Rand Paul: "I Look into the Eyes of Senators and I Think I See Real Fear" of Shadow Government Agencies Drunk with Power

Rand Paul “concerned about who is truly in charge of our government”

March 19, 2014

Infowars.com - Libertarian Kentucky Senator Rand Paul warns in a speech today that he believes US spooks and shadow government agencies are ” drunk with power”, and that elected representatives are privately afraid of those operating behind the curtain.

In a scheduled appearance at the University of California-Berkeley, Paul will address the continuing domestic spying controversy.

In prepared comments Paul notes “I am honestly worried, concerned about who is truly in charge of our government. Most of you have read the dystopian nightmares and maybe, like me, you doubted that it could ever happen in America.”

“If the CIA is spying on Congress, who exactly can or will stop them?” the comments also state. “I look into the eyes of senators and I think I see real fear. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but I think I perceive FEAR of an intelligence community drunk with power, unrepentant, and uninclined to relinquish power.”

The Senator is set to continue on the track that saw him win CPAC’s GOP presidential nomination straw poll recently. During his CPAC speech, Paul slammed the NSA, urging “If you have a cell phone, you are under surveillance… I believe what you do on your cell phone is none of their damn business.”

The Berkeley speech, which takes place at 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time, comes in the wake of the latest revelation that the NSA recorded 100% of phone calls in an unnamed foreign country, using a program dubbed MYSTIC, and a tool called RETRO — for “retrospective retrieval”.

The Washington Post reported the findings yesterday, garnered from leaks by Edward Snowden. NSA documents state that the program is essentially a “time machine” that opens a door “into the past,” allowing a replay of the voices on any given call, without the need for prior identification of the person on the line.
The NSA continues to argue that it is within the law for it to operate such programs in foreign countries, however, MYSTIC did not exempt US citizens living there.

“Ubiquitous voice surveillance, even overseas, pulls in a great deal of content from Americans who telephone, visit, and work in the target country,” The Post reports. “Present and former U.S. officials … acknowledged that large numbers of conversations involving Americans would be gathered from the country where RETRO operates.”

The report also states that the NSA has previously considered expanding the program to other countries, and may already have done so.

Appearing remotely during a recent TED event, Edward Snowden declared that even bigger revelations regarding the NSA are on the way. Snowden acknowledged that every NSA spying program we are learning about now was planned before the 9/11 attacks, and that the event only served to provide justification to expand and implement more surveillance programs.

Snowden said hat he is concerned with exposing “one of the dangerous legacies we’ve seen in the post 9/11 era,” adding “They’re making the Internet fundamentally less safe for Americans. Is it really terrorism we’re stopping? Do these programs have any value at all? I say no. Three branches of the American government say no.”

“The bottom line is terrorism has always been a cover for action—it provokes an emotional response,” he added. “The NSA asked for these authorities back in the 1990s. But Congress and the American people said no, said it’s not worth the risk to our economy. But in the post 9/11 era, they used secrecy and the justification of terrorism to start these programs in secret.”

Also appearing at the TED event was Tim Berners-Lee, one of the pioneers of the internet. Berners-Lee praised Snowden as a “hero”, while Snowden said that he supported Berners-Lee’s recent call for an Internet “Magna Carta.”

“I grew up in the Internet,” Snowden said. “I believe a Magna Carta for the Internet is exactly what we need. We need to encode our values in the structure of the Internet. I invite everyone in the audience to join and participate.”

Other activists seeking to battle the NSA’s domestic spying have recently targeted the new monolithic Utah data center, promoting a campaign to cut off the water supply to the facility. Because this is actually quite a good idea, and it has garnered interest from lawmakers, it has not gone unnoticed by those who are “drunk on power”, as Rand Paul describes them.

The NSA is now actually arguing that its water bill should be declared top secret and that it should not need to declare how much water is being pumped into the Utah facility as a matter of national security.

“By computing the water usage rate, one could ultimately determine the computing power and capabilities of the Utah Data Center,” wrote the NSA’s associate director for policy and records, David Sherman in an undated letter written in response to a request for the information from The Salt Lake Tribune. “Armed with this information, one could then deduce how much intelligence NSA is collecting and maintaining.” Sherman argues.

Documents uncovered by the Tribune have indicated that the NSA facility could use between 1.2 and 1.7 MILLION gallons of water PER DAY.



Meanwhile, the Defense Department’s Inspector General, who is supposed to oversee the NSA’s activities and ensure they are within the law, admitted yesterday that he had no idea that the NSA was collecting bulk metadata on Americans’ communications.

“From my own personal knowledge, those programs, in and of themselves, I was not personally aware,” Anthony C. Thomas said.

Thomas also announced that the Pentagon has no intention to investigate the matter. Thomas said he was “waiting to see the information that the NSA IG (inspector General) brings forward with the investigations that are going on, and what we often do not want to do is conflict.”

That is some valuable oversight from the executive branch!

$9 Billion Was Given Globally for Haitian Relief But More Than 170,000 Haitians are Still Living in Tents; Bulk of Aid Went to U.S. Firms

What happened to the global community’s $9 billion in aid? Despite the fact that a sum of money almost equivalent to the GDP of Haiti was disbursed to non-governmental organizations, for-profit contractors and other agencies, most Haitians live without a reliable supply of electricity, clean water, or paved roads. Several thousand Haitians still live in (now tattered) tents provided as part of the relief effort.



The Red Cross says it spends an average of 91 cents of every dollar on programs and services. This is the lie they repeat over and over again. In fact, the truth is opposite of what they claim. The Red Cross spends about 91 cents of every dollar on operating expenses and administrative costs and about 5 cents of every dollar on grants for its tax-exempt purposes.

Red Cross under fire! Where’s the money for Haiti?

March 30, 2010

Amadi Ajamu - This video was posted on YouTube April 1 by teslakontrol, who wrote, “After the Red Cross released a two-month report saying that they spent $106 million in Haiti, I went to look for evidence that it was actually spent in Haiti.”

As the Haitian people brace themselves for the hurricane and rainy season with no shelter and no supplies for millions, the United States, France, Canada and other nations are attending the United Nations Donors Conference on Wednesday, March 31. At the conference, these wealthy nations will “donate” funds to over 3,000 non-governmental organizations, most of them headquartered in their own countries. They are in effect paying themselves. 

 The American Red Cross has already admitted to financing its own debt with donations given for Haiti relief. According to its official report on the first two months since the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake, they collected over $354 million for Haiti but have spent only $106 million. Yet only half of the 1.3 million people made homeless by the quake have even a tarp as the rainy season begins.

Demanding an independent accounting, the Friday Haiti Relief Coalition protested at the American Red Cross headquarters in New York City on March 22. They’ll repeat that demand on Wednesday, March 31, at the United Nations in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 47th Street and First Avenue, during the Haiti Donors Conference at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Another key demand is that Haitians must determine for themselves how they want to rebuild their nation.

In Haiti, recent rain presages the heavy tropical downpours of the coming rainy season and the hurricanes that may follow. In addition to the nearly 300,000 who died in the earthquake or from their wounds, thousands more could die this spring from exposure and water-borne disease. Time is of essence. Shelter is needed now.

Where is all the money going? That was the burning question asked by the crowd that converged on the doorstep of the American Red Cross on March 22 led by the Friday Haiti Relief Coalition. The coalition was organized by the December 12th Movement days after the earthquake and has raised funds and delivered a tractor trailer full of water to Leogane, Haiti. A second trip is being planned now.

