Month: September 2011

US Government Pays $120 Million A Year To DEAD Employees

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– Working dead hard: How U.S. government pays $120million a year to employees who are DECEASED (Daily Mail, Sep. 24, 2011):

The federal government has doled out $120million over the last five years in benefit payments to dead people over the past five years, a watchdog report says.

Such payments are meant for retired or disabled federal workers, but sometimes the checks keep going out even after the former employees pass away and the deaths are not reported, according to the report this week from the Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general, Patrick McFarland.

In one case, the son of a beneficiary continued receiving payments for 37 years after his father’s death in 1971. The payments – totalling more than $515,000 – were only discovered when the son died in 2008.

Read moreUS Government Pays $120 Million A Year To DEAD Employees

No.1 Trend Forecaster Gerald Celente Announces He’s Buying PHYSICAL Silver

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See also:

– Gerald Celente On Yahoo! Finance: The REAL Crash Is Coming! (Video – Sep 15, 2011)

– Gerald Celente Announces He’s Buying Silver (King World News, Sep. 23, 2011):

With gold down over $100 and silver down $5, today the man that many consider to be the top trends forecaster in the world, Gerald Celente, told King World News, “I’m now buying physical silver for the first time. One of my reasons is I am very concerned that when gold prices begin their upward ascent again, I believe the central banks and the governments are going to blame the gold people for the financial problems.”

Read moreNo.1 Trend Forecaster Gerald Celente Announces He’s Buying PHYSICAL Silver

Tony Blair’s Byzantine World Of Advisers And Lucrative Deals

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– Tony Blair’s Byzantine world of advisers and lucrative deals (Telegraph, Sep. 24, 2011):

Since leaving office, Tony Blair has adopted many roles. The international statesman. The guardian of Africa. The religious leader. The global businessman.

He travels the world, a highly publicised diplomatic mission in the morning and a private, never mentioned, business deal signed in the afternoon.

Combining these myriad, sometimes apparently conflicting, personas requires skill and dexterity – and a global organisation he has quietly built to service them.

Read moreTony Blair’s Byzantine World Of Advisers And Lucrative Deals

CME Raises Gold, Silver, Copper Margin Requirements – Gold Margin Increases Since Aug. 11 Total 55%

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See also:
– Gold And Silver Plunge-Fest – Case Closed: CME Hikes Gold, Silver, Copper Margins

“CME raised gold margins twice in August. Including the increases that take effect Monday, the margin increases since Aug. 11 total 55%.”

– CME Raises Gold, Silver, Copper Margin Requirements (Wall Street Journal, Sep. 24, 2011):

Exchange operator CME Group Inc. will raise the collateral requirements for trading in gold, copper and silver futures after a volatile week.

Gold margins will be raised by 21%, silver margins by 16%, and copper margins by 18%, effective at the close of trading Monday, CME said in an email after trading closed Friday.

Following the change, speculative investors in the benchmark 100-troy ounce gold contract must put up $11,475 to open a position and maintain $8,500 of that to keep it overnight. Producers and consumers of the precious metal must put up $8,500 to open a position, and the same figure to hold it overnight.

Read moreCME Raises Gold, Silver, Copper Margin Requirements – Gold Margin Increases Since Aug. 11 Total 55%

EU Parliament Opens £15.5 Million Temple To MEPs

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See also:

– Absolutely Ridiculous: UNELECTED EU President Herman Van Rompuy Proclaims: EU Is ‘The Fatherland Of Democracy’ (Video)

– European Parliament opens £15.5 million temple to MEPs (Telegraph, Sep. 23, 2011)

The European Parliament has been accused of “self-glorification” after defying national austerity cuts by opening a £15.5 million high-technology “parlamentarium” to showcase the work of MEPs.

Jerzy Buzek, the parliament’s president, insisted that the project, which targets school students, was needed to show the relevance of MEPs at a time when the EU was threatened by the eurozone crisis.

