No Additional Subsidies for State & Local Governments

According to press reports, the president will roll out a $300 billion stimulus package "jobs plan" this week. The plan will contain additional subsidies for state and local government, including money for school construction.
My colleagues Adam Schaeffer and Andrew Coulson have explained that money to build schools is one of the last things that the government school system needs (see here and here). There will probably be money for "hiring teachers" and other targets that the administration thinks will play well with the electorate – not to mention government employee unions.
The electorate – and reporters covering the president's plan – should understand that subsidies to state and local government have gone through the roof since 2000:

A Cato essay on federal aid to state and local government explains why these subsidies should be abolished, not increased. The following are five fundamental reasons:

1. Subsidies undermine constitutional federalism. The federal government should handle only those issues that are truly national in scope, such as defending the country from attack. The Constitution assigned the federal government specific limited powers, and the 10^th Amendment clearly states that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
2. Subsidies destroy the concept of the states being "laboratories of democracy." The beauty of "fiscal federalism" is that it allows the states to experiment and figure out what does and doesn't work. It also allows citizens to live in a state with policies that match their preferences. Federal subsidies stifle this experimentation and limit the choices available to citizens.
3. Subsidies fuel burdensome regulations and bureaucratic waste. The federal government creates countless regulatory hoops that the states have to jump through in order to get the federal handouts. The rules and regulations naturally spark an explosion in bureaucracy at all levels of government. When I was a budget official in the state of Indiana, I saw firsthand the federal and state taxpayer money being wasted trying to administer programs funded with federal dollars.
4. Subsidies misallocate taxpayer resources. Federal aid misallocates resources because the money is distributed on the basis of political, rather than economic, considerations. Congress uses complex formulas to disburse money to the states that ensure that just about everyone gets a piece of the pie. Spreading the largesse across many congressional districts and states helps secure the votes necessary to ensure that the programs are continued. For example, federal community development subsidies were originally intended for poor areas, but now the money goes to poor, middle-class, and rich areas alike.
5. Subsidies breed irresponsibility and waste. Federal politicians and bureaucrats waste a lot of money for the simple reason that it isn't their money. Federal subsidies exacerbate the problem at the state and local level: not only are state and local officials playing with other people's money – they're playing with money that they didn't have to tax from their citizens. And because state and local citizens weren't taxed to pay for these federally funded activities, they have less incentive to pay attention to how the money is spent.

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Report Says Death of Euro Will Lead to Doomsday

As nations begin to break down, rather than society breaking up, there are few downsides to the world that can result. Governments lose control over people. Banks lose control over finance and trade. Those accustomed to posh lives with little real work will feel it most, while those with little or nothing may actually see an improvement in their lives, namely freedom. 

Those who are hoping for a more optimistic report of the global economic future should probably not read on. According to a report released by the Union Bank of Switzerland entitled "Euro Break Up-The Consequences," the death of the euro is inevitable and the long-term effects of such an event will potentially include civil war, the collapse of international trade and sovereign default.

Read more...

http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-mainmenu-26/europe-mainmenu-35/8895-report-says-death-of-euro-will-lead-to-doomsday

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Erupting volcanoes photographed from space

Our Earth sure is active lately, with earthquakes, floods, and volcanoes in high gear. 

An image taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) of a large plume of smoke, steam and ash erupting from the Sarychev volcano on the Kuril Islands, Russia. It is thought that the eruption has caused a hole to form in the cloud layer above it. View the entire photo gallery here

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/09/erupting-volcanoes-photographed-from.html

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Official: Turkey to expel 3 Israeli diplomats as region deteriorates

In a further escalation of tensions between Israel and Turkey, at least three Israeli diplomats are being expelled from the Israeli Embassy in Ankara, Israeli officials said Wednesday.

The Israeli consulate, however, appears to be unaffected by the Turkish downgrade of diplomatic relations with Israel.

"Consulates and embassies are not in the same status," said Ohad Kaynar of the Israeli consulate in Istanbul. "There are treaties that define what consulates are supposed to do. The personnel that are being expelled are from the embassy. As of now, we have not heard anything from the Turkish foreign ministry regarding expulsion of any of the consulate personnel."

On Tuesday, Turkey's fiery prime minister compared Ankara's once-close ally in the Middle East to a "spoiled boy" and announced additional sanctions would soon be imposed. more

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/09/official-turkey-to-expel-3-israeli.html

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Obama preparing $300 billion jobs package: But will it make any difference? Are we at the endgame?

Where is the energy to produce that money going to come from?

President Barack Obama is preparing to roll out a roughly $300 billion plan to strengthen the shaky economy and stimulate new job growth, according to multiple Democratic sources.


The president is expected to unveil his plan -- focused partly on new infrastructure spending and targeted tax cuts -- during an address to a joint session of Congress Thursday evening.


"I'm going to propose ways to put America back to work that both parties can agree to, because I still believe both parties can work together to solve our problems," Obama said in a Labor Day speech in Detroit.


The plan's prospects in a sharply polarized Congress -- particularly with the 2012 presidential primary season looming -- appear murky at best. Some Republicans have already dismissed it, saying any proposal from the president will amount to little more than a continuation of what they characterize as his failed 2009 stimulus plan.

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"Rodrigue Tremblay"- The Decline of the United States of America -- The Moral, Political and Economi

"The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded." Montesquieu, (Charles Louis de Secondat)  (1689-1755)

"I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews, I am doing the Lord's work." Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), German politician and future German Chancellor, Mein Kampf, chap. 2, 1925

"I believe that God wants me to be president."George W. Bush, American 43rd president, speech in Washington D.C., June 1, 2004

"This economy of ours is on a solid foundation." George W. Bush, American 43rd president, January 4, 2008 (N.B.: the U.S. economy was about to enter into recession.)

"I believe that the Iraqi people will greet us as liberators." Sen. John McCain, March 20, 2003

"We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada. And I think now, isn't that ironic?" Sarah Palin, American politician and former governor of Alaska, (admitting that her family used to get treatment in Canada's single-payer health care system, despite having demonized such government-run programs as socialized medicine that will lead to death-panel-like rationing, March 6, 2010)

http://www.garynull.com/home/rodrigue-tremblay-the-decline-of-the-united-states-of-americ-1.html

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Tourism flatlines as visitors avoid Japan: Foreign tourist numbers collapsing after March disasters:

Close on six months after the March 11 disasters hit northeast Japan, the official numbers for overseas tourists visiting the country look even bleaker than expected.

