vision's Blog

Looks like China can put  Brazi in a crisisl with high food demands, now add the alternative energy sources into the equation and you are looking at the international problems with energy and population.  Rather than wars maybe it is time to make a world wide procreation plea to put off creating, and stop giving tax breaks for having more children.

Amazon deforestation jumped 69 percent in the past 12 months — the first such increase in three years — as rising demand for soy and cattle pushes farmers and ranchers to raze trees, officials said Saturday.

Some 3,088 square miles of forest were destroyed between August 2007 and August 2008 — a 69 percent increase over the 1,861 square miles felled in the previous 12 months, according to the National Institute for Space Research, or INPE, which monitors destruction of the Amazon.

"We're not content," Environment Minister Carlos Minc said. "Deforestation has to fall more and the conditions for sustainable development have to improve."

Brazil's government has increased cash payments to fight illegal Amazon logging this year, and it eliminated government bank loans to farmers who illegally clear forest to plant crops.

The country lost 2.7 percent of its Amazon rain forest in 2007, or 4,250 square miles. Environmental officials fear even more land will be razed this year — but they have not forecast how much.

Minc says monthly deforestation rates have slowed since May, but environmental groups say seasonal shifts in tree cutting make the annual number a more accurate gauge.

Most deforestation happens in March and April, the start of Brazil's dry season, and routinely tapers off in May, June and July: Last month, 125 square miles of trees were felled, 61 percent less than the area razed in June.

Environmentalists also argue that INPE's deforestation report wasn't designed to give accurate monthly figures, but to alert and direct the government to deforestation hot spots in time to save the land.

The Amazon region covers about 1.6 million square miles of Brazil, nearly 60 percent of the country. About 20 percent of that land has already been deforested

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/loca
l&id=6354790

LONG ISLAND (WABC) -- An incredible display of generosity on Long Island. A parishioner with a winning $3 million lottery ticket donated it to the church anonymously.

In three short years, the True North community church in Port Jefferson swelled to 650 members and outgrew their small space.

They shuffle church members in and out of four Sunday services each week.

So two weeks ago, Pastor Bert Crabbe decided the congregation had to rent a bigger space unless they got a miracle.

"I was joking I said unless God drops a couple of million that's what we're going to do," he said.

Those words became realty.

A church member plopped down a winning $3 million scratch off ticket on his desk.

The only condition was not to tell anyone who he is.

"It's so cool that they don't want recognition. They don't want anybody to know who they are. I think it makes it even more exciting," said Melissa Joles.

Charity work is very important to the church. The first $150,000 the church collects from the lottery instead of keeping it and growing their own church members will pass on to other charity.'

The non-denominational Christian church will collect $150,000 for the next 20 years.

They're thinking of buying property and building a bigger church.

"I love when God does things that only he can take credit for. I believe that that's what God's been doing for us as a church," said Associate Pastor Mike Brennan.

Pastor Crabbe hopes this incredible generosity will speak to others.

---
STORY BY: Eyewitness News reporter Carolina Leid
WEB PRODUCED BY: Scott Curkin

• Story Highlights
• 1 person dead, 116 ill in northeastern part of the state
  
• Focus of investigation is restaurant in Locust Grove, Oklahoma
  
• Officials say this form of E. coli is "not normally found in this form of outbreak"
  
• Officials say outbreak appears to be abating
  
• Next Article in Health »

(CNN) -- Oklahoma health officials said Friday they are searching for the source of a rare form of E. coli that has killed one person and sickened 116 others in the northeastern part of the state.

The subtype of bacteria -- called E. coli 0111 -- is "not normally found in this form of outbreak," said Leslea Bennett-Webb, director of communication for the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

More than 50 people have been hospitalized and nine people -- six of them children -- have been placed on dialysis, she said.

She said the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, helped state officials determine the subtype, but said the cause of the outbreak remains unknown.

"The focus has been narrowed to the Country Cottage Restaurant located in Locust Grove," she said, noting that most of the people who became ill ate there between August 15 and August 23.

Tests carried out on water from a well on restaurant property indicate the presence of bacteria, but "we have not been able to confirm what kind of bacteria," said Skylar McElhaney, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.

The Oklahoma Department of Health will analyze them and compare them with samples taken from victims, she said. "We can't say for sure that it is tied to the water in any way, but we also cannot rule it out," she said.

