China gags property boycott protester

Richard Spencer / London Telegraph May 22 2006

China has silenced a businessman who called for a boycott of property purchases in protest at rising house prices.

Zou Tao, who sells golf equipment in Shenzhen, was so outraged with prices that were out of reach of most ordinary Chinese that he launched a petition calling for the public to stop buying real estate for three years. Within days, he had 30,000 signatures from across the country.

Until recently, demands for lower prices would have been tolerated by the government, which is trying to deflate the bubble gently and is also concerned about growing resentment of China's new rich, many of whom have become speculators.

But by this week, when Mr Zou had arrived in Beijing to put his case to the authorities, it had decided he had gone too far, not least in arguing that local government corruption was fuelling the dangerous boom in prices.

He was detained at Shenzhen airport for 10 hours before being allowed to board his flight to the capital.

"I was checking in and found my name was on a blacklist," he said last night. "Then two policemen came over and took away my ID card and my ticket."

When he landed, newspapers who had reported his case were banned from giving him any further publicity. Central television was told to scrap an interview it recorded with him.

The subject is deemed so sensitive not least because there have been warnings a property crash could in theory jeopardise the whole Chinese banking system.

The country's cities have seen double digit price rises. In Beijing, prices rose by 15 per cent in the first quarter alone. Shenzhen is among the worst hit, with rises of 35 per cent in a year.

Zogby Poll: Over 70 Million American Adults Support New 9/11 Investigation

PRWEB May 22, 8:00 AM ET

Utica, NY May 22, 2006 -- Although the Bush administration continues to exploit September 11 to justify domestic spying, unprecedented spending and a permanent state of war, a new Zogby poll reveals that less than half of the American public trusts the official 9/11 story or believes the attacks were adequately investigated.

911Truth.org Urges 2006 Reform Candidates to Recognize a Powerful New Constituency

The poll is the first scientific survey of Americans' belief in a 9/11 cover up or the need to investigate possible US government complicity, and was commissioned to inform deliberations at the June 2~4 "9/11: Revealing the Truth, Reclaiming Our Future" conference in Chicago. Poll results indicate 42% believe there has indeed been a cover up (with 10% unsure) and 45% think "Congress or an International Tribunal should re-investigate the attacks, including whether any US government officials consciously allowed or helped facilitate their success" (with 8% unsure). The poll of American residents was conducted from Friday, May 12 through Tuesday, May 16, 2004. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of +/- 2.9. All inquiries about questions, responses and demographics should be directed to Zogby International.

According to Janice Matthews, executive director of 911truth.org, "To those who have followed the mounting evidence for US government involvement in 9/11, these results are both heartening and frankly quite amazing, given the mainstream media's ongoing refusal to cover the most critical questions of that day. Our August 2004 Zogby poll of New Yorkers showed nearly half believe certain US officials 'consciously' allowed the attacks to happen and 66% want a fresh investigation, but these were people closest to the tragedy and most familiar with facts refuting the official account. This revelation that so many millions nationwide now also recognize a 9/11 cover up and the need for a new inquiry should be a wake up call for all 2006 political candidates hoping to turn this country around. We think it also indicates Americans are awakening to the larger pattern of deceit that led us into Constitutional twilight and endless war, and that our independent media may have finally come of age."

Poll co-author, W. David Kubiak concurs, saying: "Despite years of relentless media promotion, whitewash and 9/11 Commission propaganda, the official 9/11 story still can't even muster 50% popular support. Since this myth has been the administration's primary source of political and war-making power, this level of distrust has revolutionary implications for everyone working for peace, justice and civil liberties. If we ever hope to reclaim this country, end aggression and restore international respect, we all must finally scrutinize that day when things started to go so terribly wrong. The media and movement leaders ignore this call at their peril, because tens of millions are clearly telling us here they are ready for 9/11 truth."
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Verichip injects itself into immigration debate

UN Observer May 22 2006

Scott Silverman, Chairman of the Board of VeriChip Corporation, has alarmed civil libertarians by promoting the company's subcutaneous human tracking device as a way to identify immigrants and guest workers. He appeared on the Fox News Channel earlier this week, the morning after President Bush called for high-tech measures to clamp down on Mexican immigrants.