According to the Japan Tourism Agency -- a part of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism -- spending by incoming visitors in the April-June quarter was down 46.9 percent on a year earlier.

In total, the foreign tourist buck was worth an insignificant ¥121 billion ($1.6 billion) in the quarter, most of it coming from near neighbors in Asia.

Chinese tourists contributed ¥30 billion to the Japanese economy, while South Korea and Taiwan combined for a joint inflow of ¥33.5 billion.

On top of the quarterly financial data, July also saw absolute visitor numbers slump for the fifth month in a row -- down 36 percent from 2010 to 560,000.
Up front about Fukushima

In spite of being a government body, the Tourism Agency report didn't mince its words in stating that authorities need to show more transparency about the Fukushima nuclear accident if they want to help rebuild confidence in traveling to Japan. more

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/09/tourism-flatlines-as-visitors-avoid.html

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101 Ranch Fire Burn Scar : Image of the Day

acquired September 3, 2011 download large image (4 MB, JPEG)

acquired September 3, 2011 download GeoTIFF file (8 MB, TIFF)

The 101 Ranch Fire began on August 30, 2011, south of Possum Kingdom Lake in Palo Pinto County, Texas. By September 6, the fire had scorched 6,555 acres (2,653 hectares), according to the Incident Information System.
The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this false-color image of the Ranch 101 burn scar on September 3, 2011. The burn scar is gray, vegetation is red, and bare or sparsely vegetated ground is tan. Water is navy blue.
Just south of the easternmost curve of Possum Kingdom Lake is a network of residential streets, some of which lie within the burn scar. The Texas Forest Service reported that 39 homes and nine RVs had been destroyed. Although dozens of homes had been lost, firefighters saved nearly 200 others.
As of September 6, the 101 Ranch Fire was 85 percent contained. News sources said that winds had died down, and some firefighters had been released to battle other blazes in the state. The same day, the Texas Forest Service reported that it had responded to 22 new fires in the past 24 hours, and 181 fires over the past week. The surge of wildfire in the region burned a total of 118,413 acres (47,920 hectares), and more than 700 homes had likely been lost in just 48 hours.
The fires came in the midst of high temperatures and low humidity. Large parts of Texas have suffered from severe drought in the summer of 2011.

1. References

2. Hanna, B. (2011, September 6). Wildfire focus shifts to Central Texas. Star-Telegram. Accessed September 6, 2011.
3. Incident Information System. (2011, September 6). 101 Ranch. Accessed September 6, 2011.
4. Magditch, D. (2011, September 4). Pilots fight 101 Ranch wildfire from above. KDAF TV. Accessed September 6, 2011.
5. Texas Forest Service. (2011, September 6). Texas Wildfire Situation. Texas A&M University. Accessed September 6, 2011.

NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. Caption by Michon Scott.

Instrument: 

Terra - ASTER

5.3 Magnitude Earthquake HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION - 7th September 2011

Another quake for the tragically beaten country. 

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake has struck Hokkaido, Japan Region at a depth of just 1,5 km (0 miles), the quake hit at 13:29:41 UTC Wednesday 7th September 2011.

The epicenter was 131 km (82 miles) Southeast of Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

No Tsunami Warning Issued - No reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

Source

How to Wreck an Economy

With the U.S. economy facing a heightened risk of sliding back into recession, the country's elected representatives may be pushing it closer to the brink. Democrats and Republicans say job creation is a top priority as they return to work this week, but there is a growing body of evidence that Congress is actually hurting the economy. A protracted budget stalemate in the first half of the year caused nervous federal agencies to sit on billions of dollars that should have been circulating through the economy.

Doubts about Congress' ability to keep the money flowing might lead contractors to charge more for their services even at a time when work is hard to come by, one industry official said. "If the certainty of being paid goes away, I think contractors are either going to start raising their bids to protect themselves against that uncertainty, or they're just going to drop out of bidding," said Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America. "They're extremely frustrated."

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The Economy, Or Social Unrest? Where Will Our Doom Stem From?

Will our system crash or blow up? Those seem to be the doomsayers' questions today. The Telegraph has a story about bankers claiming that we are on the edge of a market crash to rival the Lehman Brothers saga, whilst the Guardian warns that a global market that extracts money from the poor to fill the pockets of the rich is ready to blow. They quote a 'senior London-based bank executive' and 'a senior credit banker at a major European bank' as saying that 'it feels like 2008' and that a major 'market shock' is in the offing over the next couple of months.

Larry Elliott in the Guardian says that we have reached 'a fork in the road' and that we need to do something about making the system more equal as the current one is 'in deep trouble and it is waiting to blow'.

....... and the way that successive governments have allowed themselves and their citizens to become 'debt sodden' as a result leading to social inequality.
'Together, the global imbalances, the manic-depressive behavior of stock markets, the venality of the financial sector, the growing gulf between rich and poor, the high levels of unemployment, the naked consumerism and the riots are telling us something.' He says.

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Postal Service on verge of financial collapse

The U.S. Postal Service is on the verge of financial collapse and should eliminate Saturday delivery, close thousands of local post offices, restructure its health plan and lay off 120,000 workers to survive, according to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.

Donahoe asked lawmakers to allow him to make “radical” changes to the centuries-old institution so it could avoid defaulting on its obligations. At a Senate hearing Tuesday, he said the Postal Service is all but certain to miss a $5.5 billion payment to its retiree health fund due at the end of the month. And that only begins the trouble, he said, warning that the postal system is heading toward a $10 billion net loss this fiscal year and is near its borrowing limit.

With operating cash running out quickly, trucks, mail processing centers and mail delivery could come to a halt by this time next year, Donahoe said.

“Failure to act could be catastrophic,” Donahoe told members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees the postal service.