Symptoms of infection with the bacteria can include severe diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, vomiting and severe abdominal cramping, said Larry Weatherford of the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

Management at the restaurant, which has closed during the investigation, was working closely with health officials, he added.

Meanwhile, the outbreak appears to be abating. "While we believe we are seeing a downward curve in the number of people who have become ill, we still have many challenges with some patients who remain hospitalized," said State Epidemiologist Dr. Kristy Bradley. "We continue to ask the public to be extra diligent in their hand washing and food preparation to minimize the possibility of additional persons becoming ill."

The CDC estimates there may be about 70,000 E. coli infections each year in the United States.

What are the motives of our next presidential candidates, really need to make a wise decision now,  Bush and his party which did include McClain opened the US to these enemies.

http://noworldsystem.com/category/los-zeta/

http://infowars.net/articles/march2008/060308mexica
ns.htm

Thanks Bush and your Administration for your "War on Drugs" it was very effective, looks like things did not get handled in the US when they should have or was that the intention of this present Administration?

Decapitated bodies found near Tijuana http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/08/26/mex
ico.violence.ap/index.html

Don't Miss Mexico plans to combat kidnappings Witnesses said the bodies had their hands tied behind their backs. The heads were found nearby and appeared to have been burned. The killings were the latest in a wave of mostly drug-related violence that has swept Mexico. Cartels have turned to decapitating their victims as a way to intimidate their rivals. Another decapitated body and a man who had been stabbed to death were found Monday on the outskirts of Tijuana. Nearly two years ago, President Felipe Calderon launched a nationwide battle to take back territory controlled by some of the world's most powerful drug gangs. Cartels have responded with unprecedented violence, especially along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Reservation raid nets 24,000 pot plants 

http://www.kxly.com/global/story.asp?s=8903576>  

Posted: Aug 26, 2008 03:01 PM CDT Updated: Aug 26, 2008 11:04 PM CDT

SPOKANE -- It's been a record-breaking summer for Washington's marijuana eradication task force which has confiscated more plants this year than ever before. However the drug trade remains a major problem across the state. Last week, in a remote patch of the Spokane Indian Reservation, the combined task force of DEA Agents along with local and state officers busted two marijuana grows. "We believe this is a Mexican drug trafficking organization based grow," Lt. Rich Wiley with the Washington State Patrol said. Using helicopters in the air and SWAT Teams and K-9 teams on the ground the teams move in on the grows after extensive surveillance of the sites. The marijuana grows are placed in hard to reach locations, leaving the SWAT Teams to be inserted into the site from the air. "They're using any type of state where they think they can operate in anonymity," Lt. Wiley said. Reservations have become very popular for marijuana growing with the Yakama Reservation long a target for illegal grows. Now those operations are moving east. "This is probably the first significant grow on the Spokane Indian Reservation but it's following a trend we've noticed across the state," Lt. Wiley said. Spokane Tribal Police and Stevens County authorities say while its possible more marijuana is being grown now, they're also being more proactive. "The drug trafficking organizations interested in it and the high dollar values the product represents, it's a big problem," Stevens County Sheriff Craig Thayer said. At the bottom of a ravine on the reservation the SWAT team secures three pot grows. They're irrigated on terraced land. Near the grows a small camp filled with fertilizer is found. One by one, the plants are pulled from the ground, each one worth over $2,500. "That's where all the drama is, where the public sees us pulling the plants," Lt. Wiley said. "Really the good work happens year-round when we're working on drug-trafficking organizations." The criminal elements that operate these illegal grows often lead to other illegal activities which is why this coordinated effort between federal, state and local law enforcement is so important. "It's not specific to a reservation," Spokane Tribal Police Chief Rory Gilliland said. "This is the type of location they look for." The team works quickly, hauling out plants and trash and within a few hours of arriving at the site everything has been hauled out and it's time for them to move on. "Although we didn't get any suspects ... at this grow, there's some evidence there that will be used in an ongoing investigation," Lt. Wiley said. In all authorities nabbed 7,612 plants from the marijuana grow on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Combined with another bust on the same day as this raid the task force confiscated over 24,000 marijuana plants worth around $60 Million. These raids were the single largest ever conducted in Stevens County and the Spokane Indian Reservation's history.