“The exhibition shows that Europe has come a long way – surviving two world wars, reuniting a divided continent and now sharing a joint political project which, I am convinced, will thrive and prevail over the challenges we face today,” he said.

Read moreEU Parliament Opens £15.5 Million Temple To MEPs

Fukushima: Steam Rising From Reactors 2 And 3

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– #Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Steam Rising from Reactors 2 and 3 (EX-SKF, Sep. 24, 2011):

The latest videos of Reactors 2 and 3 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant show steam rising from the locations where the reactors are located.

The video of Reactor 3 was taken on August 24, and the video of Reactor 2 was taken on September 17 when the company sampled the air using the remote-control crane; a video camera was attached to the boom.

Read moreFukushima: Steam Rising From Reactors 2 And 3

CENSORSHIP: FOX News Deletes The ‘Who Won the Debate?’ Poll After RON PAUL Wins!

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Pathetic idiots!

FOX News deleted the ‘Who Won the Debate?’ Poll, but it is still accessible through Google cache and here are the results:

Screenshot:

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Hilariously you can still embed the poll!

Here is the embed code:

<script src=”http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5526599.js” charset=”utf-8″ type=”text/javascript”></script> <noscript><a href=”http://polldaddy.com/poll/5526599/”>Who won the debate?</a></noscript>

Ron Paul is the one candidate those elitists are really afraid of.

Just look at David Rockefeller’s reaction:

Rockefeller scared of Ron Paul

YouTube Added. 01.12.2007

These elitists know Ron Paul very well, because he is the only one that would abolish their private Federal Reserve Bank, the IRS and bring an end to the illegal wars.

President Obama Secretly Sold 55 Bunker-Busting Bombs To Israel

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– US sold bunker-busting bombs to Israel: report (AFP, Sep. 23, 2011):

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama secretly authorized the sale of 55 powerful bunker-busting bombs to Israel, Newsweek magazine reported Friday.

Israel first asked to buy deep-penetrating GBU-28 bombs in 2005, but were rebuffed by then-president George W. Bush. At the time the Pentagon had frozen joint US-Israeli defense projects, fearful that Israel was transferring advanced military technology to China, Newsweek said.

Read morePresident Obama Secretly Sold 55 Bunker-Busting Bombs To Israel

CFR Membership List (2009)

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– 2009 Council on Foreign Relations Membership Roster

Related info:

– Hillary Clinton at the Council on Foreign Relations: We get a lot of advice from the Council, so this will mean I won’t have as far to go to be told what we should be doing and how we should think about the future

“Foreign policy is dictated by individuals who control both the Republican and the Democrat party”
– Ron Paul on Glenn Beck: Destruction of the dollar

Absolutely Ridiculous: UNELECTED EU President Herman Van Rompuy Proclaims: EU Is ‘The Fatherland Of Democracy’ (Video)

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You can’t make this stuff up.

Before:

– AND NOW: Germany, France Propose COLLECTIVE ‘GOVERNMENT’ For The Eurozone Led By UNELECTED EU President

Flashback:

Bilderberg Rompuy …

– Bilderberg 2011: The Full Official Attendee List

… loves world government, the fascist New World Order:

– EU President Herman Van Rompuy Announces 2009 as ‘First Year of Global Governance’:

New EU president confirms New World Order desire

EU Is ‘The Fatherland, Or The Motherland Of Democracy‘


YouTube Added: 22.09.2011

– Delusional Herman Van Rompuy proclaims: EU is ‘the fatherland of democracy‘ (Telegraph, Sep. 23, 2011):

If anyone still refuses to believe that European Union elites suffer from delusions of grandeur, look no further than Herman Van Rompuy’s statement ahead of his speech yesterday to the UN General Assembly. In a video message, officially transcribed by his office and published here, the president of the European Council proclaims that the European Union is “the fatherland, or the motherland of democracy”, while – ludicrously – taking some of the credit for the downfall of Colonel Gaddafi:

Because last year, something important happened in a part of the world very close to us, in Northern Africa and the Arab world. Peoples of the Arab world are looking for democracy, for freedom, for justice. In some countries they achieved it, in other countries they are involved in reform processes. So this is really something astonishing. The world is more and more moving in the direction of democracy. And we are the fatherland, or the motherland of democracy. So the EU is very glad with that kind of evolution. And where we can, we help, as we did in Libya. We did it via our Member States, via the EU as the EU, even militarily. We helped to bring Kadhafi down, and give full support to the democratic forces in Libya.

This has to be one of the most ridiculous statements by an EU official in living memory, and the competition for that is intense. And I don’t think Van Rompuy is referring here to the mother of Parliaments in Great Britain, or the birth of democracy in Greece. He no doubt genuinely believes that the European Union itself is the foundation slab of modern democracy, despite the fact that there is nothing at all democratic about the European project. His comments are a reflection of the arrogance of unelected EU bureaucrats in Brussels, who believe they have some kind of divine right to speak on behalf of hundreds of millions of people and the sovereign governments of 27 nations.

Read moreAbsolutely Ridiculous: UNELECTED EU President Herman Van Rompuy Proclaims: EU Is ‘The Fatherland Of Democracy’ (Video)

ALERT: TEPCO: It May Be 100% Hydrogen Gas Inside the Pipe Connecting to Reactor I Containment Vessel

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– TEPCO: It May Be 100% Hydrogen Gas Inside the Pipe Connecting to Reactor I Containment Vessel (EX-SKF, Sep. 24, 2011):

First it was reported that “over 10,000 ppm” or over 1% of hydrogen gas was detected at 2 locations in the pipe that connects to the Containment Vessel of Reactor 1 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. Then it was allegedly “over 40,000 ppm” or 4%.

According to Jiji Tsushin, TEPCO thinks the hydrogen gas concentration in the pipe may be 100%. 1,000,000 ppm.

Still, TEPCO says possibility of explosion is not necessarily high because there is no source nearby that could cause sparks. (Never mind that they were going to use blow torches to cut the pipes…)

Jiji Tsushin (12:28PM JST 6/24/2011):

? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Concerning the detection of hydrogen gas in more than 1% concentration inside the pipe that connects to the Containment Vessel of Reactor 1 at Fukushia I Nuclear Power Plant, TEPCO announced on September 24 that it is highly probable that almost all the gas inside the pipe is hydrogen gas. TEPCO’s Matsumoto said in the press conference, “Since there is no source for sparks, it cannot be said that there is a high risk of explosion immediately”.

Read moreALERT: TEPCO: It May Be 100% Hydrogen Gas Inside the Pipe Connecting to Reactor I Containment Vessel

Faster Than The Speed Of Light… OPERA Update — Speed Of Light Broken, An Expert’s View — Speed Of Light Discovery: Would You Go Back In Time?

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Neutrinos travelling faster than light have been found, say particle physicists in Italy. Photograph: Dan Mccoy /Corbis

– Speed of light discovery: would you go back in time? (Guardian, Sep. 23, 2011):

Physicists’ discovery of neutrinos that may travel faster than the speed of light raises the prospect of time-travelling particles. You’re not a tachyon, granted. But if you had the opportunity, would you go back in time?

– Speed of light broken – an expert’s view (Telegraph, Sep. 23, 2011):

If CERN scientists are correct in claiming they have observed particles travelling faster than the speed of light it would fundamentally change our understanding of the laws of physics, experts say.

Prof Jenny Thomas, of University College London, says the claims, if proven true, would call into question our very understanding of physics and the universe.

She said: “It would turn everything on its head. It is too awful to think about.

“The basic thing it that would be questioned is that there is an absolute speed limit which is the basis of special relativity and that is a huge building block of modern physics.

