Civics

BBC Report: Chinese Babies Stolen; "Sold"
The BBC is reporting that dozens of Chinese babies have been forcefully taken from their parents by the government and sent into the international adoption system. The report–which I couldn’t find any trace of elsewhere–suggests that families breaking th

Residents find family help from Angel Food Ministries
Feeding a family of four for an entire week on may sound like a nearly impossible task, but one local congregation is partnering with a national ministry to make sure that is exactly what can happen. First Baptist Church in Marshalltown recently st

School’s Out, but Many Will Get Free Meals
REGULAR classes at the Greater Brunswick Charter School in New Brunswick, N.J., ended June 25, but many students and their families will continue to stop by each week this summer to collect two bags of free groceries — pasta, rice, tomato sauce, canned tu

Speaker-Rep. James Traficant, Jr. (Ohio) addressing the House:
"Mr. Speaker, we are here now in chapter 11.. Members of Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest reorganization of any Bankrupt entity in world history, the U.S. Government. We are setting forth hopefully, a blueprint for our future. Th

'Food, Inc.': The Unsavory Business of Feeding America
By Ann Hornaday Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, June 19, 2009 In the muckraking tradition of Upton Sinclair and the slick documentary stylings of "An Inconvenient Truth," Robert Kenner's "Food, Inc." seeks to lift the curtain on the cynical and o

Finding Purpose in Serving the Needy, Not Just Haute Cuisine
RICHMOND, Calif. — Along with salt and pepper, the well-used kitchen contains a dash of wisdom. In the jostling hubbub of Tim Hammack’s kitchen at the Bay Area Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter in an eddy of urban need, it is about taking life as it come

Are YOU a slave?
What you learn here is far more than to simply eliminate debt, as important as that is. Still more important is to know who you really are and to stop letting the Money Power machines run your life and the life of your family and friends. That's what I me

Are You Hoarding Ammo?
If President Obama has stimulated anything in America, it is demand for guns and ammunition. According to Rich Wyatt, the voluble and intense owner of Gunsmoke — a firearms shop and training facility just outside Denver — “If I had known it would be this

Next step? No guns allowed for right-wing 'extremists'
A new gun law being considered in Congress, if aligned with Department of Homeland Security memos labeling everyday Americans as potential "threats," could potentially deny firearms to pro-lifers, gun-rights advocates, tax protesters, animal rights activi

Why Germans Supported Hitler
It has long intrigued me why the German people supported Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime. After all, every schoolchild in America is taught that Hitler and his Nazi cohorts were the very epitome of evil. How could ordinary German citizens support people

Depression-era chronicle shows a squirrelly food pyramid
If you live by the government's nutritional guidelines, you sat down this morning to a breakfast of protein and fiber - maybe juice, whole grain cereal, and low-fat milk. If, however, you were rushed like a lot of Americans, you pulled into a fast-food

Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More
IMPERIAL, Calif. — Ten minutes into arrant mayhem in this town near the Mexican border, and the gunman, a disgruntled Iraq war veteran, has already taken out two people, one slumped in his desk, the other covered in blood on the floor. The responding o

Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization?
For most of us, the idea that civilization itself could disintegrate probably seems preposterous. Who would not find it hard to think seriously about such a complete departure from what we expect of ordinary life? What evidence could make us heed a warnin

New standards could cut tax breaks for corn-based ethanol
Reporting from Washington -- The Obama administration proposed draft rules on Tuesday that could handicap producers of corn-based ethanol, a move that cheered environmentalists worried about global warming and sets the stage for an outcry from Midwest gra

Mississippi Farmers Trade Cotton Plantings for Corn
Farmers working land that has bloomed a dazzling snowy white every September since before the Civil War are switching to corn and soybeans. As gleaming silver corn silos go up on farm after farm, cotton gins are laying off workers or shutting down.

Suspect detained over 'extremist' bumper sticker
'Don't Tread on Me' puts driver in 'watch' category in DHS report. A Louisiana driver was stopped and detained for having a "Don't Tread on Me" bumper sticker on his vehicle and warned by a police officer about the "subversive" message it sent, according

Dark SugarThe decline and fall of high-fructose corn syrup.
High-fructose corn syrup first started trickling into our food supply about 40 years ago; by 1984, it was flowing from just about every soda fountain in the country. These days HFCS accounts for almost half of all the added sugars in the U.S. diet, but th

Breaking News: Federal civil rights lawsuit filed against West Milwaukee
Today civil rights attorney John Monroe filed a federal lawsuit against West Milwaukee and it's police force for gross abuses of power against a man solely because the man was legally carrying a holstered gun. The complaint alleges that police illegall

Food Stamps Create Jobs… in India
Michele Brown has seen Americans' struggles with jobs first hand. She lives in hard-hit Florida, spent 20 years in the real estate business and recently had her days as a nanny cut back after her boss had his own hours reduced.