With young people in the lead, the December 12th Movement’s Friday Haiti Relief Coalition turned out in force – in the rain – March 22 on the doorstep of American Red Cross headquarters in New York City to demand that all the money donated for Haiti be spent in Haiti now – especially for shelter from the rain. Extraordinary teachers in the movement encouraging students to stand up and speak out for Haiti is people’s education in action! – Photo: Amadi Ajamu

“We have been on the ground and we know the people are in need of shelter. The money collected by the Red Cross for Haiti is not getting there. We are tired of the excuses. That’s our blood down there and our money. We demand immediate shelter for our people,” said coalition member April Raiford.

Red Cross personnel nervously scampered back and forth as the protesters chanted, “Stop stealing the money! Where’s the money!”

Omowale Clay of the December 12th Movement said: “We will keep organizing and mobilizing our people until the Haitian people get shelter and supplies. The American Red Cross has not been held accountable for the hundreds of millions they have collected in the name of Haiti and we won’t let them off the hook. They did the same thing during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The money donated to Haiti is for the people in Haiti, not the Red Cross CEO and executive bureaucrats. Haiti needs shelter now!”

The Friday Haiti Relief Coalition also has a committee looking into the possibility of a class action lawsuit against the American Red Cross. The coalition meets every Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Sistas’ Place, 456 Nostrand Ave., Brooklyn, NY. For more information, call (718) 398-1766.

Bulk of Haiti earthquake aid went to U.S. firms, organizations

April 9, 2013

Democratic Underground - A new report on American aid to Haiti in the wake of that country’s devastating earthquake finds most of the money went to U.S.-based companies and organizations. The Center for Economic and Policy Research analyzed the US $1.15 billion pledged after the January 2010 quake and found that the “vast majority” of the money it could follow went straight to U.S. companies or organizations, more than half in the Washington area alone.

Just 1 percent went directly to Haitian companies.

The report’s authors said that a lack of transparency makes it hard to track all the money. “It is possible to track who the primary recipients of USAID funds are, yet on what are these NGOs and contractors spending the money?” authors Jake Johnston and Alexander Main wrote. “What percent goes to overhead, to staff, vehicles, housing, etc.? What percent has actually been spent on the ground in Haiti?”

USAID did not respond to requests to comment on the report Friday.

The group has been a critic of U.S. foreign policy in the past, accusing the U.S. of a top-down approach to aid that does little to alleviate poverty in impoverished Haiti.

The report also finds that the biggest recipient of U.S. aid after the earthquake was Chemonics International Inc., a for-profit international development company based in Washington, D.C., that has more than 4,800 employees. [Editor's Note: In July 2011, a year and a half after the January 12, 2010 Haitian earthquake, Chemonics transitioned to 100% employee ownership.]

Aside from the World Bank and United Nations, Chemonics is the single largest recipient of USAID funds worldwide, having received more than US $680 million in fiscal year 2012 alone.

Chemonics and Neoliberalism in Haiti: The case of rice
Haiti Info, Vol. 3, #24, 16 September 1995

With the focus on the impending privatization of state-owned enterprises, it is easy to forget Haiti has been undergoing similar measures since the early eighties, when the Jean-Claude Duvalier government began to apply some liberal measures, and with the big push for liberalization in 1987. The current privatizations are only one aspect of an over-arching program aimed at integrating Haiti more into the international market which, in Haiti's case, means the U.S. and its multinational companies.

An examination of the plight of Haitian rice, of symbolic and food security importance because it is the second-most consumed cereal crop, offers a look at how liberalization has effected and will continue to effect the Haitian population and economy, and shows clearly the cynicism of the international lenders (the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and Inter- American Bank (IDB)), U.S. government agencies, and the current government, all of which know their policies are leading to the further impoverishment of peasants, further dependence of Haiti on the U.S. for basic foodstuffs, and the shift of Haiti's best lands into the hands of export-crop agribusinesses.

Historical/Economic Background

Not long ago, Haiti was self-sufficient in rice. Haitian rice is expensive to produce (for example, in the 80s, it was 40% more expensive to produce than Thai rice), due to a number of reasons: low level of mechanization; high cost of leasing land; high cost of fertilizers and other inputs; usurious credit systems where peasants pay up to 100% interest per month; high taxes; high transport costs, and a disorganized, exploitative system of distribution and marketing. Like other agricultural products, historically it has been produced in the complete absence of state regulating agencies or support and an untrammeled exploitation of the peasants. An IDB study in the 80s determined, for instance, that in the Artibonite Valley, where most rice is grown, about 22% of the land are plots of 3.26-10.25 hectares and are owned by 1.7% of owners; 23% of the land are plots of 1.01-3.25 ha., owned by 4%; 37% of plots measure .26-1 ha., owned by 31%, and the majority of landowners, 63%, have plots measuring .01-.25 ha., accounting for only 18% of the land.

Another interesting statistic is that only 70,000 ha. of land in Haiti (32,000 in the Artibonite) is irrigated, whereas studies indicate 200,000 ha. (a total of 40,000 in the Artibonite) could be irrigated, showing the potential for higher production.

(...)

The breaking down of Haiti's rural economy through the flood of U.S. products, the destruction of the creole pig and other measures are not by hazard. They are part of the same neoliberal vision pushed by the U.S. and the multilateral institutions in all “dependent” countries. By the early 1980s, the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), had decided Haiti should not grow its own food or develop any national industries. The international division of labor, AID and the other planners and bankers said, called for Haiti to do “export manufactur(ing) and process(ed) agricultural products, but with a sharply growing need to import grain.” Through Ronald Reagan's Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) in 1983, a vast increase in food aid and credit for agroindustries and other programs, during the 80s, “experts” worked consciously to dismantle the rural economy even though, according to authors DeWind and Kinley, AID knew that would cause increased poverty and “a decline in income and nutritional status.”

(...)

Rice Corporation of Haiti

One of the companies to profit was Erly Industries, which had positioned its Rice Corporation of Haiti (RCH) perfectly to take advantage of the coup.

Erly, a massive agribusiness headed by Gerald Murphy and his son Douglas, is the largest marketer of U.S. rice (as well making agricultural chemicals and orange juice). Its 1994 rice sales topped $350 million.

In December, 1992, a year after the coup and three years after filing papers in Port-au-Prince, it signed a nine-year contract with the illegal government of neoliberal champion, former World Bank employee and illegal Prime Minister Marc L. Bazin, where it promised to import at least 5.5 MT per month. (RCH also promised to help improve rice production in the Artibonite with U.S. agronomists, but three years later, they are not evident. What is more likely is that RCH will position itself to buy up land as little and big landowners go broke, and then grow export products like oranges.)

The RCH deal was squired through the various Washington and Port- au-Prince agencies by Larry Theriot, the first director of CBI and now V.P. of American Rice, one of the Erly rice spin-offs.

Erly knows the ins and outs of Washington. Despite a reputation that even the New York Times questioned and a brush with bankruptcy a few years ago, the Murphys still have many friends and they get subsidized loans, government contracts and other perks. In addition to the agribusiness, Gerald Murphy, a longtime Republican and supposed close friend of Ronald Reagan, wholly owns Chemonics, one of a myriad of parasitic “consulting firms” that live off of AID. Founded in 1976, Chemonics had won over US$89 million in AID contracts during the first six months of 1995 alone, and is now bidding heavily for contracts in at least two ministries here (justice and environment). Murphy, a Harvard Business School graduate, said he set up Chemonics because he “always wanted a way to do two things: one, have my own CIA; and two, be helpful to people.”

