The State Department is still reeling from deep cuts made by Senate and House appropriations panels to the Obama administration’s budget requests for next year, with some officials warning of national security risks.
Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state in its Bureau of Political Military Affairs, told a meeting last week of the Center for New American Security that the hefty cuts will compromise national security. He noted that the 2012 funding bill for State Department and foreign operations was cut 8 percent by the full Senate Appropriations Committee and a whopping 18 percent by the House Appropriations State and Foreign Operations subcommittee.
State Dept. reeling from budget cuts
Protesters Arrested While Wall Street Crooks Go Free
By Saturday, the hundreds of protesters appeared to have lit a fuse with New York City police. There were rough arrests that bordered on brutality. Pepper spray brought tears and pain.
And to a nation’s shock, not one of the police targets was a banker.
So much for law and order.
3 Reasons to Reconsider Flu Shots
A new major study has numerically determined the effectiveness of the flu shot to be 1%. This means that despite the H1N1-loaded flu jab, there is still a 99% chance that you will not be protected against the flu. The reason for this, despite the faulty science behind the development of the vaccine, has to do with flu strains. It is extremely challenging, to the point of guessing, which flu strain will affect your area. With such a wide selection, it is very rare (about 1%, according to the study), for it to be the correct strain.
THEY WANT US DEAD! – Red Level Alert America
While we are all focusing on the coming financial collapse, as bad as that is something much more sinister is in the works.
It’s very subtle if you are not paying attention. But, to the aware, it’s blatant, insidious, and just as horrific as Hitler’s Germany.
There is a small group of the world’s banking elite who have worked for a few hundred years with ingenious precision and unlimited money, to corral, coerce, and conquer every country of value on earth.
Rick Santorum’s Stump Speech Includes Nod To Fracking Company Directly Paying Him The Past Year
On the campaign trail, Rick Santorum says his career since the Senate has been a paid commentary role at Fox News and as a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. But a mandatory disclosure requirement for presidential candidates reveals something new: Santorum has maintained his lifestyle through a well-paid consulting gig with Consol Energy Inc and a lobbying firm called American Continental Group.
The disclosure, revealed earlier this week, comes as a surprise because Santorum has never mentioned the fact that he works for a lobbying firm, nor do any state and federal lobbying disclosures have him listed as a lobbyist or contractor to such a company.
French woman kidnapped in Kenya resort by Somali gunmen
A French woman has been kidnapped by an armed gang on Kenya's northern resort island of Manda and taken to Somalia, Kenyan officials say. The disabled woman, 66, was attacked at her bungalow at Ras Kitau. Kenya's government said it believed the abductors were al-Shabab militants.
A Kenyan statement said some abductors were injured in a shootout with two Kenyan ships trying to stop them. The kidnap comes three weeks after a UK couple were attacked further north.
The Trouble With Health Problems Near Gas Fracking
Nobody has systemically tracked how many health complaints there are, whether the complaints are similar, whether they can be tied to any specific chemical exposure or any environmental cause. It makes it very difficult beyond an anecdotal answer to get a handle on how widespread a problem this might be."
Part of the problem, writes Lustgarten, is that "the drilling companies have complicated efforts to gather pollution data and to understand the root of health complaints."
Cigarette vending machines banned in England
The sale of tobacco from vending machines has been banned in England, with anyone caught selling cigarettes in machines facing a fine of £2,500.
The Department of Health said the ban had been introduced to prevent under-age sales to children and to support adults who were trying to quit. The rest of the UK is expected to implement a similar ban next year.
Boston police arrest 24 in protest vs. B of A
Two dozen trespassing protesters were happily hauled off from Bank of America’s downtown offices last night in a gesture of civil disobedience against what they say are the leading lender’s unfair foreclosure practices.
“They wanted to be arrested, and we obliged,” Boston police Commissioner Edward F. Davis told the Herald last night as he stood on the outskirts of Dewey Square, observing hundreds gathered in a rush-hour protest. The crowd grew to an estimated 3,000 by nightfall.
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