Privacy advocates Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre are warning that a government-sanctioned chipping program such as that suggested by
Silverman could quickly be expanded to include U.S. citizens, as well.
http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/verichip-immigration.html

Do our new bombs cause cancer?

Civilian casualties always make for bad press. Perhaps as damaging to the war effort is having to back off a target because it's too close to a school or hospital. So the Pentagon is always looking for new ways to pinpoint their deadly assaults, causing as little collateral damage as possible. Unfortunately, the newest weapon may cause cancer.

The Air Force Research Laboratory's latest attempt at precision death is called Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME). It's designed to be just as deadly as a conventional bomb, but keep its destructive radius at a minimum.

DIME has a carbon fiber casing which turns into dust upon explosion. Most bomb casing turn into deadly shrapnel that can kill bystanders up to 2,000 feet away.

Also, DIME's casing is filled with explosives and tungsten powder. The tungsten's micro-shrapnel is as deadly as regular shrapnel, but because it's so small it's dragged to a halt within 25 feet. It's "a smaller but deadlier footprint - a 12-gauge compared to a rifle" writes David Hambling of Defense Tech.

There's only one problem: research in February of 2006 suggests tungsten is highly carcinogenic. Scientists implanted 92 rats with simulated tungsten shrapnel. Within 5 months all had developed a rare form of cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma.

"The military needs to hold up on this conversion to tungsten alloy weapons until more is known," says University of Arizona toxicologist Mark Witten.

The NSA's secret chamber at AT&T

The judge in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class-action suit against AT&T has refused to allow the EFF to reveal details of the telecom's efforts to aid the NSA's spying on innocent Americans. "Wired" magazine has taken it upon themselves to let the truth be known.

A three-page document written in 2004 by former AT&T employee Mark Klein, the whistle-blower tells of the secret chamber, Room 641A, that he discovered deep in the bowels of the SBC building -- where AT&T occupies floors six, seven and eight -- in San Francisco. In addition to the document (PDF) there are internal schematics and other resources that back up his allegations.

High speed fiber-optic cables run into the eighth floor of the building and then down to the seventh, where they connect to the company's WorldNet service, part of what's known as the "Common Backbone." It's here that the information the NSA so desperately wants resides - every search you make, every website you visit, basically all your internet activity.

But fiber-optic cables aren't like good old copper cables. In the past, cables used to "leak" information. You could tap into them with something as simple as an alligator clip. Today's cables don't leak, however. No, to get a fiber-optic cable to surrender its secrets you have to splice it. Not only is the NSA spying on innocent Americans illegally, they're compromising the quality of their internet service while they do it. Splicing the signal weakens it, making internet connections slower.

So the NSA built a special cabinet with a splitter inside that feeds the information to their secret room, 614A. There they harvest all your secrets, to use however they see fit.

The internal documents suggest this chamber is one of several -- maybe dozens -- throughout the country.

"Wired" says the judge's gag order regarding the documents was very specific, barring only the EFF and its employees from releasing the information. Their editors also dispute AT&T's claim that the information was proprietary and would reveal valuable company secrets.

"Based on what we've seen, Wired News disagrees. In addition, we believe the public's right to know the full facts in this case outweighs AT&T's claims to secrecy," read the magazine's statement.

To make matters worse, AT&T is making a profit on the whole thing. The company that makes the devices that are being used to spy on you, Narus, is a joint venture of AT&T, JP Morgan and Intel, among others.

"Anything that comes through (an internet protocol network), we can record," Steve Bannerman, marketing vice president of Narus, told Wired. "We can reconstruct all of their e-mails along with attachments, see what web pages they clicked on, we can reconstruct their (voice over internet protocol) calls."

Army Jury Convicts Soldier in Wife's Death

Sun May 21, 4:25 AM ET

FORT LEWIS, Wash. - A soldier was convicted Saturday of murdering and mutilating his teenage wife, a Fort Lewis spokesman said. An Army jury found Spc. Brandon Bare, 20, of Wilkesboro, N.C., guilty of premeditated murder and two counts of indecent acts for chopping his wife to death with a meat cleaver and desecrating her corpse.

After a five-day court martial, the jury deliberated about four hours Friday night before reaching the verdict shortly after midnight, said Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek.