U.S. Aid to Haiti: “Troubling” Lack of Transparency, Effectiveness

Haitians, U.S. taxpayers unable to verify how U.S. aid funds are being used on the ground”

April 3, 2013

Global Research - A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) identifies significant problems with the delivery of U.S. aid in Haiti and finds an overall lack of transparency on how the billions of dollars obligated for U.S. assistance to Haiti are being used. The report, “Breaking Open the Black Box: Increasing Aid Transparency and Accountability in Haiti,” by CEPR Research Associate Jake Johnston and Senior Associate for International Policy Alexander Main, examines the effectiveness of U.S. assistance to Haiti, how it is being administered, to what extent it is adhering to the “USAID Forward” reform agenda and what steps can be taken to ensure its more effective and transparent delivery.

“Billions in U.S. aid money are going to Haiti with little transparency to ensure that it is being used effectively,” paper co-author Jake Johnston said. “The situation for many people in post-quake Haiti is especially daunting, but for USAID it has been business as usual. No care has been taken to ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are being best utilized in Haiti.”

The report notes that the few audits and evaluations of USAID’s programs in Haiti since the earthquake present a “troubling picture of the manner in which U.S. relief and reconstruction efforts have been conducted so far.” Contractors have hired far fewer Haitians than promised, Haitian businesses were largely excluded, goals were not met, there was inadequate supervision of grantees, and USAID had not conducted internal financial reviews of contractors.

The paper shows that of the $1.15 billion in contracts and grants awarded since the 2010 earthquake, over half went to the top 10 recipients of global USAID awards, with the largest recipient being the for-profit company Chemonics International Inc., the single largest recipient of USAID funds worldwide aside from the World Bank and U.N. Meanwhile, just 0.7 percent of USAID awards have gone directly to Haitian businesses or organizations.

Much of the lack of transparency has to do with the scant information available on subawards – the subcontracting done by the direct recipients of USAID awards. Of the $540 million in contracts awarded by USAID, only one of them, MWH Americas, has reported any information on the use of subcontractors to the USASpending.gov database. Among grantees, only five have reported sub-grant data.

The paper notes that despite USAID’s “Forward” reform agenda, the agency has blocked disclosure of additional information, including through Freedom of Information Act requests.

The paper makes several recommendations for how to improve transparency and accountability around the $1 billion in outstanding obligated U.S. aid funds for Haiti, as well as around any additional aid funding in the future. These include making data available on subcontractors; ensuring awardee compliance with federal regulations and contract requirements; reducing reliance on large, multi-year contracts that favor traditional partners while increasing direct contracting to Haitian entities; strengthening USAID’s capacity to carry out effective monitoring and evaluation of assistance programs; making all evaluations publically available; ensuring the involvement of local populations; and making all available information on assistance programs accessible to Haitians – including via translations to Haitian Creole.

“Without transparency, not only is it impossible for U.S. taxpayers to know what is being done with their money, but the Haitian government and the Haitian people have little opportunity to ensure that U.S.-funded projects actually assist Haiti in rebuilding and dealing with ongoing urgent humanitarian needs,” paper co-author Alex Main said.

Haiti Quake: Four Years Later, We Still Don’t Know Where the Money Has Gone

January 7, 2014

Center For Global Development - January 12, 2014 marks the fourth anniversary of the massive quake in Haiti that left over 200,000 people dead and several million people homeless.  The response from rich countries was overwhelming—over $9 billion was disbursed towards relief and reconstruction efforts ($3 billion from the United States, an estimated $3 billion in private contributions, and another $3 billion from foreign governments).  Four years later, the earthquake in Haiti is mostly forgotten.  The UN Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti and charitable organizations such as the Bush Clinton Haiti Fund have quietly closed their doors.  Many non-governmental organizations in Port-au-Prince have scaled down their operations.  Other disasters, such as Typhoon Haiyan, dominate the news.

I can think of at least two reasons why we should still care about what happened in Haiti.  The first reason is that despite the fact that a sum of money almost equivalent to the GDP of Haiti was disbursed to non-governmental organizations, for-profit contractors and other agencies, most Haitians live without a reliable supply of electricity, clean water, or paved roads. Several thousand Haitians still live in (now tattered) tents provided as part of the relief effort.  The second reason is that understanding what happened in Haiti is critical if we want to do a better job with relief and reconstruction efforts in the aftermath of future natural disasters.  Despite commitments made by rich country governments and non-governmental organizations towards greater aid transparency, and the availability of easy-to-use tools such as the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) and UN OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service, it is impossible to trace how the money was spent, how many Haitians were served, and what kinds of projects succeeded or failed.

The United States is the single largest donor to Haiti.  To be fair, USAID has released some data from its files.  And it has committed to reporting its data in the standard IATI format. The USAID Transactions database does have data on obligations and disbursements for FY2013  (disbursements are shown in Figure 1).  We know that 92 percent of funds disbursed in FY2013 went to organizations that are based in the US. Figure 2 shows that the majority of disbursements in FY13 were to for-profit companies; Figure 3 shows that Chemonics—a for-profit provider—received 7 of the largest 10 contracts, totaling $42 million.  Separately, USAID has also released data on local procurement through its USAID Forward initiative. These figures are total disbursements for FY13 and may reflect disbursements for contracts made prior to the 2010 earthquake.

This is where the trail goes cold.  Typically, USAID’s primary contractors use subcontractors to implement their projects; these are the actors who actually get the work done in Haiti (and elsewhere). USAID’s primary contractors are obligated to report data on the activities of their subcontractors, which in turn should be made public in accordance with the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2010.  But this information is nowhere to be found.

Figure 1: Total disbursements in FY13

Figure 2: Disbursements by vendor type

Figure 3: Top Ten Contracts by Disbursement

Vendor Name	Vendor Location	Vendor Category	Disbursed	Application Account
Chemonics	US	For Profit	$9,268,540	Economic Support Fund
Thor Construction, Inc	US	For Profit	$8,544,511	Economic Support Fund
Chemonics	US	For Profit	$7,015,593	Economic Support Fund
Chemonics	US	For Profit	$6,400,000	Economic Support Fund
Chemonics	US	For Profit	$5,595,220	Economic Support Fund
Chemonics	US	For Profit	$5,216,654	Economic Support Fund
Thor Construction, Inc	US	For Profit	$5,058,992	Economic Support Fund
Chemonics	US	For Profit	$4,770,297	Economic Support Fund
Management Sciences for Health	US	Non Profit	$4,275,519	Global Health & Child Survival
Chemonics	US	For Profit	$4,094,521	Economic Support Fund

There are other challenges.  The labels used to categorize USAID’s spending (for example “ Economic Growth”, “Governing Justly and Democratically”) are not easy to interpret.  They do not correspond to the categories and sectors used in USAID’s Foreign Assistance Dashboard, but rather to USAID’s strategic goals.  Also, almost half of the transactions data have missing values for the Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS), which serves as a unique identifier for vendors and transactions. Data on local procurement contracts in Haiti, released through the USAID Forward initiative also lack this information, making them impossible to compare with the transactions data, despite being released by the same organization. In addition to the missing DUNS data, 35% of vendor names (corresponding to $16 million in disbursements) and 34% of award numbers ($18.4 million) are not reported.

Members of the United States Congress have recognized that data transparency is necessary for continued progress in Haiti; as well as for effective foreign assistance writ large. Led by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), the House recently passed HR 3509, Assessing Progress in Haiti Act of 2013.  The bill requires a GAO report reviewing US assistance efforts, which is an important first step.

