"María Elena Hurtado" - GM cotton genes found in wild species

María Elena Hurtado
SciDev.Net, October 13 2011
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/gm-crops/news/gm-cotton-genes-found-in-wild-species-1.html

Genetically modified (GM) cotton genes have been found in wild populations for the first time, making it the third plant species — after Brassica and bentgrass — in which transgenes have established in the wild.

The discovery was made in Mexico by six Mexican researchers investigating the flow of genes to wild cotton populations of the species Gossypium hirsutum.

They found transgenes from cotton that had been modified to resist insects, herbicides or antibiotics in just under a quarter of the 270 wild cotton seeds assessed for that purpose. One of the contaminated seeds came from a wild plant located 755 kilometres away from the nearest GM cotton plantation. Others were beyond first-generation hybrids because they carried multiple and different transgenes.

According to the researchers, the GM seeds could have been dispersed by long distance lorry drivers transporting seeds for animal feed or oil extraction; by mild or strong winds; by fresh or salt water; or by birds and animals that had eaten them.

Norman Ellstrand, professor of genetics at the University of California, Riverside, United States, said this is the first study that finds transgenes in unmanaged cotton populations. He added that this is third system, after Brassica and bentgrass, in which transgenes have established in the wild

'It also highlights how seed dispersal has been an under-appreciated avenue of transgene movement,' he said.

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"Terra Daily" - Radiation hotspot detected in Tokyo

Terra Daily, Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Oct 13, 2011

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Radiation_hotspot_detected_in_Tokyo_999.html

A radiation hotspot has been detected in Tokyo, officials said Thursday, but authorities said it may not be linked to the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

As researchers carry out stringent tests to map how far contamination has spread from the plant, a mayor of western Tokyo told reporters that glass bottles found under the floorboards of a nearby house were likely the cause.

Local media had widely suspected that the hotspot was created after the March 11 disaster crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which has leaked radiation into the environment.

But as researchers inspected the area more closely, they found the levels were even higher inside a house adjacent to the sidewalk and discovered a box containing several glass bottles under the floorboards.

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"Alternet.org" - Poll: Americans Like Occupy Wall Street a Whole Lot More Than the Tea Party

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/679919/poll%3A_americans_like_occupy_wall_street_a_whole_lot_more_than_the_tea_party/#paragraph3

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen Democratic leaders make a more concerted effort to show support for the Occupy Wall Street protests, while also tying Republicans to the Tea Party. It’s pretty clear what’s driving the strategy: one burgeoning movement is vastly more popular than the other.

This will very likely come as a surprise to the political establishment, which mocks OWS activists and shows undue respect to Tea Partiers. (In the case of CNN, this includes partnering with a Tea Party political action committee.) And yet, the attitudes of the political mainstream are rather one sided.

A new Time magazine poll asked respondents for their opinion of “the Tea Party movement.” Just 27% had a favorable opinion. Then the poll asked about OWS.

“[I]n the past few days, a group of protestors has been gathering on Wall Street in New York City and some other cities to protest policies which they say favor the rich, the government’s bank bailout, and the influence of money in our political system. Is your opinion of these protests very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, very unfavorable, or don’t you know enough about the protests to have an opinion?”

A combined 54% had a favorable impression — exactly double that of the Tea Party.

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"Matt Taibbi" - My Advice to the Occupy Wall Street Protesters – Hit Bankers Where It Hurts

by: Matt Taibbi

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/my-advice-to-the-occupy-wall-street-protesters-20111012

I've been down to "Occupy Wall Street" twice now, and I love it. The protests building at Liberty Square and spreading over Lower Manhattan are a great thing, the logical answer to the Tea Party and a long-overdue middle finger to the financial elite. The protesters picked the right target and, through their refusal to disband after just one day, the right tactic, showing the public at large that the movement against Wall Street has stamina, resolve and growing popular appeal.