“It permeates everything to do with how we have modelled the universe and everything. It would be very hard to predict what the effects would be.”

Special relativity is integral to the understanding of particle accelerators and the creation of particle beams, which are of crucial importance in fields like medicine and engineering, she said.

It could even be that the most famous equation of all time, E=mc2, turns out to be incorrect because it is based on the law of special relativity, Prof Thomas said.

– Faster Than The Speed Of Light… OPERA Update (Universe Today, Sep. 24, 2011):

A few days ago, the physics world was turned upside down at the announcement of “faster than the speed of light”. The mighty neutrino has struck again by breaking the cosmic speed limit and traveling at a velocity 20 parts per million above light speed. To absolutely verify this occurrence, collaboration is needed from different sources and we’re here to give you the latest update.

“This result comes as a complete surprise,” said OPERA spokesperson, Antonio Ereditato of the University of Bern. “After many months of studies and cross checks we have not found any instrumental effect that could explain the result of the measurement. While OPERA researchers will continue their studies, we are also looking forward to independent measurements to fully assess the nature of this observation.”

Read moreFaster Than The Speed Of Light… OPERA Update — Speed Of Light Broken, An Expert’s View — Speed Of Light Discovery: Would You Go Back In Time?

The Latest Target For Thieves As Prices Skyrocket: HAY! – Round Bales That Used To Sell For $20 Are Now Topping $175! (Video)

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– Hay The Latest Target For Thieves As Prices Skyrocket (CBS Dallas/Fort Worth):

If the drought wasn’t enough for farmers and ranchers to struggle with, now they are facing a growing threat.  Thieves are targeting pastures and barns for suddenly valuable hay bales.

It’s the nature of ranchers like James Lockridge to give you something if you need it badly enough. “Come up and ask us. Surely we can work something out.”

Mitch Waters runs a feed store that’s such a fixture, people drive 50 miles to shop there. “Got out of school in 77 and been here ever since.”

But now both men, are putting their livelihoods behind locks.  Signs are posted, keep out. They know where all the area security cameras are, and are intent on protecting something that’s never been worth as much as it is right now.  “Our convenient hay barn here, for just the drive up customers.”

Yes, hay, is the new target for thieves.  Round bales that used to sell for $20 are now topping $175.

Read moreThe Latest Target For Thieves As Prices Skyrocket: HAY! – Round Bales That Used To Sell For $20 Are Now Topping $175! (Video)

Breaking News – Sky Sources: G20 Ministers Are Preparing For Greek Default

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– Lehman Weekend Redux? (ZeroHedge, Sep. 24, 2011):

Just hitting the wires from Sky News:

More from Sky News correspondent Ed Conway (via Twitter):

  • G20 now preparing itself for Greek default after October – Sky sources. Will be on Sky News imminently with more
  • G20 sources: all efforts behind the scenes (by G20 members) are now going into recapitalising banks, preparing economies for default.
  • G20 sources: default not expected until after Cannes G20 early November. Emergency funding should still keep Greece afloat thru October
  • G20 sources: No suggestion Greek default need imply country leaving the euro
  • G20 sources: @ Washington summit marked difference in attitude. Confident euro members edging closer to recapitalising banks, expanding EFSF

Looks like the inevitable is coming in about a month.

Derivative Time Bomb: Five Banks Account For 96% Of The $250 Trillion In Outstanding US Derivative Exposure

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– Five Banks Account For 96% Of The $250 Trillion In Outstanding US Derivative Exposure; Is Morgan Stanley Sitting On An FX Derivative Time Bomb? (ZeroHedge, Sep. 24, 2011):