The same jury of five officers and three noncommissioned officers sentenced Bare Saturday evening to life in prison with the possibility of parole, Piek said. His rank was downgraded to private and Bare was dishonorably discharged. He must also forfeit all pay and allowances and be formally reprimanded.

Nabila Bare, 18, had been stabbed at least 71 times when she was found July 12, 2005, in the couple's kitchen.

Prosecutors portrayed Bare as a satanic, would-be serial killer who carefully plotted the time and place to slaughter his wife.

His defense lawyer said he was an emotionally and physically damaged combat veteran, angry over his wife's infidelity and the pending breakup of their marriage, who killed in a moment of rage.

The machine gunner with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division was wounded in a March 24, 2005, grenade attack in Mosul.

-This story has really grabbed my attention, and I have been reading every little piece of news that I could. On one hand, the death is a horrible, sickening act. I can see why people are upset by the death, and specially the mutilation of the body. Only a sick person would do such a thing. A murder in a moment of severe rage is one thing, but to then mutilate the body is real proof of some mental instability. Now with that having been said, I can understand that he probably is not a homicidal killer like they have tried to make him out to be. I can speak from experience about the nightmares, the visions, fits of rage for little or no reason, the uncontrolled thought of inflicting severe pain on people for again, little or no reason. I went to therapy for month after returning home, and still have to take life one day at a time, so I can understand were he might have snapped, and just given in to the evil, dark thoughts that plague our minds. Specially when you add into the equation that there was possible infidelity, a looming divorce, and recovering from injuries. I am in no way defending his actions, but I think he should have been recommended to mental therapy, other then a life in jail, were most likely the issues will only grow worse. Making him more of a danger, if, or when he gets released.

Soldiers to get life in jail for refusing to act as occupiers

GERRI PEEV / The Scotsman May 19 2006

SOLDIERS who object to taking part in a military occupation of a foreign country will face life in prison under measures due to be rubber-stamped in the House of Commons on Monday.

The little-noticed Armed Forces Bill will have its third reading in the Commons on Monday and left-leaning MPs are alarmed that it will legitimise pre-emptive military strikes.

It will change the definition of desertion to include soldiers who go absent without leave and intend to refuse to take part in a "military occupation of a foreign country or territory".

Under the current Army Act, desertion is defined as "going absent intending not to come back, going absent to avoid any service overseas, or going absent to avoid service when before an enemy".

Campaigners have seized on the inclusion of "military occupation" as evidence that ministers are trying to scare soldiers from objecting to future preemptive strikes - a charge denied by the Ministry of Defence.

The move comes as tensions escalate with Iran and follows a reported rise in soldiers absconding from the British Army since the invasion of Iraq.

Ben Griffin, a former SAS soldier who quit the army without facing punishment after being "appalled" at what was happening in Iraq, accused the government of changing the law ahead of any possible action in Iran.

"The government are kicking themselves in the teeth," he said. "Currently the British Army is a volunteer force, but using this sort of stick to beat soldiers into doing what they are told is turning it into a conscript army."

Mr Griffin, 28, from London, said that this would hamper morale and ultimately the effectiveness of the military.

Anti-war campaigners claim the change means it would expressly legitimise occupation and force soldiers to contravene the Nuremberg Principles, limiting their right to becoming conscientious objectors.

The Ministry of Defence has denied these charges and said that in fact the legislation introduces a new, lesser sentence of two years' imprisonment.

John McDonnell, the left-wing Labour MP, has tabled amendments to slash the maximum sentence for any desertion from life imprisonment to two years. He is also urging other MPs to throw out the new definition of desertion.

Angus MacNeil, the SNP MP who also spoke at the meeting, urged as many MPs as possible to debate the bill on Monday.

"There are a number of alarming measures in this bill that have appeared with little debate that need further scrutiny," he said.

The Ministry of Defence denied that the scope and definition was new or tougher than the existing law.

"Under current legislation the maximum penalty for all offences of desertion is life imprisonment. In most cases we have reduced this in the Armed Forces Bill to two years," a spokeswoman said.

However, where an offender deserted to avoid active service, such as the Iraq war, the maximum penalty would be applied, she said.

Telling the ‘approved’ story

Tuesday, March 7th, 2006

On an unspecified day last week an employee of a federal agency that cannot be revealed delivered a document that cannot be identified to a company that cannot be named seeking information that cannot be discussed.

