Gold: Quasi Inverse Top Hat
October 26th, 2011Warning: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
Squinting hard, I see a bullish inverse top hat (gap close) shaping up, target $1920.
Spot gold, daily interval
Canadian Dairy Farmer Willing to Die for Food Rights
October 26th, 2011Via: Mother Nature Network:
The right to decide what one can eat and drink seems a very basic human right. Yet, even that simple freedom can be trampled upon. Take Michael Schmidt for example. He is a biodynamic farmer with a masters degree in agriculture and has been an instrumental voice for both the rights of farmers and consumers.
Over the last 17 years Schmidt has tried to work with authorities to find solutions for providing raw milk legally to people in Canada. He feels that informed consumers should have the right to drink clean raw milk. The Canadian government disagrees. So his farm was raided as if he had contraband and his farm family terrorized. This happened despite the fact that nobody has ever gotten sick from drinking his milk. Similar situations have happened in the U.S. as well. I wonder if they sent SWAT teams to the farm that produced the cantaloupes that have made so many ill?
He was acquitted of all charges at first, but the Province of Ontario decided to appeal the acquittal and Schmidt was then found guilty of 15 of the 19 charges. I find it ironic that in a world full of evil and injustice so much attention is directed at consumers’ food choices. Michael has since gone on a hunger fast only asking that a constructive dialogue happen. He is now on his fourth week, and I want to see this man eating soon.
‘We’re ICE… The Warrant Is Coming Out Of My Balls’
October 25th, 2011Via: ACLU:
On the night of October 20, 2010, Angel Escobar and Jorge Sarmiento were in bed in their small, two-bedroom apartment in the Clairmont complex in Nashville. The doors and windows were all shut and locked. Suddenly there was a loud banging at the door and voices shouting “Police!” and “Policia!” When no one answered, the agents tried to force the door open. Scared, Jesus hid in a closet. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began hitting objects against the bedroom windows, trying to break in. Without a search warrant and without consent, the ICE agents eventually knocked in the front door and shattered a window, shouting racial slurs and storming into the bedrooms, holding guns to their heads. When asked if they had a warrant, one agent reportedly said, “We don’t need a warrant, we’re ICE,” and, gesturing to his genitals, “the warrant is coming out of my balls.”
State Debts Total Over $4 Trillion
October 25th, 2011Via: Reuters:
The total of U.S. state debt, including pension liabilities, could surpasses $4 trillion, with California owing the most and Vermont owing the least, according to an analysis released on Monday.
The nonprofit State Budget Solutions combined states’ major debt and future liabilities, primarily for pensions and employee healthcare, unemployment insurance loans, outstanding bonds and projected fiscal 2011 budget gaps. It found that in total, states are in debt for $4.2 trillion.
The group, which follows state fiscal conditions and advocates for limited spending and taxes, said the deficit calculations that states make “do not offer a full picture of the states’ liabilities and can rely on budget gimmicks and accounting games to hide the extent of the deficit.”
The housing bust, financial crisis and economic recession caused states’ tax revenue to plunge, and huge holes have emerged in their budgets over the last few years. Because all states except Vermont must end their fiscal years with balanced budgets, states have scrambled to cut spending, hike taxes, borrow and turn to the federal government for help.
Big Food’s Co-Optation of Nutrition Professionals
October 25th, 2011Via: Food Safety News:
For years now, I have been hearing about the food industry’s influence on the annual conference of the American Dietetic Association — the nation’s largest gathering of nutrition professionals–with some 7,000 registered dietitians in attendance. Last month, I witnessed it for myself and discovered the corporate takeover by Big Food was worse than I even imagined.
The top-paying sponsors, whom ADA called “partners,” were Coca-Cola, Aramark, the National Dairy Council, and Hershey (their “Center for Health and Nutrition” – really). “Premier sponsors” included PepsiCo, Mars, and General Mills.
The exhibit hall seemed more like a processed food trade show than a nutrition conference. I saw very few booths with actual information, apart from that being peddled by the likes of Nestle, Kraft, and McDonald’s, along with (of course), ubiquitous product samples, tastings, and myriad swag. (Oddly, Monsanto’s booth featured its branded, soy-based lip balm.)
But the worst cooptation came during the “educational sessions,” which should have been off limits to marketing. Numerous panels were hosted by industry players, including, “Dairy Innovations,” brought to you by (surprise!) the National Dairy Council, which also hosted a media-only session, as did others.