The new proposals reflect heightened desperation at an agency that has been on the decline for years. The rise of email has dramatically curbed demand for old-fashioned letters, while competitive delivery companies have put the squeeze on the post office’s business model. Last year, the post office delivered 171 billion pieces of mail, down 20 percent from just four years earlier. Volume is on track to fall an additional 2 percent this year.

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10 Skills Needed To Thrive In A Post-Collapse World

1. Organic Gardening and Seed Saving: Skills involving food production will be the most valuable in a post-collapse society. Learning to grow your own food is a must.  Obviously, it is necessary to feed your family, but you will also be able to trade your abundance for other items. Additionally, learning to save seeds will also provide another excellent means of trade.

2. Food Processing and Preservation: Learning to process and preserve foods will be another huge skill in a post-collapse world. Taking seasonal abundance and preserving it for future consumption or trade will be vital.  Remember, learning to do this with limited electricity is a must. This can also include learning to brew beer, mead, vinegar, or other alcoholic beverages from meager ingredients.

3. Hunting, Fishing, and Gathering: Learning to fish and hunt is essential to survival. Having the proper gear and training will be priceless after the collapse of modern civilization.  Having reference guides for edible plants in your region, repairing weapons, trapping wild game, and fishing are great tools to have if you haven’t the time to learn them now. In regards to weapons, your ability to use them also gives you the skill of working security.

4. Animal Husbandry: Notice the first four categories are related to food production.  It’s that important.  Just gaining knowledge of one of these categories will give you an invaluable skill to thrive in a post-apocalyptic world.  Knowledge of animal husbandry can provide endless amounts of sustainable meat, eggs, and milk to you and your tribe.

5. Construction: Construction skills will be very important in a shattered civilization.  These skills, especially without power tools, are not something you learn overnight.  If you have some basic skills it may be worth learning a few techniques for building small structures with crude hand tools.  There are many books teaching anyone how to build basic cabins, sheds, and composting outhouses.

6. Alternative Energy and Fuels: Having the knowledge to implement alternative energy systems will make you a wealthy survivor in a “dark” world. You can learn to build your own alternative energy systems, or you can purchase back up solar generators in preparation for emergencies. There are also small fuel refinery systems available like the biodiesel Fuelmeister, and the new invention from Japan that turns plastic into oil.  Knowledge of how to create energy would be invaluable when oil is scarce.

7. Water Purification: Since it’s difficult to pump well water without electricity and with surface water likely to be contaminated, clean water will be in very limited supply.  Learning to purify water will allow you thrive during this time. You can also purchase water filters for your go-bag that will last weeks, and you can have back-up tablets should you need them.  However, the skill and knowledge to purify water should be the goal as that can never run out.

8. Basic First Aid and Natural Medicine: This is another skill that can take years to develop and learn, but that will be crucial when supply lines of pharmaceuticals are cut off and hospitals are over-run. Knowledge of growing herbal gardens for making medicine at home will prove to be very important.  Learning basic procedures for stitching wounds, CPR, and more will also be of great assistance.  Being the tribe’s shaman with a natural medicine chest is a prestigious position

9. Mechanics: Mechanics for cars, motorcycles, tractors and other machinery will likely be in high demand.  In addition, bicycle mechanics will also fair well in world where fuel is very expensive or hard to come by.  These are also skills that are not learned over night, but it will be wise to at least have access to books or how-to videos.

10. Soap and Candle Making: With long supply lines decimated and electricity on the fritz, soap and candle makers will provide a valuable product. Clearly some preparation of storing raw materials may be needed to achieve trade-able levels of these goods.  Even if you just had the knowledge to make soap or candles just for your immediate tribe, you will be much better off for it.

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Egypt Trades One Dictator for Another, is the US Any Different?

Revolution. It's a funny word when you think about it. In political terms, 'revolution' conjures images of heroes battling tyrants, of all-out forcible insurrection in the name of freedom and change.

Funny is right. It's a big joke on the people by the elite. Huge riots continuing in Egypt. Experts say one of the problems over there is, there's a huge difference in wealth between the extremely rich and the vast majority of people who have nothing. Well, thank God that could never happen in this country. —Jay Leno

From a celestial perspective, however, 'revolution' denotes one complete orbit of a planetary body around its center, as in the earth's revolution around the sun. In other words, after a revolution, you end up right back where you started.

Same word, two completely different meanings– on one hand you have change, and on the other you have more of the same. This is exactly what has happened after Egypt's revolution this year.

This sounds eerily similar to the two party system we have in the US. We shift back and forth between the two, with political revolutions that shift the balance of power back to the other party, but the elite still maintains all control. The general public is allowed to believe that thongs have changed for the better when the shift happens, but it's a rouse.

Sure, Hosni Mubarak is now standing trial after 3-decades of looting and pillaging his country's wealth. For most Egyptians, this is viewed as a major victory; there is a feeling of intense optimism here on the streets of Cairo, and even though nothing is fundamentally different, expectations are high.

Mubarak was a symbol of tyranny, and a great deal of blood was shed to topple his regime. Unfortunately, Egyptians have essentially replaced one form of dictatorship with another.

There is now one person in charge of Egypt– military Supreme Commander Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. Tantawi was Mubarak's Minister of Defense, and as the man in charge of roughly one million soldiers, sailors, and airmen in a country with no political system, Tantawi has absolute authority.

He's not shy about using it either. Just ask any of the thousands of Egyptians who have been tried and sentenced by despotic military tribunals over the last several months.

Many of these 'criminals' were bloggers like Maikel Nabil Sanad– found guilty of insulting the Egyptian military establishment. Sanad is currently serving a three-year sentence after a rubber-stamp tribunal convicted him five months ago. Several other bloggers and public figures have been jailed or detained as well.

Despite all the song and dance about freedom in Egypt, their revolution has brought them right back to where they started– an autocratic dictatorship.

The more things change...

When you think about it, this is how things usually work out in politics. How many people have campaigned on the 'change' platform, only to end up following the same path as the last guy? As the saying goes, 'the more things change, the more they stay the same.'

Egypt is due to hold parliamentary elections in a few months' time. It's questionable whether Tantawi will give up his supreme, unchecked power… but whatever happens, one thing is clear: a new power elite will emerge in Egypt that helps itself to wealth and privilege at the expense of everyone else.