The aforementioned federal agent left the unidentified document with an employee of the unnamed company. That employee then called the owner, who must remain anonymous, to inform him that the document that could not be identified sought information that could not be discussed. The owner who must remain anonymous instructed the employee to deliver the unidentified document to a lawyer whose name is protected by attorney-client privilege.

The lawyer whose name is protected by attorney-client privilege examined the unidentified document and then reviewed the information that could not be discussed with the owner who must remain anonymous.

With the approval of the owner who must remain anonymous, the lawyer whose name is protected by attorney-client privilege contacted a U.S. attorney who demanded that his identity be concealed.

The U.S. attorney who demanded that his identity be concealed then claimed the owner who must remain anonymous violated a law that could not be disclosed and faced arrest for charges that could not be specified because he had referred to the document that cannot be identified in an article for a certain, but unnamed, web site.

The lawyer whose name is protected by attorney-client privilege argued that his client could not be charged under the undisclosed law because he had been acting as a journalist at the time of the alleged publication and not as the owner of the company that cannot be named. He had, in fact, learned of the existence of the document that cannot be identified from a third-party, who was not named, and was not aware of its exact contents because he had not seen or read the document and, therefore, was not aware of the exact contents that cannot be discussed.

The U.S. attorney who demanded his identity be concealed consulted with others who names are classified and concluded that the owner who must remain anonymous walked a fine line between legal and illegal and would not face arrest for violating a law that could not be disclosed on charges that could not be specified.

So walking this fine line of justice allowed the owner who must remain anonymous to avoid confinement at an institution at an unknown location for an unspecified length of time.

In exchange for his freedom, the owner who must remain anonymous agreed to write a “clarification” of what happened, following the guidelines for publication laid down by the Bush administration.

Which is what you just read.

Thermite Identified As Culprit Of WTC Collapse

Evidence mounting that cause first identified on Alex Jones Show led to towers' implosion

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones/Prison Planet.com April 24 2006

A new branch of 9/11 research claims to have identified the cause of the collapse of the twin towers. The photographic and video evidence makes a very strong case for thermite being responsible for the unprecedented implosions of steel framed reinforced buildings on September 11.

This facet was first brought to light during a November 2005 appearance on The Alex Jones Show by Brigham Young University physicist Professor Steven Jones. Jones said that white phosphorous wasn't powerful enough to cause the implosion but that thermite was the likely culprit. Alex Jones's 2005 release Martial Law 9/11 Rise of the Police State highlighted the physical evidence that the towers and Building 7 were brought down with incendiary devices.

Brigham Young University physicist Professor Steven Jones told peers at a Utah meeting that, "while almost no fire, even one ignited by jet fuel, can cause structural steel to fail, the combination of thermite and sulfur "slices through steel like a hot knife through butter."

Jones points to a video (click here to watch) which shows a bright yellow molten substance dripping from the south tower minutes before its collapse. Government investigators claimed that this was aluminum from Flight 175 but Jones is adamant that aluminum is silvery in appearance and doesn't turn yellow.

Jones also told the Deseret News that sulfur traces found at ground zero indicates the thermite was combined with sulphur to make it burn even hotter than the normal 2500 degrees Celsius.

Jones stated that thermite was a "clever" choice because its ingredients, aluminum and iron oxide do not require identifying tags by law, meaning they couldn't be traced back to their manufacturers.

Watch the following video and observe how thermite completely melts a car engine in a matter of seconds, without the addition of sulphur, and also completely resists neutralization by liquid nitrogen. Notice how the dripping substance is identical to that seen in the south tower video.
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America from Freedom to Fascism

Monday, April 24th, 2006

The film is an expose of the Internal Revenue Service, and proves conclusively there is no law requiring an American citizen to pay a direct unapportioned Tax on their labor. The film is very provocative and is receiving standing ovations at its previews.

Aaron Russo’s America from Freedom to Fascism will be released this Summer. Watch the trailer now.

Religion, Rome and The Reich: The Vatican’s other dirty secret

Sunday, May 21st, 2006

Forget ‘The Da Vinci Code’, ‘God’s HQ on earth’ has a real ghost in the cupboard - collusion with the Nazis. No wonder then, says Peter Stanford, that the church is hiding papers on the dealings of ‘Hitler’s Pope’, Pius XII.