The latest quarterly report from the Office Of the Currency Comptroller is out and as usual it presents in a crisp, clear and very much glaring format the fact that the top 4 banks in the US now account for a massively disproportionate amount of the derivative risk in the financial system. Specifically, of the $250 trillion in gross notional amount of derivative contracts outstanding (consisting of Interest Rate, FX, Equity Contracts, Commodity and CDS) among the Top 25 commercial banks (a number that swells to $333 trillion when looking at the Top 25 Bank Holding Companies), a mere 5 banks (and really 4) account for 95.9% of all derivative exposure (HSBC replaced Wells as the Top 5th bank, which at $3.9 trillion in derivative exposure is a distant place from #4 Goldman with $47.7 trillion). The top 4 banks: JPM with $78.1 trillion in exposure, Citi with $56 trillion, Bank of America with $53 trillion and Goldman with $48 trillion, account for 94.4% of total exposure. As historically has been the case, the bulk of consolidated exposure is in Interest Rate swaps ($204.6 trillion), followed by FX ($26.5TR), CDS ($15.2 trillion), and Equity and Commodity with $1.6 and $1.4 trillion, respectively. And that’s your definition of Too Big To Fail right there: the biggest banks are not only getting bigger, but their risk exposure is now at a new all time high and up $5.3 trillion from Q1 as they have to risk ever more in the derivatives market to generate that incremental penny of return.

Read moreDerivative Time Bomb: Five Banks Account For 96% Of The $250 Trillion In Outstanding US Derivative Exposure

Gov. Rick Perry lies again about Texas Gardasil scandal, claims woman he met after signing executive order lobbied him to pass it

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“Rick Perry has been caught yet again in another lie about Gardasil. Remember, this is the governor who lied to the entire state of Texas and said it was “mandatory” that all adolescent girls received the injection. It turns out that was a complete hoax by a governor whose own senior staffer was on Merck’s payroll!”
– Natural News

– Perry lies again about Texas Gardasil scandal, claims woman he met after signing executive order lobbied him to pass it (Natural News, Sep. 24, 2011):

The more Texas Gov. Rick Perry tries to defend his decision to sign an executive order in 2007 mandating that all young girls in Texas receive vaccinations against the human papillomavirus (HPV) before being admitted to school, the more he exposes himself as a lying scoundrel that is unfit to govern his own state, let alone lead a nation.

During the recent Republican presidential debate in Orlando, Fla., Perry tried once again to defend his infamous Gardasil blunder, this time by telling the heart-tugging story of a woman he met and got to know who had cervical cancer. He told the audience and viewers Thursday night that the reason he signed the executive order was because the woman lobbied him to do so.

“I got lobbied on this issue,” said a calm and composed Perry. “I got lobbied by a 31 year old young lady who had stage-four cervical cancer. I spent a lot of time with her. She came by my office. She talked to me about this program. I readily admitted we should have had an opt-in (for the mandate) but I don’t know what part of opt out most parents don’t get. The fact is I was on the side of life and I will always be on the side of life as a governor and as president of the United States.”

Read moreGov. Rick Perry lies again about Texas Gardasil scandal, claims woman he met after signing executive order lobbied him to pass it

Japan Finds 500 Bq/Kg Radioactive Cesium In Pre-Harvested Rice Sample

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– Japan finds rice needing thorough radiation test (Reuters, Sep 24, 2011):

Japan found the first case of rice with radioactive materials far exceeding a government-set level for a preliminary test of pre-harvested crop, requiring thorough inspection of the rice to be harvested from the region, the farm ministry said late on Friday.

The ministry said radioactive cesium of 500 becquerels per kg was found in a sample of the pre-harvested rice in Nihonmatsu city, in Fukushima Prefecture, 56 km (35 miles) west of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant which was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, triggering the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.

The ministry said the Fukushima Prefecture will expand the inspection spots nearly ten-fold to around 300 areas.

It is the first case in Japan of rice containing radioactive cesium exceeding 200 becquerels per kg, a level which requires further thorough testing of the area for the harvested rice.

