communist secret police for spying on employees

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Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) accused the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of acting like the East German secret police for closely monitoring the computer activities of some of its employees.

The GOP senator said internal documents on the surveillance program make the FDA “sound more like the East German Stasi than a consumer protection agency in a free country.”

He said the documents refer to employees who leaked information as “collaborators,” congressional staff as “ancillary actors,” and newspaper reporters as “media outlet actors.”

The FDA began using surveillance software in 2010 to monitor the computer activities of five of its scientists that it suspected of leaking damaging confidential information. The software captured screen images, intercepted personal emails, copied documents and even tracked their keystrokes.

The New York Times reported over the weekend that the agency gathered 80,000 pages of documents as part of the program and created a list of 21 employees, congressional officials, academics and journalists it suspected of putting out negative information about the FDA. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who has examined the agency’s procedures for reviewing medical devices, was listed as No. 14 on the list.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Americans Joining Disability Now Outpacing Americans Finding Jobs

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In the last three months, more Americans have joined disability than have found a job.

Between April-June 2012, an estimated 246,000 Americans were added to Social Security’s disability insurance program. In that same time period, only 225,000 American jobs were created.

Since 2008, 3.6. million Americans have been added to Social Security’s disability insurance program. In that same time period, a net total of 1.3 million jobs were lost.

“Amazingly, while fewer Americans are working than at the end of 2008, 3.6 million Americans have been awarded SSDI benefits over the same period. The growing number of people on disability and other federal benefits, combined with weak economic growth, raises serious concerns about the sustainability of the American economy,” Senator Jeff Sessions, ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, says in a statement in response to these new numbers.

“It is clear there is a great need to distinguish between proper and improper disability claims, and to better incentivize and find acceptable work for those who are able. Today only 1 percent of Social Security disability recipients ever return to work. The administration of this program must be improved to avoid sinking our country deeper into debt, to ensure the program remains viable for those with disabilities, and to protect Social Security itself.”

Read more from this story and see the charts reflecting these numbers HERE.

Business leaders slam Obama for saying wealthy aren’t responsible for their own success

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America’s leading small business association has slammed Barack Obama for showing ‘an utter lack of understanding’ of the country’s entrepreneurs when he told them: ‘If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.’

In a hard-hitting statement to Mail Online, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) president Dan Danne said: ‘What a disappointment to hear President Obama’s revealing comments challenging the significance of America’s entrepreneurs.

Mr. Danne added: ‘His unfortunate remarks over the weekend show an utter lack of understanding and appreciation for the people who take a huge personal risk and work endless hours to start a business and create jobs.’

President Obama said in a speech at the weekend that governments and not individuals create jobs, telling entrepreneurs: ‘If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.’

He added: ‘You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart.’

Read more from this story HERE.

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Sen. Patty Murray: Democrats will go over ‘fiscal cliff’ unless GOP relents

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With the US economy speeding toward a year-end fiscal cliff of some $560 billion in higher taxes and draconian spending cuts, Sen. Patty Murray (D) of Washington bluntly laid out her party’s position on how Congress should handle the nation’s coming fiscal travails: Go big or go over the ledge.

“Millions of jobs could be lost through the automatic cuts, programs families depend on would be slashed irresponsibly across the board, and middle-class tax cuts would expire. And once again, if Republicans won’t work with us on a balanced approach, we are not going to get a deal,” said Senator Murray, the Senate’s No. 4 Democrat, in a speech at the Brookings Institution on Monday.

“[I]f we can’t get a good deal – a balanced deal that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share – then I will absolutely continue this debate into 2013, rather than lock in a long-term deal this year that throws middle-class families under the bus,” she said.

The chair of the party committee charged with electing Democrats to the Senate laid out the broadest, most full-throated explanation of the party’s views on the party’s negotiating position vis-a-vis the fiscal cliff, while outlining the party’s strategy for attacking Republicans at the polls in November.

While optimistic “that we can get a good deal,” Murray said Democrats would not, for example, sign on to a plan that would offset the $55 billion portion of the $109 billion in automatic spending cuts mandated by the “sequester,” the budget-slashing mechanism agreed to as part of 2011’s debt-ceiling showdown. The remainder of the reductions come from discretionary spending, home to Democratic priorities like social welfare programs, and reductions in payments to Medicare providers.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Canadians richer than Americans for first time in history

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Americans may enjoy teasing and taunting their neighbours to the north but now the jokes on them.

For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American.

The net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202 compared to the average American household’s $319,970 worth, according to data published in Canada’s Globe and Mail last month.

That gives the average Canadian $43,232 more than the average American. And the Globe and Mail pointed out ‘these are not 60-cent dollars, but Canadian dollars more or less at par with the U.S. greenback.’

In a column for Bloomberg View, Stephen Marche, a Canadian novelist, sets out to explain how his country has stealthily crept up to overtake the U.S. in terms of a household’s average net worth.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Clinton jeered in Egypt with chants of “Monica, Monica”

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was taunted by chants of “Monica, Monica” by tomato-throwing demonstrators as she visited the Egyptian port city of Alexandria on Sunday.

The chants, referring to the Monica Lewinsky scandal when her husband, Bill Clinton, was president, were heard outside the US consulate as she visited for its reopening.

An embarrassed Egyptian security official said they were chanting “Monica, Monica” and “Irhal, Clinton” (Get out, Clinton.)

Tomatoes, shoes and a water bottle were thrown at part of Clinton’s motorcade as it pulled up, protected by riot police, although a US official said Clinton’s own vehicle was not hit.

The protest appears to have been the result of suspicions that Washington had helped the Muslim Brotherhood win elections in Egypt in the wake of last year’s ouster of president Hosni Mubarak after 18 days of massive street protests.

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit:  US Embassy

FDA Conducted Massive Surveillance Effort Against Whistleblower Scientists

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An extraordinary surveillance operation by the Food and Drug Administration against their own scientists involved secretly recording thousands of emails the employees sent to members of Congress, journalists and even President Obama, newly revealed records show.

The Washington Post reported earlier this year that several FDA scientists were suing the agency after their emails had been read. However, the full extent of the spying operation was previously unknown.

A discovered cache of 80,000 documents regarding the surveillance effort show the vast scale and possibly illegality of the investigation, reported The New York Times.

Although the government agency is permitted to monitor activity on its own computers it may have broken the law by intercepting specifically protected confidential information, including ‘attorney-client communications, whistle-blower complaints to Congress and workplace grievances filed with the government’, reported the Times.

The operation’s scale was only revealed when a ‘document-handling contractor’ for the FDA inadvertently posted 80,000 pages of documents relating to the investigation on the internet.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Global food crisis looms as grain prices soar

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What looks to be the worst U.S. drought in a quarter of a century has given rise to an old-fashioned commodity rally on world markets, with key grain prices hitting highs which caused food crises in vulnerable parts of the globe last time around.

Seeking to protect their populations from hunger this time, many countries relying heavily on imports have held off for now, touting healthy stock levels and hoping other sources will come through and bring prices down.

But their hopes may be dashed if they all return to market at once.

With so much of the world putting faith in a record U.S. corn crop, it is little wonder that prices have surged around 40 percent in the past three weeks as relentless dry weather melted yield expectations for cereals. Soybeans are at record highs, while wheat is not far behind.

“Production potential looked great and it kind of lulled these end-users into a false sense of security. At that point we were seriously looking at (corn) prices under $5 if weather conditions remained ideal, but now we’ve rallied sharply higher and never looked back,” Jefferies Bache analyst Shawn McCambridge said.

Read more from this story HERE.

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