As The Da Vinci Code arrives in our cinemas with its lurid accusations of a church cover-up of Jesus’s life as a family man, Roman Catholic leaders have been vocal in dismissing the film of Dan Brown’s bestseller as unsuitable viewing for believers. Cardinal amongst its sins according to them is its suggestion that a church organisation, Opus Dei, would attempt to manipulate history to fit its beliefs. But that, it was charged last week, is precisely what the Vatican is doing in regard of a much more recent event, the Holocaust.

An unflattering spotlight fell on God’s business address on Earth when the German Justice Minister, Brigitte Zypries, announced on Tuesday that her country is finally to open its huge archive of Nazi records on 17 million concentration camp inmates and slave labourers. Germany’s belated move to answer the pleas for access to its archives by Holocaust survivors and their families now leaves only the Vatican standing all alone in denying them the chance to read what is in its wartime documents.

You might expect an organisation that - as the bishops have been busy pointing out last week to counter the picture of their church presented in The Da Vinci Code - is dedicated to truth, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation to have been among the first to offer access to its files. And its refusal to open its secret files has only increased suspicion that it has something it wants to cover up - principally evidence of the alleged pro-Nazi sympathies of wartime pope, Pius XII.

In the church’s official annals, Pius, who died in 1958, is painted as a saintly shepherd who led his flock with great moral courage in difficult times. For many scholars, though, he is at worst the Devil incarnate, “Hitler’s Pope”, and at best a coward who refused to speak out against the extermination of Jews, gypsies and homosexuals in gas chambers, even when he had compelling evidence that it was happening, lest his words attract Nazi aggression.

Month by month, year by year, more evidence emerges from other sources about where the Vatican’s sympathies lay in the Second World War. Earlier this year, for example, a 1946 instruction from Pope Pius to the French bishops was unearthed that ordered them not to hand over Jewish children they had been sheltering to Jewish charities now the conflict was over. According to the outspoken Harvard historian Professor Daniel Goldhagen, Pius was guilty in this instance of “having given the order to take [Jewish] children away from their parents and should be regarded as little better than a War criminal.”

The Vatican’s response to all such accusations is to issue a blanket denial, insisting that it was neutral throughout the conflict. Yet in the absence of any compelling documentary evidence to buttress its position, few are now willing to take its word as gospel on its War record.

And the pressure has only built since the election 13 months ago of Pope Benedict XVI. Where his predecessor John Paul II had worked during the Second World War with the Polish underground to defeat the Nazis and save Jews, the former Cardinal Ratzinger had been a member of the Hitler Youth, albeit a reluctant one. The Vatican’s archives - known curiously as the Secret Archives, though their existence has been well known since 1610 - is under the personal control of the Pope. One word from Benedict and the doors could be thrown open.

While we wait for the church to catch up with the rest of the world, what is known for certain from other sources is that in 1933 as Vatican representative in Germany, the future Pius XII had agreed a treaty with Hitler, whose authoritarian tendencies he admired, to close down the Catholic -dominated Centre Party, one of National Socialism’s staunchest opponents. This treaty was based on the Vatican’s 1929 agreement with Mussolini, the Italian fascist leader. On being elected Pope in 1939, Pius’s first act was to suppress a document denouncing Hitler, entitled Mit Brennender Sorge (”With deep anxiety …”) that his predecessor had been writing on his deathbed. And throughout the War, Pius XII made no public condemnation of the Holocaust, save for a single ambiguous sentence in a 26-page Christmas message of 1942.
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The Road To Guantánamo

In this compelling docudrama by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross, the 'Tipton Three' narrate their own experiences in America's controversial offshore detention camp

The Road To Guantánamo opens with archive footage of George W Bush, flanked by a stern-faced Tony Blair, declaring his certain knowledge that all the detainees held in Guantánamo are "bad people". Everything that follows is designed to turn these words inside out, as three young British Muslims tell the story of how they came to be in US custody at Guantánamo for over two years, and discuss the Kafkaesque horrors that awaited them there, until finally they were released without charge or apology.

The title may evoke the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope 'Road' movies of the 1940s, travel-themed musical comedies with a vaguely racist depiction of non-Americans, but the exotic journey embarked upon by the so-called 'Tipton Three' was to take them into areas that were politically incorrect in an altogether different way.