Read moreJapan Finds 500 Bq/Kg Radioactive Cesium In Pre-Harvested Rice Sample

105,600 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium Found On Apartment Bldg Rooftop in Yokohama City

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– 105,600 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium from Apartment Bldg Rooftop in Yokohama City (EX-SKF, Sep. 23, 2011):

The apartment building is located in the same Kohoku-ku in Yokohama City where 63,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was found also from the rooftop of another apartment building, and 42,000 becquerels/kg was found from the dirt around the side drain on the road.

It looks like this person had the dirt on the rooftop tested on his own, and posted the test result sheet on his blog.

Cesium-134: 49,900 becquerels/kg
Cesium-137: 55,700 becquerels/kg
Total radioactive cesium: 105,600 becquerels/kg

Meanwhile, this is how the Yokohama City workers (or the contract workers) “cleaned” the highly contaminated (42,000 becquerels/kg cesium) dirt from the side of the road. No protection, no masks, no rubber boots.


Yokohama City Assembly recently voted down the citizens’ petition asking the city not to accept radiation-contaminated disaster debris from Tohoku by the majority vote by the DPJ and LDP and Komei Party.

Read more105,600 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium Found On Apartment Bldg Rooftop in Yokohama City

First Instance Of Harvested Radioactive Rice In Fukushima

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– First Instance of #Radioactive Rice with 500 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium from Nihonmatsu City in Fukushima (EX-SKF, September 23, 2011):

Now the government scientists have some explaining to do, because the soil at that location contained only 3,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. The government has used the transfer rate of cesium from soil to rice at 0.1, but in this particular instance, if we believe the number for the soil contamination the transfer rate is more like 0.17.

Nihonmatsu City where the 500bq/kg rice was found is located at about 55 kilometers west from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

Read moreFirst Instance Of Harvested Radioactive Rice In Fukushima

Google Deletes ‘Activist Post’ (A Very Popular Alternative News Source)

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Is the truth getting painful for the elitists?

– Activist Post Deleted! Google Erases Popular Alternative News Source (Before It’s News, Sep. 24, 2011):

At mid-day on Friday, September 23, 2011, the popular alternative news blog, ActivistPost.com, was taken offline. Activist Post receives over one million views per month and has been hosted by Google’s Blogger since its founding in June 2010.

“We remain puzzled as to why Activist Post was erased completely by Google,” said chief editor and co-founder Michael Edwards. “When we tried to load our back-up file into our secondary Blogger account, that was blocked as well,” he added.

It remains unclear whether Google has acted to censor ActivistPost.com for their controversial reporting.  Google is becoming somewhat notorious for clamping down on truth and liberty activists, of which Activist Post is known for.

“Clearly, this is a huge set back for us and the work we do,” said co-founder Eric Blair.  “Our entire crew is working on resolving the issue and restoring the website.  We certainly look forward to an explanation from Google.”

Activist Post will file an appeal with Google to restore the site in full, and asks their loyal supporters to make their voices heard as well.  However, they also are seeking other hosting services to avoid these types of censorship issues in the future.

Read moreGoogle Deletes ‘Activist Post’ (A Very Popular Alternative News Source)

Desperation And Frustration: Japanese Preschool Children Sing: Go Away Radiation (Video)

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Must-see:

– Prof. Chris Busby: Help Save Children Of Fukushima From Radiation! (Video Exposing The Evil Japanese Government)


YouTube:

My students singing an original song we wrote about the radiation in our town. We live in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture and since the March 11th earthquake and subsequent nuclear incident we have not been able to play outside at all. The kids and I wrote this song to express our frustration. Ours is a small English immersion preschool for Japanese children.