Swine Flu Vaccine Months Away, FDA Says
U.S. scientists hope to have a key ingredient for a swine flu vaccine ready in early May, but tell The Associated Press that the novel virus grows slowly in eggs - the chief way flu vaccines are made. Even if all goes well, it still will take months be

The Roots of a Gardening Obsession
The British are obsessed with gardens. Each year they spend almost billion on their gardens, close to what the country spent last year on military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ten-year waiting lists to rent a tiny plot in inner-city community ga

Carnival barkers? No, U.S. sellers hawking homes
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Not satisfied with your home purchase as the value plummets? No problem. Return it and get your money back. That is what Rockrose Development Corporation is promising potential buyers of hundreds of condominiums in New York, as sel

Crisis Plunges US Middle Class into Poverty
The financial crisis in the US has triggered a social crisis of historic dimensions. Soup kitchens are suddenly in great demand and tent cities are popping up in the shadow of glistening office towers. Even drug dealers are feeling the pinch.

From Studying Chimps, a Theory on Cooking
Richard Wrangham, a primatologist and anthropologist, has spent four decades observing wild chimpanzees in Africa to see what their behavior might tell us about prehistoric humans. Dr. Wrangham, 60, was born in Britain and since 1989 has been at Harvard,

Carbon trading won't stop climate change
ONE day renewable energy looks like a sunrise industry, the next, tumbleweeds are blowing around a setting solar panel. What has changed? The price of emitting carbon dioxide. In 2005 the European Union created the world's first proper carbon market, t

Economic survivalists take root
When the economy started to squeeze the Wojtowicz family, they gave up vacation cruises, restaurant meals, new clothes and high-tech toys to become 21st-century homesteaders.

Pentagon preps for economic warfare
The Pentagon sponsored a first-of-its-kind war game last month focused not on bullets and bombs — but on how hostile nations might seek to cripple the U.S. economy, a scenario made all the more real by the global financial crisis. The two-day event nea

Burger King to scrap ad after complaint
An advertisement for a new Tex-Mex style hamburger hangs in a Burger King window in central Madrid April 14, 2009. Mexico's ambassador to Spain said posters for the new "Texican whopper inappropriately display the Mexican flag, which is draped over a dimi

Hong Kong Christens an Ark of Biblical Proportions
HONG KONG -- This city's three billionaire Kwok brothers have just the answer for the rising waters threatening the global economy: the world's first life-size replica of Noah's ark, built to biblical specifications off the coast of this recession-struck

Georgia comes to German home schoolers' defense
Uwe Romeike told Associated Press that he moved his wife and five children to Tennessee because they were being persecuted for their evangelical Christian beliefs and home schooling their children in German, where school attendance is compulsory. He said

Southeast growers ponder future with little history for guidance
In my job I get to meet a lot of interesting people, mostly farm people, many come from a farming legacy. Being a fourth or fifth generation farmer is common and farming land that has been in their family over a hundred years is not too uncommon. Moder

Chinese taste for fried food may keep vegetable oils hot despite slump
Permanently changed diets in China and the world's unrelenting appetite for fried food may defy the global recession and trigger a “stagflation” surge in the price of edible oils, commodity traders in Asia have said. Fears are growing that food oil mar

Benefits widen public, private workers' pay gap
The pay gap between government workers and lower-compensated private employees is growing as public employees enjoy sizable benefit growth even in a distressed economy, federal figures show. Public employees earned benefits worth an average of .38 a

Chinese drywall poses potential risks
PARKLAND, Fla. – At the height of the U.S. housing boom, when building materials were in short supply, American construction companies used millions of pounds of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap. Now that decision is haunting hund

10 ways the new economy will look different
Cooke & Co. was the Bear Stearns of its time, a pillar of national finance. If it could fail, anyone could, and the US stock market collapsed that awful autumn. The price of real estate, railroads, and other hard assets crashed, too. Banks fell like w