I'd be seriously surprised to see the military leadership step down after taking control of the country. Especially after the violations of human rights and oppressive actions against the natural right to free speech.

This is the great weakness in any political system: 'government' is based on the idea that some individual or organization is awarded power than no human being should possess– the power to kill, to declare war, to steal, to defraud, to counterfeit.

All of these powers are considered immoral by man, but perfectly acceptable for government… and no matter how much they dress it up as being good for the people, any political system makes full use of its authority in order to maintain the status quo and keep the ruling elite in power.

This is why the world powers are collapsing. These governments and control systems have been taking too much and pushing too hard for far too long, and the average person around the world is getting tired of it. Most people simply want the freedom to live their lives and make their own choices. Most of what governments do is for big business interests and has little positive effect on the lives of the individual.

Egypt underscores an important lesson from history: with rare exception, even when you topple the ruling elite, someone else will simply step up to fill the void… just as the French traded Louis XVI for Maximilien Robespierre's Reign of Terror in the 1790s.

This is why advocating for political change, while virtuous and noble in deed, is ultimately a wasted effort. Power-hungry megalomaniacs and their sycophantic yes-men will always rise to the top, conning the masses along the way that 'change is coming'. It's all a big snow job.

Bottom line- politicians are in it for their own benefit, not for yours. We only have a finite amount of resources available– time, money, and energy. It's far better to allocate those resources to improving your own situation rather than some politician's chances of reelection.

Localization is the most effective way to change the world. Let go of reliance on central governments. Stop contributing to the financial systems that big businesses and government rely on to survive and grow. Focus on local community and those elite systems of control will fade into history.

It's time to invest in yourself– build a pool of savings, develop alternate sources of income, diversify internationally… and most of all, have a plan. You don't want to be caught flat-footed when these sociopaths drive the bus off the cliff.

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We have no ability to stop those willing to jump off the cliff, we can only make the decision not to follow.

Collapse Consciously, as Baker says


Wake Up

Home Foreclosures, Government Doesn't Know How to Fix It

Washington has issued a plea to the public for ideas on how to get rid of houses For sale or rent by distressed owner: 248,000 homes. That's how many residential properties the U.S. government now has in its possession, the result of record numbers of people defaulting on government-backed mortgages. Washington is sitting on nearly a third of the nation's 800,000 repossessed houses, making the U.S. taxpayer the largest owner of foreclosed properties. With even more homes moving toward default, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration are looking for a way to unload them without swamping the already depressed real estate market. Trouble is, they haven't figured out how to do that. The government admitted as much in August, when Fannie, Freddie and FHA issued a joint plea to the public for ideas about how to solve the problem. (Give it your best shot: You have until Sept. 15 to email ideas to reo.rfi@fhfa.gov.) "They're stuck," says Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner of Federal Financial Analytics, a Washington-based consultant that advises banks and other clients on government policy. "They don't know what to do." Since the 2008 financial collapse, the government has spent billions of dollars trying to extricate borrowers from high-cost loans, aid delinquent homeowners and stabilize neighborhoods. The results have been disappointing. The Obama Administration's signature loan-modification program has helped about 657,000 homeowners - far short of its goal of 3 to 4 million. The program was a victim of its complexity and its inability to cope with overwhelming demand. Many families hit hardest by the housing downturn are concentrated in states that are having the most difficulty recovering from the recession, including Florida, Ohio and Nevada.

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Texas in Flames

Witnessing the places of disaster is the best way of coping with fear and anxiety. After months of severe drought in Texas, and record temperatures almost every day and up to 112 F, massive wildfire was only to be expected. Climate change activists are angry with the denial of history and science, fossil politics, fossil corporations. 

As we approach the growing disaster area, we see the cars of refugees, trucks, tractors fleeing a wall of smoke. An old black settler tells us: never seen a drought like this in my life, born here raised here… Reminds me of numerous refugees flows I saw in war zone areas: same blank frightened faces, and a stubborn will not to depart from the scene of crime. 

An agitated girl approaches the police car that blocks off a back road: I must go in there, I have a dog…after a pause she says in a lower voice, and a house… 

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The Swiss Have Decided to Join the Lemmings

The Swiss National Bank has just announced that it is putting a ceiling on the franc’s appreciation against the euro… effectively abandoning its economic sovereignty and putting its future in the hands of woefully corrupt and incompetent bureaucrats.

They have decided to jump off the cliff with the rest of the lemmings instead of defending their sovereignty and saving their own economy from a fate like those who have collapsed before them.

On the news, the franc fell off a cliff, dropping almost 10% INSTANTLY. Gold priced in Swiss francs jumped from 1497 to 1620 per troy ounce, all in about 45 seconds.

Precious metals are now all alone as the only forms of sound money that are truly safe havens.

Don't tell me no one else saw this coming?

Just 6-weeks ago on July 27th, in a letter entitled “Should I buy gold at its all-time high”, I wrote:

“Even stronger currencies like the Swiss franc have limits to their appreciation. At some point, the Swiss National Bank will impose capital controls to thwart the rise of its currency. . . [Y]ou’ll probably feel like a sucker for not buying gold at $1600 when you still had the chance.”

Since then gold has soared roughly 20%, and as of this morning, the SNB has imposed capital controls to thwart the rise of its currency.

This is just the beginning.

The Swiss government has basically told the world that they will print as much money as it takes, and buy up as much crap sovereign debt as they can, to competitively devalue the currency.

This essentially puts Switzerland in the same sinking boat as Italy, Greece, and Portugal… with one key difference: Switzerland has 0% interest rates.

The US has already taken it's last step off the cliff, leaving behind the potential of returning to a simple system of economics that could be sustainable. Either way, the US was going to slip into that good night with the rest of the world. The question that each nation and region must answer is how hard they will fall.

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Comet Elenin Update: Comet Elenin's Nucleus Is Intact September 2, 2011

Now in latest update, according to video poster down below images were taken on Sept. 2, 2011. All were taken on the same telescope. The reason the comet looks different in each one or the same is because of the filter used to see Comet Elenin C/2010 X1.