But... there's a but. And for me this is a deeply personal thing, because this issue of how to combat Wall Street corruption has consumed my life for years now, and it's hard for me not to see where Occupy Wall Street could be better and more dangerous. I'm guessing, for instance, that the banks were secretly thrilled in the early going of the protests, sure they'd won round one of the messaging war.

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"Amanda M. Fairbanks" - Occupy Colleges: Student Supporters Of Occupy Wall Street Continue To Show Solidarity

Published on Thursday, October 13, 2011 by Huffington Post  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/13/occupy-colleges-occupy-wall-street_n_1008619.html 

by Amanda M. Fairbanks

NEW YORK -- Thursday afternoon, in concert with the Occupy Wall Street movement, students from nearly 150 college campuses across the country will participate in their second protest in as many weeks.

Occupy Colleges, which started as a Facebook page and Twitter handle less than two weeks ago, has quickly blossomed into a burgeoning movement bolstered by a groundswell of student-led support. As of Thursday morning, student organizers at 136 college campuses -- from Sarah Lawrence College to Boise State University to San Diego City College -- have pledged to participate in Thursday’s show of solidarity. As with the nationwide walkout held last Wednesday, the students will band together to make their voices heard -- with many expressing frustration over increasing amounts of student loan debt and the rising cost of tuition, in addition to a paucity of jobs for recent graduates.

“We’re planning to do these walkouts and shows of solidarity every two weeks until these issues are resolved,” said Natalia Abrams, 31, who helps to organize Occupy Colleges, a student-led grassroots group based in Los Angeles that helped facilitate both nationwide protests. “If Occupy Wall Street is indefinite, we’re indefinite as well. We plan to keep the solidarity protest going for as long as it takes.”

In many ways, today's protest marks a significant challenge for student backers of the Occupy Wall Street movement, not only in terms of coordination and organization, but also with respect to maintaining momentum.

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"Michael Hudson" - How Bank of America Covered Up Fraud by Silencing Whistleblowers

By Michael Hudson, IWatch News
Posted on October 13, 2011, Printed on October 14, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/152723/how_bank_of_america_covered_up_fraud_by_silencing_whistleblowers

In the summer of 2007, a team of corporate investigators sifted through mounds of paper pulled from shred bins at Countrywide Financial Corp. mortgage shops in and around Boston.

By intercepting the documents before they were sliced by the shredder, the investigators were able to uncover what they believed was evidence that branch employees had used scissors, tape and Wite-Out to create fake bank statements, inflated property appraisals and other phony paperwork. Inside the heaps of paper, for example, they found mock-ups that indicated to investigators that workers had, as a matter of routine, literally cut and pasted the address for one home onto an appraisal for a completely different piece of property.

Eileen Foster, the company’s new fraud investigations chief, had seen a lot of slippery behavior in her two-plus decades in the banking business. But she’d never seen anything like this.

“You’re looking at it and you’re going, Oh my God, how did it get to this point?” Foster recalls. “How do you get people to go to work every day and do these things and think it’s okay?”

More surprises followed. She began to get pushback, she claims, from company officials who were unhappy with the investigation.

One executive, Foster says, sent an email to dozens of workers in the Boston region, warning them the fraud unit was on the case and not to put anything in their emails or instant messages that might be used against them. Another, she says, called her and growled into the phone: “I’m g--d---ed sick and tired of these witch hunts.”

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"SSELL MOKHIBER" - Criminalize Fracking -- A New Challenge to the Corporate State

by RUSSELL MOKHIBER

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/10/13/criminalize-fracking/

Activists in New York have drafted legislation that would criminalize the practice of hydraulic fracturing – also known as fracking.

The law was drafted by the Sovereign People Action Network (SPAN) of Ulster and Green counties.

“In early summer, seeing so many anti-fracking people across the state pouring their time, resources and hopes into the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), we began drafting a law to rip decision making from this illegitimate agency, and drive it into our state legislature,” Richard Grossman, one of the members of SPAN, told Corporate Crime Reporter.