More:

– BBC Fukushima Propaganda Debunked (Video)

– Japanese Government To Give Radioactive Canned Fish To Developing Countries For Free To Dispel Radiation ‘Rumor’ (NHK – Video)

– Thom Hartmann, RT: Fukushima A Dire Warning To The World – Japan (Video Exposing The Criminal Japanese Government)

– Fairewinds: Safety Problems In All (Mark I) Reactors Designed Like Fukushima – Introducing A Japanese Language Edition

Read moreDesperation And Frustration: Japanese Preschool Children Sing: Go Away Radiation (Video)

Gold And Silver Plunge-Fest – Case Closed: CME Hikes Gold, Silver, Copper Margins

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– Gold Liquidations Open Thread (ZeroHedge, Sep. 23, 2011):

Update: Yep – it was a leak of a margin hike as just confirmed. Which may very well mean nobody actually had to liquidate, just the herd thundered, as it always does, in the wrong direction. Expect gold to actually rise on this news.

Everyone knew they were coming… Just not when. Now that the gold liquidation frenzy has struck we still don’t know much if anything: who was it, why, and where did the money go? Some rumors have it as a bank in Central, Eastern Europe unwinding massive PM positions, which if true is paradoxically bullish for gold and silver as reported previously, as it means the already tight liquidity situation in Europe is about to come to a head, possibly as soon as this weekend. Others speculate it was a plain vanilla satisfaction of collateral requirements by a big funds who may or may not be liquidating and who have sizable gold positions. Or, the simplest explanation, was it simply an expectation (and leak) of a gold margin hike?

– Case Closed: CME Hikes Gold, Silver, Copper Margins (ZeroHedge, Sep. 23, 2011):

And there you have it: CME just hiked gold margins by 21%, silver by 16% and copper by 18%. Mystery solved.

Gold Margin Hike 9.23

– Gold/Silver Plunge-fest (ZeroHedge, Sep. 23, 2011):

Gold down over $100, and Silver down over 15% – someone is liquidating. Rumors vary from very prominent hedge funds to Central European (as in geographically) central banks. Bottom line is, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy at this point and will continue until every last seller is out, and until the margin calls end.

UPDATE: Silver <$30 -17%

Charts: Bloomberg

Wake Up, This Was Full-On QE3 That We Just Got!

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– Goldman: Wake Up, This Was Full-On QE3 That We Just Got (Business Insider, Sep. 22, 2011):

Very important point from Goldman’s Dominic Wilson on yesterday’s “Twist” announcement. Essentially he argues that the part of the operation where the Fed is going to sell $400 billion of short-dated bonds is irrelevant. Only the buying part really effects anything:

Despite the discussion of whether QE3 will follow, for all intents and purposes, QE3 has already begun with yesterday’s shift. While the Fed has been careful to frame the latest shift as a “twist” that leaves its balance sheet neutral, as we have described before the policy is economically more or less equivalent to outright asset purchases. This is because the decision to sell short-dated securities in exchange for bank reserves – the additional transaction relative to the prior purchase program – is largely irrelevant given that the two are very close substitutes when interest rates at the front end of the treasury curve are close to zero (the US 3-year yield is only about 35bp). So yesterday’s policy announcement is not materially different in economic terms from an announcement to buy $400bn of longer-dated USTs through “printing money”. And in fact, given the tilt towards longer durations, the size of purchases is not meaningfully different from QE2.

As for why markets have reacted to negatively:

Read moreWake Up, This Was Full-On QE3 That We Just Got!

Scientists Find Particles Travelling Faster Than Speed Of Light

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– UPDATE 1-Particles found to break speed of light (Reuters, Sept 22, 2011):

GENEVA – An international team of scientists said on Thursday they had recorded sub-atomic particles travelling faster than light — a finding that could overturn one of Einstein’s long-accepted fundamental laws of the universe.

Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the researchers, told Reuters that measurements taken over three years showed neutrinos pumped from CERN near Geneva to Gran Sasso in Italy had arrived 60 nanoseconds quicker than light would have done.

“We have high confidence in our results. We have checked and rechecked for anything that could have distorted our measurements but we found nothing,” he said. “We now want colleagues to check them independently.”

Read moreScientists Find Particles Travelling Faster Than Speed Of Light