Police Make $150 Million Marijuana Bust   http://www.ktla.com/pages/landing/?bPolice-Make-15
0-Million-Marijuana-Bust-=1&blockID=42724&feedID=171a>

 HEMET -- Riverside Sheriff's deputies discovered a major marijuana farm in the hills of Hemet. A sheriff's helicopter patrol guided Riverside deputies to a $150 million marijuana garden in a remote
area south of Hemet. An encampment was first spotted in the trees Monday, then the helicopter crew noticed the pot growing in the hills around Sage, in the Red Mountain region east of Temecula.
Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Sedgwick says the marijuana was in various stages of growth and a substantial amount of the pot was ready for distribution. There are no arrests. Last week, the U.S. Forest Service and San Bernardino County narcotics officers seized an estimated $35 million in marijuana plants and arrested seven people east of the Big Bear Lake.KTLA News

 This is a good website for slightly different information below:

http://www.borderfirereport.net/foreign-news-rep
ort/mega-cartel-created-in-mexico-los-zetas-becomes-a-n
ew-cartel.html

But .......................................................
...............carries truth, think about it. 

You Tube this title:

The Greatest Speech of the Greatest President of all Time

Recently, I heard that the Kansas City Power & Light district was scanning people's IDs before entrance.  The scanner takes and keeps all information into a database.  This database can be given to marketing companies who can sell to anyone else.  The information is taken off your driver license which has embedded your address, birth date, etc.  Now say this information is sold to others who plan to abuse ID theft, or like the lady who had the husband that died and someone had already emptied the bank account, is this the way a person could get access to our personal information. 

I think it should not be allowed, they say they have the right to do so because they manage the KC Power & Light business, I thought the public paid in taxes for that wonderful place.  So let me get this straight KC residents paid in tax dollars to build it, KC Power & Light can herd you in like "cattle being branded",  into a boxed area and take your personal information which can therefore be given for use by any so called "marketing" agency to use as they see fit.

Gangster clothing not allowed, "gangsters"  have bad records and not good enough to use for ID theft purposes.  Now "gangsters" aren't you glad you did not fight to get in, this is only for the people who may have credit worthy IDs to "market".  This has ID theft, in the name of business written all over it, what do you think?

Oil Tumbles More Than $6 on Stronger Dollar, Pipeline Restart

By Mark Shenk

Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell more than $6 a barrel, dropping the most in percentage terms since December 2004, as the U.S. dollar strengthened and BP Plc restored shipments on a Caspian Sea pipeline through Turkey.

Energy futures fell as the rising dollar eased demand for commodities as an inflation hedge. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which moves oil from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean coast, resumed normal flows today after a fire shut it earlier this month, a Turkish official said.

``The dollar sent oil prices higher yesterday and lower today,'' said Rick Mueller, director of oil markets at Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Wakefield, Massachusetts. ``The reopening of the BTC pipeline through Turkey is being greeted with relief because there will be additional barrels of really good-quality crude available.''

Crude oil for October delivery fell $6.59, or 5.4 percent, to settle at $114.59 a barrel at 2:49 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the biggest drop on a percentage basis since Dec. 27, 2004. In dollar terms, it was the biggest decline since Jan. 17, 1991, when U.S.-led forces expelled Iraq from Kuwait.

Futures erased yesterday's $6.20 gain. The October contract rose 0.6 percent for the week.

The dollar climbed 0.9 percent to $1.4772 per euro in New York from $1.4899 yesterday, when it fell 1 percent, the biggest decline since June. Dollar-based commodities such as oil and gold are often viewed by investors as a store of value when the currency weakens.

``It's hard to tell whether the dollar is shifting oil or the opposite,'' Mueller said. ``It's obvious that there is a relationship and that they intensify the moves of each other.''

Caspian Supplies

BP, Europe's second-largest oil company, StatoilHydro ASA and partners cut output at Caspian oil fields following the closure of the 1,768-kilometer (1,100-mile) link on Aug. 5. The pipeline is used to carry oil from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey, where it's loaded onto tankers for U.S. and European markets. BP said loadings are scheduled to begin next week.

``The pipeline's flow has returned to normal levels,'' Akif Sam, a spokesman for the Turkish Energy Ministry, said in a telephone interview.

A Ceyhan loading schedule yesterday showed 24 cargoes totaling 18.2 million barrels, or an average of 868,155 barrels a day, will be exported from Aug. 25 to Sept. 14.