“Our law criminalizes fracking and fracking-related activities,” Grossman said. “Corporate frackers would be Class C felons.”

“In August, a bunch of anti-frackers from different parts of the state, representing various anti-fracking groups, participated in three sequential workshops I presented on at the New York Green Fest gathering in Western New York,” Grossman said.

“Some decided to join SPAN on criminalization.”

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"Renee Parsons" - Dismantling the Postal Service

By Renee Parsons -- October 10, 2011

http://trueblueprogressivereport.blogspot.com/

In the wee morning hours of December 8, 2006, the last day of the lame duck Session, the Senate concluded its legislative business with ‘unanimous consent’ adoption of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA - HR 6407) without any debate or roll call vote.

At that time, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me) enthusiastically announced ‘great news for the U.S. economy” with adoption of “landmark legislation” which had consumed an astonishing 12 years of negotiations. Collins, senior Republican on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee and recipient of $35,000 from UPS, praised the PAEA as ‘minimizing the risk of significant taxpayer bailout” for the Postal Service ‘convinced that the PAEA puts the postal service on sound financial footing for years to come.”

With a $900 billion mail-related industry of magazines, mail-order and catalogues to protect, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del) concurred in adulation that the Act would assure continued ‘universal delivery – six days a week with mail delivery to one million new customers each year.”

Adopted by the House of Representatives 24 hours earlier on a bipartisan voice vote, the Act was touted by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) as ‘assuring long term viability of the postal service’ that will ‘satisfy the concerns of postal service employees.’ Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill), now Obama’s Secretary of Transportation, was in the Speaker’s Chair and about to gavel the Act “adopted” when Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind) requested the ayes and nays. LaHood determined an ‘insufficient number present’ and announced the Act as “passed’. Apparently neither Maloney, Collins, Carper nor any other Member of Congress bothered to read their mail or they would have known of the vehement opposition by the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) which fully understood the Act’s long term implications.

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"Lauren Kelley" - Occupy Wall Street Update: NYC Protesters Fight Against Eviction, Another Pepper-Spray Victim Presses Charges

By Lauren Kelley, AlterNet
Posted on October 13, 2011, Printed on October 13, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/679714/occupy_wall_street_update%3A_nyc_protesters_fight_against_eviction%2C_another_pepper-spray_victim_presses_charges

Here are some of the latest developments regarding Occupy Wall Street and other occupations around the country:

--A showdown is brewing in Zuccotti Park/Liberty Plaza over clean-up of the occupation space. In one corner is Mayor Bloomberg, who\'s dispatching sanitation workers to the square on Friday and has ordered the occupiers to comply with the workers\' clean-up efforts (which would involve "temporarily" vacating the area). Bloomberg swears the protesters will be able to return in the park "provided they abide by the rules that Brookfield has established for the park." But the protesters are (understandably) worried that officials will start enforcing park rules (no tarps, no laying down, etc.), effectively destroying the infrastructure of the space. So they have a different plan to clean up the area, while keeping their park. Their statement, via Gothamist:

On Wednesday/Thursday, all campers/supporters should reach out to friends/family/anyone to donate or purchase brooms, mops, squeegees, dust pans, garbage bags, power washers and any other cleaning supplies to be collected at sanitation. The sanitation committee should move full-speed ahead on purchase of bins allocated by consensus at GA.

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"NBA vs NFL - Who is it?"

NBA VS NFL

Even if you aren't a Sports Fan this is Very Interesting!

****************

36 have been accused of spousal abuse

7 have been arrested for fraud

19 have been accused of writing bad checks

117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses

3 have done time for assault

71, I repeat 71
cannot get a credit card due to bad credit

14 have been arrested on drug-related charges

8 have been arrested for shoplifting

21currently are defendants in lawsuits,
and
84 have been arrested for drunk driving

in the last year!
 

Can you guess which organization this is?
Is it the NBA Or NFL?

Give up yet?
Scroll down,
 

Neither,

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