About to get married in Pakistan, Birmingham lad Asif Iqbal (Usman) invites his friends Ruhal Ahmed (Harun) and Shafiq Rasul (Ahmed) to join him there for a holiday. Accompanied by another friend called Monir (Siddiqui) and Shafiq's cousin Zahid (Iqbal), they head into Afghanistan, hoping to offer humanitarian aid to their fellow Muslims and to see the place for themselves.

After several weeks, they realise they've made a terrible mistake and try to head back to Pakistan, instead ending up under heavy bombardment near Kundun. Separated from Monir (who is never seen again), they become captives of the Northern Alliance in the notorious Sheberghan Prison. Once it is discovered that the three friends are English, they are at first relieved to find themselves handed over to American custody; but in fact their nightmare is only just beginning, as they are passed from Kandahar Airbase to Camp X-Ray, from Camp Delta to solitary confinement, facing mistreatment, injustice and endless, pointless interrogations.
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10 Things I Hate About Commandments

This is really funny, i'm sure it will get boycott calls from the catholics.

Lawmaker says Marines killed Iraqis 'in cold blood'

From Jamie McIntyre
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A decorated Marine colonel turned anti-war congressman has said Marines killed at least 30 innocent Iraqi civilians "in cold blood" in Haditha in November, suggesting the death toll may be twice as high as originally reported.

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, told reporters Wednesday that he got his information from U.S. commanders, who said the investigation will show that the Marines deliberately killed the civilians.

The U.S. Marine Corps has declined to comment on the report, which initially stated that 15 were killed.

"There was no firefight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood," Murtha said. (Watch Murtha level accusations against the Marines -- 1:58)

Murtha, who was decorated for his service in Vietnam, said the death toll may be more than twice as high as originally reported.

"They actually went into the houses and killed women and children," the congressman said.

Citing an ongoing investigation, the Marine Corps said, "Any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process."

The Iraqi civilians were killed while troops from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines were looking for insurgents who planted a roadside bomb that killed a member of their unit.

At first, the Marines said the civilians were killed by a roadside bomb. Later, they suggested the victims may have been caught in a firefight.

An Iraqi human rights group, Hammurabi Human Rights Association, caught the scene on video, which was obtained by Time magazine. A criminal investigation ensued.
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Illegal workers make you obese!

America's illegal-immigrant debate had run dangerously short of new arguments, but a brave newspaper columnist decided to think so far outside the box that the box itself could no longer be used as a viable point of reference:

Undocumented aliens make American citizens fat.

That's the remarkable conclusion of "former economics professor" Alfred Tella, who writes in Wednesday's Washington Times that the influx of illegal Latinos in the United States may well be the cause of America's obesity epidemic ... apparently because cheap illegal housecleaners and gardeners have cruelly robbed middle-class and wealthy Americans of their only chance at exercise.

"Though they can be found in various industries and occupations, illegal workers are employed in large numbers on household tasks that most Americans once did for themselves, such as cleaning the house and taking care of the yard," Tella explains.

"Some are employed directly by householders as maids, house cleaners and yard workers, and others work as employees of companies that provide services to residential customers. A number of the householders who hire illegal workers can be counted among the more than 60 million obese adults in America."

Bingo!

Tella's bold theory doesn't quite explain away how low-paying jobs have traditionally gone to ultra-low-cost black slaves and then to successive waves of ethnic immigrants -- German, Chinese, Irish, Italian, Puerto Rican, etc. -- and will soon go entirely to robot slaves. But surely there's a scientific reason to explain how only illegal Mexican laborers make American citizens so horrifyingly obese.

Like nanny-state liberals from San Franciso to Santa Monica, Tella believes he can get Americans in shape by simply legislating the free market until it's basically socialism.

By removing a labor supply, Americans will have no choice but to quit hiring help and getting on a low-fat, low-sodium diet with the constant supervision of doctors. Just as the steady de-legalization of cigarettes has stopped cancer and heart disease in the United States, de-de-legalizing undocumented Latino workers will end the tragic obesity epidemic that has left most Americans outrageously fat and absolutely powerless to do anything about it.

"With less competition from cheap illegal labor, legal workers would benefit. And some householders who enjoyed access to cheap immigrant labor would no longer be willing or able to pay the higher wages resulting from a restricted immigrant labor supply," Tella writes.