Luminance filters return a lot of the visible light but they also take in a lot of ambient light from the atmosphere. That's why those filters are best for very dark skies. The skies around Comet Elenin are anything but dark.

The Ha (Hydrogen alpha) filter produced a wonderful image of what I believe to be Comet Elenin's Nucleus or at least the light visible using the Ha filter was return in a compact and tight return. It looks like the nucleus to me. When added together with the SII filter, which looks like a baseball, I have no other choice but to believe the nucleus is intact.

The "I" filter produced the ice cream cone top. The return was rounded to the north of the image and scalloped to the south. I found each image to be unique. I wish I could get them stacked in a way that brought out the comet with all the parts together. I will be working on that over the next week.

 

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California Employment at Record Low

The percentage of working-age Californians with jobs has fallen to a record low, and employment may not return to pre-recession levels until the second half of the decade, according to a research group.


Just 55.4 percent of working-age Californians, defined as those 16 or older, had a job in July, down from 56.2 percent a year earlier and the lowest level since 1976, the Sacramento- based California Budget Project said in a report released late yesterday.


California's 12 percent unemployment rate in July, the nation's second-highest after Nevada, compared with 9.1 percent nationwide. The most-populous state lost 1.4 million jobs during the recession that began three years ago, and has gained back only 226,800, or about 17 percent, according to the report.


Alissa Anderson, deputy director of the research group, which concentrates on issues facing low- and middle-class Californians, said women have disproportionately trailed men in regaining jobs.


"Women represent nearly half of the workforce," Anderson said in a telephone interview. "They gained just one of the 10 jobs added." more

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/09/california-employment-at-record-low.html

US Postal Service Is Nearing Default as Losses Mount: Mail Service Could Stop by this Winter

Okay, I see a major issue with one branch of government with a narrow scope of interest (and even less authority) contemplates bailing out another.

The United States Postal Service has long lived on the financial edge, but it has never been as close to the precipice as it is today: the agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances.


"Our situation is extremely serious," the postmaster general, Patrick R. Donahoe, said in an interview. "If Congress doesn't act, we will default."


In recent weeks, Mr. Donahoe has been pushing a series of painful cost-cutting measures to erase the agency's deficit, which will reach $9.2 billion this fiscal year. They include eliminating Saturday mail delivery, closing up to 3,700 postal locations and laying off 120,000 workers — nearly one-fifth of the agency's work force — despite a no-layoffs clause in the unions' contracts.


The post office's problems stem from one hard reality: it is being squeezed on both revenue and costs.


As any computer user knows, the Internet revolution has led to people and businesses sending far less conventional mail. more

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/09/us-postal-service-is-nearing-default-as.html

Is this the UN’s “Abu Ghraib moment” in Haiti?

 
The video is profoundly disturbing. It shows four men, identified as Uruguayan troops from the UN mission in Haiti (Minustah), seemingly in the act of raping an 18-year-old Haitian youth. Two have the victim pinned down on a mattress, with his hands twisted high up his back so that he cannot move. Perhaps the most unnerving part of the video is the constant chorus of laughter from the alleged perpetrators; to them, apparently, it's just a drunken party.

ABC News reports that a Uruguayan navy lieutenant, Nicolas Casariego, has confirmed the authenticity of the video. A medical certificate filed with the court in Port Salut, a southern coastal town where the incident took place, says that the victim was beaten and had injuries consistent with a sexual assault.

The incident is likely to pour more gasoline on the fire of resentment that Haitians have for the UN troops who have occupied their country for more than seven years. There has been a dire pattern of abuses: in December 2007, more than 100 UN soldiers from Sri Lanka were deported under charges of sexual abuse of under-age girls. In 2005, UN troops went on the rampage in Cité Soleil, one of the poorest areas in Port-au-Prince, killing as many as 23 people, including children, according to witnesses. After the raid, the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders reported: "On that day, we treated 27 people for gunshot wounds. Of them, around 20 were women under the age of 18."

WikiLeaks cables released in the last week reveal that the Timothy Carney, representing the United States government as the top-ranking diplomat in Haiti in 2006, warned that such raids would "inevitably cause unintended civilian casualties given the crowded conditions and flimsy construction of tightly packed housing in Cité Soleil". But Washington – showing its lack of respect for human life in Haiti – offered no objections to further raids, which continued into 2006.

And make no mistake about it: the UN occupation of Haiti is really a US occupation – it is no more a multilateral force than George W Bush's "coalition of the willing" that invaded Iraq. And it is hardly more legitimate, either: it was sent there in 2004 after a US-led effort toppled Haiti's democratically elected government. Far from providing security for Haitians in the aftermath of the coup, Minustah stood by while thousands of Haitians who had supported the elected government were killed, and officials of the constitutional government jailed. Recent WikiLeaks cables also confirm that the US government sees Minustah as an instrument of its policy there.


There is no legitimate reason for a military mission of the United Nations in Haiti. The country has no civil war, and is not the subject of a peace-keeping or post-conflict agreement. And the fact that UN troops are immune from prosecution or legal action in Haiti encourages abuses. The occupying troops don't speak the language either, which severely limits their capacity for any positive security role; can you imagine how effective a police force in Washington, DC would be if it spoke only Japanese?

To make things even worse, it is now virtually certain that Minustah brought the cholera bacteria to Haiti that has killed more than 6,000 Haitians and infected more than 400,000 in the last 10 months. This was an act of gross negligence: there should have been supervision to make sure that fecal waste from UN troops was not dumped into the water supply, given the risks of such a deadly contamination and the known incapacity of Haiti's water, sanitation and public health system.

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We Have Merely Made the Fuse On Our National Debt Bomb One Inch Longer

China, sitting on the world’s biggest foreign exchange reserves of around $3.20 trillion as of the end of June, is the largest holder of US Treasuries. — Photo by AP

BEIJING: China warned Wednesday that tortured efforts to raise the US debt ceiling had failed to defuse Washington’s “debt bomb”, and that it would further diversify its currency holdings away from the dollar.

US President Barack Obama finally signed an emergency austerity bill on Tuesday that averted what would have been a catastrophic debt default for the world’s biggest economy.