``The volume of oil will be ramped up over the weekend, and if everything is set, loadings will begin on Monday,'' said Murat Lecompte, a spokesman for BP in Istanbul. He said some of the oil would be used to replenish supply depots.

Russian Invasion

The shutdown of the BTC pipeline was followed three days later by Russia's invasion of Georgia, which further disrupted Caspian fuel shipments.

Oil prices have also fallen on reduced demand in the U.S., the country responsible for almost a quarter of global oil use. The credit crisis has led to a higher U.S. jobless rate and slower economic growth this year.

``The economy continues to be on the bearish side of the ledger while geopolitical concerns are on the bullish side,'' said Christopher Edmonds, the managing principal of FIG Partners Energy Research & Capital Group in Atlanta. ``In between, there is the dollar, which can send prices either way. I think Russia and the dollar will determine what prices do next week.''

Sixteen of 29 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News, or 55 percent, said prices will increase through Aug. 29. Seven of the respondents, or 24 percent, said oil will be little changed and six said there would be a drop in prices. Last week 63 percent expected prices to increase.

Brent Oil

Brent crude oil for October settlement declined $6.24, or 5.2 percent, to settle at $113.92 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange.

Crude oil may tumble to $80 a barrel within 12 months on increasing supplies of alternative energy, while grain prices may climb on emerging-market demand, said Renee Haugerud, whose hedge fund gained 18 percent this year.

The surge in oil has been ``overdone'' by investors seeking holdings in raw materials through the Standard & Poor's GSCI Index, a commodity gauge weighted toward energy, she said. Industrial metals also rose too high, she said.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will probably increase oil supply in August by 400,000 barrels a day, or 1.2 percent, as Iran releases crude oil held in storage, according to preliminary estimates from PetroLogistics Ltd. OPEC will next meet to review production targets on Sept. 9 in Vienna.

Gasoline for September delivery fell 17.66 cents, or 5.8 percent, to settle at $2.8686 a gallon in New York.

Pump prices haven't increased since July 19, according to AAA, the nation's largest motorist organization. Regular gasoline, averaged nationwide, fell 1 cent to $3.692 a gallon, AAA said today on its Web site. Prices reached a record $4.114 a gallon on July 17.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at [email protected].

• 17:06 03 July 2008
• NewScientist.com news service
• David Hambling

• US Army toyed with telepathic ray gun
• 21 March 2008
• Nerve-tapping neckband used in 'telepathic' chat
• 12 March 2008
• Taser-proof clothing creates new hazard
• 10 November 2007

• Search New Scientist
• Contact us

• Sierra Nevada Corporation
• US Navy contract for earlier MEDUSA research
• UIC College of Engineering

A US company claims it is ready to build a microwave ray gun able to beam sounds directly into people's heads.

The device – dubbed MEDUSA (Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio) – exploits the microwave audio effect, in which short microwave pulses rapidly heat tissue, causing a shockwave inside the skull that can be detected by the ears. A series of pulses can be transmitted to produce recognisable sounds.

The device is aimed for military or crowd-control applications, but may have other uses.

Lev Sadovnik of the Sierra Nevada Corporation in the US is working on the system, having started work on a US navy research contract. The navy's report states that the effect was shown to be effective.

MEDUSA involves a microwave auditory effect "loud" enough to cause discomfort or even incapacitation. Sadovnik says that normal audio safety limits do not apply since the sound does not enter through the eardrums.

"The repel effect is a combination of loudness and the irritation factor," he says. "You can’t block it out."

Sadovnik says the device will work thanks to a new reconfigurable antenna developed by colleague Vladimir Manasson. It steers the beam electronically, making it possible to flip from a broad to a narrow beam, or aim at multiple targets simultaneously.

Sadovnik says the technology could have non-military applications. Birds seem to be highly sensitive to microwave audio, he says, so it might be used to scare away unwanted flocks.

Sadovnik has also experimented with transmitting microwave audio to people with outer ear problems that impair their normal hearing.

James Lin of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Illinois in Chicago says that MEDUSA is feasible in principle.

He has carried out his own work on the technique, and was even approached by the music industry about using microwave audio to enhance sound systems, he told New Scientist.