It is an outrage that four years after the quake in Haiti, we have almost no idea of where all the money has gone.  Without data on procurement, expenditures, and outcomes, we cannot know what works and what does not.  USAID’s subcontractors routinely provide data on their activities to the prime contractors—these data can and should be made public by USAID.  The International Aid Transparency Initiative is the ideal platform to report data in real time, but simply publishing to USAID’s existing data portals is a relatively simple process that USAID should move forward with this year.

Great Britain Removes The King James Bible From Courtrooms

The Country That Produced The King James Bible To Remove It From Courtrooms

October 6, 2013

NowTheEndBegins.com - England today is in the midst of a liberal firestorm. Having allowed, for the past 20 years, Islam to multiply and flourish within their borders, they now find themselves being crowded out of their own country. Now to “seal the deal’, they are drawing up plans to have the God of the bible kicked out of their courtrooms.

And what will God do about it? He will leave them to their own devices, as He does with ALL nations that reject Him and His holy word. You would have thought that England would have learned their lesson with Israel and the Balfour Declaration in WWI. Guess not.

“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Psalm 9:17

From Daily Mail UK: Defendants and witnesses in British courts will no longer swear on the Bible to tell the truth under controversial plans being considered by a powerful body of judges.

The traditional religious oath could be scrapped amid concerns that many giving evidence in criminal cases no longer take it seriously. Instead, all witnesses and defendants would promise to tell the truth without mentioning God, and would acknowledge they could be jailed if they are caught lying.

It is claimed the new oath would be fairer for everyone and make it easier to understand the importance of what they are saying. But critics point out non-believers already have the option of promising to tell the truth without any reference to a sacred text, and that the change would further erode Britain’s Christian heritage. 

The historic change will be debated this month by the Magistrates’ Association, and if it is voted through the organisation’s influential policy committee will draw up plans to be sent to the Ministry of Justice. The married 62-year-old was raised in the Jewish faith but now calls himself an atheist.

‘I don’t intend my motion to make any comment on religion,’ he said. ‘It is certainly not anti-religious.’ 

But it has been seen by senior figures in the Church of England as another attempt to chip away at the country’s Christian foundations.

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, former Bishop of Rochester, said:

‘This could be the slippery slope towards the increasing secularisation of society. Where will it end – with the Coronation Oath? The Bible is bound up with the constitution, institutions and history of this country. It is right for people to have a choice of oath, a religious or non-religious one. But we are being urged, in the name of tolerance and secularisation, to restrict that choice.’

This is the face of England today. Islam is in the ascension and has forever changed the landscape of Britain.

The Rev Arun Arora, director of communications for the Church of England, added:

‘Given that the last census showed almost 60 per cent of respondents self-identified as Christians and two thirds as people of faith, this proposal seems to ignore the statistical reality that we remain a faithful nation. This kind of proposal seems driven more by blinkered campaigning agendas than abiding interests in justice and truth.’

John Glen, Tory MP for Salisbury and a magistrate until last year, said: 

‘This smacks of political correctness gone mad.’ Legal expert Lord Carlile QC said: ‘It would be unacceptable for the choice to take a religious oath to be removed.’

Existing religious oaths have, for hundreds of years, required Christian witnesses to hold the Bible and state: ‘I swear by almighty God that I shall tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’

Followers of other faiths are given copies of their sacred texts with Muslims swearing on the Koran and Jews on the Old Testament, for instance. Those who choose instead to make an affirmation are required to ‘solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm’ the truth of their evidence.

Under Mr Abrahams’ proposal,  the holy books would be removed and the oath would read:

‘I promise very sincerely to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and I understand that if I fail to do so I will be committing an offence for which I will be punished and may be sent to prison.’

The plan will be debated at the agm of the Magistrates’ Association, representing 23,000 lay judges, in Cardiff on October 19. A MoJ spokesman said:

‘We have no plans to change the arrangements for swearing an oath or making an affirmation in court, which have worked well for many years and still do.’  

source – Daily Mail UK

Former Drone Operator Says He Became a Heartless Assassin and Sociopath

Former drone operator says he's haunted by his part in more than 1,600 deaths

June 6, 2013

NBC News - Former drone operator Brandon Bryant tells NBC's Richard Engel that he felt like he became a "heartless" "sociopath" under the drone program.

A former Air Force drone operator who says he participated in missions that killed more than 1,600 people remembers watching one of the first victims bleed to death.

Brandon Bryant says he was sitting in a chair at a Nevada Air Force base operating the camera when his team fired two missiles from their drone at three men walking down a road halfway around the world in Afghanistan. The missiles hit all three targets, and Bryant says he could see the aftermath on his computer screen – including thermal images of a growing puddle of hot blood.

“The guy that was running forward, he’s missing his right leg,” he recalled. “And I watch this guy bleed out and, I mean, the blood is hot.” As the man died his body grew cold, said Bryant, and his thermal image changed until he became the same color as the ground.

“I can see every little pixel,” said Bryant, who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, “if I just close my eyes.”

Bryant, now 27, served as a drone sensor operator from 2006 to 2011, at bases in Nevada, New Mexico and in Iraq, guiding unmanned drones over Iraq and Afghanistan. Though he didn't fire missiles himself he took part in missions that he was told led to the deaths of an estimated 1,626 individuals.

In an interview with NBC News, he provided a rare first-person glimpse into what it’s like to control the controversial machines that have become central to the U.S. effort to kill terrorists.

He says that as an operator he was troubled by the physical disconnect between his daily routine and the violence and power of the faraway drones.

“You don't feel the aircraft turn,” he said. “You don't feel the hum of the engine. You hear the hum of the computers, but that's definitely not the same thing.”

At the same time, the images coming back from the drones were very real and very graphic.

“People say that drone strikes are like mortar attacks,” Bryant said. “Well, artillery doesn't see this. Artillery doesn't see the results of their actions. It's really more intimate for us, because we see everything.”

A self-described “naïve” kid from a small Montana town, Bryant joined the Air Force in 2005 at age 19. After he scored well on tests, he said a recruiter told him that as a drone operator he would be like the smart guys in the control room in a James Bond movie, the ones who feed the agent the information he needs to complete his mission.

He trained for three and a half months before participating in his first drone mission. Bryant operated the drone’s cameras from his perch at Nellis Air Force base in Nevada as the drone rose into the air just north of Baghdad.

Bryant and the rest of his team were supposed to use their drone to provide support and protection to patrolling U.S. troops. But he recalls watching helplessly as insurgents buried an IED in a road and a U.S. Humvee drove over it.

“We had no way to warn the troops,” he said. He later learned that three soldiers died.

And once he had taken part in a kill, any remaining illusions about James Bond disappeared.

“Like, this isn’t a videogame,” he said. “This isn’t some sort of fantasy. This is war. People die.”

Bryant said that most of the time he was an operator, he and his team and his commanding officers made a concerted effort to avoid civilian casualties.

But he began to wonder who the enemy targets on the ground were, and whether they really posed a threat. He’s still not certain whether the three men in Afghanistan were really Taliban insurgents or just men with guns in a country where many people carry guns. The men were five miles from American forces arguing with each other when the first missile hit them.

“They (didn’t) seem to be in a hurry,” he recalled. “They (were) just doing their thing. ... They were probably carrying rifles, but I wasn't convinced that they were bad guys.“ But as a 21-year-old airman, said Bryant, he didn’t think he had the standing to ask questions.