But a failure to rein in US borrowing could “jeopardise the well-being of hundreds of millions of families within and beyond the US borders”, the official Xinhua news agency said in a blistering commentary on the deal.

“The months-long tug of war between Democrats and Republicans…failed to defuse Washington’s debt bomb for good, only delaying an immediate detonation by making the fuse an inch longer,” the commentary said.

“Meanwhile, the madcap farce of brinkmanship has disclosed yet another ticking bomb in the heartland of the sole superpower in the world — the crippling tendency to politicise the economics while trivialising the politics.”

China, sitting on the world’s biggest foreign exchange reserves of around $3.20 trillion as of the end of June, is the largest holder of US Treasuries.

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Justice nominee keeps names of 11 clients secret - Washington Times

Michael E. Horowitz, President Obama’s nominee as the Justice Department’s top watchdog, has earned more than $4 million since last year as an attorney representing the likes of Pfizer Inc., Dow Chemical Co. and Cablevision Systems Corp. But he is keeping the identities of nearly a dozen other clients secret on newly filed ethics forms.

Federal ethics rules require nominees to disclose clients and customers so ethics officials and the public can vet potential conflicts of interest. But because of a narrow exception to the rules, Mr. Horowitz is withholding about half of his client list, meaning he essentially will have to police himself on any potential conflicts.

The secrecy is permitted thanks to an exception that allows attorney-client confidentiality to trump government disclosure mandates in limited circumstances, such as when a client has been involved in secret proceedings.

Nominated last month to be the Justice Department’s inspector general, Mr. Horowitz noted on a recent disclosure form filed with the Office of Government Ethics that the names of 11 clients were being withheld “where the representation involved a grand jury or other nonpublic investigation and the client name was not made public.”

Under federal ethics rules, nominees are permitted to keep clients secret if the identity is protected by court order or under seal. In addition, nominees can decline to disclose the identity of a client who has been the subject of a grand jury or nonpublic investigation, or if a written confidentiality agreement was in place when the lawyer was hired.

http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/1/justice-nominee-keeps-names-of-11-clients-secret/

Obamacare Killing Job Growth, Increasing Dependency on Collapsing Economy

Obamacare is an answer to a question that we never asked. Here's the result; employers can't afford it, but many are willing to let the federal government be responsible for health care. The trouble is that the government is not capable of supporting socialized health care during a recession that dips closer and closer to a depression. Our GDP is not high enough to spend surplus on these sort of non-critical needs. Private health care may not be perfect, but if the US runs it we are sure to end up right where Russia was before they collapsed. Unemployment is rising, so the taxpaying base is decreasing. Where will the funds come from? Redistribution of wealth (especially from the working class) is socialism wrapped in a pretty package. It looks good, but contains nothing you want or need.

COMMENTARY | Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown may soon regret his supportive statements of "Obamacare" and promises he made to constituents. Ohio Issue 3 Health Care Freedom garnered even more supporters after the release of an Associated Press report noting at least every one in 10 employers plan to end workplace health care plans in 2014. Brown make countless speeches and comments during interviews reassuring Ohioans they can keep current insurance coverage even after "Obamacare" defies the constitution and becomes a reality. 

Conservative predictions about the nationalized health care plan are becoming a reality. Republican lawmakers and tea party representatives disputed the continued availability of competitive health care plans once "Obamacare" swoops across the nation.

"We don't need another study to confirm for us what we already know, in order to protect jobs and health care coverage in Ohio, "Obamacare" must be repealed. That begins by passing State Issue 3 in November and ends with retiring Barack Obama and his left-hand man, Sherrod Brown, in 2012," Kevin DeWine, Ohio Republican Party Chairman stated in a press release. 

President Barack Obama may retain bragging right with his far-left base on the health care issue, but American freedom of choice has been eroded. The McKinsey Quarterly offered even more dire figures in the publications health insurance survey. A study conducted in June revealed 30 percent of employers are likely to stop offering workplace insurance packages. The McKinsey figures increased to 50 percent when business owners with a "high awareness of reform" responded to the survey. 

Pledges from Brown and Obama that no one will be forced to purchase the government health care plan were at best incorrect and at worst outright lies. Simple economics and common sense easily lead business owners to the realization that it would be far less expensive to stop offering health care to employees and just let the government take care of medical needs. 

Ohioans may have wanted health care reform but not a boot on their necks forcing them into a government program. Allowing Americans to purchase health insurance across state lines breeds competition, driving costs down. Obama's nationalized program not only erases freedom of choice from the medical arena, but will cost thousands of insurance industry jobs.

These facts don't even address the other big issue; government health care is not within the scope or authority of the federal government. It steps on the rights and freedoms of workers and employers with hopes of providing something that people need, at the expense of our economic recovery. Employers increasing their businesses to more than 50 employees are penalized financially, and substantially. The administration is doing what it does best; kicking the can down the road.

(Reuters) – An appeals court ruled on Friday that President Barack Obama’s healthcare law requiring Americans to buy healthcare insurance or face a penalty was unconstitutional, a blow to the White House.
The Appeals Court for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, found that Congress exceeded its authority by requiring Americans to buy coverage, but also ruled that the rest of the wide-ranging law could remain in effect.
The legality of the so-called individual mandate, a cornerstone of the healthcare law, is widely expected to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Obama administration has defended the provision as constitutional.
(Read More)

US went a $1 Trillion into debt to pay for Obamacare. We can't afford it...it would be great if we had that money laying around to do it, but we don't. We are borrowing against our childrens future. I would gladly go uninsured to make sure my kids don't have to pay for it.