“Culinary” demos were offered by cooking experts such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Hershey, and McNeil (maker of the fake sugar, Splenda). For attending several “Expo Impact Sessions,” described by ADA as “scientific and evidenced-based,” RDs could even earn continuing educational units. Who better to teach, “Are Sugars Toxic: What’s Wrong with Current Research?” than the Corn Refiners Association? I attended a silly session called “Snacking and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines” brought to me by the largest snacking experts in the nation, Frito-Lay, who also had a huge booth touting their deceptively-labeled “natural” products, nearby the monstrous booth hosted by parent company PepsiCo.
Related: Toxic Sludge is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry by John Stauber
Maine Congresswoman Unveils Bill to Support Small Farms, Local Food Production
October 25th, 2011Via: U.S. House of Representatives, Chellie Pingree:
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree said today she will introduce a bill later this week that includes provisions that would significantly change the nation’s food policy. The Local Farm, Food, and Jobs Act would expand opportunities for local and regional farmers and make it easier for consumers to have access to healthy foods.
“This is about healthy local food and a healthy local economy. When consumers can buy affordable food grown locally, everyone wins,” Pingree said. “It creates jobs on local farms and bolsters economic growth in rural communities.”
Pingree’s bill is a package of reforms and new programs that will encourage production of local food–not only by helping local farmers and ranchers become more profitable and productive, but also by helping consumers buy locally through improved distribution systems.
Pingree says farmers markets and other local food outlets are growing rapidly and creating jobs all over the country.
“We’ve seen explosive growth in sales of local food here in Maine and all across the country. This bill breaks down barriers the federal government has put up for local food producers and really just makes it easier for people to do what they’ve already been doing,” Pingree said.
Recent reports found the number of farmers markets in the U. S. has grown 150% over the last decade, and supporting new farmers markets is expected to create thousands of new jobs.
Research Credit: R
Bodies of Gaddafi Supporters Found Executed in Sirte
October 25th, 2011Via: BBC:
The bodies of 53 Gaddafi loyalists have been found at a hotel in the Libyan city of Sirte after apparently being executed, a human rights group says.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the victims – some of whom had their hands bound – died about a week ago.
It is the latest accusation of atrocities in Libya committed by both sides during the eight-month conflict.
Van Rompuy: “The Most Important Thing Is to Strengthen Economic Convergence”
October 24th, 2011Via: AFP:
European Union leaders on Sunday agreed to change the bloc’s treaty if necessary in the interests of economic convergence and discipline, EU president Herman Van Rompuy said.
“We decided to explore the possibility of limited treaty change,” Van Rompuy said. “The aim is deepening our economic convergence and strengthening economic discipline.”
Speaking after EU leaders held crunch talks to nail down a solution to the worst economic crisis in its history, Van Rompuy said there was general agreement to ramp up discipline to save the euro, even if difficult treaty change was needed.
“Limited means not a general overhaul of the institutional architecture,” he said. “We also said that we would need the agreement of all the 27 (member states) before we can decide on a treaty change.
“The most important thing is not to change the treaty, the most important thing is to strengthen economic convergence,” he said.
The previous day, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle had called for an EU treaty change allowing nations that live beyond their means to be hauled before the European Court of Justice, an idea that failed to win wide support.
German Officials: Bailout Fund Will Top €1 Trillion
October 24th, 2011Via: AP:
The eurozone bailout fund will see its firepower increased to more than €1 trillion ($1.39 trillion) to enable it to contain the debt turmoil that threatens to rip apart the 17-nation eurozone, according to German lawmakers briefed Monday by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Eurozone governments hope the €440 billion ($600 billion) European Financial Stability Fund, or EFSF, will be able to protect countries like Italy and Spain from being engulfed in the debt crisis.
Vatican Calls for ‘Global Public Authority’ and ‘Central World Bank’
October 24th, 2011Via: Reuters:
The Vatican called on Monday for the establishment of a “global public authority” and a “central world bank” to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises.
The document from the Vatican’s Justice and Peace department should please the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrators and similar movements around the world who have protested against the economic downturn.
“Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority,” was at times very specific, calling, for example, for taxation measures on financial transactions.
“The economic and financial crisis which the world is going through calls everyone, individuals and peoples, to examine in depth the principles and the cultural and moral values at the basis of social coexistence,” it said.
It condemned what it called “the idolatry of the market” as well as a “neo-liberal thinking” that it said looked exclusively at technical solutions to economic problems.
“In fact, the crisis has revealed behaviours like selfishness, collective greed and hoarding of goods on a great scale,” it said, adding that world economics needed an “ethic of solidarity” among rich and poor nations.
“If no solutions are found to the various forms of injustice, the negative effects that will follow on the social, political and economic level will be destined to create a climate of growing hostility and even violence, and ultimately undermine the very foundations of democratic institutions, even the ones considered most solid,” it said.
It called for the establishment of “a supranational authority” with worldwide scope and “universal jurisdiction” to guide economic policies and decisions.