He also remembers being convinced that he had seen a child scurry onto his screen during one mission just before a missile struck, despite assurances from others that the figure he’d seen was really a dog.

After participating in hundreds of missions over the years, Bryant said he “lost respect for life” and began to feel like a sociopath. He remembers coming into work in 2010, seeing pictures of targeted individuals on the wall – Anwar al-Awlaki and other al Qaeda and Taliban leaders -- and musing, “Which one of these f_____s is going to die today?”

In 2011, as Bryant’s career as a drone operator neared its end, he said his commander presented him with what amounted to a scorecard. It showed that he had participated in missions that contributed to the deaths of 1,626 people.

“I would’ve been happy if they never even showed me the piece of paper,” he said. “I've seen American soldiers die, innocent people die, and insurgents die. And it's not pretty. It's not something that I want to have -- this diploma.”

Now that he’s out of the Air Force and back home in Montana, Bryant said he doesn’t want to think about how many people on that list might’ve been innocent: “It’s too heartbreaking.”

The Veterans Administration diagnosed him with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, for which he has undergone counseling. He says his PTSD has manifested itself as anger, sleeplessness and blackout drinking.

“I don’t feel like I can really interact with that average, everyday person,” he said. “I get too frustrated, because A) they don't realize what's going on over there. And B) they don't care.”

He’s also reluctant to tell the people in his personal life what he was doing for five years. When he told a woman he was seeing that he’d been a drone operator, and contributed to the deaths of a large number of people, she cut him off.

“She looked at me like I was a monster,” he said. “And she never wanted to touch me again.”

Aluminum, Barium and Strontium: Chemtrails Are Not Contrails; Air Force Whistleblower, Kristen Meghan, Lifts the Lid on Chemtrails

Published on January 21, 2014

In the video above, Luke Rudkowski talks to U.S air force whistleblower Kristen Meghan about her conclusions and observations regarding the U.S military connection with chemtrails. The issue of chemtrails has been widely debated among many circles and is regarded in popular culture as a "conspiracy theory". But with whistleblowers like Kristen Meghan coming forward can it really be regarded a conspiracy theory anymore?

Weather weaponizing and controlling the weather for profit.

Is the government ready to come clean about climate engineering by convincing the public that is is necessary to "combat climate change?" Consider David Keith and his book, A Case For Climate Engineering" and his presentations on geoengineering against climate change:

"A Case For Climate Engineering" author David Keith explains his proposal to use geoengineering as a means of slowing climate change.

A leading scientist long concerned about climate change, Keith offers no naïve proposal for an easy fix to what is perhaps the most challenging question of our time; climate engineering is no silver bullet. But he argues that after decades during which very little progress has been made in reducing carbon emissions we must put this technology on the table and consider it responsibly. That doesn’t mean we will deploy it, and it doesn’t mean that we can abandon efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But we must understand fully what research needs to be done and how the technology might be designed and used. This book provides a clear and accessible overview of what the costs and risks might be, and how climate engineering might fit into a larger program for managing climate change.

“Keith manages to keep the tone sober without ever sounding dull. His chapter on ethics deftly summarises some of the competing moral claims…Reading about proposals to alter the climate of an entire planet on purpose is dizzying. Yet scientists already talk of the dawning of a new geological age, the Anthropocene, named because humans, or rather, the industrial civilisation they have created, have become the main factor driving the evolution of Earth. [The Case for Climate Engineering emphasises] just how seriously the idea of deliberately altering the climate is being considered, both in scientific journals and among some governments…[Keith is] a guide for the undecided.”—The Economist

“Keith deserves credit for directing attention to ideas he knows are dangerous. Accepting the concept of the Anthropocene means accepting that humans have the responsibility to find technological fixes for disasters they have created. But little progress has been made toward a process for rationally supervising such activity on a global scale. We need a more open discussion about a seemingly outlandish but real geopolitical risk: war over climate engineering.”—Eli Kintisch, Technology Review

Bill Gates is also a strong proponent of geo-engineering. His goal is to reduce the world population to "avoid planetary catastrophe." At TED2010 (video above) he described the need for "miracles" to accomplish this goal and unveiled his vision for the world, proposing that one way to reduce populations is through the use of vaccines:

"If we do a really great job on new vaccines... we could lower [the population] by perhaps 10 or 15 percent."

Chemtrails to Depopulate

Uploaded on December 22, 2011

Please find and Watch 2 Most important documentary movies: "The World According to Monsanto" and "Food Inc". Youtube keeps deleting them due to corporate pressure. Watch these videos and learn how Governments are killing us through food. Good Luck!!!



CHEMTAILS EXPOSED! Air Force Whistleblower, Kristen Meghan, Lifts The Lid On Chemtrails

Published on May 18, 2013

After watching Terrorstorm in 2006, I began a journey to promote the truth and question the status quo. I am a nonconformist and believe that one should take a stand in educating themselves. I spent nine years on active duty and saw, first hand, the over-regulation and contradictory actions within our government. After "blowing the whistle", I left the military honorably and stronger than ever. I believe that I have done more for my country in two years in the support of liberty than I accomplished while in uniform for almost a decade. I am an Industrial Hygienist and Environmental Specialist in my other life. This education, experience and expertise in these sciences fuel my distaste not only for the EPA, but the TSA! I will not sugar coat the truth, I'm not here to hold your hand, so put away your "binky", I'm here to take a stand!

'Top Priority: The Terror Within' is a Documentary About Julia Davis, National Security Whistleblower

Published on June 20, 2013

"Top Priority: The Terror Within" is a documentary film by Fleur De Lis Film Studios. It features an incredible true story of Julia Davis, a national security whistleblower who was falsely declared a "Domestic Terrorist" and subjected to retaliation of unprecedented proportions by the Department of Homeland Security.

She joins us to discuss what happened when she discovered and reported a breach of national security at the largest and busiest land border crossing in the U.S. on 4th of July, 2004. The DHS failed to act on her reports but instead of correcting the shortcomings exposed by Julia's report, they opened investigations against her. Her husband BJ, a film producer who documented these events with a camera, also joins in to talk about the detailed events of this major story, never reported on by mainstream media, although Julia took her case to court and won.

They'll detail unprecedented retaliation and abuses of the Patriot Act in Julia's case and talk about how the DHS spent American taxpayer's money on warrantless surveillance, including aerial surveillance with a Blackhawk helicopter and a fixed-wing airplane, wiretaps, sneak and peek burglaries, Internet monitoring and On-Star tracking of the Davis family. They'll explain why this story was never reported on by mainstream media and who was involved.

In the second hour, we hear about several deaths connected to this story including Julia's father, her neighbor who filmed the footage of the Blackhawk and the actress Brittany Murphy as well as her husband. Julia and BJ talk about the diminishing of our American rights amongst "terror theatre 101." Don't miss this astonishing story of the real terror, within the US government.

Revealed: Brittany Murphy 'was poisoned by government spooks in revenge for star's support of whistleblower', claims her grief-striken father

• Father Angelo Bertolotti, 87, claims Brittany and her husband were killed for supporting Department of Homeland Security whistleblower 
• Julia Davis claimed U.S. was letting in terrorists over the Mexican border because of lax security and her backers were put under surveillance
• She and Mr Bertolotti are writing a tell-all book on the mystery
• The Clueless actress died on December 20, 2009 and the Los Angeles County Coroner said at the time it was due to pneumonia
• Husband Simon Monjack died five weeks later in the same house
• A new toxicology report ordered by her father found ten heavy metals in the actress' system, meaning she might have ingested rat poisoning 

November 18, 2013

Daily Mail - Brittany Murphy's father has sensationally claimed that the tragic ‘Clueless’ actress was poisoned to death by after offering her celebrity backing to a whistleblower fighting the government.