"To the extent Americans adjusted their lifestyle to a reduction in the supply of immigrant labor by doing more household tasks, obesity would decline and health would improve. It would also be a financial boon. Householders would save on labor costs and obesity-related medical and other expenses, and taxpayers would save a bundle to boot."

How right he is.

-and all this time I was blaming the deep fried twinkies, how wrong I was!!!!

China re-indicts NY Times worker

China has revived a legal case against a detained New York Times researcher two months after dropping charges against him, his lawyer said.
Zhao Yan was arrested in September 2004 and was facing charges of leaking state secrets and fraud.

But the charges were dropped in March one month before a US visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Lawyer Mo Shaoping said there was a new indictment against his client, but he did not know what the charges were.

"The prosecutors notified me last Friday that they had re-transferred the case to the Beijing Second Intermediate Court one or two days earlier," he told Reuters news agency.

He said prosecutors had told him they were "resuming criminal investigation and prosecution", but he said there was no legal basis for this under Chinese law.

"It is definitely a prolonged and illegal detention now," he said.

Mr Zhao, a Chinese national, had faced 10 years in jail after security officials alleged he told his employer, The New York Times, details of a power struggle between retired Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin and his successor, Mr Hu.

It was thought that Mr Zhao would be released within days of the prosecution withdrawing the case on 17 March, but he has remained in custody.

Mr Zhao has denied the charges against him. The New York Times newspaper also denies he has disclosed state secrets.

Castro says he's not wealthy, Forbes story untrue

By Anthony Boadle
Tue May 16, 9:54 AM ET

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro furiously denied on Monday a story in Forbes magazine that he was worth $900 million and said he would step down if the magazine could prove the assertion.

The financial magazine ranked Castro as the seventh wealthiest ruler in the world in its annual tally of the "Fortunes of Kings, Queens and Dictators."

Castro went on television brandishing a copy of the U.S.-based magazine to tell Cubans the story was a "repugnant slander" by a capitalist publication.

With Communist Cuba's Central Bank governor at his side, Castro challenged Forbes to prove the allegation.

"If they can prove that I have a bank account abroad, with $900 million, with $1 million, $500,000, $100,000 or $1 in it, I will resign," he said at the end of a four-hour broadcast.

"It is so ridiculous to say I have a fortune of $900 million, a fortune with no heirs. What would I need all that money for, if I will soon be 80 years old?

Castro, in power since a leftist revolution in 1959, says his net worth is nil and that he earns only 900 Cuban pesos ($40) a month.

Kings and sheiks of the oil-rich Gulf Arab states still top the Forbes list, published in its May 22 edition.

Castro ranked higher than Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain, whose fortune according to the Forbes amounts to some $500 million in estates, gems and a stamp collection built by her grandfather, but not Buckingham Palace or the crown jewels. The British monarch came to the throne in 1952, seven years before Castro seized power.

Castro last year threatened to sue Forbes after the magazine included him on its 2005 list with an estimated fortune of $550 million.

The Forbes estimate includes state enterprises that the magazine assumes he controls in Cuba, among them the Havana Convention Center, the Cimex retail conglomerate and a pharmaceutical company that exports vaccines.

Forbes said it assumed a portion of the profits of state companies goes to Castro and cited rumors of money stashed in Swiss bank accounts, but gave no details, saying former Cuban officials insist Castro has skimmed profits for years.

British military says 'UFOs exist!'

In a shocking announcement, the British Ministry of Defence has revealed "UFOs Exist: It's Official!" The revelation comes in the wake of a request by UFO researchers for the Ministry of Defence to release information about its secret investigations into strange sightings over Britain.

In a case of ask and you shall receive, the MoD dumped 200 megabytes worth of documents onto its public website detailing its confidential research into Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, also known as UAP (that UFO acronym is so old-fashioned). The verdict: UFOs exist. But the MoD thinks they are a mixture of natural and-man-made phenomena, rather than evidence of extraterrestrial life.

But what about all those sightings of aliens hopping out of UFOs and doing strange things to people? The MoD explains it away as being electromagnetic plasma fields warping their brains, causing hallucinations and lost memory.

The convoluted explanation from the MoD hasn't convinced many UFO researchers though. And polls show that the general public think the truth is still out there.