Nonprofit Wash. farm produces tons of food
TACOMA, Wash. -- Otis Jackson Jr. of Parkland celebrated his 21st birthday by touching a horse. Jackson was a member of a Pierce County District Court work crew working to satisfy a community service requirement at the nonprofit Mother Earth Farm near

Open house, anyone? 1 in 9 homes sit empty
CHANDLER, Ariz. — The white notice taped to the front window of a luxury home in the Vasaro subdivision is a telltale sign. "Bank-owned," says real estate agent John Groves, without skipping a beat. There are other clues. Dirt where a lush lawn shou

Annual Amtrak mooning has become expensive for host city
A decades-long practice with murky origins of people dropping their drawers to moon passing Amtrak trains that last summer drew about 10,000 people to Laguna Niguel has become an expensive problem for this city, home to about 65,000 people. The unofficia

Where Policy Grows
Dave Murphy is the founder of a food advocacy group. But he wants you to know, "in no uncertain terms," that he is not a foodie. Foodies are people who obsess about the perfect apple tart. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But for Murphy, the fig

Sorry, But The Science Is Never 'Settled'
President Obama has said that the science of global warming is "beyond dispute," and therefore settled. This is the justification for the imposition of a carbon cap-and-trade system that will cost trillion. But Obama does not understand science.

Fire And Ice
Climate Change: An ice shelf in Antarctica begins to break apart, and the global warming hysterics immediately blame human activities for the crackup. Is it possible that there is some other cause?

Hero of Our Times
Just for the hell of it, I made myself a martini when I got home earlier tonight. I'm not much of a mixed drinks guy. A shot of whiskey and a cold beer are the usual for me. Still, there are times when you need to walk past the neighborhood bar and off to

Just 53% Say Capitalism Better Than Socialism
Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 20% disagree and say socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure which is better.

Author who predicted crisis sees inflation ahead
NEW YORK (Reuters) - An author who saw the global financial crisis coming fears the next bubble will come in the form of inflation and has little confidence U.S. President Barack Obama's team is up to the challenge ahead. "The Democrats have replaced t

Solution To Drought: It's In The Genes
California is short of more than jobs, money and optimism these days. Several years of drought have dried up reservoirs, parched fields, damaged forests and caused regulators around the state to impose restrictions on water usage. California agricul

Ten principles for a Black Swan-proof world
1. What is fragile should break early while it is still small. Nothing should ever become too big to fail. Evolution in economic life helps those with the maximum amount of hidden risks – and hence the most fragile – become the biggest.

A Long Row to Hoe: Obama's ill-fated effort to cut subsidies to wealthy farmers
At least someone is getting a bonus this year. Bankers may be out of luck, and things aren't looking too good for autoworkers, but boy howdy, things are right as rain down on the farm. Food prices are holding fairly steady, energy costs are low. And ev

Making do making milk / Rising costs squeeze dairy farms, but quitting is no simple solution
WEST HAVEN -- Got milk? Kerry Gibson does. He's just not getting paid much for it. Gibson is one of many dairy farmers in Utah losing money every day by trying to make a living. At Gibson's Green Acres farm in West Haven, the state representative

Texas woman calls 911 over shrimp shortage in food
HALTOM CITY, Texas -- A woman called 911 to report she didn't get as much shrimp as she wanted in her fried rice at a Texas restaurant. Haltom City police on Tuesday released the taped emergency call, in which the customer is heard telling the dispat

Deeper Digital Penetration: The expanding invasion of the naked body scanners.
The naked body scanners are taking over. When we first checked in on them two years ago, the scanners, which see through clothing, were being deployed at a single airport. A few months later, they were upgraded to millimeter-wave technology, which deli

Communities print their own currency to keep cash flowing
A small but growing number of cash-strapped communities are printing their own money. Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are aiming to help consumers make ends meet and support struggling local businesses.

Farm state Nebraska is "happiest" in U.S.