Angelo Bertolotti, 87, alleges that at the time of her death his daughter was under surveillance from shadowy government operators who wiretapped her phone and terrorized her after she spoke out in support of a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower

Julia Davis, who claims to have once worked as a stunt double for Angelina Jolie, says Brittany was being persecuted for standing up for her.

Davis claimed she was branded a ‘domestic terrorist’ after she exposed security flaws that were allowing terrorists to sneak into the U.S. while she was working as a border security guard in California.

The extraordinary claims are what drove Brittany’s father to campaign to have a separate toxicology test conducted on the star.

The new report found rat poison may have caused the shock death - in stark contrast to the official coroner's report that concluded it was natural causes.

The latest twist to the growing mystery over the actress’s death came as relatives called on police in Los Angeles to re-open the investigation.

‘I called it two weeks after it happened,’ one family member told MailOnline. ‘You just don’t have two people die like that under those circumstances.’

Officials insist there is no evidence to support a more sinister motive behind 32-year-old Brittany’s sudden death in the bathroom of her Los Angeles home on December 20, 2009.

Her husband, British screenwriter Simon Monjack, 40, died in similar circumstances five months later.

The Los Angeles coroner ruled the deaths were due to pneumonia and anemia.  Health officials later reportedly suggested toxic mold in the house could have played a role in the tragedy.

But the actress’s father is steadfast in his belief foul play was behind the mysterious deaths and launched a lawsuit last year demanding the release of hair samples from Brittany’s body to carry out the new tests.

Although the legal action – which named arsenic as a possible cause of death – was dismissed, the father was given hair, blood and tissue samples to carry out the independent laboratory tests.

In a report for Examiner.com, Ms Davis wrote that scientists at independent Carlson Company laboratories found ten heavy metals in Brittany's system which were several times higher than World Health Organization high levels at the time of her death.

'If we were to eliminate the possibility of a simultaneous accidental heavy metals exposure to the sample donor then the only logical explanation would be an exposure to these metals (toxins) administered by a third party perpetrator with likely criminal intent,' the report says. 

Heavy metals are found in most rodenticides and insecticides meaning the actress could have been slipped rat poisoning or bug killer.

At the time of her death, Brittany displayed all the symptoms of heavy metal poisoning including: headaches, dizziness, abdominal cramps, coughing, sweating, disorientation, wheezing, congestion and pneumonia.

Mr Monjack also exhibited similar symptoms before his death, leading some to believe he too was poisoned.

His mother-in-law Sharon discovered his body after moving in with him following her daughter's death.

In a recent interview with Los Angeles-based Fleur De Lis Film Studios, Mr Bertolotti said:  ‘They were, in fact, under surveillance, including helicopters. Their telephones were wiretapped, Brittany was afraid to go home, because of the sneak-and-peek incursions into their residence and other terror tactics she suffered after speaking out in support of Julia Davis and being named as a witness in her lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security.’

At the time of her death, early speculation was that the actress died of a drug overdose or anorexia after years of shocking weight loss.

Prescription pills were found in the actress' system, but they were treating a cold and respiratory infection.

Mr Bertolotti and Ms Davis are writing a book, ‘Britt’ detailing what they really believe happened to the star and a documentary, ‘The Terror Within’, which has not yet been released.

Ms Davis claimed that while working at the US border with Mexico she uncovered evidence that dozens of potential terrorists had entered America in shady circumstances that may have involved the bribery of customs officials.

On a whistleblower website, Ms Davis wrote that family members and witnesses who dared to support her were ‘subjected to land and aerial surveillance, to the tune of millions – at the expense of American taxpayers.

‘This included warrantless aerial surveillance with fixed-wing airplanes and Blackhawk helicopters, vehicular surveillance, OnStar tracking, Internet monitoring, wiretaps, warrantless searches and seizures and series of other outrageous, unwarranted retaliatory measures.’

On the National Whistleblower Center website, Julia Davis said she 'prevailed' in court against the Department of Homeland Security despite a total of 54 'retaliatory' investigations being launched against her in an 'attempt to discredit Julia as an upstanding law enforcement officer and a staunch American patriot.'

On the site, she says that when her fears about terrorists being able to slip into the U.S. were ignored by her bosses she went to the FBI, infuriating her bosses.

Last year, a trailer for the documentary about the whistleblower case, called 'Top Priority: The Terror Within,' was posted on YouTube.

It features photos of Angelo Bertolotti with his daughter and visiting her grave. He also says that Brittany 'was called as a witness in the Julia Davis case.' He added: 'Brittany did tell me she was under surveillance and incidentally so was I.'

The video claimed Miss Murphy and her husband were subjected to the same 'terror tactics' as Ms Davis.

The video also featured footage of a Blackhawk helicopter raid on Ms Davis's Yucca Valley, California, house.

Ms Davis says in her blog that a judge sided with her to rule the 2005 raid on her home was an 'abuse of process.'

Miss Murphy was perhaps most famous for her role in 1995's Clueless, but she also had more serious roles in Girl, Interrupted and played Eminem's love interest in 8 Mile - the movie about the rapper's life.

At the time of her death, Miss Murphy's career had tapered off and her last major role was in 2004's Little Black Book.

Before marrying Mr Monjack, the actress dated Ashton Kutcher, her co-star in the film Just Married.

After breaking up with the actor, she went on to have two serious relationships that led to engagements with talent manager Jeff Kwantinetz and production assistant Joe Macaluso before marrying Mr Monjack, a screenwriter, in May 2007.

Toxin from GM Crops Found in 69% of Human Blood

Toxin from GM Crops Found in Human Blood

May 11, 2011

India Today - Fresh doubts have arisen about the safety of genetically modified crops, with a new study reporting presence of Bt toxin, used widely in GM crops, in human blood for the first time.

Genetically modified crops include genes extracted from bacteria to make them resistant to pest attacks. These genes make crops toxic to pests but are claimed to pose no danger to the environment and human health.

Genetically modified brinjal, whose commercial release was stopped a year ago, has a toxin derived from a soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis ( Bt).

Till now, scientists and multinational corporations promoting GM crops have maintained that Bt toxin poses no danger to human health as the protein breaks down in the human gut. But the presence of this toxin in human blood shows that this does not happen.

Scientists from the University of Sherbrooke, Canada, have detected the insecticidal protein, Cry1Ab, circulating in the blood of pregnant as well as non-pregnant women. They have also detected the toxin in fetal blood, implying it could pass on to the next generation.

The research paper has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication in the journal Reproductive Toxicology. The study covered 30 pregnant women and 39 women who had come for tubectomy at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke (CHUS) in Quebec. None of them had worked or lived with a spouse working in contact with pesticides.

They were all consuming typical Canadian diet that included GM foods such as soybeans, corn and potatoes. Blood samples were taken before delivery for pregnant women and at tubal ligation for non-pregnant women. Umbilical cord blood sampling was done after birth.

Cry1Ab toxin was detected in 93 per cent and 80 per cent of maternal and fetal blood samples, respectively and in 69 per cent of tested blood samples from non-pregnant women. Earlier studies had found trace amounts of the Cry1Ab toxin in gastrointestinal contents of livestock fed on GM corn. This gave rise to fears that the toxins may not be effectively eliminated in humans and there may be a high risk of exposure through consumption of contaminated meat.