Obamacare Survey Reveals Nearly 50 Percent of Employers Will Stop Offering Health Insurance

Propaganda: “No one is going to lose their coverage.” – Obama administration, November 2010
Reality: Firms to cut health plans as reform starts: survey; 30% of companies say they’ll stop offering coverage – MarketWatch, June 2011

Propaganda: Obamacare will lower premiums, save money! – Peter Orszag, November 2010
Reality: Out-of-pocket medical expenses skyrocketing, May 2011

Propaganda: You can’t seriously question the constitutionality of Obamacare! – Nancy Pelosi, October 2009
Reality: The constitutional challenges keep on coming. Latest from Richard Epstein and Mario Loyola in the WSJ today:

The ravages of Obamacare “reform,” continued

The Financial World Is About To Hit The Panic Button

Most of the worst financial panics in history have happened in the fall. Just recall what happened in 1929, 1987 and 2008. Well, September 2011 is about to begin and there are all kinds of signs that the financial world is about to hit the big red panic button. Wave after wave of bad economic news has come out of the United States recently, and Europe is embroiled in an absolutely unprecedented debt crisis. At this point there is a very real possibility that the euro may not even survive. So what is causing all of this? Well, over the last couple of decades a gigantic debt bubble has fueled a tremendous amount of "fake prosperity" in the western world. But for a debt bubble to keep going, the total amount of debt has to keep expanding at an ever increasing pace. Unfortunately for the global economy, sources of credit are starting to dry up. That is why you hear terms like "credit crisis" and "credit crunch" thrown around so much these days. Without enough credit to feed the monster, the debt bubble is going to burst. At this point, virtually the entire global economy runs on credit, so when this debt bubble bursts things could get really, really messy.

Nations and financial institutions would never get into debt trouble if they could always borrow as much money as they wanted at extremely low interest rates. But what has happened is that lending sources are balking at continuing to lend cheap money to nations and financial institutions that are already up to their eyeballs in debt.

For example, the yield on 2 year Greek bonds is now over 40 percent. Investors don't trust the Greek government and they are demanding a huge return in order to lend them more money.

Throughout the financial world right now there is a lot of fear. Lending conditions have gotten very tight. Financial institutions are not eager to lend money to each other or to anyone else. This "credit crunch" is going to slow down the economy. Just remember what happened back in 2008. When easy credit stops flowing, the dominoes can start falling very quickly.

Sadly, this is a cycle that can feed into itself. When credit is tight, the economy slows down and more businesses fail. That causes financial institutions to want to tighten up things even more in order to avoid the "bad credit risks". Less economic activity means less tax revenue for governments. Less tax revenue means larger budget deficits and increased borrowing by governments. But when government debt gets really high that can cause huge economic problems like we are witnessing in Greece right now. The cycle of tighter credit and a slowing economy can go on and on and on.

I spend a lot of time talking about problems with the U.S. economy, but the truth is that the rest of the world is dealing with massive problems as well right now. As bad as things are in the U.S., the reality is that Europe looks like it may be "ground zero" for the next great financial crisis.

At this point the EU essentially has three choices. It can choose much deeper economic integration (which would mean a huge loss of sovereignty), it can choose to keep the status quo going for as long as possible by providing the PIIGS with gigantic bailouts, or it can choose to end of the euro and return to individual national currencies.

Things have not looked this bad for global financial markets since 2008. Unless someone rides in on a white horse with trillions of dollars (or euros) of easy credit, it looks like we are headed for a massive credit crunch.

What we witnessed back in 2008 was absolutely horrifying. Very few people want to see a repeat of that. But as things in the U.S. and Europe continue to unravel, it appears increasingly likely that the next wave of the financial crisis could hit us sooner rather than later.

None of the fundamental problems that caused the crisis of 2008 have been fixed. The world financial system is still one gigantic mountain of debt, leverage and risk.

Authorities around the globe will certainly do all they can to keep things stable, but in the end it is inevitable that the house of cards is going to come crashing down.

Let us hope for the best, but let us also prepare for the worst.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/25-signs-that-the-financial-world-is-about-to-hit-the-big-red-panic-button

Henry Lamb on Agenda 21

Henry Lamb on Agenda 21, 10 years ago!

Source

Super Breaking News: A Fukushima worker died of acute leukemia

8/30/2011, Tepco announced that a Fukushima worker died of acute leukemia.
They say,the worker was from one of the sub-contract companies,male in 40s.
He had not had worked at a nuc plant before Fukushima,he was working at the plant for one week.

He died on 8/16,so probably he started working on 8/8 or 8/9.
The total exposure dose was 0.5 mSv. They checked he did not have internal exposure.

He was working at a back room. His job was to open and close the door for other workers come in and go out from the room.
For the question of an NHK reporter ,"Why did it take a half month to disclose the fact?"

They answered they were arranging for the privacy.

They emphasized that it has nothing to do with his work at the plant.

- Why now ?

The NHK reporter had a point. Why did they take 2 weeks to announce the accident.Their saying "They were taking care of the privacy" does not make any sense.

One day before,8/29,a journalist asked them about a Fukushima worker who had his bone broken.They did not disclose the accident until the journalist questioned. They emphasized it is not connected to his work at the plant. so they have no reason to announce his death.and there was no reason to keep it secret for two weeks.It only makes people even more suspicious for people. 

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16963084

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If You Thought August Was Bad, Just Wait Until September!

Up until August, this year had been fairly dull as the S&P 500 was in a trading range somewhere between 1250 and 1350. The selloff was due to a slew of negative economic releases which led to lowered economic growth expectations as well as renewed concerns over European sovereign debt markets and banks. Since August 8th the S&P 500 rallied just under 10% before selling off once more. The S&P 500's trading range is now between 1205 and 1120, and unfortunately I think we may have another repeat in which negative economic releases and continued worries over Europe may see the current trading range broken to the downside with the markets erasing QE2's entire rally from 2010.


"Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked" (Warren Buffett). The same issue we faced back in 2008 remains, too much debt. You can't solve a debt problem with more debt and while you can paper over debt with money printed out of thin air as Fed Chairman Bernanke has done, it's the lower economic end of society that feels the pain of higher commodity inflation. Rather than let bond holders and commercial banks take the pain for restructuring current debt imbalances, central banks continue their endless stream of bailouts. With the global economy slowing we are likely to see further financial stress ahead and yet an ever stream of bailouts. Expect a rough two-week period ahead as August economic data is very likely to show further slowing. Until the Fed enacts more money printing and the government more bailouts and fiscal stimulus, I would stress caution ahead as defense and capital preservation should remain the dominant investment theme.