Lenders slash credit for responsible borrowers
As lenders close a record number of credit card accounts and slash credit lines, they're targeting an unlikely population: responsible borrowers. A new study by Fair Isaac, the creator of the FICO credit score, shows that 11% of U.S. consumers, about

Angel Food Ministries provides help in tough economic times
In today’s struggling economy, everyone is looking a bargain especially when it comes to grocery shopping and feeding our families. A local church has stepped up to the plate and is providing a service to the local community through its Angel Food Mini

Has America become numb to tragedy?
PITTSBURGH - Does the name Byran Uyesugi ring a bell? Odds are not. What about Robert A. Hawkins? Or Mark Barton? Terry Ratzmann? Robert Stewart? Each entered the national consciousness when he picked up a gun and ended multiple lives. Uyesugi, 1999, H

'Ontario residents only' at Tent City
Dozens of Ontario police and code enforcement officers descended upon the homeless encampment known as Tent City early Monday, separating those who could stay from those to be evicted. Many who had taken shelter at the camp -- which had grown from 20 t

U.N. 'Climate Change' Plan Would Likely Shift Trillions to Form New World Economy
A United Nations document on "climate change" that will be distributed to a major environmental conclave next week envisions a huge reordering of the world economy, likely involving trillions of dollars in wealth transfer, millions of job losses and gains

Cities and States Plan Strange New Taxes on Pretty Much Everything
Even as taxpayers are struggling to make ends meet in a crumbling, tumbling economy, your friendly neighborhood (and state and federal) government is having a hard time making do with the meager trillions you're throwing its way, so it's relying on an old

Marijuana No Laughing Matter, Mr. President
The problem for Mr. Obama is that marijuana reform was at or near the top of the list of all questions in three major categories: budget, health care reform, green jobs and energy. Our leader doesn't seem to understand that millions of his interlocutor-co

Oklahoma City food bank hopes to save more pets
Many people consider their pets part of the family, but Oklahoma City’s animal advocates are worried about what happens when finances are tight and the choice is to feed the kids or feed the dog. Their solution: a pet food bank. Just like traditional

Mobile Food Bank Begins Operation
UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio — A social services agency is operating a new mobile food pantry for southeast Ohio. Unemployment runs as high as 15 percent in some southeast Ohio counties, and many residents do not have access to nearby food pantries. "So ma

Second Harvest Food Bank Joining Forces with Food City
Every month, the Second Harvest Food Bank provides food for about 29,000 people in Northeast Tennessee. And to keep the pantries stocked, Second Harvest is again joining forces with Food City and the Junior Leagues of Bristol, Johnson City and Kingsport t

for a cup of coffee? Use debit card wisely
Would you pay for a cup of coffee? Clifford Phillips of Spokane, Wash., did. He used his debit card to pay for a latte, not knowing there wasn’t enough money in his checking account to cover it. The bank could have declined the transaction for insuffi

Steep vet bills, sour economy doom more pets
“You could tell the leg was broken,” recalled Yount, 38, a mother of three from Bloomsdale, Mo., who found her dog in a ditch three weeks ago. But when Yount got the bill to repair Daisy’s injuries — a fractured pelvis and a shattered tibia — she knew

Shaky economy forces Americans to rediscover community
(CNN) -- Leslie Gage knew it was coming, but that didn't take away the pain. She was working as an architect for a small company in Atlanta, Georgia, when the company's founder asked her into his office. He took off his glasses and rubbed his hand agai

The Yarrow gives marrow to food bank
The band Van Halen used to infamously demand M&M's be provided backstage, with all of the brown candies removed. Local band The Yarrow will take M&M's -- even the brown ones -- but would rather receive canned food backstage. That's because the ro

National Service Corps Bill Clears Senate Hurdle
Following overwhelming House passage last week, the Senate tonight voted 74 to 14 on a procedural move that essentially guarantees a major expansion of a national service corps... Tonight’s vote, propelled by President Obama’s urging of an expansion,

Why should society be worried by the domination of video games?
It is thought The Hypodermic Needle Theory is more applicable to the video games medium than other forms of media. The theory came about in the late 1940’s and 50’s when radio and television ownership was increasing; and people were concerned about media

Commentary: Legalize drugs to stop violence
Prohibition creates violence because it drives the drug market underground. This means buyers and sellers cannot resolve their disputes with lawsuits, arbitration or advertising, so they resort to violence instead. Violence was common in the alcohol in

Missouri Governor Stands Behind MIAC Smear Report
Prison Planet.com Friday, March 20, 2009 Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has defended a report issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center that smears Ron Paul supporters, people who have knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, and people who display pol

CAFR1 NATIONAL POST
In general, lets go back to what Al Capone use to say in the 30's: "What the hell are we fighting government for, let's become government and we will then take whatever we want." Well, they did and the rest is history.