"Generated data will help regulatory agencies responsible for the protection of human health to make better decisions", noted researchers Aziz Aris and Samuel Leblanc.

Given the potential toxicity of these environmental pollutants and the fragility of the foetus, more studies are needed, particularly those using the placental transfer approach, they added.

Experts have warned of serious implications for India. Cottonseed oil is made from seeds of genetically modified cotton and thus Bt toxin may have already entered the food chain in India.

"Indian regulators should be immediately called for detailed toxicological studies to know the extent of contamination of the human blood with Bt toxins coming from cottonseed oil, and also ascertain its long term health impacts," Sharma said.

93% of Unborn Babies Have GMO Food Toxins in Their Blood

May 20, 2011

Salem-News.com - A new medical study on the impacts of genetically modified (GM) foods, shows that toxins from GM crops designed to strike down pests are actually showing up in the bloodstreams of women and unborn babies.

The new study, "Maternal and fetal exposure to pesticides associated to genetically modified foods in Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada" by Aziz Aris and Samuel Leblanc with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, at the University of Sherbrooke Hospital Centre in Quebec, Canada, brings to light many of the fears that GMO food awareness groups and writers like our own April Scott, have been attempting to illuminate to the public.

The results of the study show that 93 per cent of blood samples taken from pregnant women and 80 percent of samples taken from umbilical cords, tested positive for traces of the chemicals.

This is highly problematic for Americans, where literally millions of acres have been taken over by these Monsanto generated crops. The GMO seeds carry a traceable blueprint and organic farmers whose fields have these non-natural crop seeds blow onto their land, are subject to lawsuit from Monsanto. 

You see, in this new game, every part is a victim except for Monsanto employees and shareholders. This is the company responsible for Agent Orange, the highly toxic chemical that was sprayed on the jungles of Vietnam, and possibly Guam, and in places like Oregon during its testing years.

We could never count the cancer victims of Monsanto, which has never atoned for its chemical irresponsibility during the Vietnam War. Veterans suffering cancer today always have to struggle to find any type of compensation for such a distinctly wrong and negligent government and business practice.

Now Monsanto has graduated from the jungles of Vietnam to your dinner table with GMO foods.  We now conclusively know that the Monsanto toxins designed to kill pests are being carried by humans and babies in the womb. There are no conclusive studies to prove the safety of these products. It is quite a problem in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., in France and beyond.

From the study: "Maternal and fetal exposure to pesticides associated to genetically modified foods in Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada"

An optimal exchange across the maternal-fetal unit (MFU) is necessary for a successful pregnancy. The placenta plays a major role in the embryo’s nutrition and growth, in the regulation of the endocrine functions and in drug biotransformation. Exchange involves not only physiological constituents, but also substances that represent a pathological risk for the fetus such as xenobiotics that include drugs, food additives, pesticides, and environmental pollutants.

The understanding of what xenobiotics do to the MFU and what the MFU does to the xenobiotics should provide the basis for the use of placenta as a tool to investigate and predict some aspects of developmental toxicity. Moreover, pathological conditions in the placenta are important causes of intrauterine or perinatal death, congenital anomalies, intrauterine growth retarda-tion, maternal death, and a great deal of morbidity for both, mother and child.

Genetically modified plants (GMP) were first approved for commercialization in Canada in 1996 then become distributed a wide range of weeds. It can be used on non-crop land as well as in a great variety of crops. GLYP is the active ingredient in the commercial herbicide RoundupŽ. Glyphosate is an acid, but usually used in a salt form, most commonly the isopropylamine salt.

The target of glyphosate is 5-enolpyruvoylshikimate 3-phosphate syn- thase (EPSPS), an enzyme in the shikimate pathway that is required for the synthesis of many aromatic plant metabolites, including some amino acids. The gene that confers tolerance of the herbicide is from the soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens and makes an EPSPS that is not affected by glyphosate.

The authors reveal how few studies have examined the kinetics of absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination of glyphosate in humans. There is much to appreciate in that revelation, as millions are eating foods generated with this technology absolutely unaware of the possible dangers.

According to the study, there are reported detections of urinary GLYP concentrations among children, mothers and fathers living in farm and non farm households in Iowa. Tests showed little contrast between farm and non farm mothers and no positive association between the mothers’ urinary glyphosate levels and glyphosate dust concentrations. 

Therefore it appears that the dangers from GMO crops does is not connected to growing them, just eating them.

Again from the study: These findings suggest that other sources of exposure such as diet may be involved. Gluphosinate (or glufosinate) [ammonium dl-homoalanin-4- (methyl) phosphinate] is a broad-spectrum, contact herbicide. Its major metabolite is 3-methylphosphinicopropionic acid (MPPA), with which it has similar biological and toxicological effects.

GLUF is used to control a wide range of weeds after the crop emerges or for total vegetation control on land not used for cultivation. Gluphosinate herbicides are also used to desiccate (dry out) crops before harvest. It is a phosphorus-containing amino acid. It inhibits the activity of an enzyme, glutamine synthetase, which is necessary for the production of the amino acid glutamine and for ammonia detoxification. The application of GLUF leads to reduced glutamine and increased ammonia levels in the plant’s tissues. This causes photosynthesis to stop and the plant dies within a few days. GLUF also inhibits the same enzyme in animals.

The gene used to make plants resistant to gluphosinate comes from the bacterium Streptomyces hygroscopicus and encodes an enzyme called phosphinothricine acetyl transferase (PAT). This enzyme detoxifies GLUF. Crop varieties carrying this trait include varieties of oilseed rape, maize, soybeans, sugar beet, fodder beet, cotton and rice. As for GLYP, its kinetics of absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination (ADME) is not well studied in humans, except few poisoned-case studies [16,20,21]. Hirose et al. reported the case of a 65-year-old male who ingested BASTA, which contains 20% (w/v) of GLUF ammonium, about 300 ml, more than the estimated human toxic dose.

Read More...

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile Enter Mobile Payments Arena; MasterCard Plans for Contactless Future; Fed Helps Mobile Payments Get on Track

MasterCard Plans for Contactless Future

August 4, 2010

NFC News - MasterCard’s stock dropped 3.6% on the recent announcement Verizon and AT&T are partnering with Discover and Barclays to launch mobile contactless payment services, but the company says it has its own ventures in diversified payments.

According to Ajay Banga, President and CEO of MasterCard, the company currently has 20 pilot and commercial roll outs of contactless payment around the globe, including a mobile payment pilot in the UK with Barclays and Orange and another in Tokyo with Guarantee Bank.

MasterCard is also offering contactless mobile payment in the US with Citi in the form of PayPass stickers attached to the back of the user’s mobile phone.

Additional programs are underway in Korea, Brazil, Canada, India and Singapore, says Banga. In addition, the company also offers a money-send service in which customers can make purchases or transfer money person to person using a mobile phone or internet browser.

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile Enter Mobile Payments Arena

August 2, 2010

NFC News - AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA are reportedly teaming up to launch a contactless mobile payment pilot in Atlanta and three other cities, according to bloomberg.com.

Bloomberg calls the venture, which is expected to include the support of Discover Financial Services and Barclays Plc, a “threat” to Visa and MasterCard, the world’s largest payment networks.

If the system works, smart phones could replace some 1 billion payment cards in use in the U.S, which account for nearly half of all consumer purchases.