-plasma fields warping our brains? Shit, and I was all concerned that it was the acid, meth, crack, wiskey shooters doing it. What a releaf!!!!

'God's gonna pummel the coasts'

Professional hate-monger Pat Robertson has warned his television audience that furious storms are going to devastate America's coasts this year.

"If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms," Robertson announced on Wednesday's broadcast of the 700 Club. "There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest."

If past truly is prologue, Robertson is likely praying for such a horrifying disaster. Last summer, as Hurricane Katrina laid waste to New Orleans, Robertson's "Operation Rescue" was second on the once-secular American government's list of charities for Americans to send money to. Only the Red Cross was listed before Robertson.

Operation Rescue's board is loaded with Robertson's immediate family, with Marion Gordon Robertson -- Robertson's real name -- listed as chairman. Pat's wife DeDe is vice president and son Gordon Robertson is also on the board. The whole family reaped the benefits of others' misery, as they have their whole lives.

Hours after SPLOID broke the story of this disgusting arrangement last year -- thanks to a tip from privacy activist Bill Scannell -- FEMA moved Robertson's organization down the list.

Now that we know the storms are coming, it will be interesting to see what it is that Ellen Degeneres does to cause them. Robertson has blamed America's last two great tragedies on the beloved talk show lesbian.

"This is the second time in a row that God has invoked a disaster shortly before lesbian Ellen Degeneres hosted the Emmy Awards," Robertson told his one million mouthing-breathing sheep. "America is waiting for her to apologize for the death and destruction that her sexual deviance has brought onto this great nation."

Maybe Roberston will be moved to call for her assassination. He likes to do that kind of thing.

-and if the whole coast doesn't get destroyed by storms, he will just have everyone assassinated.

Couple Arrested For Asking For Directions

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore City police arrested a Virginia couple over the weekend after they asked an officer for directions.

WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook, of Chantilly, Va., got lost leaving an Orioles game on Saturday. Collins reported a city officer arrested them for trespassing on a public street while they were asking for directions .

"In jail for eight hours -- sleeping on a concrete floor next to a toilet," Kelly said.

"It was a nightmare," Brook said. "I was in there thinking I was just dreaming and waiting to wake up."


Collins reported it was a nightmare ending to a nearly perfect day. He said the couple went to a company picnic and watched the Orioles beat Kansas City. It was their first trip to Camden Yards and asked two people for directions to Interstate 95 South when they left.

Collins said somehow they ended up in the Cherry Hill section of south Baltimore. Hopelessly lost, relief melted away concerns after they spotted a police vehicle.

"I said, 'Thank goodness, could you please get us to 95?" Kelly said.

"The first thing that she said to us was no -- you just ran that stop sign, pull over," Brook said. "It wasn't a big deal. We'll pay the stop sign violation, but can we have directions?"

"What she said was 'You found your own way in here, you can find your own way out.'" Kelly said.

Collins said the couple spotted another police vehicle and flagged that officer down for directions. But Officer Natalie Preston, a six-year veteran of the force, intervened.

"That really threw us for a loop when she stepped in between our cars," Kelly said. "(She) said my partner is not going to step in front of me and tell you directions if I'm not."

Collins reported the circumstances got worse. Kelly pulled 40 feet forward parking next to a curb and put his flashers on while Brook was on the phone to her father hoping he could help her with directions. Both her parents are police officers in the Harrisburg, Pa., area.

"(Brook's father) was in the middle of giving us directions when the officer screeched up behind us and got out of the car and asked me to step out. I obeyed," Kelly said. "I obeyed everything -- stepped out of the car, put my hands behind my back, and the next thing I know, I was getting arrested for trespassing."

"By this time, I was completely in tears," Brook said. "I said, 'Ma'am, you know, we just need your help. We are not trying to cause you any trouble. I'm not leaving him here.' What she did was walk over to my side of the car and said, 'Ok, we are taking you downtown, too.'"

Collins said the couple was released from jail without being charged with anything. Brook is now concerned the arrest may complicate a criminal background check she's going through in her job as a child care worker.

Collins said police left Kelly's car unlocked and the windows down at the impound lot. He reported a cell phone charger, pair of sunglasses and 20 CDs were stolen.

Baltimore City police said they are looking into the incident.