Residents rally to West Valley Food Pantry's aid
After learning that the shelves at the West Valley Food Pantry were going empty as demand for aid had risen, the residents of nearby Bell Canyon took some decisive action: They dropped off plastic donation bags last week at mailboxes with a flier atta

FL. Judge Holds Non-Filer Not Guilty Of Crime!!
FLORIDA JUDGE RULES ATTORNEY REFUSING TO FILE SINCE ’99 COMMITED NO CRIME!! That’s right! After a trial of a hearing on a Florida Bar Association complaint alleging that Charles “Chuck” Behm, a Florida attorney, had violated bar rules by committing a cri

Business Owners: How To Handle a Shrinking Business
During depressions, many businesses make a fatal mistake: They lay off employees. Some businesses have no choice; if the product or service is related more to quantity than quality, then perhaps there is no alternative. But many businesses are far better

Diebold Admits ALL Versions of Their Software Delete Ballots Without Notice
Even the audit log system on current versions of Premier Election Solutions’ (formerly Diebold’s) electronic voting and tabulating systems — used in some 34 states across the nation — fail to record the wholesale deletion of ballots. Even when ballots are

Police Trained Nationwide That Informed Americans Are Domestic Terrorists
A secret report distributed by the Missouri Information Analysis Center lists Ron Paul supporters, libertarians, people who display bumper stickers, people who own gold, or even people who fly a U.S. flag and equates them with radical race hate groups and

Pastor now tells how to prep for imminent catastrophe
A nationally known pastor and author who predicts an imminent catastrophe of God's judgment on America is now telling concerned Christians it is time for peace and preparation, not panic. "This is what I hear the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart concer

D.C. rejects woman’s handgun over color
A D.C. woman claims she was banned from registering her .45-caliber handgun in the District because the weapon was “the wrong color.” Tracey Ambeau Hanson was one of three city residents who filed a lawsuit against the District on Monday that challenges

Nationalization: It's Not Just for Communists Anymore
It used to be synonymous with authoritarian regimes, now politicians threaten it and media call it a 'necessary evil.' In America, “nationalization” used to be a dirty word. But that was prior to this era of government intervention to save industries and

Eleven States Declare Sovereignty Over Obama’s Action
State governors -- looking down the gun barrel of long-term spending forced on them by the Obama “stimulus” plan -- are saying they will refuse to take the money. This is a Constitutional confrontation between the federal government and the states unlike

Print Your Own Money: A Solution to Financial Woes
Times are tough. The global economy seems to be spiraling downward and no one seems to know quite how to fix it. But if you’re tired of being shortchanged, there may be a solution. Change your change. It’s a simple concept: instead of using U.S. legal

America Is Completely Broke, And Here We Are Funding Fantasy Wars at the Pentagon
Given our economic crisis, the estimated trillion dollars we spend each year on the military and its weaponry is simply unsustainable. Even if present fiscal constraints no longer existed, we would still have misspent too much of our tax revenues on too f

US military leaders are pressuring Obama to cancel his Iraq withdrawal promise
Porter explains his discovery that Gen. David Petraeus, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and other US military leaders have been applying pressure on Obama to change his plan for US withdrawal from Iraq. It appears however that Obama is standing firm on hi

Deal-making to replace Sen. Gregg alarmingly undemocratic
"...The apparent behind-the-scenes deal-making that went on to determine who will fill Senator Gregg's vacancy is alarmingly undemocratic," Feingold said. "Once again, Americans will be represented in the Senate for nearly two years by someone they had no

War Stories Echo an Earlier Winter
The four-day event, Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan -- Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations, is sponsored by Iraq Veterans Against the War and is expected to draw more than 200 veterans of the two wars through tomorrow.

BARASSO: A vote against Holder
Agendas and intentions can change quickly. Our nation's highest law enforcement officer must be committed to protecting and defending our individual rights to keep and bear arms.

We are facing a genocidal war
An interview with Sergio Yahni about the situation in Gaza, anti-war protests in Israel, boycott and the objectives of Israel government.

Obama to Host Super Bowl Party as Stimulus Talks Continue
The president on Sunday is participating in a different type of partisanship -- which team to support in the Super Bowl -- but it's unlikely choosing the right team could sway lawmakers to support an 5 billion stimulus package.

It's Winter, So That Must Be Gore Talking about 'Warming'
The left's own Punxsutawney Phil brings more hot air to a chilly Washington.

Obama upbeat on chances of getting stimulus bill
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says he is confident that an economic stimulus bill will be approved as the legislation heads toward a key vote in the House.