Richard Crone of California-based Crone Consulting LLC calls the move “a game changer,” and points out that mobile carriers are the biggest recurring billers in every market, making them experts at processing payments.

Additionally, retailers who are sick of dealing with ever-escalating swipe fees from Visa and MasterCard may be eager to give the new system shot, says Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, MasterCard and Visa have been employing their own mobile solutions. In June, MasterCard teamed up with Citigroup to produce contactless PayPass stickers that can be affixed to mobile phones. Visa and DeviceFidelity also developed their own solution earlier this year that works with existing smart phones, including Apple’s iPhone.

Verizon, AT&T Look to Trial 'Mercury' in Several Cities

August 9, 2010

NFC News - AT&T and Verizon will launch trials of their new contactless payment system - codenamed Mercury - at markets in Minneapolis, Atlanta, Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas, according to fiercemobilecontent.com.

Participating customers will be able to pay for a variety of goods and services with NFC-enabled smart phones operating on Discover Financial Services’ payment network.

T-Mobile also has a stake in the venture, as well as UK’s Barclays, who will help manage users’ credit accounts.

Trials are expected to commence in mid-2011.

Fed Helps Mobile Payment Get on Track

July 28, 2010

NFC News - The Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and Boston have helped a number of leading telecom and e-payment companies reach a consensus on several issues dividing the mobile payments industry, according to Digital Transactions.

The Feds have to date hosted three of these meetings consisting of about 20 industry representatives, including software companies, processors, merchant and wireless trade groups, carriers, banks, and card-network companies.

A fourth meeting is scheduled for October, during which the group will attempt to produce a paper mapping out a strategy for advancing mobile payment, which up until now has been hindered due to disagreements between companies on technical matters.

These arguments have concerned security, where e-wallets should be kept, division of transaction fees, and most importantly, dynamic authentication, which is the process of generating on-the-spot unique identification credentials for transactions, according to DT.

The hope is that the resulting paper can be presented at conferences and circulated throughout various relevant industries to stimulate cooperative discussion on mobile payment.

Report: 'Sticky' Mobile Payment a 2010 Reality

July 16, 2010

NFC News - Reportlinker.com has released a market research report on the use of contactless payment stickers in place of built-in NFC phones to make mobile payments.

The report,”Making Contactless Payments Sticky with Stickers,” identifies the key market drivers for contactless stickers and the issues that must be overcome to make them a real, viable solution in the hands of consumers.

According to the report, contactless stickers offer a way for card associations, issuing banks, and merchants with stored value programs to eliminate mobile network operators and handset manufacturers from the distribution chain, which will help free up the logjam currently keeping NFC technology from widespread commercialization.

Although certain business model issues still exist, contactless stickers’ ability to eliminate strong players in the value chain makes them a 2010 reality, according to the report.

UK Retailers Calling for Lowered Processing Charges on Contactless Payments

July 7, 2010

NFC News - Retailers in the UK are lobbying for emerging payment technology, viz. contactless payment, to be cheaper to process than current debit and credit cards, which are running them hundreds of millions of pounds in processing fees a year, according to The Register.

According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), each cash transaction costs retailers an average of 2.1p to process ($.03), while debit card transactions cost 8.9p ($.13) - nearly doubled from five years ago - and credit card transactions cost a whopping 33p ($.50).

A 2009 survey from the BRC also found that 44% of purchases in the UK were made with debit cards, with cash lagging behind at 32%.

Retailers are concerned that contactless debit, credit and mobile payment will end of digging them an even deeper hole, especially considering that contactless payments are geared towards the purchase of small value items.

Stephen Robertson, director of the BRC, says the processing fee trend should be going down and not up due to improved technology and efficiency:

“‘Contactless’ systems can bring benefits, but banks are currently levying charges on card payments well beyond what it actually costs them to process those transactions. They can’t expect to maintain those excessive charges as numbers of non-cash payments grow.”

Yet many retailers are dealing with just that. According to a BRC statement, some banks are even rolling out new “premium” or “World cards” that require additional interchange fees of between 0.7% and 0.9% on top of the average 0.75% of the transaction value that the retailer previously paid.

Contactless Mobile Payment on the Rise in China

July 23, 2010

NFC News - The mobile payment market in China is expected to grow dramatically in the next two years, with the number of users exceeding 100 million by 2011, according to The Global Times.

IT research firm Analysis International reports that last year there were 72.8 million mobile payment subscribers in China, of which only 27.16 million used NFC-enabled contactless payment. This year, however, that latter number is expected to nearly double to 49.16 million contactless users, pushing the whole mobile payment community past 100 million.

According to analyst Li Wei, last year, the mobile payment market in China was worth $293 million. This year it is expected to jump to $441 million, and 2011 could see a further increase to $771 million.

“The on-the-spot mobile payment will create a market with great growth potential in China. We are looking it as one of our most bourgeoning income sources during the next few years,” said Gao Xiang, VP of Watchdata System, the world’s 5th largest SIM provider.

Watchdata has already sold over 500,000 mobile payment SIM cards this year, and is expected to ship 700,000 more by the end of 2010, earning the company $14.73 million in revenue.

According to Global Times, 785 million people are now using mobile phones in China - just over half of the population - many of whom are not accustomed to using bank cards for transactions. Mobile payment therefore offers a natural alternative to cards and cash, and we can expect to see solid market growth in China over the next few years.

Oklahoma Governor Signs Pension Reform Law

Finally, State Pension Reform Gets Moving

May 13, 2011

The Oklahoman Editorial - Less talk, more action. That's been the mantra for years for those advocating for reform of the state's pension systems. Finally, the time has arrived.

Gov. Mary Fallin's signature this week on pension reform laws signaled the beginning of the end of years of piled-up pension responsibilities due in no small part to governmental inaction.

This issue “has been kicked down the road for years and years,” state Treasurer Ken Miller said.

Still, the road ahead is long. The state's seven pension systems have accrued $16.5 billion in unfunded liabilities — a financial black mark on the state that has only become worse over time.

The Republican-controlled Legislature deserves credit for pursuing the series of bills that tackle the liability by increasing the retirement age for many of those in the systems and forbids lawmakers from offering cost-of-living increases without identifying a funding source. The retirement age change affects judges, teachers, elected officials and public employees either hired or elected in the future.

Those are not easy or wildly popular changes. Lawmakers and other state leaders could have chosen the path plodded by so many of their predecessors, either ignoring the problem or adding to it by increasing benefits without paying for them. Instead, they stood up.

Starting the reform process will help ensure “that we don't one day face a crisis scenario where the state is simply unable to deliver on the benefits we've promised our retired workers,” Fallin said. Amen to that.

Some state officials had warned that the growing unfunded liability endangered the state's bond rating. A downgrade would make it more expensive for the state to borrow money, costing taxpayers more to build roads, bridges and meet other infrastructure needs. That threat's been used before in pleading with lawmakers to take action, but it wasn't enough.

The change in granting cost-of-living adjustments alone is expected to reduce the liability by about $5 billion over time, officials said. But it and the other reforms signed into law shouldn't be the end.

Policymakers must remain vigilant in not rolling back the reforms and letting the pensions again become victims of shifting political winds. Other states have moved to, or are considering moving to, a 401(k)-style retirement plan for the pension systems. As Oklahoma's unfunded liabilities become more manageable, it would be wise for officials to consider whether such a change makes sense here.

Miller, who is head of the state's pension commission, said he'll recommend more changes in the future to modernize the pension systems. But that effort absolutely depends on future legislatures showing the same sort of leadership as this one.

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