"But is it going to be possible at the power levels necessary?" he asks. Previous microwave audio tests involved very "quiet" sounds that were hard to hear, a high-power system would mean much more powerful – and potentially hazardous – shockwaves.

"I would worry about what other health effects it is having," says Lin. "You might see neural damage."

Sierra Nevada says that a demonstration version could be built in a year, with a transportable system following within 18 months. They are currently seeking funding for the work from the US Department of Defence.

Weapons Technology - Keep up with the latest innovations in our cutting edge special report.

 POINTS OF DRUG CARTEL INVASION IN THE united States, BROUGHT ON BY DEVASTATION TO THE AREAS FIRST, KATRINA SPECIFICALLY.  iF DEVESTATION CAN BE BROUGHT ABOUT THEN CORRUPTION CAN RULE.  i VIEWED THOSE STRANGE WHITE  LINES IN THE SKY A DOUBLE BAND THAT WAS WIDER THAN MOST I HAVE SEEN BEFORE AND THAT LINGERED LONG AFTER ANY PLANE FLEW OVER , i ASKED THE PERSON WITH ME IF THEY SAW A PLANE ANYWHERE, NO, THIS WAS OFF OF 52 HWY,  AROUND THE FIRST OF MAY IN THE AREA SOUTH OF THE AIRPORT, THEN, TWO WEEKS LATER, A TORNADO WIPED OUT HOMES IN THE LIBERTY AREA.  since THEN I HAVE NOTICED THE SAME THING, I WILL START TAKING PICTURES OF THE WIDTH OF THESE WHITE LINES AND THE TIME LAPSE THAT WEATHER CHANGES OCCUR, I DO BELIEVE THAT THERE IS A CONNECTION AND I THINK IT IS BEING USED.  SO MY QUESTION IS WHY, IS IT THE SAME REASON WHY OUR ADMINISTRATION HAS IGNORED THE DANGEROUS CARTEL FROM MEXICO WITH THE THREAT OF BEING AND JOINING TERRIOSTS.  wHY WOULD BUSH ADD COLUMBIA TO NAFTA, WHEN IT HAS BEEN PROVEN THAT MEXICO USED THEIR TRACTOR TRAILERS TO BRING DRUGS, ILLEGALS INTO AMERICA, WHY HAS THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION PROVED THEIR "WAR AGAINST TERRIOST" IS NOTHING MORE THAN A LIE.  DID WE WIN, I DO NOT THINK SO, DID WE GET BS, NOW THAT I CAN BELIEVE.

http://weatherwars.info/?page_id=22

http://www.google.com/search?q=www.reopen911.org+&btnG
=Search&hl=en&sa=2

WWW.REOPEN911.ORG

http://www.enterprisemission.com/weblog/weblog.htm

Air Force Aims for Weather Control

Someday the U.S. military could drive a trailer to a spot just beyond insurgent fighting and, within minutes, reconfigure part of the atmosphere, blocking an enemy's ability to receive satellite signals, even as U.S. troops are able to see into the area with radar.

"This scenario may not be far away," says Defense Tech pal Sharon Weinberger in this month's edition of the always-excellent Defense Technology International.

An engineer with Research Support Instruments in Princeton, N.J. recently completed the first phase of work for a U.S. Air Force sponsored project called Microwave Ionosphere Reconfiguration Ground based Emitter, or Mirage. (scroll down)

The work involves using plasma — an ionized gas — to reconfigure the ionosphere. Mirage would employ a microwave transmitter on the ground and a small rocket that shoots chaff into the air to produce about a liter of plasma at 60-100 km. (36- 60 mi.) in altitude, changing the number of electrons in a select area of the ionosphere to create a virtual barrier. Ionosphere reconfiguration offers two major applications of interest to the military: bouncing radars off the ionosphere, also known as over-the-horizon radar, and the ability to jam signals from the Global Positioning Satellite system, according to John Kline, the lead investigator for Mirage.

This work is only the latest effort in Kline's more extensive investigations of atmospheric plasmas… Before Mirage, Kline had another contract for a project called Plasma Point Defense, which explored the possibility of using a plasma weapon on board a U.S. Navy surface vessel to protect against threats ranging from surface-to-surface missiles to mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

In the past, NASA's fringe science arm has looked into tweaking Mother Nature, to throw hurricanes off their course. But those were just computer simulations. No one actually tried to go out a build some weather control machine.