When economic activity decelerates you begin to see who has been "swimming naked", as Buffett says, as those in the worst financial stress and those most leveraged are the first to deteriorate. While the financial crisis of 2008 that infected the world may have found its origins in the U.S. subprime fiasco, it appears this time around "ground zero" is the European banking crisis. The crisis with Greece first erupted in 2010 and it had a material affect on the U.S. and other economic regions, but stress began to fade as credit default swaps (CDS) in the U.S. declined in the back half of 2010. However, CDS levels in Europe basically moved sideways and never really came down. This second wave of European banking stress has now pushed CDS levels in Europe well above the highs seen in 2010 and now U.S. financial stress appears to be picking up as well and accelerating higher. The parabolic moves we witnessed in 2008 in CDS levels appears to be occurring once more as financial stress gathers momentum.

More Here..

What to Do in the Event of an Out of Control Money System

What strange pass have we come to?

The whole world is on the edge of its seat, this morning. Taking short breaths.

People watch. They wait. They listen for a pronunciamiento that could mean trillions in losses…or gains. It could — in theory — push up the world's growth rate…speeding up economies and bringing millions into the workforce, where they can earn money to pay for their wants and needs.

At the margin, it could make the difference between life and death. Many millions of the world's people live day to day, hand to mouth, barely getting enough food to eat. A downturn in the world's economy hits them like a plague in the Dark Ages, pushing them over the edge into famine and death.

And from whom will these precious words come today? They will come from Benjamin Shalom Bernanke, once of Dillon, South Carolina, and lately of the US Federal Reserve Bank in New York.

Who is this man, Ben Bernanke, and what kind of shoulders does he have? Is he a great deep thinker…a renown philosopher in whom the world's people could have confidence? Is he a captain of industry…a man who has proven that he can lead men and run a profitable business? Is he an investment wizard, like Warren Buffett, with billions of dollars as testament to his understanding of the world of money? Is he even a powerful politician or an acclaimed statesmen, who can at least pretend to solve the world's problems by threats and force?

He is none of those things. He is a fellow who studied economics and became a university professor. Now he is a quasi-bureaucrat, working as head of a quasi-bureaucracy, whose main function is to make sure bankers make a profit.

"It's either control or money," says our friend John Henry. John made a fortune out of a simple insight. If corporations would give up control of their legal problems, they could save themselves a lot of money. John takes on their legal challenges and handles them as commercial matters; he doesn't particularly care whether they win or lose the case, as long as the net cost is lower. He shares the savings.

"But a lot of companies don't really care about saving money. They don't want to give up control. Or, more precisely, their legal team doesn't want to give up control. So, they end up spending more money."

And that's Mr. Ben Bernanke's real role…the service he provides is making people believe it is under control. But the illusion of control is expensive.

He pumped $1.2 trillion into the banking system after Lehman collapsed in 2008. What did he get for it? About 80 cents worth of GDP growth for every dollar spent. A losing proposition; but maybe he can make it up on volume!

And what can he do now? At least in 2008 he still had some ammunition. Now, his big guns are empty. He's already stuck the Fed's key lending rate at zero…and pledged to keep it there for two more years. And now we know QEs I and II don't work either.

Yesterday we got word that housing went down in the last quarter — making 17 straight quarters of losses. Homeowners are down about $7 trillion…and still sinking. New building permits are down to a 15-year low. Sales have not been this low in a generation.

As for unemployment, the numbers are shifty. Most of the improvement in the unemployment rate comes from the feds' taking people who can't find jobs off the list of those looking for work. But layoffs are increasing…and it is now obvious that most of these jobs will NEVER come back.

GDP growth itself is near "stall rate." Most likely, the recession of '08-'09 never really ended.

And poor Mr. Bernanke. The weight of the whole world's illusions on those weasely shoulders. An honest man would shrug.

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Leaked cable: Vatican sees Latino socialist leaders as ‘dangerous’

The Vatican seems to be inconsistent on what countries they support. Chavez may be a socialist, but he's putting his country in a position that can survive a global collapse better than those still clutching fiat currencies. I say pissing off the Vatican means that you're doing something right. 

Less than a month after disastrous National Assembly elections in 2005, U.S. officials met with the Vatican's third highest ranking archbishop to discuss the church's outlook on Venezuela along with the Vatican's positions on a number of other Latin American leaders, according to a U.S. diplomatic...

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This Must be Part of the Government’s Plan to Create Jobs

As Obama travels the nation on his Keynesian Tour of Destruction trying to spread the word about his plan to save the United States economy and create jobs, the rest of the federal government is busy telling companies to use foreign labor:

Tonight, in an interview on KMJ’s “The Chris Daniel Show,” Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz confirmed that the US government wanted Gibson guitars to use foreign labor over American labor:
CHRIS DANIEL: Mr. Juszkiewicz, did an agent of the US government suggest to you that your problems would go away if you used Madagascar labor instead of American labor?
HENRY JUSZKIEWICZ: They actually wrote that in a [inaudible].
CHRIS DANIEL: Excuse me?
HENRY JUSKIEWICZ: They actually wrote that in a pleading.
CHRIS DANIEL: That your problems would go away if you used Madagascar labor instead of our labor?
HENRY JUSKIEWICZ: Yes

The United States government, the entity that claims to be watching out for the wellbeing of American citizens, actually told Gibson that they should use foreign labor instead of domestic labor to build their guitars. Had Gibson used foreign labor they wouldn’t have had agents with guns storming their factory and confiscating their property. This must be part of the government’s plan to save and/or create jobs. 

A tip of the old hat goes go Uncle for this story.

Source

Heinberg and Kaku Talk About Energy and Collapse

Dr. Michio Kaku talks with Dr. Richard Heinberg on his new book and the collapse of society due to decline in energy sources. Alternative energies are not necessarily practical based on the source of the incoming energy creating the alternative energy source.


Guests Dr. Richard Heinberg on Society in Collapse, and Eris Assadorian on the State of the World

Exploration, with Dr. Michio Kaku, on the Progressive Radio Network podcast

Man has relied upon fossil fuels to create a complex and expanding society. As those sources decline, so will industrial civilization and the growing human population. 6.5 billion people are only sustainable if energy is available and affordable to support that population. We already see conflicts across the earth over natural resources. To survive a collapse, the world needs to work together to reduce dependency, rather than fight the addiction to cheap energy.